Chapter 27
*Recap*
"Yeah what was that all about?" Naruto coughs holding his ribs where I had kicked him. Just as he pushes himself to stand again, Sasuke leaps in to kick him but Naruto dodges causing Sasuke's foot to touch the tree. Giving him support to shove off of the bark to land behind Naruto. Forcing the boy to jump to a tree branch. Running up there I let myself pick up speed before leaping up onto that exact branch just as Naruto reaches it. Sending a kick into the unsuspecting Naruto, I break through his pathetic block sending him off the branch and spiraling into the ground below where Sasuke awaits.
"Better watch out Sakura, I think they've gone crazy." He says as he fights to get to his knees. Seriously Sasuke why'd you pause and let him regain his footing?
"Yeah, you wish, we just struck before you could!" Sasuke responds pulling a kunai and running at him. As the boy pulls his own I crouch on the tree branch I am standing on watching the two beneath me closely.
...
"Alright then bring it on!" He yells running at Sasuke in return. Hearing the clash of kunai I narrow my eyes waiting for the right moment. Seeing Sasuke lunge at him from behind and the boy leaps forward into a flip. I dive off of the tree branch pulling my own kunai. The boy looks up barely in time raising his kunai to block mine. He grunts as he pushes against his kunai, giving me a shove. I leap backward in a mid-air flip only to land on my feet glaring at him.
"Sasuke, what are you two doing?" Sakura asks him as I clench my hand onto my kunai turning my knuckles white. Leaping forward I spin in mid-air as I pull a second kunai into my opposing hand. The boy blocks the one in my right but I bring the one in my left towards his side. At the last second, as recognition crosses his features, he leaps up away from me in an attempt to dodge my blade. Causing my kunai to dig into his leg rather than what I was aiming for.
"Take a good look at him." Sasuke says as the boy lands again pulling the kunai out of his leg with a pain-filled whimper. "Talk! What have you done with Naruto?!"
"What? What do you mean? I am Naruto!" The boy yells as I turn so I was now facing his back and Sasuke his front. My eyes narrowed upon the back of his head as I spin my kunai in my hand before bringing it up closer to my face ready for my next attack.
"Then where's the cut on your cheek?!" I growl at him in such a way I could watch him visibly stiffen.
"I guess you didn't know that the real Naruto got a cut on his face before this test! You also have your shuriken holster on your left leg, not your right!" Sasuke continues causing me to smirk. As Sakura's gaze moves from me to Sasuke. Clearly trying to understand what we are saying.
"But the real Naruto is right-handed. Your transformation skill is worse than Naruto's. Tell me who you are!" I practically snarl glaring at the impersonator. In a puff of smoke, the boy shows his true form wearing a yellow jumper with spiky brown hair.
"Alright you got me, so what! I'm still going to take your scroll. Now hand it over or else." Finally, Sakura pulls her kunai staring him down. It seems even though we are on the same team she wasn't about to just follow Sasuke and my lead against Naruto. Just as when we were pointing out what was wrong she still didn't react. Almost like she didn't know if she should trust us until she saw the truth with her own eyes. We need to get him to give up Naruto's location. I remind myself silently. So far in this fight, I had been acting without a care to the damage I was causing this ninja. If I would have killed him... We would have to waste time searching for the knucklehead ourselves. This realization nearly had me sighing, I really should take my own advice and think before I react. "So, which one of you three has it?" He narrows his eyes as none of us answers. "Fine then, I'll just have to take all of you out!" He goes to leap forward but I run around him dropping my hands to the ground and sending my right foot into his chin launching him into the air.
"I may not be able to use deadly force until we get Naruto's location from you. But I can still beat the snot out of you." I growl as I run at him. Leaping into the air slamming my foot down towards his face. He raises his arms just in the nick of time so they take most of the damage, but he is still sent plummeting into the ground. When I land I use my chakra to send me back into the air leaping into a tree, as I see Sasuke shoot fireballs at the already standing ninja. Phoenix flower. I roll my eyes. The ninja dodges all of the fireballs before leaping forward into the air at Sasuke.
Connecting Kunai with each other he goes to run away. Following after him Sasuke and I leave Sakura in the dust as we leap into the trees. Seeing Naruto, Sasuke pauses to throw his kunai at Naruto. Slicing through the ropes holding him. "Better keep your mind on the game!" The ninja shouts throwing kunai at him. Noticing one with a tag I cuss grabbing Sasuke's shirt as I pass, pulling him away from the tree just as the paper bomb explodes. Dropping him onto the ground before I land I turn to look for the ninja which judging from his symbol was a rain ninja.
"Sorry, this is one test you fail!" Hearing his voice from behind us I turn to look at him. "Now hand over the scroll or you die." My eyes widen seeing the guy have the tip of his kunai pointed at Sasuke's neck. "Don't move! And drop your kunai!" He yells at me as he sees me turn. Pausing my movements halfway I silently cuss as I let go of my knife letting it drop to the ground.
"Sasuke!" I hear Sakura yell causing the guy's grip to waver. An opening I thought as I sent my foot towards his side. But he leaps out of the way. Glancing at Sasuke as he spins I slide towards his left noticing him using his chakra to grip my kunai and kicking it at the Ninja before leaping up into the air himself. Watching as the ninja barely evades the blade just before Sasuke plunges into him.
"Are you alright?!" Sakura yells coming up next to me. Pure panic clear in her green gaze.
"Don't just stand there Sakura. Chances are this guy's not alone. They could be on us any second now." I tell her as I pull another kunai out of my holster. She too raises her own kunai in a ready stance. "Sasuke has that guy. You may not have noticed but he had plunged a kunai into the ninja's shoulder."
"I wish, I came alone so not to arouse suspicion. Big mistake!" The ninja says before shoving off of Sasuke's kunai and running. He disappears into the trees as Sasuke lands near us. So much for him. For now at least. Holstering my kunai knife as Naruto lands near the three of us. Sasuke turns to me before he sets down. Getting the idea I follow suit.
"What are you two doing?" Naruto asks before Sakura joins us.
"Resting." I say leaning back on my hands waiting for Naruto to join us as I watch Sasuke's Sharingan disappear. Remembering training with him I find myself smirking. "By the way, nice Phoenix Flower." Sasuke smiles at me causing death glares to be sent my way from a little pink-headed flat chested weakling. Shooting a glare in return to her I cause her eyes to widen before she glances away.
"By the way Kira, what's in the bag? You don't usually carry that around." Naruto asks pointing at my travel bag and I give a small smirk as I run my thumbs along the straps.
"When I heard where we were going to meet next I couldn't shake a bad feeling and the need to pack necessities. Like emergency provisions so to speak. Protein, medical, extra tools, etc."
"Sweet! So you came prepared!" Naruto yells and I give him a slight nod. "Seems so, initially I was actually worried I had over-packed." I admit quietly with a frown trying to tug at the corner of my lips.
"Your teamwork was flawless back there." Sakura says now looking down. "You both noticed that guy wasn't Naruto right away then proceeded to time your attacks so when one wasn't attacking the other one was. Doing so gave the guy no time to breathe and you were able to conserve your energy. It was as if you both knew what the other was going to do before you each knew it yourselves." Glancing at one another Sasuke and I make eye contact briefly.
"I guess it comes from training together often." I shrug laying on my back and closing my eyes to relax.
"You... Train together.." She mutters causing me to smirk at her depressed tone.
"Yup." I simply state nearly giggling. Why do I achieve such pleasure crushing her hopes and dreams... I'm not entirely certain of that answer. Maybe it's all of the glares and attitude she shoots my way just for being friends with Sasuke.
"Any way that proves we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way of knowing that each of us is who we say we are. And not some imposter using a transformation jutsu." Sasuke decided not to comment completely on Sakura's words and to avoid the topic we had just begun discussing.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Sakura asks suddenly rebounding back from her depression. This girl's moods seriously flip at the toss of a coin huh.
"We need a password." He says seriously as I slowly set back up.
"huh? What kind of password?" Naruto asks. Feeling a chill I fight to keep myself from glancing around and just look at Sasuke who now has his thumb on his cheek near his mouth.
"A secret one, known to only the four of us." So, he caught on as well. We aren't alone.
"And don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. No matter what.." I say following him up. He glances at me before folding his hands in front of his face signifying he knows I caught what he wanted me to know.
"Okay, listen closely because I only want to say this once. The question will be, When does a ninja strike? And the response is, a ninja waits until the time is right when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike. Got it?"
"I got it." Sakura says with a determined smile as she leans forward a bit. I just simply nod to him.
"Y. ya got one a little shorter?" Naruto hesitantly asks. His bright blue eyes wavering as he fights not to frown.
"No Naruto that's it." Sasuke looks to him unsurprised about his response, unlike Sakura.
"C'mon what's wrong?! Didn't you get it? I memorized it easy." Sakura chastises him. Wow, rude much? He is dimwitted, we all know this. Reminding him constantly isn't actually necessary Sakura. I found myself nearly frowning as I watch her. Could it be that my short temper with her isn't just because she is a fan-girl that lashes out at me all the time?
"Yeah, sure, I got it no problem." That's a blatant lie. "I just thought it was gonna be a password, not a pass speech."
"Alright then." Sasuke says as he stands. "I'll take the scroll." Standing as well I brush the dirt off of me.
"Alright." I answer him knowing he had given it to me for a reason and he just wanted himself to be the target rather than the one who actually has the scroll.
"Wait a minute Sasuke I.." Naruto begins to utter his complaint probably to let us know what we already figured. He couldn't remember such a long password. Just then a needle shoots at Naruto grazing his unmarked cheek causing it to bleed and officially cutting his complaint off. "What was that?" Naruto asks as he looks down the stretch of trees in the direction it had come. Followed by something whistling.
Hearing it steadily growing louder I glance at the others before chakra stepping out of the way and ducking behind the nearby bushes. Closing my eyes as the wind gusts through tearing a straight path in the ground past me. Yet, as I open my eyes I smile seeing Sasuke ducking beneath another set of bushes as well with a kunai out and ready. He just seems to stare at me for a few moments with an unwavering gaze. Thoughts visibly running through his mind that I can't seem to put my finger on. At least until I see his eyes look away before he vanishes from my sight. Leaping up and over to him, my right hand upon the holster I keep my kunai before I realize it was Sakura. I land quietly behind her just as Sasuke raises his blade.
"Stay there, first answer the question. When does a ninja strike?" He narrows his eyes on Sakura with more than just a hint of warning in his voice.
"Oh, A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike." Sasuke calmly lowers his kunai.
"Good." He says before looking past her to me. I shrug.
"Too bad." Smirking I move my hand away from my kunai holster. "I was hoping to kill her."
"Well, there's no need to ask you for the password. Sakura already answered it correctly and, only you can have that icy look in your eyes with an expression of disappointment from her getting it correct." I smirk at him as he nearly chuckles. Amusement clearly crossing over his features.
"So sue me. I wish someone would change into her so I could get killing her off of my chest without actually doing it." I toss back at him as I close my eyes a moment while I speak.
"If she would have gotten it wrong you would have killed her anyway." He smirks at me causing me to show him one in return.
"True."
"Will you two stop talking about me as if I'm not here?!" She yells at us in her frustration a mixture of both pain and anger simmering in the depths of her eyes.
