Red Is A Pretty Colour

114

Hiko's pov

When we arrived at the hidden sun village Naruto was bouncing off the walls. He had obviously never seen the village before, the buildings were lined with a unique black stone that at a certain point in the day glowed like lava. The village was surrounded by structures made of stone from the moon valley which reflected light into the centre of the village so that when night fell the stones lacing the buildings glowed their brightest, sustaining the village on completely natural light.

"This place is awesome!" Naruto cheered.

"It is rather beautiful." I agreed before biting my thumb and making some hand signs. "Summoning jutsu."

"Hey pup, what can I do for ya this time?" Akino asked.

"I'm not a pup anymore Akino." I said with a pout.

"Cool! You can summon them too!" Naruto said impressed.

"Sure you are, now what do ya need?" Akino asked.

"Well, I'd like to find whoever this belongs to." I said as I pulled a bag from my kunai pouch with the fabric Kakashi~Sensei gave me inside. "If they aren't long gone that is, it's been a few days since they were here."

"Hard work you are pup, I'll see what I can do." Akino said.

Akino sniffed at the cloth for a moment before motioning for us to follow him.

"So, Where's Pakkun?" Naruto asked.

"Is Pakkun the only one of us hounds you think about?" Akino asked.

"Someone's jealous." I teased.

"Isn't he your leader?" Naruto asked.

"No, as if I'd let a pug tell me what to do. I'm just glad the pup here has some sense and summons me instead of that shortie." Akino said and I just shook my head. "Now let me focus on my job."

"Akino won't let us down, he's my go to when it comes to tracking." I said.

"I bet, Gamatatsu has a pretty good nose for tracking too." Naruto said.

"Sure, he'll never outdo the ninken though." I said.

"You've got that right pup." Akino said as he pointed up at mount moonstone. "The scent is coming from up there."

"I guess we should get going then. Whatever you do, don't look directly at the stone and never stand in direct sunlight once we get close to the top. You'll end up blinded if you do. Akino is the only one with sunglasses so we'll be completely reliant on him. Stick close because if you ended up blinding yourself you're more prone to walking right off the edge." I said. "If your eyes begin yo feel strained let everyone know so you can stop and close them for a while. It might take longer but its better to be safe than sorry."

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto cheered, punching a fist into the air.

Time skip

When we reached the top it became increasingly harder to navigate the mountain. There weren't too many shaded areas where we were heading and we were getting close to the drop that led down into moon valley.

"Ah!" Naruto yelled in pain, grabbing at his eyes.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked in concern as I glanced back at him.

Naruto, who was unable to see at this current moment was stumbling around dangerously close to the edge. He let out a yelp as he tumbled over the edge.

"Naruto!" I exclaimed as I shot forward, arm outstretched for him.

My chakra chains shot out of their own accord, wrapping around Naruto to stop him from falling. They quickly pulled him up and I hugged him to me. We tumbled back, falling against a large rock which provided much needed shade.

"You two okay?" Akino asked.

"Yeah, let's just take a break." I replied, closing my eyes.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed.

"I told you not to look directly at the stone." I scolded

"I didn't think it would be that dangerous, ya know." Naruto said and I shook my head. "What is that place anyway?"

"What is what place?" I asked as I opened my eyes.

"That place down there?" Naruto asked as he pointed down where he almost fell.

"That's the place I told you about, moon valley. That's where I believe Akino is tracking the scent to. Its the brightest place in the world because its nestled between two mounts made of reflective stone, mount monstone, the one we're on and Tsukuyomi the larger one over there. The lake of liquid sunshine runs through it and adds to the light in the valley, its a lava lake, it comes from Tsukuyomi the dormant volcano." I explained.

"You sure know a whole lot about this place." Naruto said.

"I've been here before on a few missions. The first time we were here we ended up loosing half of our team to the light, I made sure to never make that mistake again. From then on I've made a point to research places before I take a team there." I said. "I'm a jonin, I'm usually in charge. Everyone I'm on a mission with is my responsibility and if they die under my watch then it just means I failed them."

"You didn't fail them pup, you don't always know everything." Akino said.

"I should." I said. "Break over, let's keep  heading down."

"What do we do about the light?" Naruto asked.

"Keep your eyes closed and keep a hold of my hand. Akino will lead the way and I'll use my sensory skills to follow him." I said. "You can guide us Akino, right?"

"Of course pup." Akino said.

Time skip

When we eventually reached the valley we opened our eyes. We were shaded by the side of the mountain we just climbed down.

"So what are we looking for?" Naruto asked.

"I'd say that." I said as I pointed towards the scattered weapons that spanned across the left side of the lava lake.

"We can ignore that and continue following the scent, it doesn't linger here too long." Akino said.

"No, we should still investigate it." I said.