I do not own Naruto as a game, Manga, Anime series or a character. All original characters are mine though :P
Hi no Ishi (The will of Fire) - Ninja-tag Arc
A new class is introduced to Umino Iruka as things get tossed on their head quickly. How is it that so many exceptions are being made? And since when were so many Clan Heirs gathered in one class? How can a little support affect our favourite blond dobe?
All underlined terms are explained at the end of the chapter.
"So are we all set?" Aoba asked, after going over the plan for the third time. He wanted to be perfectly sure that everyone knew what they had to do.
"Hai!" Came three enthusiastic replies.
"All right, I am counting on you. Move out!"
"Understood." Came the uniform reply three students strong.
"Arf!" Akamaru added, his ears at attention as he snuggled into a comfortable position in his master's jacket. Only his head was still visible now, allowing his nose full access to all scents that in the area.
With that the three academy students and one dog disappeared.
"Yukikami, you are the only one here that knows anything about that girl. What just happened?" Sasuke asked his team mate, as they were on their way back to their base.
"Well," Hikaru began, pretending to think for a moment. "I can't really be sure what happened, but I think she just raped you and took your place as the class's top dog?"
"Hn." The emo deadpanned.
"Is that a happy grunt? Sasume, the gay-dar seems to be going nuts!" Hikaru poked fun at the boy, his swollen lips curling into an almost unnaturally large smile.
"You're saying she was capable of that the whole time, but never showed it? What a waste!" Naruto complained.
"Take it any way you want to." Hikaru said coldly, but the smile never died.
'That means that there is more to those three than anyone thinks. I'll have to remember that.' Sasuke made a mental note, and swore to never forget the embarrassment he had just endured.
~In Team Raidou's camp, things were taking a slight twist~
"Any luck this time, Hinata?" Shikamaru asked, as she released her doujutsu.
"I looked, but there was simply nothing there out of the ordinary." Hinata answered softly.
"Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe she was just always gun shy, and the shades boost her self image." Chouji offered.
/
"I've got her now!" Ino charged defiantly, dashing through the clearing like a bat out of hell. She was obviously determined to outdo her team mate, but would it work?
Almost as one, Sakura and Ino threw their tags at Tatsuko. They were at least smart enough to attack from behind, but beyond that, they were being almost stupidly rash... at least from the target's perspective.
Three tags tore through the air towards their target, who seemed to not care at all. Even the shouting didn't get her attention!
Just then, three boys showed up, throwing their own tags at Ino and Sakura. Ino, being the better of the two, was double targeted just in case.
In the middle of all the commotion - well, to civilian's standards anyway - Tatsuko was an oasis of calm. With three tags less than a metre from her being, she seemed to still take no heed of them. Until...
With a grace that would make a prima ballerina green with envy, the Senju pirouetted. Yes, pirouetted. She didn't jump out of the way, she didn't duck, she didn't do some flashy - albeit basic - jutsu taught at the academy or in her clan. She pirouetted.
She put all her weight on her left big toe, then used her arms to build up inertia which she channelled into a spinning motion, placed her toes of her right foot to the back of her left knee and spun around in a circle, twice. Irritatingly, her hands, arms, elbows and shoulders were all perfectly aligned to make a perfect circle in front of her, while her focus was kept on a singular point in front of her - which was obvious since her nose pointed to that one point as long as possible before spinning around quickly only to point at exactly the same point. That's it. The three tags simply flew past her while she was doing this, sticking to a tree some distance ahead.
Ino and Sakura were so shocked that they didn't even notice the tags flying at them. This, somehow didn't create a problem either, since a set of twigs were thrown to intercept them. All the two girls sensed - but still went mostly unnoticed since they were still mesmerized by their classmate's undeniable grace - were three twigs falling to the ground.
Using their shock to her advantage, Tatsuko simply ran up to the girls, grabbed the tags and ran off to collect the other three. Then hightailed it back to her camp.
/
"No, that's not it. If Hinata saw that so called fight, which I have no possible reason to doubt, then there is something similar to Hinata's Byakugan that is boosting Tatsuko's ability to see. The shades are simply there to cover it up. There is no other explanation, even though it doesn't explain how she suddenly found it, or where the speed boost came from." Shikamaru thought out loud.
"Yeah, but what is so significant about what Hinata saw anyways?" Chouji asked munching on a few more chips than usual.
"It's more about what she didn't see, Chouji." Raidou pointed out.
"What I didn't see?" Hinata asked a bit taken back.
"As far as we know, Tatsuko doesn't have any magical abilities. Yet she was able to sense the first three tags with her back turned, do a masterful dance move that only ballerinas ever take the time to master. Then, while spinning, she threw three twigs to make sure the tags didn't stick to their targets. The only thing Hinata actually saw was the pirouette. That means that either the Byakugancouldn't pick up those little motions at that distance, or Tatsuko did them so fast that Hinata's eyes couldn't keep up." Raidou explained. The sole Byakugan user in the group couldn't disagree with either point, she had mentioned a while ago that she couldn't see as clearly due to the distance, but she could make out the 'colour patterns' in each person she saw.
"To make matters worse, they now have a total of nine tags, and two of the three coming here we know little to nothing about."
"If Tatsuko is any example of what we can expect, then Hikaru and Yuuna must have some pretty awesome techniques hidden away for a rainy day. Just our luck, we have a 24 hour drizzle on our hands. Mendoukusei." Shikamaru complained, looking up at the clouds.
~With the members of Team Aoba~
"We're getting close. All right, everyone knows what to do, right?" Kiba asked rhetorically.
"Hai!" Came two bubbly replies.
"They are less than eighteen hundred meters away now, and closing fast." Hinata announced, sweat now building up on her forehead. Raidou was the only one to notice that she was slowly wearing herself down, trying to keep an eye on their soon to be assailants.
"How much time?" Raidou asked.
"Five minutes, maybe less."
'So that's why they were there first this morning. That's about six metres a second, twice as fast as the average civilian. Their speed is top notch, especially for academy students.' Raidou thought to himself.
"Well, there isn't a whole lot we can do. We thoroughly underestimated them so far, but this is the best course of action we could have taken thus far. Look, everyone they are going to try to tag all of us, that is why they wanted all the tags. Now this is zero-contact and non-lethal, so don't feel too bad if you get tagged, okay?" Raidou noticed the understanding, but unhappy, nods his charges replied with. "Having said that, don't go down without a fight. Even though we're not allowed to tag them, we won't be caught with our pants down... now listen closely."
~Not far away, three predators came to an abrupt stop.~
"Heads up, they know we're coming." Tatsuko quietly announced. They were about twenty metres away now, just far enough to remain undetected, but close enough for Tatsuko to see their every movement.
"How could they know that? I thought you were the only one with the Yukiryuugan." Yuuna was confused. The Senju just stared at the redhead...
'That's my imouto-chan for you. Stubborn as a ram goat!' She sighed heavily.'Three years later and she still calls it whatever she wants!' Tatsuko took a few deep breaths, trying to not to lose her composure. All the while pointedly ignoring the unasked question is Kiba's eyes.
"I am, but they know we are coming. They are all looking directly at us right now." Tatsuko looked closer at Hinata. There was something strange about her eyes, but she couldn't place it. She just somehow felt like she was staring right into her very soul... maybe even through it. Like she could see all her secrets.
"Hinata has something similar, but different." Kiba told them.
"How can it be similar and different at the same time?" Yuuna was not sure how to completely opposite words could explain something that shouldn't exist.
"Well, Hinata and me go way back. Her father and my mom were genintogether, just like Hana-neesan and Aoba-sensei. So I kinda grew up with her. Her family has this all seeing eye thing... the Byakugan. It's awesome." Yuuna stared at him intently, and Kiba was certain that Tatsuko was staring at him too (hard to tell when you can't see the person's eyes).
"... and you wait until now to tell us this?" Yuuna asked, but Kiba knew that Tatsuko was thinking it too. He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.
"It didn't occur to me that Shikamaru would figure out how to use it to his advantage. Hinata's never been one to brag, or do much of anything on her own. 'sides, I didn't even know she figured out how to use it." That last part came more as an afterthought, but it did make sense. If she never boasted, then she would likely only use it during training. Well, if Raidou and Aoba-senseiwere anything alike, she did a whole lot of it the last few days.
'Great... now what? We have a good plan, but we didn't calculate for the Byakugan. We were expecting to have the element of surprise.' Tatsuko sat down, trying to figure out what their best defence would be in the situation...
In times like these, the Senju truly hated not being allowed to take 'Clans of Konoha' at the academy. It would have really given her a lot more inside knowledge about her classmates for situations like this.
"We're up against one of the sharpest minds I know, but we have the advantage. I already figured out what he is planning on doing... so listen close and make sure you know the possibilities."
~Meanwhile~
"What is taking them so long? We can't have Hinata overusing her Byakugan, otherwise she will be little more than a sitting duck. They have a plan, a good one, but what? Nine tags, three people, a similar ability to see into the unseen. They already have knowledge of Hinata's Byakugan, while we have no knowledge of her skills. Then there is the wild card, Yuuna. No one knows anything about her skills. Think Shikamaru, think." Shikamaru dropped to one knee, and made an odd looking seal with his hands.
"What's he doing? We don't have time for a nap." Raidou felt a few beads of sweat on his brow.
"He's planning something." Chouji explained, completely unfazed and munching quietly on some chips.
"But we already went through the plan. They could be here any second."
"That's the problem, they figured out our plan. Otherwise they wouldn't be there cooking up something new for us. We made our plans based on their lack of knowledge of Hinata's abilities. But they figured it out, and are now rethinking their attack."
"Maybe, but they would have to get Aoba-kun's approval before trying anything new, that's in the rules. We still have the advantage." Raidou pointed out.
"Yuuna is withdrawing, she is heading back in the direction they came from." Hinata announced.
"What?" Raidou was completely caught off guard now. "Are you psychic or something, kid?"
"Not even close, but I know that Tatsuko has one of the sharpest minds I know. I just always figured her to be smart and lazy like me. Why'd we have to be her prey? Mendoukusei..."
"So what's our plan, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked offering him a go at his bag of 'sweet and sour pork' chips.
"Sorry I took so long, Aoba-sensei wanted to hear every detail of the plan before he approved." Yuuna blushed a bit.
"Better safe than sorry, besides, I'm sure that Hinata is getting tired from using her Byakugan by now." Tatsuko soothed. "If you'd come five minutes sooner, you would just have to wait five minutes longer with us."
"Well, Tatsuko-chan, we're ready to move on your signal." Kiba smiled, knowing that the action would start soon. Akamaru barked softly, agreeing completely.
"Hinata, are you all right? You're starting to look a bit worn out." Raidou was getting worried about the girl, she was sweating profusely now, and was starting to turn pale from low chakra levels.
"Well, I guess that is their cue then. Hinata, rest. You did everything you could and more." Shikamaru told her. After hearing that, she promptly lost consciousness. Luckily Raidou caught her before she fell and hurt herself.
'I'll keep her on my back, that way she won't get tagged as easily.' Raidou thought to himself. "You three are simply amazing."
"All right, move out." Tatsuko announced.
Four bodies moved towards their targets, slowly. Now that the all seeing Byakuganwas taking a nap, they could take their time. Kiba and Akamaru moved to the South, Yuuna moved around to the East, and Tatsuko moved to the north. All participants waited for the signal.
"Well, two strategists pinned against each other. Shikamaru is at a major disadvantage, and his early warning system is fast asleep. This could become very interesting how he handles this." The Hokagesummarized. "Who do you think will win this round now, Iruka?"
"To be honest, everything is in Team Aoba's favour. Thank goodness this is all zero-contact."
"What are they even waiting for?" Chouji asked impatiently. "It's not like we can even tell where they are or where they are coming from."
"Exactly. With Hinata asleep, they can move about as they wish. They know we're here with one man down, and we have little to stop them with. We aren't even allowed to counter attack. But the plan we got is the best we can hope for." Shikamaru explained.
"What about the safe word? Why not use that? It'll at least buy us some time for Hinata to rest. Then we can at least try to tag our targets before getting blown out of the water." Chouji was really not in the mood to lose the first round.
"Maybe, but then how would we get them? ... and with the safe word we get five minutes. No, that would be pointless. Our only chance is to face this head on." Raidou was in full agreement with Shikamaru on this one. This was the only way they had now.
"Besides, who said we were losing. Even if we all get tagged, if we dodge so much as one tag each, we are in second place. Remember, they have all the other tags. So no one else is getting any points this time around." Choji smiled at that.
'All right, everyone has had more than enough time to set up. Time to rock and roll!' Tatsuko thought. She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled in as high a pitch as she could. She knew that Akamaru would pick it up, and Yuuna's signal was their first move anyway. Tatsuko dashed forward, knowing that Kiba would counter balance her attacks.
Akamaru barked a few times, then jumped on Kiba's head.
"The signal, let's go, Akamaru." Kiba said, dashing off into the dense brush ahead of him.
"What was that?" Chouji asked. He didn't hear something, so much as he felt it. The birds that suddenly took to the sky only accentuated it further.
"That was their signal. They split up, and are coming in for the kill." Raidou explained. "Get ready, here they come."
The tension was getting pretty thick now, Chouji and Shikamaru were really starting to feel the pressure.
"Here it comes!" Chouji shouted as the first tag flew right at him, he had sidestepped it rather easily, and twisted his body to make sure it missed him completely.
"Mendoukusei." Shikamaru complained as he saw two flying at him. He had to bend over backwards to dodge both of them, just as he reached the lowest point of his arch, he noticed something bad: those tags were fakes. "Kuso."
Three more tags flew at Raidou, who easily dodged them, even with Hinata on his back.
"STRIKE!" They all heard it, but it seemed to come from everywhere and no where at the same time. Suddenly the air was filled with tags, all targeting the three moving bodies. Without even a moment to compose their thoughts, Team Raidou was bombarded with countless tags flying at them.
'Jeez, I didn't think that Yuuna could pull it off on that level.' Kiba was simply amazed by the sheer number of tags she produced. 'Ah man, focus Kiba. Tatsuko will give the signal soon.'
Moments later, another whistle came, and four tags flew at the members of Team Raidou. But since they were preoccupied with the limitless tags flying at them from the front, they never noticed.
Chouji, who was at the far left of the group, felt the first tag hit him. He felt his body tense, then he dropped on his bum without being able to resist. Hinata, was tagged next, since she and Raidou were at the far right, but she was already asleep, so this went unnoticed.
Raidou got two tags, one on either side of his shoulder, while he was bending backwards to avoid a line of ten tags from in front of him. He quickly fell on his bum after that too. He managed to softly place Hinata on the ground, instead of dropping her like a bag of potatoes.
That left only Shikamaru. He looked around, in complete shock. "They got them all, only me left."
"That's right Shikamaru. Just you and me now." Tatsuko announced, throwing her voice.
"I figured you would want to tag me personally." He said loudly, so that she would hear him. He looked around and realised the position his team mates were really in. "Pretty slick moves. You lined us up to maximize the chances of getting one of us."
"Very good, now try tell me why Raidou-senseihas two tags." Came the odd request.
"My best guess is that you aimed for me and missed." He said.
"Ie. He was supposed to get at least two. We threw four real tags at him, to ensure we got him without fail. Two just happened to hit your other team mates. That's why we had Yuuna line you up so perfectly." Tatsuko explained.
"So what is your plan for me, especially since you have two tags left." Shikamaru bluffed. He knew they had five, but why tip your hand unnecessarily?
"Tsk tsk tsk, you think I didn't plan for you? Or for you knowing that we got the other six tags? I do not underestimate my opponents. We have something special cooked up for you." With that three tags flew at Shikamaru from every corner he could see. His only options were to jump, and make himself a drifting target, or duck and keep his momentum on his side... DUH, DUCK!
The three tags collided, their sticky tape causing them to become one big triple tag, their equal momentum cancelling each other out... causing them to free-fall to their target.
"KUSO!" Shikamaru shouted, rolling to his left to avoid the double attack. "She's better than anyone ever gave her credit for, and she seems to know how to work with her team pretty well."
Then Kiba jumped into view, readying a tag to throw at Shikamaru. Shikamaru knew that this was a diversion, but a diversion for what? Above? He looked up, and saw nothing. He looked behind him, but saw nothing there either. Then the tag was thrown, and a second tag was thrown at twice the speed of the first, both at a bad trajectory. They would both miss without him doing anything. He waited for the trap that would inevitably come...
The two tags collided, and the resulting trajectory was aimed right at Shikamaru, who was too busy looking behind him at the time... The combined tags were closing in fast, but the boy paid them no mind at all...
"Nice try." He said, bending backwards without even looking. "You think I can't calculate the resulting vector of two constants?" He was vaguely annoyed at being underestimated like that.
He stood up and walked to the tags that were thrown at him. "Five tags, with the four that got the others. That's nine. You lose." He picked up the first three that was supposed to drop on his back, but something caught his eye. Just as he stood up all the way, he looked at the tag trio closer...
"After all that trouble too. Mendoukusei." A lone tag stuck to the back of his neck, forcing him to sit.
"Well, Shikamaru. You did good anyways." Raidou told him. "You hung in longer than me."
"Yeah, but that was her plan anyways. She wanted to tag me on equal terms. That is why she needed you three tagged out first." Shikamaru explained the man.
"You know, you'd be a kick ass strategist... if you weren't so lazy."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Team Aoba, mission accomplished!" Kiba announced happily, with Akamaru howling on his head.
End Chapter 7
Yukiryuugan - Yuuna calls it the wrong name, but she does that purposely. Yuki means snow, compared to the Hyou in the original name, that means 'ice'. Ryuu is another word for dragon, compared to the Hiryu which also means dragon. It could be Yuuna's way of saying that she knows what it is and what it means, but still wants to remind Tatsuko of something... maybe.
A/N: One big, wet, mushy kiss going out to Kiravu! She once again knocked some sense into me when I needed it :D:D
Anyway, The poll for Sasuke's little party puts Tenten and Hana in the lead? Interesting combo. A few of the OCs in the first chapter are close on their heels though! If you want to tip the scales in someone else's favour, now is your chance. There are only three or four more chapters in this Arc, and the final chapter is where the girls will be announced. So cast your votes in the poll on my profile! :D
"Listen you, I'll say anything you want so long as you keep the Uchiwa away from me."