[OP: "Theseus"-- The Oh Hellos]

They reached the second town in just a couple hours. This one's name was Unkai. [Unkai--"sea of clouds".] 

[Sample image of a sea of clouds.]

They found the same thing there as they had in the last one.

No more details on the recordings that would help them, but this town's situation was a little different.

It was farther north, and it was near the coast on this part of the country.

The significance of this didn't strike Karui, but Mabui told Team Zoe that there were sailing routes along the north side of Lightning.

"The weather here is more mild most of the year than it is farther south," she explained. "And very few ninjas would even come far enough to invade a ship. It's safer...though, as far as I know, they only traffic goods to the Land of Frost and the neighboring smaller lands."

"So...the people we're looking for then," Wally said.

Mabui nodded grimly.

"Then it might be worth checking out the nearest port to here," Shine said. "Is it on the map?"

"I can't be sure the map has all the ports. There are always the secret emergency ones." Mabui examined the map. "But there is one known one several kilometers east of here...too far to be convenient for this town, I would say, but, it might be worth looking into. We're closer to it now than we'd be if we turned back towards the other towns involved."

"More walking?" Camie groaned.

"We should wait till tomorrow to go that far," Temari said.

"Agreed," Gaara said. "Even if we got to it today, looking through it in the nighttime is more dangerous, though more likely to yield results if there is something suspicious. But without knowing their numbers, I want to play it safer."

"We could take anyone," Bakugo said.

"Better to do it well rested," Momo pointed out.

"There's no inn in this town. Where do we stay?" Shoto asked.

"Just have to camp again," Kankuro said.

So they did, outside the town.

The townspeople had very little to say to them. In fact they'd been bitter that they'd arrived so late. Beyond that, all they did was answer their questions.

No one offered to give them any food or anything.

The ninjas didn't really expect any different, and by now the heroes didn't either.

"Still, it's not our fault that we arrived late," Shoto said.

"Don't waste time being angry about it," Shine said firmly. "They're all bereaved. They are not acting as their best selves." She opened her Bible.

"Ah, cheer up, Brodoroki," Camie said. "At least we're doing hero stuff right now. We're gonna get so much freaking work-study experience, we'll be leagues ahead back home."

"I thought that our abilities wouldn't change that much," Shoto said.

"They won't," Wally said. "But, your knowledge is always gonna grow, so she's not wrong. You guys are gonna be like pros when you go back. Heck, you could all be sidekicks now."

"The h---?!" Bakugo said. "We're way better than that!"

"I forgot that sidekicks are seen as underlings in your culture," Wally said. "Sorry, geez."

"What is a sidekick?" Karui asked Choji. She was getting really tired of not knowing what they were talking about.

"I'm not sure." Choji didn't know all that stuff yet.

"Like a Genin. Just ignore it," Shikamaru said flatly.

He was both wrong and right about the comparison. It was really more like a Chunin, without the ability to lead a team of heroes, but trusted more than a Genin.

Karui felt a little more at home with Team 10 than the others still, mostly because Choji was always so mild, Ino was nice, and Shikamaru was non-confrontational.

Mabui felt out of place, despite having spent more time around them, but her age and standing made her seem less like one of them (to her, anyway).

Though Momo made an effort to be nice to her.

"What's it like being out on the field again?" she asked. "I mean, did you do this a lot before you were Ay's assistant?"

"I was working in Intelligence before I was Ay's assistant," Mabui answered. "All of us were reviewed for the position. I got it because of my unique talents, and I had longer in the division than some of the others."

"That's good, right?" Momo said. "I think I might like to go into teaching someday, when I have the experience on the field for it."

"You'd be a good teacher," Shoto said. "You already tutor half the class."

"Ah, well, I like helping them," Momo said modestly. "I used to tutor my stuffed animals when I was a little girl."

"That's so cute," Camie said. "But like...why?"

"I...didn't have a lot of friends." Momo looked down.

"But you're so friendly," Ino said.

"Yes, well, I was shy as a kid, and I was privately educated before UA, so I met other children mostly at the parties my parents took me too. We got along okay, but I felt as if the older I got the more I was more interested in helping people as a hero, and I had the qui--uh, ability for it. The others who didn't just talked about parties and the things they bought and business...which is fine, just not what I was interested in," Momo explained.

"That's the home-school experience but with more money." Shine shrugged.

"Most ninjas are privately educated before we start pre-Genin school," Sakura said. "It's not that different."

"I was home-schooled also till I started at UA," Shoto said. "My mom taught me to read and write; my father taught me combat, so it was like that. Only, I never made any friends. I always felt like going out everywhere with him was a burden."

"Hey, why didn't you and Momo ever go to the same events?" Camie asked. 

"We did, actually," Momo said.

"Wait, what?" Camie said.

"What?" Shoto said also.

"Have we really never talked about this?" Momo leaned on her hand. "You don't remember? My parents are invited to hero-themed events a lot because they support so many hero establishments. Not as many as your father, I'm sure, but quite a few. I saw you with him several times. But you never talked to me or anyone else."

"I never saw you." Shoto was embarrassed. "To be honest, back then I didn't look anyone in the eyes. I didn't even remember Yoarshi after I met him, and he's a lot more...obtrusive than you are."

"Gosh, boi, admitting to not remembering your girlfriend when you saw her before, that's so anti-romantic," Camie said. "Like, worst plot in a rom-com ever."

"You have to remember that romance awakens at different points for everyone," Shine reminded her. "Shoto wasn't ready, so it makes sense he never noticed anyone else. I'm more surprised this has never come up before in conversation."

"I assumed Shoto would remember," Momo said, with a shrug. "It's not important. It's not as if I talked to him either. No one did. Endeavor was...kind of frightening for us. We didn't approach him."

"That explains everything," Wally said. "He'd scare me too if I was a kid."

Mabui stared at the campfire they'd risked making.

"Sorry, I realize we got off subject," Momo apologized. "We got caught up in our own memories... Go on, please."

"Did you want to know anything else?" Mabui had thought the question was answered.

"Uh...well, do you like being an assistant more than working in Intelligence?" Momo asked.

Mabui glanced at Karui, who was not listening to this, as she was too far away.

"The honest answer? No," she said.

Bakugo sniffed. "Why not? Sounds like it has more clout."

"Well, I'm not sure I dislike it more. Both positions had their own challenges," Mabui hedged. "But being an assistant is...more...challenging in the PR department. I was invisible in the Intelligence Division. No one really remembers we exist till they need something ciphered, and we're the last people attacked in any invasion. Some people like it because it's safer in that way. Being Ay's assistant makes me more of a target."

"But the really hard part is dealing with Ay himself," Dabi said. "Only you won't say that out loud."

Mabui frowned at him. "Ay is a good leader."

"It's not that," Shine said. "It's that he breaks stuff constantly. If you had speed dial here, you'd have the repair company as the number one button."

Mabui had only enough context for that to understand that was a joke, but not enough to know what a speed dial was.

"Not to be rude," Temari said, "but I think we've all seen that Ay is less than competent at diplomacy or any of the minute details of being in office. His cabinet clearly is responsible for the Village not falling apart."

"I can't comment on that," Mabui said.

"That's a yes," Dabi said.

"Well, some leaders are like that," Shine shrugged. "That's why they need help. It's not really a bad thing. Not everyone can be a jack-of-all-trades."

"I can't," Wally said. "I can't even do my taxes. I hire someone for that."

"It sounds Iike you liked the Intelligence department more," Momo said. "I don't mean to be presumptuous, but, why did you even accept the promotion? Was it for financial security?--You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm only curious."

Mabui thought. "It's an honor. Honestly, it's not exactly something you can say no to."

"Ay wouldn't let you quit if you wanted to?" Shoto asked.

"Even asking him to would be a disgrace," Mabui said. "You do not ask to get demoted in the ninja Villages..."

"She's right," Temari said. "Admitting you can't handle it is like stabbing your own foot."

"So...none of you get a choice?" Momo said.

"Is it that different from our home?" Shoto asked. "I didn't get much of a choice about being a hero."

"Would you actually have chosen anything else?" Dabi said, poking at the fire moodily.

"I don't know. Since I never thought about it, I have no idea," Shoto said.

"Hey, fun game, what would you be if you weren't a hero?" Camie said. "I'd totes be an influencer, like, a fashion vlogger, and I'd make memes and stuff. I bet I could make money off that."

"I think I'd still say teacher," Momo said. "Or scientist...but I don't enjoy science as much as I enjoy tutoring it, oddly."

"No, that makes complete sense to me," Shine chuckled. "Me and math...and any other subject, really."

"If I wasn't a hero, I'd probably do sports or something," Wally said. "I like the activity. Or maybe I'd do the crime lab thing full time."

"What about you, Babe?" Camie asked Bakugo.

Bakugo snorted. "I've never wanted to be anything but a hero, so there's nothing."

"I believe that, from you," Shine said fondly. "But I think being a hero is what you were born for."

Bakugo was quite flattered, but he only shows it by shuffling and turning red.

"Really?" Sakura said. "With his personality?"

"That's what, like, everyone in his class says," Camie said. "But I don't really see what the big deal is. Like, is there one personality to save people with?"

"She's right," Shine said. "That idea is stupid. Everyone has different tastes. Hey, some people like Shoto's dad for being a jerk. Everyone has their own thing. Bakugo's personality is not the issue, it's character. But I have full confidence in that also. Sure, we all could grow, but would you really want him to change himself into something that fits some model of 'perfect hero' that's not even real and is arbitrary to the person saying it?"

Sakura shrugged. "Ninjas don't really care about that as much anyway. But you all seem to think it matters more."

"It does," Shoto said. "I don't want to scare people. I'm told I can, though."

Since he scared Sakura, she didn't doubt tit.

"You're just so intense." Camie waved a bag of chips. "Even when you're in a good mood, it's like...a freaking telenovela MC. Just serious all the time."

"Am I?" Shoto said.

"I don't think you're frightening," Momo said.

"Don't you think it's more of an insecurity people have in themselves that makes them find some people scary?" Shine mused. "You all say I'm scary all the time. Isn't it that you feel like you're not smart enough or brave enough to do what I do? But you might be. Is it just easier to say it scares you than to say you want to be like that? Or to admit that there's a time and place for it?"

"You're assuming a lot about us," Sakura said. "What if we just think you're scary because you don't have boundaries?"

"It can't be that--ninja don't have boundaries," Shine snorted.

"Sure we do," Ino said. "They are 'never talk about anything ever that bothers us.'" She tossed some dead leaves into the fire. "So I guess you really don't have boundaries. But it seems to make you happier than we are."

"Aw, sis, you're not happy?" Camie put an arm around her.

"I'm happier than I was," Ino assured her. "But not as happy as you...though no one is as happy as you."

"It's because she doesn't think," Sakura said.

"Shut up," Bakugo told her.

Sakura frowned at him. 

"Seriously, Sakura, what is it with you these days?" Camie said. "Seems like you got nothing nice to say to anyone."

Sakura hugged her knees to her chest. "Nothing." 

She was lying.

But they didn't want to press for it in front of the Cloud.

"Well...uh, Dabi, what would you do if you could do anything?" Momo asked.

"Leave the country," Dabi said offhandedly.

"But...I mean, after that," Momo said. "As a career?"

"Who knows and who cares?" Dabi suddenly seemed rather angry with this conversation. "I'm tired of the fireside chit chat."

He got up and walked to his sleeping pack area.

Mabui glanced at others like she was confused.

"I don't get it either," Camie answered her look.

"He doesn't like talking about it," Shine leaned back. "Don't take it personally. Every time it comes up, the same thing happens."

"He should have some goal," Shoto said. "He can't live in limbo the rest of his life."

"Perhaps, like the ninja, he thinks he can't quit," Shine said cryptically, but the heroes understood it.

"I guess we're different in that way," Momo said. "We could quit... We don't want to, but we could. It would be criticized, but we could. I mean, no one can force you to keep being a hero."

"Why do you call it 'hero' and not 'ninja'?" Mabui said.

"It's just how our culture says it." Momo had the safe answer. "It's very similar... Only we have rules like we don't kill."

"A niche group with other rules?" Mabui said. "Sounds like cult."

Bakugo and Shoto both tensed.

"We're not a cult," Shoto said firmly.

"Yeah, b---h, watch your mouth," Bakugo said.

"Katsuki!" Shine said, so loud that he was reminded of his mom. "Don't call her that. Apologize."

Bakugo looked down. "Whatever...fine, I retract that part, but still, watch it."

Mabui leaned away. "I wasn't saying you were one. Just that it's unusual."

"Sweetheart, any group who has a different way of living can be termed a cult if that's all it takes," Shine said. "And sure, sometimes they are. At home there are people who are Amish and live without any of our modern technology as much as they can... Are they a cult? I think so, only because I know some of what they believe. But it's not their customs that make them so, and not their belief in a separate way of life. If it was just that, I wouldn't consider them a cult. It's only when they cross over into something that's hypocritical to their way of life that I could call it that. And I also think we must be part of the world we live in and that we should not hide from it...but to live apart from it in our ways, well, it's not a bad thought. Certainly, they have less crime and less temptation to do many evils the rest of us do...but then, they also have no understanding of the rest of the world. You have to take the pros and cons of anything. Our way of life is what we consider to be worth it. We're aware of yours, but, the no killing thing and all our personal rules have a reason. I'm no extremist. I do think killing is necessary at times. I've never told some of Wally's more extreme friends that."

"You've told us that too," Shoto said.

"And I stand by that statement, but just thinking it's necessary sometimes doesn't mean I'm going to do it," Shine said. "Necessary for some people and okay for me? Two different things. A cult would say that everyone must do as they do and there is no exception to it. We don't go that far. If we want to live by our principles, why does it offend so many people?"

Mabui looked at her oddly. "It doesn't offend me."

"Good." Shine shrugged. "Then we don't need to argue about it."

There seemed nothing to say to that.

"You never said what you'd be if you weren't what you are." Momo looked at Shine.

"I am so many things, I'd never just be one of them," Shine said, amused. "Remember that this is not my full time job...only full time while I'm doing it. I wear many hats at home. Teacher, writer. I do childcare and other things. I never could limit myself to one thing either...and I suggest none of you do. If you live for one thing, and you lose it, you'll feel lost. Always have a back up path in life. We can't be sure we know our future, after all. Even you, Katsuki, you'll retire sooner or later. What will you do then?"

Bakugo said nothing. He had no idea.

"We should rest now," Wally yawned. "Another long day of rescuing people tomorrow."

"If we find them," Momo said.

"I'm thinking positive. We'll find them," Wally said.

They all turned in.

* * *

Day 94:

The next day the sky was cloudy. It looked as if a monsoon was threatening to roll in.

Temari said it was.

They were up at dawn, eating their makeshift meal.

Mabui didn't comment on how unused to this she was now. Karui was more used to it.

"When did you do field work?" Ino asked Mabui.

"When I was a Genin," Mabui answered rather briefly. She seemed tired (hadn't slept very well).

"Not since then?" Into was surprised. "Wait...you're...25? Twenty-six?"

Mabui shook her head. "Twenty-nine."

"You're 29?" Camie glanced at her. "Wow...you don't look 29. Like 22, maybe."

"No," Mabui said.

"Didn't she tell us that before?" Shine said.

"Well, I forgot if she did," Camie said. "Really, she doesn't look it, but, like, no one does."

"Yeah, you've said that before," Temari said. "Who cares?"

"I just can't get over it. I want to know their skincare routine."

"I bet it's the weather and food," Shine said. "Unless there is a skincare routine... Though, come to think of it, more Cloud women wear makeup than anyone in the Villages we've been to."

"It's considered normal to wear a little makeup," Karui said. "I don't go much for that stuff, but I wear lipstick usually. You're supposed to look decent to represent the Village's pride... Don't you do that in Leaf and Sand?"

"And Earth," Hanabi reminded her.

"I'm not a girl," Eichi said. "I don't think it applies to me."

"Unless you're weird," Naruto snickered.

"No one in Sand wears makeup unless it's the extra thick war kind," Temari said. "The dust would stick all over it and coat your face, especially if you wore lipstick. The only time I even thought about it was while I was visiting Leaf, but I don't know anything about doing makeup."

"When we made you up, you looked good," Camie said. "Too bad about the dust."

"In Leaf, you can push it a little with lipstick maybe," Ino said. "Some girls wear eye shadow, but ninja girls usually don't. It's seen as too flashy and un-serious. If you're off duty it's okay...but most of us don't even then, just to maintain the image. I did notice that all the Cloud shinobi we saw wore it though."

"Why does it matter?" Karui said. "Just because of a little eye shadow people won't take you seriously? That's stupid."

"I agree," Shine said. "But customs are so different everywhere. It's considered mandatory to wear makeup in some places where I live, but others, it's considered gaudy. Some cultures use it as a part of their ceremonial wear, others think it's of the devil. I think it's just face paint, and it's not worth making such a big deal out of who wants to wear it, but what do I know?"

"I like your makeup," Camie said. "It's bolder than what I'd do, but it works for you."

"She looks good either way," Wally said. "But it's artsy, I'm told. As a man, I can't say I know anything about it. But did you know a bunch of heroes use eye shadow in their masks so they won't look so weird through the eyeholes? Mine is bright red, so not much help there, but the guys who wear the darkest masks do it."

"I did know that," Shine said.

"Oh, yeah, huh? Bakugo, you do that right?" Camie said.

"What? Shut up!" Bakugo didn't want to admit it.

"Why even wear a mask?" Sakura said. "Sounds like a ridiculous amount of work."

"The ninja is saying this to us," Shine said. "Traditionally, ninjas wore masks, in my culture. You guys are the weird ones... Well, at least the ANBU Ops try."

"Yes, but they're really very uncomfortable," Sai said. [So much for Wesley's opinion on it... If you didn't get that Princess Bride reference, I have no idea why you're even reading this. I mean, I assume everyone who reads this has the same taste in stories I do...]

"I hate masks," Ino said. "They're so impersonal."

"But they're kinda cool," Camie said. "Like, super mysterious."

"When they look like animals, they're just stupid and juvenile," Dabi said sourly.

"We don't wear masks in Cloud," Karui said loftily.

"Y'all just don't wanna hide your gorgeous selves," Camie sighed. "A whole Village of Hollywood stars. It's just no fair."

"Why are you even concerned? Aren't you conventionally attractive?" Tenten asked her.

"Aw, thanks," Camie said.

"You really think Cloud are that much better looking?" Mabui asked, puzzled. "I can't say I paid much attention to that during the war. Why would we be?"

"Idk, you tell me, sis." Camie gestured at her.

Mabui looked down. "I don't really feel that different from the others."

More than one person scoffed.

"Wait...do you actually believe that?" Shine said.

"Well, she's right.I'm not really pretty either," Karui said with a straight face. "I would understand if you meant Samui or some of those really flashy girls...or even guys..."

"Again, like, do you look in the mirror?" Camie said.

"I never thought I was that pretty until you all said it," Momo said. "I mean, really, I still don't see it. But Uwambi picked me for the internship just for that, so I know I must be... That's not the reason I'd like to know..."

Shine laughed. "Commercial beauty is not your cup of tea, Momo? No, I get it. Too much hassle. Uwambi kinda sucks though. I mean, she did you two dirty."

"Maybe next time you should try to intern with my father," Shoto said. "Like we were planning to."

"Oh...uh...well--" Momo sputtered.

"How about 'no way, no chance in hell'?" Dabi said. "That about cover it? Ugh, who would do that to themselves on purpose?" [This will be ironic in the MHA book.]

Shoto and Bakugo both glared at him.

"He's the number one hero, dips---," Bakugo said. "We want to be the best."

"Then stay the frick away from him," Dabi said.

"It's not like that," Shoto said. "Just that he knows the most about the fire quirk, and I need to learn control."

"Quirk?" Karui said. "Why do you all keep calling your jutsu that?"

"What's wrong with it?" Shine said. "It's a cute name, isn't it?"

"Cute?" Karui said.

"'Cause we're so quirky." Camie said something sufficiently nonsensical enough to convince her it was a stupid nickname.

"Sure, sure." Dabi didn't buy it. "Right."

"Do we need to do this now?" Shoto said. "It won't matter for a while anyway."

Dabi scowled at him.

A lot of the team wasn't clear on what they were arguing about, but they got Shoto and Dabi's father=bad. Or are least = trouble between them.

"We should get moving," Temari said.

"Wait," Bakugo said, "before we go anywhere, I had a kind of thing."

"A thing?" Temari repeated.

"A...you know, a thing," Bakugo said.

"No, I don't know what that means," Temari said.

"Do you mean a hunch?" Shine asked.

Bakugo looked embarrassed. "Sort of... More like...one of those things, like you have sometimes."

"So a hunch," Wally said.

"Maybe he means a dream," Shine said in a low voice. "Let's not embarrass him."

Aloud she said, "What did you want to do about it?"

"Just....need to check the area one more time," Bakugo said. "There." He pointed over one of the rocks they were by.

"What is one more check going to do?" Tenten grumbled. "I just want to get down to the shore so we can be done with this and head back."

"Then freaking stay here, loser!" Bakugo was touchy. He got up and stalked away.

"Don't let him go alone," Shine said.

"I got him." Camie ran after him.

"Wait, I'll go too," Sakura sighed. "Might as well do something."

"Right behind you," Ino said.

They all ran after Bakugo.

"All girls following Bakugo," Kankuro said. "That's something I didn't think I'd see."

"Did one of you boys want to go?" Shine asked.

"Do we have to follow Bakugo's 'thing'?" Kankuro said. 

"He's been right before," Temari said.

"But why should we have to prove it. Isn't that his job?" Shikamaru said.

"What is happening?" Mabui asked Shine.

"Katsuki has an impression," Shine said. "He's been having them consistently since Stone Village. He's still learning how to use it, but, if something gave him pause, I trust it was important."

An impression? What was that?

* * *

Bakugo followed his instincts, though Sakura said he was just guessing, over the rocks and down a more grassy patch of ground on the other side.

The terrain was softer than most of the places they'd been. Softer than Cloud's, ironically. Though it was still hilly, it had the more sandy-dune quality that hills close to beaches tend to have.

Not a lot of big trees, but some scrubby brush ones and even a few in the distance that looked more like palms--but a different variation than you'd see in America or the desert.

"This really isn't such a bad area for a picnic or something." Camie adjusted her hat to shield her eyes. "Too bad we're working."

"I'm tired fo being outside all the time," Sakura griped.

Ino and Camie ignored her. Sakura had not left off complaining for weeks, it seemed like. 

They knew she was not happy, but, since she never explained herself, they'd given up trying to figure it out.

Bakugo still thought she was disappointed in Sasuke, and possibly everyone else, but he didn't care enough to probe about it.

He changed his path to more along the hills.

He thought they weren't looping back toward the town itself but to a spot by it that was hidden off the main central path they'd used to get into it. More of a small alcove.

"Should we try splitting up?" Ino suggested. "Maybe go around both ways and meet on the other side?"

"No one's here," Sakura noted. "It should be fine to go in pairs."

"I call dibs on my bae then." Camie took Bakugo's arm.

Bakugo didn't throw her off, so he must have been fine with it.

"Okay...I guess me and Sakura then, we'll go left," Ino said.

Bakugo and Camie went right.

"There's nothing here," Sakura insisted.

"Bakugo's been right before." Ino repeated what the others had said without knowing it.

Sakura sighed.

 They picked their way gingerly around the curve of the hills and looked along the edge of anything odd but saw nothing but grass.

"So...what do you think they're doing with these people?" Ino ventured.

"I don't want to think about it," Sakura said.

So much for that topic... Granted, it was bleak.

"So...what's going on with you and Sasuke now?" Ino asked.

Sakura just gave her a dirty look.

"I can't ask?" Ino was a bit miffed. "I mean, you seem angry."

Sakura gave an angry sigh as if to punctuate that. "I don't know anymore, okay? Does that help?"

"I...uh, think feelings changing is normal," Ino said. "So...if that's it, I mean, if you feel like it's just not...you know, special anymore, that's okay."

"I don't need your help, Ino!" Sakura snapped.

Ino recoiled. "Fine. Sorry for trying." She folded her arms.

In sullen silence, they came to nearly the other side of the hollow alcove of dirt and near where they'd meet up with the other two.

Still nothing.

"Maybe we're not looking close enough," Ino said to herself, not to Sakura.

She stepped further into the hollow itself.

Immediately, she felt dizzy.

The landscape shifted.

Instead of empty grass and dirt, she saw a low structure that was like a pavilion but closed more like a shed, too wide to be a garden shed. There was no ladder and no tools in it.

Ino blinked, half thinking it was an illusion, but then she tapped the edge and it was real.

So there had been something, then.

"Sakura, there's a genjutsu on this area," she said. "We found something."

Sakura made no answer. She was looking in confusion at the space Ino had just been in. Then she stepped forward and paused. Her eyes narrowed.

"What is this?" she said. "Genjutsu?"

"Yes, I just said that," Ino said. "Are you really going to echo me now? Mature."

"You didn't say anything!" Sakura shot back.

"I did so--" Ino realized how childish this sounded and stopped. Which was something. Months ago, she'd just have kept arguing.

But weeks of hanging around the more mature girls had made her realize that wasn't how teammates talked to each other, not efficient ones.

"Well, anyway, it's definitely been here a while, I bet," she said instead.

"Probably." Sakura tapped it. "This isn't a new structure, unless they can do what Yamato can and spring it out of the ground... But why hide a...tool shed?"

Ino walked around and found a door. It had a padlock of sorts on it, with a chakra seal.

"Can't get in that," she said. "It's sealed."

Sakura looked at it for a moment. "That seal is just keeping the place hidden, maybe. I don't know that it would stop us from opening it. Not if we do this."

She yanked the door off its hinges.

"Nothing stays locked that way," Ino said flatly.

Sakura peered inside. "I don't see anything here."

Her eyes adjusted.

Then, with the faint light coming in the doorway, she spotted things against the walls.

They weren't chains, not normal ones. They were open with chakra seals on them, which would be used to inhibit movement.

Sakura shuddered.

Suddenly she had a flashback of being locked in that hole in the ground in Stone Village and injured repeatedly.

She hadn't had any PTSD from that--not that ninja really recognized what that was--she thought. But then, she'd hardly seen anything to remind her of it.

Sakura had put up with a lot over the years and never really stopped to process any of it.

She didn't start gasping for air or anything. She just froze in place, but she stood still for second after second, and Ino thought she'd gone into another genjutsu.

"Sakura!" She gave her a shake.

Sakura flinched and then turned, stepping back into the daylight and putting a hand to her heart--it was pounding like crazy.

https://youtu.be/P5QzmJFvfzI

["Treason"--Gable Price and Friends]