Snippet #2653718

While most of her comrades kept to the branches of the trees, Ran moved along the forest floor, cloaked and near silent as the ground beneath her softened with her footsteps, muffling them. Like she had every so often, she crouched, put the palm of her hand on the ground, and just listened to what the earth said to her. Before now, she had felt the movement of their quarry. It was subtle, but with the other tracker in their group, a sensor type, they were able to follow the movements of their prey fairly well. She frowned behind her mask. Looking up, she made eye contact with the sensor nin and shook her head. The scout motioned to continue. If there were enemies nearby, they either weren't moving, or they were not in contact with the earth. Maybe that wasn't surprising, since the Mist ninja tended to specialise in water release, and they were coming swiftly upon the Land of Rivers. There were enough places for them to hide, and according to their briefing, by that hated figure, Lord Danzo, these were formidable opponents, no less than one of the legendary Seven Swordsmen and his two closest underlings.

The roar of the river was loud even from the distance, as the small group came to the edge of the canyon, none of them knowing what to expect. She heard another of the team say “who here was tracking them?” It sounded accusatory, or would have done, had they all not been so well-trained to have, or display, any emotion. “I was,” she replied, the porcelain monkey mask unable to show the disapproval and annoyance she felt underneath it. “Be careful. If they seem to have disappeared it could well be a ---” the word “trap” never made it to her lips, as a tag suddenly exploded with great force and the ninja at the front of the party found himself in sudden freefall alongside displaced earth and rocks, heading down, down towards the raging river, his scream unheard above the noise of the rapids. Ran was thrown backwards, landing in the bushes, not far from one of her ANBU comrades. Her head span for a moment, as she lay half dazed. She sat up, and her mask, cracked from left to right in a diagonal fissure, began to crumble away from her face. The ninja next to her was staring intently back through the bushes, and Ran recognised his voice – the accuratory one. She listened. Sunagakure ninjas? Some part of her wanted to get up, announce herself as a Suna nin, and thank them for rescuing her, but that was just a fantasy and Ran knew it. Sneaking up next to him so that she could also peer through the bushes, she verified his words with her own eyes, and, placing her hand to the ground realised just how many were approaching.

A trap. But a flawed trap.

With the explosion on the edge of the canyon, the Sand ninjas could never be certain how many fell to deaths. However many of the Root ANBU they managed to kill, they could never be certain that they had got them all... could never report back to their masters that they had definitely taken out all of the Leaf ninjas.

Her mask crumbled to bits in her hands, revealing all of her face but her eyes and forehead, Ran felt the air against her skin and realised, suddenly, that they were under attack. The forest breeze had changed, someone was using a Wind Release against them. Quickly Ran signed. Their only way out was escape, their only escape was through the earth, and the only one she could take with her was this ANBU agent next to her. The ground softened beneath them, sucking the two down into the rocks. She grabbed Shinso by the arm, and they both were swallowed up by the ground. There was no time to tell him to hold his breath. He was a ninja so likely he was always prepared for anything, anyway...

The Hiding Like a Mole technique sucked them down, and Ran paddled through rock made soft by her jutsu, keeping hold of Shinso and hoping that he wouldn't get stuck or drown. The quickest route out was the safest, and she dragged the two of them out halfway down the sheer drop of the ravine, onto a small ledge that jutted out just wide enough for a human body, precariously over the white water.