8- The Kitten's Fire
Nekoya heard the clang of kunai hitting each other and slowed his run towards Kakashi's team. He listened, his ears twitching as he tried to work out how many enemies there were. At his side, Toramaru mewed. He nodded to the cat.
Creeping forward, he gathered chakra in his feet and ran up the tree he was standing on. Once at the top, he continued moving towards the Leaf team, continuously looking below him looking for signs of them. He saw a flash of movement, and Genma appeared beside him.
"Oh! It's you!" the Leaf Special Jounin said with relief, placing the kunai he was holding back in its pouch.
"What's happening?" Nekoya whispered.
"It's a small band of the Missing-Nin," Genma said. "Not too troublesome, but if you feel like fighting, the extra pair of hands wouldn't go amiss." A broad grin creased the bandages that covered Nekoya's face.
"Looks like I'm just in time!" he said. Genma nodded, motioning for him to wait where he was for a minute. Then he rejoined the fray below. As he jumped down, he saw one of the enemies throwing a kunai towards Kakashi. He swivelled in midair, and spat his toothpick out towards it. The two projectiles collided and flew off in different directions. Genma dropped to the ground at the other Jounin's side.
One of the Missing-Nin charged towards Sakura, a kunai in his hand. She held her own kunai ready, but before she had a chance to use it, Naruto jumped to meet him, swinging his leg around in a wide kick that connected savagely with the other ninja's face, sending him flying. A second enemy appeared, but Sasuke had seen him, and this new enemy found himself frantically dodging several shuriken that streamed towards him. Sakura could only watch as Sasuke and Naruto worked together to fight the two enemy ninja.
Another ninja lay at Kakashi's feet, unconscious; easily defeated by the Konoha Jounin. So far, Genma had just been observing, ready to lend a hand where he was needed. At that point, though, the Special Jounin sensed another presence nearby. He froze, looking towards the newcomers: two ninja from the Hidden Village of Mist.
Kakashi was about to attack them when he heard Naruto cry out from behind him. Genma nodded almost imperceptibly, and the white-haired Jounin disappeared, rushing to the aide of his subordinates.
Genma stared at the two for a long moment, then a tiny smile formed on his face.
He formed a series of hand seals and closed his eyes. The technique was a Genjutsu. The image that appeared beside him was of a vicious-looking demon. It took the form of a many-horned dragon, bright red in colour with evil eyes that bored into them. Genma opened his eyes and looked at the two ninja he was facing. They both looked less confident. The younger of the two was shaking visibly.
He made the demon creature image move towards them, snorting great puffs of air as it stalked towards them. The ninja started to back away, and Genma followed them behind his illusion. Soon they would realise it was not real and then it would be time for him to fight properly.
From behind the illusion, Genma took several kunai and shuriken out of his pouch and prepared to throw them through the demon. Just then he heard a noise behind him. When he looked, he saw a third enemy ninja appear.
"Geez," he said under his breath. He looked sideways at this third ninja and smiled.
He released the kunai and shuriken towards the two cowering before the dragon. The Genjutsu was dispelled as he threw the weapons through it, but some of them found their mark. He jumped into the air, and formed a seal sequence, ending with the Tiger seal.
A burst of fire rained towards the ninja, but the Mist ninja were recovered enough to use a water counter-technique and the third ninja simply dodged. Genma saw that the Mist ninja were both at least Chuunin level and he might need some help. They had certainly managed to avoid any critical hits from his weapons quite easily.
He landed on a tree branch and looked upwards.
"Now's your chance, kid," he said. Nekoya was standing just a few metres behind him on another branch. He nodded, smiled, then dropped into the clearing in front of the third ninja that had arrived to fight Genma.
Genma settled himself on the tree branch and started to mold chakra for a big technique. He just hoped the kid could keep them occupied for long enough.
Nekoya faced the three ninja with a smile on his face. His cat was sitting beside him, waving its tail slowly as it stared at the enemy.
"What can a boy and a kitten do against the three of us?" laughed one of the Mist ninja coming towards him.
"Ha!" said Nekoya, slapping his hands together in a seal. "Kittens grow up into big cats," he laughed. "Ninpou: Juuhatsuiku no jutsu! Beast growth technique," he shouted. The three ninja stopped dead, watching him and Toramaru. Suddenly, Toramaru did not look quite so harmless. The green eyes started to look more fiery and demonic and his fur bristled. Standing up, Toramaru started to grow in size, until it was larger than most tigers. His teeth grew longer and his claws extended into sharp talons that looked like they could gut a man very easily. His mew was no longer a quiet cry, but a tiger's roar.
The three ninja looked distinctly worried for a moment, but then they decided that three against one was still an advantage, no matter how big his cat was.
"Go Toramaru!" shouted Nekoya. Toramaru gave a great roar and jumped towards the nearest enemy ninja. He was instantly pushed to the ground. Nekoya looked at the other two with his own cat-like eyes and formed a set of hand seals in preparation for their attack.
They both leapt towards him at the same time, kunai in their hand.
"Katon: Hoheki no jutsu." he shouted. "Fire element: Fire wall technique." A wall of fire, much taller than him, burst out of the ground in front of him, as he directed it with a sweep of his hand in a line across the advancing enemy's path. The technique served its purpose. It stopped the enemy ninja in their tracks. While the enemy pulled back from the flames, Nekoya formed another technique, quickly forming the seals and gathering up all the chakra he could. If it worked, this technique would win the battle, if not, he would be practically useless for the rest of it.
'Enton: Chissoku kokuen no jutsu! Smoke element: Suffocating black smoke technique.' He blew out his deep breath, and with it came a huge cloud of billowing black smoke that found the enemy with frightening speed. As soon as they took in the smallest breath of it, they began to choke, hacking and coughing as they tried to clear their lungs of the deadly smoke. They fell to the ground, unable to stay upright. Nekoya smiled, happy at his victory.
However, he had used a lot of his chakra to form the three high level techniques in such quick succession. A few seconds later, he dropped to the ground to rest, tired out. Genma landed beside him, seeing that the kid had done more than distract the enemy ninja. Nekoya's techniques were good. Toramaru had managed to defeat the third ninja, and now returned to his normal size, rushing to his fallen master's side.
"Are you okay?" Genma asked. Nekoya smiled and nodded.
"I'll be fine," he said. Genma smiled at him and then looked over to where Kakashi and his team had also defeated their opponents.
"I think we did quite well," said Naruto, grinning. Genma's smile broadened and he nodded.
"I think we did," he said.
---
Reiboshi and his team sat in the upper branches of two trees that were close together. Their senses were alert, waiting for any sign of an attack, but there was nothing. The forest around them was silent except for the ordinary sounds of birds and wild animals. Isako was listening carefully for anything that indicated one of her traps had been disturbed, but there was nothing.
The atmosphere was tense, the five Smoke ninja silent except for the occasional comment, related to their mission. Reiboshi looked bored, or at the very least calm and disinterested. One of the younger Chuunin looked scared, constantly scanning his surroundings. A drip of sweat ran down his forehead.
"It's past midday," Isako said, looking up into the sky. "I would have thought we'd have seen something by now." Reiboshi shrugged, looking at her.
"Maybe they haven't found us yet. Patience, Isako," he said. "You're worse than your sister." Isako's smile showed amusement, but possibly also a hint of jealousy.
"I had to sneak away from the house to come here, and now it looks as though I might not even get to fight," she said. Reiboshi leaned back against the tree again and took a sip of water from a flask he carried with him.
"Are you worried that your father will not let you come out again unless you prove you are useful?" he said. Isako smiled.
"Something like that," she said with a sigh. "I've felt so useless these last months. Being unable to do what you are best at is demoralising. Especially when your younger sister is not overprotected in the same way." Reiboshi tossed her the flask and she also took a sip of water.
"You are not Sharino," he said. "She may be a stronger ninja, but you make better tea." Isako laughed despite herself, and Reiboshi grinned in return. "You will have your turn, Isako," he said, when they stopped laughing. She looked at him.
"I hope so," she replied with a deep sigh. "I want just once to prove I can be as useful to the village as Sharino."
---
Sharino gasped for breath as she tried to fight the paralysing smoke, but it was a strong technique, and Jirou was holding it well, without too much strain. He had to continuously release chakra into the jutsu for it to keep working, but he seemed confident, and Sharino's attempts to fight the jutsu were failing completely.
"So, Umatatsu Sharino," Ketsume said, looking her in the face with a sneer on his, "this is your limit?" He took out a coil of rope and knelt down to start to bind her with it.
Sharino was about to respond defiantly when both Jirou and Ketsume looked up sharply at some sound nearby in the forest. They both screamed as a fierce wind hurtled towards them, blowing them away into the forest. The paralysing jutsu was released immediately and Sharino sat up and looked in the direction from which help had come.
"Sharino-chan," said a familiar voice, "in trouble again?" Sharino grinned broadly when she saw her old friend.
"Temari!" she called. The Sand ninja leaned on her fan. Behind her, Kankurou appeared with a bandaged package on his back, followed by Gaara, carrying a heavy gourd. Sharino smiled and greeted Temari and Kankurou warmly and also smiled at Gaara. Gaara said nothing, instead looking blankly at her with his chilling pale blue eyes. Sharino hastily looked around. "What brings you to the Flame country!" she said. Temari smiled.
"We're here to pick up one of our own: a Missing-Nin from our village. We heard he was in the band that has been attacking Kemurigakure and I couldn't pass up the opportunity!" Temari said. Sharino smiled back at her.
"But surely you're still Genin. That would be a B-ranked mission at the very least!" she said. Kankurou looked uneasily at his younger brother. Sharino understood immediately. One of her earliest memories had been of Gaara and learning of his terrifying talents. If the talents had grown with him, no one would be able to land an attack on the red haired twelve-year-old, let alone defeat him.
"Well, anyway," she said, rushing away from the subject of Gaara. "Let us see if we can't find your missing man. But first we should clean up the mess…" she turned around and looked for Jirou and Ketsume, but they were gone. She cursed.
"They'll turn up later," said Temari. "They always do."
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AN: The technique I created for Genma is based on his name. 'Genma' can mean 'illusionary demon.' I felt he deserved a technique, and he seems to me like someone that would use this kind of technique… I hope you agree.