Tsubaki flinched, but the pain never came.
With a loud bang, the allosaurus vanished in a burst of white smoke as whatever summoning technique had brought it backstage came undone… taking with it Sasuke, who had leapt into the jaws of danger in her place.
They were gone!
"THE KING HAS BEEN ASSASSINATED!"
Startled by the sudden outburst from the audience, Tsubaki glanced towards the VIP Box high up in the upper circle of the theatre, catching sight of several puffs of white smoke as they rapidly dissipated. It was rather dark up there, but she could still make out the distinctive ruby set in the Prime Minister's turban…
"Seize the actress standing on the stage!" he shrieked. "She's a kunoichi from the far east! She beguiled the king with her ninjutsu, she must have some part to play in this conspiracy!"
Tsubaki's eyes narrowed.
As expected, this was a power play for the throne, and as usual, she found herself caught in the middle of it all… although the other times it had been Sakura, since Tsubaki herself was only a few weeks old.
"Stop, in the name of the king!"
In a fraction of a second, Tsubaki had made her decision. There was no way she was allowing herself to be arrested; she needed to rescue Sasuke if he was still alive, and she doubted she'd receive a fair trial if she stayed. No doubt the Prime Minister would cook up some kind of evidence to convict her of kingslaying or find some way to slip her poison in prison.
"Sorry!" Tsubaki shouted as she retracted her bone spikes and leapt over the soldiers spilling onto the stage. "Maybe some other time!"
The royal guard gazed up in awe as Tsubaki soared over their heads, catching a glimpse of her striped panties under her skimpy kunoichi costume.
"No human could possibly jump that high!"
"Could she really be a ninja!?"
"Catch her, you imbeciles!" the prime minister screeched from the VIP Box. "She's getting away!"
Tsubaki landed on the last soldier's head, driving his metal helmet down until it jammed tightly around his skull. She lightly hopped off his head and hit the ground running, racing up the steps in the aisle between the rows of seats towards the theatre's main entrance, taking them eight at a time. To the members of the audience, her figure appeared as nothing more than a blur!
"Wood Style: Wood Style Wall!"
The instant she cleared the doors, Tsubaki whirled around and clapped her hands together, summoning a thicket of small trees and thorny bushes to block the entrance. Now all she had to do was return to the royal palace in disguise, descend into the catacombs, confront the evil she was certain lurked below and save Sasuke…
"Not so fast, Sasuke," a voice rang out behind Tsubaki as she prepared to jump. "Didn't you…"
Tsubaki whirled around.
"Wait, you're not Sasuke," said Uchiha Hikari, frowning. "Did Hisui grab the wrong one?"
Hisui was the allosaurus's name, apparently.
"She's out there, I can see her!"
"Where did these trees come from!?"
The dull thwack of blades striking wood rang out as the soldiers began chopping down the trees Tsubaki had grown to block the door, but she didn't move a single centimetre. A droplet of sweat ran down her temple. Sasuke could easily take on Hikari, but would she be able to defeat her with only a one-tomoe Sharingan?
"You're already dead."
A small voice in the back of Tsubaki's head shook her from her torpor as Hikari flickered behind her. Sharp, bony spikes erupted from her back like a hedgehog's quills, piercing through her skin and forcing Tsubaki to abort the knife-hand strike she had aimed at the back of her neck.
"Gotta avoid eye contact, her eyes are better than mine!"
"You don't stand a chance against me, Tsubaki," Hikari called. "Stand down and surrender, Lord Orochimaru will surely forgive your betrayal."
Tsubaki was not interested in going back to being a vessel for Orochimaru, especially not now that her sense of self had strengthened enough for her to develop a proper sense of individuality. Still, this also meant Hikari would not launch any lethal attacks at her, which was to her advantage.
"Ninja Art: Paper Shuriken Jutsu!"
Tsubaki drew an explosive tag from her belt pouch, pinning the paper bomb firmly between her index and middle fingers as she channelled chakra into it. She released it, and it folded itself into a paper aeroplane in midair before launching itself at her opponent.
Shuriken were still a bit beyond her, but this sort of origami was simple enough.
"You're refusing to come quietly?" Hikari said mirthlessly, flicking a shuriken at the projectile. The metal star sliced through the paper aeroplane, bisecting it. "By force it is, then."
"HA!" Tsubaki shouted, forming a one-handed tiger seal.
Hikari's pupils contracted, the three black tomoe orbiting rapidly around them…
…and a split second later, the two halves of the paper aeroplane detonated with an ear-splitting bang, just as the soldiers finished hacking through the trees blocking the theatre's entrance. The shockwave blasted them off their feet and back indoors, but Hikari had already flickered to a safe range… and Tsubaki had already taken the opportunity to vanish into the night.
Like a grasshopper, Tsubaki leapt from rooftop to rooftop on her way to the royal palace, dodging the brilliant yellow beams that swept across the night sky as the royal guard powered up searchlights one after another throughout the capital. They had clearly been preparing for such an eventuality, almost as if they had known something would happen tonight…
"There she is!"
Hikari's sharp eyes quickly zeroed in on Tsubaki's small figure in the distance as the beams of light focused on her, and she launched herself after her. She was lighter on her feet, and within seconds, she had already caught up!
"I don't want to hurt you!" Hikari shouted. "You're one of us, Tsubaki!"