First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to AnimeRocks793 and StopTeasing for voluntarily reviewing regularly. I owe it to you for making me review every single fanfic I read. I never used to review any of the fanfics I have read but now I make it a point to review. And no flames. Thanks guys! (Don't take me wrong, I'm not sexist).
Disclaimer (I forgot to put this in the other chapters): I don't own Naruto, but no regrets, I think Masashi Kishimoto did a far better job than I could have ever done. Besides, he has set a great foundation for me to build my stories on.
Chapter 4: Progress
A giant hand came crashing down on her. With a silent "poof", she disappeared, leaving a log where the giant hand smashed. Juugo turned around and whirled his curse-marked giant hand in her direction. She took this opportunity to use the gentle fist and cut off his cursed seal temporarily. She then formed a flurry of hand seals.
A huge water dragon lunged at Juugo. He formed a shield made of earthen birds to minimise the damage taken from the dragon. However, the attack was too strong and he was forced to block with his bare hands. In less than a second, she was behind him, throwing an explosive kunai at his exposed back. Juugo took the attack straight on and used his opportunity to attack his opponent with an earthen wolf. She didn't see that coming, and earned herself some bite marks on her forearm.
Unfortunately for her, the wolf's teeth were coated with a paralysing agent. She dropped to her knees, panting and clutching at her forearm. Her body seized up and she was unable to move. In a last ditch attempt, she conjured up another water dragon and attacked Juugo. The wind was knocked out of him and he dropped to the ground, drained of all energy.
"I guess this is a draw, huh?"
"You've gotten stronger, Hina-san. Sasuke must be a great sensei for you to make such progress in such as short time," Juugo replied, traces of a smile forming on his face. He was simply too tired to even move his facial muscles. Man, this girl really gave me a good run for my money.
"Thank you, Juugo-nii. Yes indeed, Sasuke is a good teacher. Demanding, but good. I can't thank him enough for my confidence and strength. And he's definitely strong, no doubt about that. I bet he can bet Uzumaki hands down." Hinata responded, half-exhausted and half-content from the fight they just had.
A few metres from them, Karin was flopped face down on the ground, Suigetsu standing above her with a massive sword at her neck.
"Hmph, I bet Ican beat Hyuuga. You're just weak, Juugo." Karin said shamelessly.
Identical sweatdrops rolled down Juugo's, Hinata's and Suigetsu's faces. Only one thought ran through all of their minds: She's so thick-skinned.
"Shut it. You can't even beat me, how do you expect to beat Juugo or Hinata?" Suigetsu responded, irritated.
Suddenly, a huge chakra presence suffocated them, or to be more precise, two chakra presences.
Sasuke and Kabuto walked to each of them, and gave them a little of their own chakra for them to recover.
"SASUKE-KUNN!". Yep, you guessed it right. Karin was running towards Sasuke, ready to glomp him. But a small yet well-built figure beat her to it. Hinata latched herself tightly onto Sasuke, throwing her arms around him.
Sasuke stepped back slightly out of surprise. He smiled a rare, hardly noticeable smile at Hinata. No one else noticed it, but Hinata did. She always noticed when Sasuke smiled because she thought it was special, especially when he smiled just for her. A light pink dusted her cheeks.
"You're back already. I thought it would take you longer to train."
"Ouch, I'm that weak? That hurt my feelings, you know." Sasuke smirked.
"Oh, look, stoneface just made a joke." Hinata responded with a larger smirk.
"Tch. That stupid White Snake ran us ragged." Sasuke grumbled.
"Can't deny that. Never thought it would be so troublesome to become a Sage, huh?" Kabuto chipped in.
"Whoa, both of you are snake sages now? Does that mean you both are equally strong now?" Suigetsu asked, excited that there was finally someone to match the Uchiha's strength.
"Nah, not yet. Number one, he has the sharingan. Number two, he is the lightning-type while I am the water-type. Number three, I was originally supposed to be a medic ninja, so there's only so far I can go as a combat specialist." Kabuto responded.
"Care to show us how strong you've gotten?" Juugo asked.
(Karin was fuming, since everyone else was talking to each other as though she were invisible.)
And they ended up team-sparring against each other, Sasuke and Kabuto on one side against the rest of Hebi.
Karin crouched at the back of the group, since she was the medic. Suigetsu was a decoy at the frontlines, Juugo was the mass-destruction-specialist (perfectly understandable) and Hinata was the stealth specialist.
Sasuke and Kabuto exchanged looks, and a slight shiver ran down Hinata's spine. Two pairs of pupils narrowed into slits as Sasuke and Kabuto activated snake sage mode. They intended to finish this in five minutes flat.
With grace unexpected of males, both Sasuke and Kabuto attacked in perfectly coordinated strikes and swipes. Sasuke created a huge halberd out of lightning and brought it down on Juugo. Juugo dodged in time but he realised a bit too late that the attack was never meant to hit him. The sonicboom and vibrations from the attack sent jolts of pain up Juugo and Hinata's legs all the way to their shoulders. Suigetsu, being water, was instantly electrocuted, but he managed to land a solid kick at Sasuke before he passed out, giving Juugo and Hinata time to recover before Sasuke struck again.
Meanwhile, Kabuto snuck up on Karin and drained her of most of her chakra. Karin instantly sent a hundred kunais his way. One stabbed Kabuto in the shoulder and the other left a bleeding cut on his cheek that stung. Nevermind, she's gonna collapse anyway, once I'm done with her, Kabuto thought. He healed himself using the immense chakra that his sage mode rewarded him with. But what he was not expecting was for Karin to deliver a quick, precise, wind-enhanced blow to his chest. Soon after, Karin dropped unconscious due to lack of chakra.
Kabuto redirected her absorbed chakra at Hinata, who did not see it coming. She used a water shield to block the attack, but Sasuke fired a fireball jutsu at her back. Juugo jumped in front of the girl he considered a sister, taking the full brunt of the attack and collapsing. Immediately, Sasuke fired a lightning cannon at Hinata and Kabuto simultaneously used a water cannon on her. Hinata's water shield, be strong as it may, was unable to stand the force of the two powerful attacks against it. Hinata was driven to the ground and Sasuke immobilised her with a small jolt of electricity.
Tch. We took six minutes and thirty-seven seconds. They've gotten stronger than we had expected.
"Not bad, if we all keep up this level of progress we can easily destroy Akatsuki. And even better, I'm ninety-nine percent sure none of us was at full power just now, not even Karin," said Kabuto. (Karin looked up from her spot on the ground to scowl at Kabuto)
"And kill Itachi," Sasuke added.
Hinata, who had recovered, sensed the large amounts of killing intent flowing from Sasuke, and placed a reassuring hand on his arm.
"You're right, Hinata. I shouldn't lose my calm so easily. Come, we still have to train a little more. Each one of us has to be at least on the same level as Akatsuki." Sasuke let his tense muscles relax.
"Oh, and by the way, Kabuto and I have been working on one of our dear sensei's jutsus."
"And what would that be?"
"Edo Tensei. It was originally an impure world resurrection, but I'd say Kabuto and I are quite close to developing a pure world resurrection technique."
Hinata smirked, a full out smirk. Damn, Sasuke's rubbing off on me.
"We're on our way to becoming invincible." Suigetsu grinned.
The whole of team Hebi, tired and exhausted as they might be, smiled at each other in contentment. They were starting to see the results of their hardwork, and were dangerously close to all their goals.
Finally, Chapter 4 is over! It's a little longer than the previous ones, but I shall try to make my future chapters even longer. Sorry, this one lacked humour, but let's just say I ran dry. Not really in the mood to come up with creative sparks, but still, I'm glad the plot's going in the right direction. I said there would be new additions to Hebi, didn't I? :P And by the way, I think you can safely expect more.
Pride: Sasuke, I know you're strong and all, but don't be a retard and fight Itachi yet okay. Your thoughts are all messed up by loooveeee…Fight Itachi now and you'll be like a stupid donkey up against a lion.
Sasuke: Shut up. I am not lovestruck and I am DEFINITELY NOT A DONKEY, DAMMIT. Say that one more time and I swear I will make Karin castrate you with one of Kabuto's rusty scalpels.
Pride: *Gulp*
*sighs* I'm the writer and I don't even have power over these impudent brats.
Sasuke, Hinata, Suigetsu, Kabuto and Karin:
WHAT DID YOU SAY?!
Juugo: K I L L
Pride: NONONONO NOTHING AAAAAHHHHHH!
Till we meet again…
Yours truly, Pride.