DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.
A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas (particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S).
THE CHUUNIN EXAMS
"Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you."
~Denis Waitley
~HIKARI P.O.V~
So there we were: four completely bored Genins standing or sitting on the bridge we usually met up with our teacher, waiting for our said fully recovered, but STILL incredibly lazy teacher make his re-appearance and start our last training session or going on mission.
Sasuke, cold and indifferent as usual, was stirring the pot as far as Naruto was concerned and making Konoha's most unpredictable, hyperactive ninja increasing irritated, whilst also single-handedly fending off the amorous advances of a completely clueless, lovelorn Sakura - who was still shooting me dirty looks every time Sasuke ignored her and started a conversation with me and reluctantly (in his eyes) with Naruto.
About an hour later, Kakashi finally showed up.
"Yo!" He greeted brightly.
He didn't even flinch when we trained ferocious glares at his masked face.
"You're late!" snaps Naruto and Sakura at the same time. Sasuke and I say nothing but wait to hear what lame excuse Kakashi was going to give us this time.
"Sorry I'm late but I got lost on the road to life." explained Kakashi breezily.
Sometimes I get the impression he gets some sort of weird kick out of annoying us. Either that, or he really does find himself in those types of situations every time he gets up and sets out to meet us for the day.
"LIAR!" shrieked Naruto.
"What sort of excuse is that?" asks Sakura heatedly just as I pulled a 'are-you-serious' face and looked at Sasuke who rolled his eyes and looked away from our mentor muttering 'idiot' underneath his breath.
Kakashi ignored us and brightened up instantly, bringing out his orange book and half-burying his face into it.
"So, you guys ready for your next mission?" he asked pleasantly.
This immediately caught Naruto's attention - if the huge beaming smile wasn't a dead giveaway when you first saw it. He got to his feet and practically shook with excitement - a fire was burning fiercely in his eyes which raised few eyebrows between the rest of us.
"What is it? It better be exciting!" Naruto exclaimed smacking his fist against his open palm.
Kakashi 'smirked' and I paled. This cannot be good - I could sense a bad day heading our way and making my good mood evaporate faster than water in the desert on a hot day.
"Oh, it's 'exciting' alright." Kakashi promised, his huge suspicious grin broadening. The smirk didn't disappear and I sighed in resignation.
"We're doomed." I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest and looking defeatedly at the ground which drew the attention of both Sakura and Sasuke who didn't seem to cotton on to why I had said that.
Though when they saw the expression on the face of our lazy, sly looking sensei, they seemed to understand as their faces sagged dramatically. Thirty minutes later saw the four of us pulling weeds from a villager's yard, or more specifically, her lawn, with a smug looking Kakashi standing nearby supervising us. Or should I say pretending to supervise us - when in cruel reality he was really reading one of his stupid porno books.
I felt like snatching the book away from him and holding it out for Sasuke to incinerate. But I wasn't keen on the punishment I was most likely to get as a consequence. So I just put up and shut up.
At first, Naruto was doing the task with an incredibly sullen look on his face. Then this sly grin replaced the sullen one and that made me nervous, Sakura suspicious and Sasuke annoyed as Naruto decided to make a competition out of pulling weeds in an obvious attempt to thwart Sasuke who continued the exercise in the same calm and orderly fashion Sakura and I were taking.
"You little brat! What have you done?!" shrieks our client almost tearing her hair out of the immaculate bun she had twisted her greying brown hair up in.
Yep, Naruto had done something stupid…again.
He not only managed to pull out the weeds from the woman's lawn. Oh no, he also managed to rip up the ENTIRE lawn as well. Sasuke, Sakura and I looked at Naruto with a expression similar to what you would give to a dead man.
"Oops…heh, heh. Sorry, Ma'am." Naruto apologised sheepishly as he looked to us for assistance.
Sasuke smirked, enjoying Naruto's misfortune while Sakura shook her head disapprovingly at him and I avoided eye contact. The woman was the type of person who held grudges - indicated by how hard her punch was to poor Naruto's eye.
Later on, Naruto could be seen sulking with a huge piece of meat pressed to his eye to reduce the swelling while Sasuke and I kept him company.
The next day, Kakashi presented us with another D-ranked mission which involved the disgusting task of picking up trash from a nearby stream.
Most of the day was spent picking up the trash, and also hearing Sakura complain about how her dress was getting dirty and smelly, and "why did we have to get the crappy jobs?" This went on for awhile before Sasuke couldn't stand it any longer and pointedly turned and glared at Sakura who promptly clamped up and continued picking up trash, not speaking unless it was absolutely necessary - for that everyone was relieved.
The mission pretty went on without a hitch until Naruto somehow managed to fall into the rapidly rushing current of the stream, and the current carried him towards a large waterfall.
He would've gone over, if Sasuke hadn't been quick on his feet and managed to save him at the last minute like he did the last time when Naruto fell out of the tree back in Wave Country when we were learning how to master our Chakra control.
"Heh. Thanks Sasuke." said Naruto gratefully.
"Hn. Idiot."
That immediately earned him a scowl from Naruto as Sasuke pulled back up from the fall.
The day after that uneventful mission, Kakashi presented us with yet another D-ranked mission, this time involving walking dogs owned by the snotty rich civilians of the village who paid handsomely for us to walk and generally take care of their dogs for the day.
The day would've gone swiftly, if Naruto hadn't have decided to pick the largest dog in the pack to take care of.
"Oh Kami. I know what's going to happen." I groaned as the cute little dog I was holding started licking my face affectionately.
Sasuke and Sakura looked over as I said this and Sakura groaned as well.
Kakashi had an evil 'smirk' on his face.
"And yet… I can't seem to look away." He crooned amusedly.
We nodded.
And as predicted, the dog proved to be more than Naruto could handle and we had to suppress fits of laughter when the dog saw something it liked and charged off, dragging poor Naruto behind him as he tried desperately to stop the dog in its tracks. My giggles faded immediately when I realised that Naruto and the dog were heading straight for an active minefield.
"Oh no, Naruto! LOOK OUT!" I screamed and passed the small dog to Sasuke who frowned at me curiously before realising at the same time what I had just seen and swore under his breath.
Both he and I charged off to aid Naruto just as the minefield went off - only injuring Naruto. Even Kakashi could sense that this was no laughing matter and for a second it seemed that Naruto would be seriously wounded. The four of us were gob smacked when Naruto emerged completely unscathed save for a couple of scratches and a handful of bruises.
Later on, after we returned the dogs to their respective owners - Sasuke, Naruto and I were walking through the side streets in Konoha, Sasuke pretty much ignoring us. It was clear it was in one of his foul moods again.
"What crawled up your ass and died, Teme?" asked Naruto crudely and I pulled a face at the gross comment just as Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"You're an embarrassment to the Team, Dobe." spat Sasuke bluntly.
I turned and gaped at Sasuke this time.
"Harsh much, Sasuke?" I pointed out.
Sasuke ignored me, focusing on the offended expression on Naruto's face.
"If you want people to take you seriously and recognise you not for being the idiot you are, then you need to get serious and become stronger." Sasuke laid out all the facts, and I must admit that Sasuke did have some valid points.
"Haku was the same age as us, and he was stronger than ALL of us combined - including Kakashi." He added tensing up a bit about what a blow that was to his ego and how it pained him to actually admit that.
I smirked a little at this, but also felt concerned at how troubled he truly looked. But even I didn't escape Sasuke's criticisms and I felt a little resentful afterwards, but I was surprised at how extremely harsh Sasuke was when it came to Sakura and her contribution to our team, and I felt a little sorry for her.
Especially when Sasuke described her skills as even lower than Naruto's! However, it was her own fault - if she didn't focus so much on her vanity all the time and more on her skills as a Shinobi, then she could be just as strong if not stronger than all of us (just don't tell Sasuke that).
It became obvious after about ten minutes in that somebody was following us and we looked back to see a trio of Academy students trailing us by trying to pass off as an ordinary rock.
"C'mon you guys, that box is totally obvious." Naruto called out and the three students emerged from the rock, pouting.
It turned out to be Konohamaru - the grandson of the Third Hokage and his friends Udon and Moegi who scowled unhappily at us, obviously hoping that we'd be fooled by their invisibility technique and start presenting themselves like they were some band of superheroes.
This does not impress Naruto at all, but nevertheless Naruto and I smiled warmly at the aspiring eight year old ninjas, while Sasuke remained unimpressed and disinterested in them and turned away. To his displeasure, Sakura arrived.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" she gushed over him, clinging onto his arm as usual and looked over his shoulder at Naruto and I having a conversation with Konohamaru and his friends, and instantly she pulled a disapproving face.
"What's eating you?" I commented frowning at Sakura in confusion.
Sakura ignored me completely in favour of devoting all her attention on Sasuke instead. I rolled my eyes at Sakura's typical behaviour just as I saw Konohamaru squinting at Sakura curiously and tugging on Naruto's sleeve.
"Is that girl with the pink hair your girlfriend?"
A question that caused me to start laughing uncontrollably and cause Sakura to look over in our direction in outrage.
"EW! Of course not." she denied looking over at Sasuke beseechingly, probably thinking that Sasuke was believing that he was being replaced by Naruto.
But Sasuke couldn't have cared less - he was mostly just rolling his eyes and shaking his head in irritation, at the same time that Naruto loudly exclaimed "YES!" making it hard for Konohamaru to decide which answer was the truth.
The answer was confirmed immediately after Sakura punched Naruto hard enough to send him flying far into the distance, leaving the eight year olds staring at them both with horrified expressions on their innocent faces.
That was the funniest conversation I had ever heard and I needed to move away before it got even funnier, so I discreetly moved away so I could regulate my breathing again.
"Well, what do we have here?" an unfamiliar voice asks.
I stop laughing immediately as we looked over and saw two unfamiliar ninjas approaching us. Sasuke straightens up and frowns slightly as he subtly pushes me and Sakura behind him for protection. I comply without question - something's fishy about those two.
"Who wants to know?" Sasuke asks coldly.
The one who had spoken, a tall dark-haired male wearing a black jumpsuit with a hood and purple face paint on his face, smirked back. He wore a forehead protector with the symbol of an hourglass emblazoned on the front of it, indicating he was a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sand. But before he could reply, Naruto sensing this guy was bad news charged forward to attack him.
He was thrown backwards onto his ass before any of us could blink.
"Idiot!" growls Sasuke as I extended a hand to Naruto to help him to his feet.
"You okay?" I asked him.
He nodded glowering at the Sand Nin and Konohamaru made a sound of protest.
"Hey, no fair!" he yelled and the Sand Nin turned his attention towards him.
Thinking quickly, Sasuke picked up and rock and threw it between the Sand Nin and Konohamaru to avoid the eight year old getting pummelled by the obviously older and stronger Shinobi. The other Shinobi, also from the Sand Village, who was a blonde haired kunoichi with her hair held back in four pigtails and carrying an enormous fan on her back blushes at Sasuke.
Oh great. Another fan girl… I thought irritably as Sasuke ignored the girl, focusing on the male.
Konohamaru looks understandably scared.
"Don't worry, buddy. You could've taken him." Naruto lies flawlessly trying to cheer up the boy, obviously boosting the boy's obviously overly inflated ego.
"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village." a deep gravely baritone voice interrupts the stand off.
We frowned in confusion, searching for the person belonging to that voice before Sasuke eventually finds him in a tree behind him. A third ninja with a ceramic gourd strapped to his back hops down from a tree branch and glares acidly at the Sand Nin known as 'Kankuro' who looks unusually afraid of the other ninja who looked around about our age.
"Sorry, Gaara." mumbles Kankuro shamefaced.
I raised an eyebrow at how fast he had backed off the moment 'Gaara' had insulted him. It was a complete turn around for this guy who had only moments ago wanted to beat the crap out of an innocent, albeit bratty eight year old.
Gaara was probably about Sasuke's height with simple, brown and tan ninja gear and black ankle-high ninja sandals. His hair was blood red and unruly and he had teal coloured eyes with extremely dark bags around them.
Geez, when's the last time this guy slept?
His skin was almost as pale as mine. Gaara turned to address us and fixed an emotionless stare at us that made my skin crawl. I saw Naruto and Sakura shuddering as well.
Three guesses who didn't shudder.
Gaara trains his creepy, unblinking eyes on Sasuke who narrows his eyes at him questioningly. Then without saying another word, the three Sand Nin turned and walked away. Sasuke paying particular attention to Gaara as he watches them leave.
"What in the seven hells was that about?" blurted out Naruto.
"Yeah. What are they doing here?" I added softly watching the three sand ninjas turn a corner going wherever the hell they were heading off to, but not before Gaara turned and looked directly at me, glaring at me contemplatively. I flinched in shock, and felt an icy chill shoot down my spine.
"No idea." replied Sasuke, still frowning.
"You okay?"
I looked and Sasuke was standing very close beside me, not looking at me but sort of glaring territorially at the now long gone trio of sand nin - in particular the one called 'Gaara'. Obviously he had noticed my uneasiness and was instinctively trying to comfort me.
"I'm fine." I replied quietly, still feeling a little shaken. Sasuke nodded but didn't look convinced.
I frowned.
"What's his problem?" demanded Sakura who sidled up to Sasuke, almost clinging possessively to his arm when he realised he had gravitated to my side, obviously unaware that he was checking to see if I was okay, not flirting with me.
Although, I was pretty sure that if Sakura hadn't have been there, Sasuke would've placed a hand on my shoulder or wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders.
"Don't know. Don't care." replied Sasuke - though his tone implied that he wanted to know as well, it was just to get Sakura to stop whining in our ears.
None of us were expecting the answer to our questioning thoughts to come from the mouth of Konohamaru.
"By the way, boss. Good luck for the Chuunin exams. Hope you get the title!" He yelled loudly drawing our attention and we watched as he waved at Naruto and sped off down the road with his friends out of sight.
Our eyes widened in confusion.
"What's he talking about?" Naruto blurted out.
~KAKASHI P.O.V~
I couldn't help but grin when I approached our team's meeting place and saw the curious faces of my students frowning at me.
I had a hunch that they were about to ask me what the Chuunin exams were, and if that was the case. I was going to beat them to the punch. I fingered the permission forms hidden in my pocket as I approached them, a huge grin on my face.
Hidden of course.
Naruto stepped forward.
"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. Do you know anything about this so-called-"
"Chuunin exam?" I supplied smugly.
All four of my students nodded, I watched the curious frown on Sasuke's face deepen, while Naruto, Sakura and Hikari's eyes widened in surprise.
"Any Genin who has completed eight missions or more is eligible to undergo a series of tests to gain the title of 'chuunin', under the recommendation of their Jounin sensei ." I explained.
"No shit…" I heard Sasuke mutter under his breath.
I ignored him.
~FLASHBACK~
"I'd like to recommend my students for the exam." I declared to the Third Hokage and Iruka who frowned and shook his head.
"I do not believe that your students are ready to undergo this exam just yet. It's too early." disagreed Iruka.
I sighed and turned to address him trying to make him see reason.
"I don't agree. I was six years younger than they were when I pass the exam. I have full confidence that they will achieve this as well." I insisted.
As though sensing that an argument was about to go down, the Third raised his hand to silence us both. We looked at our leader respectfully, waiting for him to continue with his explanation.
"Don't overestimate them, Kakashi - where you believe that your students are ready for the challenge, others may not." He said sternly before turning his attention towards Iruka who looked like he was trying to stop himself from smirking in triumph.
I felt like smacking him - but apparently his lordship had seen the slight twitch on Iruka's face as he narrowed his eyes at him. The 'smirk' disappeared immediately.
"However, should Kakashi's students attempt to do this exam - they will be put through an initiation exam before the actual one to see if they are truly ready for what lies ahead. I trust that should put your doubts to rest, Iruka." he stated.
Iruka exhaled in relief, as did I before we smiled at each other in a truce. However, I could still see the doubt in his eyes - and I was pretty sure it was directed towards the belief that Naruto would not make it past the initiation exam.
And to be truthful, so was I…
~END FLASHBACK~
"I've put you four forward as potential candidates for the exam." I announced brightly, smiling excitedly at them.
There were mixed reactions to my news, in particular within Sakura and Hikari. Sakura raised worried eyes and locked them with mine.
"But…are you sure you think we're ready for this, Sensei?" she asked fretfully.
"Speak for yourself." mumbled Hikari under her breath, but even she looked worried.
"Of course I do. But it's not my decision to make, it's yours. I just recommended you. The rest is up to you." I explained pulling the permission forms from my pocket and holding them out to them.
"I'm in." shouted Naruto.
"Hn. I'm surprised you believe you have what it takes." muttered Sasuke as he took a form and folded it, putting it in his weapons pack.
Naruto glared at him before snatching a form and stuffing it into his weapons pack too. Where Sasuke and Naruto took one without hesitation, both obviously eager to prove to themselves (or each other) that they were ready to advance to the next level, Sakura eyed the paper hesitantly for a few more minutes before she reluctantly took the form from me and turned away.
I turned to Hikari who looked deep in thought.
"You're not doubting your skills too, are you Hikari?" I asked gently.
Hikari jerked out of her thoughts quickly.
"Huh? Oh! No, sensei. Not at all." she replied and took the form from my hand.
I frowned suspiciously at the girl who turned and walked away to go stand against the banister of the bridge, very obviously ignoring Naruto and Sasuke bickering and Sakura's failing attempts to gain Sasuke's attention. I noticed Sasuke looking at Hikari questioningly as well, and couldn't help but smile when I saw how his normally hardened, aloof black eyes softened instantly when he looked at Hikari - particularly now when she was looking so lost.
Then a thought occurred to me - and it had something to do with the permission form. I sighed at my thoughtlessness before shoving my hands into my pockets and sauntering over the girl.
"If this has anything to do with gaining your parents' permission - the Hokage is well aware of your situation-"
"It's not that." she interrupted me and looked up fixing me with a surprising smile on her pale face that threw me completely, because the girl was very obviously crying.
"My grandmother is still alive. I can get permission from her." she explained as a tear slid down her cheek.
I frowned.
"Then what's wrong?" I asked concernedly.
"I just…wish my Mom was here. I wanted to be able to ace this exam and show much how much I have progressed in my career." she replied wiping away her tears.
So it did have something to do with her mother. My face fell in sympathy and I placed a hand on Hikari's shoulder, knowing exactly how she felt. I had wanted to prove something to my father when I had been her age as well.
She looked up at me in surprise.
"I'm sure your mother will always be proud of what you achieve, Hikari. Remember that." I reassured her.
She smiled then shocked me completely by doing something completely unheard of: Hugging the teacher.
"Thank you, Sensei. You're the best." she whispered.
I hesitated for a second before wrapping my arms around her and hugged her back.
"You're welcome."
It got awkward very quickly - particularly when I could feel kunais being dug into my back by a highly possessive Uchiha, and I realised without looking up that the other three were currently watching us. The ever inquisitive Naruto bounded up to us.
"Hey, are you okay, Hikari-chan?" He asked sweetly, his too-blue eyes fill with endearing concern.
I nodded approvingly at Naruto's actions. Clearly, Hikari meant something to the hyperactive ninja. Hikari stepped back from me and nodded, wiping her eyes.
"Yep. I'm good." she replied and turned to walk over to where Sasuke and Sakura were standing looking over at us.
Sakura was smirking superiorly at poor Hikari, while Sasuke was frowning in concern.
"Hmmm. Seems she moves on very quickly, huh Sasuke-kun?" Sakura sneered.
My eyes widened in outrage. That was unreasonably bitchy and if she was trying to endear herself to Sasuke, she just failed miserably - shown by the corrosive glare Sasuke was now aiming at Sakura's head, how red Hikari turned and how hurt she looked when she heard Sakura blurt that out and by what Naruto said:
"Why don't you shut up, Sakura? You don't know the reason why Hikari was hugging Kakashi-sensei!" he growled and walked towards Hikari who like Sasuke, Sakura and I were gaping at the normally friendly, happy-go-lucky ninja who had just angrily told off his crush for her uncalled for attack.
"C'mon Hikari-chan. Let's go train." Naruto said grabbing Hikari's hand and determinedly dragging her away to a more open part of the training ground.
Hikari made no move to stop him from doing so but still looked as astonished as I felt. Sakura looked over at Sasuke pleading with him not to not walk away. But he scowled at her and moved to follow his teammates who were joking around and laughing at something Naruto had just said.
I smiled approvingly at Naruto's actions before walking over to the stunned pink-haired girl.
"Naruto, while being an insufferable idiot and incredibly annoying most of the time, has made a very valid point, and I commend him for standing up to you. Next time find out all the facts before saying what's on your mind, Sakura." I scolded her.
Sakura nodded looking chastised.
"I apologise for my bad behaviour, Sensei." she mumbled and looked at the ground. I crossed my arms over my chest.
"As punishment - you're sparring with me for the rest of the day, and I won't go easy on you." I promised.
Sakura gulped but nodded. But she doesn't fool me, I know she's lying - she has some sort of beef with Hikari over Sasuke, and her feelings are affecting her judgement. She's gotta change her attitude soon - or something bad will happen.
I can feel it.
~SAKURA P.O.V~
Why am I even doing this? I'm not strong enough…I can't even keep up with Naruto, and Sasuke-kun thinks I'm a waste of space. Though, I stand by what I said about Hikari, I can't believe Sasuke-kun likes her - what has she got that I haven't got?
I decided to go through with the exams against my better judgement - and to humour Kakashi-sensei. The exam wasn't going to be starting for a few days, so we decided to do some more training.
Unfortunately, Naruto had invited his annoying little friend, Konohamaru, to tag along and bug the hell out of us. I was surprised when I realised that Sasuke-kun didn't seem to mind him and his friends, but I assumed it was because both Naruto and Hikari seemed to like them and he was just tolerating them for the sake of peace.
"Hey Boss!"
Oh great, here he comes now.
I turned and saw the obnoxious little Naruto clone sprinting up to us and giving Naruto a high five.
"Thanks for letting us come along and watch you train, Naruto-san!" added Konohamaru's little ginger haired friend…Moegi, I think, piped in beaming from ear to ear.
Naruto blushed red and scratched his head awkwardly. I raised an eyebrow. Their other friend Udon sniffed trying to clear his runny nose and I pulled a disgusted face before looking away.
"Don't call me that…" Naruto muttered before turning away in embarrassment.
I rolled my eyes and started storming off towards the training grounds. Suddenly, an unfamiliar ninja dressed in black and wearing a sharp looking sword on his back, jumped into my path. I screamed in surprise and fell backwards onto my bum, scowling up at the ninja.
"Sakura! You okay?" I heard Hikari exclaim before strong hands pulled me to my feet, turning I saw Hikari and raised an eyebrow about how freakishly strong she was.
Hikari eyed the ninja off cautiously. A shrill scream and voices of protest caught our attention. Moegi had been snatched by yet another anonymous ninja dressed in black.
"Hey!? Put her down!" demanded Naruto as Moegi looked down at us looking really scared.
A wise move, considering she wasn't a qualified kunoichi just yet.
The ninja's eyes were a pearly white like he was completely blind - but it was quite obvious that he wasn't. He shook his head defiantly and smirked before dashing away.
"HEY COME BACK HERE!" bellowed Naruto and Hikari at the same time before all four of us chased him - Sasuke-kun and Naruto tied for the lead.
We tracked the ninja towards some nearby patch of trees and tried to cut him off.
"Shit. Where'd he go?" yelled Naruto even though we were only two feet away from him.
I scowled at him, but he ignored me in favour of an answer from one of us. Hikari shook her head and straightened up, closing her eyes for a moment. I realised she was trying to sense the ninja's chakra and I mimicked her actions, hoping to impress Sasuke-kun.
For a moment, I couldn't sense a thing, and apparently neither could Hikari or Sasuke-kun.
"I can't sense where they've gone." Sasuke muttered. I opened my eyes and looked worriedly over at Sasuke. He looked over at Naruto, Hikari and I.
I hoped one of us had a plan.
"I say we split up into two groups and find them separately. It'll take too long if we stick together and waste time trying to figure out where they went." Hikari tried to reason.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement before all three of them took point and moved out.
I reluctantly followed.
~NARUTO P.O.V~
I grit my teeth in anger as I remembered the frightened look on poor Moegi's face. She didn't deserve to be kidnapped. What does that ninja want anyway? I paused for a moment looking around for something out of place.
"Hey, did you hear that?" Sakura muttered curiously.
I looked over my shoulder to stare at Sakura-chan and heard muffled screaming coming from behind some bushes. I quickly moved towards the noise and peered over the bushes. The ninja was standing there keeping watch for us. Moegi was tied to a tree with tears streaming down her face.
She was gagged, that explained the muffled screaming I heard. I immediately stepped through the bush hearing Sakura muttering 'idiot' under her breath. I ignored her, focusing completely on Moegi whose face lit up when she saw me.
I couldn't help but grin when I saw that.
"Okay smartass! Hand over my friend right now!" I demanded angrily.
The ninja merely smirked at me and started laughing like what I had just said was the funniest thing he had ever heard. I growled angrily, just as Sakura stepped out and joined me.
She frowned at the bastard.
"What's so funny?"
He didn't answer.
"We'll see who's laughing after I jam my fist down your throat." I threatened him, instantly wiping the smirk off his face just as he reached for a weapon.
I noticed that he was carrying something. I squinted at the object and realised that it was one of the old man's scrolls.
"Hey that's the old man's! Hand it over!" I yelled pointing towards the scroll.
"Naruto, that's the scroll of healing." Sakura whispered to me in a low voice. I looked at the scroll again and confirmed that it was.
"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands." the ninja sneered.
I felt a smirk creep over my face.
"No problem, dattebayo!"
~SASUKE P.O.V~
Hikari and I sprinted through the trees looking for any sign on that orange-haired girl, but came up with nothing. We stopped briefly to assess the situation once again.
"Okay, what now?" Hikari muttered under her breath.
I ignored her, trying to think of a plan.
Without warning, the same ninja that kidnapped the girl came out of nowhere and charged at me. I easily dodged and Hikari I stood back to back, waiting for his next attack.
"Where did he come from?" Hikari asked frantically.
"Don't know. But just focus for now." I whispered back trying to calm her down.
I couldn't afford to protect her if she was in hysterics. The ninja could suddenly decide to aim for her instead of me and that's the last thing we needed right now. He reappeared and with lightning fast reflexes slammed his fist into my gut.
My knees buckled, but before I could retaliate he was gone again.
"Dammit. Son of a bitch!" I snarled.
"Sasuke?" Hikari's worried voice asks me.
"I'm okay-"
The ninja appears again and roughly shoves Hikari aside. She shrieks in surprise and sprawls to the ground, skidding a few feet.
"Hey!?" I growled and spun around to face the bastard and had to dodge some kunais that were thrown at me. I sprinted over to where Hikari was trying to get to her feet.
"You okay?" I asked her.
Hikari had a nasty scrap on her upper arm.
"Saint like." she drawled sarcastically pushing away my helping hands and pulling free some kunai herself.
I smirked appreciatively at her.
This was one of the reasons I liked her - she had the balls to deal with cuts and scrapes, whereas any of the other girls would've whined and complained. Some kunai landed narrowly close to where we were regrouping and I quickly seized Hikari by her waist and leapt away to safer location. We crouched behind a nearby tree, trying to catch our breath.
"What's the plan?" Hikari wanted to know.
I frowned, keep my senses alert for more attacks while I thought momentarily of our next move.
~SAKURA P.O.V~
Naruto, naturally didn't think before acting and launched himself headlong at the ninja who was obviously expecting his move. I winced when Naruto was easily swatted aside like an annoying fly and landed in a heap not too faraway.
The ninja turned his attention onto me.
"Okay, girlie. Give me your best shot." the sleeze bag taunted me.
I scowled at him and extracted some shuriken from my weapons pack. I hurled them at him as a distraction tactic before shunshuning behind him and aimed a kick at his head. However, he seemed to anticipate this move and ended up grabbing my ankle and throwing me across the space, where I crumpled to the ground next to Naruto.
"Ow." mumbled Naruto who sat up and shook his head to relieve his 'dizziness'. I narrowed my eyes at the ninja who was watching us with a smug smirk on his arrogant face.
"We need to distract this guy long enough so we can free Moegi and retrieve that scroll." I told Naruto who blinked at me in confusion.
I was about to smack him over the head for not paying attention when he suddenly got a 'light bulb-over-the-head' expression on his face and turned to me excitedly.
"I've got it!" he exclaimed.
I waited for him to spill but he said nothing. I grit my teeth in frustration.
"You gonna let me in on your plan or not?" I asked him feeling irritated.
Naruto merely got to his feet and started making handsigns. My eyes widened in surprise as I scrambled to get to my feet frantically.
"Wait, Naruto! What are you doing?" I demanded. Naruto turned and grinned at me.
"Watch this!" He asked me and finished making hand signs.
I shook my head in confusion.
"Watch what?" I responded, but realised what he was doing when a bunch of Naruto clones suddenly appeared, effectively confusing the dirt bag ninja in front of us. I grinned in triumph, finally understand what Naruto's plan was.
"You're brilliant, Naruto!" I exclaimed.
Naruto face lit up happily at my compliment and I felt my grin drop like a sack of potatoes.
"Really?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, now c'mon!" I said impatiently grabbing Naruto's sleeve and dragging him away from the fight in front of us and moving towards Moegi who was watching the Naruto clones fighting with the flustered looking ninja in complete confusion.
Pleased that Naruto's plan was working, we managed to free Moegi who started fawning over Naruto and couldn't be more thankful. That must be a boost to Naruto's already inflated ego.
"Hey!"
We looked behind and I beamed happily when I saw Sasuke heading straight for us with Hikari not too far behind. Well, one out of two isn't bad, I guess.
"What's going on?" Hikari asked frowning at the ninja still fighting off Naruto clones.
He actually looked kinda stupid, even Naruto himself would've realised that something was going down by now.
"Moegi here was tied to a tree with that guy standing in front of her keeping a look out for us. Naruto distracted him by creating some shadow clones and then he and I cut Moegi's binds." I explained tiredly.
Hikari and Sasuke nodded, finally caught up.
"Any ideas what we can do now?" I asked still frowning at the scene in front of us in almost disbelief.
Everyone shrugged, then Naruto surprised us all once again by pulling out a net and used it to capture the obviously incompetent ninja still fighting the Naruto clones. The moment he was captured - Naruto dispelled his clones.
"That's it? He wasn't very tough at all…" said Hikari with this really disappointed sounding voice.
Sasuke 'hn'ed' in agreement. However, when we reeled the struggling ninja in like a goldfish struggling to breathe when he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"What the? He was a shadow clone?!" yelled Naruto in disbelief. "What a jip!"
I sighed in defeat.
"Get over it, Naruto. We're all just as confused as you are."
The four of us started walking back to the Village - eager to get home to sleep. Unaware of what was to come the next day. I just hope that we don't get ambushed again.
I really hate that.