A/N: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy
Trinity Fenton-Phantom - Thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate it.
JenGon - Thank you! I was rereading what I had and was horrified by how many grammar problems I had and what not. I hope it didn't deter from the story =/
Chapter 4
It was a sunny day on the ocean. The sea was blue, the sky was clear, there was even a slight breeze. Naruto stretched his arms up and gave a satisfying sigh. Sakura and Tenten were enjoying the beautiful day. Even Neji had a slight smile on his face.
Naruto then made a gesture to Lee in wanting to train. He was rewarded with a slap to the head by his pink-haired teammate, who then proceeded to yell at him the reasons theyshouldn'ttrain.
Tidus walked up to a group of people who were crowded around the summoner.
"Word is that summoner's got noble blood!" a person on the outside said to his friend.
"I heard she's Lord Braska's daughter!" his friend answered back.
"Ya don't say?" the first guy commented.
Tidus gave a puzzled look. "Lord Braska's...daughter?" Wakka walked up to Tidus. "So, is Yuna's father famous or something?"
Wakka nodded. "She's the daughter of High Summoner Braska! You saw his statue at the temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago. Yuna's the heir to a great legacy!"
Tidus hung his head. "It's tough when your father's famous."
"Huh?"
Lulu gave Wakka a look, "Wakka's…a bit lacking in the imagination department."
"Huh?" Wakka repeated.
Tidus laughed. "Thank, Lulu. I'll keep that in mind."
The crowd around the young summoner slowly disintegrated. Naruto and Lee asked some of the Aurochs to teach them some blitzball moves. They happily obliged, until they figured out that Lee had the power to kick their ball so far that they wouldn't be able to retrieve it. So they stopped. Tenten and Sakura were still enjoying the calm scene.
Tidus noticed Yuna by the bow of the boat, took the opportunity to get to know her better, and walked up so that he was beside her. They were both at the front of the boat, looking out to sea. A soft breeze was blowing. Tidus lifted his arms in a large stretch.
"The wind...it's nice," Yuna said in a soft voice.
"Mmhmm," Tidus hummed in agreement.
Yuna looked at him, "You're a blitzball player, aren't you? From Zanarkand, right?"
Tidus eyes opened wide, before returning normal. "You hear that from Wakka?" he asked and then hung his head, "Wakka doesn't believe me at all." He looked at the sea.
Yuna looked down at the ground before looking back at the young spikey-haired man.
"But…I believe you," she said in a soft voice.
Tidus gave her an incredulous look. "Huh?"
Yuna's eyes lit up at his confusion. "I've heard in Zanarkand..." she started, "there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night! Great blitzball tournaments are held there, and the stands are always full!"
Tidus, still not believing that she knew all of that, "How do you know that?"
Yuna gave him an innocent look.
"A man named Jecht told me."
Tidus inwardly froze at the name. No, it couldn't be thesameJecht….nothisJecht anyway…his good for nothing father.
"He was my father's guardian."
Tidus gave Yuna looks of surprise, but it quickly turned in frustration. He started to mutter the name "Jecht" in a low voice several times.
"My father…" he finally spoke, "His name is Jecht!"
Yuna's whole face lit up. "Amazing!" she cried. Before getting too excited, she did the prayer gesture. She walked up right into Tidus's face. "You know, our meeting like this must be the blessing of Yevon!"
Tidus tilted his head. "Sounds like him, but it can't be him," he said.
"Why not?"
"My old man, he died. Ten years ago, off the coast of Zanarkand," Tidus explained, his eyes out on the vast sea in front of them.
Yuna turned away, ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry."
"He went out to sea for training one day...and never came back," Tidus explained, "And no one's seen him since then."
Yuna thought for a moment. Her brow furrowed, "Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira." Tidus gave her a look. "It's true! I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago!" Yuna explained, ""I remember, that was the day my father left." Both of them were silent for a moment. "The date fits, doesn't it?" she slowly asked, not wanting to upset him further.
Tidus was at a loss for words. "Yeah, but how would he get here?" he finally asked.
"You're here, are you not?"
Tidus just looks at her, unable to answer. Yuna smiles and starts giggle, Tidus joining her soon after. The Leaf shinobi looked at the two teenagers laughing.
"What do you suppose they're laughing about?" Naruto whispered to the other four.
"I don't know, Naruto," Sakura sighed.
"But they sure do look cute together, right Neji?" Tenten grinned and looked at her lavender-eyed teammate.
"Hmph," was her only reply.
"Yosh! The power of youth is flowing through them! If only Gai-sensei were here to see this!" Lee exclaimed.
All of the sudden, the boat started to shake and rumble as if something had run into it.
"Woah! What was that?" Naruto exclaimed.
Some people tumbled over, while others just tried to grab something to hold onto. The Leaf shinobi started pumping chakra to their feet, preventing them from falling over. The boat was hit again.
"Neji," Lee began.
The Hyuuga boy nodded and closed his eyes. "Byakugan!" The veins appeared on his forehead. He looked around himself, but didn't find anything. He felt something below the ship. Looking down, he saw the figure of a huge monster. Sin.
"Oh no," Neji exclaimed.
"What is it?" Sakura called out as she tried to maintain her balance. Tenten was trying to do the same.
"Sin is underneath the ship!" he shouted.
The boat rumbled and jerked again, this time harder.
Tidus grabbed Yuna's hand as she fell. The ship began to tilt to one side. Tidus felt his grip on Yuna slip. She fell and grabbed the harpoon machinery, but she knew her grip wouldn't last long.
"Lady Yuna!" Lee cried. He made his way over to her and gripped her shoulders, trying to study her.
Kimahri, studying himself first, jumped over to where Yuna and Lee were. Lee backed off as Kimahri put his muscular arms around her, securing her in place. The ship leveled out.
Suddenly, a massive grey dorsal fin shot out of the water.
"Sin!" someone yelled.
"There's no doubt about it," Neji said, "That's the same monster that attacked the Leaf Village." His eyes narrowed. The others nodded.
Everyone else on the ship gasped and started to panic. Sin started to move past the boat. People gasped were in awe, yet terrified of the monstrous beast. The man who yelled "Sin!" positioned himself behind the harpoon where Yuna was. Another man positioned himself behind a second harpooned that was a couple feet away on the other side. Wakka's eyes widened as he realized what they were about to do.
"What do you think you're doing?" he yelled to the man, "Stick a harpoon in him and we'll all get dragged under!"
"Sin is going for Kilika! We gotta distract it!" the man replied. He looked at Yuna, "Our families are in Kilika! Forgive us, Lady Summoner!"
Yuna gave a nod.
"Wait—" Wakka began, but the men had already fired the harpoon. "Oh, boy..."
The two harpoons connected to the fin. The boat started moving fast as the fin dragged it. A ton of water splashed onto the deck. Tidus threw himself towards the railing, hanging on for dear life.
"Look!" Tenten cried as she pointed to things that were falling towards them.
Scales from the dorsal fin detached themselves, and landed on deck. They then transformed into bug-like fiends.
Naruto gasped. "Those are the same bugs that Tidus and I fought from before!" He then noticed all of Yuna's guardians assembling themselves up for battle.
"We have no choice," Lulu explained, "We need to protect everyone on this ship and to try to slow Sin down!"
Tidus and Kimahri were busy attacking the bug-like fiends while Wakka and Lulu attacked the fin. Each time the bug-like fiend was killed, another took its place. Yuna healed anyone who was injured.
Neji quickly analyzed and took control of the situation. "Tenten, Sakura, see if you can get any long range attacks on that fin. Naruto and Lee, you and I will fight the fiends on the deck."
"But we can also do close-range battle! Let's just get up close!" Naruto argued.
"No, Naruto. We don't know enough about Sin. Those waves it's creating would prove too difficult for us. It would be too dangerous," Neji explained.
Neji quickly dodged a spin attack that the bug-like fiend spat out. Tenten hurriedly pulled out a scroll. Dashing to the edge of the boat, she unraveled it towards the fin. Using her free hand to make a hand sign, a bunch of explosive kunai erupted from the scroll and dug into the fin. With another sign, the kunai exploded. As the smoke cleared, Tenten's eyes widened.
"What?"
The fin remained untouched. Instead, it went underneath the boat to the other side. A new wave of scales flew towards the deck. Deciding to end it quickly, Neji quickly positioned himself in the middle of the new wave.
"Eight Trigrams Palm Revolving Heaven!" A huge blue barrier formed around him as he quickly spun. All the scales that hit the barrier were killed on contact. "Yuna! Your aeon!" he called to her.
Yuna looked at him, before nodding her head. "Right," she said and ran to the middle of the deck. Everyone quickly moved out of her way as she summoned Valefor. The huge phoenix attacked the fin a couple of times, before being attacked by the bug-like fiends.
After enduring the attacks, the phoenix gave a might flap of its wings and killed the remains fiends on the deck. Then, it lifted itself in the air. A huge ball of energy formed in its beak and a beam shot out horizontally at Sin's dorsal fin. An explosion followed where the line was.
"Woah! What was that?" Naruto asked.
"It's Valefor's special attack, Energy Ray," Yuna answered.
Sin did nothing for a minute. Suddenly, everyone heard creaking coming from the harpoon stand, and it snapped off as Sin dove beneath the waves.
"Oh no!" Sakura cried. But before anyone could do anything, Sin's enormous tail shot out of the water and slapped the surface. A huge tidal wave hit the boat, and everyone shielded himself or herself.
The sea returned to its calm state. All was silent in the boat.
Neji surveyed his team, not realizing that a certain loud-mouth shinobi wasn't there. They looked like a drowned dogs, but were fine.
"Is everyone alright?" Neji called out. He looked around. Yuna was fine, a little shaken, but fine. Kimahri was beside her, no emotion on his face. Lulu was stood emotionless as well, contemplating what had just happened. Wakka also seemed a bit shaken up. He was looking around frantically.
"Neji, where's Naruto and Tidus?" Sakura asked as she realized that her teammate wasn't there.
Wakka ran over to the railing, and looked around before diving into the water. Neji activated his Byakugan and followed Wakka with his eyes.
Underwater, Tidus was floating around, motionless. Several fish were attacking him. Naruto was floating too, unconscious. His eyes slowly opened, and he jerked awake as he realized he was underwater. He started to swim towards the surface until he saw Tidus's body being attacked by fish fiends. Just as he was about to head towards the other blonde, a blitzball shot out and hit all the fiends, scaring them away. Naruto looked in the direction where the ball had come from and saw Wakka swimming towards them.
He gave Naruto a thumbs-up before reaching into his pocket, and throwing a potion at Tidus who woke up. Tidus looked around and found Wakka beside him, who gave him a thumbs-up. Tidus returned the gestured. Naruto grinned, before realizing he was running out of air, and shot up towards the surface.
Sakura and the others heard his gasp of breath, and moved their way to the railing and saw Naruto's head bobbing in the water.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried as she smiled.
The spikey blonde-haired shinobi looked up and grinned. "It's alright!" he called out to them, "Tidus and Wakka are on their way." He started to move so that he was standing on the water, but paused as he sensed something underneath the water. He turned around and peered through the water.
Wakka and Tidus were fighting a massive jelly-fish fiend.
"Huh?" Naruto squinted his eyes. But his thinking was cut short as the fiend starting to move his tentacles like a blender, hitting Tidus and Wakka. Unfortunetly for Naruto, he got the aftershock of the attack and flew right into the side of the boat.
"What's going on? What was that?" Yuna asked in a worried voice. Tidus and Wakka were too deep in the water for them to see. Neji activated his Byakugan once again, and his eyes widened.
"What is it? What do you see, Neji?" Sakura asked. Lulu and Yuna were also listening.
"They're fighting some sort of fish fiend. It looks almost like a gigantic jelly-fish," Neji tried to explain.
Yuna looked a Lulu. "Do you think it's a…?"
"Sinspawn. Yes, I believe it is," Lulu finished.
Yuna gasped. "We have to help them!" she cried. But she knew that there was nothing she nor her other two guardians could do. Yuna looked at Neji for help, but he sadly shook his head.
"I'm afraid we are no help either," he said, "None of us know any water style jutsu. But perhaps Lady Hinata, if she were here, could help us."
"Or if Kakashi-sensei were here," she murmured, "He probably has a couple of water jutsus up his sleeve."
"Or even Shikamaru," Neji added, "With the way he observes and strategizes things."
By this time, Naruto had heaved himself on the deck boring a bruise on his face. "We gotta help them some how," he persisted.
"But how?" Lee asked.
Naruto looked at the weapons-user. "Tenten, don't you have any weapons that would be work underneath the water somehow?"
Tenten thought for a moment.
"Yes! Tenten, do you remember that one time you were helping me train? You put a huge block of metal on my back while I was doing push-ups!" Lee added.
A smile appeared on Tenten's face, "Oh yeah." She took out a scroll. "I think I can conjure something up."
"Make sure you get enough altitude," Sakura said, "the higher up you go, the more power and impact it will have."
"They're 5 five feet northeast of us, over there," Neji pointed.
Tenten nodded, and turned to Lee. "You'll have to give me a boost," she told him.
"Yosh! I shall conjure up all the training Gai-sensei has taught us. And if I shall fail, I will do 10,000 push-ups with that block on my back!" Lee declared. Naruto, Tenten, and Sakura sweatdropped while Neji just shook his head.
Gripping each other's arms, Lee started swinging Tenten in a circle to gain some speed. He then tossed her in the direction where Neji had pointed. Tenten quickly looked down and spotted the shadow of the huge fiend. She unraveled the scroll and bit her thumb, drawing blood. She smeared her blood on the scroll in one streak and held the scroll above her so that it was rippling around her. Then she had her other hand grab the other end of the scroll and positioned the scroll so that it was facing down. She gave the scroll a snap and a huge block of metal appeared in a puff of cloud from the scroll and started to fall towards the water, gaining speed as it continued to fall.
It hit the water and hit the fiend on target, creating a big splash. Tenten landed on the water's surface, a smug look on her face. She watched as the huge fiend burst into a myriad of pyreflies and watched them with curiosity.
Wakka and Tidus came up to the surface. "Maaan, that was some attack, ya?" he praised Tenten, who blushed.
"Yeah, thanks for helping us," Tidus added.
"It was no trouble," Tenten waved off as she started walking towards the boat. Tidus and Wakka followed her.
"How do you think she's standing on the water like that?" Tidus whispered to Wakka who shrugged.
"Beats me, why don't you ask her?" he whispered back.
With everyone back on the boat, they continued on to Kilika, only to be horrified at the sight. The place was devastated. Debris was everywhere; houses and trees were torn up, there were injured people, children were crying.
The Leaf Shinobi looked in awe as Yuna and her group just look on with sad faces.
"Wh-What happened?" Naruto asked.
"Sin came and destroyed the island," Lulu said in a calm voice, "That is what it is born to do. Destroy."
"Who could have created such a monster?" Sakura whispered.
Tidus watched a lone blitzball floating in the water. It was sunset, and he moved over to Yuna and put his head in her lap. Yuna looked at the devastated island.
"I will defeat Sin... Imustdefeat Sin," she vowed.
"Yuna," Wakka called out to her. He was waiting over by Lulu and Kimahri who were by the ships entrance. "We've reached the harbor."
Tidus got up so Yuna could move. He and the Leaf Shinobi followed her. They followed her off the boat. Several elder people approached them.
"Greetings! I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the temple in Besaid, " Yuna introduced herself.
"M'lady Summoner!" the elder man acknowledged, his voice heavily laced with grief.
Yuna looked at him with gentle eyes. "If there is no other summoner here, please allow me to perform the sending," she told him.
"Thanks be to ye!" he said.
"Our loved ones..." the elder woman added, "We feared they would become fiends!"
"Please, take me to them."
The elderly couple led the way. Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri followed while Tidus, Wakka, and the Leaf shinobi stayed behind.
"We'll go see what we can do to help in town," Wakka explained as he motioned for the Besaid Aurochs to come with him.
"Neji we should go help, too," Lee said to his teammate.
"I think Wakka's got it covered," the Hyuuga boy replied, "Besides, Yuna is going to perform the sending. It'll be a chance for us to gather more information."
So the Leaf shinobi, plus Tidus, went down the same path as the elderly couple. They found themselves staring out at the sea. Yuna was talking to the elderly couple. Tidus took this time to approach Lulu.
"Uh, what's a "sending"? Are we going somewhere?" he carefully asked her. The Leaf shinobis' ears perked up, wanting to know more as well.
Lulu sighed, "You truly are clueless. Are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem?"
Tidus put his hands on in defense.
"Ouch, that was kinda harsh," Naruto muttered as Sakura and Lee nodded in agreement.
"The dead need guidance," Lulu began, "Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see…they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. Sad, isn't it?"
Everyone remained silent, absorbing all that Lulu had just said.
"The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace," Lulu finished.
"Summoners do this?" Tidus asked.
Lulu nodded, and motioned for them to watch as Yuna began to step out onto the water.
Yuna started walking out towards the sea, her staff in hand. Bouquets of flowers filled the water underneath her. She paused, waiting for a gentle breeze to caress her face, and began to dance. The people of Kilika began to cry as they watched their loved ones being sent away. Lulu, Tidus, Kimahri, and the Leaf shinobi watched on. Naruto felt an unknown emotion stir within him, and judging by the looks on his comrades' faces, they felt it as well.
Small globes of energy, pyreflies, began to come out of the flowers, and rose out of the water, gathering upwards. The flames from the torches turned blue. The water Yuna was standing suddenly rose into the air, bringing her up with it as she continues the motions while the pyreflies begin to fly up as well.
"Are those…the souls of the dead?" Naruto whispered as he watched the pyreflies disappear to an unknown location. But no one answered him.
Yuna started to walk back towards the dock.
"It must be tough, being a summoner," Tidus commented.
"Yuna chose her own path. She knew from the beginning what it meant," Lulu replied, "All we can do is protect her along the way…until the end."
Tidus looked at her. "Until the...end? What's the end?" he asked.
This time, the Leaf shinobi looked at him as everyone else turns and stares at Tidus. Lulu sighed and put her hands up in defeat.
"Until she defeats Sin," she stated before walking over to where Yuna was. Upon spotting the black mage, Yuna ran up to her.
"I hope... I hope I did okay," she said.
Lulu put an arm around the young summoner. "You did very well," she reassured the young girl, "They've reached the Farplane by now. But...no tears next time, hm?"
"I wished there would never be a next time," Tidus muttered to himself, "No more people being killed by Sin. No more sendings for Yuna. Everyone stood there watching her. It was strange, and somehow...horrifying."
The Leaf shinobi nodded and hummed in agreement.
"I never wanted to see it again," Tidus stated and started to walk towards the hut for some rest.
The Leaf shinobi stayed silent for a moment.
"I guess it's a good thing fiends don't exist in our world, huh?" Naruto said, trying to lightened the mood. "If they did, just imagine how many there would be."
Sakura glared at her teammate. "Naruto, that's not funny," she scolded, "And even if therewerefiends, there probably wouldn't be many."
"What do you mean, Sakura?"
Neji sighed. "Remember how Lulu explained that the fiends are the spirits of people who haven't accepted their death? Well…we shinobi realize that death is inevitable. We would gladly give our lives if it meant protecting our village. In that perspective, we've already accepted death."
"Ohhhh…"
Neji just shook his head. "We should get some rest," he said, "I heard Wakka talking about how we're going to head to the Kilika temple tomorrow. It'll be a big day." And with that, the five shinobi went to the same hut as Tidus, to go to sleep.
88888888
Tidus woke up the next morning to find everyone already gone. As he walked outside the hut, a bald guy ran up to him. It was Datto from the Aurochs.
"Hey! You awake? Cap'n Wakka's waitin' for you!" he told the younger man.
Tidus followed Datto and found Wakka helping the Aurochs to fix a damaged boat. Wakka turned his head as he heard the two approach them.
"Ah, there you are! Besaid Aurochs! Huddle!" he called to his team. The Aurochs left the boat to rejoin Wakka and Tidus. "On to the temple, where we pray for victory!" he declared.
Tidus watched the Aurochs run off into the direction of a forest.
"High Summoner Ohalland used to live in the Kilika temple here," Wakka explained "Yep, Lord Ohalland was once a great blitzer, you know?"
"Wakka..." Tidus began, "Praying for victory's all good...but is this right?"
"Something wrong with enjoying blitzball?"
"Is this really the time?"
Wakka clenched his fist in excitement, "This is the only time! The players fight with all their strength: the fans cheer for their favorite team. They forget pain, suffering... only the game matters! That's why blitz has been around for so long. Least that's what I think."
Tidus just waved his hand, "Whatever you say."
"Let's play...and win!" Wakka declared, "Right?"
Tidus nodded his head. "Right!"
Wakka nodded and pointed to the forest, "Temple's beyond the jungle there. Let's go!"
They walked to the jungle to find everyone there already. Neji and Tenten had their arms crossed, Naruto had his behind his head, Sakura had her placed in front her, and Lee's was at his side.
"You know…it's hard to believe we used to complain about Kakashi being late," Naruto said to Sakura who agreed.
"What's up?" Wakka asked as he noticed the face Lulu had.
"Yuna's saying she wants you with us," Lulu said as she motioned to Tidus.
"Huh?" Tidus was confused.
Yuna looked at Tidus in the eye. "I want to ask you to be my guardian."
Wakka started to freak out. "Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya?" he said
"He may be a blitzball whiz kid, but up against fiends, he's a newbie."
Yuna sighed reluctantly. "Not a guardian, then... I just want him nearby."
Wakka's face was surprised.
Tidus was still confused. "What? What do you mean?" He turned to Naruto. "You guys guardians too?"
"Not really," Naruto began as he started to think.
"We're just sort of tag-a-longs," Tenten explained, "Although Lady Yuna asked us to be her guardians, we're just here with you guys until we get to Luca. You see…we're searching for some of our friends."
"This is true. But until we arrive to this Luca, we will help protect Lady Yuna," Lee added.
"So like a part-time guardian," Sakura finished.
Tidus looked at Yuna. "You want me to be a guardian, too?" he asked her.
"It's just that, well..." Yuna stuttered.
"We're all going to the temple anyway. Can't this wait till later?" Lulu asked, agitated.
Yuna nodded and turned back to Tidus. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..."
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Tidus told her, "I'm just not really sure what's going on."
Yuna bowed her head, "My apologies."
Everyone started forward and came to a small bridge. They found Luzzu and Gatta already there. Behind them was a large red tentacle monster.
Gatta ran up to them. "Company, halt!" he told them.
Luzzu walked up to them. "The fiend before us is Ochu, Lord of the Wood!" he explained, "We've had trouble with this one before. Remember, discretion is the better part of valor."
The group carefully maneuvered their way past the fiend.
"Woah, I wonder what kind of fiend this is," Naruto said as he stepped closer to the fiend.
Sakura turned around just in time to see her teammate step on one of the fiend's tentacles.
"Naruto! Wait—"
There was a crunch as the tentacle was stepped. The fiend roared in pain and anger.
"Uh oh," Naruto gulped as the fiend started to advance on him. He then saw a small shadow on the fiend. It got bigger and bigger—
"SHANNARO!"
Sakura came down with a striking punch to the fiend. Sakura landed next to Naruto and watched as the fiend burst into flames, and then disappeared in a fit of pyreflies. Lulu had caught up with them.
"Whoooa!" Gatta gawked.
"A summoner and her guardians. Very impressive!" Luzzu praised.
Gatta looked at his commander, "Sir, we should fight, too!"
Luzzu smiled. "We'll get our chance soon enough."
They began to leave with Gatta singing a small tune.
"Young Crusaders gather round! We'll beat Sin into the ground!"
"I still think we should be called crusaders," Naruto spoke up. He then found himself holding a very sore spot on his head that had suddenly appeared.
"You IDIOT! What did you think you were doing waking a fiend up like that?" Sakura yelled at him.
"Ehh…hold on Sakura. P-please don't hurt me!" Naruto begged.
The group just chuckled as they continued on the path. They eventually reached the end, which were stone steps.
"These stone steps have a history, you know?" Wakka said, "Yep, Lord Ohalland trained here at this peak."
Tidus looks up the steps. A LOT of steps, mind you. He then noticed the Aurochs stretching, laughing a somewhat evil laugh.
It hit him.
"A race, huh?" he asked, "Think you can beat me?"
Lee looked at Naruto. "Naruto, how about you and I race to the top?" he suggested, "Think of it as extra training."
"Extra training?" the blonde shinobi's eyes sparkled, "You bet!"
The two disappeared in the streak as they made their way up the stairs. Sakura and Tenten giggled as Neji sighed and shook his head. They went after the two. Wakka, Tidus, and the Aurochs watched in awe.
"Man, that's some speed there, ya?" Wakka said, "Just think how cool it would be if we had that speed. Haha, we'd be the fastest blitzball team there ever was!"
Wakka, Tidus, and two Aurochs lined up in a row.
"Yuna, if you would," Wakka asked.
Yuna nodded and went to the front. "Ready?" Giggling, she began to run up the steps herself.
"Hey! Hey!"
Wakka and the Aurochs followed her, Tidus running up the steps after them. As he got closer to the top, he stopped as the Aurochs came running back down. Lulu and Kimahri were behind Tidus.
"L-Look out!" Datto cried.
"Everyone, quick! Sinspawn!" Wakka's voice was heard.
Tidus, Lulu, and Kimahri hurried to the top of the stairs, where they were met by a platform. A huge cocoon like fiend was seen with four tentacles at each corner of the platform.
Sakura quickly used her inhumane strength at the main fiend, but the cocoon didn't open. Instead, it made a movement of inhaling and exhaling, green fog coming out. It hit Sakura, who fell to the ground, paralyzed.
"Sakura!" Naruto and Lee cried.
Wakka quickly ran over to the fallen girl, being careful of the huge Sinspawn, and lifted a vial to her lips. "Drink this, it'll get rid of the poison," he urged her. Once she did, they jumped back before another green mist came out form the fiend. Wakka looked at Lulu.
"Lu, can you use any magic?" he asked her.
The black mage shook her head. "Those tentacles in the corners will absorb any magic I produce," she explained.
"No problem," Naruto said as he nodded to his fellow shinobi. Neji, Tenten, Sakura, and Naruto each threw two explosive kunai at a tentacle. They made a hand sign, and the kunais exploded, killing the tentacles.
"Haha! Right on!" Wakka cheered.
Neji looked at Yuna. "Can you summon your aeon?" he asked her. She shook her head.
"It's still resting up from the last battle. It will have just be us," she said. Neji nodded before getting into a fighting stance, activating his Byakugan. He looked at the Sinspawn and saw a creature within the cocoon. "We need force it out of its cocoon," he explained, "Any damage we do is futile unless it comes out."
Lulu wasted no time casting fire spells, while everyone else tried to use physical attacks. No one noticed a figure in the trees, watching them with lazy eyes.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee cried as he executed taijutsu on the fiend. But it still didn't open. "How much more do we have to do?" he asked.
Just then, the cocoon started to rumble, and out popped an insect-looking fiend with tentacle-like fingers. The tentacles in the corners also came back up.
"This is bad," Tenten muttered as she dodged the fiend's tentacle fingers.
The tables were starting to turn on them, and fast. The figure in the tree jumped down to the ground, and stayed there in a squatting position. Tenten dodged more tentacles, and suddenly found herself right in front of the monster. It spat venom at her, poisoning and paralyzing her. Everyone looked in her direction at her cry.
"Tenten!" Lee cried. He tried to reach her, but tentacles prevented him from doing so. Neji attempted to do the same, but was met with the same thing. Everyone could only watch in horror as the Sinspawn prepared another attack, when suddenly it stopped moving. The tentacles at the corners also paused their movement.
Neji looked down at the ground and found a shadow underneath the fiend. His eyes followed the shadow to its source, which was hidden by the shadows of the trees. Everyone else followed his gaze.
"Shadows?' Sakura said aloud.
"Shadows," Lee confirmed.
Neji closed his eyes and smirked. "Which could only mean that Shi—"
"SHIKAMARU!" Naruto yelled, "Boy are we glad to see you!"
A/N: Shikamaru to the rescue! Sorry about the long update. You know, I didn't think I'd introduce someone in Kilika, but I guess I did. BUT…did you guys notice that I haven't mentioned anything about Chouji and Ino? Ehehehehehehe…..