Everyone in the room looked at Ino surprised to hear she had a plan. They all waited for her to explain it as Kiba shut the front door that was left opened.
"We just need to explain to her that all four of us have great upper body strength." Ino said confidently.
"And how are you going to do that?" Tenten asked.
"Just leave it to me!" Ino said pointing her thumb at herself. "Its full proof, we just need Sakura to be with us too when we tell Kurenai."
"Do you guys think we're still going to have the race?" Tenten asked looking out the window. "I mean it was just raining outside."
"Not that much." Hinata pointed out.
"Little rain never hurt anybody." Naruto offered.
"Tenten's probably right," Neji said "They'll probably post-pone it."
"Aw, you're just saying that cause your girlfriend said that." Naruto teased.
"Didn't you just agree with Hinata a second ago?" Neji retorted quickly. Naruto and Hinata blushed a little as they both looked in opposite directions. Tenten was hiding her blush very well at that moment and so was Neji.
"So when does anybody think Sakura and Sasuke will come back?" Temari asked.
"It depends." Ino said.
"Depends…on what?" Shikamaru asked.
"On how long their hooking up." Ino smiled.
"Who'd want to hook up with Sakura?" asked Ami who was standing behind them. "I mean with that huge forehead of hers how could anybody?"
"Almost forgot she was here." Hinata said under her breath as they all turned around to look at Ami. Ami stood with her hands on her hips very confidently which was a surprise since everyone in the room was giving her an evil glare.
"How's Kin?" Temari asked crossing her arms.
"You mean you couldn't tell from the door? Yeah, we knew you were spying on us. Little embarrassing huh?" Temari's face began to squeeze together tightly in anger. "Kin looks just fine; too bad we can't say the same for you Hinata."
"What the hell do you want?" Naruto yelled.
"Well I came out here to see if the nurse had a comb so we could do Kin's hair. It's a good thing we brought her hair gel, Hinata, maybe you should borrow it too. It would help since you look like a total wreck."
"Why does Kin need to look good?" Hinata asked angrily.
"Good luck with that by the way." Ino added.
"Well somebody's about to come up here and see how she's doing. I told him everything that happened, and he was totally pissed. Oh looky!" Ami said as she reached into her back pocket. "I found a comb in my pocket, how fortunate." Ami gave them all one more wry smile before she went back to Kin's room. After the door shut behind her everyone was silent.
"What was that all about?" Tenten asked.
"And who could she be talking about?" Ino asked.
"Something's not right." Temari said getting everyone to look at her. "I don't think that Ami girl just came out here to find a comb. She was trying to tell us something."
"That someone was coming." Neji said thinking out loud.
"And they were pissed to hear about what happened to Kin." Hinata added.
"That means they won't be happy to see Hinata here." Shikamaru said.
"But who would be upset if Kin got injured?" Temari asked as she tried to think.
"Zaku." Naruto said getting everyone to look at him.
"Who's that?" Ino asked.
"I see now." Shikamaru said placing it all together. "Zaku likes Kin so that means after hearing what happened to her, he should be here any second now to beat the person who trashed her." Hinata gulped.
"OH right!" Temari said out loud. "He's that guy she hooked up with at the dance."
"I remember seeing him and her dance too." Hinata said.
"Don't worry Hinata, Zaku wont touch one hair on your head." Ino said.
"Of course he won't." Tenten scoffed. "A boy wouldn't hurt a girl. Zaku will probably hurt Naruto." Everyone looked over at Naruto expecting to see him turn pale, but instead he just stood still.
"I've met Zaku, he's not so tough." Naruto said crossing his arms. "And besides why would Zaku want to hurt me?"
"One, you're like Hinata's boyfriend. And since she's the one who trashed Kin he'll take it on you." Ino said. Naruto and Hinata turned red.
"TWO!" Temari began to say. "Kin was acting all day like she liked you. That's probably going to make him even angrier, if he finds that out." Naruto was the one to gulp now.
"Naruto don't worry." Hinata said "Zaku isn't even going to touch you. He'll hear the name Hyuuga, and freak out."
"She's right Naruto." Neji added. "And if Sasuke is with you then he won't try to do anything to an Uchiha's best friend."
"You mean if he comes back." Naruto pointed out.
"He and Sakura are probably hooking up somewhere even as we speak." Ino said while crossing her arms.
"INO!" Sakura yelled as she walked in the door with Sasuke right behind her holding her hand.
"OOOHhhhh…..snap." Ino said sweat dropping. Sakura began to tap her foot at Ino while Asuma and Kurenai Sensei were coming in from behind.
"KURENAI!" Hinata yelled. "Just the person we wanted to see."
"Hinata are you feeling any better?" Asuma asked.
"Oh yeah tons." She said waving her hand at Asuma. "Now Kurenai we have to talk to you." she said growing anxious.
"About…what?" Kurenai asked.
"We all want to be in the tie breaker." Tenten said.
"All four of us." Hinata said.
"But Hinata, you just had a head injury." Kurenai pointed out.
"Yeah, but that doesn't effect my upper body strength." Hinata said.
"Girls, we need to get our strongest girls in this tie breaker." Kurenai told them. "This is a canoe race and it requires constant arm movement. Do you think that you can keep constant movement of the boat?"
"Sensei." Ino said taking a step closer to her. "If you want the strongest girls for this event then look no further. Do you even know who we got here? Let's start with Sakura. She's the best volleyball player and the best at making spikes. She's constantly hitting the ball therefore her upper body strength is incomparable. EXCEPT FOR, Tenten who is one of the top wrestlers at our camp. I've seen her take down a girl twice her size and she lifted her over her head. She's also the best basketball player which means she's constantly dribbling the ball and I know you know she never gets tired when she does it. Speaking of never getting tired, I'm sure you noticed that Hinata just won the swimming event. Her swimming skills could take her to the Olympics if not further. Now I'm pretty sure in swimming your arms need to be strong, and swimming and canoeing are practically the same thing so she knows how to cut through water well. Finally there's me. And being not very good at sports you should probably just know that I'm the base in our cheerleading squad. I hold up like half the team with my arms. If that doesn't sound strong then your just plain crazy. SO! What do you think?"
Everyone looked stunned at Ino. She had the whole the thing figured out to the slightest detail. When they stopped looking at Ino they all looked at Kurenai for her response. She looked shocked at first but then she showed a small smile.
"Well Ino, since you seem to have this whole thing figured out. Maybe it would be a good idea to have you four as our tie breakers."
"REALLY?" All four girls jumped up and squealed.
"Only if it's okay with Asuma." Kurenai said looking over at Asuma. He began to sweat drop since all of the girls in the room were giving him pouty faces.
"How could you say no to that?" Kakashi asked as he entered the room.
"Okay." Asuma said putting his hands up in defeat. All the girls jumped up and down and ran over to Asuma. The embraced him in a big hug as they screamed their thankyous.
"Now that you have your team picked I guess we should pick ours." Kakashi said as he began to think. "Well we need someone now since the event is about to start in fifteen minutes." He said stroking his chin.
"WHAT?" everyone in the room yelled.
"Oh…..didn't anyone tell you? The event is about to start and I was looking for Asuma to see if he had his team picked. I don't think we have a team picked so we'll have to get somebody…..and fast."
"Why not these boys right here?" Kurenai asked gesturing to them all.
"Hmmm…..well I suppose….since it is last minute. What do you say guys?" Kakashi asked looking up at them.
"IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Naruto yelled.
"Why not." Sasuke smirked.
"Perfect, now we can endure our victory." Neji said sticking his hands in his pockets. Everyone looked over at Shikamaru.
"……..fine…" he sighed.
"YES!" Ino yelled as she ran over to hug Shikamaru.
"WOE, woe INO." Naruto said pulling them apart. "We're enemies now, that means NO hugging my team!"
"Fine." Ino said walking over to Hinata. "Then no anything with Hinata." She said pushing Hinata behind her. Naruto face went from glee to 'huh?'
"WAIT! I change my mind!" He yelled practically throwing Shikamaru at Ino. "You can have him! Forget this whole thing even happened."
"Too bad!" Tenten began to sing.
"So now we can't see any of you girls?" Neji asked.
"Thems the breaks." Kurenai shrugged as she walked out of the nurse's office along with Kakashi and Asuma.
"So," Asuma began to say as they walked away from the building. "That was your plan the entire time wasn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked not looking away from the ground that he was staring at.
"You know," Kurenai said "Getting those guys to go against the girls."
"Honestly…..I have no idea what you both are talking about." He said showing a faint smile.
It was almost 5:30 with the sun just starting to go down. Everybody was waiting by the creek for the referee and the racers to come out. They were all getting impatient and some were throwing fits. Some people even thought of starting to throw a riot, but before they got that chance they heard a whistle blow.
"OKAY….EVERYBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODY!" Gai Sensei yelled as he walked to where the racers would begin. Everyone noticed the silver whistle around his neck and he wore it with pride.
"Don't tell me this guy is the referee?" one of the girls asked their friends.
"This is going to be a loooong race." The other girl said.
"NOW that I have everybody's attention," he then whipped out a megaphone out of no where. "I think I'll grab it a little more!" he said speaking loudly into it. It made his voice ten times louder along with a loud buzz. Everybody covered their ears in pain of not just that noise, but his voice as well.
"Oh dear God," Kakashi said walking up with Asuma and Kurenai. "Who gave that man a megaphone?"
"Is he even authorized to have one of those?" Kurenai asked.
"By the way Kurenai," Asuma said looking down at her. "Are the girls ready?"
"Yes, they were all in their suits last I saw them. They're also putting on their safety jackets."
"You mean…..life jackets?" Kakashi asked. Kurenai sweat dropped embarrassed.
"Oops, that's what I meant." She smiled.
"Here come your boys." Asuma said as they all stopped to see Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke walking up each a paddle in hand. They all were wearing their swim trunks and life jackets. Naruto had orange trunks with Hawaiian flowers on them in yellow, Shikamaru had on trunks with a camo design, Sasuke had navy blue trunks on with some black designs in them, and Neji had on tan trunks with no designs what so ever. All their life jackets were orange and each paddle they had was blue.
Soon after the girls came out all wearing their same bikinis but with red life jackets. Hinata's suit was red, Sakura's pink, Tenten's camo, and Ino's was navy blue. They all walked over to the guys carrying orange paddles. The guys couldn't help but stare as the girls went over towards them, this made them all giggle.
"You guys ready to loose?" Hinata asked them all.
"No way are we loosing." Sasuke said hitting his paddle on the ground.
"That's right Sasuke!" Tenten cheered "Just keep up that positive attitude and loosing wont feel so bad." Ino and Tenten high-fived each other.
"Keep it up ladies." Naruto said walking over to their boat. "But….WE'RE going to be the winners of this event!"
"PFT, keep dreaming Naruto." Sakura told him.
"Please don't encourage him." Shikamaru said as he lazily walked over to his boat. Tenten watched Shikamaru walk away when she caught sight of Neji. She took a deep breath and was about to say something to him when somebody called out to her.
"Tenten!" the male voice shouted." Neji and Tenten both turned around to where most of the boys were standing. They could vaguely see Yashiro surrounded by some of his friends. "GOODLUCK!" he winked at her. Tenten shivered at it and Neji only grew dark and evil. He just remembered that he needs to kill Yashiro for ogling Tenten.
'All in good time.' He kept telling himself.
The rest of the girls and guys went to their boats. Kurenai walked over to the girls and began to fasten a plastic container in the back.
"What's that?" Sakura asked.
"Well when you finish the race you'll be getting a bus ride back to here so while you ride the bus you can at least put on some warmer clothes. Inside are just four Camp Kunoichi sweatshirts, two blankets, and a couple of bagged snacks." All the girls looked over at Kurenai wondering if all of that was necessary. "TRUST me." She said as she fastened it down good and tight. "We've done this as a tiebreaker before and you will be so FREAZING at the end of it all. I mean lets face it; you're going to get wet so these will keep you warm. And you can all keep the sweatshirts. Just think of it as a gift for all the hard work you've been doing." She said as she gave them a warm smile. They all smiled back appreciating the heart warm thought of Kurenai. "No, we do this for everyone." She laughed knowing that they all thought she was doing this for them. "Even Gai is giving the guys a plastic container too. Good Luck girls, but I doubt you'll need any of it."
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked Gai as he began to strap down a plastic container.
"This….this is just to help you when you finish. When you're done the race you'll probably be wet and cold so we put some Camp Shinobi sweatshirts in here for each of you. Think of it as a future victory gift. Also we put some snacks in there for you for the bus ride back to this side of the creek. Now this race is going to take a while, and you'll need to stay focused. Not only do you have to cross the creek but you have to choose a path that will lead you to the finish. Now they all do, but one way is the fastest. I'm not entitled to tell you which way, but I'm sure you'll figure it out." With that he fastened the plastic container and stood up. "Good luck boys!" he said giving them the thumbs up with his right hand while his left hand was on his hip. "Make me proud!" As soon as he walked away all the guys felt disturbed.
"It looks so wrong when he does that!" Naruto said speaking out loud what everyone else was thinking.
All the guys and girls sat in their canoes ready to finally begin the race. Each canoe was the same style but different color. Boys had a yellow canoe and the girls had a red one. Each Canoe had to have a leader, for safety reasons unknown, and they had to sit in the front of the Canoe. Shikamaru was the captain of the guys' canoe but he wasn't happy about it, and neither was Naruto. Neji and Sasuke thought he was the best pick since he had a better sense of direction then any of them, and plus he was good at strategizing.
The girls' captain was Tenten and she was more then thrilled to be chosen. She couldn't believe that they all agreed on her without a second thought, but they did since she seemed to be the toughest and could probably make quick decisions. Tenten was happy they all trusted her, but the reason she seemed to be even more ecstatic was because she could show Neji how amazing she was. He'd be so impressed that they won under her guidance. She would make bold moves that would WOW him to no end, and then he would say something cute to her when they won like,
'I wish you were our captain.' Or 'You only won because you were the captain.'
Tenten sighed with happiness as she thought of all the ways Neji would compliment her.
"Earth to Tenten!" Ino said tapping her on the back. Tenten shook her head as she came back to reality. She turned around to see Ino, Sakura, and Hinata all staring at her confused.
"Are….you okay Tenten?" Hinata asked from the back of the boat.
"OH, why…..was I doing something weird?" she asked.
"Well you were just sitting there staring across the creek." Sakura said.
"I guess I was just deep in thought for a second." She said embarrassed. "Just thinking of a strategy."
"Well you've been doing that for like five whole minutes!" Ino exclaimed.
"Pft, you're just exaggerating." She said looking over to the guys' canoe. She suddenly paled when she saw them all staring at her confused. "WHAT?" she asked puzzled.
"You were just staring out to no where." Shikamaru told her.
"For a while actually." Sasuke added.
"EEeeee" Tenten let a little noise escape from her mouth. She couldn't believe how ridiculous she must have just looked.
'Right in front of Neji too.' She thought as she looked over at him. 'He's not even looking at me anymore. He must think I'm a total loser. Now I HAVE to win to prove I'm not. I don't won't him to think I'm weird.'
"Can we start this already?" Naruto yelled up to Gai.
"Of course! In just one more minute." Everyone fell over anime style.
In the guys' canoe sat Shikamaru, Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto in the back. Neji couldn't help but stare off in the opposite direction that Tenten was in. He was watching her for a while as she stared out over the creek. She looked so beautiful and deep in thought about something that made her smile from time to time. He hit reality when he saw Ino tap her on the shoulder. When she did Neji shook his head real fast just in case someone was watching him just stare at her. He then realized that Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto were all staring at her too.
"She's been staring like that for five minutes." Naruto whispered to Neji. Neji chose not to respond to Naruto when he saw Tenten turn and face them all.
"WHAT?" She asked.
"You were just staring out to no where." Shikamaru told her.
"For a while actually." Sasuke added.
"EEeeee" Tenten let a little noise escape from her mouth obviously embarrassed about what just happened. Neji blushed a little thinking it was cute that she made that noise. He looked away from her so no one would see it on his face.
'I just thought that was cute! Man, no one has ever made me feel this way before. I can't ever stop thinking about her, and everything she does seems perfect!' Neji thought.
"By 'one more minute' how long do you think that'll be?" Sasuke asked out loud.
"Thirty seconds." Shikamaru responded.
"It's about time." Naruto said as he lay back in the canoe.
Sakura noticed that Naruto had disappeared from the boat. She looked behind her to the shore but didn't see him running anywhere or anything.
"Hinata!" she said tuning around. "Where's your boyfriend?" Hinata turned completely red as she looked over at the guys' boat. She was praying Naruto didn't hear Sakura but to her surprise he wasn't in his boat. This made Hinata very relaxed but then she began to worry about him.
"Neji!" Hinata called out. Neji looked away from whatever he was looking at to give Hinata his entire attention, but along with his she got Shikamaru's and Sasuke's. "Where's Naruto?" she asked. Without anyone noticing Sasuke and Neji got an evil idea.
"Worried about your boyfriend?" Sasuke asked slyly. Hinata turned super red. Naruto heard Sasuke ask her this and was about to sit up to see what they were talking about but Neji forced him back down with his arm. To the girls it looked like he was stretching out.
"Didn't you hear Gai?" Neji asked as he stretched his entire body backwards.
"No." Sakura said. Now all four girls were interested in this.
"Gai decided to have someone stronger help us paddle." Neji told them. "Naruto's arms are just too weak so he's bringing someone else to take his place." Naruto was about to expose himself by yelling at Neji for calling him weak but Hinata beat him to it.
"Naruto's STRONG!" she practically yelled. Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji were surprised at her outburst.
"How would you know?" Neji asked sitting up straight. He knew Naruto wouldn't get up since he'd probably want to hear what Hinata had to say.
"He's my paperboy; he always threw the paper dead center at my window. MY ROOM IS ON THE THIRD FLOOR! Not to mention that where he throws from is very far away." The guys weren't counting on that as her response, but it sure was a good one.
"Somebody should tell that to Gai then." Sasuke offered. Hinata was about to jump out of the boat when Sakura asked a good question.
"Who's Naruto's replacement?"
Sasuke tried to think fast. It had to be someone good and he couldn't remember that dog boy's name so he went to another name that they all knew. "Yashiro."
"NO WAY!" Tenten yelled "I'LL KILL GAI IF HE LET'S THAT HAPPEN!" she yelled louder as she stood up in the boat.
"Excuse me Tenten?" Gai asked with his hands on his hips. She was so busted.
"I said….I'll KILL that guy if he let's that happen?" she practically asked him.
"Oh." Gai said feeling ridiculous. "Sorry about that then Tenten. SO, are we all ready?"
"WAIT!" Hinata said standing up in the boat too. "What about Naruto? We can't do this race without him!"
"Naruto? He's right there in the boat." Gai said pointing down into the guys' canoe. The girls looked at Gai like he was crazy, but then they looked over at the boat. Naruto knew they'd probably kill him for this and they'd probably think it was his idea to trick them. He began to slowly sit up since they were probably fuming mad, but when he looked over at them they were all staring at Gai.
"He's not in there." Hinata said.
"Yes I am." Naruto said. All the girls looked back at the boat and screamed when they saw Naruto sitting right behind Neji.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" they all yelled. Tenten and Hinata were thrown off balance causing them to both fall into the creek. A huge splash followed them along with a roar of laughter.
"Tenten!" Ino yelled as Sakura yelled "Hinata!"
"You guys are so dead." Shikamaru told them. Neji, Naruto, and even Sasuke cringed.
Kurenai ran into the water since she was wearing shorts to see if the girls needed help getting out. It was quite funny watching them both fall in so she was letting out some laughs when she was trying to help them, but the thing was she couldn't see them.
"Where are they?" Kurenai asked.
Everyone looked down in the water, including the guys who looked over the side of their canoe closest to the girls' boat.
"See them?" Neji asked getting a bit worried.
"NoooOOAHAAAAAH!" Naruto yelled as Tenten and Hinata appeared right in front of him and Neji. They both were soaked and had some plants in their hair. Tenten spat out water while keeping eye contact with Naruto.
"WAIT!" he yelled. "You can't kill me! It…it was Neji's idea!" Hinata and Tenten looked evilly at Neji who was throwing Naruto an evil glare.
"AND SASUKE!" Naruto added.
"Way to shift the blame." Sasuke scoffed.
"Are you guys okay?" Sakura asked from their boat.
"NO!" They both yelled.
"Girl's you need to get out of the water." Kurenai said as she walked out of the creek.
"Maybe we should get someone to take their places." Asuma said loudly. In a flash Tenten and Hinata were out of the water and back in their boats, dripping wet.
"YUCK, can we get a towel in here?" Ino yelled since Tenten was dripping on her.
After the towels were used and the girls were somewhat dryer, everyone had their paddles in hand and were ready to begin. The crowds were relieved that the race was finally about to start, and for real this time. Gai had a green flag in his hand as he stood knee deep in the water in front of the two boats. Each team looked determined to win, and some could say more then the other, regardless it would be an amazing race.
"Too bad we don't get to see all of it." Temari told Livvy. They were both standing far away from the racers up on a hill so they could see the race better.
"Yeah, right until they pass the markers in the center we won't be able to see them anymore." Livvy said as Gai began to raise the flag.
"TAKE.YOUR.MARKS!" Gai yelled. Everyone looked at him strangely.
"We've been on our marks for a while now." Sakura said as everyone sweat dropped.
"well then….GET. SET!" he yelled. Everybody took a firm grip of their paddles. Anticipation was HIGH! Everyone became determined, and focused.
"GO GO GO!" Gai yelled.
The crowds screamed as the two boats began to speed off. As they got farther and farther out in the creek they grew further apart. Each team was doing its hardest with each member digging into the water at once.
"HEY…..TENTEN!" Neji yelled as he huffed and puffed. Tenten twisted her head slightly to look at him. "Getting….TIRED!" he laughed. Tenten then completely stopped rowing the boat and held her paddle on her lap. All the guys saw this and were surprised that she did that. They were SO surprised that they all turned their heads the whole way around to look. Tenten wasn't rowing and they were still keeping the same pace.
"How are they doing that?" Naruto asked as the girls' boat actually began to pass their own. As soon as he said that Ino stopped rowing and placed the paddle on her lap.
"What was that Naruto?" she asked as she rested her head on her hands. Again the guys were astounded. Neither Tenten nor Ino were rowing the boat and they were keeping up with them at a strong pace. Now the guys began to slow down their rowing to get a better look and see if they were seeing what they were actually seeing. Only Hinata and Sakura were rowing the boat.
"I wonder why they're so surprised." Tenten laughed.
"Yeah, they just can't stop staring at us." Ino said as she pushed her hair away from her face.
"Are Hinata and Sakura really that strong?" Neji asked out loud. Now their canoes were getting closer together with the girl's in the lead.
"Is that a serious question?" Ino asked. "Of course they are! Hinata is a strong swimmer which means her arms are crazy strong and Sakura lead our volleyball team last year to the champion chip! She could probably be an arm wrestler."
"Thanks Ino!" Sakura smiled as she continued to dig into the water.
"Hey isn't that weird?" Tenten asked as she turned her body all the way around.
"What?" Ino and Hinata asked.
"Hinata is really strong that she can keep this boat going with a little help from Sakura, but she can't win in an arm wrestling contest?" All the girls thought about this. It was so true.
"Wow!" Hinata said. "I never thought of that before." She began to let out some laughter. "Except I did beat Konohamaru in an arm wrestling contest earlier today, remember?"
"OH YEAH!" Sakura said glowing. "CONGRATULATIONS!"
"SakurAAA, you've said that like a billion times today." Hinata laughed. "You don't have to say it anymore."
"How….are….they…talking and…..beating us…?" Naruto asked between breathes.
"Simple explanation." Shikamaru yelled from the front.
"What's…that?" Sasuke asked.
"Steroids." He joked. "No girl has strength like that, and they have two of them who do."
"HEY!" Sakura and Hinata yelled as they slowed down their rowing to be right next to Shikamaru. They both hit him with their paddles and then began to take off once more.
"That had to hurt." Sasuke said.
"LOOK, the half way point!" Ino cheered.
'Perfect.' Tenten thought. 'Once we pass them we'll be able to see the three paths we can choose from. Then we can decide which one looks best.'
"Okay, you two gonna help us beat the guys to the marks?" Sakura asked. Ino and Tenten put their paddles back into the water and began paddle. With their help they got two more feet ahead of the guys. After passing the half way points the girls began to cheer.
"We totally beat them!" Sakura yelled.
"Yeah, to the half way mark." Naruto reminded them.
"Kurenai Sensei told us whenever they would do this as a tie-breaker the boat that passed the half way point first always won." Sakura told them.
'Damn.' All the guys thought.
"That's a bunch of crap." Shikamaru yelled to them.
"We'll see about that in the end!" Hinata yelled to him.
"ACHOO!" Tenten sneezed.
"God bless you!" Sakura, Hinata, and Neji said.
"ACCHOOO!" she sneezed again.
"God bless you." Ino told her.
"AAAACHOOOO!" she sneezed again.
"Bless you?" Naruto asked wondering why she was sneezing so much.
"Tenten are you okay?" Hinata asked.
"I think so. I feel like I have a cold or something." She told them all as she put her paddle on her lap so she could cover her mouth.
"AA….AAA……AAAAA…."
"CHOOO!" Hinata sneezed.
"Now Hinata's doing it?" Ino asked turning around to look.
"Hey, I feel like I have a cold or something." Hinata told them as Tenten began to row again.
"Maybe you're catching one?" Sakura asked.
"But how? It's only summer." Tenten pointed out.
"HUH! I bet you caught something after you fell into the water." Ino said.
"Oh yeah." Tenten and Hinata both said.
All the guys were cringing now knowing that the girls were about to get pissed. Tenten and Hinata looked annoyingly over at Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto.
"Hey wait!" Neji said "It wasn't our fault you fell into the water."
"Yeah it was Naruto's for scaring you." Sasuke pointed out. Now their gazes went to Naruto.
"NUMBER ONE! It was not my fault; I'm just an innocent bystander in all of this. NUMBER TWO! Neji forced me down so you guys couldn't see me. NUMBER THREE! I'm not the one who made you stand up in the boat, which you should never do anyways. This whole thing is on you girls." He finished. They thought about this and it was true that if they didn't stand up they wouldn't have fallen in.
"However, if Neji and Sasuke didn't play the trick on them they wouldn't be in this mess." Ino said as she paddled harder.
"It's true." Sakura said.
"So what now?" Sasuke asked. "Are you two going to hate us now?"
"We'll see." Tenten mumbled as she faced forward.
They were all quiet for the past five minutes. Shikamaru then realized that they would need to make a decision on which of the three paths they would take.
'I'm guessing we should probably take the fastest one. I can't really see which one that is though.' Shikamaru thought.
"Neji." he said turning his head around slightly. "Can you see which path looks fastest? You have the best eyes out of all of us." Neji looked ahead and squeezed his eyes a little. He looked at all the paths and when he did his eyes widened.
"I thought Gai said there were only three paths." Neji said.
"He did, why? DO you see more then three?" Shikamaru asked.
"I see….four of them." He said taking another look.
"And the fastest one is?" Shikamaru asked.
"Second from the left." Neji confirmed.
"Is that the one we'll be taking?" Sasuke asked.
"It only makes sense to take the fastest one." He told them. They continued to paddle toward the paths but then noticed the girls slowed down their paddling. They began to slow down and soon the guys were ahead of the girls.
"haHA, we're beating them!" Naruto yelled.
"Guess their arms were getting too tired." Sasuke smirked.
"Hmmm." Shikamaru wasn't quite sure why they had slowed down, but he knew it wasn't because of their arms being tired.
They approached the paths and headed for the one second from the left. As they entered it the water speed began to pick up.
"Wow, it feels like we're going down hill." Naruto said.
"We probably don't even have to paddle for a while." Neji said putting his paddle across his lap.
"Don't be too sure about that." Sasuke said. "Look!" They all turned around to see the girls right behind them no longer paddling since the water was doing all the work for them. All the girls waved cutely at the guys.
"What do you think you're doing!" Shikamaru yelled.
"We think we're going to win by following you guys down in the path Shikamaru chose." Ino said.
"Couldn't think of the smartest way to go?" Sasuke smirked.
"No, the smartest way to go was what ever way Shikamaru decided." Tenten told him.
All the guys sweat dropped.
"Well aren't you just a great leader." Sasuke said sarcastically. "No wonder why they picked you as their captain." He said with more sarcasm. Tenten's vain in her forehead began to throb.
"WOOHOO!" Naruto yelled as their boats began to speed up. "Look at how fast we're going!"
"Should we be going so fast?" Hinata yelled as she gripped both sides of the canoe.
"No!" Shikamaru yelled from the front. "We shouldn't be going this fast AT ALL!" Everyone gripped the sides of their boats as they began to bump into the sides of the path. Now they weren't only going fast but they were also taking twists and turns.
"What kind of path…IS THIS!" Ino yelled as they hit another turn.
"I'M GOING TO BE SICK!" Sakura yelled.
The path soon got wider and the girls' boat was now next to the guys, but it was backwards.
"HOW'D THIS HAPPEN?" Hinata yelled.
"Ahk….this is more like a rapid then a stream!" Sasuke yelled as some water hit him in the face.
"Shikamaru, what do we do?" Neji yelled.
"Hang on and don't fall off!" Shikamaru yelled yelling the obvious.
"NO KIDDING!" Naruto yelled.
"Our paddles!" Ino yelled as all four paddles fell out of the boat. Ino thought she could grab one of them but instead fell into the water.
"INO!" Everybody yelled. She was submerged in water for a while but then she managed to surface.
'This is no longer a stream!' Tenten thought. 'It's like a river!'
"He-lp!" Ino yelled as she choked on some water.
"INO!" Shikamaru yelled as he stood up to jump in.
"NO Shikamaru duck, LOOK OUT!" Naruto yelled.
"Huh?" Shikamaru looked down at Naruto and wasn't sure what he was pointing at, but before he could turn around to check he got smacked in the back with a low tree limb. With the boat going so fast, the impact of the tree forced Shikamaru into the water.
"SHIKAMARU!" Sasuke yelled! Shikamaru, with all his might, began to swim up the stream towards a struggling Ino.
"He's going to get Ino!" Neji yelled.
"We need to stop these boats and go help them!" Sasuke yelled.
"Forget about them!" Sakura yelled "What about US?"
Dead ahead of them were rocks coming out of the water. There were many they could just avoid, but there was a huge one that would do them some serious damage.
"WHAT DO WE DO!" Sakura yelled as she toppled over Hinata.
"We can push away from the big rock with our paddles!" Neji yelled.
"Good Idea!" Sasuke said grabbing his paddle up off the boat's bottom.
"WHAT ABOUT US!" Hinata yelled.
'I forgot! They don't have theirs!' Neji cringed. Without thinking of his actions, Naruto took his paddle and pushed hard on his feet to leap over to the girls' boat. He landed in it with a thump and still had his paddle in his hand.
"Naruto ARE YOU CRAZY?" Hinata yelled. He paid no attention to her and stayed focused on pushing away with his paddle. Every time a rock came by them he would hit it to move them away from the bigger rock that was heading their way.
"He's CRAZY!" Sasuke yelled as he also began hitting rocks away with his paddle. Neji joined him and together they managed to avoid the big boulder in the water.
In the girls' boat Naruto was working by himself to get them all away from the rock. Not only was it harder for him since he was the only one doing it, but there were more people in his boat then in Sasuke's and Neji's.
"IT'S WORKING!" Sakura yelled.
"HANG ON!" Naruto yelled as they approached the rock. They were definitely going to hit it, no question. Hinata would be the first one to get the impact since she was sitting in the now front of the boat since it turned around. Naruto quickly moved Hinata out of his way and grabbed the edges of the boat with his hands. As soon as the boat was about to hit the rock Naruto pushed down his hands and forced his feet up into the air right in front of the boulder.
'HE'S….TRYING TO STOP THE BOAT!' Hinata thought as she frantically watched Naruto. But she was wrong! Naruto hit the rock with both of his feet and while holding the boat with his hands he tried to turn it on his own so it wouldn't touch the rock. Hinata then figured out what Naruto was really trying to do.
'He's twisting the boat! What can I do?' Hinata thought as she stared at Naruto while on her knees. Hinata saw the way Naruto was turning the boat so she thought she'd help him out in any way she could. She forced her body to the left of the boat to help him turn it. The boat budged and helped Naruto out a lot. With just that one push he was able to turn the rest of the boat.
The boat began to take its chaotic path once more but Naruto and Hinata were too exhausted to care. They were both collapsed on the floor breathing heavy. Naruto was holding every urge in him to scream. He hurt his ankles when stopping the boat from colliding with the boulder, and was holding them in pain with his hands that were cut up from gripping the boat too tight.
"Naruto!" Sasuke and Neji yelled. "WHERE ARE YOU!"
"He's…IN THE BOAT!" Sakura yelled back as she and Tenten braced themselves for more water.
"WHERE'S HINATA?" Neji asked.
"SHE'S HERE TOO!" Tenten yelled over.
"Naruto…." Hinata said catching her breath. "What do…..we do now?"
"I don't…..know…" he replied closing his eyes tight. Hinata sat up on her knees and put one of her hands on Naruto's back to get some balance.
"Neji…..SASUKE! What are we going to do?" Hinata yelled over as the guys' boat turned around.
"We need to get off these boats somehow!" Sasuke yelled frustrated.
"HERE COMES YOUR CHANCE!" Tenten yelled. They all looked ahead to see five boulders lined up across the "river" Their boats began to turn sideways and they wouldn't be able to avoid them.
"What…do you think is on the other side?" Neji yelled.
"I can't see past the rocks….but it could be anything, even a waterfall." Sasuke told him.
"Do we want to risk it?" Neji asked. Sasuke looked at the rocks that they would soon make contact with.
"NO CHOICE!" he yelled. "GET READY TO JUMP!" Sasuke yelled to the other boat. All the girls were aware of what was about to happen and saw it as the only way. They would have to jump over the huge boulders right as the boat hit them.
"Naruto can't do it!" Hinata shouted. "His legs are in PAIN!"
"I can do it Hinata!" he told her as he struggled to his knees. The three girls and Naruto were all lined up across the side of the boat. They all fit in between two of the boulders and would have to jump at once. "YOU TWO READY?"
"WE'RE OKAY!" Sasuke yelled back.
"SASUKE…" Sakura yelled. "BE CAREFUL!"
"JUST BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT YOURSELF!" he yelled back.
Tenten and Neji didn't know what to say to the other, but exchanged worried glances.
"Here it comes!" Hinata squealed.
"Get ready to jump you guys!" Naruto told the girls.
"No problem!" Sakura said not sounding convincing. Naruto then grabbed Hinata's hand so he'd be with her and know where she was.
"I SEE…..No waterfall!" Sakura said.
"STILL GOT TO JUMP!" Tenten yelled freaking out.
"ONE……TWO……….THREE!" Naruto yelled. The boats slammed into the boulders almost at the same time. As soon as they hit they all jumped into the water and thankfully there was no waterfall beyond the boulders. The water was still rough on them but they were able to stay above.
"GRAB HOLD OF THE ROCKS!" Sasuke yelled as he went towards a rock coming out of the water.
"Naruto!" Hinata yelled frantically. Naruto's legs hurt too much for him to keep himself above the surface. "PUT your arm around me. We'll go to that rock!" Instead of putting his arm around her neck where she thought he would put it, he ended up putting it around her waste. As hard as he could he began to bring her to the nearest rock.
"Naruto!" Hinata yelled again. She began to help them both swim. "You're the one who needs help NOT ME!"
"Neji!" Tenten yelled. She had already attached herself around a big boulder. Neji was coming towards her and she extended her arm out to him. He grabbed it up to her elbow and she pulled him over to their temporary ground.
"Are you okay?" he asked catching his breath.
"Fine, you?"
"Fine, but where's Sasuke and Sakura?" They both looked around and noticed them both farther down stream.
"Sakura!" Tenten yelled. Sasuke and Sakura both tried to grab passing rocks but failed each time. "Neji….look….YOUR BOAT!" Neji turned around to see his boat broken in half and floating quite quickly down the stream.
"SASUKE, here comes the boat! GRAB HOLD!" Neji yelled.
Sasuke and Sakura quickly turned to the boat coming for them. They both went in front of it waiting for the moment when they could grab it.
"GOT IT!" Sakura yelled as hooked her arms around it. Sasuke grabbed it right across from her and for the moment they both felt safe when they realized that they were still heading down the stream/river. They weren't quite sure at the moment anymore.
"Don't let go Sakura!" Sasuke yelled to her.
"Think I'm CRAZY er SOMETHING? COURSE I WON'T LET GO!" She yelled.
"SAKURA….SASUKE!" Tenten yelled. They were getting farther and farther away.
"Never mind them Tenten, we need to get over to the shore." Neji told her.
"Uhhh….right!" Tenten agreed as they both looked over to the side. There were rocks that they could grab to get them there but they would have to swim the rest. "No problem!" Tenten said pushing off the rock onto another. She nearly gave Neji a heart attack.
"TELL ME the next time you're about to do that!" he yelled.
"Sorry!" she yelled back as she went to another rock. "Wait a second. Where are Hinata and Naruto?" They looked up the stream where they were last scene but couldn't see them.
"Maybe they made it to the shore already." Neji suggested.
"Well I didn't see them go by us, so they must have!" Tenten yelled. "Neji come over to this rock." Tenten told him. He did as he was told so now they were sharing the same boulder.
"Okay, we can probably swim the rest of the way to the shore." Neji said looking at the shore. "Just stay focused on where you're going." He said as he turned his head to face her. The instant he did he was only an inch away from her face. Although their lives were in jeopardy Neji couldn't help but blush while being so close to Tenten. Her eyes were sparkling right at him and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
Naruto and Hinata were both lying on the shore out of breath. Together they got out of the water by helping the other with their weakness. Naruto's legs hurt so Hinata kicked while he used his arms and she held on. He was lying on his face with his arm around her stomach. Naruto didn't let her go for one second even when he was lying there hopeless. Hinata began to sit up and looked over at the stream.
'I can't believe we made it.' She thought. She looked down at Naruto and saw him practically sleeping. She smiled when she saw his arm around her but her smile was only temporary when she realized she didn't know where the others were. She looked around the area and at the water but there were no signs of anyone. 'If I stand up, I'll be able to see better.' She tried to move her legs to stand but they refused to work, they were just too tired. Hinata took Naruto's arm and placed it on the ground so she could move around better.
"Hi…na..ta!" Naruto said as his arm gripped the ground.
"Naruto, I'm right here." She said. He moved his face from the ground to the side so he could see her but his wet hair was in his eyes. Hinata smiled and pulled it out of his way. Naruto saw her smiling and smiled back. She was safe and he was so relieved.
"Where….are the others?" he asked as he sat up. As Hinata helped him sit up right she told him she had no idea. "We need to get out of here and get help."
"But what should we do?" she asked him. Naruto wished he could think of a plan and get them both out of there but there was nothing he could do. He wasn't Shikamaru.
'WAIT, what would Shikamaru do at a time like this?' Naruto thought to himself. Hinata was counting on him and he had to get her out of there, also, he had to find their friends.
"We need to….finish this race." He told her as he stood up.
"You want to finish the race at a time like….Naruto! What are you doing! Sit down!"
"Look at us. We're wet and it'll be dark out within the next hour or two. We need to follow the stream down to the finish line where people can help us."
"What about…the others?" she asked.
"I don't see them anywhere, but…..we don't have a choice. We need to get out of here before we freeze. If we follow the stream we'll make it to the finish line where the counselors are waiting for us." Naruto's decision was final, and he helped her stand up. "Can you walk?" he asked her.
"I'm not worried about my walking, but yours. You hurt your legs pretty bad when we slammed into that boulder!"
"Don't worry about me!" he said with a big smile. "We'll just help each other out. And if we see the others, we'll help them too." Hinata nodded her head and put Naruto's arm around her shoulder. He blushed at first not knowing what she was doing until he realized she was going to help him walk. They both headed down the side of the stream through the woods only hoping and praying that their friends were okay.
Don't murder me for being so late with this one, and thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. This was sort of the inspiration for the story, but the REAL inspirtaion will probably be in the next chapter. I cant promise it to be on time, and on time for me is every other week now. I have off on monday and after i clean my room i'll dedicate my free time to this story, unless my hopeless excuse for a brother is on it.