Many thanks to Marjolein222, Vash3055, Secret World, and Alternative Angel, and all you people who put me on story alert. Sorry for the delay. SOMEONE couldn't come over for two entire weeks. And then our floors got sanded so my computer got stuck in the kitchen.
"Why can't I use my bag?" Nara cried out in anger. Her clothes had been given back to her before the fight had begun and the hood once again covered her face.
"Because we are still testing it for anything lethal." Tsunade said simply. She did not have time to be arguing with Nara again.
They were in a small dojo where the fight would be taking place. The three acadamy students had not arrived yet, but the battle was less than an hour away so it would not be long.
The first to arrive was a small girl with dark pink hair who could have been no older than ten. She looked around awkwardly before walking towards the sole bench in the dojo and sitting down quietly.
Nara frowned briefly. She did not sense anything dangerous about the pink haired girl, but she did not seem very timid either.
The next who walked in was a boy who looked a lot closer to Naras age. Nara recognized the Sunagakure symbol on an armband he had on. His black up hair was up in a single low ponytail, and he wore mostly netting. He also seemed to have two odd looking wooden instruments at his waist. Nara could not figure out what they were. The boy appeared to be quite angry with the pink haired girl.
Nara watched them closely. If two of her opponents didn't get along, then maybe she could use it to her advantage…
The final acadamy student to enter was another girl, with dark circular glasses. She wore some sort of odd overcoat and a skirt of sorts. Most likely an Aburame. How was that for ironic? Nara briefly wondered if the female Aburame was in anyway related to the ANBU who had been her 'body guard'.
In one last attempt, Nara spoke to Lady Tsunade. "So…why exactly is my bag lethal?" Nara gained a slight shimmer of happiness when she saw her opponents react, even slightly to her statement.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, gripped Naras shoulder quite tightly and leaned down so they were eye level. "Listen, you get four kunais and that's final. Your opponents get onekunai. Not another complaint or you will lose by default."
Nara nodded reluctantly. "Fine." After a moments silence, Nara smiled mischievously. "What kind of jutsu can I use then?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Any jutsu. As long as it's not deadly." The last part was really just to close up any loopholes. Tsunade highly doubted this girl had any deadly jutsus.
Finally somewhat satisfied, Nara said nothing else in protest and walked to one edge of the battle field. The three acadamy students followed suit, and stood at the other edge of the field.
x.X.x
Haruna stared at her opponent a bit shocked. It was the same person she had found in the forest! Why did they have to fight her? Or was it a him? Haruna couldn't tell with the hood blocking most of her opponents' face. Not that it mattered. Haruna still planned on winning this fight as close to single-handedly as she possibly could. After all, nothing could beat her Zajigan.
x.X.x
Who the hell was this guy? Reniko frowned. The guy seemed tough (what did he mean by lethal?!). But with Haruna undoubtedly planning to be a glory hog, no way was he going to be afraid. He would show Haruna what it meant to be a REAL shinobi.
x.X.x
Why Reniko and Haruna? They would undoubtedly clash. Koru pushed up her glasses. The opponent was the same she had encountered with Haruna. The figure with the hood seemed to be fairly confident in whatever strategy he had planned. It would be best for herself to let Reniko and Haruna duke it out and stay out of the way, in order to avoid any unneeded confrontations.
x.X.x
"Begin" Tsunade said, when no one moved for a second or so.
"Hi" Nara said, waving her hand back and forth. The acadamy students looked at each other.
"Uhhh…hi…" said Reniko.
"Heh, this is actually my first official fight, so…don't expect too much kay?" Nara said, a bit embarrassed. "Names Nara by the way. Just Nara."
Reniko silently thanked the powers-that-be that Sarunte was not there. That idiot Uchiha would undoubtedly find it hilarious that Renikos family name was similar to this guys' personal name.
Tsunade groaned and rubbed her temples. "Why aren't you three fighting?" She asked in disbelief. It was like they had never been in a fight before! Oh…right…
Haruna frowned a bit. "Uhhh…"
Reniko smirked. Now was his chance! "Guess I'll go." He said dryly and formed that rat hand sign. He cried out "Shadow possession no jutsu!" and a long black line stretched from his feet and headed towards Nara.
Nara jumped and effectively dodged. "Hey wait!" She cried out. "You're from the Nara clan aren't you??"
Reniko blinked in astonishment. "Well…uhhh…"
"Are you related to Shikamaru?" Nara asked in an almost fangirl tone.
"How…? How do you know my dads' name?" Reniko asked in shock. His shadow shrunk back to its original form.
Naruto turned a bright red (Not that you could see, with her hood covering her face) and pushed her pointer fingers together. "Uh, no reason. Just forget about it! It's nothing!"
Reniko gaped at Nara in confusion. How did some random kid who he never met before know not only his clan name, but his DADS name as well? He stole a glance at Haruna.
Haruna seemed to be quite frustrated at the moment. Her Zajigan was activated, turning her light blue eyes a dark purple with an odd symbol in the place of her pupils. For some weird reason, the Zajigan had no affect on Nara…
All of a sudden, it hit him. Nara couldn't see the Zajigan through the hood!! Nara was as good as immune. Reniko had to remember to use that fact against Haruna next time she used her Zajigan in a game of Kill the Hokage…
Koru raised her arms slightly and bugs began to fly out of her sleeves. They swarmed towards Nara.
Nara sighed. "I was right. Aburame."
Koru raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know MY family name?"
"…well…Aburame uses bugs right? Like how shadows are a Nara trait." Nara said in a matter of fact tone. It seemed quite obvious to her. Those were the clans that had filled her bedtime stories when she was younger until…
Haruna frowned. What about her? The Cataki clan was very prestigious after all. "Hey? Hey!! What about my clan? Do you know MY clan??"
Nara shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen any of your jutsu so-"
All of a sudden, Reniko burst into laughter. "That is rich!" He said, almost in hysterics. "Go ahead runt! Show him your jutsu!"
Haruna whipped her head towards Reniko. "Shut it Reniko!"
Reniko clutched his stomach and doubled over in pain. "God dammit Haruna. Wha's your problem?"
Haruna had accidentally released the power of the Zajigan on her own teammate.
Nara sweat dropped and turned to Tsunade. "Aren't they supposed to be teammates?"
Tsunade didn't reply. This was not going well at all. She would have to remember to never ask three acadamy students to fight ever again. She should have chosen a genin team.
Suddenly, Nara felt her body begin to weaken. Shoot. She had forgotten about the bugs! How could she have forgotten about the bugs?
"I'd advise you to give up, Nara." Koru said simply. "Lack of chakra never helps in a battle."
"Sorry can't do that!" Nara began to form hand signs. "Shadow clone no jutsu" She muttered under her breath. Ten other Naras promptly appeared.
By this point, Haruna had deactivated her Zajigan and Reniko had finally lost all hints of pain. Reniko withdrew the wooden instruments, which turned out to be two small fans, and opened them. "Wind Scythe no jutsu." He hissed, and two gusts of wind traveled to the original Nara. Unfortunately, it blew away all the bugs.
"Nice job Reniko." Haruna said sarcastically.
"Keh!!" Reniko said in surprise. "That wasn't my fault!"
"You have GOT to know Temari!" Nara said excitedly.
Reniko stared at Nara. "How. The hell. Do you know my mom?"
Inner Nara had become a full fangirl. Shikamaru and Temari? Married. That was so…CUTE!! Dad had always assumed Shikamaru would have married Ino…oh well! Nara liked Shikamaru and Temari much better…
"Wait, then are you related to Shino?" Nara asked Koru eagerly.
Koru sighed. "He's my mothers' cousin. He's currently an ANBU captain."
Nara widened her eyes and turned to Tsunade. "Wait…was he…?"
"Just. Fight." Tsunade growled, contemplating what would happen if she killed four very annoying children…
"Shadow possession no jutsu" Reniko silently said to himself. It attached to the Nara who had been talking to Tsunade. "Gotcha!" he cried out in success.
One of Naras clones charged and punched Reniko in the jaw. Reniko fell back, mostly out of shock. "That…was a clone?" He asked in disbelief. There was no way!
The clone withdrew a kunai and placed it against Renikos neck. "What do YOU thi-"
The clone found herself rammed into and she flew across the room, and instantly vanished with a small poof.
Haruna glared at the nine remaining clones, and the one real Nara, "Only I can make Reniko look bad." She had mostly meant it as a witty comeback, but it was fairly true. Reniko was her idiotic rival after all. If he got beaten, what would that say about her?
Reniko got up. He mumbled something about not needing a runt like her to help him.
Koru quickly counted the remaining Naras. "Nine. Nine Naras left. We each take three, yes?"
Reniko smirked. "You take three, I'll take six. Since obviously, Haruna won't be able to keep up." He made the rat hand sign and his shadow shot out once more.
He captured two of the Naras.
One of the captured smirked. "Here's a question, what now?" Reniko cursed under his breath. He hadn't thought of that…
"You die" Came a voice, and Haruna appeared with two kunais in hand. Each of them were aimed at the neck of the captured Naras.
"Stole Renikos' kunai." Haruna said in explanation of her extra kunai. Reniko responded by giving her a rude finger gesture.
The two Naras were not afraid in the slightest. "What if one of us is real? Could you deal with a murder?" Questioned one of the Naras. The other one nodded in agreement. "Taking a life is no laughing matter"
"Watch me." Haruna snarled, and she plunged the two kunais into the Naras chests. They both disappeared with a 'poof'!
Reniko craned his head. "Where'd all the other clones go?" He cried out angrily.
Koru pushed her hands in her pockets. "You were slow." Koru had managed to take down the other seven clones by herself.
Reniko furrowed his brow. "Then where's the real one?"
"There she is!" Haruna cried out. Reniko and Koru turned around, only to find themselves facing not one, but two Harunas.
A dead silence filled the room. Tsunade said nothing, finally getting the fight she had bet on.
The two Harunas stared at each other.
"She was Nara five seconds ago! I swear!"
"No! She was!"
"No! She was the one who killed the clones! Why did you think she did it?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I would never take a life unless I HAD to. I am a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf after all."
"But…I-!! You—They were just clones!!"
"Interesting. How could you know that unless you are Nara?"
Reniko breathed rapidly. He couldn't tell which one was the real Haruna. They both seemed to be just as annoying and arrogant.
Koru couldn't tell either, since she had not attacked either one yet.
Why wasn't the real Haruna using her stupid Zajigan? She was always flaunting it.
"Activate your Zajigan!" Reniko roared.
Both Harunas stared at him. "ON WHAT?" they screamed in unison.
"Naras stupid hood gets in the way."
"The transformation jutsu doesn't help either!"
"I'm not Nara!"
"You knew those clones were fake!"
"No I didn't!"
"Then why did you attack them with an intent to kill?"
"Because Hokage-sama is RIGHT THERE!"
Reniko raised in eyebrow in confusion. "So?"
"Shes a medical ninja you neko-baka!"
The other Haruna paused. "Neko-what now?"
Unfortunately, there was no way of poor Nara knowing about a nickname Reniko had been christened by a very loud mouthed Uchiha. That slip up was all it took.
Shadow shot out and bugs swarmed. And with a disappointing poof, Haruna turned back into Nara.
"How the heck…?" Nara asked in astounded disbelief.
"You've obviously never met Sarunte." Reniko said coolly.
The real Haruna made a peace sign and stuck her tongue out at Nara. "I win" She said cheerfully.
Tsunade stood up. "Match over. You lose Nara."
"Wait a minute! I can still fight! It's not like I can't-"
"Zajigan"
For the briefest of seconds, Haruna saw Naras eyes. That was good enough for her. Haruna activated her Zajigan and trapped Nara in her hypnosis.
Nara found herself collapsing as Reniko withdrew his shadow. Everything slowly dimmed, and finally, everything went black. Her last thought before passing out for practically the third or fourth time since she got here was:
I really REALLY hate this place.
To Be Continued