Chapter 33
Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata and Sakura were on the move. Once they were out of the stadium, Kiba and Akamaru found the scents of their comrades. They could not move as fast as they wanted due to Hinata still recovering. Hinata was apologetic but she told the two that she could fight. Her Byakugan was on and keeping a look out for any one.
Suddenly Akamaru barked franticly. Kiba looked at his buddy with concern. Listening, his eyes went wide.
"We've got a problem! We have a tail!" Kiba shouted. The two girls looked at him with worry.
"How f-far are they? H-How many are after us?" Hinata asked. Akamaru barked something to Kiba.
"Akamaru says that there are nine in total. We can't keep going in this direction. We'll lead them into the other s and we will be surrounded." Kiba explained. Sakura cursed at their dilemma. They couldn't lead these guys, who were probably jōnin, to their friends.
"Okay, we have to do something to stop them. We probably don't have the advantage because of who the leader is but I have a plan. Whatever we do, we have to stop them here." Sakura said. Kiba and Hinata nodded and listened to Sakura as she explained the plan. Once she finished, they turned and made their way into a different direction. It didn't take long for their trackers to learn that they had been discovered. They sped up and caught up to the genin. They were surrounded by eight of the men.
"Well, well, what do we have here? What should we do boys? Should we teach this kids just how cruel war can be?" one of the men joked. The others chuckled at the man's words. They geared up for a fight. That's when one of them attacked and launched a punch at Kiba. He was shocked when his fist went right through him. Everyone was confused when they heard something.
"Gatsūga!" Kiba roared. Two drills came at them with crushing speed. Two men were hit hard and sent flying. They hit the tree and were knocked out. In the confusion, one of the men was dragged up to their head. Sakura quickly jumped out of the ground and knocked the man out. She turned around and ducked a punch. Sakura did a few seals and release a blast of chakra. It froze the man and Sakura quickly kicked him in the groin. Once he dropped to his knees, Sakura knocked him out with the ring of her kunai.
Sakura turned to check on her friends. Hinata was easily dealing with the jōnin and Kiba with his partner was tearing this up. However, her distraction cost her when the ninth man came out of hiding. He pinned her to the ground and had his hands around her throat. Sakura struggled to escape but he was too strong. She quickly felt around for something when her hand wrapped around the kunai she dropped. With a wild swing, she launched the kunai into the man. She felt something wet hit her face but the hold on her neck was gone.
Sakura was trying to get her breath back and put her hands to her neck. When she looked at the person who attempted to kill her, her eyes went wide. The kunai she used was lodged in the man's neck. Sakura could see the life leave his eyes. She looked at her hand and saw that they were stained with blood. It must have been what hit her in the face. Sakura froze up and was starting to freak out. That's when Asuma arrived. He quickly dealt with any remaining enemies and checked on the genin. When he saw Sakura and the now dead body, Asuma quickly went over to her.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Asuma shouted. She shot up and looked at him. "Look at me; I need you to breath with me. Come on, in then out." Sakura did as she was told. Asuma pulled out a rag and quickly wiped the blood off her face. It didn't all come off but at least she wasn't covered in it. "Okay Sakura, I'm going to put you to sleep. Just relax." Sakura just nodded and allowed Asuma to place a small genjutsu on her. Sakura fell asleep and Asuma picked her up. Kiba took this time to look at the jōnin.
"Is she going to be alright?" he asked.
"That depends on her. Everyone has a different reaction to their first kill. We can only hope that she will pull through this." Asuma said. He looked at the two genin. "We're heading back."
"W-What about the others?" Hinata asked.
"We can only hope that they will regroup and retreat." Asuma said. When they were ready, they took off back to the village.
XXX
The trio caught up to Sasuke and the Suna siblings. Temari and Kankuro were sweating bullets when they saw them. Sasuke looked at the group with a snarl.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded.
"We came to get you and return to the village. You have no idea the type of power that Gaara has. We have to leave this to someone I know that can contain him." Naruto said.
"You losers can retreat if you want. I have a fight to finish." Sasuke said.
"A fight to finish? Hey, this is no time to stroke your damn ego, Uchiha! There is an invasion going on and we need to get back to the village! That is more important than some damn match!" Naruto roared.
"Listen to him Sasuke. This isn't the time." Shikamaru added.
"Just stay out of my way!" Sasuke shouted and launched himself toward Gaara. The three cursed and moved to help. Kankuro, who was holding Gaara, used one hand to get his puppet. Sasuke attempted to go around it but had to dodge the senbon. He went into hiding with Gaara. Temari unfolded her fan and swung it. All three genin were blasted away. Naruto summoned a clone and used it as a spring board to get above the wind. He did a few hand seals.
"Katon: Karyūdan! (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet)" Naruto blew out a stream of fire at Temari. Using her fan, she blew herself out of the way of the fire. She landed but quickly had to get out of the way as she saw that slacker's shadow. Shino used this distraction to attack Kankuro. The puppet user had to turn his attention to the bug user. Sasuke saw this but did not back Shino up. He looked around the area for Gaara. Back with the other two, Temari swung her fan hard.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu! (Sickle Weasel Technique)" she roared. Naruto and Shikamaru quickly ducked for cover as the wind passed by them. Naruto saw just how deep the wind blades were cutting.
"She is seriously trying to kill us." Naruto said.
"You think?" Shikamaru asked with a tone.
"Hey, it's your fault that she's angry!" Naruto shouted.
"My fault? How is this my fault?" Shikamaru shouted back.
"If you treated her like a shinobi instead of a girl, maybe she wouldn't be so angry with us. Don't give me that men don't hit women crap. In this world, even the girly can kill." Naruto said.
"You are really blaming me for this?" Shikamaru demanded. Naruto was about to answer when he saw Temari. Shikamaru turned only to see the satisfied grin on her face.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" She said and blasted the two away. The screamed as the wind blades tore into them. Temari smirked but it soon faded when they both dispelled. She cursed and quickly got off the ground, looking for a shadow. That's when she heard metal flying through the air. She twisted enough to avoid any critical damage but it did force her to release her fan. She landed on the side of a tree and saw Naruto coming at her. She looked to run when she felt a familiar feeling. She had no choice but to take the haymaker that Naruto landed on her face.
Shikamaru released his shadow in time as Temari was sent flying onto the ground. She hit the ground with a thud and laid there. Naruto looked at Shikamaru.
"Go and help Shino. I got this." Naruto said. Shikamaru nodded and went to help their teammate. Naruto landed on the ground just as Temari was struggling to get to her fan. When she was inches away, a kunai landed right in front of her. She looked up to see several of Naruto's clones. They were all armed and ready to take her out. "That's enough! Give up and I won't kill you!" Naruto called out. Temari growled but she knew that she was beaten again. She placed her hands in front of her as a form of surrender.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was still looking for Gaara. Shino was in a fight with Kankuro but he did not care. All he wanted was to finish his fight with Gaara. He kept his eyes out for the red head. That's when he heard his target. He saw Gaara, hand gripping his head. It was as if he was in complete pain. Sasuke did not care and made his move toward him. As he landed, he did a couple of hand seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" Sasuke spat a flame right at Gaara. Gaara saw this and raised his hand. It quickly transformed in a large claw. The claw turned into a shield and blocked the attack. When Gaara lowered the shield, he looked at Sasuke with madness.
"So you want to end my existence Uchiha! You will have to do better!" Gaara roared and unleashed his chakra. Half of his face was also transformed and a tail appeared from his gourd. With a roar, he charged after Sasuke.
Back in the trees, Shino was beginning to fade. His distraction cost him. He saw Sasuke leap after Gaara and attempted to stop him. That's when he was hit with a poisonous smoke bomb. He inhaled some but was still able to fight. However, he was fading fast and he didn't know how much longer he would last. Lucky for him, his bugs managed to capture Kankuro and drain him of his chakra. Shino just did not have the energy to finish him off.
Shikamaru arrived and knelt down to the Aburame. Naruto soon joined them with a tied up Temari. Naruto looked at Shino and saw that he was not good.
"Shino, where are you hit?" Naruto asked.
"Inhaled poison… hive can't get rid of… it." Shino said. Handing Temari to Shikamaru, Naruto made his way to Kankuro. Kankuro had a little energy to attack but that was quickly stopped by Naruto. He took a kunai and slammed it into Kankuro's hand. The teen screamed out in pain.
"You have until five to give me that antidote or I'm going to start stabbing. I'll start with your hands and end with your junk. One… two…" Naruto started as he pulled out another kunai.
"Left pocket! Left pocket!" Kankuro shouted. Naruto held the kunai to his neck and dug into his left pocket. He pulled out two vials, one purple, one green. Naruto glared at him and pushed the kunai more into his neck. "The green vial." Naruto summoned a clone and gave him the vial. He made his way to Shino hand had him drink it. Shino was lying on the branch but he could feel the liquid working. Shikamaru gave a positive signal to Naruto. The blond removed the kunai from Kankuro's neck and pulled the kunai free from Kankuro's hand. That's when something landed right next to the two with a thud.
It was Sasuke and he was all beat up. He had those marks going up his face again but it did not look like he would be fighting. Something else landed near to them. When the dust settled, Kankuro and Temari were scared. Shikamaru was too as was Naruto. Gaara looked ready to rip someone apart. He was looking at Sasuke with a crazed look.
"W-We need to get out of here, now!" Temari exclaimed. Gaara roared and charged at the fallen Sasuke. Naruto quickly squashed his fear and did hand seals.
"Doton: Yomi Numa! (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)" Naruto called out. A large swamp appeared and Gaara was stopped in mid stride. As he attempted to get out, Naruto's clone had finished a set of seals of his own.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)" The clone shouted. The water twisted and launched itself at Gaara. Gaara was swept up on the vortex and carried deeper in the forest, slamming through trees. The two watched as the jutsu ended but could not see Gaara. Naruto looked at Shikamaru before doing the seal for the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone). He summoned two clones.
"You three, get everybody out of here. I'll give you time." Naruto ordered. They nodded and grabbed Sasuke, Kankuro and Shino. Shikamaru looked at his friend.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Shikamaru shouted.
"I know more about this that you. That isn't going to slow down Gaara. I'll cover your escape." Naruto said. Shikamaru looked ready to argue but Naruto cut him off. "Don't! I'll be fine! Just get the others to safety and find a guy named Jiraiya! Now, go!" Shikamaru growled but he grabbed Temari and took off with the other clones. Naruto made sure that they were gone before turning around. He knew that Gaara was making his way toward him. He could feel it. He flicked out two kunai and got ready for a fight.
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Authors' Notes: Well, here's a new chapter. I hope you like it. I didn't really change much from the original. I did do it differently with Sakura, which I really liked.
