Fuyu 08
"Alright," Soma began, landing into a small clearing with his teammates following suit. "I think the best thing for us to do at this moment is to come up with some sort of plan."
Ritsu nodded his head before looking over at his female teammate, Fuyu. "Got anything brewing in that pretty little head of yours, Fu'?"
Fuyu's round cheeks tinted a light pink. "Not yet. I can't exactly come up with a plan without knowing who we're going to be up against." she responded, adverting her gaze to the canopy of trees and vines above them.
"But I can come up with some sort of strategy, one that utilizes all the things we have around us." she offered, a small smile forming on her lips.
Soma nodded his head. "In the meantime, how about we go look for our first targets?" he offered, before sprinting off into the shrubbery, soon Ritsu and Fuyu followed suit.
A small frown replaced the smile that was previously on Fuyu's lips. You both should know that I don't do well under pressure like this. Especially when there's so much on the line.
Her right hand tensed slightly.
What if the plan I come up with...fails?
:-:-:
After sprinting from tree branch to tree branch since the beginning of the exam, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura all landed into a large clearing, one that gave them an almost complete view of their surroundings.
"We need to come up with some sort of key word of phase that will let us know who our real enemies are, just in case we get separated." Sasuke suggested, quickly scanning the expressions that were on his teammates faces.
"Why? Do you really think either of us will get ambushed that easily, Sasuke-?"
"It's you I'm concerned about, Naruto." Sasuke interrupted. "You're the most air-headed out of the 3 of us."
Naruto's mouth snapped open just as he was about to retort something back to his bastard of a teammate.
"Be quiet and listen to what Sasuke has to say, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed quietly, holding up a single fist to the blond.
"Alright, alright." Naruto responded, holding his palms up in an innocent fashion.
Sasuke let out a silent sigh. "If we get separated and come into contact with each other once again, one of us will ask 'Who is the god of the Storms and sea? Whom also obtains the Kusanagi sword?' the other must answer 'Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Futshuchi. The brother of Amateratsu.' any other answer should alarm you."
Sakura nodded her head firmly, catching onto every word that just previously flowed from Sasuke's blanched lips.
"Could you repeat it once more? I didn't get any of it?" Naruto asked, pouting slightly.
"How could you not've gotten it? I memorized it instantly!"
"I'm not repeating it Naruto." Sasuke responded simply, an invisible smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
"I just wanted to make sure I got it all right!" Naruto fibbed.
"This exam is going to be a piece of cake, everything is already going so smoothly." Naruto expressed, reaching his hands out to the sky.
"I wouldn't be saying such things so soon, Naruto." Sakura sighed "We've still yet to get the other scroll, then on top of that, there's over 81 other people aiming for the same thing."
"It's nothing to worry about-"
Naruto's stopped mid-sentence, his keen fox ears honing in onto an eerie laughter that echoed around them, as if they were trapped inside an invisible dome.
"What was that?" Naruto asked in a hushed tone. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Shut up, Naruto." Sasuke growled, scanning their surroundings.
"Maybe it's just someone from the academy messing with our senses." Sakura suggested quietly. At least I hope it is.
"You thinking that my dear," a foreign, uncanny voice began, shielding itself in the dense forestation that surrounded them.
The Genin's head immediately snapped to the direction that the voice emitted from, exerting their senses to the limit in order to pin it's location.
"Is the worst decision you'll make in your life." the voice continued "Possibly, even your last!"
With the last word, a large, ear piercing, gust of wind found it's way between the trio, separating them into their various places of collision.
Using his vigorous skills in both stealth and strategy, Sasuke easily found refuge under a thick bush. His shallow breaths gently moved the tuffs of grass that were blow him, the chilled dew seeping it's way through the front side of his clothing.
Of course, to the genius Uchiha, none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered at the moment was finding the person who could've preformed that jutsu so perfectly, defeating them, and getting to the tower.
If only it was as easy as it sounded.
People sure are serious about this exam, aren't they? Sasuke asked himself, scanning the area before him with a single kunai in his right hand.
His obsidian eyes snapped to the right of him as he heard the crunches of the slightly frozen ground react to someone walking over them.
"Sasuke!" Sakura chirped happily. "You're alright-!"
"Stop!" Sasuke interrupted, holding the kunai towards the roseate headed girl before him. "Who is the god of the Storms and sea? Whom also obtains the Kusanagi sword?"
"Oh, right." Sakura whispered, nodding her head slightly. " Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Futshuchi. The brother of Amateratsu." she responded confidently, watching Sasuke being relax slightly as he put the kunai back to his side.
"Where's Naruto?" he asked quietly, walking closer to Sakura.
"Hey! There you guys are!" a Naruto exclaimed, running towards them.
"Stop Naruto." Sakura began. "Who is the god of the Storms and Sea? Whom also obtains the Kusanagi sword?"
"That's easy! Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Futshuchi. The brother of Amateratsu!" he responded, his trademark grin growing across his tan face.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as he sent a kunai straight towards Naruto, causing him to dodge it with speed and precision.
Too perfect. Sasuke thought to himself, pulling six more kunai between his fingers. "Where's Naruto?"
Sakura let out a quiet gasp, as her gaze shifted from Sasuke, to Naruto and back. "He answered the question perfectly Sasuke! That's Naruto!"
"That's the problem. The actual Naruto wouldn't have been able to remember all of that, much less dodge that kunai that easily." Sasuke responded "What do you think he wouldn't said if you were to ask him for the password."
"...Sorry Sasuke, Sakura. But I've forgotten the password." Sakura responded, pulling out her own kunai.
The Naruto before them scoffed quietly, his eyes shrouded in darkness. "I guess I shouldn't have expected any less from the students of the Copy-ninja. Or from the last student of the prominent Uchiha clan. Uchiha Sasuke." it replied with a certain snake hiss.
Sasuke tensed slightly as the person before them transformed back into what he assumed to be, their original form.
"Well, now that we've established that I'm not your precious teammate, why don't we start having actual fun? Let the battle of the scrolls begin." the -now- woman before them hissed, with a ominous smirk on her face. "Uchiha Sasuke."
This feeling...why can't I shake this feeling off? Sasuke asked himself, as he found that he couldn't move from his current spot.
Why can't I move?
:-:-:
"That...was way too close..." Soma panted, as his head rested back onto the tree that he and his teammates found shelter on. "What happened to our plan? It seems like it went out the window completely." he mumbled to himself, clenching his fists tightly. Why couldn't we beat them? Their jutsu's didn't seem to outdo ours. Where did we go wrong? He asked himself as the images of the team they previous fought came back to mind. Their cocky smirks, shallow remarks, and damage they caused Team Nagare haunted Soma constantly.
"They were just too strong." Ritsu finally responded, clutching his arm tightly. "We have to face the fact that there will be other people out here that we have no chance against. We can't beat ourselves up about it."
"No, that shouldn't have happened period. Especially with the plan that Fuyu came up with." Soma retorted, his irritation level rising slightly. "Whatever happened back there, must've been a huge mistake." he added, his voice going slightly raspy. "I refuse to believe that it was because we're weaker than them."
"I'm sorry." a small, apologetic voice whispered from another branch. "I should've came up with a better plan." Fuyu chuckled sadly, looking down at her injuries that littered her tan hands which were now covered with dirt and blood. I knew it would've failed.
"It's not your fault." Ritsu said reassuringly. "It isn't any of our faults."
"Both of you are too idealistic." Soma scolded. "It is our fault for now sticking with the plan one that would've have worked either, way mind you."
"I told you of the weaknesses of the plan Soma, but you still insisted on going through with it."
"I didn't think it would've had that many weaknesses, Fuyu."
"Weaknesses are weaknesses. You can't be upset at the fact that there were more than you expected. The plan has never been used, we haven't had any opportunity to test it otherwise." Fuyu responded in a hushed tone. "Ritsu's right. None of this is our fault. Maybe we should try another team, one that we can actually compete with-"
"No." Soma interrupted "We're going after the same team. I'm not going to let them continue onto the next phase with the satisfaction of knowing that we had to go after a weaker team because we couldn't beat them."
"I'm guessing you don't see what kind of condition we're in, Soma." Ritsu commented "Or maybe you're choosing to ignore it so your pride can take over. You must be nuts, the guy used an Acid jutsu for gods sake! How the hell do you expect any of us to overcome that!"
"It is my pride Ritsu! I'm sorry if I don't want to look like complete losers in front of other people. But I'm guessing that wouldn't be anything new to you, now would it."
Ritsu scoffed. "Then you go after that team alone. I'd rather not risk our Fuyu and I's life just to protect your ego."
"No!" Fuyu objected "We can't split up. Especially now of all times." she reasoned pleadingly. "Soma, if you're willing to give us at least a day to rest and for me to come up with another plan, then I'll be more than willing to go through with your idea."
"Why-?"
"But that's only if Ritsu agrees also."
Soma's gaze glided over from Fuyu to his platinum haired teammate. "I'm not willing to go after any other team, not unless we just try with this one once more." he explained to Ritsu in a soft voice. "I admit it, I have a lot of pride that I'd like to keep in tact. But don't ever thing that for a moment, I'd let that get in the way of your safety. I wouldn't have suggested going after that team if I didn't have the faith that we couldn't pull it off."
"I just don't like it when you become all irrational like that. However, I'll be more than fired up to go after such a strong team again." Ritsu responded with a small grin pulling at his lips. "You know I can't back away from a challenge."
Soma chuckled. "Who would've known you knew what the word irrational meant, Ritsu." he joked. "1 day to rest and to come up with another plan, then we're after that team. Deal?"
"Deal." Ritsu and Fuyu agreed simultaneously.
A light smile found it's way to Soma's lips. "Let's get to it then." he added, jumping up into a high branch in the tree, with his two teammates following suit.
Just as Fuyu was about to jump onto another branch, she couldn't help but catch onto a faint crash to be followed by a shrill yell. She turned her head to where the commotion came from, allowing her brown hair to cascade down from her shoulders.
As much as she concentrated, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that the same shrill call for help came from someone she would least expect.
Sasuke, She thought to herself as she gently forced her eyes shut. No, it can't be him. It's impossible. She reasoned, sprinting after her teammates higher and higher into the canopy.
Then why do I feel so uneasy about everything all the sudden? Her fists clenched lightly.
Please...Please be alright Sasuke.
:-:-:
Soma, Fuyu and Ritsu all stationed themselves in individual hiding places, still in sight of their teammates.
"Please, don't put all your faith into this plan Soma. There's so many weaknesses, I'm not capable of predicting what might happen."
Fuyu's voice echoed in his mind repeatedly as he forced his breathing to become easy and leveled out.
Soma, having honed onto a team that seemed to be taking a break, gave the signal to commence Fuyu's plan. 'We're putting everything on the line for this plan, let's not screw it up.' He thought to himself, moving from his hiding place down to the slumbering team, 6 kunai in hand.
In an instant, three pairs of eyes snapped opened, fixating their gaze on Soma. 'They sensed me already?' he asked himself, weaving several seals.
"Raiton: Spark Clone Technique!" Soma summoned, causing another, lightning charged, clone of himself to form beside him.
Weaving more seals he called, "Raiton: Thunder Hawk!"
With that he and his clone both formed a electric blue Hawk aura around them, with all the speed he could exert, he came down at the trio with one goal: getting the scroll of earth.
"Ritsu! Fuyu! Now!"
"Hyoton: Kori-kyo Mugen Meiro!" Fuyu called, causing a small scale of the Saatchi clan's signature jutsu to form. An ice maze formed around the genin team, leaving them slightly bewildered.
"Kanton: Burning Palm!" Ritsu called, sprinting out of the protection of the tree, aiming his jutsu inside the walls of the ice maze.
Both Soma and Ritsu took the trio head on, sending large balls of fire their way.
Barely giving the male a chance to dodge several fireballs, Soma's clone collided with him, temporarily paralyzing the male.
"Sorano! Tomo!" he called "Don't allow him to touch you!"
"Fire Release: 20 Mile Explosion!" a foreign voice called, causing the ice maze to melt away slowly.
Fuyu tensed slightly. 'That was the only thing that protected Soma and Ritsu', she thought to herself panicky 'The plan failed.'
Sprinting off from several branches, Fuyu landed into the clearing beside Soma.
"What are you doing-?"
"Hyoton: Tsurara!" she called, causing a large ice spear to form in both hands. With all the power she had in her arms, she threw the spear right to the two female teammates that slowly inched towards Ritsu.
One easily dodged the large projectile, while the other became injured in her shoulder with the thick ice.
"Damn!" she exclaimed, before turning around to face Soma and Fuyu.
The other, taking advantage of the situation, sent a bone crushing kick to Ritsu's right arm.
The deep sound of his arm cracking loudly, echoed through the forest despite the commotion that occurred around them.
"Sansei Awa no Justu!" the male called, causing a wave of dark colored bubbles to travel towards Soma and Fuyu.
Taking a firm hold on Fuyu's torso, Soma grabbed her and Ritsu, pulling them both into the trees above. Looking back over on his shoulder quickly, Soma's anger slowly started bubbling up.
'That shouldn't have happened.' he thought to himself, taking he and his team as far away as possible. 'What the hell happened back there?'
The male scoffed. "What cowards." he commented, watching Team Nagare make their risky escape.
"Maybe we were too hard on them?" his female teammate suggested. "they didn't seem all that strong to begin with."
"No, Sorano, we weren't too hard on them. If we were, they would've been dead."
"You know, Dachi, maybe we should actually target people who are worth our time."
"You might be right Tomo, but they'll be the ones who will be coming after us. Besides, it's our plan to give them the scroll, we just want to have a little fun with it."
Tomo sighed loudly. "Whatever, let's just go get the replacement scrolls from now." she commanded, before sprinting into the opposite direction.
"Good idea, Tomo!" Sorano agreed, sprinting off behind her.
Dachi lingered back for a while, a thin smirk on his lips. "Until then, team Nagare."