"Oh man! This isn't it either!" Naruto whined as he threw the hundredth red clover that he had looked at back into a pile with the others.
Rayne sighed as she crawled around on her hands and knees searching. After she and Konohamaru had made their safe landing on Naruto, they immediately began searching for the clover. So far, their efforts were in vain…until Konohamaru looked into the cut out base of a statue.
"I found it! Guys, I found it!"
Rayne and Naruto ran over to Konohamaru, and crouched down to look inside the hole he had been peering in. Indeed, there it was, the crimson four leafed clover. The young child desperately strained as he reached into the base of the statue.
"I-I can't reach it!"
Naruto grunted as he stood up. He pressed his hands against the statue, attempting to tip it slightly in order for Konohamaru's fingers to grasp the desired flower.
"Naruto…I can always just reach for the thing. My arms are longer than Konohamaru's," Rayne explained to him as she stretched her arms out to her sides, wiggling them in a wave like motion to stress her point.
"NO!" He snapped, making Rayne pout. "I…I'm strong enough to do this…it's like…it's like a test! If I'm not strong enough to move this statue, then I CAN'T BECOME THE HOKAGE!"
Rayne looked at him skeptically. "How the hell does moving a statue have to do with becoming the Hokage?"
"GOT IT!" Konohamaru cried triumphantly as he withdrew his hand, holding the clover between his index and middle finger.
"You did it!" Naruto cried back, releasing the statue. Because the statue had been tilted, it now tipped over when Naruto let go of it. Once it hit the ground, it felt like an earthquake was erupting.
Konohamaru clung to Rayne's leg like a Chihuahua trying to hump her. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
"KONOHAMARU! LET GO OF MY LEG!" Rayne yelled at him as she brought her leg up in the air, moving it up and down rapidly, hoping he'd fall off.
"Gu-guys…"
Rayne ceased her actions and turned to face Naruto, who was staring at a large wooden puppet looking creature with glowing green eyes. Soon enough a hundred other of the puppet creatures surrounded them.
"Wh-what are these?" Naruto asked.
"I have…no idea," Rayne replied as she felt a lump form in her throat. 'This is bad…REAL bad.'
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All the way back at the barbed wire fence stood Kakashi, along with Sakura, and Sasuke. This was a great place for them to be when Naruto and Rayne's lives were in danger.
"This sure brings back memories," Kakashi said, laughing as his eye roamed the area. "I took the Chuunin Exam here."
"Looks pretty wasted," Sakura commented as she observed the hundreds of kunai pinned to the ground. "Naruto must have triggered all of the traps."
"That would figure," Sasuke said as he scoffed.
"This isn't good." They turned and looked at Kakashi, who must have pulled the binoculars he was using to spot Naruto and Rayne out of his ass, considering they hadn't ever seen him use them before. "Everyone of the marionette ninja squad has been activated."
He turned and looked down at the two staring at him expectantly.
"But…I guess it would be good training for all of you. Now you can acquaint yourselves with Rayne as you work on teamwork."
Sakura blinked. "What?"
What a dimwhit. Kakashi leaned down into her face. "I'm GOING to give you your mission! Go rescue your team members."
Sakura still stared at him, bewildered, but Sasuke turned and looked into the forest.
"Akagahara, eh? This is good training for the Chuunin Exam."
The clueless pink one turned to him. "Sasuke…"
Kakashi lazily pointed to the forest. "Well then, go."
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Rayne closed her eyes as she slouched. 'So, here we are, innocently trying to get a stupid clover for this stupid twirp's girlfriend. This really is not my day…' She straightened her back, placing it right against Naruto's as she studied the figures before her. 'Alright…whatever the hell these things are, they're going down. I'm not going to have come all this way just to die for a piece of grass!'
Naruto looked at Konohamaru who was standing next to them. "Leave these guys to us. When you get the chance to run, do it."
"But boss, you can't handle all these by yourselves!"
"Oh ye of little faith," Rayne said as she glared at Konohamaru, which made him yelp.
One of the puppets charged at Naruto, and he blocked its strike with a kunai. "Just go! Don't you want to see Kaede?" He then kicked the puppet, sending it backward into a pile of the others.
Konohamaru looked at the clover, dazed. 'Why…'
It was in this moment that three of the other puppets charged at Naruto. He easily punched one in the face, cracking it. When one of the others went to slice his stomach with the sword it had build in its arm, Rayne quickly appeared before it, kicking it in its chin, sending it up into the sky. Then, she jumped up, and upon doing a backflip in the air, landed on the puppet with one fit, driving it back down into the earth, crushing about ten other puppets in the process.
Konohamaru held back a tear. "Why…why are you risking your life to do this?"
Naruto smirked. "You said this was a mission. A ninja must complete his mission. They have to accomplish it no matter what!" Just then, the last of the three puppets that charged at them was punched in the chest by Naruto, who cracked that as well. It collapsed on the ground.
"I've done a lot of boring missions until now. But, no matter how boring they are, I feel really good after I complete one. I really, really love that moment!" Naruto punched the air after he finished his little speech.
A few feet away, Rayne was being bombarded by puppets.
"Get…off of me! You creepy…REJECTED CHILD'S TOY!" She headbutted the one that was sitting on her chest, splitting its head. Grabbing it's shoulders, she threw it upward behind her, causing it to crash into the other puppets that were waiting to attack. She paused.
'This isn't just a game…I'm going to have to get serious.' Rayne looked over at Naruto with apologetic eyes. 'I didn't really…want him to see me like this until it was really needed…but I guess this situation does call for it…I need to get these things away from me'
She closed her eyes and did a few hand signs. Once she made her last sign, her eyes opened as she drew her right arm backward, her hand forming a fist. "Jibashiri! Lightning Earth Flash!"
Just before her fist connected with the ground, she was consumed in a ball of fire. Her eyes: OuO Her arms fell limp to her sides as she witnessed the puppets she was about to annihilate with her lightning/earth jutsu burn to nothingness. She wasn't even processing the fact that she was standing in the middle of the fire.
'What…the hell just happened? Naruto does fire jutsu?'
Before she was able to begin another thought, she was swept off the ground when a familiar arm wrapped around her face. Whoever had saved her, she had assumed it was Naruto, landed outside of the fire ball. Just before Rayne turned her head to look at the person who'd interrupted her path of destruction, a scream caught her attention. She looked back at the fire pit and saw Naruto shoot out, screaming in pain as his ass was being roasted by the fire. He landed ass first on the grass.
"HOT! HOT! THAT'S FREAKIN' HOT!"
Rayne's face drooped. "Naruto…you look like a dog with worms." Then, it clicked. "NARUTO?!"
"Stop wiping your butt on the ground, loser. You'll set the grass on fire."
Sasuke.
Rayne turned her head so slowly that it almost looked painful. Eventually she fully faced the Uchiha who was holding her in his arms bridal style, staring down at her with a rasied eyebrow.
"Am I always going to have to save you? Why the hell were you just standing in the middle of the-"
Rayne jumped out of his arms and punched him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble back a few feet.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GO AND DO THAT FOR, ASSHOLE! I DIDN'T NEED YOU TO SAVE ME, I WOULD HAVE TAKEN CARE OF THOSE REJECTED CHILDREN'S TOYS MYSELF, THANK YOU!" Rayne panted with rage after she finished screaming.
"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR NOT BEING A MIND READER! YOU WERE STANDING THERE ADMIRING THE FIRE INSTEAD OF GETTING YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE, SO I HAD TO COME SAVE YOU!" Sasuke retorted.
Rayne blew up. "I NEVER ASKED FOR YOU TO SAVE ME!"
"IT'S MY MISSION TO PROTECT YOU!"
She crossed her arms and looked to the side. "Well then…if you're so intent on accomplishing your mission, maybe I'll just go kill myself so you FAIL."
He was quiet, and Rayne took his silence to mean that she had won the argument. She turned to go aid Naruto, who was undoubtedly fighting more puppets, but her wrist was grabbed and yanked back. She turned to yell at Sasuke once more, but stopped when she as she looked into his dark onyx eyes that were distant and glazed.
"Don't waste your life. You're lucky…that you have a life to live…other people's lives were taken from them forcefully…don't you ever take your life for granted." He was growling, which only further confused the hell out of Rayne. "I really hate people like you…those that take what they have for granted…it's annoying."
She ripped her hand away from him and touched her wrist. Her eyes searched his face for an answer, but his demeanor had completely changed. Not even when they had first met was he ever this blank. He was like a book with no pages, waiting to be written on and manipulated, for he had nothing written himself.
"Sasuke! We need your help!"
"Sakura?" Her familiar voice brought Rayne back to reality, and she quickly whipped around, running off to her, away from Sasuke, leaving him to stand there, staring at her back as she ran. When Rayne had reached Sakura she had her fist buried inside the hollow body of one of the puppets.
'Whoa…Sakura…you actually do contribute,' Rayne thought as she watched her. It was then that Sakura noticed Rayne and withdrew her fist from the puppets body.
"Rayne! I'm so glad you're okay! Where's Sasuke?"
'Oh Rayne, you're alright! Well, that's nice…NOW WHAT ABOUT SASUKE?! SASUKE SASUKE SASUKE SASUKE SASUKE! Well guess what Sakura, I killed him. Ripped his body to shreds, burned his remains, and then shit on the ashes.' Rayne growled inwardly.
Sakura had spent the previous night giving Rayne a sentimental friendship speech, then promised not to let Sasuke come between them…what the hell happened to that?!
"Here."
Rayne felt a twang in her body as Sasuke's cool voice spoke behind her. She didn't turn her head one bit, just jumped foward, springing off the ground, up into the air.
'Sasuke, you bastard, I'll show you. I don't need your protection. I don't need you to feel sorry for me. And I especially don't need you to treat me like I'm worthless!'
"JIBASHIRI! EARTH FLASH!" Rayne descended head first towards the ground. Before she collided with the earth, she threw her fist forward. Upon contact with the ground, Rayne's fist emitted a giant flash of electricity. Lightning ran in a current along the ground, reaching the puppets and electrocuting them.
"Jump!" Sakura instructed to the others as she jumped up into a tree. Sasuke was already standing on a limb, and Naruto grabbed Konohamaru, pulling him up with him. They stared down at Rayne as the dust cloud around her dissipated. A few bolts of electric zapped and circulated around her hand as she stood in the middle of the giant crater she had created with her punch.
'Note to self…never piss of Rayne,' Naruto gulped. 'She'll kill you.'
Sakura stared down at her fellow kunoichi, eyes rattling in her head. 'Whoa, I had no idea Rayne was strong like that! She trained with the Raikage, so of course she has to be strong but…I never expected something like that.'
Sasuke, unlike the other two, merely stared down at Rayne's back. She felt his gaze on her, but didn't acknowledge him. A puppet sprang up off the ground, through the dust cloud that was still fading away, towards Rayne.
"LOOK OUT!" Sakura gasped. As she did, Rayne quickly threw her right fist out, hitting the puppet right in the chest. Once she did, an electrical current was sent through its body, frying it.
"Rayne! Listen up! Before Sasuke and I got here, Kakashi Sensei told us that if you return the statue to its original position, these marionette ninja will stop! Don't use up too much of your chakra; they're just going to keep coming!" Sakura called down to her.
Rayne brought her open hands before her as she stared down at her palms. She smirked as Sakura's concern. "Waste my chakra? Heh…if only you knew how much chakra I really had."
Naruto turned to Konohamaru. "Did you hear that, Konohamaru?"
"Is that a mission?" he questioned Naruto, who looked at him surprised. "Is it…a mission?"
Naruto smirked. "Yeah."
"Roger!" Konohamaru shouted as he stood up. "I'll do it!" Jumping off the tree, Konohamaru safely landed on the ground and charged toward the over turned statue. As she approached Rayne, she began running as well. Just as he was about to pass her, she grabbed him by his scarf and held him up in the air.
"Ra-Rayne! What are you doing?!" he yelped as he kicked the air.
"You really think you'd get through all those puppets?" she didn't turn her head, but she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Eh…" Konohamaru stared into her face. 'That same look…that's the look Naruto gets…her eyes…she looks completely serious. It's almost scary, like the look Sasuke gives!'
Rayne's arm extended backward as she stopped running. Her grip on his scarf tightened. She smiled a wild smile, with just as wild of a look in her eye, as she pulled Konohamaru forward, releasing him as she extended her arm forward as far as she could. He flew up in the air about forty feet, over, and past all of the puppet ninja, who then charged at the defenseless Rayne. Before they reached her, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke joined her side, kunai's withdrawn. To this, Rayne withdrew hers as well.
"Naruto…you really think Konohamaru can push that heavy statue?" Sakura asked with worry in her voice.
He nodded. "Of course he can. I believe in him." He crouched down. "But, for now…we need to get rid of these guys!" Naruto kicked off the ground as he charged at the ninja, kicking off of one, stabbing his kunai into the chest of another. Sakura rushed forward right after him, making the same movement.
Rayne and Sasuke looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Glaring, they both began to make hand signs. This time, Sasuke noticed that Rayne's hand sign was different than the one she had previously executed. She then stood there momentarily, eyes shut, fists clenched before her. At the same time, they began running into the bundle of ninja before them, shoulders pressed together forcefully as they exchanged thoughts.
'I'm not going to lose to you!'
At the same time, they cried out their jutsu.
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Great Fireball!"
"Raiton no Yoroi!" (Lightning Armor)
Sasuke stopped before the crowd of puppets, releasing a wild ball of fire, just as he did before, upon them. Much to his surprise, Rayne kept on charging at them. He was further surprised when he saw an electrical current flow on her body, bits of lightning appearing on her arms and legs.
She approached the puppets that were aflame, delivering punches to them. Sasuke watched, his eyes the size of saucers, as Rayne's single punch completely obliterated the puppets standing before her. Not only was she powerful, but her speed had sharply increased. As she moved about, she was merely a blur to the human eye…so Sasuke activated his Sharingan to view her. To his dismay, even with the Sharingan he was having difficulty keeping up with her movements.
'She's incredibly fast, even the Sharingan can barely keep up with her…'
One of the puppet brought their sword up, attempting to sever Rayne's left arm. Instead of defending, Rayne stood there, watching the puppet as he approached her. His blade connected with her flesh and snapped. She smirked, then delivered a devastating blow between the eyes of the puppet, smashing his head into a bundle of tiny bits and pieces.
'I think I get it…she infuses her body with lightning. Not only does it increase power, but it increases speed and defense, so it's like a barrier…but no matter, these guys just keep coming out, there's no way Konohamaru will be lifting that statue any time soon.'
Naruto back flipped away from one of the puppets before it cut through him. He faced Konohamaru's direction. "Still not done?!"
The boy squealed as he strained his body. "I'm working on it!"
Sakura stumbled backward. "I can't fight anymore…"
Naruto glared at the puppets before him. "There's no way…THERE'S NO WAY THAT I'M GOING TO GIVE UP YET!"
And with that outburst of resilience, the puppets collapsed. Everyone looked over at Konohamaru, who had successfully placed the statue in its spot. He huffed, made a weak smile, and fell backward into the crimson field. Naruto and Sakura smiled weakly. Sasuke made his famous smirk, and Rayne suppressed the electric flowing in and on her body.
'I hope…I didn't over do it.'
"Good job, everyone."
They looked over to the left to see none other than Kakashi Sensei standing, book in hand, a smile spread on his face, as indicated by his closed eye and raised brow.
"All you had to do was try."
Sakura slumped. "I don't want to do this anymore…"
Naruto took a moment to laugh, and then addressed Konohamaru. "Konohamaru, do you have it?"
It took a moment for him to process what Naruto had meant, and then smiled. "Yeah! Right here boss!"
As he raised the clover in the air triumphantly…one of the four petals broke off. Konohamaru immediately burst into tears. Naruto stood there with his mouth hanging open, and Rayne exploded.
"WE SPENT ALL THIS TIME RISKING OUR LIVES AND THAT STUPID THING IS DESTROYED?! KONOHAMARU, I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, BUT YOU FIX THAT THING BEFORE I CASTRATE NARUTO!"
Naruto squealed as he gripped what he had between his legs, holding his boys for dear life. "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!"
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A bird flew over the heads of Team 7 as they watched Konohamaru approached a girl with blue hair, who was standing expectantly at the gate of Konoha. He extended his arm.
"Here…this is the crimson four leafed clover. Ma-make a wish, Kaede." The girl took the clover obediently, closed her eyes, and folded her hands for prayer. Rayne smirked as she watched.
"Alright…for this…that was all worth it."
Naruto nodded. "I agree! Haha, look at how red he is! He doesn't know how to impress a girl at all!"
Sakura hit him in the back of his head with her fist. "Oh shut up Naruto. What would you know about impressing girls?" Naruto cried as Sakura dreamily stared at the two children. "He's such a romantic for his age, don't you think, Sasuke?"
Sasuke scoffed as he shifted his gaze from her to an appealing building.
"So, that's really going to grant a wish?" Rayne asked Kakashi as she turned to face him.
He sighed. "I don't know. The Genins in the old days dreamed of becoming the best ninja and went to Akagahara. Only those who returned safely were accepted as Chuunins. But, as time passed, it turned into a legend which said your wish would come true if you returned safely."
Rayne returned her gaze to Konohamaru and Kaede. "Hey! Look! I think the blue girl's going to kiss him!"
"Rayne, how many times do we need to tell you that her name is-"
"LOOK!" Rayne shouted, cutting Sakura off as she watched Kaede kiss Konohamaru's cheek. He instantly turned red and stood straight. Rayne giggled as she leaned over to Naruto.
"I bet he's going to wonder why his pants are getting tight," she whispered in his ear, and they both started to giggle.
Sakura made a sound of disgust at what Rayne had said, and Kakashi chuckled himself.
"Now then, let's return to our original mission."
The four of them grunted with bored expressions on their faces.
"Eh…don't worry, it won't take long. We can eat at Ichiraku afterwards."
Naruto turned to face his sensei with a huge smile across his face. "Alright! I'LL DO IT!"
"…I'm not going to pay for you, though."
"CHEAPSKATE!"
