"Who'd you take care of?" Naruto asked as they leapt through the trees.
"Ayami and Hideki, you got Kumari, Raito, and . . . ?"
"Katsu. I see what you mean by dedication issues."
"There's next to nothing aside from potential in him, sadly. So we've got Seiya left? You're his sensei, how do we take him down?"
"Avoid genjutsu, opt for your kuton, or taijutsu. Keep it around C-rank, he's skilled, but not overtly so," Naruto replied, focusing on the path ahead. "If I know him well enough after five sessions, we've got to get closer to the clearing, he'd be behind the inner ring of the surrounding trees."
Sasuke nodded, and they slowly spiraled towards the inner circle, finally pinpointing their target, the black-haired genin, assuming a fighting stance upon spotting the mentors.
"Oi, Seiya! Where were you while Kumari and Raito were getting beaten?"
"Right here," the genin replied.
"Now why would you sit and watch your teammates loose, without so much as offering words of encouragement?" Naruto looked down at his pupil from the branch he now rested on.
"I want a bell."
Naruto shook his head. "I guess everyone makes this mistake."
"Dobe, don't act like you didn't!"
"Oi, you did too!"
"Didn't say I didn't!" the Uchiha retorted.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he watched the flying kunai stab his companion in the upper arm.
Before a howl could escape the raven's mouth, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto turned a devious grin to his pupil. "Gotcha," he muttered as the real Sasuke burst from the tree next to Seiya, pinning him to the ground.
"Go Naruto," Sasuke muttered. Naruto nodded and leapt, bringing his chakra to his palms.
He was but inches away when something barreled into his side, knocking him into a tree. Winded, surprised, and with a short-lived, but sharp pain in his side, Naruto looked up curiously to see a seething, panting Kumari.
"Kumari?" he asked, bewildered.
She turned away from Naruto and tackled Sasuke off of Seiya. Kumari! Naruto was as pleased as he was surprised. Not only had she fought her way out of Naruto's entrapment (he noted the scratches and bruises around her wrists), but she was doing the right thing, helping her teammate, as well.
"Go, Seiya!!" she shouted, just before Sasuke knocked her back with a kick to her gut.
"Kumari-chan, go away! I can do this alone," Seiya sent her a look that wasn't as harsh as expected, but he did charge at Naruto, as Kumari had advised. He dodged his student's attack with ease, and retaliated with a spin kick. Seiya's back arched as he hit the ground.
"Nani?" he heard Sasuke mutter. He followed the jonin's gaze to Kumari. Physically, nothing had changed about her; however, he felt his pulse skip as he was met with her chakra signature. She was angry, angry enough to begin loosing reason.
Naruto cursed under his breath. He first had to take care of Seiya. As the genin charged again, Naruto leapt in the air, pushing an arm down on Seiya's shoulder. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" he pushed his pupil into the earth.
Seiya glowered at him, but Naruto didn't have the time to respond, he was speeding to the side of his friend, facing his silver-blonde student.
"I see what you meant," Sasuke muttered.
"This is the worst it's ever gotten."
"How many times has it happened?"
"This is the third," he replied. "Get her down on the ground, we'll go from there."
Sasuke nodded, and nearly instantly disappeared.
Kumari's eyes darted around, searching in ill temper for the jonin. Her stance widened, becoming more offensive. She cast off a number of random jutsus, perfectly preformed C-rank ones, and even a skilled B. Each came dangerously close, but failed at the last moment courtesy of years and years of training.
"Kumari!" Naruto called.
The kunoichi did not verbally respond, but her eyes met his. "Kumari," he repeated. "What's wrong?" he tried to sound firm.
Her grey eyes narrowed into thin slits, glinting like silver. Sasuke appeared right behind her, locking her neck between his fore and upper arm. She began struggling. Naruto feared for both of them, Kumari's power was growing exponentially, but Sasuke wasn't weak, and his grip was becoming tighter and tighter.
Naruto was near panic, his eyes growing wider. He bolted for Kumari, who was preparing to strike Sasuke's rib cage. He pulled Kumari out of Sasuke's hold. She hit his left shoulder with the strike meant for Sasuke. He winced, but quickly maneuvered around her, grabbing her wrists and pulling them up behind her back. He buckled her knees with a quick lash of his own. He yanked her arms farther up as she went down, a painful gasp choking out of her throat. Still she fought him, and he instinctively began creating one-handed signs, then pressed his fingers to the back of her neck. She gave an agonizing shriek, then dropped her shoulders.
She panted a few moments. "I-I-I'm sorry," she gasped.
He released his hold on her, and she brought her arms in front of her, holding up her torso. "I'm sorry," she repeated again and again.
He knelt on one knee beside her. "It's alright."
She shook her head. "Did I . . . hurt anyone?" she didn't look at him, her expression blocked by a curtain of fine blonde hair.
"No, you didn't do much damage."
"I'm so sorry," she repeated.
Naruto heard a faint ding go off somewhere. "Come on now, time's up. Go with Seiya to the meeting ground of the clearing, Sasuke and I will get the others and meet you both there very soon," he instructed gently, half watching her, half watching Sasuke retrieve Seiya from the earth.
The dark haired pupil did not meet the eyes of either Shinobi as he approached. "Let's go," he muttered under his breath to Kumari. She stood up and followed him. Naruto watched for a moment as his students trudged dejectedly off towards the meeting grounds, awkwardly, cautiously, Seiya wrapped his arm around Kumari's waist. His spine stiffened as she draped an arm over his shoulder for support
"Someone's ears are getting a little . . . sunburned," Sasuke snickered.
(A/N: OK then, chapter 5 will be up sooner than this on was, sorry for the wait. Anyway, there will be more depth given to Kumari's power, so it's not going to just be there. Seiya seemed a little mean, but he's really just got a smart mouth, he's OK deep down *evil cackle* eventually I will ask you which pairing you like best with the genin (there will be one or two tops! It's not a story where everybody ends up with their perfect match! I'm not Disney!) but I need to give depth first. Anyway . . . so tell me what you think! I love comments!
Oh, and if you think Sasuke is a little OOC, sorry, but I figure eight years in the future surrounded by his old team and the people that care about him the most, he might let go a little more, not that he's about to go skipping through some random field of daisies and sing broadway's greatest while chasing butterflies *snicker*. No, just a little more relaxed and less swallowed in darkness, still our angsty little Uchiha, but . . . well, not better, but cooler.)