Sound Off

In this chapter, Jirobo is going to face off against one of the members of Naruto's Konohamaru Retrieval Squad...can you guess which one? It might surprise you...

Chapter 2: Wrestling Match

"By the way Naruto, is there any particular reason why the Sound Four would want revenge on you? I heard that you only squared off against Kimimaro for a few minutes before backup arrived...and that you didn't actually face any of the four in combat..." asked Hinata.

"Well..." nodded Naruto.

As it turned out, Naruto had been sent on an A-Rank Mission to retrieve classified missions from Otogakure...inevitably Orochimaru was plotting to burn the Leaf Village to the ground.

However, before he did so, Naruto decided to do something..mischevious.

"Tsunade pwns!" wrote Naruto on the wall using graffiti.

"There, that'll teach them not to mess with the Leaf Village." explained Naruto, leaving the spray can behind.

Unfortunately for Naruto, this ultimately had less than the desired effect.

"Hey! Somebody wrote graffiti on the wall! No doubt they were from Konoha!" exclaimed one of the Sound Four villagers.

And to make matters worse for him, Naruto had wrote his name on the spray bottle.

"Please return this bottle of spray paint to Naruto Uzumaki...I'll give you a cookie." read the spray can.

"Naruto must die!" bellowed the Sound Ninja.

Immediately, they went to alert their lord Orochimaru of what he had done.

"You sprayed graffiti on one of their laboratories? What were you thinking?!" asked Sakura.

"I just wanted them to know how awesome Grandma Tsunade was..." explained Naruto.

"Speaking of which, why didn't you send Tsunade out to help you? I bet she would be able outmatch your opponents in combat." asked Rock Lee.

"The Sound Four said that if I brought somebody in that was too strong for them to fight, they would make Konohamaru watch the Cosprayers." explained Naruto.

Hinata, Sakura, and Rock Lee's blood ran cold.

"Yes...that's a very good reason, Naruto." noted Hinata.

"I'd go insane if I had to watch that garbage." explained Rock Lee.

"What the heck is up with the Cosprayers, anyway? They're freaking insane!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Uh-huh! Who even created that show?!" agreed Naruto.

"Probably someone who belongs in a mental asylum..." suggested Hinata.

Sure enough, the Sound Four were nearby, planning to deliver Konohamaru to their evil master.

"Well, it looks like that little piece of trash's thirty minutes of time are up. It's time for us to start delivering that Sarutobi boy." explained Sakon.

"Finally! That time limit took forever! Waiting for thirty minutes was such a pain..." bellowed Tayuya.

"At least now we'll be able to play a game with them..." noted Kidomaru.

"I'm going to crush them like the insects they are!" exclaimed Jirobo.

"I love it when you boast like that." noted the evil kunoichi.

Jirobo flexed his muscles in front of Tayuya...who once again felt attracted to him.

Immediately, the Konoha Retrieval Squad noticed the four.

"What? Jirobo and Tayuya are a couple now? I thought Tayuya always told him he was fat..." murmured Naruto.

"I guess they've come a long way since then..." whispered Hinata.

"Let's try taking them by surprise, shall we? That's our best shot." explained Sakura.

"Hey you! Yeah you! Give us back Konohamaru!" bellowed the genin.

Sakura facepalmed.

The Sound Four immediately glared at Naruto and his retrieval squad.

"Funny, we thought for a moment that you weren't going to show up..." noted Sakon.

"Guess what? You're not saving Konohamaru!" exclaimed Tayuya.

"Let's send Jirobo to deal with this, shall we?" inquired Kidomaru.

Jirobo raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't we lose horribly the last time we sent ourselves one by one to deal with these twerps?" inquired Jirobo.

"Well, things are different now. Thanks to our training and a bit of enchancement from our master, we're much stronger than before." explained Kidomaru.

"True..." noted the evil teenager.

"Now then, you imprison the trash in your earth dome while we deliver the Sarutobi boy to Orochimaru." commanded Sakon.

"Fine. Earth Dome Prison!" exclaimed Jirobo.

Fortunately for Sakura, she anticipated the attack and leapt out of the way causing it to miss her completely. Unfortunately for Naruto, Hinata, and Rock Lee, they did not do the same and suffered the consequences.

"Yes!" cheered Tayuya.

"Alright then...let's get going." explained Sakon.

Sakon, Ukon, Tayuya, and Kidomaru ran deeper into the forest while Jirobo stayed behind to kill Naruto and his friends.

"Dooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee!" bellowed Naruto. Apparently, being trapped in Jirobo's Earth Dome Prison once again was making him feel claustrophobic.

"Calm down Naruto, we'll find a way out!" encouraged Hinata.

"Um, we might have a problem...I'm starting to feel like we're losing...chakra." explained Rock Lee.

"Yes...my chakra absorption abilities will do that." answered Jirobo.

"What?!" bellowed Naruto.

"Don't you remember? You said that you were trapped in this once before, remember?" asked the kunoichi.

"Oh yeah..." nodded the genin.

Frantically, Naruto tried to dig his way out of the Earth Dome Prison using a shovel. Unfortunately, the earth dome was able to repair itself, making Naruto's efforts fruitless.

"This dome is going to become our tomb!" screamed the panicking genin.

"Try to relax Naruto...I'm sure that there's a weak point somewhere." suggested Hinata.

"Yes...but where? I can't seem to remember..." murmured Naruto.

Suddenly, Rock Lee noticed something strange.

"Where is Sakura? Wasn't she with us a few minutes ago?" inquired Rock Lee.

"Maybe Jirobo missed her...I take it that's good news for us?" asked the genin.

"I hope so..." acknowledged Hinata.

As it turned out, Jirobo was waiting for Naruto and his friends to be killed by his deadly dome as he feasted on their chakra. Judging from how effective that technique typically was, it wouldn't take him too long to drain them completely.

And thanks to the upgrades he had received from Orochimaru (and a bit of training), he no longer had to keep his hands on the dome and could something fun...so long as he remained close to it.

Then again, this was more a convenience than anything else. He decided to spend his time eating some delicious chicken wings.

"Om nom nom nom nom." said Jirobo.

However, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was forgetting about someone...but who was it?

Suddenly, he found himself being punched in the face.

"Let my friends out of there!" demanded Sakura.

Recomposing himself, Jirobo decided to take a good look at who had punched him, and immediately began to laugh.

"That little boy brought a weak little girl with him to fight me? You've got to be kidding me..." taunted Jirobo.

Sakura immediately got angry.

"I said let my friends out of there!" demanded Sakura.

"Oh don't worry I will...once they're dead!" bellowed Jirobo.

Sakura immediately screeched in rage.

Suddenly, she picked up Jirobo and threw him towards the earth dome. She must have thrown him pretty hard, because he crashed right through the dome and through the other side.

This naturally gave Naruto, Hinata, and Rock Lee an opportunity to escape, though admittedly they would have to hurry since the opening was quickly closing.

"Ladies first!" exclaimed Naruto, allowing Hinata to jump out of the dome first.

"Thank you." answered Hinata, leaping out of the dome.

This was quickly followed by Rock Lee. Naruto immediately followed...

...only to get stuck.

"Guys, a little help here!" exclaimed Naruto.

Hinata immediately pulled Naruto out of the dome so that he wouldn't get crushed...though he fell on her in the process, causing her cheeks to turn red.

Naruto helped Hinata to her feet.

"So, what should we do now that we've escaped from the dome?" inquired Rock Lee.

The genin then remembered that Shikamaru had typically left a teammate behind to deal with a member of the Sound Four while the others continued to pursue them...since they were at a time limit, that was probably a good choice of action.

"I suggest we fight each of the Sound Four one on one...that's what Shikamaru did." explained Naruto.

"But which one should we choose? If we make a bad choice, we're all going to suffer for it." noted Hinata.

Suddenly, they noticed that Jirobo was preparing a rock to throw at them.

"Heads up!" he taunted.

Immediately, Naruto, Hinata, and Rock Lee got into evasive manuevers...

...but this wasn't neccessary, because no sooner did Jirobo throw the boulder, Sakura smashed it with her bare hands.

"Hey there Sakura...we're deciding who gets to fight which member of the Sound Four so that we can catch up to Konohamaru." explained Naruto.

"Oh...well then, let me deal with this one!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Wait, you?!" exclaimed Naruto.

"He won't stop making me angry...he keeps saying that I'm a weak little girl." explained the medical-nin.

"Darn right!" bellowed Jirobo.

Sakura facepalmed.

"Oh...you have a pretty good point there." acknowledged Naruto.

"Besides, I have super strength like he does." continued Sakura.

"Yes, I've experienced that first hand." noted Naruto.

"Be careful, Sakura!" warned Rock Lee.

"Take care of yourself!" continued Hinata.

"Don't worry, I will...unlike Naruto here." noted the kunoichi.

Naruto sighed. He really shouldn't have caught the Sound Four's attention.

"Let's get going!" exclaimed the genin.

Naruto, Hinata, and Rock Lee left Sakura to destroy Jirobo so that he wouldn't assist the rest of the Sound Four in their crazy plans to deliver Konohamaru to Orochimaru.

As they did so, Sakura decided to do a bit of fourth wall breaking.

"What? Did you think I was going to face Tayuya? Sorry, but after that big catfight with Ino, that's not really how I roll." apologized Sakura.

Suddenly, Jirobo punched Sakura in the face.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Sakura.

Jirobo let out a laugh.

"Hey! I was talking to the reviewers! Cut me some slack, will you!" bellowed Sakura.

"Oh? You were? Alright then...I'll do some fourth wall breaking of my own...speaking of breaking, I'm going to snap this weak little girl like a twig! You better believe it!" exclaimed Jirobo.

The kunoichi responded by kicking her opponent right in the stomach.

"Aaugh!" bellowed Jirobo.

"By all means, feel free to keep calling me weak...every time you do that, I get to beat the stuffing out of you!" exclaimed Sakura.

"It's not like you're as strong as us. Why do you think we were chosen to be Orochimaru's bodyguards?" inquired Jirobo.

"Good point." noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, the two of them started to block and parry each other's blows...ultimately, it was pretty clear that they were getting nowhere.

As such, Jirobo decided that it was time to raise his power level up a notch.

"Well this is an embarrassment...it looks like I'm going to have to activate the first stage of my seal." explained Jirobo.

"Your curse seal? That doesn't sound good..." murmured Sakura.

Oddly enough, she had noticed that there was a strange marking on his right arm a few minutes ago...it was shaped loosely like a fist.

"Not to you it's not." explained Jirobo.

Suddenly, strange markings began to appear on his body.

"Uh-oh..." thought Sakura, realizing that she was now facing a more powerful opponent than before.

"Now then, where are we? Ah yes." inquired Jirobo.

Suddenly, Jirobo punched Sakura and sent her flying a few feet. Apparently, the curse seal increased his strength dramatically.

"Oww..." murmured the medical-nin.

Jirobo then smashed his fist into the ground, creating a shockwave that sent Sakura flying even further.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Sakura.

The evil ninja laughed as he created another boulder to crush Sakura with. Unfortunately for her, this one was much bigger than the one he had tossed at her earlier...and when she tried to punch it, it only left a dent rather than it shattering.

Suffice to say, she was forced to try lifting the boulder instead...and since it was rather heavy (even for her), it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Ha! I told you were weak, just like your little friends." murmured Jirobo.

Unfortunately for him, he had made the exact same mistake he made earlier...only this time, he had aggravated Sakura even more by insulting her friends.

Immediately, much to Jirobo's surprise, Sakura tossed the boulder at the evil teenager as hard as she could, which worked wonders for her.

"Aargh!" bellowed the teenager as he was crushed underneath his own boulder.

"Did I get him?" inquired Sakura.

For a moment, it did seem like she had bested him.

"I guess I'll be taking my leave now. My teammates need my help..." said the kunoichi.

Suddenly, the boulder underneath Jirobo began to crack.

"Never mind." answered Sakura.

Pretty soon, the boulder trapping Jirobo shattered. Curious, the kunoichi decided to take a look at her opponent, and she immediately screamed.

As it turned out, Jirobo's skin had turned red, his eyes had turned black as ink, his orange hair had grown to enormous proportions (even though he didn't have much hair earlier), and for some reason, he now had pimples on his face.

"I can't believe it...you forced me to use the second stage of my seal! Now the other members of the Sound Four are going to laugh at me..." murmured Jirobo.

"No matter...I'm going to end this...once and for all!"

Performing a blood sacrifice, an enormous golem emerged from the ground, which reached forward to allow Jirobo to ride on top. All of a sudden, Sakura found herself in big trouble.

"I know...I'll just send out my slug and help me deal with it. It'll be able to handle it...right?" thought Sakura.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Jirobo had drained enough of her chakra to prevent her from doing so. Chakra absorption was his speciality, after all.

"No!" she exclaimed.

Immediately, Jirobo commanded the earth golem to crush Sakura like...well a bug.

"Aah!" exclaimed Sakura as she narrowly avoided being squished.

The earth golem also began to throw boulders at Sakura...which she was having a difficult time avoiding due to how big they were.

Unfortunately for Sakura, it appeared that the earth golem was simply too large for her to stop it.

"Is this the end?" she thought.

Suddenly, she remembered something Tsunade had told her...the bigger her opponent was, the harder they fell.

"Maybe I could try making it collapse?" questioned the medical-nin.

Immediately, she punched the earth golem in the leg, causing it to become unstable.

"What? Keep yourself together!" demanded Jirobo.

Unfortunately for Jirobo, Sakura then punched the earth golem in the other leg, causing it to collapse...and disappear in a puff of smoke.

"What? No!" exclaimed the evil teenager. Now where was he going to get another summon? Maybe Orochimaru could bring it back to life like he brought him back?

For now, he decided to get revenge on Sakura for destroying his earth golem.

"You little brat!" bellowed Jirobo as he rushed towards the medical-nin at a surprising speed.

Caught off-guard, the evil teenager picked up Sakura and hurled her in the sky to teach her some flying lessons. She crashed to the ground in a heap.

Fortunately, she was still alive, though not without lack of trying considering how injured she now was.

"I'm not sure how I survived that...but why question my good fortune?" she thought.

Unfortunately, it appeared that her luck was now about to run out. Immediately, Jirobo started to choke the unfortunate kunoichi.

"Did you...really think...that you were going...to defeat me?!" he exclaimed.

Sakura slowly began to run out of breath.

"My comrades and I are going to deliver that little friend of yours to our master...and there's nothing that your friends are going to be able to do about it...just like they weren't able to do anything about Sasuke." taunted Jirobo.

On hearing Jirobo mention Sasuke, something snapped inside Sakura.

Suddenly, her inner self began to possess her body, causing her eyes to turn red...and in the process, she became...stronger.

Suddenly, Sakura grabbed Jirobo's arm and began to twist it. Very hard. He immediately let go of her neck.

"Gah!" bellowed Jirobo in pain.

Sakura then picked up Jirobo by said arm and tossed him to the ground.

"What are you-"

Sakura then began to punch the evil teenager into oblivion.

"No no no no NO!" he screamed.

She then finished him off with a devastating blow to the chest...which caused him to revert back to his original form.

"Impossible...I can't be defeated...by a weak little girl!" screamed Jirobo.

Realizing that she was no longer needed to assist her outer self at the moment, Inner Sakura then stopped possessing Sakura's body, causing her eyes to revert to normal.

"I don't know what came over me...wait, isn't one of your teammates a girl?" inquired the kunoichi.

Jirobo sweatdropped. How could he have forgotten about that?

"It doesn't matter that you defeated me...as I said, we're going to deliver that Sarutobi boy to Master Orochimaru...and there's nothing you can do to stop it." explained Jirobo.

"We'll see about that." answered Sakura.

With that, Jirobo was no longer with Sakura, or his teammates for that matter.

Shortly afterwards, Sakura began to pant rather heavily. She had been pretty weakened by her battle with Jirobo.

"Well, that's one member...of the Sound Four down...I need to...meet up with the others." she said.

Unfortunately, she realized that she had a problem.

"Agh!" exclaimed the genin. Apparently, her leg had been broken during her fight with Jirobo.

"This is going to make catching up with my friends so much harder..." she thought as she began to limp where her teammates went.

It looks like Jirobo had repeated his mistakes and has been obliterated by Sakura...heh heh heh.

So, were you surprised that Sakura got paired up against a dude? Then again for some strange reason Tayuya's the only kunoichi in a group of four...or five including Ukon...or six including Kimimaro and Ukon...or seven including Sasuke. Yeah...I'm starting to have a hard time seeing why they call themselves the Sound Four.

Is Jirobo right? Are Naruto and his friends going to be unable to save Konohamaru? Or will they be able to save him before the rest of the Sound Four cross the border?

Well, you'll find more in the next chapter...of Sound Off!

Adios!