(Redone 09/05/14)
By now a forest had grown in the box of purple curtsey of one of the former Hokage's. Max and Orochimaru traded blows that would be deadly if they had connected. Each flaming fist of Max's was dodged and each jutsu of Orochimaru's was elegantly twisted around as if in a dance.
Each slice from her scythe was blocked and ball of fire was dodged. Max was having the time of her life, she was fighting for her life and she loved it, she had always been and adrenaline junkie. In her mind songs were blaring full blast each one fast paced.
Orochimaru brought out his sword, mildly grossing out Max, but she barely missed a beat as she continued fighting. She saw the third fighting with his monkey turned staff thingy. She bit her thumb while dodging a jab and while putting her scythe back in its strap and pressed her hand to the ground.
"Summoning technique twin P-90 style," she whispered and grabbed the guns and started to fire at him. He moved as soon as he saw the guns; he had heard rumours of them and experienced first hand what they could do. Max chased him around the mini jungle, she was smiling to herself. It was like laser quest or airsofting.
She was so absorbed in her game of hide and seek she didn't notice one of the resurrected Hokage's throw a sharp wooden kunai thing at her until it penetrated her back, not quite getting past her ribs. She left it there, thinking it would be safer, stop the wound from bleeding too much, then it exploded, knocking her off the branch. She was lucky it had missed her spine. Unfortunately it shattered some of her ribs barely missing her lungs. The scar would be pretty impressive though.
Her back was now bleeding profusely and she reached into her pack and grabbed some gauze and bandages, with some precision and haste she wrapped the wound. After Yuri had died she had taken some lessons in medic training.
With the delay she had lost her target and was almost out of ammo. That had always been her problem she would get so absorbed in the game she wouldn't notice it. She had one clip for each gun left before she would have to resummon them.
She closed her eyes and searched for him using FA, locating him quickly she set of in pursuit, trying to ignored the pain in her back. She noticed in the passing the third had sealed the other two Hokage's using shadow clones but wasn't in a good shape. This angered her, he had been like a grand parent and no one would take that away without pain or a few missing limbs.
She renewed her chase with a set mind, Orochimaru was going to pay, big time. Her eyes were filled with emotions but she felt none, set in the mindframe of a shinobi. She found Orochimaru and they engaged in more close combat, fierce determination from Max sending her on the offensive.
Max knew she had very little time, the Hokage would die soon without help and her back was still bleeding, it was also starting to hurt to breathe. Her guns were slung awkwardly across her back ready for a moments notice surprise attack that would no doubt hurt her more.
Her heart pumped loudly as she attacked viciously; unconsciously tapping into her tenant's power, her wolf was keeping the majority of the pain at bay and keeping her alive in general. Her Henge had fallen when she had been injured and so her ears were visible and flattened against her head. Max managed a lucky blow catching him of guard and wedging the blade of her scythe in a branch, in a fluid movement she grabbed her guns and pumped him full of bullets.
Orochimaru had put his arms up in defence as a reflex. Now his arms were a shredded bloody mess. Knowing he wouldn't win this round he retreated to the barrier and it fell admitting the ANBU team who had been patiently waiting they rushed to the current Hokage while Orochimaru made his escape.
Max emerged from the forest and saw the devastation that had been caused by the invasion. In the distance she saw Gaara with his demon and Gamabunta battling it out. She knew they would be fine but it still hurt to leave them as she headed to help drive the invaders out.
She saw Yugao and her team telling some ninjas not to go any further. She knew Yugao was still sore about what had happened to Hayate and that it would be good for her to get some anger out. She went back to the stadium to help where the attack had started.
She had been helping some of the jounin when she saw a massive snake head towards the village and she headed off again, she hadn't noticed the signs of exhaustion and had out of habit taken a soldier pill. It was a reflex when she was lacking energy.
By the snake were tons of ninja of both sides battling it out Max joined the fray once again, some part of it was just automatic. It seemed like a dream from Max's point of view, everything just happening, she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. The snake disappeared suddenly and the sand and sound ninjas began retreating, the ANBU seeing them off. Max had returned to the stadium, knowing she would only be so much help. It didn't take long for her vision to fade as she collapsed.
The aftermath of the attack wasn't as bad as it could have been, the Hokage was alive but very weak, the village had damaged buildings all over the place but no civilian was severely hurt. Gaara and the other sand siblings had made peace with team 7.5.
No one had noticed the two extra ninjas who had been following Max since the barrier had fallen and attacking any invaders. No one had noticed they had a slash through the symbol on their headbands. Max had been found passed out by these two certain missing ninjas who had taken her to hospital, in the confusion, no one looked at them twice.
A few days later later Max woke up disorientated and cranky, she was cranky because she woke up and immediately a nurse came up and started telling her she had been reckless and should have left it to the professionals.
To which she had promptly yelled at the nurse that she was a professional, inside she was wondering if this nurse was related to the one at her fist chunin exam. She had been visited by her team and the FMA crew and later by the Hokage.
"Hey old man, how are you holding up?" she asked weakly. Even after this time she hadn't regained all her strength.
"Not as bad as it could have been thanks to you."
"I was only doing my job," she insisted.
"Well you did a good job, I may not have been here otherwise. I also came to say I'm retiring," he said and Max gaped.
"Who's going to succeed you? Please say it's not Jiraiya."
"No it isn't, I offered him the job but he turned it down, so instead he suggested taking Naruto on a training trip to find the other Sannin, Tsunade." he said and Max sighed in relief. "Apparently you did quite some damage on Orochimaru."
"He just annoyed me so much. I don't think he'll be using his arms for a while," smirked Max, the Hokage nodded then left to give her some peace.
At some point during the night she woke, it wasn't natural awakening so she looked for the cause using FA in the dark and saw two people in a corner.
"What are you doing here; you might get caught or killed?"
"You could have gotten killed too so why can't I risk my life?" he asked in a joking manner.
"I don't have a whole village against me unlike some people," she said glaring at him half willing him to leave. The hospital was supposed to be one of the most secure places.
"That's not my fault and you know it."
"Once again you've amazed me," said Deidara interrupting them before they got completely of track. He didn't want to waste time and Kisame was being released from medical care tomorrow and would be partnered with Itachi again.
"I amaze loads of people just by turning up for anything," she said.
"But once again you've faced Orochimaru and lived," Deidara pointed out.
"I blame the adrenaline."
"You still forced him to retreat and made him lose the use of his arms."
"What's you point?"
"You could be a powerful ninja." 'Could'? She was a powerful ninja.
"I say again, what's your point?"
"We were told to approach any potential candidates for Akatsuki so I'm doing my job even though I don't like it."
"I refuse, I hate wearing cloaks but the hats are pretty cool but not enough to get me to join…"
"Good if you had agreed I might have had to knock some sense into you." Max giggled, Deidara was fun.
"Wait Itachi… Why are you wearing purple nail polish?" asked Max.
"I lost a bet. I have to wear it for 12 months" That just set Max of giggling again.
"What was the bet and who was it with?"
"That would be me, the bet was on who would win the chunin exams, he said you would but since no one did he lost," said Deidara.
"Dude, I think you're my new favourite missing nin, sorry Itachi," Max grinned, basking in the glare radiating from Itachi. Both Max and Deidara were in silent hysterics. They didn't want to make noise in case they drew too much attention. They chatted for a bit longer before they had to leave.
It was another week before Max was allowed to leave the hospital, she had a massive scar on her back in the shape of a starburst, the skin still shiny and raw, but it was hidden except the tips that peeked up her neck and some that showed between her shirt and shorts.
The next week she was cornered by Kakashi, she had kind of guessed this would happen and had been avoiding it pretty well. She was going to get a lecture.
"Maxine Hakie!" Yup she was in trouble, people only ever used her full name when she had done something wrong, which was surprisingly not that often. "I can't believe you. Barely a month after I told you not to put yourself deliberately in dangers way against someone like a Sannin, you go and do the exact thing I told you not to! Its amazing you lived let alone hurt him!" Kakashi raged, his voice wavering and on the verge of yelling.
"I'm not a kid, I know what I can and cannot do and I did what I felt I had to."
"You should have found another way," fumed Kakashi. His anger was visible and Max was unsure on what to expect. He took some calming breaths. "Do you ever pay attention to what I tell you for your safety?"
"I'm a Shinobi, I taunt danger every day and kick its ass every night it's in the job description," said Max defending her actions.
"You're still young though, Orochimaru had way more experience than you."
"That sounds wrong," said Max trying to stifle a giggle, she knew she was supposed to be being serious when she was getting a lecture but she just could not help it, she'd heard this one before. Kakashi mentally backtracked on what he just said and groaned.
"Why must you twist my words?"
"It's funny and keeps me from losing my mind and generally lightens the mood."
"You had a mind?"
"See, mood lightened."
"I'm not going to win am I?"
"Nope, which is what makes me so adorable," Max grinned.
"Naruto's leaving with Jiraiya tomorrow to find Tsunade in a few days."
"I know. I'm taking some time of for a bit to let my back heal completely, so you can train Sasuke for a bit," said Max, truth was she would be following Naruto to take care of the attack.
"Just remember no picking fights with people with more skill and experience than you."
"Ok." Depends on what kind of experience, she highly doubted Orochimaru had more experience cooking than her, and skill was also negligible if the skill was easily beaten.
"Why do I get the feeling you've found a loop hole in what I just said?" asked Kakashi looking at the smirk on her face.
"Because I always do." Kakashi only groaned again and left.
Two days later Naruto said his good byes and left, delayed by a certain Sannin's habits, no one noticed the blur following them. They went from village to village and Max followed almost getting caught on several occasions.
She saw Jiraiya get distracted by woman who was quite obviously flirting with him and knew it was show time. She watched as the two cloaked figures approached Naruto's room and watched the confrontation. Sasuke turned up and ran at Itachi with Chidori causing Max to slap he forehead quietly. Itachi broke Sasuke's wrist with ease.
"Come now Itachi, what did your brother do to you? Did he steal you nail polish again?" asked Max as she dropped her light deflecting jutsu.
"This is my fight, stay out of it," growled Sasuke.
"I have a bone to pick with him to, don't be selfish," she replied, Naruto just looked confused.
"He killed my clan,"
"I kill people every day I don't have people try to kill me for revenge," said Max "Wait no that's wrong there was that time in rice country when I wiped out that clan because they tried to kill me. But that's not the point, Itachi was my team mate and get me demoted to snot nosed brat." Itachi hid a chuckle, Max loved to be dramatic.
"But I thought you had to become an academy student," asked Naruto brightly. Max sighed Naruto was too oblivious for his own good sometimes. He then caught on.
"So what are you doing here anyway? I doubt this is a reunion, normally there's punch at a reunion."
"We're here for the fourths legacy." said Kisame as he took Samehada from his back. Max smirked as she took her scythe from its strap.
"Seems we have to get rid of this annoyance first," said Itachi.
"Aw, you think I'm an annoyance, I'm flattered," Max cooed powering up her hands, she stepped forward ducking under the swung blade and poked the blue skin sending a shock through him, ducking back when he collapsed. Max was so close to laughing. How many times had she fried him now, about 3 times?
'And he's an S class missing nin?' was the thought through every ones mind. Except Sasuke who had been watching intently with his sharingan.
"Fried fish it is, I forgot the lemon though," declared Max, she was getting stared at. In her peripheral vision she saw some shuriken thrown at her and ducked as they imbedded themselves into the wall. "Oh so now you're going to fight, but be careful, you wouldn't want to chip your nail polish." Once again Sasuke ran at Itachi with Chidori in his other hand. What happened next was so fast it was a blur to most, Max missed most of it while rolling her eyes. The next thing that was seen was Sasuke was held against the wall.
They saw Itachi bend down to whisper something in Sasuke's ear and then withdraw and look in his eyes. Max reacted and used substitution switching herself and Sasuke. Her eyes were shut as she activated FA slipping her head band down seconds before fully replacing the kid. She winced a bit as the pressure against her wound changed to a bit painful.
She felt the hand on her collar clench, and saw the other hand go to punch her, her team mates saw and moved to stop him only to find she had stopped it herself. He tried a few more times knowing it would be useless, but it had to be realistic. Every movement he made was countered.
"You should know I can see with my eyes closed, your genjutsu is useless against me," said Max casually. This was the first time her new teammate had seen her use FA. She saw Itachi narrow his eyes and felt the glare, she was really hoping he wouldn't use the other technique of Mangekyo or she would be dead and that would be bad, Laura would be insufferable.
"Every one has a weakness, I just have to find it." Max glared at him behind her head band extremely glad of it since to glare her eyes needed to be open. They both knew she'd said that before, then done something stupid. He pulled her away from the wall and threw her to the other end of the hallway, Max reacted and landed softly, her feet planted on the wall.
The fight raged on for a bit, each getting hits in their well practiced dance. Every so often Sasuke tried to join in only to get tossed away by one of them. No one noticed Kisame recover and grab Max as she ran passed. She immediately noticed the lack of her moving and looked up to see Kisame's not so happy face. His hand was on his sword and he was about to swing it at her when she kicked him. In the nuts.
Naturally he crumpled. The others reflexively moved a hand to cover their 'areas' wincing. Itachi made a decision and decided that he would prefer to go and not end up like Kisame, he darted forward and shushined out with Kisame.
When they had gone Sasuke glared at Max holding his broken arm. Max pushed her headband up and glared right back.
"I wanted to kill him," he said, practically whining.
"You sound like a child who just had his toys taken away," said Max mocking him in the same tone.
"I don't care it was my right to kill him."
"And it's now my right to kick your ass for being a whiney little..." Max was cut off when Jiraiya turned up. He looked around confused, with a girl over his shoulder. Using FA quickly she confirmed his identity.
"What happened?"
"I beat Itachi and Kisame stopping them from getting Naruto and stopped Sasuke from doing something completely stupid."
"How did you beat two s-class missing nins?" asked Jiraiya seriously wondering about this girl.
"Kicked one in the nuts and the other one decided to leave before I did the same for him," said Max, Jiraiya looked at her two team mates who nodded their heads.
"I need to take Naruto as I found a new lead on Tsunade," he said and grabbed Naruto and they disappeared. Max turned to Sasuke and grabbed a medical kit from her bag. Before he knew it he had his arm wrapped in bandages with a splint to keep it in place until they got to the hospital.
The next month passed quickly. Jiraiya and Naruto returned with Tsunade who was made Hokage. The third had informed her about everything she should know causing Max and Shikamaru to be promoted.
