I don't own Naruto.
Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.
Bold is supernatural speech.
-Chapter Seven: Dog Wants War? I Give Him War!-
Naruto smirked, he was on the opposite side of his gennin test. He tucked the bells into his belt.
"But there's only two bells there."
"Correct. Begin!" All three were gone in a matter of seconds. He smirked, they were faster than he was at that age.
Naruto cracked his neck, stretched his wrists and arms, readying himself.
"So Jon, you're the first to come? I'd figured it would've been Ashiru, he's the one that seems most likely to attack first."
"I wanna see how strong you really are." Jon rushed forward, only to run into a lightning fast jab.
"Strength doesn't matter, speed and accuracy do." He said. "Because strength comes with those." He dodged a number of blows, before stepping in to elbow the younger boy.
Jon was sent staggering by the rock hard elbow. The side kick that followed served to knock him back even farther. Just how strong was Naruto?
"You'll never beat me alone, none of you." Jon recovered his stance and wits, and realized that the blonde man was indeed too fast to beat by himself. He needed his friends. He took off running, the bruises that were forming on his ribs were impeding a full range of motion.
He found Ashiru and Torimaru talking, trying to come up with a plan.
"Looks like you already had a row with him." Torimaru said. "We concluded that we're not fighting, we're ambushing to steal the bells." He added. "We're fighting a stronger force. Remember the academy? If you're fighting a bigger force that's guarding your objective, then you need to ambush and deceive." The young teen said.
"That's brilliant, but how would we ambush him?" Ashiru says.
"We'll need bait, and booby traps. I was thinking a snare or a pitfall."
" Snares would be the best bet, we get him stuck, and then steal the bells."
"Who's up for being bait?" Torimaru asked. No one raised their hands. "Fine, I guess it's me." He hopped down, and they set about with their plans.
Naruto was sitting in meditation in the middle of their training ground. He saw Torimaru emerge from a small valley that branched out, that led to a small desert oasis if memory served.
Naruto stood, looking at his student. "You're the smartest in the group, what caused you to come out alone?"
"I wanted to test myself." He pulled out a pair of nunchaku. He assumed a stance with them, his left hand held up, holding one of the metal rods, the other below his left elbow, the rods and chain were behind him.
Naruto didn't need his sticks, he moved in, dodging the metal nunchaku, delivering short blows, knocking the teen back with each one.
Occasionally, Naruto would get hit, but the blows couldn't compare to anything he'd been delivered before. He kept pushing, and Torimaru kept backing up, pulling Naruto into the small valley.
Torimaru did a back flip to dodge a kick, Naruto stepped forward, feeling the sand beneath him disappear, he saw the stakes below him, and then felt himself jerked upward. Ashiru then came and stole the bells, holding both of them.
"I see, so Torimaru was the bait, while you retrieved the bells after I fell into your trap." He began pulling himself up the thin rope, cutting it and swinging to safety. He landed near them. "You all pass." He said, looking at his students. "Also, I have some news for you. Gaara has found a teacher for you, he'll be meeting you here tomorrow at eight. This is our last training session." They all looked downcast. "I know you'll do well. This guy is tough, his name's Hyugo Ren, a Ninjutsu specialist." Naruto smirked. He then took his bells, and his leave.
Naruto went for lunch, ate some ramen and had some tea. When he was walking home, he saw something that seemed to be out of place. A man, dressed in clothes that weren't of the norm around here. He looked like he was a samurai, something that didn't usually occur here.
Approaching the man carefully, as he went to grab the man's shoulder, he was forced to duck a katana, he kicked the man's knee out from behind, and stepped back.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Are you Uzumaki Naruto?"
"If I am?" The man rushed at him, his sword acted like a scalpel, precise to a hair, every stroke that Naruto dodged was aimed for a vital spot. He leaned back, dodging the stroke that would've cut his throat, and kicked up, the ball of his foot landing in the man's groin, he grabbed his head, elbowed him, and then took him in an arm lock, he locked the man's other arm with one of his legs, his knee on the man's spine. "WHO SENT YOU?!" He pulled on the man's arm, causing him to drive his face even farther into the hot sand.
"You'll never get me to talk like this, even if you do, they'll send more." Naruto reached into his gi with his free hand, he withdrew a scroll, which held a set of bonds, he bound the man's hands, picking him up, as well as his sword. Cursing his luck, his gi had been cut during the short fight.
Gaara was not a fan of surprises, so when Naruto tossed a samurai on his floor, he was not pleased. "What is this Uzumaki?"
"This man attacked me in town, he won't answer to me, I'd figure you could persuade him to do otherwise." Gaara smirked, closing his eyes.
"Do you know who I am, Mercenary?" The man nodded. "You know that I could crush your entire body?" He nodded again. "But I won't, I'll start with your feet." He surrounded the man's feet in sand, crushing them. "Tell us what we want to know."
"N-Never." The man choked out. Gaara moved the sand up, engulfing the calves of the man. He screamed in agony this time. Gaara gave him a chance again to talk, but no dice. He went from the man's knees, to his groin. "Fine! Fine! I'll speak! I'm a member of a group in the Land of Snow, we received intelligence that Konoha ninja were coming, and that Uzumaki was friends with them, we were sent to dispatch him at the same time as they were sent to dispatch the other two."
"Do you understand that you just attacked an incredibly dangerous person?" Gaara asked. "And the Uchiha is no pushover either. The Haruno girl, if memory serves was also trained by a member of the Sannin. Your friends will be dead in a matter of time." Gaara looked at Naruto, who took his sword, and thrust it through the man's head. "We have to alert Tsunade. Naruto, go to the Snow village, I'll send one of my own with you."
Naruto gathered his stuff, which wasn't much because he sealed it all in a scroll after packing it, so that he wouldn't be carrying a full pack. He walked out of his room to find Temari dressed, ready to travel.
"You're coming with me?"
"Yeah, I'm the best from this village. Gaara said your ANBU would be behind us, only by a day or so."
"Alright then, let's go." Naruto headed to the door, to be stopped by Kankuro.
"Be careful, both of you." With that, he moved.
"We will." Naruto nodded, and was out the door.
Sasuke was tired, there was no doubt of that. He ducked the sword that his senses told him was coming, and lashed out with a back fist strike, content that he struck something, he collapsed his arm, stepping in and throwing his target back.
"What do you want?" Sasuke drew his chokuto, the Kusanagi. The man just smirked and attacked.
Sakura, with her focus on Sasuke, almost didn't notice the person trying sneak up on her, she turned around and punched, her chakra powered strikes creating a vacuum behind her arm. She saw the man, but he was fast, wearing a mask that resembled what she'd always believed a demon to look like, he also wore a blue sleeveless gi, and a long, black and white sleeved shirt, the stripes ran horizontally, on his hands were black gloves.
"You Konoha ninja will drive our business out of this city, we can't have that." The masked man said. "We of the Oniwabanshu will extinguish you." He assumed his fighting stance, a fairly normal kempo stance.
Sakura also put up her hands, knowing that this was a fight for her life. She wondered what the stripes on his arms were for. She stepped back to what she assumed a safe distance, only to receive a punch in the face.
What the hell was that? She thought, standing up, lunging at the man, her own fist finding it's mark on his chin.
Sasuke dodged the first sword, the second sword, and then blocked the first one again, the man was using a pair of Kodachi. He pushed the blade away, and punched him in the stomach, his sword aimed at the staggering opponent. He was rewarded with his blade biting into the man's leg.
"I see that your skill with that blade isn't exaggerated Uchiha, but you have yet to see the Shinomori style."
"I have more tricks up my sleeve, I'm just getting warmed up." He unfastened his cloak, showing that he was wearing his ANBU uniform. He set the sword on his shoulder. "Come on, if you want a fight, this is the best place to come." His sharingan showed bright, three tomoe marked each eye. With a blink of the eyes, he was gone, his sword coming down on the ninja in front of him. The elder man brought his sword up to block. "You choose defense, which is the wrong choice." He pushed chakra into the blade, slicing the kodachi clean through, and tracing a bloody line down the man's chest.
Sakura dodged yet another punch, she'd finally understood the stripes, they made her enemy's arms look shorter. It was a simple trick, but a devious one, she'd decided that dodging sideways and down were her only options. She countered the punch, pushing it aside, and punching the man, following with a knee to the sternum, she was rewarded with a crack.
But stopping there, that wasn't her plan, she continued assaulting the masked man, each punch and kick earned her more ground, until finally, she charged a punch with chakra, and released all that power upon the man's face, destroying both the mask, and the bones below. She gasped at what she saw.
Sasuke had cut the man's kodachi, but he still had one sword.
"Tell me Uchiha, why return?"
"Because, it's my home." He remembered his friends. "And if you dare impede on my mission, I'll Kill you!" He charged more chakra into his sword, and rushed the man once again. The ninja blocked the sword, only to be rewarded with an electrical current, and a boot to the face. Sasuke created his Chidori, and ran the man through.
He felt the man go limp, and pushed him off his arm, he found Sakura behind him, mending her broken nose.
"So, what do you think this was all about?"
"It seems that they're mercenaries that are angry about the Snow wanting to build their own ninja village, and us helping."
"Well, we need to report this, there's likely to be more." He said. "Let's get to the village, and send a letter back home." Sasuke cleaned the blood off of his sword and hand, sheathing his sword and they continued towards the village.
-Chapter Seven: End-
Author's Note: This chapter wasn't my best work, it was more of a space occupier, something that I could get up, to fill the gaps between the cool stuff. I'll work much harder on the next chapter, make up for what I think was kind of a crappy chapter.