Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.

White Angel

Chapter 5: Finding Unity in distaste

The orange-haired Aiko stepped forward. "Niji Bunshin no Jitsu. This technique manipulates my energy through a chakra prism, splitting my strength into seven equal pieces. More or less, there are seven copies of me…but at least these seven might be possible to beat."

"You can't expect us to actually defeat a Jounin, can you?" Yurei didn't bother to draw a weapon. He had other plans if that is what it came to.

"I expect each of you to defeat one of my rainbow replications…otherwise you'll have no chance in the real world. Now then…" The green-haired replication lifted up one finger under her chin. "Catch me if you can." All three of them disappeared in a burst of white smoke.

Yurei frowned and cursed under his breath. "This is a problem…though I pride myself on my ability to read chakra…I can't track her. If what she says is true then there should at least be some kind of weakness to her move…but it is perfect in form. I can't see a way to exploit its activation…"

Kai scoffed and slipped his sunglasses on. "Don't worry; I have a feeling like I'll be able to see through her technique with ease. I'm good at that kind of thing." Stepping forward, he started to march towards the nearby trees. "Believe me…I'll succeed at this. Losing isn't an option. I've gotten too far…"

"No, you fool." Yurei growled under his breath. "She's all around us…"

"All around…" Kai looked back at him…and was punched right in the face from the front. All he caught was a flash of red and then he slid along the ground, dirt spraying around him. ("That was faster than my reaction time…far too fast…") Rolling, he came up with a kunai drawn. But honestly, he knew it would do him good against this kind of opponent. ("She's not holding back…is she?")

"You shouldn't have broken away from the group, Kai." Aiko whispered gently into his ear. "It was a bad choice on your part…" A single strand of yellow hair could be seen out of the corner of his eye.

"And now you have to pay for your bad choice," another voice whispered into his other ear. "I'd say sorry…but I'm not." A wisp of indigo hair caught his other eye. And then he couldn't see much…but he felt a lot. Blow after blow was landed on his body roughly.

Yurei stared at the fact that Kai looked like he was floating a foot in the air. "I can't keep up…"

"A left hit to the fifth rib…a kick to the side…a punch to the chin…" Kin's eyes watched Kai's body in awe. "She's incredible…"

"You can keep up with her movements?" Yurei quickly understood the logic behind that. After all, Kin's special skill was the incredible speed of his bloodline limit. And therefore his body would have to be capable of amazing speeds without the bloodline limit activated for the limit to do any good.

"Barely…she's like a blur. But I can tell where she's hitting him from the impact marks on his body." Sweat began to bead on his forehead. "But…so fast…"

"Can you keep up with her if you activate your limit?" Yurei's mind was trying to calculate possible ways to turn this around, but so far every possibility spoke only of them charging into a trap set up by the remaining rainbow replications.

"No…her speed is so controlled compared to mine…" Kin eyes widened as he saw a flash of Aiko's real body, but then it returned to a blur. "She's keeping a tight circle around him…so that he can't fight back. When I activate my limit every step is like taking twenty…so I'd need room to fight. Honestly, her speed at the moment is slower than mine when I activate my limit. However, with her agility I couldn't hope to land a hit on her no matter how much chakra I pumped into myself. I'd need her to hold still…"

"That's enough…" Yurei didn't need to feel anymore depressed. ("How can she expect us to fight a ninja of her level?") He mentally reviewed his Ninjitsu…and saw only one technique that would help. ("My best…Kage Bunshin no Jitsu…but creating solid replications is useless against her speed. Numbers aren't going to make the difference.") "Kin…how does Kai's body look at the moment?"

"She's not going all out," Kin's pupils contracted as he pushed himself to track her movements. "No…not yet at least. Every blow is only partially damaging. If she wanted him dead then he would be."

"I know that…killing us wouldn't accomplish anything except her expulsion from Konoha." Yurei kept his senses focused on locating the rest of the replications. "I mean, can he still fight?"

"Yes."

"Then we're going." Snapping up his kunai, Yurei ran past Kin and charged towards Kai. ("If he takes much more damage then we'll lose him…")

"So eager to leap into your demise, Yurei?" A voice whispered into his ear. "That's a shame…" The red-haired Aiko replication snapped her leg up to strike him right in the ribs.

Yurei smiled slightly. "You just made a mistake." As the knee drove into his rib, he exploded into a burst of white smoke.

Aiko wasn't surprised. ("It's just a replacement…he must be nearby…") As the smoke cleared, she saw the truth though. There was nothing there. ("It was a shadow…") Something sharp slammed into her neck deeply…and she disappeared in a burst of red smoke.

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From her position in the trees, the purple-haired Aiko smiled slightly. "Incredible…he knows how to create shadow replications. Not only that, but he created one at the start of the day. He's been trailing his own replication just for this occasion…and was hiding."

"But he must be nearby. That kunai was thrown by him, so he's close. And while he got one of us, that means nothing. Kin and Kai have to each beat one of us." The orange-haired Aiko stood up and looked to the blue and green-haired versions of herself. "We three will deal with Yurei and make sure he causes no problems. Can you take Kin?"

The purple-haired Aiko disappeared.

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Kin's brain took a few seconds to realize what Yurei had done. ("That was a smart move…")

"Pay attention, fool!" The purple-haired Aiko appeared in front of him and slammed her palm into his chest. There was a burst of smoke and a log went flying into a tree. "Do you think that a replacement will surprise me?"

"I don't know…" Kin stood a few feet from her right. "But I intend to try and take you down right here and right now." Sliding into a fighting stance, he took a deep breath to relax his eyes.

She took her own stance, arms to both of her sides. "Are you saying that you intent to fight me without your bloodline limit's speed increase? Isn't that quite foolish?"

"No…it's the smartest thing I can do." Kin took a few calming breaths. "If I activated White Wind Angel then I'd lose instantly. Your speed is incredible…and your agility is superb. You have such a synergy with them that you can move at speeds slightly slower than my max and keep full body movement in place. There's almost no chance of me beating you if I take my own agility out of the equation."

"You can't actually expect to beat me then, can you?" Leaping forward, her fist came a few inches from his face and she disappeared.

Kin felt the fist slam against the back of his head. But he barely reacted except that as he fell he turned and pushed off the ground. ("I'll keep up with you…I will…") Pushing off of the ground, he launched himself a foot into the air. He saw her for a moment, and then she disappeared. ("If it kills me, I'll figure out how you are able to move so fast.")

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Kai dropped to his knees, aching all over. ("She hits so hard…but that means nothing…") Slowly, he stood up. ("Because I am determined…I will win!")

Both replications stood a few feet from his front and back. "So, do you surrender?"

"Let me answer that with this…" He pushed his sunglasses up farther on his face. ("I'll figure it out…just you watch.") Widening his eyes, he observed the movements of the replication right in front of him. "Here we go!" Sliding into a fighting stance, he disappeared.

"You think to match us?" Both replications disappeared in bursts of white smoke.

"I'll do more than match you!" Kai appeared above the yellow-haired replication, falling into a drop-kick.

She side-stepped, grabbed his leg, and threw him through the air. "Foolish child."

Crashing into the dirt, Kai rolled to his feet and smiled slightly. "Foolish? Actually…"

The yellow-haired Aiko's eyes widened as she heard a hissing noise coming from her shoulder. ("An exploding tag…") Then she disappeared in a blast of fire and smoke.

Kai turned around and began to walk away. "I win."

"Yeah, sure you do." The yellow-haired Aiko appeared in front of him. "I'm not easily beaten."

"Then bring it on." Kai lifted his hand and motioned for her to come.

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Yurei could sense that he was being tracked. At this rate he would be run down. ("However, I have already defeated my necessary replication. I must simply keep the rest of them occupied.") As a pair of shurikens shot past his head though, he realized he might never get the chance to take his first mission with team eight at this rate.

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Kin slid backwards, managing to actually deflect the punch off of his arm this time. ("I'm getting the hang of your movements…I can win this!")

Aiko brushed back some of her purple hair and struck a coy pose, showing off her slim figure. "Aren't you a cheeky little boy, trying to match my speed without your limit?"

"I'll show you cheeky…" Kin closed his eyes. ("I have to do this right or else I'll burn out some of my chakra…") He began to make the seals necessary for this technique with his hands. ("It's dangerous to use, but I'll make it work!") "Suiton; Aumizu Iruka no Jitsu!"

("Blue Water Dolphin?") Aiko took a step back. ("What's this? Some kind of warped version of his White Wind Angel technique?")

Kin closed his eyes, and then opened them slowly. Something about him seemed different. "Let's go…" He charged at full speed towards her, eyes cold and emotionless. Sliding to a stop, he threw a punch at her head.

Ducking under it, Aiko disappeared and appeared right behind him. Snapping both of her fists up, she prepared to drive a hammer blow right down onto the back of his neck. "This is the end!"

With impossible speed Kin broke the momentum of his punch and turned to face her. "Really?" His knee shot up and caught her in the stomach. "I'll show you the truth…when it comes to speed I can match all opponents!"

Gasping for air, Aiko barely had time to react when his fist snapped out and slammed into her jaw, sending her shooting back a few feet. Rubbing at her delicate skin, she frowned. ("Blue Water Dolphin must allow him to use his chakra to increase his reaction time…what an incredible skill he has…but he's lost the element of surprise with it.") "Now I know the truth. And the truth is that you can't use any Ninjitsu, can you? All you can do is increase the abilities of your physical body and use Taijitsu…" She began to make seals with her hands. "Then I know just how to deal with you!"

"Not before I take you down!" Kin charged again, his eyes locked on her body. No matter which way she went he would follow her.

Stepping aside, she continued to make the seals while he ran past her. ("Interesting…why didn't he attack with his increased reaction time?")

Stumbling, Kin clutched at his head. ("I didn't do it right…it shut off prematurely…") Forcing himself to stand up, he began to make a new set of seals. ("I can't let you…")

"It's too late to activate your true speed…Nijiryu no Jitsu!" Different bright colors began to swirl around her form. "Get ready…"

Kin smiled gently. "I'm ready…trust me…"

Aiko gasped in surprise as something heavy slammed into her back, dispelling the technique. ("What? How did he do that?")

Kai cried out as he was stopped from his forced flight by the replication. ("Damn…she's too fast…")

Kin knew it was luck, but he was glad that these replications weren't as coordinated as he had feared. "Here we go! Fuuton; Shirakaze Tenshi no Jitsu!" Wisps of white silk appeared around his body.

The yellow-haired Aiko that had been fighting Kai gasped in surprise as Kin appeared right in front of her. ("You fool…") Forcefully throwing her body aside she dodged a kick that, at his speed, would have most likely knocked her unconscious. ("I'm agile enough to easily avoid your attacks…")

Kin disappeared, and began to run a circle around her. ("Kai…now's your chance!")

Stumbling to his feet, Kai saw what was going on and charged at the still fallen purple-haired Aiko. "There's the opening I needed!"

Clutching at her skull, the purple-haired replication didn't have the balance to counter-attack.

Kai's fist hurtled towards her, but the green-haired replication appeared next to him and grabbed his hand. "Where did you…" His voice caught in his throat as he was punched right in the solar plexus.

("Oh no…") Kin broke out of his whirlwind and appeared next to the green-haired Aiko. "Take…" The rest of his sentence was cut off as the blue-haired Aiko appeared behind him and locked him into a sleeper hold. ("No…I can't hold still…")

The purple-haired Aiko stood up and brushed herself off. "Well that was close. You almost had me too, but you didn't consider the interference from my other selves did you?"

Kin screamed in pain as white fire began to consume his arm. "Let me go!"

The blue-haired replication tightened her clutch to his neck. "No."

Gritting his teeth, Kin struggled to get away. "Do…you have any idea…what you are doing?"

"I'm detaining you…" The blue-haired Aiko paled slightly as Kin's body became covered in a white fire. It didn't burn…but something was wrong.

Kin closed his eyes. "Then I'll take you with me!" And then an explosion of chakra released from him, blowing the blue, purple and yellow-haired replications apart into bursts of respectively colored smoke.

Kai bounced a couple of times from the shockwave, but quickly recovered. "What was…?" He gasped as the smoke from the blast cleared to show Kin face-down in the dirt, smoke rising from patches of burnt flesh all over his body.

The green, indigo and orange-haired replications appeared near him. "Interesting…so if he can't burn off the chakra that his body releases, then he has no choice but to let it out like a bomb would."

Kai turned to face the three remaining ones…and then picked his sunglasses up off of the ground, slipping them on. "Here we go, Aiko!"

All three of them stepped back. "You still want to fight?"

Kai drew a kunai. "You're damned right I still want to fight! Let's end this!" Charging, he brought his eyes to bear on the three of them. ("One chance…only one chance…") He dove…and stabbed the kunai as hard as he could into the ground between the three of them. "Kunai Honoo no Jitsu!" Using his free hand he pushed off and launched into a whirlwind kick. While all three of the replications dodged the attack, he landed on his feet and dove at the green-haired replication wildly.

She stepped aside and punched him right in the gut on his way by. "You're too weak…"

Coughing up a few drops of blood, Kai bounced along the ground and came up standing. "Actually…"

The kunai exploded and sprayed the three replications with red-hot pieces of steel. Each one realized their mistake…and then exploded into bursts of colored smoke.

Kai took a relaxing breath…and sat down on the ground. "It's done…finally…" A strange hissing noise caught his attention. Tilting his head over to look at Kin's body, he blinked a couple of times and removed his sunglasses. "What in the hell is that?"

All of Kin's burns were slowly disappearing…and a red aura was beginning to surround him. Just as quickly as it was there though, the aura disappeared as soon as Kin's wounds did.

("That's eerie…though I suppose it's little of my concern.") Standing up, Kai heard someone land behind him and smiled. "Where did you go Yurei? Run off without a word to the rest of us huh?"

"Shut up Otogi…" Tugging on his jacket, the wild-eyed boy winced at the scratches all over him. "I've been spending the last ten minutes dodging sharp metal things."

"So, where's the teacher?" Kai began to look around for her, but then he saw her approaching them slowly. Her rainbow hair was done up in a pony-tail and she was smiling gently.

"I must admit…it's a good move. Each of you has shown that you possess amazing skills…" She walked up the two standing members of the group and then tilted her head to look over at Kin. ("Not a wound on him…incredible.") "Well anyway…welcome to group eight." Turning, she walked away with a little smile on her face. "We start tommorow."

Kai glared at her back, while Yurei just growled. ("So nonchalant after nearly killing us…")

Kin's eyes slowly opened. ("Dad…I did it…") Standing slowly, he started to laugh. He was a Genin now…and that meant he was just one step closer. ("I'll avenge your death…I swear it.")

To be continued…

Author's Notes: Hey…if you're reading up to this point could you please let me know in a review. I always love the input of the readers, and I'm starting to wonder if anyone is reading this at all.