Fighting Akatsuki and Seito's Failure

"And then, oh, my GOD, his FACE!" Ritoru and Shiroki were beginning to become best of friends. The day was growing old; it had been weeks since any of Team Two had fought over anything—with the mere exception of during training and to see what ramen to get. Shiroki understood Ritoru wanted Seito more than anything, well, perhaps ninjahood, but they could achieve that together.

They all would.

Walking home that evening, the two kunoichi were giggling and gossiping. Shiro dropped Rito off at home with a call of "Sayonara, Ri-chan!" Shiroki continued off down the block, to her house at the edge of town. It was a ramshackle thing, having a leaky thatched roof and only two rooms, but Shiroki liked it. It was just as rough and unloved as she was, and that made her happy. No one else had wanted it, just as no one else had wanted her. As she approached down past the end of the pavement, she dropped her keys. "Whoopsie," she chimed. Absolutely perky, she refused to allow such a petty thing she'd usually blow up over get her down.

"You're in our way, child. Leave while you still have the chance," snarled a deep voice from behind her. "We're being nice." Her first instinct – reach for a kunai. But there was no weapons cache ther. She was in her street clothes; that day, she wasn't occupied by anything but shopping and hanging out like a normal girl. The sensei was having the day off after completing an especially difficult mission. She didn't even have her headband on her. So much for pulling the 'I'm a ninja of Konoha' trick. Turning slightly, she almost purred, "Is that a threat, gentlemen?" This girl had a reputation to uphold.

Five fully-armed, fully-trained ninja stood in front of her. The were all easily twice her size. Shiroki, on the other hand, she had no weapons, and no backup. The odds against me? Whatevs. That's what I do. At least the shadows are nice and long, she thought with a smirk.

"It's not a threat, it's an order. We prefer to keep this between us and a certain young man in your village.

Shiro squinted. On each of their headbands was a different symbol, each with a long, thin scratch along the middle. They were from the Akatsuki, by the looks of things. "Heh," breathed the little Leaf ninja genin, slumping a little, and smirking. "I never take orders kindly from outsiders, even if they're from jonin or another village's hokage. Not like I've met many." She looked up at them. "I'm no ordinary girl. I'm a ninja. You want to challenge that? I can at least pin you down until doom's day." She gestured with two fingers for them to come at her.

And they did.

Only one leaped forth wielding a tanto. While Shiroki didn't know if it was stolen or actually his, she did notice that the blade glistened unnaturally, as if it held some unknown power. "You're in way up over your head, child," said he, "ridiculously so." Nervous, she dodged, and tried desperately to think of a plan. Hachiro had always chided her for not planning. Now, she knew that she should have listened to begin with. It was even harder to focus on planning when she was being stabbed at – if she had practiced in class, she wouldn't be having so much trouble now.

He stabbed her in the arm, and yelping, she pulled back, gripping her shoulder, eyes wide with fear. She couldn't move her arm at all. Panting in shaky breaths, the young ninja began to try to run. He lunged at her, but she pressed herself to the ground, and he stumbled headlong into the wall beyond her. All his comrades began to set off in chase after her. Then, she set off at a full-on sprint, as best as she could with only one arm. Banging on her friend's door, she yelled, "Ritoru! Ritoru!" In her pajamas now, Rito answered, saw what was the matter, and immediately got her stuff without a word. The two girls stood their ground firm.

"Let's do this," said Ritoru, beginning to weave handsigns for her best genjustsu: death mirage. Once she finished, the lead Akatsuki wove his own signs, and seemed to push away from him. Ritoru crumpled, sobbing. From the looks of things, he had turned the genjutsu back at her. Shiroki shook her friend. "Ri-chan! Snap out of it! Come on, I need you!"

"I-I-I... c-c-can't go on like this... They're dead." Shiroki knelt. "Who's dead? What? You were fine when I got you a minute ago!"

An Akatsuki laughed. "Not much help, is she, kunoichi? Move it before I have to make quick work of the both of you."

Hauling her friend to her feet, she tried to get Ritoru to her safety. Dusk was falling. Shiroki could no longer do her shadow jutsus easily. Come on, she thought. Think, Shiroki, think!

Soon enough, the Nara child had envisioned a brilliant idea. Stepping in front of the Akatsuki, she laughed mirthfully, as if she'd thought of a joke she'd tell them. She began to form hand seals, but their leader beat her to it, and she found her hands lashed together with a vine. Struggling, she called out into the dusky half-light for anyone to help her.

There was a slick slicing noise. Ritoru had managed to escape the genjutsu, and free Shiroki. The Yamanaka gripped a kunai in what would be an epic pose, but the pink ribbon P's really ruined the intimidating effect. If you looked close, her face was still streaked with tears, and her eyes were red and puffy. The genjutsu must have really taken a toll on her, and struck a nerve. Despite the tears in her eyes, Ritoru looked the fiercest Shiroki had ever seen her.

"No one hurts my friends! No one! Never!" Rito caterwauled at them, then charged, aiming a passing slash at the shinobi as she passed.

That got the Akatsuki mad more than anything, really, and Shiroki could tell. She could see it in their eyes. Two on four. The odds were slanted heavily against the two kunoichi. Unless some miricle happened, no good could come from this fight. Again, Shiroki reached for weaponry, but only found empty space where her cache should be. Right. Forgot – I'm in my street clothes. Damn. She was basically defenseless, except for a few basic ninjutsu...

Still, she had to try.

The kunoichi rashly charged the Akatuski, her speed chakra-infused. She pulled back her good hand to strike, but another Akatsuki leaped at her like a cobra, grabbed her fist, gave her a good hard punch, and tossed her away like garbage. Trembling, Shiroki rose to her feet, and wiped blood from her lip. Their leader sauntered up to her while the others corralled Ritoru, who was kicking and screaming for help.

"You got guts, kid. But not nearly enough brains are in your head. You're driven by something animal. Your loyalty to your hokage must be immense. But do I look like I give a damn?" He snickered, and drew his tanto. "Scream. I don't care." The Akatsuki held up his hand as soon as she opened her mouth. The breath seemed to rush from her lungs. He's using some... her thoughts began to dim, and slow down, strong... wind... jutsu... Shiroki felt a sharp pain, heard commands, then was out like a light.

"Hey, Seito! I think she's coming to!"

"Don't crowd her."

Shiroki, with a few grunts of pain, woke in what appeared to be a room of the Konoha Hospital. Numbly, she began to look around: there was an IV attached to her arm, and a small fake plant in the corner. There was a curtain and a sink near her bed, but the most notable, colorful things in the room, were her friends. "What exactly happened?"

According to Ritoru, not long after Shiroki had passed out, several Hidden Leaf jonin rescued them. Then, Shiro was sent to the hospital, and patched up by Ino, who was apparently Ritoru's older cousin, like how Shikamaru was Shiroki's cousin. Through the whole time Rito was talking, Seito was brooding. After the story was told, Shiroki sat a little, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Kurama... what's up? Y'aren't 'fraid o' blood, are ya?"

"No."

"Tell us: what is wrong?" furthered Ritoru.

"I'm a failure," he said. "A good Shinobi is always there for his team. And I wasnt there for you. I just feel really bad about it, that's all."

"Don't feel so bad. It was only once."

"For now."

"Don't bellyache and whine to me about it," Shiroki snapped. "You should be counting your lucky stars you weren't stabbed.

On that note, Hachiro walked in. "Hey, kids," he said to his students. "How is your arm treating you, Shiroki-san?"

"Meh, I'll deal."

The sensei nodded. "Anyhow, I was going to say... quite a few things, actually. First of all, I'm going to send you on some missions soon. Once Shiroki has her recoop time, a mission is in order." Shiroki almost leaped up and cheered, but she managed to restrain herself down to a wide grin. Everyone else looked equally excited. The sensei waited for his team to calm down, then held up a hand and continued, "But before we do anything extraordinary, I have some things I need to teach all of you. I will explain when Shiroki is beter."

"What's up with the new training regimine, sensei?" Ritoru inquired.

He paused. "The chunin exams are fast approaching, and I was thinking about allowing you to join. If any of you don't thing you're up for one of the most challenging things you may ever do as either a genin or a chunin, then you don't have to apply. That just means, though, that out whole team has to drop out and wait another year. Only teams of three can enter."

After that, silence.

"By the way, I'm going to be teaching all of you elemental release jutsus, if you're interested."

With that, he walked off, and Ino-sensei shooed the rest of the visiting ninja out the door so Shiroki could rest and heal up.