Hello Everyone! Thanks to the people who reviewed! You guys are jwust so wonderful!
The Reviewy Person - Thanks SO MUCH! Yup! And I'm not leaving it in a dark cupboard, partly thanks to you! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
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To you three dudes, again- you rwocks!
Okay- now on with what we're all waiting for! The next chappie! Enjoy, and hopefully
Hachinoko, you like my humor! XD (even if it is lame…)
Shipwreck Chapter 2:
The Island
Perfect blue sky… White fluffy clouds in the most interesting shapes… A gentle breeze… Warm air… Soft sand… Peace and silence… Yes. This was definitely heaven. Or at least something near to it at least… Paradise maybe-
"SHIKAMARU!"
Or maybe not. Nara Shikamaru gazed at the source of the voice. Ino. Of course. Who else would ruin his moments of bliss? Choosing unwisely to ignore his fellow shinobi, Nara ignored the voice and looked back to the sky. Ooo… There was one that looked like a fluffy cat… And there was another that-
"SHIKAMARU! SHIKAMARU!"
The voice called again, and repeated, growing in volume. But Shikamaru decided to use his genius to block out the noise and keep on with his favorite habit- watching clouds. It was so troublesome to do anything else… And hey, look at that cloud…
"SHIKA-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAARU!"
This time the voice cut through his sound barriers, nearly making his ear drums shatter. The voice from what he could tell was annoyed, angry, and other typical Ino characteristics. A second later, Yamanako Ino was glowering over her lazy team mate, a vein pulsing on her forehead. That definitely wasn't positive behavior…
"Get off your lazy butt! I called seven times! Seven! And you didn't even come! What kind of ninja are you! This isn't a beach resort you know!" The blonde continued her anger growing as she continued to rant, "We've been shipwrecked! SHIPWRECKED! And all my bags and make up are on the ship!"
"Fortunately…" muttered Shikamaru, trying to shift his body so that Ino wasn't blocking his view of the clouds overhead.
"Are you even listening to me? We've been shipwrecked! Where is everyone! Where are they! Oh wait… No… Don't tell me I'm stuck with you!"
The kunoichi continued to shriek loudly and rant hysterically. Shikamaru ignored her. What was up with her? Yeah, they were shipwrecked- but that could be taken as a good thing as the environment was perfect to watch clouds. A few moments later, the shinobi found himself being dragged painfully by his ear across the beach.
"Oi! Oi! What do you think you're doing?" he asked, getting annoyed.
"Didn't you hear me!" she replied angrily, "You're going to help me find the others no matter what! I am not going to be stuck here a lone with someone like you! Anyone else but you! Why! Why is fate so cruel!"
"Don't you think you're… over reacting?" he replied.
"No! I. Am. So. Not. Overreacting!" The sound waves blasted loudly and Shikamaru swore that the others would for sure hear it. Or at least anyone at all on the island…
"Besides… What's one with being with me? I am, after all, a genius."
Even from his discomfortable position, the Chuunin managed a smirk at Ino.
"You're also a lazy bum!" she retorted, "Get up will you? Or do I have to yank your ear off?"
Grumbling and muttering to himself, the shinobi got up and immediately shoved his hands into his pockets and slouched. So troublesome…
"Where are we going anyway…?"
"To the other parts of the beach… People must have at least been washed up right?"
"Huh… Whatever."
"Oi! Look at your hair! It's so messy! Can you at least neaten up?" Ino chided, "At least re tie your hair! I don't want to be seen walking with a monster!"
"Seen by who?" but he complied with her wishes anyway, not pondering on why he even was doing what she was saying. Troublesome woman.
The two walked along, Ino scanning the area for teammates, Shikamaru fixing his hair. As the shinobi finished, he noticed that the blond kunoichi had stopped dead in her tracks… As he followed her gaze… Well… He was at a loss for words.
A shinobi clad in green spandex was running on the ocean water, carrying what it looked to be supplies from the ship… Running on water and screaming about youth… That was even worse then Ino… What was his name? Rock Lee?
"That is so wrong…" Ino's face had contorted into a '0.o' type of face, "Shikamaru- I made a mistake earlier about not wanting to be stuck with you. I wouldn't mind being stuck with you any day."
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There were exactly 386 types of ramen that Uzamaki Naruto had tasted and sampled. Sadly none of those 386 types of ramen were on an island. You would never find instant ramen, let alone ramen on a deserted island like this. You probably wouldn't even find normal food… And who knew how long he'd be stuck here? Torture- pure torture. How could he suffer like this?
And besides that, he was turning into some time of lunatic… For the past few hours, the blonde shinobi had been wandering dazed into the jungle, trying to comprehend that he had actually been shipwrecked. He may have been unlucky… But not this unlucky! How did this happen to him…
Ramen… How badly did he want to go home and eat ramen with Iruka sensei with Iruka sensei treating him to Ramen…
"Hey!"
Naruto spun around, grabbing his kunai as he did so and snapping out of his thoughts.
"Ah. It's only you…"
Chouji. The guy that was really chubby and always seemed to have a bag of potato chips with him…Food. Chouji would definitely have some food…right?
"Hey Chouji…"
"Hey Naruto…"
Both ninjas looked sheepishly at each other before uttering the exact same sentence, "Do you have some food?"
They then both made the same, "…" which was followed by a,"No."
Naruto cursed, "Don't you always have food? Why don't you have food? You're meant to have food!"
"Oi! Why don't I ask you why you don't have food, "Chouji retorted, before looking very mournful, "All my food supplies currently in the ship… Which is underwater… Why me!"
"Yeah…Why us…" repeated Naruto just as mournfully, "Hey… Have you seen the others…?"
"Maybe they have some food…heh heh heh…"
"No… I've been looking for them… I thought I heard Ino screaming a while ago…?"
"Oh- so that's who it was…"
Naruto cringed with the memory, the sound waves from earlier that morning had pummeled very painfully into his ears. He was still recovering from it.
"She screeched something about not overreacting right?" Chouji asked, after Naruto responded with a nod, "Yeah… Definitely Ino. I wonder who she was screaming at…She probably killed the poor guy with the volume of her voice…"
Naruto slapped a mosquito that landed on his neck. He was still wet from being washed up from the shipwreck and those damned bugs… They were everywhere and he had red marks as evidence from when they had made a meal out of some of his blood. Then, he was hungry -starving actually. This was just perfect wasn't it?
"I'm going back to the beach… Wanna go? These damned bugs are killing me…"
"Idiot. Bugs can't kill you… The worst they can do is land on you… Either that or you're pretty weak to get all those red marks from them- I don't have any…"
"The bugs can't get your blood 'cause you're so thick skinned…" muttered Naruto.
Fortunately Chouji didn't hear Naruto, "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
The two, set off towards the beach, trekking slowly through the dense jungle. Chouji seemed to lag behind, Naruto sweating heavily from the heat. Naruto shook his head as he mused to himself. On an ordinary basis, he hardly ever exchanged words with the food loving ninja.
Now, he found himself traveling next to him, having a conversation. Naruto allowed a small bitter smile to appear for a second on his face before wiping it away. Before, almost everyone but Iruka sensei called him idiot for no reason- or even worse, not talk to him at all and look at him with those cold eyes.
Here he was now; he was respected and even liked by most of the shinobi… Even Sasuke, after being retrieved from Orochimaru had come to respect him. He was no longer the weird blonde boy who was shunned and stupid, but an actual powerful ninja who was one day going to make his mark in the world. Interesting how things turned out.
Naruto smiled again. He was definitely going to reach Hokage status. No matter what.
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"Ruined... All three… Ruined!"
Kankuro swore loudly and punched a conveniently nearby palm tree. All three of his war puppets were ruined! Ruined! It had taken him a long time- a long time to make those puppets and adjust and modify them so that they were absolutely perfect for battle. He had started when he was still a genin and all three had lasted through various battles and attacks… But they seemed unable to withstand the force of the sea.
The war puppets were not all together broken but they were clogged with seaweed and a lot of the wood was broken from crashing into rocks and parts were scattered here and there on the sandy beach. In short, it would take a lot of work to get them back to their normal state. The sand ninja had found them all washed up here… Just his luck.
He had just barely managed to survive the shipwreck yesterday night, and he was still half in shock at what happened. Shipwreck… He was probably going to be scarred for life as this was his first and probably last trip at sea.
Yesterday was the day that Kankuro learned to swim. Yesterday was the day that Kankuro nearly drowned. The ninja was basically doggy paddling to shore after jumping overboard the ship. He was just in time too, for a few minutes later the ship groaned and fully crashed into small nearby rocks.
The sixteen year old made it to the shore of this island and collapsed, too exhausted to do anymore. He couldn't find his siblings and hoped desperately that both were safe. He knew that Temari was sort of skittish around water and Gaara? Well… He just didn't do water.
Sighing, the ninja used some fallen palm leaf fronds to make a crude sack to carry his puppets in. Carefully placing his puppets into the green sack, the brown haired shinobi then heaved the bag over his shoulder and started to walk across the sandy beach.
For the first time that he had been on the island, Kankuro felt the sand tickle his toes and felt a sudden pang of homesickness. Even if his family, or rather his siblings, weren't at home in the Hidden Sand Village… There would always be things he would miss.
He also noticed that he had no sandals or footwear on. That would be a problem. Kankuro swore again but unfortunately there was not conveniently placed palm tree for him to punch. It would be hard on his feet, trekking through the jungle bare footed.
Broken parts from the shipwreck came floating up to shore but they were useless. Just pieces of wood there weren't even of decent quality. Walking on, there were a few minutes of silence before something eventful happened.
A body wrapped up in a huge piece of cloth seemed to lie on the shoreline in a very corpse like manner. Kankuro swallowed. Did he really want to go and investigate? Wait a minute… What were those…? Black things crawling over it! No. Definitely not. Kankuro grimaced and started to walk on. Poor guy… Having his body eaten by savage insects…
Savage insects… Why was that phrase so familiar…? Why was that cloth… so familiar? Turning around, Kankuro decided to study the scene more. Usually Temari would be the one doing this type of work, but she wasn't here. He had only taken quick glance at the body before- it wasn't the type of thing you stared at.
He now noticed a life raft and a set of oars… Life raft… Food supplies… Survival Kits… Double Bonus. The body… No. The insects didn't seem to be eating the body they seemed to be… Sunglasses… The ninja had spotted a pair of dark sunglasses lying further up the beach.
It came to him. That guy who was meant to be his opponent in the Chuunin exams. Kankuro grimaced upon remembering. That ninja had beaten him… Getting attacked by those savage chakra sucking bugs was not a pleasant experience. Was he obliged to help the guy?
The seconds ticked by as the ninja weighed out the good outcomes versus the bad outcomes… He would have another person to watch his back- good. That guy might not be too friendly with him- bad… He did not like those bugs- bad… That guy was strange-bad…
But even at that point of time where there were clearly more bad outcomes then good, Kankuro decided mainly on spur of the moment, and not wanting a death on his conscious to… help the guy.
Swallowing, and putting down his bag, the shinobi walked over to the ninja and gave him a poke. Nothing happened. Two pokes. Nothing. Water…Good old sea water… Nothing- oh wait! Reaction. Aburame Shino had officially woken up. But in a split second, the ninja had retrieved his sunglasses, put them on and was adopting a battle pose.
"… Look… I'm not going to hurt you… We were on the mission as allies before the shipwreck remember?"
"It's good to be prepared." was the guy's cool answer.
Kankuro hated brats. Even if Aburame Shino was a teenager.
"Whatever…"
Kankuro started to heave his bag onto his shoulder and grabbed the survival kit from the life raft. Shino took the rest of the objects from the life raft that could be identified as useful and started walking beside the Jonin, inspecting his injuries and bugs. The pair didn't exchange words. For what could be said? They were probably opposites in most things. But, what they did do in unison and almost perfectly in unison was to stop and stare.
A guy… Was running at incredible speed towards them- he was wearing green spandex… What type of fashion sense did he have? And the bowl cut and eyebrows… Damn- it was him. They just happened to bump into Rock Lee. Why? Why him? The gods if there were any gods were being especially cruel to him today.
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"Good morning Shino-kun! Kankuro-kun!"
Rock Lee beamed happily the two shinobi before him.
"Yeah…" was Kankuro's response while Shino didn't make any response except to nod.
"What are you doing anyway?" The Jonin looked at the various objects in the ninja's arms.
"I'm getting supplies. Who knows how long we'll be stuck here! I must ignite the fire of my youth! YOSH!"
"Well, I'm not going to…" muttered Kankuro and started to walk again, "I have to find my siblings."
The green clad shinobi shook his head and flashed what many called the Good Guy Pose.
"No need Kankuro-kun! I have already found them! In fact, I've found a lot of people!"
Rock Lee grinned. This island was great! It was easy to train here, he'd already run up and down this beach several times! Sadly… He'd be hoping to do around twenty but he'd kept meeting the other shinobi and getting supplies that sadly only seven laps up and down the beach could be achieved. He hadn't started on his daily routine of punches and kicks yet- he was actually worried that his little warm up of running on the beach wasn't enough… And then…
"Gai sensei isn't here…" the words were said mournfully, almost tearfully.
But unfortunately, the words didn't seem to take an effect on his two companions. If anything, they looked slightly pleased.
"Anyhow look!" Lee pointed to two people in the distance.
Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru. They seemed to be staring at him… Lee checked himself- his hair wasn't just about right. No! Shame! Highly mortified and embarrassed, and whipping up a comb and gel bottle that he had salvaged form the wreck, Lee proceeded to spiff up his heir to what it should be.
His fellow ninjas seemed to gag. But Rock Lee took no notice of that- if anything he took it as a good sign. By now, Ino and Shikamaru had come over.
"Ah- have you guys seen anybody? I wonder where Sasuke-kun is!" the blonde beamed happily while trying to ignore Lee spiffing up his hair.
"Have you seen Gaara? Temari?" replied Kankuro- he too was ignoring Lee.
"I've seen everyone!" Lee closed the gel bottle with an enthusiastic snap and chucked his grooming accessories into a coat pocket, "Their on the other side of the beach or in the jungle! They'll be coming now! I'll go find them!"
Nodding, a flashing the rest a smile that went 'ping!', Rock Lee scampered off. This island experience really was quite… enjoyable. Other then the fact that they had been shipwrecked and there was no Gai sensei and Sakura-chan was no where in sight…
Lee nodded and put those troublesome thoughts of his mind. It was going to be great! A great way to power up his burning flames of youth! In fact, he didn't actually see why the others were being so… down hearted.
If anything, very few things could stop Rock Lee from being in his happy and abnormal state of mind. Certainly not shipwrecks, food, or well… anything.
Whee! Golly… That was kind of long! But, congrats for getting through it!
Drop in a review! So that I can actually continue! WHEEHEEHEEHEEE!
Oh… And anyone who reads this story- I'm planning on doing weekly updates. Yup an update every week!
-StarDragon X
(NEXT CHAPTER- RENUNITED)