A/N:
Tadaima!
Wow, look at the last update time, gomen...
I kind of gave up on this fic cause while the plot was good, I felt my writing wasn't improving. I also decided to focus on grad school. Just recently I took a leave of absence and was all focused on my full-time job when I realized how bored I was again. My sister said to me when I complained about this, "Why don't you write anymore? And whatever happened to that Naruto fanfic?"
So here we are.
This fic is definitely AU compared to where the Naruto manga is, however all pre-skip canon is still honored.
I've added a couple original character antagonists for fodder. Some people hate OCs, but without them you're killin' off real characters and personally I hate doing that.
Matsuri, Daichi, and Futaba were actually pictured as academy students in volume 11, chapter 94 of the manga. I know, I know... more characters at this point is bad, but I will try to be descriptive without cutting down pace. (pace? what pace?)
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto will never be mine
Japanese fun: Hayai! - "so fast!"; kusogaki - "dirty brat"; Suge! - "Awesome!"; Anata-tachi - "You guys"
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto will never be mine
Chapter 29 – Hidden Strength
The clouded skies molted with a pale sunlight that crept through to the sodden earth below. Under such a sky, Tenten surveyed the desolate village street she waited on. Dappled shadows and slate colored puddles giving it the appearance of sleepy daybreak even though she knew it to be closer to midday.
"I've been lucky," she thought relieved. The team she had been given for this mission was composed of a rookie genin squad only a year out of the academy. Their jounin sensei, Suzume, had gone as part of the escort to old Sound Country and so their little unit was kept in tact under her command.
Despite the dangers they faced Tenten was pleased with their discipline. In fact, it called to mind thoughts of her own genin team. The nostalgic memories of dealing with her two fiercely competitive teammates and her cracked-pot sensei made her wistful for the moment.
"Ninja die all the time," she scolded herself, yet the loss of Gai, even after two years still left an emptiness. Even now her eyes began to sting at the edges as there were tears left to spent.
"Tenten-sensei, I think they're done," came an insistent voice at her shoulder.
Tenten cast her dour mood aside turning to an auburn-haired kunoichi near her in height Matsuri Hana, a girl almost woman who carried herself with a long-limbed grace. Hana .looked very bored as she stifled a yawn in Tenten's face. An arrogant gesture that was all part of her confident persona Tenten had come to realize quickly. This girl was clearly the leader on this team which was a rarity. Kunoichi usually took a supporting role, but it had been obvious from the start that she had the other two in check.
Hana's thick hair was tied in a multiple braids and was held back by her forehead protector. The tawny locks framed her face like a lion's mane and gave her an appearance which matched well with what Tenten had heard about the Matsuri clan's fiery nature. They were famous in Konoha for their taijutsu style, a specialized form of grappling.
The other two members of the team, Mitokado Futaba and Akimichi Daichi appeared stealthily as they crept along the walls back to her position from the other end of the deserted street. The massive green-painted guardwall of Konoha loomed behind them marking the end of the first part of their mission. Motionless and waiting for her signal Tenten gave them a curt nod of approval to return.
"So far so good Shikamaru," Tenten thought. His plan was for each team to cover an area to cover. First laying it with traps, then after the enemy was crushed, snared or blown up, capitalizing on that advantage.
"Making the attacker bleed for each step of ground they gained," she thought with grim satisfaction.
Tenten watched the boys trot back over as she noted their differences again. Daichi's size marked him as an Akimichi with his ninja pouches sprouting candy bars instead of kunai, yet Tenten felt his temperment closer to someone like Kiba than his cousin, the good-natured behemoth she was familiar with. She wondered if it had anything to do with Choji's preference for salty snacks versus his cousin's obvious sweeth tooth. The second boy, Futaba was shorter than both his teammates and sparrow thin. Even in summer he had a long scarf wrapped around his neck and a wool beret on his head. With his freckled cheeks and thick, black-framed glassed Tenten could see a slight resemblance to his grandfather, Homura Mitokado. Homura, a village elder, had once been an elite jounin and a comrade of Sandaime as a genin. If Futaba felt any of the weight from such a legacy none of it showed. The boy had barely said two words so far and appeared distracted if anything else.
"Yosh! Trap laying mission completed! " Tenten said energetically as they walked up, "Good job team!" However, looking at her team turned her cheer to frown, She distinctly noted their lack of response to her 'genki-sensei' demeanor.
Matsuri stretched her arms above her head yawning again in that leonine fashion. The girl's shoulder muscles cracking as her arms dropped back down. "Are we done here, Tenten-sensei?" she asked in bored tone. Daichi tossed a candy wrapper to the breeze and added to Matsuri's complaints. "Are you sure this is A ranked, sensei?" Futaba had taken out a small book that appeared to be a beginners' guide to explosion seals and his response was a mere tap of his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. This too was a gesture of annoyance that she had learned to read long ago from Aburame Shino.
Tenten grit her teeth as she vividly recalled giving Gai this same type of grief not so long ago. This had to be divine punishment.
"Well, we're safe for the moment, so maybe it's time I really play sensei here," she thought.
"Ok, Hana, Daichi, Futaba," she said brusquely, "Why does a ninja lay traps?"
Giving her weird looks the three traded glances with each other before Hana as expected took the lead.
"Simple. Ninja lay traps if they're weaker than their enemies," she answered. "Cause they can't go head on in fight."
Daichi nodded vigorously. "Traps are used by weak ninja to escape," he added while popping the last bit of candy bar in his mouth, "or to set up an ambush, that's it."
Tenten was about to respond when Futaba cleared his throat. "They are an effective strategy for offensive as well as defense," said the young genin who appeared diminutive next to his teammates. "They can decide the outcome of a battle before it even begins."
Hana shifted her stance to loom at him better. "So, you're saying that you being a little bomb freak could beat me in a fight?"
Futaba looked unimpressed. He returned his attention back to the still open book in his hands. "And who asked who for help against Suzume-sensei in the bell test," he retorted mildly.
Daichi started to laugh as Hana snarled her. Clearly Futaba has scored a win and Tenten gained a little more insight into their team dynamics.
"They seem pretty well balanced," she thought.
"You are all somewhat correct, but you missed the point of the question," she told them. "All ninja techniques -ninjustu, taijutsu, genjutsu- are used to complete the mission. For a mission to be successful a ninja must survive." She searched their faces as she continued, "Running head first into a battle is a sure-fire way to getting killed. A ninja rarely knows the strength or jutsu of their opponent beforehand. Using traps can be one way to discover their weaknesses or create openings. And no one is strong enough avoid using traps, not even the Hokage."
Tenten saw the small glimmer of recognition from all of them as she ended, which made her happy. Pursuing her dream to become a jounin she also found the idea of training a rookie genin team equally appealing.
It was past time for them to return to the rendevous point. Tenten turned to pick up the large weapons scroll she always kept with her when a metallic glint teased at the corner of her vision. She flinched backward as a shuriken sunk deep into the ground where she had just stood.
"Scatter," she yelled as she dodged away from the whistle of more approaching projectiles. Looking upward as she moved she spied a foreign ninja standing on a roofledge above them. He was a pale, slender boy who appeared only a little older than her genin charges. The placement of his pouches and the symbol on the forehead protector tied loosely round his neck named him from Hidden Cloud Village.
A wicked smile spread on his face. "Looks like you leaf ninja are still good at running away," he sneered.
Tenten stopped to stare. "I know him," she realized. Draped over the cloud nin's left shoulder was a short cloak of muted grey that glittered with a pattern of forked lightningbolts stitched in metallic thread. His right arm was bare and sleeveless to the shoulder revealing a jagged thunderbolt tattooed in black over his bicep. The hair framing his narrow face seemed the palest blue and was parted down the middle with it's right side gathered into a single braid.
"Arashi Hikaru," Tenten said in recognition as she now noted the long horizontal scratch on his forehead protector, "so now you are an escaped-nin from Hidden Cloud Village working for Orochimaru."
Hikaru grinned at hearing his name. "A proud member of the Arashi clan would never stoop to working for a half-dead snake like him," he said. "Onei-sama is going to finally fry that stupid fox boy who embarrassed us in front of the Raikage."
Tenten could vividly recall her time in Lightning Country where she first met Hikaru. She and Rock Lee had travelled up to the Hidden Village of the Clouds meeting Naruto with Jiraiya for a second chance at the Chuunin exam. There they had faced off against many cloud-nins including Setsuko who had come as close to killing Naruto as Tenten thought anyone could.
"That psychopath Setsuko must have escaped from her village," Tenten thought, "and taken her brother too." The Raikage was also Setsuko's father and had been blind to her vicious nature, until in the Chuunin arena in front of all of Hidden Cloud village she killed two examiners to get at Naruto. The Raikage had no choice left then, but to imprison his daughter.
Hikaru pulled another kunai from the holster on his leg. "My sister should have killed you all a long time ago," he said darkly. "We've come to fix that."
Tenten gave her wrists a quick twist and a kunai slid out each sleeve to her ready hands. She waited for his attack when suddenly, a large fuuma-style shuriken flew up from the side. Tenten turrned to see it's owner, a fiercely smiling Hana, staring up at her target.
"I told you stay back!" Tenten hollered at the girl. Hana's eagerness to fight appeared coupled with a reluctance to obey as she remained in place to watch her strike. Yet, her look of sureness faded. Hikaru gazing down at her calmly remaining motionless as the windmill blade slicing toward him flew away wildly.
Hana jaw dropped. The blade passing wide of its target seemed to be drawn back by some unseen force circling around the cloud nin to whip back at the leaf genin. A boomerang effect that gave it deadly speed.
"Daichi!" Tenten yelled throwing the two kunai in her hands at the oncoming threat. The small knives were deflected away by the heavier weapon causing only a slight wobble in its course, but it was enough. Daiichi charged into street tackling his teammate just out of harm's way as the fuuma shuriken passed over them. With a metallic clang it impacted into the wall behind them sinking deep into the brickface.
Tenten allowed herself a moment of relief at Hana's escape, but grimaced as she knew the skill behind Hikaru's ability. The Arashi clan were heir to a bloodline technique called Denkouhada (Electric Skin) that allowed them to control and increase the electric impulses created naturally in their bodies. Like electric eels they could shock their opponents with just a touch or some like Hikaru could make magnetic fields that could attract and repel iron. It was a deadly counter for a ninja who specialized in using steel weapons. A ninja like herself.
She slipped a kunai with an explosion tag wrapped around its tang out of her hip pouch and threw it deftly at the roofledge on which the cloud nin stood. It exploded as it met it's target causing her opponent to leap down to the street. He landed only a dozen meters away from her as smoking tiles fell in ruin around them.
Hikaru gave her a smug look. "You want me closer," he said reading her intent. "Few are foolish enough to fight an Arashi in close quarters." he brought up a hand that crackled with a static charge for emphasis.
"Close enough so you can't easily use your magnetic tricks," Tenten thought, "and far enough so I can dodge those hands of yours. You're exactly where I want you."
"Let's see about that," she told him with a twist of a smile. A deadly silence descended between the kunoichi and her adversary, a moment in eternity that passed unmeasured. Without warning each was a blur of movement.. Tenten pulled kunai and senbon from hip pouches, holsters, sheaves in her clothes, even hidden in her hair, launching then in a steady stream at Hikaru.
Hikaru's cloak fluttered wide as he swept it out with his covered arm in front of him. Unfurled the cloak's fabric spiraled into a stiffened shield. Tenten's onslaught was repelled each blade falling away with a clash that sounded like scraping metal. Tenten was unphased as she kept the onslaught constant.
Hana, Futaba and Daichi had hid from the fray behind some barrels and watched on in awe. Futaba leaned forward staring with an absorbed intensity. "Twenty-one...thirty-two...forty," he muttered aloud keeping track of their captain's barrage.
"Hayai...," breathed Daichi his eyes also glued to the scene.
Tenten's right hand sprouted her last three kunai while her other hand slipped to a scroll pouch on the front of her jacket. Hikaru sensed the pause and charged forward his cloak still shielding him. Tenten whipped her arm back and forth cross her body releasing her last kunai as her other hand brought the scroll to her lips, her teeth snagging at the scroll's knot.
Hikaru covered the ground between them with blazing speed causing.Hana to catch her breath in alarm. "There was no way for Tenten-sensei to use her scroll in time," the genin thought. The enemy bent low in close and as his cloak came away it revealed his tattooed arm brandishing a large hook-bladed kunai.
"Tenten-sensei!" Hana cried out.
The cloud-nin's face showed confusion as his weapon met only air. Looking up frantically he saw Tenten in the air above him. She had vaulted high over him when he attacked and was piked in the air. As her body opened to layout in its descent she tossed her final kunai at him forcing him to scramble out of harm's way. In her other hand the scroll came loose. Dragging her open palm over it's surface in a smooth, quick motion. Long, black kunai materializing from each smoking seal that she activated with her touch, her fingers deftly catching each hook ring.
Tenten landed on the ground lightly as her spent scroll, blank and white, fluttered away on the breeze. She faced her opponent once again bristling with artillery.
"Suge!" cheered Hana.
"'Suge' she's says," thought Tenten dryly, "it's not 'suge' when he blocks everything." She gripped the kunai in her hands tightly as she hoped her next plan yielded better results.
Hikaru seemed unflustered as he nonchalantly brushed away the dust from his cloak. "I'll admit you're fast," he said, "but those pathetic weapons' attacks of yours won't pierce my Koushi Manto (steel thread cloak). All it takes is for me to charge it with a little of my chakra and the cloth stiffens to steel armor."
He brought a hand up covered with static electricity. "I won't just wait and defend this time," Hikaru menaced as he then dashed toward her.
Tenten looked grim as she leaped high in the air whipping all her kunai at him in a single volley. Hikaru smugly brought his cloak up, its folds once again becoming rigid. He appeared almost indulgent as he waited for her attack to be again repelled.
His eyes widened in shock. The kunai, strangely long and black, punched through his perfect defense. He fell with a cry, twisting his limbs to avoid the sharp blades that targeted his vital points now unguarded. His confidence ran with the blood that trickled in rivulets from his body to the ground. Fear has replaced arrogance as Tenten faced him once again on the ground, her hands sprouting more of that black artillery.
"These are specialized armor-piercing kunai I designed," Tenten said holding up her hand, "each is five times heavier than a regular kunai and the points are made from cast iron, which has a duller edge but holds a point better than steel. " She smiled coldly. "You underestimated me." The cloud-nin remained slient and grit his teeth in frustrated defeat.
Tenten quickly weighed her options now she had a prisoner. "It will be difficult to move with him," she thought, "but if Setsuko is here he could be valuable."
It was then she noticed a thick white mist form at the far end of the street behind her genin trio. It had an unnatural feel to it that aroused her suspicions.
"And it's coming closer," she said aloud as it seemed to lurch forward. "Get to higher ground," she yelled to her team.
Tenten's gaze had shifted away from Hikaru for but an instant. Seeing the opening he struggled to rip loose his pinned cloak from its snares.
"It's over!" she yelled as he tossed a pair of her kunai at him.
A hale of senbon melted out the mist's opaque white. The needles knocking away her attack as their owner lay hidden from sight. More senbon emerged forced Tenten to dodge desperately.
The unnatural fog now seemed to stretch out as if to claw at her in escape. When it got close Tenten felt all her hair begin to stand on end. "It's charged with electricity as well," she thought as she made a quick handspring and another leap backwards. "That means... Hikaru!"
As Tenten landed on the ground, her original opponent was waiting for her.
"Good night, bitch," he sneered while sending up a sharp rising kick at her prone form. Unready to block the blow it caught Tenten under the chin with a vicous force that flipped her in the air.
Her body slapped into the damp earth delivering a wet hot pain that spread under her skin. Not able to move, Tenten felt something yank her hair tightly and she was wrenched to her knees. Cold steel pressed against her throat as she watched the owner of the mist jutsu exit his now fading creation.
"I forgot about your brother," Tenten said stiffly to her captor as she swallowed the blood fillng her mouth.
"Huh," said an amused Hikaru, as he yanked her head back to grin at her. "Oi, Yuki!" he called out. "This woman said she forgot about you!"
Arashi Yukimaru was the identical twin of Hikaru and the designated "older" brother of the pair. Like his sibling, Yukimaru are had a koushi manto (iron thread cloak) drapped over half his body and his hair parted with one side in a braid. Yet, he was a mirror image to his twin with braid and bare limb situated on his left side. This pale nin's hair was a ghostly lavender shade and the black outline of rolling clouds was tattooed along his arm.
"I'm surprised she gave you so much trouble Hikaru,"
"Retreat and regroup," Tenten called out to her genins, "that's an order."
Hana and the boys stood their ground. "Sorry, sensei," said Daichi with a strangely cheerful grin on his face, "We can't do that."
"Agreed," said Futaba adjusting his spectacles with a finger, "Our team's chances for mission success drops to an unacceptable level without your inclusion."
"Yeah," Hana yelled, "whatever four-eyes said. Besides it's time team Suzume showed off some of it's super 'leet skills."
"Looks like you get your wish, little brother," said Yukimaru in a emotionless, cold-blooded manner.
Tenten felt her stomach clench as she saw what the kids were going to attempt. "Anata-tachi! I said..." she began to shout as a vicous tug of her hair cut her off.
"That's enough out of you," said Hikaru gripping her collar. "Just sit back and enjoy the show."
The three genins sprang out from their defensive position to array in front of Yukimaru.
"Alright," Hana said while staring down her foe, "Let's show him Hanafuda combo number thirty-six!"
"Yosh-sha!" hollered a fiery Daichi who brought his hands together to form a seal.
"Hmph," smirked Futaba. "Agreed."
The cloud nin's eyes tightened with anticipation. "Tatakoi" he said.
Futaba was the first to act launching himself high in the air. At the peak of his jump a shower of smoke pellets flew from his hand creating a screen to hide his teammates. A rumbling sound came from the murkiness and soon a large green sphere burst out of the cover.
"Nikudan sensha," thought Tenten, "Choji's technique." It appeared to be in his cousin's arsenal as well.
Yukimaru dodged as Daichi rolled through. "Too slow fatty," he sneered. Whipping out a kunai he appeared ready to counter when a tight grip on his wrist forced his hand to drop it.
Hana had slipped from the smoke up behind Yukimaru in his distraction. Wrapping her arms around his waist in a practiced movement, she caught each of his arms high at the wrist and pulled them crossed over each other in a straight jacket style armbar. Yukimaru grit his teeth as he struggled vainly, quickly noticing the shimmer of chakra around her hands.
"It's useless!" Hana told him. "Nothing can break my grip once I've locked it."
Tenten was impressed. The Matsuri clan members supposedly used chakra to increase the strength of their grappling. It was said that their "locking" techique bound their opponents through the flesh to the very bone beneath. Now Yukimaru had a better chance of ripping his arm out of its socket before getting away for Hana's grasp.
Hana's feet were set wide apart as she hunched down putting her shoulder into the middle of her opponent's back while the charge of chakra glittered briefly at the soles of her feet. "It's over!" she exclaimed. "Hissatsu! Matsuri-nage, Piledriver!" (Finishing Blow! Matsuri grappling technique – Piledriver!)
Yukimaru was whipped backwards, the vulnerable back of his neck on collision course with the hard packed earth.
"She did it," Tenten breathed as they hit down.
"Look closer," a Hikaru's voice whispered into her ear.
Tenten stared hard then her eyes widened as she understood what she saw.
Yukimaru's head hovered a few inches above the ground. His flight to demise had been halted by his own cloak, also a koushi manto. The mantle had charged to iron stiffness even in it crumpled state as it had tossed over his head. Hana wasn't admitting defeat as her entire body and face visibly strained with an effort to overcome the steel cloth.
"Well, well," said Yukimaru mildly, "now that was close. Ok then, let's show you my techniques." The rogue cloud-nin fingertips lit up with static energy. "First we charge the hands, then..." A sharp crackling explosion split the air and Hana cried out rolling away from Yukimaru in a smoky ruin.
"Iie! Hana!" Tenten began to yell as Hikaru shut her up with yet another yank.
The elder Arashi stood up brushing himself off as he looked over to see his handiwork. Hana's eyes were open as she lay there gasping raggedly. Mastering control of the pain she push herself up on hands and knees awkwardly.
"Oh," said Yukimaru with a smile, "aren't you the tough one." He stalked towards her. "I can fix that."
"She can't recover in time," Tenten thought. The chuunin captain wrenched at the hold on her neck, barely feeling the knife edge pressed to near bleeding against her skin.
Yukimaru was almost upon her when five kunai each tied with a sizzling explosion tag encircled Hana.The cloud-nin sprang away to avoid the blast. As tags flared up as small figure jumped into their midst. Futaba had made his move and came to help Hana up as the now obvious fake tags spurted out innocently.
"Tricky," commented Hikaru looking bemused, " Very tricky... I knew you Leafs couldn't sacrifice one of your own.".
Her genins were trying their best, but Tenten knew she had to do something. It was only a matter of time until the twins overwhelmed them. She desperately tried to think of ways to escape her captor. "Hikaru is immature," she thought, "leaving me alive this way, if only I could get to my seal scrolls..." Tenten lost her train of thinking as a warm, wet something dripped slowing on her fingertips. In her anxiety she had bit her lip so hard it bled and was now dripping down her chin.
Daichi, who had ended his meat tank jutsu when Hana was injured, moved to stand with his teammates. The three genin looked grim as their strategy had been foiled.
"What," Yukimaru asked. "No more numbered combo moves? Alright then, now it's my turn," he declared bringing his hands together to form a seal, "My apologies in advance. I don't count my jutsu, only the number of enemies I've killed."
A rumbling sound trembled from the earth and the ninja, leaf and cloud alike, looked around with wary eyes. Suddenly, a shredding chasm broke from the ground snaking its way towards Yukimaru. To avoid the spreading furrow the cloud-nin retreated back to stand with his brother. Meanwhile, Tenten's gaze tracked the broken earth to it's source and there relief filled her eyes.
"Sakura," Tenten exclaimed.
Cherry blossom hair tossing lightly in the breeze she rose from where she had bent for her attack. Sakura's index finger was still extended as she stood, hinting at the impossible technique she had just performed. Trained by Tsunade herself, Sakura mastering not only medical jutsu, but also the precise and deadly art of focusing her chakra to tremendous power.
A dark expression clouded the kunoichi's face and her eyes sparkled with such emerald fury that Tenten felt a chill tickle down her spine. Teamed with her for so long Tenten could read the other woman as well as she could either of her former companions on team Gai.
"Sakura's not going hold anything back," she thought, "That means she's alone without backup ... and also... she's afraid for..." Tenten couldn't even complete the thought as embarrassment lent warmth to her face. Even in the face of death, the idea that Sakura would be worried about her injured her pride somehow.
"Oi, kusogaki" spat Sakura. "I think it's time you left my village." Raising her gloved fist she finished, "I won't forgive you if you try anything else."
The cloud-nins appeared unimpressed. "I've heard about Tsunade's apprentice," sneered Yukimaru "You're medical skills are supposedly top-notch, but I've never heard about your fighting ability... Putting holes in the ground doesn't make you Hokage."
Tenten felt Hikaru's grip on her collar and the razor sharp blade hovering at her throat, but her concerns were elsewhere as looked over at her genins. "I hope they're far enough away..." she thought, "when this one gets serious it's never pretty." Tenten understood that the reason Sakura never used her full strength. As a medic she saw it as a waste of chakra, yet there was another reason. The extreme destruction she caused made it so that neither friend nor foe were safe in close quarters.
Yukimaru appeared relaxed as. he crossed his arms. "Like he's waiting for something," thought Tenten. On cue, a massive chunk of rubble appeared overhead and with vicious speed shot towards Sakura. Tenten squeezed her eyes shut as it impacted into the ground. Opening them quickly she saw only a concrete slab just where Sakura had been.
Tenten couldn't see her anywhere. Just above her she heard Hikaru say, "Guess she was all talk. See Yuki, told you..." then Hikaru's words died on his lips.
Sakura strolled slowly into view around the slab's side. Idly, she dragged a fingertip along it and now sported the nicest of smiles. "You were warned," she said sweetly.
Sakura's sliding finger stopped and a sound like pouring grain hissed in the air. The stone that had targeted her crumbled to dust underneath that same finger..
The twins glanced at each other in concern. "Gouki," Yukimaru cried, "Kill her."
On a nearby rooftop from the same direction as where the last attack had come from appeared yet a third adversary. Unlike the twins this enemy was a mountain of a man in both height and girth. Tenten had never seen a ninja his like before.
"He makes Choji look normal-sized, " she thought. His cold dark eyes were flat colored like the metal of his forehead protector. This ninja appeared to be a rogue cloud-nin as well and his impassive gaze was fixed on Sakura.. His weapon of choice appeared to be a large metal staff that he twirled lazily in his hands. At second glance Tenten decided it to be more like a double-ended club than a staff as she noted it's studded mace-like ends.
"I've heard about the famous strength of the Leaf's woman kage," the nin's deep voice bellowed. "Let's see if this little imitation of her can show me a demonstration."
Gouki stopped his twirling staff sharply slamming it down with a thunderous peal. A moment later a. hairline crack jagging down the side of the building's wall on which he stood.
A cold sweat broke on Tenten's face. "It must be solid steel," she thought with disbelief, "that makes it over 300 pounds." Sakura was about to face a monster.
Sakura's eyes had never left Yukimaru. "I won't repeat myself," she said icily.
Gouki's face lit with rage as he realized what was happening. "Ignore me will you!" he roared. The giant launched himself in the air bringing his clubbed staff overhead with a booming warcry. Sakura deftly slipped a single kunai out of her holster as her gaze remained unflinching on Yukimaru.
"A kunai can't defend against that," Tenten thought frantically, "How can she..."
The massive cloud-nin's bludgeon swept down as Sakura's kunai flew up to meet it in a fluid sweep of her arm.. The mismatched weapons clashed as they connected, but as they did Gouki's face filled with wonder. His staff, a weapon weighing hundreds of pounds spun lightly from his grasp. Unarmed and off-guard, the giant's feet began to touch down as Sakura twisted around bringing her left palm to strike Gouki's chest.
Tenten felt her face go slack as she witnessed the result. The massive nin's body seemed to ball up around the point of impact flying backwards, his arms and legs flopping in his wake like a comet's tail. The force of the blow threw him spine first through the cracked wall he had created moments ago, punching through the structure where it collapsed over him in dust and rubble.
It was all over in seconds. Sakura's gaze had never left Yukimaru.
"Next," she said with soft menace.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N:
I'm out of practice so please forgive my poor writing!
As the background for all this I created my OCs, Setsuko and her twin brothers, as Naruto-haters. They and Naruto have a "history" together from a previous showdown in Lightning Country. I even thought up a whole side story where Tenten, Lee and Naruto participate in a Cloud Village Chuunin exam. I'll probably never write that, which is a shame cause I did draft one amazing fight for Tenten in it. Oh Well!