Nariko
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Chapter 14: New Enemies
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Disclaimer: Yeah, well, I COULD put something here but… uh, no.
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"And that's what's going on right now," Tazuna finished.
He had just explained the problem in Wave Country, involving a crime lord, Gato, and tyranny. Because the bridge would bring wealth the Wave, said crime lord wanted Tazuna dead, so he could continue his control over the people.
The bridge builder looked over at Team 7, the boat underneath them bobbing in the water.
"Are you still in? I understand if you back out."
"I'm in," Nariko replied, "No way we can back down now."
Kakashi nodded in agreement as did Sasuke.
"Well," Shikamaru began, "If everyone else is going to carry this out, then it would be too troublesome to decline."
"Thank you," Tazuna replied.
"So…" Nariko began, "How much of the bridge is left to be completed?"
"About half a mile, which will take three weeks tops."
The blonde nodded as the boat stopped.
'Three weeks?' she thought, 'How will I survive these people that long?'
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Team 7 and Tazuna were just walking through the last part of their trip when the female member of the team stopped and took a glance around. She reached down to take a kunai from its holster. In a quick motion, she threw the weapon into a nearby bush. But when she went to check, the only thing there was a dead white rabbit, which was now bleeding all over the place.
"What was that about?" Sasuke asked, not really interested.
"I could've sworn that someone was here…"
"Hold on," Kakashi began, "This is a white rabbit… meaning that during this time of year, it could only be this color if it was in captivity…"
"A kawarimi," Shikamaru finished.
All four ninja became on guard and ran to protect Tazuna.
"Duck!" Kakashi yelled as a large blade whizzed above them.
Sasuke forced chakra into his legs, allowing him to push Tazuna down in time. The blade embedded itself into a nearby tree where a man with bandages over the lower half of his face landed.
"So… you killed the demon brothers," he said as he turned to face them.
Kakashi's eye narrowed in realization.
"Momochi Zabuza… Who would have thought you would work for Gato."
The eyebrow-less freak laughed.
"All for the right price, Sharingan Kakashi…"
You humans and your titles…
'That guy…' Nariko thought, 'Has no eyebrows…'
"I came for the old man," Zabuza said, "Kirigakure no Jutsu!"
The area around team 7 became foggy, making it hard for any of them to see. The three genin imediately surrounded the bridge builder as Kakashi prepared to showdown with the Demon of the Mist. Said nuke-nin was now seemingly invisible, unleashing a powerful killing intent.
Nariko turned to her left to find that Sasuke was shaking in fear.
"Hey, don't be afraid… dobe," she whispered, a grin on her face.
"How can you be so calm?" he retorted, pushing aside the insult.
She didn't have time to respond as Zabuza's zanbato appeared inbetween them.
"You should spend less time talking, and more time doing your job," he said.
"Try growing some eyebrows," Nariko responded as she thrust a flame encased punch at him.
They were surprised that he let her make contact, and even more so when 'Zabuza' turned into a puddle of water.
The former mist nin's laughter echoed throughtout the foggy area. She couldn't see what was going on, but Nariko could tell that Zabuza and Kakashi were fighting and that their sensei had exposed his other eye. Team 7 heard a splash as the battle entered the water nearby.
All was tense as the unseen battle raged on, only a cry of, "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" could be heard.
"You never answered me," Sasuke reminded the blonde.
"I've been through a lot of fights before," she answered, "I've almost been killed several times; I know I can survive this."
"A bit cocky aren't you," Zabuza mocked.
The mist had cleared enough for them to see that Zabuza had used a jutsu that imprisoned Kakashi in a water sphere while a water clone stood between them.
"Run!" the copy nin yelled, "He'll kill you all!"
"They can run," Nariko began, "But there's no way I'll back down!"
'Kaa-san, I may need your help,' she silently thought.
Take what you need.
Nariko was about to charge when Shikamaru stopped her. All during Kakashi and Zabuza's battle, he had been thinking up a plan.
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"Ready?" Shikamaru asked after relaying the plan to his teammates.
Sasuke and Nariko nodded. By now, the clone and its creator were getting tired with waiting. The clone raced forward, zanbato raised to kill.
"Now!"
Sasuke whipped out two fuma shuriken, but instead of throwing it at the enemy, he threw one at the blonde. She caught the weapon and ignited the whole thing on fire. She charged the clone with the flaming weapon. Just when they were feet apart, she swerved the the left and headed for the real Zabuza. The clone saw this and came after her.
It was then that she learned that the clone's weapon was just as sharp as the real one… Sometimes it takes a gash on the back to learn that…
The zanbato came back, going for a fatal injury this time, but was stopped by Sasuke's grand fireball. While the clone was distracted, Shikamaru stopped the clone with his shadow posession.
While he was holding it back, Sasuke and Nariko ran forward with their giant shuriken. Nariko threw from Zabuza's left, as Sasuke did from the right. Both went soaring towards their enemy.
"Nice attack, but not good enough!" he yelled as he dodged the attacks
What Zabuza seemed to miss was was the chakra string Sasuke had attatched to Nariko's fuma shuriken, and pulled it back. While Sasuke pulled the molten hot weapon back, the blonde took a fire encased kunai and ran at Zabuza. Since he could not move and was busy getting out of the way of Sasuke's attack, Nariko was able to stab him in the arm, forcing him to let go of the prison. But by instinct and reaction, Zabuza swung his zanbato, gashing the blonde, who was within blade's reach on her side. She went went weak at the knees, clutching the bloody wound.
Back with the clone, Shikamaru had let go of the now destroyed clone.
After his release, Kakashi delivered a kick to Zabuza's chest, bringing part of the battel back to the water.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!"
A giant vortex of water came forth, sweeping Zabuza through the forest they were in. Unfortunately for Nariko, so was she. The Demon of the Mist was thrown into a tree, at team 7's mercy. Before Kakashi could deliver the finial blow though, three senbon came down, peircing Zabuza's neck, killing the man.
"What was that?" Shikamaru wondered.
A shinobi in a mask appeared next to Zabuza, more senbon in hand.
"A hunter nin," Kakashi sighed, "I suppose that you're here to take him?"
The ninja nodded.
"Wait, hold on," Nariko interrupted, still clutching her side, "Could… you do me a favor and cut off his head, just to make sure?"
The request had actually been the Kyuubi's, but the blonde agreed with the logic that he could possibly still be alive.
"Although I appreciate the work you have done here, I can not do that," the mist-nin replied.
"Why not?"
He just shook his head before taking the body off with him.
Kakashi was about to tell Nariko that it was an irrational request when he collapsed from using his sharingan for so long.
"What do we do with him now?" Nariko asked.
"My house is nearby, we can take him there," Tazuna said.
In the heat of the battle, everyone, probaby even Zabuza forgot about him…
"Hey, Nariko," Shikamaru began, "You're bleeding a lot there."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" she laughed, "Could you help me out here? I'm not very good with bandages."
"Hold on, what are you-"
Nariko was pulling up her shirt at the moment, and being surrounded by males… they felt awkward. For some odd reason, Sasuke felt embarrassed… Maybe it was because he had never been that close to a girl, or that he forgot the blonde's real gender during the fight and all that other crazy logic. Yeah… that must be it… It was the only logical explanation, right? He was Uchiha Sasuke after all…
"Stop complaining for once," Nariko retorted, "What are you going to do, put those bandages over my shirt? It's not very effective…"
He sighed before taking some gauze the blonde had in her pocket and wrapping the large, yet not deep, wounds. She really was a tomboy…
"It's a good thign you took him out when you did," he sighed, "I was running out of chakra."
The blonde snorted.
"I bet you have just as much chakra as you did when you were eight."
"Not everyone can have as much energy as you…"
"Well, what about sensei?" she asked, changing the subject.
The four of them (Though, team 7 forgot about the person they were supposed to protect again) looked at the unconcious jonin. There was a silence… They'd have to carry him for who knows how long to Tazuna's house.
"I'm not carrying him," Nariko began, "I have two battle wounds."
"And I'm old," Tazuna put in.
Now it was a race to see who could make up a plausible excuse fastest, the loser having to carry the jonin. Sadly for Sasuke, he was drawing a blank.
"Well," Shikamaru began, "I'm low on chakra plus I don't have as much physical strength as you Uchiha…"
He didn't really have anything against Sasuke (despite his friend's rivalry with the boy), but not using the excuse would be, well, troublesome.
Sasuke sighed in defeat but took it like a man, dragging poor Kakashi along the last part of their journey.
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Kakashi woke up in a strange room, not knowing what had happened to him since he collapsed form over using his sharingan. He looked up from the floor to find that Nariko was asleep in the room, reassuring him that they were probably in Tazuna's house. She looked alive, which was good; and he was alive, which was good. He made a mental checklist of what he had. Life, check. Hitai-ate, check. Mask, che- wait, it was missing! After all those years of mystery he built up, it was all gone.
"What have you done!" he yelled.
Just then, Sasuke walked into the room. He just stared at his sensei. If he hadn't already mastered being emotionless, Sasuke would've had a hard time concealing the laughter that was bumping around in his head; it was just so funny…
Kakashi sighed.
"She drew on my face, didn't she?"
The Uchiha slowly nodded.
"Did Tazuna say that it would take almost a month for him to finish the bridge?"
He nodded again.
"I was going to be dramaticlly cool by saying that Zabuza isn't dead but now..."
Head in hands, Kakashi wondered what he had done to make Kami so mad…
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A/N: So, after all that time, you have the next chapter! I would've typed this earlier, but I've had some very uninspiring things happen:
-The rasengan is not called by it's real name in the English dub; the commercial made my jaw drop, I mean chidori gets to keep it's name, right?
-X-rated popups came up because of some virus, so I had to save my eyes
-Someone called this fic yaoi (by PM, so you won't see it in the reviews) for the ShikaxNari pairing which I totally disagree with
-Upon going to walmart, there were some stupid Naruto 'figurines' that made me want to kneel in the middle of the isle and cry, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! The inhumanity!" but I didn't
Yes, that's what happened, plus I've been busy with stupid marching band. But enough with explaning the lateness of the chapter, it really doesn't matter. If you're wondering, the Kakashi/Zabuza fight was skipped because I forgot what order things happened (I like to keep it close to canon) and I decided to skip it.
Damn, this is long, but it needs to be said. Someone from an anonymous review asked about the GaaxNari pairing, and it was something someone suggested and it makes sense because they're both demon containers.
Lastly, my 300th review is approaching, so I'm going to write an omake or chake for the 300th reviewer about anything related to this fic. So… That's all I have to say.
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