Hey everybody, sorry it took so long to update, but this time it wasn't my fault. Honest. I've been trying to upload this chapter since Saturday, with no luck. Well anyways here is the chapter I hope you all enjoy.
I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.
SEPARATING TEAM 8
Out on the practice field three fights were getting underway. Kiba had launched himself at Jiraiya and missed. His dive sent him out of earshot of his team mates and Hinata and Shino both knew when that happened they would have to go one on one with the clones. Akamaru had dived at Jiraiya as well, he got the same results as Kiba missing and overshooting Jiraiya. Jiraiya swiftly turned and ran right past them they were trying to position themselves for a second attack, but Jiraiya had moved to fast for them. Kiba and Akamaru turned to face their opponent, but he was already out of their attack range. Seemingly waiting for them. "C'mon Akamaru we can't let that guy get the better of us." Kiba said and led the charge towards Jiraiya. It never crossed Kiba's mind that the Jiraiya's purpose had been to isolate him and he had let him be successful. He kept chasing Jiraiya and Jiraiya kept leading him away from his friends. Kiba had had enough of this cat and mouse game he yelled at Jiraiya. "Don't be a coward, face us!" Jiraiya thought they had gotten far enough by now add to that the fact that he didn't like being called a coward, he decided to stop and face his younger adversary and his pet.
Back at the spot where Kiba had left, Hinata and Shino were still there. They saw Kiba go and tried calling him, but he didn't respond. Hinata moved to run after him, but her path was almost instantly blocked by the other Jiraiya clone. Shino seeing Jiraiya's purpose leaped back and prepared himself to fight Jiraiya. Shino's Jiraiya clone smiled a little bit impressed with Shinos awareness and readied himself to fight as well. Hinata thought the only chance they had to beat Jiraiya was to team up and was about to ask Shino, but when she turned to her friend she saw he was already looking at her, he nodded towards her giving her the go ahead sign. She did not know what he had planned, however she trusted Shino and knew she had to fight. She thought to herself, at least I get to test myself against Naruto's sensei, there is no reason to hold back. She took her fighting stance and started sidestepping around Jiraiya looking for an opening. Jiraiya took a semi-serious stance and followed her movement pivoting on his back foot.
This continued on for a few minutes with Hinata unable to find any opening she could exploit. Even though Jiraiya did not look to be taking this serious to the normal observer Hinata could see that he had taken a defensive stance that prepared him for almost every physical attack. She had to take the initiative otherwise the time limit would pass without a single punch being thrown. She took three quick breaths and pushed off her back foot hard putting herself within striking distance with ease. She threw two quick jabs. Jiraiya saw her coming and he saw her quickness was impressive. He blocked the first jab and evaded the second by shifting slightly to the side. She pulled back the first punch which had been blocked easily. As Hinata drew her second fist back and saw Jiraiya's free hand following her arm back towards her body, her arm was folding back into her stance and Jiraiya's fist was following closely. She made a circular motion with her fore arm intercepting Jiraiya's punch, but did not stop there her arm straightened out in a forward direction catching Jiraiyas retreating elbow and pushing it to the side. Jiraiya was trying to throw another punch, but Hinatas push threw him off because her push didn't allow him to bring his arm around. She put in a little more force pushing Jiraiaya forward and making him have to re-position himself. As he re-positioned himself she quickly swung her front leg catching Jiraiya behind the knee. Dammit, Jiraiya thought he hadn't anticipated her using anything other than the gentle touch and opened himself up for a simple attack, as his leg folded he saw her hand shoot out fingers together and positioned to strike one of his chakra points. He resisted his reflex to get back into standing position and let himself keep going falling back in order to buy himself enough time to bring up his hand and slap her strike away. He avoided the strike successfully but staggered back two steps before righting himself. However that proved not to be fast enough as Hinata stepped forward keeping pace with him she unleashed a powerful open palm strike which landed squarely between Jiraiyas chest and stomach. The impact of the blow sent Jiraiya flying backwards he skidded to a halt about 14 feet away from her. Hinata was stunned, the impact of her strike should have made the clone disappear however this clone was getting back up. Had she not hit it hard enough she wondered she decided that she had to get rid of it by inflicting a more damaging blow to him. A thought crossed her mind, could this be the real Jiraiaya. Jiraiya had not expected such a strong blow from Hinata and his chest and stomach were still feeling the impact. As he got up he did not like the look of determination on Hinata's face. He saw she had turned on her blood limit.
Shino looked at his opponent and started to look for the easiest opening. Seeing the same thing as Hinata he also decided to attack. However he did not attack in the same manner as Hinata, as a matter of fact he acted nonchalant about it. Lazily bringing up his hand and pointing it at Jiraiya like a gun. Jiraiya looked at this with some confusion this was not the reaction he had expected. Shino play fired and yanked his wrist upward. However what Jiraiya took as a joke was not, a cluster of four insects shot out of Shino's sleeve right before he jerked his wrist drawin Jiraiya's attention from the insects. Jiraiya saw the insects however and dodged them. When he looked back at Shino he saw Shino was using the body-flicker technique. Even though to most shinobi it was called the flicker because you could not see the movement Jiraiya was able to pick it up with some effort and saw where Shino appeared as soon as he did so. Shino shot out another cluster of insects as soon as he finished the flicker and flickered again as soon as the insects were airborne. Jiraiya saw this was not going to be easy, not easy at all.
Kiba had not expected Jiraiya to stop and prepare to fight, but at this point he didn't care all he wanted to do was beat this bastard down and prove he wasn't weak. He called Akamaru over and quickly performed his beast human clone jutsu. Akamaru took on Kiba's likeness and they quickly charged toward Jiraiya on all four legs. A sweatdrop appeared on Jiraiya's forehead as he saw what Kiba had done. He wondered if Kiba seriously intended to take him on with such lack of imagination or if he had been playing stupid the whole time to catch Jiraiya off-guard. Jiraiya just couldn't picture Kiba as a strategical genius, but nevertheless heightened his awareness to make sure there wasn't any trap. Kiba and Akamaru were almost upon him and there wasn't any signs of traps. Jiraiya couldn't tell the difference between Kiba and Akamaru, but it really made no difference to him all he had to do was take one down in order to find out which was the real one. Kiba and Akamaru both dived at him at the same time one aiming for his legs and the other for his head as they sailed through the air Jiraiya timed their leaps and also jumped back becoming parallel to the ground and looking up directly at Kiba. Kiba saw him and swung his arm slashing quickly at Jiraiya. However he only caught a piece of Jiraiya's vest as the sannin twisted in the air. Jiraiya was pissed at himself for acting to impulsively he didn't have that much maneuverability in the air like he wanted, but he was able to draw back enough to avoid Kiba's slash. He drew both arms back and quickly shot them forward landing a solid blow on Kiba sending him upwards and out of striking range. However this also sent him flying down. Akamaru had noticed Jiraiyas downward path and stopped just barely being missed by Jiraiyas body. Jiraiya crashed to the ground and rolled forward. Akamaru saw his chance and took a few running steps and made a baseball slide kick towards Jiraiya. Jiraiya saw Akamaru sliding forward, but was to late to completely avoid the hit. He had jumped just barely getting his feet off the ground when Akamaru's feet collided with his knees. Jiraiyas body was sent back into a parallel position with the ground once again by Akamaru's strike but this time he was right above him because Akamaru's momentum kept carrying him onward. Jiraiya shot out a punch, but opened his fist at the last second seeing that Akamaru was going to successfully block it. Instead pushing Akamaru towards the ground and cartwheeling over him. Jiraiya was finally on his feet again, but that relief was shortly lived as Kiba who had regained his balance while Jiraiya scuffled with Akamaru charged at him throwing a punch. Jiraiya saw this and instantly flickered Kiba could have sworn the punch had landed, but Jiraiya was no longer in front of him. He was right behind him. Jiraiya quickly landed an open palm blow directly between Kiba's shoulder blades sending him straight to the ground. "So you're the real Kiba." Jiraiya said when he saw Kiba wasn't changing forms. He quickly spun around and lifted his arms a little bit. Akamaru delivered a kick that landed on Jiraiya's side, however Jiraiya seemed to be anticipating this because he was sidestepping and bringing his arm down. Before Akamaru could draw back his leg Jiraiya wrapped his arm around it and tightened his grip on it holding it tightly in the crook of his arm. He quickly spun his body around lifting Akamaru off the ground and swinging him around. As Jiraiya spun he leaned back so that Akamaru went directly over him before he slammed him to the ground. Jiraiya let go at the last second and Akamaru hit the ground with enough force to visibly shake his body when he crashed to the ground. He immediately reverted back to his dog form. "So that makes you Akamaru." Jiraiya said when he saw Akamaru change forms.
Kiba had gotten up now and was looking at Jiraiya with intense anger. "You bastard this time we won't go easy on you. You'll be sorry for what you did to Akamaru." Kiba growled. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at this comment wondering what Kiba had in store for him. Akamaru had gotten up and was now next to Kiba. Kiba formed a few quick seals and a cloud of smoke hid them from Jiraiya's view. When the smoke cleared there were two large Akamarus standing there. Jiraiya had seen enough to determine fighting was not Kiba and Akamaru's strength so he decided it would be best to end this quickly and move on to his next test. Akamaru and Kiba ran towards Jiraiya and jumped towards him simultaneously. Once in the air they began spinning rapidly setting up their double piercing fang (Gatsuga) Jiraiya recognized what they were doing. He knew if they caught him where they wanted him he would be hurt more than he wanted to be. He body flickered to Akamaru's side so that Akamaru was between him and Kiba. He threw a quick jab into the spinning Akamaru which slowed him down enough so he could aim his second punch which he landed successfully. Akamaru fell to the ground as a result of having lost momentum. He quickly tossed a rope on top of him and formed a few seals. The rope bound Akamaru and did not let him move. Kiba had not stopped spinning and was now charging towards Jiraiya even though he knew Akamaru could not help him now he still hoped to land a few blows.
Jiraiya looked at him and said. "Your techniques have no defense. That is why you are beaten so easily by me." He took out another piece of rope and tied the end in a knot while jumping away from the spinning torpedo that was Kiba. Once this was done he grabbed the other end and proceeded to strike Kiba with lightning quick blows. Kiba could not avoid the rope and was struck many times. After a while of this Kiba became worn down and as soon as he slowed down Jiraiya threw the rope around him and performed the binding jutsu once again. Kiba fell to the ground tied up, but he was barking and struggling trying to free himself, unsuccessfully. Jiraiya started trying to speak. "Now that I have your at-YEEAAAOOWW!" Kiba had dragged himself over to where Jiraiya was standing and bit his leg and wasn't letting go. Jiraiya started kicking violently trying to dislodge Kiba without any success. Finally he took off his scroll and started bringing it down on Kiba harder and harder with each time until Kiba let go. Jiraiya fell to his haunches and began cradling his now swelling and bleeding ankle. Jiraiya yelled a stream of curses and brought out another rope. He tossed it on Kiba's muzzle and performed the binding technique once again. This shut Kiba's mouth. At least for a while. Jiraiya tried speaking once again this time uninterrupted as Kiba lay where he was still struggling, but unable to open his mouth all he could do is growl. "Now listen here Kiba I'll only say this once. I shouldn't have to say it at all, but you were to stupid to realize it on your own." Jiraiya said with an edge to his voice. "You should have noticed something immediately after you turned into a wolf. Since you didn't I'll give you another opportunity, but this time it won't be so easy." Jiraiya got up and leaned on the scroll cursing once again. "Once I disappear the ropes on you and Akamaru will disappear." Jiraiya said.
He quickly started forming a series of complex seals, but right before he formed the last one Kiba spoke up. "What are you talking about?" Jiraiya glanced at him to see he had turned back to his human form and the rope around his mouth no longer kept him from talking. Jiraiya did not respond, but was glad to see that Kiba was not a complete idiot.
With that he formed the last seal and whispered to himself. "Earth release, swamp of the underworld." As if on cue the ground started to tremble and trees started rising from the ground. The ground also began becoming soggy. Jiraiya turned to Kiba and said. "See ya kid, good luck." with that he vanished in a puff of smoke. As soon as the Jiraiya clone vanished the ropes binding Kiba loosened and he quickly got up as the landscape around him quickly continued it's transformation. Spreading out farther than his eyes could see. He quickly went to Akamaru and made sure he was ok. When he stood up he notice his feet were sinking into the ground and tried moving but they didn't budge.
"Damn that old man." Kiba yelled in frustration. He pulled harder and his foot finally came up now he had to pull out his other leg. He saw Akamaru was having the same difficulty and formed his seals quickly turning Akamaru into a human so he would have less work with his feet. Their situation was not looking good however. Kiba saw the rope that had been tying Akamaru had not sunk and quickly picked it up. He pulled out his other foot, but could not move anywhere because of he could not pull his feet out fast enough to make any progress. The worst thing he saw was that the landscape had completely become a swamp. He could no longer see the sky and water was flooding the ground making moving even harder. Akamaru was also having no success. Kiba cursed Jiraiya under his breath for this. He brought a kunnai and tied the rope around the kunnai as tightly as he could he had been a little surprised at the length of the rope but was glad for it. Otherwise it would have been useless. He threw the kunai as hard as he could at the nearest tree and it buried itself almost all the way. He told Akamaru to grab a hold of him and help him push while he pulled. Together they struggled to make it out of the sinking ground. By the time they had pulled themselves out and climbed the tree half an hour had elapsed from their separation with the group. Once in the trees Kiba and Akamaru rested and gathered their thoughts.
Meanwhile Shino was easily keeping his Jiraiya on his toes. He was now having the insects follow Jiraiya and try to get on him in order to start eating his chakra. Shino knew that if he took enough chakra from the clone no matter how well made it was it would have to disappear. However the insects were also having trouble following Jiraiya because he was also using the body flicker technique and the insects couldn't keep up with him. Shino was starting to grow tired of this game though. He planned to end it soon by unleashing a larger amount of insects so that no matter where Jiraiya went they would be waiting for him. Once they clung to him they would not be dislodged so easily. Before he did this though he noticed something he had not noticed before. With each flicker Jiraiya did he formed a different seal Shino had not picked this up earlier and had no idea how long Jiraiya had been doing this. Uncertainty crawled into Shino's head for the first time and he regretted having decided to play a game when he should have finished this off quickly. He quickly ordered his insects to blanket the area hoping it was not to late. Jiraiaya had been working on this jutsu for a while and had been disguising it as the seal to body flicker, but after a while it seemed everything was ok and he sped up his seal forming. He was almost done when he saw the insects begin to congregate. He formed the last few seals in a hurry and flickered to an area the insects hadn't gotten to yet. Shino saw Jiraiya had stopped flickering and thought it was to late, but sent his insects towards him nevertheless, in hopes that he was overestimating the sannin. Jiraiya drew in as much air as he could into his lungs and started to blow it out. Shino saw him inhale and when he exhaled flames erupted from his lips and spanned outwards about 10-20 feet. He started walking in a circle surrounding himself by the fire. Shino raised an eyebrow curious about this because he did not see what Jiraiya was planning. Halfway through the circle though a fresh burst of flame erupted from Jiraiya's starting point and recreated the effect of Jiraiya's jutsu. Shino had never seen this before, but Jiraiya had successfully created a ring of fire around himself that did not burn out. The ring was close to 30 ft. in diameter with 5 ft. in the middle which Jiraiya occupied. Shino could only wonder what Jiraiya planned to do now he had successfully protected himself from Shino's insects because of the heat he was generating, but did he plan to just wait this out Shino decided to send his insect higher and maybe get to Jiraiya from above. What Shino couldn't see was that Jiraiaya wasn't finished. Now that he had protection that gave him time to work on his next jutsu.
In the meantime Tsunade was in her office getting impatient because nobody had returned yet. She needed somebody to return so she could send them out to help out Kakashis group. She put her elbows on her desk and clamped her hands on the side of her head. (yeah she got a new desk) She let out a yell of frustration. Once she had vented a little bit she went over the information she had received from Jiraiya. Flashback.
Tsunade asked Jiraiya how Naruto had developed. Jiraiya looked at her in a somber fashion making he worry and began to speak. "As far as his skills are concerned he is on the level of a jounnin. His powers have increased an immense amount though." He looked thoughtful for a moment considering how much information to divulge. "We've trained in controling the Kyubbi's power and so far he's been able to master up to four tails." Tsunade's eyes widened at that revelation. Jiraiya however did not stop there. "However if he is emotional he may loose control he almost lost control once and the destruction he caused was incredible. Luckily we were away from any people. I was able to get in under control with these seals." He had brought out a stack of papers on each one an extremely complicated design was drawn. "Whatever you do wherever you send him make sure these seals are near him otherwise there is a possibility the Kyubbi can use him as a medium. If it gets to that stage Naruto will not die, at least no immediately, but it will be the demon fox who is in control." Jiraiya lay the stack of seals on the Hokage's desk. "Of course this is only my theory, but it would be unwise to test it out and have it proven wrong." End of flashback.
Tsunade's eyes snapped wide and her whole body tensed up. She had forgotten to send the seals with Kakashi! She could no longer wait she had to send somebody out after them. She got up from her seat and was about to head out the door when it slowly began to open. It appeared somebody was here to see her.
Preview
Who is it that wants to see the Hokage and what do they want. Is team 8 toast. Am I wasting my time writing this preview considering that by the time you read this chapter eighteen will already be up? Who know only time will tell, muahhahahahaha!
RSO
trolly-Wow, thanks for reviewing. It really means alot to me that you think that way. No problem I can follow that advice.
dragonma180-Yeah, he woulda fooled me too, and I'm the aurthor. J/K. I hope you like the action I'm putting in. Sorry you didn't find out if they could win this ch. Don't worry though, you'll find out soon enough.
trolly-Sorry, Naruto already set out to the village of sand and it'll be awhile before he gets there. Oh but when he does it's on. Naruto will definetely be back in the story very soon though.
FFz-I'm glad you like it. Sometimes I worry I'm not conveying the action the way I want to. Thanx for letting me know it was good though that helps out alot.
Acrazygirlofmanynames-I'm glad you liked it.
Danny-Damn, you definetely got a good eye for detail. I didn't even realize that. However since I'm to lazy to go back and change it, I will justify it. They no longer share the teacher-student relationship but are on equal terms. So that's why Sakura used the term. However now that you pointed it out I will definetely get a reaction next time I use this. Kakashi just didn't notice this time because his mind was pretty occupied.
warprince- Done and done.
snakeeye12-Well, I hope you enjoy her fight. I really want to get alot out of her fightwise, because I like her style and like you I see alot of potential in her. However this will be one area where her shyness will not be a factor I've always thought she had the heart of a warrior. It's just when it comes to matters of the heart that she falters a little.