Sorry for the long wait but there's been trouble at work and I've had to work extra hours.
Disclaimer: I suppose I better say this again so I don't get sued, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 19 – First Fight of the Exam
Last time:
Anko saw the Uchiha sitting by himself and could practically see the cogs turning in his head. 'Looks like they're starting to understand what's involved in this test.' She tore her look off him and looked about. 'Now where's that blonde kid from yesterday? I still haven't had a chance to mess with him yet!' She thought maniacally as she looked for Naruto. She soon felt someone looking at her and turned her head to see Naruto right there a few feet from Sasuke. 'How'd I miss him there and how long has he been looking at me? Doesn't matter, now then let the fun begin!' She thought gleefully as a kunai dropped into her hand from her sleeve.
This Chapter:
Naruto had learned quite a lot from studying the symbols shown by his Kaiseki Boushi. First off, it wasn't one large seal as he had originally thought. It was lots of small seals, connected by a master seal which appeared to be situated on Anko's left shoulder. Not only that, but the smaller seals weren't actually on her skin but rather under it. The things that the small seals did scared him slightly, there effects were probably not only painful but very dangerous for the bearer of the seals. 'Skin pigment manipulation, muscle fiber alteration, temporary genetic mutation, nerve stimulation!? What the hell could that be used for? Unless it was applied by someone else without her consent!'
Naruto was so deep in concentration from analyzing the seals he didn't notice that Anko had spotted him. 'What the hell's this! These seals look like they're some form of kinjutsu and a dangerous one at that! Wait, the master seal symbols, chakra storage? No, chakra draining, it's draining her chakra and looks like it's converting it, condensing it and adding something to it. What is th- WOAH!'Were Naruto's thoughts as he caught the kunai that was headed for him just as it cut into his cheek. He was so caught off guard he flew back slightly from trying to avoid the kunai and landed on his back.
Sakura was walking around the area aimlessly as she was reading through the consent form and checking out the other candidates. She was trying to figure out which ones would be their best chance to grab the second scroll. 'The problem is the ones I choose may not have the scroll we need.' She thought as she carried on through the other teams.
'CHA! Doesn't matter, we'll just go after some other guys instead!' Her inner persona shouted as she threw a few practice punches. 'Senpai said we just had to pick out the easier targets AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO!' Her inner persona shouted pumping a fist in the air as she herself smiled at the thought.
She stopped for a second when she saw Ino looking at her and start saying something. "Well, well, if it isn't miss forehead! I'm surprised they let you get past the first tes-" Ino started but was cut off by Sakura.
"Ino, I don't have time to trade insults with you! Maybe you didn't notice but there's an exam we need to focus on!" Sakura snapped as she turned away from the blonde and carried on looking over the other candidates. 'I learned my lesson in the first exam! I have to treat this exam exactly like a mission and be serious about it! I can't play around with Ino.' Sakura thought as she remembered what happened in the first exam.
Ino just glared daggers at Sakura's retreating form. "Looks like she's gotten a lot more serious since being trained by Naruto." Shikamaru stated with a yawn.
"It doesn't matter she's still gonna fail this test! Come on we're gonna scope out the competition like her!" Ino spat, venom dripping from her words.
"Awwh, man! Sakura had to get her all pumped up like that." Chouji groaned.
"You're actually pretty good Gaki! You at least managed to catch the kunai. Not a lot of people have been able to do that, much less a genin." Anko exclaimed as she appeared standing at Naruto's head while looking down at him.
"What the hell is wrong with you!? Attacking a fellow konoha shinobi like that?" Naruto exploded still holding the kunai to his face, trying to look the kunoichi in the eye past her ample bust.
"I like to keep my fellow shinobi on their toes!" Anko stated with a grin. Naruto frowned and pulled the now bloody kunai away from the cut on his face.
"Yeah, well, you could have at least made it miss me." Naruto said as he held up the kunai for Anko to take.
"Where's the fun in that? Besides..." She paused for a moment as she took the kunai back. "I like to try out the blood of my fellow shinobi now and then." She finished as she licked some of the blood off the kunai. 'Hmmm, not bad, he tastes pretty good. Not too salty and a little sweet.' She thought with a mental smile.
'Okay... she's kinda creepy. She's kinda cool too, I guess, that kunai throw was perfect, and fast! Keeping fellow shinobi on their toes, I'll have to remember that next time I see her. Maybe I should try it with Sasuke and Sakura too, without the whole blood licking part of course.' Naruto thought as he continued to stare up at the crazy kunoichi.
Anko looked down at Naruto, who was still lying on the floor. "Hey Gaki, I can't tell where you're looking at down there, thanks to those goggles, but it better be my face!" Anko exclaimed as she pointed the kunai back down at him, or rather a sensitive area of him.
"Huh? Where else would I be looking at?" Naruto asked dumbly as he continued trying to stare up at her face past her cleavage.
Anko just looked surprised at the innocence of the blonde genin as she thought of another way to mess with him. "Well, up my skirt would be one place. You better not look, since I didn't wear any under wear today." She explained with a grin.
As most people do, out of reflex, Naruto looked to where he was told not to. He regretted looking right away, not because he didn't like what he saw but because it caused him to have nosebleed and blush, which in turn caused his cut to bleed some more. He sat bolt upright trying to hide his blush and nosebleed, muttering apologies as he protected his head from any damage it would likely receive. 'Kuso, Kuso, KUSO! I'm gonna get another beating now for sure.' He thought, panicking, a lot. He'd read those books in his father's old bedroom but that didn't mean he wanted to peak on women all the time! He was just curious and wanted to please any future girlfriends.
He'd been lucky, in a way, Anko was lying about not wearing any underwear. But what she was wearing was still too much to keep his mind from going to certain 'thoughts'. Anko saw his reaction before he tried to hide it and knew he'd looked. 'Gotcha! I knew this was gonna be fun!' She thought with glee as she brought the kunai back up and approached him from behind, bringing the kunai to his throat. "So that's why you've been staring at me all this time. You've been thinking perverted thoughts about me, huh, punk?" Anko said in an angry tone and added some pressure to Naruto's throat with the kunai.
"Gomen, gomen nasai! I didn't mean to! It's just-" Naruto was cut off by Anko as he was trying to apologize.
"Quiet! You're so innocent it's hilarious!" Anko stated with a chuckle. "You still got to see my panties so I think that deserves some kind of punishment... or payment." Anko said with a slightly dark tone.
"W-what kind of payment?" Naruto asked nervously.
"Hmmmm. I'd say all this extra blood coming from your face." Anko started as she dragged her index and middle finger through the blood trickling down his face. "Will be enough." She continued before she brought her fingers to her mouth and savored the taste of his blood.
Naruto just looked back at her incredulously. 'She really is crazy! This has gone far enough now, I need to talk about the seal with her and I can't do that when she's like this.' He thought as he came up with a plan to get her serious. "Alright Anko-sensei, now that you got your payment, mind getting your kunai away from my throat?" Naruto asked in a serious tone.
"All serious now are we? If I don't, what are you gonna do about it? And another thing what's up with the goggles?" Anko asked mischievously.
"To answer in order, yes I am serious, when I need to be. If you wanna find that out, look down. I can't show you why I wear the goggles until you let me go." He replied coldly.
Anko did as he suggested and started to look down. Just before her gaze went all the way down, she felt it, the cold sharp tip of a knife, lightly touching her stomach. She saw it next, at some point, Naruto had pulled the knife from behind his back and leveled it at her stomach. She looked back up and saw he had also pulled the second knife out and had it pressed against her kunai, stopping it from going any further. 'Interesting. He's got some surprises up his sleeves just like me, if he had sleeves.' She thought as she looked at the back of his head again."Alright, Gaki, I'll lay off. I still want to know what was up with that look you gave me yesterday and why you were staring at me today." She relented, pulling the kunai away and storing it back up her sleeve.
Naruto pulled the knives away from Anko, he stood up, sheathed the knives in one swift motion and turned around. "First, I have to show you why I wear these." Naruto said as he motioned to take off the goggles. He shut his eyes as he started to pull the goggles down his face. When he dropped the goggles around his neck he snapped his eyes open, revealing the Kaiseki Boushi eyes.
"What the hell's up with your eyes?" Anko asked with a frown as she looked him dead in the eyes. "I get it, this is some kind of henge isn't it? You're trying to prank me for cuttin' ya aren't ya?" Anko asked chuckling lightly.
"This isn't a prank or a henge, these eyes let me see how seals work by showing me what each symbol of a seal does. From what I've seen with you, it lets me see seals that are inside the body too, cause I can see the seals that are in your body. I'm looking at them right now, even as we're talking. I can see the one on your shoulder really clearly and it looks like it controls all the other seals, I'm guessing that's the only visible part of the seal?" Naruto asked calmly as he divulged some of what he had learned.
Anko took a step forward and lowered herself into a defensive stance. "You really aren't bullshitting are you!? Only a few people know about that seal! You either swear to keep it a secret now or I'm gonna have to silence you!" She near shouted, not wanting to get the attention of the other candidates.
"I have a better idea than just keeping it a secret. If you let me study it some more, I could probably use the other part of my ability to destroy the seals that are in you and the one on your shoulder. You'd be free of it's control and the pain it causes. I know it was made to control you, that it hurts you and that it's draining your chakra to do something else with it. So what do you say? Will you let me study it some more when this exam is over? I promise I'll do everything I can to get rid of the seal." Naruto asked as he let the Kaiseki Boushi fade, extending a hand out for her to shake.
Anko was taken aback by his offer and the look in his eyes. 'He's actually showing concern for me and it doesn't even look like he's expecting to get anything in return for what he's doing. But I can't be too careful.' She looked down at his hand and then back up to his eyes. "One question Gaki... how do I know you won't just use whatever you learn and make your own version of the seal? Or if you'll just find a way to use the seal and control me, yourself!" She asked narrowing her eyes.
"I wouldn't use a seal like that on my worst enemy, let alone a fellow leaf shinobi. You can ask Hokage-jii-san if you don't believe me there. You could even ask him to come along when I study the seal, if it'll make you feel better." Naruto replied seriously, not moving an inch.
A grin broke on to Anko's face. "Alright Gaki... Naruto. I'll take your offer but if you try anything funny I'll have a kunai at your throat quicker than you can say dango. Just make sure you don't die in the test, otherwise you won't be able to get rid of this thing." Anko told him as she shook his offered hand.
"Don't worry, I've made a promise, I don't go back on my word and I'll get through this thing easy!" Naruto replied with a grin.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, WE'RE GONNA START HANDING OUT SCROLLS NOW!" One of the chunin shouted from behind the curtained booth.
"Better get going kid or you're gonna get flunked before you even start." Anko said with a grin, inside she was actually jumping for joy at the thought of being rid of the seal on her shoulder.
"Kuso! I guess we'll have to finish this when the exam is over. Well, see ya at the tower, Anko-sensei!" He yelled back as he jumped off the ledge and landed next to Sasuke as he was getting up. "Ready, Teme?"
Sasuke just looked at him unimpressed, then he turned away and smirked. "Dobe, I'm the one that should be asking you that." He said calmly as he walked away.
Anko chuckled as she watched Naruto jog after him yelling something. 'He's a weird one but he seems pretty skilled, same goes for the Uchiha gaki and the kunoichi with them. I wonder if he really trained her? Meh, it doesn't matter, I gotta get ready to start the test any way.' Anko thought, as she too leapt off the ledge and started walking towards the fencing. 'Gotta remember to get him out of calling me Anko-sensei too, makes me feel old.'
Naruto had argued with Sasuke about who should carry the scroll. He finally managed to convince Sasuke that his hiding place was good enough to keep the scroll safe and that no one would be able to find it. Naruto's hiding place, of course, was a storage seal he had on the inside of his jacket. He had one on either side of the jacket, he usually used them for extra kunai and shuriken but after hearing about the scrolls he decided to empty them and use them to store the scrolls instead. He looked at the scroll in his hand for moment, it was an earth scroll. Now all they had to do was find it's counterpart and they'd be home free. He sealed it away quietly and turned to Sasuke and Sakura as they waited for their gate, number 17, to be opened. "Guys, before we go in there I need to tell you about my scroll." Naruto said calmly as he pulled out the second scroll he was carrying.
"What about it senpai?" Sakura asked.
Naruto opened up the scroll to show three seals. "The first seal contains medical supplies and soldier pills, stuff like that, the middle one, water, the last one contains food. I doubt we'll really need the last one, we should be able to get any food we need in the forest. I'm showing these now just in case I get knocked out or something." He rolled the scroll up and replaced it in the holster. "These things aren't much use if you don't know they're there." He finished with a grin.
He received a confident, "Got it," from Sakura and a simple 'Hn' from Sasuke. The three then turned back to the locked gate.
"So, Sakura-chan, which teams would be best to go after?" Naruto asked with a smile, not bothering to look at her.
Sakura smiled as well, not looking at him either. "There are a few teams, first..." Sakura continued as she recounted all the teams she had pegged as the 'easy ones'. Sasuke just looked surprised at the fact that the two of them had some kind of plan and that Sakura was the one who gathered the info.
"You know who our target is." Dosu stated as he stared at the gate they were to enter through, number 20.
"Yeah, yeah, the Uchiha kid, we know." Zaku replied in a bored tone as he also watched the gate, Kin standing slightly behind him in silence.
"Alright! We rock at survival! There's no way we can fail this." Kiba exclaimed as he, Shino and Hinata waited for their gate to open, number 16.
"H-hai, we will make it through this test!" Hinata stated trying to control her stutter as much as possible. Naruto had told not to underestimate herself and she wasn't going to.
Kiba looked at her with slight surprise and then broke back into a smile. "Yeah! That's the spirit Hinata-chan!" He exclaimed just the same as he had before. Shino merely gave a slight nod of approval at his female teammate's new-found confidence, however small it may be.
"This test is so troublesome. We could die at anytime in there and it's not like there are a lot of weak teams we can take advantage of." Shikamaru stated lazily as he held his hands behind his head while Chouji quietly went through all the food he had brought with him.
"We can do this! I'm gonna show that pink-haired billboard-brow that I'm just as good as she is!" Ino exclaimed as she clenched her fists in anticipation for their gate, number 27, to open.
Kankuro and Temari stood a couple of feet away from Gaara as they waited for their gate to open, number 6. Each had a worried look on their face. 'Not only do I have to deal with the punks on the other teams but I have to be with Gaara and he might try to kill me! Then again, he's been kind of obsessed with that kid that nearly took my head.' Kankuro thought as he rubbed his neck from the memory.
Three grass nin chuckled lightly as they waited for their gate, number 15, to open. "We'll go after the rookies first, they'll be easy prey." The short and slightly pudgy nin stated from beneath his wide straw hat. He wore a dark cloak with a thick rope like collar over the top half of his body and black pants and black sandals.
"We'll get their scroll from them in no time. Anything goes right?" The female grass nin asked as she looked over to her teammate. She was wearing the same straw hat but with a small tag hanging off the back end. She wore the same black sandals and pants, a cream coloured long tunic that went down past her knees covering her torso. Underneath the tunic was a long sleeved undershirt. Around her waist she wore a large purple rope that was knotted behind her back in an elaborate way. She wore the Kusa hitai-ite around her forehead that held back her long dark hair.
The third member remained silent as he awaited the opening of the gate. He had the same straw hat as the other two but chose to let it hang around his neck. He wore the same black sandals and pants as the other two but with a mesh undershirt and black gi top with the hem decorated in white that was slightly open. He also wore a rope around his waste, except it was white and had a less elaborate knot behind his back. Unlike the other two as well, he had some sort of wooden mask hiding his face and black fingerless gloves on his hands.
There wasn't much time left now, a few minutes and the gates would open. All the assistant proctors unlocked the gates they were stationed at and watched the second hand on all their synchronized watches. The seconds went by at an almost agonizingly slow pace, until. "Alright, heads up maggots! The second part of the chunin exams has begun!" Anko shouted from her spot next to the booth that handed out all the scrolls.
The assistant proctors pushed open all the gates at once and the various teams entered in their own manner. Some leapt straight into the trees, others dashed for the tree line while others merely walked in. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, chose to leap into the trees merely watching out for any of the teams Sakura had described. If they spotted any of them, they would use a plan that all three came up with.
The grass nins on the other hand dashed into the tree line. "You remember who we're looking for?" The female grass nin asked her teammates.
"Yeah! Pinky, Blondie and Emo-kid." The shorter teammate replied.
Hinata, Kiba and Shino dropped into clearing when they got far enough into the forest. "Alright Hinata, you know what we're looking for." Kiba exclaimed.
"H-hai." Hinata replied as she had already started activating her Byakugan without the use of the family hand-seal. It activated slower and took more chakra but she did it.
"Nice one Hinata! No hand-seal this time!" Kiba exclaimed as Akamaru yipped in approval.
Sasuke stopped when he noticed Naruto had stopped on the branch in front of him. "What's the hold up Dobe?" He asked in annoyance.
"Well, I just thought now would be a good time to actually look for another team. There's a stream down there we can relax next to while I send out some clones, they find anything and we can just head out." Naruto explained as he turned to face Sasuke and Sakura.
Sasuke wanted to object, to go against the blondes plan but he just couldn't find a big enough flaw in it to have a plausible argument. "Fine, I guess that'll do." Sasuke replied as he leapt down to the streams edge. The three of them found a few large roots they could use as cover and Naruto went about creating some shadow clones.
As Naruto was about to perform the jutsu he noticed Sasuke suddenly look at him very intently. He turned back and dropped the hand seal. "Don't bother trying to copy the jutsu Sasuke. You don't have enough chakra to use it like I do." Naruto stated as he turned around and looked Sasuke in the eye with a grin. "But if you want, I have got some other clone techniques that you could use. Only problem with those is they can't send info back to you, they just make a clone to follow your orders."
"Cht, whatever, Dobe. Just get some of your clones out there to get us our heaven scroll." Sasuke stated cooly as he looked away from the blond again.
Naruto just shrugged and created the clones, he created roughly 40 or so clones which instantly leapt away from the site. The clones went off in pairs, so one could dispel itself and give away the position of the target to Naruto while the second would keep following the target if they moved. "Now, how about that clone jutsu?" Naruto received a 'Hn' from the Uchiha. "Okay, look this way and activate your sharingan. This is the Daichi Bunshin no Jutsu. The clones aren't as fast as shadow or water clones but they can take a lickin' and keep on kickin'!" Naruto exclaimed as he went through the hand-seals. As soon as he finished a mound of dirt rose from the floor and took his shape, even looking like him thanks to a simple henge.
Sasuke had watched intently with his sharingan and went through the hand-seals when Naruto was done. Soon enough there was another Sasuke in the area. "Hn, simple, my clone's even better than yours." Sasuke said cockily.
"Oh really, lets see which ones stronger then! Attack the clone!" Naruto ordered his clone, pointing at the Sasuke earth clone. To which Sasuke gave the same order to his clone. The two started walking to each other and then taking a fighting stance. Naruto moved over to sit next to Sakura so he would be comfortable to watch the show and wait for the info from his clones.
Kiba, Hinata and Shino had just procured the scroll they needed thanks to the ingenious use of giant leeches to weaken their opponents and then trap them in a net. "Man! That was so easy, now all we have to do is head for the tower and we're done!" Kiba exclaimed as he looked at their two scrolls, Akamaru traveling silently on his head.
"Keep the scrolls hidden and keep quiet Kiba! If you keep being that loud we'll lose those two scrolls." Shino ordered in his monotone to the dog user, who instantly placed the two scrolls in his jacket. "I also feel that I should inform the two of you that we are being watched." Shino turned and pointed to a tree branch. "From over there." He finished as his teammates looked over to where he had specified.
The two were on high alert instantly as they heard some leaves rustling. Akamaru growled lightly at the area until Hinata gasped. Kiba looked over and saw that she had a slight blush and her Byakugan active. "Should have known that Shino would find us easily." Naruto's voice said from the branches as not one but two Narutos appeared.
"Naruto and... Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed as he looked between the two.
"We're not the real ones," one clone started, "We're just clones looking for some weaker teams to nab a scroll from." The other finished. "What about you guys? Did you get the scroll you need already?"
"H-hai, w-we procured a scroll f-from another team from A-Ame." Hinata stuttered out as she looked from one clone to the other the blush on her face remaining in place.
"Are you going to try and take the scroll you need from us?" Shino asked in a monotone as he looked blankly at the two.
"Wha? No! I already said that I want all of us to get through these exams together as far as possible. The real one's gonna be happy to hear that you guys have the scroll you need, plus your team isn't weak so it would be too much trouble to try and get the scroll from the three of you." One clone explained.
"Either way, we'll just tell the boss about your luck and leave you guys be, see ya!" The other clone told them just before they both went up in smoke.
"That was... weird." Kiba stated almost quietly.
"There is no need to continue pondering about them we need to get to the tower." Shino stated as he started walking away.
"Yeah, yeah, come on Hinata, before Mr. Personality leaves us in the dust." Kiba said as he followed.
Kiba's statement caused Hinata to break from her daydreaming of being with two Narutos. "H-hai! I'm coming K-Kiba-kun." She called as she jogged lightly to catch up faster.
Naruto lifted his head slightly and got a far away look in his eye until he broke into a grin and looked back at the earth clone fight happening in front of him. 'So, they already have a scroll. I wonder if all Ame nin are easy to beat? I guess I'll find out if the clones find some.' He thought as he watched his clone dodge another attack and land two of it's own.
"Senpai, what happened just now? You went weird for a second." Sakura asked, her voice showing a slight concern.
He looked over quickly and turned back to the fight. "It's nothing Sakura-chan, a couple of my clones just dispelled themselves and gave me some interesting information. Nothing to worry about." He replied cheerily. His reply caused Sakura to smile and turn back to the fight herself.
Naruto's clones were searching almost everywhere. Some had found teams that were on the move so they tracked them while others had found nothing and dispelled themselves because they were moving too far away to be useful. They'd been searching for good few hours and team 7 had so far been relaxing and one even taking a nap once the earth clone fight was over.
The nap didn't last long as Sakura was woken up by Naruto just touching her on the shoulder in a way that told her to be alert. "Are there bugs on me or something Naruto-kun?" Sakura's question being a cryptic one meaning, 'Are there enemies about and where are they?'.
"Yeah, you've got some spiders in your hair, Sakura-chan." Naruto's answer was equally as cryptic, meaning, 'Yeah, they're hanging on to the trees above us.'
Sasuke had already noticed the ninja above them and was currently just waiting and watching, his hand resting on a shuriken holder. Making sure his teammates weren't attacked while conversing. Sakura, after receiving the info she needed to know, sat up and put a hand through her hair while the other hand went to her senbon and kunai holster. Naruto's hands were nearing each other ready to form a hand-seal.
The three were waiting until they all knew exactly where their targets were, the sign to go came when Sakura dropped her hand from her hair threw a pair of kunai directly upward. Sakura's kunai were followed closely by shuriken launched by Sasuke. "SCATTER!" Came the surprised voice of one of the nins that were shadowing them.
Naruto leapt to his feet, shouting, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He created five clones that instantly drew their broadswords and took up defensive positions around Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. "Sasuke, you see where they went?" The real Naruto asked as he took two kunai from his hidden holsters and held one in each hand, the one in his left reversed to point downward, ready to fight.
"I know where two went but I missed the third. There's one to your left and another to my right." Sasuke informed his teammates.
"Oooooh, you guys are good. It'll make taking your scroll even better." A disembodied voice called from the forest.
"You got that right. How do you want to do this? Quick and easy? Or do you wanna have some fun?" Another voice called from Naruto's left.
"I have an idea, how about the three of you come out here and stop playing games? My teammate may have missed one of you but I've got a pretty good 'feeling' about where you are... and it looks like you've got company." Naruto called out into the forest.
"What are you talking-HUH!" Came a surprised cry.
"Make one wrong move and I'll slit your throat." Sasuke's voice stated from the trees. "Now tell your teammates to come out of hiding and give my teammates your scroll."
"Nice one Teme, I wondered if you'd take that opportunity to sneak off." Naruto announced as the Sasuke next to him collapsed into dirt and rocks.
Chuckling was heard from the same area Sasuke's voice had come from. "What's so funny?" Sasuke growled to the nin he had snuck up on. From the hitai-ite on the nins forehead he could tell he was a ninja from Kusa. The nin wore some dark green sandals and pants that were wrapped off with some bandages at the ends. He had some kind of straw plates covering his shoulders and thighs and a light green shirt covering his torso. His hands and forearms were covered in the same straw plates with some kind of daggers on the underside of each forearm, he also had a utility pouch on his left hip. His head was bald except for the small braid coming from the back of his head.
"You, you really think it's that easy to capture me? A kunai to the throat how original." The nin told Sasuke before he collapsed into a pile of grass.
"Bunshin!?" Sasuke exclaimed before he was struck from behind and flew towards Naruto and Sakura's position. He landed and rolled a few feet away from the formation of Naruto clones as two of them ran out to defend him.
"You okay Teme?" Naruto called from within the circle of clones.
"Fine, Dobe." Sasuke muttered as he got up and drew a kunai.
"So, these guys have some skill, huh?" Naruto asked again as he scanned the area, trying to keep up with the enemies movements.
"You better believe it blondie." Came a feminine voice.
"They're from Kusa, the one I was up against used some kind of grass bunshin to fool me." Sasuke informed his teammates.
"Got it, grass bunshin." Naruto said back as he continued to follow their movements. "Okay this is enough playing around, Sakura-chan, are you ready?" He asked turning to the pink haired kunoichi.
"Hai!" Came Sakura's reply as she held up a handful of senbon and a handful of shuriken.
"Alright, GO!" Naruto called out, his clones immediately dashed into the trees and headed for their targets. Half a second after the clones made it to the trees a few pops of them being dispelled were heard and a barrage of what seemed to be blades of grass came at them from all directions. Naruto and Sakura flew in opposite directions to avoid the projectiles. Naruto ran up a tree headed for one of the grass nins. He reached the top and came face to face with the kunoichi of the team from Kusa. She wasn't much older than him, she was wearing basically the same as the other grass nin except she had the grass plates covering her chest as well as her shoulders and thighs. Her kunai holsters were on her thighs, a large pouch held on to her belt over backside and she had her dark green hair tied back in a ponytail.
"So I get blondie?" She said as she took the blade of grass she'd been chewing out of her mouth. She chuckled lightly and threw the blade of grass at him.
Naruto saw the attack coming and simply tilted his head to the side allowing the projectile to pass by his head harmlessly. "Yup! You got me!" He announced as he dropped into a low stance and held the kunai out in front of him.
Sakura had also run up a tree when she dodged the initial attack. She wasn't greeted in as friendly a way as Naruto, as soon as she reached the branch the Kusa nin was on, she was on the defensive. This Kusa nin wore basically the same as the others except he had no straw plates covering his shoulders just his thighs. He had the same hairstyle as the other male nin except his braid was shorter and the top of his head was covered in bandages. In place of the straw plates it appeared he had grass growing on his shoulders and along his back.
The strange thing is, he kept plucking blades of grass from his back and throwing them at Sakura, she would either dodge or deflect the hits but wherever they hit they would pierce, deeply. The grass would seem to grow back as soon as he plucked it and sometimes would grow larger. "What the hell are you? A moving plant pot?" Sakura screeched as she hurled a handful of shuriken only for them to be deflected by more grass projectiles.
"No, it's a Kekkei Genkai." The Kusa nin told her in a monotone.
"Not much of a talker I see." Sakura muttered as she dodged another barrage of grass projectiles.
Sasuke was still standing where he'd been knocked to. He had no need to dodge the barrage as he had been well clear of the target area. He turned quickly and deflected some kunai with his own. "So I'm stuck with you again, huh?" Sasuke stated as he looked at his attacker.
"Yep, Pinky got pretty unlucky with my friend but the one with the swords got it easy with our kunoichi." The Kusa nin stated as he sized up Sasuke while slowly stepping around him.
"How'd you figure that?" Sasuke asked as he too sized up his opponent and took out another kunai.
"Cause the kunoichi of our team likes to end things quickly and painlessly, while my friend likes to use his Kekkei Genkai to the fullest and torture his opponent." The Kusa nin told him as he drew one of the daggers from the underside of his forearm.
"What Kekkei Genkai would that be?" Sasuke asked, his interest actually piqued by this bit of information.
"His clan can grow a type of grass from their backs and shoulders. It's a little different from normal grass though. The molecular structure is set up in such a way that it becomes stronger than steel, not to mention the chakra that's infused in it when they grow it rapidly. Did I mention they can also control the size of the grass blades when they grow them forcefully? 'Cause that's how I came across my daggers here." The nin stated as he held out his drawn dagger.
Sasuke looked at the dagger only for a moment and saw that it was indeed an overgrown blade of grass that had been bound at the bottom so it could be wielded. 'The Dobe had better taught Sakura well.' He thought before he activated his sharingan and made the first move.
Sakura wasn't in a good mood. She'd used up all her heavy projectiles, shuriken and kunai, all she had left were her senbon and those wouldn't be very helpful against this guy. She would only use senbon when her opponent was disarmed and exhausted or in conjunction with heavier projectiles in the hopes that the heavier ones would distract the target from the smaller senbon. Not only had she run out but she'd been hit a couple of times as well. They weren't life threatening in anyway, but they stung like a bitch. 'I can't hit him with ranged attacks thanks to all that grass of his but maybe I would have a better chance up close. Then again he'd have a better chance at hitting me with those grass weapons of his. What can I do!?' She thought desperately as she dodged another bunch of thrown grass.
The grass laden nin just watched his prey with uninterested eyes. 'Maybe I should stop toying and start playing. I'm starting to get bored.' He thought as he doubled the number of grass projectiles he threw and started to make them larger.
Naruto stood over the now paralyzed form of his opponent. "That was easier than I thought it would be." He stated to himself as he squatted over his opponent and looked through the pouch that had been held behind her back.
It was a quick fight, she had dashed at him and attempted to end it quickly with a kunai to the throat. She thought she had him since she had also used some kind of ninjutsu that caused some vines to grow from the tree and hold him. Imagine her surprise when the Naruto she attacked puffed out of existence and she was knocked out by a swift chop to the neck.
When she went out cold the ninjutsu dropped and it was shown the 'vines' were actually wires that had been made to look like vines with the jutsu. Naruto placed a strong paralysis seal on her and that was that.
"Damn!" Naruto muttered to himself as he retracted a hand from the pouch. 'No scroll, that means one of the others has it or... she's hidden it somewhere else on her 'person'. I'll leave that for Sakura to check. Speaking of which, I wonder how she and the Teme are doing?' He thought as he created a clone that hefted the kunoichi on its shoulder and followed it's creator away from the scene.
Sasuke's sharingan made dodging his opponents strikes the easiest thing in the world. For starters his opponents speed was nothing compared to Rock Lee and second, even a none sharingan user could see the attacks coming from a mile away, 'Even the Dobe could dodge these attacks.' He thought as he dodged to the left of a stab.
Duck under a horizontal slash, back flip from an upward slash and dodge right from another stab. "Come on stay still, afraid to get cut?" The Kusa nin jeered. This caused Sasuke to get a little pissed and a little cocky. The Kusa nin went for another horizontal slash, instead of trying to dodge this time, Sasuke just brought up his kunai to block.
He had to act fast when the dagger hit because it started to shred through his kunai and almost cut his arm off. He flipped away before it connected. 'This guys daggers are lethal! They cut through my kunai like they were butter!' Sasuke thought as he threw away a kunai that had half the blade cut off.
"Guess you found out about the incredible sharpness of these things, huh? Then again they're not just sharp, if you've ever seen a blade of grass close up, you'd see the edges are serrated. These things aren't any different!" The Kusa nin announced as he held up both of the green daggers. He'd drawn the second a few seconds into the fight.
Sasuke just glared at his opponent as he drew another kunai, his mind was running through all kinds of plans. He would have kept on going through all those plans had he not remembered a small piece of information the nin had given him. 'The blades, they may be stronger than steel but they're still organic matter.' He thought suddenly as he stared at the daggers before the Kusa nin lunged at him.
Sakura was also coming to this conclusion as she was trying to defeat her opponent. 'Just like senpai said, think about your jutsus, everything you can do and what you know of the situation and an idea will come to you.' She thought as she dodged more of the grass projectiles by diving behind a tree. She had dropped her weights, favoring for the extra speed to dodge the weapons.
'How'd she get faster like that? A few seconds ago she could barely dodge my throws now she dancing around like they're going in slow motion.' The Kusa nin thought, frustrated at his prey.
'That grass on his back may be strong but because of that it has less moisture in it. That should make it easier to burn. All I have to do is get a clear shot with a Katon or an explosive tag and his back will go up in flames.' She thought as she prepared to do hand-seals.
'The problem is how can I get clear shot if he's always moving?' Sasuke thought as he dodged another swipe of his opponents daggers.
"Hold still and I promise to make this quick and painless, hell, if you give me your scroll we might just let you go alive!" The Kusa nin yelled as he kept up his dagger swipes.
"If you think I'll just give you our scroll then you've got another thing coming!" Sasuke yelled as he ducked under a swipe and went for a leg sweep which hit it's mark. The Kusa nin fell to the side and plunged his daggers into the ground to avoid eating dirt. Sasuke quickly followed up with kick to the downed ninja's gut sending him back a few feet and leaving the daggers in the ground. "Looks like I have my opening." Sasuke stated as he stored his kunai, picked the two daggers from the dirt and threw them up in the air. He sped through eight hand-seals and finished on the Tora hand-seal, shouting, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He took in a deep breath and blew out a large volume of flames, engulfing the air-born grass daggers and incinerating them.
"That jutsu! It's supposed to take a lot a chakra! Too much chakra that a rookie like you should have!" The Kusa nin gasped as he got on his knees, holding his stomach.
He looked back at the Kusa nin, when he stopped spewing flames, his sharingan blazing. He started walking towards the downed Kusa nin as he spoke. "I guess I should tell you. I'm no ordinary rookie, I'm Uchiha Sasuke and you lost the moment you stepped into this fight!" Sasuke informed the nin as he locked eyes with him.
"Uchiha!? Of the sharingan!? Kuso! Midori! Hideki! Regroup, we're retrea-" The nin shouted before Sasuke caught up to him and slammed a foot in the side of his head, knocking him out.
"I don't think so. You guys may have the scroll we need and I'm not giving that up. I need to get through this for more power." Sasuke told the unconscious Kusa nin. He was about to search the nins clothes before a clapping sound reverberated from behind him. He flicked out a kunai and spun around to come face to face with... two Narutos!
"Nice work Teme! I was wondering if I was gonna have to step in on that one. You did good!" One Naruto announced.
Sasuke just lowered his head with a smirk as he stored his kunai again. "Hn. Of course, I'm surprised you got through though, Dobe." He replied in a superior tone.
"Are you kidding me? She went straight for the kill! No actual planning or tiring down, just straight for the kill! She didn't even use that grass bunshin you mentioned! Easy take down." Naruto replied back as he pointed a thumb at the prone Kusa kunoichi. "You hear anything with Sakura's fight?" He asked as he walked toward Sasuke's fallen opponent.
"No, we better go look for her. This guy told me her opponent has a Kekkei Genkai. She might need help." As soon as the last word left Sasuke's mouth, a small explosion came from their right and a Kusa nin with flames covering his back landed a few feet from them, screaming. Sakura soon showed up right behind him throwing a pair of senbon into his neck putting him in the near-death state. The flames died down almost immediately as Sakura looked away from the downed nin.
Sasuke stared, open-mouthed, at Sakura now. "What?" She asked with her own questioning stare and blush, seeing as she had all his attention.
A few seconds earlier...
'Okay, it's time.' Sakura thought as she flew through five hand-seals finishing on a Tori hand-seal and leapt from behind the tree.
"Got you." The Kusa nin stated as he took aim and threw another barrage of the grass from his back at her.
"No, got you! Futon: Gorikki Kaze no Jutsu! (Strong Wind Jutsu)" Sakura yelled before she took a deep breath and blew out a raging wind that blew the grass off course and caused the Kusa nin to stumble back and fall off the branch. That was the moment Sakura needed, the Kusa nin's back was shown to her as he was falling off the branch. She flew through a set of three hand-seals, ending on Tora hand-seal this time, and shouted out, "Katon: Bakudan! (Exploding Shot)" She took in another large breath and blew out again. This time a single fireball erupted from her mouth and impacted with the Kusa nin's back, causing a small explosion and engulfing the nin's back in flames.
"Arhg! You bitch!" The Kusa nin screamed as he flew toward the clearing where Sakura and her team had originated. She leapt off the branch she was standing on, trying to catch up with the flying nin. Which she did when he had landed a few feet from her teammates. She flicked a pair of senbon at the nins neck and put him in the near-death state.
Sakura looked up from her opponent and the flames died down. She had looked up because she felt someone looking at her. She blushed when she looked up because it was Sasuke that was looking at her. "What?" She asked innocently. Almost instantly after her question, she fainted.
Sakura's eyes fluttered open. "Hey there Sakura-chan! Good to see you're awake. Here, you better have one of these. Looks like you used some jutsu that took a lot of chakra." Naruto said as he held out a soldier pill.
Sakura took the soldier pill with her mouth since her arms felt like dead weights. She chewed it slowly and swallowed just as slowly. "Arigatou, Senpai." Sakura said as she could feel energy rushing back into her limbs.
"No problem, I found your weights for you, by the way. You don't have to put them back on yet though, I've kept em in my scroll until you're back to your best." Naruto told her as he patted the scroll that was behind his back. Sakura just nodded as she got up from the tree she was propped up on and stretched her arms. "I also picked up some of the kunai and shuriken you used against that guy. I couldn't find all of them and some were trashed. I patched up the cuts you got the best I could. You know me, no use in medical jutsu or treatment." He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.
Sakura giggled lightly. "Yeah, I know, I'll heal myself later. Did you get the scroll from them?" She asked as she received the kunai and shuriken and started storing them back in the various holsters.
"No, me and Sasuke checked the two guys but we couldn't find anything. I think the kunoichi of their team has it. We waited until you woke up so you could search her?" Naruto asked with a sheepish grin.
"You better have waited! After finding out about your Oiroke Jutsu I'm starting to think you're a pervert!" Sakura growled as she held an accusing finger toward Naruto.
"I am not a pervert! I only used that jutsu once to embarrass a pervert!" Naruto whimpered back as he waved his hands in front of him defensively.
"Yeah, but you created it. Forget it, I don't have the energy right now. Where are they?" Sakura asked tiredly.
Naruto just gestured for her to follow and soon enough they were in another small clearing. The three Kusa genin were lade out next to each other on the ground. The kunoichi known as Midori was awake but didn't move one inch. Next to her was the one that had used the daggers, he was also awake but not moving. Lastly was the one with the Kekkei Genkai, known as Hideki, he was still unconscious and was laying on his stomach since he had the burns on his back. Sasuke was leaning against a tree trunk as he watched over the three.
Sakura walked over to the unmoving kunoichi and knelt down when she reached her. "Hey there, I'm gonna be searching you for your scroll in a few minutes. My teammates have already searched your teammates and found nothing, that leaves you. If you tell me where you're hiding the scroll, we might leave you with weapons to defend yourselves with and release one of you from the paralysis seal affecting you right now. That way you could defend the other two until the seals on them wear off. So, are you gonna tell me? Or am I gonna have to search you and then we leave the three of you laying here helplessly, to be eaten by any animal that might come along?" Sakura asked sweetly, too sweetly for such a question.
The Kusa kunoichi had a slightly shocked and fearful look in her eyes when she replied. "You wouldn't! You're bluffing!"
"Try us." Naruto stated coldly.
"Sakura stop messing about and just search her already! There's a bush over there if you need to take her clothes off." Sasuke stated just as coldly as he pointed to a bush a few feet away.
"Okay, okay! I'll tell you! But could we go over to the bushes please, you're gonna have to take some of my clothes of to get it." The captured kunoichi almost yelled out in a pleading tone.
Sakura smiled a little as she addressed Midori again. "Glad to hear it." She said just before she lifted Midori over her shoulder and carried her over to the aforementioned bushes.
The only thing going through Naruto and Sasuke's minds at that time was, 'I hope their scroll is the one we need.'
Well what did you think? Were the fight scenes too quick and small or were they okay? And I'm not sure but maybe I should bump this fic up to M rating thanks to that 'Adult' situation at the start there.