Team 7: A Retelling
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#06: Gato Strikes Back
Dawn, the next morning…
Inari was not having a good day.
No, scratch that, he was not having a good week! First, his grandpa came home. While Inari was honestly happy to see the old man again after being gone for several weeks to purchase new supplies and recruit new workers for his project, he just couldn't understand why Tazuna-jiji would continue working on that pointless bridge. Did he forget what happened to…that man? Did he not understand that Gato now owned Nami no Kuni? Why was he insisting on going against the man who was almost literally the god of this tiny island cluster? He surely must've understood that building that ridiculous bridge would do nothing but lead to his own death.
But it wasn't just his grandfather that was causing him so much anger and depression. It was those stupid kids who were pretending to be ninja and heroes. Inari had tried to warn them, tried to tell them to leave before they were killed along with his grandpa, like so many others had been before. But they had either ignored his warnings (like that Sasuke guy did), taken them as a personal insult of some kind (the pretty girl), or saw it as some kind of challenge to their 'greatness' like the dumb blonde seemed to. Strangely, Inari found himself being only annoyed by their teacher's presence because the guy was…there. He did nothing to draw Inari's ire, which in and of itself was enough to make him angry.
Thankfully, Inari didn't have to deal with them for most of the day. If he wasn't in school or doing his chores around the house, they were off playing wannabe-heroes in the woods. They took nothing seriously and treated everything like it was a game. The young Nami boy found himself quite easily being able to ignore their presences for the most part since if he didn't engage them into conversation, they just left him alone. Something he was quite grateful for, since that meant that there would be less of a chance of him getting into trouble when Gato finally came to collect their heads.
But there was one thing that he just couldn't ignore about them. It was their blatant disregard for the system of power that ruled Nami no Kuni. When he had gotten out of school and started to walk home, he had heard multiple whisperings among the villagers. Eavesdropping was quite easy, so he had learned that those ninja-wannabes had been causing trouble again. That alone irritated him. But the fact that they had somehow involved his mother in their antics as they beat up over fifty of Gato's goons was just too much for the young boy to handle!
They had to leave, right now!
When he stormed home last night, he had let loose a tirade into their ears that he personally felt was very moving and convincing. Yet, once again, they just waved him off! Why didn't they understand that now, having publically stood up to Gato and beating up his enforcers, they were going to be inviting Gato to launch a direct assault on their home and kill everyone?
Then the blonde loudmouth, the apparent spokesperson of their group, had the audacity to call him a crybaby coward! How dare he? How could some pampered rich kid who came from a happy, sheltered home where nothing ever went wrong possibly understand about the hardships that they of Nami and he himself had faced in recent years? It had shut the blonde up real quick when Inari had loudly voiced those thoughts, much to Inari's spiteful delight.
Then, the next thing he knew, his world exploded in pain before fading into darkness and he woke up the next morning with a throbbing migraine. His mother told him that apparently both Sasuke and Sakura had simultaneously clobbered him, knocking him unconscious out of anger at his words. It was something that both confused Inari and stroked his anger all the more. Thankfully for all of them, the kids had already eaten and disappeared into the forest to continue their training by the time that he had been able to pull himself out of bed and climb painfully up to the table.
Grabbing his school bag and stuffing his mother's homemade bento into it along with his needed books and supplies, Inari was silently stewing over all that had happened yesterday. It was as he was heading out the door on his way to school once again that he noticed a presence approaching him. Turning he spotted the gray-haired sensei of the genin walking over to him, his gaze locked on the small boy. Inari reflexively started raising his mental shields for whatever the man wanted.
"Can I walk with you?" Kakashi asked in a polite, neutral voice.
Inari stared at the man for a moment before turning and heading out the door. Taking the lack of an answer as acceptance, the Jounin fell in step with the young boy. After a brief silence as they left the safety of the property behind for the journey to the village, Kakashi finally spoke up, "Gomennasai, Inari-san. You'll have to forgive my team for last night, but none of them has had a very good childhood growing up."
Inari just grunted. He didn't care about them. He just wanted them to leave before Gato showed up and killed all of them, himself included. Kakashi glanced down at the boy and frowned behind his mask. The boy was stubborn and maybe a little proud. Perhaps a slight change of tactics was in order.
"Naruto is actually a lot like you, Inari-san," he continued, satisfied that he'd attracted the boy's interest with that statement. "He's never known his father…or his mother. Actually, aside from Sasuke and Sakura, I doubt he's even got any real friends back home."
Inari turned his attention back to the road, trying to focus on where he was going and not what the man was saying. But Kakashi was not dissuaded. "Sasuke, too, is like you, in a way. He had to watch his whole family and clan be massacred right before his eyes, completely powerless and unable to stop it. And I've even heard that Sakura's not lived a happy life either. If their stories are true, her father is an abusive man who probably doesn't even love his wife and daughter."
Despite his best efforts, sympathy for those young ninja began to grow in Inari. "But you know what? I have never once seen any of them cry or complain about how their lives were before they became ninja. They work together to help one another grow strong. Strong enough to receive the acknowledgement they crave, to reach the goals they have set for themselves, and to never to be as helpless again."
Inari just glanced up at the man with his best blank face, trying not to show his feelings on the matter. Yet the man just seemed to offer him a small smile behind his mask. "I guess that is their way of being brave."
The boy said nothing as the man gave a small wave of farewell as he turned and headed back to the house. Against his initial desires, Inari found himself with plenty to think about as he continued the rest of walk to the village by himself.
Haku was wandering the forests. Dressed in his civilian attire, he carried a basket in his delicate hands, carefully scouring the ground for patches of herbs. Though he already had a good supply, he had decided to stock up on a few more since he was sure the coming battle would be a difficult one with injuries for everyone involved.
It was as he was kneeling down in one particular grove that looked promising that he noticed them. Then again, it would've been rather difficult for anyone who wasn't blind and/or deaf to not notice them, with the substantial racket they were making as they neared his location. A number of plans shot through his head for how he could deal with them before he settled on the one that had the most likelihood of him learning something more about them, as well as being the most likely way he could escape them without a scratch. Thus, he stayed in his kneeling position, looking in the direction of the rapidly approaching noise with an innocent gaze that could've fooled even Jounin.
The first to enter his line of sight was the blonde boy. He had apparently been flung through the air and most of his clothes were on fire, courtesy of an explosion or a Katon of some kind. The blonde—Naruto, he reminded himself—yelped in a loud, slightly panicked voice as he instantly threw himself to the ground and began rolling in a frantic effort to save his clothes and dignity. But that was quickly made unnecessary as a surge of flying water suddenly rushed up and drowned the flames, earning yet another yelp.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried indignantly as he began shivering. "Why'd you have to do that? That was cold!"
"That was for the water fight," the girl, Sakura, answered as she jumped over the thick underbrush and landed a short distance away from the blonde, who was now removing his jacket to view the extent of the damage done to it. Looking over her shoulder as a blue blur landed next to her, Sakura smiled sadistically at the rather good-looking brunet. "Nice shot, Sasuke-kun."
"It was too easy," Sasuke said, looking down at his teammate with a disappointed gaze. "Naruto, you're still leaving your back open when you rush your opponent like that."
"Urusai!" Naruto grumbled, glaring as he stripped off what was left of his jacket and slightly charred black undershirt. "How I can possibly protect myself against a speed demon like you? And did you really have to burn my jacket? LOOK AT IT!"
Gazing pointedly at the mostly blackened, smoking remains that were little more than just the front and shoulders of the original, Sasuke smirked as he quite bluntly said, "Looks fine to me."
"THIS WAS MY FAVORITE JACKET, BASTARD!" Naruto yelled angrily. He pulled the jacket back to his chest and began cradling it and speaking softly to it as though it were a baby. And were those real tears coming down his eyes? "I'm so sorry it had to end like this. Please forgive me!"
"You're pathetic, Naruto-kun," Sakura said, turning her gaze away from the spectacle the blonde was making of himself.
Coincidentally, her gaze landed on Haku's form and it immediately caused her to shift into a slightly defensive posture upon surprised reflex. Her sudden shift didn't go unnoticed and soon all of the genin were staring suspiciously upon Haku's blinking face. Playing up to the naïve, innocent villager role, Haku held up his empty hands in a nonthreatening gesture of surprise and surrender.
"Who're you?" Sasuke demanded, his dark gaze highly suspicious, even more so than his teammates.
"My name is Haku," Haku answered, letting some nervousness slip into his voice and expression. "I was just picking some herbs and then you guys just showed up." The obvious evidence to his story seemed to immediately relax the genin a touch, except that Sasuke kid. His gaze never left the former Kiri-nin. "Who are you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konohagakure!" Naruto answered immediately. Gesturing to his teammates, he continued, "He's Uchiha Sasuke and she's Haruno Sakura."
Haku found himself blinking at the easy answer. Normally, most ninja would hesitate to give their names unless they were already well-known. It offered a type of personal security and anonymity, one of the reasons that Haku himself wasn't as well-known as Zabuza-sama.
"Naruto's always been a loudmouth," Sakura said. The girl offered an understanding smile as his gaze gravitated towards hers. It was a smile that seemed to bring out her real beauty and none of the dirt smears and sweat on her clothes or face did anything to diminish it. Despite himself, Haku found himself even more interested in her than he had been. Walking forward, with her teammates trailing behind, she laughed out slightly in embarrassment, "Gomen. I guess we're still a little jumpy from training."
"You were training?" he asked, blinking at the revelation. "What kind of training involves burning your friend's clothes off?"
"Specialized training," Sasuke said bluntly, his eyes narrowing. It seemed he was either highly suspicious of everyone he met and didn't know or he was simply a naturally blunt statement person.
"You're ninja?" Haku asked, looking at the boys' hitai-ate as though just noticing them. "But why are you training so hard?"
"You sure ask a lot of questions," Sasuke said, his voice almost a growl. His statement earned him a swat on the head by Sakura.
"Be nice," she hissed. Returning her attention to Haku, she said, "We're on a mission and we need to get stronger to fulfill it."
"A mission," Haku said, his gaze falling to the ground as a slightly forlorn look drifted across his face. So, she was just like him. She was a weapon who focused on her missions and probably trained hard to become an even better weapon. It was a…depressing revelation to Haku.
"You okay, onna-san?" a voice asked, sapping him out of his thoughts.
Blinking suddenly, he lifted his gaze up to the three genin, finding himself slightly surprised to realize that Naruto and Sakura had seated themselves across from him with Sasuke standing behind them like some kind of guardian or sentry. Smiling to rid himself of the sad expression on his face, he nodded slightly. "I'm sorry, just got lost in my thoughts for a moment."
"You said you were picking herbs, would you like some help?" Sakura offered, her pretty smile returning once again.
"Eh…s-sure," he stuttered, a little surprised and slightly embarrassed. How was it that she could have that effect on him without even trying?
What followed was about a half hour of plant picking from the grove they were nestled in. Haku found himself surprisingly enjoying the brief time with the genin. Naruto was a little clueless to which plants to pick and how to handle them. But with his and Sakura's gentle but firm instructions, he quickly got it down. Sakura already knew a good deal about herb lore, something she said she'd learned from a friend who was a little obsessed with flowers and plants. Sasuke, though never joining in, just watched them with a stern face, though Haku could see his gaze steadily softening as the time went by.
After they'd gathered far more than enough, Haku finally decided to ask the questions he'd wanted to from the start. "Do you mind if I ask you all a…personal question?"
"Sure," Naruto replied, smiling widely as Sakura nodded slightly. Sasuke just grunted, which was answer enough.
"Do you have someone precious to you?" Haku asked. He could see that these genin were quite familiar with one another and that suggested they'd been friends for a long while. But still, you could never truly know a person unless you spoke with them and asked the right questions that would reveal their true personalities and allegiances. Still, it seemed that he needed to clarify himself some more since there was a general air of confusion surrounding the trio at his unusual question.
"I believe that when a person had got something precious to them that they want to protect," Haku said lowly, fully aware that all of the genin were watching him closely. "That is the moment when they're true strength is revealed."
For a moment, all three of them were silent as they thought over what was said. Haku watched all of them very closely. Naruto's eyes just seemed to widen slightly as some kind of realization made itself known to him. Sakura just smiled that smile of hers as she nodded slightly. And Sasuke's gaze finally drifted away from Haku down to his two teammates before him, that soft gaze in his dark eyes becoming quite a bit more pronounced for a second, before snapping themselves back up to Haku.
"I know what you mean," Naruto said, his smile full of understanding and happiness.
Smiling himself, he gathered his basket and stood up. Turning away, he said, "I hope that we get the chance to meet like this again." As he started walking away, he paused slightly as a soft chuckle escaped his lips. They had been honest with him; perhaps he should return the favor, even if it were indirectly. "By the way…I'm a boy."
Naruto and Sakura let out audible starts of surprise and disbelief. And just before he left earshot, he heard something that left a lasting smile on his face.
"No way! He's prettier than Sakura-chan!"
"What did you say, Naruto?"
Based on what he'd seen of her in that water fight, Haku had every belief that they had just restarted their 'training' in earnest. He almost felt sorry for Naruto.
"That 'great Kirigakure no Kijin' is useless!" Gato growled to himself in anger. "Is he even planning on killing those Konoha ninja anytime this year?"
Nestled safely in his corporate headquarters, Gato turned in his seat and gazed out the window overlooking the docks of Nami's capital 'city'. Truthfully, calling it a 'city' was rather generous title for it considering that its population count was only a few hundred souls, the largest in all of the country. The fact that it was also Nami's biggest port and the location of the Daimyo's palace (if it could be called that) also lent some credence to the title of city. But the fact of the matter was that it amounted next to nothing but a small village as far as Gato was concerned.
Gato was absolutely seething in anger. It had several days and that relentless pest Tazuna had restarted his work on the bridge in earnest. It seemed that his meager funds had borne some fruit during his travels through Fire Country as he finally now had enough stone, concrete, wood, and (most importantly) fresh workers to finish his project. And with the Konoha ninja watching the crew all day and setting some rather dangerous traps at night, it was no longer easy or possible for any of Gato's thugs to randomly show up and attack or vandalize the area. The ninja seemed able to know everything that was taking place within his surrounding area despite his attention being focused in that book he constantly read. And Gato knew this since his thugs had tried four times to get around him, with no success.
Forcing himself to calm down, Gato tried to think rationally on his problem. He was the largest shipping magnate in these waters, one of the richest men in all of Fire and Water Countries, and the leader of a criminal empire that he was aiming to use to monopolize the sea between the aforementioned countries. And while extravagant amounts of money could do a lot of things, he didn't get to his current seat of power without a bit cunning. A cunning that he was now trying to use to outwit that troublesome ninja and kill that old pest of bridge builder.
Attacking the ninja head on was futility in the making, all non-ninja knew that there were substantial gaps in strength between them and ninja, to some extent. He couldn't kill Tazuna in his sleep either since the silver-haired ninja and his underlings would be there, and because of all those traps that littered the surrounding forest that the ninja had no doubt set up the day of his arrival. No normal person could possibly sneak through the forest without setting off or getting stuck in one of them now. Zabuza and his ninja could've done it, but they weren't doing anything seemingly, much to Gato's anger. What he needed to do, he decided, was to draw that man away from his client long enough to set up a trap for either him or Tazuna. But what could possibly do that?
Thinking hard on Konoha's reputation, an idea suddenly struck him. Laughing out in a dark humor, Gato turned and hit the buzzer on his desk, calling in Waraji and Zouri, his two head henchmen and heads of security. "I've gotten an idea. Get your men ready, we've got a ninja to trick and a pest to squash."
A few hours later…
Akane Touji was having the best day of his life! Not only was he there when that little worthless brat Inari got taken by two of Gato-sama's men after school was let out, but he overheard something they were discussing about an execution. Touji made sure to rush home, dumping his school supplies and rushing back out to run to capital. That was where Gato's office was and where he did all of his public executions.
Though he didn't like to admit it, even to himself, Touji was a bloodthirsty brute. He relished being able to fight and beat opponents, especially if they smaller and weaker than him. It always gave him an overwhelming sense of power and dominance, something he'd often heard his mother lamenting about him inheriting from his father. In fact, he was actually making plans to run off to Kirigakure to become a ninja in the near-future.
But if there was anyone he truly hated, it was that spineless crybaby Inari. Touji always went out of his way to tease and bully him, like that incident on the pier with Inari's puppy. Of course, he'd been forced to temporarily stop his bullying when that scary man Kaiza showed up in town. When Gato appeared and executed him, it had become one of Touji's most cherished memories. And he was now finally gonna see the brat get what he deserved as well! How could his life get any better?
Due to Nami's small size, the capital city was actually within easy walking distance; just ten kilometers, give or take. A fast walking person could easily have made the trip in only a few hours. But Touji was able to get a ride on a passing merchant's cart, which cut down on time drastically. And now he stood outside the fenced execution grounds, munching on a rice ball he'd stolen from a little girl in town. He could clearly see Inari, forced to his knees on the top of a raised platform with his hands bound tightly behind his back, tears falling down his face shamelessly as he seemed to silently beg someone, anyone, from the audience to save his worthless ass.
"Hey, Inari!" he called out, quickly getting his attention. With a sneer worthy of a psychotic murderer, Touji waved at him as he yelled, "Don't lose your head!" Much to his own satisfaction, Touji heard several others in the surrounding audience chuckle at his statement.
Inari learned what it truly meant to despair when he heard Akane-san's heartless comment. Here he was, moments away from being executed, and he knew that he had no way to stop it. He was going die like Kai—that man—and so many others since him had. It was all because he had the bad luck of being related to an idealistic fool, Tazuna. And as fresh tears began to fall down his cheeks as he realized that there was no one in Nami willing to stand up and save him, Inari felt his anger rise at his grandfather and those damn ninja-wannabes for bringing this down on him.
Why was his life so unfair?
One of his two bodyguard thugs standing off to the side turned to him as he rested his hand on the katana in his belt. He was a tall and gangly man with a simple black mask over his face and deep, brimmed hat over his head, effectively hiding his face from view. "Ignore him, brat," the man said in a rough voice. "He doesn't deserve your attention."
The man on his other side loudly cleared his throat, likely to remind his companion to shut up. This man, like his companion, was also dressed in clothes that hid much of his body but made him smaller than he likely was. Plus, he wore a high collared jacket and had a hood up, masking his identity just as thoroughly as his friend.
Down below them, a muscular man with wavy and barbed tattoos lining his upper left shoulder and circling down his arm stepped forward and climbed the staircase. Turning to his two underlings who'd snapped to attention upon his arrival, Waraji momentarily raised his eyebrows at their unusual clothing but said nothing in regards to it. "When I say so, gut and behead this little parasite. Gato-sama wants this as bloody as possible."
"Sure thing, boss," the man with the hat said, a smirk clear in his voice. The other merely nodded while idly glancing at his watch, as though anxious to get this done with so he could get back to his earlier business.
Waraji turned around and stepped forward to face the audience, ready to begin his speech of Inari's supposed crimes against the populace. Unnoticed by him, the hatted man leaned forward slightly and whispered lightly into Inari's ear, "Don't worry, gaki. The heroes always show up—" Suddenly his voice changed to one he was much more familiar with. Glancing over at him, Inari spotted two unmistakable blue eyes shining out from underneath that stupid hat and winked at him. "—at the last moment."
"When you get home tonight," the other said, sounding a lot like that Sasuke guy. "You better worship your mother like she's the goddamned Kami."
Somewhere in the pit of his being, Inari felt a spark of gratitude and overwhelming relief. Somehow, thankfully, his mother had learned what was happening and sent the ninja kids after him just in the nick of time. If ever Inari felt true gratefulness and love to his mother, it was right now.
Silent as a shadow, a girl with pink hair snuck through the crowd, looking everywhere for something that'd help her team. They only had a rough idea of what was going on and so were making this up as they went. The boys were up with Inari to save and protect him. So it was her job to find them all a way to get away. That was easier said than done. Outside the fenced off execution grounds, there was a surprisingly large crowd of people with a ring of mercenaries circling the fence. There were also six guards apiece manning the two gateways. The sandy killing grounds themselves were barren of even grass and, excluding the platform, offered no protection.
Wandering out from the crowd, Sakura's gaze fell upon a line of horses and a few horse-drawn carriages. 'Perfect!' she thought happily as she rushed forward to choose one. As she was doing this, she noticed one of them still seemed to be occupied. The driver was there and there was a short, fat man sitting in the carriage, sipping a disc of sake. Now, why would they be there and not watching the execution? As far as she could tell, public executions here were as much a form of entertainment as going to the theater back in Konoha. Barbaric as it was, Sakura could almost understand why, given Nami's poor conditions.
Sneaking up behind the carriage, she silently climbed up it and crept forward, prepared to attack if noticed. As she did this, she overheard the conversation that was taking place below her.
"How's our young sacrifice holding up?" it was the short, fat man talking.
"He's likely cursing his grandfather by this point," remarked a younger sounding man.
"And what of our 'guest'?" the fat man asked. "Has he shown up yet?"
"None of our men have reported anything out of the ordinary in the forests and none of our people in the crowd have seen anything worth mentioning," the man answered easily, disappointment clearly filling his voice.
"A pity," the fat man said. "I was so certain I could've drawn that pesky ninja and his underlings here and done away with them while simultaneously ridding myself of that annoying pest of bridge builder."
'What?' Sakura silently asked herself. It took only a moment of contemplation before she realized the obvious. 'This is a diversion so Gato's thugs or maybe that 'Zabuza' guy can attack Tazuna!'
Just before she could do something drastic, the door to the carriage suddenly opened and Gato and his bodyguard climbed out. "Come, I wish to see what's taking so long for that ninja to show up." Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sakura realized that Gato was more concerned with Kakashi than the rest of his team. Despite herself, Sakura couldn't suppress the faint snort of amused anger. Well, he was about to learn to never disregard a ninja, student or not.
Deeming the duo far enough away to not present a problem, Sakura once again crept forward, lightly tapping the driver on his shoulder to get his attention. He glanced back just to see a fist come flying into his face. The unexpected strong blow knocked him clear off the seat of the carriage and onto the ground below. Jumping into the vacated seat, Sakura grabbed the reins and gave them a strong crack, whipping the four horses forward from the merciless blow to their hindquarters.
Meanwhile, things had taken a largely unexpected turn in the execution grounds. After Waraji had given his speech, Naruto and Sasuke had drawn their swords and made a big show of raising them to strike Inari. Then they turned and lashed out with powerful kicks, knocking Waraji sailing through the air clear off the platform and crashing into the fence several meter away. Once done, they discarded their Henge disguises which vanished in small clouds of smoke. The crowd was quickly growing restless with confusion and excitement at that point as Sasuke cut Inari free of the ropes on his wrists and feet.
Off to the sides, the gates suddenly swung open with more than three dozen mercenaries rushing in. It didn't take the two ninja long to realize that they must've hidden themselves in the crowd, just in case.
"Where's Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, having to yell to be heard over the shouts of the crowd.
"I don't know!" Sasuke answered as he leapt for one side of the platform, preparing to defend it, with Naruto mimicking him on the other side. "Keep your eyes peeled, Naruto!"
"Hyah!" a loud familiar girl voice called out, accompanied by the sounds of a fast-approaching wagon. Seconds later, an extravagant horse-drawn carriage barreled through one of the gates, nearly running over the mercenaries who didn't try to get out of the way in time. Coming up to the platform, Sakura pulled the horses to a halt as she jokingly called out, "Gentlemen, your carriage, compliments of Gato-sama!"
Laughing loudly, Naruto called out, "Good one, Sakura-chan!"
He leapt for the roof of the carriage, fully expecting to land on it safely. But he was unprepared to fall through the weak, flimsy material and crash haphazardly inside it. The only thing that saved Sasuke from having done the same was the fact that he'd taken the time to throw Inari somewhat roughly into the driver's seat next to Sakura.
Once the boys were safely aboard, Sakura snapped the reins again and drove the horses forward in a mad rush to exit the execution grounds before the gate in her line of sight was closed. Within seconds, they were free and she was driving the horses out through the crowded streets of the town, aiming for the safety of the forested roads towards Inari's home.
Inside the carriage, Naruto picked the lid off the large container he'd tripped on upon his entry, eager to see what had caused him to fall on his ass. Inside the box, he found several interesting items. Several bottles of high-priced sake, some plates of overturned sushi, a large bowl of caviar, and large box filled with coins and some small scrolls.
"Ah-ha!" Naruto declared triumphantly to Sasuke who was also looking into the box curiously. "It's Gato's secret snack chamber!"
"And what have we here?" Sasuke asked rhetorically as he pulled out the box of coins, idly brushing through them in disgust. "Is he a man of men or a man of yen?"
"That sounds so gay, Sasuke," Naruto remarked with a cheeky grin as he started to refill the spilled sushi.
Sasuke ignored him as he stuffed the scrolls into his weapons pouch for later examination and stood up, bringing the box of coins with him. Climbing out of the hole in the ceiling, Sasuke called out, "Inari, would you be so kind to help redistribute this wealth?" as he handed the box to the confused child who was clinging to Sakura like she were a lifeline.
Taking the box awkwardly, he glanced back at Sasuke without really understanding what it was he was supposed to do with it. His fear and confusion slightly hampered his ability to think clearly in the fast pace that things were currently moving at. Seeing the boy's lack of understanding, Sasuke sharply yelled out, "Throw the coins, gaki! Your people are hungry!"
Inari complied quickly to those simple instructions, dumping the box and its contents off the side completely and spilling them clear across the dirt road. Looking back to see the bystanders rushing forward to gather as much as they could, Sasuke turned back to the boy and said, "Well done!"
"Sasuke-kun, we've got a problem!" Sakura yelled before he could disappear back inside. "Gato's planning to attack Tazuna or the bridge or something while we're busy here!"
Thinking quickly, Sasuke nodded. "As long as Kakashi's there, there's nothing to worry about. Still, get us back there as quickly as you can!"
As they were discussing this, they finally exited the town and were traveling through the forest. Sasuke and Sakura idly glanced around as they watched numerous mercenaries on horseback come racing out of the woodland towards them.
"Well, things just got a bit more interesting," Sasuke said blandly before climbing out and jumping off to the side.
Unconcerned with Sasuke's departure, Naruto quickly took his place, holding out the bowl of caviar to Sakura. "Caviar?"
"We're in the middle of a chase, Naruto-kun," Sakura pointed out, not taking her eyes off the road.
Glancing down at the bowl for a moment, Naruto smirked as he quickly understood what she meant. "You're right: something with meat in it!"
He faintly heard her chuckle as he dropped back inside to fish out a plate of sushi. Inari was just staring blankly at them as his mind tried to process all that was happening around him. These kids had to be crazy! That was the only explanation for how and why they'd pick a fight with Gato and his goons (twice!) so publically! Although, and he hated to admit this even to himself, if they weren't crazy, this wild chase probably wouldn't have worked in the first place.
This time carrying a large plate, Naruto offered the meat to Sakura while saying, "For a chase, Gato recommends his very own two-hour-old swordfish sushi, lightly marinated in lemon juice. Please enjoy our host's generous donation."
"Take the reins, Inari-san," Sakura commanded, handing them to the small boy without waiting for his reply as she grabbed the plate from her blonde teammate.
Sharingan blazing, Sasuke dropped out of tree he'd quickly climbed and landed on the rump of a bay horse, whacking the mercenary riding it in the back of his head and throwing him off into a nearby stream. Dropping into the saddle, he cracked the reins and jabbed the horse roughly, trying to get as much speed out of it as possible. Though most ninja could run much faster than a horse any day of the week, he and the others were still too new to be able to do so for extended periods of time, even more so when they had to get Inari out of there as quickly as possible. Sakura's theft of the carriage was truly a strike of brilliance on her part.
Up ahead of him, Sasuke counted at least a dozen mercenaries, all running their steeds at full speed to catch the runaway carriage. Naruto was standing up through the hole in the roof, throwing shuriken and kunai at any who were foolish enough to get too close. He'd already taken out three, who had quickly fallen out of their saddles and rolled to the side of the road, whether dead or alive it was hard to tell.
Nearing the closest rider, Sasuke easily swung himself around on the saddle so that he was facing backwards. Pulling up even with the man, he waited until the moment that the man glanced in his direction before punching him in the face and knocking him off the horse. Flipping back around, he saw that he was already getting close to another two who were riding rather close together. Pulling up to the side of them, he slid partly out of the saddle, hanging onto the saddle with just his hands. At the right moment, he lightly touched the ground, using it to propel himself upwards and over his horse to kick the closest thug into the side of his torso, breaking a few of the man's ribs in the process. The blow also had the intended effect of throwing him into his partner's lap and sending both crashing to the ground.
Jumping up to stand on the saddle, Sasuke waited patiently until he judged the distance close enough to another pair of riders. Leaping off his mount, he landed on two other horses and used their riders to help stabilize himself for a split second. Still, he'd have to admit a certain level of sadistic pleasure at the expressions of surprise that were painted on their faces as they both looked reflexively to the thing that had grabbed them. Laughing out, he slammed their heads together, knocking them unconscious before dumping them out of the saddles. Grabbing both reins, he kicked the horses into high gear.
Up ahead of them, Sasuke's Sharingan noticed Naruto holding a kunai with an explosive note tied to it while he was looking to the sides of the path, watching the passing trees. Instantly realizing what the blonde was planning, Sasuke shifted his position onto one horse and tried to pull ahead of the remaining riders.
Finally spotting a tree to his liking, Naruto threw the tagged kunai slightly ahead of the carriage. In the short time it took for the note to ignite and explode, the carriage had already passed it. The explosion itself was comparatively small to what was normal, but it still served its purpose of blowing out the trunk of the tree and sending it toppling across the road. The riders were forced to pull their horses to instant stops, which worked better in theory since most of them were too close to do so and the horses were moving far too quickly. They ended up crashing into the tree, horse and human bodies getting crushed or broken without remorse by the fallen tree.
For his part, Sasuke merely waited for the horse to get close enough before launching himself into a high jump, flipping easily over the blocked road and the tree's pile of victims. As soon as he landed, he pumped chakra into his limbs and took off at high speed, swiftly catching up the carriage and climbing aboard. As soon as he dropped into the carriage, Naruto bluntly turned to him and said, "Show off."
Sasuke just smirked at the annoyed blonde. But before he could make a retort of his own, he and Naruto were thrown roughly to the side as Sakura turned the carriage onto an adjacent road without slowing down. This maneuver caused the box of snacks and alcohol to get knocked over, coating Naruto's black shirt with flecks of fish meat and salty eggs.
"That's it," Naruto groaned as he and Sasuke pulled themselves back into the seats, hurriedly wiping the mess off his clothes before it sunk it. "Next time, I drive!"
(Author's Note) So, how was this chapter? Did I do good? Some feedback would be quite appreciated. Should I stop doing this whole 'inspired scenes from movies/books/whatnot' or do you guys enjoy my twists those scenes?
Truthfully, this isn't where I was originally intending to end this chapter, but I figured I've been keeping this chapter back long enough. I hope you all liked it. To be honest, I've been plotting this little chapter for quite some time. How many of you can guess where I got my inspiration for it from?
And the answers for the last chapter's trivia are as follows:
1. How I Spent My Summer Vacation, the water fight between Buster and Babs
2. 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up, the fight in the pizza cafe