I would also like to thank everyone who reviewed! I love you guys!
Just a warning: From now on, I'll be using stuff from very recent manga chapters, so if you havn't read them and don't want to get spoiled (I have already lost my innocence... what a shame! Bad girl...), either don't read this chappy at all (which would devastate me!) or start after the first part. You are all warned!
Oh, and thanks/hugs/kisses/punches go to my sis for playing muse again and kicking asses when she had to... ouch!
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"Narutoooo"
Yelling his name at the top of her lungs, Sakura focused more chakra, even if that wasn't much in her current condition, into her feet. She gained immediately speed and rushed over the houses as fast as she could, waving a hand at her friend.
She could see him standing between two rows of houses, his eyes fixated on her in obvious disbelief.
Just some feet behind him, their former sensei Kakashi was standing, a deep frown on his forehead as he watched her come nearer.
They were alright.
Sakura could see some minor wounds and blood on their clothes, but she guessed most of it belonger to the bodies lying scattered all around the two shinobis. And judging by the way the two moved smoothly up to the roof she would soon land on, she knew she was right with her diagnosis.
'They wouldn't dare get hurt seriously... they're too afraid of my wrath.', she thought with a small smile.
That they were still in one piece and the fact that Naruto smiled almost like a maniac also meant that they hadn't encountered any Akatsuki member, particularly Uchiha Itachi, yet. This allowed her to inhale in relief. They had a chance to find him, before 'he' found 'them'!
"Naruto! He's here!" Sakura landed on the last roof before the one Naruto and Kakashi were waiting on. "Itachi... He's here!"
Sakura watched as Naruto's facial expression turned from utter joy into bewilderment and soon into shock and even horror.
His mouth hung slightly open as he stared at her, eyes wide and filled with so many emotions, that the pink-haired kunoichi had problems grasping them all.
When she was only about twenty meters away from the two men, she noticed the way Naruto's eyes stared seemingly into nothingness just behind her shoulder. And at first she thought she had just miscalculated the direction in which he was looking. But then she felt it...
Like a cold wind some kind of dark chakra materialized behind her, making her feel like somebody was sitting on her chest.
Her breath came out in a short gasp as she stopped dead and swivelled around on the spot. Her hand shot to the half-empty shuriken holster at her leg, fishing out a weapon and bringing it up to the person behind her within an eye's blink.
But before the shuriken was even at the hight of the man's chest, Sakura felt a hand wrapping around her wrist in an iron grip.
He had blocked her attack in such a blinding speed, that she couldn't prevent the surprised shriek from escaping her throat.
Totally shocked, Sakura stared into the bloody red of two sharingans.
"She is right, Uzumaki Naruto." The calm voice of the man sounded loud in the silence of Sakura's ears, echoing through her mind until she thought she couldn't bear it any longer.
"Itachi, you ass! Leave her alone!" Naruto yelled, anger dripping like venom from every word he spat.
The eldest Uchiha didn't seem to be impressed in the slightest.
Instead of letting go of Sakura he squeezed her wrist tighter, pressing the sinews until her hand opened painfully, the shuriken clattering soundly onto the roof.
Still, Sakura didn't move. No, that was wrong. She 'couldn't' move!
Her mind was completely drawn into his spinning sharingan. It almost felt like a current, pulling her deeper and deeper into the dark depths of an ocean, drowning her in a crimson liquid...
"Sakura!"
Blinking, she found herself still standing in front of Itachi, his hand tightly wrapped around her wrist. He hadn't moved an inch, eyes staring impassively into her own.
He didn't even budge when two dozen shuriken and kunai showered down on him. He merely used one of the deadly objects to dodge the others. They ricocheted with a loud metallic clank and whizzed unimpressed into another direction, landing in house walls and lanterns.
'Have to do something...', Sakura thought, tearing her eyes away from his with much effort. They flickered across his face and the area around his head in an irratic pattern, searching desperately for 'anything' she could use against him!
Suddenly there was a small shift of his hand around her forearm and in an instant, Sakura's mind focused on it.
Jaws clenched almost painfully, she forced a small amount of chakra into her arm and then into her index finger. With a minimal movement, nearly impossible to detect with the bare eye, Sakura bent her finger towards Itachi's hand, intending to get her deadly chakra into his channels. It would go straight to his treasured sharingan and at least cause some damage...
Closing his eyes for a second, Itachi increased the pressure around Sakura's arm and bent her wrist into an unnatural angle.
It snapped with a sickening 'crack'.
Sakura listened with morbid fascination, thinking, that it sounded almost like Chouji crunching happily on his favourite crisps.
She didn't move when the first wave of agonizing pain bolted through her arm and down her spine. Sakura didn't cry out when Itachi pulled her wrist towards his torso, bones grinding against each other in the process.
Breathing heavily, Sakura watched as the man moved towards her face, pressing her trembling body against his chest.
"You should use your energy for other things, little kunoichi."
The hair at the back of her neck stood at end when his lips brushed lightly against her ear, his breath hot against her cold skin. Small beads of cold sweat appeared above her brows and she felt one trickling down the side of her pale features.
Suddenly Itachi pulled away, letting go of her throbbing wrist and pushing her away from his close proximity.
She landed in a miserable heap, new searing pain clawing at her mind when she used her injured hand to cushion the impact with the hard roof. Tears shot unforbidden into her eyes, blurring everything around her.
"You bastard!" Naruto's voice errupted in front of her. Immediately Sakura focused on the swimming image of the young man as he dashed towards Itachi, a glowing blue ball in his outstratched palm.
Naruto thrust it straight at the Uchiha, but missed spectacularly.
Itachi had already moved to the side, the bored expression on his face not changing a bit. With a gracefulness only mastered by few excellent ninjas his hand moved up towards Naruto's shoulder in a blur. He poked two fingers seemingly lightly into the orange material of Naruto's jacket, but the power in the slender digits was enough to send Naruto flying through the air.
Brows knitted together in both pain and bewilderment, Sakura watched as the body of her friend dissolved into white smoke.
"Kage Bunshin..." She mumbled, eyes searching frantically for the blond man.
"Sakura, we have to move"
The soft voice of her former sensei startled her, her head spinning around to find Kakashi's gentle eyes smiling down at her.
He already had his hands under her arms, forcing her into a standing position.
Sakura accepted the help without a word, merely nodding when Kakashi made a move to run to a 'safe' place.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
In the corner of his eyes, Kakashi watched a small army of Narutos attacking an un-fazed Uchiha.
His eyes stared into nothingness as he dodged the punches and kicks without much effort. His hand flew calmly through a set of complicated seals and his chest heaved as he inhaled as deeply as he could.
Eyes wide, Kakashi threw his body over Sakura's, bringing them both down onto the roof.
In the same second, a wave of hot wind gushed over them in a gigantic blaze of fire. Kakashi's ears listened into the silence,
picking up the typical sound of dissolving bunshins.
But there was another noise...
"Eat this, you shit-head!"
Looking up, Kakashi's eyes caught sight of the angry face of his ex-student. Beside him a clone exploded in a whisk of smoke,
leaving its creator with a ball of compressed chakra behind. Again, Naruto aimed his hand at Itachi's chest.
But the other man was gone.
Swivelling around, Naruto nearly bumped into Itachi's chest.
Like in slow motion, he watched as his opponent lifted his right hand towards his stomach. In the same instant, Naruto brought his hand forward, aiming for Itachi's head, when the pale hand of the Uchiha touched the mesh-shirt covering Naruto's belly.
Kakashi stared in disbelief as Naruto flew backwards into a house wall. The building shook dangerously as a large cloud of dust rose from where he had crashed into the rough structure.
After long seconds of silence, the five-story house suddenly collapsed completely, burying Naruto underneath tons of debris.
Sakura gasped in shock, her hand clutching onto Kakashi's vest.
"Naruto..." She whispered in a husky voice, the dust scratching in her already dry throat.
"Sakura, go and get Naruto. I'll keep Itachi in check." Kakashi suddenly exclaimed, forming a hand seal in front of his sharingan. The kunoichi could feel almost immediately the chakra in Kakashi's body travelling up into his eye.
She already knew what he was intending.
Sakura had, after all, been treating Kakashi because of what he had been able to awaken.
"Mangekyu sharingan!"
Yes, the 'mangekyu sharingan'. The hidden and probably most powerful and terrifying ability the Uchiha clan was known to be capable of.
The copy-ninja had been training to accomplish this outstanding technique for over three years now and only recently had he been able to activate it.
Though the ability had come with a very high prize no-one had been aware of.
The Mangekyu caused blindness.
Kakashi had first consulted Tsunade about a year ago, after he had been training with the newly acquired jutsu several weeks.
He had noticed, that he couldn't see things farther away than twenty meters clearly anymore. Something a ninja couldn't afford.
Tsunade hadn't bothered to examine Kakashi in the first place.
It had seemed she wasn't particularly interested in the secrets such an eye held in its depths, something that had sounded quite off to Sakura... she only found out later that Tsunade had done it on purpose. And so the Fifth had ordered Sakura to take over Kakashi's case.
Bewildered, she had started to examine her former sensei. And after only a few days, she had already figured out the basic problems lying behind the sharingan and especially the mangekyu.
The blindness was apparently caused by the chakra. Sakura had explained to Kakashi, that the sudden rush of chakra into the eye was too much. It was basically like a huge flood-wave rushing down the course of a brook. At some point it can't contain the masses of water any more and the water floods the land around the brook.
When one used the mangekyu, the chakra sped to the eye in such quantities, that the delicate channels couldn't possibly contain them for long. The eye can't handle the amount and 'all gates break', so to speak.
The chakra 'floods' the surrounding tissue and corrodes it slowly. And every usage of the pinwheel eyes caused greater damage.
Sakura had immediately begun treating Kakashi, having fixed the burst channels and healed the damage already done.
She had also ordered Kakashi to see her every week, so that she could keep track on the progress on his eye.
"I'm impressed, Kakashi"
The voice of Uchiha Itachi brought her out of her internal musings with a start.
Staring at his blood red eyes, Sakura wondered whether he could actually see any details of his surroundings at all.
Itachi had, after all, been using the mangekyu for more than six years now and as far as Sakura knew, he had never been treated for symptoms of blindness before.
Making a face, she doubted an Uchiha would ever show any sign of weakness to 'anybody', especially when it concerned the most important thing the family had!
"'ve been working out... you should see my six-pack!" Kakashi taunted mockingly, staring straight into the other sharingan.
He noticed the slight shift of the black wings in his eyes and prepared himself for the upcoming battle.
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Standing on the edge of a roof, the black-haired man watched the three figures with alert eyes.
His hands clenched slowly into tight fists, knuckles turning ghostly white from the strength.
His jaw muscles tensed and his lids narrowed as he continued to stand unmoving. The red pinwheel eyes caught the slight movement of the silver-haired man on the other roof even before he had executed it.
Still he didn't move, eyes transfixing the skull of the second man with the large in red clouds covered cloak.
For now he would watch. Watch and wait for the right time to move...
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"Dear God! You've been hiding in a hole or why are you even paler than before!"
Chuckling humorlessly, Orochimaru watched Tsunade and Jiraya standing on the back of Gamabunta slyly. He didn't seem particularly interested in any abuse the Fifth had been firing down at him for the last few minutes.
"Yo, Jiraya!" The dark voice of the giant toad echoed through the forest, making the ground shake. "I hope for your sake, that ya got a good plan with ya!"
"As always." The white-haired man smirked boyishly, gaining a sigh from the enormous amphibian.
His gaze wandered across the large gap between his partner and Manda, the purple-grey snake opposite them. Its tongue flickered in and out of the large, flat snout in an irregular pattern. Manda was bleeding minorly where Gamabunta had slammed it down into the ground after having forced the snake king out of the village.
"Orochimaru! I start disliking this reunions! I hope you have some sacrifices prepared for me!" Manda hissed through scaled lips, the slit-eyes staring threateningly up at its 'master.
"Do not worry... there is a whole country waiting for you."
"If you're that hungry get started already, ya pathetic worm!" Gamabunta roared. He gripped the hilt of his katana more tightly and got onto his hind legs, staring straight at the snake with dangerously gleaming eyes.
"He's right... lets get this done and over with!" the Fifth yelled.
Snorting, Jiraya watched as Tsunade jumped off the wet skin of Gamabunta. She had already started forming a set of hand seals, when Manda suddenly bolted up into the air, jaws wide open as he aimed for her.
Orochimaru, not intending to get into Manda's way, jumped off the large head and landed in the crown of a tree. He folded his arms across his chest and watched the scene with a smile plastered on his thin lips.
"Idiot...", the female sannin mumbled through clenched jaws, eyes staring angrily at her former teammate.
Gamabunta was in front of Manda just when he was about to reach Tsunade, who was still preparing her jutsu unimpressed.
The toad landed a powerful kick on the snake's throat and swung his sword down at Manda's head.
But the snake was faster. It used the momentum to sneak its long body around Gamabunta and wrapped it tightly around his torso. The air came out of the toad's chest in a rush, but he wasn't done yet.
In fact this was just how he had wanted it!
"Rasengan"
Speeding down his friend's back, the toad sannin jumped across Manda's body and landed on the large head.
Without wasting a second thought, he buried his hand in the snout.
Startled from the unforeseen attack, Manda let go of his victim and shook his head vigorously to get rid of the little creature that had dared to hurt 'him'! Too busy trying to make Jiraya get off of him, he didn't pay any attention to the other animal king, until it was too late. Suddenly there were two large four-fingered hands wrapping around his tail.
"What!" Manda watched angrily as Gamabunta started lifting him up into the air. Jiraya jumped off the snake's head before it was too late, landing with a sound thud on the ground below.
With unnatural strength, Gamabunta threw his opponent into the opposite direction of the city. It crashed into the woods with a deafening noise, trees breaking and large amounts of earth exploding from the impact. The dust that rose from the ground swallowed manda completely, making him invisible.
Eyes narrowed, the snake sannin stared straight at the woman coming right down at him.
Tsunade's hands were glowing faintly blue in the darkness of the night. Her face was set, a grim expression so totally different from her normal un-caring attitude that it looked almost unnatural on her.
"Pay attention, Orochi!" She yelled angrily as she landed on the branch on which her former comrade was standing on. Not waisting a second, she dashed towards him, bringing up two fingers of her right hand.
She was aiming for his heart.
Orochimaru wasn't stupid.
He knew better than most other people, that only a slight touch of his dear 'friend' was deadlier than a dozen kunais and shurikens. He was also aware of Tsunade's ability to send chakra through every body part into the opponent, which meant that touching 'her' was also a fatal mistake and so he had to keep his distance from her.
"Too obvious, my friend." He drawled mockingly, jumping back until he hit the rough bark of the tree.
A smile spread out across his face when he pressed his body against the rough texture of the tree, slowly merging with it until he had vanished completely out of sight.
"Do you think that'll save your ass?" Pressing her hand against the branch, Tsunade sent ripples of chakra through the cells of the trees. Snorting, she jumped off it and landed gracefully on the ground. After mere seconds the tree in front of her exploded into thousand pieces.
Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe..." The voice came from behind her and she swivelled around without thinking, her fist connecting with a tree. It, too, exploded immediately under the strength of the blow.
He was playing with her.
Dammit, that bastard dared to even think he could have his way with her!
Forcing her anger back into a dark corner of her mind, Tsunade shut out the noises that surrounded her.
She concentrated only on 'him'. 'His' chakra. 'His' poisonous aura. 'His' pale ass.
Sending extra chakra into her left hand, she dashed to a tree to her right. Lips pursed, she slammed her hand into the rough bork, skin ripping under the force. Tsunade didn't seem to feel the slight stinging pain, a smirk suddenly appearing on her lips instead.
She had him.
Pulling her hand out of the tree, she turned around in a semi-circle.
Her slender fingers grasped tightly onto the neck of the snake sannin, increasing the pressure nearly to the point of breaking it.
With all the power she possessed, the Fifth slammed the slick man into a nearby tree, listening with much satisfaction to the sound of two or three ribs breaking.
"Did you really think you could escape this time, Orochimaru?" Tsunade spat out his name in disgust, closing her fingers more tightly around the slender neck.
His snake-like eyes watched her intently. And for a moment, Tsunade thought she had seen something sparkle in them.
"You have always been an unworthy opponent, Tsunade."
Before she had a chance to answer, there was a low rumbling sound, closely followed by a shudder running through the ground underneath the blond woman's feet.
Eyes wide in realization, Tsunade let go of Orochimaru's neck and jumped back, when suddenly the earth exploded.
"Tsunade!" She heard Jiraya's voice calling her from somewhere behind her and in the corner of her eye she saw Gamabunta engaging Manda again in a merciless fight.
But her mind was not with any of them.
He was gone again.
Tsunade had lost sight of him right after the attack of the monster snake and she could neither see him nor could she detect his chakra signature.
There was a loud silence in her ears as her eyes flickered across the forest irratically.
Her breathing quickened slightly and a sickening feeling spread out through her stomach. She had a very bad feeling. This wasn't like she had been planning it for months! This was so totally wrong, that she couldn't prevent the sudden rush of fear from clouding her mind momentarily.
Tsunade never saw the large tail of Manda swinging towards her.
It hit her squarely, sending her flying into a large tree. The bork exploded underneath her skin and she rather heard than felt her cheekbone breaking from the impact.
Slowly she slid to the ground, her head hitting the soil with a resounding thud. A darkness she had never encountered before crept up on her, surrounding her as her vision started to blur. Her eyes caught a glimpse of Jiraya running towards her, words flowing from his lips in a steady stream. Behind him, Tsunade could see Gamabunta slicing a sword through the massive body of Manda, blood spurting out of the wound and spilling onto the toads hands.
Before unconsciousness finally claimed her, Tsunade had an overwhelming feeling of sorrow.
Sorrow and regret that 'if' she woke up again, the world wouldn't be the same...
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"Maybe I should get a giant mouse-trap!"
Blinking away the blood and sweat, Gai stood up again and straightened with much effort.
It seemed the shark-man wouldn't die as easily as he had thought.
"With some smelly cheese or do ya favor bacon, 'green beast'?"
Inhaling as deeply as his protesting ribs allowed him to, Gai listened to the ongoing ranting of his opponent with a risen eyebrow.
Kisame had been making 'jokes' about him for the last ten minutes and even though Gai didn't allow any annoyance to be displayed,
this was slowly but surely freaking him out.
He had been training with Kakashi for many years now and was pretty much used to any kind of odd rambling. But he had never seen anybody who had 'that' many abuses about animals in store and was so insistent on making fun of his self-given nickname.
"It seems Konoha has a heart for run-away pets or are you just some part of a freak show!" Chuckling dangerously, Kisame swung his Samehade over his shoulder and stared straight into the black orbs of Gai. Until now, he hadn't been able to bait him into losing it, but he was sure it wouldn't take much longer, judging by the way the 'green beast' had his lips pursed tightly into a thin line.
The only person that had never showed any form of acknowledgment and always looked indifferent to the outer eye was Uchiha Itachi, and to be frank, Kisame wasn't stupid enought to try that method on the younger man twice. Kisame had learned his lesson the painful way.
The malicious grin widened on Kisame's face when he found the spot where Gai had been standing a heartbeat ago deserted.
The game was on.
Without any obvious effort, he gripped the sword more tightly and lifted it high into the air and closed his eyes.
When they snapped open again he brought the weapon with the shark-like skin down to his left. Kisame didn't see anything, but he heard a faint hissing sound that moved around him in blinding speed.
Suddenly there was a punch to his stomach, closely followed by a few powerful kicks to his unprotected back and then chest, forcing him backwards. Kisame tried to block most of them, but they showered down on him in a constant rain and he had a hard time dodging them all.
Grunting, he ducked from the next blow that was aimed at his head and rolled to the right, using Samehade to block another kick to his cheek and temple. In the same second a boot landed right on his sternum, sending a jolt of unpleasent pain through his torso and knocking the air out of his lungs.
This was getting more and more interesting, he thought as he jumped off the ground and rubbed the bleeding laceration where Gai had landed the hit.
"Samehade is hungry..." He muttered to no-one in particular, but was nonetheless pleased to find Gai suddenly re-appearing in a somewhat blurred swirl of limbs and green.
With a sly grin, Kisame noted the large wound on Gai's right shoulder. It was bleeding severely, which explained the hissing sound from earlier and the sprankled fresh blood all around Kisame.
"You look tired... maybe we should end it here." His small yellowish eyes widened with excitement... if one wanted to call the feeling of blood-hunger that boiled deeply within his skull 'excitement'.
"You are obviously not familiar with the youthful power Konoha's ninjas possess. I will not 'give up' or do anything likewise,
for I shall bring you down for your insolent words!"
The laughter that errupted from Kisame's throat wasn't exactly the reaction Gai had been anticipating.
"Bring it on, 'green beast of Konoha'!" He spat the last part with such scornfulness Gai had rarely heard.
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'It's too silent'
Looking up, Lee glimpsed parts of the nightly sky flittering through the dense crowns of the trees. Ever since Sakura had practically ordered them to leave the village, they had been rushing through the forest as fast as they could.
A slight movement against his chest caught the young man's attention and his gaze immediately shifted to the now squirming bundle in his arms. "Shh..." Pressing it more tightly against his body, Lee started stroking the newborn through the fabric of his chuunin-vest.
He had wrapped Neji's son securely into it shortly after they had reached the first trees. It wasn't much to keep the cold night air from reaching the slightly damp skin of the baby, but it was all Lee had to offer beside the blanket it had been covered with right after its birth.
"Neji..." Startled, Lee watched as Neji's eyes stared down at the pale woman in his arms in alert.
Tenten had been fading in and out of consciousness constantly, but this was the first time that she had uttered a word.
"It's ok." The white-eyed jounin mumbled, tightening his grip around her body as he jumped off a tree.
"My... baby..."
Looking up from his fiancee, Neji locked his eyes with Lee's.
"He's here... and he's in good hands." He whispered and Shikamaru wondered whether it was because of the shadows looming in the darkness, possible enemies, or because he feared his voice would falter with emotions so unlike the stoic Hyuuga.
"Thank you." Was the last thing the three men heard from Tenten before she slipped back into darkness.
For a very long time, the forest was eerily silent. Not one animal could be detected crawling through the foliage at the feet of the enormous trees.
Shikamaru turned his head uneasily, a strange feeling clawing at the edge of his mind. And normally he could trust his feeling pretty much, which meant they were running headlong into trouble. Trouble they had no time for.
It was then that the strategy specialist heard a hiss from his right.
"Thirty advancing from behind... three hundred and twenty at twelve o'clock." Neji's voice was low and dark, a slight edge of anger and maybe fear barely audible.
"There's no way we could fight them all." Shikamaru said in a defeated tone of voice, turning around slightly in mid-jump as he heard the distant sound of a exploding tree. "They wanna spook us... seem to be pretty confident about their victory."
"We should find a place where we stand a better chance." Lee offered. He was clearly concerned, his large eyes constantly traveling between Tenten and the silent baby in his arms. Inhaling deeply, he vowed that he would potect his friend and the child or die in the fight!
"Alright... lets get down onto solid ground then."
The words had barely left Shikamaru's lips, when the three shinobis descended down to the dark ground.
The dry leaves of the giant trees rustled under their feet, sounding loud in the almost completely silent woods. As the trio walked carefully along a small path, undoubtfully made by animals on their quest through the forest, they felt the all too familiar change of atmosphere... a feeling that could only be described as shift in air pressure. It was of course the chakra of the adavncing groups of ninjas that caused this and made Lee's heartbeat quicken in anticipation.
"Lay them down here." Neji gestured with his chin towards an old tree trunk. A large hole gaped at its side like the mouth of a monster hiding in the darkness of the night. It was the best thing they could find resembling a hiding place in such a short span of time.
Carefully, Neji kneeled down and placed Tenten against the far back of the 'cave'. A hand appeared in his line of view and with some surprise he realized it was Shika's, holding his chuunin vest out to him. The Hyuuga took it with a slight nod and placed it under Tenten's neck for support.
"Here..." Lee's voice was gentle when he gave Neji the small bundle he had been carrying for over an hour now.
A harsh breath escaped Neji's throat as he took it with trembling hands. It was the first time he would hold his son and he was a bit anxious.
"Hey." He whispered gently down at the fast asleep newborn, marveling at how peaceful this little creature looked. Oblivious to the dramatic circumstances he had been forced into this cold, dark world. The small lips of his son parted slightly and he gurgled in his sleep. His tiny hands were curled into fists and with a smile Neji thought he almost looked like he wanted to take on the fight himself.
Slowly he lay the bundle down beside his fiancee and the mother of his wonderful son.
When he got back up, Shikamaru could see the slightest emotion displayed in the ghostly white eyes of the other man. It was a mixture of fear, anger and determination.
They were going to fight to their very deaths, Shikmaru was sure of it.
"They're almost here." Neji suddenly said, walking away from the trunk towards a tree some fifty meters ahead of them. "The smaller group will arrive about a minute before the second larger one... I know I am asking too much here, but I won't stand a chance against them alone..."
He was cut off by a chuckle of the man with the black ponytale. His laugh didn't contain any humor.
"Cut the crap, Neji... I'll tell everybody what a whimp you are, if you don't stop this... it's already troublesome enough."
"He's right. Gai sensei has taught us to be strong even in the face of death." Lee said, his eyes smiling proudly into the distance. He had already readied himself, having taken on his famous fighter's stance, one hand behind his back and the other one pointing towards the advancing enemies.
A light breeze played with the foliage on the ground, encircling them in its cool embrace.
The first figures appeared on a tree ahead of them and Lee's features hardened, eyes narrowed as he waited for the unevitable to come. He would fight them with all he had. And if he had too he would play his final trump card... the Lotus blooms twice in Konoha, he himself had told Sakura so many years ago and now was the time to protect something precious. Precious not only to him.
The breeze picked up slightly and Lee tensed visibly, ready to dash towards them in a heartbeat.
Just before the first sound nin landed in front of the three friends, Lee's eyes caught sight of a small cloud of sand crawling eerily across the ground towards them...
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FINIS!
Another part finished! Hooray! Wanna read more? Go and drop some lines in form of a review... I accept spears, but please without fire!
This is what 'really' happened when Kakashi told Itachi about his six-pack:
Out of the nowhere a hysterically screaming, arms flailing and obviously totally nuts young woman appears on the roof beside Kakashi.
"SIX-PACK!"
Eyes wide, Kakashi tries to run away, but the wacko girl flings her arms around his mid-section and hugs him so tightly that he goes all blue. She uses his sudden lack of resitance to pull up his shirt, sees Kakashi's well-trained, well-formed six-pack and faints...
o.o''