Author's Note:
Hi all! Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry for the delay in update, just uprooted my life and moved continents while the holiday season was in full swing. No big deal. Anyway, here is the next episode! Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, predictions etc in the reviews. Enjoy!
Ep 2 Votes:
Voted for Konan - Itachi, Karin (2)
Voted for Karin - Sakura, Shikamaru, Konan (3)
Survivor: Ninja Edition - Ep 3
Freaky Meditation Pose
Night 6 - Brain Tribe
Sakura heaved a sigh of relief as she approached camp with her tribe. It was a remarkably clear night; several stars dotted the darkened sky and the moonlight illuminated their surroundings sufficiently.
All in all, Sakura was very glad that everything had gone according to plan at tribal council. By choosing to flip with Shikamaru, they had saved Konan - and her idol - while sending Karin packing. The menace to Sakura was gone, and she now had a loyal ally in Konan. However, the biggest question was how Itachi would react, considering that he was left out of the vote.
Sneaking a glance at the Uchiha in question, Sakura observed as he easily rekindled the fire with a quick katon jutsu. His posture was casual, and expression relaxed. He seemed calm enough, although it was always hard to tell with someone like Itachi.
"Itachi-san," Sakura began, almost hesitating at his inquiring gaze. "I am sorry that we didn't tell you about the vote tonight. We had to keep Karin oblivious. I hope that us four can get along and work together from now on."
Seconds ticked away as Itachi's onyx colored eyes held Sakura's emerald ones. Finally, Itachi blinked and his expression eased into a smile.
"I know why you had to do it, Sakura-chan," he murmured gently, before his tone shifted to one of resolve. "Rest assured that the next person voted out will be someone other than the four of us here."
Nodding their agreement, the Brain Tribe prepared to turn in for the night. As he took his sleeping spot in the shelter beside Shikamaru, who was already snoring softly, Itachi shut his eyes and willed himself to sleep. It was hard to shut off his mind, inside which his thoughts were racing a mile a minute.
Everything did go in accordance to the plan. His plan, for that matter. But Itachi was still uneasy. With tonight's vote, Sakura and Shikamaru showed their capability to go against him. He would let it slide this once, considering that it had to play out for the sake of his fake idol plan and long term game. He would have to be on his toes, though; Shikamaru and Sakura were smart.
He would be watching them closely from now on.
Day 7 - Beauty Tribe
Ino awoke to the sound of birds chirping in the distance. Slowly opening her eyes, she registered the still slightly darkened sky. The sun had only just begun to rise, painting a beautiful pattern of light and shadowed clouds on the horizon.
Sitting up carefully, Ino noted that she was the first to rise today. She didn't mind; she always took interest in observing the sleeping habits of her tribemates whenever she got the chance. Being a master in psychology, she learned from young that the way a person slept could be more telling than how they behaved when awake. And her tribe had kept the same sleeping positions since Day 1.
Glancing to her left, Ino noted the familiar form of Kurenai lying on her side, facing away from her. The genjutsu mistress always insisted on sleeping at the end of the shelter, and next to Ino, the only other female on the tribe. She had never explicitly asked, but Ino had a theory that this behaviour had something to do with Kurenai's relationship with Asuma. There were bound to be scars from that, but Ino was tactful enough to know it was not her place to pry.
Turning her gaze to her right, Ino amusedly realized that Deidara was still tightly wrapped around her. When she had sat up, he had unconsciously shifted from their previous spooning position into a fetal pose surrounding her with his arms clutching her around her waist. Ino nodded to herself. You go, girl. You definitely have that one eating out of the palm of your hand.
Next in line was Haku, sleeping perfectly still, maintaining the exact same position that he had fallen asleep in. From the past week of getting to know him, Ino was pretty sure that Haku preferred men over women. Call it intuition. But more importantly, his sleeping spot showed where Haku stood in the Sasuke-Kakashi-Haku pecking order. The three of them were obviously in an alliance; they shared something on that bridge years ago that no one else in this tribe had. However, Haku clearly held no power in the alliance as he always slept next to Deidara (and it was clear the trio weren't the fondest of him), leaving a small but obvious gap between him and the eccentric artist. Also, Kakashi and Sasuke were Team 7. That team was the most... Konoha out of all the ninja squads in Konoha. Enough said.
Kakashi slept in between Haku and Sasuke, who was on the other end of the shelter. She couldn't quite put her finger on Kakashi yet. Her father had always told her he was a quirky one. Although, from what she had observed of him thus far, he was the only one able to keep Sasuke in check, and Kurenai implicitly trusted him because of some sort of fellow jonin-sensei bond. He had Haku in his pocket, because where else could the boy go in this tribe? Even Deidara acknowledged him as a shinobi worth his salt. In short, Hatake Kakashi had somehow become the Beauty Tribe's queen bee. Ino couldn't figure out how he did it – he disappeared for hours at a time just to come back and cite some lame ass excuse like having to take the long way around a black cat (there were no black cats here for crying out loud!) and always had his face buried in that blasted orange book. But no, everyone just laughed that he was being Kakashi, and kept on placing him on a pedestal.
Finally, Ino set her eyes on Sasuke. Dear ol' Sasuke-kun. A wicked smile graced her pretty features as she recalled with glee at how much torment she had put him through for the past week or so. Contrary to popular belief, Ino wasn't just a dumb blonde with big tits. Her father raised and taught her better than that. She was, in short, the Shikamaru equivalent in social know-how; she understood people and their thought processes. And when Sasuke had dismissed her on the first day, she knew that he was a lost cause to her. However, she had relentlessly continued her assaults on him with good reason – did that boy seriously think she was going to let him find an idol that easily? She knew that Sasuke would never want to align with her, and so she played the part of the vapid fangirl, knowing that the more surly Sasuke became around camp, the more he'd start to alienate others against him. It was already showing results with Kurenai.
Ino raised her arms above her head, stretching out as she yawned. The movement caused Deidara to stir, and his face lit up the moment he laid his eyes on her.
"What a great view to wake up to, un," he muttered softly, not wanting to rouse his other tribemates yet.
Ino played with her hair and let out a girlish giggle as she allowed her fellow blonde to plant a light kiss on her cheek – with each of his three mouths.
"I could say the same," she whispered back, before playfully shrugging off his advances and sauntering out of the shelter. She made sure to look back and lock eyes with Deidara, who was eyeing her form with appreciation. Smirking, she whipped her head forward and, very deliberately, bent over to tend to the fire. The spluttered exclamation she heard from Deidara was music to her ears.
Ino was used to being underestimated; it was a common tactic employed by kunoichi, and she would use it to her advantage in this game. After all, who would ever think that the little pretty bouncy blonde was a threat?
Day 7 - Brawn Tribe
Temari was sprinting through the tree tops in the dense jungle foliage. She had been going non-stop for the past twenty minutes, eyes scanning her surroundings frantically. She estimated that she had maybe five (ten?) minutes at most before someone came to check in on her. After all, collecting firewood didn't take long to complete for a ninja.
To her credit, Temari did have a large bundle of firewood in her arms and strapped to her back. However, she was taking all the extra time she could to search for the hidden immunity idol. With the Brawn Tribe, one had to take any opportunity they could get; alone time was infrequent and short-lived.
The blonde Suna nin sighed as she sensed a chakra signature approaching her location at a rapid pace. Her time was up, then. No luck today.
"TEMARI-CHAN!" Came the booming voice of Maito Gai. "I was sent to see if you required any assistance on your quest for firewood, but alas, it seems that your fires of youth burn as bright as ever!"
Konoha's Green Beast gestured proudly to the sizeable stack of wood she had gathered. Plastering a smile onto her face, Temari passed half of her spoils to Gai and turned around to head back to camp with him.
As they jogged their way to camp together, Temari allowed herself to laugh at Gai's boisterous mannerisms and attempts at humor. Inside, however, she was torn between frustration and affection for her well-meaning but overbearing tribe mates.
On a surface level, the Brawn Tribe was a strong, happy tribe. Every single member got along well, pulled their weight around camp and delivered in challenges. On the flip side, they took the whole camaraderie thing a bit too far. With people like Naruto and Gai around, the tribe was sold on the notion that the six of them were family. Inseparable, precious, forever. Naruto just had that sort of Jesus-effect on people, even extra-seasoned killers like Kisame, to a certain extent. Temari knew - as did the others, she assumed - that this ruse wouldn't last in a game like Survivor, but everyone (including herself) didn't have the heart to refuse Naruto. His conviction, together with Gai's, made her want to believe them.
Coming back to the present, Temari realized that they had arrived at camp. Setting down her pile of logs, she had barely straightened back up when her senses were assaulted by a lot of blonde and orange.
"Temari!" Naruto sniffled as he latched onto his friend. "I was worried when you were gone for so long! But thank you for getting more wood, dattebayo!"
Ruffling a hand through the jinchuriki's hair, Temari couldn't stop a fond grin from coming to her face. So he was having one of his 'I-miss-ramen-so-I'm-getting-extra-emotional' days. "You don't need to worry," Temari said. "I'm tough!"
Naruto released her from his bear hug and gave her a dazzling smile. Temari was slightly dazed - those grins were almost impossible to resist - when a fist promptly landed on the side of Naruto's head.
"Baka!" Anko, the source of the fist, chided.
"Ouch!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot. "What was that for, dammit?!"
"It's weird when you get all emotional over the smallest thing!" Anko shot back. "I'm not used to you moping around instead of farting out rainbows and sunshine as you normally do."
Shaking her head in amusement, Temari headed over to the sea to wash off the mud from her earlier jungle trek. At the shore, she ran into Kisame, who was just emerging from his fishing trip.
Nodding at the bucket in his hand, Temari broke into a smile. They would have full stomachs today.
"Nice catch," she complimented honestly. "Filled to the brim."
Kisame grunted in response, offering his fist to her. With a quick glance behind her to ensure that everyone else was still distracted by Anko and Naruto, Temari brought her fist to meet her companion's.
After executing what had become their customary secret alliance handshake, Kisame gave her a small smile and headed up to camp. Temari watched his retreating form as she submerged herself into the cool seawater.
As she scrubbed the dirt off her limbs, Temari decided that she was rather proud of herself. Her alliance with Kisame that was forged on Day 1 was still standing strong; their secret alliance handshake was proof of that. Somewhere along the way, Kisame had found an in with Anko, while she had managed to make Naruto see herself as a part of the family, which was significant as Naruto held a lot of social influence on the tribe.
She was doing well, and she was very happy about that. However, Temari also knew that something would have to give eventually. She was definitely not looking forward to the moment when they would have to vote out one of their own.
Day 8 - Immunity Challenge
"Come on in, guys!" Jiraiya called, signalling the entrance of the Brawn and Beauty Tribes.
The toad sage was standing atop a particularly large rock in the middle of a gigantic beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, the light reflecting off the crystal clear water of the ocean, where several obstacles and three floating platforms were built into the sea. On the other side of the shoreline, three large tables were situated in soft white sand, about twenty metres from the water. There were also three tall vertical cylindrical structures on the beach.
"Brawn and Beauty Tribes, you are now getting your first look at the new Brain Tribe," Jiraiya announced as the Brain Tribe trekked in behind everyone else. "Karin was voted off at the last tribal council."
The news was met with minimal reaction; no one was particularly sorry to see the volatile redhead gone. Even Sasuke looked entirely indifferent, his expression the same as if he was just told that the sky was blue.
"So let's get down to business," Jiraiya plowed on. "Today's immunity challenge will be run like a relay race. Four members from each tribe will compete. The first will race from the shore across a series of obstacles, before they will reach the platform. If you fall, you have to start over from the obstacle you failed to complete. Upon reaching the platform, they will then dive down to retrieve five buoys, each deeper than the last. This is a test of speed and stamina; whoever does this phase of the challenge will have your chakra sealed."
Scanning the obstacles in the ocean, the ninja noted that there were three for each tribe to cross before they reached the platform. The first obstacle was an extremely narrow balance beam that zig zagged and inclined in many areas. Next was a large net that extended seven metres high. Lastly, there were ten small floating squares made of wood, shifting in the water periodically due to the strong currents synonymous with Uzushiogakure.
"The second tribe member begins on the platform," Jiraiya continued. "You will stack the five buoys on top of each other, and balance them atop your head with chakra. You will have to make your way back to shore and across the obstacles like this. If you fall, you'll have to restart that obstacle. This is a test of control and patience."
Now motioning to the cylindrical structures on the beach, Jiraiya said, "The third member will take the buoys and toss all them like basketballs into these. A test of precision, or perhaps luck in some cases."
"Once all the buoys are in, it will release a key that the final tribe member will use to unlock a chest," Jiraiya pointed to one of the large tables, where a large chest was tucked away beneath it. "Inside the chest are tiles, each with one letter of the alphabet printed on it. The last member of the tribe will use all twenty one pieces to solve a four-word puzzle; a test for the mind."
"Oh! One last thing," Jiraiya added casually, halting the ninja from breaking off to start strategizing. "This is a winner-takes-all challenge. The first tribe to complete the challenge wins immunity and will have an impressive sushi buffet spread waiting for them back at camp. The two other tribes will have double the fun with me tonight at tribal council."
...
"Alright!" Jiraiya shouted. "For the Brain Tribe, we have Itachi up first, followed by Sakura, Konan and Shikamaru for the puzzle. Representing the Brawn Tribe is Kisame, then Hanabi, Gai and finally Temari. The Beauty Tribe is starting with Sasuke, followed by Kurenai, Deidara and Kakashi."
Kisame stood at the shoreline, waiting for the challenge to begin. Glancing at the two Uchiha on either side of him, the swordsman let out a chuckle. Itachi looked impassive as ever, only focused on his impending task. Sasuke, on the other hand, kept stealing glances at his older brother, looking very determined to prove himself.
"Oi, Itachi," Kisame called. "This'll be just like old times, eh? Although," he jerked a thumb behind his back towards Sasuke, "I'm starting to feel like the third wheel here."
His jab was met with two different 'hn's. One was slightly amused, while the other sounded indignant.
Before he could do anything else, Jiraiya's voice signalled the start of the challenge.
"Survivors ready? GO!"
The three ninja sprung into action immediately and attacked the obstacle course. Kisame, being bulkier in stature and slightly slower than both Uchiha, began to lag behind. Among the brothers, Itachi's speed was clearly superior, as he took the obvious lead, irking Sasuke to no end.
By the time Kisame cleared the final obstacle (did those damn wooden squares have to be so tiny?), Itachi had already dove down to retrieve his third buoy, whereas Sasuke had just emerged with his first.
Back on the beach at the sit-out bench, Naruto was whooping and hollering exuberantly for his team. Tuning the noisy future-Hokage out, Ino rested her chin in her palm as she observed the action with a sigh.
"It's not fair," she whispered to herself wistfully. "How do all Uchiha men have unrivalled poise and immaculate hair, even in the water?"
"I know right," came Haku's equally breathy response.
Ino whipped her head to regard her tribe mate with wide eyes. "I knew it!"
"What?" Haku looked startled at her fervent proclamation.
Ino was saved from having to respond when Naruto let out a particularly loud cheer.
"KISAME! You the man! Fish! Er… Man-fish! Fish-man!"
It appeared that Kisame had caught up to Itachi by retrieving all five buoys in a single breath. Hanabi and Sakura were now attempting to stack the buoys on their heads. The Hyuuga's stack immediately collapsed, while Sakura's held steady as she made her attempt back to shore.
"Huh," Ino snickered. "Who knew that Forehead's billboard brow would be so useful?"
Sure enough, Sakura's superior chakra control and her genetic advantage saw her tribe in the lead once again. By the time Kurenai had figured out how to get her stack of buoys somewhat stable, the pink haired medic was already scaling up the net in the middle obstacle, while Hanabi let out a curse as she faltered towards the end of the moving wooden squares and had to start over.
Over by the beach, Shikamaru leaned against his table casually as he waited for his turn. He was very aware of the occasional competitive glares he received from Temari, whose table was to his right. Troublesome, but it wouldn't matter in the end. Losing was not an option for his tribe this time.
"Konan!" Sakura yelled, breaking the Nara out of his musing. She had just reached the shore and passed the buoys over to Konan, who immediately began taking aim.
Checking the other tribes' progress as she turned around and caught her breath, Sakura was very pleased to note that she had given her team a huge lead. Kurenai dropped her stack of buoys at the top of the net obstacle, and Hanabi was crossing the balance beam at a snail's pace, her buoys wobbling precariously.
Turning her attention back to her tribe, Sakura let out a cheer as she watched Konan sink the first buoy into the cylinder. However, the elation was short-lived as the second score seemed to elude Konan.
By the time Konan had sunk her second buoy, both tribes had caught up to her station, with Deidara and Gai frantically chucking buoys at their cylinders. It was Gai that took the lead for the Brawn Tribe, as he discovered that jumping five feet up in the air before taking aim was much more efficient than his previous attempts.
Sakura suppressed a groan as she watched Temari unlock her chest and begin pulling out tiles to solve the word puzzle. Both Konan and Deidara were looking for their final goal.
In the end, Deidara landed his buoy a second before Konan did hers, leaving Kakashi and Shikamaru scrambling to unlock their tiles as quickly as possible. Sneaking a peak at the tiles that Shikamaru laid out on his table, Sakura made out a mess of letters.
YDTTSAANHGEFFEATOTSNI
After taking a quick glance at the tiles in front of him, Shikamaru assumed a very familiar pose. Shutting his eyes, the lazy genius knelt close to the sand, his hands in front of his stomach with his fingers forming an upside down 'O' shape.
Sakura held up a hand to silence Konan, who was just about to yell at Shikamaru and tell him to focus on the puzzle. The blue haired kunoichi was glancing anxiously between Shikamaru and the other tribes, where Kakashi and Temari were frantically trying out various word combinations. Kakashi looked like he was onto something good.
"Trust me," Sakura whispered to her teammate. "Shikamaru is at his most dangerous when he assumes this particular pose."
Almost as if an invisible light bulb had appeared over his head, Shikamaru sprung up onto his feet and began to arrange his tiles at a rapid pace. Curious, the two kunoichi on the Brain Tribe edged as close as the challenge rules allowed them to, watching their tribe mate's actions. His hands flew across the table, placing tiles with deliberate motions. They watched, transfixed, as the word puzzle came together before their eyes.
"Done."
With that, Shikamaru folded his arms behind his head and let out a huge yawn. Jiraiya ran over to check the puzzle.
"Read it out," the toad sage told him.
By now, every single ninja was quiet and focused on Shikamaru. Not bothering to change his posture, the Nara heir sighed, before looking Jiraiya dead in the eye and smugly stating, "It says, 'Safety and Feast Tonight'."
"That's right!" Jiraiya cried. "The Brain Tribe is indeed safe tonight, and will feast on sushi back at their camp!"
Sakura and Konan let out squeals of delight, gathering Shikamaru and a newly arrived Itachi into a huge group hug. Without a single glance back, the foursome headed back to their camp, a new spring in their step.
"Well then," Jiraiya addressed the remaining shinobi, noting their various expressions of frustration, disappointment and sadness. "The bad news is, both tribes are going to have their first tribal council tonight. The potentially good news is, you'll come to tribal council together, where both tribes will vote out one person."
Day 8 - Beauty Tribe
"Shit, man, that challenge sucked balls," Deidara groaned as he trudged into camp and sat himself down by the fire.
"Mhmm," Ino agreed absentmindedly, chucking some logs into the fire pit. "We all knew that we were toast once Shikamaru did his freaky meditation pose."
Kurenai shook her head. "Well, there's a bright side, right?" the genjutsu mistress said, pausing to take a swig of water before joining the pair. "There's a chance that none of us will be voted out. If we play it right, we could get someone from Brawn out."
"True," Ino straightened up.
"Easy," Kakashi agreed, as he, Sasuke and Haku joined the others and took a seat. "We just need to target someone in the Brawn Tribe that we think would make one of their own flip to us and vote them out."
There were murmurs of agreement as everyone mulled it over. It did seem like a feasible idea.
"What if they have an idol?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, right!" Kakashi's palm slapped the side of his head. "Did anyone here manage to find an idol?"
His question was met with silence. Sasuke leveled a glare at Ino.
"What?" she shrugged, smiling innocently. "Guess you don't have it, ne, Sasuke-kun?"
"So no one has it, then," Kakashi interjected, before an argument broke out. They were running on limited time here.
"Yeah, suppose not," Kurenai said. "We can't afford to waste any time or effort searching now, considering no one has been successful over the last week."
Deidara clapped his hands loudly. "So it's settled then, yeah," he decided. "We just stick to the plan of targeting a target. Now who will it be?"
"Well," Haku mused, "What are our options? Naruto, Gai, Kisame, Anko, Temari or Hanabi?"
There were a few moments of silence as all six ninja considered their options. Ino absentmindedly poked at the fire with a stick. Kakashi caused a small explosion of more fire with a single hand seal. Ino glared at him.
"Kisame," stated Kurenai.
"Four Konoha nin, one Suna, and Kisame," Sasuke muttered, giving some thought to the suggestion.
Kakashi avoided Ino's glare. "Could work," he said. "Kisame could easily be seen as the bad guy to target, considering Konoha and Suna were fighting against Akatsuki."
Deidara's expression tightened, not liking the suggestion. That logic could easily point the fingers towards him in the future. However, there was little he could do to refute the plan, lest he expose himself as another potential 'bad guy'.
Kurenai's eyes widened. "Kisame is the perfect target!" she exclaimed. "I mean, he spent years chasing Naruto around, trying to capture him and everything."
"Not to mention he and Gai have exchanged blows several times," Kakashi agreed, then hesitated. "Although in Gai's case, I'm not sure if he remembers."
"So Naruto is the one we need to convince to flip," Sasuke concluded. "The question is how. Naruto isn't the most subtle of ninja; we can't have him alerting the whole tribe of our plans and risk an idol being played."
"We need a Plan B," Ino added thoughtfully. "In case everything goes to shit, we switch the vote to Temari."
"Agreed," Deidara said immediately. "Good idea."
"That still doesn't answer the question of how we convince Naruto, though," Haku pointed out.
Kakashi stared across the fire at Ino. "I have an idea about that."
...
Sasuke cornered his former sensei by the water well. Slapping his palms on either side of the well, the angsty Uchiha sent a death glare towards Kakashi.
"I don't like this plan," he ground out.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, placidly continuing his ministrations of filling his water canteen. "Hm?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Kakashi," Sasuke growled. "Why'd you put Ino in charge of convincing Naruto? I don't trust her. Why not either one of us? We know him way better."
"That's because the Yamanaka clan techniques are a hundred times more subtle than anything anyone else could do," Kakashi sighed. "Weren't you listening when we went over this with everyone just now? Something about not letting the rest of the Brawn Tribe in on it?"
"Of course I was!" Sasuke was clenching the stone well so hard that his knuckles were now white. "That's the exact problem. You told her to link her mind with Naruto's. How do we know for sure what they'll be talking about? She could be using it to flip on one of us instead!"
Kakashi shook his head. "She isn't that dumb, Sasuke," he replied. "Doing that would pit the rest of us against her, and she'll be the next to go. Her only option is to use her abilities to help us."
"I still don't like it," Sasuke was now crossing his arms. "She's dangerous. Now that you've gone and put this mind linking idea in her head, she could use it to gain all sorts of information throughout this game!"
Kakashi sighed again. Sasuke did make a fair point; having Yamanaka techniques seemed almost unfair in a game like Survivor, although some could say the same thing for other bloodlines or specialized clan techniques.
"Okay," the copy nin held his hands up in placation. "How about this..."
...
"Ino-chan," Deidara called out gently.
He had found her in the water by the rocks at the far side of the beach. She had a thin layer of sand covering her arms and torso.
"Dei-kun," she greeted. "Wanna help me with my sand exfoliation bath?"
With a wide grin, Deidara closed the gap between him and the tempting blonde. He could never resist a chance to get his hands all over her. However, as he began rubbing sand over her back, his smile faded and was replaced with a worried, contemplative look.
"I'm worried," Deidara admitted.
"Worried?" Ino shifted slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "About tonight?"
"Yeah, you could say that," he mumbled. Then in a more audible voice, "I don't like how our tribe painted Kisame as the outsider straightaway."
Turning her body around to fully face him this time, Ino took his hands in hers, speaking in a soothing tone.
"Are you worried about the same thing happening to you?"
Deidara nodded. He loved that Ino was so perceptive; it would make his objective for this conversation so much easier to achieve. He had to make sure that Kisame was safe tonight. The shark man was definitely a potential number for Deidara to work with in the future, and having the perception of 'get rid of all non-Konoha people first' was detrimental to his game for obvious reasons.
"Yeah I am," the explosives expert lowered his gaze from Ino's bright blue eyes, then shifted it back up. That second view was entirely too distracting. "I want to stay in this game and I'm afraid that if Kisame goes this fast, it'll be me next."
The former Iwa nin knew that it might be a mistake to be this open with Ino, but he forced himself to relax as he felt her run her hands along his arms in a soothing motion. He needed the Yamanaka to believe without a doubt that she was his one and only ally. In doing so, Ino would always fight tooth and nail for his spot in the game as she would perceive him to be unshakably loyal to her. The fact that she was also a Konoha nin - who held the vast majority of numbers - only increased his resolve to say his next words.
"More importantly though, I got to meet you, yeah," Deidara blushed, but he pushed on. "I've never had a real friend since I became a missing nin. I didn't think I'd ever get along with another person so well, let alone someone from Konoha," he let out a small chuckle. "I don't want to be voted out if it means that my time with you gets cut short."
Whether it was because he felt guilt at deceiving her, or fear of his plan being exposed, or (Kami forbid) he was actually starting to like her for real - he wasn't sure. But Deidara knew that he was unable to bear the sight of her large, pretty eyes staring at his with a mixture of shock, tenderness and conflict, so he pulled Ino into a tight hug. Weaving his fingers through her long hair, he smiled when he felt her return the embrace.
"Dei-kun," Ino said, her voice filled with authority. She broke the embrace, held him at arm's length, and looked him dead in the eye. "I will not let anything happen to you."
At Deidara's stunned expression, she continued. "I will do what the tribe wants, because my hands are tied on that matter. I do hope that Plan B will somehow get put into action, although I can't guarantee that. But, no matter the result of tonight, I won't ever turn my back on you."
Deidara was speechless. He was torn between smug elation at pulling off his objective so well, and crying because no one had said such lovely things to him in the longest time. He opened his mouth a couple times, but no sounds came out. Watching the humorous and slightly adorable display, Ino started to giggle.
The sound of her laughter broke Deidara out of his stupor. Narrowing his eyes in playfulness, Deidara pulled the gorgeous female into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.
A kiss to seal the deal, he told himself as he felt Ino respond. That's all it is.
Day 8 - Brawn Tribe
As soon as the six ninja arrived back at camp, Naruto placed his hands in a familiar hand seal and summoned close to a hundred shadow clones.
"I'm going to find that idol, dattebayo!"
With that declaration, the horde of Uzumakis took off into the forest, leaving the original Naruto in the camp with his slightly stunned tribe members gaping at him.
"What?" he asked, plopping himself down in the shelter casually. "That idol could be the thing that saves us tonight!"
"YOSH! Right you are, my boy!" Gai was the first to recover from shock, unsurprisingly. "We'll use it to save whoever needs it and send one of theirs home!"
Gai's enthusiasm had summoned Naruto back onto his feet, and the pair had linked hands and were now prancing around the fire in celebration of their new plan.
"Baka!" Anko's fists had found both of their heads. "Celebrate only when we've come back from tribal council will all six of us still here!"
"Yeah," Kisame agreed, "We still need to decide which one of them to target."
"Not to mention how we'll even manage to get them to tell us who they're targeting," Temari added, joining the growing circle.
Hanabi piped up, "Well, that's if we even find the idol."
Naruto pointed his finger dramatically at Hanabi, "Wait! You can use your Byakugan to help me search for it quicker!"
The young Hyuuga resisted the urge to sigh as the felt five pairs of eyes looking at her expectantly. She had hoped that no one would point out how her bloodline actually gave her several rather unfair advantages in the game. She didn't want to be viewed as a threat too early on, and if people started to realize her dojutsu could help her sniff out idols quickly, as well as determine who else was in possession of an idol, or even spy on others, she knew she could find herself in hot water fairly quickly.
"Fine," she said simply. Better to skew their perception of her into someone who was a very useful and obedient ally, instead of a potential threat. However, she felt as though she still needed to say something to downplay herself. "But my range of vision is still developing. It doesn't extend as far as some of the other Hyuuga that you might have worked with before."
Naruto waved a hand cheerfully. "Don't worry, Hanabi! We believe in you!"
Giving a small smile, the girl in question nodded and departed for the jungle with an activated byakugan.
Watching her tribe mate disappear behind the treeline, Anko said, "So, who are we going to target?" Her smile was almost vicious. "We should vote out someone who is a strong, well-rounded player. Cripple their tribe, essentially."
Kisame really wanted to suggest Kakashi or Sasuke - they were huge threats and the obvious choices - but one look at Naruto, who was deep in thought, made him throw out a different name instead.
"Ino," he grunted.
Temari gave him a dubious look. "Ino? Are you for real? What about Deidara or even Sa-"
"Think about it for a second," Kisame held up a hand and cut her off before she could trigger Naruto. "She may not be the biggest physical threat, but she is a huge social and strategic threat. Her spooky mind-reading techniques are a scary thing to go against. And for fuck's sake, even I know her reputation as Konoha's biggest gossip! For people to know you're a gossip but still tell you all their shit - that's a social threat right there!"
"That's actually pretty accurate," Anko said, slightly stunned. "I've never noticed it that way, but I think you're right. We can handle the physical threats, but I'm less confident going against a player like Ino."
"Sounds good to me," Temari agreed, not particularly fussed now that she knew the logic behind the choice. "Naruto? Gai?"
Nodding in an uncharacteristically serious fashion, Gai declared, "Ino it is, then!"
Naruto was slightly conflicted. His principles as a human were screaming at him that Ino was a fellow Konoha comrade and that he should not betray her, but he had come into this adventure knowing that it was a game. And part of the game was voting people out. He knew that he'd have to possibly vote a precious person out sooner or later, so did it really matter if he voted Ino out first instead of someone like Deidara?
Making up his mind, Naruto gave his tribe a thumbs up. "I'm voting Ino," he declared. "You have my word!" He would have to side with his new temporary family for this vote. At least it wasn't Sasuke or Kakashi.
Satisfied with Naruto's answer (everyone knew that he would never go back on his word), his tribe moved on to the next topic.
"What if the other tribe has an idol?" Asked Temari.
"You mean like this one?" A chorus of Narutos yelled at the same time.
Emerging from the trees were a dozen Naruto clones and Hanabi, all wearing looks of pride and satisfaction. The Naruto leading the group held up a necklace for the tribe to inspect; it was a large, red colored Uzumaki spiral strung up using rope. Walking just a step behind the lead Naruto clone was Hanabi, clutching a piece of parchment containing the idol rules, proving its legitimacy.
The Brawn Tribe erupted into cheers as the clones tossed the idol to the real Naruto and dispelled themselves.
"Your flames of youth burn brightly indeed!" Gai praised. "Where did you find it? And so quickly, at that!"
"By the water well," Hanabi explained. "It was buried in a patch of dirt."
What she didn't explain was that the patch of dirt was in a completely random spot; one wouldn't have been able to find it unless they had a clue or a Byakugan. But they didn't need to know that, and she was pretty sure that Naruto had more urgent matters to focus on rather than replaying and analyzing their idol hunt.
"This idol will be used for whoever the other tribe votes for tonight!" Naruto emphasized as he pocketed it.
"Alright, so back to our discussion," Anko said excitedly. "I say that at tribal tonight, we pretend to target Deidara, but we all put Ino's name down."
"Good plan," Hanabi said, not bothered about voting Ino out. She barely knew the girl. "Deidara's a good scapegoat - he's loud, boisterous and a physical threat. They'll believe we're really after him and trying to sway them to vote him out too."
"So Ino, but undercover," Naruto summarized.
At Naruto's statement, Anko fixed her gaze on him, her eyes twinkling. "That's it! Great idea, Naruto!"
"Huh?" the blonde replied, not following.
"You'll also go undercover," Anko elaborated. "When we go to tribal, sit as near as you can to the other tribe. When you get the chance ask one of them - preferably your baka sensei or emo prince - who they're voting for, just say that your loyalty lies with them."
"That could work," Temari exclaimed excitedly. "Out of all of us, you have the best chance at convincing them, Naruto!"
Naruto took a second to think it over. It was true that out of his tribe, he had the best rapport with the members of the Beauty Tribe minus Deidara. If he could get in touch with Sasuke or Kakashi, they would definitely trust him. If he pulled this off, it would be pretty epic, but could he bring himself to deceive his precious people like that?
"Think of it as pranking your old teammates!" Gai suggested.
It was that statement that convinced Naruto to go along with the plan. "Yosh!" He shouted, taking a leaf from the taijutsu master's book. "I'll do it! It'll be fun!"
"May your youth burn brightly forever!" Gai cried tears of happiness. "Tonight will be a triple undercover night! First with the undercover vote, then Naruto going undercover, and finally when we uncover our idol!"
Hanabi shook her head amusedly as she watched Naruto and Gai begin to dance around the fire again. She was definitely nervous about tribal council, as their plan seemed to rely heavily on Naruto, also known as Uzumaki no-such-thing-as-subtlety Naruto.
She just hoped that his reputation of Number One Surprising Ninja held true, but in the Brawn Tribe's favor.
Night 8 - Tribal Council
"Well, come on in, everyone!" Jiraiya grinned as he welcomed the ninja into the tribal council hut. "Looks like we're going to have twice the fun tonight, eh?"
Directing the crowd to the large fire pit in the middle of the hut, Jiraiya continued, "As this is all your first time at tribal council, grab your torch, dip it into the flames and get fire."
Watching as the shinobi obediently followed his instructions, the toad sage carried on with, "In this game, fire represents your life. When your fire's gone, so are you."
As the tribes took their seats on the benches, Naruto discreetly sat himself in the centre of the back row. Kisame sat to his left, while Kakashi was to his right.
"So, let's get started, shall we?" Jiraiya proceeded once everyone had taken a spot on the bench. "It's been a week into the game. Anko - what is life like on the Brawn Tribe?"
"It's fantastic," Anko replied confidently. "We're literally like a big happy family. Everyone gets along well, everyone works hard around camp and we're having lots of fun. It gets a bit rowdy some times but we like it that way."
"Really?" Jiraiya looked a little bit skeptical. "So you are saying that there has been zero conflict at all?"
"It's true!" Gai piped up. "We have had zero quarrels. Each of us has brightly burning flames that when combined, burns even brighter!"
"What Gai means to say is that we are a united tribe," Temari translated.
Deidara let out a small scoff, turning Jiraiya's attention onto him. "You had a bit of a reaction to that, Deidara," the Sannin said. "What's up?"
"It's cute that they think they're one big family, yeah," Deidara smirked. "Cracks will always appear in a game like this eventually, though."
"You're just jealous," Naruto blew a raspberry at the Iwa missing nin.
"Very mature," Deidara rolled his eyes.
"Well let's get to the Beauty Tribe, then," Jiraiya directed, before he let out a lecherous giggle. "What's it like to be on the Beauty Tribe, Kurenai?"
"Pretty good," the genjutsu mistress answered. "We have no complaints with each other."
"There's a lot of flirting going on," Ino added playfully, leaning forward in her seat. "But of course you'd expect something like that from us, wouldn't you, Jiraiya-sama?"
Distracted by Ino batting her long eyelashes at him, as well as other enticing views that her leaning forward had graced him with, Jiraiya failed to probe further and argue that both tribes were essentially unwilling to share any useful information. Noticing this, Kisame exchanged glances with Anko, who was sitting on his other side, as if to silently agree that Ino was indeed a threat if she could even play Jiraiya, who was supposed to be the impartial host, for crying out loud.
"Ah, very good," Jiraiya chortled, regaining his ability to speak once Ino had straightened back up. "So tonight is a very interesting situation, eh? Six versus six. How do you ensure your tribe walks out with all six?"
"Target someone on the other tribe that you think will cause one of their own to turn on them," Kakashi stated, "Or correctly play an idol to save your own tribe mate that is being targeted."
"Solid answer," Jiraiya nodded his approval. "Let's focus on the first idea for now. Beauty Tribe - who are you targeting tonight?"
"We are targeting someone who is an outsider on the Brawn Tribe," Haku supplied vaguely. "This person has clashed numerous times with other members of the Brawn Tribe before this game even started."
"On that train of thought, the only one I can think of with such a history on the Brawn Tribe is Kisame," Jiraiya reasoned, directing his focus to the blue man. "Kisame, do you feel like you are in danger tonight?"
"Not at all," the shark man stated confidently. "Since I've got to know these people, we've come to truly respect each other. Our tribe is strong, and I trust my tribe mates fully."
While Kisame was giving his response, Ino set up her mind-link with Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke. The Copy Nin had approached her minutes before they left for tribal council, asking her to include himself and Sasuke in the conversation. She had no option but to accept, as he told her that he and Sasuke knew how to sway Naruto.
Naruto, Ino called out with her mind. It's me, Ino.
The jinchuriki gave a visible jolt of surprise as the feminine voice invaded his mind. "Ah!" he exclaimed in shock, drawing all eyes onto him.
"Naruto?" Jiraiya inquired.
"Just a bug that flew into my hair," Naruto said quickly, laughing sheepishly. In his mind to Ino, however, he growled. Ino? You gave me a fright!
Sorry, sorry! Then I should tell you that I've also included Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke too.
"Let's get back on track," Jiraiya shook his head. "What about the Brawn Tribe? Who are you voting for tonight?"
"Our choice is pretty similar to the other tribe," Hanabi answered smoothly. "The person we're targeting can be rather hard to get along with, and is also a big threat in this game."
Oi, Naruto-baka, Sasuke said over the mind-link. We're voting Kisame out. Vote with us - he's dangerous to keep around.
That statement made Naruto pause, and he snuck a quick glance towards his right at Kakashi, who gave a discreet nod in confirmation. Truth be told, Kisame wasn't all bad. He was nice to have around camp - he fished up feasts for the tribe and happily made crude jokes with Anko and Naruto. Not to mention that the shark man was a beast in challenges. Voting out Kisame would definitely cripple their tribe.
"And what about idols?" Jiraiya questioned. "We're a week in. Has there been any talk about idols and who has potentially found them? Naruto?"
Naruto, Kakashi added, Don't forget that Kisame has also spent years hunting you down. He's only pretending to play nice for now because he has no other choice. We came to you because you're the only one we can trust with this information. I know you'll make the right choice and come with us - your real team.
Naruto forced a carefree grin onto his face. "Haven't found any idols," he lied through his teeth even as he felt the weight of the necklace in his pants pocket. "We didn't think they were around because none of us could find one after searching for a whole week."
"Beauty Tribe?" Jiraiya prompted.
Naruto? asked Ino.
"Never said we had one, never said we didn't," Kakashi supplied unhelpfully.
Do we have your word, Naruto? Sasuke pressed.
If you want Kisame, then Kisame it is, Naruto told them. Ino, please release the jutsu. It's getting hard for me to keep up and I don't wanna blow our cover.
With that, Naruto immediately felt the others' presence leave his head. Ino was about to severe the connection between herself and her two tribe mates when Sasuke stopped her.
Ino, he ordered. Tell the tribe we're switching the vote to Temari. Naruto isn't going to vote with us and it's too dangerous that he now knows our target.
"Well, this has been an utterly boring tribal council," Jiraiya groaned. "Why so cagey, people? No one is telling me anything good tonight! The Brain Tribe has been way more fun!"
What? Ino replied in disbelief. She discreetly spied Naruto sneaking a glance at the shark man beside him. He told us Kisame!
"Sorry," Anko shrugged. "Just don't want the other tribe to find out too much, y'know? It's part of the job, being a ninja and stuff."
Naruto may have told us Kisame, but he didn't give us his word. This time it was Kakashi speaking. Sasuke is right - we need to tell everyone to change the vote to Temari. There's no more time. Do it now!
"Fine," Jiraiya sniffed. "Let's get to the vote."
...
Upon returning with the voting urn securely under his arm, Jiraiya announced, "I have the votes. If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and wishes to play it, now would be the time to do so."
At this, all six of the Beauty Tribe members turned their gaze towards the Brawn Tribe. Now was the moment of truth.
"Ero-sennin."
Standing up from his seat, Naruto determinedly made his way to the podium Jiraiya was situated at. He took special care to avoid Ino's worried expression and Sasuke's narrowed eyes. Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the idol he had found at earlier today and handed it to Jiraiya.
"I'm playing this idol for Kisame."
Sasuke whipped his head and fixed Ino with a look that screamed 'I-told-you-so'.
"This is in fact a hidden immunity idol," Jiraiya confirmed as Naruto retook his seat. "Any votes cast against Kisame will not count."
Removing the lid of the voting urn, Jiraiya pulled out the first slip of parchment. "First vote: Ino."
Now it was Ino who whipped her head to stare at Naruto. Her expression was a mixture of disbelief and anger.
"Next vote: Ino. That's two for Ino."
Reaching into the urn again, Jiraiya pulled out the next vote and read it out. "Ino."
It turned out that the entire Brawn Tribe had targeted Ino, as evidenced by the sixth vote that Jiraiya read out with her name written down on it. By now, the blond Yamanaka was mentally swearing vengeance on Naruto for his deceit.
"Seventh vote: Temari."
The Suna kunoichi's eyes widened in shock. She was surprised that her name would come up this soon, considering that there were bigger threats to deal with than herself.
Jiraiya unfolded the next vote. "Temari. That's six for Ino, and two for Temari."
When the toad sage read the third vote cast against Temari, the kunoichi in question sent a glare towards Naruto.
"Next vote: Temari. That makes four for Temari."
Wilting slightly under her glare, Naruto whimpered softly, "They told me they were voting for Kisame! I swear!"
Eventually, the vote was tied for Ino and Temari, with each female having their name written down six times.
"We will now have to re-vote," Jiraiya announced. "Ino and Temari will not vote, and the rest of you can only vote for either Ino or Temari."
...
As Jiraiya went to collect the voting urn for the second time that night, Naruto glanced at Kakashi who was right beside him. The blonde felt sad and betrayed, but also conflicted because he knew he was also essentially betraying them in return. What he wanted to know was, were they initially serious about voting Kisame, or were they just playing him from the start to try and misdirect him, knowing that he would be gullible and trust what they told him?
There was no time to ask, however, as Jiraiya had already returned with the votes. And when all ten votes were read, they were still split evenly between Ino and Temari.
"We are dead-locked," Jiraiya announced. "In an event of a dead-lock, you will have an open discussion and unanimously agree to vote out either Ino or Temari. If you can't unanimously come to a decision, Ino and Temari become safe - as well as Kisame because of the idol - and the rest of you will draw rocks. Whoever draws the black rock will go home. You may now start your discussion."
"None of us are budging," Deidara declared immediately, crossing his arms.
"Neither are we," Anko shot back, equally stubborn.
"You guys should vote Temari out because she becomes a bigger threat the longer you let her stay in this game," Deidara argued. "She's the only contestant here from Suna, and if she gets to the end she'll win because she survived those odds!"
"That's bullshit!" Naruto shouted. "Ino should go home instead because she's a big threat! She's all sneaky and untrustworthy - telling me to flip to their side and vote out Kisame, then not even voting for Kisame at all!"
"Wait a minute," Jiraiya couldn't help but jump in. "When did any of that happen? No one told me anything useful at all this whole tribal!"
"Look underneath the underneath," Sasuke retorted quickly before Naruto spilled the beans about Ino's family jutsu.
Kakashi gave his ex-student a proud look. Naruto looked away, hurt.
"Anyway," Gai said, his voice unusually calm, "We are not changing our minds. The Brawn Tribe is family."
"Are you willing to go to rocks for Temari?" Haku questioned.
"Yes," Gai answered without hesitation. "Are you?"
Haku nodded. It was a slim chance that he would pick the black rock after all. And no one wanted to be the one who suggested they flip on their tribe mate right in front of that particular tribe mate in question. Their hands were tied.
"Alright," Jiraiya intervened. "Looks like we really are deadlocked. I will come to you with a bag of rocks. When I do, pick out a rock but don't reveal it until I give the word. Only Ino, Temari and Kisame will not be drawing a rock."
As Jiraiya made his way across the bench with the bag, the ninja dipped their hands and each chose a rock. Some were hesitant, some closed their eyes as they chose, and others uttered silent prayers to the Survivor Kami. When nine rocks had been chosen, Jiraiya made his way back to his podium.
"Hold out your fists in front of you, and on my count of three reveal what you picked," Jiraiya instructed. "One, two... three."
Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as he stared at the white rock in his hand. Looking to his right, he saw that Kakashi also had a white rock in hand. So did Sasuke. In fact, all of the Beauty Tribe members were holding a white rock. His heart dropped.
"Fuck."
Snapping his gaze forward at the sound, Naruto watched as Anko held the black rock in her shaking hand.
Numbly, he watched as Kisame immediately stepped forward to embrace Anko in a tight hug, whispering apologies and condolences to her. Naruto stood up and joined in the hug, as the rest of the Brawn Tribe also joined in to engulfed Anko in a big group hug.
Eventually, they had to let go and return to their seats, watching sadly as Anko made her way to Jiraiya with her torch.
"Anko," Jiraiya said solemnly. "The Survivor Kami has spoken."
As her torched was snuffed out, Anko turned around to address her tribe. Shaking off her sadness, the spunky kunoichi grinned up at them and executed a lazy salute.
"Kick ass, you five."
Author's Note:
Whew! That turned out much longer than I anticipated! Heh. Thank you all so much for reading - every view, follow, favorite and review really makes my day! If you guys have any questions, suggestions, predictions etc, chuck it in the reviews. Til next time!