Chapter 15: Battle at North Beach
A/N: It seems that the Rain Genin "leader's" name is Oboro, not Orobo like I had put in the previous chapter. Oops. Should be corrected now.
XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North beach
The scene at the North beach wasn't peaceful or tranquil like it had been even an hour ago. At the foot of the hill, a majority of the Black Cat pirates were laying on the ground, moaning in pain, though Django was still on his feet. Usopp was about halfway up the hill on his knees, quite injured and feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Nami was off to the side, still laying against the side of the cliff were she had been thrown to. Sasuke was on the opposite side, standing on his feet and rubbing his right shoulder. Sakura was a few feet away from him, slowly climbing to her feet. At the top of the hill, four people – Luffy, Naruto, Zoro and Shino – were at the top of the hill, looking down at everyone below them. Two of the said people looked completely pissed, one looked completely agitated and the last one merely looked on, seemingly emotionless.
Usopp spoke first. "Wow…you guys are strong. I didn't know you were that tough."
"Of course!" Luffy and Naruto said together.
Nami got to her feet and looked at them. "What took you guys so long? Stop to polish your swords and kunai?"
Naturally, that set Zoro off. "YOU LEFT ME STRANDED IN THAT QUADMIRE!!" He then pointed his hand with the sword at Sasuke. "AND YOU TRIED TO BLOW ME UP!!"
Sasuke merely 'hmphed' at the accusation, while Nami merely waved Zoro off. "That was an accident! Besides, it was better that one of us got free than for both of us to be stuck."
"Then you should have stayed stuck!"
"How was I supposed to which was North and which way wasn't North!" Luffy then shouted at Usopp's direction.
"You ran off like you knew where you were going…" Usopp tried.
"I only had a rough idea! A very rough idea!"
"Er…" Django started, putting a hand on his hat. "Please tell me how those children bested you?"
The pirates just gave a nonverbal grunt in response. Only the three Rain shinobi seemed to have the energy to stand and fight.
Shino spoke up. "The pirates appear to be recovering slowly." Getting everyone's attention again. Luffy looked down on the crowd. "Hey! They're still alive! They sure are stubborn!"
"Hey! There's ninja among them?" Naruto asked, pointing at the Rain shinobi.
"That's right." Nami confirmed.
Naruto looked at Shino, who merely said. "Their hitai-ite identifies them as Hidden Rain ninja. And yes, Hidden Rain was one of the original villages." He paused before adding. "Amegakure no sato – the Village Hidden in the Rain – used to be one of Konoha's allies as well."
"What?" asked several voices, including Naruto and Sakura. Sakura pointed at the three. "They're our ALLIES!?"
Naruto then yelled at the Rain shinobi. Afterwards, all the shinobi looked at Naruto in shock. Naruto gulped. "Ok…what the hell did I just say?"
"Something about their grandmothers and how they need to floss inbetween their toes." Shino replied in his normal tone. "I must admit, your…knack…for coming up with these phrases is somewhat impressive, given your limited vocabulary with the shinobi language. Though, in this case, I must confess that I'm at a loss as to whether you said that deliberately to provoke them, or if you simply messed up again."
Naruto swore under his breath and then yelled at the three. "Why are we fighting then?!"
"That's what you were trying to say?" Zoro asked. Naruto nodded, which made Nami give him three points.
The three Rain shinobi shook their heads and visibly recovered. The one with the stone hammer, Oboro, answered. "Why do you think we're fighting?" He asked in a very sarcastic tone. "You're our enemies, pipsqueak. We're here to slaughter and cause havoc. You're in our way. It's that simple."
"Why are you working for that Kuro bastard?!" Naruto yelled. "Don't you guys have any honor!?"
"You will address Kuro-sama with respect," Mubi replied. "And we have plenty of honor…for ourselves. And we're working with them, not for them. There is a difference. As for why we're working with them…we have no reason to tell someone about to die."
Sakura spoke up. "Why did you bother to conceal yourselves with a henge? What was the point of that?" That didn't make sense to her. They hadn't expected any resistance here…much less other shinobi…so what had been the point of the deception?
"To give us an advantage against the shinobi on this island." The last Rain ninja, Kagari, said. "They would see as normal pirates and underestimate us, allowing us to kill them easily." He pointed his sword at Sasuke. "Like him over there."
"But you weren't expecting us…" Sakura started, only to be cut off by their snickering. "What?"
"You weren't their targets." Zoro answered.
"Who then?" Naruto demanded.
"The Naras." Shino answered. "That's who. Kuro…and thus Django and the rest of them…would know that the Naras lived here and were shinobi. One of which is a Jonin. Their deception was aimed at catching the Naras off guard and killing them. When they saw you," He looked at Sakura and Sasuke. "They merely used the same tactic against you." He then reached down to his holster and grabbed a kunai. "In any event, our course is clear: former allies or not, we are currently enemies."
"How am I…" Naruto trailed off as Shino and Sakura gave him a glare. "Er we…" Naruto corrected. "…supposed to unite the shinobi if we fight each other!?"
"Do you really think it would be that simple?"
Everyone looked at the speaker. It was Sasuke of all people.
"It's been twelve years since our homes were destroyed." Sasuke continued his voice low and face dark. "During that time, much has changed. Ideals, thoughts, honor, all of that has changed differently for the survivors. Some for the better. And some for the worse. If you seriously thought that 'uniting' the shinobi was as easy as inviting someone over for tea, then you're blind to the real world."
Luffy then took a step forward. "I don't understand any of this. But I do know that I won't let them destroy this place." He slammed a fist into his palm. He then turned and grinned at Naruto. "Afterwards though…we'll make them see things your way. Even if I have to beat them all up all over again!"
Luffy's little statement brought a grateful grin to Naruto (while Sasuke hmphed again) and brought everyone back to reality. "Now listen up!" Django shouted at his men, holding up his ring again. "We don't have time to play around! If our opponent is strong, we must become stronger! When I say 'One, Two, Django,' you'll all become superhumanly strong! And all your wounds will heal instantly! And you'll keep getting stronger and stronger!"
"What are those guys doing?" Luffy asked.
"Who knows," Usopp replied.
Sasuke joined them. "He's trying that lame hypnosis thing again."
"Hypnosis?" Naruto asked.
"Basically, he's trying to make them believe their stronger." Nami answered. "What a load of nonsense."
Sakura nodded. "They're physically too weak to do anything right now. Django can say whatever he wants, but none of them have the energy to even stand. And that's not going to change by a simple few words." Inner Sakura: 'Yeah! If it were that easy, I would have gotten Sasuke to be mine already!'
The faltering pirates slowly tried to get to their feet as they all looked at Django and his ring. Django himself began counting 'One, Two, Django!' though this time he tipped his hat downward to cover his face. All of the sudden, the pirates gave a loud 'yarrr' as they all jumped to their feet, no longer panting or out of breath. Even their wounds seem to have stopped bleeding somehow. All their eyes had this blank, white look in them. Like they were possessed or something.
"You've got to be kidding…" Nami said. "They were exhausted only moments ago…"
"It's nothing." Sasuke said firmly. "Just some bogus hocus pocus crap."
That's when one of the pirates slammed their fist on the same of the cliff and caused an entire portion of it to crumble into nothing.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Yelled all the Straw Hats, Sasuke and Usopp.
"He broke the cliff…" Zoro said, amazed at the sight. "What power…"
"Impossible…" Sakura said, her eyes wide. She then began ranting very fast. "That'snotpossible!!They'rephysicallyexhausted!Theyshouldn'tbeabletomove,letalonebreakacliffthroughsheerbruteforce!Thehumanbodycan'tovercomelimitsjustbyhearingafewwords!It'snotpossible!"
"That is not entirely true." Shino said calmly ("How can you be calm!?" Sakura shrieked), pushing his glasses up once more. "While it is true that the human body has physical limits, judging where such limits are is not as simple as you make it sound. There have been cases where people are able to overcome such limits, even when experiencing a fatal wound, and still be able to fight. Some call it 'mind over matter', others call it 'sheer willpower' while yet others call it 'pure stubbornness.' Regardless of what you call, the effect is apparent. And I daresay…devastating." He had spoken with a cool tone and seemed unphased by current events.
"Don't you ever react to ANYTHING!?!?" Sakura roared at the bug user.
"This is inconvenient."
"THAT DOESN'T COUNT!!!"
"Incredible!" Nami cried, grabbing her head frantically. "That hypnosis really worked."
"One of them demolished a cliff and there's a whole horde of them! What do you say to that Sasuke?" Usopp asked, trembling at the sight.
Sasuke made no reply, his own jaw had dropped slightly.
Normally, Naruto would have made a smartmouthed comment over a stunned Sasuke, but the sights of the overpowered pirates kept him from doing such. "So…just how much stronger did those Rain guys get?"
In response, Oboro swung his hammer on the opposite of the pass, shattering a significant portion of the cliff as well. While the destruction was not much more than the other crewmembers, there was a clear sign that the destruction force used outclassed the other mans. At this sight, Sakura, Usopp and Nami all freaked out by foaming at the mouth and pointing vigorously at the sight.
Django pointed at the Straw Hats. "Now march!" he ordered loudly. "And if anyone gets in your way: destroy them! And I don't care how you do it!"
The pirates and Rain shinobi all ran up the slope. Zoro looked at Sakura, Nami and Usopp. "All those that foamed at the mouth, go wait at the top of the hill. The rest of us will handle these guys. Right Luffy?" No answer. "Luffy?" Zoro repeated. That was strange. Luffy being quiet was like hearing Naruto say he wanted something to eat besides ramen. In short…it didn't happen.
"YARRR!!!" Luffy roared. He had the same blank, white eyed look as the pirates.
"HE HYPNOTISED YOU TOO!!!" Zoro shouted in pure disbelief. "He wasn't even aiming at you!!!"
"You've got to be kidding…" Naruto muttered. "Just how big of a moron is he?"
"That feebleminded fool…" Nami said, supporting Usopp and walking back to the top of the cliff. She gave Luffy ten points for that.
Luffy let out another roar and rushed down at the pirates. He cried. "GUM-GUM GATTLING GUN!!!" unleashing a furious assault of lightning quick punches at the pirates. Not even the three Rain ninja avoided the attack. Mere seconds later, all the pirates were back on the ground, moaning in pain as Luffy retracted his arms.
Usopp's jaw hit the ground. "What the…his arms…how…?"
Django was speechless, and visibly shaking terribly at what he had just witnessed.
Naruto was cheering. "Luffy! What I just said? I take it back! You rule!"
Sasuke gulped loudly and even paled slightly. This idiot pirate captain was that strong? Incredible.
Nami reconsidered…ok…maybe six points instead of ten.
Luffy wasn't done yet. He yelled again and charged down the slope. This time, the Black Cat pirates panicked – several of them even started crying – and attempting to run from him. Luffy easily caught up to them (and even ran over several of them. Literally), bypassed them and headed towards their ship, the Bezan Black, into which he ran into with a loud smack. Immediately afterwards, he reached out and grabbed the ship's stempost.
"What's he going to do?" Several people asked.
Luffy let out another loud yell as everyone heard the sound of wood snapping and breaking. Seconds later, he actually ripped off the entire cathead stempost, causing everyone to either A) scream/panic or B) completely stunned. Even the cathead figurine seemed to sweatdrop nervously at the sight somehow. Luffy then turned to the Black Cat pirates, with stempost in hand, and had every intention of using it like a flyswatter…and the pirates were the unlucky flies.
The most amazing thing during all this – for better or worse – was that Luffy was still hypnotized.
If the pirates had been panicking before…they were hysterical now. They began screaming more loudly then ever now, even the Oboro, Kagari and Mubi began running and dodging as Luffy just missed them with the stempost. Several of them cried. "CAPTAIN!! DO SOMETHING!!"
"On 'One, Two, Django!'" Django said in a hurry, a touch of panic in his own voice as well, swinging his ring like mad. "You'll fall asleep! One!"
Luffy then turned his hypnotized sight on Django himself, the latter paled and yelled 'Two!' in a high pitched voice. Luffy ran towards him.
"Django!" Django yelled, bring his hat down to cover his face once again.
Luffy slumped right there, already asleep. He fell backwards, with the stempost landing right on top of him as he fell to the ground. The head of it, hit two pirates. Fortunately for them, they survived. Though they would be in a considerable amount of pain for the next few days. And Luffy? Sleeping quite comfortably with a stempost right on top of him.
Django was huffing and puffing, trying to calm himself down. He looked at the aftermath of the ship itself, and his men. "That brat! He scuppered us! Now we can't carry out the plan. If Captain Kuro finds out, he'll shred all these brats to mincemeat. And us along with them!"
Sakura sighed in relief. "Luffy…Captain Luffy," She corrected herself. "Just took out most of them."
"But he's smashed underneath the stempost!" Usopp protested.
Zoro gave a small smirk as he tapped the sword gently on his shoulder. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Just tend to your own wounds."
Nami looked over at Django to see that he was yelling at something on the ship. Or more accurately, he was yelling at someone. "Hey Butchie! Get down here! The bow's broken! And bring them with you!"
"The bow!?" Came the response. "How'd that happen!?"
The pirates grinned weakly at each other. "It's the Meowban brothers. The ship guards."
"Sounds like they have more men on the ship," Zoro said.
Django finally turned around and looked at them, a small smile on his face. "Aye lads! They were still on the ship!"
"Who's on the ship?" Sakura asked, looking slightly nervous.
The pirates on the ground merely chuckled. "You're dead meat now, demons." One said.
"Meowban brothers!" Django yelled loudly, spreading his arms out in emphasis. "Come on down!"
Two figures jumped from the ship into the high air and landed on the ground with ease. The first one had green hair, a blue shirt that had white laces, a big red bow tie at his chest, jean shorts, the standard cat ears and brown shoes. On his hands was a pair of gloves with 'cat nails' on them. "You called Captain Django?" Siam asked.
"What is it?" The other one, Butchie, asked. He was taller than Siam, with a black spot covering his upper left portion of his face, as well as several other spots on his body. He had no shirt, but he did have a large, gold bell around his chin. He also had a cloth, gray and black stripped cape. He wore red pants with black stripes, a yellow woven belt and the same brown shoes.
"Impressive jumping ability," Shino said.
"What are they?" Nami asked.
"Those more shinobi henged pirates?" Naruto asked.
"Who cares." Zoro replied. "I'll beat them down regardless of what they are."
Django pointed at the slope. "Siam. Butchie. We must clear a path. But as you can see, there's something in our way. Get rid of them." He then turned to the three Rain ninjas. "And you three get your butts back in there as well. Get rid of those baby shinobi. Got it?"
The three nodded, while Siam and Butchie instantly became nervous and began shaking. "Um…w-we can't do that!" Siam said, stuttering. He looked at his brother hopefully. "Right, Butchie!?"
"H-he…looks…really, really mean!" Butchie added, stuttering as well. He even seemed to be sweating quite nervously as well. "H-how are we supposed t-to…to…"
Sasuke and Shino were silent at the sight, while Usopp questioned just whether the Meowban brothers actually were secret weapons or not. Zoro merely shrugged, not caring. Naruto is in disbelief as well, as he expected monstrous cats from hell, not these little pussy cats. Sakura felt a little sorry for the two, while Nami just said that they were scared to death.
"We're…j-just the ship…g-guards," Siam stuttered, lifting his arms in defeat. Butchie copied the gesture, adding. "Y-yeah…we're not supposed to take part in any…any…f-f-f-fights…"
"Shut up!" Django interrupted. He then pointed at Siam and then the slope. "Siam, attack the swordsman at once!"
"ME!?"
"NOW!"
"A-alright…" Siam responded, who was now on the verge of tears. "I'll…I'll go…" He then looked at the hill and the man on it. "H-here I come!"
"He's starting to cry," Nami stated, as Siam ran up the hill, wailing as he did, his movements clumsily and unfocused. The two of the three Rain shinobi took up – Kagari and Oboro – ran up after him, Mubi getting his crossbow.
"What kind of bastard makes someone like him fight?" Naruto demanded, readying a kunai.
"Either a desperate one," Shino said, lifting his arms in preparation. "Or one with a plan." He then raised his voice. "Zoro. Take him down quickly, lest this be a trap."
"You don't have to tell me that, Shino," Zoro said without looking at the boy. He raised his sword at the incoming crybaby. "You get one chance! Stop now or I'll cut your head off!"
"He's joking…right?" Usopp asked, feeling very worried.
"With Zoro," Naruto said, gripping the kunai hard. "One can never tell."
"I'll…c-claw you!" Siam said, as he got near Zoro. Zoro immediately swung his sword at the other man. What he was aiming for, no one was sure. Because before he could even half way swing, Siam immediately sped up and attacked the blade itself with his left hand slamming into the blade itself (the glove protected his hand from injury). The unexpected force caught Zoro by surprise as he was forced to brace himself at the surprisingly strong thrust.
Siam purred. "You underestimated me, didn't you?" The tone of his voice was completely different than earlier. There was no whimpering, no stuttering, no distress in his voice at all now. It was cruel, firm and, above all else, confident.
Naruto, Shino and Sasuke all ran down the hill to confront the Rain shinobi and help Zoro. They got close to Oboro and they noticed he was forming a series of signs: Dragon. Snake. Monkey. Rooster. Dog. Dragon. Naruto throw a kunai at him, which was blocked by Kagari's sword, then Mubi fired his crossbow, unleashing several bolts – four at once, to be exact – at Shino and Sasuke and forcing them to back off. Oboro then finished his last two: Hare. Snake. He shouted. "Doton: Bakuhatsu Funkakou no Jutsu (Earth Style: Eruption Crater)!"
There was a loud explosion, as if the ground itself had erupted, sending large amounts of dust and debris over nearly half of the slope everyone had been fighting on. It was so massive, it even caught the three at the top of the hill and nearly all the Straw Hats (plus Usopp) flying. Zoro managed to regain his sense of direction and landed back on the slope safely. He instantly looked back to see what happened to the others.
Naruto, Sasuke and Shino – all who had been in the core of the blast – had completely vanished from sight. Zoro guessed they had landed somewhere in the surrounding forest. Looking further back, he saw that Sakura too was missing, as well as the three Rain ninja. He saw Usopp stuck in a tree, while Nami seemed to be the least affected. She was covered in dirt, but seemed fine overall. 'So…they were targeting Naruto and the others all along, trying to isolate them.' Zoro thought to himself. 'Well…as long as they're together, they should be fine. They aren't that weak.'
"Hey, bucko!" Zoro heard that cat bastard say from behind. "You seem to have quite a bit of talent. But you shouldn't take Siam Meowban Ship Guard too lightly." Zoro looked over at the man and what he saw made him pale slightly.
Siam had his other two swords on his back. Zoro then instinctively looked down at his waist. Sure enough, his two swords were gone.
"Somehow…you're pretty little swords ended up with me!" Siam finished, snickering evilly. Butchie was nodding in approval. "Yep. He's a cat burglar!"
Oh crap.
XXXXXXX – Forest surrounding the North beach
Shino had managed to land safely in the midst of the forest. He was slightly unnerved at the moment, and not just because he had been sent soaring threw the forest.
It was the technique that Oboro had used. Shino was vaguely familiar with it, having studied it (and along with several other techniques at the Aburame Compound) and witnessed one of his uncles performing it once. Eruption Crater was supposed to be a mid C ranked ninjutsu, meant to merely cause a small 'eruption' on a large enemy force and disorientate them. Yet, this version had been nearly four times more powerful than it should have been and affected a wider radius. Shino felt himself slightly worried. Were these Rain shinobi simply that powerful? Powerful enough to turn a C ranked technique into an A ranked one?
He shook his head. No time to worry about that now. He should find the others. He looked over and saw Naruto first. He had landed a few meters away, his back on the ground, laying against a tree. Looking over, he saw Sasuke on landed in some bushes. He appeared to be physically fine, just dazed from the fall. Out of the corner of his right eye, he was surprised to find Sakura nearby. She had apparently landed on her left ankle, as she was rubbing it furiously.
Shino walked over to Naruto. "Are you injured?" He asked.
Naruto's eyes slowly opened. "No…" He said after a few minutes. "I think." He added, as he turned himself right side up. "What happened?"
Shino offered a hand and helped up the other boy. "We were caught in a ninjutsu and blown over here." He pointed at the other two. "It seems that Sakura-san and Sasuke were blown here as well."
At the name 'Sakura', Naruto instantly ran over to the girl, while Shino walked towards Sasuke.
Naruto bent down at her. "Sakura-chan?! Are you alright!?" He asked in a high voice.
"Pipe down," Sakura replied, not as harshly as it sounded. She looked at her ankle. "I think so. It's not broken or anything, but sore enough." She saw Naruto offer a hand to her and she grasped it, allowing her to get to her feet. She winced slightly, but was fine. "Thanks." She said, as she looked around. "Where's Shino-san and Sasuke-kun?" She asked.
Naruto felt a hint of irritation at the statement – it's always Sasuke! –, but dismissed it. He pointed at Shino, who was helping Sasuke out of the bushes. "Over there." He said simply. Sakura nodded and they both walked over.
Sasuke looked annoyed more than anything else at the moment. He quickly got to his feet and looked around. "Where's that bastard, Oboro?"
"Over here," came the reply. The group looked at the source and saw several Oboros, Kagaris and Mubis emerging. Unlike their earlier appearance, they were all wearing black this time. As they looked on, they saw more of them completely surrounding the four Leaf ninja. Some were even climbing on the trees and appearing from the bushes. There had to be at least forty, if not more of them.
"Bunshins?" Sakura asked, looking over all them over. "Ordinary ones?"
They clones, for lack of a better word, all began chanting. 'You die now.' Over and over as they slowly walked towards the group.
Naruto smirked at the sight. "Four against forty. I like those odds!" They were playing by his rules now.
XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Kaya's Mansion.
Shikamaru easily jumped over the wall and landed inside. He may be lazy and slacked off on what little training he got, but he still was able to bypass an ordinary wall.
He sighed and rubbed his head in irritation. "This is so troublesome." He looked around and saw that the guards weren't at their posts yet. All the better. They would just try to stop him, as their occupation demanded and he wasn't in the mood – nor did he have the time – to worry and deal with them.
His plan was simple. Go to the mansion, wake the girl, convince her what was going on and get her out of there. He planned to take her to his father. Though drunk and useless, he was still the safest person to be with in the village. Once that was done, he was sure that he would be able to convince the villagers of the danger with her vouching for Usopp's story. The pirates were taking their sweet time, or those guys were somehow stalling them, so Shikamaru planned on using that to his full advantage.
Of course, this relied on him actually able to convince Kaya to believe the liar.
He sighed in annoyance as he looked over the mansion. Front door was out of the question, so that left a window to use. He walked over to the nearest one and looked at it for a few seconds. He then bent down at his kunai pouch (he had gone to his house and retrieved out from the last place he had put it: the bottom of the his dirty laundry that was several weeks old) and gently wedged a kunai - which had a funny odor to it for some odd reason - underneath the window. Using a little force, he shoved the window open and climbed inside. "Now…where's that girl's ro…" He trailed off, looking at what was actually inside the room.
One of the butlers had been propped against the wall and he was heavily injured, several large gashes across his chest. They had been tended to, sort of. The man's chest had been poorly bandaged and he was sat up right so the bleeding would slow down.
Oh great. Was he too late? Did the pirates already come here and carry out their plan? He shook his head at the thought. No. If that was true, then this guy wouldn't have been tended to. The fact that he was meant someone had helped him.
He calmly walked over to the man. He bent down and decided to let him sleep. He reached the door and was about to open it when he heard. "And where might you be going, young man?"
Shikamaru didn't flinch or react at the voice. He merely turned to him. "So…you're awake after all."
The man smiled weakly. "Yes I am. You're one of the Naras, correct?"
He bent down to talk to the other man. "Name's Shikamaru. Yours is?"
"I'm Merry. Kaya's butler."
'Obviously,' Shikamaru thought to himself. "Listen, I don't have a lot of time. Where's Kaya?"
"She…left already…"
Shikamaru looked at the man. "What?" He asked quickly. "When?"
"About five minutes ago…" Merry answered weakly. "Listen...you have to help…her and alert the village…Klahadore's…"
"Really a pirate named Kuro, who plans to kill her and attack the village?"
"…you know?"
"I know." Shikamaru confirmed. "I stumbled on to it, more or less, but I know. Where did she go?"
"To…confront…Klahadore…" Merry answered. "To give him…the fortune and…make him leave…"
'Perfect,' Shikamaru thought sarcastically. Just the exact opposite of what he planned.
Merry then spoke a bit louder. "Listen to me…you must help. Alert the village…get your parents…you're all shinobi…you can win…"
"Working on it," Shikamaru replied. "I came here to make sure Kaya was out of danger first." He then stood up. "Everything's under control." He wasn't sure if that was necessarily true or not, but if Kaya was walking strait to her executioner, then he didn't have time to waste. "I'll send someone to tend you – "
Merry held up a hand, cutting off Shikamaru. "Don't worry about…me. I'll…live. Just…go. Save this village…help Kaya…" He closed his eyes then and Shikamaru thought he passed out. He then turned back and walked quickly to the window.
"Did you believe Usopp when he warned everyone the first time?" Merry's voice suddenly asked.
Shikamaru stopped at the window. "Yes," He answered, without looking at the man. He then felt obligated to tell the whole truth. "I believed him. But I didn't know what to do at first. And I knew the villagers wouldn't have believed me even if I had spoken in Usopp's defense."
He could hear the sadness in Merry's voice. "Yes…you're probably right…but at least…you…believed that brave…young man's words. Perhaps…there is hope…for the younger generation…perhaps…the younger generation…can correct the older one's flaws…"
Shikamaru felt himself smile at that. Images of his mother berating him for being lazy, smartmouthed and whatnot filled his mind. "The younger generation has its own problems…perhaps the older generation isn't as flawed as you believe."
He could hear Merry chuckle and with that, Shikamaru left through the window.
XXXXXXX - Syrup Village, Forest by the North beach: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino vs. Oboro, Kagari and Mubi.
The clones kept chanting 'you die now' over and over, all bearing the weapons: stone hammer, sword, kunai and the occasional double-sided kunai.
Naruto acted first, running at top speed and punching a Kagari in the stomach. As he did, the 'Kagari' seem to splatter. An enormous section of the body was gone, but the rest didn't act like anything happened. It merely turned its head and looked at the blond boy.
'What ARE those things!?' Sasuke thought as he watched all this…and what happened next.
A new 'head' was emerging out of the body of the first one. It kept on growing, and growing until a torso and its own pair of arms appeared. The new part of the body held out another double-sided kunai and prepared to throw it at Naruto. Shino reacted first by grabbing a handful of shuriken and throwing them at the figures left arm.
Once again, the arm splattered, while a dumbfounded Naruto quickly backed off. The figure then turned to face the other three and with its right arm, hurled a second double-sided kunai at the group.
Sasuke reacted completely on instinct. Withdrawing a kunai and blocking the incoming one. A cling of metal was heard as the two weapons hit. The double-sided kunai fell to the ground and Shino picked it up. "This is real." He said flatly. "If you had not blocked that, Sasuke…you would be clutching your shoulder in pain now."
"What are they?" Sakura demanded. "Does the fact that they throw physical weapons mean that they're solid bunshins and not illusions?" Without waiting for a response, she added. "But even bunshins have some substance. They usually fade away once you hit them, but these guys are still here. So…is it genjutsu afterall?"
"Damn it!" Naruto swore, drawing a kunai and picking another target.
"Stop, you idiot!" Sasuke shouted. "It's genjutsu! You'll just be blindly attacking!"
"What?" Naruto and Sakura shouted. "But that kunai was real!" Naruto protested.
"It's Genjutsu," Sasuke insisted. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
"I concur with Sasuke," Shino spoke up. "The effects of the 'bunshin' Naruto hit earlier, implies that they are genjutsu and not ninjutsu. The Rain ninja must be watching from somewhere close by, synchronizing a real, physical attack with the movement of the enemies we think we're seeing. It enhances our perception that the shadow shinobi we're fighting are real."
"So, I'll hunt down the coward who's throwing kunai from behind the scenes, and kick his butt!" Naruto declared.
Laughter was heard. "You think it's that easy?" Came Oboro's voice. A split second later, a kunai was thrown at Naruto, who blocked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another kunai coming at Shino. "Shino! Behind you!"
Shino immediately turned around, and blocked the weapon with his own kunai. Sakura then leapt up and blocked a third kunai that had been aiming at Shino's blind side, who thought, 'What? Three directions? How's that possible?'
"Try all you want," came Oboro's voice once again. "It will do you no good. You can try to find us all you want, but it's all in vain! Now…be good little kiddies and just give in and die!" Roaring laughter was heard afterward.
Sasuke immediately went on the attack, forming a series of signs. 'If following the kunai won't work, then following their voices will!' Rat. Tiger. Dog. Ox. Hare. Tiger. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)!" Sasuke blew out a series of fireballs in the direction of the laughter.They ripped throw several of the 'clones' causing them to vanish, but hitting no physical bodies. Sasuke swore violently as several more 'clones' were created to take the fallen ones place.
A short distance away, the Rain shinobi were laughing amongst themselves at their prey's futile attacks and attempts. Mubi currently had his hands together at the palms, left hand up, right hand down. Kagari was watching the scene, while Oboro held several kunai. "The raven haired brat still insists on playing with fire." Oboro said, snickering. He looked at Kagari. "Why don't you give him a hand?"
"Gladly," came Kagari's reply. He formed three quick signs. Tiger. Snake. Tiger. "Suiton: Kokuun no Jutsu (Black Clouds Technique)!"
Back at Naruto and the others, they all noticed that clouds were gathering. Seconds later, black rain began pouring on the ground. Sakura groaned. "This is going to kill my hair." The three boys, even Naruto, looked at her. She smiled weakly. "Sorry."
Naruto looked at the rain. "What is this?" He stuck out his tongue and tasted it. He then immediately spat it out. "Yuck! What the hell is this stuff!?"
Sakura held out a hand, let some of the black rain fall on it and took a careful sniff. "Oil."
"Oil?" Naruto repeated, while Sakura merely nodded. Another kunai came, and Naruto blocked it, swearing anew.
Shino was carefully scanning the area, waiting for more kunai to com. Without looking at Sasuke, he said. "No more fire. You'll just incinerate us all."
"Then what should we do?!" Sasuke demanded, growing more and more frustrated at the situation. They couldn't find the cowards and now he couldn't use his fire attacks.
In response, Shino lifted his arms and a swarm of bugs flew out. "I will handle this."
"The hell…" came Mubi's voice this time. "There's a freak in there controlling bugs!"
"The proper term is insects," Shino replied, sending them in all directions.
"What difference does it make?" came Kagari's voice, sounding genuinely curious.
To everyone's surprise, Shino answered. "Calling insects bugs is considered a semi-degrading term among my clan. Similar to calling a human a monkey. To be blunt, it is borderline rude. And my tolerance for it is limited. While I will not hesitant to use my insects in anyway I deem necessary, I will not dishonor their service and sacrifice. And that includes calling them degrading terms."
Sasuke snorted. This guy barely talks, but mention bugs and you get a lecture out of him.
Sakura was surprised at Shino's little speech. 'I better watch my mouth in the future…' She thought to herself, trying to remember if she ever called them bugs.
'It is?' Naruto thought confused. 'So…that's why he keeps correcting me, but why didn't he ever mention that before? Why doesn't he try and stop me?'
As if reading Naruto's thoughts, Shino continued. "Among comrades, some tolerances must be maintained. Especially when the insects themselves aren't self-aware enough to recognize name calling. Otherwise, we fall simply due to petty bickering. Though, I do make sure to 'get even' when the opportunity offers itself, whether it is to hassle Naruto through his vocabulary, or allow the insects to bite him more than necessary."
"YOU WHAT!?! I THOUGHT THOSE LITTLE DEVILS WERE UP TO SOMETHING!!"
"And while they have many useful assets, the one you must be concerned with is that they are not confused by illusions. I will find you."
Sakura looked at the swarm of bugs…er…insects as they were swarming through the illusions. 'I get it. In addition to them not being affected by genjutsu, Shino talking kept them distracted them so that they wouldn't counter with something else. Nice!'
"No you won't." Came Oboro's voice. "Take a closer look at your bugs."
Puzzled Shino did, which kept him from correcting Oboro. They were still flying through the illusionary clones. What was wrong…Shino's eyes widen (though you couldn't tell if you were looking at him). The insects shouldn't still be with the 'clones', they should had passed them by now and started searching the surrounding areas. But they hadn't. Why?
"If you're wondering why they aren't finding us, it's thanks to our little bug zapper. Specifically, our Konchuu Fugouhizumi no Jutsu (Bug Signal Distortion). If genjutsu won't work, then ninjutsu will!" Oboro continued gleefully.
Naruto heard Shino ask 'what' and it sent a chill down his spine. Shino sounded…worried. Shino was always calm and thoughtful…but now…
"Our technique affects bugs and other such pest. They can't function correctly, going around and around in circles, because we're affecting their means of communication and thought process! What little they have anyway. And any other 'assets' you have with them will be useless as well. Even birds and rodents would fall victim to this jutsu!"
"Well, since you guys went and revealed everything, Shino will be able to counter!" Naruto said smugly, only to be laughed at. Naruto snarled. "Shino! Show them."
Shino made no reply.
"…Shino?"
"I…do not know…what to do…"
That shiver down Naruto's spine just intensified threefold. Now Shino sounded lost, worried and even a bit demoralized.
Shino, for the first time in his life, was at a complete loss of what to do. Always before, he knew what to do – or at least had some idea of what to do – and come up with a method to get it done. One notable time was during Morgan's reign of terror. The Aburame knew that they couldn't allow themselves to be found or exposed. Otherwise, the full might of the Marines would come down on them.
So during that time, Shino had limited himself to small reconnaissance missions and mild sabotage, such as using the Kikaichu to slip dung in Morgan's food, or 'infesting' the Telesnails to disrupt their communications and such. It hadn't been much, but Shino was still able to recognize what he could and could not do. Then when Luffy and the others openly attacked Morgan, Shino decided to join. Admittingly, against his better judgment, but he did it anyway.
But now…he and his friends were in a situation that seemed impossible to get out of. They were surrounded in these illusion clones, Sasuke's fire attacks were rendered useless, as were the Kikaichu and Shino did not see how even Naruto's Kage Bunshin horde could get them out of this mess.
He had been arrogant, conceited, and most of all: completely overconfident in his own abilities and severely underestimating the enemy. He noticed that the Rain shinobi had temporary stopped throwing the kunai. No doubt to let the reality and hopelessness of the situation sink in.
Naruto grabbed Shino be the collar and shouted. "Bug King, snap out of it! This isn't like you! Now, get your butt in gear and let's smash these guys into the dirt."
"Look at the reality, Naruto." Shino replied, his voice low and heavy. The tone of someone resigned to the darker outlooks in life. "We are completely caught in their illusion, Sasuke's most powerful attacks will only work against us, my only technique has been rendered useless, your Kage Bunshins will also be rendered useless and on top of all that, they still have a trump card."
"Huh?" came from the other three. Sakura added. "What do you mean?"
"They have an unknown trump card in their favor," Shino replied flatly. "That earth technique that Oboro used earlier was only a C ranked technique, yet its destructive capabilities were closer to that of an A ranked one. In addition, they were able to throw kunai from three different directions nearly simultaneously."
Naruto and even Sasuke looked confused at that, while realization seemed to hit Sakura. "What?" Naruto asked.
"They were able to throw at three different directions," Sakura repeated, her eyes low. "To maintain a genjutsu like this, they must have at least one, preferably two with that distortion thing, maintaining it at all times. Which leaves a maximum of two free to throw kunai at us. Which means that they can only be at two different places at once, throwing from two different directions. But they were able to throw from three directions earlier, which should be impossible. The fact that they did means that we won't be able to track them at all. Not even if we were to disperse all the 'clones' at once and see what direction they're coming from. They'll be faints."
Sasuke looked at him. Shino knew about the Earth Technique, but he didn't know about bug one? When that was his area of expertise? Was the God of Irony back already?
Naruto stood up and slammed a fist into his palm. "Who the hell cares!?" The other three looked at him. He then looked at the collection of 'clones' and smiled. "If our individual skills won't cut it, then we'll just have to use teamwork!" He then looked at Sasuke. A look that said 'yeah, even you.' "I know you said that teammates will only 'slow you down' and all that crap, so here's your choice. One: you try by yourself and get yourself killed, or two: you work with us."
Sasuke looked glares at him for several seconds before a small smile appeared on his face. "Well…the loser does know how to talk like a man." He reached into his pocket and withdrew something. A leaf headband. Sasuke then tied it securely around his forehead.
Shino looked at Naruto before slowly nodding in agreement and Sakura put on a bright smile.
In the bushes, Oboro snorted. "Well…it seems they still want to fight instead of giving in to the inevitable. Kagari. Keep up your black rain for a while longer." He then put his hands together, maintaining the Kasumi Jusha genjutsu. He then saw that the blond one created a mass of shadow clones, and sent them all charging into their imaginary enemies. "Like that will help." He and the others watched for several minutes the little clone wars, amused at their futile efforts. Finally, Oboro said. "Mubi."
"I know." Mubi said, taking his hands apart and getting his crossbow. He then lit all of the crossbow bolts on fire and shot them at the group.
XXXXXXX – North beach, Zoro vs. the Meowban brothers.
Zoro was not happy. This fight wasn't going well, since he had been reduced to one sword.
After Siam had stolen his swords, he tossed them behind him, far down the hill. Zoro had charged the man and slashed his stomach. Siam had faked an injury when in reality, there had been no stomach in that part of the shirt. Just another trick.
That allowed Siam to grab a hold of Zoro and shove him to the ground, where the other brother – Butchie – nearly crushed him with a huge stomp that broke the ground. After Zoro managed to get away, the two brothers attacked him with their 'claws' as he had been forced on the defensive. Usopp then decided to help by firing a shot from his slingshot, which Zoro had been force to take the hit (or the Meowban brother would had gone after Usopp). Nami then tried to help by running and reclaiming his swords, only to be cut in the shoulder by Django's ring.
Now Zoro was back on his feet on the defensive again when suddenly the two brothers stopped. They were scared stiff. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Django was also very nervous, along with the rest of the Black Cat pirates. "Oh, uh, sir…we hit a few snags." Django said, visibly shaking now.
Huh?
Zoro took a chance and looked behind him. On the top of the hill was a man in a butler's suit, carrying a duffle bag and pushing up his glasses with the palm of his hand. "It's been long past dawn. You seem to be having trouble following my plan." The man said calmly. He then shouted. "What the hell is going on!?"
Kuro had arrived.
XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 15
Well…this chapter turned out both longer and shorter than what I first imagined (as well as more and less action than I thought it would). Heck, this entire arc is turning out longer than I thought, but there's nothing wrong with that. I originally thought about ending this chapter around the time Kaya arrived and demanding Kuro to leave. Oh well…
Shino's turned out to be a very interesting character to write in this story. I've apparently given him a witty mouth and – I daresay – a semi-arrogant attitude and know-it-all personality, a bit different from the manga version, in my opinion (though sadly, he's appeared and developed little in the actual manga and I can only hope that this current arc will change that, along with Kiba and Hinata…but after seeing how Team Gai, Ino and Choji (Shikamaru received great character development) were handled…I'm beginning to have my doubts, which is sad.) I personally like the little improvisions I've made to him. It lets his character grow some. Though, I felt he needed to be taken down a peg or two.
Also revealed the whole 'insects' over 'bugs' thing. I mostly did this to attempt to create a running gag, while at the same time, explore possibilities on how the Aburame feel about the Kikaichu, which I feel isn't really elaborated on enough in the manga. I found my version of it slightly complicated, but then, the Aburames all seem complicated to me. (Heh heh)
Shino was also the 'wild card' in this chapter. I wasn't sure whether to have him placed with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, or to have him tagteam with Zoro against the Meowban brothers. While that second choice was tempting, I figured it wasn't necessary, since the Meowban brothers weren't really that much of a challenge.
Yes, I've gone and made the Rain Genin use the same tactics that they did in the manga (with a little improvising again). Main point was to get Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino to truly work together and make them start getting along, which they really haven't been doing up until now, which admittingly, I've been purposely portraying somewhat.
On a completely different note, I don't know how many of you watch, or approve of, the Naruto and One Piece Anime and Fillers in general, but as you read, I gave Team Oboro some abilities that weren't in the manga. They came from the Fillers (aside from the Eruption Crater and Bug Signal Distortion, which I created). Namely, Mubi's crossbow and Kagari's Black Clouds technique (or Black Rain Jutsu for you dub watchers), which originated from the Tea Country filler arc. Frankly, I've enjoyed the Anime and never had any real problems with the Fillers, deeming most of them acceptable, with some I even liked. Of course, there were those that I absolutely hated, but that's beside the point. The point is that I'm going to be borrowing elements from the Fillers, Movies and OVAs every now and then and using them for my own advantage.
Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 29, Naruto: 23
May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto.