Naruto paced restlessly around camp, cursing his own stupidity. It seemed so obvious in retrospect; the leaf didn't dare attack him head on. Naruto was now sure that the hunters didn't know what his relationship with Temari was, and so they couldn't risk that she was still just his prisoner.
So the only thing they could do was take her and interrogate her.
Naruto resisted the powerful urge to destroy something. He needed to be calm, his opponents were smart, and so he had to be to. Taking a deep breath, Naruto analyzed the situation.
From his enemy's perspective, taking Temari served many purposes. Finding out whether she was a voluntary Nukenin, or whether Naruto had forced her. Finding out about Naruto's tactics and skills, picking apart what she knew about his mind.
The problem was, Naruto didn't know how Temari would answer. Would she betray him to the leaf? Would she resist and risk her life? Would she just sit silently and not respond?
He cursed and punched a tree. Worst of all was that he knew the final and most obvious reason for kidnapping Temari was that it would drive Naruto crazy wondering whether the girl was dead, and unfortunately, it was working.
He forced himself to be calm. Temari could take care of herself, and fighting while mad was the worst thing a person could do.
Now focused, he started examining the campsite more closely. He could determine many things about the hunter squad just from looking at their work.
There was no sign of a struggle, so Temari had been surprised. Naruto could personally attest to the fact that this was no small feat, so there was at least one Jounin on the team.
The positioning of the chess pieces was a brilliant psychological taunt, so he was facing someone who either was very smart or knowledgeable about the workings of the human mind. Considering Neji's presence, Naruto was betting that the chess was the work of Shikamaru.
They were hoping to weaken his resolve by forcing him to fight his ex-friends.
2 hours ago, it might have worked.
Neji was badly wounded, and assuming Temari was just unconscious (he refused to think otherwise), they wouldn't be able transport her very far, they knew that they were giving Naruto a major chance to escape either way, and wouldn't let themselves be more than an hour from his position.
If he moved fast, he should be able to find them within 5 hours using a criss-cross pattern. Wasting no more time, he dashed off into the forest, heading back to where he had last seen Neji. If he centered his search there, he might get lucky and find the hunters within the hour.
Iruka and Shizune ran through the forest, Shizune carrying Neji in her arms. She had been horrified after only a brief examination and immediately declared that he needed to get to a real hospital, as she didn't have the resources to treat him in the forest.
Since Iruka was the only one who wasn't needed immediately as part of the plan, he was her escort and guard. Shizune would run with Neji if Naruto found them, leaving Iruka to cover their escape.
Iruka understood better than anyone that his team was the best for the job, but he still worried as he pushed himself, trying to move as fast as humanly possible. He had left Ibiki in charge, but still wished he could be there himself. He was broken out of his thoughts as Neji moaned; and he turned to see the Hyuuga starting to shift in Shizune's arms.
Iruka cursed and started to run faster, he wasn't going to let anyone die.
Temari slowly awoke, but trying to think was like swimming through mud. She tried to move, and upon finding she couldn't, sighed silently. She was really getting tired of waking up groggy and immobile.
She kept her eyes closed and stayed perfectly still, not wanting to alert anyone as to her wakefulness. She could feel all her body parts, and that was a good sign, but missing was the comforting weight of her shuriken holsters and battle fan.
Without much hope, she shifted her weight slightly and was surprised when she felt all her hidden Kunai exactly where they were supposed to be. Whoever had taken all her obvious weaponry hadn't bothered to search her. As an experiment, she shifted again and felt a lump.
Temari had tucked the small fan Naruto had given at the fair into her sash for safekeeping. It was still there. Not wasting time searching her for concealed weapons was understandable if there were time constraints, but the small wood fan in her sash was obvious, and anyone who didn't bother to take a fan from a wind user, even a tied up wind user, would have to be either the most powerful or laziest shinobi in existence.
A short distance away, an oblivious Shikamaru sat staring at clouds. He had taken the least troublesome job, as everyone else was out patrolling the forest. His mind, happily distracted by floating white puffs, paid very little attention to his (supposedly) unconscious prisoner.
Behind him, Temari carefully opened her eyes. She immediately recognized Shikamaru, which answered the question of who had tied her up and failed to search her, but didn't tell her what to do next. The shadow user was leaning up against a tree, facing away from her and staring at the sky.
Temari could feel one her hidden Kunai in her right sleeve, if she could reach it, cutting herself would be simple. The only obstacle was Shikamaru, Temari knew she would have to be very careful and quiet, because if the pineapple haired boy noticed she was awake and caught wind of her plan, she would be sunk.
She started to move, agonizingly slowly, shifting her body so the hidden Kunai would slide out of its hiding place. She knew it might take a while at this speed, but impatience could ruin her only chance of escape.
Ibiki and Anko stood uneasily in the forest. Both knew that everything was going according to plan, but neither could shake the nervousness that came with waiting. Provoking an enraged demon boy to attack you seemed like a much better idea around a planning table surrounded by your teammates.
Iruka had said flatly that despite how much the boy may have changed, there was no way Naruto would abandon someone he had decided was his responsibility. The plan had developed logically from there, kidnap Temari when the two nukenins were apart, then allow Naruto to come to them.
Kakashi had been the one to capture Temari, and everything had seemed perfect until Shizune had arrived at the rendezvous point with Neji's broken body. They had all assumed Neji would at least be able to hold his own against Naruto for a few minutes.
They had been wrong.
Now they were short three members, leaving only one to guard Temari and four people split into 2-man teams on the lookout for the fox boy.
Neji had been Chuunin level, and he had been completely and utterly crushed. That left even the jounin slightly disturbed. It was for this reason, that as they watched the silent forest, Ibiki had lost his usual aura of casualness and Anko was completely serious.
Tension was thick in the air as they stood back to back in the forest, neither could put a finger on exactly what it was that was bothering them, but the disturbance was there nonetheless.
It was then that the mist started to form.
The Leaf-nin resisted the immediate urge to set off their signal flares, they didn't want to call Kakashi and Tenten to back them up unless they were sure the mist wasn't a diversion.
Within the fog, Naruto stood calmly holding Seirei Kirite. Ibiki and Anko couldn't see him, but he could see them.
He was one with his sword and one with his surroundings. It wasn't a feeling that could be described to someone who hadn't felt it, as he couldn't see things around him, but he knew they were there all the same. He knew the position of every tree, rock and plant for 20 feet in every direction.
He felt rather than saw the agitated movements of the two jounin in front of him, but it really didn't matter. He knew where they were, and they had no idea where he was. His eyes narrowed and shone with a dark inner light.
Both jounin easily dogged Naruto's initial strike, as their instincts had been honed from a hundred battles, but the boy went straight into high gear. He knew that both leaf-nins had much larger Ninjutsu collections than his own, and so he would have to pressure them so much they had no time for jutsus.
Kyuubi's eight Seirei Kirite clones were already in the air, and Naruto had directed the demon to focus on Ibiki, leaving Naruto himself to deal with Anko.
Said female leaf nin was currently pulling off her best acrobatics in an effort to dodge Seirei Kirite and the dark boy who wielded it like it weighed no more than a kunai. Anko had known the boy would be strong, but her current situation was ridiculous. She suddenly saw an opening in Naruto's defense and went for it.
Seeing the kunai aimed at his heart, Naruto jumped, taking his sword into and upward slash.
Knowing it was to late to reverse her momentum Anko brought her two kunai down to block, and they held for a second, but were no match for the demonic blade. Both Kunai were cut cleanly in half and Seirei Kirite continued upwards, almost severing he left leg and leaving a deep gash in her side.
Naruto would have reversed the blade and come down on her for the killing blow but felt an explosion behind him. He spun in the air, kicking Anko out of the way as he did so.
Ibiki just stood there, grinning at him. The interrogator's right side had been completely mangled by Kyuubi's spinning sword clones, his right arm and leg in shreds, but in his left hand he held a flare gun.
Naruto's eyes widened as Ibiki continued to grin as he collapsed.
The fox boy growled, baring his fangs as he ran to pick up his bag and Temari's battle fan before continuing towards where he figured the leaf camp would be.
Unfortunately, the explosion had completely awoken Shikamaru from his oblivion, and he was now standing alertly above as Temari faked sleep. She had the kunai in her hand, but hadn't cut her bonds yet and if she moved it would be a battle of speed between her and the shadow user to see who would strike first.
Deciding she had to risk it, Temari cut the ropes on her hands and brought the Kunai down to cut her leg bonds while her other hand grabbed the fan out of her sash. Shikamaru immediately noticed her movement out of the corner of his eye and was starting the seals for the shadow bind when a chibi-Kamaitachi slammed into the side of his head.
Shikamaru crumpled to the ground and Temari jumped to her feet, trying to get the blood flowing in her limbs again. Oddly enough, in all her plans to escape it had never occurred to her that she was now willingly acting like a missing nin. Not willing to waste time contemplating this fact, as the flare probably meant trouble for Naruto, Temari started to run in the direction of where the flare had gone off.
The ex-sand nin hadn't gotten very far when she felt two presences right behind her. Just as she was pondering how to get away, a form sped in front of her and cut her off.
Temari found herself facing one normal eye and one Sharingan, and knew she was in rather deep trouble.
Kakashi glared, "Why are you trying to escape?"
Temari just smiled, "because you captured me….isn't it normal to run away?"
"Then why haven't you run away from him," Kakashi said angrily
Temari's mind was working at warp speed, despite her outward confidence, she had no hope of winning. She didn't have her fan or any time to prepare a plan of acti…..
Prepare….
Suddenly all of Naruto's annoying comments made sense. Mizu Gyoushuku no jutsu and Kaze Nenshou no Justu weren't supposed to be combined, one was a preparation for the other.
Willing to gamble, she ignored Kakashi's question and started to run through now familiar seals. As expected, the copy ninja held true to his name and immediately started to imitate her seals.
They both finished the seals and called out at the same time: "Mizu Gyoushuku no jutsu!"
Neither moved as the water started to gather. Within seconds, both were soaked and the air around them was filled with water droplets.
Kakashi was perplexed. He had been slightly nervous when Temari had started into hand seals without answering his question…but the Jutsu didn't do anything except make you wet…
Temari just stood there, hoping beyond hope that Naruto was nearby, if he weren't, Kakashi would be kicking her ass any minute now.
It was at that moment that Tenten fell from the trees. Literally. The weapons master hit the ground with a crunch and lay still.
Kakashi's Sharingan started to spin as he looked at Tenten; he felt righteous anger building up inside him and subconsciously started the hand seals for chidori. He probably would have finished them too if Seirei Kirite hadn't flown out of the trees, heading straight to Temari.
If the huge sword flying towards her unnerved the girl, she didn't show it. A million possibilities went through Kakashi's mind. Was Naruto going to kill her and blame it on the leaf?
As the blade was only a few fractions of a second from impact, Temari reached out with her hand and deftly caught her fan as the Seirei Kirite clone poofed into nonexistence. Using the fans own momentum to snap it open and spin, Temari forced all the chakra she had into one final jutsu,
"Kaze Nenshou no Justu: KIKAKI!" (Burning Winds Technique: VAPORIZER!)
All the water that had collected on her body and in the air turned instantly to steam as the air was lit on fire. Kakashi only managed the "oh shi…" before he was engulfed by a wave of super-heated mist and consumed by agony.
Some of the steam condensed on the copy ninja's body and continued to burn him as he thrashed on the ground. When the air started to cool and clear up, Kakashi just lay on his back, trying not to move. A shadow suddenly fell over him and he met a set of dark red eyes.
"I suppose this is the end for the great copy-ninja?" Kakashi said without mirth
Naruto shook his head, "No, there's a message I want you to take to Tsunade for me."
Kakashi raised his singed eyebrow, "go ahead, I'm not going anywhere"
Naruto thought for a moment and started casually, "As far as I know, your whole team is alive, assuming Ibiki and Anko managed to use healing jutsus before they bled to death, so you can be happy about that. More importantly, I want you to know that if I ever catch even a whiff of the scent of leaf hunters ever again, I'm going to find and kill them while they sleep."
Naruto grinned slightly, "aaaaaannd if anyone from your village ever lays a hand on one of my precious people ever again…"
Naruto's eyes suddenly started to glow, "then I will go back to Konoha and burn it to the ground"
Naruto's eyes lost their glow and he smiled again, "do we understand each other?""
Kakashi nodded painfully.
"Good," Naruto turned to Temari, who had been panting while leaning on her fan,
"Ready?"
Temari nodded tiredly, the sun had set, but at that moment she wanted to get far away from their current location as possible. Without further exchange of words, the two Nukenin started to run.
Tsunade shot upwards in bed, her body soaked with cold sweat. She had been having a horrible nightmare, but couldn't remember any of what it had been about. She rested a hand on her chest and felt her heart pounding.
The fifth was not the type of person to be superstitious, but she would swear for the rest of her life that as she lay there in bed, she somehow knew the team sent after Naruto had been beaten. Feeling a dark sense of dread well up from deep within her, she remembered that she had once read part of a poem that she had thought effectively summed up the life of a shinobi.
"Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."
She had only sent 8 people, not six hundred, but she had sent them on a mission not because the village needed Naruto, but because she as a person cared about him. If they died, she knew she would never forgive herself their deaths.
Only a short distance away, Sabaku no Gaara sat on the ground, watching the moon. He sat cross-legged, staring up into the sky, wondering how Temari was doing. He would be the first to admit that he had never exactly showered his siblings with affection, but Temari's absence had been affecting him deeply.
Gaara had been pondering something the Hokage had said to him a few days earlier, that you don't know what you have until its gone. He was finding that to be disturbingly true.
The sand shifted slightly as someone sat down beside him. It took Gaara only a moment to realize it was Kankuro lacking his face paint and body suit. The sand settled and the two sat in silence, the only sound being the wind as it rustled through the trees.
Finally, it was Gaara who broke the silence, "Not sleeping well?"
"Hm, no, not really" Kankuro answered, only half paying attention
"Seems quiet without her, doesn't it?"
"Hm," Kankuro answered again
"How do you think she's doing?"
"…ok I guess, she's with that Naruto kid, and he's tough as nails" said Kankuro
Gaara nodded with a small smile, "that he is"
And so they sat in silence, each reflecting on their own thoughts.
Temari collapsed against a tree in exhaustion sometime around three A.M. Naruto had decided they had gone far enough that they weren't likely to be found. He set up the two sleeping bags next to each other, and helped Temari to hers before stripping to the waist and crawling into his own.
The two really hadn't spoken since their flight from the battlefield, and a great deal was hanging awkwardly between them. Most of the awkwardness was on Temari's side, and she felt the need to talk despite her fatigue.
"I wanted….to…I guess…..say thank you….."
Naruto just looked confused, "for what?"
Temari's nervousness was suddenly replaced with incredulity, "for coming to help me escape..."
Naruto thought for a moment then let out a dark laugh, "don't thank me for that. I went against my village, and don't care if people call me scum, but shinobi who leave their comrades behind are worse than scum, and even I refuse to sink that low"
He suddenly rolled over so they were facing each other, "But even beyond that, you are on the very short list of people who are precious to me."
Temari tried to cover a blush as Naruto continued, "If you ever want to leave, I won't stop you, but until that day, anyone who wants to mess with you has to kill me first"
Temari just lay there as Naruto rolled back over, and a few minutes later, started to snore. When she did start to drift herself, her mind was still filled with the memory of his final words.
Authors Notes: Well…this chapter took a while. I had a blast at the convention, though I'm still recovering from sleep depravation. I really am sorry for making you all wait so long for such a short chapter, but the next one can be expected in a couple days.
And for those who don't remember, Shadow Shuriken no Jutsu is what Naruto and Sasuke used on zabuza, hiding one object in another's shadow. In this case, the fan was hidden in the shadow of a Seirei Kirite clone.
The quoted poem lines are from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade", and the grammar in the poem looks wrong, but Poets are allowed to bend the conventional rules of grammar
New Jutsu List
Naruto
Kirigakure No Jutsu – Hidden Mist Technique
A skill the enshrouds the nearby area with a mist the user can control
Shikifuuinkai- Dead Demon Imprisonment Seal Release
Used to bend or break a shikifuujin seal
Kirite Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Cutter shadow replication
Makes shadow clones of Seirei Kirite that Kyuubi can control using Chakra
Kamaitachi – Whirlwind cutter
A wind jutsu taught to him by Temari, which he can use by transforming Seirei Kirite into a fan. Creates a blasting wind.
Accumulation of Fear Stimulus
Not a jutsu so much as a skill. Affects the mind of the victim by taking advantage of humanities subconscious instincts.
TemariMizu Gyoushuku no jutsu – water condensation technique
Gathers large amounts of water on and around the user
Kaze Nenshou no Justu – Burning Winds Technique
Similar to the Kamaitachi, only it heats the air to extremely high temperatures, creating a wind that burns everything it comes into contact with
Kikaki – Vaporizer
A combined use of the above two jutsus, Kaze Nenshou superheats the water until it forms steam, which is carried by the wind and re-condenses on to the target in the form of boiling water, which continues to burn the victim after the initial jutsu is completed. Has the added bonus of blinding your opponent.
Rasengan lvl-1
The same as Naruto's level 1 rasengan was, weak and useless. Temari practices with the water balloon in hopes of getting better, but lacks Naruto's insane endurance.