Chapter 12: Power of a Team
Jakken dodged another lunge of the rattlesnake. He countered by throwing several shuriken at its exposed side. They didn't seem to phase it as the serpent attempted to crush him with its rattle tail. Jakken rolled out of the way and started to launch more shuriken. The rattlesnake's head was his target and he distracted it with his very good aim.
Clone Naruto struck from above and stabbed the snake in the neck. It roared and drove its head toward the wall to dislodge the clone. The clone jumped as the rattlesnake crashed into the wall. The clone and Jakken stood together as the rattle snake shook the cobwebs out.
"Alright, this has gone on long enough. It's time to get serious." Jakken said and he reached into his backpack. He pulled out a weapon and prepared himself to fight. The clone looked at the weapon and saw that he was holding a kusarigama. The blade of the sickle was a bit longer that a regular kusarigama and it was curved to look like a hook. The ball end of the weapon had spikes surrounding it.
Jakken began to spin the chain with the ball attachment and moved slowly to his left. The rattlesnake followed his movement and readied itself to strike. It made its move and rocketed toward Jakken. Jakken jumped back and landed on the wall. Using his chakra, he pushed himself off the wall and jumped toward the ceiling at an amazing speed. The snake missed him by inches and slammed into the wall.
He wasted no movement and launched his weapon at the rattlesnake. The chain was long enough and it wrapped around the snake's neck, the spiked ball digging into its skin. Jakken pulled himself forward and landed on the snake. He then proceeded to stab the snake repeatedly. The rattlesnake franticly tried to get him off. Jakken continue his assault of the snake, gripping the chain so that he wouldn't fall off.
The snake was angry and used its rattle tail to attack. Jakken barely saw it coming and had to stop hacking to avoid it. The snake then began to move its head. The movement of its head loosen the chain. With a final lift the chain was loose enough for escape. It caught the chain in its mouth and flung Jakken toward the wall. Jakken hit the wall hard and slid to the ground with a groan. Seeing the offender in his sights, the snake made a lunge.
"Jakken, close your eyes!" the clone shouted. Jakken did as he was told and the clone threw several paper balls at the incoming snake. When it was close enough the balls exploded and consumed the room in a black powder. Naruto, who had on goggles, picked up Jakken and made his way out of the room. The snake was slamming itself against the walls and howled in pain.
"Can I open my eyes now?" Jakken asked.
"Yeah, we're out of the room." Clone Naruto said. Jakken opened his eyes and began to fall in step with the clone.
"What the hell did you do pipsqueak?" he asked.
"Homemade pepper bombs, I never leave home without them. They are way stronger than any regular one." The clone explained. Jakken nodded and the two continued to run. Their run was cut short when the rattlesnake slammed into the both of them, sending them flying across the hall and into a room.
Jakken landed on a table that was filled with beakers. The glass scraped him up but not too badly. When he and the clone looked up they saw that the snake was not happy. It hissed and opened its mouth wide. The clone kicked Jakken away as the rattlesnake descended. Jakken rolled for a bit and saw that the snake had the clone in its jaw. He growled at the snake as its jaw closed.
Now he was alone and the snake would turn its attention to him.
'What I wouldn't give for a Katon jutsu right now. What the hell is that smell?' he wondered. He realized that it was him. He took a look of his surroundings and saw that the room was filled with beakers, all of them had a liquid in them. 'Could they be chemicals?' An idea came to Jakken. He began to twirl his kusarigama at different angles. It moved in a way that the rattlesnake had trouble getting to him. It hissed when the weapon cut its skin if it got close. Jakken's weapon was also breaking the beakers around the room. The chemicals began to fall on the ground and pooled together.
Jakken saw smoke forming as more chemicals merged together. He suddenly realized that he might be caught his plan. That's when he caught sight of an empty oil drum. Stopping what he was doing, he made a dash for the drum. He threw it over himself as the rattlesnake made its way toward him. That's when a spark came out of mixed chemicals. The explosion was loud and shook the ground. Jakken just kept himself in a ball until he thought it was over.
After a while, Jakken didn't hear anything. He used his weapon to cut the barrel open. He used his back and feet to push the barrel apart. He surveyed the damage and was amazed at the destruction. He made a note, never to do that again. He reached for the radio when he realized that it was busted. Ignoring his cuts, Jakken took off in search of his teammates.
Yakumo threw some more shurikens at the cobra but they did little to bother the snake. She was beginning to get tired as she was not as physically strong as her teammates. While not frail, she couldn't do long battles. She had already lost the clone Naruto sent with her and now she was playing hide, seek and dodge with the large cobra.
She did have one chance against the beast however she was scared. Her fear was that she had not used her sealed powers since the fire those years ago. As Jiraiya told her, her seal would allow her to use her kekkei genkai without losing control. He also told her that she would have to train her mind constantly. Her uncle had her doing some mental exercises along with a Yamanaka as added insurance. They did help yet she was still scare of what might happen if it got out of control. She should her head and banished such thoughts. Her teammates needed her help. She needed to distract the cobra.
"Tajū Bunshin no Jutsu." Yakumo said. The cobra heard her and made a move to get her when copies of her jumped out and ran around the room. The cobra was confused and was randomly attacking her clones. The clones took a page out of Jakken's book and began to sling insults at the cobra. Yakumo, the real one, began to focus her power. She could feel it coursing through her. She opened her eyes that were now glowing red. She quickly did hand seals and called out her attack.
"Magen: Jigoku Koka no Jutsu!" Yakumo shouted. The room got dark and the cobra found itself alone. It began to feel heat and turned to see a huge fireball descending on it. It crashed into it, burning it to a crisp. The cobra hissed as it got burnt. It fell to the ground on fire. It wiggled for a while before it stopped and fell dead.
The light came back and Yakumo was on her knees. She was very tired and weak right now. She reached for her pouch and pulled out a soldier pill. She popped it in her mouth and waited a few seconds for her chakra to return.
"Holy hell, what the hell happened here." A voice shouted.
"Jakken, is that you?" Yakumo shouted. Jakken appeared in front of her and she sighed in relief.
"Did you do this? I didn't know you knew Katon jutsus." He said.
"I don't. That was the work of my kekkei genkai. I had to use it to win." Yakumo explained. Jakken looked back to see the cobra that was burned badly on one side.
"Remind me never to piss you off to use that power." Jakken joked. Yakumo smiled and stood up. "Come on, let's find the pipsqueak." Yakumo nodded and the two ran out of the room.
Naruto was not having a good time with this boa. He was trying to come up with a plan to get rid of the summons. He had his clones attack it with little success. He needed to take the snake out and fast. He had heard an explosion and was worried about his teammates. Suddenly, he remembered that he had a summons of his own.
He bit into his thumb and smeared the blood on his forearm where the monkey tattoo was. He slammed his hand on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Sora!" Naruto shouted. From out of the smoke, a damp looking monkey appeared. The monkey was surprised when he caught sight of the person who called him.
"You again, what do you want? I was relaxing." Sora said.
"I sorry but I need your help." Naruto said and point to the boa who just batted away two more clones. Sora turned back to Naruto.
"No way, see ya later." Sora said uninterested.
"What? You're just going to leave?" Naruto shouted.
"Look, I'm not cut out for this fighting stuff. I just want to soak in some hot water. I'll see ya later." Sora said. Naruto was beside himself but he took a couple of deep breaths before coming up with a plan. Suddenly, one came to mind.
"How about this, you help me now and I promise to get you into the old man's private hot spring." Naruto said. Sora stopped himself and thought about. He did remember that spring as he was actually summoned by Sarutobi near it. That was a really good soak.
"Ok then but I'll hold you to that. In fact, let's make that a condition when you summon me." Sora said.
"Fine, it's a deal." Naruto said. Sora nodded and jumped into the air. He transformed into a naginata. Naruto smirked as he was trained with such a weapon. He caught Sora and gave him a few spins. After he got use to him, Naruto took up a stance. He launched himself at the boa. The boa didn't see him coming and was stabbed in the eye. The snake hissed in pain and flail around. Naruto dislodged the weapon from his eye and jumped to the ceiling. He used his chakra to push off and drove the naginata into its head. The snake lurched forward and hit the ground with a thud.
Naruto fell to a knee as boa was no longer moving. He pulled out Sora and held him in his hand. He didn't have time to savor the victory as he wanted to find his teammates. He ran out of the room in search of them. He didn't get two steps out the door when he ran into them.
"Naruto, you're alright." Yakumo said in relief.
"I knew that you wouldn't die pipsqueak." Jakken said.
"Yeah, I'm glad that you guys are alright too. We need to find Anko and get the hell out here. This mission is kind of a bust." Naruto said. They nodded at the idea and ran off to find Anko.
The sound of steel rang through the room as Anko and Midoshi made another pass at each other. Midoshi looked barely winded as Anko was breathing quite hard. Midoshi smirked at her.
"Well, I do admit that you are good but I would expect better from one of Orochimaru's students." Midoshi crowed.
"I am so going to show you your guts." Anko growled.
"So you say but I'm barely winded while you're sucking up wind. I just don't see that happening." Midoshi said with a smirk. Anko snarled at her and thrust her hand out.
"Sen'eijashu!" Anko shouted. Four black mambas made its way to Midoshi.
"Please," Midoshi said and held her hand out as well. "Sen'eijashu." The tattoo on her arm transformed into a huge python and ate the mambas in one bite. "Surely you have something much better than that. I'm starting to get bored here."
Anko growled and threw several shurikens at her. Midoshi dodged the projectiles and dodged Anko's kick. She continued to dodge the Taijutsu assault with relative ease. Anko just couldn't get a hit on her. She was suddenly swept off her feet by the veil on Midoshi waist. Anko fell on her back but was quick to roll to her side as the veil stabbed the ground next to her. It kept on stabbing until Anko was out of range.
Anko rolled to her feet and glared at her opponent who was yawning. She needed to wipe that condescending smirk off her face. She calmed herself and started to form a plan. She took out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground. Midoshi smirked as two clones came out of the smoke, charging at her. They attacked her which Midoshi easily defended. Suddenly and arm shot out of the ground with a kunai aimed at her.
'Not bad, she's make this more interesting.' Midoshi thought. She bent back to avoid the stab and kicked the kunai out of her hand. She flipped back to her feet and kicked the feet from under the one of the clones. She then kicked the other clone three times and dispelled it with a vicious spinning hook kick. She then used her veil to stab the other clone in the stomach, dispelling it.
Four snakes appeared and caught her, forcing her to the ground. Fire shot out from underground and crashed into the trapped Midoshi. Anko popped out of the ground and was looking at the burning corpse. She was still alert as she neared the body. What she saw was discarded skin. Anko suddenly felt something cut into her side. She cried and jumped back to see Midoshi cloth. Midoshi jumped out of the ground and charged at Anko.
Anko's injury slowed her down as Midoshi used Taijutsu to attack. Anko defended as best as she could but Midoshi proved to be faster than your average twelve year old. The wound to her side was not helping her. Midoshi took advantage and kicked her where the wound was. Anko hit the ground in pain. Midoshi looked at her with disappointment.
"I was expected a bit more out of you but I guess that's that. I've grown bored of you and I have a job to do." Midoshi said. Her veil prepared to strike her when an explosion caught her attention. From out the smoke, a ball with spikes came at her. She moved to get out of the way. As she landed, a blond with a naginata appeared and attacked her. She was very surprised by the skill and speed at which he was wielding the weapon.
Jakken kept Naruto covered while Yakumo got Anko out of the way. Midoshi ducked under Naruto swing and attempted to kick him. Naruto blocked her kick with the weapon but saw the veil around her waist come at him. Jakken countered with his kusarigama and pulled her veil, causing her to be off balance. Naruto stabbed the blade into the veil and kicked Midoshi two times. He swung around the weapon and planted two feet into her chest, sending her flying.
Midoshi stood to face her attackers. Naruto held his naginata out while Jakken spun the spike ball above his head. Jakken was the first to attack throwing the ball at her. She dodged it and charged. Naruto met her charge and the two were engaged in another round. Jakken joined in the fray. Midoshi was having trouble fighting the two of them as they were in sync with each other.
"Guys, I'm ready! You need to get back here!" Yakumo shouted. Naruto and Jakken disengaged and made their way toward Yakumo and Anko. Midoshi wasn't about to allow that to happen and readied to summon another serpent. Suddenly, she found herself unable to move. She struggled against this invisible force when the ground under her collapsed. She looked down to see a huge lave pool and it looked ready to erupt.
Midoshi smirked as she realized that this was a Genjutsu set up by the girl. She released a bit of chakra to dispel it but she found that she couldn't. She used a bit more of her chakra to break out of it but she couldn't. That's when the pool of lava erupted. Midoshi eyes went wide as the lava consumed her. The team looked on as Yakumo focused her chakra through her drawing. Yakumo suddenly pitched forward but she was caught by Jakken. He placed her on his back and secured her. Naruto used his clones to carry Anko and together then left.
Unknown to them, Midoshi was on the other side of the room as she watched the image disappear. She summoned a large group of snakes to surround her. One of them caused enough pain to get her loose. She escaped just as the lava consumed her. She took several breaths to calm herself. She looked to see that the snakes she used were dead and burnt to a crisp.
'A Genjutsu that causes actual damage, something like that exist within Konoha?' She thought. Midoshi decided not to pursue them. She had done her task and she was now heading back to the base. In her mind, she was curious about this team of Anko's.
It was now night and team Anko was took time to rest. Naruto set up traps while Yakumo tended Anko. Jakken, who was already taken care of, was cooking up the remaining rations that survived the mission. The group was deathly quiet. Even as Yakumo tended to Anko, she said nothing to her. Naruto came back and told his team that the traps are set. Anko saw that he was only directing that to his teammates and not her. When dinner was done, her team took some of it and sat at the other side of the camp.
Anko sighed at this but did nothing against it. She deserved this for her actions against the team. She was warned by the Sandaime not to allow her feelings to get in the way but it did. She left her team to fight alone because she saw who she believed to be Orochimaru. She treated them lower than dirt when this mission began. She was only trying to protect them but she alienated them instead.
Anko ate alone again and it hurt.
Tajū Bunshin no Jutsu – Multiple Clone Technique
Magen: Jigoku Koka no Jutsu – Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique
