Saotome Naruto
Chapter 4
Mizu
The afternoon was quite advanced when the small group made a halt. The ninjas were nowhere near exhaustion, in fact this seemed like a breeze to them compared to their training regimen. Kakashi's salvation came from his experience, had it been Kurenai, the youngest teaching jounin, she would have been down on all four trying to catch up to the group. Tazuna with his normal endurance and stamina was quite a burden for the eager youth. Unknown to the group, two pairs of eyes were watching.
"Quite an easy job, let's just go on ahead and lay our trap." The first one told the second
"Yes, we'll take out the adult by surprise and the others will just fall down like mosquitos!" replied the second. They dashed through the vegetation almost completely unheard.
"So we're being followed." Sakura remarqued.
"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked.
"Two guys in weird costumes, probably bandits or missing nins, there were some reports of them around in these parts." Naruto said just as he finished a kata with Sasuke.
'Unless . . .'Kakashi thought to himself. 'I'll just have to wait and see.' He concluded just as he stretched to relieve his back.
"Well now, let's get going people, we may want to avoid traps from those two." Kakashi said.
Sasuke, who had been silent this whole time simply got up and rejoined formation with Sakura and Naruto first, himself behind Tazuna and Kakashi as the rear guard.
It was five minutes later that they spotted the puddles of water and their followers. The second Kakashi stepped between the puddles of water, they moved and slaughtered him, then moving to the fear stricken Naruto who was just as easily thorn to shreads. They then skewered Tazuna going through Sasuke and Sakura as though they didn't even exist.
"That was easy." Deadpanned the first one.
"Yeah, I thought we could have some fun." Commented the other one.
They started looking through the bodies to find some secrets.
"Do you think we should knock them out or something?" Naruto asked from his lookout in a tree.
"Well, we could ask them a few questions." Kakashi answered. Sakura was holding up a genjutsu and sweat was starting to pearl upon her forehead.
"I'll do it." Sasuke commented as he blurred to hit the pressure point hidden on their neck.
With the genjustu released and the missing nins quite immobilized the team had all their time to ask questions.
"So. . . why did you try to kill us, you're not bandits, they usually try to get it done in an easy fashion, the hold up type." Kakashi asked.
"Sensei, they may be missing nins from Kiri no Kuni from their headbands or they were hired to assassinate Tazuna-san." Sakura summarised the possibilities.
"How do we get it out of them? The usual perhaps?" Sasuke asked towards Naruto.
"Well, maybe we could try something special this time, you know Sakura, you were talking about using it on me to make sure I'd talk about you know what." The wink didn't go unnoticed and Sakura immediately though about all the tortures she would have inflicted on Naruto after his stunt with the harem no jutsu. They entailed several sharp objects going somewhere the sun doesn't shine. She blushed a little and then inner Sakura found her way outside for a second. That alone could have scared even Sasuke witless but with the obvious threat of a very obscene torture it was enough for the ninjas to wet their pants with fear. The fact that Naruto took out a wicked looking tool from his backpack simply made them green.
"Put that back! We'll talk!" The first one was crying as he broke down and told them everything he knew.
"So, you were sent by your village to assassinate Tazuna-san." Sakura asked.
"Yes, we are chunins, only the two of us for now. They may send reinforcements!" Kakashi touched another point on their necks and sent them into uncounciousness.
"This changes everything." Kakashi started.
"This changes nothing, we still have to get Tazuna-san to the wave country." Naruto said.
"This was supposed to be a grade c mission, just an escorting mission if you will but now it looks like a grade b or even a, reserved for Jounins not genins." Kakashi argumented.
"It's nothing, our mission just became harder none of us even has a scratch. If there was someone hurt it would be different matter entirely. The injured team mate would only slow the others down." Sasuke stated.
"We may be in danger but we are shinobis, it's our life to live dangerously." Sakura stated.
"Kakashi. . .I think you should talk with me a second." Tazuna then proceeded to talk to the sensei. "You see, the wave country is quite poor, even the local Daimao is in deep s**t so I'm not really well off either. The one we're up against isn't just a little local bandit. You must have heard of him, his name is Gato. . ."
"The Gato, one of the richest men in the world? Kakashi asked. The nod from the old man told it all.
"His money came from drug deals and extortion, he makes the law in the wave country. He has a private army of mercs and ninjas at his beck and call. . .those two must be from his army or at his disposal." He concluded.
"The kids have decided already so there's no need to think about turning back. The three of them against me would leave me quite dead believe me so I'll just follow and try to keep them out of trouble." The teacher stated as he looked at his three pupils. Sakura was trying to choke Naruto while straddling his waist. Sasuke looked somewhat amused and Naruto was smiling because of the position they were in. We'll make camp here, as long as those two are under our custody they'll think it's normal and won't send anyone after us. Team! Make camp!" The three genins looked at their teacher and went dispatched their order of jobs.
"Ok, one of us had to make a fire, another find water and the last find wood." Naruto stated.
"I'll make the fire." Sasuke stated as he got up and gathered some surrounding wood to start his fire.
"I'll get the wood." Called Naruto leaving Sakura to get the water. When the children were gone. Kakashi sat at the base of a nearby tree and took out his book.
"What are you reading?" Tazuna asked.
"Icha icha paradise volume 3." The copy ninja answered
"May I see that?" Kakashi threw him the first volume and both adults started reading the naughty books eagerly.
Naruto walked a little bit into the woods and found himself a dead tree. With one mighty kick. The dead and dry wood broke and fell. The blonde took the tree by the roots and started pulling it back to the camp. Meanwhile Sasuke was building his srarting wood into a form so the fire wouldn't be taken out by the winds when Naruto dragged wood into the place.
"Naruto. . . does gathering firewood include cutting whole trees?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.
"Yep, it does when you really want to get enough for a long while. I'm leaving this to you while I get some food. Fish alright with you?" He asked the taciturn boy.
"Whatever." Sasuke answered the blond who took off into the nature.
Sakura was at the stream, the water was cool and just deep enough for a dip.
'What can it hurt? I'm a girl, I need my bath to maintain my beauty.' She reasoned. She shed her clothes and jumped in the water to wash herself.
A little bit upstream, Naruto was in his boxers 'fishing' their diner with his bare hands. Normally this was quite impossible but his father had taught him quite well since he could do so just fine. It was then that he saw the biggest, tastiest and liveliest trout ever. He waited to make his move until the fish was just a little bit in front of him. He then moved in hot pursuit, swimming after the trout downstream as fast as he could. Sakura saw the fish coming and a pale pink blur catch up to it. Said blur caught the fish and surfaced only to throw it on the ground right next to her clothes. She looked at the blur, getting quite an eyeful of it's muscular chest.
'Must be Sasuke! What should I do? What should I do?.' Sakura asked herself while the inner Sakura remained rather silent on this matter.
"Whou, what a catch! . . .uh? Sa-sa-sa-Sakura-chan?" Naruto was confronted with something he had never seen. A naked young woman. His eyes bulged out of their holes as he remembered his father's words. 'If you ever step in on a woman taking a bath or the opposite, you'll probably be the one to be considered a pervert.' Naruto did his prayers and awaited his punishment.
Sakura heard the voice, she recognised it and looked up. The swimmer to barge in on her wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke was the only one to have the right to see her like that. Naruto was unworthy of such honor but she was willing to listen to his argument just this once.
"Naruto. . .I hope you have a good explaination for this. Now turn around you pervert." The blonde listened to the orders given by Sakura. She was probably going to give him the 1000 years of pain. Sakura got out of the stream while Naruto faced the other way and got dressed.
"Explain now Naruto." She had a frown and an aura that could rival his mother and Naruto was in no hurry to experience pain in that extent.
"Well.you see I was.fishing upstream and.I followed our dinner and it.we.kinda ended up here and you know the rest. Pleasedon'tkillmeI'm tooyoungtodieI'msorryI'lldowhateveryouwantbutdon'tkillme! Mercy!" The words about doing whatever she wanted him to do was just too good to pass.
"Anything huh?" The look of pure evil she had on her face made Naruto take a step back. "Well then SERVANT you have to carry my stuff and make me food and take the water back as well." Naruto had to wonder if living was worthwhile.
"I can do most of that but you have to carry your stuff or Ranma- sensei will have both of our skins through extra training." That made Sakura regress on that one particular point. Training was fine normally but extra was just evil. Naruto still had to make it back to camp carrying his entire catch along with the water while Sakura skipped along.
"Naruto, I know your father had this weird conception of normal behaviour with women but this is plain machoism." Kakashi was looking at his student carrying that much weight.
"That baka just went and insisted to carry all my share of the work." pleaded Sakura, not mentioning the part with blackmail.
"Y.yeah! Couldn't let a lady do the dirty work!" Naruto supported as he set the water next to the fire. Sasuke was already seated next to it and looked at the blond struggling with the biggest fish to fix it to a stick for it to roast over the fire.
"Why did you bring that much fish Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
"Much? I should have taken 2 or 3 more just in case! I mean this whooper isn't enough for me!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Oi, Naruto! Don't forget mine!" Sakura reminded her servant who didn't grumble at all.
"Make mine while you're at it." Deadpanned Sasuke.
"Make it yourself!" Naruto shot back.
"Naruto! Make Sasuke's dinner!" Naruto grumbled but did as told.
'I have POWER BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' Inner Sakura was having a field day with Naruto under her orders until the end of the mission. 'I can make him do whatever I want!...well almost, he won't get me a date with Sasuke but I could get one from him.as IF'
"Oi, Naruto, make mine and Tazuna-san's as well." Kakashi called as he and Tazuna continued to read.
"WHAT!?! Man! I'm everybody's maid now!" Naruto grumbled as he started on his workload. He struggled with the preparations for a small while but was good enough with a knife to separate the meet from the guts. Once he had them roasting he took out two bags of cheastnuts from his backpack.
"Sakura! Sasuke, time to see what you're going to learn." Naruto called. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow and observed Naruto.
"aren't you the one supposed to teach them?" Tazuna asked the jounin.
"Naruto is licensed in his family school of martial arts. He's gonna do fine." He answered as he looked anyway. Why use chestnuts to teach a technique?
"This is called the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Observe. I put the chestnuts in the fire and wait for them to be ready." Naruto comented.
"This is some kind of joke. A cooking course." Sasuke said as he turned away. Naruto held a chestnut to him before he could go too far.
"Hey Sasuke! Want one?" He asked his rival. Sakura who was still looking at him was wide eyed.
"You-you-you took it out with your bare hands?" She asked him. Sasuke turned back to him as his arms blurred and took hold of the remaining nuts in the blazing fire.
"Yep, it's merely a speed technique, you have to be faster then the eye can see and get them before the heat gets to you. We'll start after supper and continue tomorrow after we take care of your burns." Naruto explained the training and had a shark like look. He took hold of one of the fishes and threw it towards Kakashi who caught itand turned his back to the team and their charge to eat. He then gave a fish to Sasuke and a larger one to Sakura before he took a piece of his own whooper. There were no attacks on the food during the missions because they would possibly need all their strengths but training was still necessary. The meal was completely consumed by the three gennins and they were sitting in front of the fire.
"The trick here is charka control." Naruto explained the fondements of the technique. "By pushing charka into your arms and hands you can increase either the strength, the speed or both with enough training. We'll be focussing on speed since strength is rather easy."
"Before you begin, I may have an exercise to help with that." Kakashi intervened. Naruto looked at him as he turned to the nearest tree and climbed it. "For this you have to control and focus your charka on the sole of your feet. It's one of the most complicated parts to do so."
"Nice but with our vests it's hard to stand that way. The exercises are actually similar Kakashi-sensei. The difference is that we are trying to have a practical application. Now take off your vests, the weights would just hinder you at the moment. We'll work on both exercises." He looked at Kakashi again. "I suppose you want us to start by running?" Naruto asked his teacher.
"That's the normal way to do this." Kakashi remarked. Naruto slipped out of his vest and went to the tree. He paused one foot on it's base and concentrated a second. He then started ascending the trunk slowly himself.
"I think running gives you an advantage yes, but why rush into things, just go slowly and you'll get it faster. Or is it the other way around." Naruto was poundering from his horizontal position. He then shrugged and motioned for his team mates to come closer.
"First of all, concentrate your charka slowly into the sole of you feet until it draws in the trunk." He instructed. Sasuke put in too much power too fast and the wood broke under his feet.
"Damn!" He exclaimed.
"You're too eager Sasuke, do this slowly and carefully. Just like Sakura does." He was looking at her foot already clinging to the wood. "Take a step forward Sakura and do the same thing with your other foot."
"WHAAAAA!" She lost her Balance but Naruto caught her before she could crash on him.
"Just concentrate Sakura-chan, you're doing just fine." He encouraged her as Sasuke took his standing position on the trunk, the balance was rather awkward in this position but it was rather easy to guess how it could be used. He took two steps before he tumbled to the hard ground below. He recovered in time and started again.
"That kind of things happens. You got the hang of it Sakura!" Naruto told his pupils, Sakura was already upside down on a branch. She had walked there without problems. "You're doing fine as well Sasuke, Sakura just has a lot of control. Even better then mine I'll bet!" That part was plain flattery, he wanted out of his little servitude thing as fast as possible.
"Flattery will get you nowhere!" Sakura called to him. 'He's saying I'm even better then Sasuke! He'll never like me now!' Inner Sakura swore in quite a foul language profusely.
"No, but it'll get you to the real training!" Naruto now had the same maniacal gleam his father always had when he was about to teach someone extensively. Sakura fought back a groan of defeat and dropped from her perch. Sasuke was now halfway to the branch and progressing.
'It's amazing how he was able to perfect this training method in a few words.' Kakashi thought. 'He may very well make it to Hokage sooner then even Yondaime-sama did.' The thought was a bit disturbing. He had no doubt his group would pass the coming Chuunin exam with flying colors and start working separately. He surprised himself thinking of the 3 sennins. They were similar in many ways. Sasuke wanted power, Naruto respect and Sakura was simply there to prove herself . Kakashi thought of all the similarities. "Next thing I'll know they'll try to make me the hokage." He finalised his thought and turne3d to the now missing prisoners. He smiled a bit, their escape had been easy to frame and their leader would be coming to take care of business. Maybe he'd get a good fight and a couple of techniques.
Sakura stared hard at the flaming barrier and focussed her charka into her arms, she then punched the air in front of her repetitively to get a feel of how to properly focus it. She failed three time and turned to Naruto.
"Are you sure there's no ingei to this technique?" She asked him. He nooded as he punched the air as well. A bit faster then she did but not by much.
"Dad said you would get it faster because a girl's frame is better built for speed while Sasuke would take a while if he overdid it too much. I don't expect you to get it tonight but to at least try. I have a balm for your burns. I doubt Sasuke will need it since he uses katon jutsu so much but if he does, I'll give it to him. Now try it Sakura-chan, get the nuts from the fire." He instructed. She closed her eyes and executeds the technique without flaw. However, to actually grab chestnuts you need to see them and she touched the red hot coals of the fire. She let out a howl of pain and Naruto pulled her out. "We need to put cold water on these! Hold on to my shirt."
Naruto had to prevent her from closing her fists and the shirt was the best place. He then took off at full speed towards the pound where she had been bathing, grabbing his medicinal pack on the way. Sasuke and Kakashi were coming near the fire when he jumped to the nearest branch with Sakura in his arms. The run was short and he didn't hesitate to jump into the waters as fast as possible. The coals of a fire were often hotter then the fire itself and such burns needed extra cleaning.
"Naruto you moron!" Sakura screamed at him. "This training is too radical!"
"Not that radical Sakura-chan, you actually did it on your first try, you just grabbed the coals instead of the nuts." He said this seriously as he let her hold his shirt. She now did so by reflex. He took out a pot of green goo and after putting her hands in the water, he then gently rubbed the balm on the palm of her hand. "There, you feel better?" She nodded, she could almost feel the burns closing.
"I just hope it doesn't leave a scar Naruto or I'll have your head." She growled. "Carry me back to camp servant." She wasn't feeling like walking at all. Naruto didn't complain, why would he anyway! She wanted to be carried by him. It was as close as he'd gotten to a hug from someone outside his family. He took her in a groomsmen hold and strolled towards the camp. She was quite light without the heavy training vest on and she adjusted to his hold instantly to make herself more comfortable.
"Yes M'mam!" Naruto saluted her as he started forward.
'I did mean a piggy back ride.' Sakura thought. 'Yeah, but this way's more comfortable, and I get to touch those muscles I saw earlier!' She argued, this wasn't the inner Sakura who was screaming her head off in the background because Naruto was touching her, it was simply the voice. . .something else. 'There should only be Sasuke for me! But why is this so. . . ""'
Naruto looked at Sakura, she had closed her eyes and had just sighed in. . .comfort or pleasure? This was going way beyond his expertise of human relationship. Normally people just either ignored him or insulted him. When you didn't count his family, Iruka-sensei and the boss of Ichiraku. Those were about the only people not acting special in his presence. And that included Sakura but she had just sighed in. . .could it be content? What the heck was wrong with the world.
"Sakura, Daijobu desu ka?" He asked her. She opened her eyes and looked into his. Inner Sakura had stopped her tirade about Naruto and Sakura was mesmerised by his clear blue eyes.
"Daijobu Naruto." She whispered. She was rather confused at the moment and he was making it worst. "You can let me down now." She told him. She didn't squirm to get out of his grasp. "I wouldn't want Sasuke to get the wrong idea." His face litteraly dropped as he released her to the ground. They then walked to the camp and found Sasuke trying to get the chestnuts from the fire and failing miserably. He didn't scream in pain because of the previous training in fire manipulation but it was apparent that it hurt even slightly.
"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. When he gets it or when he actually realises this takes time, rub this into the palm of his hands. It's rather effective.
"Alright, Naruto. Our prisoners escaped." He was smilling under his mask.
"They'll be back with their boss, or maybe the boss alone." Naruto was smiling at the possible challenge.
"Yes, get a lot of rest. Sasuke volontered for first watch, you have second and Sakura third. I'll take the first next time." Sasuke stopped his training at once to get to his job of keeping the camp safe.
Later that night, Naruto was stripping a twig during his watch. The fire was still burning as he looked at the moon.
'Sakura-chan will kill me when I wake her.' He thought as time passed with few incidents. 3 hours later, the sun was almost up when he decided to actually wake his team mate. He approached her silently and bent down to wake her.
"Sakura. . .Sakura!" He was whispering but all it achieved was to get her to turn around.
"Sakura!" He said louder. Kakashi twitched and he had no intention of getting into trouble. He started shaking her, gently at first but with more strength later.
Sakura was getting shaken, she could feel it and she knew, on the conscious level, that she had to take a guard duty but her subconscious wasn't aware of that, only that someone was near her and trying to get her up. Her dreams had already been confusing enough. She was running after someone who she assumed was Sasuke but she always ended up kissing Naruto. This greatly set her off and when the first thing she saw as she woke up was the source of her concerns she lashed out at him with a devastating punch. Once the contact with his flesh and his unwanted flight ended, Sakura's consciousness took control and forgot all about dreams, all that remained were destructive thoughts of Naruto and her duty as guard which overrode the first things to do since Naruto was now asleep thanks to her.
"Those weights actually work!" She exclaimed as she dressed herself with the jacket. She then proceeded to be bored. She was on the last guard duty and as such was up 2 hours earlier then her comrades. She did some mental problems, looked at Sasuke. Stared at the fire and not at Naruto sprawled on the ground with a fist imprinted on his cheek and a bump on his head. She then decided to look at her hands. The balm had made wonders. There were no more blisters there and it didn't feel that tender. It was right then that she felt a presence near them. Near Tazuna to be precise.
"Who's there! Identify yourself!" She yelled. Her team mates except Naruto woke up and took their fighting positions. Sasuke had been wearing his vest as he slept and it showed in his movements. Kakashi was on the lookout immediately. Naruto was down from. . .Sakura's fist of fury and he was the only jounin for this high level mission. Gatou was likely to have hired high level ninja for this assassination.
"To have spotted me so fast, you're not the ordinary ninjas are you?" A voice sounded from everywhere. The three took defensive positions. There wasn't much that could actually hurt Naruto anyway.
"They're stupid too, they took out one of their own." A second voice sounded. Sasuke detected a movement and blocked a kunai directed for their charge who was now awake and standing in the center of this tight circle of protection. Mist began to cover the field of battle and Kakashi warned his students.
"Hit the dirt!" The order was followed immediately. Sakura jumped to the ground while Sasuke tackled Tazuna. Kakashi was crouched and turned to his opponent. 'Momochi Zabusa, Kuri no kuni's missing nin.' He had the immediate identity of his enemy from his files as a jounin.
'Sharingan Kakashi, no wonder the brothers never had a chance.' Zabusa thought from his perch on his sword.
"You two, he has friends in these woods. Protect Tazuna. I'll take care of him." Kakashi instructed his students. He could only hope Naruto would wake up.
"Sharingan Kakashi. . .give us the old man and we'll spare your men." Zabusa told him. "Or rather children. They don't look fit to be ninjas." He leered. Those words made Naruto twich and he opened an eye but remained laying on the ground. Sasuke and Kakashi saw it but Zabusa had no possibility to do so while Sakura had her back turned to him.
"Sharingan?" Sasuke asked himself. He looked at his teacher. "How can it be?" He asked silently.
"Don't interfere in this battle, protect Tazuna you two. Zabusa, if you want Tazuna." He lifted his headband and revealed his three branched sharingan. "Come and get him."
"I'm flattered, the sharingan already! I had a small book when I was on the ambu of kiri no kuni, it said that you had copied a 1000 techniques. But it seems I'll have to get rid of you." Zabusa jumped to the water and floated on it's surface.
"How does he do that?" Sakura asked as she saw him stand on the water.
"Ninpo: kirigakure no jutsu!" He called for his concealing technique and disseapeared.
"He disappeared!" It was Tazuna who talked.
"Don't worry. I'll be his first target. Zabusa was considered one of the best in silent assassinations. I don't control the sharingan perfectly so be careful." He instructed and then hemade a seal with his hands.
"8 possibilities, the head, the neck, the heart, the back, the jugular, the larynx, the windpipe and the vertebra." Zabusa tried to play with their nerves.
'I feel so heavy, sluggish even. Is it the weights? I'm quite weaker then Naruto or Sasuke. I'm easy picking here.' Sakura thought.
'The air feels so heavy, the tension here is so thick. Why did that annoying moron have to faint now of all times?' Sasuke was sweating as well when Kakashi turned to him.
"Don't worry Sasuke, ! don't let my team mates die."
"We'll see about that!" Zabusa was in the little circle of protection. He pushed Sakura and kicked Sasuke. He turned to hit Tasuna but was stabbed by kakashi in the back. The wound let water drop to the ground as the water clone vanished to let place to another Zabusa who hit Kakashi. The attacks turned violent until Zabusa, the real one, kicked Kakashi in the water.
'Why is this water so heavy?' He thought as Zabusa jumped next to him.
"You're within my jutsu. Suiton!suirou no jutsu!" Kakashi was trapped within a ball of water.
Kakashi was looking at him. The mist had cleared a bit and you could see quite well his pupils and their charge.
'Very nice, he's going to get the drop on him. Unless. . .'
"You can come out and take care of them. Haku, Sonja, Kohaku." Three children dropped from the trees. Two boys and a girl. One of them wore the mask of a hunter nin and the other two had the headbands from kuri no kuni.
"Take them out." He ordered. The girl, Sonja, looked quite happy with this decision.
"I'll take the girl, you can get the boy Kohaku. I'm sure Haku wants the old man." She said as she stalked forward.
"SAKURA, LET THE WEIGHTS GO!" a voice sounded through the mist. An orange blur burst forth and tackled Kohaku. Naruto had just come and saved the day. Two more Narutos burst forth and charged Zabusa who summoned his own water clones to counter the onslaught of shadow clones. They were batted back as one clone gave a tool to Sasuke. Sakura released the weights to the ground and burst forth as well to meet her opponent while a wall of shadow clones were protecting Tasuna with their bodies giving the ninjas a good opportunity to attack.
Sasuke took the tool in hand and unfolded it.
"Fuuma shuriken! Kage Fucha!" He jumped to the air and threw the weapon to Zabusa who caught the projectile and dodged the one in it's shadow.
Meanwhile, Sakura was trying to controil herself. With the released weights she was faster, lighter and quite stronger. The changes threw her off balance but she was too fast for her opponent to hit solidly.
"That's it!" The girl screamed as she made some seals. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu!" The water clones overwhelmed Sakura who got a few bruises and cuts until she pushed them back and called for her own special technique. Feeding charka to her arms, she called the attack Naruto had taught her the day prior.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" A fury of punches flew towards her opponent who stepped back from the onslaught until a light slap touched her. After that first contact, hundreads of punches rained upon the girl who had to flee. The use of so much charka took it's tool on Sakura who put her back to a tree.
Sasuke was descending from his jump when he was met by Kohaku. They started a mid air battle for dominance. Both traded kicks and punches at great speed. Sasuke's opponent turned up the beat when he called the first jutsu.
"Raiton! Raiken no jutsu!" His fist charged with electricity as he punched towards Sasuke. He saw the punch approaching slowly. The world had suddenly slowed down. He saw the fistpassing his head just slightly just as he began to understand, the world resumed normal speed just as he punched his enemy towards the trees.
Just as Zabusa was jumping over the giant shuriken, it transformed into a spinning Naruto who took hold opf the man's ankles to yank him down. He pushed himself up and touched two pressure points hidden under the shoulder blades as he passed them. He then took hold of his shoulders and threw him to the shore at the feet of a surprised Haku.
Naruto landed unsteadily on the surface of the water and released his shadow clones. He was trying to emulated what Kakashi had been doing but was unsteady on the slippery surface.
Haku knew what had happened and took hold of his commander.
"We'll retreat for now." He disappeared in a swirl of mist.
Once it was clear the enemy was gone, Naruto and Kakashi returned to the beach where they fainted dead away with few words.
"Used too much Chakra. . ." they said in unison.
This ends this chapter.
It's been a long time since the last update but do not fear! The writer is here!
Zsych: It isn't exactly at the end of Ranma canon, Ranma blasts mountains and kills gods, while Itachi is strong he sure isn't that strong. Also, Ranma is stronger but who said he wanted the Hokage name or could get it at all. He was taken in by the village and as such cannot be designed hokage for some obscure reason. Ranma also is a genius of combat. An undefeatable champion and Itachi's 4 branch sharingan with it's illusion would just unleash Ranma's neko-ken . . .which simply multiplies his strength.
Someone: forget it! I'm going until the series ends and then I'll just make a sequel!
Adyen: not much of a visible powerup but they have to be holding back right ; )
Kim: like I said, I'm writing a side story when I have time. It'll be a oneshot and I'll announce it in this fic. It will tell Ranma's tale and some of his missions.
Dan Inverse: I gave him a team and I also give him a visible boost soon. As for Sasuke's sharingan, it will simply appear with effort and training.
Cyber1: they are almost the same age but Naruto was sent back three times. He is slightly older then them by a couple of months and may have a year older if you look at numeral values. They are older then in the real series as well. I made them about 15 or 16 when they are merely 12 in the anime. It's simply because I don't think 12 year olds could really be ninjas unless they were extremely talented. There will be good reasons in the story itself if it calls for it later.
Some of you may say that Sakura souldn't have mastered the amaguriken so fast but you have to remember she has better control of her charka and her lither frame is better built for speed. The weights also give her an edge since she removed them. Sasuke being Sasuke acted as such. Unlike in the series, Sakura kicks asses! She may very well fall for Naruto. I have plans for Sasuke though.
Chapter 4
Mizu
The afternoon was quite advanced when the small group made a halt. The ninjas were nowhere near exhaustion, in fact this seemed like a breeze to them compared to their training regimen. Kakashi's salvation came from his experience, had it been Kurenai, the youngest teaching jounin, she would have been down on all four trying to catch up to the group. Tazuna with his normal endurance and stamina was quite a burden for the eager youth. Unknown to the group, two pairs of eyes were watching.
"Quite an easy job, let's just go on ahead and lay our trap." The first one told the second
"Yes, we'll take out the adult by surprise and the others will just fall down like mosquitos!" replied the second. They dashed through the vegetation almost completely unheard.
"So we're being followed." Sakura remarqued.
"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked.
"Two guys in weird costumes, probably bandits or missing nins, there were some reports of them around in these parts." Naruto said just as he finished a kata with Sasuke.
'Unless . . .'Kakashi thought to himself. 'I'll just have to wait and see.' He concluded just as he stretched to relieve his back.
"Well now, let's get going people, we may want to avoid traps from those two." Kakashi said.
Sasuke, who had been silent this whole time simply got up and rejoined formation with Sakura and Naruto first, himself behind Tazuna and Kakashi as the rear guard.
It was five minutes later that they spotted the puddles of water and their followers. The second Kakashi stepped between the puddles of water, they moved and slaughtered him, then moving to the fear stricken Naruto who was just as easily thorn to shreads. They then skewered Tazuna going through Sasuke and Sakura as though they didn't even exist.
"That was easy." Deadpanned the first one.
"Yeah, I thought we could have some fun." Commented the other one.
They started looking through the bodies to find some secrets.
"Do you think we should knock them out or something?" Naruto asked from his lookout in a tree.
"Well, we could ask them a few questions." Kakashi answered. Sakura was holding up a genjutsu and sweat was starting to pearl upon her forehead.
"I'll do it." Sasuke commented as he blurred to hit the pressure point hidden on their neck.
With the genjustu released and the missing nins quite immobilized the team had all their time to ask questions.
"So. . . why did you try to kill us, you're not bandits, they usually try to get it done in an easy fashion, the hold up type." Kakashi asked.
"Sensei, they may be missing nins from Kiri no Kuni from their headbands or they were hired to assassinate Tazuna-san." Sakura summarised the possibilities.
"How do we get it out of them? The usual perhaps?" Sasuke asked towards Naruto.
"Well, maybe we could try something special this time, you know Sakura, you were talking about using it on me to make sure I'd talk about you know what." The wink didn't go unnoticed and Sakura immediately though about all the tortures she would have inflicted on Naruto after his stunt with the harem no jutsu. They entailed several sharp objects going somewhere the sun doesn't shine. She blushed a little and then inner Sakura found her way outside for a second. That alone could have scared even Sasuke witless but with the obvious threat of a very obscene torture it was enough for the ninjas to wet their pants with fear. The fact that Naruto took out a wicked looking tool from his backpack simply made them green.
"Put that back! We'll talk!" The first one was crying as he broke down and told them everything he knew.
"So, you were sent by your village to assassinate Tazuna-san." Sakura asked.
"Yes, we are chunins, only the two of us for now. They may send reinforcements!" Kakashi touched another point on their necks and sent them into uncounciousness.
"This changes everything." Kakashi started.
"This changes nothing, we still have to get Tazuna-san to the wave country." Naruto said.
"This was supposed to be a grade c mission, just an escorting mission if you will but now it looks like a grade b or even a, reserved for Jounins not genins." Kakashi argumented.
"It's nothing, our mission just became harder none of us even has a scratch. If there was someone hurt it would be different matter entirely. The injured team mate would only slow the others down." Sasuke stated.
"We may be in danger but we are shinobis, it's our life to live dangerously." Sakura stated.
"Kakashi. . .I think you should talk with me a second." Tazuna then proceeded to talk to the sensei. "You see, the wave country is quite poor, even the local Daimao is in deep s**t so I'm not really well off either. The one we're up against isn't just a little local bandit. You must have heard of him, his name is Gato. . ."
"The Gato, one of the richest men in the world? Kakashi asked. The nod from the old man told it all.
"His money came from drug deals and extortion, he makes the law in the wave country. He has a private army of mercs and ninjas at his beck and call. . .those two must be from his army or at his disposal." He concluded.
"The kids have decided already so there's no need to think about turning back. The three of them against me would leave me quite dead believe me so I'll just follow and try to keep them out of trouble." The teacher stated as he looked at his three pupils. Sakura was trying to choke Naruto while straddling his waist. Sasuke looked somewhat amused and Naruto was smiling because of the position they were in. We'll make camp here, as long as those two are under our custody they'll think it's normal and won't send anyone after us. Team! Make camp!" The three genins looked at their teacher and went dispatched their order of jobs.
"Ok, one of us had to make a fire, another find water and the last find wood." Naruto stated.
"I'll make the fire." Sasuke stated as he got up and gathered some surrounding wood to start his fire.
"I'll get the wood." Called Naruto leaving Sakura to get the water. When the children were gone. Kakashi sat at the base of a nearby tree and took out his book.
"What are you reading?" Tazuna asked.
"Icha icha paradise volume 3." The copy ninja answered
"May I see that?" Kakashi threw him the first volume and both adults started reading the naughty books eagerly.
Naruto walked a little bit into the woods and found himself a dead tree. With one mighty kick. The dead and dry wood broke and fell. The blonde took the tree by the roots and started pulling it back to the camp. Meanwhile Sasuke was building his srarting wood into a form so the fire wouldn't be taken out by the winds when Naruto dragged wood into the place.
"Naruto. . . does gathering firewood include cutting whole trees?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.
"Yep, it does when you really want to get enough for a long while. I'm leaving this to you while I get some food. Fish alright with you?" He asked the taciturn boy.
"Whatever." Sasuke answered the blond who took off into the nature.
Sakura was at the stream, the water was cool and just deep enough for a dip.
'What can it hurt? I'm a girl, I need my bath to maintain my beauty.' She reasoned. She shed her clothes and jumped in the water to wash herself.
A little bit upstream, Naruto was in his boxers 'fishing' their diner with his bare hands. Normally this was quite impossible but his father had taught him quite well since he could do so just fine. It was then that he saw the biggest, tastiest and liveliest trout ever. He waited to make his move until the fish was just a little bit in front of him. He then moved in hot pursuit, swimming after the trout downstream as fast as he could. Sakura saw the fish coming and a pale pink blur catch up to it. Said blur caught the fish and surfaced only to throw it on the ground right next to her clothes. She looked at the blur, getting quite an eyeful of it's muscular chest.
'Must be Sasuke! What should I do? What should I do?.' Sakura asked herself while the inner Sakura remained rather silent on this matter.
"Whou, what a catch! . . .uh? Sa-sa-sa-Sakura-chan?" Naruto was confronted with something he had never seen. A naked young woman. His eyes bulged out of their holes as he remembered his father's words. 'If you ever step in on a woman taking a bath or the opposite, you'll probably be the one to be considered a pervert.' Naruto did his prayers and awaited his punishment.
Sakura heard the voice, she recognised it and looked up. The swimmer to barge in on her wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke was the only one to have the right to see her like that. Naruto was unworthy of such honor but she was willing to listen to his argument just this once.
"Naruto. . .I hope you have a good explaination for this. Now turn around you pervert." The blonde listened to the orders given by Sakura. She was probably going to give him the 1000 years of pain. Sakura got out of the stream while Naruto faced the other way and got dressed.
"Explain now Naruto." She had a frown and an aura that could rival his mother and Naruto was in no hurry to experience pain in that extent.
"Well.you see I was.fishing upstream and.I followed our dinner and it.we.kinda ended up here and you know the rest. Pleasedon'tkillmeI'm tooyoungtodieI'msorryI'lldowhateveryouwantbutdon'tkillme! Mercy!" The words about doing whatever she wanted him to do was just too good to pass.
"Anything huh?" The look of pure evil she had on her face made Naruto take a step back. "Well then SERVANT you have to carry my stuff and make me food and take the water back as well." Naruto had to wonder if living was worthwhile.
"I can do most of that but you have to carry your stuff or Ranma- sensei will have both of our skins through extra training." That made Sakura regress on that one particular point. Training was fine normally but extra was just evil. Naruto still had to make it back to camp carrying his entire catch along with the water while Sakura skipped along.
"Naruto, I know your father had this weird conception of normal behaviour with women but this is plain machoism." Kakashi was looking at his student carrying that much weight.
"That baka just went and insisted to carry all my share of the work." pleaded Sakura, not mentioning the part with blackmail.
"Y.yeah! Couldn't let a lady do the dirty work!" Naruto supported as he set the water next to the fire. Sasuke was already seated next to it and looked at the blond struggling with the biggest fish to fix it to a stick for it to roast over the fire.
"Why did you bring that much fish Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
"Much? I should have taken 2 or 3 more just in case! I mean this whooper isn't enough for me!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Oi, Naruto! Don't forget mine!" Sakura reminded her servant who didn't grumble at all.
"Make mine while you're at it." Deadpanned Sasuke.
"Make it yourself!" Naruto shot back.
"Naruto! Make Sasuke's dinner!" Naruto grumbled but did as told.
'I have POWER BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' Inner Sakura was having a field day with Naruto under her orders until the end of the mission. 'I can make him do whatever I want!...well almost, he won't get me a date with Sasuke but I could get one from him.as IF'
"Oi, Naruto, make mine and Tazuna-san's as well." Kakashi called as he and Tazuna continued to read.
"WHAT!?! Man! I'm everybody's maid now!" Naruto grumbled as he started on his workload. He struggled with the preparations for a small while but was good enough with a knife to separate the meet from the guts. Once he had them roasting he took out two bags of cheastnuts from his backpack.
"Sakura! Sasuke, time to see what you're going to learn." Naruto called. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow and observed Naruto.
"aren't you the one supposed to teach them?" Tazuna asked the jounin.
"Naruto is licensed in his family school of martial arts. He's gonna do fine." He answered as he looked anyway. Why use chestnuts to teach a technique?
"This is called the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Observe. I put the chestnuts in the fire and wait for them to be ready." Naruto comented.
"This is some kind of joke. A cooking course." Sasuke said as he turned away. Naruto held a chestnut to him before he could go too far.
"Hey Sasuke! Want one?" He asked his rival. Sakura who was still looking at him was wide eyed.
"You-you-you took it out with your bare hands?" She asked him. Sasuke turned back to him as his arms blurred and took hold of the remaining nuts in the blazing fire.
"Yep, it's merely a speed technique, you have to be faster then the eye can see and get them before the heat gets to you. We'll start after supper and continue tomorrow after we take care of your burns." Naruto explained the training and had a shark like look. He took hold of one of the fishes and threw it towards Kakashi who caught itand turned his back to the team and their charge to eat. He then gave a fish to Sasuke and a larger one to Sakura before he took a piece of his own whooper. There were no attacks on the food during the missions because they would possibly need all their strengths but training was still necessary. The meal was completely consumed by the three gennins and they were sitting in front of the fire.
"The trick here is charka control." Naruto explained the fondements of the technique. "By pushing charka into your arms and hands you can increase either the strength, the speed or both with enough training. We'll be focussing on speed since strength is rather easy."
"Before you begin, I may have an exercise to help with that." Kakashi intervened. Naruto looked at him as he turned to the nearest tree and climbed it. "For this you have to control and focus your charka on the sole of your feet. It's one of the most complicated parts to do so."
"Nice but with our vests it's hard to stand that way. The exercises are actually similar Kakashi-sensei. The difference is that we are trying to have a practical application. Now take off your vests, the weights would just hinder you at the moment. We'll work on both exercises." He looked at Kakashi again. "I suppose you want us to start by running?" Naruto asked his teacher.
"That's the normal way to do this." Kakashi remarked. Naruto slipped out of his vest and went to the tree. He paused one foot on it's base and concentrated a second. He then started ascending the trunk slowly himself.
"I think running gives you an advantage yes, but why rush into things, just go slowly and you'll get it faster. Or is it the other way around." Naruto was poundering from his horizontal position. He then shrugged and motioned for his team mates to come closer.
"First of all, concentrate your charka slowly into the sole of you feet until it draws in the trunk." He instructed. Sasuke put in too much power too fast and the wood broke under his feet.
"Damn!" He exclaimed.
"You're too eager Sasuke, do this slowly and carefully. Just like Sakura does." He was looking at her foot already clinging to the wood. "Take a step forward Sakura and do the same thing with your other foot."
"WHAAAAA!" She lost her Balance but Naruto caught her before she could crash on him.
"Just concentrate Sakura-chan, you're doing just fine." He encouraged her as Sasuke took his standing position on the trunk, the balance was rather awkward in this position but it was rather easy to guess how it could be used. He took two steps before he tumbled to the hard ground below. He recovered in time and started again.
"That kind of things happens. You got the hang of it Sakura!" Naruto told his pupils, Sakura was already upside down on a branch. She had walked there without problems. "You're doing fine as well Sasuke, Sakura just has a lot of control. Even better then mine I'll bet!" That part was plain flattery, he wanted out of his little servitude thing as fast as possible.
"Flattery will get you nowhere!" Sakura called to him. 'He's saying I'm even better then Sasuke! He'll never like me now!' Inner Sakura swore in quite a foul language profusely.
"No, but it'll get you to the real training!" Naruto now had the same maniacal gleam his father always had when he was about to teach someone extensively. Sakura fought back a groan of defeat and dropped from her perch. Sasuke was now halfway to the branch and progressing.
'It's amazing how he was able to perfect this training method in a few words.' Kakashi thought. 'He may very well make it to Hokage sooner then even Yondaime-sama did.' The thought was a bit disturbing. He had no doubt his group would pass the coming Chuunin exam with flying colors and start working separately. He surprised himself thinking of the 3 sennins. They were similar in many ways. Sasuke wanted power, Naruto respect and Sakura was simply there to prove herself . Kakashi thought of all the similarities. "Next thing I'll know they'll try to make me the hokage." He finalised his thought and turne3d to the now missing prisoners. He smiled a bit, their escape had been easy to frame and their leader would be coming to take care of business. Maybe he'd get a good fight and a couple of techniques.
Sakura stared hard at the flaming barrier and focussed her charka into her arms, she then punched the air in front of her repetitively to get a feel of how to properly focus it. She failed three time and turned to Naruto.
"Are you sure there's no ingei to this technique?" She asked him. He nooded as he punched the air as well. A bit faster then she did but not by much.
"Dad said you would get it faster because a girl's frame is better built for speed while Sasuke would take a while if he overdid it too much. I don't expect you to get it tonight but to at least try. I have a balm for your burns. I doubt Sasuke will need it since he uses katon jutsu so much but if he does, I'll give it to him. Now try it Sakura-chan, get the nuts from the fire." He instructed. She closed her eyes and executeds the technique without flaw. However, to actually grab chestnuts you need to see them and she touched the red hot coals of the fire. She let out a howl of pain and Naruto pulled her out. "We need to put cold water on these! Hold on to my shirt."
Naruto had to prevent her from closing her fists and the shirt was the best place. He then took off at full speed towards the pound where she had been bathing, grabbing his medicinal pack on the way. Sasuke and Kakashi were coming near the fire when he jumped to the nearest branch with Sakura in his arms. The run was short and he didn't hesitate to jump into the waters as fast as possible. The coals of a fire were often hotter then the fire itself and such burns needed extra cleaning.
"Naruto you moron!" Sakura screamed at him. "This training is too radical!"
"Not that radical Sakura-chan, you actually did it on your first try, you just grabbed the coals instead of the nuts." He said this seriously as he let her hold his shirt. She now did so by reflex. He took out a pot of green goo and after putting her hands in the water, he then gently rubbed the balm on the palm of her hand. "There, you feel better?" She nodded, she could almost feel the burns closing.
"I just hope it doesn't leave a scar Naruto or I'll have your head." She growled. "Carry me back to camp servant." She wasn't feeling like walking at all. Naruto didn't complain, why would he anyway! She wanted to be carried by him. It was as close as he'd gotten to a hug from someone outside his family. He took her in a groomsmen hold and strolled towards the camp. She was quite light without the heavy training vest on and she adjusted to his hold instantly to make herself more comfortable.
"Yes M'mam!" Naruto saluted her as he started forward.
'I did mean a piggy back ride.' Sakura thought. 'Yeah, but this way's more comfortable, and I get to touch those muscles I saw earlier!' She argued, this wasn't the inner Sakura who was screaming her head off in the background because Naruto was touching her, it was simply the voice. . .something else. 'There should only be Sasuke for me! But why is this so. . . ""'
Naruto looked at Sakura, she had closed her eyes and had just sighed in. . .comfort or pleasure? This was going way beyond his expertise of human relationship. Normally people just either ignored him or insulted him. When you didn't count his family, Iruka-sensei and the boss of Ichiraku. Those were about the only people not acting special in his presence. And that included Sakura but she had just sighed in. . .could it be content? What the heck was wrong with the world.
"Sakura, Daijobu desu ka?" He asked her. She opened her eyes and looked into his. Inner Sakura had stopped her tirade about Naruto and Sakura was mesmerised by his clear blue eyes.
"Daijobu Naruto." She whispered. She was rather confused at the moment and he was making it worst. "You can let me down now." She told him. She didn't squirm to get out of his grasp. "I wouldn't want Sasuke to get the wrong idea." His face litteraly dropped as he released her to the ground. They then walked to the camp and found Sasuke trying to get the chestnuts from the fire and failing miserably. He didn't scream in pain because of the previous training in fire manipulation but it was apparent that it hurt even slightly.
"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. When he gets it or when he actually realises this takes time, rub this into the palm of his hands. It's rather effective.
"Alright, Naruto. Our prisoners escaped." He was smilling under his mask.
"They'll be back with their boss, or maybe the boss alone." Naruto was smiling at the possible challenge.
"Yes, get a lot of rest. Sasuke volontered for first watch, you have second and Sakura third. I'll take the first next time." Sasuke stopped his training at once to get to his job of keeping the camp safe.
Later that night, Naruto was stripping a twig during his watch. The fire was still burning as he looked at the moon.
'Sakura-chan will kill me when I wake her.' He thought as time passed with few incidents. 3 hours later, the sun was almost up when he decided to actually wake his team mate. He approached her silently and bent down to wake her.
"Sakura. . .Sakura!" He was whispering but all it achieved was to get her to turn around.
"Sakura!" He said louder. Kakashi twitched and he had no intention of getting into trouble. He started shaking her, gently at first but with more strength later.
Sakura was getting shaken, she could feel it and she knew, on the conscious level, that she had to take a guard duty but her subconscious wasn't aware of that, only that someone was near her and trying to get her up. Her dreams had already been confusing enough. She was running after someone who she assumed was Sasuke but she always ended up kissing Naruto. This greatly set her off and when the first thing she saw as she woke up was the source of her concerns she lashed out at him with a devastating punch. Once the contact with his flesh and his unwanted flight ended, Sakura's consciousness took control and forgot all about dreams, all that remained were destructive thoughts of Naruto and her duty as guard which overrode the first things to do since Naruto was now asleep thanks to her.
"Those weights actually work!" She exclaimed as she dressed herself with the jacket. She then proceeded to be bored. She was on the last guard duty and as such was up 2 hours earlier then her comrades. She did some mental problems, looked at Sasuke. Stared at the fire and not at Naruto sprawled on the ground with a fist imprinted on his cheek and a bump on his head. She then decided to look at her hands. The balm had made wonders. There were no more blisters there and it didn't feel that tender. It was right then that she felt a presence near them. Near Tazuna to be precise.
"Who's there! Identify yourself!" She yelled. Her team mates except Naruto woke up and took their fighting positions. Sasuke had been wearing his vest as he slept and it showed in his movements. Kakashi was on the lookout immediately. Naruto was down from. . .Sakura's fist of fury and he was the only jounin for this high level mission. Gatou was likely to have hired high level ninja for this assassination.
"To have spotted me so fast, you're not the ordinary ninjas are you?" A voice sounded from everywhere. The three took defensive positions. There wasn't much that could actually hurt Naruto anyway.
"They're stupid too, they took out one of their own." A second voice sounded. Sasuke detected a movement and blocked a kunai directed for their charge who was now awake and standing in the center of this tight circle of protection. Mist began to cover the field of battle and Kakashi warned his students.
"Hit the dirt!" The order was followed immediately. Sakura jumped to the ground while Sasuke tackled Tazuna. Kakashi was crouched and turned to his opponent. 'Momochi Zabusa, Kuri no kuni's missing nin.' He had the immediate identity of his enemy from his files as a jounin.
'Sharingan Kakashi, no wonder the brothers never had a chance.' Zabusa thought from his perch on his sword.
"You two, he has friends in these woods. Protect Tazuna. I'll take care of him." Kakashi instructed his students. He could only hope Naruto would wake up.
"Sharingan Kakashi. . .give us the old man and we'll spare your men." Zabusa told him. "Or rather children. They don't look fit to be ninjas." He leered. Those words made Naruto twich and he opened an eye but remained laying on the ground. Sasuke and Kakashi saw it but Zabusa had no possibility to do so while Sakura had her back turned to him.
"Sharingan?" Sasuke asked himself. He looked at his teacher. "How can it be?" He asked silently.
"Don't interfere in this battle, protect Tazuna you two. Zabusa, if you want Tazuna." He lifted his headband and revealed his three branched sharingan. "Come and get him."
"I'm flattered, the sharingan already! I had a small book when I was on the ambu of kiri no kuni, it said that you had copied a 1000 techniques. But it seems I'll have to get rid of you." Zabusa jumped to the water and floated on it's surface.
"How does he do that?" Sakura asked as she saw him stand on the water.
"Ninpo: kirigakure no jutsu!" He called for his concealing technique and disseapeared.
"He disappeared!" It was Tazuna who talked.
"Don't worry. I'll be his first target. Zabusa was considered one of the best in silent assassinations. I don't control the sharingan perfectly so be careful." He instructed and then hemade a seal with his hands.
"8 possibilities, the head, the neck, the heart, the back, the jugular, the larynx, the windpipe and the vertebra." Zabusa tried to play with their nerves.
'I feel so heavy, sluggish even. Is it the weights? I'm quite weaker then Naruto or Sasuke. I'm easy picking here.' Sakura thought.
'The air feels so heavy, the tension here is so thick. Why did that annoying moron have to faint now of all times?' Sasuke was sweating as well when Kakashi turned to him.
"Don't worry Sasuke, ! don't let my team mates die."
"We'll see about that!" Zabusa was in the little circle of protection. He pushed Sakura and kicked Sasuke. He turned to hit Tasuna but was stabbed by kakashi in the back. The wound let water drop to the ground as the water clone vanished to let place to another Zabusa who hit Kakashi. The attacks turned violent until Zabusa, the real one, kicked Kakashi in the water.
'Why is this water so heavy?' He thought as Zabusa jumped next to him.
"You're within my jutsu. Suiton!suirou no jutsu!" Kakashi was trapped within a ball of water.
Kakashi was looking at him. The mist had cleared a bit and you could see quite well his pupils and their charge.
'Very nice, he's going to get the drop on him. Unless. . .'
"You can come out and take care of them. Haku, Sonja, Kohaku." Three children dropped from the trees. Two boys and a girl. One of them wore the mask of a hunter nin and the other two had the headbands from kuri no kuni.
"Take them out." He ordered. The girl, Sonja, looked quite happy with this decision.
"I'll take the girl, you can get the boy Kohaku. I'm sure Haku wants the old man." She said as she stalked forward.
"SAKURA, LET THE WEIGHTS GO!" a voice sounded through the mist. An orange blur burst forth and tackled Kohaku. Naruto had just come and saved the day. Two more Narutos burst forth and charged Zabusa who summoned his own water clones to counter the onslaught of shadow clones. They were batted back as one clone gave a tool to Sasuke. Sakura released the weights to the ground and burst forth as well to meet her opponent while a wall of shadow clones were protecting Tasuna with their bodies giving the ninjas a good opportunity to attack.
Sasuke took the tool in hand and unfolded it.
"Fuuma shuriken! Kage Fucha!" He jumped to the air and threw the weapon to Zabusa who caught the projectile and dodged the one in it's shadow.
Meanwhile, Sakura was trying to controil herself. With the released weights she was faster, lighter and quite stronger. The changes threw her off balance but she was too fast for her opponent to hit solidly.
"That's it!" The girl screamed as she made some seals. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu!" The water clones overwhelmed Sakura who got a few bruises and cuts until she pushed them back and called for her own special technique. Feeding charka to her arms, she called the attack Naruto had taught her the day prior.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" A fury of punches flew towards her opponent who stepped back from the onslaught until a light slap touched her. After that first contact, hundreads of punches rained upon the girl who had to flee. The use of so much charka took it's tool on Sakura who put her back to a tree.
Sasuke was descending from his jump when he was met by Kohaku. They started a mid air battle for dominance. Both traded kicks and punches at great speed. Sasuke's opponent turned up the beat when he called the first jutsu.
"Raiton! Raiken no jutsu!" His fist charged with electricity as he punched towards Sasuke. He saw the punch approaching slowly. The world had suddenly slowed down. He saw the fistpassing his head just slightly just as he began to understand, the world resumed normal speed just as he punched his enemy towards the trees.
Just as Zabusa was jumping over the giant shuriken, it transformed into a spinning Naruto who took hold opf the man's ankles to yank him down. He pushed himself up and touched two pressure points hidden under the shoulder blades as he passed them. He then took hold of his shoulders and threw him to the shore at the feet of a surprised Haku.
Naruto landed unsteadily on the surface of the water and released his shadow clones. He was trying to emulated what Kakashi had been doing but was unsteady on the slippery surface.
Haku knew what had happened and took hold of his commander.
"We'll retreat for now." He disappeared in a swirl of mist.
Once it was clear the enemy was gone, Naruto and Kakashi returned to the beach where they fainted dead away with few words.
"Used too much Chakra. . ." they said in unison.
This ends this chapter.
It's been a long time since the last update but do not fear! The writer is here!
Zsych: It isn't exactly at the end of Ranma canon, Ranma blasts mountains and kills gods, while Itachi is strong he sure isn't that strong. Also, Ranma is stronger but who said he wanted the Hokage name or could get it at all. He was taken in by the village and as such cannot be designed hokage for some obscure reason. Ranma also is a genius of combat. An undefeatable champion and Itachi's 4 branch sharingan with it's illusion would just unleash Ranma's neko-ken . . .which simply multiplies his strength.
Someone: forget it! I'm going until the series ends and then I'll just make a sequel!
Adyen: not much of a visible powerup but they have to be holding back right ; )
Kim: like I said, I'm writing a side story when I have time. It'll be a oneshot and I'll announce it in this fic. It will tell Ranma's tale and some of his missions.
Dan Inverse: I gave him a team and I also give him a visible boost soon. As for Sasuke's sharingan, it will simply appear with effort and training.
Cyber1: they are almost the same age but Naruto was sent back three times. He is slightly older then them by a couple of months and may have a year older if you look at numeral values. They are older then in the real series as well. I made them about 15 or 16 when they are merely 12 in the anime. It's simply because I don't think 12 year olds could really be ninjas unless they were extremely talented. There will be good reasons in the story itself if it calls for it later.
Some of you may say that Sakura souldn't have mastered the amaguriken so fast but you have to remember she has better control of her charka and her lither frame is better built for speed. The weights also give her an edge since she removed them. Sasuke being Sasuke acted as such. Unlike in the series, Sakura kicks asses! She may very well fall for Naruto. I have plans for Sasuke though.
