Hey, sorry… the update in July never happened. That's because my mom had a heart attack and my mind was really somewhere else at the time. I'm sure you understand, well, at least, I HOPE you understand. Really sorry that I made a promise that I couldn't keep. Oh, and I still really need some help on whether or not to change the pairing of GaaSaku to NaruSaku… I am a little biased because NaruSaku is in my top favorites, but I still would like some opinions. Thank you for staying with me! Onto the fic before the author's note becomes longer than the actual chapter! Oh yeah, and… since I'm having such difficulty with this, I'm going to say that it's fall in Konoha, now. Sorry, it's gonna be a long one!
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"Got you." Kiba growled, his voice burying what almost sounded like satisfaction.
Sasuke gave a futile shift of his leg, but Kiba didn't budge. He was most likely enhancing his grip with chakra.
Sasuke sighed. "Seems like it."
The missing-nin glanced at Hinata, who was still tending to Naruto, but was also clearly keeping her ears open.
"Not as easy as Naruto," Sasuke added, looking back at Kiba, "that oaf just was stumbling all over himself. He didn't even suspect foul play… the idiot thought a bee stung him, and by the time he saw me… he would've keeled over if the wind blew the wrong way." Kiba's scowled.
"Bastard. You're too much a coward to face him when everything is fair, let alone face me when it's fair. And Naruto still got you. You just act great, when all you really are is a few cheap dirty tricks and a hard hitter." Kiba accused.
Sasuke glanced at Hinata again to make sure she was listening, she was. Kiba followed his gaze.
"Your opponent is me, not Hinata." He snarled.
"Your trick…" Sasuke glanced around, to see chakra strings wound around trees with special tags on them, all connecting to kunai with the same special tags attached to them, stuck in the ground. "It's complex, but… it indicates that the trap will be directed at the both of us. I never took you for suicidal, Kiba."
Hinata started at that. 'Suicide? That's Kiba-kun's plan?'
'What? I get it… He thinks Hinata will interfere if she thinks I'm committing suicide to get rid of Sasuke…' Kiba realizes.
"No, I'm not. And your stupid manipulating won't fool Hinata or me, so shove it." He said loudly.
Hinata relaxed.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Damn it… Well, there's always another approach."
"Really? What would that be?" Kiba asked mockingly.
Sasuke stared down at Kiba coolly for a second. Then the Inuzuka cringes, harsh twinges of pain erupting throughout his entire body.
Sasuke's lips twisted. "Chidori. You're touching me, so I can send it through me to you. I'm caught in a trap, but not necessarily helpless. I can and will make this difficult for you, and I can make sure you get the brunt of the attack."
Hinata got to her feet and pulled out a kunai. She sprinted towards the two, kunai in hand.
Sasuke saw this out of the corner of his eyes. 'I didn't count on her getting in the way… Hinata's not the shy, sad excuse of a Hyuuga anymore… but she may be acting a little too impulsively.'
She just about brought the kunai down on a chakra string when Kiba stopped her.
"Don't! If that kunai connects with the strings, it might activate the tags and effect you as well."
Hinata froze in her tracks. She bit her lip, unable to be of any help.
"You really didn't think this through, did you?" Sasuke asked critically.
Kiba glared back at him. "We'll see."
His body went rigid as another charge of chidori surged through him.
"This time it'll be stronger." Sasuke informed as he prepared to send another taste of chidori at Kiba.
"I wouldn't try it. Look." Kiba motioned over to the side.
Sharp bolts of chakra were shooting down the string at them both.
"Damn." Muttered Sasuke.
"Three… two… one." Kiba counted down.
Sasuke's foot hit the rocky dirt, as Kiba was no longer under it. The strings disappeared.
It was a genjutsu, and Sasuke had been caught off guard.
Kiba's shin connected with Sasuke's face hard. Kiba fully extended his kick and the Uchiha went down.
"Ha! That's what you get for not taking me seriously, jackass!" Kiba shouted.
Hinata watched the situation curiously. She had not been able to detect the genjutsu. It was extremely well planned out. Conning Sasuke into believing that he had been trapped in a trap that didn't seem too chakra demanding until the end, and playing off of the absence of Sasuke's sharingan was brilliant for the situation.
No one noticed the blonde kyuubi vessel stirring.
--
"Naruto! Hinata! Kiba!" Sakura called.
"Kiba, I'm going to gut you when I see you, you stupid son of a bitch!" Neji bellowed. (This statement is sort of fitting, seeing Kiba's mother's likeness to a dog and her being a female).
"Damn it, answer us!" Kankuro yelled.
"Neji, I don't think that's going to help us. You're going to scare them off or something." Sakura pointed out before erupting into a fit of coughs.
"Whoa, hey… you should really take it easy, there. We can't have our only medic keeling over." Kankuro said, trying to give her a boost, physically and emotionally.
"They just won't fucking answer…" She replied. A root, unseen by Sakura, trips her, and she starts to pitch forward.
Neji and Kankuro both noticed and tried to aid her.
Kankuro, being the closer one, broke her fall.
"Shit." She uttered a little too late.
"I… don't think you're as okay as you think you are." Kankuro decided.
Sakura broke into another fit of coughs.
"Obviously, you aren't." Gaara speculated.
Shikamaru hung back with Shino as everyone else seemed to rush forward to Sakura.
"They shouldn't be too much further, judging by the explosion." Shikamaru informed.
"Right… Didn't you just say that?" Sakura asked.
Shikamaru gave her a look of confusion. "No."
"Oh." Sakura said, looking at the ground.
"At any rate, they'll be close, judging by the explosion." Shikamaru repeated.
"Now you just said that." Sakura insisted.
--
Hinata was no longer standing by Naruto's body, but was by Kiba.
The blonde's eyes opened a little and he turned his head.
'Sasuke. Sasuke, that damn dirty bastard!' Naruto thought. He tried to get up to move, but he ached all over.
It was just like him to pull an ambush like that, outnumbering Naruto.
It seemed Sasuke was getting up after an attack, however.
He was so quick and so cold. In a second, he was already behind Kiba, pulling a kunai out of his back.
The ninken user was stunned.
"You want serious, Inuzuka? Unwise, since there's now fresh poison in your system. Moving around only spreads it more quickly, and if you remain still… it doesn't matter whether you elect to become stationary or keep moving, because the results in the end are still the same. Paralysis. You can take your slower loss of movement, or foolishly, the quick loss of movement." Sasuke turned his gaze on Hinata.
His sharingan flickered on and he approached her.
Hinata didn't flinch as he came, but instead activated her Byukagan and got into her stance.
He flew at her with his astonishing speed, but Hinata struck him in the side before being hit by one of his blows.
She crumbled, and discovered a senbon protruding from her shoulder.
She pulled it out, wincing.
She suddenly found she couldn't get up.
"What-?" She said.
Sasuke folded his arms. "Lack of observation can be fatal. You're lucky that will only make the gravity seem heavier to you and bring out prior physical exhaustion."
Hinata swallowed, eyes fixed on the traitor. Slowly, she stood.
Sasuke watched her with boredom. "Naïve. You think that by not staying down, everything will be okay."
"It's better than giving up and going away because I'm not strong enough." Hinata responded.
That struck a nerve.
Sasuke's eye twitched. "I think you might regret that."
He had barely taken a step toward her when Kiba's fist swung right into Sasuke's mouth.
"You might be a fool, but you aren't a coward." Sasuke commented.
"I think you're both." Kiba retorted.
He tried to block the Uchiha's kick, but the boy was at least two steps ahead of him.
As he reeled back from the blow, he was aware of someone behind him.
He caught the punch and kneed Sasuke in the chest.
Sasuke kicked him in the face and punched him in the gut once he righted himself.
Kiba tripped him, but Sasuke still had the advantage and the cold blade of his katana grazed Kiba's cheek.
Kiba stomped down, but Sasuke moved in time to avoid it, and also take another slice at the Inuzuka.
Kiba barely dodged a katon jutsu. He could feel that he was slowing down. Not good.
"It's hard to be serious when your opponent is so slow." Sasuke feigned a yawn.
'No fucking way. I'm slow because of you, asshole.' Kiba thought.
He dove at Sasuke, but he moved and Kiba crashed into the ground.
"Come on. I thought you wanted serious." Sasuke mocked.
Kiba picked up a handful of dirt and flung it into Sasuke's eyes.
Kiba wouldn't get away without a kick in the side. He rolled over just in time to meet Naruto's stare.
'Naruto? Man, he looks like crap.' Kiba thought.
Hinata took a shaky step, planning on assisting Kiba, but her body ached. She couldn't see… her byukagan deactivated.
'What is this that's happening?' she wondered, looking hopelessly at herself, overexerted and exhausted.
A mutual nod was exchanged between Naruto and Kiba before Kiba rose again and charged at Sasuke.
He was stricken in the side of the face, but quickly recovered.
Naruto summoned up his strength, got to his feet, and full out sprinted away.
Kiba tried to keep his attention. He threw a punch, delivered slowly.
Sasuke caught it and threw one of his own.
Kiba, upon hitting the ground, grabbed the Uchiha's ankles, grinning like a man possessed.
Sasuke quickly turned and glared at him. He just about crushed the guy when Hinata came out of nowhere and got in a gentlefist, Byukagan activated once more.
She struck him again, but by then, Sasuke's momentary shock had worn off.
He grabbed her by the roots of her hair and held her in place.
"I don't hit girls very often, Hyuuga. This is an exception." He punched her in the stomach, then in the face.
After the second harsh punch to the face, Hinata stared at Sasuke, seemingly unfazed by any of the acts.
Hyuuga, Hinata had that way about her.
He threw another punch at her.
Blood dripped from her nose to the ground.
"You aren't covering your emotions very well, Sasuke-san." Hinata said.
He cocked his fist back and threw it out of pure frustration.
A hand clenched around his fist.
His eyes only slits, Kiba glared at him.
"Your one mistake was making Hinata bleed. No one gets away with that without me getting even… Gatsuuga!" The tornado like blur of Kiba pushed Sasuke back and tore at his skin.
The rotation slowed down, leaving Sasuke still standing on his feet.
Kiba was in front of him in the blink of an eye, and hit him hard in the face.
Again, Kiba appeared right in front of the sharingan wielder.
He mustered up his strength and hit him again.
He didn't follow the attack up, but stayed in place, panting.
Sasuke pulled himself up and walked towards Kiba, who merely glowered at him.
Sasuke pulled the katana out of the holster and dug the tip into the Inuzuka's shoulder and twisted.
He winced, but didn't budge.
"Was that display really worth paralysis, Kiba?" Sasuke laughed.
Kiba remained mute, literally shaking with anger.
Sasuke pulled the tip of the katana out. He seemed amused.
'Where the hell is Naruto getting help from?' Kiba wondered, anxious for the blonde to get back. He didn't like his situation.
--
Naruto stopped for a breather. Kami, the hospital was far away. It would've been great if it were closer.
He started running again, thinking he would never get there.
No sooner than he had thought that, the hospital came into view.
He stopped at the front desk, heaving and panting.
"Are you okay?" The doctor at the desk asked.
"I'm fine-, it's- just… my friends need-!" Naruto started.
"You're breathing hard… do you need water?" The doctor questioned.
"No… maybe later. Right now I need-!" Naruto was interrupted again.
"You… you have a wound. It's minor, but it should be fixed up to-…"
"No, damn it!" Naruto shook his head in tired disbelief. "Listen. Are my friends here? One of them is a girl… no wait, strike that… there are a few of them… err… do you know of anyone by the name of-?" But, yet again, Naruto was interrupted.
"Yeah… but they went looking for the Hyuuga and Inuzuka."
"Thanks." Naruto said and he ran out of the hospital.
As he ran, he could feel his energy creeping back, little by little.
'I have a feeling that this will be a long day… It doesn't seem likely that I'm just going to trip right over everyone… might as well go back and find Sasuke.' He thought.
--
"Did you notice that we're going in circles?" Sakura asked.
"We are… I've seen that root that you tripped over at least three times." Kankuro mused.
"Genjutsu, probably. Someone is messing with our sense of direction." Shikamaru said.
"We aren't being incredibly observant today, are we?" Gaara stated.
"No… but that's due to all that's happened. We must be trying to cope, and it pushes almost everything else out." Tenten said wisely.
Neji nodded, agreeing. "True, but we really can't afford to waste our thoughts and time on that."
He dispelled the genjutsu.
Sakura immediately turned her head around. 'Naruto?' She thought.
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End chapter.
Sorry that it was so long. I guess I was making up for being gone three weeks and not keeping my promise about the update in July. Review, cause I could use 'em, and I need opinions!
RedRum!