Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto. Period.
Author's notes: Gee!!! You guys are all so kind! Arigato! Anyway, here are the replies to the reviews!
Arbil: Arigato! Thanks a lot for your review! I appreciate every bit of it! Don't worry! If Lan's gonna be paired up with Reika, Keiki will obviously have one as well!
xXxLiQuid FaNtAsYxXx: Yah… sorry for updating late. I hope that this makes up for my slow updation. Peace!
laZy hyuuGa: Maa, maa, thank you for the review! But I still think that no one would actually lose interest on writing. Don't worry! I respect your decision. Thank you for the review!
Magicians of the Yami: Don't worry! You'll see the result of your battle in this chapter! I'll be waiting for your next story though! Do your best in your fic and I'm sure you'll do great! After all, if someone does their best in something, they would not feel that bad if someone criticizes them. I'm glad that you're taking the criticisms the good way! Go for it!
izumi-17: Thank you for your vote!
Night-Owl123: Arigato!
Wormkaizer: Gee!!! Arigato for the compliment!
sephynarutocloud: Thank you! Yep! I've read "A New Cause" already and I find it really cool! Lee and Sasuke sure got one heck of a beating for Naruto there, ne? Thank you for saying that compliment! I really appreciate it!
Place-your-name-here: Thanks a lot!
Author's notes: Gee!!! Thanks a lot guys! That's why I'm doing my best to update sooner. I hope that you'll like my next chapter! As for now, people agreed with my lanxreika pairing and many votes for ringxshinji. At my school, my classmates also voted for… bwehehe. I won't say it. It would spoil the fun. Let the chapter start!
Chapter 17:
'This is the third match. Our group has two wins and zero loses while the sound-nins have zero wins and two loses. We need to win this round so that we can finally win this game. Kids, even though I haven't really taught you anything, I know that your father has. I have faith in you kids. Don't lose.' Naruto thought as he gazed at Hinata who was watching the battle with worried eyes.
'Win.'
Now= = = = = =
The three shinobis stared at each other as orange (Joan's), red (Lan's), and purple (Keiki's) chakra started to flow out of their bodies. The tension in the air was becoming stronger every second.
"I don't know what your specialty is, but I won't allow you to defeat us." Lan said as his chakra started to flare up more. Keiki nodded as he crouched into a basic taijutsu stance.
"Yeah! We will win this match!" He exclaimed.
Joan snorted. "Hmp! As if! Stop kidding me!" She said as she crossed her arms. 'However, I still can't believe that I'll be fighting with Itachi-san's nephews. Hmm… a sharingan user, no matter how inexperienced they are with it, can prove to be a tough opponent.' She thought as she giggled.
Lan and Keiki's bodies tensed up more as they heard her slight giggles. "What's so funny?" Lan asked.
"Funny of me to think like that. However…" She started.
"Let the match begin." Kisame said.
Joan suddenly made some very swift hand seals as her chakra surrounded her. "… I'm not going to lose to the likes of you!" She exclaimed with a sick smile on her face. "Shadow Fire!"
The twins didn't waste more time as they both activated the sharingan to read their opponent's moves. However, they both noticed as well that they won't be able to evade due to lack of time, so the twins did what they think would be best.
Lan quickly moved in front of Keiki and made hand seals as fast as he could and slammed his palm on the floor. "Kaji no tate!" He exclaimed. All at once, a shield of fire appeared and surrounded the two, deflecting the jutsu.
Joan smirked. "Interesting defense, boys." She said.
"Keiki, did you manage to copy her attack?" He asked as he kept a keen eye at their opponent who was now twirling a kunai on her finger. He got out two kunais and placed it on both of his hands.
Keiki shook his head in a serious way. "No. We activated our sharingans too late. I wasn't able to copy it." He said as he also got out kunais and enhanced his chakra on it. Lan's eyes twitched in annoyance.
"Ch."
"What now kids? Is that the best you can do?" She asked in a very mocking way. The two boys gritted their teeth in annoyance.
The two jumped away from each other and dashed towards the shinobi in two opposite directions. Keiki was the first one to attack. "Katon: Gyoukyaku no Jutsu!" He exclaimed.
Lan finished his hand seals half a second later and attacked. "Katon: Housenka!"
Joan closed her hands and sighed. "Pathetic." She then made a few hand seals as three tubes of fire surrounded her. Three other 'Joans' appeared beside her with flaming kunais. She narrowed her eyes and one of the clones swiftly made hand seals and deflected the attacks for her.
The two were shocked. 'Nani?'
"Fire bunshins! Attack them!" She commanded. The three clones immediately nodded and dashed swiftly towards them as each of them performed their own attacks.
"Keiki!" Lan called. "In here! Quick!"
Keiki quickly nodded as he dashed behind his twin as Lan performed the kaji no tate to deflect the upcoming ninjutsu. "Are you alright, Keiki?" Lan asked. Keiki nodded as he moved towards his twin's side.
"Yeah."
"No time for chit-chats boys." Clone one said as she performed another set of swift hand seals. "Katon: Ryuuka (?) no jutsu!"
"Keiki! Copy it!" Lan said before doing the same shield again.
The real Joan snickered. "Aren't you getting tired of doing that same jutsu again and again? You are so weak." She said.
Lan's eyes narrowed. "Have you copied it?" He asked.
Keiki nodded. "I did. However, I don't think that we'll be able to use it at our current level of power." He said.
Lan gritted his teeth for he knew that Keiki was right. There was no way that they would be able to use that technique. Keiki may have been able to copy it, but it also proved to be useless.
"Getting tired?" A voice called from behind. "You two are pathetic."
Lan was shocked by the voice and turned around only to see another clone's fist coming towards him from behind. His current state of shock proved to be useless. He didn't have enough time to evade the attack. Even blocking it in his current state would be impossible.
"Lan!" Keiki exclaimed as he dashed towards Lan's aid. Before the clone's fist manage to hit his twin, Keiki managed to push his twin away, taking the full force of the hit himself.
He was sent crashing onto the wall. "Keiki!" Lan exclaimed, seeing what happened to his twin. He started to run towards his brother's aid but one of the clones appeared before him, preventing him to do so.
The clone snickered. "And where are you going?"
Lan was officially pissed off now as his sharingan blazed brighter than ever. "Get out of my way! Katon: Housenka!" He exclaimed as he hit the bunshin with full force. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke… well… fire.
Joan snickered. 'He was able to destroy one of my fire clones. Interesting.'
"Keiki! How are you?" Lan asked as he went towards his brother. Keiki smiled in pain as he clutched his now bleeding burned arm.
"I'm alright. Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself." Keiki said as he slowly stood up. "Lan, this crazy woman uses weapons with the combination of the fire jutsus. You have seen it too. She uses fire attacks. Her Shadow Fire and Fire Bunshin prove that." He whispered.
Lan nodded. "Right." 'Keiki's right. Drats! If only I could get nearer! These fire bunshins sure are really a force to be reckoned with. If we make a clone disappear, she just creates more. How can I get near her? How?'
=Rescue Team Area=
"Just great. I can't believe that Lan's having a hard time to defeat her." Tai murmured as he continued to help Yamaru nurse his wounded teammate. "I certainly wouldn't want to be on his shoes."
"Augh…"
Hro smiled slightly. "Reika-chan, you're awake!" She said. Reika sat up slowly, wincing in pain. Hro immediately supported her up with a scolding face. "You shouldn't sit up yet. You're still weak."
Reika ignored her cousin's reminder as she faced her with a serious face. "Tell me. What happened after our match?" She asked.
Hro sighed. "You fell unconscious, obviously. Yamaru-san is already alright. Ring-san and Haruno-san fought next. They won, but the consequences were a great deal." She said. Reika sighed in relief.
"Really? That's good. I'm glad they won. Though I hope that they're alright. Who's fighting now?" She asked.
Hro's eyes suddenly turned serious as she looked at the arena. "Lan-san and Keiki-san."
"What?! Lan and Keiki?!"
Back at the match, the two of them both crashed again on the wall as another fire bunshin attacked them. Both of them winced in pain. Even they with the sharingan were having a tough time fighting clones.
Well… what could you expect? They were not really that experienced in fights. And this shinobi is so obviously strong.
'Crap! First was Maya who fought Reika-chan and Yamaru-san. Then it was a stronger Yuro's turn to fight Ring-san and Shinji. Now it's another stronger opponent! Why is it that these shinobis are getting tougher and tougher?' Keiki thought as he took a glance at his older twin.
'I can't think of another idea, Lan. What are you going to do?'
Joan suddenly laughs out loud in a very mocking and insulting way. "You are so pathetic! I only know a few jutsus but it seems that even the number one rookie can't stand it! I can't believe that leaf shinobis are actually very weak!" She said.
Lan stood up with a smirking face. "I was just getting started."
'As I can see, this shinobi is better on offensive, seeing as she always makes her fire clones do the work for her. However,' Sasuke thought as he stared at the female shinobi standing still. 'She has no defense on her what-so-ever.'
'Kids, you should see the opportunity. This shinobi is more on offensive, but she leaves herself unguarded. Seeing this, there is a huge opportunity that she would easily be in pain if she takes an attack directly. You guys just have to pass the clones and attack her.' Naruto thought.
'But how will you be able to pass them?'
"I'm worried about my cousins." Shinji whispered, Ring, however, heard him. She smiled and placed a weak hand on his shoulder.
"Maa… Shinji… err… I mean Haruno-san…" Shinji cut her off with a smile.
"Just plain Shinji would do, Ring-chan."
Ring blushed again. "Don't call me –chan. Just call me Ring. Anyway, as I was saying, don't worry about them. Lan-san is the number one rookie of the year just as Keiki-san ranks second. They can manage." She said.
Shinji smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you. I hope that you're right."
"Father," Reika called as she walked over towards Neji, limping a bit from pain. She held onto her father's vest for support. Her eyes widened at what she did. Her father was very strict about not touching his vest. She trembled on what her father may do.
"It's alright. You can hold on." Neji said. Reika sighed in relief. "Now what were you going to say?"
"Otousan, I'm worried for Lan and Keiki. They are fighting hard, but they haven't even landed a blow on their opponent. I'm afraid of whatever destiny is going to unfold in this match. Fate can do what it wants. If Lan and Keiki gets hurt, I can never forgive fate." She said.
Neji's eyes narrowed at what she said. "Don't. Fate does not decide everything." He said simply. Reika's eyes widened a bit them smiled.
"You do know that I know what you mean, eh otousan?" Reika said as she looked back at the arena. "They will win. They must."
Ame and Mika stood in front of Gaara as the two girls started to sweat due to worry. "I hope that they'll be okay." Ame murmured.
Mika nodded and smiled a bit. "I'm surprised that the both of us are starting to show off emotions. It's quite unusual, actually. Lan-san and Keiki-san are strong. I know that they will be able to win this match."
"I hope."
"Lan!" Tai exclaimed as he raised his fists. "Don't let that lady kick your a--! I won't forgive you if you get defeated!" He exclaimed. Lee sighed.
"Such is the reaction of the youth."
Back at the match, another crash came up as the two boys sprawled again on the ground as they both clutched their sides. Once again, Joan's clones attacked them with burning fists, as they were unable to evade once again.
'She's too strong… is there no hope for us?'"Lan! Keiki!" Naruto shouted. His loud voice obviously caught the twin's attention. "Use your sharingans, you bakas! What use would your sharingans be if you wouldn't even use them! Come on! You're the two sons of the number one rookie of my time! To be defeated that easily is a disgrace! Never lose hope! As your father's sons, my students, and a friend to everyone, never let them down! Do you want to bring shame to the Uchiha name by giving up without letting your opponent see the true might of the Uchiha clan?!" He exclaimed.
The two boys' eyes widened at their sensei's voice.
'Bring shame…''…to the Uchiha name…?'
The two chuckled as they both closed their eyes and slowly stood up. As the two boys' opened their eyes, both pairs of sharingan eyes blazed brightly as their lips turned into a smirk.
"To bring shame to the Uchiha name…" Lan started.
"… will be like abandoning our line." Keiki continued.
"Only cowards with weak will are not able to bring out the determination that deep inside is hidden. That is the most disgraceful mistake that can be done by one from a noble clan." The older twin said.
Keiki smirked. "And we are not about to make that mistake."
"Heck like we will actually allow that to happen!" The two said in unison as their chakra started to build up again. Red and purple chakra started to spread as their strong will were starting to be felt by the people inside the room.
The watching genins smiled at what they heard and what they are seeing. The two Uchihas are not about to lose, nor are they about to give their whole hope up.
A smile slowly tugged in the corners of Uchiha Sasuke's lips as he took a sideward glance towards his blond best friend. 'The dobe really knows what to say. He can wipe out the fear of many by just a simple speech. Hn. I don't know if he even is still a dobe. Nice one… Naruto.'
"Are you ready, Keiki?" Lan asked as he took out two kunais and enhanced them with his chakra. Keiki nodded as he did the same action.
"Ready when you are, Lan."
"Now!"
The two transferred chakra to their feet and started dashing towards the fire using sound-nin. Joan laughed again as she made another set of hand seals. "Shadow Fire!"
Once again, the two Uchihas tumbled down. But then, Lan started to perform hand seals and smirked, seeing the shocked look that Joan had on her face. "Surprised? Shadow Fire!" Lan said as the same attack went towards Joan and her clones.
Her clones disappeared in a wave of fire as she screamed in pain. "W-w-why you little meddling brats! I'll show you!" She then started creating more fire clones. Everyone, except the sound team, gasped.
They have never seen so many fire clones in one swipe before. They know that creating fire clones are tougher than creating shadow clones since they still require lots and lots of fire. So that means for every fire clone she creates, she is also required to transform her chakra into fire.
Thus, this also means that she's losing a lot of chakra too.
"Hn. Looks like she's desperate to end this now, creating a lot of fire clones." Kisame said as he gripped his Samehado (?) tightly. "I'm getting really excited."
Uesugi 'hned' as sat down on the stone floor, closing his eyes. "Fool."
All of Joan's clones started to concentrate their chakra into one part of their bodies, which is their hair. They all screamed in unison as their hair started to be surrounded by chakra, automatically turning the chakra into fire.
The sight was beautiful, yet terrifying. Fire hairs started waving here and there as the orange color started to consume the once gray color of the arena. "Hijutsu: Fire Hair!" She exclaimed as her hair started growing longer and by the original's orders, all of their hairs started attacking the two Uchiha twins.
Fortunately, with their sharingans, the two boys can see through the hair's movements, thus managing to evade them. However, a few strands suddenly held Keiki, raising him up. He screamed in pain as the fire started to burn him.
"Keiki!" Lan exclaimed as he threw a kunai, hoping to cut off the hair. His kunai, however, melted in contact.
"What the…"
"You won't be able to save him now, brat!" She said as she laughed evilly. Lan gritted his teeth, seeing how little he could do to save his brother. The fire is burning his twin, and he can't fight it away.
Wait a second.
Fight it away?
'That's it!' Lan thought as he held another kunai as he made an unknown one-handed seal. He closed his eyes and concentrated his chakra at his kunai.
"Another chakra enhanced kunai? That isn't going to work on me, brat." Joan said.
"You're opponent's right, Lan! You won't be able to set Keiki free by a chakra enhanced kunai!" Shinji exclaimed. Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw his sensei, Lee. Lee shook his head and smiled.
"Watch, Shinji."
Lan started to concentrate more as his red chakra started to have flickers of flames. 'Just a little more.' With another strong burst of chakra, his kunai was suddenly surrounded by fire. He hissed in pain as he also felt his own hand being burned, but what is more important to him now was rescuing his brother.
He then started dashing towards his opponent.
'What is this brat trying to do?' Joan wondered.
"Fight fire with fire! Fire enhanced kunai!" The fire surrounding the kunai started to push the fire away from Joan's hair as the blade did the work of cutting the hair off.
"What the…?! My fire hair! It's being pushed away!" Joan said as she started to panic.
A few moments of struggling later, Lan managed to free Keiki as his twin's eyes started to open weakly. "L-lan…"
"I-impossible. My fire hair was cut away?"
Poof!All of the fire clones disappeared.
Lan nodded as he winced due to the pain of his burned hand. "Don't worry. Now I need your help in this final move, Keiki. We're going to use the combo." He said.
Keiki's eyes widened as he took a glance at Naruto who nodded his head at them. "But Naruto-sensei…"
"The two of you can use it now. It's show time!"
"Hey… don't use Gai-sensei's line." Lee said.
"Argh!!! Who cares?! Just do it you two!" Naruto said.
The two nodded as Lan helped Keiki up. Lan made a fire seal while Keiki made a lightning seal. The two closed their eyes and concentrated. Fire sparks started to appear at both of Lan's hands as sparks of electricity started to appear on Keiki's hands.
"What's that? I never taught them a jutsu like that." Sasuke said.
"You didn't, but I did." Naruto said, smirking.
Sasuke made a confused face. "What? But you aren't the type to use fire jutsus." He said. Naruto nodded.
"You're right. I don't use fire jutsus but I can tell others how to use them even though I can't demonstrate it to them. I just told the boys my idea and they did the rest. I'm surprised they managed to do it." Naruto said.
"Huh? When?"
"When? Hah! When I was stuck guarding the old hag, while you and the others went to assassinate Gatoh." He said.
Sasuke nodded without another question.
Joan gritted her teeth as anger started to consume her judgment. "I don't know what the two of you are planning but I won't let you do whatever you are planning to do!" She exclaimed as her flaming hair started attacking them again.
Their sharingan blazed brighter than ever (a/n: If that was still possible.) as a huge swirling ball of fire appeared at Lan's hands as a huge swirling ball of electricity occupied Keiki's hands.
"NOW!"
They combined the two techniques, forming a huge swirling ball of combined fire and electricity. They dashed towards Joan as they jumped up to evade the flaming hair strands.
Joan didn't have time to react as she screamed in pain as the elemental ball came in contact with her body.
The twin's landed, panting hardly with shocked faces.
"She still managed to stay conscious after that attack…" Lan murmured as he lost consciousness due to lose of chakra.
Keiki looked beside him as he felt his energy draining out as he fell into the state of unconsciousness himself.
Kisame chuckled evilly. "Winner: Joan." He announced.
At that, Joan chuckled evilly as she started walking towards the two fallen boys with two kunais in hand. "Hah. You think it's over? Even though I am the victor, I won't let you two win after what you have done to me."
The rescue team's eyes widened as the opposing team didn't make a single move to stop her. If they don't interfere then the two will surely be killed.
"Die!"
Before the kunais came in contact with the two boys, another kunai struck the two kunais away. Joan was shocked. "Nani?! Who did tha-" She was cut off as she saw Naruto behind her with a kunai at her neck.
"You already won. I won't allow you to hurt them more." He said in a low dangerous voice.
"Hah! How will you stop me then?" Joan asked.
"Hn. If you haven't noticed, I have complete advantage over this situation." He said, indicating the kunai grazing her neck. She gulped. "One wrong move and I'll end your life."
Joan tilted her head slightly as gasped as she saw two red fox-like eyes glaring at her hatefully. She gulped and silently nodded in fear. "Good. Lee." He called.
"What is it?"
"Take Lan and Keiki down." He said.
Lee nodded and jumped towards the arena, picking the two unconscious boys and glanced once at Naruto's eyes, gasping with wide eyes (a/n: As if his eyes aren't wide enough.) before going down.
"It is settled."
As Naruto slowly took his kunai away from her neck, she held Naruto's arm in attempt to fling him away. But the odds turned around instantly as the blond twisted his body and got hold of her arm instead, kicking her away as she crashed towards the wall, making her unconscious.
Naruto closed his eyes as he slowly walked down the arena and sat down, leaning at the wall. Everyone was shocked at what Naruto did. He was so fierce that even Kisame got nervous.
Something about that was just so cruel. Naruto's eyes showed no remorse at what he did to the female shinobi.
"N-Naruto, are you alright?" Lee asked.
Naruto nodded. "Hai."
Reika clutched onto her father's vest more tightly as she felt a bit scared at what her sensei just showed. Neji patted his daughter's head comfortingly.
"Uzumaki-san, that was something, alright." Tai said. "But… why did you do that?" He asked.
Naruto opened his eyes. They were back to blue again. "Sigh… won't you do the same if you see your students about to be killed in front of your eyes? And besides, I don't like people who don't keep their word. That goes against my nindo (1)." He said.
Everyone was silent for a while until…
"Mika. Ame. You go next." Gaara piped in, seeing that their next opponent was already in the arena.
Mika and Ame nodded. "Hai."
The two jumped in the arena and glared at their opponent first. Their opponent 'hned' as he introduced himself.
"Oyamada Uesugi. Let's end this quickly shall we?"
(1) "I don't turn back from my words." That's Naruto's nindo, right? Well… for him, Joan turned back from her words when she said that she won't make a wrong move once Naruto takes his kunai away from her neck.
Author's notes: Whew! Well… how's this? Is this okay enough for you guys? Argh!!! I read this again and again for four consecutive times that my head is already spinning! Golly! I really wish that I would get more inspiration so that I could update this fic soon! I normally get my inspiration through songs so that's why I always listen to songs, just to get inspiration. Anyway, like it? Hate it? The pairing voting is still up. So far there is already:
LanxReika
RingxShinji or ShinjixRing
What other pairings to you have in mind?
I hope that you like this chapter! Reviews Please!
