Chapter Two
Alliance
Hello, hello baby you called?
I can't hear a thing!
I have got no service in the club
You see (you see!)
What, what, what did you say?
Oh you're breaking up on me!
So I cannot hear you
I'm kinda busy!
Tenten
I nodded my head toward the girls, not taking my eyes off of Akuri Kaze, and they ran off. The boys just stared back at me, confused. I smiled at them, explaining it to them. "They're going to a bigger area. Follow me." They blinked at me and then raised an eyebrow. "And how the hell do they know where to go?" Still smiling, I said, "Remember, at one point, four years ago, we used to run these streets. We know a lot more about Konoha than you guys do." With that, I turned and then ran at half-speed through the abandoned streets to where I was to meet the girls with the gang. Not long after I heard the others following me, and they were running pretty quickly.
I looked over my shoulder at them and laughed at how fast they were catching up to me. They weren't having any trouble keeping up so I sped up just a little bit. The girls had probably just got there. The spot that we were planning on going to was just a few blocks away, maybe a mile or so, so they'd probably be waiting for a while. They'd run off at full speed, which probably did some horrible things to their lungs and stamina, but it didn't really matter because they had such great stamina and always recovered quickly. I couldn't help but to smirk slightly to myself. Ino was probably getting impatient now because if it took you more than five minutes to meet up with her she would get pissed and spazz out. I knew she would blow her top as soon as we got there.
A few minutes later we arrived at the spot and I ran over to my gang. As expected, Ino was mad as hell and exploded once I reached them. "What took you so long Tenten? I was waiting for hours!" I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow in a smirk. "Really Ino? Hours? Then that girl that I saw about ten minutes ago must have been an evil twin or a doppelganger or something because I'm pretty sure it hasn't been that long since I've seen you." She rolled her eyes. "Look whatever! All I'm saying is I've been waiting for a damn long time." I laughed at her softly. "Sure…" I rolled my eyes, still smiling.
I took a minute to take in my surroundings. Konoha was as green as ever. The trees were still tall and mighty and gave the scent of the forest after a rainy day while the tall grass gave off a sweet scent that whirled in the wind around me. The unmistakable smell of fresh apples drifted through the breeze as well and I couldn't help but smile just a bit to myself. The place hadn't changed one bit from the last time I'd been here.
Turning back around to face Akuri Kaze, I let one of my arms drop to my side before placing the other hand on my hip. "You guys do know how an alliance is formed right?" They all nodded knowingly and I grinned. "Okay then. Are you ready; because if you're not I'm gonna whoop ass without you seeing me coming!" They all nodded and rolled their eyes and I smirked over at them. "Alrighty then; GO!" In less than a second, they were all out of my sight because by the time I finished saying 'go' I was up in the trees, jumping and flipping through them. Everyone in Kunai had a black-belt in Go Ju Ryu and had their own type of technique or special ability, which gave this gang its unique power.
I smirked to myself because I knew that this was already a won battle. Unless they had super strength, they wouldn't be able to take on all of us or beat us. I heard Akuri Kaze enter the forest about eight or nine meters away. I chuckled a bit and ran off faster, jumping and flipping off tree branch after tree branch.
My team was highly skilled. Even if they did get into a fight, the girls would be victorious. I just felt bad for Akuri Kaze because the way to form an alliance was brutal. The two teams that wanted to form the alliance had to duke it out and then whichever team that won led the alliance and decided what to do in the event that the two gangs needed to pair up. That gang would be mine.
I smirked a bit to myself as I heard one of them come after me. They were damn foolish if they thought that coming to take out the leader was the best idea to beating them. The leader was the leader for a reason; because they had the strength to lead the gang and their strength ranked above all others. I reached into a little holster that I had tied to my leg and gripped a kunai tightly. This guy was about to get some cuts and bruises, that was for sure.
I immediately felt guilty when I saw a flash of green and realized with a start that it was Lee. I bit my lip, and then turned and chucked the kunai at him. As expected, what with my absurdly perfect aim, it sliced through the skin of his arm. I pulled out a few senbon, and, with a jump that pushed me high into the air, I released them and watched them fly to Lee. I back-flipped onto my feet on a rather thick branch behind me and watched the affect of throwing those senbon. A few of them embedded themselves into Lee as the others just cut him up a bit.
Smiling apologetically at him, I scratched the back of my neck and let out a nervous laugh. He simply smiled warmly back before he sat down on a branch, leaning against the tree trunk and tended to his wounds using the tree that he was on.
I called out a "Sorry Lee!" before going on.
Sakura
I was flipping through the trees, somewhat excited. I had the funniest feeling that this was going to be fun. My waist-length pink hair flew behind me in the wind and I couldn't help but smile a bit. That smile turned into a smirk as I thought about the poor darn sucker that I would have to fight. They'd be hurting just as much as hell was burning in flames.
The sound of someone stepping on a branch and then pushing off to the left made me stop. I narrowed my eyes and scanned the area around me, looking through every crack in between the branches and leaves. A flash of black hair had me smirking even wider. "Chicken ass haired idiot." I muttered. Turning on my heel quickly, I chased after him as swiftly, quietly, and agilely as possible. He didn't hear me coming, and I fought down a relieved sigh at the thought. 'Good' I thought. He made a sharp turn to the left and I followed him, turning his way almost as soon as he turned.
He began going faster and I too jumped through the trees faster. I pulled a few senbon out of the pouch strapped to my leg and held them between my fingers. I bit my lip, a little blood seeping out. "Sorry Sasuke," I muttered to myself quietly right before I threw the senbon at him. A few stuck themselves into his back, although not too deeply. The others just landed a few feet behind him as he kept going. He sure as hell probably knew that I was tailing him now. If only I had aim like Tenten's.
Trying to trick me, he swung branch through branch, descending with each one until he was running along the forest floor. A few of the branches blocked my view but I didn't want to reveal my position. I'd just have to deal with it. I bit my lip and chased after him faster, although pretty soon the branches were so thick that I barely saw him at all. I continued until I heard his footsteps behind me. I gasped and quickly dodged a punch that was aimed for the back of my head.
The smirk that was on his face added to his handsome features, although it was gone the minute I put both of my hands on his arm and swung him around like a lasso, going quicker each time I did a full rotation. I let him go and he flew off toward a thick trunk but he caught himself before he crashed into the nearby tree. "Dammit."
He ran toward me at full speed and I have to admit, the guy was fast; like lightening. He was in my face in an instant. Pain shot up in my jaw and the next thing I could fully comprehend was that I was in the air with Sasuke behind me. "Dancing Leaf Shadow…" Biting my lip, I turned my head a bit to try and take a look at him. He'd taken a martial art form, and he knew one of my moves somehow. Maybe he'd taken a bit of Go Ju Ryu himself.
Once that thought came across my mind, I knew that all of them probably had taken it just the littlest bit too, because the Dancing Leaf Shadow move was one of the first ones that was taught. He nodded at me, confirming my thoughts.
I tried to trick him, and turned quickly, attempting to kick him where it most hurt, be he sensed this and blocked my kick easily, pushing my foot back down. In a movement so quick I barely knew what was happening, he pushed me back around and kicked me in my sides. He then pushed me under him and punched me in the stomach. My abs were gonna be sore as hell tomorrow. Continuing his attack, he turned sideways just the slightest, bringing his leg up, and I knew exactly what he was doing. I'd heard of the move but had never actually experienced going through it. This move was one that required both speed and strength, and judging from what I'd seen him do so far, he had mastered the move. I didn't know what to expect, except the for the inevitable pain to begin, and I guess that those expectations were easily met.
His foot came down, kicking me in the stomach with the heel, as he yelled out, "Lion's Barrage!" He knocked the wind out of me with that kick, and I was positive that I had a little blood coming out from the side of my mouth. I fell to the forest floor and heard him 'hn' with satisfaction when my eyes closed on impact. There was the sound of him turning around and walking away, and I ground my teeth together. I couldn't let him get away. In less than a second I was on my feet again, fighting a smirk when the grass didn't crunch under me. He hadn't heard me, which was a good thing. 'Time to go hardcore' was the only thought that ran through my mind as I quietly chased after him at full speed. He turned around to face me, looking somewhat surprised. I ran left to right, to cast the illusion that there were more of me. He fell for it and seemed confused up until I let my fist connect with his jaw and sent him flying backward.
Smirk finally breaking free, I said, "Did you really think that that little trick was going to work on me? I'm not some helpless little girl anymore Uchiha. Fight me like you would fight a guy who was holding you a gunpoint." His face dawned a smirk as he got up. "Alright then." His deep voice made me want to melt but I stood my ground, with legs like jell-o. He ran toward me fist at ready and I blocked it just as it came at me and punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and wrapped his arms around himself in pain and I couldn't help but smirk at him.
But he recovered quickly, smirking at me, before kicking me in the stomach again. Glaring at him, I took a few steps back and regained my balance before I could fall. "Damn Uchiha." I ran toward him, a kunai in my hand now, and when I figured I was close enough, I threw it at him and it grazed his stomach, giving him a semi-deep wound. He fell to his knees, a hand over his mouth as he coughed up some blood. I immediately regretted throwing the knife at him, but walked over to him quickly and knelt down behind him. I whispered in his ear hastily, blushing lightly.
"Sorry Sasuke!" And with that, I hit his pressure point…hard…and knocked him out. I scanned the area around us, biting my lip as the urge overcame me. It was too hard to ignore. Noting that the area was clear, I leaned down and pecked his cheek lightly before retracting back and taking in his features; perfect face, those onyx eyes closed and dark raven hair adorably ruffled just the slightest from the short fight. Smiling the smallest bit, I back-flipped onto a branch before flipping through the trees and a few minutes later, I came across a clearing. It was nothing but a huge circle of green, sweet grass, no trees, and at least ten meters in radius. Jumping down from the trees, I made my way to the middle and stood there, waiting for the rest of the girls.
Hinata
I looked right then left every so often, making sure that no one was tracking me. I had already admitted to myself that this was pretty scary. I'd never used the gentle fist technique on someone other than an enemy, so using it on someone who we were going to form an alliance with was somewhat scary. I stopped for a minute, closing my eyes, and taking in a large gulp of air before exhaling slowly and turning and blocking the punch that someone had thrown at me. When my eyes snapped open, the focus was greater at least by two or three times more than it had been before. This was a technique known only to the Hyuga family.
With the new concentration of focus in my eyes, I turned around and saw Naruto standing there, face looking serious and determined. My short indigo hair kept out of my way, although I admitted to myself that it would've been nice to let it grow out. However, for now, I would have to thank the Heavens.
Using the newly sharpened focus in my eyes, I tracked down his weakest pressure points. Easily detecting them now, I got him in the stomach, wrist, shoulder and his neck, making his knees buckle beneath him before he fell to the floor. I smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry Naruto!" He nodded at me and got back up easily. "That's alright Hinata! Now it's time for me to go Naruto Uzumaki style!" He gave that breath-taking grin at me and I fought down a blush and smiled at him before getting back into my stance.
He launched himself at me, throwing punches this way and that, but hardly landing a blow seeing as I dodged most of his punches. He did succeed in hitting me in the jaw with one of his hits and I 'eep'ed loudly and fell backward onto my butt. I glanced up at him and wiped the blood from my now broken lip. As soon as I was up, I breathed deeply. My silver eyes were set on him, taking in the pressure points.
I darted forward and aimed at the weakest pressure point in the entire body, hand ready and waiting. This was going to hurt him a lot and I knew that, but I had to win this. Biting my lip as I neared him, I jabbed him in the pressure point right above the heart and heard him gasp out in pain. His face contorted into one that matched exactly what he was feeling and I felt tears coming to my eyes as I took it in. "Naruto…I-I'm sorry." He smiled down at me and I noticed that he had blood streaming down from both sides of his mouth now. I bit my lip so hard that more blood spilled out and for a second, the thought that we matched came across my mind, but it dissolved quickly.
He laughed. "That's okay Hinata. You did what you had to do." I blushed the slightest bit and looked him straight in those cerulean blue eyes. "I'm sorry N-Naruto…f-forgive me." And with that, I hit his neck pressure point one more time, making sure to have a lot of force in my two fingertips so that the impact would be stronger. Just like that, he was out cold and the sight of it made me shudder.
Biting my lip, I took in his relaxed face. Other than the blood coming from his mouth, he looked absolutely normal; as if he was sleeping. Those adorable cerulean blue eyes were closed in unconsciousness and his golden hair ruffled and messy, but it had been like that even before the fight. I couldn't stop myself. Before I knew it, tears were rolling down my cheeks and when a few landed on his orange shirt, I cried harder. Falling by his side, I threw my arms around him and bit back a few sobs. "I-I'm sorry Naruto." I felt incredibly guilty for having to use the Gentle Fist art on him.
Glancing at his face, I took notice on how evenly he was breathing, and there was a small smile gracing his lips. That itself was enough to make me gasp and stop crying, although my breathing was uneven. I was one of the lucky girls, though, because my eyes never got red or puffy when I cried. I hastily wiped away my tears and jumped through the branches again, trying to catch sight of where I could meet the girls, although I was mentally arguing with myself; questioning myself.
Why did I cry over him like that; I barely knew him! Well to me, the answer lied within myself. As Neji had said, I was weak, another nuisance, and I knew that the one time that I did beat someone, they were more than likely going easy on me. A sigh escaped me as I twisted and turned and flipped through the trees.
My eyes caught sight of a large clearing in the forest, nothing but grass and even a girl with bubble-gum pink hair. That was my cue to flip down from the trees and stand right next to Sakura and give her a small smile of confirmation.
Ino
I blinked and brushed the long bangs out of my eyes. They didn't cover my eye completely, it was more like a strip of my bangs pulled out to the front to add style as well as remind me that I was not going to focus on my hair right now and that if there was a piece left out, then I should let it be out.
Huffing lightly to myself, I couldn't help but think of how boring this alliance formation was becoming. Although that thought was pushed out my mind as soon as the sound of shoes meeting a branch was heard behind me. Well it was about damn time! When I looked behind me, I saw a mess of spiky brunette hair and a gray hoodie pulled over a school uniform.
A smirk found its way to my face as I turned and followed him, but he saw me before I turned around fully and darted off to the side, maneuvering his way through the trees. Rolling my eyes, I fought down a small behind my smirk. It was obviously Kiba trying to get to me without me noticing. I dashed after him, avoiding the trees and random branches that stuck out here and there, being sure to protect myself from any unneeded injuries.
Tenten had told us all to wear skinny jeans and boots and now I understood exactly why; she was planning this from the start. Not the specific gang, but she was checking to see which gangs we could become alliances with.
We were all wearing basically the same thing all except for the color that we wore for tank tops. I had on black skinny jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt with a purple tank top over that, black converse boots with the front part white and the flap of the shoe purple. I had fishnet arm-warmers on although I preferred to have then covering half of my ceps and half of my forearms, which meant it was covering my elbow as well. Sakura had a red tank top over her shirt while Hinata had on a dark blue tank top over her long-sleeved shirt. Temari had slipped on a green one and Tenten had pulled on a hot-pink one, safe to say just about the only shade of pink she liked decently enough other than bubble-gum pink.
We'd all added our own style to our outfits though. For instance; I had my arm warmers while Sakura had her headband. Hinata had her choker, while Temari had her black waist holster for her giant fan. Tenten had shoved her hands into a pair of black cut-off gloves (from her many selections) and we were all accustomed to wearing our weapons pouches strapped to our legs and we had to be absolutely sure that they were full and organized so that we knew where to reach for what. Tenten always snuck in about three times as many to be sure to have enough for her Dance of the Dragon and Rising Twin Dragons techniques, though. It was the sole reason we called her the Weapons Mistress.
Blinking back from my thoughts, I scanned my area to find myself lost in the forest, completely alone, the hooded Kiba gone from in front of me. I couldn't believe it. He'd lost me while I was entranced in my thoughts. That was foolish and stupid of me.
"Dammit!" I hadn't realized that I'd screamed it and that Kiba was right behind me, hiding from me and getting ready for attack. I heard his deep, slightly gruff yet boyish voice behind me. "Heh, sorry Princess, but you're going down." There was a sharp pain going through my arm and looked down to see that his dog had bitten me. Carefully, I pulled him off and placed him onto the thick tree branch that I was currently on. Kiba's smirk was forever evident as he went straight at me and attempted to punch me in the face. I ducked quickly and smirked at his surprised face as I grabbed his arm and held him to look into my eyes. "What? Were you expecting a ditz?" He blinked and stared down at me, seeing as I was still crouched under his arm. "To be honest, yes." Growling lowly, I shot my hands out and pointed them up at him. "Okay dog-boy; then you'd better be ready to pay for saying that. Exorcist Art; Mind Transfer Jutsu!" He continued to stare down at me, confusion etched on his face.
He'd obviously never heard of my family's secret form of jutsu and that was good, at least for me. That meant that he didn't know that I was surfing his memories, looking for the bad and good, the ones he cherished and the ones he regretted, the ones he kept out in the open and the ones he suppressed in the most far and dark corners of his mind. I could easily use these memories against him, and to think that just to surf his memories, all I had to do was look deeply into his eyes. "Watcha tryna do, princess; stare me down until I wither away with the flowers in your garden?" I glared at him before reaching up for his arm and twisting him around, arm behind his back, restraining his other one by the wrist with my free hand. "Yeah, you wish. And it wasn't a garden, it was a flower shop!" He let out a small grunt in pain, although I remained unaffected, until his dog whimpered for him.
Ignoring his dog as best as I could, I put my originally free arm under his free armpit and smirked to myself. I stood on my toes and tried to make my voice sound all seductive and dangerous, as Tenten had done earlier; seeing as it was a signature move that we shared. "So, Kiba…" I let out a small little laugh, low and husky. "I see you've had a lot of…good times…" He tried to look at me, but I tightened my grip on him and he stopped immediately. "What do you mean by good times?" I licked the lobe of his ear, and even though it was something I never did, I felt the need to do it to him. My tongue tingled with the taste as his body went rigid. "Like the time you went on that picnic with your mom and sister. And like the day you first got Akamaru. And remember that time that you beat up those three guys you hated so much; how satisfied you'd felt with yourself after that?" I stopped short, considering whether or not I should say the next part, seeing as it would have an affect on both of us. Deciding it was something important, I said it before I could stop myself. "And how about the time you first laid eyes on me; hmm?" I bit my lip for the shortest second before kissing his jaw. The muscles in his arms tightened immensely. "Yeah, so you got a cute face? What you being so conceited for?"
His comment slid right off my back, and I continued on, ignoring him. "How about the not-so-great times? Like the time you got jumped by those guys in Sai's gang and your dog got hurt. What about the time you shot an innocent man because they used him as a human shield." I could practically feel him wince at the memory. Again, I froze, leaving a few seconds of silence between us, mental conflict going on in my mind. I wondered to myself whether I really should keep pressing on and decided that I'd do it for the sake of the gang. "And how about now?" I said, breaking the short silence. "You're fighting the one girl that gave you a sense of peace and at the same time an unrecognizable feeling in the pit of your stomach since the moment you laid eyes on her. You're thinking that you never thought you'd be in a situation like this. You thought I was a ditz, that I would be easy to beat, which is precisely the reason you came after me. But what you failed to realize is that judging a person on their looks and how they act for the first five minutes could lead to a terrible situation, like the one that you're in now. Add that to the fact that you didn't think that me looking into your eyes could do anything and you've got yourself in a sticky situation now, haven't you? You fail to realize that thinking so little of me, underestimating me, is exactly where you made your mistake.
I smirked, but it was all an act to hide the pain that I was feeling right now. I had felt something when I'd looked into his eyes, something that had made me feel weird myself in the pit of my stomach; something unrecognizable. I remember when I first laid eyes on Kiba. He was good looking and jubilant. He made me feel happy almost immediately, and when I looked into those dark eyes of his just a few moments ago, I'd felt even happier, if possible.
Taking my silence as a time to attack, he shouted an "Akamaru!" and his dog came hurtling towards me, latching itself onto my arm and tearing into the skin. I immediately let go of Kiba and let out a small gasp of pain. I winced and grabbed at my arm before scooping Akamaru into my hand and setting him down. Once he was off, I took in the damage. There on my arm, where there should've been a long black sleeve, was a bloody wound, the fishnet arm-warmers I'd been wearing under the shirt torn just like the shirt.
Wincing at the pain, I looked up and glared at him; he simply smirked at me. "Who said I was happy to see you? Like I said, you're cute; so what? What's that gonna do for ya? Get ready to lose, Princess!." I gritted my teeth, then closed my eyes and smirked to myself.
My eyes opened slowly, glowing blue in the light, and my smirk only widened as I took in Kiba's confused face. "There's always the second part to my jutsu. Mind Transfer Jutsu!" I shifted my mind into a deep state of thought, blocking out Kiba's groans about my useless jutsu and how 'trash talking about his memories wasn't going to have much of an affect on anything but his mood'. I was deep into a subconscious state of mind, using telepathic energy now. My smirk never left my face, but could only widen as I searched his subconscious.
I pushed my arms forward and put my fingers into the form of a circle, screaming out the words that would seal Kiba's fate in this battle. "Get ready for this! Secret Exorcist Technique: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" I heard Kiba gasp. Now came time for the real jutsu. I felt myself drift from my body and ease into his own, smirking when I felt his eyes droop just the slightest. He was in a daze, most likely trying to keep me out of his mind although, he didn't realize that I had already trespassed his mental barrier.
A laugh escaped me and he froze. 'Who…who's there?' I smiled and I bet it was showing on his features. 'Relax Kiba! It's just me and I'm gonna tear you apart from the inside out.' His thoughts drifted around me, trying to deny it subconsciously, but consciously, he asked, 'What? What are you talking about?'
Huffing, I crossed my arms and began to explain. 'Ugh! The Mind Transfer Jutsu is a secret technique that's been passed down through my family and the entire Yamanaka Clan for generations. It's a jutsu that allows you to posses your opponents. Of course, the only people that are able to do this are the descendants of the Yamanaka Clan from the Feudal Era in Japan.
His body went rigid and I smirked as the words floated around his mind. 'So…so that means?' He knew what it meant; he just didn't want to finish the sentence. 'That's right, Kiba. GAME OVER!'
Trailing deeper into his subconscious, deeper into his spirit, I finally took full control. He was hurting on the inside, in an emotional sort of way, not a physical way. I felt sorry for a minute a random thought floated through both of our minds.
'I'm so sorry Kiba!'
I let myself look around in his spirit. They were different than what everyone thought.
Most people thought that spirits were just little streams of white, spiritual energy. How wrong they were. Spirits were like a person with different twists and turns and can be maneuvered through. Only the Yamanaka Clan knew this and we knew where to take every turn, which turn, invert, sharp left or sharp right to take, and which parts of the mind were only to be used in life-threatening situations.
I wrapped my spirit around his and constricted all spiritual energy flowing through it, like a Boa Constrictor. It gave out soon after. Once the spiritual energy was cut off, the body flew into unconsciousness. I quickly released my spiritual energy and let it flow back into my own body.
When the jutsu's in process, the entire spirit goes into the body of your opponent, leaving your body unconscious and susceptible to attack. This was the reason why I never did this if I were by myself in a room full of enemies because while the spiritual energy transferred into the body of my opponent; the others could take a toll on me; and I'd just die altogether once I transferred the spiritual energy. And whatever happened to the body I was in while I was doing the jutsu happened to my actual body because I felt the pain of the physical being as a spiritual being, and that pain became transparent to my body. Even if the spirit is gone, it still belonged to the body, so therefore they were forever connected…well at least until death…and hypothetically of course.
I sighed, relieved when I saw Kiba lying on the branch, bringing Akamaru to him. He was slowly fading into unconsciousness and I knew that he wouldn't remember what I did next. Looking around me, I came down onto my knees next to him and kissed him lightly on the lips. His were soft and warm, and so nice against my own. Well it's not like I could help it! He was cute! And my mind had been screaming at me to do it! So I did. I pulled back, patted Akamaru on the head, and turned around again, hopping through the trees aimlessly.
My eyes saw where I was going, but they weren't exactly focusing. My mind was on Kiba and if he was alright, wondering if something bad had happened, like the branch of the tree that he was on suddenly broke or collapsed or something or…bad Ino bad! Don't think like that!
A blur of pink and indigo drew my attention to a clearing somewhere in the forest and I jumped down from the trees to join Sakura and Hinata.
Temari
Boredom seemed to flow through me freely as I flipped and jumped through the thick branches. No one had come after me yet and I knew this, although my hand had been twitching toward my fan at the sound of every breeze that rolled by. I was keen on fighting someone and I was excited on doing so. I sighed loudly, thinking that no one would hear me seeing as no one had come after me. Or so I thought.
The giveaway was the quick sound of a foot pushing off a branch and the leaves rattling because of that. I quickly turned and dodged a punch from the lazy one, Shikamaru. With a small smirk to myself, I grabbed his hand and turned, pulling him behind and over me, before throwing him into a nearby tree. He flew straight into it, too lazy to try and stop himself from getting hit. His back slammed against it and he fell into a sitting position, one eye closed in pain and a hand on his side as he gasped in shock. Slowly, he stood up, still clutching his side, took a heavy breath, and receded into the shadows. I raised an eyebrow before frowning and placing a hand on my fan. "I guess it's about time I took this thing out." And with that, I slipped it from the holster and pulled it out, leaving it closed, but slamming it onto the branch beside me and leaning on it.
He ignored all of this. His eyes were closed and he was in a crouching position, hands positioned into a sort of sign, the upside-down version of Ino's hand sign, his brows furrowed in concentration and face contorted into one of deep thought. He was probably planning out a battle strategy, planning his next move. I smirked the slightest bit. "You're a pretty smart kid. I'll bet that all your little buddies went straight for the kill." He stood up, shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck before letting out a loud sigh. "Troublesome." My smirk turned to a glare. "What was that?" I gritted my teeth at the look of boredom on his face. He was bold; that's for sure. "Troublesome." My glare intensified. "What's with the face? You mocking me?" He shrugged again and it pissed me off even more.
My patience wore too thin for my blood and in a quick movement; I jumped forward and swung my fan over my head. He dodged it easily, moving to the side. He was pretty quick for a lazy ass. I blinked and landed on my feet subtly under a tree and noted the smirk that adorned his face as soon as I did. "Gotcha." I blinked in confusion and the next thing I knew, I was paralyzed, stuck in place. He smirked while I struggled to move. "You got caught in my Shadow Possession jutsu." I could only frown in confusion as his smirk widened cockily. "Go ahead, look down. I'll let you." I gave him a small look before looking down toward my feet. I'm pretty sure my eyes looked like dinner plates when I saw a long shadow stretching from his feet to mine. My gaze traveled upward and I felt my lip quiver in slight confusion and horror. "H-how the hell did you do that?" He let out a lazy sigh.
"Explaining this is going to be a drag. You see the Yamanaka Clan and the Nara Clan, my clan,
have been huge alliances for many generations. We paralyze the enemy and the Yamanaka posses them. You did know that their opponent has to be standing still or else it would be hard to transfer the spiritual energy. If by any chance, they miss; their bodies are left unconscious and their spirits floating around invisibly for minutes, and this in a battle that's usually measured in seconds." I frowned and looked him straight on. He actually had some knowledge in that thick skull of his. And he knew about Ino's technique. I guess it was a good thing that he'd decided to come after me instead of her.
He continued his lecture, rant, whatever. "Anyway, we channel our spiritual energy in a different way. We don't shoot it out directly; we trail it through the shadows. It depends on how long that shadow is that measures the distance and length of our technique. That's exactly what happened to you. You can't move unless I move or unless I let you. It's as simple as that."
I bit my lip for a fraction of a second before sending him a harsh glare. I tried to move and succeeded, but only the slightest bit, maybe a twitch or so, but he seemed to do something because even that was pretty difficult to do. Although he looked tired and I had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to keep the jutsu up for long, and I was right. "Damn!" His jutsu retreated back just a little later. "I knew I shouldn't have been explaining this to you!" I smirked and tightened my hold on my fan. "Then why did ya?" And with that, I opened my fan to the first moon, shining full and bright purple, proudly against the crisp white unfolded folds. He frowned and then raised an eyebrow at this.
"When you see all three moons, you'll know you've lost this fight." He glared at me and my smirk widened. In a swift movement, I spun around, and the wind current change, charging straight for him. His face went from mad to shocked. "W-what the hell?" The wind turned sharp and cut his arms here and there; just minor cuts, nothing major or life-threatening, but they hurt like hell when the wind blew by again. My smirk wasn't going anywhere. "You see, this is no ordinary fan."
His face twisted into one of confusion and I let out a small chuckle. "This fan is big for a reason. By simply flapping this fan around like a sensu, like I was taught in my Go Ju Ryu classes, I can easily redirect the wind and air pressure onto my opponent. I can cut them up by making the wind as sharp as a knife and can easily make them fly into a wall at the very least ten meters away from my current spot." He seemed surprised and slightly awed at my own explanation.
He rubbed his arms now, but they were just baby cuts, nothing serious. My smirk never faded as I opened up the fan a bit more to reveal the second moon. "Moon number two!" He tried to hide dodge the attack, but I mean come on; it was wind! I spun around again, redirecting the wind. He winced a bit it knocked him of balance and into a nearby tree but he didn't give up the fight just yet. He was tough; I gave him that.
He stood up slowly, a little blood coming from the sides of his mouth. At this, I bit my lip but a glare replaced that as he ran at me again. "You're a persistent little pest, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes, muttering "What a drag." My glare intensified at this.
"And you continue to mock me!" He smirked at my anger and darted forward, aiming to punch me. I dodged his blow easily and avoided a few kicks that he tried again. He tried to kick my face and I used the fan to block it, closing it off completely and pushing it against his leg as a sort of thin shield. "Not even close." I smirked as I pushed his foot away with the fan and reopened it; this time, completely. "Moon number three!" I crouched, spun, and swung the fan in one motion and knocked him high into the air. I then swung it a few times at him as the wind kept him upward and smirked in satisfaction as some of the trees fell and a large amount of cuts and blood erupted from his body.
Although I watched in amusement, there was a small twinge of guilt as I looked at him. I tried to patch it up with a smirk, however. "How's that feel, smartass!?" That being said, his body came flying down from its small elevation and crashed against the fat branch that I was currently on. I winced at the pain that crossed over his face. "Ugh! Damn!" My smirk receded the slightest bit, but I pushed it back up to its smug nature. "Sweet dreams, hun!" I waited for his eyes to close in unconsciousness, sending his face into a sort of peace (and it made me blush to admit that I thought it was cute!) before I turned on my heel and walked away from his body.
I trailed to the very end of the branch before letting myself fall. I grabbed my fan and pushed the wind in a different direction, pushing me onto a branch on my feet. With that, I closed up my fan and placed it back into my holster before flipping through the branches again.
My mind drifted, not focusing on where I was going, but rather on the battle, and the way Shikamaru had looked afterward. He'd looked all cut up and bloody in some parts, but his face. That face. It was so calm and peaceful, and I had to admit to myself again so damn cute.
Shikamaru was immediately wrenched out of my thoughts after someone called my name. "Temari!" My head snapped down to see Sakura, Hinata, and Ino in a clearing. I grinned as I saw them and flipped down to them, letting the wind carry me the rest of the way down. "Sup girls!" They smiled back at me. "Well I'm assuming that you all got who we instructed you to get." They nodded at me and my grin widened. "Good. So Hinata, that means you got ADHD kid, Sakura you got the Uchiha-bastard, Ino you got the wolf-boy, and I already know I got the smart-lazy-ass." They all laughed a little at the nicknames and I rolled my eyes.
They all nodded and I let my grin settle a little, placing my hands on my hips. "Okay so that means that Tenten got the weird no-contraction guy and the thousand-sticks-up-his-ass bastard." Hinata sent me a very harsh, very un-Hinata-ish glare and I laughed nervously. She was not one to mess with when she got angry.
Tenten
This was boring. Other than Lee, no one had come to fight me yet and I was getting pissed off because of it. I was expecting these guys to be some kind of a challenge, but it seemed that the entire gang was too scared to come and fight with the leader. Well that meant nothing at all to me, because they had to take down every last person in the other gang if they expected to be the leaders of the alliance.
A sigh escaped me, soft and quiet, and I thought no one would hear it. That is, until I heard a small chuckle from behind me and turned to see silver-white eyes and long, coffee brown hair. A glare replaced my bored face, anger surging through me, not so much at him but; how long had he been tailing me without me noticing? But then I remembered that he was a Hyuga, and Hyugas were quiet and strict and it was no wonder he could tail me without me noticing.
He lunged at me, fist ready. A smirk replaced my glare as I blocked his fist with my hand and brought my own fist back to punch him. He blocked it with his free hand and raised an eyebrow at me. I glared at him, although inside I felt shocked. What would you expect from someone who was about to get shot by Sai; the most emotionless, cold-hearted, evil, and creepy bastard in Konoha other than Zaku and Orochimaru?
My glare only intensified as he let go of mind hand and wrenched his out of mine. I lunged back at him myself, my fist getting ready to connect with his face. He dodged it easily, ducking down, and I took my chance and kicked him in the gut. He winced, but otherwise, he looked fine. I gritted my teeth. 'Damn! This guy's gonna be a pain!'
I flipped backward a few times before landing in a crouching position and reaching into my pouch to pull out a kunai. The other girls may have had super strength, abilities to shut down the nervous system and knock an opponent out instantly, a giant fan that can reconvert the wind currents and air pressures, or have mind control techniques that could immediately knock out their opponent or make them turn on their ally or friend, but I had one thing that they never did.
My special ability: deadly accuracy.
No calculations were necessary for my accuracy, although sometimes I did them just for the hell of it, which led me to be extremely gifted in math as well. I reached back into my pouch and pulled out a few senbon and kunai. A smirk slithered onto my face as I flipped back a few times and chucked all of the weaponry at him. All of them were aimed to only scrape his face, arms and legs, and only one was meant to embed into his shoulder but not even that happened because somehow, he found a way to dodge them all.
Everything happened at a quick pace. I saw his smirk before I saw him spin as all the weapons went right around him, missing him except for a few scrapes and cuts. I was left awe-struck as the senbon were easily embedded into the tree behind him, and other than a couple scratches on his cheek and arm, he was unharmed. He stood in a stance similar to Hinata's, and even though he'd just dodged an attack that could've led me closer to victory, I smirked. If he was going to use a Hyuga style technique, then he was at a disadvantage. I put both hands on my hips and smirked at him lightly before getting into my own stance.
He raised a perfect eyebrow and launched himself forward to come to a quick stop in front of me. "Eight trigrams, sixty four palms!" I couldn't help but laugh at him as he continuously missed every single spot he aimed for. He was fast, but I was faster, and Hinata had once used this on me during our own training, so I knew what he was aiming for.
He seemed shocked at my ability to dodge his blows and even more shocked and even angry when I got him smack in the face and sent him flying a few feet back and falling into the ground. I stepped forward and laughed a bit. "Nice try Neji, but you can't win." I placed my foot on his stomach as he lay there on the ground, motionless, and pulled out a kunai before jumping high into the air. I twirled the kunai in the air and pulled out another kunai, and another, and then another. I was doing all this very quickly, fighting against gravity as I did so. His face showed confusion at first, but when I bit my finger and wiped the blood onto the first twirling kunai, he got it. Too late hot-shot. And with that, I flipped backward onto a branch and pushed off forward, back toward my weapons, before flipping over and over and twisting and spinning, throwing the kunai at him. They were all thrown to non-vital parts, and only if I sent them to embed into him. I was only aiming to scrape him. I spun now, and threw weapon after weapons before landing on the ground in a crouched position, hand on the ground to help balance myself.
My breathing was hard but I smirked at him as he struggled to stand. He was obviously in pain at all the cuts, clips, bruises, and in a couple places, not-too-deep stabs. He slowly brought himself to his feet and glared at me, dead on. I laughed mockingly, cruelly even. I saw him close his eyes, maybe to maintain focus or to do that freaky thing that the Hyugas did where they forced a sharper focus into their eyes.
He opened them, a new fire blazing as he lunged forward. He was faster now. I back-bended and dodged this way and that, searching quickly for an opening. I found one just as he was reaching out and ducked down and elbowed him in the ribs. He winced and clutched at his side for a short second before he smirked at me. I blinked confusedly.
Neji came at me so fast that I didn't have a clue what was going on up until I felt a sharp pain shoot down my left arm right before it went completely numb. I looked up at him, frowning and pursing my lips in slight frustration. He was smirking cockily. "What the fuck did you do?" He raised an eyebrow. "Hinata-sama didn't tell you?" I shook my head.
"Well we Hyugas have a technique where we can shut down the enemy's nervous system by adding an extra five to ten percent of force and hitting the right spot. We can easily stop the electric messages that are being sent from the brain to the heart and kill someone, but in order to do that, we have to make sure that they can't move so we have to shut down all the other parts of the nervous systems of the body."
I ground my teeth together, thinking of a way to get rid of this nervous system shut down. "Is this temporary?" He nodded. "It is, but there's not many ways to get it to wear off, unless of course I make it wear off quicker." I smirked slightly as I reached into my pouch and retracted a kunai. His eyes widened for the slightest instant. "Are you serious?" I nodded and before he could say anything more, I jabbed the knife into my arm. A wince escaped me as the blood trailed down my arm slowly, the wound deep but not too deep, the feeling coming back easily. I smirked over at him and said, somewhat gloatingly, "There's way number one."
I moved my arm a little, just to make sure it was fully functional (although it was kinda hard to ignore the little jabbing needles of the electricity running through my arm again). Neji was surprised completely at my action, but he regained his composure and smirked. "Well, it's not everyday that you get an opponent who stabs themselves to win a fight." I smirked back at him. "That's because you've never had the Weapons Mistress as an opponent." He frowned. I laughed a bit, ignoring the pain and pulling the kunai out of my arm, letting the blood flow freely.
A smirk came over his face as I placed a hand over the cut briefly, the blood overflowing onto my uninjured hand. Ignoring the shot of pain coursing through my arm, I pulled out a few senbon and quick as lightning, chucked them at him. He was caught off guard and a few of the senbon embedded themselves into him, not too deep, and not even scraping any vital places. He fell backward onto the ground and I made my way over to him. There's no way in hell he's getting back up. But he did anyway, quicker than I imagined, and came at me again. Luckily, I had fast reflexes so I dodged all of his attacks this time to assure that I wouldn't have to stab myself again. He did catch me off guard and kick me in the chin, sending me flying into a tree as I let out a loud swear. Now my back was hurting too.
"Damn it Neji!"
I let myself fall to the floor, and coughed a bit of blood up. I looked up at him, one of my eyes closing automatically in pain. I didn't know how he did it. He looked cut up much worse than me and yet and he seemed to be in better shape.
I was confused and conflicted on whether I should use my special move or just attack continuously. My special move usually drained me, but kicking and punching would just drag out the fight and I'd probably pass out before he did. He seemed to be in better shape than me right about now, though, so my choice rested on my last resort.
With a growl, I picked myself up quickly and reached deep into my pouch to carefully retract two kunai, holding them out in front of me. Neji raised an eyebrow, looking bemused in my movements. A smirk crept onto my lips as I set both kunai on the floor and prepared myself. His eyes were watching, assessing, analyzing everything about me. In a sudden move I grabbed both kunai from off the floor and looked straight at him. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this but you put this on yourself Neji!" In another quick, even faster than before, move, I jumped into the air and tossed the kunai higher than me before pulling out a mass supply of weapons. Twisting and turning in the air, I tossed kunai after knife after senbon after shuriken at him.
They all struck him, scraping him, deeply, but not too deeply, and one embedding itself into his arm, but again, not too deep. He fell back with a 'thud' and took in a heavy breath. I smirked and landed easily, the two kunai landing in my open hands by the grip. "And you're down in two point six seconds." He struggled to bring up his head to be able to see me, but couldn't, and settled for letting his head fall back down onto the tree.
I reveled in the fact that he would probably pass out from blood loss, yet he didn't, I nearly did. In the next second, my vision went blurry, and the world spun. I began feeling light-headed. So much so that in the time it took for me to blink (or at least that's what it was to me), I was being hoisted up by Neji, my arm draped on his shoulders. "How the hell are you…standing?" My words were spaced and my breathing off from blood loss. He made a move to shrug, but a pained expression crossed his face and he settled for speaking. "It's not easy, but I'll live."
A frown crossed my features. "So…if you're standing…does that mean that…I lose?" He simply smirked, amusement in his eyes. I gulped.
Sakura
A sigh escaped me as I looked at the time on my phone. We'd all been standing in this clearing for a full twenty minutes, and there was still no sign of Tenten, leaving us to stand in impatient poses (i.e. with our hands on our hips or our arms crossed). Sounds of coughing and grunting reached me, and my head snapped in the general direction of the sound.
There, heading toward us from the northeast, was Tenten, arm around Neji's shoulder as he helped her limp toward us. She was bloody and bruised, but there was a smile on her face, one eye closed to cope with the pain. And only one thought registered in my head. 'She won.'
I smiled right back at her as she reached us. In the brief instant that Neji let her go, her eyes shut closed and she fell to the floor on her back. In the blink of an eye, the girls were at her side. Up close, I could see a deep, bloody gash on her arm, and a few cuts around the higher part of her arms. Based on the dry blood, I would've guessed that she obtained the wound ten minutes beforehand.
Pushing Neji away, I reached into my pouch and retracted an alcohol pad. Normally, it would've stung, but she was unconscious, so it didn't matter. I gasped at how deep the pad went in when I cleaned it. A glare came onto my face. "What the hell did you do to her?" He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "All I did was gentle fist. She stabbed herself." I rolled my eyes and my glare intensified, though at the sight of his glare, I backed down. I quickly wrapped her am in bandages and cleaned her up with a few more alcohol pads, striking up official conversation. "HAHA! WE WON YOU BIG LOSER! We lead this alliance!" He glared at me again before turning his head away angrily. I laughed. "No need to be ashamed. We went through hell and lots of psycho training with Tenten."
He glanced back over and raised an eyebrow. "We do have to be prepared for -!" Tenten had woken up to slap a hand over my mouth. I glared down at her. She tried to move her arm and caught her wince when she couldn't. That wasn't what had me worried. What had me worried was that she wanted it to be that much of a secret?
Tenten
She was really going to blab to him what we'd spoken about in Suna? She knew that was confidential! From one side of the clearing, Neji's gang was coming toward us. At the sight of their leader standing over me, Naruto let out a shout. "Hell yeah, Neji! You won! Now…what the hell happened to your clothes?"
"No…we won…" I said quietly, letting my hand drop from Sakura's mouth and rolling over. He just raised an eyebrow and looked down at me. Neji repeated me. "We lost. She just lost a lot of blood…that was her fault though, not mine." I nodded in approval and Naruto let out a really loud swear. "He's mad because he's a sore loser. He doesn't give up that easily because of that. Naruto who did you fight?" He was speaking to me during the first part, but by the end he was addressing Naruto.
"Hinata." He said without hesitation. Neji's eyebrow was raised. "How the hell did you lose to her? She's weak." I glared as menacingly as possible in my current condition at him. From the corner of my eye, I could see Hinata's scared face. I struggled to get up, but managed it, and stomped over to Neji weakly. My bandages were drowning in my blood now that it was flowing downward again. Sakura was rambling about how it wasn't smart to be standing up when I lost so much blood. Getting tired of it, I spoke to her without turning around. "Yo forehead! Can you shut the hell up! I'll be fine, watch!" I could feel her glaring at me. "Alright, Panda, but when you do pass out from blood loss and no one can drag your ass back home except for me don't go crying to any of the girls because it'll be all your fault!"
Ignoring her, I turned on Neji. "And you! Don't you ever talk about Hinata in third person in front of her, because that's a big sign of disrespect. And don't you ever call her weak because she doesn't deserve that kind of shit from you. I warned you before. I was going easy on you for the sake of the alliance but so help me Neji Hyuga if you even think about thinking about hurting Hinata in any way possible I will knock your ass into a two year coma! You got me?!" He was glaring at me, but he didn't rebuttal.
A deep breath sent me falling toward the ground, up until Neji wrapped his arms around my waist and held me there to keep me from falling. "Put her down…gently!" Sakura added the last part when she saw the look crossing his face. He frowned and lay me down on the grass. It scratched against the bare skin that showed through the ripped parts of my shirt. Sakura peeled of my bandages and replaced them easily. She looked down at me and let out a small sigh. "We're gonna have to go home and push some lead in there. You're blood is like thinner than paper thin." I frowned but nodded.
I staggered back to my feet. I wasn't going to let them see me like that. My arm reached out toward Temari and I grabbed a weak grip of her fan. She raised a blond eyebrow at me. "Mind telling me why you're holding onto my fan?" I frowned. "Mine telling me why you're being so bitchy?" She never took offense to these things; she thought they were funny. She laughed and grinned big. "Thank you!" I grinned back. "You're welcome slut!"
"Whore!"
"Prostitute!"
"Corner bitch!"
"…Damn you left me with nothing else…"
And we both broke out into laughter, although I stopped when it gave me a small headache. "Tenten, you look a hot mess." I grinned. "But I still look hot, right?" She raised her eyebrow again. "Umm…about that." And she laughed again. My grin was still in place. "But seriously? Did he seduce you and go in for the kill?" I glared up at her weakly. "No, he's just quick. Although I must admit not quick enough to defeat the Weapons Mistress. And if anyone does any seducing, it's you, me, and Ino!" I laughed, but stopped again and put my free hand on my head. Sakura sighed. "You look fucked up enough. Let's get you home."
With that, she pulled me up onto her back, not losing her balance or tripping once. She had intense strength that was forever unmatched (thank God for her mother's genetics!). I tried my best not to suffocate her as I wrapped my arms around her neck. I felt everyone else's eyes on me, but ignored them. "That so doesn't look right…" Were the words that came out of Naruto's mouth. I frowned and Sakura yelled out. "TEMARI, TAKE CARE OF THE DUMB BLOND!" Ino turned to us. "Why do I have to fight Temari?" I laughed and then cringed. "I meant Naruto, Pig!" Ino frowned. "Shut the fuck up forehead!"
Temari turned to Naruto, smirking, as Sakura and Ino jumped into the trees. "Alright kid, this is gonna hurt like hell!" I heard her say. She cackled wildly as she gave Naruto a five second head start and starting chasing after him, pulling her fan open and swishing it back and forth, redirecting the wind currents.
Shikamaru's lazy drawl rang out again. "Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention she can control wind?" I could hear Akuri Kaze's impressed looks. And then Sasuke's own deep monotone drawled out. "Yo, Kiba, you know you got something shining on your lips, right?" From the corner of my eye, I could see Ino blushing profusely. It barely registered, though, because pretty soon my entire world went black, and I slipped into unconsciousness.
Yeah, I got rid of a whole bunch of useless crap lmaoo and made the grammer and spelling better =D so...here ya go =] . Thanks to all who read and review please =] !