Orange, Spirals and Everything Nice

Twenty-Four: Poisoned Butterfly

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the setting of the story. They all exclusively belong to Mr. Masashi Kishimoto in all its rights.

(A/N: The clans introduced in this chapter are not canon. I just wanted to write something for Shino. Hee-Hee. I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading! )

Team Eight arrived at the small country where the hidden village of Grass is located an hour before sunset on the first day of their mission. Hinata had been so excited about her reunion mission with her team that she prepared a feast for their lunch along the way, which eventually slowed them down for about an hour because they were too full to accommodate a fast-paced travel.
Luckily, the sun was still up when they entered the village gates so they still had time to proceed with their mission by asking around about their supposed clients — the Komorebi clan.
Shino informed the team along the way that the said clan are also insect-users like him, although their insect-weapon quite differs from that of the noble Aburame clan. Shino also didn't know much about the secretive clan but he read from a few old books and scrolls that the Komorebi clan uses butterflies as weapons.

The busy village streets are occupied by unsuspecting villagers, fumbling about and pushing their last efforts to end another day as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Team Eight shifted through the market in their white and red-striped mission cloaks, asking for questions about their clients. All because Kakashi didn't provide them with further clues as to where they could find the said clan.

"I think I've got something." Kiba said as the team settled inside a snack shop after about half an hour of roaming around. "A group of traders said that the Komorebis live in the middle of a mountain, two kilometers away from here." he shared as he chewed animatedly on his food.

Hinata immediately activated her byakugan to scan the area around them under the lowered hood of her cloak. She directed her eyes on every direction until she found the mountain, and as she focused her eyes on the terrain, she was able to see some sort of a compound in the heart of it.

"Looks like we'll be hiking up by dawn tomorrow." Shino said after the heiress confirmed the information. "But don't you think that this village is a little crowded?"

"I think so, too." Hinata agreed. "I've met more tourists and travelling merchants more than locals." she added. "Yet, it doesn't seem like this is one of the infected areas by the parasitic insects, thankfully."

Before any one of them could respond to that, a sudden commotion in the streets caught their attention. The team quickly left the shop to inspect what was making the people all panicked and screaming. It wasn't after a minute when they saw the source of that horror.

A man, who was probably in his twenties, was blindly wreaking havoc in the middle of the market. His eyes were bloodshot, his clothes were torn without sandals on his feet, and the veins on his limbs were a dark, bluish color and they looked like they have been popped out from inside his skin. The man moved limply and he staggers a lot, but he was growling liked a savaged beast. Throwing everything in his way and blindly chasing after the helpless villagers.

The ninjas were simply too stunned at the scene that they were frozen in place. Sure, they've seen much more terrifying creatures and weird ninjas through the years, but the man causing havoc right now, didn't feel like he wanted to cause trouble in the first place. Like he was simply under a strong genjutsu.

"We need to do something." Hinata said when she finally got her voice back.

But before any of them could move, a flying kunai sprouted out of nowhere and precisely hit the possessed man through his neck, killing him instantly. The nosy folks around Team Eight became even more rowdy at the unseen attacker.
Hinata activated her bloodline again and swiftly scanned the area for the possible threat. Akamaru barked beside Kiba as the brunette sniffed the air around them.