Chapter 35.2- One Thousand Hands

‘Poison or destroy?’ He signed at Shika, waiting for her to make a decision. They had yet to decide one way or the other at this point, but instead of replying him with signs, she let her actions do the talking, taking out a steel syringe that she stabbed into one of the barrels from the top. Taking out a scroll, she provided both he and Toshiro with enough syringes to deal with all the other barrels. And then when they arrived at a collection of sealing scrolls, she made a single handseal before tapping the scroll in the middle. It began to be set alight, and then she turned for the to leave. They left the water storage room and moved on to the food room where multiple rations were stored. For this, they stole what they could and then destroyed what they couldn’t. Every shinobi worth their salt probably carried some amount of food with them so this was unlikely to be the fatal wound that their water sabotage would be. The only reason they’d even be succeeding with the water plan was because this was Suna. Water was scarce enough there that each shinobi could not just be served by carrying their own water- if they did that, they’d fall into scarcity very quickly so they had to ration things out from the top down. That would prove to be their undoing, he thought with a smirk as they moved to their next target.

He never even noticed the woman who narrowed her eyes at them as they passed. It was not until they had entered the next tent that they realised they were being followed.

“Who the fuck are you?” A voice called out to them as soon as they had made it a few steps into the tent that contained weapon supplies.

“Uh” He was ashamed to say he froze at her words, shocked to be caught so easily.

Something about his reply had clearly been found wanting because the woman brought her massive steel fan to bear and waved it. He never got to experience the effects of what he was sure would have been a powerful jutsu as Shika grabbed on to his shoulder and slammed them into the ground, and through it. Transforming into shadows had never been a pleasant experience, he had learned with time and experience from running a few missions with their class’s Nara Princess.

They surfaced at the outskirts of the camp and he felt his hand move straight to his chest as he gasped for breath. Beside him, he could see Toshiro doing something similar as they struggled to find oxygen- to breathe. His body? He wondered as he tried to convince himself that this was still his body. He moved his fingers in random patterns, using the methods he’d discovered for getting over the effects of shadow melding. Seemingly unaffected, Shika just stood up and stared down at them as they recovered.

“Hurry up. That would have drawn a crowd and they’ll be searching the surroundings once they get a hold of themselves” She said, voice quiet. He nodded, feeling at his chin to make sure his head was moving as he ordered it to.