Chapter 14: Orange Ninja Needs Intelligence Badly Part II

After thoroughly destroying one of the walls in his apartment, Ryouga spent several minutes looking for the front door. If I can't teleport there, I'll just have to get there the old fashioned way. Hopefully I won't keep my genin team waiting too long. ...Who am I kidding. They're going to be so mad... Finally locating his front door, Hibiki Ryouga stepped out into the impossible maze (for him) that was Konoha.

0o0o0

"That's great!" said an excited sounded voice from the directions of the target field. It was a voice Sakura knew well. Just hearing it improved her mood, bringing a grin to her face.

Looking back from where she'd heard Negi's excited shout, Sakura turned toward Naruto. "Looks like Negi beat us here," she said. I wonder who he's talking to. Maybe Ryouga already got here and we're actually not going to spend hours waiting for him.

"Sounds like it," replied Naruto flatly, still pouting. Sakura's grin disappeared, and she looked down at the arm she still had trapped within her grasp.

"Alright. Here is what we're going to do. I'm going to let go of your arm. And you are not going to run. You are going to calmly follow me to the training ground and wait for Ryouga to show up. If you don't, I'm going to chase you down, and I am going to inflict large amounts bodily harm upon you."

"Whatever," Naruto replied unenthusiastically. "Since you aren't listening anyway, it'll be easier to just show you."

"Good," Sakura replied equally unenthusiastically. Releasing Naruto's arm, she prepared to chase after him. When he didn't run, she turned back toward the training ground they were approaching. And gasped in surprise. Having made their way through the barrier of trees that had been obscuring the shuriken target field from sight while they had been having their discussion, Sakura could now see who Negi was talking to. It was Naruto. Who was standing right next to him. Even though he was also right next to her, while she was about a hundred meters away from Negi.

Wait, what? How can...? ...Wait a second. Sakura turned a very angry glare toward the Naruto standing next to her. "YOU'RE A BUNSHIN?" she shouted.

"...Yes?" whimpered the Naruto clone.

With a growl, Sakura launched a front snap kick at his head.

The Naruto clone started to raise its arms up defensively, but wasn't quick enough to block the kick. "NOT THE-" he started to say, before being violently dispelled.

"FACE!" continued the real Naruto from next to Negi, his hands reflexively raised from his clone's attempt to try to block Sakura's kick. "...Uh... Hello Sakura," greeted Naruto rather awkwardly. "I see you ran into one of my clones."

"Hello Sakura," said Negi, trying not to sound worried after the display he'd just witnessed. After all, if Naruto's okay with that when he's the one getting the clone's memories, I shouldn't let it bother me. Right?

"Good morning Negi," Sakura said as cutely as she could manage, all traces of her anger mysteriously vanishing. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have something I'd like to ask Naruto." Before either boy could answer, she stomped over to Naruto, grabbed him, and dragged him several meters away from Negi. Ignoring the worried look from Negi, Sakura grabbed Naruto by the shirt and pulled him toward her. "Why did you have a clone running around Konoha?" she growled. "And why didn't it tell me it was a clone?"

"Uh..." replied Naruto, trying to sort through the clone's memories quickly enough to answer his teammate's questions before she resorted to more of the bodily harm she'd promised the clone. "It tried to tell you it was a clone, but you wouldn't let it, so it gave up?"

Sakura's snarl informed Naruto that that wasn't the answer she'd been looking for. "And why did you have a clone out there to begin with?"

Panicking, Naruto began babbling. "Well, I got here, but Ryouga wasn't here. So I thought that I'd be stuck waiting for him all day, since he's always lost. I didn't want to wait around all day for him while he got unlost, but I didn't think leaving would be a good idea, since we're supposed to be waiting for him, so I did the next best thing and sent clones out to do what I wanted to do after training for me while I waited for Ryouga. And uh, that's why there are clones of me in Konoha."

Sakura groaned and released her grip on Naruto's shirt. "Why would you... How did that even seem like... wait. Clones? As in, more than one?" Sakura gave him a warning look. "How many of you are there in Konoha right now?"

"Uh...can I get back to you on that?" replied Naruto.

0o0o0

Naruto paused. In front of him was what appeared to be a lake. That wasn't the odd part. The odd part was that there appeared to be an island in the middle of it, with a bridge connecting it to the mainland. From what he could see, there were several buildings in the island that were built in an odd style, including a tower with a large clock on the side of it. Okay, this definitely wasn't in Konoha before. I'd have remembered something this distinctive. Hmm... Well, Boss said to gather intelligence, and I'd say that this counts as something that he should know.

The Naruto clone prepared to dispel itself and return its memories to Naruto. However, before it could, something abruptly occurred to it. Wait. If I dispel now, Boss is just going to send a bunch more clones to investigate this place. But they'll all be where he is, and I'm right here. I might as well investigate myself and save some time. I'll dispel afterwards.

Nodding to himself, Naruto began walking toward the island. A few moments later, he began walking toward the bridge, now sporting wet pant legs. Dammit. Not being able to water-walk sucks.

0o0o0

Deep within Training Ground 44, a very tired, very angry, very sweaty kunoichi leapt from tree to tree, searching the forest for her targets. She didn't know what they looked like, but there couldn't be many other people within the Forest of Death, so they would be rather obvious once she came across them. It was very important that she find them. And she had to do it soon.

She hadn't slept in days, and it was beginning to catch up to her. She still could fend off anything the forest could throw at her, but soon that would no longer be the case. Already she could feel herself slipping. Soon she would fail to notice an approaching predator, or misjudge a jump, or let her chakra control slip and fall to her death. If she could take a few hours to sleep, she would be able to keep going for longer, but sleeping in the Forest of Death without anyone to stand guard was a terrible idea, even for a jounin like herself. So she kept on moving without taking the rest she desperately needed.

An explosion drew her attention to the forest floor. Something had just destroyed a large rock, blasting it into pieces which were even now raining down around it. Could this be them? Her targets? She could see a human shaped form obscured by dust, but only one. Cautiously, she made her way closer.

Suddenly, the form looked up. Whoever it was had just spotted her. Drawing a kunai, she prepared to engage the mysterious figure in combat. Perhaps it was an ally, but it could just as easily be an enemy ninja that had somehow invaded Konoha. For now, all she could do was wait for the dust to clear. And as it began to clear, the person she saw overwhelmed her with rage.

"Kurenai?" asked Ryouga, sounding confused. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training your team?"

"RAAAAAH!" screamed Yuuhi Kurenai, as she launched herself toward Ryouga.

All Purpose Index

Genin – The lowest rank a ninja from Konoha and most other hidden villages in the Elemental Nations can have after graduating the Ninja Academy.

Bunshin – Clone

Jounin – The highest rank a ninja from Konoha and most other hidden villages in the Elemental Nations can have short of being the kage.