I actually managed to get a decent-sized chapter done. (For me at least… this is about the size of a 'normal' chapter for me…) You're all just lucky I have no life…
Like I said before, this is a bad chapter for Sakura-lovers. Bad for Lee-fans too, but not nearly as much… His fight is almost just like in the show…
Basically, there's a mess of people who won't like this chapter…
I just hope you accept that this is just how I'm writing it, and it all works out in the end…
"An explosive note on a squirrel?" Naruto asked. "Isn't that just inhumane?"
"Also effective…" Dosu said. "We don't have time to debate it anyway, it's already sunrise."
"Just blow the rat up…" Zaku said.
Naruto sighed. "Okay… go ahead." He said, holding out the small mammal he'd caught earlier. He wanted to give it to Kin as a pet… She liked fuzzy things, though she wouldn't admit it.
Once Dosu had attached the tag, Naruto released the squirrel; which ran straight for Sakura, as they wanted. She dissuaded it, however, with a kunai. "Did she see the explosive tag?" Dosu asked.
"No…" Naruto muttered. Dashing away, he stepped out of the bushes a short ways away from Sakura. "Hey cutie…"
"You!? Er… what're you doing here Jin?" Sakura asked. It took Naruto a moment to remember Jin was his alias.
"Oh! Well, I'm here to help! Or not, one of the two… dunno really… is Sasuke okay?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah… why do you want to know?"
"Oh, well, it's just that we're kinda here to kill him… sooo… step away? Please?" Naruto asked, placing his hands together and smiling broadly, as if murder were the most casual thing in the world.
Sakura took out a kunai. "Kill him!? You want our scroll!?"
"Oh hell no. we can get a scroll off anyone…" Naruto said. "We're under orders…"
"Then… then I'll…" Sakura started, Zaku and Dosu now standing on a low tree-branch.
"There is no need to worry!" A green blur dove down in front of Sakura, landing a decent kick to Naruto's chest. Although the blonde managed to block the brunt of the attack, it still hurt as he slid back just over ten feet from the impact. "Rock Lee has arrived!"
"Hey! You saved the squirrel!" Naruto exclaimed, seeing the small rodent perched on the odd boy's shoulder.
"So then it was you that did such a terrible and inhumane thing as this!?" Lee asked angrily.
Naruto didn't seem to care what Lee thought… "I'm sorry little guy! I've decided I can't keep you… these bastards would probably just try to blow you up again…"
Zaku chuckled, but was quickly silenced by a jab to the shoulder by Dosu. "Shut up…" Dosu whispered.
"So then you are the leader?" Lee asked Naruto.
"I guess so…"
"Then it is you who shall pay for the crimes against this poor creature!"
"Uhh… I thought you were here to keep us from killing pinky here…"
When Naruto said this, he could've sworn he saw fire burst from those obscenely bulbous eyes… "Ooooaaah! You shall not lay a hand on Sakura-chan! I swear on my life you shall do her no harm!"
"Swearing isn't nice you fucking idiot…" Zaku said, Dosu simply gaped at him, wondering if he'd meant to say it or if he was truly that stupid.
"I, Rock Lee, shall defeat you!" He said, turning towards Naruto in his standard Goken stance as the squirrel jumped down off his shoulder.
"Taicho?" Dosu asked.
"Have at 'im…" Naruto muttered.
Dosu then dashed towards Lee, who had just enough time to thrust his hand into the ground and pull a massive tree root from the ground. "I have seen your attack before. I do not know the trick behind it, but I cannot simply dodge or block it…"
"Smart boy…" Naruto said, before landing a solid left hook to Lee's jaw when he was too preoccupied to block.
Landing nearly twenty feet away, Lee stood and returned to his stance. "That was not a fair shot."
"Fair is relative…" Naruto said,
His team took this as their cue to attack, Zaku immediately yelling; "Zankuuha!"
When Lee jumped to the side to avoid the attack, Dosu dashed forward. "Kyoumeisen!"
With Lee knocked off balance, Naruto easily launched him into a nearby tree with a spinning kick. "Lee!" Sakura called out.
"Now, the boy…" Naruto said, reaching his hand out to Sakura.
"You bastard!" She yelled, tightening her grip on the kunai in her hand as she dashed towards Naruto. The blonde laced his hands behind his back. He didn't need them for this fight. He kicked the kunai from her hand with his right foot, and then swiftly slammed his left knee up under her jaw, launching her backwards.
"You can't win." Naruto said. "Please stay down. I don't want to have to damage that cute face of yours…"
When he walked by her however, she leapt up and grabbed him by his waist, which only resulted in the blonde's backhand sending her flying five feet through the air. "Not smart. Stay down." Even Zaku and Dosu kept their distance with the tone in Naruto's voice… cold and merciless.
Naruto resumed his trek towards the helpless boy, but Sakura was persistent, at least when it came to; "Sasuke-kun!" Naruto slid left to dodge her full-body tackle, his right hand grabbing her long hair as she passed. Naruto was done. He'd had enough of this girl. She would not get back up after his next strike. He pulled his left arm up, and smashed his elbow into the back of her ribcage, releasing her hair as he did so. After a sickening crack, she slid a good five feet face-first in the dirt.
"Hey, you can't-!" A girl's voice was heard from the bushes as she dragged her team out of hiding; she'd seen Sakura take enough punishment, but now he was leaning in to finish the job.
"They're poppin' out of the damn woodwork…" Zaku muttered.
What she didn't expect was for him to pick her up bridal-style, and carry her over to Lee, setting her in his lap. As the odd boy looked up at him in confusion, he answered the unspoken question; "I don't like hitting girls, but she wouldn't stay down."
Lee's eyes were full of tears at both the nobility of the monster before him, and the pain of failing Sakura. He'd broken his promise… as he looked down at her face, he could see blood trickling down gashes in her forehead from her trip through the dirt, the bruise from the backhand that sent her flying, and even the slight damage to her jaw. Though unbroken, it was fractured at least…
"So, are you going to fight me too? I am trying to kill Sasuke…" Naruto said, walking towards the Ino/Shika/Cho trio.
"If we can take this guy, I think we can beat the other two easily… This one's the power behind them." Shikamaru said, talking about Naruto.
"HEY!" Zaku yelled; "Insults like that hurt…"
"Nara… Yamanaka… Akimichi… all interesting family jutsu…" Naruto said, as he continued to walk towards them. "Best used in tandem, if I remember…" At the shocked looks on their faces, Naruto continued; "In ten years, you don't think I'd eventually learn all about my own home village?" He asked rhetorically, arms spread wide to the trees. "But, I digress… if you're going to stop me, you're welcomed to try…" He finished, turning back towards Sasuke.
"Kagemane no Jutsu!" The Nara boy shouted, easily catching Naruto at that distance. Naruto slowly turned to face Shikamaru, grunting in effort to resist the jutsu. "Now I have you, and you ca-" Shikamaru started, only to engage in his own sounds of strain. Both boys were slowly making their way closer to the other, although it appeared to be Naruto choosing the motions the both of them took. "Chouji!"
The Akimichi boy quickly puffed up into an enormous ball, seeing his friend's peril, not even bothering to say the names of his techniques as he began to roll toward Naruto. Shikamaru released his jutsu just before Naruto was struck, this of course gave him time to counter the attack, moving to grab the massive ball of spinning flesh. Once again grunting at the strain, the Akimichi boy eventually wore down, and stopped, allowing Naruto to pick him up, and throw him into a tree. This didn't do as much damage as he'd hoped with the boy's clan jutsu still in effect, but it sure as hell made him feel better. Naruto was now sweating and panting, dropping to one knee to regain his strength. "The only time I've ever seen him this way is after a fight with the Otokage himself!" Dosu muttered.
When Naruto had regained enough strength to stand, he stared at Ino, waiting for her to move, but she simply backed away fearfully. "What, no Yamanaka jutsu?" Naruto asked, glancing over to his teammates, he saw they shared her reaction, but she wasn't looking at Naruto. It was Sasuke. "Hah! So you're finally up!" Sasuke was different however, an imperceptible purple aura around him, and strange black marks covering his arm and neck.
"Sakura…" Sasuke said, looking down at his unconscious teammate, and then at Lee. "Who did this to her?" Lee nodded his head towards the Oto nin, and Sasuke immediately stepped into action, walking towards Dosu and Zaku.
"No ya' don't!" Naruto said, skidding between the three, catching Sasuke's punch. Naruto then tried an uppercut with his right, but Sasuke caught it. Naruto was left with few options, so he leaned back and smashed his forehead into Sasuke's. The Uchiha staggered back slightly, before Naruto struck out with a left jab, and then right, followed by spinning around to backhand him with his right fist.
Sasuke flew half a foot into the air before Naruto landed a spinning kick to his stomach, sending him flying back into a tree. Sakura began to stir as Naruto said, panting; "You can't beat me!"
As Sasuke rose to his feet, the black markings spread across half his face, and completely down his arm. Naruto sighed as he fell back into his fighting stance, a tint of red chakra encasing him. As Sasuke struck again, Naruto ducked, smashing his foot into Sasuke's stomach. Naruto then leapt spinning into the air, smashing his foot into Sasuke's jaw before his fist crashed down upon the Uchiha's crown. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, as Sasuke fell to his knees, running to embrace him while using her body as a shield against Naruto's assault. "Sasuke-kun…"
"Sakura…" Sasuke muttered, before the curse seal receded, falling unconscious.
"Tch… not even worth killing…" Naruto said, reaching back into his Kunai pouch and retrieving their Earth Scroll, tossing it down to the ground in front of Sakura. "Let's go. I'm tired." He added firmly, walking away alongside Zaku and Dosu.
"Why did you give them our scroll?" Dosu asked.
"We can always get more…" Naruto answered, Zaku smirked at the implications…
---
It only took them a half an hour to find a team of Grass shinobi, and half a minute to tear them asunder using the same strategy they used against Lee. Zaku; using his Zankuuha to send the two lagging behind into a tree, Dosu; striking the leader from behind, knocking him off-balance, and Naruto; dashing forward and smashing his fists into the stomachs of the pair leaning against what used to be a tree until Naruto struck, flipping backwards and smashing the leader's head into the ground as he landed.
"Brutal, yet efficient…" Dosu stated.
"Too much splatter, I give it a six out of ten." Zaku said, rubbing his chin.
"But he stuck the landing!" Dosu added.
"Alright, seven…" Zaku grunted, folding his arms over his chest.
"You know…" Naruto said after he'd retrieved the scroll. "This isn't rhythmic gymnastics we're doing here…"
"True…" Dosu muttered.
"That puts you down to six point five." Zaku chimed.
"Damn it…" Naruto muttered under his breath, at which his teammates got a good laugh as he chuckled along with them. If there was one thing he was good at, it was lightening the mood…
---
Dammit… Naruto thought. We need an Earth scroll… now I'm wishing I HADN'T given ours to those three…
"Hello, Naruto-kun…" A voice said from behind them as they passed, immediately stopping to see who it was.
"Orochi-ji?" Naruto asked. "Aren't you supposed to be gone by now?"
"Kukuku… they can't catch me…" The Snake Sannin said boldly. "How was Sasuke-kun?"
"A pain in the ass…" Naruto said firmly.
"Ohhhohoho… so his seal is in place then?" Orochimaru asked.
"How else could he have been a pain in my…" Naruto stopped himself. He didn't want to finish that sentence. Instead, Naruto simply stood there shuddering for a moment.
"Kukuku… I take it you have your scrolls by now?"
"Actually… we…" Naruto started, but at a sharp elbow from Zaku, started again. "I gave our Earth scroll to Sasuke."
"Ohoho! It seems you boys are in luck!" Orochimaru said before he plunged his hand down his own throat, retrieving a copy of the scroll in question. "Here you go…"
The three Sound Genin just stood there, gawking in disgust at the man in front of them. "Go get it Dosu…" Naruto said, audibly trying to keep from gagging. You never get used to seeing that…
"Why me?" Dosu asked.
Naruto and Zaku both looked at him, and said in unison; "No gloves…" While holding out their bare hands.
Looking down at his long sleeves, which hung down over his hands, he glanced back up at his teammates and said; "I hate you…" When he walked over to Orochimaru, there was an audible 'squish' as the scroll was dropped into his sleeve-covered hand.
"Now go on…" Orochimaru said, smiling. "You know the plan…" As Orochimaru watched his three Genin sprinting towards the tower at full speed, he couldn't help but chuckle…
Thanks to Naruto's influence, you can easily see the differences I made in the characters. Kin is more… well… girly than canon, Zaku is more like a bloodthirsty Kiba, and Dosu is pretty much Shikamaru or Shino on crack…
For the record, no, I don't hate Sakura… I just wanted to see Naruto beat the shit out of her for once, and this was a great chance to write it. (I think I like her MORE now…)
One last thing; my co-author (Who is just an editor to this fic) Tells me the second Kage is the Nidaime, when I spelled it Niidaime in the summary. I think I'm right, but I changed it, as per his suggestion anyway… Now, I'm going to put it to a vote. Which do YOU think is right? Ni or Nii?