Team Unstoppable
By: Dirty Reid
A.N.: Hello planet Internet! Thanks for all the reviews for chapter one of Team Unstoppable. Couple thing I want to address:
Unlike Legendary Legacy's 'A Freak, A Creep & A Psychopath' or Highvalour's 'Team Nightmare' ficlets, my story WILL be serious in some parts. Also, several people have made their distaste of Godly Team Seven quite plain to me. To that, I say this: They won't start off godly.
For example, the reader will note that the only reason Kakashi lost to Team Seven was because of unpredictability and a combined effort on their part. Broken down individually, Naruto only managed to fight as well as he did because of his Reflex Booster (Which will not always stack up against other enemies) and the implanted circuitry that allows him to download- and by extension learn- different styles of fighting. Sasuke will not start out being able to use every Shout right off the smash, nor will he be able to spam anything above Apprentice-level spells until his magicka reserves go up. Sakura will start off like Heller in the beginning of Prototype 2, just with the claws, allowing her to raise hell, but also forcing her to be cautious until she can get stronger.
I've also been asked how they got their powers, to which I say: All will be revealed soon enough…
"… I'm having a hard time believing this, Kakashi." Sarutobi Hiruzen remarked from his chair beside Kakashi's hospital bed. The Jounin was propped up and had been instructed to not move around, so as not to aggravate the cracks in his ribs, the hairline fractures in his arms and legs and the repaired but still tender blood vessels that had been ruptured during his fight with his students.
He had spotted the aforementioned students sitting in the waiting room. And although their dress styles had changed drastically, Hiruzen saw no evidence of Naruto having 'lopped his arms off and replaced them with metal fakes' or Sakura 'hiding the hands of the devil itself beneath her skin'. And while Sasuke looked like someone out of a fantasy novel, the soft tones he was using to make his teammates laugh made the old man doubt that his voice 'could bring down a mountain'.
"Because you weren't forced to face their wrath head on, and whoever compiled their profiles deserves to be captured, flogged, tarred, feathered, doused with liquor and set on fire!" Kakashi exclaimed angrily. "But no, seriously, who did the profiles for this year's class?" He asked. Hiruzen sighed.
"Did it ever occur to you that perhaps you saw them in the same mould as your last teams, and therefore underestimated them?" He asked. Kakashi goggled at him. "I don't need to remind you that you have been incredibly harsh on your previous students. This year though, you were given an unusually talented bunch- despite some of their academic performances- and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that you underestimated their hidden techniques, and have now paid the price for such." He reasoned. Kakashi continued to goggle at him. Had the venerable old man been able to read minds, he would have heard this: 'How far in denial, or how stupid can this old man be?!'
"… Alright," Kakashi finally began in a calm voice. "I've reconsidered my opinion on the matter Hokage-sama, and I am tentatively beginning to believe that you are right." He admitted. Hiruzen nodded softly, with an equally soft smile.
"However," Kakashi added "it should be noted that because you refused my request of transferring them to another instructor, that the very second you show the slightest hint of senility, I will find the cheapest, most run-down retirement home in the Elemental Nations and put you in there for the rest of your days." He finished in a calm tone that would not have been out of place had he been stating the weather conditions. The fact that he said it without his visible eye betraying any emotion gave the old man pause.
"Duly noted. You will be discharged in three days time, upon which you will begin receiving missions." He notified his subordinate before rising and exiting the room. Kakashi sighed.
"Just you wait old man… one day, for besetting these demons on me… Vengeance. Will Be. Mine."
Though sensibly drunk, Tazuna could not escape the feeling that he was walking across a field full of landmines. This feeling had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had lied about the severity of the dangers that could be encountered on this mission, including crime syndicates and bloodthirsty ninja-for-hire; nor did it have to do with the fact that with provoking said crime syndicate by bringing in an outside source, he endangered his daughter and grandson even more.
What caused his uneasiness was the fact that he was holding onto the back of the deceptively strong and seemingly sociopathic female Genin for dear life as the four unsettling Konoha ninja roared through the forest.
It had all started in the Hokage's office, when he had been introduced and freshly sloshed. He had seen the three preteens he was to be protected by, and promptly complained, calling them "A wannabe detective, a colourblind knight and an emo chick." Their sensei- who he could not really think of an insult for, because aside from having three quarters of his face covered- had been making slashing motions with his hand in an attempt to stop his slurring tirade, but he hadn't been paying attention.
"I can assure you we're quite capable of contending with some of the best," the wannabe detective whose name he now knew to be Naruto, retorted frostily with a smug stare directed at his sensei. The other two mirrored his action, and the combined looks made a very noticeable- even in his inebriation- twitch appear in the Jounin's eye. It seemed that the three kids had done something to dupe the Cyclops.
"So maybe you should check your mouth next time, unless you want me to fuse your lips together, you useless drunk." The colourblind knight- Sasuke- had snarled as he snapped his fingers and generated a spark of fire from nowhere while stroking the pommel of the Glass sword he had chosen to carry as appose to his dagger. The 'emo chick' rolled her eyes.
"Excuse my teammate; he suffers from diarrhea-of-the-mouth every now and then. Mission parameters, Hokage-sama?" She asked professionally while Naruto had tittered at her insult. The Hokage, still distracted somewhat by the odd outfits and attitude changes- but still hesitant to believe Kakashi- had obliged her.
From there, they had reconvened at the gates of the village where a hushed conversation had taken place between the Genin. It had ended with Sakura slinging him over her back with an incredible amount of strength, ordering him to "Hold tight!" and dashing off with her teammates and sensei in hot pursuit.
They had been sprinting for a good twenty minutes when an oddity caught Naruto's prosthetic eyes: A puddle. Having been outside being errand-Genin-for-hire (he refused to call them missions) over the past week, he knew there had been no rain anywhere in or around Fire Country. One randomly sitting on a sunny road in the late morning was mighty suspicious to the augmented ninja. He slowed his run and raised a closed fist, signaling his fellows to halt. With a mental command, his retinal enhancements activated their implanted micro-thermograph and t-wave lens modules, highlighting what his teammates and Tazuna could not see… Well, that wasn't necessarily true. Sasuke had vaguely mentioned that he was practicing a spell that allowed him to sense life-forms nearby, and Sakura had some sort of sonar she could use to hunt specific targets. That skill had been invaluable when they had been given the task of tracking down Tora the cat.
'I almost feel sorry for it.' Naruto thought, recalling how Sasuke's lightning bolt had 'accidentally' stopped its heart instead of stunning it. The rotund old woman wasn't happy, but the two ANBU in the office had dropped their illusions to fall at the feet of Team Seven and thank them profusely. Naruto had requested that they stop before they tried to kiss his metal feet.
"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
"Sakura, put Tazuna down. You two hiding in the puddle, why don't you come out and face me like men?" He taunted as he settled into a stance. Tazuna's feet hit the ground just as two cloaked men with savage-looking hair jumped from the vanished puddle and launched a pair of claws on chains at him. Kakashi called for Naruto to move, which he did not do until the very last second. Bending at the knees, Naruto's body lowered until his back was parallel with the ground. As the chains sailed over the blonde, Sakura caught one of them and gave, for her, a light tug. That tug sent one of the savage-like shinobi careening forward. Naruto had recovered from his bending dodge and jumped forward to deliver a knee strike to one of the two's faces. Crack. One of the two assailants fell to the ground, unconscious or dead.
In the meantime, Sasuke had caught the second chain by drawing his sword and swinging it into the weapon's path. When the chain was properly tangled, he grabbed on and began to direct a Frostbite spell along it before striking it with his fist, shattering the chain. As the second opponent charged with his clawed gauntlet poised to strike, Sasuke almost lazily launched an ice spike. The freezing projectile lodged itself between the shinobi's shoulder and chest and stopped him dead in his tracks with a howl of pain. As he grasped at the freezing spear stuck in his flesh, Sakura darted up and backhanded him in the chest. He was sent flying backwards as all the air was expelled from his lungs. The entire altercation took a grand total of fifteen seconds.
"… Nice work, you three." Kakashi finally admitted, minutely stunned at the sudden turn of events. Vague noises of assent answered him.
Naruto had crouched down beside the shinobi he had kneed in the face and was examining him closely. "Kirigakure nin," he said aloud. "I doubt we'll get anything out of this one, y'know, what with me crushing his jaw and all." He said sheepishly.
"Let me worry about that." Sakura answered. She grabbed the first one by the scruff of his neck and moved to collect the second before dragging them off. Kakashi began to follow her until Sasuke latched onto his wrist.
"What is it?" He asked. Sasuke shook his head.
"Sakura can't do her thing with people watching. Her words, not mine." He explained at his sensei's raised eyebrow.
"What's 'her thing'?" Tazuna inquired curiously. Naruto and Sasuke shared a glance and a grimace.
"Let's say it's not a pretty sight and leave it at that." The blonde admitted. Having been at his job for over a decade, when Kakashi heard a fellow shinobi say "It's not a pretty sight," or something similar, he knew that asking questions would get him nowhere.
While he was not versed in the work of ninja, Tazuna suspected that whatever the girl was doing was likely to be unsavoury. With that epiphany in mind, he kept his mouth shut.
"The fact that there haven't been any screams just makes me even more curious about what she's doing." Tazuna said suddenly to break the short silence.
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, she usually doesn't take this long. I wonder what's keeping her." He thought out loud.
"A real doozy of a story, that's what." said Sakura as she reemerged. "Short version is that the head of Gato Industries runs a crime ring that's been bleeding Tazuna's country dry, and is trying to stop the bridge's construction by killing Tazuna here at either the hands of the Demon Brothers or Momochi Zabuza." She leered viciously at the old man, causing him to take a step back. While the Genin stared at the old man as he spilled his guts, the cogs in Kakashi's head were whirring at full speed.
'Momochi Zabuza's an A-rank missing-nin easily on par with me. I, in my slightly delusional wisdom, could be inclined to believe that my team- who stood against me- could contend with that whack-job and decide to go on anyway. If he were to kill them, I could be free from my torment! Sure, I'd get chewed out, but it would be worth every bit of reprimanding! I might never get assigned a Genin team again! Ha ha! Kakashi, you are a genius!' "Alright, c'mon you four." Kakashi ordered. Tazuna's stunned gaze focused on him.
"Wh-what? Why would you-?" He stammered out. "How do you expect to…" he was about to say 'fight these people' when he saw he fierce determination in the three Genin's eyes… or maybe it was savage glee. He wasn't sure. "N-never mind. Let's go."
"We've got company." Sakura whispered. Unknown to Kakashi, she had been sending out hunting pulses ever since the five of them had got onto the boat that had ferried them to Wave Country. Because of the nature of the technique, Kakashi had not known she had been doing it. Sasuke, whose magicka allowed him some harmony with the world's natural energies and any disturbances of such had spared her a short glance. Naruto had been getting minor interference on his radar that only a blast of magicka or one of Sakura's pulses could do. As the Uchiha did not have a glowing purple ball of energy in his hand, he attested it to Sakura's hunter pulses.
"Down!" she barked. As her teammates ducked or went prone and Kakashi pulled Tazuna down, something huge buzz-sawed over their heads and imbedded itself in a tree. As the five turned about to take stock of the situation, they locked onto the man who was obviously Momochi Zabuza, that was standing on the object that turned out to be a huge blade. With a mental command, Naruto's Stealth Enhancer augmentation engaged the Mark and Track module, causing a white icon to appear in the blonde's augmented sight just above Zabuza's head.
"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi intoned emotionlessly. "We've been expecting you."
"Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza returned. "You got to the Demon Brothers, eh? Well-"
"Oh, shut up!" Sasuke snapped, forming a circular shape with his hands and launching an enormous fireball. The roaring gout of magicka slammed into where Zabuza had stood a fraction of a second before, splintering and burning the tree with a dull explosion.
"What the hell!" the former Kiri nin balked. "You don't interrupt someone in the middle of a monologue! What are they-" he cut off his tirade as Sakura's sliding side kick broke the trunk of the tree and subsequently toppled it. He landed as gracefully as a man wielding a thirty-pound sword could, and was immediately beset upon by Naruto. The blonde threw a violent punch that Zabuza blocked with the flat side of his blade. The former Kiri nin almost raised a nonexistent eyebrow when his sword rang like a gong from the strike. He spun his wrist to twist his sword into a swipe, but the blonde leaned back and bumped the underside of it with his elbow, raising its altitude and making it miss slicing him. Frowning, Zabuza allowed his strike to flow into an overhead slash, but was again foiled as Naruto kicked the blade aside. As the blonde continued to rotate, he grabbed the hem of his leather coat and tossed it forward. The tails obstructed Zabuza's vision, throwing off his orientation just long enough for Naruto to spring into the air and bring his knee down on his opponent's head. His blow did not have the greatest amount of momentum, so Zabuza's skull remained intact, although his head hurt like hell. As he staggered back a step, Naruto landed in a stance and snapped his shades into place.
"Not bad, kid. Too bad I'm not me." The apparent Mizu Bunshin stated as it collapsed. Naruto's brows shot up before the real Zabuza seemingly phased into existence beside him and swatted him with the side of his giant cleaver. It was only his Reflex Booster that allowed him to raise his arms to stop the blow from crushing his face, and it was only the Dermal Armour that ran beneath his skin that reduced the pain of his landing to a dull ache. A muffled curse followed as he sprang back up; apparently a fast Kawarimi could fool his tagging system… or he had tagged the clone in the first place.
Zabuza brought his cleaver up to block a swipe from the armoured boy. The sword he blocked was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It looked like an elongated, double-edged turquoise leaf with a golden hilt. The metal seemed to be extremely hot, if the waving trail it left was any indication. Sasuke began spinning his sword around, keeping the older swordsman from striking back, lest he be pierced by the offending blade. Also unlike Zabuza, Sasuke had a shield to protect him. It proved to be incredibly annoying when he used it to divert his overhead swing and channeled the energy from the deflection into swinging the shield around in a slice. Zabuza failed to dodge completely, ending up with a few scratches across his chest. Despite his orders to end the life of Tazuna and anyone else that stood in his way, Zabuza was beginning to enjoy himself. The kid in front of him was putting up a fight the likes of which he had not seen from anyone save the rest of the Seven Swordsmen. Were the boy able to swing the fight in his favour, Zabuza might have entertained the thought of offering the boy membership to the Seven, had they still existed.
When he pushed the kid back with his much heavier blade, he got his third surprise of the day. The boy spun around as fast as he could, and at the exact right moment, released his turquoise and gold shield. It shrieked through the air like a discus and would have taken Zabuza's head off, had he been slower. It lodged itself halfway through a tree trunk, the crunch of displaced wood echoing dully.
As Sasuke came out of his spin, he raised his cupped hand in which a light-sucking purple-black void rested. He thrust his hand forward and a larger void identical in colour flared up with an oddly electronic-sounding gong. From the void rose a swath of flames. The black smoke coalesced into a sort of carapace, giving shape to the raging flames.
And what a shape it was. As the purple energy dissipated, the five shinobi and bridge builder were treated to the sight of what could only be described as a fire spirit. The smoke had formed jagged rings around the white-hot fire, forming elbow-length 'gloves' with wickedly sharp talons, a vaguely bikini-esque torso and abdomen, and thigh-high 'boots' with no bottoms. A wicked shawl of spines capped the spirit's shoulders, connecting to a jaw and a set of ram-like horns on its head. It stared sightlessly as Zabuza until Sasuke said one word.
"Kill,"
The spirit made no noise, save for the crackle of the flames that composed it, and the whoosh of the fireball it launched at its target. It dissipated against Zabuza's cleaver, which he had turned to the side to shield himself, but left him open to Sasuke's overhead slash. He moved to the side and caught Sasuke's arm with a twist of his wrist. The Uchiha's face scrunched up in pain until all the air was forced from his lungs when Zabuza kicked him. While it didn't really hurt, it did cause him to drop his strange sword. Zabuza figured that would give him an easier time to deal with the kid and his weird fire spirit.
How wrong he was.
His ire grew as he was now forced to evade not only the fire spirit's fireballs and claws, he now had to avoid being incinerated, electrocuted and frozen. That threw him for a loop. He couldn't comment on it as he bisected the fire spirit and it exploded, heating his skin to a degree that was actually painful.
"Suiton: Teppodama!" He announced as a mass of water the side of an orange rocketed out of his mouth, tearing his face wraps. Reacting just in time, Sasuke threw himself sideways to lessen the impact. The force behind the jutsu rotated him and ended with his face in the dirt.
"You've got a pretty good team, Kakashi." Zabuza remarked, staring at the Jounin who was rooted to the spot he had been in for the past five minutes, casually observing his two male students wail on the Kiri nukenin. "Any reason you're not in here fighting?"
"My students can take you." He rebutted shortly. Inwardly though, he was miffed; Naruto and Sasuke showed no signs of being defeated by the cleaver-toting whack-job unless he stepped it up a notch, and Sakura hadn't even thrown a punch.
Zabuza actually stared for a second. "We'll see. Kirigakure no jutsu!" Zabuza hissed. One of Sakura's eyebrows lifted as fog so thick it could be cut with a blade settled upon the area. Kakashi was instantly on guard; this situation was when Zabuza was at his most dangerous.
"Eight points," Zabuza intoned, seemingly from everywhere. "All of them leading to death. Which ones do the five of you choose?" He left the question to drift between the five. From his hiding spot, Zabuza was again given pause. The blonde and the pink-haired girl were staring straight at him. Did they each have some sort of tracking techniques? Sasuke had regained his feet and retrieved his sword and shield.
"You're up after this, Sakura. LOK… VAH KOOR!" He roared, shooting a thunderous blue bolt straight into the air. And like a vacuum, it seemed to pull the mist up with it like a thick layer of dust. Sasuke then followed Naruto and Sakura's gazes to lock onto their target in a tree. Said target was gawping at them. Sakura smirked.
"Game on," she murmured as she threw herself into the air. Zabuza dodged her easily, but felt a small twinge of anxiety when she knocked down the tree he had been in by bouncing off it. The girl was not as restricted with her combat techniques as her teammates. Whereas the boys had to constantly stay closer to him in order to attack, the girl could simply use her herculean strength to tear off chunks of trees or gouts of earth and fling them at him. As if that wasn't bad enough, now he had to contend with the two boys again. This time, the blonde had a pair of fucking swords coming out of his arms. Not only that, but his arms were actually made of metal, as Zabuza learned when the kid had tossed off his coat for greater manoeuvrability. He actually caught Kubikiri Hocho in both of his hands and kicked Zabuza in the chest, which hurt like hell. The kid with the blue and gold sword had actually managed to scratch him along his bicep, where he learned that the blade was somehow searing hot due to the wound cauterizing and smoking acridly.
He was somewhat thankful when the girl kicked him with the force of a charging bull elephant, and when he stopped rolling painfully on the ground, Haku launched a pair of senbon needles into his neck. The last thing he swore he saw before blacking out was the girl's arms elongating and darkening into demonic claws as she advanced upon him.
"Thank you for this," said the cloaked and masked figure as they descended from their hiding spot. Behind the mask, they were relieved that the concealing garments prevented the three extremely freaky shinobi who were currently staring into their very soul… well, two of them at least. It was hard to tell with the one wearing the weird sunglasses. "I've been looking for an opportunity to neutralize Zabuza for months."
"What gives?" Naruto spat. "Did no one ever tell you it's rude to kill-steal?"
"Excuse my interrupting your fun, but as a hunter of Kiri, Zabuza was my kill." The cloaked shinobi insisted. Sakura cocked one of her eyebrows as she took a quick look at her comrades. Both of them nodded. Once again, Kakashi wondered just how they were able to communicate silently, yet so effectively. Maybe it was Naruto's possible telepathic ability.
"You got the last hit. He's all yours, Sakura." Sasuke conceded, stepping back. Naruto's mouth twitched up as the blades on his arms re-sheathed themselves. The pinkette returned her gaze to Zabuza and the hunter nin.
"Last chance, whoever you are. Out of my way, or I'm turning you into a julienne fruit salad with him." Sakura warned as she cracked her neck loudly. It was hard to tell, but the hunter nin shifted their stance as the ultimatum was delivered.
"He's already dead, or are you a little too green to notice that?" the hunter replied with no small amount of mocking in their voice.
"Wrong answer," Sakura growled. The ground furrowed as she pounced, her black and red claws stretched wide and ready to slice 'n dice. The hunter nin felt a trickle of terror run through their flesh as the raging shinobi from hell descended rapidly upon them. It was only the adrenaline pounding through them that made grabbing Zabuza and body-flickering away possible.
Sakura's claws tore through the dirt as though it was paper as she missed her mark. "Dammit," she hissed as her arms returned to their normal state. As she returned to the boys and they moved back to their elders, they noted that Tazuna seemed quite terrified. It was hard to tell with Kakashi, but Naruto noted his rigid posture, his crossed arms and a hardening in his visible eye. He was miffed about something.
"Some help you were," Naruto stated. Kakashi looked down at him.
"I knew you three could handle yourselves." He said curtly. Sakura couldn't help but grin, having also noted that their sensei's mood was less than good.
"That wouldn't happen to be an admission that the three of us are better than you, would it?" She asked. Tazuna covered his mouth to keep silent.
"Let's just go." The Cyclops ordered, marching off with three high-fiving kids and an old man battling his laughter in tow.
Man, I just can't seem to write short chapters! But what can you expect when I want to show off a couple more of Naruto's augs, Sasuke Shouting ('Clear Skies') and summoning an Atronach, as well as Sakura's general kick-assery? Anyway...
-1- Tell me whether or not you liked this installment
-2- Tell me what you SPECIFICALLY liked about this installment
-3- Tell me what you DIDN'T like about this installment
-4- Recommend a suitable improvement
DR
