Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of the Merc and the Medic. Enjoy the 900-word chapter. I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and a few others do.

(Land of Waves.)

Urashiki dodged a punch that caved through a tree he perched on before Marmora lunged at him with a kunai, he dodged the blows, but this opened him up to a kick from Sakura.

He blocked the blow, but the force of her foot colliding with his arms sent him skidding into the stone fence, caving it in as Marmora panted, resting his hands on his knees.

They had been trying to strike him for 10 minutes, and he either kept them at range with his fishing pole, he would kick them back, or simply dodge the move.

It was damned near impossible to get through his defenses to land a proper hit, and he was drained, Sakura still had a lot in the tank, but getting flung out of his house and to the ground took a lot out of him.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, his head was woozy and everything was spinning. It felt like he was fighting in a maze.

"Just what the hell is this guy? Is this what an Otsutsuki is? It feels like I'm fighting in mist." He muttered before going forward to stab at Urashiki.

He was sent sliding back from a cut of the man's fishing pole. His inhuman cackling served no purpose other then to annoy him, to make him off balance… They were losing, and they were losing bad.

The only reason they had stood a chance against Kinshiki was because Marmora guessed he was conserving energy rather then going all out… and because they had both Tsunade and Sasuke to back them up. Marmora knew if he could get even a single hit from Sakura onto Urashiki? He'd be down and out. It would only take one good hit to reduce him to paste.

But Urashiki had the Byakugan, the damned move that rendered almost any attack useless since the person could see it, and then react to it easily.

Maybe he didn't have the Charka suppressing technique, but his blows still hit like boulders.

He and Sakura launched themselves at him again, and he grinned before backflipping away and sending chunks of stone at them.

Sakura smashed her fists into each piece, grinding them to powder under her hands. He questioned if the scroll was here. Urashiki had to know the scroll couldn't be retrieved by brute force, and even if it could? He doubted his parents were stupid enough not to impart some sort of defense for the scroll.

"We need to escape, they caught us off guard. This is a trap." Marmora muttered, a Kunai launched from his palm with all the grace of a bird… easily swatted aside, but it allowed another Kunai to fly towards him.

He grinned at the duo, only for the explosive on the other end to explode, throwing smoke into his eyes and causing the man to let out an inhuman scream. Maybe they couldn't kill him, but hurting him seemed like an option far too easy for them to do.

Urashiki growled and lunged at them only for Marmora to launch a water bullet at him with some of the last remaining charka in his body. It was dodged, but it allowed Sakura to slam her fist into the ground.

Urashiki was sent skidding back as he rubbed at his eyes, not noticing his enemies were gone.

When he did, he growled, angry he couldn't capture the Aito boy… and even more annoyed a simple trick had made him look like a fool.

(With Marmora and Sakura)

Were they foolish for not taking advantage of the distraction to assault the Otsutsuki member anew? No, Marmora didn't think they were, Urashiki and his clan were far beyond what Marmora could believe he could handle.

He had gotten lucky with Kinshiki, and luck only carried him so far on its own. They could come to stop believing Humans were a small threat, and then attack with all the power Kaguya had feared.

If Kaguya was toying with the group and Sakura had scored a lucky blow against her? then her mortal enemies were far beyond that… Marmora needed to harness the power that they feared if was going to stand even a slight inkling of a chance against stopping them.

Marmora let Sakura loop his arm around her neck as she helped carry him away. Urashiki had planned on getting the scroll from them, but he assumed they already had what he wanted.

It would be that same inability to plan ahead that would be his downfall, but not now, they needed to find a way to combat the Otsutsuki clan before they engaged them again.

Sakura collapsed against a tree, her blood boiling and her exhaustion skyrocketing the more she was in combat.

Marmora panted as the duo questioned their next move.

Author Notes

Phew, another chapter done! I want to point out this. NO, MARMORA AND SAKURA AREN'T AS STRONG AS SAKUKE AND NARUTO YET. MARMORA IS GETTING THERE SLOWLY. Next chapter will be in a week or so, and will show Marmora and Sakura licking their wounds and planning a next move along with growing closer. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

Ps: Sadara is hopefully getting an update tomorrow.