Chapter Twenty-One:

Tsunade smirked coldly at the gathered shinobi. "What's wrong?" she asked tauntingly. "You want to play hide and seek for another ten years here? I've so politely told you where I am, so what are you waiting for, huh?" She scanned the numbers and her smirk widened. "Is it so important that this certain piece of useless fact doesn't get to the daimyos?" She laughed without any mirth as the shinobi started to bristle and show anger. "That the high ranking shinobi of Iwagakure are just disgusting perverts forcing the girls against their wills?" she sneered. "Hn, I suppose it is, isn't it? How will the daimyos act if they catch word of it?"

The shinobi stepped closer to tighten the circle. Tsunade looked satisfied. She narrowed her eyes as a thin, icy smile pulled her lips. "Does anger boost your courage?" she mocked. "Come then, go ahead and attack me, kill me. I have no reason to live anyways. Don't worry, I won't run, I won't retaliate. See?" She stretched out her arms to either side. "I'll be your living training post."

"Is she really serious about that?" Obito breathed, almost inaudibly. Kakashi shrugged. Slowly and silently, he slipped his arm out of one of the straps of his bag and pulled out his weapon holster. Still intently watching below as the shinobi cautiously moved close, he strapped it firmly onto his right thigh. Obito followed suit.

Tsunade looked past the Rock ninjas and her eyes became a little distant and glazed. Nawaki, Dan, I'll be coming soon. I don't care anymore. I don't care if I'm killed by stupid, weak ninjas. As long as I can meet you two again. I don't care…

Her eyes lowered to look at the first shinobi brave enough to attack, and felt another two dashing at her from behind. She didn't even bother bracing for the pain and she simply slid her eyes closed.

Several people shouted in alarm and a few cried out in pain.

Tsunade snapped her eyes wide open and saw the shinobi fall at her feet with a slit throat and upon glancing back, found the two behind her landing on their backs with a shuriken each embedded deep into their necks. At the same moment, she noticed two young boys landing on either side of her with weapons at ready.

"Tsunade-sama, please don't rush to death before you read what we have brought you," Obito said without looking at her.

"Who are you kids?" she asked, recovering from her slight shock.

"Shinobi," Kakashi replied simply, "from Konoha."

"'Shinobi from Konoha'" the other ninjas mimicked. They seemed much more confident now as they smirked and sneered at the two boys. "What can two little brats do against Jounin level adults?"

"Do you want to experiment?" Obito asked curiously. He ran towards one side of the group and they didn't hesitate to try and pummel the arrogance out of the kid. Kakashi stayed a little longer beside Tsunade, as did the other half of the assassination team.

"Tsunade-sama," he said. "If you really want to die, then we'll kill you, later. Not before you've read a certain letter addressed to you. Please stay here, until we've settled this."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and stared at the boy, but didn't say anything, and soon, he too leapt in to fight.

Obito dodged one attack after another, his feet constantly moving and his hands flashing this way and that. He leapt up and swung himself onto a branch as the ground cracked beneath him. Jerking out a shuriken, he threw it at the first shinobi to follow him, managing a shallow cut. He vaulted back onto higher limbs of the tree, his hands flicking through hand seals. Katon Goukakyuu no jutsu. The stream of fire blew towards the ninjas, forcing them to scatter.

He immediately noticed his miscalculation though, even as he finished the technique. He spun around in the air, his arms coming up just in time to receive most of the shock from a vertical kick coming from a quick shinobi who had made it above him. He gritted his teeth, glancing over his shoulder to see the other eight ninjas already spreading out to surround him. He arched his back and landed on a thin branch on his hands, his foot swinging in an arc at another man. His ankle got caught, but he threw his weight off the branch nevertheless. Surprised, the shinobi stumbled and released the hold to regain his balance. Obito twisted around to catch the first kunai aimed at him and batted away the others with it. Once he was finished, he dropped down to a low branch again, but jumped straight back up, causing the others to change direction and follow him again.

He brought the kunai to his mouth just before the first enemy reached him. They engaged in a quick round of taijutsu, but Obito soon got the lower hand when the others joined in. He managed for some time, but sooner or later, he would have to run again. He chose the sooner choice. After having his kick blocked, he pushed off his opponent and leapt higher into the trees and away from where Tsunade and Kakashi were. He didn't notice one of the shinobi disappearing until he felt someone behind him. Without thinking twice, he spun around and caught the fist in his palm, then struck with his knee, but it was stopped. Shurikens whistled behind him. Obito snapped his captured leg, and at the same moment, swept the ninja off his feet, causing him to lose his balance. He leapt off his opponent's torso, one of the shuriken scraping the sole of his shoes, but it didn't cause him any damage. The others seemed to hit the shinobi who cried out in pain and then fell down the tree.

As he went up through the air, Obito looked down quickly at the eight remaining. He turned back around, landed on a branch, then sprang yet high. Bringing his hands together, he closed his eyes and released chakra. The shinobi below froze when they felt the chakra and at the same moment, each had an Obito holding them in a tight choke hold, their arms strained in a twisted position behind their backs. Their surroundings began to blur and swirl.

"Kage bunshin?" one of the shinobi asked with disbelief.

"No, a kid can't perform that," another replied. "It's too advanced."

"Genjutsu?" a third muttered.

"Bingo," said the original Obito. He stood on a branch not far from the others. "You're all inside my Genjutsu, and with one of your hands gone, you can't get out."

"The arrogant little brat," they growled angrily. Obito smiled, but it quickly disappeared and he became serious again.

"Tell me one thing," he said. "If any of you manage to defeat us, are you still going to go and kill Tsunade-sama?"

"Not if, it's when. Don't get cocky, damn kid," one of them spat.

"Whatever," Obito replied. "Just answer the question."

"Of course we are," another responded.

"Even if it might cost your lives?"

"The answer won't change."

Obito sighed. "Then in that case," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

The multiple replicas produced a kunai from their hands and brought the tip to the shinobi's necks. They smirked.

"You can't kill us with a Genjutsu," they sneered.

"Maybe you're right," Obito replied as the replicas flicked their wrists, the kunai heading quickly down to slit their throats. Then suddenly, some of the men shouted.

"It's not a Genjutsu! They're Kage Bunshins!"

Blood sprayed onto the tree branches at the same time as the imitations burst into puffs of smoke. One, two, three, four, five. Obito narrowed his eyes and vaulted backwards avoiding the weapons that struck the branch he was on. On his way down, he saw three of the shinobi dead as the smoke thinned. He had originally hoped for a bit more to go down. I guess it isn't too easy when you're against Jounin level shinobi and you don't have other things distracting them, he thought as he flitted through the trees attacking and dodging at a quick tempo.

Obito jerked his head up and twisted his body around just in time to miss a chunk of what seemed to be like mud. They came from all five of the shinobi and he was kept busy just trying to avoid the bullets. A few seconds later though, he knew something was wrong. There were too many mud balls. They seemed to just keep multiplying. Something like Shuriken Kage Bunshin? he wondered. As he ducked and side stepped on the branch, Obito went through a set of hand seals.

Katon Housenka no jutsu. The balls of flame rose up around him like a circular wall. Obito cursed and immediately regretted what he had done. He had originally hoped the fire would melt the mud, but all that seemed to have happened was the mud was hardened and glazed, making them all the more harder. He threw up his arms and ground his teeth together against the multiple jabs of pain. He was more surprised at the force they had, which shoved him right off his balance and he tumbled down the tall trees.

"I swear I'm going to have a few good bruises tomorrow," he grumbled, somehow managing to get his feet under himself before he reached the ground. The air rustled loudly above, and he ran in a random direction. He paused when he reached the end of the trees rather quickly and saw the lake and "mountain" in front of him. He didn't have long to speculate though, as the chunks of mud kept flying at them. He pulled out two kunai and turning around, started to cut through the balls while dodging around. Until a thought struck him. Suiton…

Gradually, Obito retreated back to the edge of the water. Once he was nearly too caught up with four of the ninjas and got a thin cut across his upper arm. When he reached the edge of solid ground, he leapt above a volley of mud balls and landed far into the lake. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had activated his Sharingan. He wasn't going to risk anymore bruises. He waited for the next set of chunks which came from all directions as the shinobi spread out around him. His hands flew through the hand seals he was less familiar with than the fire elements, and he hadn't preformed the technique in actual combat, so all he could do was hope it would go well.

Suiton Suijinheki. The water burst up to form a circular barrier around him, but Obito kept his senses fully alert and his eyes stare intently around the rushing water. He suddenly stiffened, jerking his head up and saw someone descent down on him. He quickly stepped away, but that caused him to lose his concentration and the water wall collapsed. He felt someone's foot connect with his back and with a grunt, he was sent flying towards the mountainside. Obito fell into the water once, but quickly surfaced and coughed out the water, then he quickly sucked in the air from after the heavy impact.

"Out!" someone shouted.

Obito spun around and his eyes widened. Without thinking about anything else, he grabbed the side of the rock and yanked himself out of the water before the electric technique could travel across the water.

"Die, brat," a voice said above him, and Obito could only cross his arms in front of his chest as a heavy fist landed on him. He stiffened as soon as he touched the water surface, the electricity running into him. He screamed in pain as the stabs of some sharp sensation kept cutting into his senses.

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I do realise this chapter was very late to be posted…I'm soooo sorry!! It may be just me, but school's getting tough… . But don't worry, I'll never stop writing until I finish! Thanks everyone for supporting me!

Leilani Thanks yet again for reviewing!! Tsunade in action…Will have to think about that one…In the meanwhile, hope you've enjoyed!
Chaotic Demon: lol, yep, Tsunade-sama's here! Thanks for your review!
Amanda: Thanks a bunch! Always glad to have new readers enjoying the fic!
Katzuki yay! Another new reader! Thanks for the review!! Lol. Hope you didn't suffer from lack of sleep the next day. Yeah, I know that both Kakashi and Obito are a bit too good for it to be too realistic, but I kind of think it would have been a tad bit too boring if they weren't about this level… No, there was no Uchiha Obito. That's my made up character. And yeah, Kakashi probably would have had to take it off, but I had completely forgotten about that…Anyways, I'll leave that section up to your imagination. Uhuh, you'll be hearing about his Sharingan succession. Well, as for the team, they don't have to be in a trio team since they aren't Genin anymore, so unfortunately Gai won't be joining them. Nice idea though. I'll be sure to keep writing!!
HikaruOfArrow yup, yup Cliffy! And quite a wait too…Hope you've enjoyed!!

-Fanyar-