5: Super-weeds
Shikamaru fell back onto the grass with an overly exaggerated sigh. He looked at his hands and grimaced at how raw and pink they were. They had been working for nearly an hour, and Shikamaru was close to his limit.
"Geez, this is really—" he began.
"Don't you dare say it," Ino snapped. She struggled to remove the teeth of the rake from the tangled mess of weeds. She also seemed to be developing a rather serious twitch in her right eye.
"I was going to say 'tedious'," Shikamaru said stubbornly.
"I think we all know what you were going to say, Shikamaru," Chouji said. Although the stronger of the two, he seemed to be getting wearied as well. He hadn't gone this long without eating for a while, after all.
"Geez," Shikamaru said. "I can't stand doing work like this. Why couldn't we get something easy? Like baby-sitting or something."
"Yeah, we could eat when we're baby-sitting," Chouji agreed, looking mournful. "Weeding requires too much energy."
"Hey, raking isn't the most fun of jobs either!" Ino exclaimed, wrenching the rake free from the ground. She tumbled backward onto a large pile of dead leaves, scattering them around the yard again. "Oh great," she said, looking frustrated. "This is the eleventh time this has happened!"
"Yeah, thanks Ino," Shikamaru said, smirking now. "Raking was the hardest job."
"Shut up, you lazy bum," Ino retorted, getting red in the face. "Weeding doesn't look too easy either."
"Yeah, I don't know what this grandma's thinking," Chouji said, looking around him in wonder. Only a quarter of the entire yard had been properly weeded. "I wonder if what we're weeding are really weeds."
Shikamaru moaned in agony. "Don't tell me we've been weeding something that wasn't weeds."
"No, they're weeds alright," Ino said. "They just seem to be a hybrid breed of a billion different weeds to make it some sort of super-weed."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Super-weed?"
Ino's face grew solemn. "This type of weed," she began, motioning to the small pile of uprooted plants, "Seems to have gained all the strong attributes of weeds and none of the weak. Thorns, deep roots, and tough stems… weeds don't usually have all of those."
Chouji looked worried. "But why haven't we been hurt yet?"
"I don't know, perhaps luck. Right now, all we know for sure is to careful and one thing you have to be absolutely sure of doing is to—AAAAARGH!!"
Ino tumbled over backwards, spilling the remaining leaves haphazardly onto the ground. Dark forms raced away from her, laughing shrilly.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ino exclaimed from the ground, preparing herself to throw a large tantrum.
"It looked like a pair of overly excited kids, obviously playing ninja, evading a trio of angry genin," Shikamaru said casually, peering into the distance to see the blurred forms disappear down the street. Ino and Chouji both stared.
"…Or a pack of rabid dogs," Shikamaru suggested, shrugging. He reached over to help Ino up, but they were suddenly tackled to the ground by a bright orange blur that screamed, "YOU LITTLE BRATS!" as it brought the two to the ground. Ino let out a surprised yelp as she and Shikamaru toppled onto the floor in a mass of tangled arms and legs.
Chaos ensued. Ino jumped back onto her feet and a kunai was instantly in her hands. Shikamaru's Shadow Bind shot out to the mysterious attacker allowing Chouji to tackle the person to the ground. But as Chouji attempted this, a barrage of shurikens hurtled towards the three. They only narrowly evaded them, but this seemed to ignite a barrage of punches and kicks amongst themselves. Elbows elbowed and knees kneed until a deafening whistle tore through the air. The crowd froze.
"What are you doing, Ino-pig!?"
Ino's head turned quickly to the owner of the voice. Her eyes narrowed at her rival. "I should've known it was you," she said viciously.
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Coming up...
6: The Chase Continues
"THEY WENT THIS WAY!" Naruto exclaimed. "MOVE YOUR ASS, SASUKE!"
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