Chapter 81
Violent Rain: The Fight for the Future of the Land of Tea
As Amari expected, Sasuke thoroughly enjoyed her plan to sink the enemy ship.
It was a simple, preemptive head-on assault, combining his Fire Nature ninjutsu to set the wooden ship ablaze with her paper bombs to blow holes in its hull. Not a single blade was crossed between the Leaf and Rain. They attacked from the water, taking their cocky ambushers by surprise, until their target was a smoking, unsalvageable wreckage sinking down into the depths of the ocean.
Someday, hundreds of years from now, a diver would come across it and ponder on what battle had taken place there.
Their successful attack, while perfectly executed, served a secondary purpose: Force the Rain shinobi into the ocean. Then their only option left was pirating the Leaf ship.
Nobody wanted to be left out at sea, after all.
"Heh, those losers never stood a chance against us."
"True, but this fight isn't over yet. Their best chance to fulfill their mission is to overtake our ship. Destroying it will do them no good. While it would delay us, they've seen we can walk on water, and that means we can carry Idate to shore.
"Also, if they destroy it, they have no guarantee of having the chakra or chakra control necessary to reach Nagi Island," she explained to Sasuke on their hasty return to their ship. "We'll need to prepare for their counterattack. It'll come soon."
Their enemies proved her right. The execution of their counterattack came within minutes of their ship being sunk. Attacking while submerged in the ocean, out of sight and out of reach, the Rain shinobi used their affinity to Water Style to turn the tables on the Leaf shinobi.
Because of course they were Water Style users.
Water Clones stormed the ship in vast numbers, emerging from the water and on the ship like long dead, cursed sailors taken by the sea, seeking vengeance on any seafarer to cross their watery graves. No matter how many they cut down, two more seemed to replace them; the coordinated strike wouldn't end until the originals were eliminated.
"Idate! Stay close to Sasuke and Sakura. They'll protect you."
"I don't need their—"
"Put your ego away, you troublesome boy! These aren't illusions! They're Water Clones. And in case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded by an ocean. Think of the ocean as an infinite power source for Water Style users. These three, in these conditions, can create clones almost indefinitely in large quantities with little draw on their chakra.
"Although Water Clones only possess a tenth of their original's power, their blades aren't any duller and they aren't less intelligent. If you stray too far, they'll ambush you and place suitable numbers between Sasuke and Sakura to stop them from saving your life.
"Naruto can create a surplus of Shadow Clone's and has the stamina to maintain it for a while, but he's not without limits. And as I said these guys have a near on limitless supply to throw at us."
"Okay, so what's your genius plan then? If they can keep creating Water Clones, what hope do any of you have at getting me to Nagi Island safely!" he spat. "This is why Boss Jirōchō shouldn't have hired you Leaf shinobi!"
"Hey Amari, are you sure we can't hand him over to these guys and call it a mission failure? I'll tell Lady Hokage how utterly outnumbered we were by elite shinobi. 'Not even the Sharingan could save us, Lady Hokage. It was hopeless,'" Sasuke commented dryly.
Amari snorted and, wielding her tantō, cut her way through two Water Clones to stand back to back with her clansman. "As entertaining as that is, that's not an option, Sasuke. We protect the client. That's an order." Even if it was a huge drag.
"Fine. Sakura and I will keep him safe. Sakura, form up in front of Idate."
"Right! Out of my way! CHA!" Sakura's fist broke two Water Clones and left them a useless puddle on the ship deck. A third tried to surprise her from the side, but she ducked beneath their blade, snatched their wrist and slammed them to the deck with a hip toss. She finished the Water Clone off by stamping on its neck.
"Grr! I'm getting real sick of your attitude, Idate!" Naruto yelled from his position behind the client. "You would've run yourself off that cliff and died before reaching the ocean if Amari hadn't risked her life for you! You can call it our duty all you want, but it doesn't change the fact you owe her! So shut up and listen to our team leader! She's way smarter than you are!"
"Naruto, I appreciate you defending me, but please stop arguing. It's wasting time when I need your help. Switch positions with Sasuke," Amari ordered.
"All right." Naruto and Sasuke cut a path through their enemies to switch positions. "What's the plan, Amari!" he asked enthusiastically as more Water Clones climbed aboard.
"Create eight clones and prepare to dive in the water with me."
"Oh, so you're just going to abandon ship?!" Idate accused.
Ugh. Kami save her from the accusations of idiots.
"Sasuke, Sakura, I know it'll be tough, but keep the client protected. It's our duty to protect him, even if he acts like a persistent rash."
"What'd you say?!"
"You're like a persistent rash—irritating. With a side of displeasure and discomfort, followed by localized pain in the area you infect, specifically my neck," she drawled.
"Oh yeah! Well you're—"
"Losing my patience." Her voice was razor sharp. It alone was enough to silence Idate. "Naruto, back on point, I'll distract the goons in the ocean. They're keeping more Water Clones down there with them, so we'll have to be careful. Water Clones are more agile when submerged than regular people and Shadow Clones. I'll keep them busy with my tantō, right eye and Shadow Dragons.
"While I'm doing that, I want you and your Shadow Clones diving down to the ocean floor. Make sure you all inhale deep breaths of air before you dive. Once you reach it, use your training with the Rasengan to rotate the water into a massive whirlpool."
"All right! I've been waiting for a chance to use all that training with Pervy Sage! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Eight orange clad shinobi formed on the boat and joined the fight to destroy the Water Clones between them and the railing.
"Ingenious plan, Amari," Sakura complimented. "The power of the current from Naruto's rotation will suck them down to the ocean floor and destroy any Clones they have in the water already. By the time they get out of it we'll already be at Nagi Island."
"Just be careful you don't suck Amari down with them, loser," Sasuke said.
"All right guys. Stay focused. And remember the sacrifice I'm making in getting my hair wet for all of you."
The jest had earned her chuckles and eye rolls from her teammates.
As she hoped, the eight clones were able to produce a massive whirlpool, powerful enough to tug the three Rain shinobi down into an underwater ravine as if pirate cannons were tied to their ankles.
Their enemies would live. Well, so long as a hungry shark didn't come by and their re-breathers didn't fall off, anyway.
It was another solid success that built confidence and optimism in the kunoichi. The only injury her team incurred was a cut to Sakura's bicep, gained by jumping in front of Idate. He ignorantly strayed from his protectors and almost ended up cut down by a Water Clone. The cut Sakura received wasn't too deep, thankfully; a minor injury that wouldn't scar.
Otherwise Sasuke and Sakura destroyed a total of twenty-three and nineteen clones respectively.
Idate's persistent disregard of her orders continued to irritate Amari to no ends, but she held true to what she told Naruto: He was their client; she didn't have to like him, she only had to protect him.
Their enemies dealt with, Team Seven and Idate sailed the rest of the way towards the storm cloud surrounded Nagi Island in peace. As they drew nearer to the island, light droplets of rain slowly began to patter on the wooden deck, steadily growing heavier the closer they came to land. The droplets grew thicker. The light, limited patter became a heavy chorus on a rapid crescendo that drowned out all other noise.
Gone were the clear skies and sunny rays of light. The sky became slate. An iron curtain of clouds imprisoned the sun and its dominion, and the rain relentlessly hammered the ocean, the land, the ship and all the people caught in its grasps. The ocean churned in rebellion, and the wind whipped against their sails. Thunder rolled overhead, and flashes of lightning curled their way through the iron curtain.
Finally, they landed on the shore. Soaked to the bone. Fighting a dastardly chill. But on solid land once more.
It was there one of her theories became reality—the Wagarashi Family hired more than a single team.
Amari didn't sense the attack until it was too late. Her use of genjutsu and Shadow Dragons against the Rain trio raised her body temperature again, agitated by the extended use of chakra so soon after forcing a jutsu. For that reason she didn't activate her Byakugan when they came ashore.
Like a predator stalking through the grass, the single Hidden Rain Jōnin waited until their guards dropped for the slightest moment. Then, when he saw his opportunity, he struck, springing his trap when he faced the least resistance.
He flattened the team from above with a powerful Wind Jutsu. Cuts of varying lengths and depths tore through their clothes and unzipped their flesh. Carried faster towards the earth by the wind, the rain became needles, sharp and painful. But that sensation only preluded the poisoned senbon he rained upon their prone forms.
Sakura, who had been next to Idate at the start of the ambush, attempted to protect him with her own body—again risking injury or death for his sake. But her smaller frame wasn't enough to shield their client completely, and the needles were as plentiful as the chorus of rain pattering all around them.
The runner fell unconscious soon after. Whether because the pain was too much or because the first attack banged his head, Amari couldn't say and didn't judge.
It was her fault they were jumped anyways.
We're lucky Lady Tsunade gave us that antidote. If she hadn't, we'd all be dead because of me.
Amari stared at the flickering orange flames of their campfire. The fire danced in her sullen onyx eye, placing an artificial fire in them she no longer had.
Every decision she made up to the ambush had been right. They protected the client from himself. They defeated enemy's intent on killing them or slowing down their progress without any serious injuries—excluding forcing a jutsu and being jumped. They even made it to Nagi Island quicker because of Idate's plan to go off the beaten path.
Every step placed another solid stone of foundation underneath her feet. But, as always, she screwed it up by overestimating her abilities, running too fast for the stones to match her steps until eventually, inevitably, she tumbled face first into the mud like a slapstick comedy routine.
Sasuke should have been sent to help Naruto, she realized in hindsight. With his Sharingan and kunai's he could have fended off the Rain trio. But instead of doing that, instead of placing him in a dangerous situation, she jumped in and abused her chakra when she knew her body wasn't ready.
I'm such an idiot. Amari hugged her legs close to her soaking wet body. It's because of my actions I couldn't use my Byakugan immediately. If I had just trusted Sasuke and teamed up with Sakura, we wouldn't have walked like amateur Genin's into that trap.
Amari rested her cheek on her knees and sighed deeply through her nose. Some team leader she turned out to be. Idate was still down, and even if he wasn't they would have to let the antidote run its course. Her back still throbbed mercilessly, like she'd been stung by bees.
At least it wasn't Hisashi's poison.
Their new enemy's poison wasn't fast acting. It killed slowly, over time—no doubt how Jirōchō's men survived long enough to reach Konoha. Amari imagined they were walking beside death when Lady Tsunade healed them.
Fast acting or slow, it didn't matter. Team Seven was stuck here, in some empty cave in the middle of a rainstorm, losing precious time on an important mission. The fate of the Land of Tea was at stake in a race Idate should still be running, yet they could do nothing except sit here, hoping the other racer didn't win while they did.
It was so frustrating. She had been trying so hard lately to listen to the genjutsu Itachi's lessons. Before his lessons she was fighting harder instead of smarter, focusing more on charging into a situation to win on brute force instead of using all of her abilities to overcome her enemies with minimal resistance.
Genjutsu, Shadow Possession, even Fire Style and Shadow Clones; it wasn't enough to simply know how to use the jutsus. If she wanted to become as great as Shisui, she had to use every shogi piece in her possession to their fullest potential.
There was still a chance for them to pull through, of course. The Rain Jōnin hadn't hung around to watch them die, far too content to monologue them about how pathetic they were and how the poison would kill them slowly. It was only a shame they didn't have one foot in the grave as he thought—a shame for him, that is.
When next they met, Amari planned to make him eat his words.
But first…
"I'm sorry guys," Amari apologized quietly. Her teammates all hummed at the breakage of silence by her meek voice. "All of this is my fault. I should've never dived into the ocean to fight the three Rain shinobi. I should've entrusted that fight to one of you. If I had, we wouldn't be sitting in this cave, nursing avoidable injuries. I could've seen our enemy before he ambushed us and we could've countered it.
"But I didn't. Instead I tried to carry the weight of the mission on my shoulders alone. That's not how a team leader should act. Kakashi-sensei always trusts in us to handle ourselves. He wouldn't have made the same mistake."
Her eye fell to the stony floor that hurt to sit on. "I…I just wanted to prove Kakashi-sensei's belief in me right. I've admired him since I was found in that forest. He's been there for me when I really needed him, always encouraging me and telling me I had the ability to become great if I kept working hard. And despite my failure to protect Sandayū, despite knowing everything I'm dealing with internally, he still believed I could lead and take care of you guys."
Her fingers curled into her soaking shorts as she buried her face into her thighs. "But I screwed it up. I walked us into a trap that could have killed us like a complete idiot!"
Damn it! Every time she tried to move forward she found some way to screw it up and take ten steps backwards. Kakashi shouldn't have ever placed her in charge. She didn't have his years of experience. She still made amateur mistakes and acted like a kid instead of a shinobi.
This little breakdown was a perfect example of that.
"It's not even my quick thinking that saved our lives. Lady Tsunade's identification of the poison and her antidote are the only reason we're alive. You guys, the client, you'd all be dead because of me and my stupidity. Killed by some unknown shinobi on some abandoned shore away from anyone who might find us."
Naruto rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up about this, Amari," he soothed.
His words had the opposite effect. Her body tensed as if an electrical current surged through her. "Naruto, don't," she whispered in defeat. "Don't make excuses for me. Please."
She wanted them to be angry at her. They should be angry with her.
"I'm not making excuses for anyone. We all walked into that trap like amateurs, Amari." She removed her face from her legs to look at her best friend. "You're still trying to shoulder the burden of the team alone when you don't have to. Don't be so rough on yourself. You've done a really good job as the team leader so far." He grinned full of warmth and pride. "I'm proud of you, ya know! You've come so far since we first met."
"But…" Her onyx eye returned to the fire, away from his warm smile, away from the comforting warmth that fought the chill inside her heart. "I almost got us all killed," she said weakly.
"Please, that guy wouldn't be able to kill us even if he tried!" Naruto boasted. "We've faced tougher enemies than him and come out on top. Plus you've been poisoned worse than this before and you still won your preliminary match. We're all made of tougher stuff than him!
"So what he got the jump on us once. So what we're behind schedule. Big deal. It wouldn't be a Team Seven mission without us having to overcome odds, right?"
But it was a big deal. So why weren't they disappointed in her? Why weren't they angry? Why hadn't they demanded her to relinquish leadership?
"I hate to say it, but Naruto's right," Sasuke agreed. She turned to him. "That shinobi only walked away because he ambushed us. He's too overconfident for his own good. Besides, every mission we've had above a D-rank hasn't gone smoothly. Our clients have dragged us into messes we aren't prepared for, or they ignore us like this idiot does."
He dipped his head towards the unconscious Idate. He followed up the action with a relaxed shrug. "You're taking this harder than you should. It's not a problem. We'll pull through together. We always do."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Sasuke's right. Like you said before, Amari, we still have a chance to win. The Wagarashi Family racer only reached Modoroki Shrine recently, after the Rain shinobi attacked us. He'll probably report it to their racer, feeding into his confidence. Because of that he won't push himself to exhaustion. Why would he when he believes the race is already won? We'll use that to our advantage, and when we come across that Rain shinobi," Sakura slammed her hand into her fist, "we'll crush him for underestimating us!"
Amari looked between her three teammates, surprised to see their confident looks.
Was this how they looked at Kakashi when things didn't go smoothly? Full of confidence in his leadership and their work as a team to always pull through? Talk about adding more pressure on her shoulders—a good pressure. The kind that reignited her fire and urged her to prove them right.
Guys…thank you for not giving up on me.
As long as they still believed in her then she couldn't give up. No matter how slim the chance or hope, it was all she needed to pick herself up from the mud, wash it off and reset her foundation.
Amari smiled. "Yeah, we will. As soon as Idate's up we'll get him back on the track towards victory. And when that Rain shinobi inevitably shows up, we're going to show him who the real pathetic fool is."
Sasuke smirked. "Damn right."
"You bet we are, Amari! He won't get in another cheap shot like that last one!" Naruto chimed, grinning.
"He's going to regret the day he messed with Team Seven!" Sakura said.
It was a drag things hadn't gone perfectly, but that was fine. Troublesome or not, she still had a mission to fulfill.
For her team, for the Land of Tea and for Kakashi's belief in her, Amari wouldn't give up. She owed it to them to keep fighting to the very end. Even if she had to drag Idate to the finish line herself and throw him through it, she would.
There was too much at stake here to quit. People were counting on all of them. Not just Jirōchō or her team, but this entire Land who lived under the reign of thugs like the Wagarashi Family.
No way was she letting them win.
Idate suddenly grunted in pain. Drawing their eyes back over to the runner, they found him struggling to sit up; every muscle in his body appeared to be trembling from the effort.
"Well would you look who's finally awake," Naruto said, no malice in his voice. "We were worried about you."
Sakura knelt next to him and supported his effort, helping brace him on his elbows first. "How are you feeling? Is there still a lot of pain?" she asked.
"Where is he? Where is Aoi?" Idate asked, concerned.
"Aoi? So that's the name of the Rain shinobi, huh?" Sasuke said, watching Idate out of the corner of his eyes. "He's gone. Took off without waiting for us to die."
"You know his name," Amari stated as Naruto turned around fully to face Idate. "You're also the brother of Mr. Ibiki and you know about the Chūnin Exams, which can only mean you were once a member of the Leaf, and in all likelihood so was this Aoi. Normally I wouldn't pry—it's too much of a drag to invade other people's private matters. But none of us are going anywhere at the moment and we need to know everything we can about our enemy. Information you possibly possess."
Idate didn't growl or argue. He stared at the stone wall ahead of him, a trouble expression on his face.
"He…was a sensei, from back in my Leaf Village days," he said at length. "After he betrayed the Leaf Village he became a Jōnin for the Hidden Rain."
He moved to sit up fully, and grunted again, face scrunching as his body's pain receptors reminded him of the damage dealt to him. Bandages wrapped around his thighs and biceps, marked by dried crimson stains, revealed his visible injuries, but they weren't the only ones. Like the rest of Team Seven, the senbon punctured his back like a sicker version of acupuncture therapy.
"Easy," Sakura tried to help. "You're still very weak from the poison. Don't push yourself too far."
She'll be a good medic if she chooses that path, Amari noted silently. She has great bedside care even for someone who has irritated all of us to varying levels. Her eye flitted down to the ornate knife clutched tightly in his hand.
"You've been clutching that ornate knife of yours ever since we were attacked," she pointed out. "It was also what spurred you to throw away your ruse and run away from us when we first met. It must be very precious to you."
"Yeah. It is. It was…a gift, from Boss Jirōchō." Idate lowered his eyes to the knife still, uncurling his trembling fingers for the first time. They must have been sore.
He grit his teeth. "Damn. All that training for nothing!"
Naruto shot up to his feet and clenched a hand into a fist. "Don't tell me you're giving up because of one setback! Leaf shinobi don't give up so easily!"
"Heh," he laughed bitterly. "You've got the wrong guy. I haven't thought of the Leaf since I walked away from it."
Amari narrowed her eye. "Explain yourself. Shinobi don't simply walk away from their homes or their family." Idate flinched. "Shinobi who abandon their Village are branded as rogue shinobi, yet you don't quite have the skills to be put in the bingo book, nor do you have any kekkei genkais worth recovering.
"It's possible no one wanted to put resources towards hunting you down. You must have been young when you left, so you wouldn't know any big secrets that could harm Konoha. And, as I said, you don't have any kekkei genkais worth recovering. The other two possibilities are you were kicked out and you're too proud to admit it, or you're believed to be KIA. Personally, I believe that final possibility for one reason: You believed Mr. Ibiki was dead."
The question I have then is if you're the reason he was tortured.
She would fish for that particular information carefully. No sense tearing open an old wound if this kid still felt guilty about it.
Idate stared tiredly at her. "You're not wrong. I did abandon Konoha. When I failed the first Chūnin Exams I took it pretty hard. I wasn't sure what to do. Aoi must have already made contact with the Rain by then because that's when he initiated his plan to leave by using me and my connection to my brother to get what he wanted. I didn't know it at that time, obviously. He told me everything I wanted to hear. 'Idate, you know there's more than one way to become a Chūnin' he told me. His way wouldn't require the Exams."
"What part did you fail at?" she asked.
"The written test. My brother was our proctor and the entire test hinged on the answer to the final question. Did we stay or did we leave is what it boiled down to. If we stayed, we risked sacrificing the entire team for our chance at a promotion. If we left, we only risked our own chance and could come back for the next exam."
"Hm, his question for us was similar, only it was the other way around," Amari noted. "So you chose to sacrifice the entire team instead of yourself."
"I didn't understand the question at all." He clenched his hands into fists. "I was so angry for him tricking us, even angrier when he told me again that I didn't understand what being a shinobi was about."
Because you don't.
"So when Aoi came to me, I saw the opportunity to become a better shinobi."
"A rank doesn't make you a better shinobi," Sasuke stated. "Ibiki's right: You don't understand what being a shinobi means." He lifted his chin towards Amari. "Amari's not even a Chūnin yet—none of us are. But out of our entire team, our Sensei picked her to lead this mission. Not because she's strong or because she's intelligent, but because we trust her with our life, and in return she trusts us with hers.
"I may be Chūnin level in strength, but I don't have her abilities as a leader. I'd spend more time trying to take every enemy on my own." He lifted his chin to Sakura. "Sakura finally has her head in the right place and has gotten stronger, but she knows she needs more time before taking on the leadership role. She's self-aware enough to understand that; it's an important quality for a shinobi."
The kunoichi blushed as Sasuke lifted his chin to Naruto. "And that knucklehead might be strong, but like me he doesn't have leadership abilities yet. Or a tactical cell in his brain."
"Jerk," Naruto frowned and crossed his arms across his chest.
"In time we'll get there," Sasuke continued without missing a beat. "But Amari's already there. She has the tactical abilities of a leader, strength and she understands the most important quality of being a leader: The team comes before the individual.
"She has her flaws; she tries to carry too many responsibilities on her own, she puts herself in dangerous situations for our sake. But this is her first real mission as a leader. She'll iron those flaws out eventually. Until then we'll watch her back, pick her up when she falls over and keep moving forward, because that's what trusted comrades do."
"Troublesome boy," Amari muttered, blushing at his encouraging words.
He chuckled then turned his serious expression back to Idate. "The moment you saw power dangled in front of you, you couldn't even help yourself from grabbing at it. Let me guess: your teammates were just useless to you, weren't they? So far beneath you that they'd just get in your way."
Amari's eye widened. Ah, so that's why Sasuke sounded so irritated at Idate. He saw in Idate his worst qualities when their team first formed.
"Yeah, well, what does it matter now?" Idate sighed. "I'm already a rogue-ninja, I guess. My teammates are probably still shinobi loyal to the Leaf. They're better off without me from what you're saying."
"Tch. Idiot," Sasuke grunted.
You still don't understand. Sasuke wasn't just saying that to put you down. He was trying to get you to acknowledge your mistakes and accept them so you could move on.
Amari let it go. If he felt this apathetic about it, she wouldn't waste her breath.
"What did Aoi have you do?" she asked.
"All I had to do to become a Chūnin was steal the legendary Blade of the Thunder Spirit, as well as a Scroll of Sealing. I'm not sure what was in the scroll. Jutsu, Intel, could have been anything really. I just wanted to be a Chūnin. I didn't realize I was betraying the Leaf to become one for the Rain."
"No way. You stole the legendary Blade of the Thunder Spirit?" Sakura questioned in shock. "That was a prized possession of the Leaf. A weapon wielded by Lord Second himself."
"Is it really that powerful? If he was able to steal it, it sounds like it was just sitting around somewhere collecting dust," Naruto said.
Amari nodded. "Yes, it was. It's said to be an incredible weapon, that whoever wielded it was practically invincible and unstoppable." She gripped her chin in thought. Aoi may still wield this weapon. No matter what, I can't let him use it against us.
"The blade of the sword is apparently made purely of electrical energy—a literal lightning blade. If he still has it, we have to be careful with how we attack him. Without that sword he won't be a problem. But with it we could be looking at an extremely tough battle."
A battle against Lord Second's famous blade.
"Those were to be gifts to buy your way into the Hidden Rain Village," Amari stated towards Idate. "Obviously Aoi wasn't going anywhere in the ranks, not the way he wanted to anyways. Or maybe the Rain offered to increase his pay. Or maybe he's just a traitorous bastard with no loyalty to anyone except himself. Regardless, he used you, twisting your ego and desperate need to gain a promotion early to suit his needs."
Aoi pissed her off with his ambush. Now she intended to make him regret betraying her home and selling jutsu or secrets to a foreign Village.
"Yeah. I never saw the Leaf Village again after that day." His eyes fell to his lap. "Nothing I do goes right. I've never been of any use to anyone. But even so, Boss Jirōchō…Even though he knew I was no good, he still trusted me. He placed his faith in me."
His hand curled around the ornate blade. He slammed his eyes shut and grit his teeth, shoulders shaking in held back emotion. "And now look what I've done!"
"I just wanted to prove Kakashi-sensei's belief in me right. He's been a shinobi I've admired since I was found in that forest. He's been there for me when I really needed him, always encouraging me and telling me I had the ability to become great if I kept working hard. And despite my failure to protect Sandayū, despite knowing everything I'm dealing with internally, he still believed I could lead and take care of you guys. But I screwed it up. I walked us into a trap that could have killed us like a complete idiot!"
Amari's features softened as tears spilled from Idate's eyes into his lap. She understood those feelings. How it felt to try hard and fail. To have people put their faith in her and feel as if she was letting them down. But it was those same people who helped get her back on her feet.
Who did Idate have? He distanced himself from everyone. Tried foolishly to do everything alone because of his arrogance.
Now all that remained of his pride and ego shattered like glass before Team Seven, revealing the boy beneath the stubborn attitude who simply wanted to be useful to someone. For someone to find worth in him. To have a purpose in this vast world so he didn't have to exist without reason.
No one deserved to feel like that.
Amari stood up. "What you've done?" she repeated, looming over the boy. "You've dedicated yourself to Boss Jirōchō and put all of your energy and time towards winning this race for him. A race that isn't over yet." She pointed towards the mouth of the cave. "He's still counting on you! You can't just give up when you still have a chance to prove to him that he was right to count on you!"
If she couldn't give up, he couldn't either. They still had people depending on them.
"Look at me, Amaririsu, I'm worthless! I cheated you all out of your money. I've talked down to you and treated you like trash when you've saved my life. I can't do anything right! Aoi said it and he was right: I'd be better off dead!" he choked out.
"And all for what? To save some pathetic girl who isn't ever going to be good enough to be a ninja."
Amari snarled and snatched him by his shirt collar, tugging him up to stare into her fiery red eye. "Take that back! You are not worthless and you're not better off dead!"
"What are you—"
"Don't you dare talk about yourself that way, especially in front of me! You hear me!" She shook him.
"Amari, calm down. You'll hurt him," Sakura pleaded.
Amari ignored her. "Boss Jirōchō took you in. He gave you a home when you couldn't go back to yours. He gave you a family! You owe it to him to keep fighting!"
"I swear I will repay your kindness! I- I will keep track of everything I cost you and repay it all when I become a shinobi. I promise I won't be a burden! I won't—"
The warmth of her new guardian's hand on her shoulder silenced her. She raised her head from the floor to the woman. Her red eyes, like a hug on a bad day, healed her fractured soul.
"Amaririsu, you won't have to repay anything."
"But—"
"All you need to focus on is getting healthy, training and catching up on your studies." She shook her head. "Don't worry yourself one bit about repaying anything. This was my choice, and I have a good feeling about it." Kurenai Yūhi's smile wrapped her heart in an embrace. "Call it a hunch, but I think a lot of good is going to come out of this."
You gave me everything when I had nothing. You took me in. You saved me. All on a hunch...
Amari stared hard into Idate's eyes. "Boss Jirōchō saved you," she hissed. "When you had nothing left in this world, when you were afraid and alone, he gave you a reason to exist. He gave you a goal to strive for. Something and someone worth living for."
"However, it is also due to Kakashi's personal recommendation that I've chosen to put you in charge of this important mission. He was particularly adamant on it before he left. Kakashi usually plays his cards close to his chest; I expect you'll show me why he trusts you implicitly."
Her fingers curled further into his shirt, tightening it around his neck.
"Boss Jirōchō has entrusted the future of this Land to you! He could've chosen anyone. I'm sure there are members of the Wasabi Family who would've preferred that he did; your attitude has been almost unbearable at times."
Her red eye glowed in the shadows of the cave. Idate shrank back as much as he could. "But I can see right through this mask you wear. You act tough to hide your fear. You act superior because deep down you doubt your worth. You hold a grudge against the Leaf because Aoi betrayed your trust, and because of him you're afraid to trust anyone. Even yourself."
Idate flinched and tried to turn his head away from the Sharingan. Away from the eye that peered into every shadowed crevice in his soul.
"But he chose you. He believes in you. And you would spit in his face by quitting!"
"What do you expect me to do?" Idate pleaded. "I can't do this, all right?! Boss Jirōchō was wrong about me—"
Amari's hand cracked against Idate's face. The runner, whose cheek now bore a red handprint, looked stunned.
"Say that again, I dare you," she seethed, one hand still holding him up by his collar.
He didn't.
"I don't care how many wrong turns you made, or how many times you've failed or about how you've treated us. This race is your chance to make it all right. To prove it to the person who gave you a chance that their hunch wasn't wrong! That their faith was well placed! If you can't see the right road, trust Boss Jirōchō to lead you the right way."
"Sakura, don't," she heard Sasuke order gently.
"But Sasuke…"
"Hear her words for what they really mean. This isn't an affair for us to involve ourselves in. Let them handle it."
Amari released his shirt and watched Idate shrink back onto the floor. "Get up. This mission isn't over," she ordered firmly.
"I told you already: It's pointless! I can't do it!"
Naruto knelt down and grabbed Idate by his shoulders. "Stop saying that! You still have one person who's counting on you, who trusts and believes in you! One person is enough! That's all anyone needs!"
Idate looked away, conflicted.
"Don't even think of quitting. Who says this race is over? You have no way of knowing how things will turn out if you give up now," Naruto said, his voice softer.
"Yeah, but…"
"But what, Idate?" Amari prodded. "Stop making excuses for yourself to give up."
"I'm not—"
"You are!"
Idate fell silent.
"Come on, on your feet!" Naruto grabbed Idate by his shirt sleeve and tugged him up.
"Stop, Naruto!" Sakura grabbed her teammate's elbow. "He's still too weak to stand!"
"If he can't run then I'll carry him the whole way if I have to!" Naruto declared.
A better choice than dragging him, she supposed.
Idate freed himself and fell back onto his butt, shooting a glare up at the blond. "The other racer has already reached Modoroki Shrine!"
"So what? That just means we'll have to work even harder to overcome the odds," Amari said.
Naruto curled his fingers into Idate's shirt and tugged him so they were face to face. "You're not quitting. Understand? Boss Jirōchō is counting on you and you don't want to keep him waiting! Pull yourself together!" He tossed him back to the floor. "You're just going to quit now when you finally have the chance you've been waiting for your whole life? To show someone he was right to depend on you, to believe in you?!"
It was at that moment that Amari realized Idate—the boy who had spent the majority of this mission annoying or downright pissing off her team—had somehow managed to touch the entirety of Team Seven in some way.
Despite his attitude, despite his constant arrogance and ignoring of orders, this kid's story, the path he walked, the feelings he experienced, on some level they all empathized with him. And for that reason they couldn't let him give up. Because if he gave up, they would have to as well.
Naruto made a sweeping motion to his three teammates. "We're not giving up yet. Our mission is still on, not because it's our duty, but because we want to see you succeed for your sake and the sake of the Land of Tea. We're going to protect you if it's the last thing we do. But you have to trust us like we're trusting you! So come on!"
Idate stared at them both in awe. No one, besides Boss Jirōchō, had ever trusted him. No one had ever reached out their hands so persistently for him to take.
His eyes hardened. "All right! But I'll need all of your help!"
"Sasuke, Sakura, how are you feeling?" Amari asked, looking over her shoulder to the pair.
"I'm ready when you are," Sakura said.
Sasuke nodded. "Ready."
"Then the decision is unanimous," Amari stated. "The mission continues."
"Idate, look out!"
Amari Body Flickered in front of the runner. Wrapping an arm around his waist, she tackled him back and away from the blade of yellow lightning seeking his flesh. Wind rushed past her back. Throbbing pain followed.
Idate tumbled onto the wet dirt road as she spun on her toes, whipping three kunai at the Rain Jōnin named Aoi.
Using the same blade of lightning he deflected her kunai with ease. Behind him, on the wooden bridge connecting the two islands together, was the Wagarashi Family runner. He jogged at an average pace. Arrogance. He believed this shinobi would stop them from catching up.
He was wrong.
"Amaririsu, are you all right?" Idate asked. His voice was full of concern. No doubt he was looking at the long tear through her purple tank top and the pristine diagonal cut along her upper back.
"It's a surface cut," she assured, onyx eye never leaving their enemy. "Nothing to worry about and nothing that will scar."
It stings, she winced internally. My back muscles are contracting against my will because of the lightning coursing through that blade. But it's not the worst pain I've ever felt.
Aoi was a tall man with slightly shorter than shoulder length green hair and violet eyes. He wore a sleeveless one-piece lavender on violet jumpsuit, accented by a single shoulder harness, from which his weaponized umbrella hung. In his right hand he wielded the hilt of a now empty blade.
So, he still wields Lord Second's sword, she analyzed. The Blade of the Thunder Spirit. That'll make this a bit more difficult alone in my condition.
They'd all taken off together, with Naruto carrying Idate on his back all the way up the stairs to Modoroki Shrine—Idate hadn't been fully recovered when they left. But that changed when they reached the top of the stairs. With his strength returned, the runner hopped off Naruto's collapsed body, his pride unwilling to let them run the rest of the race for him.
She understood. He had to prove it to himself that he could do it, just as she had to prove to herself that Kakashi's faith and the faith of her teammates wasn't misplaced. In their conditions, though, her three teammates weren't going to be able to keep pace with Idate when he picked up steam, so she went alone with him as they followed behind.
They'd show up soon, of that she was certain. She just had to trust them.
"Well, well, well, what a surprise!" Aoi sneered. "Last time we met you all had one foot in the grave, and yet here you are. Are you the last, little Genin? Did you leave behind your comrades dead bodies to fulfill your mission, like a good little shinobi?"
"Hmph. My being here is proof you're a failure as a shinobi." The barb landed. His violet eyes narrowed. His nose scrunched in an ugly sneer. "I'll warn you now: This will be your last battle, ever. Once I'm through with you, you're going to wish I killed you."
"Quite confident, for a Genin. I'm a Jōnin, an—"
"Elite shinobi? No, you're not," she interrupted, voice backed by steel. "You're just an average shinobi with a sword that doesn't belong to you. Without it, you're nothing. Just another shinobi hungry for more power, because your skills alone aren't good enough to be an elite."
"Why you!" he seethed, taking an aggressive step closer.
That's it. Focus on me. Get away from the bridge.
"You're no elite. What jutsu do you know? What strength do you possess? What kind of shinobi have you defeated?" She looked down at her left palm. "I've battled against Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. I've narrowly survived an attack by Orochimaru of the Sannin. I've held my ground against three S-rank rogue shinobi.
"Where do you stand on that list, huh? When my next enemy demands to know where I have the gall to talk back to them, do you think I'll name you?" She chuckled cockily. "You'll be a footnote in my career as a shinobi, so don't delude yourself into believing you're an elite. You're not even in the same league as elites. You could never stand side by side with the likes of Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi or Kurenai Yūhi.
"And in this battle, against an opponent who you perceive as a measly Genin, you'll finally get to learn where you really stand. It isn't above everyone as you believe. It's below them." She smirked. "So come on, traitor. Try to prove me wrong. I'll enjoy burning your pride into ashes."
Aoi's lip curled in a nasty snarl. Then he shut his eyes and took a breath to compose himself. He wasn't a complete fool, she'd give him that. "You've got quite the mouth on you, little Genin. It seems your Sensei didn't teach you to know your place." His eyes opened, a dangerous look in his violet orbs. "I'll seal that mouth of yours, permanently."
"Idate, stay close to me," she said.
"Right."
Yellow lightning expanded out of the empty hilt he wielded. "I wield the legendary Blade of the Thunder Spirit. No one on Earth is a match for this weapon."
"You fool," she replied. "Even if that sword was wielded by Lord Second, it's still a tool, and every tool, jutsu and person in this world has weaknesses."
"We'll see about that."
I can't let him get in striking range.
Aoi bolted in, blade at his side as he closed the distance to cut her down.
Amari gripped the hilt of her tantō and channeled chakra through her body against the tingling sensations. "Let's see how fast your reaction speed is, traitor."
The Uchiha Body Flickered in a direct line at the enemy shinobi, who's eyes could barely track her enhanced speed. But he grinned as she dove through the air at him, his blade of lightning swinging for her midsection as her tantō began to unsheathe.
Aoi's sword swung right through her, and yet touched nothing except air. His violet eyes widened. "A Clone?" he gasped as the kunoichi phased through his body.
"No," she answered. Feet landing in the wet dirt directly behind him, she twisted her body with enhanced speed and swung her blade. The metal tore through fabric and flesh in a single motion. "An Afterimage!"
Fresh blood coated her tantō and sprayed through the air. Aoi grunted in pain and turned to strike her yet again. Once more his blade appeared to cut straight through her without ever touching her.
"Over here!"
Another cut opened on the Jōnin, this one along his thigh. The man growled and grabbed his umbrella off his back, tossing the weapon into the air as he had done on the shore.
Amari skidded to a stop in front of Idate and sheathed her tantō, weaving through her handseals hastily to counter.
"Idate, don't move."
"Ninja Art: Senbon Shower!"
"Earth Style: Mud Dome!" she said, slamming her hands into the earth.
Senbon flew from the spiraling umbrella like needle-shaped hail in their poisonous hunt for flesh. Behind her she heard Idate's sharp intake of breath.
A half-circle of curved earth shot up in front of the pair, standing taller than the Nara by several arm lengths and wide enough to cover their left and right flanks. The needles rained into the mud shield, and from behind the safety of her wall she heard the enemy growl in annoyance.
Watching him through the wall with her Byakugan, she waited for the umbrella to be placed in its holder once more before lowering the walls.
"That's three moves down. I'm aiming for the fifth to end this battle," she taunted. "Think you'll make it that far?"
"You're quite the pest, I'll give you that," he replied. "I underestimated you before, but I won't make that mistake again. This time I'll be sure to finish you off."
"Idate," Amari ignored the enemy. "When I give you the signal, be prepared to return to the race."
"But, wait, what about you? Your chakra network, it's—"
"I'll be fine." She glanced over her shoulder with a smile on her lips. "Don't worry about me. Don't forget what this race is really about. This is your chance to prove to Boss Jirōchō that he was right to place his faith in you." She returned her gaze to their enemy. "This battle isn't yours to fight. It's Team Seven's.
"My Sensory abilities have allowed me to scout the path ahead of you. I don't sense a single shinobi presence protecting the Wagarashi Family racer, which means Aoi is their last line of defense. They were all so confident they didn't bother to set up traps along the way.
"So get ready to go. I may be slightly injured, but my team will be here any second now to help me put this guy down for the count."
"Okay."
"How touching," Aoi mocked. "Defending each other, looking out for each other, what pathetic nonsense! Only a weakling needs to depend on others, trusting in them to give him the strength that he doesn't have for himself." He began to ground out his words. "For a man like that, it's always easiest to just run away. Isn't that right, Idate? I mean, isn't that what you did after you stole the Blade of the Thunder Spirit?
"After I captured you and your older brother, you sat tied in your chair, quivering in fear as I tortured him to give up the information in the Scroll of Sealing. And then when I threatened to torture you, you begged and pleaded not to be killed, swearing you had given up being a shinobi so you wouldn't die."
Amari growled. "So, you're the one that gave Mr. Ibiki those scars."
Aoi's eyes shone with evil delight. "That's right. Even with his brother's life on the line, he still chose his loyalty to the Leaf over Idate's life."
"Hmph, is that what you think he did? Considering they're both still alive, I'd say you fell right for his bluff." Amari narrowed her eyes. "Mr. Ibiki may be a loyal Leaf shinobi, and he may have a tough exterior, but he isn't so callous to abandon his brother's life. He twisted your weak will and mind against you. He probably predicted you'd try to use Idate against him, because you believed he'd cave if you did.
"So he waited for that moment to come and did the exact opposite of what you wanted. And in doing so you fell right into his trap, like a desperate idiot. You needed that information deciphered to earn your place in the Rain, so killing Mr. Ibiki wasn't an option. And if you killed Idate, Ibiki would never give you anything. You may have had them tied up, but Mr. Ibiki was still in complete control of the situation."
Aoi smiled unpleasantly. Full of irritation. "I'll have to give him credit for that much at least. He not only survived the torture and the fire, but he even retrieved the Forbidden Scroll, all without telling me what I wanted to know."
Amari perked up at the news. That means Aoi never managed to give the Rain the information within the scroll. Mr. Ibiki really is a hardcore shinobi. She set her brow in determination. I'll just have to match his ability here and recapture the sword and this traitorous scum.
"What I really can't get over is that he did it all for your sake—his worthless little brother," Aoi continued. "Someone who betrayed his own Village, who has only ever thought for himself, who trusts no one. Not even your brother Ibiki. Your own brother who would have given his life for you. You don't even trust him, do you? You don't trust the people in your own Village enough to go back to them and admit what you've done.
"You trust nobody, and nobody trusts you."
"Don't listen to him, Idate," Amari stated, stepping forward. "Boss Jirōchō trusts you. He's counting on you to finish this race. And I'm trusting you to fulfill that wish. So. On your mark."
The phrase woke Idate up. He set up to run.
"Get set."
"Neither of you are going anywhere. I'll finish you both here!"
Amari watched the enemy shinobi charge in close to her, eye on the yellow blade and the shadow it casted with its light.
Dragon, Rat.
"Now die, little Genin!"
Shadow tendrils shaped like dragon heads lurched up from her shadow, wrapping around his left ankle and right wrist.
"What? A Nara Clan Shadow Jutsu? But how?!"
"Go!" Amari called to Idate.
The boy sprinted past her and Aoi. "I'll see you at the finish line!" he called over his shoulder.
"See you then!" Amari returned her focus and dwindling strength back to Aoi. The use of her Shadow Dragon, even at close-range, was setting her internal systems alight again. "What's the matter? I thought we weren't going anywhere? Do you think the Wagarashi Family will pay failures?"
"You little pest!" Aoi snarled nastily. "Making a fool out of me, I'll make your death as slow and painful as I can!"
The Nara smirked. "How do you plan to do that when I take your precious little toy away from you? You were never going to achieve the greatness of the Hokage, so you had to steal the Second Hokage's sword to create the illusion that you were all-powerful. But without that sword you're weak.
"All this time you've picked on the weak to assert your dominance and attacked when your prey was weakened to create an illusion of strength. You used a sword that does not belong to you to further that illusion, in doing so blinding yourself with your own childish arrogance. Unfortunately for you it's time to face reality. And your reality is to meet the fate of a traitor."
I don't have the strength to break both his ankle and his wrist, she panted inwardly. I'd prefer to immobilize him to a single leg, but I can't risk him hanging onto that sword any longer. That's his greatest power, so…
The Shadow Dragon wrapped around his wrist chomped down onto his flesh, tightening its flesh shredding vice grip around the bone until she heard it shatter. Aoi let out a horrid scream of pain. The hilt of the blade fell out of his hand.
Amari reacted faster than him. She released both Shadows and snatched the blade out of the air, but even with his wrist shattered Aoi wasn't finished. His knee rose and slammed into her chin, knocking her back into a painful tumble.
My body… It was beginning to tremble again.
"You insolent little brat!" Aoi boomed. She could hear his angry steps stomping towards her. "Once I retrieve the Blade of the Thunder Spirit I'll make you suffer! You'll be begging for mercy, wishing you had never played the role of the good little hero!"
As she made it to all fours, he stamped his foot onto her back, slamming her back down into the dirt. And still the Nara began to laugh hysterically.
"Is something funny?" he seethed.
"You stupid idiot. If you're looking for the Blade of the Thunder Spirit, you may want to go take a dive off that cliff before it gets any further downstream," she laughed.
"You didn't!"
Amari wiggled her empty fingers while giggling madly. "I totally did. Better lost to nature than in your grubby traitorous fingers." He buried his hand into her long, soaked hair and roughly, painfully, tugged her up off her stomach, certain she was hiding it beneath her body.
The Blade of the Thunder Spirit was gone. Aoi looked like he was about to spontaneously combust into a firework display of fury, outrage and disbelief. And quite frankly, it was satisfying.
Through her grimace, the kunoichi grinned at the enemy shinobi. "This is the first part of move five, by the way."
"Wha—"
Sakura appeared in the air behind him, leg swinging around with her twisting body.
"CHAAA!"
The blow landed. Aoi tumbled head over foot into a nearby tree, not unconscious, but dazed by the powerful strike. In an instant Amari found herself safely behind their two boy teammates, braced by Sakura.
"Nice move, Sakura," Amari complimented.
"Thanks. Where's Idate?"
"Sent him to finish the race after I got ahold of Aoi." She winced in pain. "But my chakra network didn't like that."
"So, does this guy have the Blade of the Thunder Spirit?" Sasuke asked.
"He did." All three of her teammates looked at her, expecting elaboration on the location of the sword. Amari blushed under their gazes. It took them an excruciating long second to realize why, and another to process the subtle change to the size and shape of her chest.
"Ca- can you guys look away for a second?"
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura snapped their heads away, out of courtesy and mortification of what they'd all done. Amari quickly retrieved the cold hilt from the inside of her mesh top and bra.
"I- I didn't have a lot of time to hide it!" she tried to defend herself. "And I figured he wouldn't notice if my…" she trailed off, turning red as a tomato.
This was sooo embarrassing! Even more than shirtless Haku!
Sasuke cleared his throat. "Can we…focus back on the mission?"
"I second that!" Naruto quickly agreed.
"I third it!" Sakura followed.
Amari didn't have the voice to fourth it.
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are." Aoi, unaware or uninterested in their states of embarrassment, rose to his feet. "I'll still crush all of you."
"Get real," Naruto taunted. "If Amari wasn't hurt, we wouldn't have even gotten a chance to clobber you." He slammed his hand into his fist. "But I'm sort of glad she is. We've got some payback to dish out!"
"Naruto, Sasuke, avoid using your Rasengan and Chidori techniques," Amari said.
"Huh? Aw, come on! Why?!" Naruto whined.
"I want him alive. When he betrayed the Leaf, he tried to steal Intel to give to the Rain. Intel that could have endangered the lives of our people." Her onyx eye sharpened. "I doubt he has much we don't already know about the Rain, but this is a chance to gather Intel on a possible threat. It would be stupid to let this opportunity go."
"She's got a point," Sasuke said. "All right. So, what's the plan, team leader? I'm sure you've got something already in mind."
"Hm," she hummed in amusement. "I do, actually. Sakura, get in close and land a few hard blows. Naruto, use your Clones to back her up. Then I want you both to knock him into the air. Sasuke, Naruto, hit him with your barrages to finish."
"You got it, Amari!" Naruto said.
"All right." Sakura set her down in a crouch then cracked her knuckles. "Let's finish this!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two Naruto Shadow Clones joined Sakura in the leading charge. Bolting ahead of her, they jumped at Aoi, ready to pummel the enemy.
Aoi dispatched them both with senbon, but the smoke they left behind clouded his vision, preventing him from tracking Sakura as she Body Flickered around and onto the tree trunk behind him. She released the chakra from her feet and darted in, cracking the Rain Jōnin in the back with a stiff kick that caused him to stumble out from beneath the canopy of the trees.
Sticking close, Sakura landed fast and hard punches to his gut first. When he hunched forward, she socked him in the face with two haymakers that left him dazed as he tripped backwards. Sakura Body Flickered behind him again and kicked his falling body in the back to knock him slightly into the air. Then she Body Flickered in front of him with a fist flared with chakra.
"Naruto, Sasuke, your turn! CHA!"
She buried her fist into his gut. Aoi's eyes appeared to almost pop out of their sockets.
The release of chakra sent him up into the air. Sasuke and Naruto, who were already there to meet him, spun their bodies around and proceeded to punch, kick and repeat until their heels slammed into his stomach on landing.
Aoi gasped in pain and spat up blood as the final blow landed, consciousness failing him a moment later.
"Hmph, some Jōnin," Sasuke commented.
"Neji was sure tougher than him," Naruto said.
Yeah, but we got lucky, Amari internalized. The fact is Aoi relied too heavily on the Blade of the Thunder Spirit. Then he became obsessed about its retrieval after he lost it. If he had been a Jōnin like Kakashi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, Guy-sensei or Mom, well-versed in more than just one type of style of battle, this battle wouldn't have been easy.
That's why it's important none of us ever rely solely on one technique. Every jutsu is a tool, and every jutsu has a weakness. But if there's a situation where we don't have the chakra to use our main weapon, she looked at the hilt in her hand, or if we're too injured to fight how we usually would, we'd die.
The Nara sighed and pushed herself onto her feet. Still, this is the best result we could hope for. No sense bringing down the mood when we won the fight. I'll just have to make sure we all stay focused when we train so we don't become a shinobi like Aoi.
Slipping the hilt into her ninja pouch, Amari approached the downed shinobi. "Good work guys. Let's tie this guy up and go catch up to Idate. Sooner this mission is over, sooner we can all rest and recover."
They all nodded and pulled out their ninja wire. They tied Aoi's hands together behind his back, his arms to his side, his ankles together and then his feet and hands together then, with the help of Naruto's Shadow Clones, they carried him towards the finish line.
"I know I said I wanted him alive, but I'm just realizing we'll have to carry him all the way back to the Leaf," Amari said.
They all paused on the wooden bridge for the briefest of moments. All four Genin considered tossing him over into the rushing rapids below, but groaned as they pushed on with their captured enemy.
The walk back was going to be such a drag.
The race ended with the racers neck and neck, yet at the end of it all, despite all the setbacks they faced, Idate pushed ahead and won the race for the Wasabi Family. The entire place, full of the people who called Degarashi Port and the Land of Tea home, came unglued for his victory.
Team Seven watched the celebrations from one of the red Torii's arcing over the last stretch, smiles and grins on their faces as they breathed heavily. Aoi had almost woken up on the way, but with quick thinking on Sakura's part they put him back to sleep with a genjutsu.
Even if they slapped him he wouldn't wake up—a fact proven true when Naruto tried.
The Wagarashi Family did try to pull a fast one on them. They somehow captured a picture of Idate being carried on Naruto's back for part of the journey, claiming it was a violation and that Idate had to be disqualified.
Luckily for the Wagarashi Family, the Feudal Lord stepped in before she could strap them in a furious Sharingan genjutsu. Apparently the assistant to the Feudal Lord, they learned, was taking bribes from the Wagarashi Family, spurring his desire for them to win over the Wasabi Family.
Not only did the assistant lose his job, but the Wagarashi Family was forced to disband at the order of the Feudal Lord.
"Well, Amari," Naruto spoke up, clapping a hand onto her shoulder, "looks like it's mission accomplished!"
Amari smiled and nodded. "Yep. Which means we can finally take it easy." She sighed. "Man, today was such a drag. I hope they have ice cream here. I'll buy an entire jug, and then I'll take the longest nap you've ever seen."
The laughter and smirks of her team made everything feel right again.