Once Daiki removed the kunai from Shizuku's mother and healed her up enough to make sure her life wasn't in any danger, the group quickly located deeper into the forest, out of sight and sound.
Daiki sat his ass down against a tree, catching his breath, and Shizuku immediately slammed into his side and huddled against him, arms wrapped around his midsection.
She apparently found comfort during this situation in being close to him.
"Daiki, how much chakra have you got left?" Sasuke got right down to the brass tacks as soon as he finished healing the woman, "You fired off quite a few jutsu there."
"Enough," Daiki answered, "About three quarters of my total, I've got enough in the tank to put the boot to these idiots asses."
Sasuke nodded, "Right," he crossed his arms, before looking at Shibuki, "Looks like our mission continues then."
Shibuki opened his mouth, but Daiki cut him off, "That is unless you don't want our help?" he raised an eyebrow pointedly.
The leader of Waterfall grimaced, "…No…I suppose there's no choice." he visibly trembled for a moment, before swallowing and composing himself.
"Oh yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist, "Now we can go pay those clowns back for jumping us like that!"
"My thoughts, exactly," Sasuke smirked, "Sakura, you stay here and guard the kids and the kids mother, we'll be going ahead."
Sakura grimaced, but nodded, "Alright Sasuke-kun, I'll keep them safe." she promised.
'Well, even she can't fuck up hiding away far away from the fight and looking over a few kids,' Daiki mused, before slowly standing up, "I'm gonna go take care of these idiots invading your village, kay?" he pressed his hand atop Shizuku's head, gently forcing her to let go.
"…Okay…kick their butts nii-chan!" the young girl rubbed her eyes before cheering him on.
He flashed her a confident smile and a thumbs up, before joining Sasuke, Naruto and Shibuki to head out towards the Waterfall Village.
Shibuki led them back towards the river, and then towards the waterfall itself, edging around the water surface over a series of rocks that led to around behind the huge waterfall, "So your village is hidden behind a place , huh?" Sasuke mused thoughtfully.
Shibuki sighed, "Let me be clear, do not tell anyone about this entrance." he ordered, voice serious and level…for once. He hopped down off of the rock surface, onto a narrow pathway that was only about a foot wide.
"We know, we know." Naruto rolled his eyes, hopping down after him, followed by Naruto and Daiki himself.
Continuing on, Shibuki led them over the path, to directly behind the waterfall itself, where a large cavern system seemed to lay.
But, there was little to it, just a wide empty cavern, beyond thee large holes filled with water.
'Just as I remember.' Daiki nodded to himself.
As one, all four of them quickly took position behind a large rock outcropping near the entrance, Daiki on the far most left and Sasuke the far most right, with Naruto and Shibuki in the middle.
"Be ready, Naruto." Sasuke ordered.
"That's my line." the blonde shot back, drawing a kunai and preparing.
Daiki ignored them, spreading his awareness out. But, he couldn't feel anyone in the cavern beyond them and not a sound echoed beyond that of dripping water.
"It's fine, there's no enemies in here that I can sense." Daiki voiced. If there was an enemy in here in such close proximity that he couldn't sense, they'd have far bigger things to worry about than getting into the Waterfall Village anyway.
Shibuki, who had crouched down and covered his head with his hands, perked up at the mention of no enemies and stood up, pushing passed the three boys and making his way around the rocky outcropping towards the holes filled with water.
"This way!" he ordered, beckoning the three Konoha genin to follow, "Hurry!" he prompted them, before diving straight into the the first hole of water.
"…Hey Sasuke…Daiki.." Naruto gave them both a blank look.
Sasuke sighed, "…We have no choice." he huffed, before following after Shibuki, prompting Naruto to do the same.
Daiki rolled his eyes and did the same. Why did he have to be so dramatic about leading the way into the hole. He could have literally just pointed and said, 'There's the entrance', but no, he had to be all dramatic about it, as if it was some big revelation and trying to shock them by jumping into the water filled holes.
'Drama queen.' the tan genin huffed, the sounds of water splashing loudly as Sasuke and Naruto dove in after Shibuki.
Seriously, as if it wasn't obvious that those water filled holes were the entrances to anyone with half a brain.
Holding his breath, Daiki copied them and dove in. Sound became muted by the water around him, and he swam downwards alongside his fellow genin, finding a narrow cavern at the bottom stretching forward, and glowing with a faint green light.
He met the eyes of Sasuke and Naruto who were examining it, before nodding at them and swimming forward through it, towards the faint silhouette of Shibuki he could see about thirty feet in front.
_________________________________________
"..Do you think they'll be okay?" Shizuku fretted as she hovered over her mother, her friend, holding her hand to help her keep calm.
Sakura gave the younger girl a smile, "Don't worry, Naruto, despite being an idiot is pretty strong," she reassured the girl, "And Sasuke-kun and Daiki are the two strongest genin in Konoha!"
Honestly, it still astounded her that Daiki was actually stronger than Sasuke-kun now, but it made some sense, since he had much more time to himself to train.
She knew after all, after Wave, that she was dragging her team down, Naruto was far stronger than her, nevermind Sasuke-kun, and she was even hampering Sasuke-kun in getting stronger.
…She was really glad Daiki was around to help and pick up her slack. "Between those three, whoever is causing trouble in your village doesn't stand a chance," the pink haired girl continued, "I mean, you saw how easy they beat those other guys right?"
"Hoh, now that's interesting to hear." an unfamiliar, male voice suddenly sounded behind her.
Sakura's eyes widened and her hand shot down to her pouch, but before she could even reach it, she felt a sharp impact on her neck and everything went dark.