Chapter 13: Team Two vs. Saya Part 1

As Saya got closer, the genins of Team Two tighten their formation. They do not know how strong their opponent is but they are ready for anything. Tetsu glance over to his students. He knows he can take care of both of them, but the man name Shiin is giving him troubles to help them. He knows they are not ready for a true ninja fight to the death. He hasn't train them enough to do so. He curse himself for neglecting their training.

Hearing someone walking to his left, Tetsu place his attention over there. Shiin smirked; he has experience of dispatching enemies in Ryuseki's special fog. He quickly took an arrow out of his quiver that was on his back, drawing it on his slender black bow. He aim for Tetsu's legs and fire.

Tetsu dodged the arrow skillfully. Shiin load up another arrow in his bow. "Worry about yourself big boy." He fired again and Tetsu, once again, dodged it. "Saya get those brats out of here. They're distracting my new boy toy."

"Fine." She put her katana in a reverse grip, reeling back her left arm, making a fist.

She punch the ground with her left fist, creating a small earthquake crack in the ground directed towards the genins. The genins jump to get out of the way of the attack. While in the air, Saya leap in after them and kick all them in the gut, carrying them a couple of yards away from Tetsu and Shiin. She then calmly hold her katana in the normal grip. She dash towards the direction she kicked the genins.

Shiin chuckled. He always seem to forget how strong her special left arm is. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" But maybe he should keep focus on his target rather than his teammate.

Shiin draw back a arrow, focusing his chakra into it. When the jutsu was about to hit, he fired. It splitted the giant fireball into two, leaving him unscathed. Tetsu hoped he can catch him off guard with his favorite jutsu. He narrowed his eyes on the archer. This is going to take some time.

Youta groaned in pain when getting up from the ground. He looked at his teammates. They are having some difficulties getting up like him but other than that they seem okay. He didn't expect that katana wielding woman to be so fast, or worse, maybe they are just too slow.

Everyone of Team Two is standing. Michi is doing a quick diagnosis on Usagi and Susume. They hit the ground pretty hard. She twitched her right thumb that is controlling a special mechanism of Susume's. Damn it. She did it again and nothing responded. Susume's defensive barrier is broken and she only has three spares of Susume left in her scroll. She never was able to get back the numbers of her precious puppets from when she blew them up in her test.

Kenshin heard the woman named Saya getting closer to them. But he does not know for sure where. The sounds coming from the fog is making it hard for him to focus on her. "Guy's, triangle formation!"

On command, all of them got together. Kenshin is facing the direction he thinks Saya is coming from, while Youta and Michi are at his sides, watching, waiting for any attacks that might happen. Youta glance at his left hand to see if his seal is still on there. He let out a breath of relief when he confirms it is still there. They still got a chance to win this fight.

Saya came in Youta's direction, charging at him. Before he could react, she was already in front of him, her cold merciless maroon colored eyes made him quivered in his ninja sandals. He can see his death in them. He can see his head being chopped off then his friends being killed afterwards. It finally kicked in for him there. This is nothing like he ever experienced back in the academy or anywhere in fact. This a fight to the death. This is how ninja fights. And this how he will die.

Saya slash her katana at Youta's body, planning to cut him into two. His body was cut into two slumps of human meat effortlessly by her blade. She grinned when she saw his red guts in the air and the blank look in his eyes that comes with ones death. She needs remember to save one for Ryuseki or she will face his wrath. No one wants to see him when he's angry. She sees a black object coming towards her through the young genin's bloodied halved intestines. Her eyes widen in shock; it's a puppet! It grab hold of her, and the two halves of Youta also grab hold of her. What the hell is going on?! The puppet and Youta blew up, leaving only a shriek of both anger and surprise from the Sound ninja and a cloud of smoke.

Michi and the rest of Team Two leap away from the explosion. She quickly took out her scroll and summon another Usagi and Susume. She's glad that she was able to use the substitution jutsu on Youta with her puppet. She honestly did not think it would work but she's happy it did. She doesn't want Youta to die. He's a good friend to her, probably her only friend in fact.

Youta is having a mini heart attack. His chest is going up and down rapidly, his hands are shaking, his eyes are open wide as wide as he could as he look at where the explosion took place before looking at his hands. He almost died. He was a minute away of no longer existing, a minute away from no longer being able to pull pranks on others, a minute away from no longer being able to see his Mother's face, a minute away from no longer being able to live up to his clans heritage,... and a minute away from not being able to tell Tarou how he feels about her. He thought he was going to die, he knew he couldn't do anything against the swordswoman. Youta was scared stiff from just looking into her eyes and the unrelenting pressure he felt from looking at them. Yes, he was about to die, he subconsciously accepted his fate, but Michi saved him.

He looks back at the cloud of smoke. It was pointless for her to save his life for he knows that Sound ninja is still alive. There is no way for someone like her to be defeated by that. She's too strong from them to take on by themselves. If only his sensei was here, then maybe they would have a chance. He look at the seals he placed earlier on the palm of his hands. Youta knows, even if he uses them, they won't win. They weren't train for this.

"Youta!" He jump slightly from the voice. He glance over to Kenshin. "We may not have the training for this, but do you know what we do have though?"

He wonders where is he getting at. Kenshin doesn't seem like the pep talking type of person. "What?"

The cloud of smoke starts to dissipate. "Teamwork." He grins confidently, revealing one of his canine like teeth.

Teamwork. He's right, they do have their teamwork. Tetsu has drilled them hard on that matter, especially towards Michi and Kenshin. He never thought they will have each other backs in such a situation as this. The feeling of despair is slowly being replace with hope. Youta remembers all the fun and hardship his sensei put them threw just so they have teamwork for a situation such as this. Even the test for them to officially become ninjas was about teamwork. He chuckles; he guess everything to this point was for this very moment.

"Teamwork, huh?" Saya's cold voice echoes to them.

Team Two got back on their guard. Still somewhat scared, Youta is trembling. Though he has some of his confidence back from that little pep talk from Kenshin, that crazy katana wielding woman input brought him back to square one. Actually, maybe square two. He knows now that Kenshin and Michi have his back.

When the smoke dissipate, they could hear metal clashing with laughter supporting it. The black katana wielding woman no longer has her cloak on. It must have been burned off from the explosion. She's wearing the usual urban camo pants of the Sound, though they are lined with a dark purple color. Her kunai holder is kept strapped to her right leg and she wears a black belt around her waist from where she hangs her katana. Above, she wears a light gray skin-tight sleeveless shirt under the usual Sound ninja flak vest and keeps the urban camo scarf around her neck, and the bandages covering her left arm is also burned off, revealing a sickly white arm. Her katana wielding hand has a dark purple wristband that has a metal plate in it.

"I hate teamwork." She venomously stated. Saya put her left hand in the Tiger hand seal. "Water Clone Jutsu." Water starts to coming from the ground out of nowhere, forming two identical clones of Saya.

Saya place her katana back into her scabbard while her clones ready their weapons. Team Two readied themselves for her attack. The clones charges at them. Kenshin and Youta threw kunais at them. Once they did, Usagi and Susume got in front of them, protecting them. The clones expertly deflected the knives away.

"Hold your breath!" The puppet duo warned.

Youta and Kenshin held their breath on command of their teammates warning. Guess Michi has a plan. The puppets open their mouth compartments. Susume released a steady stream of purple smog while Usagi unleashed a storm of senbons. What she's doing is really a standard puppet user technique. First, cover the target's field of vision with a poison smog, and hopefully poisoning them while it blinds them. Then finally killing them with a barrage of senbons which the target can not see because of the smog. If even a single one of those needles scratches her, they would be poison since the needles became laced with poison from traveling through the cloud of poison. Michi is glad she had listen to her Father about the poison. A puppet user not using poison is really unheard of.

Hearing someone running towards them from behind, Youta and Kenshin swiftly turn around. Kenshin jumped the gun and aim a punch at...nothing?! Nothing was there except for air. What the hell? He was sure he heard someone there a moment ago. Oh no, Michi!

They turned to face Michi with urgency. She was suddenly thrown into Youta's arms. He fell onto the ground, being pushed back a couple of feet. Kenshin looked at them with worry written all over his face. Saya was instantly behind him, going through hand seals of her jutsu.

She reached out her right hand towards him. "Water Prison Jutsu."

Her water clones transformed back into water and hastily surrounds Kenshin in a water ball. He tried to bust himself out of his new watery prison but he couldn't. In fact, he can't move at all. The water is so dense he can hardly breath. He has never experience a jutsu like this. Is everyone of this caliber in his enemy's village?

Based on what she heard of the boy she had just captured, Saya deduced he is the leader of the group. Trapping him in her jutsu will help her deal with the genins with more ease. Saya really what's to join Ryuseki in his fight. She hopes handing him a genin as a after fight will make him see her as more of ninja of the Sound rather than lackey of his. Perhaps maybe even a equal.

Saya looks at the remaining genins. One water clone should be enough to defeat the two. She summon a water clone. The clone take out its katana, taking in the sound of its beautiful trusted weapon of its hitting the open air when it slash at the air, releasing the clone's killer intent.

Michi and Youta breath hitched when the water clone released it. Michi can see her death as plain as day. Her puppets are in shambles, her fingers broken so she won't be able to use her chakra threads anymore. Youta and Kenshin on the ground, motionless, with their throats slit. Their blood are mixed with the water Saya used for her water clones. Saya, looking like a terrifying black creature, slowly penetrating her katana into her chest so that Michi can feel every single minute of pain that comes with it.

Youta on the other hand, was not as affected in seeing his own death as Michi was. He already felt a such thing back when she almost sliced him into two. They drop to their knees, breathing heavily, Michi shaking more than Youta. But that doesn't mean he was used to it all, far from it.

But that won't stop him, not this time. His comrade-no, his friend, is capture while he and Michi are helpless to save him. Its just like with his people's home. Though he wasn't alive back then, he still feel the pain everytime he hears a mention of the Village Hidden in Whirlpools. He wasn't around then to help save his people's home, but he's here now to save his friend, and he will make sure that he will succeed.

The clone and Saya were surprised that the genins are already giving up. She had thought they were taught how to stand against killer intent. It's what she was taught back when she was a genin of the Hidden Mist. The clone shrugged; it makes their mission easier.

"I'm sorry Michi but I need to borrow your puppets for a moment." Youta whispered.

Before Michi could say anything, the clone dashed at them, its katana drawn back, readying itself to slash their head clean off. It heard a weapon being thrown from its right. The clone skid to a stop, facing its right, getting into a defensive katana stance. To its surprise, there was nothing there, but on its left, there is a incoming kick to its head.

The kick landed, the clone skidded a couple of inches back. Before it could look at the person who had kicked it, Youta quickly go through his hand seals.

He thought of the jutsu's name, but did not call out the name of his most used jutsu. Clones of Youta starts to form out of thin air.

Youta's clones completely surrounds the water clone. There is at least 100 of them. The water clone firmly held its katana. It didn't expect a genin to summon so many clones. Guess the genin aren't just shivering pissants after all. The clones of Youta charges in at the water clone. Saya's clones swing it's katana at the first clone it sees. When the weapon made contact, the clone didn't explode in a puff of smoke, instead, it went right through the clone like it wasn't there. Is this some sort of a genjutsu?

The water clone of Saya leap away from the Leaf genin's clones, its hand is in a Tiger hand seal. "Release!"

Youta's voice ringed out from in the group of clones. "Hehe, not a genjutsu bastard."

Suddenly, a clone rush in at the water clone. Guess that's the real one. The water clone calmly brought its katana back then stab forward, stabbing Youta in the head. Like before, the attack went right through it. It notice a fist going through the impaled clone in front of it. Youta punch the water clone with all of his strength square in its stupid emotionless face of its.

The water clone stubble a couple of steps back. It hears a hissing sound when it stops. It looks down and notice a weird looking seal on the ground. The next thing it knows, it exploded and the water clone converted back into water. The cloud of smoke covers both the clones and the reaming genins from Saya.

Kenshin starts grinning at Youta's usage of his Fog Clone Jutsu. His jutsu is great at misdirecting people. Perfect for the genin. He starts making a fist, readying himself when he gets released. If Youta is any good as taticatan as he is, that cloud of smoke is covering his next move to set him free.

Saya didn't expect the genins to take out her water clone. They don't look like much to her. Regardless, they will die to her like the rest. She was about to summon two water clones till a oversize shuriken came out of the smoke cloud and towards her. Instead of summoning reinforcements, she took out her katana and deflected the shuriken.

The shuriken landed on the ground hard. Saya was about to summon her water clones, but, once again, to her surprise, another shuriken is coming at her. The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. She had heard of this technique but never went against it in combat before. Guess its a first time for everything. The same looking shuriken as before is aimed at her right arm this time. Saya knows what they are trying to do. They are trying to let their comrade go, but she won't let them have the satisfaction. She also deflected that shuriken, it landed behind her.

Saya is unimpressed with the display. Did they actually think that technique could kill her? Guess she was right about them. They are worthless genins. The two shurikens puff in a small white cloud of smoke. Usagi and Susume appeared in the weapons place. Saya cursed herself for underestimating the group. That's why she got hurt in the first place. The puppets open their mouth compartments, releasing poison smog and senbons.

There is only one way to survive this and she knows what to do. Saya remove her hand from the water bubble. She was about to dash out of the enemy's firezone till Kenshin grab the arm that was holding him prisoner. He brought her down and knee her in the gut as payback for trapping him in that water hell bubble. He then leaped away from the impact radius of Michi's puppet technique.

Saya, with some difficulties, got out if the blast radius of Michi's attack. Unfortunately, she got hit with a couple of her senbons in her leg while trying to get away. She roughly takes them out. These genins are starting to become a pain in the ass for her. Ryuseki would laugh at her if he could see her now. No more playing around. She toss her katana to her right hand, focusing her chakra into it.

Team Two regrouped and getting ready for Saya's counter attack. Kenshin knew he could count on them to get him out of there. He was slightly worry when they drop to their knees, hopelessness and despair oozing from them. Guess that was all just an act. Seeing them work together gives him confidence that they will win. They just need to work together like their sensei taught them.

Saya charged at them. Team Two tightened their formation. Saya stop a foot away from them, swinging her blade at them. The genins instinctively ducked at her attack. The tree behind them was cut in half and started falling down on them. They scattered to not get trap underneath it. Taking advantage of this, Saya aimed her blade at Michi. Her puppets are becoming a problem to Saya. She thrust her blade at the mid-air Michi. Michi tries to maneuvered her puppets back to her but they won't reach in time to protect her. This is the end of her.

Before Michi was impaled, she disappeared from Saya's sight. Next thing she knows, a cluster of shurikens is coming at her at high speeds.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

A volley of fireballs spew out of the individual, who had saved Michi's life, mouth, covering the shuriken he threw. Saya growled in annoyance. She didn't expect for one those ninjas to find her. With no choice, she stop using her technique to deflect all the inflame shurikens aimed at her. While deflecting the ninjas shurikens, she could hear footsteps to her left but keep her focus on the threat in front of her. She won't be fooled by Ryuseki's fog like her clone was. She felt a open palm hit and a kick connecting to her jaw and her side. The next thing she knows she was pushed back a couple of inches, grabbing her ribs in pain.

Kenshin and Youta leap towards the ninja who had saved their teammate's lives. Youta was finally able to land one of the seals he prepared on that swordswoman. If she wasn't so focus on Michi's savior and not on Kenshin and him, he probably still wouldn't be able to place it on her. The fog also help, being able to play tricks on everyone. Kenshin take a note of this. If she can mistake the sounds the fog makes as real as they do, then he can exploit that and maybe survive this. He looked at his savior. The ninja is a young looking male from the Leaf. He has dirty blonde hair and looked shock that Kenshin and Youta actually land a punch on the enemy.

The man whistle. "I was planning on doing that, but hey, first come first serve, right?" He joked.

How can he joke about the situation they are in? "Who're you?" Kenshin knows he can't be too sure if the ninja next to him is of the Leaf. For all he knows, he could be something this weird fog made up.

"Oh yeah, the hero must tell its damsels in distress their name right?" Kenshin already doesn't like this man but Susume giggled at the man. It was pretty funny to the puppet. "Name's Shu Aoki of Team Tiger, and I'm assuming that you all must be from Tetsu's team?"

So he's part of that jounin team the Hokage told them that were in the area during their mission. But how did he know that they were part of Tetsu's team, and not Daichi's? The team never recall seeing this man before. "How did you know?" Youta asked.

Shu chuckled. It is quite obvious to him they weren't part of Daichi's team. "Because you all looks like you got the shit beaten out of ya, and it seems she only has taken a couple of hits." He took out a kunai from his holder on his left leg. "Daichi would have taught y'all how to stand against a stronger opponent like she." He stated as it's a matter of facts.

Kenshin wish he can punch the man square in the face. How dare he disrespect, not just him, but his sensei and his teammates. They have been working their asses off since getting out of the academy. Sure, they haven't done a lot of exercise to build and hone their own skills, but they have build a important factor for succeeding in mission. And that is teamwork. Once they have defeated this crazy woman, he will punch the jounin for even saying such a thing to him.

"Heads up kid." Kenshin brought his focus back on to Saya. "Looks like she's getting serious." Shu ready the kunai in his hand.

Saya squeeze her katana till the point the handle cracked under the pressure of her fist. She can't believe it. SHE, a member of her beloved leader, Ryuseki-sama, team, fallen like one of his prey to his signature jutsu. Even Shiin wouldn't fall for such a thing. This game is going on long enough. Saya stab her katana into the ground. She start focusing chakra into her pale white left arm.

Shu, and more surprised in what he's seeing, Kenshin, watch in disbelief from what Saya is doing. Youta on the other hand, is grinning confidently, feeling some of his chakra coming back. Saya raised her left hand in front of her face, making a fist. They can actually see the chakra coming from her arm. It's purple and has a sinister aura radiating from it. The laughter that is coming from the fog doesn't help them feel any better in the situation they are in.

Saya narrowed her eyes on the five ninjas across from her. "Secret Technique: Cursed Arm." She muttered.

The bandages that were left on her arm disintegrated from the chakra the arm is releasing. The white arm now has black lines and stripes forming on it. She slowly unclenched her fist, basking in the temporary power she now has. She had no plans to use this technique on genins. She had hoped to use it on that Anbu agent who had hurt her precious Ryuseki-sama all those years ago.

Shu gulped at the sight of the enemy's jutsu. "I should have said no to Anko about this mission." He and the rest of Team Two readied themselves for when she strikes.

A/N: The fights are now underway. As you guys read so far, this fight is similar to the Zabuza fight. Was this intentional, no, but shit happens. I do hope you like the fight so far and the story. Don't forget to tell me if I'm portraying your character wrong. If I am, PM me and I will edit the following chapters to fix it.

So I'm starting this again because I feel that we far enough in the story to ask these questions. Today I have two.

What do you think of the arc so far?

Which fight are you looking forward to the most?