13- No Smoke without Fire.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura found their way blocked by Jirou, the enemy Smoke Nin. He stood squarely in their path to Kakashi and Genma. The four ninja stopped, standing stock still as they summed each other up. Sasuke looked ready to spring. Naruto faced him square on with no fear in his face. Sakura was unsure of what to do and just stood watching Jirou.

"So you're the Leaf kids?" Jirou said derisively. "You don't even look like real ninja!"

"I'm going to be the greatest ninja in Konoha one day!" Naruto barked back. Jirou laughed at him.

"Greatest ninja in Konoha? You need more than a loud voice for that!" he replied. Naruto smiled, crossing his fingers in the familiar hand seal for his favourite technique.

"Oh yeah?" he said. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he shouted. Jirou gasped in surprise as about ten copies of the noisy ninja appeared. "How's this?" they shouted at once, all starting forwards. The Smoke Nin's eyes widened as he wondered how to combat them all at once.

---

Sharino leapt toward Ketsume, her Katana swinging to meet him. Ketsume dodged, moving so fast that it looked as though he disappeared. Sharino's Katana swept through the empty air where he had stood and buried itself in the branch. As she dragged it free, Ketsume appeared above her, dropping down to attack. Reiboshi concentrated his chakra into his sword. His sword, the Oni Tsurugi 'demon sword' could change size and length according to Reiboshi's will. He extended the blade while jumping towards Sharino, so that the sword came between Ketsume and Sharino.

Ketsume jumped away and Reiboshi retracted the blade again. By then, Sharino had righted herself, and stood to face Ketsume again. He formed a set of hand seals and Sharino was forced to dodge a quick succession of lightning strikes.

"Damn it!" she cursed as she dodged a second attack. Ketsume was driving her further into the forest, away from Kakashi and the other Leaf ninja. Divide and conquer. She grabbed a kunai from the pouch on her leg and threw it towards the Cloud ninja. He dodged it easily. Jumping from branch to branch, she whirled again to swing her Katana to his throat. Again he jumped away.

"Reiboshi!" she called. The other Smoke ninja nodded, swinging down from the branches above to stand in front of her, while she sheathed her Katana and formed a jutsu.

Ketsume tried to get around him, but Reiboshi jumped to meet him. His sword cut through the Cloud ninja and Reiboshi smiled. Then two halves of a log appeared in the place of the enemy ninja, and he spun around to see where he had gone. Sharino saw him though, heading towards her, whilst forming a jutsu.

"Enton: Dokugemuri! Smoke element: poison smoke," she shouted, exhaling a stream of thick grey smoke towards the oncoming ninja. Reiboshi looked at him hopefully to see if Sharino's deadly jutsu had worked. But the cloud ninja disappeared. It was a Kage Bunshin.

"Behind you!" Reiboshi called, too far away to attack Ketsume. Sharino turned and ducked in one fluid motion, her hunting knife suddenly in her hands, cutting towards his legs. He jumped and a ball of lightning rushed from his hands. Sharino was about to dodge when she realised that it was directed not at her, but at Reiboshi. It hit her friend square on, too fast for him to escape, and he went flying backwards into the forest.

"REIBOSHI!" she shouted after him. There was no reply. She started to follow him, but Ketsume had other ideas.

"You're not going anywhere!" the Cloud ninja shouted, sending another flash of lightning towards her as she dodged from branch to branch.

Sharino stood looking at him, and smiled bitterly. It was time to use a special technique. She took a deep breath, drawing her Katana once more and holding it in front of her, her hands forming a seal around the hilt. Molding chakra, she activated five symbols on the Katana's blade, which glowed a fierce gold as she infused the sword with her chakra.

>>>

Three years ago

Sharino greeted Reiboshi with a proud grin on her face. He had been unable to leave the village to see the main matches of the Chuunin exams, but she had understood that. It was enough that he was there, with Nekozaki Takashi and Nekoya, when she returned. She had fought three vicious opponents in her struggle, and had defeated all of them. The Feudal Lord judges had awarded her, a Leaf Genin and a Genin from the Sand village the title of Chuunin. Isamu, as the leader of a village taking part in the main matches, had gone to Sunagakure to see the main matches. He had, however, returned separately before her.

"Well done Sharino. You did well," Reiboshi said. "I hope our training helped!"

"So that's where that move came from," Kenshin said, smiling at his student. "I did wonder!" At that point, Isamu appeared behind Reiboshi, and Reiboshi stepped aside so that she could greet her father.

"I am very proud of you, Sharino," Isamu said. She grinned at the compliment. Beside her, Kenshin placed a hand on her shoulder. Her team mates smiled graciously from behind her. They had, unfortunately not become Chuunin, one being defeated by the Sand Nin that eventually became a Chuunin, the other losing in the first round to a Leaf Genin who was later eliminated. But they were glad for their team mate.

After the initial greetings were finished, Isamu and Sharino returned to their home.

"How was it to return to Sunagakure?" Isamu asked. He had not had a chance to speak to her during the main matches, presiding over them as he was with the Kazekage and the Hokage.

"It was great to see Temari and Kankurou again," she said, grinning. Her father smiled, but it seemed forced somehow. He did not really like her being reminded of her early years in Sunagakure, but he knew he could not steal friends from his daughter, so he let it go. Besides, he was about to give her a tool that came from the Sand, honouring his agreement with the Kazekage.

Isamu turned to go to the chest at the back of the room where he kept the Katana that the Kazekage had given Isamu for her. He opened it and took it out, a strong looking weapon. The scabbard was plain black, except for a band of silver around the top, and the hilt was similarly simple, with just the ordinary black and white diamond patterned grip. But as he drew the Katana and it caught the light, there were faint marks on the blade. Five kanji, each representing the Five countries; Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning.

"This Katana was given to me on your behalf when you first left the Sand village," Isamu said, bringing it closer to her so that she could see it properly. "It acts as an ordinary sword, but if you are strong enough, it can be used with even deadlier force. The five symbols represent the five main elemental attacks. When infused with chakra, the sword can be wielded so that each blow releases whichever of these five elemental attacks the user wants, increasing the damage done by a potentially vast amount."

Sharino took the Katana and stared in awe at the symbols on the blade. She wondered if she would have the strength to wield it. It must take an incredible amount of chakra to use to its full potential. Isamu was thinking a similar thing. It might be a few years before Sharino had the chakra capacity to use the Katana to its full potential, but one day, she would be able to. When that happened, Isamu was glad that he wouldn't be on the receiving end.

>>>

"Goken Toujin: Goken Kai! Five element Katana blade: five element release," Sharino said quietly as the sword came alive in her hands. The power of it seemed to hum under her palms as she changed her grip and shifted her body into an attack stance. She smiled at the Lightning ninja and jumped towards him, the Katana held out in front of her, ready to strike.

---

Fighting nine Chuunin level ninjas whilst trapped in the middle of a circle of them shouldn't have been very easy, but Kakashi and Genma did not seem worried as their opponents started closing in on them. Kakashi looked bored, Genma simply looked ready for the fight as he thoughtfully chewed on his toothpick. He glanced over his shoulder at Kakashi.

"What do you think?" he said.

"I could do this without using my Sharingan," the Copy Ninja replied. Genma smiled. As one, the two started forming hand seals. Kakashi's were for a Suiton technique he hoped to surprise them with. Genma formed one of the Katon techniques that were almost compulsory jutsu for Leaf ninja. The two attacks were launched at the same time and the nine ninja were scattered, some dodging and breaking the circle, others being swept away in the water-wave. One caught the fireball on his leg, burning away the fabric of his trousers.

The two Leaf shinobi split apart, each now with a kunai in their hand. Kakashi jumped to meet one of the ninja in mid-air, their kunai meeting in front them with a clash, then Kakashi brought the back of his fist down against the ninja's chest. He crashed down towards the floor, but as he hit, he seemed to melt into a pile of mud. He had used a Kawarimi technique. Kakashi was unconcerned as he deflected another enemy's kunai and rounded on another opponent.

Genma settled on a mixture of Taijutsu and basic Genjutsu techniques. As two of the enemy ninja charged him at once from opposite directions, he jumped into the air and span around in a kick that hit both in the head. They dropped back, and Genma used a Genjutsu that made a third ninja appear to sink into the mud.

This enemy was resilient, though, and kept coming back for more no matter how he attacked. Genma eventually smiled, knowing that this strategy would not work forever.

"Kakashi," he said, knocking another ninja back to the floor with a devastating kick. He jumped closer to Kakashi so that the others could not hear him, and whispered something to the Jounin. Kakashi did not say anything, acknowledging him only by a small nod that many would have missed. Suddenly there was another kunai in his hand and he was leaping to meet another of the ninja that had once again picked himself up from the ground.