Chapter Ten: Opportunities
Nagisa looked up at the two Kusa shinobi, the man's words ringing in her ears. The lanky one was now leaning forward, his back parallel with the ground as he leered down at her.
"It should be a pretty easy assignment," he mocked with a sick sweetness to his voice.
"After all, you are a supposed member of his team," the portly one agreed. "And, in exchange for this service, you will be welcome into our leader's group with open arms."
"…You wish for me to kill Uchiha Sasuke," Nagisa repeated, as her brows narrowed lightly.
"That's correct. It's all explained in the scroll."
Nagisa eyed the offered piece of paper still lying on the ground.
"…And if I refuse?" Nagisa's attention snapped back up to the two as a strong killing intent meant to intimidate burst from them both. The leer had turned into a sick smirk and the portly man was now sneering.
"That would be most ill-advised. You see, our leader doesn't take no for an answer."
"Either way, you'll be joining us. Our leader was simply kind enough to let you join him freely and of your own choosing."
"And who exactly is this leader?" The tall man laughed and stood up to his full height. Nagisa did not miss the way his hand hovered to the tanto blade tucked into his clothing. His other was hovering near the ghoul's mask hanging from his neck.
"I suppose it's only common sense to want to know your new leader's name," the portly one offered. The two men shared a glance, twin smirks on their faces. The portly one opened his arms wide in a flourish. "You are now the proud shinobi of the great genius, Snake Sannin Orochimaru-sama!"
Nagisa's body tightened as she recognized the name and title. Her Master had told her of the Three Sannin of Konoha, so great in power that they literally had to make a new rank for them. The three had been trained by the Third Hokage, and had been a strong powerhouse for Konoha during the Third Shinobi War. The female on their team had revolutionized the medical field, her reach so far that even Haku had praised her ideas as he read about her in his studies. Her teammates were just as famous for their own strengths on the battlefield.
"Orochimaru," Nagisa parroted, not sure if she could really believe these two. The portly man's eyes narrowed and he quickly lost his smirk.
"That's Orochimaru-sama." Nagisa let out a soft hum and looked around the clearing.
"And why does Orochimaru-sama want me?"
"Your Master's talents are quite renowned, as was his attempt on the Mizukage's life. Our leader was sad to hear of his passing, but glad to know one of his followers remained, especially one that was trained by Momochi himself. Our leader wishes to have those abilities at his beck and call. And it is a grand offer. Our leader is a great man, powerful in ways most can only imagine."
"And he'll help you achieve heights the likes of which you couldn't imagine," the lanky one chuckled. "Heights you could never gain here in Konoha."
"…And how am I to reach Orochimaru-sama when I kill Sasuke?" Nagisa asked.
"We are to follow you and lead you to him after you have completed your mission."
"…So he is not here now?"
"No. Our leader is a busy man."
Nagisa nodded her head once.
"Good." As fast as her fingers could go, Nagisa ran through the hand-signs needed. "Suiton Release: Mizu Peretto!"
Nagisa felt the burn of chakra at the back of her throat and the swell as it turned to water. Pursing her lips, Nagisa launched her ninjutsu, watching it fly forward and slam bodily into the portly man. He was thrown off his branch but Nagisa didn't see after that because she was forced to dodge the lanky man coming down at her with his tanto. Nagisa threw herself backwards, the tanto cutting deep into her log, sending bark and wood flying.
"Big mistake, girl," the man smirked, a need for blood pouring into his eyes.
Nagisa dodged the flashing blade, staying just out of the man's reach as she tried to find an opening. While his form was not as great as her Master's kenjutsu had been, the man did not have to make such large motions to swing the much smaller blade and was able to redirect missed attacks easier. Nagisa ducked under a wide swing and came in close to the man's long body. He threw up his knee, but Nagisa jumped on top and allowed his momentum to propel her into the sky. Nagisa flipped and tossed shuriken. They 'thunked' into the ground as the man weaved. Nagisa landed against a tree, catching herself with chakra, and tossed her arms out wide. The shinobi wire attached to her shuriken waved with her motion, encasing her opponent. With as much strength as she could muster, Nagisa flung her arms to the opposite hip. The kunai knives she had attached to the other ends of her wire flew to the ground and embedded themselves deep. The shinobi grunted as the wires came down on his shoulders and head, the only thing keeping it from slicing into his skin was his tanto held at the apex above him. Nagisa launched herself down and bounced off the ground, her dagger pulled back for a killing blow.
Her muscles bulged under skin as she threw herself sideways, spinning parallel to the ground, and skidded when her feet landed again, just barely managing to dodge the heavy spikes bursting forth from the ground.
"I supposed Orochimaru-sama won't care if you're an inch from death so long as you are still capable of drawing breath," the portly man snarled, his deep voice winded due to the broken ribs he now had. "Lucky for you, we have a grand healer on our team." Nagisa jumped from one pillar of earth to the next as the portly shinobi sent out another ninjutsu, using his earth attack to launch herself up into the trees.
"Get me out of here, Arata!" the lanky man snarled, straining against the tight wires that refused to be cut.
"Fool. You shouldn't have been caught in the first place."
Nagisa swung herself down from her branch and free fell to the ground. She rushed to the kunai holding her enemy down and wrapped her fingers around tight.
"Raiton Release: Heki no Jutsu!" Nagisa felt the sharp change of her chakra and the uncomfortable mix of it turning into electricity.
Gritting her teeth, she watched it escape from her hand into the metal wire. It was a weak ninjutsu, for neither Zabuza nor Haku could help the girl with her second chakra nature, but when the lanky shinobi screamed and hit the ground, it had completed what Nagisa wanted. Fleeing from her wire, Nagisa quickly scurried back up a tree.
Nagisa clenched her teeth as a wave of dirt bullets pelted down from above. One slammed into the back of her thigh with enough force to send her crumbling to her knee. Nagisa flushed chakra to her hand and jumped off her branch to hide underneath. She rushed the length before letting her chakra go and falling through the air. Portly shinobi burst through the limb seconds later, his hands moving quickly through signs. Nagisa tossed a dagger but it was dodged, disappearing behind the man.
"Doton Release: Kajuu no Doro!" A thick mud spewed from the man's lips and slammed into Nagisa's chest. Her body was encased in a white smoke only to disappear and reveal the dagger she had thrown. Nagisa appeared behind the shinobi, hands finishing the final sign.
"Suiton Release: Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu!" The water from the mud slurped away from the dagger and came cantering towards them both, spinning into shuriken. Nagisa's feet planted firmly into the man's thick back and she spring-boarded off him, shoving him faster into the spinning water shuriken. The man cried out as the water blades cut deep.
"You fucking bitch! Doton Release: Doryuu Taiga!" Nagisa sucked in breath quickly as she landed on solid ground turned into a river of mud. Sinking deep into the sludge, she slapped her hands to the surface and pulled her feet out, using chakra to stand on the wet surface. "Kajuu no Doro!" Nagisa's body jerked as the mud on her legs gained an extreme amount of weight, pulling her back into the mire with a loud slurp. Her muscles strained with the weight of her own body as it sunk further into the earth.
The portly shinobi appeared in front of her, his face contorted into a victorious sneer. "Doton Release: Ganchuurou no Jutsu!"
Nagisa expelled as much chakra as she could from her arms to keep her upper half afloat even as thick pillars sprang up from the surrounding mud and encased her in a cage of rock.
"Rock beats water, brat," the shinobi sneered as he began to walk towards her. Nagisa's eyes went lidded as she brought her hands together.
"Suiton Release: Suimenka no Kisoku!" Nagisa released her chakra from her arms and fell into the heavy mud. Her ninjutsu allowed her to pull oxygen from the thin layer of water giving the earth its mucky texture. It was a small amount of air but enough to allow her to disperse the ninjutsu weighing her down and get her out of the mud at a distance from her enemies. Nagisa took in a much needed breath as she appeared in the underbrush.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" the shinobi shouted as his head whipped back and forth. Nagisa slunk in the undergrowth, getting closer and closer to her target. Shuriken were pulled from her holster and with a burst of chakra she charged forward. A shuriken was tossed straight ahead while the others were tossed in multiple different directions. The shinobi dodged under the shuriken, allowing it to fly over ahead. "Those cheap tricks don't work on me!" he said.
Nagisa slapped her hands into a sign and traded places with a shuriken flying to the man's right. Twisting her body, she used the momentum to throw more shuriken. The man's slanted eyes went wide as he launched himself forward out of their path. Nagisa traded places again with another one of her originally-thrown shuriken, appearing on the man's left. A kunai was tossed high into the air with one hand as another tossed another set of shuriken. Nagisa traded places with the first shuriken thrown and appeared behind the man as he used a kunai to bash aside the newest onslaught of shuriken. Nagisa threw kunai knives at the man's back, watching him spin and block them as well. She quickly traded places with the kunai thrown into the air and appeared above the shinobi who was looking around for her to burst forth. His head swung on his thick neck, looking to the side as her shuriken hit a tree and made a noise. Nagisa's feet slapped against his round shoulders and her body hunched forward.
Her silver dagger slammed into the side of the man's neck. Blood coated her hand as she pulled outwards, away from her body, and caught his esophagus. The organ refused to hold against the sharp metal and sliced clean through. There was a gag from the man as his lungs and mouth flooded with his blood and his body fell forward. Nagisa jumped off the body and dashed towards her other opponent, registering the sound of a man drowning in his own blood and suffocating.
Nagisa came upon her second opponent and found him trying to control his spasm muscles, still suffering from her lightning ninjutsu. He never saw her come up from behind and fit her blood coated blade between his atlas and axis vertebra. Had Nagisa been more hot-headed she would have cursed when the body burst into smoke.
She was forced to twist unnaturally when the enemy tried to pierce her with his tanto. Her teeth clenched tight as she wrapped her leg around his neck and stabbed her fingers into extended wrist, causing him to drop his blade. Her attack to his neck, however, didn't do as much as she had hoped and the man's long limbs easily wrapped about her.
"Dammit," he snarled in her ear as his grip tightened down on her like a vice, pinning her body to his chest. When he didn't stop putting pressure on her chest even after she was successfully caught, Nagisa knew he was trying to squeeze the very air from her lungs. Unable to get to her weapons and unable to make hand signs with her arms pinned, Nagisa went for her next defense. One her master had taught her and had told her in such a strong tone,
'We have them so use them.'
Like a snake striking, Nagisa's head turned and launched forward. Her teeth, razor sharp due to their shape, clamped down flesh. Blood filled her mouth, coating her tongue and pouring down her neck. Her capture roared with pain as she began to shake her head back and forth, serrating muscle. When the clump in her mouth separated from the body, Nagisa spat it out and went in for another bite. Her vision was beginning to go foggy with the need for air but she held fast and began to rip flesh off a second time.
It was apparently enough to have one piece of himself removed, for the tall shinobi launched her body away from his own, cussing fiercely as he tried to stop the heavy flow of blood pumping down the inside of his bicep.
Nagisa's hand shifted through appropriate signs before she bit into her thumb flesh. Her own blood mixed with what had splattered along the side of her body. Her hand smashed into the ground and a large quantity of chakra left her reserves. Smoke burst from under her hand and she watched as a figure pulled itself out from said smoke.
Before the newcomer and Nagisa could share a word they were both dodging a fire ninjutsu. Nagisa hissed through her blood-coated teeth as she landed wrong on a root and felt her ankle twist painfully. The sudden disappearance of chakra was staggering for her when she had already used up so much, making her head swim.
A roar that brought forth the instinctual need to run blasted through the trees. The shinobi's scream was swallowed whole by the large white bear's mass as it landed its paws, larger than the man's head, down on his shoulders and clamped its own mouth down, easily crushing bone. The body spasmed as its head was rendered from its neck.
Nagisa stood beside the lanky shinobi and watched as blood pooled down his back before it turned to sludge as the hunk of meat cooled. Nagisa panted lightly, feeling the adrenaline from fighting start to calm and felt her heart pound hard against her ribs. Peering around for more opponents, the girl focused on controlling her breathing. When no one else attacked, Nagisa turned her attention to her summoning.
"Shinta," she greeted with a light nod. The polar bear released the shinobi's head and the two watched it roll with indifference. A tongue lolled out and licked the narrow muzzle currently stained red. As the bear took a moment to clean his chops, Nagisa scanned him quickly. Much narrower than Hideaki, Shinta was lean and tall. He towered over Nagisa's small frame with sleek fur and black eyes that took in everything. He was not coated in scars like Hideaki either, but the occasional displacement of fur was still visible.
"When did you begin to play with those of Kusagakure, Nagisa?" Shinta asked in a voice as soft as snow.
"They came to play with me," she answered honestly.
Shinta made no further comment and simply began to clean a giant paw as she knelt down and began to search the body. She was able to replenish her shuriken and kunai and gained a few more explosive tags. Nagisa rewrapped her wire from the dead body and replaced it in her back pouch. After a small amount of consideration, Nagisa pulled an empty scroll from her back pocket and sealed the body away for later examination. Shinta followed Nagisa as she began to walk to the fat shinobi in order to do the same. The girl halted, however, when her eyes spotted the scroll handed to her earlier. The genin only paused for a moment before walking forward and picking it up. She slipped it into her back pouch, deciding to read it later.
After Nagisa retrieved her daggers and scanned the other shinobi's body, she started down the path her tree had created, heading back towards her team.
'If they are still there,' she pondered to herself, already releasing her chakra in search.
Nagisa looked down at the sight present to her. Hidden in the tree top and covered by green leaves, Nagisa watched as the two ANBU operatives stood around the Proctor for the Second Exam. Anko was on her knees, crumbled in on herself and the two operatives were hovering about her in obvious concern. She was close to getting up and leaving, the woman obviously taken care of, when the smaller of the two ANBU's voice fluttered to her.
"Orochimaru? Really?" Nagisa's eyes snapped back to the trio and her hand fluttered over her back pouch. Not quite sure what to do in this situation Nagisa remained silently and watched. "If he's really here, we need to get you to the Hokage so you can report to him!"
"No," Anko gasped, her hand plastered to the side of her neck. "Take me to the tower."
"What are you talking about? If Orochimaru reaches our village, a state of emergency will be declared! Your little exam is the least of our worries! We need to figure out what he wants!" A soft huff of agitation escaped the bluette. Nagisa jumped down from her perch and landed out of arm's reach of the adults. The ANBU were quick to turn to her, putting Anko at their backs in order to protect the injured female. Nagisa rose from her squatting position and stared straight at the porcelain masks. One was a bird while the other appeared to be a tiger. Nagisa pondered the need for the little round ears that sat on the top of the mask.
The bluette reached into her back pouch, aware of the tension radiating from the Konoha Black Ops. She pulled the three scrolls out and held them in front of her in an obvious manner.
"You—" Anko grunted before her body quaked with pain.
"An hour ago, I was approached by two shinobi wearing Hitai-ate from Kusa. They approached me with the intentions of me taking a mission supposedly explained in this scroll. My orders were supposedly given to me by Orochimaru-sama, the Snake Sannin. I was not approached by any fitting this man's description."
Nagisa jostled the two bodies scrolls in her other hand. "As the mission was unacceptable, I was forced to kill the two Grass Shinobi." Nagisa tossed the scrolls with a light heft, giving even a civilian plenty of time to move out of the way. Instead, the bird ANBU caught them.
"This scroll hasn't been opened," he said. Nagisa saw the ANBU motion to the mission scroll.
"Did they say what they wanted you to do?" the tiger ANBU questioned, his great frame going lax without tension. Nagisa gave a light nod before stating,
"Kill Uchiha Sasuke." A collection of grasps came from the three adults but Nagisa was already turning away.
"Wait—"
"I am afraid I have been away from my team for long enough," Nagisa said blankly.
"Are you going to accept it?" Anko all but bellowed behind the ANBU. Nagisa watched her with lidded eyes as the woman shoved herself to her feet. Her brown eyes blazed with repressed fury. "Are you going to help him, girl?"
"No."
Anko's eyes narrowed to nothing more than slits. "Show me your neck."
"Anko—"
"Shut it," the woman hissed at the bird ANBU. Her eyes never left Nagisa. "Show me your neck, girl." Nagisa kept her face blank even when she felt her bottom lip wish to push out into a pout.
She didn't understand what this woman was getting at. Perhaps it was a sign of comradeship in Konoha, or perhaps it was a dominance thing. But seeing the fierce look in Anko's eyes, Nagisa knew she could either show her neck or be detained for who knew how long. The girl reached up to her sweater and pulled it down enough to bare her fishnet clad skin. Anko's gaze seared into her flesh, searching for something Nagisa knew not. It didn't seem to help Anko's temper when she found nothing out of the ordinary.
"What did he offer you?" she asked.
"Offer me?"
"For joining him! He always offers people something."
Nagisa pondered the woman's words before she made an educated guess. "I was told he could make me strong."
Nagisa decided she had had enough and her nagging thoughts of her teammates had her turning. She had no doubt that her team had gotten into trouble in the worst possible way since her leaving. They attracted more bad luck than anyone Nagisa had ever met before.
"But we're going to need you to come and give a report to the Hokage!" Nagisa lulled her head back on her shoulders and peered at the three with an eyebrow raised.
"I have given you my full report. You now know as much as I do. I will be continuing the Chunin Exams. If the Hokage wishes to speak with me, he will have plenty of time to do so in five days. For now, I must go protect my team, for it is the mission given to me by Kakashi-sensei." Nagisa ran off before they could say anything more. She did have a mission to do after all. She heard more than saw Shinta begin to lumber his way through the forest beneath her.
Had Nagisa believed in luck, she would have perhaps called the moment her chakra flushed under a battleground lucky. Instead, she simply accepted it and flooded the area with more of her chakra. She instantly recognized the warm spring-like chakra of Sakura, only it felt more like an April storm at the time. Her chakra was whirled up into something fierce and desperate. Her chakra sunk into two prone forms lying within the deep roots of one of the trees and which she found to be the other two members of her team.
Nagisa picked up speed as she ran and leaped over branches, sensing that something was horribly off about both boys. Sasuke's chakra… something about it set the hairs on the back of her neck on edge and Naruto's was sluggish and then surging, as if someone had put a dame up on his chakra reserves. Nagisa also found Shikamaru and his cohorts as they fought against a group that Nagisa realized was the Oto shinobi.
"Three enemies from Sound," she told Shinta, who kept with her pace in his tireless lope. The bear nodded his head even as he maneuvered around a root that was easily bigger than him. The two made good time and soon Nagisa found herself within throwing distance of the battle. She scurried up a nearby tree and used her eyes to place the pawns in plan. Their constant jumping made it near impossible for her to keep a constant visual with her chakra. She could now see Rock Lee, who had been impossible to pick up on earlier with his chakra so small and near depleted.
Nagisa's hands moved swiftly through her most familiar ninjutsu. Her chakra swirled quietly outward, calling for any and all moisture it could find while also shifting to water itself. Nagisa covered the battleground with her chakra in the dirt, giving herself a clear view of anyone within the boundary. Her ninjutsu kept the water heavy and dense, forming white mist that seeped from the tree line like smoke.
"What the hell?" Shikamaru snarled as his head snapped to and fro. The mist was now filling the entire area, getting thicker with each passing second.
"This technique—" Sakura lisped with a fat lip. Nagisa dropped from her high perch and began to run to her target.
"Ino! Get back in your body!" she heard Shikamaru snap with a twinge of fear coating his voice. The roar Shinta let out to distract had more than one person yelping as heads and bodies turned every direction, trying to figure out where it came from.
"What's going on?" a girl's voice, the female Oto, questioned, sounding groggy and tired. Nagisa came up behind her without a sound. A large booming noise went off, dispersing part of her mist with the soundwave. Really it only showed the black-haired boy his death as Shinta had come up from behind. One fluid swipe of his giant paw, and the boy's head was sent flying through the air to bounce on the ground. His body hit the earth with a thud as Nagisa's blade cut deep into the throat of the girl. She gurgled in surprise, choking on her own blood before hitting the ground. Nagisa left her to die, already moving to the panicking mummy.
"Ken? Zaku? Where are you?" he snapped, fear lacing his shield of anger.
The mist shrouded Nagisa enough for her to get in close, but the boy was so high-strung with adrenaline that he was able to throw up his large bracer and block her strike from landing. The boy let out a gasp as Nagisa used his bracer to flip backwards and hide herself within the white depths again. Her fingers danced through signs and she pulled two water clones from the water-filled air. They pranced through the mist, appearing just enough to make the boy turn before he had to spin in order to protect himself from another. Nagisa never let more than one show themselves, keeping him guessing and fearful. Like sharks breaching the sea with their dorsal fins, never showing their bodies, her clones danced.
"Damn you!" the boy screamed, throwing his braced arm wildly and sending pulses of some sort out in random tandem.
Nagisa kept her real self at his back, staying out of the way of the attacks. Her mist was forced to retreat, giving the others a visual on what was going on. Nagisa only stopped herself from huffing in irritation when Sakura called out her name because suddenly the Oto shinobi was much more distracted by the towering polar bear than herself. She was able to come up behind the shinobi and cut the ligaments behind the knee. The boy went down with a cry of pain, his arm swinging back in hopes of saving himself. Nagisa, having come in low, expecting the attack, felt nothing as the force went clear over her head. She heard the destruction behind her but paid it no mind as she grabbed the boy's forehead and used it as a guide to job her dagger into his throat, piercing through the windpipe and into the brain stem.
The boy gave out a choked gurgle as he used what little strength he had left to slam his bracer clad arm into her stomach.
Nagisa choked on her tongue as one of his waves went pounding through her body. Every one of her nerves was suddenly alight with pain, especially the ones that had already sustained damage. Twisting her blade with vengeance, Nagisa refused to let her body wilt as she stared into the boy's clouding eyes. Only when the light was gone completely did she release her grasp and let his body fall to the ground with a dull thud.
A heavy silence fell upon the group of Konoha shinobi. Nagisa paid them little mind as she bowed to Shinta and he disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Her mist began to fade as she released her chakra's hold and brought most of it back into her system. There was no need to let it sink into the earth where it would become a beacon for any sensory shinobi wandering about. Nagisa walked to Sakura and took in her injuries, a multitude of bruising and shallow cuts that could easily get infected. Nagisa absentmindedly noticed the girl's hair was now at her ears versus hanging down her back.
"Ino," Nagisa called out to the stunned blonde who didn't look too terribly hurt. The blonde flinched before stuttering out something supposed to resemble words. "Please help Sakura with her cuts."
Nagisa walked past the girl and took in Shikamaru and Chouji; Chouji was the worst out of the two, but nothing in comparison to Sakura. They were both beside Lee who was also beaten to hell and back but again, nothing life-threatening. Her true concern came in the form of the two unconscious males hidden in the roots. Naruto was muttering in his state but Sasuke was grimacing, as if in pain. Nagisa fell to her knees and placed her palm flat against the boy's chest, her fingers lightly touching his pulse. Her upper lip twitched as her body spasmed, but she forced through it.
Her chakra hesitantly escaped her hand as her eyes shut and her brow furrowed. Instantly her chakra rebelled against Sasuke's instinctively. Her water nature clashed fiercely with his fire nature, even while their softer lightning natures mixed under the turmoil. If Sakura's chakra was a soft spring morning, then Sasuke's was the heat on one's face standing too close to a fire. It seeped into one's skin, warming the flesh to an uncomfortable level until one stepped back or walked away. And while Sakura's chakra was utilized to its fullest with each movement precise and controlled, Sasuke's was more like a blacksmith. His body was the steel and his chakra the flames used to mold, constantly working to use the chakra to warm the steel and make it what he wished. A bit of the heat was wasted in its high surges but the finished product was well worth it.
But something wasn't… right. The fires were too hot, the steel melting on its frame. Nagisa's chakra tracked through the boy's burning form, her face twisting in concentration as she tried to pinpoint the cause for the upheave that was Sasuke's chakra system. So focused on finding the cause, Nagisa wasn't prepared for it when it was finally found.
It was a poison, of that she was sure when she fell head-first into the source of Sasuke's pain. The thing sucked at her chakra like a dying man, its hold catching like barbs as she hurriedly pulled away. Nagisa sucked in a harsh breath through her nose as she snatched her hand back. It took a moment for her chakra to settle, having had turned spastic when it touched the sucking entity. Carefully, making sure not to touch Sasuke's skin, Nagisa reached up and grabbed his high collar on his shirt. She pulled it down to reveal a black mark, three swirling tomoe. Nagisa frowned heavily at it, the vile chakra seeping from the mark, setting her on edge and making her uneasy.
She didn't see the attack until it was too late. Sasuke's hand lashed out, grabbing her wrist and bodily flinging her away from him. Her back slammed into a root, knocking the air from her lungs as she crumbled to the floor.
"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted as Nagisa sucked in air. She barely had time to skirt around the roots, wiggling her smaller form through the knot of them and escaping Sasuke's next attack. Nagisa scrambled as a kunai came after her retreating form, jumping as far away from the boy as she could which put her back into the clearing with Sakura at her back. It was as she was fleeing backwards that she saw Rock Lee's teammates up in one of the trees.
"Nagisa!" Shikamaru called out in warning as Sasuke came barreling out of his hidey-hole, all but frothing at the mouth. The dazed look in his eyes was almost overcome by the fear-induced intensity.
Nagisa felt her chakra shrink in disgust, not wanting to touch the vile creature before her. It felt wrong, it felt unnatural and it had the same effect on her as the sludge of death on any other. The mark on his neck appeared to be blooming as it spread up to his face and down his arm. Nagisa was sure that if she could see, it would also be spreading across his chest.
"Sasuke, stop!" Sakura yelled as the boy released a fierce fire ninjutsu. Nagisa almost didn't get away in time, feeling the flames lick at her heels and catch the back of her pants on fire. She rolled in the dirt, putting it out quickly before jumping to her hands and feet. She pushed off against the ground and dashed off to the side to avoid a rain of shuriken.
"What is that idiot doing?" Shikamaru snarled as Nagisa cartwheeled and flipped, dodging another fire attack. It resulted in her missing a step with the uneven terrain and Sasuke was quickly upon her. Having to take the defense forced Nagisa to work through powerful kicks and punches that bruised her flesh and made the fear of hemorrhaging a large possibility. It was only the fact that she had just been within the boy's chakra system that stopped her from returning his force with her own.
"Sasuke is not aware of his surroundings," Nagisa explained as she skidding back three feet due to a kick to her blocking arms. Sasuke let out a low growl as he charged forward a second time. More attacks were rained down on her, the sound of flesh beating flesh echoing like a tanto drum. Nagisa hissed when Sasuke's fist made contact with her face, knocking her down to the ground like a puppet losing its strings. When he suddenly lurched to a stop, Nagisa was more cautious than relived.
"Well, he needs to wake up!" Shikamaru snapped as he strained to keep Sasuke in his shadow technique. Nagisa had seen Shikaku and him practice the Nara ninjutsu, but she had yet to see it used against an actual opponent. Shikamaru's shadow stretched from his body before merging seamlessly with Sasuke's. Both shook with obvious stress, but it was the time Nagisa needed.
Springing forward, she placed her fingertips against Sasuke's temples and closed her eyes. Biting back a wave of nausea she breathed in deep and proceeded. She focused on her chakra, shoving into the boy's frame trying to give him a big enough shock that he woke up from his pain-induced berserker attack. Nagisa only received pain for her help and she screeched when the boy's chakra lashed out like an inferno, searing her hands and making her cradle them to her chest.
"Nagisa!"
"Sasuke stop! Please, stop!" Sakura cried, rushing forward and throwing her hands around the boy's waist. Nagisa would have snapped at the girl, but the pain in her hands was too much. Her flesh was red and raw, the skin feeling like it had been pulled too tight. "Please Sasuke, please stop fighting. Please."
Nagisa looked up from her hands, pushing them into her chest in hopes of reliving the pain, and found Sasuke staring her down. No longer were his eyes clouded or panicked, but a strange sort of confused familiarity filled them. The marks on his body, which had made it down to his hand, oozed backwards until the three tomoe were the only mark remaining. The boy let out a heavy sigh before falling back into Sakura who quickly lowered him into a sitting position.
"Nagisa!" Shikamaru called as he all but slid into a crouch next to her. "Let me see them." Nagisa tentatively held out her hands and was thankful that Shikamaru was careful when he grasped the back of them with his palms. "I think they're only first degree, maybe second in some places. Hold on, Ino should have some ointment."
"Nagisa?" Sasuke groaned as his eyelids tried to close. Sakura was the only thing holding him up in his sitting position. Nagisa spared the boy a glance but Shikamaru came back just as quickly as he left and placed himself between the two.
"Here. This is gonna sting." It did sting, something fierce that made Nagisa growl and grit her teeth. "Idiot. What were you trying to do?"
"Wake him up," Nagisa grumbled as she dug her sharp teeth into her bottom lip.
"Well a fat lot of good that did you."
When the balm was slathered thickly all over her hands, Shikamaru wrapped them up firmly. "Don't remove these for a bit and don't use your hands if you don't have to. Mom's gonna be pissed if you're hands scar cause you weren't smart about letting them heal." The boy's angular eyes narrowed in on her as they scanned her body. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" When Nagisa only looked off to the side Shikamaru got cranky. "Nagisa."
"I have two fractured ribs and twisted my ankle," she grumbled, not at all liking the idea of speaking her injures while there was an unknown team milling about.
Ino, who had gathered up Rock Lee, was now handing him off to a brown-haired girl in a pink shirt; who proceeded to shake the unconscious green-clad boy until he was pulled back into the world of the living.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled to himself before looking down at her feet. "Take off your shoe." Nagisa complied with a huff and allowed Shikamaru to test her range of motion on her left ankle before bandaging it more stiffly. "I can't do anything for your ribs besides telling you to take it easy. I think you only overstretched some ligaments in your ankle, should be fine in a few days if you keep the weight off it. What the hell were you doing out there by yourself anyways?"
"We got separated by a wind ninjutsu," Nagisa said. Her eyes narrowed and before Shikamaru could make any more comments she said, "Why is Chouji poking Naruto with a stick?" Shikamaru turned his head and found his teammate indeed, poking a still unconscious Naruto in the head with a branch he must have found.
"Cause your teammate is an idiot too," Shikamaru huffed before walking over.
Nagisa twitched her nose before getting up and walking over to Sasuke and Sakura. The boy looked more awake now, but he was still heavily bruised and damaged.
"Nagisa? I'm sorry, I didn't—" Sasuke started but Nagisa ignored him in favor of reaching out and touching his forehead with her bandaged hand. Her chakra pulsed through him quickly sending out testing pokes but refusing to attach to anything. The seal, for Nagisa couldn't describe it as anything else, on his neck was quiet and his body seemed to be in better sync than it had a moment before. There was still a hunger to the mark that had Nagisa wary though.
"You need to sleep," she told him while removing her hand and therefore her chakra. The raven-haired boy nodded his head but didn't close his eyes. Instead the three of them were forced to look over at Naruto as the boy cried out and threw his body to the ground.
"Everybody get down! There's no telling where he is!" Naruto shouted as a large lump formed on the back of his head.
"You don't have any impulse control, do you?" Shikamaru huffed as Chouji poked at the rising goose-egg on Naruto's crown. Naruto growled and pinned the two with a glare, causing Shikamaru to roll his eyes. "Just watching you pisses me off," he said.
Nagisa watched as the blond-haired boy took in his surroundings before he was up on his feet and running to them.
"Sakura! And Nagisa! Where did you go?" Naruto's blue eyes went wide. "Sakura! Your hair!"
Sakura started before she timidly reached back and touched the short locks that now came to her ears. "Oh? You mean this? Long hair is fun too, and I really liked having it, but let's be realistic. We're in the forest, fighting enemies, moving fast. And this is so low-maintenance!"
Naruto didn't seem to really grasp what Sakura was saying, but Nagisa understood. It was the same reason Zabuza had given her when he pinned her down to cut her hair short. When she had argued that Haku had kept his long he had responded with a brisk "He keeps his clean."
"Who are all these guys, and why are they here?" Naruto questioned as Chouji and Shikamaru walked up. His eyes trailed to the pink-wearing girl holding Lee and the brown-haired boy still in the tree.
"Explanations are so tedious!" Shikamaru rumbled.
"These guys saved our butts before Nagisa got here," Sakura explained with a bashful look and coy smile. Nagisa's nose twitched as she stood up and stared at the boy in the tree. She didn't necessarily like having him up there, able to see whatever and plot whatever it was he was obviously mulling over. Naruto seemed to finally realize that Lee was amongst them for he was instantly off like a shot.
"Hey! I know you! The unibrow!" Sakura was up on her feet and charging Naruto before either her or Sasuke could blink. Nagisa watched Sakura send Naruto flying with a solid punch.
"Where did this energy come from?" Nagisa muttered, causing Sasuke to snort.
"They always have an irrational abundance of it," Sasuke commented. Nagisa didn't see it, but the boy spared her a glance from the corner of his eye. When he gave a soft little cough as if he were clearing his throat she did peer over at him. His eyes were trained on her hands for a moment before he looked away, his cheeks taking on a tint of red. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Before Nagisa could say a word, the boy was speeding off towards the others.
"Naruto is like the Olympic champion of cluelessness!" Shikamaru stated with clear annoyance as he joined Nagisa's side.
"He's one of life's natural born supporting players; a guy who couldn't even cut it as the star of his own life," Chouji agreed.
Nagisa spared them both a glance. Her mind rushed back to Naruto on the bridge, his body coated in that thick, pungent chakra and back to the forest where he had defeated a chunin with a jutsu he had only just learned. The bluette tilted her head to the side before saying, "I believe you are not giving Naruto enough credit."
"…Did you hit your head too, Nagisa?" Shikamaru snapped before suddenly shoving his fingers at her face and running them over her scalp. "You obviously have brain damage." Nagisa let out a soft snort and tried to escape his grabby hands.
