-Chapter 26-

After they had distributed the snacks among them (plus the cookies Lee had made, which did look damn good), they decided to split into two-man teams to cover more ground. Tenten had objected, calling it 'some Scooby-Doo Fred starter pack shit', but everyone else promptly ignored her.

Kakashi and Gai went down the path towards the deeper parts of the forest. Lee and Tenten followed them, but mostly so they could do a full loop around the island. Sasuke and Sakura decided to go with Naruto and Karin to the waterfall that Hinata had mentioned, armed with only a crude sketch of what the area looked like.

"Man, we really got the short end of the stick with this one," Naruto commented, squinting at the drawing. "How the hell are we supposed to find where this is?"

"It doesn't sound that hard to miss a roaring waterfall," Sasuke replied blandly. "If we hear water, we go towards it. It's that simple."

Naruto grumbled something under his breath, and Karin nudged him.

"Hey, he's got a point," she cajoled, glancing ahead. "Anyways, we've gone pretty far on the path. Shouldn't we start heading off sometime soon?"

"Hinata said that when you get to a certain point, you'll see an old headband tied to a tree." Sakura instructed. "It's at that point that you wanna go left. The path is pretty invisible otherwise."

She hummed in reply, but otherwise said nothing.

-line-

After a ways up the road, Sasuke stopped in his tracks. "Found the headband," he said, pointing out the stained blue fabric wrapped around a thin branch. It wasn't very visible, considering the big, thorny berry patch that grew next to the tree. You could only faintly see the end of the navy, and the plate was rusted enough that it didn't shine in the late afternoon sun.

"Great!" Sakura exclaimed. "Onwards, to the left!"

The group veered left, down a near-invisible grass path. The way was dotted with bushes here and there, as well as the odd tree branch that forced them to either duck or push it out of the way. It wasn't very well-kept, which was probably why the adults had missed it.

"This is getting kinda creepy," Naruto shivered. "Just where in the heck are we going?"

"Hopefully we're going the right way," Karin chimed in, eyes darting nervously back and forth. She very nearly missed getting her hair snagged on a low-hanging branch, but she ducked just in time.

Meanwhile, Sakura was concentrating. She could only hear their traipsing through the underbrush, and the occasional call of a bird, but other than that, it was dead silent.

Then, she heard it. The faintest sound of running water.

"Guys, I think we're close," she said, straining her ears to hear better. "Listen. You hear that?"

Everyone stopped in place and went quiet.

Naruto was the first to exclaim. "Hey, we're nearly there! Where's it coming from?"

"Somewhere north-east, if I'm hearing correctly," Sakura said, pointing further left. "Stay close, guys."

As they went towards the sound, they came across a large tree whose branches dragged the ground.

"So that's how it was hidden," Sasuke muttered to himself as Karin gave a low whistle. "Impressive."

He grabbed a sturdy part of the branch and yanked it up high enough so that they could crawl through. "Everyone in."

As soon as they'd each went under, one at a time, he crawled in after them, letting go of the branch behind. It immediately snapped back towards the ground, and after a few seconds of silence, you never could have noticed there was any way forward.

One by one, they popped up on the other side of the trunk, gazing in awe at the sight before them.

"Whoa," Naruto breathed, jaw agape.

Before them, through a small clearing, was a giant rock wall that looked as if it had been much higher at some point. Through cracks in the rocks, a large waterfall gushed downward and through a curvy stream that snaked its way through the land.

"So scenic," Karin whispered, adjusting her glasses.

"It's beautiful." Sakura agreed.

"Let's get moving again," Sasuke instructed, marching forward. "Perhaps there's something behind the waterfall."

"Why would you think that?" Naruto asked, scrunching up his nose.

"Please." The Uchiha scoffed. "In every single story you've ever read, in every single movie you've ever seen, there's a place behind the waterfall. Do you even consume media, dobe?"

The blond sputtered some angry response. The others ignored it, going toward the waterfall.

Sasuke was able to find a relatively-dry rock path behind the massive wall of water a ways, and as soon as he found it, he was able to find a cavern going into the mountain big enough for two people to go through at a time. He was the first to send Naruto a smug smirk.

"Told you so," he announced, pointing to the darkness. "There's a way in."

"You two should go last," Sakura suggested. "Y'know, just in case something or someone tries to come at us from the back."

"Whaat? C'mon, Sakura-chan," Naruto groaned. "At least let one of us go first!"

"Nope!" Karin chimed in, folding her arms across her chest. "I'll go first. That way I'll be able to sense if someone's coming."

"Good point." Sasuke relented. "Alright, fair enough. I'll go last."

He paused, sending the blond a glare. "And don't you dare fart in my face."

"Wha- I would never!" Naruto indignantly scoffed. "I have control over my body!"

"Seriously. You fart, and you're the first one getting thrown to the kidnapper." The noiret threatened.

Sakura stifled a chuckle at the interaction as she turned on her phone's flashlight and followed Karin in.

The first thing they realized was that the walls were sharp. The rock walls were jagged and uneven, and every so often you'd heard someone hiss in pain as their hands were nicked. You essentially had to keep feeling for the walls as you went, otherwise you'd trip and fall.

Somewhere halfway through, Naruto yelped. "Ow! Something stabbed me!"

"You sure it wasn't just a rock or something?" Sakura asked. "One of your shuriken sticking you?"

"No, I swear something jabbed me!" Naruto insisted, momentarily letting to of the wall to rub his arm.

A few seconds later, Sasuke grunted in pain. "The dobe's right. Something got me too."

"Maybe you got bit by a spider or something," Karin said, turning to look at them over her shoulder.

"No, this... this feels different." Sasuke frowned, feeling the wound. His fingers lightly grazed against the puncture, and he hissed in pain. "It feels like... a blade of some kind."

"How the hell do you know what that feels like?" Naruto asked incredulously.

There was a pause.

"My dad's a cop, remember?" He retorted shortly. "I've seen and felt my fair share of stab wounds."

Karin shivered. "That's kinda gross."

"It would be grosser if he didn't insist you put on gloves first." Sasuke answered nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather. "Although... I guess technically that would be putting your prints on the victim, so maybe it's good he's such a germaphobe."

-line-

Without further comment about the boys' punctures, they made it through the waterfall cave to the other side. Almost immediately, they came to another cave, although this one was more well-lit by a torch burning away ensconced to the wall.

"Let's stop and eat something first," Karin said, sitting on the ground.

The other three mimicked her and sat, tugging off their backpacks. Each took swigs from their water bottles before pulling out some bento boxes.

Sasuke began chugging from his bottle before pressing it to his forehead, further dampening it.

"Careful that you don't drink all your water," Karin advised with a frown. "I don't know if the water here is safe to drink."

"I don't feel that good." Naruto slurred. "Everything feels weird."

"Yeah..." Sasuke breathed, frowning in confusion. He looked way more woozy than the blond did, and his face was pale and sweaty. "I... I don't--"

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he suddenly went crashing to the ground backwards, his water bottle clunking on the rocks.

Naruto jumped to his feet immediately, his heart rate skyrocketing. with him "Sasuke!"

Karin gasped and Sakura scrambled to stand, snapping the lid back on her box and shoving it into her bag.

"Is he all right?" She asked.

Karin darted towards the unconscious boy, feeling for his pulse on the base of his neck. She hesitated for a few moments before looking up with a grim expression.

"His pulse is really jumpy," she explained. "He needs to get to medical as soon as possible."

"I'm on it," Naruto declared, marching over. He grabbed Sasuke around the waist, draped him over his shoulder, and started going back through the waterfall.

The two girls exchanged worried looks and followed him out of the clearing, Sakura stooping on the way to grab Sasuke's dropped water bottle.

As soon as they were out of the cave, Naruto broke into a run, ducking under the branch as fast as he could and speed-walking while crouching. Sakura and Karin could hardly keep up with him, helping each other under the branch before jogging so they wouldn't lose him.

"Naruto, hold on!" Karin called. "You're going too fast!"

"Do you want him to get worse, or do you want him to get help?" Naruto shouted back from ahead on the path. He took a sharp right and disappeared around the corner.

As soon as they exited the forest, they saw him going up the hill to the medical cabin. Luckily, Sakura found a shortcut (the staircase up the hill) and they met him at the door.

As soon as he entered, he called, "Nurse Shizune, come quick! Sasuke's hurt!"

She appeared from Hinata's room, alarmed. "What happened?"

"They got stabbed with something," Karin explained. "They may have been poisoned."

That alarm turned to fear very quickly, and Shizune took Sasuke off of Naruto's shoulder. "Thank you for bringing him, Naruto. I'll get started right away."

"Yeah, you do that," Naruto agreed with a nod. He swayed on his feet for a moment before he finally fell forward in a cold faint into Karin, who scrambled to hold him up with a cry of "Naruto?!"