Though it would seem that the universe doesn't want me to ever finish this story, I'm still hanging in there...
000
"Do you get the feeling like we're being watched?" Naruto's narrowed eyes shifted suspiciously from left to right as he muttered to the boy next to him. Lee also cut his large round eyes to the side before answering in an equally low voice.
"Yes; it felt like I was being watched earlier as well – when I was completing my mission – by some black birds."
Naruto glared up at the trees in search of any offending fowl. On cue, a raven took wing from one of the higher branches and sailed off over their heads cackling.
"Stupid birds," groused Naruto. Reaching instinctively for a kunai, he hurled it straight for the airborne creature. The missile seemed like it would hit its mark, but at the last moment the bird performed a summersault and caught the shaft of the blade in its talon as both boys looked on stunned.
Still cawing merrily, the raven wheeled around and suddenly dove at them. With a violent flap, senbon shot from between its wing feathers onto the surprised ninja below. Naruto leapt one direction while Lee side-stepped the opposite way. The row of needles landed harmlessly in the ground between them as the bird swooped away with more obnoxious squawking.
"Come back and try that again, you beaked bastard," shouted Naruto after the instigator.
Lee held up a hand to shade his intense gaze from the almost equally intense sun's glare and frowned into the distance after the bird. "Hey Naruto, that crow seems to be headed in the direction of the station wagon, doesn't it?"
"Wah?" Naruto leapt into one of the trees and followed his friend's line of vision from above, "Hey, you're right; maybe it wants to sabotage us!"
"Do you think we've been discovered," exclaimed the second boy, having joined Naruto in the trees within a moment, "we should hurry and meet up with Shikamaru and the others!"
"There's no time for that," Naruto objected, "We've gotta nip this thing in the bud before that stupid bird gets reinforcements and we're surrounded – c'mon!"
The tow-headed ninja lead the way as the two of them raced after the bird. They followed the dark creature all the way to their jutsu-concealed car – suddenly gasping at the sight before them. Not one, but dozens of crows met their shocked stares. Crows roosted on and all around the still disguised automobile – some perched above on power lines, others resting directly on the "sill" of the supposed dumpster, peering offhandedly inside as if it contained some scraps not worth inspection. Each bird looked over in turn at the pair of Leaf-nin like their arrival had been long expected.
"Looks like they really have found us after all," remarked Lee, his mouth setting into its customary M-shaped scowl.
"Well, it's a good thing they're nothing but a bunch of stupid birds anyway," Naruto snorted, flexing his shoulders with a loud crack, "What do you say we clean this crow's nest out, Bushy Brows?"
The bowl-haired boy looked no less ready to comply as he took a fighting stance beside his compatriot; nevertheless he gave Naruto a sideways glance, "Be careful: we don't know what these birds might be capable of."
Naruto smirked back, "They don't know what I'm capable of!"
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," the blond shouted without preamble and several dozen clones immediately surrounded the black birds. Brandishing kunai and many well-aimed shuriken, they dove on the creatures. Lee watched the numerous Narutos land on their feathered targets, but before he could properly perceive the outcome an enormous cloud of smoke unexpectedly billowed up, obscuring his view.
Lee leapt back, shielding his mouth and nose, "Naruto," he yelled. He dropped down into a rapid spinning kick, creating enough wind to quickly disperse the cloud enveloping the massive assembly. With the air somewhat cleared, the taijutsu specialist espied a crowd of Uzumaki vigorously strangling and otherwise grappling with one another, however, there were no birds to be seen anywhere. Only a sprinkling of black feathers and droppings attested to the previous presence of the wily crows.
"Huh?" The Narutos suddenly seemed to come to the same realization as the green-garbed chunin now that the smoke screen had cleared. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know," confessed a leery Rock Lee, "they escaped in the confusion."
The one Lee and over thirty Narutos stood at the ready, glancing in all directions for the retaliation that might fall at any second from their hidden enemy. Lee even eyed the feathers on the ground suspiciously as if expecting them to suddenly fly up and start stabbing the ninja of their own volition.
"Look, there's one," called out a Naruto somewhere over Lee's left shoulder; the chunin whipped around to where several clones were pointing up at one of the large black creatures sitting alone on a thin, naked branch, blinking down at them. All at once another bird emerged from behind the first, and then a second followed. Three birds quickly multiplied into nine which further multiplied into many more until their numbers were even larger than previously.
The Leaf Ninja prepared themselves for an aerial attack; however the nin-birds showed seemingly little interest in them. Instead, one after the other, their beaked gazes turned toward the rusty gray garbage receptacle tucked inconspicuously in the corner of the lot as if hoping to be forgotten. The birds began to gather over and around the deceptively ordinary dumpster. Naruto and Lee held their breaths and their fighting stances as the unthinkable suddenly happened.
The first bird released its bowels onto the Station Wagon below. The teenagers watched the whitewash dropping splatter, and then gasped in horror as the runny excrement began to sizzle and smoke. Several other crows followed suit and droppings began to rain down on the dumpster which instantly dissolved back into a car as the genjutsu surrounding it broke.
"Woah! They're burning holes through our car with their acid poop!" Yelled Naruto.
Another bird lighted down and pecked a tire, easily ripping straight through the rubber with its razor-sharp ebony beak.
"Hey, get away from there," Lee swooped at the nearest crow, barely tapping it with the tip of his toe. The impact was still enough to send the unfortunate fowl careening into its colleague shredding the tire and, together, they went flying – crashing hard against a tree trunk. The remaining birds reacted immediately, redoubling their attacks on the Wagon.
"Arrgh!" Both ninja scrambled to retaliate. Naruto quietly cursed not being able to use rasengan for fear of further damaging the car. With combined efforts, he and Lee managed to fight off the angry crows who were no match for them in close range combat. The birds took hasty refuge in the nearby trees and continued their rain of projectiles onto car and ninja alike as the two leapt defensively onto the roof of their automobile.
"They're far enough away from the car; now's my chance," declared the blond boy, joining forces with a shadow clone. Together, they formed a large swirling sphere of chakara in Naruto's palm which he raised above his head. "Rasengan," he shouted as he hurled the glowing mass toward the cluster of trees harboring their enemy. Rasengan hit with the expected devastating results, blowing trees and all nearby greenery to pieces. More feathers showered down over their heads, but no actual birds were to be found among the fallout.
"Damn," muttered Naruto. Both he and Lee looked up to see the hovering black shapes circling unharmed above the diameter of Naruto's rasengan. One after the other the crows began to dive, but not at the Ninja or the car; instead they began to crash purposefully into one another – and in doing so somehow seemed to merge their individual bodies progressively back together.
"What are they doing now," demanded Naruto angrily.
Lee squinted in disbelief through the sun's glare, "I could be wrong, but they look like they're congealing!"
"Like hell! What are they: birds or Jell-o?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Lee, tugging his companion's arm urgently, "they must be preparing an even bigger attack that might totally destroy the car this time – we have to do something!"
"Man – why do they hate our car so much anyway!" Naruto wailed; he turned to Lee, "We could drive away and pick up the others, but we don't have the keys – plus the tire's all ripped up!"
Lee clenched a fist in passionate indignation, "We cannot abandon our manly vehicle to the clutches of this murder!"
"Well, if there were some way to start a car without a key, that would be a start," grumbled Naruto.
Lee froze, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. He clamped tightly onto Naruto's arm, startling a yelp out of the other. "Without a key," he repeated, swiftly reaching into his leg-warmer and pulling out a small travel notebook.
"What are you doing," asked Naruto, agitatedly rubbing at his bruised appendage.
"Something Kankuro told me," the boy in green alluded vaguely, flipping rapidly through pages filled with his miniscule hand writing only to abruptly halt, his finger stabbing a specific spot on one of the little leaves. "Here it is!"
"What?"
"Naruto, please keep these birds busy while I take care of something," asked Lee as if he were merely requesting that his friend keep an eye on something in the oven so that it wouldn't burn. Meanwhile, the green beast leapt off the roof and slid into the driver's seat in one fluid motion.
"You got a plan, Bushy-Brows," called Naruto.
Lee's hand shot up from the open window, giving him a thumbs-up. "Be ready in less than a minute to jump inside!"
The blond smirked, "If you say so." He turned back to the crows which, by now, were considerably fewer in number, but rapidly forming a very sizable replacement.
"Alright, an easy target," grinned Naruto, gearing up for an even larger rasengan. "Just try and avoid this one!"
The massive blue orb flew at the gigantic crow; its beak simultaneously opening to return attack, expelling what looked like a large glowing explosive. Naruto could already see that the bird was going to attempt dodging yet again, but he'd made his rasengan three times larger than before. Just as it seemed his winged opponent might narrowly avoid destruction, the rasengan collided with the crow's ninjutsu. The concussive force of chakra hitting bomb broke over Naruto like a shockwave, immediately wiping out his remaining clones and, if not for the chakra planting his feet to the roof, the blond ninja himself. The Station Wagon lurched forward at the same moment, careening them away from the blast.
Naruto scrambled into the open window on the passenger side and tumbled into the seat next to Lee, coughing and brushing feathers and other bits of matter off himself. He glanced over at his leotard-wearing nakama who gripped the wheel in both hands and pressed completely down on the gas, the rim of the flattened tire crunching over the terrain with an angry roar.
"Hey, what happened to the switch," inquired Naruto, staring at the gaping hole in the steering collumn.
"I unscrewed it and started the engine using my kunai," explained Lee, "Kankuro taught me how to do it while we were in Tea."
"Really? Nice work!"
Lee flashed a quick but brilliant smile, then immediately looked back at the road – which was little more than a narrow dirt path. "Same to you; did you take care of the crows?"
"More or less," shrugged Naruto, "at least I don't think there're enough of them left to give us any more trouble."
000
Shikamaru quickly straightened up from where he'd been slumped against a stone fish gurgling into the babbling waters of the fountain he was seated upon. He glanced incredulously at Chouji who frowned back. Standing stiffly nearby, Shino's shadowy gaze also shifted toward them in silent acknowledgement before transferring to Kiba who still leaned uneasily against a lightly panting Akamaru. They had all heard it – the faint yet distinct roar of an engine – their engine rumbling over rocky terrain, approaching, judging from the rapidly increasing sound, at high velocity.
Around the tense group of chunin, Shikamaru noted the assortment of scattered spooks was also shifting in startled bemusement at the angry engine sounds.
The Nara made a hasty assessment of his team, his stomach quickly plummeting with growing dread. "Where the hell are Lee and Naruto?"
Chouji met his friend's gaze knowingly.
"Those guys… why me?"
A moment later and the Station Wagon peeled into the square from the clearing in a squalling dust cloud, a faint aroma of burnt rubber permeating the air. The group of five bolted toward their compatriots as Lee waved them over wildly.
"We've been spotted, fellows," announced the bowl-headed boy bleakly.
Shikamaru threw a look over his shoulder at the agitated rabble quickly closing ranks around them, "So you thought you'd just go ahead and give them a reason to immediately attack us?"
"You don't understand," gasped Naruto, leaning over Lee out the driver's window, "we just blew up a whole load of their crows that were attacking the Wagon – we had no choice!"
"I don't doubt it," commented the captain dryly, his eye falling on the flat tire they'd been riding on; he winced. "Lee, hurry and grab the spare out of the back."
"Are you serious," gaped Kiba, "you're actually going to try to change a tire at a time like this?"
"No," answered Shikamaru, planting his feet squarely apart and putting his hands together. Shady tendrils instantly snaked from beneath him and shot in six different directions, "You and Lee are going to do that while I hold off the attackers."
The shadow spikes branched into numerous offshoots, weaving around their targets like darting cobras. Though the level of concentration it took to fend off six seasoned ninja from all different directions was beyond the comprehension of most chunin, Shikamaru fortunately multitasked fairly well – grappling and countering his shadow sewing with the resistance of his opponents. Some he managed to stab or otherwise bind while others of the group fended off the tendrils with their own skill. Any civilians in the vicinity were quick to make their escape at the sight of the battling shinobi
"Hurry it up," ground out Shikamaru to his teammates, sweat quickly beading up on his forehead from the intense concentration, "I can't hold 'em…forever."
"But we can't unlock the damn back," panicked Kiba.
Casting him a mildly chiding look, Lee wordlessly swung his leg and roundhouse kicked the back window cleanly in. Together, he and Kiba dove into the hatch, tossing aside all the garbage and other articles amassed in the rear over the days, ripping open the compartment concealing the spare and tools. Shikamaru barked instructions as the two rapidly discarded the old tire and flew into replacing it with the speed of a pit crew, all the while keeping his eye on the six ninja still held (if barely) within his jutsu.
All at once, a bowl-legged ninja, fighting the physical shadows that pierced through his extremities, managed a sudden concussive stomp that sent the ground shaking. The entire group was knocked off their feet by the thunderous earth-elemental attack, including Shikamaru and the others entangled in his shadow technique. The now liberated man, bleeding freely from his puncture wounds, wasted no time moving into another ninjutsu – this one sending a swift wave of wind whipping toward the downed Leaf captain.
Shino immediately intercepted – spreading a shield of bugs between Shikamaru and the attack. The kikaichuu drained the chakra from the shockwave, largely neutralizing its affect on the Nara who only suffered having the wind knocked out of him.
The newly freed rogue-nin quickly made their move even as Chouji, Shino, Shikamaru and Naruto formed a human barrier between the enemy and their busy comrades. Naruto prepared to form another rasengan, however, Shikamaru's shadows were already snaking over the ground toward their targets. The party of attackers darted in all directions, a smoke pellet was thrown, and for several moments nothing but a cloud of gray could be seen, then came a barrage of shuriken and kunai which Chouji deftly intercepted with a span of his amplified arm. The projectiles thudded harmlessly off the Akamichi's armor.
"We're good to go," yelled Kiba – he and Lee standing up from the changed tire.
Shikamaru motioned the rest of the team to the car, "Let's get out of here!"
The seven of them piled into the Station wagon with practiced speed; Shikamaru floored the pedal.
"Don't let them get away," roared the bowl-legged ninja.
All at once an explosion of smoke expanded like thick dough, engulfing all six of the would-be avengers and trailing from the exhaust pipe. Shikamaru smirked up at the rearview mirror in satisfaction - privately thrilled to have have an opportunity to utilize his added handiwork. He and Kankuro had spent countless hours developing the ninja wagon's special features until it truly lived up to its name. A quick pang hit the Nara at the thought; he wondered if the Sand-nin was still safe or whether a team of assassains had been dispatched to go after him as well. He, of course, would still be making his way back to Wind Country – his village being roughly a five day journey from Tea. Shikamaru briefly regretted his halfway vindictive decision to send Kankuro away, but quickly dismissed his remorse over past actions - remembering the pursuers were still hot on their trail.
"We still haven't lost them; they're flanking us on either side," announced Kiba, watching from the rear with Akamaru. Inuzuka and dog had made hasty work placing the back window back in place before the group could be pelted once again with projectiles.
Before their team leader had a chance to react to Kiba's news, two of the pursuers were dousing the wheels of the car with an oil jutsu; the tires began to spin wildly. A third ninja expelled a large fireball which engulfed the entire lower part of the car in flame. Suddenly, from the rear of the left flank appeared the ninja who'd attacked Kiba and Kankuro in the junkyard. With a crack of his chakra-enhanced whip the Station wagon was rent cleanly in half. The team of rogues quickly closed in to take their targets only to start as the destroyed automobile vanished in a puff of smoke.
000
"Now where did they go," demanded bowl-legs.
A tall cloaked ninja with an aquiline nose stepped forward from the group, "Not to worry; I'm still locked in on the chakra signature of the one who destroyed my crows."
"So you were able to establish a chakra link with one of them," the first ninja turned to him.
"He used a huge attack of spinning charka to take out my big raven – most likely his signature move – and my bird performed the ninjutsu override as planned." The man held his hand up in a chakra molding gesture as he sought to locate his yellow-haired prey. "Just as I thought," he continued after a pause, "my sentinels have already found them and are in pursuit. Once that noisy shinobi tries to use his big justu again – he'll be in for a surprise."
000
Shikamaru met Shino's gaze in the rearview mirror. "We've lost them for the moment," the Aburame assured him quietly.
"Yeah," agreed Kiba, with his nose to the cracked window, "I don't smell them in the nearby vicinity."
"We're going to have to take a different route at any rate," grunted the Nara, gripping the wheel with both hands and turning it sharply, "just keep your senses peeled for anything suspicious."
"You mean like that," gasped Chouji, pointing off to the side.
Shikamaru jerked his head toward a dark form looming on the border of the woods ahead of them. The shadow user recognized the figure as one of the ninja from their group of attackers. "How did they find us so quickly," he demanded as the others crowded the side of the car to view the ominous apparition for themselves.
"I don't smell him," attested Kiba, "it's got to be genjutsu."
"But in order for there to be a genjutsu there must be a caster nearby," Shino pointed out.
Shikamaru hastily made the necessary seal to dispel the illusion, but the figure remained. He yanked the wheel sharply to the left within feet of the motionless apparition – the car spun. The Nara performed a rapid succession of seals. By the time the Station wagon had completed its entire 360 degree rotation, they found themselves suddenly planted in the middle of a dirt crossroad which Shikamaru sped straight through without hesitation.
Lee's head whipped from side to side, "Where are we; how did we get here?"
"Fortunately I was able to set up a few summoning tags along the way to Degarashi connected to the car so I could trigger them with hand seals in just such an occasion as this one," grumbled Shikamaru.
"But where have you summoned us," Kiba demanded.
"From the looks of it, I'd say we're about seven hours northwest of Degarashi," informed the team captain, "That should at least keep those rogues guessing for a while."
"Great, now let's get the hell back to Fire," insisted Kiba.
000
Only after nearly an hour of uninterrupted travel did the team finally began to feel confident that they'd at last shaken their relentless pursuers once and for all. Shikamaru spent the majority of the largely silent trip assessing their current situation. He knew at their rate of travel they would reach the border of Fire in just under five hours provided they didn't make any stops. Fortuantely, Shikamaru carried his own fuel with him in scrolls.
He knew once they made it within the home stretch of Konoha the criminal shinobi would have to relent or face the full wrath of the Hidden Leaf, however, much could still happen in that amount of time. Aside from which, the thought of having to explain to the Godaime how they'd managed to provoke the vengeance of an entire crime organization while on a public relations mission made the Nara's guts knot. Shikamaru once again forcefully pushed aside his thoughts for what seemed like the thousandth time and tried to focus on the present.
Kiba was the first to break the sober silence, "I've been spotting a lot of crows around here." He looked pointedly at Naruto.
The Uzumaki glared out the window at the black shapes peppering the sparse trees and brambles that lined the dusty road. "Damnit, how did they find us; I thought I got rid of all of them."
"The crows are back," exclaimed a dismayed Lee, "are you sure they're not just ordinary ones?"
"Their chakra is different," objected Kiba, looking to Akamaru for confirmation – the dog next to him snorted his agreement. "Those are nin-birds."
"The one who summoned them might have already had them stationed around various parts of the country to begin with; they've certainly been following us for some time," noted Shikamaru.
Naruto sniffed, "Well I took care of the ones before." He shifted out of his seat and prepared to take to the roof once again.
Shikamaru watched warily from the rearview mirror as the blond swung himself out the window, "Don't draw any unnecessary attention to us," the captain admonished.
"They've obviously already noticed us, but I won't do anything unless they act up first!"
Much to the genin's satisfaction, he did not have to wait long for a cluster of the birds to begin trailing the automobile. Naruto moved into his trademark attack in one easy motion: rasengan quickly slicing through the crows – or at least it should have. The moment the orb left his palm, Naruto's chakra began to morph and spread around him, progressively solidifying into hundreds of dark angular shapes that flapped and cawed.
In the driver's seat, Shikamaru observed the feathered apparitions in shocked dread while above he heard Naruto's outraged shout. The entire Station wagon held its breath as the sunlight streaming through the windows suddenly darkened and the deafening sound of hundreds of croaks and caws filled the air.
"Naruto," yelled Kiba and Lee in unison.
"Hey Shikamaru; what just happened," demanded the Inuzuka.
Without answering, Shikamaru quickly cracked his window. "Chouji; grab the wheel!"
The other boy reached over and did so as the captain formed the seals to allow a shadow to snake out of the car. The solid shade managed to immediately spear more than a dozen of the birds obscuring the windshield as Shino simultaneously sent a swarm of bugs to surround the brief opening created by Shikamaru. Toghether, they barely managed to keep the view from the glass visible enough to avoid a crash.
"Kiba," ordered Shino, "get Naruto."
The Inuzuka's mouth immediately puckered at his teammate's imperious tone but he quickly un-cranked the window the rest of the way. Only a split second later Naruto hurtled through the opening, crashing into Kiba who slammed into Lee. Shino deftly put up a solid shield of kikai between himself and the colliding group of teens, cushioning Lee's considerable impact against the mass of bugs.
Kiba grunted through Naruto's shoulder in his gut and managed to dislodge Lee's elbow from the middle of his back. He glared at the calm Aburame through streaming eyes, "Bastard."
Naruto dove to close the window. "I don't know what happened," he gasped, "right after I used rasengan a whole wave of black birds suddenly poured out of my attack instead!"
"We have to get out of here," muttered Shikamaru glaring hard into the writhing swarm of pitch feathers and beaks. A distinct cracking noise sounded among the pecking of sharp bills against the thick glass.
"We can't even see what's ahead," Chouji's voice rang out over the bedlam.
"There are too many of them; my kikai can't even make a dent," declared the barely audible bug user.
"Even if we could force our way out," Lee added, "we'd just be ripped to pieces!"
The thudding of beaks became deafening as it thrummed over the roof and windows. Huddled under the insufficient thickness of the sheet metal encasement, Shikamaru thought he now knew what a can of sardines must feel like. There was only one thing left to do: the addition he and Kankuro had put in had yet to be properly tested or even entirely completed, but Shikamaru knew he had to make it work now.
The ground became steep and rocky just before it lurched out from under them. The Station wagon had pitched off a cliff. Shikamaru could feel his body rise out of the seat and gripped the wheel tighter. In the back of his head he heard the rising shrieks from his team like they were coming from the other end of a long tunnel. The captain noticed the swarm of birds begin to thin as the car plummeted; he now got a clear view of the rocky terrain swiftly approaching. Shikamaru reached for the turn signal and pulled it toward him; jets of liquid sprayed from the windshield wipers and poured onto the ground racing toward them. Nara Shikamaru gritted his teeth and awaited impact.