We love each other, we fight, we climb over all sorts of obstacles together.
Aishiatte, kenka shite, ironna kabe futari de nori koete.
Naruto charged straight into battle without even stopping to think about what he was doing, he didn't even come up with a battle strategy. He just... charged.
With a swing of his katana, the bandit easily sent two dozen Naruto's flying across the field, each one of then vanishing with a 'poof'.
The real Naruto stood up, and after wiping away some dirt off his cheek he yelled "Come on! Is that the best you got?" before running towards the bandit once more.
Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naruto must be Konoha's worst genin, he was even worse than Sakura and Miku!
After shouting some profanity, he headed over to where Naruto was, shuriken clutched in his hand ready to aid his comrade, if he could even consider Naruto that much.
At first, it seemed like Sasuke was doing alright, he landed a flew blows, and managed to dodge every attack that was thrown back at him. He was feeling pretty proud of himself until his shuriken struck a replacement jutsu and he got punched in the face by the real bandit, who had snuck up behind him.
Sasuke flung himself back up to his feet, and charged back into battle. Both Naruto and Sasuke were charging blindly at the bandit who easily deflected their attacks with his katana and then knocked them both backwards with a swing of his fists.
'Why am I standing by watching them get beat?' Miku asked herself, watching Naruto get hit with Sasuke's flying figure. 'I should try to help...'
"Get out of my way loser!" Sasuke yelled, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. He didn't look soo pleased to have come crashing down onto Naruto.
"Me?! You watch where you're going you jerk!" Naruto retaliated, swinging at punch at Sasuke. He ducked just in time, and then struck Naruto in the face with his own fist.
"You guys, hey quit it!" Miku yelled, but neither one of them were listening to her. She wasn't even sure if the could hear her. Without thinking she rushed in to stop them from killing each other.
The bandit stood in the background watching with an amused smirk as the two boys fought with one another. "What a joke! You Konoha genin are pathetic!"
His words reached Sasuke and Naruto's ears, casing them to cease their attacks on one another.
"What did you say?!" Sasuke yelled, fists clenched.
"Yeah you big jerk! The only thing pathetic here is you and your face!" Naruto retorted.
Miku stopped in her tracks, about a yard away from where they were all fighting.
"At least... they stopped trying to kill each other. For now." She said to herself, breathing a sigh of relief.
She watched as Sasuke successfully pulled off one of his fire jutsu's, scorching the bandit's arm, causing him to drop his katana. Naruto had used his signature "Uzumaki Barrage" and landed a few good blows to his arms, stomach and face.
Just when it seemed that things were finally starting to go their way, lady-luck had turned on them.
Sasuke was performing hand signs, about to use his "Fireball justu" when Naruto decided at the same moment to attack with a "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Right before he could form the last necessary hand-sign, two of Naruto's clones bumped into his arms causing him to lose his concentration.
This mistake has also caused him to lose his temper.
He leaped into the air, cutting Naruto off, and round-house kicked Naruto right in the back, losing his footing in the process and sending them both crashing to the ground.
Sasuke was most definitely pissed off.
It was bad enough he was stuck on a team with this dead weight loser, now itseems that he can't even successfully beat an opponent to a pulp without him somehow managing to interfere? At this rate, Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto more than this bandit.
To top it all off, Miku was just standing there watching them like a deer caught in headlights. She really was useless, doing nothing more than watching and shaking like a leaf. Sasuke was glad she wasn't trying to help, she would only slow him down more.
Naruto was getting equally annoyed with Sasuke, because he always somehow managed to prevent him from performing his 'super awesome ninja moves!' correctly.
As soon as they had finished with this fight, Naruto was going to show Sasuke who the better ninja was.
"Sasuke you're a complete moron! Stay out of my way, you're messing me up!" Naruto yelled, standing up and giving Sasuke a violent shove.
"Are you delusional? You're the one who keeps getting in my way!" Sauske screamed, grabbing Naruto by the shirt and shaking him agressively. Miku watched helplessly as her two team mates began the Cold War 2 with one another, sending insults back and forth along with occasional shoving or punching.
This time however, she couldn't just stand back and watch as her team destroyed one another.
The bandit stood by, leaning on his katana as if it were a walking stick, shaking his head while laughing to himself. This whole scene seemed hilarious to him, but at the same time he looked equally disappointed. "You guys are too much... hell, I'll just stand back here and watch as you two tear each other apart! The bandit chuckled.
Miku couldn't stand watching them fight any longer. She rushed towards Sasuke and Naruto, who were now engaging in physical combat, and performed rapid hand signs.
"Great Wind Blast Jutsu!" She yelled, landing in between them.
The jutsu caused the user to gather chakra in their palms, and after pressing them together and then instantly releasing them, chakra is forced through the palms by the circulatory system producing a large gust of wind from both hands.
In this case, it wasn't used to harm the target, but rather to force them apart.
Miku's blast of wind must have been stronger than she originally intended, because both boys went flying back several feet, colliding with the ground beneath them rather harshly.
They both seemed to have been knocked into a daze.
The bandit looked more alert than ever now, as if her sudden attempt to join the fight had sparked something in him.
"So.. the little mousie has some fight." He sneered, cracking his knuckles, and then his neck. "This will be interesting."
Both Sasuke and Naruto were now in the sitting position, rubbing their heads and groaning. Neither one was in a hurry to jump up and re-join in the fighting.
Miku swallowed nervously. 'Guess it's just me...' She thought, taking a fighting stance. She was terrified, completely terrified! She had never engaged in combat before, especially with someone who could potentially kill her.
But she couldn't just stand back and let Sasuke and Naruto do all the fighting, besides this is what the life of a ninja includes; Life or death situations.
Doesn't it?
She performed hand signs as quickly as she knew how, focusing all her chakra to the palms of her hands. She ran towards the ninja, creating less distance between them, before bringing her hands down onto the earth.
"Fire Style! Tidal Flame Jutsu!"
The earth beneath them began to shake, bring Sasuke and Naruto back from their dizzy state. The bandit's eyes widened in shock.
"How do you know that jutsu?!" He asked, his voice different from before. Miku knew she had heard this other voice before, she just couldn't remember whose face it belonged to.
"It's one of the first I learned.. it's simple really, once you learn how." She told him, trying to look calm. Although the appeared calm on the outside, inside she was freaking out.
The chakra she had built up in her palms released, sending a giant tidal-wave of fire, or better known as a tidal-flame, towards the bandit. Within seconds, the place where the bandit once stood as well as the surrounding forest was now nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash, soot and smoke.
Sasuke and Naruto, now fully awake and back to their senses, hurried over to check on Miku.
"Hey, whoah man are you alright?" Naruto asked, staring at what was left of the forest.
Sasuke couldn't say anything, he was still in shock over Miku's sudden display of power. During training, she was always so scared to hit someone or of being hit that she spent most of her time hiding behind her own hands, but now.. even he had to admit she was impressive.
She must have been just as shocked as they were before when Naruto had spoken to her, she nearly jumped out of her own skin.
"Oh, um... yeah. Yeah I'm okay.." She said, clutching her hands to her chest like she always did. The bandit was still nowhere in sight. "Did.. did I over-do it?" She asked, biting her lip. As much as she just wanted this mission to end as quickly as possible over so she could go home, she didn't want to have been the one to kill him.
"No I don't think so. " Sasuke stated, activating his sharingan once more. He scanned the surrounding forests for any sign of where the bandit was hiding, but he couldn't see him anywheres. "He's hiding nearby..."
He was glad the fight wasn't over. Now that Miku had knocked some sense into him, he realized he had a lot of fight left in him. Instead of taking it out on Naruto, he was determined to take out all his anger and frustration on this useless excuse for a bandit.
A chuckle echoed through the air, sending chills up Miku's spine.
"You can't kill me, you foolish genin." A familiar voice called out from all around them.
Naruto couldn't sense him anywhere, he wasn't nearbyanywhere near them, and if he was he hid his chakra extremely well. Sasuke couldn't see him with his sharingan either, it was if he was suddenly invisible.
"If he's not... in front or behind us." Miku whispered, her eyes drifting to the earth below their feet. "Then he must be.."
The others must have had the same thoughts as Miku because their eyes followed hers in sync towards the ground beneath their feet. Sasuke could see the figure of a human being crouched under the earth.
But he noticed it a few seconds too late.
A hand suddenly shot up between their legs, grabbing Naruto by the ankle pulling him underground.
"Naruto, no!" Miku yelled, rushing forward to grab her friend's arm before he vanished under the earth completely. Sasuke knew if she got any closer she would be pulled under next, so he threw all his weight at Miku sending them both flying out of the reach of the bandit.
"What do we do?" Miku asked, trying to hide her fear from Sasuke. She was fairly decent at masking the fear in her voice, but her facial expression made it more than obvious how scared she was.
Sasuke knew this battle would be too difficult for her. She wasn't as strong as he was, she would only get in his way and end up getting herself killed.
"Miku, I want you to climb a tree or get to high ground. He can't get you if you-"
"No!" She cut him off. "I want to help." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. She was hoping he would understand what she wanted, even though what she wanted was othing more than to run away, or go hide in a tree somewhere just as he suggested, but she would never be able to forgive herself if she abandoned her team and left them here to die.
Sasuke was looking into the eyes of Miku Tatsuki, Konoha's most easily frightened and soft-spoken genin. But what he was seeing wasn't just a terrified girl, he was seeing somebody who wanted to try. Who wanted to change.
Who wanted to help.
This was something he could admire, for Sasuke Uchiha had no respect for weaklings, or cowards. What he did respect greatly, were ninja who tried. And even more than that, he respected a ninja who succeeded.
He nodded towards her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Let's rescue Naruto and take this guy down once and for all."
"And find our sensei." She reminded him.
They were so caught up in this freaky situation that they had completely forgotten about their sensei who had abandoned them. Squad 7 has officially made Kakashi-sensei their number one target when the return home. Once they were through with him, he would think twice about running off on them.
Before Sasuke and Miku could do anything however, they were interrupted by the sound of laughter and clapping.
They both spun around.
The bandit was standing a few feet behind them clapping his hands with a smile on his face, Naruto was knocked-out on the ground by his feet.
"My my you two.. how sweet." He sneered, shooting them a smile. "Getting all brave like that."
Sasuke took a fighting stance and Miku pulled out a kunai.
"All this talk about wanting to work together to save your team-mate, how touching. And you there girl, choosing to stay and fight and not flee with terror. I must say I'm... impressed." The bandit said, his face breaking out into a grin. And not an evil grin either, an actual happy grin.
A sudden poof of smoke engulfed the bandit, causing Naruto to jolt awake and start flailing around in a panic.
"What's going on?! Where's this smoke coming from? Is everyone dead?! AHHH!" He yelled, trying to escape by doing the worm acrossed the grass.
When the smoke cleared, the bandit was no longer there, but there in his place was...
"Kakashi-sensei?!"
Naruto boasted the entire trip back into town, claming to have known that it was Kakashi-sensei the entire time. Eventually Sasuke grew impatient and started arguing with Naruto which resulted in them fighting once again, and this time nobody bothered to break it up.
While the boys were fighting, Miku decided to pop the question that had bothered her for a long time.
"Sensei?" She began, fidgeting with the hem of her kimono. "Why did you um... do what you did back there?"
Kakashi-sensei ducked to avoid being hit by a kunai thrown at Sasuke. "Why I did what?" He asked as if he genuinely had no idea.
"Pretend to be a bandit..." She spoke quietly as if she were scared somebody would overhear.
"Ah." He said as if coming to a realization. "I wanted to test you."
"Test... me?" She repeated.
"Yes. Well, you and Sasuke."
"But.. why?"
Kakashi-sensei stopped walking, as did Miku. Naruto and Sasuke kept fighting up the path away from them.
"Yes, I wanted to test you and Sasuke." He said, suddenly looking serious. "You three are a very.. unique team. Not one of you is exactly like the other. You all have different strengths, weaknesses, flaws and abilities."
Miku looked as if she still wasn't sure what he was telling her. Kakashi-sensei let out a sigh before continuing.
"Naruto and Sasuke are constantly fighting with one another, trying to get the best of one another and to put it simply they are rivals. However, their rivalry will cause both of them to push themselves to their very limits to become greater than the other, which will in the end cause them both to become strong ninja's. I sense that even though they are polar-opposites in every way, they will eventually become great friends, although they probably won't admit to it." He paused to glance over in the boys direction to see if they were killing each other yet.
Sasuke had Naruto in a headlock, which wasn't very life-threatening so he shrugged it off and turned back to Miku. "Naruto is the type of person to befriend even the most unfriendly of people. And you, despite your timid personality are a very likable person so I have no doubts you and Naruto will become good friends someday. As for you and Sasuke..."
Miku bit her bottom lip. She knew what Sasuke thought of her.
"Sasuke isn't very quick to like someone. Infact, Sasuke hates pretty much anyone but himself. You, Miku, are everything Sasuke hates in a person. You don't like conflict, you're very quiet and soft-spoken, you constantly doubt yourself, in everyone's eyes you are as weak as a kitten even though I know very well you could be as strong as Kurenai if you tried hard enough. So you see Miku, you and Sasuke are the least likely to ever get along and work together on squad 7, even moreso than Naruto and Sasuke, so I put you two in that unfortunate situation to see what would come out of it. In the end I was most pleased. Not only did you stick up for yourself and choose to stay and help instead of fleeing like Sasuke told you to do, you both agreed to work together for the sake of the team."
She wanted to ask him more questions, but he had to hurry up the path to stop thirty Naruto clones from be-heading Sasuke.
"I'm everything he hates in a person?" she repeated. "...does he really hate me that much?"
*I apologie for the way this turned out. I grew bored of it half-way through and I couldn't think of any fight-scenes or super-awesome-ninja techniques I could add so I just wrapped it up.
Gomen!
Promise the next one will be better ^_^
