Disclaimers: You know the story...
Chapter 5: Stamina
"Inari!" The three ran across the bridge, through the depths of the fog. Figures began to come into focus and color.
The crumpled form of a man appeared first.
"Hiroshi-san!" Sakura called out as they ran to his side. He moaned; blood bubbling from a wound on his leg. A pen fell out of his shirt pocket into the rapidly growing pool around him.
Sasuke glared forward at their attackers.
Three fully armored ninja stood between them and the city; a typical team formation, two boys, one girl, none of them much older than 15. The girl, who appeared to be the ring leader, held a bloody sword in one hand and Inari by the collar in the other. The little boy wriggled and squirmed, but to no avail.
"Chiyute no justsu!" Sakura cried, forming the seals and pressing her hands to Hiroshi's leg. The muscle and soft tissue began to mold itself back together.
"How did you-?" he began.
"No time." She hissed and grabbed him by the collar. She picked him up easily and, before he could say a word of protest, flung him hard, passed the attacks, about 50 feet down the bridge. He tumbled and rolled against the cobblestone paving before getting up awkwardly.
"Hey, what the hell-?!"
"Hiroshi-san!" Sakura called to him. "Go call Tazuna-san and the others! We'll hold them off!"
Hiroshi blinked.
"Go!"
At once, he leapt to his feet and sped of toward the town.
"I'll be back soon!" He called as he fled.
The two boys made to go after him but the girl shut them down with a glare.
"Don't worry, the kid'll be dead long before he gets back." She snickered.
"Stupids." Naruto smiled evilly. "You still have to go through us first."
The girl looked them up and down and gave them a look that clearly said "Are you serious?" She raised the bloody katana, ready to slice Inari in half.
"Ah!" Naruto stepped forward.
Think fast, think fast. Sasuke's mind raced.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked passively, though his mind still flew a hundred miles an hour.
The girl lowered the katana, and glared at Sasuke.
"'Why?' I'll tell you 'why'! My father was a great ninja..."
Just as I thought, Sasuke grinned on the inside while his face remained serious; the bad guy is a sucker for the life story speech. Now, what can I use? None of us have any weapons, and anything we could use is somewhere on the other side of the bridge. Inari has a shuriken holster, but he isn't in a position to toss it over. Any sign of attack and she'll kill him. We're on a bridge over water, but I don't know any water jutsu anyway. I need a weapon…bingo.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Sakura listened to the girl babble.
"Two years ago, my father was assigned to protect the great Gatou. He left me and my mother that morning; I had no idea that would be the last time I would see him. He was murdered! He was slaughtered by a man working for Tazuna! The man destroyed my father just before he beheaded Gatou-sama. Now Tazuna shall feel the pain I've felt for the past two years!" Sakura and Naruto exchanged glances.
She's not talking about Zabuza, is she? Naruto thought, He wasn't working with us; hell, he almost killed us. And her father couldn't have been killed by Zabuza unless he was trampled when Zabuza rushed Gatou. What a retard.
The girl lifted the katana again, but Sasuke was ready for her. His shoe splashed with blood as he kicked Hiroshi's forgotten pen out of the puddle and into the air. He caught the instrument with his left hand, clicked it open and flung it hard at the arm holding Inari. The girl let go just before the pen impaled her arm, instead leaving a dark, blue mark across her wrist. Inari fell heavily onto the cobblestone bridge. Before he could get up, the other two attackers pounced.
"Kage Bunshin no Justsu!" Ten copies of the black-haired Naruto mauled the attackers, leaving space for the real thing to sneak in, grab the kid, and sneak out.
"Are you okay, Inari-chan?" Sakura brushed off his shoulders.
"Inari," Sasuke ordered, "give me your shuriken holster."
"W-wait," Inari stammered, "You guys are ninja?!"
"Hurry," Sasuke cried as the Bunshin disappeared.
The little boy shakily unlatched the holster from his right leg and tossed it to Sasuke.
Three kunai, nine shuriken, Sasuke grumbled, how limited.
"Attack pattern alpha!" The girl cried, brandishing her katana. The two boys appeared at her side, and the three dashed at Sakura in a V-pattern.
"Go after the weakest team member", huh? So that's their plan. Sasuke contemplated as he tossed two kunai and three shuriken to Naruto, if they think Sakura's the weakest, they're in for a rude awakening.
As their leader closed in on Sakura, the two male attackers dispersed in opposite directions, one to left, one to the right, in an attempt to smite the little boy behind her. But Sasuke had already read their moves. He shot at them, ducked the first boy, hurdled the crouching Inari, and met the second attacker kunai to kunai. Naruto followed behind his teammate within milliseconds and struck at the first attacker's back. Steel met steel as the enemy blocked with shuriken.
The frontrunner raised the bloody katana and slashed it down vertically at Sakura. The blade vibrated as it stopped, wedged between Sakura's middle and index fingers.
"How primitive." Sakura taunted.
With a flick of her wrist, the blade snapped. She positioned her broken half as an extension of her hand and made a forward jab between her enemy's eyes. The girl bobbed her head to the right quickly and received an elegant slash across her cheek. She positioned her half-katana to strike Sakura's ribs, but an iron fist flew at her face first. She attempted to block with her broken sword, but Sakura's strength could not be matched by the steel. Both she and the implement were sent tumbling across the cobblestone bridge, far less gracefully then Hiroshi.
"Uh…" The girl groaned as she scraped herself off the pavement, blood running freely from her nose. She swiped the back of her hand across her face, smearing red over her cheek.
"You guys aren't bad." She said wobbling back to her feet and spitting blood from her mouth as it trickled in from her nostrils.
"As for you," Sakura sneered. "I've seen better."
The guy Naruto held from behind produced a kunai in his free hand, and made to slash at Inari. Sasuke reeled behind him, pulled a shuriken from the holster with his right hand and clashed with the first boy.
"Bad move." The attacker whispered. Sasuke grimaced as he realized his flaw. He was sprawled evenly, protecting Inari, with both hands full. His chest was wide open. Sasuke's initial attacker flourished a kunai in his free hand and aimed a stab at Sasuke's heart. Thinking quickly, Sasuke relieved the pressure on the enemy's blocked hand and launch the kunai straight into the boy's elbow. The boy cried out as blood flew squirted from his arm. He doubled back in pain, taking Sasuke's only kunai with him.
Sasuke turned away from the bleeding man and looked beyond the shoulder of the other. Naruto nodded and the two exchanged a silent plan.
With his free hand, Naruto grabbed the attacker's wrist firmly and ducked down. Sasuke lurched around, hitting the enemy square in the mouth. The boy flew over Naruto, who yanked his arm. A loud snap echoed through the fog. The victim collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"So cool..." Inari whispered.
"This isn't over yet!" The girl muttered. Her hands moved in rapid succession, forming seals.
"Feel the wrath of my ultimate technique! Tajyuu Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"
For a few moments, silence submerged the battle ground. Then from far below, the river began to toss violently. Slowly, like zombies, the hundreds of water clones dragged themselves onto the bridge.
Crap, Sasuke's head swerved in all directions, we're completely surrounded.
"No sweat," Naruto chuckled as he put his hands together. "Tajyuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
A war began; water versus shadow. Hundreds of dark clones battled their way chaotically across the savanna of cobblestones.
Clones everywhere, but where's the original? Sasuke dodged a clone's punch, and began to search around, leaving Inari under the watchful eye of Sakura. And that guy I stabbed. He's gone. He must have used Henge no Justu.
Sasuke glared into the sea of violence. I will see through this technique! His veins pulsed with the power of his bloodline. Everything began to slow down. He could see it.
"Sa- Akane!" He called. "On your right!
Sakura turned without thinking, pulled her arm back and unleashed her strength on the nearest doppelganger. A sickening crunch resounded through the think air as Sakura's fist met with the female attacker's jaw. The girl ricocheted like a rag doll off the pavement and collided with the bridge wall, cracking the plaster. The Mizu Bunshin sank into their original water forms, all except for one.
"YAAH!" Naruto hollered as his fist connected with the last attacker's face. He fell heavily into a puddle, splashing water over Naruto's shoes and sending more moisture into the foggy air.
-
"Hurry everyone! We're almost there."
Tazuna and his crew flew through the streets toward the O-Sakura-Kyo. The bridge loomed up ahead. Tazuna plowed through the fog, praying the worst had not happened. Tight anxiety squeezed his lungs. Beads of sweat lined his forehead.
Inari, please be alive.
The construction zone sign was rudely trampled as the group charged ahead. Tazuna sped up as his sandals clacked on the cobblestones.
"Inari!" He called out into the fog. Several blurry shapes rose into focus. The group stopped dead in their tracks as they took in the sight before them.
Patches of blood and water dotted the road and, in the center of this polka-dotted linen, four figures stood, the three black-haired siblings and Inari, safe and sound.
"Grandpa!" Inari cried and rushed toward him.
Tazuna smiled spitefully.
This scene looked so familiar for so many reasons.
-
"That looks like all of it." Tazuna wiped his hands as he finished loading his family's stuff onto the boat.
"Ne, old man," Naruto dangled his arms over the dock railing as he, Sasuke, Sakura and Hiroshi watched Tazuna board. "While you're in Konoha, get yourself a bodyguard. We didn't exactly kill those guys."
"Yeah, yeah." The old man waved it off.
"Thank you once again for all your help." Tsunami smiled sweetly, "we are deeply indebted to you."
"It was our pleasure." Sakura replied. "You guys have fun… or something. Well, as much fun as a person can have at a funeral. Mourn well."
Tsunami laughed sheepishly.
"By the way," Tazuna stepped forward and handed Naruto an envelope. "this is for you three."
"Eh?" Naruto held it up to the sun, as though looking for a watermark. "What this?"
"A paycheck." Tazuna crossed the boarding platform and joined Tsunami and Inari on the ship. "You kids did good work. You deserve it." The boat's horn roared loudly and the vessel began its departure.
"Thank you, Tazuna-san!" Sakura cried.
"Don't break a hip, old fart!" Naruto howled.
Sasuke merely waved as the liner disappeared. He looked tenderly down at his left hand and smiled.
Author's Notes: Yay for chapter 5! and yay for Naruto Unlimited passing the 10,000 word marker! Man, considering this is the shortest chapter, I spent the longest on it... Action scenes are hard. And what do you know, Sasuke has a new ability: he's amidexterous! (Can use both left and right hands equally.) Yay for him!
I want to thank everyone who reads this, particularly, those who review. (Special thanks to Magicians of the Yami!! My person of the day!)
What's to come next chapter you ask? Suspense! Angst! Flying pink hippos! (okay, not really.) Chapter 6! A funeral for the undead? Kakashi's desicion and Team 7's new mission! (hey, that rhymes!)