Never Surrender

My first fanfiction. Please read and review. I am trying a new format for my FF, let me know if it's better or worse. Sorry about the late update, please accept my formal apologies. I made it up to you by nearly doubling the reading time. That's right, you get to read more before the chapter ends. Over 6000 words. Mainly because I need to write a 6k word entry to be able to beta-read. Enjoy!

You awoke from your sleep to find it quiet. Sakura was still sleeping, so you laid in bed, remaining silent. You noticed outside it was snowing. Oh, how you longed to get outside and out of this damn hospital. You took your copy of Make-Out Paradise off the table next to you. You read for about five minutes or so, when you heard Sakura say something.

"Xorias, I'm injured, tired, and exhausted. Please don't make me come over there. I know you don't want to be eating the hospital food here. No need to stay here any longer than you have to," she said groggily.

Over the next few days, you stayed in the hospital, having your normal rations of hospital food, which included, pea soup, Jell-O, and water, wanting more. Never had you wanted ramen more than now. You never thought that you would crave food like that.

Because Sakura had fully recovered from her injuries, she would make a usual visit everyday, sometimes just to see how you were doing, and other times to sneak in goodies for you. You really didn't have much for entertainment, other than your two sock puppets that you resorted to when you were about to die from boredom.

Though Naruto said he didn't pardon you from secretly conspiring with the Council at the time he said it, he seemed to forget it had ever happened. He seemed to be his old cheery self. So many friendly faces would visit you on a nearly constant basis. You seemed to have proven your loyalty to the village, and they realized it.

You had gone against the Council's wishes and rescued Sakura, nearly at the cost of your own life. But by doing so, the Hokage had recognized it and she requested to see you when you were able to walk again. But seeing as how she ran the hospital, it didn't make much sense.

Using the Sharingan took more of a toll on you than you had originally thought possible. But after about a week in the hospital, you were finally released, giving you your freedom.

The village was put on high alert due to the kidnapping. And because Kakashi had unwillingly given the Council leader, Larza, the location of the secret scrolls, and the failure of killing Larza, the village was nearly on lockdown from the potential of another attack by Orochimaru.

However, on the bright side, Christmas was nearing. It was that time of year. Children would come running into their parents' bedroom, jump up and down on their beds like a three year old on crack. This time around, you had a family to spend it with. This put a smile on your face as you walked to the Hokage's office. You opened the door to Tsunade's office, to hear her yelling at you.

"Where the hell have you been?" she shouted.

"I was in the hospital, remember? How much have you had to drink? Had you not fed me that pea soup, I might have gotten out sooner," you replied.

She calmed down as you asked her, "What the hell was in that pea soup anyway?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," she replied with a serious look on her face. You shuddered as she spoke.

"But let's get down to business," she said changing the unpleasant conversation.

"Xorias Odamori, I am appointing you to the position of ANBU until the threat of the Council of Lorii has been resolved. You have more knowledge than anyone in the village on the Council, and I intend to end this threat sooner rather than later. You will use your knowledge to counter any moves they may make. You and your team eliminated some of the members. Though you have weakened their resolve, they aren't anywhere close to calling it quits. Use your knowledge and your newfound abilities to serve and protect the village and the ones you love. Do you accept?"

"Of course, Lady Hokage," you replied.

"Good, I will inform Neji. In the mean time, Sakura wanted to see you. She is at the ramen shop," she said as she ushered you out the door.

"Right," you replied and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

You walked to the ramen bar, noticing your stomach was yearning for some real food. As you approached the shop, Sakura turned around and got up. "Hey, Xorias!" she said as she hugged you.

"Look's like you survived the hospital. How was the pea soup?" she asked teasingly.

"Don't ask," you replied.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about," you continued changing the subject.

"Well, seeing as you have the Sharingan now, you know that you have an amazing gift. But with that gift, comes a great amount of personal responsibility. On top of that, you are not the only one. Kakashi has one in his left eye. You may have seen it before," she explained.

"Yeah," you replied. "There is Sasuke and Itachi," she said provoking your thoughts.

"The Council said that they would be my half-brothers," you said.

"How do you know so much, Sakura?" you asked.

"I had a huge crush on Sasuke when I was 12. I also had Kakashi as my sensei. So I have had a lot of contact with the Sharingan," she explained.

The two of you ate lunch at the ramen shop, chatting about the latest events and about what happened after Durei's death. She explained how Larza escaped. When you said nothing she was confused. "Aren't you worried that he escaped?" she asked.

"I rescued you, that was all that was important to me. We will deal with him later. I would have rather lost him than lost you, Sakura," you explained.

She blushed. No one had ever said that to her before. Whenever someone had said something along those lines, they would have been drilled into the wall. But with Xorias…

After a few hours, you finally left the shop and went home. You opened the door to Naruto's house to find Naruto and Hinata kissing on the couch. You merely rolled your eyes and went upstairs. You took off your shirt and hopped into bed. It felt great to sleep in a real bed.

You awoke in the middle of the night, half-asleep and groggy to someone in the room. "Xorias… Xorias… can you hear me?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah," you replied, realizing that someone was there that shouldn't be.

"Fokuske!" you yelled under your breath.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" you asked, taken completely by surprise by his presence.

"I want to join you," he replied. You cocked an eyebrow.

"Not in the literal sense. But I want to help. I can act as a spy. You need all the intelligence that you can get," he explained.

"I trusted the Council. Then they betrayed my trust, big time," you replied.

"Why should I trust you?"

Fokuske thought hard on this, searching his mind for proof.

"I believed in what you said. No one should be treated as you were," he argued. Fokuske was you first friend in the Council. You had easily become friends with him, and found it easy to talk to him. That's probably why you did kill him the second you realized it was him.

"Fine. We'll see how this works out. But if I get any feeling that you are going to do anything to hurt Sakura or any of my friends, I will kill you personally. Do I make myself clear," you stated.

"As crystal, Xorias," he replied.

"Good, now let me sleep," you said as you waved him away.

"It's almost dawn you know," he argued.

"All the more reason for you to leave before someone sees you. Besides," you said as you hopped into bed, "if the sun's not up, I'm not up." He laughed quietly as he leapt from your room, outside and over the walls.

You woke up a few hours later, with a more substantial amount of energy. Now that you were sleeping in a real bed, and on a normal diet, you felt rejuvenated. You hadn't done anything fun in a while, which in your case, was unhealthy.

But something happened over the next week made up for it. The Hokage assigned you and Sakura a team of genin to train and to prepare for the Chuunin Exams. You had said that only Jounin's were assigned teams, but she had stated that she wanted to get you in the routine of being a Konoha shinobi. This made you get that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

They were assigned to Ebisu's team originally, but the Hokage assigned them to you. (No not Konohamaru's team. They are Chuunin in this story.) And Sakura's team had stayed in the academy an extra year to build their skills. So both, your's and Sakura's teams weren't rookie.

In fact they, sent you out on a C rank mission to Sunagakure. Both your teams were to go to the Kazekage, Gaara, and help return an escaped convict.

"So, we need to introduce ourselves. I'll start," Sakura said as the two teams of genin gathered at the gate.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I am a your Jounin sensei," she said as she contemplated on what to say next. She figured she would copy her old sensei for old times sake.

"I don't particularly like or dislike anything. I don't really have a hobby, and my dreams for the future, well, I haven't really thought about it," she recited.

Then you spoke up, "My name is Xorias Odamori. I am also your Jounin sensei," you said pointing to what team was yours.

"I like spending time with my close friends, and training. I dislike naughty genin who do not respect their Jounin sensei's orders!" you said raising your voice.

Then you chuckled a little, adding, "No, I'm not a mean person naturally, but I expect you to follow orders okay?" you asked your team. All three of them nodded smiling.

"Well, go ahead, introduce yourselves," you ordered.

One piped up. A girl, on your squad. "My name is Koyuke. I like playing Shogi and I enjoy coming up with ideas for games. But I dislike working, it's boring and I have better things I could be doing."

"A natural Shikamaru…" you thought as you chuckled.

Another one spoke out, this time from Sakura's team.

He stood up and spoke, "My name is Xani. I like reading and exercising. I dislike, well, I don't really hate a lot of things," he said as he sat back down.

The others, sat up and sat down without talking about anything else but their names. On your team there was, Kimura, a boy, and Mina, a girl, plus Koyuke. On Sakura's team, there was Yubi, a boy, Hina, a girl, plus Xani.

"They just don't like the fact that you are replacing their previous sensei's. Xani and I don't mind, but the others…" Koyuke said as she trailed off.

"Well, you may not like it, but, we are your new sensei's and I expect you to be courteous. In addition to being a Jounin, I am also ANBU. So that means I don't need to use conventional means of punishment, to get you back on track," you threatened.

"But hopefully, I won't have to resort to that," you finished with a smile on your face. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Alright, let's set off then," you said turning to Sakura. She nodded and started together.

You walked past the scenery that encompassed the countryside for miles. Stopping just to enjoy the view every hour or so. The team may not have liked you or Sakura, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves, telling jokes, laughing, and overall having fun. But as the evening approached it was time to start thinking about where to set up for the night. You and Sakura started looking at areas on a map for places to rest for the night. You found one particular spot, where trees surrounded you on three sides.

As you approached it and stopped walking, you turned to your squad. "Alright, my squad, we set up for the night. Sakura's team set's up tomorrow, we came to an agreement," you stated as a groan escaped from Koyuke.

You turned to her an eyebrow cocked. "I don't want to tonight," she said placing her hands behind her head and yawning.

"The rest of you get busy. Koyuke come here please," you said benevolently as Mina and Kimura started setting up camp.

"What is it sensei?" You like the sound of that.

"Do you know a Shikamaru Nara?" You went to crack your knuckled when you realized you couldn't move your hands. You looked down to see a shadow extending from Koyuke's body.

"Does that answer your question sensei?" she asked as she chuckled and released the jutsu.

"He's my brother," she added. "I learned a lot from him and I want to be just like him."

"Well, I enjoy being friends with Shikamaru. And one things for sure, when something needs to be done, he does it, even if it seems bothersome because he knows it's for the good of the team. If you learn a lot from him then you need to act as he does. That means working for the good of the team. Do you understand?" you asked.

"Yes, sensei," she replied, a lot less reluctance in her voice.

She started walking back to her teammates, and they began setting up camp. Sakura walked over to you.

"Wow, what did you tell her?" she asked wide-eyed.

"I told her Shikamaru would do things like set up camp for the good of the squad," you replied.

She turned to you, "That's horrible," she said giggling.

"I know, Shikamaru never did anything as remedial as this, but it seemed fitting to say so," you laughed.

"Well, what do you have planned for tomorrow?" she asked you.

"If our calculations are correct, we should get to Sunagakure tomorrow morning. So as long as we don't all suddenly fall ill and don't move for a half a day or so, we should make it there by tomorrow morning. I have a special training session. I would like to have your squad join mine for the exercise," you explained.

"Of course, just let me know when to do it," she replied.

"Right, well, good night," you said entering the large tent near the front of the camp. Sakura laughed.

"You thought that you would get that whole tent to yourself? Are you fat?" she asked as she giggled.

"Oh, I see," you said.

You opened the flap of the tent to let her in. You quickly changed under the covers of your sleeping bag. She put her bag down near the corner of the tent.

You noticed she was starting to undress, so you turned around and gave her, her privacy as you asked, "So what do you think of your squad?"

"They seem nice enough, especially Xani. I just wish I had more girls," she said as she finished changing.

You turned back to face her and replied, "I may have a difficult time with this group. Especially with the Shikamaru of the group. But it may turn out to be okay."

"Mr. Optimism," she said as smiled at you.

You chuckled. You put both your hands behind your head, and faced the ceiling of the tent. "Good night Sakura," you said.

"Yeah, good night, Xorias," she replied.

You both, exhausted from the day's traveling, fell asleep quickly.

You awoke in the middle of the night, unsteady for some reason. You turned to Sakura, still deeply sleeping. "She looks so beautiful when she sleeps," you thought.

It must have been nothing, ever since the Council of Lorii had lost Durei, they had been quiet, except for Fokuske of course. You went back to sleep reassured.

You woke the next morning to find it sunny and pleasantly warm, a nice cool breeze filled the air, as you rubbed your eyes and stepped out of your tent. Sakura was already awake and sitting in front of a fire holding a cup. She picked up a cup of equal size and gave it to you.

"Coffee, here," she said you held out your hand to take it from her.

"Yuck, I never did like coffee," you said blanching as you drank a sip. You never did like coffee. Maybe it was the horrible taste that it had that woke people up in the morning. But you knew you needed it because you needed energy. And a ninja with energy was a happy ninja.

After drinking a while, you whined, "I'm still not awake, I've been drinking this for ten minutes."

You were about to take another sip, when as you raised your cup, you all of a sudden jerked your hand and the coffee went all over your face nearly giving you three degree burns. You cried in pain as the coffee felt as though your face was burning your face off. You deduced it was Koyuke.

"When I break out of this jutsu, I better not turn and see you Koyuke…" you threatened, Sakura doubled over laughing the whole time this was going on.

"You awake now, sensei?" she said as she chuckled.

"And burned as an added bonus…" you said as you trailed off. She released the jutsu and came over to you with bandages in hand.

Sakura had her share of laughs and came over to you kneeled down and placed her hands together and then placed them over your face. They started to glow a feint green as you felt the burns go away.

"There, how is it?" she asked.

"Good, it doesn't sting anymore ," you replied. "Where did you learn that?"

"Learn what? The healing jutsu?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"In case no one told you, I'm a medical ninja, one of the few," she explained.

"Could you teach me?" you asked.

"It would take a while. Are you sure you want me to teach you?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I am. I am ANBU, I need to know as much as possible. I am ready," you replied as you nodded your head.

Sakura reluctantly agreed, thus the start of your medical training began. You agreed that you didn't want to become a medical ninja but that you wanted to learn just a few essential medical jutsu to be able to sustain yourself in a fight if you were injured.

The two of you didn't start right away, she merely agreed to teach you, not necessarily now. You assumed the genin were up at this point.

"All right. Let's get moving again," you ordered as the ninja gathered their things and started running again.

As dusk approached, you looked to Sakura, "Sakura, I think now is the time for the training exercise."

"Right," she replied nodding her head.

"We're stopping here briefly," you stated as you came to a halt on a tree branch.

The Genin jumped to the ground waiting to hear an explanation from the Jounin. You placed your hand into your weapons pouch, while counting out the number of people that were to take place in this exercise. You pulled out a single kunai knife and put it in your hand. You released it and it whipped passed the Genin, lodging itself right into a tree.

You jumped down from the tree, and started talking. "We are going to conduct a training exercise. You will be competing in teams, my team and Sakura's team, of course," you explained.

You reached into your pocket, and threw a deck of cards in the middle of the six Genin.

"Playing cards? What does that have to do anything?" Xani asked.

"We will be playing extreme spoons. And that will be what you will be going after," you explained as you pointed to the kunai knife that you threw into the tree.

"Here are the rules. Sakura's team will start out picking a card and then discarding a card to my team. Then my team will pick one up from the discards that Sakura's team discards. You will take turns drawing and discarding cards until one team achieves a four of a kind. Once that happens both teams will rush for the kunai knife. Only one team has to get the four of a kind. Here's the catch. You will be playing a half a mile from the kunai knife. Once a team has achieved the four of a kind, and has ran for the kunai knife, all techniques are okayed. You will not get to the kunai knife unless you give it your all. The first team that reaches and extracts the kunai knife win," you explained in detail.

You lead both teams to the starting point. You dealt one member of each team four cards. The game officially started when you lowered your hand starting the exercise. The card player from Sakura's team was Xani, and the card player from your team was Kimura.

As the game dragged on, sweat starting beading on Xani's forehead, as Kimura started making sudden movements to try to throw off Xani's composure. If one team failed to achieve four of a kind but went anyway they were disqualified.

"Got it!" Xani yelled as Yubi and Hina started dashing for the kunai, with your team not far behind.

As both teams neared the tree, they started using their techniques, not just seeing who could run faster.

You and Sakura observed from the tree-line. "Ninja Art; Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Koyuke yelled as all three members of Sakura's team were caught in Koyuke's shadow. Kimura and Mina started running unopposed to the kunai knife.

"It can't be that easy," you said quietly.

"We've reached the tree!" you heard Kimura shout from a few hundred feet away.

"What?! No way! Aaaah!" Kimura was screaming in excruciating pain as his skin was ripped from his body, and Mina was having her insides turned upside down as she writhed in pain on the ground.

Koyuke knew what was happening, but she knew she would have to release the jutsu for it to work. But she had to. She was also in pain, but she wasn't as heavily affected as her teammates. She placed her hands together forcing you to cock one eyebrow, released the Shadow Possession Jutsu, and shouted, "Kai!"

As if on cue, Kimura and the rest of your team were no longer screaming in pain.

"Genjutsu," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Impressive," you stated.

Sakura's team was almost there. All of a sudden probably twenty shuriken went straight in front of Sakura's team, forcing them to stop. From the sidelines behind the trees, Mina was moving the shuriken with strings attached to the ninja tools. They all contacted into the same tree. Sakura's team was intrigued, but not phased. They were about to continue when, they heard Mina's voice.

"Fire Style; Dragon Flame Jutsu!" as the wires were exposed in a pillar of flame, completely blocking Sakura's team's path.

Xani formed a few hand signs and shouted, "Water Style; Water Dragon Jutsu!" as a water mass shaped like a dragon collided with the flaming wire, causing the fire to die off, but making the dragon disappear.

Both teams were approaching the kunai knife. Hina leapt over the Genin and landed to the side of the kunai knife. Kimura was almost there. He leapt for the kunai knife and so did Hina. They both jumped for it.

You stood up from your sitting position and jumped down towards the tree to see the final result. As you walked up to Kimura and Hina you saw who was the victor.

"Congratulations, Kimura and Hina," you said.

You looked as you saw both Hina and Kimura grabbing on to the kunai knife as if it was a priceless artifact. It was a tie.

You scratched the back of your head as you were startled. You didn't think that there would be a tie. But nonetheless you were satisfied with the results. Sakura came up behind you and walked to both teams congratulating them.

"Well, I'm proud of all of you. You did very well," you said as they shuffled their feet from the praise. Praise from an ANBU. They liked it.

"But now we need to get moving again," Sakura said as she turned to you.

"We need to get to Sunagakure by morning," you finished.

As you started running, Koyuke asked a very good question. "If we are chasing down a convict in Sunagakure, why doesn't the Kazekage send his own ninja?"

"I think it's because his ninja have tried, but maybe they were stumped," Xani reasoned.

You merely wondered. Koyuke raised a good question. You hadn't thought about that. You took the order without question. Why "didn't" the Kazekage send his own ninja? There were plenty of good ninja in Sunagakure… You would just have to ask the Kazekage when you got there.

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"This is what they look like! Go now!" she yelled.

"Yes, maam," he replied as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

He only had so much time before the ANBU member, the medical ninja, and the other Genin with them reached Sunagakure. He had to hurry…

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As the sun set behind the horizon, you decided it was time to call it a night. Now it was Sakura's team's turn to set up camp. After that time, you and Sakura got into the tent and started coming up with battle plans.

"So the convict was last sighted east of Sunagakure. Scouts report that they have him surrounded, but are unable to move, as he is undetectable. But they know he can't escape that area. If we can find him and have Koyuke trap him in the Shadow Possession, we have him," Sakura explained.

"Remember, this is a mission. While it is a real threat, it is still only C rank. We shouldn't interfere. I doubt a C rank criminal, could take on six Genin and live to tell the tale, especially six experienced ones. Still, I still can't shake this feeling that something about this is wrong…" you expressed you concern as you agreed with her plan.

You agreed upon a final battle strategy before shutting your eyes and going to sleep.

You awoke in the middle of the night again. This time due to shuffling in the trees. There was no breeze, so you knew someone was there. But then the rustling stopped. Maybe it really was the wind…

You awoke the next morning only twenty miles from Sunagakure. You were going to arrive on time. Everyone was awake before you as usual. So you quickly got dressed and hopped out of the tent. You got right to running. You were almost there, you figured leaving now wouldn't hurt.

As you approached the gates of Sunagakure, there was a short blonde-haired ninja who greeted you briefly saying, "There's no time to see the Kazekage! The situation has gotten out of hand! We need you there right away!" he shouted as he darted ahead, you naturally following. You were joined by a black-haired ninja along the way.

But it was weird, you should've seen the Kazekage first so that he knew you would arrive. They didn't even send someone to notify him. Something was definitely up. But you couldn't place your finger on it.

"Here is where he was. He went off in that direction," he said as he pointed.

"We saw him escape in there. He discovered it this morning. It was a secret house where our ANBU would hold meetings. If he got his hands on what was in there, he could…" he said as he trailed off.

"We tried going after him, but he has apparently figured out our attack patterns and adjusts accordingly. Maybe new ninja will add a new twist," he explained.

"Sakura, this may be more dangerous than expected. We may need to get involved. The Genin may be over their heads in this one," you said.

"Right," she agreed.

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"There they are," he said as he looked at the ANBU ninja. "Looks like I'm not too late."

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As you were about to enter the house, the ninja escorting you gasped as he whipped his head around to see someone coming at him from the tree-line.

You turned your head to see someone from the shadows falling down towards the ninja that had greeted you! You knew it, someone had been following you!

"Rasengan!" the ninja shouted, ripping apart the other ninja's body and sending him flying killing him instantly.

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelled as Naruto pulled back his hood.

"This man was working with the convict! Get out of the way!" he shouted as he threw two shuriken at the other ninja who leapt out of the way with ease.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?!" Sakura shouted back.

"That man is the convict himself! They were trying to lure you into the house and trap you there!" he explained.

Suddenly, both the accused convict and Naruto were both stopped in their tracks. You turned to see Koyuke trapping both ninja in the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"What's going on Naruto?" you asked alarmed.

"That man is the escaped convict that you were looking for," he accused.

"Why would the Kazekage send ninja after us and kill us?" Sakura asked.

"Because he wouldn't. Look, before you left the village, a few days before to be more specific, the Hokage sent a letter by hawk to the Kazekage, informing him that she was sending ninja to assist them. Then, a day after you left, she got a reply from the Kazekage, saying that he never ordered the mission and that no such convict existed. So the Hokage sent me to your aid, as she knew you were walking into a trap. Thank goodness I got here in time to warn you," Naruto explained.

"That would explain why I was doubting the logic of this mission and what was behind it," you stated.

"Naruto, thanks for coming," Sakura said smiling.

"Well, well. Looks like the two village leaders figured it out. I congratulate them," the man, still trapped in the jutsu.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked.

"Xorias, dead," he replied simply, with an evil grin on his face.

"After the Council's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Konoha ninja, they started hiring contractors, mercenaries, if you will. I was the first of many. However, all is not lost on our side. We still have one trump card. We know where the secret scrolls are now. It's only a matter of time," he explained.

Koyuke released the jutsu on Naruto's end to boost the power of her shadow on the mercenary. "I still can't hold it!" she yelled alarmed.

You drew your two swords and stood in a fighting position. Guys let Naruto, Sakura, and I handle this. This is way past your level of fighting style,' you ordered.

You were not, under any circumstances, going to put the Genin in danger.

They obeyed and stepped back. Naruto called forth his shadow clones, and Sakura put on her gloves.

"This is going to be fun!" he laughed maniacally as Koyuke's shadow returned to her body as she hopped behind you.

He lunged at you swinging his sword horizontally, as you blocked it with ease.

"I have been trained in the art of sword fighting for ten years, I wouldn't advise fighting me. You would lose the fight, horrendously," you stated confidently.

He merely smirked and he whipped his hand to the side and reversed the blade now moving towards Sakura. She ducked and rolled away from the blade. He hopped over you as he swung at Naruto in mid-air making a large gash in his shoulder, only to have it be a clone disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto's clones tried and failed miserably to catch the mercenary off guard. Leading to their immediate disfigurement. The attacker then turned again to you weaving his attacks in and out of your sword blocks. One particular strike had the mercenary swing diagonally, and you blocked it with one sword and caught the sword in a cross blade using your second scimitar. You flicked your wrist sending the attacker's sword flying much too far out of his reach. He hopped away about ten feet.

Sakura moved in. It was her turn. She was punching left and right, the mercenary barely avoiding each attack. If she could just land one hit…

She took one more swing, missing by an inch.

"Oh well, it's not like I can dodge it forever," he said as it seemed as if he was going to accept the blow! Sakura's punch hit, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. Nobody could see anything. The Genin were trying to hold on to something. When the smoke cleared, the mercenary was still standing. In fact his fist was directly in contact with hers.

"Does he have the same power as she does?!' you thought amazed and horrified at the same time.

Sakura gasped as followed up with an attack to the ground knocking Sakura off her feet and sending her into a tree. Naruto darted over to Sakura and was immediately hit with a kunai in the shoulder. The wound was deep but not life-threatening. Sakura all of a sudden felt like she didn't have any energy left.

The mercenary lunged at you. "Show me what you got traitor!" he yelled as he landed a punch in your gut. Moving you back at least twelve feet, though still standing. He attacked again. His speed was unreal.

"This time I will put all the chakra into my hand and release it. I will finish this quickly, the move on to your friends!" he shouted.

Sakura laughed. "What are you laughing at wench?!" he shouted.

"You made a big mistake," she replied. "He goes into a frenzy if you threaten his friends."

He shrugged and lunged at inhuman speeds and threw a punch aiming for your gut, but his hand was stopped inches from your stomach.

He noticed your head was down, so he figured you couldn't see him.

"What? How could you have anticipated my attacks?" he asked in amazement and horror.

You lifted your head to the mercenary revealing your three-wheeled Sharingan eye.

"Damnit, what the hell is that?!" he shouted.

"You threatened my friends lives, underestimated me and my comrades, and disrespect my squad. Now you pay for your ignorance," you said infuriated.

The mercenaries' hand was all of a sudden forced back by your closed fist. You moved your hand in such a fashion that made his hand snap like a twig, a loud cry of pain came from the aggressor. You then proceeded with the brutal ass-beating of the mercenary, which consisted of gut-kneeing, face punching and yes, even a Kakashi-style bitch slap (From the second fight with Zabuza).

Even though the mercenary tried to retaliate, not only was he injured, but he was going up against the Sharingan itself.

You formed hand signs, and the Chidori appeared in your hand. You took your right hand containing Chidori and your left hand holding the mercenary by the collar and lifted him into the air and thrust your right hand into the mercenary killing him instantaneously.

"It's over," you said as you deactivated your Sharingan, not passing out this time. The Genin emerged from their spots and came over to their squad leaders.

Sakura got up with the help of Naruto. Sakura was starting to regain some of her energy back and she performed a healing jutsu for Naruto's wound. Sakura instructed you to lay against a tree while she examined you.

"Look you don't need to do this, really I'm okay," you insisted.

You started to get up when you were held down by a single finger.

"Listen, I hate it when you get hurt Xorias. I want to make sure you are okay. Alright?" she asked as her frustration turned to concern.

"Alright," you said reassuring her with a smile.

After a few minutes of examining your body, she affirmed that nothing was wrong but a few scratches and bruises.

"Well, we should report back to the Hokage," you said, as Naruto and the others nodded their heads.

Two days passed as you reached Konoha. You immediately went to see the Hokage.

"Good, looks like Naruto warned you in time," she said as she saw you walk in the door.

"Yeah, thanks again. Listen, he wasn't a convict as you said. But what I learned was that he was a mercenary," you explained.

"Do you think he was a member of the Council?" she asked as she placed her hands under the chin like she usually did.

"No. I think he was working for them. I didn't recognize him, so he wasn't a member. But he is directly working with the Council of Lorii," you replied.

"We will discuss this later, tomorrow is Christmas. Unless you forgot…" she said squinting evilly at you.

"No, Lady Hokage," you replied as you left the room in a puff of smoke.

She was right, tomorrow was Christmas, and you had a good feeling about tomorrow…

A/N: Thanks for reading chapter 7. Sorry this was so late to post. I have just been getting over a cold over the last week. Next chapter should be up next week, probably Sunday. I have a state tournament for my speech and debate team this weekend, so I will have a lot of down time at the hotel in Tacoma to write my next chapter.

Next time: It's Christmas, and Xorias just needs to find people to celebrate it with! And Fokuske pays a visit!