5…Soba had two shuriken between the fingers of her left hand, one for each guard. She knew she wouldn't miss, especially because the two guards weren't even shinobi.

4…Both men had their guns ready to fire, but she knew that they wouldn't have time to press the trigger before they were hit.

3…The guard on her left was almost right next to her. He was breathing heavily, his footsteps soft on the plush carpet.

2…A metallic click sounded from both guns.

1…With lightning speed, Soba stood up and threw one shuriken forward, only briefly witnessing it contact the guard before she pivoted right. Her second shuriken struck the other guard, and both men slumped to the ground with a thud. She ducked back behind the sofa to wait for the next two. Her heart rate had picked up; she knew the two other guards would be coming in seconds. Something nagged at her mind as she waited, though; Naruto's chakra wasn't the only one she was feeling. The Hidden Mist shinobi were closer than she anticipated. She heard a soft hiss and looked down at the floor. A shimmering, opaque mist had started to curl around her legs and knees.

I need to get out of this confined space, she thought, eyeing the window. The mist had surrounded her in the time it had taken her to finish her thought, and foot collided with her chin. She yelped, flying sideways through the window and shattering the glass. Her face stung, but at least she could now see. Her arm automatically flew to the handle of her katana. Only one of the shinobi had through the window after her, the other one presumably taking Yoru to hide. Dammit, Soba scowled, landing hard on the ground, one knee down. In the time it had taken for her to fall, she had unsheathed her blade and now held it tightly in her right hand. The Mist shinobi landed in front of her, a nasty grin across his scarred face. His long hair was silver in the moonlight, tied back with his forehead protector. The black eyes did their best to try and intimidate Soba, but she feared nothing in battle. The worst outcome was death, and what was that but eternal peace? Her eyes were narrowed, looking up at the behemoth of a man before her. He wore a pair of loose pinstriped trousers tucked into his sandals, and Soba got an eyeful of the pattern as he attempted to kick her in the side of the head. She leaned back in time to watch his foot slide past her nose. Soba dropped into a low squat before he had the chance to get back on both feet, and threw her heel into his supporting knee. The shinobi dodged, but a second too late; both heard something crack as her sandal collided with his leg. The man landed, albeit weakly, on both legs, a grimace of pain on his face. Soba liked having the upper hand. She, in fact, often did. A fire ignited within her as she took off towards her opponent, katana gleaming.

"You know that you make this really scary face whenever you get serious in battle, right?" Dai said, offhandedly, while the two ate in their family's living room.

"You know that your face is always scary?"

"Ha. Ha. But really. You turn feral, or something."

"It's not my fault I get more into it than you do!"

"You know I'd rather be reading than punching people."

"I do, and that is why you're weird. Why did you even bother going through all this shinobi training if you don't even want to punch people on purpose?" Soba tilted her head in her brother's direction, her cheeks full of rice.

"Do you like hurting people?" Dai's bright green eyes looked concerned.

"Not if they don't want to be hurt…" Soba paused, "But I like fighting and I just kinda lapse into full battle mode sometimes. It just kinda happens!"

"You're weird."

"You're weirder." They resumed eating noisily.

Soba was high in the air when her opponent finished his hand seals, yelling, "Water release…rising water slicer!" A blade of water erupted from him at a high speed, but not high enough. The kunoichi raised her katana above her head and brought the blade down with enough force to split the raging sheet of water in two. The water user barely had a moment to be surprised before she swung her katana back upwards. He flew back, his flak jacket cut cleanly in two. Unsheathing her second katana, Soba landed with one leg on either side of him, blades crossed at his Adam's apple. He gulped, trying to avoid touching the honed steel. The man had given up, obviously not expecting Soba to fight back as hard as she had. The kunoichi withdrew her blades, and in the split second where her opponent thought he could escape, she drove one of the blades home.

"Soba-chan! She saw Naruto running over to her. "I got everyone all tied up!" His eyes widened when he saw the cuts across her face. "Are you okay?"

"Am I dead?" She snapped back, pulling a rag out of her pack.

"No?"

"Then I'm fine. I just went out a window, headfirst. My mistake for letting my guard down." Naruto stared at her, unimpressed, his eyes half-lidded. "The other shinobi went somewhere with Yoru, but I'm confident they're still in the building. I'm also willing to bet that the other shinobi is much stronger; this one here," she gestured at the bound man next to her, "was hardly worth pulling my katanas out for." The kunoichi wiped a bloody katana meticulously.

"Well, the two other patrols are all tied up, so let's go get Yoru!" Naruto gave Soba a thumbs-up and ran ahead of her into the building. They found the second Hidden Mist shinobi on the first floor, muscles coiled, ready for a confrontation. Both Soba and Naruto knew that they needed to get outside of the house or else they would devastate the building; they were given explicit orders to not ruin or damage anything. The opaque mist rose yet again, obscuring their opponent. Naruto and Soba sensed him lunging towards them, so they ran down the hallway and out into the clearing in front of the house. They heard Yoru yelling behind him: "I'll double what I'm paying you if you kill them both!" The mist spilled out into the clearing and the Hidden Mist shinobi leapt out from it, gripping a large curved sword. Soba gave him a wicked grin and brought out her katana. Her blonde teammate glanced over at her, and the corner of his mouth quirked up when he saw the look on her face. Naruto loved a good, healthy battle as much as the next person, but he had never seen someone look as intensely alive as Soba did in that moment.

"You think you can take on the Hidden Mist and live, little girl?" The shinobi roared, bringing his massive sword down on Soba. She countered with her katana, and though the slim blade looked like it would break, it held. The kunoichi was sinking into the soft earth under the applied pressure, but it only served to stretch her grin. Every muscle in her body was tense, the neurons firing at miles per minute. She lowered deeper into a squat to see the look of satisfaction on her opponent's face before she fired back, throwing his sword back before lunging towards his open chest. He was easily better than his partner because he dodged her lunge quickly and easily.

"I'm not a little girl." Soba growled, leaping towards him. They exchanged lightning fast blows, the blades whistling through the air. Naruto knew better than to tangle at this point; he stood back to make sure she could handle the man. He was really impressed with Soba's swordsmanship and speed. He knew that she had to be skilled to become a jounin at an early age, but it was something else watching her move. She was strong, but graceful, and Naruto kept catching himself gazing at her lithe body. He tore his gaze away so he could run back into the building and capture Yoru; there was no point in wasting time if Soba had the Mist shinobi handled on her own. Naruto found Yoru trying to escape out the back, but succeeded in capturing the man and tying him up with the rest of his men. He grinned broadly.

"Finally got you! HA!"

"You think that silly girl is going to be able to handle Katsuro? He'll cut her to pieces!" Yoru cackled, and Naruto was absolutely disgusted with the tone. The drug lord had an unpleasant aura with an equally unpleasant face. He had slicked-back, greasy black hair, a bulbous nose and pointed teeth. His beady eyes were cruel and unforgiving, and right now, Naruto was struggling to not punch him right in the face.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, you old, greasy man. You're lucky she wasn't the one that got to you."

"He'll carve her up and then you'll get to pick up the pieces of that hot little tramp." Yoru laughed a disgusting throaty laugh.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL HER, YOU BASTARD?!" The shinobi was losing his self-control, hearing this man talk about his (attractive) teammate like that.

"Oh, is she your girlfriend? You don't like-" The drug lord's chin hit his chest and he was out cold. Naruto smiled smugly at Yoru's unconscious form before running back out front to see what was happening with Soba.

Both shinobi were roughed up and sweaty, but showed no sign of letting up. The kunoichi had command of the battle until she dodged a blow aimed for her left shoulder and got knocked off-balance. The missing-nin took the opportunity to sweep her legs out from under her. Soba's eyes widened as she fell to the ground, watching Katsuro's enormous sword plunging towards her head. At that precise moment is when Naruto ran out of the house.

"SOBA!" Soba was vaguely aware of her name being yelled out, but she had other priorities. Her instincts kicked in, forcing her to roll towards Katsuro's feet to escape her beheading. She slid underneath his legs and scrambled to her feet behind him. The Hidden Mist shinobi didn't miss a beat. He rounded on Soba, and that is when she realized maybe her sword wouldn't be enough. The kunoichi backed up out of the reach of the sinister blade and quickly formed hand seals.

"Fire release…flame chain!" She breathed flames into her cupped hands, and when she drew them apart, a massive chain of fire hung between her palms. Katsuro came in with a predictable swing, so Soba flung out her chain to wrap around the blade. Her opponent's eyes widened when he realized she was using his shift in balance to topple him. Her chain now tight around the sinister sword, the brunette pulled with all her might. Katsuro's sword flew out of his hands and back behind Soba. She released the chain from her left hand and, using it as a whip, wrapped it around his ankles. The kunoichi had regained the upper hand as he opponent toppled to the ground, backwards. Before he had had a chance to hit the ground, Soba lashed her flame chain around his neck and landed on his chest. Katsuro grabbed at the ground, white-knuckled, while she tightened the makeshift noose.

"It looks like the little girl has the upper hand now, ne?" Katsuro stopped squirming and went limp. The flame chain dissolved, leaving Soba panting and sweaty. Her shirt had been slashed in several places, and blood blossomed out of a foot-long cut down her right arm, but she was smiling at Naruto. He smiled back.

"You look terrible!"

"…" Soba wiped stray strands of hair from her forehead and shoved Naruto. "At least I look good all the rest of the time!" The blonde's face fell in response. Soba just giggled.

"So, what now?" He asked.

"We eat." The two flopped against the front porch of the home and shared a snack.

Thank you for reading! This was the first time I had ever written anything resembling a battle! Constructive criticism is appreciated :)