Fuyu 09
2 days have already passed.
Those short 2 days, took every opportunity they had to test the willpower, teamwork and endurance of team Nagare.
Soma let out a shallow breath as he panned the area that surrounded them, currently shrouded in darkness. "As far as I know, the team should be right ahead of us."
Ritsu, Fuyu and Soma shielded all traces of their being as they carefully watched another group of Genin gather their rations of water from a neighboring creek.
"Don't get too much, it'll just slow us down." a male advised, looking over at his two female partners. "Let's go ahead and try to find a Heaven scroll. I want to get out of this forest as soon as possible."
"I don't blame you, this place is giving me the creeps."
Soma waved up both his index and ring finger to gain the attention of his two teammates. "Their guard is at it's lowest now, I think it'd be best to go at it." his adrenaline started to flow to every limb in his body, preparing him to engage in a very anticipated fight.
"Alright then boss." Ritsu responded in a hushed tone "What's the plan?"
Soma grew quiet as he looked back over the hedge they were hiding behind. His eyes widened slightly as he scanned the clearing that was before them, only to see that it was completely empty.
"Damn it." he mumbled to himself, still peering over the ledge. "They're gone." he added, standing up completely.
Fuyu's keen eyes looked over the landscape that surrounded them. Trying to identify the different trees, bushes, vines...bugs that thrived freely in the forest.
"Alright, now all we're concerned with is sticking to the plan. You both understand and remember it right?"
Fuyu and Ritsu nodded her head, raising up from her crouching position to station herself safely behind Ritsu and Soma.
"Don't allow them to separate us." Soma stated simply.
From the shadow that shrouded the forest behind Fuyu, two pairs of hands came from behind her; one covering her mouth completely and the other pulling her torso back.
"Do anything to alert your team, and we'll kill you." a voice threatened, whispering into her tan ear.
Fuyu let out a jagged sigh as her light brown eyes looked over from the corner of her eye to finally identify the voice to the male that mysteriously disappeared from before them just moments earlier.
"Now, I'm going to trust that you'll do what I said." he cooed, pulling his hands away from her mouth.
Her eyes clamped together tightly, as she mentally scolded herself for being captured so early in the exam. Damn it. She thought to herself angrily. How could I have allowed this to happen so soon. A tear built up in the corner of her right eye, twinkling lightly in the sunlight that shined through the thick leaves and trees of the dense forest.
"Hey!" a familiar voice called from over the heads of Fuyu and her captor, causing brown eyes to shoot open.
Ritsu.
"I don't think what you and your team was all that fair but," he paused, pulling out the Earth scroll and bouncing it in his right hand. "It ended up being to our advantage!"
Panicked, the male genin scanned his surrounding for any sign of his two female teammates.
He growled angrily, clenching his fists tightly. "What'd you do to Tomo and Sorano?"
Ritsu shrugged his shoulders as he put the scroll back into the pouch on his right hip, before jumping down from the branch between Fuyu and the other Genin. "I don't know which is which. But the one who attacked me ran off." he answered with a cocky grin. "Sorry about that., let's just consider it as pay back for what happened a few days ago, alright? I could tell you three are out of chakra. The fact that you went after Fuyu, who you knew was the weakest, gave it away easily."
"I should just take you down myself." he growled back in anger.
Fuyu switched back and forth at the back of her teammates head and the lone boy before them, scrambling her mind to come up with some sort of plan. Something that could buy them a little time at the very least until Soma could lend a hand..."Soma!" she exclaimed quietly. "Where is he?"
"I'm not sure, after you got pulled back the another girl separated us." Ritsu responded, keeping his dark green eyes fixated on his enemy before him. "I'm sure he's fine though-"
"I'm going to look for him." Fuyu announced firmly. "I can't let this plan fail again." she whispered, mostly to herself.
"I don't think I'm going to allow you to do that." Ritsu chuckled "I'd rather keep you in my sight, and worry about Soma later. I'm sure he can handle himself."
The boy before them let out a dark chuckle. "You're wrong. You've seemed to underestimate Sorano, your friend is probably already defeated. Maybe even dead."
Fuyu's eyes widened slightly, as her left fist tensed unintentionally.
"And now, I'm sad to say that it's the same fate for both of you."
"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."
Soma's words replayed in Fuyu's mind as she watched the boy before them weave several seals before charging at them.
I don't care if I put my life in jeopardy. Fuyu thought to herself as she walked closer to Ritsu's side, her eyes keenly watching the boy sprinting to them both. Because I made a promise to protect both of you, at the cost of anything.
"Sansei Awa no Justu!" the male exclaimed, being a curved finger up to his mouth, taking in a deep breath before blowing, completely emptying his lungs for everything they've got. Hundreds upon hundreds of small black bubbles came towards the duo, dividing and growing each second.
And I'd rather die than go against that promise!
Just before the bubbles were to collide with the duo, the Dog seal found itself being woven by Fuyu's small hands. "Hyoton: Hyo-ryu kabe!"
At the very last second, a thick wall of ice formed before Fuyu and Ritsu, shielding them from the majority of the bubbles that were previously threatening them.
"Alright!" Ritsu exclaimed, looking through the block of ice before them. "That's the Fuyu I know! What's next?" he asked enthusiastically, looking down at his teammate.
Fuyu took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she registered the sudden surge of confidence that flowed through her. The same confidence that enabled her to protect her and her teammate from a jutsu that had every possibility of ending their lives so quickly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she looked up at her hyperactive teammate before smiling lightly.
Grabbing onto his arm lightly, she pulled him away from the threat, leaving the ice jutsu still in place. The only thing I'm most concerned about is getting as far away from him as possible, then finding Soma.
"Wait! Fuyu!" Ritsu called from behind her, not resisting her sudden desire to escape. "We're not going to fight him? I could've sworn you were all fired up!"
"We have to find Soma first." she replied simply, her brown hair whipping behind her as she jumped from branch to branch releasing of her hold on Ritsu.
"Hey!" another familiar voice called from behind the duo. "Fuyu-hime!"
Automatically identifying the only person who got into the habit of calling her that, Fuyu stopped on the branch just behind her, before looking over her right shoulder.
"Aoi." she whispered, noticing the 3 figures that were traveling behind her.
"I had a feeling that you lost something. I'm pretty glad that I didn't have to go running around for you though." she said cockily, landing onto a branch just a few before her. "Anyways, me and my team decided to bring him back." she added, pointing at a furious face behind her.
"I told you that I didn't need any of your help." Soma growled at her before jumping onto the same branch that Ritsu was situated on. "Who are you three anyways?"
"Oh shut up. Just be thankful that we got you back with your team." Hisui retorted. "I'm Hisui, that's Kyouichi and she, of course, is Aoi."
"How'd you get separated anyways?" Kyouichi asked, jumping closer into the core of the two genin teams.
"Well, sadly, you three just ruined our plan." Ritsu chuckled quietly. "But I guess it's alright, since we already have both scrolls."
"So it didn't work out?" Soma breathed. "You weren't able to-"
"No, not really. But two out of three is better than none!"
Soma let out a quiet sigh. "Did we at least get the scroll?"
"Hell yeah! Of course, we did. We wouldn't have left without it." Ritsu responded happily. "Now all that's left is getting to the tower, then we're homeward bound."
"I'm glad nothing serious happened to any of you. And I'm guessing you guys already have both scrolls?"
"Do you?" Fuyu asked quietly, finally recovering from her adrenaline rush.
"Well Duh. It wasn't all to hard. The hard part is getting to the tower alive." Aoi responded. "You guys gonna start heading there now?"
"That's the plan." Soma responded, looking over at his lightly tattered and bruised teammates. "Are you guys alright? Especially you, Fuyu?" he asked, noticing the exhaustion and worry in her brown eyes.
"I think I'll be fine." she replied quietly, rubbing her right eye lightly. "I'm just a little tired-"
"Fuyu!" Ritsu called, his hand reaching out for her.
Fuyu's world slowly went black, her friends voices blurring together till finally all she registered were the worried expressions on their face.
"-acid." was all Fuyu could voice out before she fell completely unconscious.
"Acid? Poisoned acid?" Aoi asked, looking over at Fuyu's teammates.
"We need to get her to a clearing first, this branch isn't going to hold with all our weight on it." Kyouichi advised, scooping Fuyu into his arms before jumped down to the clearing below them.
"Out of the fire and into the pot." Soma mumbled to himself, finding both teams in the middle of a battle between foreigners and a team that were all too familiar.
"Sasuke?" Soma questioned, noticing the eerie glowing curse mark that slowly took over his body. What's going on-?
"Grab Zaku and let's go before he kill us!" a female commanded, before sprinting off into the forest with her two -badly- injured teammate following.
"How could he expect us to kill him if he's already been bitten?" one mumbled to himself before disappearing completely.
"Sakura!" Ritsu called, gaining her dazed attention. "What's going on with Sasuke?" he asked, walking over to the duo before spotting an unconscious Naruto. "Wha-what happened?"
"Are you after our scroll also?" Sasuke asked, a dark undertone to his voice. "Well don't expect it to be so easy."
"Sasuke!" Sakura called after him, failing to gain his attention. "Sasuke!"
"If you want this scroll, you're going to have to kill me. That in itself will prove to be a true challenge." Sasuke continued, pulling out 4 kunai.
"We're not after you or your scroll Sasuke." Ritsu responded carefully, keeping an eye on his every move. "What happened to you?"
"What happened to me?" he repeated with an amused smirk "I can feel the power flow through my whole being! That's what happened to me. Don't tell me that you're...jealous?" he taunted.
"Not in the slightest."
"Sasuke!"
"We'll see about that." he chuckled before charging at Ritsu with a dark look in his eyes.
In a portion of a second, Sasuke found himself on the ground, the curse mark slowly receding. His hands reaching for a single arrow in his back.
"Sasuke!" Sakura called shrilly.
"Shut up!" Aoi commanded. "You're dragging too much attention to us!"
"What did you do?" Soma asked, walking over to the Uchiha.
"I didn't kill him, if that's what you mean. That arrow is full of a potion that causes paralysis." she explained, putting her bow away.
"So you paralyzed him?" Ritsu asked disbelievingly.
"Temporarily."
"So now we have 3 unconscious people to worry about." Ritsu responded, shaking his head. "This exam is full of surprises."
"Three? The only one we're going to worry about is Fuyu." Soma retorted. "Their team has no affect on ours."
"You know who would be extremely unhappy if they heard you say that? Fuyu." Ritsu responded. "We have to. It's our fault he's unconscious, then we just can't leave Sakura to worry about Naruto by her self."
Soma tensed slightly. "What happened Sakura?"
She shook her head, trying to get rid of the tears that brewed in the corner of her eyes. "I...I don't know." she whimpered. "Everything happened so quickly."
"Hey, it's alright." Ritsu reassured, placing a light hand onto her shoulder. "Take all the time you need, we have 3 more days left. There's no rush."
Sakura nodded her head once again, this time much slower. Taking in a deep breath, she calmed all the frayed nerves that bothered her up to this point. "It started with this woman who could summon snakes," she began looking over every face that watched her worried expression.
Soma's eyes veered over to the curse mark on Sasuke's neck. That curse mark isn't going to cause anything but trouble. He thought to himself before looking back over to his unconscious teammate.
Is this what made you feel so panicked earlier, Fuyu?
As if she knew his every thought, Fuyu's left hand moved slightly. Followed by a single tear running down from her eye towards her ear.
Looking back over at the Uchiha, Soma's gaze intensified. I hope you're aware of the pain you're causing others, Sasuke.
One day, you're going to regret it all.