What's going on my fans? Not much here, except I have to go to the beach this weekend. Bleh. I'm about as excited as Sasuke would be to go on such a trip. Plus, I won't get to check the update for Naruto manga! Blasphemy! Anyways, here's the next chapter. I hope the fight scene isn't too boring for you guys. Don't worry though, this fight isn't too important anyways, and even as I write this header now I don't even know what it's going to be like, but it's pretty late so…weird stuff could happen. Well, on to the fic. Woohoo.
A set of eyes slowly and silently fluttered open in the darkness. As they glanced around the surroundings, a small flicker of light could be seen directly ahead. Several heavy footsteps could be heard running through the otherwise tranquil area. Suddenly, it dawned upon the owner of the eyes just what exactly was going on.
"Damn it…I wasn't able to protect myself or Naruto," Sakura realized in her mind. She was obviously being carried by someone, and she was definitely being moved fast. Judging by the lump on her head, she felt it would be a smart idea to keep her consciousness to herself.
As she secretly glanced around, she noticed there were 5 other people being held. "What's going on here?" she wondered with fear as she realized who the other people were. Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Chouji, and Shino were all being carried to the same unknown destination as she was.
Suddenly, her motion was stopped, and she was abruptly dropped onto the floor along with her fellow comrades. It took almost all of her remaining strength just to keep from making a noise during her fall, but somehow she managed not to.
"So, where is Sasuke or that Naruto kid?" asked an eerily familiar voice in a tone demanding an answer.
"Sorry Orochimaru, but they weren't found during this first run," answered another familiar voice in a sorry tone. "But you weren't really expecting them…were you."
"That was…Kabuto's voice! And that means the other one was…Orochimaru!" Sakura suddenly realized as fear shot straight down her whole body.
"Heh, that's why you are my right-hand man Kabuto. You always see through my plans," Orochimaru praised with an evil smile forming on his face.
"It wasn't too hard to figure out, after all, one of the men didn't return with us so I knew something was up," Kabuto modestly replied. It wasn't the first time he had been complimented in such a way.
Sakura, realizing the trap that had been set for her friend let out a small yelp and tried to cover it up by acting unconscious again. However, this wasn't about to fool one of the legendary 3 ninjas, and Orochimaru noticed her right away.
"Looks like one of the bait weaklings has woken up," he announced as he strolled towards her. "So, what do you think about my plan? Think it will attract your 'friend' Sasuke?" he laughed as a fist slammed down upon Sakura's head. "I'll even give you plenty of time to think about it."
Sakura's could just make out Orochimaru's smirk before her view faded back into nothingness.
"Heh I wasn't expecting a third in this fight, but I already know about your abilities," said the henchman while gesturing towards Shikamaru. I guess it would only be fitting to start this contest off with this technique!" The man pulled out 8 kunai and clutched them in-between his fingers while chanting, "Illuminating lantern no jutsu!" and subsequently flinging his body in circles while letting go of the kunai. The kunai were scattered into all parts of the fighting area and somehow stuck deep within the rock walls and starting emitting an insanely bright and strange light. It was not like sunlight, but instead completely white and left only a small amount of shadow underneath each person.
"Damn!" Shikamaru yelled as he realized what the man had just done. With hardly any shadows at all, and his shadow being so small, the Shadow Copy no Jutsu would be almost impossible to use, unless of course, Shikamaru could get into very close range. But without very good taijutsu, Shikamaru realized such an idea would be suicide against a Ninja of such a high level. As Shikamaru started to think up new strategies, Naruto had already came up with his own.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as 10 replicas of himself instantly appeared next to him. "I'll take you out with just one combo!" said the blonde-haired ninja with the enlarged ego. However, the opponent was only laughing. Realizing this, Naruto pushed even harder with his clones determined to make the man shut his mouth. However, when Naruto got within a range of 30 feet, the man had already started a new jutsu.
"Earth Army no Jutsu!" the man roared back at Naruto as a matching 10 replicas of himself had started to take shape out of the ground beneath him. Naruto was taken by surprise and put on a look of angry surprise as he pushed even harder.
"Heh, these are probably just like water clones! They are going to be way weaker then the main body, so I'll just…" he thought to himself as each clone similarly brought back a fist and prepared to launch an attack. Expecting the man to be at least slightly worried, Naruto was taken by surprise when the man was still smiling. "Stop smiling! I'll teach you not to underestimate me!" Naruto screamed at the man as he looked back at Sasuke for a brief moment, seeming to acknowledge something.
"Naruto, above you, look out!" Shikamaru hollered quickly as he noticed 3 clones starting to form from the ceiling above.
"Oh no! I better hurry this up then!" Naruto told himself aloud, generating more positive looks from the enemy. He quickly dispatched all of the clones in front of him although all except one of his were destroyed in the process as well. However, as he kept the clone glanced on the enemy, he noticed the 3 clones were heading straight for Sasuke and Shikamaru! Not only that, but there were also 3 more clones coming out of the ground behind them!
"You guys, look out be…!" was all Naruto could utter before he saw his two friends get stabbed in their respective backs. A look of horror spread across Naruto's face as he stared at the man who had done the deed. He was still laughing.
"Hah, you thought you could stand a chance against me? I guess Orochimaru is going to be mad when he hears about your friend dead and all, but….what? Why are you smiling now?" The man furiously asked as Naruto couldn't help but keep smiling.
"You thought you could stand a chance against us?" he said as two clouds of smoke popped up in place of Sasuke and Shikamaru's bodies. Immediately following that, 3 clones of Sasuke appeared to quickly annihalate the six clones that stood where his clone once had. Shikamaru, meanwhile, appeared right behind Orochimaru's shocked subordinate and whispered in his ear, "Got you."
While the man was busy having his clones utterly destroyed by the hands of two mere genin, the Chuunin had snuck behind him and used his Shadow Copy no jutsu to bind him in place.
"But…but how?" the man questioned in a stupor.
"It was easy considering how much you gave yourself away earlier," Sasuke started. "Once we figured out your presence, me and Shikamaru hid in place of two of Naruto's clones," he concluded.
"Yea, did you really think Sasuke would sit there and let me have all the good parts?" Naruto playfully questioned as the man just stared on in horror. Then, getting in closer to the man, Naruto whispered, "You know, Sasuke always tries to steal the good parts! I bet you he will try and finish you off, just watch!" Meanwhile the man was still sitting there shocked.
"I was beaten…by these guys?" was the thought in his mind as he watched Naruto and Sasuke fight over who always took the good parts in the fights, although it was really just a one-sided argument on Naruto's side. Sasuke just responded "whatever" whenever Naruto brought up what Naruto thought was a good point. Inwardly, Sasuke was once again thinking about Naruto's fight with Gaara…asking himself if he could ever become that strong.
"Hey, guys…hey…HEY GUYS!" Shikamaru finally shouted trying to get Naruto and Sasuke's attention. Once they turned to face him, he finished his statement. "What are we going to do with this guy? I'm not going to be able to hold him like this for much longer you know…"
Right before Naruto was going to announce his awesome plan, Sasuke piped up, "Naruto, you need to save your chakra, we still have a lot of work to do. Plus, we need to get some information off of this guy first." Naruto, having been lost in the fight, had forgotten the actual reason why they were fighting in the first place. Suddenly, though, Naruto remembered. "Sakura…"
"I'll handle this," Naruto said with a fury that Sasuke didn't even want to mess with. Naruto walked up to the man briskly, as he knew he needed to get the information quickly. With his patented fox look going for him, Naruto grabbed the man by the shirt. "Tell me where they are are…NOW!" he rasped. The man wasn't a good enough fighter to defeat them, and he sure as hell didn't want to anyone emitting this sort of chakra.
"It's not like your going to save them anyway. They are all the way at the other end of these caverns. Although you might as well give up now, there is no way you three can do it," was the man's answer. Not only did this enrage Naruto even more, it also enraged Sasuke. Neither one was about to be underestimated, and Shikamaru knew something was about to happen he didn't like.
"You remember I move the same as this guy right?" He informed the two infuriated ninjas. Sasuke just held his anger in by clenching his fists in his pockets and turning away. Naruto meanwhile, had returned to his normal state, and acknowledged Shikamaru. "Fine, I'll just knock this guy out with one move!" he roared as Shikamaru prepared for the worst. "Sexy no Jutsu!" Naruto called out as he preformed the ability that never failed him. The man was immediately struck down as blood ran down his nose, and Sasuke tied him up and set up traps all around to ensure he wouldn't be going anywhere.
Usually Naruto would laugh as his victim fell pray to his technique, but he was far to angry and upset to laugh about it now. However, when he realized the technique didn't affect Shikamaru, Naruto couldn't help but ask.
"Shikamaru…are you gay?"
Ok that's enough. I'm really really tired now. I'm going to sleep. And the Shikamaru joke….I couldn't help it, it was just so opportune. And no I don't hate Shikamaru, he is actually one of my favorite characters. And no he isn't gay, and I'll explain that next chapter…but for now I'm going to sleep. It's 3:00 in the morning….zZzzzZZzzzZZzzZZZ