Gaara

AN: I'm going to start using the Japanese names for Jutsu that are being used in the moment. Don't worry, the English translation will be written next to it.

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I watched in silence as Baki ordered everyone to eat a soldier pill. Chakra depletion? I mean, I haven't felt anything of the sort. If what he says is true then it must be because of my monstrous reserves.

In order to find out, I closed my eyes and quickly entered a meditative state. Circulating chakra through my pathways, I noticed a small leak. I had lost about five percent of my total reserves.

Following the trail of chakra while still in meditation, I found out the general direction it was heading in. Having learned this, I opened my eyes and checked my surroundings.

Shira and Kyo were both sitting cross-legged, recovering their strength, and Baki was helping out the child and her mother. Not wasting any time, I approached the Jonin.

"Baki-Sensei, can we go outside for a second?"

"What is it?"

He seemed reluctant to leave what he was doing if it wasn't anything important.

"Just follow me."

Giving up, he followed me to the terrace, and I explained to him what I had felt in my meditation. His face went from shocked, to thoughtful and then to resolute.

"If what you say is true, then something or someone is absorbing the villager's chakra. This was not stated on the scroll, but we can't just let it be."

After saying that, Baki reached for his pouch and retrieved two scrolls. One was for summoning and the other was blank.

Opening the latter, he used a brush and wrote the current details of the mission on it. After finishing, he performed some hand-seals and encrypted the scroll.

I recognized this technique, which is taught to Sunagakure ninja once they became Chūnin. It basically allows the user to encrypt the scroll so that none but the intended target can decipher it. It's a basic form of Fūinjutsu.

After that, he opened the other scroll, bit on his finger and placed his hand on the seal that it contained.

"Kaifū no Jutsu!" (Unsealing technique!)

With a puff of smoke, a small hawk appeared from the scroll and flew onto Baki's forearm. I watched on as the Jonin placed the encrypted scroll inside of the Hawk's backpack.

"Take this to the Suna Aviary."

The bird seemed to understand the order and immediately flew away in the direction of the village. Baki then nodded and we went back inside. Shira and Kiyo seemed alright and ready to go now.

Baki then explained what happened, and both of them looked surprised. This development had been unexpected to say the least. Shira was still trying to make sense of the situation and spoke his mind.

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Follow the trail of course. I'll lead the way, follow me."

Not wasting any time, we all flickered away, running in the specified direction. Every now and then, I would stop and meditate to make sure we were on the right path.

A short while later, we arrived at our destination. We seemed to be right in the middle of the town. There was a run-down building that looked abandoned. I'm sure that all of the chakra in the village was converging right here.

Although this was the center of the village, none of the villagers could be seen. It was as if they all subconsciously avoided this place.

"Are you sure that this is the place?"

Baki looked at me with a serious expression, although he already knew the answer. How could we have missed such a big detail? There's no way that you couldn't have noticed the lack of people here.

"There is no doubt in my mind."

All of the chakra seemed to converge right here, in this place. As if it was being s.u.c.k.e.d in by something. Not only that, but people avoided it without knowing. Feeling confused, the gears in my brain started to turn. I looked at my team, and after thinking for a while, I came up with a theory.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say that there's some kind of Genjutsu forcefield surrounding the place. If we made it here, it's thanks to my meditative state."

"Now, What lies here is beyond me. I have no idea what it could be."

They all found my guess to be plausible and nodded their heads in agreement. Something or someone was absorbing the village's chakra for an unknown purpose.

"Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap."

…

Suddenly, clapping sounds could be heard from the building. Looking over, I saw a beautiful woman walk out of the destroyed building. She was wearing a white kimono, and her red hair was made into a bun at the back of her head.

Her lips curled up into a smile, and she stopped clapping, opting to speak instead. Her voice only carried contempt.

"Well well, what do we have here? A bunch of ninja from the hidden sand… How interesting…"

She paused for a second and licked her lips before continuing her speech.

"You guessed correctly! I did lay down a Genjutsu formation around this area. I'm surprised you made it this far!"

"Who are you! And why are the people in this village getting their chakra s.u.c.k.e.d away! Team three, formation!"

Baki stepped forward and retrieved a Kunai from his pouch before ordering us to get into formation. We had practiced this on the way here from the village.

Baki was in front with Shira, I was in the middle, and Kiyo remained in the rear. We were all ready to fight.

"Oh my… How impatient. My name is Hanae. As for why you're all losing chakra… It's because I'm slowly enjoying its wonderful taste!"

"Wait… Enjoying its taste? You eat chakra?!"

Shira's face was one of pure confusion. He had no idea what Hanae was talking about. Zero.

Suddenly, her face became distorted as her hands ran through her body in an e.r.o.t.i.c manner.

"Ahhh… Those rogue ninja weren't pure enough, so I came over to this village! And I've never been so happy! The children's chakra has been especially delicious!"

Baki started getting annoyed but kept on trying to get as much information as he could. In the meantime, I was already starting to gather sand in the surroundings.

…

Suddenly, her face scrunched up and she let out a distorted scream. Patterns started to appear all over her skin as she grabbed her head in pain. The patterns shined brightly but then became pitch black.

"Curse mark!"