Naruto and Ino froze as Haku walked out into the clearing, a smile on her face even now as she looked at the group. "My my, such a lively meeting this is. You leaf ninja are so strange.", Haku commented before looking at Naruto with a grin. "Now, I believe we were in the middle of something, Naruto-kun.", Haku smiled.
"Don't even think about it! The dead lasts scroll is mine!", Sasuke growled, getting Haku to stare at him solely for the first time. "Oh, I don't want Naruto-kuns scroll. I want his head!", Haku said as if she was talking about the weather with the same creepy smile on her face. Ino and Sakura both gasped hearing the words from her mouth, it was definitly more of a shock for Sakura since Ino had heard about the encounter not five minutes prior between the two.
Sasuke gave Naruto a weird look, silently asking himself what she was talking about. Naruto however shook his head, not wanting to go into the long story again. "Haku-chan, me and my head are pretty attached, so I'm going to have to say no.", Naruto said, looking back to the frightened Sakura. "Besides, I have more important things to worry about.", Naruto said seriously.
"I wasn't giving you a choice, Naruto-kun.", Haku said, the smile fading from her face as she pointed at his teammates. "I didn't want to do this, Naruto-kun, but if you don't come with me, I'll have to go after all your friends instead.", Haku waved a finger warningly.
Naruto stopped when he heard that. He could tell Haku wasn't kidding from the way she looked at him, and her skills were way better then any of his friends were since she had tracked him down again and nearly killed him the first time. His friends didn't have the luxury of shadow clones either, so they would be far easier targets to get if she was serious about it.
"... Fine.", Naruto answered finally, getting looks of surprise from the other leaf Genin, and also fear from his teammates as Naruto continued. "Soon as I make sure Sakura-chan is safe... I'll come with you.", Hau's smile returned as she walked closer. "Oh Naruto-kun, I knew you'd see it my way.", Haku said just before she saw the business end of a Kunai pointed right in her face.
"There's no way in hell I'm letting you take him!", Ino said through clenched teeth as she held her ground. "Ino-chan, stop it!", Naruto said, worried for her safety as she threatened the girl before her. "I can't let you be hurt because of me!", Naruto yelled, getting a shake of the head from the blond girl. "Naruto, you idiot! You think I'm just going to stand here and let you die?", Ino shouted as she glared at the Mist Kunoichi.
"You think doing this would be any better? What are you thinking?", Ino added. "I just get to know the real you and this happens?! What about me, huh? How do you think I'm going to feel after you're gone? And what about everyone else?", Ino asked, almost tearing up as she looked over her shoulder at him. "What about the rest of us, Naruto-kun? We would miss you so much!".
Naruto stared at Ino as turned back to Haku with new resolve. "If you come any closer to Naruto-kun, I'll make sure you regret it!", Ino said, surprising even Sasuke of the amount of protectiveness Ino was showing for him. Haku looked at Ino and merely smiled as she said. "So he is a precious person to you then? Well, I'm glad to see you have that connection with him. Nonetheless, I will take him today!", Haku said, drawing her weapons.
"Hey, dead last!", Sasuke called getting the attention of them again, not likeing being ignored like this at all. "I thought we had a deal! Give me the scroll, Naruto!", Sasuke demanded as Naruto growled in frustration. "Yeah yeah, Uchiha! I get it! Keep your pants on!", Naruto yelled, not needing the avenger to add pressure right now. With the scroll still in hand, Naruto started towards him.
Ino was sure to follow close to Naruto, acting like a barrier between him and the girl from Kirigakure who apparently had it out for him "Naruto-kun... don't!", Sakura said quietly as he teammate came closer. Giving her a warm smile, Naruto quietly said "It's going to be ok, Sakura.", Naruto whispered as he looked at at Sasuke. Do me a favor, you bastard, make sure Ino-chan and Sakura-chan get out of this alive!", Naruto said, staring right into the red eyes of the red eyes of the last Uchiha.
After getting a nod from the raven haired avenger, Naruto sighed as he was about to give him the important object in his hands. The Uchiha's grin grew as it drew nearer. Then, a new voice cut through the clearing.
"Oh my, Sasuke-kun, how ruthless of you, letting a friend die so you can go on!", a voice said as the group froze. Even Haku stopped staring at Naruto to see where it had come from.
Suddenly a new fgure appeared between Naruto and Sasuke, surprising everyone at the speed needed to do something like that. "Sasuke-kun, you certainly do put on a show, but now this drama has to end.", the apparent grass ninja said before grabbing his arm in one had and pulling the Kunai from Sakura, only to grab her in the other hand and toss her out of the way like a doll.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, all thoughts of anything else gone from his mind as he dropped the scroll and leaped to his teammate. He managed to catch her in the air and twisted around so when they crashed to the ground with her in his arms, Naruto took the brunt of the fall. Looking up from her position, Sakura saw Naruto holding her and whispered in shock "Naruto...-kun... you saved me?". Naruto grinned confidently. "Could I do anything else?", he asked.
Sasuke meanwhile had noticed that Naruto's scroll lay on the ground and went to pick it up, only for the grass ninja to steal it. "Oh no, Sasuke-kun. Things aren't that easy. Besides, I can't let you get this so soon.", the grass Ninja scolded him, making Sasuke glare. "If you know what's good for you, you will give that to me now!", Sasuke demanded making the grass shinobi grin widen before he opened his mouth and somehow began to swallow the scroll whole.
The gathered Genin could only stare in shock as he swallowed it fully, and not only that, but licked his lips with a freakishly long tongue before saying "Come and get it, Sasuke-kun.". Sakura stared and whispered quietly in a mixture of fright and shock "That's not natural!", a statement that naruto could only nod to.
"Well now, let the games begin!", the grass Ninja grinned before charging at them.
Naruto and the rest of the gennin tried to avoid the grass Ninja as he attacked them. Even Naruto could tell something was wrong here since he was far too skilled to be a a simple Genin, his speed was even greater then that of Haku's and Sasuke was having problems keeping up with the strange new shinobi, even with his bloodline eyes working overtime.
Though Naruto thought it a bit odd, the grass ninja was mainly attacking Sasuke as he dodged and parried the attacks he went against him best he could, though he was still taking a beating. The only time the grass ninja seemed to attack them was if they got to close or the fight drifted towards them. "Naruto-kun, what should we do?", Ino asked as they watched the clash. "I mean, I don't think we should just leave him there, but does he really deserve our help with what he did to Sakura?", Ino asked as the group huddled together.
"We can't let him fight whoever that is alone, even if he was a bastard!", Naruto said as he jumped forward to help Sasuke. Ino sighed, wondering how her boyfriend could be so nice even for someone as Sasuke before Sakura and herself lept to join their teammate in the fight. "Oh, Sasuke-kun. It seems your friends are coming to help you. A futile effort, I'm afraid.", the grass ninja said as he pressed the attack.
As if batting away flies, the grass ninja blocked every attack Team Seven tried to use. Naruto's clones were destroyed almost as quickly as they were being made, Kunai and throwing stars were tossed about uselessly as the battle continued.
"Hehe, I must say, you don't give up, do you?", the grass nin chuckled before suddenly turning to glare at the Genin before him. "Too bad you're going to die here!".
Suddenly, a needle flew through the air and cut off some of the long hair of the grass ninja. Everyone turned to see where the needle had come from to see a outwardly calm Haku holding several more of the needles like the one just used. "Haku-chan, you're going to help us fight her?", Naruto asked, surprised as the Mist kunoichi grinned. "Of course, Naruto-kun. The only person who will be the one to take your head is me!", Haku replied, making Team 7 sweatdrop.
"Ummmm... thanks, Haku-chan, I guess.", Naruto said, not sure how to take a girl who was only helping you live so she can do you in herself later. "This is all rather amusing.", the grass ninja said, looking them over. "You actually think you can beat me. Well, too bad you'll never do it.", the grass ninja said in her sickeningly smooth voice
"We'll see about that!", Naruto yelled, charging yet again and trying to land a good solid hit on their opponent, only for each hit to be blocked effortlessly by the ninja. "You don't get it, do you?", the grass-nin said, sounding more annoyed as he gave a sharp kick to Narutos chest and sent him skidding back, close to Haku who made a less then happy face towards the foreign ninja. "If you keep insisting on being a nuisance, then I guess I will have to take care of you.".
While still keeping Sasuke occupied, the grass ninja looked at Haku with a sinister glint in her eye. "Since you have some actual skill, you get to die first!", the ninja yelled and with her free hand grabbed one of the discarded weapons from the ground. Haku was confident that she could block a weapon thrown at her, not bothering to move at all.
"Haku-chan, look out!", Naruto yelled, surprising her as he jumped to her and shoved her out of the way, right before the clone of the ninja before her would have given a fatal stab to her back. Naruto instead took it in the arm as he groaned in pain. "Naruto-kun!", Ino yelled as she rushed to his side with Sakura, both who couldn't believe he would do something like that.
Haku looked up from her place on the ground to see the kunai wound Naruto received after pushing her out of the way like that. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the pained look on his face as he stood nevertheless to face the grass ninja. "You think that's going to work here? You think a little wound like this will stop me?", Naruto yelled as the grass ninja stared at him.
"It's going to take a lot more then that to stop Naruto Uzumaki!", Naruto yelled as the grass Ninja seemed to realize something. "Uzumaki... well now, that changes things.", the strange shinobi said as he flexed her fingers. "Sit still Sasuke, I'll be right back.", he said before hitting him in the gut hard, knocking the wind out from the last Uchiha and dropping his prone body to the ground.
"Here is something just for you, Naruto-kun.", the grass ninja said as Naruto charged, fully intending to fight if with an injured arm. "Bring it on!".
Suddenly, a grin took over the ninjas face and before Sakura or Ino could yell out for Naruto to stop, it had already happened. Using a strange jutsu, the grass ninja slammed her hand into Naruto's stomach, making the pain he felt when he had the Kunai cut him feel like a feather tickling his foot in comparison.
"There, that's one problem down!", the grass ninja said after Naruto's scream died down. Grabbing him by the back of his clothes, the grass ninja tossed him away like trash and ignored the rest as he walked back to Sasuke, who was just beginning to recover from the previous punch. "You... you... how?", Sasuke gasped weakly, trying to form a sentence and making the ninja above him smirk.
"Why Sasuke-kun, you will come to thank me for this gift. And soon you're going to seek me out for more.", the ninja said before his neck grew like a vine and he suddenly bit down on his shoulder, making the Uchiha yell much like Naruto before. As Ino, Sakura and Haku stared at the strange act, the ninja chuckled darkly before staring at the three. "Yesss, all is falling into place now.", the ninja said as he sunk into the tree, before disappearing from view.
Suddenly alone in the clearing, Ino and Sakura rushed to check on their teammate as they saw his eyes closing slowly. "Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun, wake up! Don't close your eyes! Naruto-kun!", Ino yelled and Naruto's last sight was of his worried teammates, the concerned Haku, and the forest around them.