Ch. 16

Everyone from Naruto's team was now present and accounted for. This time Naruto had moved them to training ground 3. It was a slightly wooded area with an open field here and there. After everyone had exchanged greetings, Naruto turned to Neji, Kiba and Shino, "As members of this team, you all have a right to know everything that's going on." As Neji, Kiba and Shino waited in anticipation, Naruto started, "The scroll we intercepted on our mission ended up containing critical information. It was a communication between the Sound and the Rain. At first, we thought it was a regular communication, but the seal looked a little too complex for that. Upon breaking the seal, we discovered that it wasn't just any communication, it was a communication confirming a future offensive against the Leaf and/or the Sand." Neji, Kiba and Shino stood at rapt attention. "In the communication, the Rain's new leader was declared to be Sasuke." A look of confusion crossed the faces of the three shinobi. "As you can see, that is not the case. When we ran into Sasuke, he was on his way to try to clear his name. He claims he has nothing to do with this alliance."

Kiba looked at Naruto, "No details about when this offensive may take place?"

"Nope. Just confirmation that it will take place."

As the three pondered the new information, they started to piece together the events of yesterday. After a drawn out silence, Naruto decided to speak up. "Now that that's over with, let's start team training."

"We're going to have a quick sparring session." As everyone turned to Naruto, he continued, "Normal rules. If someone incapacitates you, you're out and you have to go stand over there, he motioned to the opposite side of the training ground boundary. We're going to be fighting in teams. I've tried to balance out the teams as much as possible and the environment should help with that as well. Kiba and Shino, you're Squad 1. Your diverse skill sets and experience working with each other should help you greatly. Sasuke and Sakura, you're Squad 2. Not only do you guys have experience working with each other, but your skillsets are diverse and one of your members visual prowess is unmatched. Neji, you're with me, we're Squad 3. We have your skills, your Byakugan, and my abilities as well. Any questions?"

Naruto looked around and everyone seemed to understand what was about to take place. "If there are no questions then get into position."

The three teams split up into a triangle and stood about 100 feet from each other.

As Shino and Kiba took their fighting positions, Kiba whispered to Shino, "Just like old times, huh?"

As Shino took his fighting stance he replied, "Just like old times…"

Sakura and Sasuke were now back to back. She smiled as she remembered their days on Team 7. She was taking her fighting stance when Sasuke spoke to her. "We attack Kiba and Shino first. We won't be able to take Naruto down easily and he won't let Neji go down easily. It would be a waste of our chakra to attack the strongest fighters first." Sakura thought to herself, 'There he is being a tactician again…'

Sasuke saw Sakura looking a little unfocused. "Got it?" Sakura was knocked out of her thoughts and let out a firm "Yeah." as she took her fighting stance.

Naruto was now back to back with Neji, "If I know Sasuke, he's gonna go after the weakest links first, so Kiba and Shino are gonna be his focus. He's probably thinking we'll do the same thing."

Neji tilted his head slightly, "We aren't?"

"Nah." He let out a cheeky grin. "I'm gonna be a little unpredictable…"

Neji smiled as he saw a little of the old Naruto shine through again, "I'll follow your lead."

Naruto gave a short nod. His eyelids were now turning an orange color as he entered Sage Mode.

After everyone had taken their fighting positions, Naruto looked around to make sure everyone was ready.

"Begin!"

Sasuke and Sakura immediately dashed towards Kiba and Shino. Naruto thought to himself, 'I knew it.'

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Sasuke immediately stopped and looked over to see multiple shadow clones multiplying his way. His expression turned into one of annoyance as he realized Naruto was forcing everyone to focus on him…the hardest fighter to bring down. He jumped up and did a series of hand signs then fired a fireball jutsu from his mouth, dispatching around 30 of them. Naruto let out a slight grunt as the pain from the shadow clones hit him all at once. As shadow clones kept multiplying towards the different teams, Shino jumped into the trees, Kiba dropped a couple of smoke bombs and Sakura started fighting the clones head on.

Neji looked around, 'So this was Naruto's plan. I must admit, it was rather effective.' He couldn't even tell where the real Naruto was anymore. Suddenly one of the Narutos yelled to him. "Kiba is using smoke bombs! Use your Byakugan to give yourself an advantage!"

Neji now realized that Naruto had probably thought about a way to take down every other nin at that sparring session. He had already set Kiba up and he was probably already going after someone else. He grinned as he thought about how fortunate he was to be on Naruto's team, then he went after Kiba.

Kiba was trying to use the trees and some smoke bombs as cover, but Neji's Byakugan was too good. As Kiba was about to run past a tree, Neji dropped down from above. "Gentle fist!" He hit one of Kiba's less critical chakra points to avoid seriously injuring him. Kiba fell off Akamaru and gasped for air. Neji offered him a hand up. He reluctantly accepted it. "Caught me off guard."

"Thank my Byakugan."

Kiba nodded. "You better get back to the fight."

Neji nodded, jumped to the trees and started heading back towards the starting point of the fight.

As Kiba reached the outer boundary of the training ground, he saw that Shino was already there. Ouch… "Who took you out?" he asked inquisitively.

Shino kept watching the fight. "Naruto…He said me going to the trees was too predictable."

Kiba shook his head, "He already knew that was what we would do…"

Sakura was mowing down Naruto clones at lightning speed. She yelled out a fierce "CHAAAAA!" as she punched one into the ground.

Suddenly, Sasuke landed beside her. He looked slightly worn from having to battle all the clones. "These things are pretty tough aren't they?" He said as she punched one into the ground. She jumped and kicked a rushing clone before replying, "Yeah…They're tough alright…"

"Sakura! That's not me!"

Her head quickly swiveled to to see a shocked Sasuke about 50 feet from her.

"You're too gullible…" Naruto now had his arm around Sakura's neck. As he held her in his arms, he started admiring her pink hair and lost his focus as he thought about how things used to be between them. As he hesitated, Sakura noticed what was happening and headbutted him with the back off her head,

"OWW!"

"AND YOU'RE!" - she stepped on his foot, "TOO!" - then kicked backwards and hit him in the crotch, "NICE!" - as she elbowed him in the stomach.

As he fell back in pain, the transformation wore off and he watched as Sasuke laughed at him from about 50 feet away while still fighting off some clones. Imagine that, Sasuke of all people laughing.

"GGGRRRRR…."

Suddenly around 20 clones surrounded Sakura. All of them said at the same time, "That wasn't nice Sakura…"

A look of panic crossed Sakura's face as she realized how much trouble she was in. Right before they could jump onto her she heard Sasuke yell out, "Universal pull!" Suddenly all of the clones were flying towards Sasuke. He did a series of hand signs and then used another fireball jutsu to dispatch of them. She let out a sigh of relief. She was in the clear…..or so she thought. Suddenly Neji rushed out of a band of Naruto's clones and was right in front of her in a crouched position. "Gentle Fist!"

He hit her in the same exact spot he'd hit Kiba in. She lost her footing, but Neji caught her to soften her fall.

As she caught her breath, Neji turned to her, "You were too sure of your safety. That is why you fell."

"It's why you're about to fall as well!" Neji turned to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha. He was holding his sword right at Neji's neck. Neji sighed and put his head down as he realized he was done as well.

Sasuke turned away towards the remaining shadow clones and put his sword away. He went into a fighting stance, but, to his shock, the clones started disappearing. As Sakura and Neji reached the outer boundary with Kiba and Shino, they turned around to see all the shadow clones were gone. It was just Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto let out a slight grin as he took his fighting stance. Sasuke grinned as well, and in a flash, the two shinobi were fighting once more.

As the two shinobi traded blows, Sasuke decided to create some distance and try some distanced attacks. He kicked off of Naruto's chest and launched about 50 feet into the air. He did a quick hand sign and started breathing multiple fireballs. Naruto continued to dodge them by using a variety of jumps and acrobatic flips.

Naruto decided he'd enlist the help of some shadow clones, but as soon as he tried to do the hand sign, he saw a kunai flying straight for his hands. He let out a grunt of annoyance as he remembered how well Sasuke knew his techniques. Sasuke then used a kunai with a string attached to grapple back down to where Naruto was.

As the two engaged in fierce hand to hand combat, Naruto decided to try to create some distance so he could try to make some shadow clones again. He jumped back and landed about 20 feet from Sasuke. He tried to quickly do the sign to create some shadow clones, but he saw another kunai heading straight for his hands. He quickly sidestepped to dodge it but decided to try to maintain his hand position. Suddenly the kunai was gone and it was Sasuke who was flying through the air in front of him. His eyes opened wide as he noticed that Sasuke had used his Rinnegan to swap places with his kunai. He had no defense because his arms were still down from trying to make the shadow clones. He found himself on the receiving end of a knee to the face. As he struggled to regain his footing, Sasuke was already rushing him. Now he was slicing away with that sword of his again.

As Naruto ducked and weaved to avoid Sasuke's sword, he got an idea. He waited for Sasuke to lunge with his sword before landing a kick to his core. Sasuke reeled back about 10 feet as he held his side. Now was Naruto's chance. He jumped back and started launching a shuriken and kunai barrage. Sasuke remembered their last fight and made sure to keep his eyes peeled. Just then he saw a tagged kunai flying towards him slightly up and to his right. 'There!' He thought to himself. He ducked down and squatted to avoid it, then pushed out his hands as he waited for Naruto to teleport to the kunai. The millisecond of opportunity for Naruto to teleport to Sasuke was now over and Naruto wasn't on top of him. A look of confusion crossed Sasuke's face as he used his Sharingan to look over to the tagged kunai. As he focused in on it, his eyes widened.

The tag read "EXPLOSIVE". He had been duped.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

He suddenly found himself blown about 50 feet to the side, sprawled out on the ground. Before he could make a move, Naruto put a knee on his back and pinned his arms behind his back. "….Gotcha."

They were both breathing very heavily. After a short pause, Naruto slowly got up and let go of Sasuke. As Sasuke got up, he brushed himself off. After the two caught their breath, Sasuke thought about what had just happened, then turned to Naruto, "Well played..."

Naruto let out a cheeky smile. "Thanks!"

Soon after, Sakura, Neji, Kiba and Shino reached where Naruto and Sasuke were.

Sakura looked a little concerned. "Are you guys ok?"

Kiba interjected, "Yeah, that was some fight…"

Naruto turned to Sasuke, paused, then started smiling widely. He replied in a voice that was almost ecstatic, "I'm fine! You should worry about Sasuke. He's the one who just took a bomb to the face!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked slightly annoyed.

As Sakura started working on healing Sasuke's injuries, Naruto kept teasing him. "So, Teme…you know I'm gonna tell Kakashi-sensei about this right."

"Make sure you also tell him about how you let your guard down and got hit in the nuts."

Neji, Kiba, Shino and Sakura all started giggling. Naruto scrunched his eyes at the jab that was just thrown at him, then crossed his arms and turned to Sakura, "That wasn't nice." She kept tending to Sasuke and said with a smirk, "You shouldn't have let your guard down." As Naruto scrunched his eyes even more, Sakura took in the sight of him acting a little bit like his old self.

She was done tending to Sasuke's injuries and had started working on Naruto's injuries. Before she could finish, Shikamaru walked over to them and looked at Naruto.

"We have new intel. The Hokage needs to speak to you and your team…now."

Author's Note

PLEASE feel free to leave reviews on this story. I do enjoy reading reviews and if I see good ideas as to where the story can go, I do listen to them. Reviews are not only very encouraging but they also help me get better. Be sure to drop a follow and a favorite because I will be updating this story consistently. This story will be completed. Believe it!