Well, I had no internet for a LONG time, and no computer, so no time to write. I sat down for the first time in a while to write and decided to release this short chapter to get the ball rolling. Make a small mark of progress since its been so long. The following chapters will return to the normal length of at least five thousand words. As always, thank you to all the people who follow and review!

This chapter is named after a song called It's Thunder and It's Lightning by: We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Italics are thoughts, bold and capitals are for emphasis.

I don't own Naruto. (disclaimer)


Chapter 12

It's Thunder and It's Lightning, Part 3

It had been about two hours, but with steady, headfast determination, Naruto, Shikamaru, Idate, and Jin had blasted through the rain drenched forest and made it back to the small town that the old doctor and Idate had first met Shikamaru in. While Naruto hoisted Jin piggyback, Shikamaru and Idate had traded shifts carrying the sick Sound Shinobi bridal style, both being extra cautious about not letting her fall, each keeping her body as stable as possible. Every time they slipped a little, the girl coughed violently, earning them a severe scolding from the Doctor. Regardless of what the old man had to say, they'd done an excellent job considering the conditions. They got her back to the town alive and they were currently walking through the rain up a long driveway that lead to what Jin referred to as his clinic. Idate was the one currently carrying the redheaded girl, and as they approached the large compound, he questioned Jin, "Hey old man, where am I taking her?"

Everyone's focus shifted to the old man on Naruto's back as he pointed towards a tall brown and red a framed building, "That tall building there, it's the emergency room!"

Instantly they all made for the building, mud splashing as they ran through the dirt. Once they reached it, Jin motioned for Naruto to let him down, "Let me down now kid."

Naruto nodded, "Sure."

Jin walked up to the door and attempted to turn the knob, but it was locked, he looked back at the three boys, "Looks like my daughters in there with a patient," he turned back and began banging on the door, yelling between knocks, "Hey, Mei! Open, the, Door!"

After a few seconds there was no answer, Jin went to knock again but was interrupted, quite abruptly. Naruto was using his operable arm to wail on it, each thrust shaking the whole building and its foundation, "HEY LADY, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, WE HAVE A SICK GIRL OUT HERE AND SHE'LL DIE IF WE DON'T GET HER IN THERE…..OPEN THE DOOR YOU IDIOT!"

Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's arm and stopped his little outburst, "Hey, Calm down Naruto!"

Naruto scoffed at him, "TSK, SHE CAN'T DIE!"

Shikamaru let go of his arm, "I know that, but you need to keep a calm head or els-"

The door suddenly flew open, causing Shikamaru to stop stalking for a second, but as it opened, he continued his speech, "See Naruto, just be patient sometimes."

Naruto looked back at the girl and Idate, the ladder giving him a nod. The blond glanced back as a young girl emerged from within the building. She was no more than eighteen, had black hair the length her back with a few bangs on her forehead, was about six inches taller than Naruto and a worried look on her face as she spoke, "Sorry about that, what's wrong out here Dad?"

Jin looked at his daughter, "Damn it Mei, I told you not to lock this door! We've got a girl about to die out here and couldn't get in!"

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking Dad, let's get her in quick," She motioned for Idate to bring the girl in. Within a few moments they had her inside and lay upon a hospital bed. Shikamaru took a quick glance around as they came in behind Idate, "Dang Jin, you have a lot of advanced equipment considering you're so far out." It was no joke, there were multiple hospital beds, EKG monitors, IV stands, and just about every other high tech piece of medical equipment scattered around, in fact, the only normal things had to be the bland white walls. Jin didn't pay much attention to Shikamaru's words, simply nodding in agreement, he was too focused on the emergency work he was about to execute. The old man only had one thing to say to Shikamaru and the others, "We've got this under control, you guys go strain those clothes and get dry."

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Idate had all been standing a few feet from the bed when Jin gave the command, but after he spoke Shikamaru and Idate walked off towards the back of the building. Naruto however, didn't join them immediately, he looked down at the sick girl on the bed, still barely breathing underneath his jacket, shaking terribly, and wincing in pain. Jin noticed the concerned look on Naruto's face, "She'll be alright kid."

Naruto shifted his focus towards the old doctor, "Are you sure? This girl can't die!"

Mei answered for her father, "We'll keep her alive, it's a promise!"

"That's good," Naruto's eyes started to drift after he spoke, then suddenly a jolt shot through him, his body hit the final point of exhaustion, all the stress on it seemed to strike at once when Mei's words of relief hit his ears. He passed out, collapsing face first into the ground.

Jin jumped at the sight of the boy making contact, "Great, another one's down!"

It was around noon when Lee decided to stop and have a break for some food. After receiving his orders from the Hokage early that morning, he'd removed his leg weights and ran top speed towards the Land of Wind. Unfortunately for the Genin, in his haste he'd forgotten to pack a lunch, so the sight of a small town was a welcomed luxury. Not only was it a break from the rain, it was a chance to stuff his face and take a small rest. He'd taken about twenty minutes to eat some Spicy Curry and to drink some tea in a small mom and pop shop. Once rested, he was ready to hit the road again. He was just about to pay his bill when a loud scream shot through the streets of the town, "What was that?!"

Lee ran outside, there was a clamor among the citizens as soon as he made it outside. He glanced around the people until he saw a group of three middle aged men, he called out to them, "Excuse me, but did you hear which direction that scream came from?"

One of the men looked away from the group, "Sure did," he pointed to the east, "About three blocks down that way."

Lee didn't say anything back, instead running in the direction the man had showed him, ducking in and out between people in the street, unknowingly kicking mud on many of them. He'd gotten close to where the man had sent him when he saw a crowd of people surrounding one woman who sat kneeling on the muddy ground. Lee pushed his way through the group to the woman, she was about thirty years old, had short brown hair, and tears pouring down her cheeks. Lee gently placed a hand on her shoulder as he knelt to face her, "Tell me what happened miss."

The woman looked directly into his eyes, speaking with a choked tone through her tears, "A man just took my son!"

Lee went wide eyed, "How long ago was this, which way did he go!?"

"Just now," she choked back some sobs, "He disappeared almost instantly into the woods east of town, it was like he vanished he was so fast, there's no way I could have stopped him."

Lee stood up and looked towards the direction the woman mentioned, his thoughts running ramped, "I already have a mission…I have to catch up to Guy Sensei! But I can't turn my back on this! Guy sensei would do the same!"

Lee looked down at the woman, "Do not worry!"

The woman looked up at him, "Huh?"

Lee offered her a hand and helped her to her feet, "I will bring your son back, that's a promise!"

She was skeptical, "How? He's so fast, he's long gone! There's no way!"

Lee smiled brightly at her, "I am fast too!"

The group of people watched along with the grief stricken woman as Lee did a few stretches before lowering himself into a running stance, "I'll have him back in no time!"

The crowd was shocked and knocked backwards by the shockwave that Lee created as he blasted off, disappearing before their eyes.

Tsunade was mad.

No, Tsunade was pissed. Not only could they not find Shikamaru or Naruto, but several of her Ninja's were lying straight to her face. Currently standing in front of her desk was Kiba Inuzuka and Chouza Akimichi. She was convinced that both had information on where the two missing ninja's were, yet neither was speaking a word. The busty blond spoke to them with a nasty tone and a glare that matched it, "SO, neither of you know ANYTHING?"

Kiba was first to speak, "No mam, I helped them sneak around yesterday, but I haven't seen them since we dropped Naruto back off at the hospital last night."

Tsunade shifted her glare towards Choji's father, "And you?"

The large man spoke through squinted eyes, "Nope, can't say I've seen either of them."

Tsunade leaned back in her seat, "Is that so?"

An awkward silence held for about a minute before Tsunade shouted, "Shizune, come in here for a minute!"

The Jonin was nowhere to be seen, much to Tsunade's Chagrin, "Where is she," the blond stood from her seat and stormed towards her office door, she had a simple thought as she passed her two visitors, "Those two brats sure have some loyal friends."

Tsunade slammed the door behind her as she left the office, screaming for Shizune once she was in the hall. Kiba listened as her voice faded in the distance before pulling a piece of coiled up paper from his large grey jacket, as he unraveled it, it was revealed to be the documents of the Sound Kunoichi that Jiraiya had stolen. The animal trainer grinned at Chouza, "Didn't think I'd get a chance to sneak these back in here THIS easy!"

With utmost haste Kiba searched Tsunade's files until he located the section where the papers belonged, he slid them in and returned everything to its previous positioning, leaving not a trace of his work.

Among the vast grasslands and fields that occupied the Land Of Rice Patties were many small and lush rivers. One such river was playing host to a non-typical occupant, a Leaf Village ninja by the name Of Tenzo was currently standing in it, using his Kunai to catch fish. After landing three of them he walked out of the river and onto the bank. "I guess this is as good a place as any to set up headquarters," he created a hand sing then slammed a hand upon the ground. Suddenly the earth's crust at his feet began to break as a large house made of wood formed from the ground. "Well that's done," he spoke aloud to no one in particular, and then he turned around and proceeded to start a fire. After he had a strong blaze burning he jammed small sticks inside the fish he'd caught, then staked them in the ground next to the fire, letting them cook as he thought about his mission. "This mission is going to be difficult…Kakashi will be hiding his presence as a precaution, he's the last person I would want to track. Hmm, maybe I should focus less on finding him, and more on making my presence known…then he'll come to me. But what can I do?"

Suddenly he smelled smoke, "There's an idea, a smoke signal…wait, why do I smell something burning?"

He looked down to see one of his fish had fallen into the fire and was now charred black, "AH, MY LUNCH!"

He pulled the charred fish out, but instantly knew it was beyond saving, so he threw it in the field next to the river. He went back to his thoughts, "Regardless of when or where I find him, I have a hunch this whole thing is gonna spell BIG trouble."

He let out a sigh, "*Sigh*, Oh well, guess it can't be helped."

After Jiraiya's meeting with his local contact, he'd sensed strong bloodlust in the air. Even though it was no longer there, it was the kind of energy that couldn't just be ignored, so he did what any Sannin would've done, investigated it. He'd traveled thirty miles north of his new favorite research town to the last place he sensed the energy before it ceased, only to find the remnants of a recent battle. There was a large section of ground destroyed and debris spread everywhere, as he looked it over, it only meant one thing to him, and he said it aloud, "These were some strong guys!"

He was still observing the battlefield when a noise drew his attention.

"*Cough*"

Jiraiya snapped to attention, "Was that a cough?"

The frog wrangler ran to the source of the sound and was surprised to find a man lying face down on the ground, he wore a pair of blue pajamas and there was a huge pile of blood next to him, "Seems the bloods not his," Jiraiya rolled him over, the man was in a daze, and his body was convulsing. "Looks like he was poisoned."

The man's right arm fell to his side and a small picture of three children emerged from his hand. Jiraiya picked it up and observed it, he finished by placing it in his pocket and speaking to the man, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let you die, then you can still save those kids."

Jiraiya bit his thumb and drew blood from it, he spread it to each finger tip and performed some hand signs.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Almost as soon as he'd entered the vast woods, Lee had easily picked up the trail of the mysterious man who'd kidnapped the kid. The man had made it easy, he'd left fresh footprints in the mud, all Lee had to do was follow the tracks. He'd ran around ten miles, ignoring the cold rain as a thought occurred to him, "Whoever he is, he is most definantly fast, to have gotten this far in a matter of minutes is no small feat, I hope I can catch up to WOAH! "

He'd been focusing on the tracks on the ground instead of the path in front of him, so he didn't see that the trail and the tracks made a sudden ninety degree turn on account of a seemingly endless ravine. He shouted, barely managing to stop himself from sliding through the mud and off the cliff, "That was close!"

He stopped for a moment, regaining his composure before turning up the cliff and continuing his hunt. He followed the edge of the drop off as it turned into a mountain, the grade of the hill increasing with every step. The Genin had gone another mile before something made him stop his run, it was a kunai, and it was flying at his left eye. He swiftly ducked and watched as the blade sank into a tree behind him.

"Impressive!" A mysterious voice rang out through the rain from up the cliff.

Lee looked up the hill, his hunt was over, he'd found the prey. The man was tall, at least six foot three inches, wore a black uniform, had spiked black hair, a cocky grin, a scar on his left cheek, and most noticeable to Lee was the small child he had draped over his left shoulder. The sight of the boy made Lee's face turn to fiery rage, "Seems I finally found my Kidnapper!"

"SO what!?" The man didn't seem fazed at all, "I'm interested in how you tracked me down, not why!"

Lee slid his left foot forward through the mud, kicking it up as he took on his customary fighting stance. He held his steely glare as he spoke, "That was easy, you were sloppy, I'm sure you didn't expect someone in that small town to be fast enough to track you down, so you didn't take caution and just left tracks all over the forest!"

The tall man shifted the boy from his left to his right shoulder, "I see, I won't make that mistake in the future, but sorry Kid, I've got to go."

The man turned to leave when Lee shouted to him, "I can't let you do that, I'm here for the boy!"

The man glanced back over his shoulder, "No way that's happening, Later!"

The man took one normal lunging step forward, and then disappeared up the cliff, a burst of mud flashing from where he took off. Lee didn't hesitate, narrowing his eyes for half a second before he vanished as well. Three hundred feet up the hill Lee reappeared directly in front of the tall man, all this in a matter of a second. A look of shock flew across the mystery man's face, not only did this kid just match his speed, he actually managed to get in front of him without him noticing, the grin on his face shifted to a glare as Lee preached, "I said, I'm here for the boy!"

The mystery man's voice became a growling hiss, "Kid," a bolt of Lightning flashed, quickly followed by the thunderclap,

"…you just made a big mistake."


Lee's about to throw down!

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