Spoiler Warning: Basically... whole Sasuke Retrieval Arc for the next few chapters.
Disclaimer: Do not own, so do not sue. :)
The Rescue
For three days straight, they've been traveling, only stopping for food and to relieve themselves. They reached the border between Wind and Fire on the second day, and then took the shortest route towards the country of Sound. The sun was high up in the blue sky, but within the tree tops of the Fire nation, the sunlight hardly touched the three siblings as they leapt from tree to tree.
Without any warning, Gaara suddenly stops on a sturdy branch. Only a few paces behind him, Temari and Kankuro land on either side of him without a question. An Anbu nin shortly appears before them.
"Identify yourselves," the masked ninja demands.
"We're shinobi of Sunagakure. We've come on orders of the Hokage," Temari flashes the message sent to The Council by messenger bird. The Anbu nods curtly and points in a north-east direction.
"Team Shikamaru was last seen headed in that direction. Please hurry."
The three siblings nods in acknowledgement and departs without further ado.
Within the hour, they neared a battleground. A significant chakra presence emanates from a clearing within the forest. Since Kankuro is complaining about how heavy his two puppets are, Temari and Gaara left him to handle things there and went on ahead.
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Neko flips through the book listlessly. It has only been a three days, but her mind wanders aimlessly whenever she attempts to read. What used to hold her rapt attention for hours now does not interest her in the least.
It's because I'm worried about them.
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When they reached another area where potent chakra residue is distinguishable, the two siblings halted.
"I sense a greater chakra flow further ahead," Gaara murmurs aloud.
"Alright, then I'll handle this one," Temari grins with anticipation.
Team Shikamaru eh? So that quitter has been promoted to a chunin. This should be interesting…
Her grin got wider at the thought of a possible payback at a certain Konoha shinobi. The younger sibling glances over at her with an inscrutable expression.
"Temari," She turns to look at him with a questioning gaze.
"Don't over do it." Without any explanation, Gaara turned and departs.
Temari follows him with her eyes until his small figure disappears through the foliage.
Is he… worried?
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"Don't laugh when you're about to die!" The Sound ninja called Ukon snarls as he launched himself at the boy clutching his dog to his chest.
Kiba chuckles mirthlessly. Even when he's facing death, he can't help but disregard orders. No one can tame this Inuzuka.
As the kunai rushes towards his vital point, he closes his eyes, content to die laughing.
Thunk.
Huh? That doesn't sound right...
"What the?"
Kiba peeks with one eye, and is shocked to see a cloaked person shielding him. Or what seems like a person. His canine-like nose did not detect a trace of a human scent. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that it is actually a wooden puppet.
A puppet… No way…
His highly sensitive nostrils picked up a foreign smell. The smell of the dry desert.
The Konoha shinobi followed the faint shimmering lines of chakra attached to the puppet with his eyes to its owner. With a grin that shows his sharp canines, Kiba calls out, "Looks like you guys are on our side this time."
Kankuro, with his one hand manipulating Karasu, and the other on the precious baggage strapped onto his back, ignores him and instead concentrates his attention on the silver-haired punk in front of him. In a lightning quick movement, his right arm jerks forward, and his puppet flies swiftly toward the enemy.
Ukon, caught by surprise, barely avoids being hit. He retreats a couple of yards away, taking a few moments to reassess the situation.
"Didn't the three of you guys travel together?" Kiba inquires, noting the absence of Kankuro's usual companions.
"The other two went on ahead," Kankuro replies evenly, not wanting to disclose the fact that he had trouble keeping up. Wooden puppets are not light weights after all.
"You guys are weak," the puppeteer taunts. He needs something to bolster his ego after being reminded about how out of shape he is.
"You idiot. These guys aren't pushovers," Kiba growls in return.
Guys? So there's more than one?
Kankuro smirks. He will get a chance to test out his new puppetafter all.
Kiba sniffs the air experimentally. An all too familiar, pungent scent assaulted his nostrils.
"Behind you!" The Inuzuka shouted the warning too late. Kankuro turns his head, only to be struck by the other twin, Sakon, full force in the face. Claws consisting of a stone hard substance clutch the sand shinobi's head in a death grip.
Kiba grimaces as he struggled to move. His exhausted body will not cooperate even though his mind is screaming commands.
I can't move… I can't help him.
"Just what are these guys?" Kankuro mutters as he struggles to loosen himself from the Sound ninja.
"I'll leave him to you, Sakon. Kill him!" Ukon yells with a triumphant grin.
"Be careful! He'll enter your body and fuse with you!" Kiba cries out as he recalled his earlier fight.
"Too late," the monstrous ogre smugly replies. Sakon begins to grasp the young ninja's head tighter. He starts to initiate his special technique. However, a few seconds passed without any effects. The Sound-nin frowns, and his eyes widens when he realizes the truth. Painted purple lips lifted in a terrifying grin.
"What's wrong, Sakon?" His twin brother demands.
Kiba leans forward and sees a black spider web of cracks on Kankuro's cheek. As the Sound ninja applies more pressure with his hand, the cracks widen and slowly, the puppeteer's cheek begins to dissolve. All three surrounding ninjas watch in disbelief as the purple paint and skin turned into grains of sand piling at their feet.
"Whatever your technique is, it looks like it doesn't work on a puppet." Kankuro's haughty voice reaches them through the bandages of the mummified body strapped onto the back of the fake Kankuro. As the bandages unwound themselves, the real puppeteer leaps out with both hands emitting chakra strings.
"Just to let you know, Suna's ninjas are not as merciful as Konoha's."
Sakon glances down at what he is holding, still not fully comprehending the situation. The puppet's arms shoots out, grabbing a hold of his right arm tightly, successfully immobilizing him.
"Besides, if you get so close to Kuro Ari so carelessly," Kankuro's fingers moves with pinpoint accuracy as he talked, "it's not going to be good." The puppet's many arms opened to reveal rows of sharp, jagged blades. Sakon watches helplessly as the blades rush towards his unguarded body at the same time Kankuro clenches both hands into fists. The sand shinobi grins at the sound of metal tearing flesh.
He was terrifying when he was an enemy, but now that he's an ally, he seems very reliable, Kiba thinks to himself.
Kuro Ari's arms releases the Sound ninja with a creak. Sakon's unresponsive body drops to the ground with a heavy thud. His face glows a lurid scarlet as the curse seal lost its power and his body returns to normal.
Ukon curses under his breath as the puppet swoops over to attack him. He dodges swiftly and runs over to where his brother has fallen. With a blink of the eye, he transforms himself into an identical replica of the form Sakon had taken, and touches his twin with his blackened claw.
"It hurts! I let my guard down," his brother complains as their bodies fused together. "Let me rest in your body for a bit," Sakon asks, pretending to ignore his twin's "lazy bastard" comment.
"What's with these guys?" Kankuro demands in exasperation. Kiba indicates with a jerk of his head and a worried look, "That's their ability."
Kankuro shrugs casually. He could care less, since their techniques do not work on puppets, he actually has the advantage. His ears picks up fragments of the Sound brothers' conversation, and his face contorted in anger as he heard phrases like, "I can't believe you were fooled and defeated by that puppet so easily", "their speed and power aren't exactly impressive", and "won't beat me with that toy".
So… you think my babies are just 'toys' huh?
"How dare you underestimate me." Kiba looks up at the incensed shinobi with surprise, and a bit of apprehension.
"He's not someone you can defeat in an average fight! We should retreat for now…" The Inuzuka trailed off uselessly as a furious Kankuro glares at him.
Great, now even the Konoha mutt thinks I'm weak…
"There's no way I'm gonna back down after being underestimated like that!" With a shout, Kankuro flings his arms forward, and Karasu follows his master's movement obediently. Ukon, with his exceptional speed and agility, easily avoids the attack. The puppet's mechanical mouth opens, and several daggers shoot out with intense velocity. The ninja dodges those just as easily, jumping a few paces sideways and backwards.
"Don't take me so lightly," he mocks the Sand shinobi. Kankuro answers with a quick motion of his hand, and one of the puppet's hand turns into a flying projectile, its palm opening to reveal poisoned needles. The silver-haired male pushes off the ground, and somersaults a few more paces back. Kiba notices a wide grin on Kankuro's face, one that sealed the Sound-nin's fate.
Too late, Ukon realizes with the dread of a doomed man, as he backed up right into the open cavity of the awaiting Kuro Ari puppet. With a solid click, the puppet locked shut.
"Kuro Ari isn't an offensive type of puppet," Kankuro explains, "it's just used to capture the enemy. Since Karasu always attacks, these two make up a set."
"Damn it! Let me out!"
Kiba looks on in awe as Karasu disengages into individual parts, with its head and arms separating from the wooden body. With a flick of Kankuro's fingers, razor-sharp blades appear from each of Karasu's arms as well as from Karasu's head. They are suspended in midair as Kiba watches uneasily. Kankuro sneers. Making a bastard eat his words is always sweet.
"Take this! Black Secret Technique, One Strike."
With one smooth motion, the knives imbeds themselves in the allotted slits in Kuro Ari with a metallic click. Ukon's yelling suddenly stops, and deathly silence fills the forest clearing. Kiba watches with horror as crimson blood slowly seeps through the wooden cracks and drips onto the ground.
He actually… killed him…
Never has Kiba ever seen such unmerciful display of brutality. He knows that as a ninja, it's either kill or be killed, but this unnecessary bloodshed, the cruel manner in which the Sound-nin was killed, it sickens him. He tries his best to contain the bile that is building up at his throat, but the coppery smell of blood mixed with the stench of urine is overwhelming.
The Inuzuka recalls what occurred a couple of months ago at the chunin exams. Back then, he and his teammates were scared shitless by the ruthless Gaara, and his insatiable thirst for blood. Looking at display of grisly death scene in front of him, Kiba is reminded of the same nameless sensation of pure fear that immoblized him after seeing Gaara murder the three Rain shinobis.
"Show's over." The Sand shinobi grins ferociously. He glances over at the Konoha genin, and is surprised to see Kiba staring with a horrified expression at the macabre sight behind him. Kankuro snorts lightly.
Feh, they really are weak. To tremble like that in front of death, it's pathetic.
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Shit… I'm at my limit.
Heavy perspiration drips over his face. His body is covered in bruises and his chakra is almost gone. Furthermore, the shadow jutsu is slowly losing its hold over the Sound ninja. The newly-appointed chunin grits his teeth in concentration, willing his jutsu to sustain a bit longer.
"No use. You're finished!" The trash-talking ninja known as Tayuya growls in triumph as the last remaining shadows retreated, and she regains control over herself. With a roar, her demon-like hand, wielding a kunai, speeds towards the chunin's unguarded body.
Shikamaru finds himself staring at death, and silently prepares for the final blow.
It never came.
Instead, he felt a flurry of leaves slapping him on his face and watches with astonishment as his opponent was blown away. With the roaring of fierce gusts in his ears, he could only stare in shock. Shikamaru closes his eyes to check to see if he's dreaming, and when he opened them, he is greeted byan amazing sight. Bewilderment written plainly over his face, he takes in the over-sized fan, the Sunagakure headband, and that familar, domineering smirk with apprehension.
That sand chick...
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"Who are you?" the monstrous-looking female demands.
"An allied nation of Konoha," the Sand shinobi replies proudly. Temari doesn't bother to glance at behind her at the leaf ninja to know what his expression looks like: one of absolute shock. Besides, she is well-trained enough to know that one can never turn their back on their enemies.
No matter how tempting it is...
"I heard that Suna re-established its alliance with Konoha, but I didn't think you guys would be so quick to help out." His voice, although suspicious, holds a slight tinge of relief.
"We didn't invade your village because we wanted to. It was an order." She turns her head slightly to gauge his reaction, "And that is also the reason why I'm here."
Shikamaru almost smirked as he recalled the Hokage's earlier words.
So old lady Tsunade did pull through. We're saved.
"By the way, has that clever brain of yours gone dull?" Temari smirks teasingly at the silent male. He replies with an indignant look.
"Are you going to give up again?" She faintly alludes to the exam. "If you do, I'll take her on."
Shikamaru shakes his head and in a bored voice said, "Sorry, but there's no way I can give up here. Besides, a man cannot be protected by a woman."
Temari scoffs loudly.
"There you go with that men and women crap. You act strong, but your empty bravado is so obvious, idiot." She lowered her fan, and walks a few paces in front. As always, she took center stage without even asking.
"She uses her flute notes to generate genjutsu." He warns.
The kunochi made an unimpressed noise. She grins to herself.
Time to show him what a Sand shinobi is all about.
"Great Slicing Wind!" With a flick of her wrist, great gusts of wind rages towards the pink-haired ninja, slicing off branches and leaving leveled trees in its wake. Shikamaru looks on in silent awe.
Damn, she's able to deflect the notes as well as causing physical damage to the enemy. Attacking and defending in one move. Unlike me, she has some good techniques.
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With a growl of frustration, Tayuya jumps away to avoid the attack, and retreats further into the wood to plan her next move.
Damn, that bitch's style of fighting can easily nullify my genjutsu.
After reviewing her options, the shinobi from Sound deemed it wiser to lay low for awhile, and use her flute when she is at a safer distance away from the crazy sand bitch.
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"She's hidden herself."
"Did she run away?"
"Nah."
"I just arrived. Brief me on her attacks and abilities." Temari orders without turning around. It is imperative at this moment to not lose her guard since she has just lost sight of the enemy. Both of them can still detect the powerful chakra presence.
So demanding… I knew she was troublesome…
Shikamaru gazes at her back with some consideration, and decided in doing the smart thing. He obeys.
"First off, she uses the notes on her flute to lure enemies into an illusion. Then she inflicts physical damage. She's the typical long distance, illusion technique-using type. Most likely, as soon as she saw your technique, she realized right away that her own techniques wouldn't work well against yours. Besides, it's now two against one. Until she actually draws both of us into a genjutsu, she won't show herself again. If I was to say, we're at a total disadvantage here. Sooner or later, we will be cornered. I suggest we fall back-"
"Who asked for your opinion?" Temari rudely interrupts. "I just asked for you to explain the situation."
His eyes widens at her bossy attitude, and he promptly shuts his mouth without complaint.
"Don't," Temari raises her right thumb to her mouth and bites open the skin, "underestimate my power." She draws her bleeding thumb across the span of her white fan with a flourish.
"With me up front, if she thinks she can feel safe just by hiding at a distance where she can still reach us using her flute, then she's too naïve!"
With a grunt of exertion, the blondekunochi lifts her weapon and yells, "Quick Beheading Dance!"
To the chunin's surprise, a weasel wielding a scythe materialized in a puff of smoke. At a single nod from Temari, it springs into action, ruthlessly cutting and lashing out at the surrounding trees. Within a couple of minutes, the forest is completely decimated in a one mile radius. Shikamaru's sharp eyes picks out the crushed body of the Sound-nin amongst the piles of tree trunks.
There is no way she could have survived that.
Shikamaru feels a pang of regret at the loss of life. The passing of a soul is never a pleasant occurrence with him. Even if she is the enemy. He turns to look at Temari.
"What do you think?" She shuts her fan with a snap. "It's over."
How forceful. She's scarier than my mom.
She finally turns fully towards him and grins cheekily. "How about that?"
But it looks like I have to thank her this time Shikamaru thought. The corners of his mouth twitches into a rueful grin.
"To be able to perform a summoning jutsu, that takes a lot of training," he compliments lightly. Her smile got wider.
"Of course, idiot. Unlike you Konoha brats, we're not pampered or spoon fed anything."
"Still sore over the chunin exam?"
"Should I be? I don't recall losing…" Jade eyes sparkles with a teasing light.
Shikamaru sighs. They can go on like this for hours.
It is very troublesome. She is very troublesome.
Still, a part of him enjoys the stimulating banter. Sharp wits are hard to come by in the Leaf village where people like Choji and Naruto are his only source of entertainment. If it wasn't for the fact that he has comrades to attend to, Shikamaru would have gladly indulge in their playful banter. But duty calls, and a Nara is always bound by duty.
"Sorry to cut this short, but I should be getting back to the village. I need to know the situation with my teammates," he briskly informs her. He is surprised to see a sheepish expression appear on her feminine features.
"You're right." She hastily dusts off some imaginary specks of dust from her skirt, shoulders her fan, and replies, "Lead the way."
Notes: Wow, 3000+ words per chap, it must be a record. Guess it made up for the longer wait I guess...
I copied most of the dialogue and character thoughts verbatim from the anime fansub of dattebayo. Why? B/c it refreshes my memories and I can over-analyze on stuff. Sorry if it bores you.
Well….. looks like the votes are in, and Kiba is the winner! Haha, and I actually think he would be the hardest to write, but alright, I welcome the challenge. Thanks to those ppl who gave their two cents; however, the image of Neko flirting is… hahaha… preposterous. Maybe those two will meet… but probably not until much later. As you can see, I have already started putting him in the story, and I'll see how it goes.
Bad news: I heard that the Nekomata in the actual Naruto manga is revealed... that definitely makes my job harder. I am pretty determined to make my story realistic and that means fitting in with the overall Naruto plot line. So... that just mean I have to wait until more info is released before writing some chapters. However, the next few chapters shouldn't be affected, and I probably already have it done already. It's just in proofreading, and I reread my work... over and over again.
Next chapter preview:
"I am not drunk!" Rock Lee yells back, and mumbles to himself, "I'm just feeling a little tipsy…" Ignoring the world spinning around himself, Lee dashes toward the enemy.
