'He ran away…' Sasuke thought bitterly, staring after their attacker, his partial Sharingan blazing as red as the blood that flecked his face.
"Dammit, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, leaping over the tree roots to check on her Sasuke-kun. "Why did you let yourself get caught like that?!?"
"Hey, hey!" He defended, joining them. "Don't blame me! I was peeing!"
"And what have I said about talking about that in- front- of- a- lady?!" She growled viciously, punctuating each syllable with a smack to the back of his head.
"He won't be gone for long." Sasuke warned, wiping his opponent's blood off his cheek and deactivating the Sharingan. "We need to-" He stopped and shot a look over his shoulder, eyes widening. "RUN!" he yelled, moments before a tremendous crash resonated through the forest, a nearby tree exploding in a shower of wood shards.
"What the heck is that?!?" Naruto yelled over the noise, shielding his face as they ran for cover.
"Not now, idiot!!" Sasuke yelled, jumping behind a sturdy tree and pressing his back flat against the bark. The others mimicked him, gritting their teeth over the thunder of the noise.
After a minute or two, when the last crunching of falling branches had quietened sufficiently, Sasuke slowly shifted round the tree to investigate the source of the noise.
"Well?" Sakura asked as Sasuke stiffened, a hand tight round a kunai. He slowly turned back, an incredulously confused look on his usually haughty features. He shook his head disbelievingly, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just look for yourselves…" He said, tilting his head towards 'it'. They leant slowly round the corner. And gaped.
What looked liked a giant set of brightly painted children's building blocks was nestled in the splintered remains of the trees, smoke drifting from the side opposite the pointy end. The top part was partially translucent, and vague shadows could be seen moving around.
"What…"
"The hell…"
"Is that?" Sasuke finished, looking up at it suspiciously. "No idea. I've never seen anything like it. It could be some type of Jutsu."
"Looks like there's something in it…" Said Naruto, taking a few steps out from behind the tree and squinting at the dome on top. "You don't think someone's hurt in there, do you?" He wondered, glancing back to them.
"That's not a real concern of ours." Sasuke said coldly, starting out in the other direction. "Helping them doesn't help us complete the exam, does it? Plus it's probably a trap."
"Oi! Heartless bastard!" Naruto growled, pointing at the 'thing'. "They could be in real trouble, and you want to walk away?" Sasuke stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah."
"Sasuke!" Sakura reproached, shooting him a glare. "How can you say that? Naruto's right, we can't just walk away from an accident like that!" When this failed to move him she sighed. "Look, if they're injured, there's not really much threat from them, is there? And anyway, they might have a scroll as well." He stopped walking, and the other two hoped he was giving the situation a second thought. After a tense few seconds, however-
"Fine."
"Yes!" Naruto cheered, "Outvoted!" and he made up a little 'My-idea-beat-Sasuke's' dance on the spot. It took him a few seconds to realise the others were halfway to the object.
"Hey! Wait up!"
"You." Donald moaned, elbowing Sora in the ribs. "Never. Drive. Again."
"I was crashing, not driving…" Sora countered, shrugging the other two off his back as he made his way to the control panel, shrugging his shoulders to ease the pain. He sat in the pilot's seat and tapped the console's buttons.
Nothing. Not even the hum of background power or flicker of standby lights. Sora glanced around, panic slowly rising in his chest.
"Um, Donald? Goofy?" He said slowly, trying to hide the squeak in his voice. "I think you should get up here. Now."
"What's the matter now?!" Donald huffed, straightening his ruffled tail feathers. His eyes widened, however, when he saw the inactivity of the panel. He quacked loudly, pressing buttons at random, mimicking Sora's earlier performance to a T. "WHAAAT?!?! What's going on?!? What's happened?" He rounded on Sora. "What did you do now?!?"
"Looks like the ships out of power…" Goofy said, squinting at the control panel as he rubbed his chin. It was surprising how soothing his calm voice was in the middle of the panic. "Chip 'n' Dale showed me a thing or two before we left." He commented to their curious looks. He pushed a button or two experimentally, 'hmm'ing as he did so.
"Well?" Sora asked anxiously, like a nervous family member to a doctor.
"Yep, out of power." He said gravely, nodding his head.
"Can you fix it?" Donald asked in the same hushed tone.
"What? Are you kidding?" Goofy hyucked jovially, hands on his hips. "They didn't show me that much!"
The other two groaned in frustration.
"Well, one of these buttons has to do something!" Goofy said, scratching the side of his head. "Maybe…" He pushed an important looking green one.
Chink-chink-chink
"Huh?" He frowned, tilting his head to the side. He pushed it again.
Chink-chink-chink
"Since when did we get a 'Chink-chink' button?" Sora asked bemusedly, staring at the button warily. The other two shrugged, and Goofy pressed it again.
Chink-chink-chi-
CRACK!
They all jumped a mile when the sharp point of a knife burst through the glass in front of them, littering the console with shards. They stared in surprise as it was pulled out, and a bright blue eye appeared in the hole, which widened in equal surprise.
"Um… Hi?" Sora ventured nervously, leaning forward to look back into the eye.
"Are you alright in there?" The eye asked, looking from side to side in curiosity. "Don't worry, we'll get you out!"
"No, wait!" Sora said hurriedly, waving him down. "There's already a way out round the side! Just don't start stabbing at the glass again!" The figure eye-smiled to them.
"Sure thing!" It disappeared from view, and the three inside took that as a cue to venture outside (with difficulty due to the angle of the ship). They pulled the manual release and the door burst open, letting them scramble out onto a thick branch still left standing.
"Um…" Donald asked, looking round warily at the dark forest. "I thought they were meeting us-"
"WHOA!" A loud voice exclaimed from above them, and they looked up in time to see a blond haired boy in an orange suit jump from the top of the ship and land in between them, looking with interest at Donald and Goofy. "Cool Summons!"
"Summons? Us?" Goofy asked, scratching his head and looking confusedly to Donald, who just shrugged. The boy suddenly rounded on him; grabbing his beak and yanking it open as he peered down his throat.
"How long did it take for you to learn this?" The boy asked the aghast Sora as Donald flailed around, gagging as the boy grabbed his tongue and stretched it out.
"Gkkkacht-! Get off me!" Donald snapped angrily, pulling free of his grip and smacking him on the head with his wand.
"Kuso!" He swore, baring a fist at the enraged fowl. "Damn bird! Watch who you're hitting!"
"So, who would that be?" Sora quickly interjected as Goofy grabbed Donald to stop him pounding the boy. The boy grinned brightly as he pointing a thumb at his chest.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage!" He said proudly.
"Keep dreaming, dropout." Said a voice from behind Sora. He turned to see a dark haired boy dressed in blue drop down from the top of the ship, followed by a girl in red with pink hair. Naruto frowned, folding his arms defensively.
"(Sasuke-baka…)" He muttered, turning away.
"Naruto! You moron!" The girl said fiercely, striding past the bemused Sora and yanking Naruto from between Donald and Goofy by his ear. She quickly bowed to Sora as she walked back. "I'm really sorry about him being so rude." She motioned to the struggling boy she had by the earlobe.
"Oh… N-no problem…" he muttered as she pulled him, cursing, back to the dark haired boy.
"Naruto, what is your problem?!?" She growled on releasing him. "You don't just jump into a situation without finding out all the facts!"
"Aw, Sakura-chan!" He moaned, rubbing his ear. "That's what I was trying to do!"
"What, by looking down a Summons's throat?" Sasuke asked. "Real smart thinking there, dropout."
"Well… he could have hidden a scroll down there!"
"And I don't think these guys want to hear you whole Hokage story, y'know." Sakura added, pointing to the trio, who by now were shrugging to each other, looking completely lost.
"Um, excuse me," Goofy tentatively interrupted, raising a hand as if asking a question in school. "What's a Hokage?"
The three ninjas stared at him, unsure what he's just said. He smiled good-naturedly, waiting for an answer.
"You're… kidding, right?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. The three shook their heads in unison. "The leader of Kohana? The top Ninja of the village?"
"Ninja?" Donald asked, scratching his head. "You mean like Yuffie?"
"What's a Yuffie?" Naruto asked back, mirroring Donald's actions. He looked round as Sasuke pinched his elbow, tilting his head away, calling for a huddle.
"(I don't think these guys are Ninjas.)" Naruto whispered to the others, looking over his shoulder at them.
"(Well, what was your first guess(?))" Sakura said scathingly. "(Their chakra signatures are really weak, except that duck, but it's concentrated round that staff of it's.)"
"(Sakura's right.)" Sasuke confirmed. "(I don't think these guys have ever had ninja training.)"
"(We might as well ask them.)" Naruto shrugged. He turned back to them. "Hey, do you guys have any scrolls on you?"
"(Real subtle, Naruto…)" Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes.
"No, why would we?" Donald said warily.
"Because that's what we're looking for!" Naruto said disappointedly. "It's part of the Chuunin Exam!" The three looked blankly at him. "Oh, yeah… Well, it's so we can go to the next level of being Ninjas, 'cause now, we're just Genin, and-"
"Just to get things straight," Sasuke interrupted, giving Sora a steely look. "You don't have any scrolls, right?"
"Well, no…"
"Then goodbye." He said bluntly, turning on the spot and walking away. "(I knew it would be a waste of time…)"
"Sasuke!" Naruto growled, running after him. Sakura sighed to herself, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Are they normally like that?" Sora asked, slightly amused.
"All the time, I'm afraid." She smiled at him. "But they have a point. If you don't have a scroll, then there's no point in us being here." She made to go, turning on the spot.
"Wait a second!" Sora perked up, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. She reacted instinctively, drawing a kunai, the point pressed against Sora's throat before anyone could twitch, and Sora winced at the killing intent he could feel.
"Oh-! Sorry…" She said hurriedly, removing the tip from his windpipe. "Training…"
"N-no, it's a-alright…" he said, trying to keep his voice steady though his heart was racing. "I-I just wanted to ask, is it alright if we come with you?"
"What?!?" Sakura, Donald and Goofy said in unison.
"Why not?" He reasoned, looking to the pair. "We need to find a way to get the ship working," He turned to Sakura. "And it couldn't hurt to lend you some help, right?"
"Well…" She narrowed her eyes at them, and then glanced to where Naruto and Saskue were arguing animatedly. She looked back to Sora's pleading face.
"…alright, but you'll have to look after yourselves!" She warned, pointing at them. "We can't afford to cover for you three when there's trouble."
"No worries!" Donald said confidently. "We can look after ourselves!"
"Okay, if you insist…" she said cheerily. Without warning, she broke into a run, leaving them in her dust as she joined the other two as they sprang from branch to branch.
"HEY-!" Sora yelled in surprise, racing to catch them, Donald and Goofy hot on his heels. "Wait up!"
Sakura has joined your party.
Just trying to get two Canon-s working here...
