Standing by the west gate of Konoha were three genin, who happened to be on the same team. In fact, they were waiting for the last member of their quartet, their ever-tardy sensei, Kakashi.
"Screw it, there's a bench right over there. He's already 15 minutes late, it could be twice that again before he shows up," Naruto complained.
He walked across the street and sat on the bench, setting his backpack on the ground.
"Hnn," Sasuke commented, and leaned up against the wall. Sakura was torn between following directions, and being comfortable and pragmatic. She ended up sitting on the ground with her backpack off. It was quite heavy. If she was honest, she had probably over packed. When they had homework assignments to bring in a pack ready for a certain mission loadout, she often had missed points for the bag being overweight. It was one of the few non-physical assignments she was regularly out performed on. She remembered some of the other girls packing makeup and clothes; thankfully, she had never been that naïve. True, she and the girls had been rather stupid over Sasuke, but Sakura was ready to chalk that up to puberty and hormones. It took a little focus, but she was proud that she hadn't reverted back to her old self for about a week now, despite being in constant contact with the subject of her ex-desire.
As Sakura waited for her sensei, she remembered the conversation he had with her at the hospital.
OOOOOO
Sakura was being carried by Kakashi, and was both wet and half naked. It almost would've been exciting in a naughty way if her skin hadn't felt like it was on fire moments ago.
oooooo
The three had been tasked with stripping and repainting part of the village's wall, just a small segment of the massive barrier. They were given the materials and two rickety ladders that had looked like they would fall over in a breeze. Despite protests of unsafe work conditions by Naruto, the genin had set out to the site and started applying the paint stripper. They had leaned the ladders up against the wall and lodged a thick plywood board between them to expand the work area, and it was Sakura's turn to keep the ladders steady. Naruto and Sasuke were working diligently above, trying to get the paint to come off.
All of a sudden, a kunai came from out of the blue and hit one of the ladders.
"Incoming attack guys! I'll try to keep up the ladders!" Sakura rushed to the hit ladder and held on to it, stopping the shaking that the whole makeshift structure had been doing. The boys had been expecting this from the other missions Kakashi had put them through, and put their brushes in the stripper cans, and grabbed some shuriken to hopefully pop Kakashi's shadow clone.
Three more kunai sailed through the air, two towards the opposite ladder, and one at Naruto. Sakura ran towards the other ladder as Naruto jumped over the kunai, which would have hit him in the knee. The two kunai hit the ladder, causing the platform to start shuddering. Sakura grabbed it again though, as Sasuke launched a shuriken in retaliation. It looked like they had won until Naruto landed on the plywood, amplifying the kunai's effect, and sending the whole contraption falling to the ground.
WHAM! Rattle rattle…
*Moan* "Everyone okay?" Naruto called out. "I'm bleeding a bit, but nothing's broken," he continued.
"I'm fine, I just rode down the platform and jumped off at the end," Sasuke answered. "Sakura?" he asked.
"Ugh, I'm okay, I'm just covered in this stinking paint stripper. I'm glad sensei told us to wear bad clothes toda- owch! … OWW! Get it off me! It burns!"
The two boys got up as fast as they could and hurried over to her shouts. She had been lying in the middle of a puddle of the paint stripper; thankfully, none had gotten on her head. She was sliding her hands along her arms and legs, scooping as much as she could off of her skin.
Naruto shed his shirt as fast as he could and started toweling her off with it. Sasuke saw what he was doing and copied it. Meanwhile Sakura was trying to take off her shirt, which had soaked through and was now keeping the solvent trapped next to her skin. She got it off, and was working on her pants, when Kakashi shunshin-ed in and started a water jutsu.
Seconds later she was being gently sprayed all over by a small jet of water. As soon as the humidity in the air ran out, Kakashi ended the jutsu, yelled "Meet me at the hospital!" and shunshin-ed off with Sakura in his arms.
oooooo
Sakura decided that shunshin made you feel funny. Of course, a caustic solvent had just attacked her nerves, so maybe it wasn't an objective, or independent, observation. The two ended up right in front of the hospital's ninja emergency entrance. Kakashi hurried in, still carrying her. A medical nin came from behind the desk and walked towards them.
"Chemical burn, paint stripper. I used a water jutsu to wash it off, but she still needs treatment."
The doctor looked at her skin for a few moments then nodded. "Okay, she'll be fine. I'll get her a room and a nurse with the ointment. The skin is badly aggravated, but it hasn't lost any living layers, just dead skin." He turned and addressed Sakura. "Don't worry, I know it hurt, but we'll have you out of here and doing another mission by three o' clock!"
Sakura made a whining noise, "I don't get the day off? That hurt a lot!"
The doctor looked at Kakashi and shrugged. "That's up to your sensei. There's nothing wrong with you a little skin lotion and salve won't cure. Your skin will be a bit sore to the touch for a day, but other than that, you're lucky. If it had gotten in your eyes, you'd be in bad shape."
oooooo
Kakashi walked back into her room, he had stepped out while the nurse helped apply the salve all over. Sakura was sitting on the edge of the bed wearing a hospital gown over her underwear.
"So do we have to finish the wall today?"
"Sakura, shitty things happen on missions."
"Yeah, of course."
"You don't seem to get that yet though. On a mission, you keep going even after something bad or unexpected happens. You don't get to take the day off."
"It's just painting the wall, it can wait a day!"
"It can, but things won't in the future. You're a smart girl Sakura, but I'm not sure you have what it takes to be a ninja. I don't think you understand what it's going to be like."
"What? Sure I do! I just want to recover a bit before we start the mission again."
"You're fine Sakura, your skin is sore but you are completely fit for duty. As a ninja, you are going to be in pain a lot, and you have to ignore it. If you lose a finger or toe, you have to ignore that and press on. Ninja life is dirty, smelly, painful, and unpleasant. On long missions your team will have to live closer than a family. If the four of us haven't seen each other naked at least a dozen times by a year from now it'll be a miracle. We don't get showers or baths; we have to make do with a wet sponge.
"As a female, you'll have it worse. Practically every kunoichi has been ordered to sleep with a man they wouldn't want to, or forced into it to protect their cover. I won't even start talking about what often happens to captured kunoichi.
"So there's one big question. Can you continue as a ninja, knowing what's waiting for you? Knowing that you can't take a break in the middle of a mission, or you'll die? That being comfortable will become a rarity worth it's weight in gold? You can still quit now. Later, when our lives count on you, you can't."
Sakura was looking at the floor, taking in his warnings. Kakashi waited for a response.
Finally, she looked up at him. "Sensei, I lost my dream a few days ago. None of the academy girls are getting Sasuke. That left me with my goal, to be a strong kunoichi. To help people and be able to take care of myself and others… for a long time I only followed that goal half-heartedly, but I've been trying to get back on track. If I can't accomplish my goal, what then? No, I'm pressing through with it. I'll take my beatings and keep walking. Even if I'm never comfortable again, I'll deal with it."
Kakashi stood there looking at her. "Alright, but you better stick to that. If you don't quit now I'll have to get you into shape somehow, and if you don't take things seriously you won't like my backup methods."
"Hai!"
OOOOOO
"I've done well since then," she muttered. Sasuke looked up briefly, then returned to holding up the wall.
While they were at the hospital, Kakashi had introduced her to a medical nin named Reiki, and explained to her that Sakura had good control. Apparently Reiki owed Kakashi a favor, so with a little persuasion she was convinced to help Sakura out with some scrolls and occasional tutoring.
Sakura was interrupted from her introspection when Kakashi appeared from around the corner, only half an hour late this time. "Sorry, I had to talk to my landlord, but a black cat crossed my path so I had to walk around it first."
"Just stop, none of your excuses make sense, and we know you make them up anyway. Let's go already," Naruto said, putting on his pack.
"Yare yare, take all my fun away. Fine, it's time to move out. We'll be moving at a good clip until an hour and a half before dusk, then we'll set up camp. Everyone follow me!"
He walked to the gate and showed the guard the papers, then led them to the tree line. "We'll be tree jumping until they thin out when we get near Suna." With that he ran up a tree and started off. The genin rushed to keep up; they were finally off!
oooooo
It was three hours later when Kakashi made the signal to halt, and they had been going nonstop. Sasuke was obviously pretty tired, while Sakura was extremely glad she had been doing her exercises daily. Her legs burned, and her whole body was sore. Naruto was sweating, but appeared fine otherwise.
"All right, well done! We'll take a 15-minute break, then keep going on ground until we break for camp." The genin walked down the tree they were on, and took out their canteens.
"Wow, what a slave driver," Naruto said between sips.
"Please, you look barely winded," Sasuke scoffed.
"Actually, I'm more tired than I appear, and to get me to this point is tough. I don't want to think about how you both feel. Good job, by the way, Sakura. I didn't think you were this fit."
"I'm not really, yet. I'm working on pure willpower and spite right now."
"Oh. Well, that's impressive in a different way too."
"Thanks."
They boys sat, stretching their muscles and resting, while Sakura laid spread eagle on the ground, uncaring of the dust; the trio waited for Kakashi to start up again.
Eventually, Kakashi spoke up, "Alright gang, it's time to move again. We'll set a slower pace this time; I'm not totally heartless. I heard that snort, Naruto. Let's go."
oooooo
Kakashi had been true to his word, and set a much more genial pace for the second leg of the day's travel. About two hours before sunset they heard a stream in the distance. This wasn't too uncommon, they had passed several during the day. This time, however, Kakashi signaled to stop again.
"We made it faster than I expected, good job. This is one of the last water sources in this direction until you cross the entire country of Suna, so we'll find a good site and set up camp. I'm going to be generous and allow a fire since we're so far from any unallied countries. Now spread out and find a good site, but keep in contact with each other, even ninja occasionally trip and break their ankle."
"Don't worry, I've got it covered!" Naruto exclaimed, before making 50 clones. "You guys know what to do, go look for a campsite."
The Naruclones scattered in the direction of the river, looking completely unorganized. However they quickly divided up the potential area and started a traditional search grid pattern.
"Okay, when one finds a good site it'll pop and alert me. In the meantime we can rest."
Kakashi had been frowning throughout this, though with his mask his students weren't able to tell. "Naruto, new rule. Unless you're fighting an enemy, or someone's safety is in jeopardy, I want you to ask me before using clones to force solve every problem. I won't make you do things the hard way every time, but sometimes I'm trying to teach a lesson, or observe how much the three of you know."
"Oh, sorry sensei. That makes sense I guess. I just thought that since even I'm tired, I'd save everyone the hassle and find a site quicker. Do you want me to recall them?"
"Hmm. No, but I want them to find multiple sites, and Sasuke and Sakura can determine the best one. I want everyone to pitch in setting up camp this time, but in the future you can do it with clone power if you want. Alright, at ease."
The genin nodded and took off their packs and sat; everyone drank from their canteens. Naruto started to meditate in preparation for the incoming memories. He didn't need to wait more than ten minutes before a steady stream of clones started popping themselves, giving him a good idea of the entire area once he filtered and processed the memories.
Eventually he stood up and put his pack on. "Alright, there's three good sites, I couldn't tell you which was the best to be honest. Come on, I want to see if we can catch some fish, I saw some edible plants in the area, so let's hurry."
He led the group to each site, and they discussed the relative merits of each. They ended up picking the second one, as it had a tree with a perfect watch point on it, and there was a large rock crop on one edge of the clearing, making it more defensible.
"Good choice, now set up camp. You get to decide who does what amongst yourselves, I'll watch."
The genin stretched and started getting things out of their packs. "I'm a decent cook, if Naruto can get those plants and a few fish, I brought salt and pepper," Sakura put forward.
Kakashi's eyebrow went up. "You brought salt and pepper?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes, salt can be used as a disinfectant, and my father always says you can eat anything with enough pepper on it."
"Wise words. Fair enough, you can be cook if no one objects."
No one spoke up, so Sakura smiled and started looking for long sticks to grill any fish that were caught.
"Sensei, if I personally set up the tents, and Sasuke builds the fire, can I use clones to get fire wood and the plants I saw?"
"I suppose that's acceptable, sure."
"Great, kage-bunshin no jutsu!" 40 clones appeared, some heading in specific directions, while others searched for wood.
oooooo
It wasn't long before the sun had set, and the four ninja sat around a crackling fire holding thick sticks over it. Sasuke had managed to catch four catfish, about three or four pounds each, which Sakura had stuffed with the wild onions and dandelion roots Naruto had brought back. They had finished eating already, but were preserving what was left of the fish so they wouldn't spoil. They probably wouldn't be eating this well until they got back to Konoha, though they might get warm rations at the patrol station.
It was quiet, and Naruto was pondering over the fact that although they worked well together now, he and his teammates still weren't really friends. Hoping to break the quiet, he began, "Hey Kakashi, tell us a story of one of your many feats of daring-do!"
Kakashi snorted and put away his porn. "Sure, I've got a story, and it even comes with a lesson. Once while I was in ANBU, my team had a mission to kill a corrupt politician that was causing a lot of trouble. That's common, nothing to get excited by, but we also had to make it look like an accident."
"That's slightly more interesting, but I can't believe that's hard or unordinary for ANBU," Naurto said. Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"True, we make 'accidents' happen all the time. The tricky bit was that this politician was paranoid, although obviously for good reason. He was constantly surrounded by bodyguards, including a grass chunin. He had food tasters, and kept his guards well disciplined. I have to say, he had us going for a bit, we could kill him easily, but how to make it look like an accident, with all the people in the way constantly?"
"What information did you have on him?" Sasuke asked, intrigued.
"Oh, we had pages of information on him, his mistresses, his dogs, his mistresses' dogs, his shampoo, his dog's shampoo, everything."
"Well something must have given you an idea," Sakura said.
"I don't expect you to come up with it, although we'll do training where we plan for scenarios like this later. It was the fact that he was allergic to peanuts that finally did him in."
"Wouldn't his food taster catch that?"
"If we had used actual peanuts, certainly. However, we had an 'accident' happen to the chef, then one of us posed as the replacement cook and made a spicy dish, using meat that had been fried in peanut oil. No one was able to tell the difference over the spice, and since the taster didn't get sick, no one suspected a thing. After the target died, the whole power structure fell to pieces. The cook was blamed, but everyone was so busy trying to shore up their power block that no one had any time to wonder if it was an accident by the new cook, or an assassination."
"Wow, assassination via peanut oil."
"Heroic, ANBU peanut oil," Kakashi corrected. "It made us proud… So what order do you want to do watch in?"
"Well, if we get to decide, you'll end up with the second or third watch, I'm pretty sure, since you're a heroic ex-ANBU and all." His teammates nodded in agreement, middle watches sucked.
"I'll take last watch, that way I can start breakfast," Sakura stated.
"Fine; Sasuke, Janken for first watch?"
"Sure."
"Ro, Sham, Bo, shoot!"
"Hnn, enjoy third watch." Sasuke had paper out, beating Naruto's rock.
"Huh, I always win Janken. Oh well."
"I will watch the fish, you two should get sleep. Who knows what pace sensei will set tomorrow morning," Sasuke suggested.
"He's right, turn in, we're most of the way there, but the terrain gets sandy near the end, and traveling through sand will kill your legs if you aren't used to it, or don't know the sand striding technique."
"There's a chakra technique for sand? Why didn't you teach us that this morning?"
"It's tougher than water walking, you wouldn't have learned it in time; I'll teach it to you later. This is a great opportunity to train your leg muscles. If stealth is an issue, you can't necessarily use sand striding. Anyway, time for bed."
The three ninja left Sasuke and entered their tents. Eventually Sasuke decided the fish were done, and put out the fire. Then he ascended to the look out spot in the tree above.
oooooo
Naruto woke to hear his name whispered.
"Naruto! It's your watch. Get up," Kakashi said quietly, tapping on the boy's tent.
"Hai. I'm coming." He slipped his over-suit back on over his boxers and double-checked his tool pouches before opening the tent flap and walking out.
"Good. You can use clones to augment your watch, but you won't like it if I find out you slept while they kept watch."
"Of course! I wouldn't do that!" Naruto bristled, on the edge of being loud.
"Fine, forget I mentioned it then. Goodnight."
"Night."
Kakashi walked over to his tent and got in. Before Naruto had walked away, he could already hear a change in Kakashi's breathing; a testament to the experience of a veteran in getting 40 winks whenever possible.
The boy walked to the edge of the clearing and produced 25 or so clones. They moved out to form an outer perimeter, while the original climbed up to the spot in the tree. Someone had left a thin blanket up there, which Naruto immediately wrapped around him. It wasn't too cool in the tent, but up in the tree there was a definite breeze.
oooooo
He had been on watch for nearly two hours, and Naruto was going a bit stir crazy at the same time as being quite drowsy. He knew that both of those were unacceptable, but he had another hour before he could wake Sakura. The moon was three quarters waning, and the sky was clear this close to the desert, allowing for plenty of light once his eyes had adjusted.
He stifled a yawn before jerking alert as a clone popped. Knowing it would take longer to start meditating than let the memories sort themselves out, Naruto waited a few seconds.
A bandit!
Suddenly another clone popped, sending memories of a gang of twelve bandits total. They were at the edge of the perimeter Naruto had set up, and heading straight towards camp. They hadn't noticed either clone, so the element of surprise was still with the Konoha nin.
Naruto swung into action, running down the trunk and making 50 clones. It was probably overkill, but overestimation was almost always safer than underestimation. Three of the clones hurried to the other tents and knocked on them, trying to rouse the inhabitants.
Sasuke and Sakura rose quickly, but the clone waking Kakashi eventually stuck its head in. "He's not there!" it said in hushed tones.
"What? Where could he be?"
"What's the commotion? We have guests?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, twelve bandits. They must have seen the smoke from the fire earlier and known about this campsite. And now Sensei is missing."
"He's testing us. While annoying, we don't need him for that few bandits. Sakura could beat twelve bandits by herself at night in a counter ambush."
"What's their distance and direction?" Sakura asked, walking up to them.
Naruto grabbed a nearby clone. "Enemy position." Then he stabbed it. A few seconds later he pointed, "Four hundred yards that way. Do you want my clones to take them out?"
"And miss all the fun? No way Mud!"
"I need to prove to myself I'm really a ninja. We'll fight them together."
"Fine, but they'll be standing by. If you feel yourself being kawarimi-d, let it happen, don't fight it."
"Hnn."
"Let's circle around them and attack from behind when they get to our camp," Sakura suggested.
"No, we should pick off a few with projectiles while we still have surprise, they'll panic and we can wipe them out in the chaos."
Sasuke agreed, "That sounds sensible, if a little over-cautious. They're just bandits, right?"
"I didn't ask them, but they look exactly like I imagine bandits look like, rough guys with used weapons. They could all use a shave and a haircut, and they weren't wearing matching clothing, let alone insignia."
"Yeah, sounds like bandits to me."
"So why are you so skittish, Naruto?"
"Because this is our first action? Because Kakashi is probably watching, and will appreciate pragmatism and efficiency over stupid heroics? And if he isn't watching, if one of us screws up, we really could get hurt."
The other two stopped, the reality of the situation hitting home. "Alright, let's take out some from the shadows, then mop up," Sakura relented.
"Let's go then." The three genin moved out, fast and silent, towards their prey.
oooooo
The group of men indeed looked like bandits, Sakura admitted from her strike point. She had two shuriken out, and nodded to the two Naruclones with her. One popped, while the other waited for the signal to tell Sakura when to act.
The bandits were walking leisurely, satisfied that their prey was asleep and not going anywhere. "Hey, we're nearly there. Everyone start sneaking, they might have hired some guards or something," one bandit spoke out. The rest nodded, and started carefully choosing their steps, becoming much more quiet. Sakura had to admit, they were pretty good at silent moving for backwoods bandits, and suddenly taking a few out early seemed like a better plan.
"Yo, it's time," the clone said. "Your targets are the two rightmost rear guys. Attack when the lead bandit is even with that tree. Remember, quick clean kills, right in the throat. If we're lucky, they won't even notice, and we'll get a second salvo off."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad, I'll do you proud. Jeez, it's not like we've trained for this for eight years. Oh wait…"
Naruto snorted. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you. I just want this to go right."
Sakura didn't say anything back, the lead bandit was almost to the appointed spot. She readied herself, and ignored the small voice telling her that she was about to kill for the first time. This was just like practice; anyway, these men were doubtlessly murderers and thieves.
The lead bandit crossed an imaginary line, and three shuriken were released, followed by a second trio a second later. The six projectiles flew through the air towards their targets.
"BREAK!" the biggest bandit shouted moments before the first three shuriken slammed into necks, severing air pipes. Some of the bandits moved immediately, and the second trio of shuriken only found two necks. The bandits drew their weapons and spread out, and the genin noted a complete lack of panic that the plan had predicted.
Sasuke rushed out and slammed a kunai into the gut of a nervous looking bandit standing by his position. His target yelled before going into shock, drawing the attention of his compatriots.
"Shit, ninja!" one bandit yelled.
"Calm down, we can deal with this."
Sasuke left the kunai where it was, it was too slippery to rely on now. He got into stance and tried to pick his next target. Sakura and Naruto chose this moment to rush their own targets while they were distracted. Sakura's went down, but Naruto's blocked his attack and countered with a slash from a wakizashi, which Naruto evaded.
Now it was three to four, and everyone could see each other.
The large, muscular bandit that had yelled out at the beginning let out a dark laugh. "Huh, not bad for genin, you guys look pretty young too. It'll take me a while to build my group back up after this. And I bet you don't even have anything of value, either. We really screwed the pooch."
"You're assuming you'll make it out of here alive," Sasuke threatened.
"So I am. You planning on proving me wrong?" he asked, hefting a large war-ax.
"Maybe I am." Sasuke threw a kunai he had palmed, then launched himself after it. The giant blocked the projectile with the blade of his ax, but took a chakra boosted punch to the chest that should have put him out. Instead, he barely flinched, before butting Sasuke in the head with the handle of his ax.
Dazed, Sasuke leapt back, out of the path of the follow up swing, which would have nearly bisected him. He stumbled on his landing, his head still reeling from the blow.
"Oh, did I forget to mention? Ken'ichi, Ringo, and myself were genin teammates a long time ago, before some shit happened," he revealed, finding the situation humorous.
Sakura immediately threw a kunai into the neck of the bandit that wasn't mentioned. The body fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Heh, you got brains in your head girl, but you'll pay for that!" the leader grinned menacingly.
He and his buddies rushed towards the teens to start their counter-attack.
oooooo
Naruto was falling back, out of sight of the others, blocking adequate sword swings with his kunai. He wished he knew the wind enhancement jutsu, he could carve straight through his opponent's wakizashi with it. Of course, he didn't know it well enough, and he also doubted the swordsman would wait for him to apply it, even if he did. So far he was keeping up with the nukenin. Either they were fresh genin when they had left, or this man learned swordsmanship afterwards; otherwise Naruto knew he would be dead already. As it was, he was on the ropes from the weapon's larger reach, and Ringo did know how to use it, if only on a basic level.
Ringo made a power-swing, hoping to knock the kunai from Naruto's grip. The blond jumped over the swing and flipped forward, stabbing down at the nukenin from above. However, the swordsman had rolled forwards as soon as he had seen Naruto jump over him. Swinging around with his sword to block any attacks, the two faced each other again.
"Daisuke was right, you guys aren't too shabby. But I'm done playing. Bad luck huh? Maybe you'll do better in your next life." Ringo attacked again, much more skillfully this time, and Naruto barely fended him off.
'Shit. All right, no more holding back with these guys. It's time to call in my support team.'
Naruto continued to retreat, until he tripped over a root. 'This better work!'
"And so it ends!" Ringo shouted, coming in for the kill. He lunged forward as Naruto hit the ground, and skewered the boy through the chest. The blond popped as three kunai were stabbed into the nukenin's back, between the ribs and into his organs.
"Argh! … Huh?" he got out, before collapsing dead.
Naruto stood on a nearby tree, trying to calm himself. The three clones on the ground saluted him, and ran off to help the others. Taking a deep breath and focusing, Naruto prepared to go help Sasuke; the big guy, Daisuke, looked tough, and had already delivered a blow. He could deal with his emotions later, after they lived through this. Taking one more second to center himself, the blond ran back to the action.
oooooo
Sakura was facing a man who reminded her of what Choji might look like when he was older, assuming Choji lost almost all his skill at self-hygiene and became a bandit. He was chubby, but with muscles hidden underneath. He carried a large wooden club, banded with iron at the middle and end, with small spikes around the end. Sakura had dodged it the first time he swung, and was extremely grateful she had when it impacted the ground, kicking up earth. That set the theme of the fight. Ken'ichi made strong swings, and Sakura dove out of the way. She had tried throwing projectiles at him, but he swatted them away with his weapon. One he had batted back at her, and she had to dodge her own kunai!
She knew he was using more energy than she was, and hoped he would tire soon, but they had gone through this pattern for a few minutes without any change in pace. After another swing, Sakura jumped back and performed bunshin, before the three of her ran in different directions.
"Running away? Too bad, I was going to keep you alive. You would've brought a nice price in, even after we used you a bit!"
Sakura growled as she performed a genjutsu on the man. "Osoku Hansha no jutsu," she whispered loudly. That would slow his reaction time by half a second, hopefully he wouldn't notice for a while.
"Tch, I'm surprised, they were leaf genin it looked like, aren't they supposed to stick by their teammates? Oh well, I can't catch her. Maybe I can help kill the other two."
He turned and started back to meet with the others, wary that the girl was waiting in the shadows. As he walked back towards the campsite where they would all meet up at, he could hear a commotion. "Daisuke isn't finished yet? Huh."
Suddenly he spun around with his club, but watched the girl duck under it and stab a kunai into his chest. Roaring, the nukenin continued his motion, swinging his left fist towards the girl. Sakura pulled out the dagger and slid it in a second place before the slowing man's fist clipped her side. Tossed back a few yards, Sakura grabbed her side, and waited for the man to fall. She was surprised when Ken'ichi didn't go down, but pulled her kunai out and tossed it behind him; his bulk saving him from what would normally be killing blows.
"Damn you, bitch! This hurts! Wait, you slipped a genjutsu on me? Hell, we've gone soft," the man growled out, as he performed a kai.
Sakura frowned, her edge was gone and this guy was going to be hard to take down. If she could draw it out, he'd die from blood loss, but he could get lucky, or she could screw up. 'I need a proactive plan.'
Suddenly, a Naruclone burst from the sidelines, running straight towards her opponent's left side. The nukenin backhanded the clone's face without missing a beat, popping it immediately. "Some kind of clone? Seems pretty weak to me," he muttered, then yelled, "Piss off, I'm giving your girlfriend some payback."
Surprise lost, more Naruto clones appeared around Sakura, kunai drawn. "Go away, Naruto, I need to handle this myself! I can do it without you or Kakashi holding my hand!"
"Sorry, not my decision; boss said to take things seriously, these guys are the real deal. You took a hit as well, that was no love tap. Pride and honor are for samurai, Sakura."
"Honor perhaps, but self worth is for everybody! Let me do this."
Ken'ichi followed the argument a few seconds, before discreetly performing a basic healing jutsu. His hand turned a pale green, and he held it over one stab wound, then the other.
"Shut up guys! He's healing his injuries!" one clone yelled, launching a kunai to interrupt the rotund man.
"You did great Sakura, you would've killed any normal opponent, let me finish him off though," a clone demanded.
"… Fine. Get it over with," she acquiesced.
"No no, please continue while I recover," Ken'ichi laughed.
The Naruclones snorted and fanned themselves out in an arc around the man. "Live through this," one clone said. "Futon: Wind Blade!" the clones all called out, producing around twenty blades of air, each a yard wide, spread out so that the target wouldn't be able to dodge them all. In the low light, Ken'ichi could barely make out the shapes, but knew he wouldn't survive. "Fuck you!" he roared, throwing his club with all his might at the girl, the only one he knew was real. The blades passed the club, shredding it to pieces, spraying the area with sharp chunks of wood and metal. The clones all popped, but not before one threw Sakura out of the way.
Silence returned, and Sakura pushed herself to her feet and looked around. The whole area was a mess, sprayed with shrapnel or gouges taken out from Naruto's jutsu. She made herself look at the bandit. He was literally a mess.
"Gasp. So this is how it ends?" the body asked.
Sakura nearly jumped back in shock. He wasn't dead yet? How was that possible? She could see- well she'd rather not think about what she could see, really.
"You going to kill me girl? Or are you going to let me lay here in agony? You wanted to finish me, now's your chance."
Sakura nodded and walked over to her enemy, drawing a kunai. "Fine, not that you would've given any of us this mercy."
"Heh, true. That's the difference between you, and us I suppose. Hurry up, this feels like hell."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Shut up or I'll leave you there." She stood over her opponent unworried, certain he was never getting up again. Steeling herself, she knelt down and slammed her kunai through the bandit's temple, into his brain. She got up and walked towards camp, where the sounds of fighting could still be heard.
oooooo
Sasuke watched as Sakura and Naruto got pushed away, but stayed focused on his own opponent. The leader was deceptively fast with his large axe, and would block any projectiles Sasuke threw. He could tell that the man's damage reduction was a chakra flow technique, rather than an actual jutsu. That meant that bladed weapons would probably still cut and pierce, just that it would be tougher.
'Taijutsu is right out, though that gay duo that runs around in green may be able to do it. Still, ninjutsu is my best bet.'
"Your head still foggy? Wouldn't want you to be unready when I kill you," the giant man joked. "Oh well, I'm coming anyway."
Sasuke rushed through seals as the nukenin approached. "Katon: Phoenix Fire no jutsu!" Sasuke spat out several small fireballs, which his opponent blocked or swat away with the flat of his axe.
"That all?" he asked.
Sasuke ran through more seals, "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"
The giant's eyes widened and he jumped back as Sasuke declared the jutsu. A large fireball soon roared towards the man, and he dived to the side as it passed. "Heh, I don't feel so bad for losing most of the gang now. You're still dead, but if it gives you any consolation, I won't take any pleasure in it," he called out as he stood up.
"I still plan on killing you, you're just being a bit more difficult than expected," Sasuke replied.
"Fair enough. Are you done with the jutsu? It's been awhile, but I can still remember one or two of my own if you want to trade volleys."
"No, we can return to melee for now."
The large man nodded and the two closed distance and began the martial dance. Sasuke couldn't block the axe with kunai, he had to evade, but his body was built for agility. Unfortunately, his enemy was quick to block, and the two traded blows without hitting each other for the most part. Sasuke had gotten a few slices in, but with Daisuke's body hardened, they were painful, not debilitating.
A bunch of blond headed clones interrupted the duel though.
"Go away Naruto, I've got this."
"I don't think you do, these guys are tough, let us help."
"No, I'm fine," he said, dodging an axe-swing and scoring a light scratch on his large target. "If I need your help, I'll ask for it."
The clones looked at one another. They had to tread lightly here; Sasuke would be less likely to see reason than Sakura if they just blatantly stole his kill. Shrugging, one answered, "Fine, but we're helping if you look like you need it."
"You should let your friend help, you've probably been on the road all day; when you make a mistake, my axe will separate your head from your body," Daisuke advised.
"Hnn, I'll take it into consideration."
Deciding to try a different tactic, Sasuke loosed some ninja wire with his left hand and made a loop. The two continued to attack each other without any change for several minutes, both taking a perverse thrill from the standoff. Then Sasuke threw his left hand forward, catching the axe in wire. Daisuke didn't even blink, but put all his weight into swinging the axe in a wide arc, yanking Sasuke, who held on, off his feet.
Sasuke was waiting for this, and allowed himself to be swung, unwinding wire as he flew back. Landing, he held the wire in his teeth as he performed the seals in an order he had learned only that morning. "Raiton: Electric Arcs no jutsu!" He grabbed the wire with his hands.
His giant opponent immediately started convulsing. Sasuke didn't end the jutsu for a minute though, watching as his enemy started foaming at the mouth and jerking, unable to let go of the axe. Finally, Sasuke ended the technique and they both fell to the ground. After a moment he called out, "Naruto, go check him."
One of the clones walked cautiously up to the massive man, and checked his face. He leaned down and checked for a pulse, then got up and nodded at Sasuke.
The victorious boy smiled, and managed to stand up. One Naruclone popped itself so it could update the original. It was fairly pointless, as Naruto Prime jogged into the area.
"Oh, good. Sakura's target is down too, but she might be unconscious; I lost all my clones in the area. Go back to camp, I'll get her." Naruto stopped for a second. "That was a cool tactic, Sasuke. Good thinking," he said as the memories filtered in.
"Thank you."
Sakura walked up next. "I'm fine. Let's get back to camp, Kakashi's probably waiting for us there."
The other two nodded, and together they headed back to the tents.
oooooo
The three genin staggered back to camp, where the fire had been relit. Sitting by it was their sensei, reading his porn as if nothing had happened. Looking up, he snapped his book shut and walked over to the three. Naruto was helping Sasuke and Sakura walk back, and he stopped them as Kakashi approached. Their teacher stopped a pace in front of them and laid his hands on Sakura and Sasuke's shoulders, and looked directly at Naruto.
"Good job. You are now ninja in every way that matters. You have risked your lives, and ended the lives of others. I'm proud of how you handled yourselves, and glad to have you all as my students."
The three stood there looking at him, silent. For a second, each of them caught a glimmer of the true Kakashi.
Kakashi lifted his arms. "Now go to bed, I'll stand watch and cook breakfast, which will be postponed until 9 am. We'll talk in the morning."
Naruto gently let his teammates off, and the three shambled into their tents and went to sleep.
oooooo
End Chapter the Sixth