The Black Shadow Chapter 7: Sakura Vs Nana, the promise of lovers.
"Nana you're-
"Sakura Haruno, I challenge you to a battle," Nana said getting off the rock, while looking at Sakura. Sakura was shocked as was Naruto.
"I accept," Sakura said getting off the rock while pulling out her combat clothes from her backpack. Sakura was of course looking for a place to change, but she found nothing after a quick look around. Naruto, palm on his face, shock his head and then created a black box with his free hand outstretched.
"Sakura-chan, use this please," Naruto said.
"Thank you- WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!" Sakura said as Naruto took his palm of his head. "How do I know that no one can see through that thing?"
"Because you'll being covered by complete darkness," Naruto said looking at Sakura right in the eyes. Sakura blushed a bit and nodded as she walked into the box.
"Hey Naruto is it really a box of darkness?" Ino asked.
"No, it's just a fragment of my mind," Naruto said grinning as Karin and Ino looked horrified. Naruto laughed a bit and said," I'm joking, just playing with you guys. Hahaha," scratching the back of his head. Sakura then came out of the box in full combat gear-same in shippuuden-.
"Geez Sakura-chan, no change in gear?" Naruto asked.
"Didn't need to Naruto, I've patched it up whenever I needed to," Sakura said smiling.
"Well then, if you're done talking to Naruto-sensei, shall we get this match on the way?" Nana asked, as Sakura nodded.
"Alright, Round 3 Sakura vs. Nana. BEGIN!!!!!" Karin said. And with that Nana somehow appeared before Sakura, put her hand on Sakura's shoulder and disappeared with her into the ground.
"WTF HAPPENED?!?!?!?!?!?!" Karin said in confusement, as everyone was stunned.
"I can't see them with the Byakugan," Hinata said, a bit worried for her friend.
"Relax guys," Naruto said trying to calm his friends down. It worked since they all diverted their attention to Naruto. "She warped herself and Sakura to Shadow Space," Naruto said, making the already confused bunch of friends even more confused.
"Sensei, I think I should clarify for them," Shun said speaking up. Naruto nodded and Shun began," Remember when Neji was sensing the area around him?" Everyone nodded, as Shun continued," Shadow space is how I got behind him, I just walked over to his Shadow and reappeared on it."This only confused the crowd more.
"Shun you're horrible at explanations," Kira said as Sora chuckled a bit, while Shun sighed. Naruto scratched his head and tried explaining the whole situation, again.
"Ok Shadow Space is pretty much an alternate dimension that involves the use of one's shadow. You can stay for as long as you want, kinda like a fish in water, you can choose when and where to exit." Everyone started nodding, starting to understand the concept behind the alternate dimension.
------meanwhile-----
"Ugh, my head hurts," Sakura said coming to her senses as she sat up. All she remembered before the lights came out was Nana touching her shoulder and then it all was black from there.
"I see you're awake, Sakura," a voice was heard from behind her. Sakura turned around and saw Nana sitting on what she assumed was the ground.
"Where are we?"
"This is Shadow Space, Naruto's technique for undetectable travel, aside from the Harashin, since that's in an instant," Nana said playfully, adding more confusion to the confused mind of Sakura. "But that's not important though," Nana said.
"So you challenged me to ask me stuff?" Sakura asked, as Nana nodded. "Well then, what is it you would like to know?" Sakura said, turning her body around so it faced Nana, they were just about a foot away from each other in a dark space.
"Well, just a few things actually. Have you ever asked Naruto out on a date before?" Nana asked as Sakura gave a rather stunned look. *WTF DOES SHE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE?!?!?!?!?!?!* Nana saw the look and laughed a bit," Gomen, I probably should give you a bit of a back story before I asked that question, my bad," Nana said scratching the back of her head as Sakura gave her the same annoyed look she used to give Naruto.
"Anyway, you know Shun right?" Nana asked as Sakura nodded. "Well in a sense, his past is somewhat similar to Naruto's," Sakura's eyes widened a bit. *Are we the same in the sense we both like loners?* "He never really had any friends until he got into the academy because he never really showed everyone what he could do. It was around that time the people of the village in Kumo were actually starting to like and get to know him better, like Naruto was when he was a young boy." Nana said as Sakura nodded. "However, Naruto didn't live were war was most likely going to happen," Nana said dropping her tone a bit. "That's not entirely true, our village was attacked," Sakura said but Nana shook her head." That's an attack, not nessacarily a war. Remember the Sound Cloud war? Kumogakure was almost destroyed because of it," Nana said as Sakura nodded in agreement. She understood that Konoha had been attacked, but comparing it to Kumo, Konoha wasn't as bad.
"He lost most of his friends during that war, since he was a chunnin around that time, except for me. My family was lucky enough to move out of Kumo and into Suna since it was well a bit too cloudy in the village. It was my parent's decisions, so I had no power to reject any of this, but I'm actually quite glad I did leave Kumo,"
"Why is that?"
"Well because if I didn't how knows I could have been killed, since I was a civilian at that time," Nana said smiling.
"Wait, you were a civilian?" Sakura asked a bit stumped as Nana nodded. "How did you go from being a civilian to being a ninja?"
"I could have been a ninja, but I was never able to afford the price to enter the academy," Nana said.
"That must have sucked,"
"Not really. Me not being in the academy is how I first met Shun." Nana said smiling. "He would always see me whenever I came to look at the academy and was really envious of how everyone was becoming a ninja and I wasn't. So he came to me one day and asked me if I wanted to learn some of the things he was learning, I kinda blushed since well, it was the first time anyone asked me out or something, because I had a feeling he liked me."
"Yea no kidding, Naruto was never afraid to show that he liked me," Sakura said smiling as they laughed a bit.
"So I learned some basic ninja stuff from him like how to throw kunai and taijutsu and some other things you'd learn in an academy class. But then the day after he graduated from the academy was my last day in the village. So I told him and he was unsurprisingly devastated. But he told me to not worry he'll come and find me someday and we'll travel together, learning more techniques and such as ninjas. I guess he really did keep that promise." Nana said as Sakura remembered Naruto when he kept his promise to her, he did bring Sasuke back, even though he was battered beaten and broken. "I can relate, Naruto can be that way in a sense as well," Sakura said smiling with Nana nodding her head before asking," So Sakura, do you love Naruto?"
"I… um…. I,"
"Just admit it already you love him just as much if not more than I love Shun," Nana said getting up.
"Dammit stop rushing me and my decisions," Sakura starting to get a bit ticked off.
"Ok then, if I win, you confess, if you win, I'll hold my peace. Sounds like a deal?" Nana said cracking some knuckles as Sakura nodded putting on her black battle gloves.
"Let begin then," Sakura said tightening both of her gloves before assuming her stance.
"Gladly!" Nana said as she shuffled her way towards and then circled Sakura. *This move huh? I have the perfect counter for such a reckless move.* Sakura thought has she smirked punched the floor beneath her. Suddenly four large stone slabs struck out of the floor she punched. Nana saw the move coming and easily avoided it by jumping out of the way. Sakura jumped out of the little crater and smirked at Nana who was on her knees. She was untying something attached to her shoes. When she had finished untying one of the things attached to her shoes, the thing fell, and created a loud thud sound as it dropped to the ground. *Weights?!?!?! Crap and from the sound of the impact, it sounded like 200 pounds. SHIT!!!!* Sakura thought to herself as Nana quickly undid the other weight on her shoe. It came off and Nana started to stand.
"Yanno, I never really learned any form of Ninjutsu, so I simply developed my Taijutsu skills to the point where I would be able to take on an army with just taijutsu alone,"
"Damm, that's some feat. You using 200 pound weights?"
"Not 200, 1000."
"WHAT?"
"Heh catch me if you can!" Nana said as she dashed towards Sakura at such speeds that Sakura barely had time to process what was going on. Luckily enough for Sakura, she managed to roll out of the way as Nana just sped past her. *THAT WAS CLOSE. I need to slow her down.* Sakura thought as she prepared for Nana's next assault. Nana then turned around and dashed towards Sakura again, this time purposely swerving left and right to confuse her. Sakura followed the pattern and as Nana drew within striking distance, Sakura countered accordingly by throwing a punch. As Sakura was sure that the punch would connect, Nana suddenly vanished just as the punch was supposed to connect. *What the?* was running thought Sakura's mind as she jumped back and looked around to see were Nana was.
Suddenly Sakura hear a small and very faint tap about 10 meters away from her position coming from the east. She didn't know which direction but she knew it was to her right. Suddenly a Kunai struck the back of Sakura's left arm. The force of the impact caused Sakura to stutter a bit as she took the kunai out of her arm and started using it as a weapon.
Nana then appeared in front of Sakura, about a few meters away from her position. Then two more Nanas appeared, one on each of Nana's side. *I doubt those are illusions* Sakura thought as more Nana's appeared creating a line of the same person.
"You're doing pretty well for one that's never fought me before," Nana said calmly.
"Not bad, but you could hide what you're doing, a lot more," Sakura said throwing a smirk at Nana, which seemed to tingle Nana's killer instinct. *SHE'S DEAD!!!!!* the instinct thought. *No, she's Naruto-sensei's lover, I can't kill her, but maybe I can knock her out.* Nana thought as the line approached Sakura. Soon all of the clones dashed towards Sakura, there were 11 clones in total.
*Here she comes* Sakura said as she braced for the assault, when she heard another faint tap behind her.
"THERE YOU ARE!!!" Sakura said turning around and throwing the kunai directly in front of her. Suddenly Nana turned visible and slid under the kunai just barely avoiding it as it passed a few inches above her head. Sakura flipped backwards and noticed that the clones were gone. *I knew it!!!! They weren't clones!* She thought as she landed
"Dammit! Maybe I should learn a few new jutsus and figure out what my element is. But you're good Sakura, I'll give you that much," Nana said as she cracked her knuckles again.
"Like I said, hide your movements better," Sakura said as Nana replied," It's already below what the normal shinobi hears. You just so happen to be a medical ninja, so you're able to pick up things that a regular shinobi wouldn't," Nana said as she took out a scroll. "Guess that mean's I'll have to take the fight up close," Nana said as she opened the scroll. "And Personal!" She said releasing the seal on the scroll as she pulled out two black poles. They were long enough to have the same reach as Lee's bo staff put together, but that was it. Otherwise it was just 2 black poles. *So she has a weapon, question is can she use it.* Sakura said thinking to herself as she studied Nana's movements.
Nana then threw one of the poles on her back as it slid into its secret holster. She then detached the pole into two smaller poles, which she detached both of them. However, the two smaller poles were bound together by chain, thus making 2 nun chucks, one for each hand. *O shit.* Was all Sakura could think before Nana rushed Sakura swinging both Nun Chucks wildly at her. Sakura was just barely able to keep herself out of range of the nun chucks, but they were getting closer. Sakura then jumped back a few yards away and notice that Nana had connected both of the nun chucks together to form that pole again. *Ok maybe I can take her now.*
Sakura landed as Nana prepared to swing her pole in a downwards motion, which Sakura had anticipated as she begun to block. But it was a feint move as Nana turned around nailed Sakura with an upwards strike. The tip of the rod connected with Sakura's chin as the force of the impact sent Sakura into the air. *Dammit!* Sakura thought as Nana jumped into the air to follow up on her initial launch. Sakura notice that Nana was now using both poles to attack. Quickly processing the info, Sakura recovered and prepared to block all of the pole strikes that Nana would throw. Nana then just began swinging both poles at Sakura, who was desperately trying to defend. Nana landed a lot of strikes on Sakura, but when one of the rods struck Sakura's neck, Sakura was stunned. *SHIT! I CAN'T MOVE ME BODY* Sakura thought as she could no longer move her body to defend herself. Nana hit Sakura a few more times before smashing one of the poles down on Sakura's head. Sakura was sent head first downwards in a spiral. Now a hit like that upon impact with the ground would instantly kill anyone that wasn't able to cushion or break their fall. However Sakura was spiraling downwards which meant that she may or may not have her head hit the floor directly, which did happen. Sakura right before she made impact managed to turn her body so she would have her back hit the floor.
The force of the impact created a small crater where Sakura's dug into for about a foot deep. Nana landed a yard away and walked over to Sakura. Extending a hand she offered," This battle is over, let me help you up," she said smiling. Sakura, who was completely conscious since Sakura's self healing abilities kicked in, pushed the hand away. Nana backed up and saw the determination in her eyes. Sakura wasn't going to give up yet, no she would never give up unless she had nothing else to give. Nana sighed and said," You know, you're a lot like Naruto in a sense. You never knew when to give in and let it go."
"That's because I don't want to give in and let this one go," Sakura said, struggling to get up while breathing heavily. She was still very much groggy from that last attack, the blood from the open wound on the top of her head was mixing in with her hair as it darken. However the self healing sub consciousness sealed and patched up the wound and removed some of the blood there. Sakura then charged Nana throwing poorly aimed punches, making them easily avoidable by Nana and her speed. After about 6 sluggish punches, Nana quickly side stepped one of Sakura's punches and hopped up and spun kicked Sakura in the gut. The kick sent Sakura rolling away and laying face down on the floor clutching her stomach.
"You ready to give up yet?" Nana asked as she saw Sakura struggling again to get up again. Sakura was losing consciousness since her self healing ability had a cost, it would automatically use up chakara in the chakara reserves to heal. This caused the problem of using up too much chakara while fighting. Sakura was almost out of chakara at this point in the battle, but she did not let this fact stop or slow her down. In fact it made her more determined and hard headed, like the Naruto she knew and admired. *Even I if I don't have enough chakara left in me, I will not surrender!* was screaming throughout Sakura's mind as she mustered the strength for one last charge. Sakura was about to throw her punch when she didn't have enough strength to stand at that point. So she started falling forward and turned around to soften her fall. It was at that point where she thought to herself *Dammit, I'm sorry for being weak Naruto.*
Just then a blinding shadow appeared. The shadow caught Sakura just before she hit the back of her head to the ground. Sakura's consciousness was still with her as she opened her eyes once again to see someone with blonde spiky hair holding and cushioning her head. "Naruto," Sakura said weakly.
"Sakura-chan rest easy please," Naruto said to the pinkette in his arms.
"But, -"
"No buts, just rest, for me please? Ok Sakura-chan?" Naruto said smiling at the pinkette, who gave a weak smile and quietly passed out. Naruto sighed and carried her bridal style while walking over to Nana.
"So Naruto-sensei, I hope I didn't over do it. If I did, my apologizes," Nana said falling to one knee as she spoke.
"Shun, help Nana up, apparently Sakura was able to nick Nana with a few of her chakara punches," Naruto said standing next to Nana.
"chakara what?"
"Instead of a punch that creates a chakara explosion upon impact, she threw punches that sent a shock wave of pure chakara in the punch's direction," Naruto said educating his student since he watched the entire match. Shun appeared next to Nana and helped her up.
"Domo, Shun," Nana said as she got on Shun's back.
"Don't worry about it Nana, it's alright," Shun said in a light and happy tone. Although Nana only heard what Shun said, she knew that he loved every minute of it and was in a full grin. Shun-carrying Nana on his back- sunk into the ground along with Naruto-carrying Sakura in his arms-, thus leaving the Shadow Space.
End of Chapter 7
-A/N: Ok well SATs are over and more stuff's been coming up for me lately so I might not be quick to upload chapters and such…. Yea….. anyway I hope you guys liked this chapter and I had a lot of fun writing it, till next time!-
-TERMS2K1 AKA TSX AKA SHUN