Chapter 38: The Taco Bed Incident and the Departure of the Emo King part-2
Something inside the bed frame broke with a loud metallic bang.
The handle spun wildly in my hand.
"What did you do?" Sasuke opened his eyes.
Suddenly, the bed reacted violently. The head section shot up. The foot section shot up. The middle section sank.
The hospital bed folded instantly into a perfect "V" shape.
Sasuke was in the middle.
"Gah!"
The mattress folded him like a human taco. His knees were smashed against his chest. His face was pressed into his own shins.
"Hinata!" Sasuke's muffled voice screamed from inside the mattress sandwich. "Get me out!"
"I am trying!" I panicked.
I grabbed the handle and spun it the other way.
WHIRRR.
The bed flattened out at high speed. It snapped open with the force of a catapult.
Sasuke was launched.
He flew straight up into the air, trailing his IV line and bedsheets like a superhero cape.
"Chidori!" he screamed instinctively, though he had no target.
He hit the ceiling.
Thump.
He fell back down, landing perfectly on the mattress, but bouncing three times.
Silence.
Sasuke lay there, staring at the ceiling tile he had just cracked. A single apple rolled off the table and fell onto his forehead.
Bonk.
"..."
"..."
"Get out," Sasuke whispered.
"I am sorry!" I bowed and fled the room.
[Ding!]
[Achievement Unlocked: "Bedridden Launch." You turned a recovery device into a siege weapon.]
[Reward: 500 Shy Points.]
[System Note: He seems less brooding now. More... confused. Mission Accomplished.]
...........
That night, the tension in the village snapped.
I was walking home from the Hyuga training grounds. I had spent hours practicing my Twin Lion Fists (Bunny Variant) to make them less... fluffy. It wasn't working. Now they just looked like angry bunnies.
As I passed the park bench near the village exit, I saw a figure sitting there.
Sakura.
She was crying.
"Sakura-chan?" I approached cautiously.
She looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Hinata... he left. Sasuke-kun... he left the village."
My heart sank. So it had happened. The Curse Mark, the Sound Four, the promise of power. Orochimaru had seduced him.
"Did you... see him?" I asked.
"I tried to stop him," Sakura sobbed. "I told him I loved him. I told him I would do anything. But he just... he said 'Thank you' and knocked me out."
She grabbed my jacket. "Hinata... you have to tell Naruto. Please. Tell Naruto to bring him back!"
"I will," I promised.
I ran. I ran straight to Naruto's apartment.
I banged on the door. "Naruto-kun! Wake up!"
Naruto opened the door, wearing a sleeping cap and rubbing his eyes. "Hinata? What is it? Is the ramen shop having a midnight sale?"
"Sasuke," I gasped, out of breath. "He is gone. He left the village to join Orochimaru."
Naruto's sleepy eyes snapped open. The blue in his irises seemed to sharpen into steel.
"What?"
.............
The next morning, five of us stood at the village gate.
Shikamaru Nara had been appointed as the team leader. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
"This is such a drag," Shikamaru sighed. "But the Hokage ordered it. We have to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha."
The team consisted of:
Shikamaru Nara (The Brains).Naruto Uzumaki (The Powerhouse).Kiba Inuzuka (The Tracker).Choji Akimichi (The Tank).Neji Hyuga (The Genius).
And... me.
"Wait," Kiba scratched his head. "Hinata, you are coming? Tsunade let you come?"
"I... I insisted," I said, clutching my backpack straps.
Actually, the conversation with Tsunade had gone like this:
Me: "I want to join the retrieval team!"Tsunade: "No. It is too dangerous."Me: "I have glue."Tsunade: "...Fine. Just don't glue Naruto to a tree."
"We need all the help we can get," Shikamaru said, looking at a map. "The enemy is the Sound Four. They are elite bodyguards. This won't be easy."
Neji looked at me. "Hinata-sama. Are you prepared? This is not an exam. This is a pursuit."
"I am ready, Neji-niisan," I said firmly.
I checked my inventory.
Boomerang Kunai.Indestructible Leotard.Glasses of Invisibility.Super Glue Capsules (New).Banana Peels (For emergencies).
"Alright!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist. "Let's go bring that idiot back! Formation!"
"Single file!" Shikamaru ordered. "Kiba, take point. I am in the middle. Naruto, rear guard. Hinata, Neji... flank."
"Right!"
We dashed out of the village gates, leaping into the trees.
The wind rushed past my ears. I felt a surge of adrenaline.
(I am doing it. I am part of the main plot. I am going to save Sasuke.)
[System Alert: High Speed Tree Jumping Initiated. Current Agility: Average. Probability of missing a branch: 15%.]
"Don't you dare," I warned the System.
[System: I wouldn't dream of it. Yet.]
...........
We tracked them for hours. Kiba's nose and Neji's Byakugan kept us on the trail.
Finally, we caught up. In a large clearing, four figures in tunics stood waiting. They were carrying a large barrel.
The Sound Four.
Jirobo (The Big Guy).Kidomaru (The Spider Guy).Sakon/Ukon (The Two-Headed Guy).Tayuya (The Flute Girl).
"Looks like we have rats," Sakon sneered, turning around.
"Leave the barrel!" Naruto yelled, landing in front of them. "Give Sasuke back!"
"He chose to come with us," Tayuya scoffed. Her language was foul. "Get lost, trash."
"Formation!" Shikamaru yelled.
The battle erupted instantly.
Jirobo slammed the ground. "Earth Style: Dome Barrier!"
A massive dome of earth rose up to trap us.
"Move!" Kiba yelled.
We tried to jump out, but the dome closed too fast. We were trapped in darkness.
"Great," Shikamaru sighed. "He trapped us. And he is absorbing our chakra."
I could feel it. My chakra was draining away slowly.
"We need to break the wall!" Kiba shouted. "Fang Over Fang!"
He slammed into the wall. It repaired itself.
Naruto tried Rasengan. It repaired itself.
"It is regenerative," Neji analyzed with his Byakugan. "But the chakra distribution is uneven. There is a weak point."
.....
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