AN: I wasn't going to submit this here, but I get the distinct impression that no one will get it if I don't. They are my OC's, and if you want any more info about them, you'll have to read my deviantart character profiles of them.
Disclaimer: Only half of the characters blong to be, the rest belong to Kishie.
Team Sokkuri
Shuriken rained down in their thousands, stirring with them a spiral of rushing air. The lashing noises as they whipped through the trees' branches disturbing any shouting with an intake of held breath.
Little clouds of smoke drew up around the clearing, each one signalling the end for a single clone as the glinting edges shattered the illusion. Soon the space was littered once again as the blond relentlessly continued his attack from his hiding place amongst the leaves.
The silent watcher sighed childishly, "So pretty..."
"You better not be referring to Uzumaki." Her teammate approached from behind, pondering the reasons for her immobility with a glare.
"No... Look at the shiny." She sat down like a ragdoll, legs stretched out in front of her as she followed the lines of the next rally of flying weapons with wide eyes.
Every time he renewed his attack, shuriken jarred in each of Naruto's clones so fast he couldn't lay a finger on her. Even his legendary rasengan seemed unable to reach its destination, and the kunoichi wasn't even getting tired.
Her strange-looking friend from called out from the small bank of spectators with enthusiasm, "Yosh! Good work Ten-chan! Your youthful energy is in full blossom!"
Her toned am flexed to grab onto the chain of the flying rope dart she had sent up into the canopy during her last attack, using it to swing down to the forest floor, smirking as she sent more senbon his way. "Giving up yet?"
He also jumped from his hiding place, narrowly avoiding all of the arson heading his way as his clones were once again dispatched. "No way Dattebayo! I will never give in!"
"Really?" She asked, lowering her stance to better face the shorter shinobi, hands stretched out at her sides with a kunai held in each.
"Hai!" He yelled, and prepared to charge towards her for a more close contact fight.
"Naruto, you baka! Don't move!" Sakura yelled from the sidelines, freezing him in his place.
He turned his head around to face her, momentarily forgetting about his opponent in his confusion. "Huh? Why?"
"Look around." She urged.
He did as she suggested and found himself surrounded by chakra strings, each attached to the senbon she had previously sent his way.
"Giving up yet?" The weapons mistress repeated.
His shoulders slumped dejectedly, not knowing a way to get himself out of the situation.
The watcher began to giggle loudly, attracting the attention of the previously oblivious crowd.
"Hey, who are you?" Sakura challenged, fists raised at her side.
"You don't know us," The second ANBU stepped forward. "We were just passing through and Choumi here was fascinated by your weapon skills Tenten."
"You know my name?" She stood back, stunned, and broke the chakra connection to the kunai in her hands, allowing them to disappear into thin air.
Ignoring Choumi's whine of disappointment, the taller blonde explained with a soft smile, "Of course we do. You applied to enter ANBU. You were going to be assigned to our unit, but we couldn't allow it."
"You are form team Sokkuri?" She relaxed visibly, realisation dawning on her.
"Why couldn't you let Ten-chan join you?" Sakura frowned, feeling the need to be protective for her friend.
The man shrugged, "It's nothing personal. Choumi is banned from weapons use, and with her being a weapons mistress, it was too much of a risk that she'd... Chou!"
She froze silently in her position, having stretched her arms forward in a yoga-like arrangement, reaching for a nearby Katana.
He scowled at her childish expression as she hoped she wasn't caught. "Stop it. Stand back up."
"Disappointed." She pouted back but did as she was instructed.
"What's wrong with her? Is she ill?" Naruto looked at the kunoichi as if she had grown another head.
"Wrong with her?" A laugh came from behind them, "No, that's just Choumi"
They turned to find the same man again, standing on the other side of the clearing, stood in almost exactly the same manner as the one standing beside Choumi.
"Oi, no fair! Clones are for sparring!" Naruto protested in alarm.
The man standing closest to the group laughed in an identical way to the second, closely followed by Choumi's low giggle.
"Two bodies." She pointed out, amused by the reaction.
Tenten smiled, having prior knowledge of this team, and of their reputed signature trick. She began to clear up the weapons from the floor and tree trunks nearby.
The others just passed it off as another of the girl's oddities as they continued to swing their heads to and from the two indistinguishable figures.
"Go on Choumi, tell them." The second man grinned as he wandered closer to the gathering.
She clapped her hands together and pointed at the man beside her, "Jiro", and then at the other, "Ichiro".
Sakura nodded her understanding, and then pointed out in clearer language for Naruto, who was still being slow, "Twins."
The man she had labelled as Jiro gave Choumi another glare. "Don't be mean Chou."
She sighed heavily like a scorned child and re-pointed at the right twin in turn. "Jiro, Ichiro."
"So you guys are ANBU?" Lee asked politely.
"We are." Jiro nodded as he joined his teammates.
"Including her?" Naruto looked doubtful.
Ichiro smirked at his brother before turning back to face him. "You want to fight her"
By this point, Tenten had cleared sufficient room for them to move freely, so the space was fine to begin sparring again. Knowing Naruto's inability to refuse a challenge, she decided to aid the trio, wanting to see for herself the way that the technique worked.
Smiling again, she rejoined the group. "Are you mad?"
"Are you scared?" Jiro returned.
"Why not?" Naruto grinned wider than his face should technically have allowed. "I bet I could take her easy."
Choumi craned her neck to face Ichiro questioningly, beginning to play with her fingers nervously.
"Have some fun." Jiro answered her with a hand on her shoulder, and then joined his brother in a fast retreat to the edges of the clearing. The others began to follow their lead, but paused as the fight began.
Her mauve eyes rotated slowly till they made contact with his and before he could even draw breath, the twitching movements of her fingers ceased and he was trapped. To the others, it appeared only as if he had become dizzy, unable to focus properly and concreted to his spot.
Sakura made the assumption almost immediately that this was some kind of genjutsu, probably formed in hand signs no one had detected due to the cover movements that had previously been mistaken for nerves. If it were any other ninja, catching him unawares in that manner, she could have thrown a kunai or something straight for him and he would be dead.
When Choumi made no further movement for a while, Sakura stepped back to meet Ichiro's eyes, "What is she-?"
She stopped; eyes wide as she watched the ANBU kunoichi charge at Naruto, jumping to spin mid air as he finally dispelled the jutsu. She threw her leg out on the way down to deliver a bone crunching kick to the side of his chest.
He was stunned, having come out of a disorientation genjutsu to be faced with a kick like that, but as far as physical injury goes, he wasn't any more than a little winded.
She fell backwards with a limp and then glanced downwards at her foot with a blush. "Disappointed. Stupid foot, broken again."
"Wait!" Sakura interrupted as Naruto got his breath back. "You broke you foot, for that?!"
She shrugged in reply, "It's very possible. I can't feel my smallest toe again."
"But... why?" Naruto gasped out.
"It was fun."
He sweat-dropped "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Quite considerably, but I'll live." She returned to face him, "Ready?"
"Huh... what? You still want to fight?"
Barely glancing back at her toe, she nodded, "One down, three to go. Then I'll stop... probably."
"There is something psychologically wrong with you." Sakura stated.
"No," she giggled "I told you; my foot is broken, not my brain. Don't you know any medics?"
Lee grabbed Sakura by the waist to prevent her from charging hatefully at the older kunoichi, as Tenten turned to Jiro. "I can see why she's banned from weapons."
He smirked back at her, "She doesn't need them. Her genjutsu skills are flawless."
"Why does she opt for taijutsu then?"
"It's fun!" Choumi remarked again, having put Naruto into another genjutsu without hardly trying, "Kind of like dancing, only your partner is slightly more willing to join in."
"Such a youthful expression of-"
"Shut up weirdo." She instructed him before charging Naruto again, hand-springing her none-broken foot into his chest, forcing him backwards into a tree, but failing yet again to cause any injuries.
She stood facing his mangled mass of limbs with her hands placed firmly on her hips as she landed. "You aren't even trying. Not worth it."
"I have to admit," Sakura commented. "She may be eccentric, but her simple method works."
Jiro laughed. "Two days in the hospital after a mission is plenty worth it."
"They are one of the fastest ANBU units in Konoha." Tenten informed everyone.
Naruto groaned, "What is it about everyone beating me up today?"
"You obviously keep challenging people far ahead of your intellect level." Ichiro noted.
"To be fair, if you are using those criteria, he doesn't really have that many options." Sakura pointed out.
AN: You know the rules by now. If you don't, then you really need to read my other stories. I think this is set along the same timeline as 'Average', as there is a character cross over you may wish to look out for. Naturally, it's before Lee dies.
See if you can guess how Team Sokkuri is related to 'Average'...
stay shiny and show the luff