Warning, slight language (goes for last chap. too), but seriously, Tayuya curses over and over in the show, so like, whatever.
Thanks for all the reviews, they're totally inspiring me! 3 u! And you'd better appreciate this, it takes tons of writing and rewriting for me to get fight scenes right, but this is Naruto, so there has to be fights. Bear with me, I am unskilled in this, and it was super hard, but thankfully my grandfather was home, and so I was forced into working as hard as I could under the guise of 'homework' to avoid him.
(I don't hate my grandfather, but he's taking up all of my family's time, and I have nothing else to do except this and play videogames with my little brother [shiver] since my bedroom doubles as the guest room since we have a tiny house.)
Sorry for ranting, but well… I felt like it.
Please leave more nice reviews! I'll reward you by updating as often as I can!
Naruto sat in a giant prison made of stone. The larger ninja had pushed the two-headed man out of the way, shouting something about a delicious meal and tons of chakra, and Naruto, still dazed from hitting the tree, couldn't do anything but watch as the larger man quickly made hand seals, and she found herself in a giant stone prison, that was visibly sucking out her chakra.
It was a good thing, Naruto surmised, that she had a huge amount of chakra, because anyone else would have been unconscious by now. She'd made a clone, but it had gotten trapped in with her, and it was promptly dispelled.
Wow, how embarrassing, I can't believe we were taken down that fast. Naruto sighed, trying to think of a way to get out of the prison, by she'd tried hitting it a hundred times and making shadow clones, but she couldn't make a dent in the walls and her shadow clones lasted about five seconds before dispelling. The only other trick she had left were probably exploding notes, but she'd be more likely to blow herself up than the prison.
Sasuke roared loudly, he charged the large, red mohawked ninja, and as he ran he began to pull out a kunai.
Jirobo, however, dashed toward Sasuke, he easily closed the distance between them, and the moment he could, lashed out with one hand and grabbed the wrist in which Sasuke held the kunai. "You're the Uchiha, eh?" He asked.
Sasuke glared at him and pretended to struggle to get out of the large Sound ninja's grip, but he actually was reaching to his back pocket, which held a storage seal full of shuriken.
Jirobo frowned at him, noticing the slight of hand. "What is it with youths today and the lack of manners?" He wondered, twisting Sasuke's wrist so that the Uchiha gave a twirl and ended up with his back to him.
Sasuke tried to reverse the attack, but he only managed to kick the large Sound ninja in the stomach.
Jirobo growled, and pulled back with one hand, using all of his strength, which was greatly increased due to the excellent meal he was having, he punched Sasuke straight into the ground.
His mouth full of dirt, jaw aching, and skeleton structure tingling, Sasuke knew that the correct thing to do when he was so obviously outmatched would be to flee and get backup. Then, his gaze turned to a large pile of stones, which his opponent was connected to by a steady stream of blue chakra, and his resolve hardened.
Jirobo didn't see the defiance in his enemies eyes, only the fact that he'd beaten him. "Your girlfriend has a remarkable amount of charka," he taunted. "She's delicious." He licked his lips while grinned wickedly.
Sasuke screamed at him, jumping up to his feet and forming rapid hand seals while backing slowly away from the Sound ninja.
His left eye was red, and bearing a single tomoe.
Kakashi nodded once to Gai, and chased after the direction where he'd seen Ino disappear. After hard running for a while, following a trail of white goo, he found them.
A man with six arms like a spider, and an apparent ability to spin webs like one, was running away from him, holding a string to which was attached a panicking genin who he was dragging behind him like a kite. The man was obviously not paying attention at all to where Ino went, or, more importantly, what she hit as he so carelessly flung her about, so Kakashi had to hesitate in his running to throw an exploding note attached to a kunai beside the man, getting rid of a tree which Ino would have surely bashed her brains against, dying instantly.
Kidomaru hissed as he caught a glimpse of the man following him, he didn't get a good look, but he could see that it was obviously one of the Jonin. To distract the following ninja, he continued to toss his catch about like a sack of sand, and he saw with satisfaction that the Jonin could not allow any harm to come to the young girl. Classic damsel-in-distress syndrome. Kidomaru thought.
Kakashi couldn't keep up with the spider-ninja and protect Ino at the same time as he was, so it was obvious that he needed to catch up to what the enemy was doing. Therefore, he lifted his headband, revealing his Sharingan. From then, he could see the spider-ninja's moves a few moments before they happened, and he was able to gain distance on them.
Kidomaru, sensing that the enemy was gaining, looked around with his head to see how he could possibly be catching up to him. His eyes widened when he realized that the enemy following him was Kakashi Hatake, and he'd revealed his Sharingan.
Well then, Kidomaru thought; let's see just how well I hold up to this 'Sharingan' power that Lord Orochimaru is so obsessed with.
"Genin!" Gai shouted, keeping an eye on the two monsters flanking the cart. "Choji and Sakura, help Sasuke and Naruto!" He shouted out, using first names so that the ninja wouldn't get hints as to who they were, since and ninja worth his salt knew about the 'Akimichi' and 'Uchiha' clans, who were famous in wars. He avoided honorifics, since there wasn't any time.
Standing to the side of the road, right where Ino and Kakashi had disappeared into the forest, there was another sound ninja, this one with red hair and a very sour expression of her face. To her mouth, she brought up a flute, and he began to play a few notes, the monsters responded to her call, and they took a few steps forward.
"Nara," Gai said, using a last name because he actually forgot Shikamaru's first, "get the kids out of here, keep them safe." He said calmly. He stood up in the saddle, making sure to hold in the panicing horse. "Geri, get your wife out." Gai ordered.
Unfortunately, Geri didn't listen. He crawled into the back of the cart, like Gai ordered him to, but when he found his unconscious wife, who had likely fainted from terror; he cradled her in his arms and didn't leave the back.
Gai frowned, but he continued to lock eyes with the Sound ninja. "You were hired to take us out?" He asked.
Tayuya took her mouth off of the flute, and shrugged, "Hired to kill the girl." She corrected.
"Well, then," Gai nodded, still frowning at her, "I can't hit a female, that's against my code."
Tayuya growled, "Well then! You're just like my teammate! I'm as strong as any boy! I'm not a lady! So watch out, eyebrow-man!"
Gai nodded, not being able to respond, still trying to keep the horse steady. If Geri had only gotten his wife and himself out of the cart when the Sound ninja was distracted with controlling her monsters, he would be able to let the cart go and confront the female Sound ninja, but as it was, he couldn't abandon his hold on the horse.
Tayuya brought her flute up to her mouth, and she began to play again, sensing the dilemma the Jonin was currently facing.
The moment the monster in front of the cart, and the monster behind it charged, so did the horse, slick with sweat. Without a care to the harness attempting to reign him in, or the weight he were carrying, the two creatures surged to the side, and thundered down the road, successfully dodging the attack.
Tayuya growled, and took a moment to make sure her monsters didn't slam into each other, and then she concentrated on playing her melody while pursuing the runaway target.
Gai yelled out a quick, "Yahoo!", and gave the horse a free reign, ready for a thrilling chase.
The horse pounded down the path, foaming from the mouth, and his eyes white in terror as he heard the two pursuing footsteps of monsters. Suddenly, the horse's speed tripled as the sound of a third set of footsteps joined the other two.
They were going so fast that the forest flew by them, and Gai's eyes were streaming with tears. Wind whipping about his ears, he could barely hear the two screaming people in the back of the cart, who were apparently both conscious now, and holding onto the luggage for dear life. With shock, Gai realized that a single jolt could likely cause the passengers to fall off, and he had to find a way to slow down the chase, and gain a measure of control.
He sent out a chakra flare so he could feel the horse. Strain was beginning to wear down his stride, and the horse would not be able to keep up this chase much longer, they were already going far harder than they should.
Shikamaru jumped out of the cart, grabbing Amaya, who was holding Chuuju, and practically dragged them to the edge of the forest.
Chuuju screamed as he took in all that was happening around them, and the creepy Sound ninja with the head on his back turned at the noise and he connected eyes with Shikamaru.
The Sound ninja grinned, mouthed "Dead," and took a few steps toward them.
Eyes widening with a mixture of panic and an attempt to take in everything around him and analyze it, Shikamaru shouted out "Choji, Sakura! Here!"
The two other genin, who had just jumped off of the cart, heared Shikamaru.
Choji immediately stepped after his friend, but Sakura grabbed the Akimichi's arm, halting him. "Gai-sensei said to help Sasuke-kun!" Sakura reminded him harshly.
Choji glared at her. "Amaya is our mission! They need our help! If you have so much faith in Sasuke, let Naruto and him handle the other guy themselves!"
Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but she saw something in Choji's face, and she closed her mouth and nodded.
The two genin changed direction, joining Shikamaru.
Choji immediately took Chuuju from Amaya's hands, which she was evidently grateful for.
Shikamaru, not keeping his eyes off of the Sound ninja, who had yet to take another step, motioned for the others to join with him in ducking down under a brush. It unnerved him that the Sound ninja still was connecting eyes with him, and that he had such a hungry expression on his face, but Shikamaru didn't allow that to distract him.
"Choji!" Shikamaru commanded, "Give Amaya-san your kunai holder!"
Choji did so, and Sakura helped the girl tie it around her leg. Amaya didn't protest, grateful for someone to be giving her direction.
"Amaya, give your coat to Sakura. Choji, give your Amaya your scarf! Sakura, give Amaya your headband, Amaya, wear the headband around your forehead!" He continued to command.
The four people present stared at him like he'd gone insane. "What?!" Sakura yelled. "Give her my headband?!"
"Choji will not need his weapons, Chuuju needs to get out of here and Choji's going to take him far away. To distract the enemy, Amaya gets Choji's scarf, it'll make him less sure of was he saw, and he also saw there were two females, but not who was who. We're disguising Amaya-san as a kunoichi, and Sakura as the target. Therefore, the enemy will be careful in facing Amaya, who will only participate by staying by Sakura and throwing kunai, and he will underestimate Sakura which will be his downfall, got it?" Shikamaru asked.
No one said a word, but began to pass around clothing as directed.
Jirobo blanched as he saw the Uchiha's red eye, immediately recognizing it as the bloodline his lord had recently been obsessing over. He was unsure whether or not Orochimaru would be pleased to learn that it had activated, but he knew that now it was more imperative then ever that he not harm the Uchiha. "Boy, my name is Jirobo, I do not want to fight-" He began.
Jirobo's attempt at surrender went ignored.
"Fire style!" Sasuke yelled, "Pheonix Flower Jutsu!" He brought his hand up to his mouth and a stream of fire appeared. He poured his chakra into the move, desperate to burn his enemy 'Jirobo' to a crisp.
Jirobo dodged, but the fire stream continued, and he turned to flee, knowing that the Uchiha would likely run out of chakra after prolonged use of the jutsu, since an elemental technique normally took a lot of chakra. While he was thinking, the Uchiha somehow managed to singe him with his jutsu, and Jirobo cringed, glaring at the boy. "I'm trying to negotiate!" He cried out.
Sasuke stopped. When the smoke cleared, Jirobo was looking slightly worse for the wear and was holding his right arm painfully, while Sasuke was practically covered in kunai, shuriken, and exploding tags, looking furious, and with one black and one red eye, and the Sound ninja almost shivered at the killer intent that radiated off the frightening figure. "Let." Sasuke growled, "Naruto. Go." He demanded.
Jirobo froze for a moment. Suddenly, he smirked. "Now, now, Uchiha, don't do anything rash, or blondie gets it." He stopped as Sasuke sent another wave of killer intent after him, and his sadistic grin grew wider.
Jirobo licked his lips and sighed dramatically. "She's such a wonderful meal… so much chakra…"
Sasuke took a step forward, tensing his muscles like he was going to release his barrage of attacks, but Jirobo held up a hand to stop him, pointing to the visible line of chakra flowing from the rock prison to him. "Don't make me kill your little girlfriend." He warned.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked bitterly.
"Well," Jirobo thought, "I just want the fiancé of the merchant dead, that's our mission anyways."
Distress was evident in Sasuke's features. "I don't have the girl. Let Naruto go!" He demanded, trying to cover up the fear in his voice.
Jirobo chuckled, Lord Orochimaru will be pleased to learn how sweet the Uchiha boy is on this girl, won't he? "Well, my job is to defeat that jinchuuriki." He said, waving his hand in the general direction of Naruto. "And keeping you out of the way is just a bonus, but I don't think if I let the two of you go that you'd just sit out of the battle, would you?"
"We might," Sasuke lied. He frowned. "What's a jinchuuriki? Are you insulting her?"
Jirobo started. "Don't you know?" He asked.
"Know what?"
The Sound ninja stared for a moment, and then just shook it off. Their intel was either wrong, or the jinchuuriki had some reason for not sharing with the group, either way, he didn't really care to elaborate. "It doesn't matter. I have the girl, you have nothing to bargain with except your skills as a ninja, which are abysmal compared to mine. So, how do you plan on winning?"
"I kill you." Sasuke said simply.
Jirobo smirked. "That prison is reinforced with my chakra, you kill me, it collapses on your little friend. What then?"
Sasuke tensed. "I defeat you, free Naruto-chan, and then kill you." Sasuke revised his plan.
Jirobo sighed. "Think it through, I'm stronger than you are, you're Jonin sensei's are all gone, and none of your teammates can help you."
"I will not allow Naruto to die! So no matter how strong you are, or how confident, you will not defeat me!" Sasuke shouted.
Jirobo did something he never thought he would do after spending so much breath chiding Tayuya for it. He cursed a string of foul words.
Sasuke's eyes were both red now, each bearing a tomoe.
"Yahoo!" Gai shouted, he'd slowed the horse so he had a measure of control, and created a shadow clone to keep Geri and Tatiana on the cart, so now he was just enjoying the chase, as the female Sound ninja thundered after him, riding on her monsters. Three times so far, the monsters had gotten close enough to take a swipe at the wheels or the horse, but each time Gai had switched roles with his shadow clone and managed to beat them back. Whenever he touched the creatures, however, he'd noticed a drain in his chakra, and he knew the chase was soon coming to a close.
He was using the fight to learn about his opponent, since he didn't know who the commander was, or how this girl fought, he could only guess at her ninja rank. She was likely a Chunin, high or low he wasn't sure, but her musical ability was rather good. He knew the others would be wrapping up soon, and he had to beat Kakashi to the punch, so he made sure that he took the right turns on the road which had the group going in circles, so that they were likely only a mile away from the others.
He couldn't keep this up much longer, the shadow clone was beginning to wear down on him, as was keeping Geri and Tatiana from panicking as well as guiding the horse, he needed to find away to end this chase as fast as possible.
Sakon and Ukon finally approached the 'three' genin at the side of the road, a quarter of a mile away from where Jirobo was fighting, so that they couldn't see what was going on in the other fight, but the two brothers didn't care.
"You three ready to submit to your fate?" Ukon asked, moving his head so that the upper half of his body was protruding from his twin's back, so that he could see their opponents.
"But, that would be disappointing," Sakon pouted, "how about a show before you go to Shinigami?"
Amaya shivered, and stood behind Sakura, afraid, and showing it, but she pulled out one of the kunai and held it in front of herself bravely. "We're not afraid of you!" Amaya said, her voice strong although her lips were quivering.
"We're ninja of the Leaf, one of the top three Shinobi villages, so if you think your little village that I've never even heard of can beat us, and then you need medical attention." Shikamaru said lazily. He was kneeling down, making a singly hand sign, but somehow covering it up in his bodies shadow so it just looked as if he had double over in pain, and the small nicks he'd made on his face and arm implied he'd been injured during the cart accident.
"Hey, there's the girl!" Ukon said, pointing to Sakura, "Let's get her now and get this over with!"
"No, let's have some fun!" Sakon protested. He quickly made several hand signs, and he mumbled the name of a jutsu no one had ever heard of, but the ground underneath Sakura began to glow.
"Sakura, Amaya, run!" Shikamaru yelled.
Kidomaru shot out his webs, encompassing the clearing in a sort of tent, creating a giant, light oppressive cage. He pulled his hostage closer to himself, shoving her against his back where she stuck due to the still damp nature of the webbing trapping her.
Kakashi backed up until he was at the edge of the clearing. He pulled out a kunai and tested it against the webbing. The kunai stuck to it, and despite trying to pull it out with an abundance of strength, the copy ninja couldn't free the kunai. He realized that the webbing was extremely strong, and he had to avoid it at all costs. Apparently, this was the spider-ninja's tricks, and he would not be able to copy and techniques from him.
Grinning, Kidomaru spat into his hand, a long trail of yellow spit connecting the two. This webbing instantly hardened, and became a sort of strong, impromptu sword. "Ha! Let's play!" The spider-ninja yelled.
Kakashi eye-smiled. He quickly formed a few hand-seals, and pressed his hand against the ground.
Thinking the Jonin was going to use a summoning technique, Kidomaru backed up, holding his arms in front of himself and creating a webbing shield.
Underground, using his chakra to move himself, Kakashi exploded out of the ground behind the spider-ninja. Kidomaru didn't have time to react, and the copy-ninja grabbed the spider-ninja's arms, slamming them onto the ground behind his back.
A loud, cringing crack echoed through the clearing, and Kidomaru cried out in pain.
Kakashi, knowing the spider-ninja was distracted due to his broken arms, quickly formed his lightning blade technique, and like he expected, his hand sliced through the webbing easily, and he managed to free Ino, who gratefully clung to his side.
Kidomaru collapsed on the ground, panting in pain.
"Well, that is what you get when you fight a Jonin." Kakashi lectured absent mindedly.
The spider-ninja cried out in pain, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides.
"There were others, weren't there sensei?" Ino asked, still shaken from the experience.
The Jonin nodded, "Can you perform your clan's body-switch jutsu?" He asked.
"No!" Kidomaru cried out, lunging at them.
It was too late, with a smirk; Ino formed the hand seals to take over his body.
Gai balanced the reins in one hand and a kunai in the other. He shouted out to Geri and Tatiana to hold onto the cart and his shadow clone.
"W…what are y…you doing?!" Geri cried out in panic.
Gai grinned. "Don't worry!" He said, giving the two a thumbs-up. "To youth!" He said, he brought a kunai down on the reins, setting the horse free.
The cart ambled along, dangerously fast, for a while, out of control when Gai jumped off, but he switched places with his shadow clone and Gai was confident that the clone would be able to get Geri and Tatiana out of the cart before it crashed. Gai jumped to the ground, stopping in the middle of the road, making a taijutsu stance as he stood in front of the three thundering monsters.
Tayuya, in surprise, played a sour note and the monsters froze without direction. "Go, Doki!" Tayuya called out to the monsters.
The monsters obeyed her, jumping after Gai. When the taijutsu leader tried to punch the monsters, they clung to the parts where they touched, and began to suck out his chakra.
"Ha!" Tayuya called out. "My monsters are sucking away your chakra, you won't be able to fucking run away anymore!"
Gai grinned at her, and Tayuya blinked rapidly when a light as powerful as the sun nearly blinded her. "It does not matter!" Gai cried, "I can defeat anyone with taijutsu alone! I will inspire my youthful student, Lee!"
"Not likely!" Tayuya growled, bringing her flute up to her mouth.
Suddenly, her flute was gone. Tayuya stared in surprise and her empty hands, and couldn't speak. Gai grinned at her, bringing the flute up to his knee and snapping it in half, instantly dispelling the monsters.
"So… so easy…?" Tayuya wondered.
"I am a Jonin." Gai explained.
"Fuck." Tayuya replied.
Shikamaru, Sakura, and Amaya were dripping wet, steaming from burns, covered in tiny nicks and cuts, and panting to regain as much oxygen as they could.
"Damn it!" Shikamaru panted, "What is with this guy?" He hadn't yet fallen into Shikamaru's trap, he was too busy showing off with flashy jutsu that the ninja could easily dodge for the most part, like this was some kind of twisted theater and the genin were the audience.
"We," Sakon corrected, "are the leaders of the Sound Four, you cannot hope to defeat us."
"I thought I saw three others with you." Amaya noted.
Ukon nodded. "Yeah." He confirmed.
"But then… if you guys are two people, then you're the Sound Five aren't you?" She asked.
"We were only the Sound Five once, when the other leader was in charge… but… he… wait a moment… I recognize you." Sakon began, but then slowed down. "You're…" He stared curiously at Amaya.
"I already told you!" Ukon sighed, exasperated. "I told you at the beginning and you didn't even care! You're too busy showing off with stupid jutsu that use up all of our chakra!" He scolded.
"Oh!" Sakon looked from Sakura to Amaya, realization crossing his face. "You're the target," He pointed to Amaya, "and you're the other kunoichi!" He pointed then to Sakura.
"Oh, no!" Amaya cried out, backing up in terror.
Shikamaru grinned. "Shadow Possession Jutsu, achieved."
Sakon started, staring at a long shadow connecting him to the other Shinobi. "What is this?!" He cried out.
"While you were busy dealing with the girls, I caught you in my Shadow Possession Jutsu." Shikamaru explained. "So now you're under my control."
Sakon laughed. "Am I?" He asked.
The giant lump on his back jumped off, becoming another person, lithe and grinning wickedly. "Been a while since I've gone solo!" Ukon cried out. He dashed toward Amaya, catching her in his arms, holding a kunai to her throat.
"No!" Shikamaru cried out in fake distress, continuing to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu.
"Gotcha, girlie." Ukon whispered in Amaya's ear.
Amaya grinned. "One problem." She said, "I'm not your target!" She was engulfed in smoke, becoming a certain pink-haired kunochi. In Ukon's shock, he slackened his grip, and Sakura was able, with a quick jab to the Sound ninja's gut, to break free. Recovering quickly from his surprise, Ukon began to run back at her, when he looked at himself.
He was covered from head to foot in exploding tags.
However, right before the tags went off, Shikamaru could swear he saw the Sound ninja smiling.
Jirobo was holding Sasuke in a chocking grip, one hand on his neck and the other covering the Uchiha's eyes. "With just a slight twist of my wrist," Jirobo warned, "I can snap your neck, Uchiha. Your precious little eyes and your sneaky fire jutsu aren't going to help you now." Jirobo shook him violently, and Sasuke let out a strangled cry.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack and the earth began to shake. A fear settled over the clearing, silencing any animals or wind, and the Sound ninja found himself cringing in apprehension. He tried to shake of the feeling, and he tightened his grip on Sasuke as he moved to regain his footing.
The blue chakra which had previously been flowing from the rock prison to Jirobo seemed to shudder as one entity. It surged to all sides around them instantly, becoming a blue tinted fog surrounding the Sound ninja and his hostage.
A figure appeared, at what seemed to be a great distance away, and Jirobo saw what appeared to be an ethereal fox running toward him, its claws outstretched.
Ukon exploded with a flurry of raining blood and fireworks.
Sakon smirked as he saw what appeared to be his brother's demise.
Shikamaru noted that whatever the two had up their sleeves, they weren't very subtle about it. Sakura must have caught on, because she didn't say a word, and neither did Amaya, for which Shikamaru was grateful. It was, unfortunately, very difficult to tell who was who, because Amaya was still under the genjutsu that had her look like Sakura.
The genin took a deep breath, looking around the clearing for something, since it did not feel like the battle was over at all, although it appeared to be, since Ukon was dead and Sakon paralyzed.
The genjutsu Amaya was wearing dispelled.
Immediately, Shikamaru knew something was wrong, and he signaled that to Sakura, who undoubtedly had caught on as well. Shikamaru'd placed the genjutsu on Amaya, so he know that only he would have been able to take it off… unless, since the genjutsu he'd used followed the same rules as bunshin, Amaya had gotten hurt.
He thought this even as the smoke had yet to clear, and when it did it was only then that he could take in Amaya's terrified expression.
"Amaya?" Shikamaru asked, unable to take his hands out of the handseal that was holding Sakon in place.
Amaya tried to scream, but the pattern of a hand swelled up on her face and it forced her mouth shut.
Like a parasite, Ukon had attached himself to the target, and his body had fused with hers.
Sakura screamed, and Sakon laughed at them all.
Ukon smiled along with his brother. "Looks like you underestimated your opponent." He told them. "I can fuse my body, not just with my twin brother, but also with anyone I please. When you put the exploding tags on me, all I had to do was slice off an arm to fake my death, and while all of your were standing there like idiots, I snuck up behind the target and grabbed her. Besides," one of Amaya's arms lifted, and the second head that was now jutting out of her chin examined it, "I can always take one of hers to replace my old arm."
The Sound ninja held a kunai up to Amaya's heart. And, ignoring Amaya's frantic whimpering he screamed in glee, "Mission complete!" before he was knocked unconscious by a green blur.
Killer intent, the likes of which Jirobo had never even imagined before, filled the clearing. The sparse pieces of which that reached Sasuke were so frightening that the Uchiha's heart skipped a few beats.
The ethereal fox disappeared silently, and Jirobo knew there was something wrong.
A red claw surged up from behind the Sound ninja, hanging over his head for a moment. Jirobo looked up and saw the long, wicked curve of the nails twitching with bloodlust, and he couldn't say a word. The claw fell down and clamped itself over Jirobo's head.
The Sound ninja dropped Sasuke, his hands reaching up to his head, his mouth open in a wordless scream that the Uchiha could see due to the transparent nature of the thing that was holding onto him.
The Uchiha dropped to the ground, lying flat against it, holding his arms up so that they protected his head.
After a long moment of silence, where nothing seemed to go on except for the tiny shifting of the blue fog that Sasuke could see threw the slits of his eyes, Sasuke looked up.
Jirobo was hanging by his head, yards above the ground, blood pouring off of him, seeping into his uniform. Looking up at the figure, fury in her features, Naruto stood.
Her braid was whipping around her, her eyes a bright, gleaming red. Her nails were two inches long and sharp, the strange marks on her cheeks deeper and vicious, and her entire body was glowing with the same red that was encompassing the Sound ninja's head.
"Naruto…?" Sasuke whispered. Stop this, Naruto…
They connected eyed.
Sasuke's right eye whirled with sudden activity, three tomoes appearing out of nowhere, spinning the moment they connected with Naruto's slitted reds.
The expression on Naruto's face changed from a terrible fury to impassiveness, and she stumbled toward Sasuke as if hypnotized.
Her eyes blinked several times before they changed back to her regular blue, and all the other changed on her body disappeared as well. Naruto fell to the ground in front of Sasuke, the fog, the killer intent, and the red light faded the moment she fell into nothing, the Sound ninja falling to the ground with a loud flop.
Sasuke ran over to her side and turned her over. He slapped her gently on her face, trying to wake her up. "Naruto? Naruto?!" He cried out in panic.
"Figures she'd pull a stunt like that."
Sasuke stared at the giant figure who was standing in front of them, bleeding profusely out of his head, with a giant while pole coming out of his neck that looked like a bone.
"Guess she likes you, huh?" Jirobo said. He was in shock, he couldn't feel any pain.
Sasuke could see Jirobo's teeth from a side in his jaw.
"Luck boy," Jirobo grinned wickedly, "with those eyes of yours she's like a pet, huh? A mini-monster at your beck and call."
"Naruto is not a monster!" Sasuke shouted, lunging out with a kunai.
Jirobo laughed, and he collapsed, unconscious from blood loss, before Sasuke could even get close to him.
Sasuke fropped the kunai, staring for a long moment at the enemy before heading to Naruto's side. He wrapped her up in his arms, kissed her forehead tenderly, and listened carefully to her very faint heartbeat.