Butterflies
"Me? I'm nobody. I'm not skilled like Uchiha-san. I am not passionate like Haruno-san. I am not smart like Nara-san. I'm not as strong as Chouji-san. I'm not as collected as Aburame-san. Or as pretty as Yamanaka-san. I'm not as confident as Inuzuka-san. If anything, I'm like Hyuuga-san, socially awkward. Oh wait, no, she's just shy. The socially awkward one is me." OC! Team 7 remix!
Chapter 41 – We've got a problem
8-8
I just listened to the worst possible fate EVER! Five days! In that place! They don't have chocolate in there! I don't have chocolate enough to last for five days!
"If I didn't hate her before." I grumble, but shift nervously a few times.
"Aya, what's wrong?" Sasuke asks.
"I…" I shift again, rubbing my forearm nervously. "I…"
"Crap. You're kidding." Naru-nii looks just as nervous as I do. "I thought you were prepared."
"Yeah, I have my things sealed in the scroll on my bed in case we were faced with something like this." I say, embarrassed. It just never occurred to me that we'd be literally sent into a survival test IMMEDIATELY after the first exam!
"You don't have enough chocolate on you?" Sasuke asks, nervously. I shake my head, no, feeling nervous and worried. "I feel bad for anyone that encounters us."
"I feel bad for sis." Naru-nii gets it!
"She won't like it, but she'll survive. Try saying the same for the other teams." Sasuke. Stop using logic. We're looking at five days of chocolate withdrawal! Do you have any idea how cruel a fate that is!? You only have to die once! Try dying once a minute for five days!
"Once you've signed your wavers, make sure you hand them in over at that registration tent. One team at a time. You'll be assigned a gate number and a guide. Follow that guide to your gate and wait on my signal to begin!"
I sigh. I already hate this stupid test. "Oi! Just so all you morons know! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm the strongest shinobi here! I dare you to come attack me!"
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asks, obviously annoyed.
"Arranging entertainment?" Naru-nii nods to me. "If we're going to be stuck in there and she's going to be stuck without chocolate. The least we could do is make sure she isn't bored."
"Hnn. That's the smartest dumb thing you've ever done."
"… Thanks?"
8-8
"Listen up, you two. I'm only going to say this once. Stop being idiots. And stop putting my goddaughter in danger." I know Mitarashi isn't here trying to make a fool of herself. And with my VERY limited chocolate stash, there just isn't leeway to want to deal with her stupidity.
"Can it." I grind out.
"Aya, I don't care if you hate me for abandoning you or whatever you see it as. I promised your mother to look out for you."
"And you've obviously done a bang up job of it." I drone, unimpressed.
"… Meaning?"
"Naru-nii…" I warn him that I'm going to be a first class queen B if someone else doesn't handle this.
"Let's see. Where to start the list. Hmm. You were never there. She never saw you. She didn't know you were her godmother until you let it slip the one time she did see you. She hasn't seen you since that one time other than during that one meeting. And now you're giving us a hard time for being there when she needs us. Did I miss anything?"
"Yeah? Then how do I know the exact number of people she'd conned? The money she'd 'borrowed' from hospital employees? How come no one ever tracked her down for revenge?" That… doesn't mean anything. "I work from the shadows, you morons. Just because she didn't see me doesn't mean I wasn't there.
"Hnn!" I huff, unimpressed.
"You ungrateful little-"
"Ungrateful? Do you think I'd have learned to con people at all if you were there from the start? If you were going to help me out financially, I would never have bothered. I could have spent that time training instead. I could have had a family from the time mama died. I could have had SOMETHING. And you call me ungrateful? I'll tell you what. Tell me the exact amount and I'll pay you back. With interest. That way you don't have to worry about how ungrateful this little whelp is."
"…"
"I'm waiting, Mitarashi-san."
"…"
"Was there something else you needed."
"… No."
"Goodbye."
"Aya, you-"
"What part of 'goodbye' means 'to strum up small talk'?"
"Stop be-"
"Don't you have an exam to proctor?"
"You're such a-"
"Are you deaf? Or are you just stupid?"
"Why? Why are you like this?"
"Should I summon Tsuren to hear what she has to say about this then? I'm sure she'd listen your excuses for abandoning me for what… seven years?" She offers one last glance then disappears, obviously understanding that I'm in no mood for worthless excuses. Supposed godmother. Psh! If I'd truly been dependent on her, I'd be dead.
"Sis. Harsh."
"Say that if you ever meet one of your godparents."
"Umm…?" He makes a vague motion with his hand, probably referring to Asami – his biological twin sister that knew about him and was never there. I tilt my head and raise an eyebrow; like you even trust her? He thinks about that for a second, before dropping it. I thought so.
"Anyway." Sasuke shakes his head, probably wondering how we can be like this and not come to blows. "We need a heaven scroll. But I think we should collect all the scrolls we can in the mean time. Twenty-two teams are entering this portion of the exams. That means at most eleven are making it to the next. I say this is the best time to narrow the competition."
"Whatever."
"Hey, sis. I'll tell you what. If you help I'll buy you all the chocolate you want." Naru-nii bribes me.
"… Fine."
8-8
Sasuke's wearing his chokutou. Naru-nii's wearing his twin scimitars. I'm wearing my custom twin kodachis and my pink chakra conducting tanto and that scroll Asami gave me for my birthday, the one with the ten seals to seal people away – it might be useful. We're all pretty much geared up like we usually would be, when not on Anbu missions, which by the way is total crap! How can we not be in Anbu and still be taking Anbu missions? Though that's probably why that Kabuto-what's-his-face didn't have accurate info on us. If he'd researched 'Wolf' he'd find TOTALLY different information! Still, whatever.
I do have all my usual weapons on me, just not my camping gear, or chocolate, or water, or rations bars… This is going to royally suck.
"I say we make it to the tower in one day. Take out all the teams we encounter in that time." I say, waiting for that stupid sign to come that the exam can begin.
"So we track them?" Naru-nii asks. "Sounds good to me. Sasuke?"
"It depends on how many teams we come across. But I don't mind."
"ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS! GO!" Mitarashi-san announces through the PA system. The gate FINALLY opens and we start casually walking ahead.
"Naruto. I suggest you be our scout this time. About fifty clones, stealth mode?"
"Just fifty?"
"It's only twenty-two teams."
"Fine, fine." One massive poof later, and a large amount of clones appear then immediately disappear. I smell them fanning out and heading out into the distance.
"I've got dibs if any team has cute weapons." I say, crossing my arms and pouting. I hate this test. I really do.
8-8
It takes us no longer than a half hour to encounter the first team. Rain shinobi. Two wearing these kasa hats you'd expect from someone working in a rice field or something, and two bamboo poles sticking up, one from either shoulder. The 'leader' isn't wearing a hat, and has three bamboo poles sticking up from either shoulder. I dislike them on principle alone.
"Uzumaki Naruto. The supposed strongest. You were annoyingly easy to find." The 'leader' announces, sneering as if that's supposed to scare us.
"… Alright. Who wants the first group?" Naru-nii asks.
"Cute umbrella." I say, noticing that there are actually eight umbrellas they have, and not just bamboo poles.
"Aya…" Sasuke sounds annoyed.
"Deny that the umbrella's cute." I challenge him.
"You haven't even gotten a good look." He counters.
"Eyes?" I ask.
"Fine. But then you're taking them on by yourself." He really needs to remember that I'm the one in dire straits here! Very limited chocolate, what's the world coming to!?
"Yeah, yeah. Just back up then. And keep your eyes peeled. This won't be the only team around." I wave him off.
"Hey, sis. Make it snappy, eh! We want to be at the tower by tonight, right? I mean, you said yourself you didn't bring your camping things." Nii-san just had to go there.
"Yes, mom. I'll make it snappy." I tease, smirking as I walk up to the three idiots that only see a poor, helpless little girl. That just makes me grin.
"Naruto, would you please stop antagonizing her."
"Heh. You sound more like the mother in this relationship."
"Hnn. See if I step in when she goes ballistic."
"Heh. Says you. You'd be the first to want to test yourself against her when she's like that."
"… True."
"Thank you."
"Your welcome."
"That was rhetorical."
"I know."
"Would you two please shut up!?" I shout at them, still walking towards the three completely confused Rain shinobi.
"Heh… Sasuke got in twouble."
"Hnn."
"Oi. Shigure… I think these three are nuts. Shouldn't we just kill them and go?"
"I know that." 'Shigure' seems to be a bit put out, probably unsure what to even make of us. That's the whole point of these little skits. I grin just a little wider.
"Oi. Midare… that little girl gives me the creeps."
"Nn."
Snap.
Two Sound Balls are instantly formed and fly right into the two sidekicks' ears. Three hundred decibels directly applied to their inner ears. Ouch. They're screaming, holding their bleeding ear and vomiting violently. That must seriously suck for you. I've gotta thank that Sound idiot for the idea. It's not graceful, but it's efficient.
"What'd you do!?" 'Shigure' sounds upset, but mostly worried. He probably didn't even see the Sound Ball at all. After all, they're REALLY small, and he only has one good eye.
"Personal jutsu. Step Two. I call them Sound Balls." I explain. I don't know why, but I don't care. I'm still casually walking towards him.
"Oh yeah! Well, how about I use a personal jutsu of mine then!" He grabs two of the bamboo poles, one in each hand, and tosses them high into the air. I don't have to look, Sasuke's watching with his Sharingan so he'll be able to show me how this trick works. At the top of their 'flight' the umbrellas open. "Senbon Shower!"
Cool. It's raining senbon. Really small ones though. I could probably just use sowing needles or something.
When the senbon are starting to get close, I raise my right hand –right…(?) yes, right– and…
Snap!
Instead of compressing the sound waves into a ball, I let them expand semi-naturally but still in a controlled manner. The needles flying at me hit and bounce off the near-barrier of my Step One jutsu… I still don't have a name for it though. Maybe, Sound Barrier? Hmm, I'd still have to perfect it for that to be the case. It still has a lot of little kinks, but it's good enough for now. It wouldn't hold up at all against kunai, but senbon? Sure. More than enough power in there.
"Sasuke?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good. Shigure. You have two options. You give me your umbrellas and theirs as well, along with your scroll. Or you die here."
"Like hell I will!" He's grabbing for his –correction, my– other umbrellas.
Snap!
Before he can snap out of my genjutsu, I body flicker to him and knee him in the gut, hard. He's winded, but alive.
"Look, I don't normally offer twice. Just ask my teammates. But I don't really hate you. So I'll offer this again. Give me what I want and you can walk away." Really, just cooperate, idiot.
He growls. A pitiful growl, mind you. He's still not breathing properly, and probably has never even heard a proper growl.
"That's the definition of stupidity. Goodbye."
8-8
Eight umbrellas and an earth scroll richer, we head off again. I don't feel like collecting all the senbon that idiot wasted, but Sasuke learned his secrets so I'm not complaining.
The next team we run into is a Grass team. The one with the Uzumaki. "Alright, who's got dibs?" I ask. I got me some new toys, and these guys don't look like they carry anything interesting at all.
Two guys, both just wearing one leg pouch. Both have short black hair, almost bald. Dispassionate looks on their faces and calculating looks in their brown eyes. They almost look like siblings, not because they look alike, but because they just act so much alike.
Karin –as her file lists her as– is completely different than them. Her red hair and violet eyes are the least notable feature in this as well. She's passionate, emotional, larger than life. She probably sticks out like a sore thumb in her village, if these other two are anything to go by.
"Check it out Onosuke. Uzumaki Naruto. Think he's related to the brat?"
"Like I care? I don't know why leader-sama sent her with us. She's useless."
"Don't be like that. Healers are never useless."
"To every rule, an exception."
"Perhaps."
I hate them already. Every time they speak, the girl closes in on herself. "Oi, Karin. I'll tell you what. I'll let you pick which one of these idiots I kill first?" Naru-nii steps up. He's obviously taken a stronger dislike than I have.
"…" She just stares at Naruto. She isn't sure what to make of him.
"Unless you'd rather me keep them alive? I mean, they don't seem very nice to you."
"Che. Are you listening to this, Onosuke? He must be related to her. Just as brash and useless."
"Hnn? I don't know. I've never seen him fight."
"Make up your mind, Karin. Once I unsheathe my scimitars, all bets are off." Naruto-nii doesn't even bat an eyelash.
"I don't care either way." Karin sounds so defeated. Like she hates her life. I don't understand.
"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Shhinnnnnng!
In one clean motion, both scimitars are unsheathed. I haven't seen him use them outside of training yet – he's never needed them, and he doesn't want them to be associated with 'Fox'.
They are, of course, identical. Small Uzumaki red grip, meant for one-handed use. Black hilt. The blade itself is Uzumaki Red and is as long as Naru-nii's arm, about the width of his wrist near the hilt but thick as his thumb, but at the tip it's about the width of his hand when he stretches his fingers, and much thinner. He keeps telling me the varying width/thickness gives it a unique balance, but I don't buy it. Those things look uncomfortable to wield. Still, he's alright with them. I mostly just like the colours and the kitsunes near the tip, but he's the one that has to use to blasted things.
The scimitar in his left hand is held against his arm in a reverse grip, the blade pointing away from him, and held in front of him slightly tilted downwards and his whole body tilted forwards and downwards as well. The right scimitar is held vertically and behind him. Seriously, almost all of his body weight is on his right leg, as if he's going to make a wild dash for them.
His clan's kenjutsu style. He likes it, that's all that matters.
"That stance." Karin seems to recognize it. I shrug. This is Naru-nii's fight.
"Hnn? See. Now you've gone and upset the boy. You fight him." 'Onosuke' says.
"Whatever." The second one dual wields kunais, but doesn't immediately attack.
The battle is over before it even begins. One second Naruto is standing there and poised to strike. The next both boys are on the ground, in pieces. I don't even see him move, to be honest. That boy is scary good.
Karin falls back, landing ungracefully on her bum. She almost can't believe what she's seeing. Not that I blame her. I'm not sure how that boy does half the things he does. Still, you get used to it eventually, I'm told.
Naruto-nii does a little spin, letting the blood fly off his blades, and resheathes them. "Are you alright?" He asks Karin.
"Are you going to kill me too?" She asks, obviously afraid. I smell her fear as well as her arousal? Hmm. Attracted to power? Whatever.
"No. I'm not going to hurt you. Can I ask you some questions though?" He asks in a friendly sort of tone.
"…" She looks at the mess that used to be her teammates, then looks away. "Sure… but not here?"
"Works for me." He walks up to her, offering her a hand up. She looks at him, uncertain and more than a little afraid. I've seen this scene play out a thousand times. He's just going to smile warmly, that megawatt smile of his. Then when she doubts her current (negative) view of him, he'll offer his cheesy nice-guy-grin. She'll take his hand, and we'll walk away as besties. "I don't bite. I promise."
She takes his hand and he helps her up.
8-8
We walk for a bit, as relaxed as we have been all afternoon. Tch, yeah. The whole hour and a half we've been here. "So, got any family back home?" Naruto asks, trying to figure this girl out.
"Yeah. It's just my mom though." She says, smiling a little. "She's the village healer. She taught me a lot of her art. But she never mentioned having any family. She doesn't like talking about things like that much."
"I'll bet. Our clan comes from the Whirlpool Village. But it was destroyed towards the end of the Third Shinobi World War. So… about fifteen years ago, give or take a few years." I didn't know that. Well, he should – it's his clan's history. "My mom came to Konoha before it happened."
"I see. Is it just you then?" She asks, curious about that.
"No. I recently adopted two orphans that I'm raising as Uzumakis. And I'd found two other Uzumakis by chance. Brother and sister. We may be small in number, but we're family, you know?"
"Incoming." I give the heads up.
"Yeah, but it's Sasuke's turn." Naru-nii points out. Well, that's kind of true.
"Hnn." Sasuke smirks, he seems to like the idea too. Whatever. He's already unsheathing his sword. Jeez, that thing's REALLY long. Is he trying to compensate for something? I mean, I work with twin kodachis, about the length of my forearm. And a double-edged tanto, also about the length of my forearm. Short, quick, effective.
"So, what if I asked you and your mom to move to Konoha?" Naru-nii continues. Knowing I'll watch Sasuke's back – not that he'll need it, but you never know.
"Hmm? Why should we?" Karin asks, but she's mostly just curious.
"Well, why not. You'd be with family. We can take care of both of you. And you wouldn't have to worry about people trying to use you for your heritage, or whatever. And besides, Minori's too much to handle on my own. And only an Uzumaki knows how to handle an Uzumaki, you know?"
The three I smelled stay just out of visual range. They think we don't know they're there. "Sasuke?"
"I've got them." He assures me. Hey, I was just checking! Seriously though, his eyes must be good! I can't see them at all!
Sasuke starts walking in their direction, chokutou in his left hand. He's not too serious yet then, he normally uses both hands.
"Hmm. I'll think about it." Karin says, unsure what to even make of our team dynamics.
"That's all I ask. But listen, we're kind of in an odd situation here. We don't know if it's safe to let you wander on your own, and I'd rather not lose even more of my clansmen, you know?"
"Hmm. I can understand that." She agrees.
"We have a seal that would basically keep you unconscious and sealed away. Would you trust me enough to allow it?" She doesn't look too sure about that. "I swear, it's just until we get out of this death trap. I'll keep the scroll on me the whole time. And when I unseal you, it'll be somewhere I find safe enough for my family."
"… I dunno… how do I even know I can trust you?" She asks cautiously.
"I'll tell you what." I butt in. "You can hold onto my flute. I'd kill him if anything happens to it." I take out my shinobue, offering it to her. Seriously offering it to her.
"Sis…? Karin, please don't do anything crazy with that flute. Even if she doesn't kill me, Yasu-nee most definitely would."
"Exactly. So she'll know this is the real deal. I've only ever allowed my little sister to even touch this flute before." I explain seriously. Karin studies me for a moment, still unsure but less worried than a moment ago. "Seriously though. Don't break it. I love this flute."
She takes my pale shinobue, cradling it against her chest carefully. "Alright." Then she holds my baby crudely moving to snap it in two over her knee.
I snatch my precious away from her long before she gets the chance. "ARE YOU CRAZY!" I rub my precious, precious flute against my cheek. "I'm sorry, baby. Did that crazy Uzumaki scare you? I know, Uzumakis are crazy like that. Yes they are. But don't worry, mommy's got you."
There's a low whistle, drawing my attention back to the walking redheaded corpse. "You aren't kidding. You really do love that flute."
"Aya… calm down. She just wanted to make sure." Naruto-nii motions for me to calm down, stepping in between me and Karin.
"U. Zu. Ma. Ki~iiiiii!"
SLAP! SLAP! ... SLAP! SLAP! ... WHAP!
Both of them are sporting not just red foreheads, but red faces. A perfect imprint of my right hand on both cheeks. Although Karin's currently counting sheep from the extra loving 'love-tap'. I was even kind enough to remove Karin's glasses before slapping some sense into her.
"How's that for 'making sure'?" I sneer at the red-faced redhead. I put away my flute, not willing to give her a second chance, take the scroll and simply seal her away. Screw her! Trust or no, I'm not discussing this matter any further.
"Aya! A hand!?" Uchiha Sasuke, asking me for help? I look over to him, finding a bunch of illusions – they all have no scent at all. Ah, they went underground and he can't get to them without risking a kunai in his gut, or something. I kneel down, touching my left index and middle fingers to the ground, trying to locate them.
"Service!" I slam my right hand down with the needed moulded chakra. A moment later three Rain idiots are airborne, and Sasuke wastes no time vaulting up a tree trunk, dashing for them and cutting them into ribbons. "Hmm. I feel better. I should use that jutsu on more people. It's fun."
"Hnn. Where's the redhead?" Sasuke asks, while checking for the scroll. "Finally. A heaven scroll." He rolls his eyes, putting it in his pouch. I got an earth from that first team. We didn't even ask Karin about hers.
"Sealed her away. Tramp actually tried to break my flute after I offered it to her as a sign of trust."
"Hnn. Explains Naruto's face."
"Hnn! He didn't even try to stop her. And he defended her too!" Sasuke just shakes his head slowly. He knows how protective I am of my flute!
"Come on. We can start making our way to the tower. Aya, you want the next team?"
"Hnn! I already called dibs if they have cute weapons."
"What's that supposed to mean? We should split this up fairly between us." Naru-nii tries.
"You lost voting rights. So there!" I tell him, childishly sticking out my tongue at him.
"What!? That's not fair! I came up with the whole voting idea in the first place!"
"Nuh uh! Democracies have been around for centuries!"
"Yeah? Name one!"
"I can't. The monarchs destroyed that information during the Warring Clans period."
"Then how do you know there used to be one?"
"It's a secret."
"That's just lame."
8-8
The next team we encounter? A Konoha team. That Kabuto guy's team. "Well, well. Look who we have here. The rookies are still alive, it seems" The silver haired boy just makes my skin crawl. I swear, from the first moment I smelled snakes on him, I knew something wasn't right. I called him in to Kakashi immediately, and it turns out his record is spotty at best – meaning plausible spy.
"Hnn." Sasuke doesn't like him either. And the fact that Sasuke even got in the first syllable, means that Naruto-nii doesn't either.
"My, my. Don't worry. We're not going to attack an ally. Listen, do you guys already have your scrolls?"
"Scrolls? We're just here for the gorgeous scenery." Naruto-nii is starting the skit? Crap, don't tell me we're actually taking these guys on?
"Oh?" Kabuto seems pleasantly surprised. For some reason.
"Yeah, I mean have you ever seen bears this big anywhere else? I think we ran into a wolf pack a while back too. Aya talked them down." That means he sees these guys as a threat, so take this serious. Oh, and I'm playing back up again. I roll my eyes. Why do I always end up playing second strings to these two?
"My, that's a useful skill to have." Kabuto seems to still be smiling that creepy smile of his. Seriously, it's unnerving.
"We're kinda resourceful like that, eh, Sasuke?" He's checking if Sasuke likes the plan now. Great. We're taking on three guys when we believe they're spies and don't know how strong they are. What could possibly go wrong?
"Naturally." Sasuke smirks. And no one thinks to ask the medic if she feels like putting these two idiots back together when they're done?
"I see. Well, that's good. We'll be going then. We'll see you at the tower." And poof, they're gone. Good riddance.
"You're both idiots. You know that, right?"
8-8
It's not even ten minutes later when we're ambushed by two teams. Two Sound teams. That same group from earlier that attacked Kabuto at the beginning of the first exam. And another group I wasn't too impressed with during our scouting rounds.
"These people are seriously just nuts." I complain, rolling my eyes at the pathetic ambush attempt. I mean, I smelt them almost a half a kilometre away, and they were upwind! Idiots. They didn't even TRY to mask their scents.
"Hnn." Sasuke agrees. "Who's turn is it?"
"Mine. I guess. For the best too. I get to see what these idiots can do." I say taking out my flute. My precious, precious baby. "Oi! I'll tell you idiots what. If you lie down and play dead, I'll only stab you once." They'll never agree to that, but this way I can say I offered.
"The balls on this girl!" One of them comments. I make a face, not sure what to make of the vulgarity.
"Sorry, I'm not that kind of girl. But whatever you're into, I guess." I shrug, not even moving my flute to my lips. Let's see. That mummy looking on has the sharpest gaze. He's likely the planner. He's partnered with that arrogant looking one near him and the over-the-top arrogant brunette on his other flank. I know the mummy uses that thing on his arm, but I don't know if he has any other skills. I haven't seen his team's skills other than his own.
The other three, no clue at all. Probably sound based as well though. Hmm, maybe I should just take one or two of them down with kunai, just to make them take action? Nah, they aren't worth the investment. Chakra is cheaper.
"Oh! Before I forget! Hey, mummy dude! Thanks for showing me that you can use sound waves to attack the inner ear directly! I hadn't thought of that!"
"Dosu, what's she talking about?" The girl on his team asks.
"She wields a flute. A hiyashi styled shinobue. She might be a sounds user."
"But his information didn't say anything about that!" Kabuto's, no doubt. Well, now we know why they showed up not ten minutes later in ambush style. And why he let them attack him. He was testing them.
"Maybe. But do you have another explanation?"
"Oi! You guys are kind of boring. Tell you what. I'll let you pick the first one of you to fall. Who's it gonna be?" I like how Naru-nii gets under people's skin with this little skit of his, so why not emulate it a little?
"Our fight isn't with you, girl. We just want the Uchiha." 'Dosu' tries.
"Tough. It's my turn, so you'll fight me first."
"Hmm… how about one team attacks you, the other attacks the Uchiha?" 'Dosu' thinks he's going to outsmart me?
"But it's Naruto-nii's turn after me. You guys really just don't know anything about a pecking order, do you." I say, grinning just to get under their skin. "Oi! You coming down, or do I need to come up there after you?"
"That's it! This one dies!" And there we have our first victim. He jumps down, trying to cut me with a weird looking sword. He isn't very good with it though. I sidestep him, kick him behind the knee to drop him and with one quick snap using my free hand, he's lifeless and floored.
"And look it. You guys still don't even know if I'm any good with sound release. You mind sending an actual opponent this time?" I say to try to rile them up, but they don't seem bothered at all. They just watched a teammate, or at worst a comrade, die. And none of them even react? I shake my head. Sound knows nothing of loyalty and camaraderie.
"Hmm? Skilled in taijutsu as well. Zaku. I think you'd be her ideal counter."
"Hnn. Of course I am." The next victim comes down. I like them, they're silly enough to try to take me on one-on-one when they should be trying to outnumber me. "Don't worry, little girl. This will only hurt for a while."
Snap!
By the time he even has half a chance to register being in a genjutsu, my knee is already firmly in his gut. He flies back and into a tree trunk. Ouch, painful. "Don't worry, little boy. That will only hurt for a few weeks." I mock him right back. "Oh, let me show you the trick you helped me perfect by the way."
Snap!
Two Sound Balls fly towards the two still standing that I don't know. Rupturing their inner ears. They drop out of the tree, landing on their heads. Ouch. I don't think their necks are supposed to be able to do that.
"Come on, guys. You're not even making this a challenge." I complain.
"Kin."
Needles fly at me. Just two needles. Wow. This is sooooo dangerous.
Snap!
The needles land on the ground. "Seriously. I mean, seriously? I haven't had to play one note yet. You don't even know if I can play a flute."
"Why would he send us after you? The only thing I can guess is to test your strength. But that would mean we're just pawns." 'Dosu' is smarter than he looks, but that glint in his eyes already kind of hinted at it.
"That took a while to figure out. I mean… If what you guys are showing me is all you've got to work with? I'm not even close to being the strongest on my team. What would you do if you faced Sasuke?" I point out. "But, too late now. You're here. Oi, Naru-nii! I already took out a full team. You want these two?"
Snap!
I focus my sound waves and create a barrier behind them, stopping the girl from running away. "Now, now. We mustn't leave without saying something. It's considered rude."
Hmm. I never did test Step Three on anything living. Let's see if it'll work.
Snap!
A single hand-shaped figure, about the same size as my own hand, pops into existence. It flies over to the girl, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her to me. Her face is already turning quite red.
Hmm. It didn't explode on contact. Good. That means I've learned to stabilize it well enough. I can start working on Step Four soon then. I drop the girl a metre in front of me, hearing her wheeze pitifully as she tries to breathe again.
Snap!
I grab 'Dosu' in the same way, dropping him next to her.
Snap!
I grab that other guy that isn't dead but very much unconscious. "We're going to play a little game. It's called: don't lie to me. The rules are simple. Don't lie to me. Now, I'm going to ask you a lot of fun and interesting questions. And I'll know when you lie. I always know. Let's start now, m'kay? Sound Village is new so I know nothing about it. Who's the leader of the village?"
"Aya." Sasuke walks up to me, nudging me with his elbow. "You're good, but we have a schedule." He activates his Sharingan and makes eye contact with them.
The two still conscious shinobi, their eyes gloss over. "The name of your village's leader."
"Orochimaru." They answer as one.
"Location of your village and how to find it."
"Sound village is a series of underground lairs. We come from the Southern Lair, located in an underground maze near the border of the Land of Sound."
"The Land of Sound does not exist. It's previously known name."
"The Land of Rice Patties."
"Your mission."
"To kill Uchiha Sasuke."
"And if you fail."
"Death."
"The name of the person that gave you the information on us."
"Yakushi Kabuto."
"His position in your village."
"Orochimaru's right hand."
"Sleep." And the two of them fall like puppets that had their strings cut. "Naruto. Seal them. They would prove useful to T&I and Intelligence. I've already alerted Kakashi. Team Rho will handle it."
"… Jeez, sis, you were scary good."
"Hello!? Did you see your fight? I was looking and I didn't."
"Circumstantial. The idiots let me prep my jutsu. You were being attacked."
"Yeah, but they didn't gang up on me. That might have made a difference."
"Maybe, but I doubt it."
"Guys?" Sasuke interrupts us, again! "The scrolls." Oh, right. I blush a little, completely forgetting that. Not that we really NEED the scrolls, but… you never know.
8-8
We make it to the tower without meeting any other teams. Thank Kami-sama! I just hope they have a little store or something in there where I can buy my chocolate!
And it only took us about six and a half hours too! That has to be some kind of record! Sasuke figures we need to open the scrolls, so we only take on heaven and one earth scroll and open them. Kakashi is the one to greet us, not surprisingly. He shows us inside, and we bring him up to speed on what we've learned – Sasuke does the talking. The three Sound shinobi we captured are unsealed, and Kakashi disappears with them. They're no longer our problem, so I decide to go looking for a snack bar or something.
"Hey guys, you here too?" Inuzuka-san. Of all the people I was hoping to see here, he MOST CERTAINLY isn't one of them!
"Oi, Hina-chan! You guys here already?" Naru-nii seems happy at least. That's something. Not enough to counter the building headache, but something. And there's only a vending machine. With three flavours of instant ramen, canned teas, and NO CHOCOLATE! HEADS ARE GONNA ROLL!
8-8
End Chapter 41
8-8
A/N: That's just sad. Aya goes and forgets her chocolate stash, simply because she didn't think she'd not have the time to go and grab it. Sucks to be her right now.