A/N: FUCK YOU FOREST OF DEATH!
-cough- i mean, tea?
okay, so here's the... next part... not... quite... done... angkjabdkgakgj x.x
but got to basically where i 'wanted' with a few quirks along the way (so close to being done with this damn place!) and since it was poking over the 20k mark figured i should leave the last bit for later... as DAMN THIS PLACE TO ETERNAL FIRE! DX
-cough-
ENJOY!
For the Hokage it was one thing to be woken before dawn and shuffled into his ceremonial robes and ushered into his office to sit neatly behind his desk during wartime or some imminent threat or a bigass freakin' demon going on a rampage through downtown Konoha…
It was a completely different matter for the sole reason he was up in this uncomfortable clothing, behind his damn desk he swore he just left an hour ago at most and seriously needing a drink because a veritable horde of chuunin, Jounin, and some he swore angry housewives and househusbands rabbling in his office and out his door over… something which escaped him at the moment because it was too DAMN EARLY?!
Luckily the back of the door opened and with more swagger than most men, Inuzuka Tsume walked in like she owned the place, "OUTTA THE WAY YOU GRUMBLING MUTTS!" it wasn't quite like a sea parting for a ninjutsu technique but it quieted the rabble and the wild eyed woman could at least make her way in.
Being practically dragged in behind her was the very confused, flustered, and blinking Kumo Jounin.
The sound of the graceful Hokage's forehead meeting the palm of his hand was drowned out by the rabbling of all those present.
Suddenly there was an obscenely loud whistling that had everyone clap hands over their ears and made the Kumo jounin visibly whimper. Standing at the door proudly tall and flanked by her three grey large wolf-dogs was Inuzuka Hana, her mother's black wolf-dog trotting ahead of her wincing just as obviously as the rest. Just because Hana had a sweeter face and kinder eyes then her mother or brother gave people a false sense of security about the older Inuzuka heiress, underneath her slick hair and adorable face was a beast just as merciless and violent as any other dog from her clan. There was a reason she had those red triangles on her cheeks and was next in-line to be clan head.
The Hokage was half tempted to promote the girl on the spot, getting a room full of angry Chuunin, Jounin and housespouses to shut up that quickly was no easy task. –Maybe I should hire her as a body guard or assistant, keep that ability nearby for when needed…-
The Hokage's plotting was ended as Tsume slammed her hand down on his desk, leaning over and grinning cheekily in a very Inuzuka-fashion, "You asked for a foreign dignitary, Hokage-sama?"
-Damn the woman and her cheeky nature…- The Third Hokage could only mildly glare at the younger woman before turning his gaze to her 'captive', "I apologize for any misconduct on Inuzuka-san's part, Nii-san, but it was imperative we find you immediately…"
Iron black eyes blinked for all of a second before a strange grin passed the shorter blonde woman's face. In an instant she had removed the clan head's hand from her arm, crossed them and seemed to be giving the old man a strangely smug grin that reminded him all too well of a cat, "Not at all Hokage-same, it certainly makes sense that you'd send the dogs after me!"
Before the rabbling started up again the Third Hokage swore he heard Tsume snicker.
All it took was a glance from Hana and the rabble was quitted again.
–Definitely need to consider keeping her around- passed through the Hokage's head again.
Politely, Hana approached from the foreign jounin's side opposite her mother, giving the two a chiding glance before finally saying something, "It wasn't that hard considering the two of you were out drinking again…"
Tsume laughed and Yugito just continued giving that Cheshire grin.
The Hokage wanted to bang his head on his desk, repeatedly. –What the hell does it say that one of our esteemed clan head's is out drinking with a foreigner from the nation we had our last major war with!- Not to mention all that other ugly mess from ten years ago. Oh Kami did he need a drink when this was all over. Coughing into his hand, the old Sarutobi completely ignored the future Inuzuka clan head's comment, focusing instead on the only woman in this room he technically had no authority over, "Nii-san," was that another snort? "I requested you here due to recent concerns that arose since last night, particularly about your students' potential involvement in them…"
"Pfft," Yugito waved her hand snorting, "You mean that whole thing going on in the forest? With both jinchuuriki participating going off?" she said it so nonchalant like it was no big deal.
Oh, but in Konoha, it sure as hell was…
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR STUDENTS DOING?!" "ARE THEY TRYING TO SPARK A WAR?!" "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY LIVES ARE AT RISK?!" "WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE OF THOSE DEMONS GETS LOOSE!" "THOSE MONSTERS THREATENING OUR CHILDREN!" etc. etc. etc.
For the most part all the Hokage could see on the woman's face was pure abject boredom. Then the insults started getting flung, first about the 'demons' and 'monsters'. It was obvious to him being the only person sitting in front of her capable of seeing the woman's eyes that the words specific to the demon containers itched under her skin. They weren't enough to set her off but they were certainly enough to bother her.
Again he had to remind himself he had no technical authority over her thanks to the black band with the Kumo insignia on her forehead.
Then the insults about her students started. He didn't know who started it but the second someone mentioned those 'weird cloud kids' or the 'crazy red eyed freak' or 'the creepy one with the weird hat and beast' or 'that disturbing blind one with the swords' he knew he'd have to step in.
Because suddenly her eyes were copper and no longer black.
In an instant suddenly everyone was crushed under an unfathomable weight, only the experienced jounin and Hokage able to withstand it, and even then it took him a moment to realize it was only killing intent. The next instant the foreign woman was surrounded by ten ANBU, all with some form of weapon netted around her neck and still she didn't seem so much as fazed. Though it probably had something to do with the purplish, two tailed coat of chakra that momentarily burst from her, throwing their weapons, and the ANBU, away and hitting the walls, two actually going through the windows on both sides of the Hokage's chair.
It seemed the only ones still standing were the twin-tails container and the Hokage seated patiently in his chair across from her.
With a single intake of breath, Yugito closed her eyes, held it a moment her killing intent fading, then releasing the breath in a long sigh and her entire demonic aura left her. When she opened her eyes they were that iron black again and she had that catlike grin on her face again, "I apologize Hokage-sama, it seems there was a fly buzzing around me, making all this noise I couldn't quite get out of my ear…"
He knew exactly what she was doing, or he thought he did, Kumo-nin were always strange in their actions and ideologies, this woman seemed no different. –Only its worse since she has the might of a full demon behind her and with that one display showed just how in-control she is with it…- the old man gave a cough in the deafening silence, waving his hand like nothing just happened, "No matter, Nii-san, it's good to no longer have the buzzing." If he thought Inuzuka Hana could quiet a room, this short blonde woman from Kumo was even better. Against probably his saner nature he pulled out his pipe, stuffing it with a chuckle and lighting, eyes sparkling with mirth as he and the Kumo Jinchuuriki seemed to reach some manner of level ground.
As the rabble that dared to have woken him at such an ungodly hour started standing up, mouths open as if to start again, he was somewhat pleased that this time he only had to give them a single deadly look and those gaping mouths shut without a word.
After allowing the old man a few moments to puff on his pipe and gain some semblance of peace, Yugito's Cheshire grin spread as she spoke in a sweet sing-song voice, "Hokage-sama, I'm sure you called me in here for more than the chance to watch you smoke!"
The old man gave a chuckle, Kumo-nin always had a funny way of addressing others, it was some manner of cordial, amused and talking down all at once. They gave respect titles earned but stopped there, it seemed with his minor 'play along' with her words and actions he'd garnered a bit more respect, at least from her, as while mocking and jovial her tone seemed a bit more earnest, "Indeed I have, Nii-san," he enjoyed the moment to puff on his pipe a second more before removing it and speaking to her frankly, "As you may have heard there is some concern about your students proximity to several potentially village threatening fights that broke out in the Forest of Death, seeing as the exam only started last evening it has made several worry what today might bring," He gave the blonde woman a grandfatherly smile and she seemed to return it with a conspirator's grin, "Would you like to clarify anything?"
"Of course," she gave a little nod, almost a mock bow but the Hokage chose to believe it was a sincere gesture and not an insult like many of his shinobi present seemed to immediately think, "From what little I was paying attention to the fights going on there, it seemed to me my students were simply doing as instructed; getting into fights and testing themselves out in the forest for this test!"
The Hokage sent the crowd a stern look before he responded to her with that same grandfatherly smile, "You aren't concerned they may have set off Suna's Jinchuuriki?"
This got a bark of a laugh from the woman, "Oh my no," Yugito was snorting and wiping tears from her eyes as she came down, "If my kids were reallytrying to fight that little crazy Tanuki, trust me, that forest wouldn't be nearly big enough to contain that fight… HAHA!"
This response got more than one fearful look from the group of Konoha shinobi, even Tsume was looking at her apparent drinking buddy strangely.
The Hokage sighed deeply. –If there's one thing that you can always bet on from a Kumo-nin, it's that they will never let you be comfortable around them… ever…- the woman's flippancy and seeming blasé fair attitude was not helping in the least in alleviating the tension of the crowd behind her.
What was more disturbing was he didn't know if she was bluffing.
For better or worse, once she stopped laughing she continued talking, "Besides, if either junior demon container got out and went berserk, you'd have nothing to worry about Hokage-sama!" oh, dear sweet merciful Kami, did she just pull a ping! Smile that would make Gai proud? "For I'm here! And no matter what those two kids could pull out they're nothing compared to me and my demon!"
It took the Hokage a second to realize that last bit, while said just as jovial and flippant, was a threat. He'd spent over fifty years of his life combating Kumo-nin, both on the field and politically behind this same desk. Nothing that ever came out of a Kumo-nin's mouth was an accident, and with a smile she'd just stated her mere presence was holding his village hostage. –She's right, two adolescent jinchuuriki with no real control of their demons would never be a match for her, an experienced jounin in full control, and with that display earlier her killing intent was potent enough to render most of our forces useless…- with stern brown eyes the head of the Sarutobi clan and Third Hokage of Konoha glared at the woman holding a demon at her beck and call. He may have been well past his prime but he was still enough of a match to show this girl why he was called the 'God of Shinobi'.
Something sparkled in her iron black eyes as the smile she gave him, while nowhere near as big as her pervious Cheshire ones, spoke volumes of the reality of their true situation. She was powerful enough to wipe out half his village if needed, but even then it seemed the only thing that would prompt such was if anyone threatened her students. He didn't know if she had any other business here in this village but for now it was as if by her grace nothing did. Yugito again nodded deference to the Hokage, smaller and much shallower this time, but all the while those stern iron black eyes never left his.
For now he had her cooperation and some manner of respect, she did not hold such for anyone else in the room, even the dogs she'd been out drinking with. But if things were to change, in an instant they'd all be reminded why even a single Kumo-nin was not to be messed with, not to mention four.
Sarutobi closed his eyes, replacing his pipe and let out a deep breath.
The silence between the village leader and foreigner sparked another round of rabble from the crowd, now too angry and insulted to keep quiet.
They were lucky neither contender was paying them any mind.
After a few minutes of the buzzing, without looking up or opening his eyes, the Hokage made several hand seals and sent a pulse throughout the room. It was suddenly quiet despite the fact everyone was still moving their mouths.
Yugito waited to comment until the fools finally realized they could no longer speak, "My, my, Hokage-sama, it seems that buzzing came up again?" again she looked at him with that harmless Cheshire grin, "You think the fly is back?"
There was a rough chuckle in the old man's throat, "I don't know what you mean, Nii-san, I don't hear anything?"
He could hear the cat-woman's hissing chuckle.
It made him smile. –Peace and quiet at last…-
… Until the doors to his office banged loudly open against the walls and someone haggardly rushed in, "H-Hokage-sama…"
"Oh what now?" the old man grumbled under his breath only to become serious the moment his eyes opened and he caught sight of the woman that just barged in, "Anko? What the hell happened to you?"
Breathing hard, sweating and bleeding from a few choice cuts all around her Anko just hobbled up to the old man, completely ignoring the blonde giving her a weird look, and smiled at the man in the big hat, "L-long st-tory…" leaning on his desk with one hand the special jounin took a second to catch her breath, and probably hold her ribs together with her other arm, "Mostly… involving… big cats… and crickets…"
Several brows went up but between the two that could respond they weren't going to bother asking.
"But that's not important!" that's when Anko slammed her other hand on the old man's desk, taking a deep breath and staring the Hokage in the eye fiercely, "We've got bigger problems!"
This time the Hokage bothered to respond, "What kind of problems, Anko?" his voice was stern and serious. He'd never known Mitarashi Anko to go to anyone over petty issues, and certainly not him, the woman was loyal to the village and despite her attitude and history had proven herself more to him than most others in this room right now.
And he knew there was only one thing she took this seriously.
The second her eyes were level with his he knew what was coming, "That bastard is here…"
Silence, not that anyone really in the room could do anything about it, but the Hokage noticed several sets of eyes on clan heads and jounin alike harden, even the Kumo woman appeared deadly serious.
He needed to get a head of this before anyone got any ideas, "Anko, are you sure about this…"
"Yes, I'm goddamn SURE!" Her hands on his desk clinched into white-knuckled fists as she practically snarled at him. He could tell by her awkward stance, how hunched her shoulders were and continuous sweat rolling down her neck that she was feeling pain in her mark and confirmed what she was saying.
Orochimaru was here.
–As if the Kumo-nin suddenly showing up wasn't bad enough… now this…- the old man sunk further into his chair, wishing he never woke up this morning and wondering if he had nearly enough booze to deal with this. With a deep groan, hand over his face he couldn't help but worry about the worst case scenario, "We need to end the Exams now, send all the foreign shinobi back to their villages and fortify out defenses…"
"Hokage-sama!" Yugito, of course as the only person aside from Anko and himself that could speak, stepped forward and glared at the old man, "Your village agreed to hold these Exams for the mutual benefit of us all, you can't go back on that agreement now!"
Lowering his hand enough to glare at the blonde woman it took everything in the old man not to shout at her, "I can and I will, I am the one in charge of this village, no matter what you have to say Nii-san," quickly he looked away, tenting his hands and starting to think, not caring for her response, "If you had any idea who she was speaking of then you'd know this was not a matter up for debate…"
Suddenly there was another hand slamming on his poor abused desk as black iron eyes glared down at the old man just as fiercely, "To hell with whoever this man is! The only way my students are failing this test is in a body bag!"
The Hokage looked at the blonde woman sternly and said the only thing that just might get through to her, "If they stay, they just might…"
As her eyes widened just a fraction he knew she understood. This was not a game, not some controlled environment, if Orochimaru was going to trample through this village it wasn't going to matter what headband anyone was wearing, he'd kill them all just the same. Or worse.
Watching the display Anko stood back up as straight as she could, one arm still wrapped around her chest to support her ribs. Once she knew the two were done she gave a deep sigh and looked at the old man, "You can't do that," immediately both sets of dark eyes and likely everyone else in the room was back on her, "If you end the exams now, he said he'd destroy the village…"
The blonde foreigner scoffed while the old man simply leaned on his desk, trying to think of how to deal with this situation.
It was in this silence that the strange itching on the back of Anko's neck got strong enough to really bug her. She turned around, finding a crowd of as many people as possible stuffed inside the Hokage's cramped office. Upon barging in she had noticed some people, mostly green vests signifying shinobi, and was fueled too much on adrenaline to really care about them before, but now… just standing there, all of them staring at her with mouths open in the eerie silence…
Anko couldn't help the first words out of her mouth, "WHY THE FUCK ARE ALL OF YOU SO DAMN FUCKING QUIET?!"
This got another deep sigh from the Hokage. That was something else he'd have to deal with wasn't it? –A long day… such a long, long, long painful day…-
And it had only just begun.
When the first few inches of light crept into the hollow, red eyes immediately snapped open.
One of the benefits of growing up in a mountain range that generally didn't see true sunlight until around noon was the people of Kumo became exceptionally sensitive to the earliest rays of morning. At a time when the world was simply a hazy blue twilight, the sun a distant memory below the horizon and the only reason light even existed was because it was coming up slowly and the first bits of frost shifted into early morning dew, this was the 'normal' wake up time for anyone from the lofty heights of the mountains of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. This kind of 'daytime' to a Kumo-nin was morning where to anyone from the lowlands used to seeing the sun for extended periods of the day was 'too goddamn early', it was one advantage that made the cloud barbarians quite fierce.
With a slight nudge the badger tamer shifted, allowing his partner to sit up. Without a word she moved to check her patients, noting the girl was still out but still and healing while the boy was starting to groan again. By her estimates she hadn't slept that long, maybe four hours, five would be stretching it, the land of fire tended to have long days and bizarrely short nights. Once she was finished looking over the two and making sure they didn't need anything changed she glanced back at her partner.
It was apparent Oku had been awake all night, being their sentry despite looking none the worse for wear. If anything he could likely still go for some time yet without really needing the kind of sleep she and Yorihi did to recoup their large amounts of chakra. He just gave her that simple smile, not leaving his post.
Wordlessly Xiao wiggled her finger, signaling they head outside. He simply gave a nod, turning in his seated position and left first, the medic quick to follow.
The forest in the morning was cold and damp, about the nicest weather either partner could attribute to the land of fire since they'd set foot in it nearly two weeks ago.
With a smirk Xiao held her hand out, easily crackling her lightning chakra off the moisture in the damp air, "Of course it takes waking up in the Forest of Death for me to mildly start to like this place…"
"It is quite pleasant isn't it?" Oku responded with his hands on his hips, chest puffed wide and proud as he gave his partner his silly little smile. She gave a light laugh in response, but Oku knew that appreciating the forest morning wasn't why she'd called him out, "So, heading out?"
A tinge tugged a smirk on the girl's dark lips, "How'd ya guess?"
Oku faced her fully, smile still present and nodded towards the still mostly dark forest, "I know you can't resist…"
"Shut up, Oku," There was a light sparkle in the medic's red eyes as she took a step towards the edge of their camp, "I'm likely the first Utsurabon to be here ever, if not at least in decades," the dusky-pinkette glanced cheekily over her shoulder at her partner, "My family would never forgive me if I didn't bring them back samples of the plants here to try out for new medicinal purposes!"
The dirty blonde boy in his silly plated hat gave her an exasperated smile, leaning more on one side as if he knew he couldn't win the argument so didn't even try, "Take Lior at least with you, there're some real big creatures out there, wouldn't be surprised if a few teams got eaten by them last night…"
With a curt nod she threw a wave over her shoulder, "I faced off against a sand monster and legendary snake yesterday, giant critters? Don't think they could kill me at this point…" and walked off into the underbrush of the dark woods.
Oku just crossed his arms and shook his head, part of him telling him to follow but knowing that herbalist in her loved to wonder the wilds alone to find all the strange plants that made her concoctions work. It was a family thing, not something he was privy to right now, he'd come if she asked but he knew she wouldn't. But he was glad she at least had some sense this time, she didn't tell him 'no' when he suggested Lior go with her, at least that way someone was with her while she was out there. –And if anything happened to her she couldn't handle… I'd know immediately and come running…- he stood a moment longer, watching where she'd gone and stayed that way until he couldn't immediately sense her anymore, then turned back and took up his post inside the hollow. If she was out, he'd keep an eye on her patients.
Yorihi was up an hour later, not because she wanted to be but because for some reason she was hanging off the side of the bough holding something mildly heavy, "Hm?"
It took her a second to process, sleep in such a foreign environment required deep meditation, shutting her mind off but leaving her body in a kind of auto-pilot state. It helped in case she was blown out of a branch or an enemy ninja got too close. Her normal 'danger sense' wasn't particularly ringing and so far no one was immediately trying to kill her, so checking those off her normal 'reasons' for getting up early on a mission day set her back a few more minutes of processing.
"Uh-Uh…" a scratchy voice called from below her, "Y-Yorihi?!"
Letting more feeling slip into her heavy body and a bit of chakra to boost her blood circulation to speed up the 'waking process', as a lack of immediate danger of harm on her part made her body a tad slower in the morning. It took her another minute to finally register her position and why her arm felt heavy. She was somewhere between a crouch and standing horizontally to the bough, one hand wrapped in wire that was attached to one of her wired-kunai at least half the blade into the bough anchoring her, while her other hand was holding what appeared to be an ankle. A very specific, orange-loving, loud-mouthed blonde boy's ankle who still didn't have anything covering his chest except that poor excuse for a 'shirt' of mesh and his clear blue eyes were wide and looking at her scared and confused.
Her tattooed brows may have twitched as the girl's primary response was to tilt her head somewhat confused. –Why am I here? Am I saving him?- it appeared either Naruto nearly fell off the high tree branch in his sleep and her body acted on reflex to catch him or for whatever reason she was threatening to let go of him over the side of the bough, for whatever reason. Her more awake mind decided to go with the first and ignored the hissing-snicker in the back of her head.
By the time she pulled Naruto up level with the branch they'd slept on the boy had his hands together and seemed to be chanting some strange prayer she swore she heard from Ruri-sensei once. Groggily she tossed him back on the branch, slumped down sitting next to her kunai and yawned, "It's too early to be saving you already…"
"Ehehehe…" Naruto at least had the decency to scratch the back of his neck embarrassed, "I may have slipped waking up," throwing off his nervousness momentarily the boy gave a wide grin to the blind girl, who for all he knew couldn't see it one bit, "Thanks though, for catchin' me, bit slow in the morning, never really slept in a tree before, dattebayou…"
With another yawn reminiscent of her cat, Yorihi tried to get her mind back up to speed, adrenaline withdrawal from all the 'excitement' yesterday was apparently kicking her ass this morning, "Honestly I was asleep," another yawn she tried futilely to cover with her hand, "Came too holding your ankle, not the strangest way I've woken up before…"
"Eheh, well still than-WAIT?!" suddenly the bright blonde boy was up, blue eyes wide and pointing at her, "A-are y-you s-saying you CAUGHT ME, fifty feet up in a tree you've never been in before, and were still ASLEEP?!"
Yorihi's only decent response was to shrug.
Naruto raced up to her, crouching to foxishly glare at her level with her plate and gave her the meanest pout he could muster, "I could have died!"
The dark haired girl yawned again, seeming to not care for his proximity, "Your own fault…"
His pout grew deeper, "You're the one that said I sleep up in a tree!"
Her head tilted further, "And I'm a foreigner, you have no reason to trust a single word that comes out of my mouth…"
His bottom lip was practically quivering, in anger of course, or annoyance, and due to how close he was 'foxish thug glaring' at her it was nearly touching her nose…
After a beat Naruto backed off, seemingly completely unaware of his previous position, "Wait, this ISN'T the weirdest way you've woken up, dattebayou?!" now he was confused.
Which was lucky for Yorihi as she was trying to remember what it meant to breathe… NORMALLY! –What is wrong with this boy and his complete disregard for personal space!- While her mind was momentarily fuming, her body was luckily trained well enough to ignore the momentary mental lapse and continue as normal; groggily scratch the side of her face and nod slightly to the other side, "Yes."
A blonde brow rose and suddenly he was even closer, somehow, without actually touching her and blinking with those curious bright blue eyes of his, "Really? Like what?"
-Brain! Work! Say something that'll make him stop!- Yorihi momentarily froze, ignoring that strangely familiar hissing-giggle in the back of her mind, as her body continued to cover for her by acting 'sleepy'. Yawn to stall for time, amused while the boy wriggled his nose and had to lean back from her to yawn as well showing oddly large canines –I wonder if all Jinchuuriki have those?- pushing aside that question to ask her Aunt or Uncle another day, and finally having the space to reboot properly and answer appropriately, "Classified."
That one word completely shot down any line of inquiry Naruto would have had. Whether or not he was a 'good' shinobi didn't matter, they were all conditioned very well in knowing that that one word was the end all-be all of any conversation shot to hell.
So of course he acted very mature by turning to the side, flopping down on the bough, crossing both legs and arms and looking his best like a sulking child, pouty face and all, "Classified… yea right… dattebayou…"
His grumpy verbal tick for some reason made Yorihi smile. She didn't know why, but his little pout and that one word just did for some ridiculously stupid reason.
While the blonde grumbled to himself Yorihi took the opportunity to take in their situation. They'd slept a few hours and while she was oddly groggy she could feel herself back to mission ready. From her position she didn't feel or see anything particularly out of place, the forest was quiet for the most part and from what she could tell up here their patients were still out and being guarded. Without any effort she slid from the bough and dropped, landing gracefully on her feet in front of the hollow entrance.
"HEY! WAIT FOR ME! DATTEBAYOU!" Naruto's landing wasn't nearly as 'graceful' as the boy fell into a roll and somehow ended up landing on his butt. He hadn't broken anything from what she could tell so that was an improvement.
With a light snort of derision, Yorihi walked into the hollow, finding Oku seated guarding their charges instead of Xiao like she expected. Quirking a tattooed brow the Kumo leader turned towards the back of the boy's silly hat, "Where's Xiao-chan?"
Oku seemed to nod slightly a moment before jerking up, making Yorihi wonder if he'd been asleep, "Oh, Xiao-chan?" turning to glance at his comrade with those oddly closed eyes the boy scratched his hair under his hat, "Went out to grab some herbs, don't worry, she actually took Lior with her this time, so she should be fine!"
That tattooed brow remained up, "I take it she does this often on missions?"
A wide grin spread on the pale boy, "When she goes somewhere new, sure," he shrugged like it was no big deal, "You never know what kinda plants could be good for something, I sure don't!"
Yorihi tried not to roll her eyes at the comment when Naruto finally stuck his head into the hollow. Yorihi could tell by the slight frown on his face he wasn't happy to see his teammates still out, and it seemed he was still miffed by the older dirty blonde boy's comment yesterday, "Ne, Oraka-bou-teme, how they doin'?"
With that same placid smile Oku turned to Naruto, "Fine, far as I can tell, the Uchiha whined a bit but I think that's just cause he doesn't like the bit Xiao-chan put in his mouth!"
All three awake in the hollow turned to look at Uchiha Sasuke as he grunted in his drug induced sleep, drool coming out the side of his mouth where the leather bit was still in place.
Yorihi tried really hard not to snort, she really did.
Naruto just looked confused, "Why'd she do that? And what happened to his shirt?" which he pointed at since neither of the Kumo-nin seemed to notice.
Both Oku and Yorihi spared the top naked boy a glance then shrugged, but Oku did answer the orange wearing boy's question, "Dunno, if Xiao-chan did it, there's a medical reason! I know the bit is so he doesn't bite his tongue and swallow it, since he was flailing quite a bit, and as for the shirt…?" he openly shrugged, "She may have just gotten tired of taking it off?"
"You realize this means she's officially stripped his entire team right?" Yorihi said flatly to which Oku did little more than chuckle that oblivious laugh of his. Behind her she could see Naruto's confused face tilt slightly, either not getting what she was saying or not believing her. –Not my problem- with that thought in mind the blind girl patted her comrade on the shoulder and turned back towards the entrance of the hollow, "Tell me if anything changes, I'll be heading out too," as she moved past a confused looking blonde jinchuuriki, Yorihi grabbed his upper bicep and dragged the boy out kicking and screaming, "Taking him with me!"
"Kay! Bring back something to eat!" Oku just waved over his shoulder, not even bothering to turn around to watch his comrade leave.
"Hey what the hell d'you think your doin'? Dattebayou!" Naruto did little more than flail about angrily in the Kumo konoichi's grip.
This only really got a snort and eyebrow-rolling from the dark haired girl as she continued to drag the boy off into the underbrush, "Must you do everything so loudly?"
Finally the flailing stopped, only so he could grumpily glare at her with his foxish face, "Why'ya always gotta be complain' huh? Making orders and dragging people off everywhere? Dattebayou?"
This required Yorihi to stop and just glare at him through her headband. He held up his counter pouty-glare rather well but when faced with a literal mirror for eyes whatever bravado broke down rather quickly. It took only a few seconds for his pout to look away and the blind girl to seal her victory, not that she was gloating or anything! "You're one to talk, dragging me off after we met to meet someone that could have been T&I ANBU for all I knew…" she wasn't being cynical at all! Both just snorting in their own way as she continued to drag him into the woods, "We need to gather provisions and intel on the area around us if we're going to be here longer than a few hours. I trust Oku to watch the camp, it's you I don't trust to not set one of his traps off accidentally out of boredom…"
Naruto's pout grew as he continued to get dragged along, "S'not like I'd do it on purpose… dattebayou…"
She tried to ignore his grumbling, she really did, but some part of her brain wouldn't let the pout slip from her conscious recognition. She swore she could hear hissing-giggles, somewhere along the trees undoubtedly, "Better have you come with me and remain in one piece then picking you up from all around this damn forest…"
"So what're we doin'?" the boy kept his grumbling pout on but at least now he was coming more willingly.
"Honestly, I want to be out of this forest and hand your teammates over to your authorities to be looked after as soon as possible," a huff, "The issue comes in that we need to find another team with an Earth scroll to leave, your team wouldn't happen to have one would you?" her brows furrowed over her headband, knowing he couldn't see it as he was somewhat behind her but couldn't help the gesture. If they had a scroll that'd be convenient… if not… well…
The blonde quickly shoot his head, picking up his pace to walk with her more comfortably, head turning this way and that being on alert for what was going on around them, "Mm-mm," he shook his head to indicate the negative before going back to scanning, "We had a Heaven scroll, but Teme offered it up to that snake-bastard before everything went to hell, dunno what happened to it…"
"Tch," a frown made its way on the pale girl's face, "Figures, they must have put everyone with one scroll on one side and the others on the opposite, insuring the longest distance required to travel to get out of this damn place," to her side she could see the whiskered boy quirking a blonde brow at her confused. She just grunted, annoyed, "Nothing, it just means we'll likely have to travel further to find someone with a suitable scroll…"
"Mmhhh," the boy nodded sagely, rubbing his chin with his free hand, "How long do'ya think it'd take to get one? Let alone three?"
"Three?" a tattooed brow quirked as she stopped to face the boy.
"Eh?" Naruto jerked when his arm was tugged back, he apparently hadn't noticed she'd been holding it the whole time, "Er, what?" quickly that free hand of his pulled a kunai from seemingly nowhere.
Yorihi quirked a brow, that was actually a decent maneuver, he must have had a hidden sheath in his sleeve. Shaking her head quickly she faced him dead on, ignoring her momentary lapse, "What I meant was what do you mean by three?"
Her voice was flat and her brows low, it made Naruto somewhat nervous, "Ehehehe," so like normal he scratched the back of his head, "Well, ya said ya wanted to get outta here quick as possible right? So you guys have a heaven scroll, and we got nothing, means we gotta get three scrolls right?"
There was a twitch in her brow that suggested she was blinking at him, "Who said anything about getting your team anything? As far as I'm concerned you've been eliminated from this test, my priority is getting another Earth scroll so my teammates can advance while simultaneously taking your team with us to ensure nothing happens thanks to Orochimaru's interference."
An angry pout spread on the boy's face, "Hey, just cause we lost our scroll doesn't mean we're eliminated, dattebayou!"
"Tch," tattooed brows rolled, "According to the rules maybe, but far as I'm concerned your team's passing isn't a priority for this mission…"
"Then make it one!" Naruto jerked his arm, the one she was still holding.
With a mild frown Yorihi turned back to him but let go, "And why should I?" she leaned into him, something inside her telling her to challenge him, like how most of the guys in Kumo did, thuggishly by leaning in close and glaring him right in the eyes. She'd already proven she could out 'glare' him, the added invasion of his personal space and blatant challenge should force him to back down.
He didn't. If anything, Uzumaki Naruto did not back down from a challenge, either the boy was incapable of doing so or was just too stupid to realize a stronger opponent in front of him.
There was a clink! As the bottom metal of his headband hit the top of hers, that small space the only thing separating their faces.
It annoyed Yorihi to no end. Here was a boy she was actually slightly taller then and she still couldn't force him to back down because of her size. The two just 'glared' at one another, thuggishly snarling at one another trying to force the other to change their mind while pushing their headbands close enough the metal groaned.
"Help us out!"
"Why the hell should I?!"
The two growled at each other, not caring for the non-existent space between them as they kept their voices relatively even in order to not draw attention by shouting, which surprised Yorihi the boy had the forethought to do so. Not that it mattered as the whole area became quickly saturated with their chakra and killing intent as their wills battled over the issue.
Naruto growled, pushing his head forward, "Cause we ain't leaving this forest until my team has their scrolls too!"
Yorihi pushed right back, pressing on the boy's nose with the plate covering her eyes, "Then we'll just knock you out and drag you back, the other two members of your team are already incapacitated! Face it your team failed this part of the test!"
With a flare of chakra the boy pushed forward and for a moment the Kumo konoichi thought his eyes were red, "It ain't over yet! You wanna make sure we get out of here so whatever's up with Sasuke doesn't affect your village then you're gonna be here as long as it takes for us to get our scrolls! Dattebayou!"
"That's stupid and a waste of time!" Yorihi pushed back just as hard, feeling black fire in the back of her mind, abhorring the idea of having to sit around in this forest waiting for his pathetic team to try getting anything on their own!
That smug cocky grin of his showed just below the eye line of her focus, "Then help us, and we'll leave faster!"
"It'd be better to just drag you with us!" she growled back, "Takes less time, then I don't have to deal with your insubordination…"
Childishly Naruto stuck out his tongue… which touched her nose and finally forced Yorihi to give up the normal Kumo approach of force to wipe her nose offended, "Khehehehehe!" the fox bastard chuckled to himself smugly, "Waass wrong? Can't handle it? Thought you were the big bad Kumo genin!" and just to be a dick further, stuck his tongue out and wiggled it at her.
Yorihi's hand became a fist and half of her mind couldn't believe how childish he was being! The other half was swearing unholy vengeance in the most childish way she could think of. Again, there was that hissing giggle from up in the trees! –Shut up!- Momentarily she sent a pulse of chakra back at her blue-black tabby who skittered off hiss-giggling to himself at his master's lapse of civility. Having that moment to clear her thoughts, Yorihi turned back to the blonde boy with low brows, only the cyan tattoos showing, "You're exactly the kind of child that shouldn't be passing a test like this…" she said grimly, "You wouldn't even be fit to pass our Academy test, let alone one to choose upcoming chuunin!"
"So what if I am?" oddly his voice wasn't smug like she expected, as he crossed his arms and looked at her with an almost serious fox-face, "Ninja are supposed to be all about surprises right? So let's surprise them!" he rolled his shoulder back in reference to some vague distance, "That scary jounin lady said we could bribe other teams right? So that's what I'm doin', I, Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato, am asking you, Tenkyuu Yorihi of Kumogakure no Sato, to help my team through this test?" a wide smirk passed his face as hers became blank, "You wanna show my village you mean no harm to keep your teammates safe and get through this test? Then help me out! Dattebayou!"
The tenseness in Yorihi's shoulders slowly waned. –I hate to admit it… but he does have a point…- it was unexpected, impractical, and foolhardy… but it was an option, one they were bluntly told by the proctor. Her fist released, only to set her hand on one of her swords as she considered the proposal. She did want to show the Konoha authority her team meant no harm, and she was using that pleasantry as an excuse to let the Uchiha be Orochimaru's target… -Would it make sense to help him?- she wanted the Konoha forces to not be so wary around them so she could explore and form connections to those that could be potential targets for her while keeping her team safe and away from any real danger. Naruto was one of her prime targets, he was a priority, not his teammates, but ensuring his trust and the Uchiha being alive to be bait for the snake was paramount to their current situation for her mission. A tiny voice in her head was telling her it'd be advantageous to help out, as not-to would only create a rift between herself and her target, while 'helping' would forge it stronger. –The only downside would be taking more time and pissing off Xiao…- unconsciously she snorted at the thought of her closest female friend yelling at her further for deciding to 'help' this Konoha Rookie team.
"So how about it?" the golden haired boy with the foxish grin held out his hand, "Just three more scrolls, dattebayou?"
Just to be a dick, Yorihi huffed and ignored his outstretched hand. She needed him to realize he wasn't manipulating her into anything, she was the one in control here, not him! "Two, we have two Heaven scrolls, and I'm only agreeing to this to move along quickly," then she decided to take his hand and shake it, the agreement set.
"Sweet!" Naruto enthusiastically shook her hand until the Kumo girl removed it, "So, what're we doing first! Scouting out a team? Looking for tracks?"
Yorihi's shoulders slumped, wondering what happened to the almost-serious shinobi from a minute ago, "First we're getting something to eat…" then she felt an uncomfortable tug below her stomach, "On second thought, I'm going to go somewhere you're not and go to the bathroom…" she did just wake up after all, saving this idiot and having to drag him around… bodily functions just slipped her mind.
Naruto had the decency to blush before his hands went to the front of his pants, "Oh man! You're right, be right back!" and darted off behind a few trees.
Yorihi could only shake her head, "What's he have to worry about, it's not like I can see anything…" –Or would want to…- She completely ignored the hiss-giggle above her, mentally threatening to cut off his two favorite things if he didn't shut up, and no not his 'tails'.
Back in the hollow Oku sat breathing calmly while he meditated.
He may not have been a chakra powerhouse like his partner and friend and he certainly didn't know Xiao's chakra field for sensing things out at long distance but that didn't mean he had to. He was a trap master, his ways of detecting enemies and locating his team members was a bit more basic. The simplest and most effective for him was simply feeling things through the ground, as an earth-type shinobi he had an automatic sense for the earth and due to training with Lior and other badgers he knew well how to navigate underground, dig tunnels, and set up all manner of traps that way. It was a great way to trick people, since as his comrade liked to say 'no one ever really looks up or down'.
It was a truer statement than even veteran shinobi would care to admit.
If one had access to the skies or underground, it was an automatic advantage. This was one reason he and Xiao were a formidable duo, she had the skies, he had the underground, and between them their enemies had nowhere to run.
But that was getting away from the point…
Right now he was meditating, trying to recoup as much energy as he could from the lack of sleep and staving off hunger. He didn't regret letting the girls gorge on the spoils Yugito-sensei brought them for breakfast yesterday, he'd snagged a few things here and there from the forest Xiao had said was safe to eat, and with their battles yesterday and huge displays of power it was a tactical decision the girls had as much chakra as possible. Rest could only restore so much so quickly, the rest was food and emotional stability. It was up to him to ensure they had nothing to worry about.
Feeling through the earth and lines of his wires he knew everything that was going around their little hollow for a good kilometer if not more. Lior had set 4th and 5th tiered traps on the edges, meant primarily to block escape. They allowed enemies to come within the territory but prevented them from leaving, trapping any trespassers between his tertiary defenses and walls of wire and pain. They were designed to be moderately easy to spot, at least the feints, that's why they were only 4th and 5th tier traps, meant to be missed 2 to 3 times over but caught that final time. Anyone that couldn't even do that wasn't worth their time, not the girls and not his.
Next were the tertiary defenses, meant to scorch, burn the opponents to think they'd found the real traps and simple enough to charge further in. The next ones were more subtle but what was noticed was more complicated, meant to enrage and entice. And the primary defenses, just outside the hollow… those were meant to kill.
When the enemy had nowhere else to run but blindly forward… that's when he'd blow the apart.
There was a grunt from just outside his conscious self, drawing himself back to the awareness of his body he slightly opened his eyes. The pink haired girl was moving. –Has the anesthetic worn off already?- lowering his outward tension Oku opened his eyes wider, taking in the girl as she moved more consciously.
She was waking up. He knew Xiao had introduced a drug to her system to keep her mostly out, since generally cutting away at a person's wounds to get rid of what could kill them was painful and the absence of feeling of certain parts of the body could be very nauseating. Any anesthetics she used were for ease of the operation and handling a patient that could be unstable. He had a few scars to prove it.
When he noticed the girl grip her good hand and crack open her light green eyes he knew it was wearing off and time to put on his much more comforting face.
With a disarming smile the dirty blonde boy with the funny plated hat closed his eyes and addressed his partner's patient, "I see you're waking up! You been out for a while!"
Those hazy green eyes glanced towards the voice, it was loud and cheery but more subdued then she expected. Drearily her eyes passed over the dark space they were in, catching the sight of something pale with dark hair across from her and something orange at her lower peripheries. Groggily bringing her left hand up she felt the end of the sleeve in her hand, it was orange and seemed familiar. Her right hand twitched but something felt numb on that side, like she couldn't or shouldn't move it, "Naruto…?"
"Eheh, not quite!" the person sitting in front of the light coming from the entrance made a gesture to scratch the back of his head like Naruto would but there was something wrong with it. For starters there was something on his head blocking his usual blonde hair. And his clothes looked green?
Sakura shifted as much as she could, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark place they were in with the bright light in front of her, behind this person watching over her. –Where am I? Who is this?- why did her right side seem… empty, heavy, numb... like it wasn't quite there, yet she could see her right arm right there? And this guy… he was almost familiar but from where, "Who…? What…?" her head tilted back to looking at the pale person across from her with the black hair, was that Sasuke?
Still scratching his head Oku glanced from the girl to the object of her focus, the shirtless Uchiha, "Oh, yea, guess you don't really remember much from last night," shifting the Kumo genin took on a thinking pose, holding his chin with a crossed arm, "Well, short story is we saved you guys, sorta, from this big bad crazy, you almost died and my partner fixed you the best she could and now we're waiting here for you guys to recover or my team gets another scroll, I think?"
At his words Sakura forced herself to wake up a bit more, what was it that was dragging her mind down? Usually her thoughts were going a mile a minute, not to mention her having to shove Inner-Sakura to the side just so that part of her logical consciousness would shut up! Now everything was slow and groggy and there was this guy who wasn't Naruto but she was wearing something orange and- "Who… are… you?" despite the bright light behind him she narrowed her green eyes on this young man, figuring out who he was should help her figure out what the hell was going on.
"Ehehe," he chuckled while rubbing his head again, "Sorry, guess we didn't really get a chance to introduce ourselves!" he held out his hand, "I'm Shitemon Oku, part of the Kumo genin team, we're friends with your teammate Naruto and kinda helped you guys out against Orochimaru last night!" after a second of his hand just hanging there in the empty space between them he seemed to realize it was a futile effort, "Oops, sorry, forgot, your shoulder got pretty banged up, but Xiao-chan fixed it, so while you won't be able to move that arm for a while quite right, it should heal up fine in a few months!"
-My shoulder?- everything was fuzzy for the Konoha girl, it was like being wrapped up in something fuzzy, probably the effect of whatever drugs were in her system. Other than fuzz and feeling numb in certain areas she barely felt a thing, but it was drowsy and difficult to move, "Was-was I that hurt?" why were the Kumo genin here, let alone helping her team? Weren't they the jerks that messed with the first test? And the girls were scary from what she'd seen before… green eyes tried to focus, getting a better look of the boy with the carefree grin and plated hat. –So this is their third member?-
Oku just gave a swift nod, "Yup, that snake guy took a big chunk outta ya, then threw you into a tree, Xiao-chan was afraid you'd die from the shock alone, but she did what she could to fix you up! And kept you out so you wouldn't feel all the pain," suddenly he leaned in uncomfortably close, eyes seemingly closed as he had a curious look about his oddly pale face, "Ne, how you feelin'? I don't really think you should be up yet…"
-Shouldn't be up?- was her waking up messing up some plan of theirs? Was she just being paranoid? These guys, for all she knew, helped them out right? –Wait… wasn't he the guy that knocked me out in the first place yesterday?- a few flashes of memory came back, forcing Sakura to close her eyes as she grunted from the strain. She remembered seeing her death, something forceful, then waking up with this grinning guy in green and a plated hat poking her on the shoulder… only to strike her knocking her out, then… she struggled to open her eyes, finding his concerned face closer with a weird frown. –What the hell is he doing?!- her survival instincts kicked in and she wanted to punch him and scream, but all she got out of her drugged body was a useless flail and scooting back with a whine, "St-stay away from me!"
"Eh?" he tilted his head, looking more confused, "You okay? Sumthin' hurt?" he didn't reach for her nor did he move quickly as he sat back up straight, looking her over, "Proly best you try to get some rest…"
Narrowly Sakura glared ahead of her, spotting Sasuke unconscious in front of her on the other side of… wherever this was, "I've slept enough…"
"Mm-mm," the Kumo genin firmly shook his head, "No you haven't, Xiao-chan always tells me that even if you just woke up from a coma your body still needs rest to heal, best way to do that is to legitimately sleep, as in the kind without drugs…"
Sakura wanted to scoff. –What do Kumo barbarians know about medicine?- it was Konoha that invented medical ninjutsu, they were the forefront of medical techniques and treatments, what would some backwater girl from the mountains know? "You seem to think highly of this girl?" she kept her vision forward, focusing on Sasuke who was still unconscious. She needed time and to be awake to figure out what was going on and how to get out of this situation… and if she remembered correctly this 'Xiao' the boy kept talking about was that rough loud girl with the dark skin, red eyes and tendency to shock things. –There's no way someone like that knows anything about healing!-
A frown spread on Oku's face as he crossed his arms, "Well, course I do! She's my partner! And the best medic we got right now! If anyone here knows anything about healing properly, it's her!"
"Tch…" green eyes faced the ground. She couldn't very well argue with this boy, he seemed simple for the most part so it wasn't worth saying anything that would upset him. –And for now he's just watching over Sasuke and I… his teammates must have left him here to keep us trapped while they looked for another scroll or…- that's when something seemed to click in her mind. Looking down she noticed she was wearing something orange… and familiar… "Kheee!" again she tried rather futilely to move, not to mention scream, "W-what a-am I-I w-wearing?! T-this i-is… is…!" that's when she realized something crucial was missing, "N-Naruto! Where's Naruto?!"
Oku watched passively as the girl's thoughts practically wrote themselves all over her face… and part of him was annoyed it took her this long to realize one of her comrades was missing. Tilting his head he kept his more volatile thoughts to himself, "He's out with Yorihi-hime, think they're hunting for food?"
"Eh!" the light pink haired girl pushed herself up with her good arm, trying to sit properly but it was obvious the effort was taking everything she had, either because of the drugs or her body being so wrecked, "W-what-but-he-?!"
A pale hand came up as a scowl crossed the pale boy's face, she really was loud wasn't she? "He's fine, for the most part, he was the only one on your team not knocked out by that snake's attacks, so he helped us treat you guys and set up…" a little stretch of the truth wouldn't hurt too much, right? Oku figured the blonde boy did help out, more than them, but he had quite a mouth on him too with no real experience to claim or reason to complain. –But he sincerely cared about his teammates, and I suppose that's how Konoha-nin are supposed to be? Hmm…- that and if this girl thought they were working together she'd be less likely to do something stupid… like run, "He was worried about you guys, so Yorihi-hime's taken him out to clear his head…" a little bend of the truth.
Sakura had two options: believe him or don't believe him. If she believed him then she was relatively safe but there was really no reason for her to do such. The second option was much more likely, and her mind was more inclined to believe it. He was a Kumo-nin, they had shown themselves to be arrogant and domineering, but as far as she could tell justifiably. The two girls, on their own, had the Suna-nin shaking in their boots, and as a team, separated, they had run havoc through the first test. –And if I remember correctly, he's the one who knocked me out after…- she couldn't quite remember what happened before, it was a genjutsu right? And the numbness on her right side… and Sasuke was unconscious over there. Looking at her teammate she tried to decide how to handle this situation. –If we're prisoners there's nothing we really can do… not until Sasuke-kun wakes up and that means Naruto's probably out there trying to figure out how to get us back while avoiding those Kumo girls…- Light green eyes glanced back at the smiling boy, wondering how much she could get away with. –For now it's safer to run under the assumption they're still enemies…-
Oku just smiled wider, letting her think. He didn't have to tell her every little thought of hers was all over her face, "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to head out for a second, try not to move too much, Xiao-chan would be mad if you got more hurt!" then moved to push himself up slowly, curious to see how she'd react.
-Eh?! He's leaving?- She watched the cloud boy get up, pat off his pants and head out the entrance, "W-wait?!" those closed eyes and silly hat leaned back with a funny look on his face, "A-aren't you going to-to…?" she honestly didn't know what she was saying, if he was leaving that was a good thing, right?
Oku just tilted his head, "To what?" he scratched his cheek, "Sorry, but I kinda need to handle some business, and I don't think it'd be appropriate to do in front of you," another harmless smile, "Now just sit back and rest, don't want those injuries getting worse!" and disappeared from the door.
Sakura just looked at the entrance confused. If her captor thought she was too immobile to run off she'd show him! –Leave me will he! I'll show him! Cha!- bellowed Inner-Sakura. Light green eyes rolled as she pushed herself up with her good arm, avoiding using the right as it was unreliable, and groggily making it to her feet. Everything was heavy and sluggish, but this was a golden opportunity! The second she was on her feet she had to brace herself on the wall, her body too heavy to reliably hold itself up. –Great plan! Can't even stand up on my own!- her legs shook as she glanced over at Sasuke, it'd be a miracle if she could walk out of this room let alone pick him up. Her options were slim and neither looked any good. –M-maybe… maybe I can just… look outside? See how that works?- was her reasoning as she looked away from the shirtless Uchiha and slowly inched towards the entrance.
She didn't know how long it took her to get to the edge of the sunlight opening just that it was entirely too long and her legs gave out immediately, "D-damnit…" she bit her lower lip as her legs crumbled, landing numbly on her knees at the edge of the entrance. –All I can do from here is look outside?- it was worth a shot, it'd give her better bearings to go by. Leaning as much as she could Sakura looked out of the hollow… all she saw was an open patch of dirt in front of her and even more trees, obviously they were still in the Forest of Death. –This place is so creepy…- mentally she squirmed, it seemed this was an entirely futile effort.
Then she noticed Oku, who was standing out in the field, hands on his hips, throw something and a massive explosion go off that made her jump.
Oku just scratched the side of his head, "Huh, didn't know squirrels here exploded if you killed them? That's pretty messed up…"
Sakura could only stare at the boy. That was a massive explosion that according to his words he didn't cause and he didn't seem fazed at all. –I think it'll be best if I just stay here and don't do anything…- gripping the edge of the hollow entrance hard she just kept staring. –Surely Naruto will show up any minute and this will all start to make sense again?!-
At the sound of a small gasp the silly hat wearing boy turned around, dirty blonde brows up and looking surprised despite the fact his eyes still appeared closed, "Oh hey! Sorry about that, was trying to deter the little fella but apparently the squirrels here explode when hit!" he casually walked back, hands in his shorts pockets, and whistling slightly, "Gotta hand it to you, didn't think you'd be able to move! Call me impressed!"
Sakura wanted to believe him, at this point it didn't really matter did it? She was exhausted, injured, and just failed spectacularly at getting away from her captor. –Naruto hurry…- was all she could think as the boy approached, disarming smile wide on his face and cursing her luck for having to rely on the class clown.
"Tch, do you think he noticed the explosive note?" a gruff voice spoke in the underbrush not far off from the hollow.
"Honestly, I can't tell, his voice is too calm to tell if he's bluffing or not," an angry woman harshly whispered next to him.
"Quiet, both of you…" a much deeper raspy voice spoke between the two rowdy ones. Dosu watched as the Kumo boy walked back to the hollow, something catching his attention. They'd only been watching the hollow a short while, Orochimaru-sama's orders crystal clear ringing in their heads as they hunted down the team with the Uchiha. They'd been surprised to catch glimpses of his unconscious body being hauled off by another team, the Kumo genin no less, along with that annoying blonde boy. Following the had been difficult as they had to wait for the to leave and track their footsteps instead of just following closely, the blind girl at the back had seemed far too 'aware' of her surroundings for them to sneak up on her easily. Then they spent the entire night painstakingly inching their way in further into the nest of traps that lined the area, some were obvious, others weren't and it was only their heightened training and senses that kept them from failing right there. They'd managed to get close enough to watch, barely, just as the two up in the tree left the opposite way. Everything had been silent and still for a long time then the boy in the plated hat decided to come out.
… and Zaku thought it was a hilarious idea to strap an explosive note to a squirrel and have Kin use her genjutsu to make the stupid thing dart at the boy.
Part of Dosu was grateful he'd killed the stupid thing, even if it exploded, that had to have gotten rid of some of the traps right? Giving them a window of opportunity to strike while he was relatively alone, only the cripples and maybe the red eyed girl. Unconsciously Dosu rubbed his chin at the thought of the pink haired girl that uppercutted him into the ceiling before the first test. It hadn't hurt, not really, but she was fast. He gripped his metal hand with a smirk picking up under his bandages. –But not as fast as sound…- she'd caught him unprepared then, aiming for another target and charging, not this time.
"Hey is that that pink haired girl that decked you?" Zaku dumbly spoke behind the, pointing at the hollow as the hat-wearing boy seemed to move, picking someone up with pink hair and moving her to sit outside, "She looks injured!"
Dosu just stared. She didn't look right… but maybe he was wrong, he had basically ignored them the rest of the first test, more focused on trying to hear out answers while that blind girl kept tapping away annoyingly and screwing him up! "Doesn't matter, if we give them time to reset those traps that just blew up we'll lose this opportunity…" he held up his metal covered arm, rolling down his sleeve, "We're here for one purpose, kill Uchiha Sasuke…" he couldn't help the grin that slipped under his bandages, "The rest can die with him…"
Behind him, Kin and Zaku grinned as well, finally it was time for them to play.
Sometime earlier out in the woods…
"Well this is certainly freaky," a dark hand rolled over a dark green patch on the root of a large tree that was nearly black as red eyes narrowed observing it very carefully. As Xiao's hand passed over the prickly thing one of the needles poke her finger hard enough to bleed, and stranger still the second her blood touched the weird patch it was absorbed, "Spikey blood-sucking moss… can't say I've seen that before?" quickly taking out her tools she removed a good sample of the thing and sealed it away. It was a generally held belief in her family the more something tried to kill you the more likely they'd find something within it that can help save lives; for all she knew this strange moss had interesting enzymes that helped filter blood down to only its viable proteins as on its own it wouldn't necessarily help something that wasn't whatever creature it came from. She was sure one of her aunts or uncles would find a use for it, and if nothing else it'd make an excellent defensive measure if they could cultivate it properly.
There was a snort on her shoulder as she stood up, Lior obviously was not impressed so far by this nature walk.
Reaching a dark hand up Xiao scratched him between the eyes, chuckling lightly, "Just a little more and I'll head back, this place has such strange flora, most of it overgrown and designed in some way to be lethal…" it truly was no wonder this place was called the 'Forest of Death', everything was designed to kill you, even the most basic things like the moss. So far she'd come across various carnivorous plants, large enough to obviously not be limited to insects, not to mention overgrown insects, slugs that leached chakra, butterflies and moths with razor wings, grass that was sticky and coated in what she could only assume was a digestive fluid, "I suppose with the lack of sunlight near the bottom floor and the abundance of chakra in this area the plants and insects had to figure out a way to survive against the large creatures and that just created a cycle of evolving bigger and deadlier." She tapped her chin as she started walking in a random direct, "Suppose it's more curious that it's limited to just this area? Hmm…" a 10Km radius meant relatively a 314 square kilometer area, by most standpoints that was a pretty small biome to have such a uniquely evolved ecosystem. Part of her now wanted to stick around and study it more in-depth, curious how such a forest came about, but she knew that'd be impossible. Technically they were supposed to have gotten done with the place yesterday, but 'side missions' from their leader. Xiao just sighed, "I guess if this goes well we could negotiate a scientific research into the area along with Konoha support…" she frowned, knowing that'd never happen.
Lior just snorted again from her shoulder.
"Heh," she scratched him again, picking up the pace in the direction she was headed, scanning around for anything else interesting, "Yea I know, you don't care~" she kissed his nose when he made that annoyed growl, knowing he'd never harm her despite his frustration, "Alright, just one more interesting thing and something to eat before we head back? That sound fair?"
The badger gave another snort, slightly less annoyed. He got another scratch for it so it didn't matter what it meant.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" and suddenly there was a scream that broke through the air not far away.
Shoulders slumping Xiao sighed, "Of course there's a team nearby…" if it weren't for the way the badger on her shoulder perked up she may have just left and avoided the whole thing. Instead red eyes looked at that badger that was now standing on her shoulder, hair up and staring in the direction the scream came from, "You want to go check it out don't you?" a snort was her response, her eyes narrowed, "To see if they have the scroll we need to leave, right?" another snort as he positioned himself to pounce. This time Xiao just sighed, "Fine, I won't let the opportunity go, but I'm just knocking these kids out alright?" the badger nodded quickly before leaping off her shoulder and darting off into the underbrush. Xiao just sighed, booking it after him.
She had expected to find a team, sure. She'd expected them to be fighting, why not? What she didn't expect was to find a lone little girl crying and screaming huddled in a ball at the base of a tree while a GIANT MOTHERFUCKING BEAR! MAULED AND ATE HER TEAMMATES!
A dusky pink brow rose as all she could do was blink her red eyes and go, "Huh…"
Luckily, for the screaming/crying girl, Lior jumped out and was growling, hissing and hopping around and scrapping the ground, the traditional way badgers called out enemies various times their size.
Xiao just rolled her red eyes at Lior's display. The little guy wouldn't be bigger than the bear's toe and he thought he could take it out? –Well, to be fair I think he would, it'd just be a pain dealing with him injured afterwards…- she knew from firsthand experience badgers were dirty fighters that went straight for the eyes and genitals, soft spots that would take anything down no matter the size, and with their claws there was no way anything that challenged them was leaving without losing something.
But this thing was big enough to eat him in one go and while she knew he wouldn't get swallowed without clawing his way to the things heart and eating it, she didn't really want to have to deal with explaining to Oku why Lior had various broken bones and covered in blood. So she did the most sensible thing in this situation.
"Tobihi Mori!" she created a giant fuckoff harpoon of lightning around her arm and shoved it right between the bear's eyes while it was distracted by her little friend. The thing sparked, flailed and jerked as she literally fried its brain and down its spine, disrupting its entire nervous system and locking it up tight. This thing wouldn't be getting another hit in its death throes.
The bear released a final dying growl before it collapsed under its own weight, taking Xiao with it as her hand was still inside its skull.
It looked epic from where the little crying girl was, a red avenger coming out of nowhere, saving her and killing the big monster with her pet sidekick.
Thankfully this image wasn't completely ruined by the thing falling and taking Xiao with it, voiced eloquently by said girl screaming, "Gah-Fuck-letgo of my arm you dead bastard!" there was another growl as Lior helped her pull her arm out of the bear's thick skull only for the Kumo konoichi to grimace at the brain goo on her hand, "Ew…" shaking her hand out she got most of it off and Lior licked off the rest.
Now that that was settled Xiao looked her massive kill over, "How the hell did something like this get so huge?" a dusky pink brow rose as she looked the thing over, other than the hole in its skull there didn't appear to be any other external damage, though she was sure she'd fired a bit of its insides. Case in point: brain goo. She scratched the side of her head that wasn't being 'cleaned' by Lior, "At least the brain doesn't have particular properties that'll be missed, I think Uncle Liu could use its organs though for vitality powders," she leaned to the side looking it over, "And it being this size means it's got a lot of vitality right?" part of her snickered, knowing that 'vitality powered' wasn't exactly what Uncle Liu meant, but she wasn't supposed to know about 'male enhancement' potions either. "Oh well, best to get started before it rots any more, all else I've got a new blanket and lots of bear meat!" both Kumo konoichi and badger nearly started salivating at the idea of bear meat for breakfast for the foreseeable future.
With a quick flip of her hand she pulled out a scroll, twirled it open and pulled out a set of hunting knives to help skin and prep the thing. The skin would be used later, the pelt was huge and worth a lot, the muscles would be meat, and the bones and organs would be sent to various relatives to use in their own concoctions and to study. So quickly she prepped the thing and rolled out the scroll to empty slots sealing as she went to keep it as fresh as possible.
She was thankful Lior was there, with the badger's help she could cut away bits quicker and he'd move them to the scroll for her to seal up. Occasionally she'd cut off a strip of meat, hold it between her hands and send her lightning chakra through it, it wasn't as good as say someone using fire or fire chakra but when necessary lightning chakra could cook when needed. She threw the cooked meat at Lior who happily didn't care but enjoyed the treat anyway. Doing the same for a piece for herself she put it in her mouth and chewed, "Hrm… need… to figure out… how to jerky this…"shocking it cooked it too fast to properly dehydrate it, maybe if she pulled the lightning away with small currents or just gave up and learned that one skill Karui knew…
"A-ah ex-excuse m-me?!" a voice squeaked out behind the Kumo duo.
Red eyes and beady black ones turned back to spot the girl from earlier, still shaking and looking at them with wide red eyes behind glasses. It was at this point Xiao bothered to look the girl over properly. Her eyes were red, but not the kind of deep blood color from her family, they were a bit light, like mixed with a rosy pink or something, it was also the same color as her hair which was in a strange half-spike-half-straight style, being spiky on one side and straight on the other. Her hair nearly covered up the Hitae-ate on her forehead, which from what Xiao could tell held a Kusagakure symbol, and the rest she wore was a generic olive green over shirt with dark brown under clothing and no discernible weapons. –Is this girl really unarmed for a test like this?-
Setting down her tools, Xiao nodded to Lior to keep working, as she got up and moved over to the girl, crouching in front of her and holding out her hand, "I suggest you hand over your scroll, your team is dead and keeping it will only make you a target, so hand it over and head towards one of the gates, stay there, hide, and wait for this to be over…" Xiao tried to look at her as seriously and calmly as possible, the girl was obviously spooked and she didn't want to have to do anything more to her if possible.
For some odd reason the girl blushed, looked at her hand then the Kumo konoichi's face several times and it only seemed to get worse as she curled in on herself, "S-sorry!" abruptly she bowed, "I-I'm sorry!"
A dusky-pink brow rose as Xiao lowered her hand and pouted, "What're you apologizing for? You're not dead, be grateful?" this only prompted more apologizing and if there wasn't bear blood and guts on her hands may have scratched her head in confusion, "Look, stop apologizing! There's nothing to apologize for!" when raising her voice only seemed to make the girl squeak and squirm Xiao couldn't help but groan, "Look, just point to where your scroll is and I'll leave you be, alright?"
Still not looking at the Kumo konoichi directly the Kusa girl did as told… and pointed at the blood stains on the ground that were all that was left of her teammates…
Xiao's crimson eyes followed the girl's arm, saw the blood stains, and traveled to the partially broke down bear corpse and sighed, "Of course it is…" with more of a groan the older Kumo girl stood up, walked towards the corpse, grabbed one of her larger hunting knives, and went to the creature's chest. By now they'd gotten the skin off and were working to get the muscle off and which left the organs needing to be pulled out. With a groan, as she didn't like doing things out of order, Xiao cut along the middle 'seam' of the abdominal muscles, searching around the large insides of the carcass until she found what looked to be the stomach, feeling around and not finding anything that felt remotely like a scroll she traveled up the esophagus and found what used to be the Kusa girl's teammates. They hadn't even reached the stomach by the time she killed the thing, part of her was thankful for that as she could salvage some things but at the same time was mostly disgusted. With a deep sigh she cut out the corpses and shuffled around the mashed bits until finding what looked remotely like a cylinder and tossed it to the side where Lior grabbed it and set it neatly next to her things. With a deep enough sigh, closing her eyes Xiao wiped her head on her upper arm, "Screw it, I think I'm done here," there was no way she could finish taking apart the bear without revealing the remains of the girl's teammates, and frankly she didn't want to deal with the obviously traumatized girl more than necessary, "Lior get me the scroll…"
Quickly the badger came over with the storage scroll, setting it down at his master's partner's feet, open to a large empty space.
Xiao kneeled down, made several hand signs then placed her hand on the scroll. Immediately black scrawl came out, wrapped around the bear remains and everything else before seemingly dragging it into the scroll and disappearing in a poof!
With the area now clear apart from a few scrolls, tools and blood stains, Xiao slumped with a deep sigh, "I need a bath… a long, hot, steamy non-bear scented bath…" Lior snorted beside her in agreement, licking her hands and any other spots that had blood on it. Xiao couldn't help the snort that escaped her, "Not exactly what I asked for but not like I'm in a position to complain…" she sat there for a few minutes letting the badger 'clean' her before she was suitable and he started working on himself. With that she got up, grabbing her tools, resealing them and the storage scroll and putting it all away in her pack, then she grabbed the retrieved scroll and after wiping away some blood other enzymes was thankful to realize it was an Earth scroll, "Well that was worth it I guess?" she glanced back to the nearly catatonic Kusa girl, who was still giving her that weird look with the embarrassed blush, "Thank, sorry about your teammates, but you should seriously get out of here, head towards the gate, it's safer there…" and with that the Kumo duo left.
Karin sat there for a long while, staring at what was left in front of her; an empty field with bloodstains. Her teammates were gone, that bear was gone, and the only person to show her any semblance of kindness in the past several years since her mom died just left telling her to head to the gate for her safety. –If I go back there… then I go back to Kusa…- behind her glasses her eyes trailed the way the older Kumo konoichi went with her badger. –If I go that way…- concentrating, she bit her lip and sought out the Kumo girl's chakra signature. It tasted like lightning; pure, unafraid, straight and direct, nothing hidden in the blinding light and power held behind it. There was something kind about the lightning despite its nature, it wasn't purposely destructive like fire, but not as chaotic as wind, it was short, direct and piercing, but mostly bright, really bright. There was no way she couldn't find that girl if she wanted to.
Standing up Karin followed it, tracing her steps as best she could. That girl had saved her, whether she meant to or not, making her the safest place in this damn forest. –I want out of this place, I don't care how, I just want to leave this dark place!- she ran faster, keeping her chakra hidden from anything else in this place. She had to find the girl that tasted like lightning, then she'd be safe.
Xiao was making her way back to their hideout, almost tempted to back track to that river just to get clean. –Ugh, I still smell like that damn bear, but now with this scroll we can head to the tower, get the hell out of here and I can get a proper fucking bath!- there was only so much iodine she carried and the smell was honestly worse than the bear's but at least with that she knew it was clean, but she knew she didn't want to waste such a thing in case she needed to sterilize something else.
Lior grunted on her shoulder. In reality she had no idea what he was saying but she'd been around him and Oku enough to pick up the badger's mannerisms and some of his grunts. He was looking around, tense on her shoulder and hair mildly up, from that she could tell he was warning her about something nearby.
Activating her chakra field Xiao felt around. –I don't sense anything… but… what?- she stopped momentarily near a bush, feeling around. –Why does it feel like… a dip? An empty spot? Huh?- she'd come across a lot of things using her chakra field before, animals, people, things that tried to eat it like the Minazuki, even people repressing their chakra, normally she still felt something from it. Whatever this was… it was like it was making a hole in her chakra field and if she weren't already on edge looking probably wouldn't have even noticed the anomaly.
Taking a step forward she couldn't help but tense, "What the hell is-?!"
"SENPAI!" only for something dark green, brown and off-red to glomp her and grab her around the waist and nuzzle her chest.
It was through Xiao's indomitable training that she managed to stay standing, it was due to her upbringing in Kumo that her response was, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
That's when nuzzling got involved and Lior started growling. Those were HIS to nuzzle! No one else's!
Gaining the composure to look down, and completely ignoring the heat on her cheeks, Xiao saw familiar red hair, and repeated her previous question, "What the fuck?"
That's when Karin looked up, sniffling as she saw her 'senpai's' crimson eyes on her, "I-I'm s-sorry s-senpai, don't l-leave me alone here!"
-Senpai?- darker red eyes could only blink at the quivering Kusa girl latched onto her, again repeating, "What… the… fuck?"
Lior's growling got worse and the badger stood on his master's partner's should, showing fangs and very large claws.
The Kusa girl squeaked, but only moved to be on the opposite side of Xiao then the badger, hiding under the taller girl's arm and pushing herself into her side, "Please, I'm scared, don't leave me here in this forest Senpai! I'll do whatever you ask?"
Now not having her chest nuzzled and that god-awful moe look in sight, Xiao's brain reseted to 'functioning' and she glanced at the girl under her arm, "I told you to go to the gate! It's safer there!" –And that way I don't have to deal with your weirdness!-
Again with that adorably weird look from the blushing Kusa girl, quivering lip and almost tears and all, "I-I know you said that, b-but… but…" she latched on tighter and held her new 'Senpai', nuzzling may have been involved, "There's so many scary things out there and your chakra is so easy to find and its so bright and calling me and feels warm and safe and please just let me come!"
The only proper response Xiao had was to twitch, ignoring the rising blush she felt on her cheeks and push the girl off holding her out at arm's length. She stared at her for a good long second, weirded out by the overly pushy adorableness and ramped up moe suddenly before noticing the girl's eyes. She was legitimately afraid to leave her side. –DAMNIT! Should have just left her alone to get eaten by that bear! Now she's got no one else… is all alone… and I'm probably the only thing recognizable here and… wait what did she say about chakra?- in the second it took to process that thought Xiao's darker crimson eyes narrowed and focused on the girl's glasses covered ones, "What did you say about chakra?"
"Yours is easy to find and really bright?" the girl blinked behind her glasses.
A dusky pink brow rose, "I've never heard a sensor type describe chakra like that?" she looked the girl over, as far as she could tell she wasn't using her chakra right now, "Are you sensing me right now?" there was a dumb nod, Xiao's brow rose higher, "Without activating any ability to do so?"
"Like you do with that field of yours?" the girl asked back with the blush on her face growing, "It's so warm and fuzzy…"
"Stop that," Xiao narrowed her eyes on her with her signature 'Mom' glare, "Explain."
Karin blinked again, shaking herself out of the comforting feel of the older girl's abundant chakra, "I-I don't really know… it's just something my mom and I could do without thinking… we just feel chakra differently than others she said…"
-If her mom could do it too, does that mean it's a bloodline?- that's when Xiao noticed the girl start to slump, getting creepily adorably sad, "Your mom, she's not…?" the girl just bit her lip and nodded, making Xiao want to curse. "Well what about your dad, is he…" the girl's shoulders slumped more and Xiao started raving in her head. –GODDAMNIT!- taking one hand off the girl's shoulder the Kumo konoichi rubbed her eyes, "And now your teammates, no wonder you want to follow around a stranger…"
Being basically released the girl quickly wrapped her arms around the older konoichi, not caring where she was from, just that she'd saved her life, "Karin…"
"Huh?" Xiao glanced down at her between her fingers, ignoring the weirdness of her grabbing her in weird hug, "What'd you say?"
"K-Karin… my name…" the girl's voice trembled as she buried her face in the older girl's side.
Xiao tried really hard not to groan, "Oh fine," she dislodged Karin and held her out at arm's length again, looking at her seriously, "I don't know what the hell I'm thinking, and I'm sure my team will just love having more people to babysit but…" another sigh, "I guess I'm responsible for saving you, so til this test is over stick close to me," for whatever reason Xiao patted her head like a small child, "Thanks to your scroll we can leave, so it shouldn't be long before you're out, and by the way," a wide cocky grin worthy of a Kumo-nin as the dusky-pink haired girl leaned in, "My name's Utsurabon Xiao, nice to meet you~"
The girl's lip seemed to quiver for all of a second before she yet again launched herself at Xiao and nuzzled her chest, "Xiao-senpai, please take good care of me!"
-Oh goddamnit!- placing her head in her hand Xiao just sighed deeply. She didn't know what the hell this girl was going on about 'senpai' shenanigans and all the nuzzling was weird, but she'd said she'd take care of her, "Just… let go and we can start-"
That's when they heard a large explosion not far off.
Immediately all openness left the Kumo konoichi's face as she turned the way the explosion came, eyes hard as she extended her chakra field, "Oku." Explosions typically meant battle, and her partner used those more often they any other shinobi she knew and that sounded close to their camp. She needed to go, now!
"Senpai?" the Kusa girl's voice cut in, feeling the shift in her senpai's chakra, the warmth of the lightning gone, replaced with a need to strike immediately. Karin closed her eyes for a second, finding the different chakra signatures nearby, the one closest to the explosion wasn't nearly as large as her senpai's but felt like dirt. It was course, rough and rubbing, friction, chaotic despite the normal rigidity of earth, it attracted the lightning! And had a link to the creature on the girl's shoulder. Karin's eyes snapped open, pointing in the direction her senpai was looking, "I sense six that way, the strongest being one feeling like earth, two that are muted, one being dulled the other… black? Changing… and three approaching, they plan to attack the earth one!"
Nearly glowing red eyes turned to the glasses wearing girl. –She could sense all that… from this distance...- looking back Xiao glared, "That's my partner, he's in trouble then…" with care or concern for the girl Xiao bit her thumb, forming the hand signs and slamming her hand on the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" underneath them formed Zishi, the black and grey manta-ray Minazuki, "Move!" with a quick rise above the trees, Xiao positioned herself to have on hand on Zishi's back as they moved quickly.
Karin tried to push down the blush on her face, feeling her senpai summon something was fantastic! She hadn't seen anyone do something like that before! And this creature… while slimy and slippery like it belonged in the ocean felt the same as her senpai, full of lightning and drawing it in, quick and able to fly! This was great!
As they flew something massive caught in her senses. It burned. No, two of them, they both did. One had red and bright flames with a mix of something else, hidden… the other… it moved, swayed like water, but what was this fire? This black fire? "Senpai! There're two more… huge… like fire? But not fire?" she pointed down, where she felt it, wondering if they'd see them.
"Probably Na-chan and the Princess nearby… they're heading towards the explosion right?" Xiao didn't bother to sense out herself, she had one goal right now.
Karin closed her eyes, feeling the other two moving as well towards the explosion and nodded against her senpai's back, "Mmhmm, they're headed that way… a-are y-you s-sure th-they're friendly Xiao-senpai?"
"Yes," that was all she had to say. Right now she had to prepare, figure out what they were heading into.
"This is boring, Dattebayou…" Naruto grumbled as they'd been walking around for a while running into nothing.
Yorihi tried very hard not to roll her eyes…
This only resulted in an obvious grunt of disappointment. They'd been searching around the forest for a while, few hours at least, and hadn't found any sign of another team let alone big game they could eat. Naruto had picked a few berries earlier and turned blue after eating them and she assumed he was only alive now because of the Kyuubi inside him helped filter out the poison. They'd been wary to try anything else that look marginally edible since.
Now it just felt like they were milling about wasting time, and neither was very good at dealing with such idleness.
"Ne, Yorihi?" Naruto turned his fox face supported by his arms behind his head towards the blind girl in front of him, "You know a lotta really cool techniques right?"
Another indignant snort, "Of a sort."
A cheesy grin passed his face and he quickly trotted up to stand in front of the girl, who stopped just before hitting him, "Ne, ne, so can ya teach me any?!"
A tattooed brow rose, "Why would I teach you any of my techniques?"
That pout she would not admit was adorable crossed his face as he took up an almost begging position, "C'mon, we're out here, there's no one, its boring, and not like your teammates could get in the way of you doing it, dattebayou?"
Yorihi could only stare flatly at his logic, "You think just because my comrades aren't here I'll willingly teach you one of my techniques?"
"Uh-huh!" the utterly hopeless way he nodded his head with that big smile was almost nauseating.
With another deep sigh Yorihi just rubbed a spot on her head, "No." he immediately deflated, but before he could start complain she held up her hand, "Look, we may have truce right now, but we're from different villages… it'd be… strange for either of us to teach each other anything…"
The fox face was back, curious as he tilted his head, "Each other? What could I teach you? I dunno anything cause no one wants to teach me anything, dattebayou!"
That caused the Kumo girl's tattooed brow to rise, "No one teaches you anything?" her head tilted confused as he nodded his confirmation, "That doesn't make sense, who taught you the Kagebushin no jutsu?"
"I did," immediately Naruto pointed at himself, "Well technically I stole this bigass scroll of sealing and it had a buncha techniques in it and I read it and learned it, dattebayou…"
For a good long second Yorihi just silently stared at Naruto. –He didn't just tell me… no… no, that's… no…- another moment while she swallowed, "Are you telling me, you not only stole a sealed scroll of I'm assuming forbidden techniques, but you also taught yourself, with just that scroll a Jounin level technique… with no side effects?" he nodded, her head tilted more, "How long did it take?"
"Mmmmhmmm," Naruto grabbed his chin, doing a long thinking pose, "Few hours?" he could have sworn he heard something heavy fall to the ground but that was just silly, "Well I didn't have all that long to learn something, and old man Hokage was kinda pissed since I knocked him out to take the scroll and-"
"You knocked out the Hokage?" okay, forget it, she could feel herself blink under her headband. How the hell did this child not only knock out the supposedly strongest shinobi in his village but stole a forbidden scroll AND learned a jounin level technique that killed most people the first time they used it in less than one night? –I wouldn't believe him if I hadn't been in this village, saw how they ignored him and he actually knew how to use the technique better than anyone I'd ever heard of…- this all boiled down to one simple question, "How?"
"Eh?" Naruto perked up, making a funny embarrassed smile as he scratched the back of his head, "Oh that was easy! I just used my Oiroke no jutsu on him and he was out cold! Dattebayou!" now he was flexing, obviously he must be impressing this Kumo girl if she kept asking him questions about this right?
Yorihi's head tilted some more. –Oiroke no jutsu? Sexy technique? What the hell is that?- "What in the world is Oiroke no jutsu? I've never heard of such a technique?" and she wanted to know more about it if it was truly capable of knocking out Kage level shinobi.
"Hehe," Naruto had a prankster's grin, "Then prepare yourself! Oiroke no jutsu!" there was a poof! And suddenly the boy in the fishnet shirt and orange pants disappeared… only to be replaced by a taller, slim, busty naked girl with blonde hair, those captivating blue eyes, his whisker marks and posed appropriately in the dissipating mist to be considered alluring. Only for the construct to lean seductively, and hold a hand under her chin as she blew a kiss and winked.
Yorihi swore there was a heart coming out of her mouth and sparkles all around her…
"Neee, Yorihi-chaaaaaaan~ what do you think, dattebayou?" great sweet kami, even the voice was the high pitch squeal that just grabbed your attention and made all your defenses drop.
-Moe-sensei would be very impressed by this form of transformation…- her mind idly thought before she shoved it to the side and hoped she looked as indignant as possible, "You realize I can't see anything right? So if this is some sort of visual technique it will have no effect on me…"
There was a poof! And the blonde pinup girl disappeared to be replaced with a grumpy looking blonde boy in his fishnet shirt, "Oh yea, sorry about that, dattebayou," he scratched the back of his head looking upset, "Guess it wouldn't work on you, hrm…" he seemed to think for a second but before she could even ask he grin and jumped up and down, "Guess I'll just have to tell you!"
"Uh…" was as far as Yorihi got before he was invading her personal space again.
"See the thing's pretty simple, I got bored of always failing the regular Henge so I made my own, based off of all the things I saw other shinobi being into," there was maybe a mumble of 'and hot girls, dattebayou' but he breezed right passed it before she could question, "So I took all these notes about older Konoichi, what made older guys drool all over them like idiots," another mumble of 'and a couple magazines I stole, dattebayou' before continuing on at normal volume, "So I made this super-sexy-irresistible-totally-awesome girl version of myself!" a cough, "To use as a distraction technique!" he leaped back, holding out his hand with one finger raised, "It's got a one hundred percent success rate for knocking out any opponent no matter their rank! Dattebayou!"
While still processing what he said Yorihi couldn't help but state the obvious, "Can't be one hundred percent since I'm still standing?" she did not smirk triumphantly, not at all.
That pouty fox face returned as he growled, "You don't count! You're a girl and you're blind!"
A tattooed brow quirked, "Are you saying this technique would only work on male shinobi? Then it must only have a fifty percent success rate…" okay, she may have started to enjoy messing with him.
The blonde boy stomped his feet, "No, no, no! Dattebayou!" he raised his hands, "It works on girls! They just get angry and punch me!"
A smirk picked at the Kumo konoichi's lips, "But it stuns them doesn't it?" he calmed down some, looking at her confused, "Before they punch you, they're usually stunned by what they see, right?"
Slowly Naruto gave her a nod, "Well… yea," he rubbed the back of his head, "Suppose I wouldn't get punched if I didn't stick around laughing at the looks on their faces, and even if I do run they end up chasing me…"
The smirk on Yorihi's face got a little wider, "Well sounds to me it works well as a distraction technique," she could admit a number of people in Kumo would be thrown off by such an… unconventional technique. They'd still beat him to death but they'd definitely pause, "I'm surprised something so simple could be so effective…"
Naruto perked up, "You-you really think so?"
Idly Yorihi gave a nod, "Sex appeal is often a konoichi's greatest weapon, a momentary distraction with their physical aspects could save their life, we actually have a Company based around that philosophy," a blush suddenly crossed her face as she realized what she was talking about… and how innocently he was looking at her, "T-to be honest, I'm not very g-good at it myself… which is why I just use my own strength but…" then thoughts of waking up with Bachiko using her form the other day… that damn bastard wasn't even trying but he could probably seduce anyone he wanted, worse yet with her form!
"I think you're pretty, dattebayou…" Naruto said quite bluntly. He'd noticed since the first time they met she was pretty, with her pale skin and long dark hair in a braid, even the little ones that framed her cute face and the rest of her hair left rough and wild. Then there was her outfit, it was tight, didn't hide anything, it didn't exactly enhance anything either, it was more functional for quick movement and carrying as much equipment as possible. But despite all that it was easy to see she was pretty developed, slim waist, wide hips, big chest… she had to be older then him, just short for her age, probably the same age as Xi-nee-chan and Oraka-bou, she was just still filling out her body. She was going to be a bombshell when she was an adult and didn't seem to mind the way she looked, which made sense since she couldn't really see it and- crap! His mind was wondering!
"Thank… you…?" Yorihi replied stiffly, the only times she got comments about her physical appearance was from her family or friends, mostly her female family or friends comment about her chest, or in Mei's case, lamenting it. It was strange hearing a boy, a Konoha boy no less, saying she was pretty. A heat passed along her cheeks that she tried to murder without prejudice…
Naruto seemed to take up a thinking pose, "Though I think your outfit could use a little work, the skin tight helps but I think you could make a few changes here or there that would enhance your looks and make you totally sexy!" with a wide grin the boy pumped his fists, excited by the idea of such a project.
"Uh… no," Yorihi firmly shook her head with a light sigh, "As interesting as your comments are, I'd like to get back to talking about your technique."
"Aw, uh, okay?" he scratched the back of his head, still mildly thinking about how best to adjust her outfit without ruining the overall style, "What… else? Do ya wanna know about it? Dattebayou?"
Yorihi's brows moved like she was rolling her eyes, sensing his attention wasn't completely back on point… and he kept looking at her chest, not that she could comment without him wondering how she knew. So indignantly she crossed her arms and turned slightly away, "Have you ever considered enhancing it? Other versions? Combinations with your shadow clones?" as annoying as the technique was it had a certain value in being distracting, grabbing the attention of anything and sending them after him. Combining it with shadow clones would make for an excellent means of escape.
"Oh yea! Hehe!" he giggled perversely, "Yea, I combined them, its called my Harem no jutsu!" and with a multitude of loud poof!s the immediate area around them was full of naked blondes in various poses and levels of seductiveness.
Yorihi tried very hard to ignore it, all of it, even the sounds… luckily she had her own impenetrable defense against this damnable technique, "Still blind." She deadpanned.
As one all the… sexy-naked-blondes dropped their acts, pouted, whined, and complained before poof!ing out of existence where only Naruto was standing there, pouty angry fox-face on and his arms crossed, "You are no fun at all, dattebayou…"
In the back of her mind, Yorihi could have sworn she felt her demonic cat fall out of a tree… unconscious. It made her brow twitch, "I'm just going to assume you multiplied that sexy version of you…" his pout persisted and she could only sigh, "Well despite its oddity, I have to say it's rather impressive you're this skilled, considering no one taught you your best techniques…"
"Eh?" Naruto scratched the back of his head confused, "Huh, guess now that you say it, yea, no one's really taught me any techniques, I just found 'em myself or made 'em up…"
An twitch picked at the side of her mouth, trying not to smirk, "Making your own techniques is far more impressive then having someone teach them to you, and with your skills and unique abilities I'd imagine it'd be even easier for you to learn any skill you wanted…" maybe this was a good idea, if she bolstered his ideas of independence maybe he'd be more inclined to leave this wretched place.
"Unique abilities and skills? What d'you mean by that? Dattebayou?" the blonde boy couldn't help but question. No one had ever said his techniques were 'useful' before, it was strange hearing it, usually they just said it was a perverted trick and to never do it again.
A tattooed brow rose curiously at the boy, "Well the Kagebushin for one thing," she held out her hand gesturing to him, "From what I know of it it's a dangerous, jounin level technique meant to spy, since it uses half the users chakra to create a solid clone that when destroyed returns all its memories and experience back to the caster…"
"IT DOES THAT?!" Naruto shouted and blinked, "Wait, that doesn't make sense… what do you mean by returns experiences to the caster?"
Yorihi just brow glared him, "Summon a clone," quickly the boy did so, and almost just as quickly she punched it in the face, causing it to disappear and the boy to grab his nose and yelp like it was broken, "See, you feel and remember what the clone felt," she crossed her arms as he finally stopped, realizing there was no pain in his face just a shadowed memory, "I suppose in battle you're too focused on your task at hand to really recall or remember every instance of your clones being killed, or the Kyuubi likely blocks it out to preserve your sanity…"
Instantly a gloomy face came over the blonde as he looked away, "Don't… don't mention that thing…"
A frown formed on the Kumo konoichi's face, "I will, as its what gives you the unique ability to create so many Kagebushin, allowing you to effectively use them in combat for a number of situations…" despite her praise he was still glaring at her with a pout. She sighed, "Imagine you're trying to learn a technique, instead of just learning it normally on your own, you can have a hundred of you trying to learn it at once, pop them all and all that experience comes back to you and after that you can try again better…"
Naruto was quiet for a few seconds, thinking her words over and despite the fact he still had that sour look on his face as smile started to break through as the idea started to sink in, "That's… that's actually a pretty cool idea, dattebayou," clear blue eyes turned to the blind girl, sparkling with a kind of appreciation she wasn't used to as he grin widely at her, "Hehe, so much for not teaching me anything, ne? Yorihi-sensei~"
She blushed again and futilely tried to squash it. –DAMNIT! DAMN HIM! I'm not trying to help him just be friendly and convince him to join us, slowly, and I was only stating the obvious!- mentally she was yelling at herself for probably giving Konoha a more effective jinchuuriki, but hopefully the gamble would pay off in the end and she could convince him to join them… and where the hell was her damn cat to stop her from stupid stuff like this! –BACHIKO!- her only response was what felt like a twitch.
Growling, Yorihi turned on Naruto to say something-
Before a large explosion nearby caught both their attention.
For a second the two looked the way it came from, then at each other, and without a word they both seemed to realize where it was coming from and what it might.
"Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, Oraka-bou-teme…" Naruto muttered as he faced the Kumo girl next to him.
Yorihi just gave him a stern nod, pushing everything aside and going into a battle ready mode, "Let's go!"
Quickly the two took off, hoping to find their comrades okay.
Oku turned around slowly as he felt three shinobi jump through the supposed hole in his trap defenses. He'd felt them milling about for a while now, knew they'd been snagged from proceeding by his more obvious and denser traps and had been waiting for them to figure out a way through. As he turned around and saw the headbands they all wore he couldn't help the wide obvious smile on his face, waving at them politely, "Hello, how are you today?!"
"Tch," the tall one with the spikey hair and yellow shirt covered in kanji spit, "What is this guy, a moron or something?"
"I dunno," the girl next to him with her long hair and black eyes spoke in a slithering voice, licking her lips as she looked Oku over, "I think he's kinda cute, could I keep him, even if he's dumb?"
"Quiet, both of you," the gravely voice of their wrapped third member, hunched over with his big furry coat and one eyes showing, "We've come for the Uchiha, bring him out here and we'll spare your lives…"
The Konoha girl on the ground leaning against the hollow gasped.
Oku mostly ignored her as he kept up his disarming smile, "Oh? You want the Uchiha huh? Not my scroll? Or theirs?"
There was a grunt and a snicker from the tall man and woman, but the slumped mummy just narrowed his eye, "We don't care about the scrolls, just give us the Uchiha…"
Oku made a play of rubbing his chin, looking like he was thinking about it, "What scroll do you guys got?"
The two sound shinobi behind Dosu made to comment but he held out his hand, "Earth scroll…" he pulled it out from under his tunic to show the Kumo boy. He had an idea what the boy was thinking about, but had no intention of letting him go.
Oku leaned in, still holding his chin and seemed to be inspecting the scroll despite the distance and his eyes looked closed, "Oh, that's good, we need one of those!"
Dosu set the scroll down on the ground, "How about we make this easy, you want this scroll, we want the Uchiha, he's not a member of your team so you don't care about him," his head tilted at an odd angle and the way his voice shifted suggested he was smiling, "We'll made a trade?"
"N-no, you can't-!" Sakura yelled from her position, trying desperately to push herself up. She couldn't trust the Kumo boy to protect her, let alone Sasuke, and if that was the scroll his team needed he had even less of a reason to keep them alive!
"Hmm… that does sound like a fair trade," he could feel the girl behind him stiffen and the see the Sound genin smirk. His smile became something wicked as his voice took on a deeper dark tone, "Too bad I'm more interested in watching you suffer…" and the badger tamer's eyes were opened, showing narrow unforgiving seafoam green eyes.
By the time Dosu realized what was happening razor wire shot up out of the ground at their feet. He had been facing the guy so managed to catch the shift and jump away.
Zaku was not, the taller genin screamed as the wire wrapped around his legs, cutting the off roughly and painfully just below the knees, "AAARGGHH! FUCK! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!" in a desperate move the spikey haired boy tried to aim his hands at the Kumo boy, a strange hissing sound coming from a hole in his hand, "FUCK YOU!" only for whatever power up of chakra in arms to amount for nothing. Razor wire had shot out, wrapped around his arms and cut them right off at the elbows. The boy continued screaming as he quickly bled out.
The whole time Oku was just staring at the boy being ripped to pieces by his traps.
Kin had managed to jump away as well, right after Dosu so the damn wire nicked her shoes, cutting them off. She landed somewhat away from her teammate, pulling out her senbon and ready to start-
Only for Oku, without even looking her way, to raise his hand in a gesture, pointer and middle finger extended, the rest in a fist, and go from pointing down to point up in a swift motion.
Immediately underneath her spikes show up all around, impaling one foot and her entire other leg. The scream she released was just as pitiful. In her pain-mad craze she tried to throw her senbon, the bells jingling and giving her away.
Oku's hand merely gestured sideways… and a metal spear shot from an unknown source, skewering her through the chest.
Dosu just stared. He didn't particularly like his teammates but even he felt that was overkill on both of them, and far too quickly that they had died. He pulled up his sleeve, uncovering his amplifier stereo and when the multitude of traps came he blew them up or away with the sound, sheltering himself form the debris the same way.
Oku just kept his eyes on him, raising his other hand in a similar gesture and moving his fingers. Spikes, pitfalls, gas, arrows, kunai, anything possible started coming out at random intervals pursuing Dosu as he just used his sound to negate most of them.
The hairy mummy growled, charging at the trap master, realizing it was unlikely he'd set anything too close to the hollow otherwise it would endanger their comrades. Avoiding what seemed to be a large bear trap, Dosu jumped at the boy, sending his soundwaves at him, expecting him to lose all balance and sense and throw up like he'd seen tons of victims do before.
Instead Oku she reached out and grabbed the mummified freak by his throat, not even caring that his ears were bleeding, "You think just because you can distort someone's balance they're incapable of fighting?" with a jerk and far too much power in a body as small as his, Oku punched the sound genin rapidly in the chest several time before lifting him up by his throat only to slam him done hard enough on the ground to feel his hyoid bone give way, his eyes to bulge out and blood to splatter on the inside of his bandages. Oku just stared at him with those deadly eyes, squeezing his throat even more to the point the sound genin was trying to punch, kick and strangle him back, "Here's some advice, I'm an explosives expert, I've blown out my eardrums more times than I can count, so I've had plenty of time to learn how to function without any proper sense of balance…" a smirk as the flailing started to lose most of its power, "Oh and by the way," he let go, stood up and kept smiling at the broken genin in front of him, "Thanks for stopping by…"
The second the words left his mouth the explosive note he'd strapped to the boy's throat went off, leaving nothing but a bloody headless corpse.
Oku stared for a moment, cracking his knuckles then spiting on the headless corpse, then headed to where the scroll was and went to retrieve it.
Sakura was stunned into complete and utter silence.
Naruto looked like he was about to puke.
Karin was burying her head in her Senpai's side, tired of seeing so much death today.
Yorihi turned to her comrade, seeing a blank look on the medic wannabe's face as the blind girl couldn't help but walk over to her and grab her shirt, forcing the older girl to look at her with those dead red eyes as she spoke with a low growl in her voice, "What the hell was that?"
Xiao just looked at her comrade with those empty eyes, then faced away, catching her partner as he smiled, reaching down to pick up Lior, "Don't ask me Yorihi, not now…" and she disentangled herself from both her comrade and the Kusa girl she was stuck with, walking over to her blood covered partner.
Oku felt her approach easily, looking up at her as she stood next to him, crossing her arms as her eyes showed him everything she couldn't show the others. He frowned, gaining a serious look on his face before standing up and enveloping him in a protective hug, "They're dead Xiao-chan, they won't touch you ever again…"
She simply gripped his shirt, burying her face in his chest, "Shut up, Oku… just shut up…"
Mori – Harpoon
Damare! - Shut up!
A/N: silence~
okay, to the two that reviewed, you got your responses, hope to hear for some more people!
Till next -salute-waves- Sayounara, Mina!
-Ikasury
