Chapter 15: We Take Ws

Never in his life had Shisui ever wanted to strangle a magical girl to death until now. Hell, he didn't even know what a magical girl even was before he met the self-proclaimed protector of all the realms from darkness and evil magic.

"What am I looking at right now?"

That came from Hiro, who was apparently the only sane person besides Shisui on the battlefield… or what used to be one anyways.

"Honestly? I got no clue. I'm half tempted to just ditch her right now and go grab a bite to eat," Shisui responded flatly.

It wasn't an odd occurrence for Shisui and Hiro to witness ice spikes taller than the Hokage monument every now and then. After all, they did have the Ice Devil as their teammate. However, it wasn't every day that they witnesses the occur chao and destruction occurring before their eyes.

"So many trees… the poor animals," Hiro whispered as another wave of flames descended upon the already burning forest, "They were innocent… innocent!"

All Shisui could do to console his teammate was to pat him on the back and tell him everything would be alright, even though they both knew that Mother Nature would have a hell of a time restoring this place back to normal.

"There, there. I'm sure all the animals are in a better place now," the Uchiha told the Hyuga, "Also, stop using your damn eyes for fucks sakes. I get that you want to keep track of the she-devil but honestly, she isn't acting very ninja-y right now. You would have to be blind AND deaf to not know where she is."

"Secret Magical Girl Style: Moe Moe Kyun~!"

"Where in the highest god's name does she come up with these jutsu names?" Shisui said, gagging at the words that just came out of his childhood friend's mouth as well as the tone she said it in, "And she's winking! Why?! Now there's beams of light and ice coming out of her wand! I must be dreaming, or someone slipped some hard shit in my drink."

Now it was Hiro's turn to console his teammate. The Hyuga had disregarded his Uzumaki teammate's ability to make any normal person go insane a long time ago. Ever since that fateful day when he was placed on Sera's team, he had believed that god was dead because no all-powerful being would allow an abomination like Sera Uzumaki to exist. It is only because of this that Hiro had yet to gone mad because he could just blame it all on the non-existent gods.

"Magical Love Series: Normal Love Punch!"

"There, there. I'm sure all your brain cells are in a better place now," the Hyuga told the Uchiha, "I'm down to get some food if you are. Those two don't seem to be slowing down any time soon and I am NOT stepping anywhere near… that."

"You think Blondaime's gonna be mad if we ditch her?" Shisui asked, contemplating the pros and cons or actually doing this.

"Take this! Take that! Magical girl kick! Magical girl wet willie! Secret Hermit Combat: Ball Stomper!"

A giant explosion of dirt and fire shot into the sky from where the voice had come from, followed by a female-like shriek saying bloody murder. Hiro and Shisui had to shade their eyes to avoid the shockwave of dust that washed over their bodies.

"Realistically?" Hiro said as he leaned his head back a little, "It's a solid maybe, but once he sees the amount of shit that went down here I don't think he'll care as much."

Shisui shot him a look of confusion.

"Because he'll be too busy chewing out Sera's dumbass to have the time to get mad at us," Hiro explained.

"Oh," the Uchiha replied, "There's a pretty good brunch place at that town we passed by on the way here. You down?"

"Yeah," Hiro answered as he deactivated his eyes before following Shisui away from the loud booms and hisses, "How do you know all these good restaurants anyways?"

"Stop moving you potato! How do you move so fast without your arms and legs! You're almost as annoying as that bitch Gabriel! Ball Crusher! Ball Crusher! Magic Wand Technique: Wand Chop!"

Another round of shockwaves hit the two male teens but luckily for them, they were walking away from the source. At this point, the two weren't even paying attention to whatever the voice was saying anymore. Only reveling in the screams that followed as well as the mini earthquakes that could easily collapse houses.

If the Hyuga teen had been paying attention, he would have seen the awkward blush that was on the Uchiha's face that he hid with a cough, "Oh, um, I'm in uh… food appreciation circle in my clan. Since we, uh, travel around a lot we share any good eats we come across. Totally not intentional that we passed by it or anything. Yup! Nothing weird here. Very normal."

This got Hiro to shoot a weird look at his friend but said nothing of it. Compared to Sera's usual antics, Shisui acting awkward was pretty tame and nothing to think again about.

"If you say so," Hiro said, "Let's hurry before Sera notices."

"You really think she'll be fine?" Shisui asked, looking over at the burning forest with several ice spikes jutting out from between its charred trees.

"Oppai Dragon Series: Dress Break!"

This caught their attention as they both slowly turned around to see a wave of ice ring out from wherever Sera was fighting before slowly turning back around to continue their walk away from that insanity.

"Yeah, I think she'll be fine. She's practically punting a rock around with the number of limbs he doesn't have any more and his bullshit forbidden technique," Hiro deadpanned, "If it makes you feel better, we'll get some take out for her."

"She's going to kill us."

"Why do you think I suggested the takeout?"

"I thought the saying was that food was the way to a man's heart."

"Oh Shisui, food is the way to anyone heart."

"Including you?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Eh, just asking."

"Fear the wrath of my cuteness! My frills! My winks! I. AM. YOUR. FRIENDLY. NEIGHBORHOOD. MAGICAL. GIRL!"

The murderous screams could be heard in nearby villages, who were all confused and terrified of this so called "friendly neighborhood magical girl" as her cackles were followed by torturous anguish. Legends would form that day, speaking of a demon who called itself a magical girl and whoever came across it would experience the pain of a thousand deaths.

Sera Uzumaki was currently conflicted on what emotion to feel. She was happy that she was eating a delicious sandwich filled with body melting meats, crunchy vegies, and perfectly toasted bread. However, her teammates were also there eating with her…

"Didn't you two eat already?" Sera huffed, eyeing their sandwiches, "Why are you eating again?"

"Wut?" Shisui asked with his mouth full, tilting his head back quickly to keep the food in his mouth.

"What he means," Hiro said after swallowing, "We knew the run back would leave us hungry again, so we bought sandwiches for us as well. We are growing boys after all."

Sera shot him a stink eye but stayed quiet, choosing to give her delicious sandwich all of her attention instead. Friends who ditched her for some good eats didn't deserve to be acknowledged by the great Magical Girl Levi-tan.

However, they did bring her food as a peace offering…

"By the way, why is Kakuzu still rolling around out here and not reveling in the dark in some sealing scroll?" Shisui asked, nudging the body that was laying on the ground in front of them, "Not that I'm complaining about you going to town on the guy, but the guys at T&I like their bodies 'nice and fresh' as they put it."

Sera glanced down at the still body of Kakuzu of Takigakure, an S-rank missing-nin from the small village who's been alive for much longer than he should have been able to. Apparently, the man had been using a Forbidden Technique from his home village, the Earth Grudge Fear. She wasn't too sure about the name but who was she to judge naming schemes?

Though, their pre-fight shit-talking had been pretty weird since all the missing-nin would say was how rich he would be after selling Sera's head to the highest bidders. There were some other cruder things he said about what he would do to her body, but Sera learned a while ago to just ignore sexual harassment and kick the speaker's teeth in as a "see you never".

"Don't know what will happen to his body if I seal it away," Sera shrugged, crumpling the take out bag and chucking it Shisui's face who just burned it out of the air with some fire chakra manipulation, "His technique makes his entire body this weird black tendril thing. I don't want to risk it reverting because of some weird sealing quirk."

Hiro nodded at the explanation, "Fair enough."

Team Red had been assigned to tracking down and eliminating Kakuzu of Takigakure, one of the oldest members of the Akatsuki. Besides the Earth Grudge Fear user, the known members consisted of Juzo Biwa of Kiri, Orochimaru of the Sannin, and Hidan, their newest member.

Luckily for Team Red, Hidan had split up from Kakuzu a few days back for whatever reason which allowed Team Green to track down the cultist without worrying about interfering Team Red's fight with Kakuzu.

Sera had been worried about Team Green's success rate until she remembered that Might Gai held an ultimate forbidden technique of his own. One, if used, that allowed the user to surpass a Hokage in terms of sheer power in return for their own life.

Hiro must have caught her wince at the thought, "You worried?"

Sera scoffed lightly, "How can I not? Our comrades and friends are out there fighting S-rank missing-nin on par, or if not stronger, than the bozo I fought. Fuck, just Orochimaru alone makes me stress out but add in a Seven Swordsman and an immortal cultist? Fucking hell man."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Shisui consoled his best female friend.

"How can you be sure?" Sera shot back.

"Because," the Uchiha replied with a sad smile, "If we can't believe in them, who will? All we can hope is that they're alive and safe, that we'll see them back home. Pray that we can all sit down and have a drink at the bar, trade stories, and have a laugh."

"Have faith in their abilities, Sera. All we can do is believe in their Will of Fire," Hiro solemnly said.

The Will of Fire. It left a bitter taste in Sera's mouth just thinking about it.

A phrase used to unite a group of people under a single banner. One that taught children to fight and die for the sake of the village and the future of its people. It felt too… easy. It's interpretation was too lose and allowed for people like Danzo to rise to power all because he was doing stuff "for the sake of the village".

However, Sera couldn't criticize a governing method when her own failed so miserably according to her familiar. She still wasn't sure what happened to her old home but from the sounds of it, it had fallen just like any other civilization.

All she wanted was to create a world where her loved ones didn't have to grow up in fear that they could die the next day, that their homes could be attacked at any second.

"I'm tired," she sighed heavily as her thoughts weighted down her shoulders.

"Aren't we all," Shisui responded, looking more haggard than he did just minutes ago, "When do you think this will be over?"

"I overheard Hiashi talking to the elders that they had located the main base of the Akatsuki the other week," Hiro chimed in, looking up at the sky and watching the clouds lazily roll on by, "Our final destination is the heart of Rain country. It's just a matter of time before we're sent there to meet up with the other teams."

That right. Sera remembered why she was doing all of this. To ensure that her little brother would be safe from the hands of the Akatsuki. Free from the worry that his tenant would be forcefully ripped out of him like Zetsu did to Kushina.

It may be a selfish reason, to fight and kill for the sake of a single soul, but it was her decision to make. For Naruto, she would offer up an entire village worth of souls to ensure his safety. Never again would she allow her younger sibling to face the harsh cruelty of the world. To bear the burden that she once held. Just like Sona did.

"We win these," Sera said quietly, but her voice was filled with confidence. Her teammates were right, she needed to stay strong and focused on the task at hand, "We take Ws."

This got a chuckle from the boys.

"Weird way of putting it but hey, we win these!" Shisui laughed, "We take Ws!"

"Why do I even associate with you two?" Hiro said, shaking his head before lifting it up to show a smiling face as well, "We win these. We take Ws, indeed."

"Hell yeah!" Sera yelled, waving her wand in the air.

"Fuck yeah!" Shisui exclaimed, waving his tanto in the air.

Hiro just smirked and waved a kunai in the air, to humor his teammates as well as reassuring himself. He had finally achieved the family he had hoped for as a child within Team Four and he wasn't about to let it all go because of some megalomaniac with a god complex wanting to take over the world or something.

"Hey, Naruto."

The blonde boy in question turned to look at the person who called out his name.

"What's up, Sasuke?"

The two boys were currently sitting off to the side of the school yard, watching their classmates finish running laps around the Academy. Hinata would have also been there if it weren't for the girls being whisked away by another teacher for their weekly "kunoichi" classes.

"Do you know when everyone's coming home?"

That got a sigh out of the six-year old blonde. It was a question that his best friend had been asking off and on for the past couple weeks. A lot of their family and friends had been gone on some secret mission that his dad couldn't tell him about. Something about it being "too important to say just yet".

"Nope," Naruto said, popping the p at the end, "I want Rara home as much as you want Tachi and Suisui to come back. Mom and Dad keep telling me that they can't say anything and it's getting annoying."

Sasuke hummed, looking a little bit more dejected, not that anyone else other than Naruto would notice. Even Hinata still had a hard time differentiating all the Uchiha face ticks and expressions and she was Sasuke's best female friend.

"Dad worries a lot and Mom's been looking super tired," the Uchiha told his friend, "What's so important that everyone can't come home for a little bit?"

"Yeah, my Dad's super worried too. He keeps looking out the window during dinner and even Mom's looking weird lately. I think Uncle Jira said something to her."

"It's probably about your sister," Sasuke said offhandedly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, "Did Rara do something wrong?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Dad and Mom whisper about your sister and mom sometimes. Tachi always looks angry whenever they do it."

This got Naruto thinking. He hadn't seen his mom and sister act any different around each other, well, ever. The two just did their own thing and left each other alone. He always thought it was because Rara liked to go on adventures all the time with Suisui and Hiroro and his mom was just leaving Rara alone.

"Huh, weird," Naruto said, shrugging off the thought. He was sure that if there was something wrong then the adults would figure it out. That's what Uncle Jira always told him to do.

The two boys fell silent after that as they watched their fellow classmates struggle to finish another lap around the Academy. They knew that they were the odds ones in the class as they knew how to use chakra already.

"Are you still training with your Mom?" Naruto asked, making conversation once more.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, "She's teaching me her fighting style. She told me that I can learn Dad's style when I'm older. You?"

"Same," Naruto responded, "Dad makes me do a lot of stretching and balance stuff. Mom tried to teach me how to use a sword but it's booooooring. I like learning from Sera's scroll. The Judo Style seems really cool, I get to throw people on the ground."

The Uchiha's eyes lit up at the mention of the scroll, "Did your dad open it for you?"

"Mhm," Naruto nodded.

"What was in there other than the Judo thing?"

"Um, a bunch of other fighting styles and chakra control stuff. She also put in more stretching forms that's supposed to be really good."

"Can I come over and see?" Sasuke asked, knowing what the answer would be already but asking out of politeness anyways. His mom didn't raise a rude boy after all.

"Sure, I was gonna ask you and Nata to come over today anyways," Naruto responded, "Mom said she would be home today so she can watch us do it."

The two fell silent once more, but it wouldn't last very long as Hinata approached them and plopped down next to Naruto with a huff.

"Kunoichi classes are so boring," she complained as she flopped into Naruto's shoulder, who supported her body without even blinking an eye.

"Then just ditch," Naruto said, "Rara skips meetings all the time because they're boring. I haven't seen her get in trouble for it ever other than Dad giving her a hard time about it."

Sasuke just stayed silent as he wanted to agree with Naruto, but his entire family motto was pretty much following the law and don't break the rules.

"Anyways," the Hyuga heiress waved off the response, "Whatchu~ doing?"

Naruto and Sasuke could help but stare blankly at their friend before staring at each other before looking back at the Hyuga.

"Something she picked up from your sister?" Sasuke asked quietly, leaning over to his blonde friend.

"I think so," Naruto whispered back before speaking in a normal tone, "Dad opened Rara's scroll for me the other day. Want to come over and see?"

"Yes!" Hinata exclaimed, sitting up straight at the mention of learning from her role model. Her obsession with the Uzumaki princess had lessened quite a bit over the last year but that didn't mean that Hinata didn't want to become like her. Sera was everything Hinata wanted to be, a strong independent kunoichi who can stand with her head held high and defeat all of her foes with ease.

"Speaking of ditching," Naruto said with a large grin, "Wanna ditch and go to my place? Mom made cookies this morning."

"Sure," Hinata shrugged, she knew that her father wouldn't care where she was as long as she was either with the Uzumakis or the Uchihas of all people. The previously long held Uchiha Hyuga rivalry had died down heavily over the past few years apparently. All Hinata cared about was that she could hang out with both of her friends without some dumb clan argument getting in the way.

"I don't know…," Sasuke trailed off, looking conflicted. On one hand, he would get to learn cool things from Naruto's sister and eat cookies but on the other hand, his parents would probably scold him.

"Come Sasuke… Come to the dark side," Naruto said in a spooky voice, "We have cookies…"

"Fine," the Uchiha boy relented, "But you're telling my parents that it was your idea."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto waved off, "Your parents love me anyways."

Hinata jumped up and grabbed both of the boy's arms to pull them up, "Less talking and more cookies!"

"Cookies!" Naruto yelled before rushing off towards the Academy's entrance with Hinata and Sasuke hot on his heels.

The Academy teachers who saw them run away just sighed and shook their head before going back to whatever they were doing before. The trio had run away so many times at that point that they had given up chasing after them. Especially, since the three remained at the top of their class consistently no matter how much they skipped.

Just another day at the Hidden Leaf Academy, just another day.