Sorry for my Bleach Readers if you see this, i've kind of lost inspiration for the story again, every time I start to type, it just doesn't get further than two sentences before I give up for the day, that next chapter is just going to have to wait for a while, I'm sorry XP.
Well, once again it's an update for the Naruto Story. To be honest, I don't know why I bother with it, in all the time it's been up, I have had a grand total of (DRUM ROLL PLZ!)
*Fanfare!*
2 Readers
Yes, in just over a year that this has been up, only two people have bothered to read it, sucks to be me -.-
Oh well, I can understand if people don't like the story and therefore don't read it, but please, for the love of Kami, DONT JUST IGNORE IT! I can take haters and dislikers, but ignoring it entirely just hurts too much *cries*
Oh well, can't stop a fanfic writer! Even if he is ignored, he will still write! (He will just cry over the keyboard as he does so, i'm surprised I haven't had an electric shock yet from it 0.0)
Oh well, on with the chapter! (to whomever reads it, hopefully one person this year will.)
"Owch, t-that stings…"-Yuroi muttered to himself as he carefully tested his swollen jaw, trying to figure out just how long this would take to heal. He quickly ducked his head in silence when Karen gave him another scathing look from her seat, DISTINCTLY opposite the campfire to where Yuroi had chosen to sit. After a few moments of silence, Karen once again returned her attention to her bowl before her, attacking her food with vengeance as if she imagined she was pummelling someone. "Yare, yare…"-the Jounin murmured as he looked at the way the two Gennin were acting, before turning his head to talk to the only good mood Gennin amongst the trio. To his disappointment and slight annoyance, Akimoto had vanished once more from the campfire, instead on the opposite side of the camp in the darkness, once again practicing by himself.
"San-hyaku nii-juu, san-hyaku nii-juu ichi…"-Akimoto counted aloud between gritted teeth as he tensed his arm muscles, sweat beading on his forehead as he practiced pull ups on a nearby tree in his full ninja gear, his usually hidden katana blade strapped to his back now he was no longer expecting an attack opportunity from his sensei. "Hey, Akimoto, you goanna take a break over there?"-the Jounin called over to the struggling Gennin. "Huh?"-Akimoto said in surprise at being addressed while he was exercising and turned swung about on the tree branches to face the Jounin.
"Naw, I'm good, Darui-sensei! I need to do my five hundred since I screwed up again!"-Akimoto cheerily called over despite the trembling in his arms now he had rested them. Shaking his head in amusement at his students words, Darui repeated his request-"How many times have I told you not to waste your energy while we are on missions? You don't need to play a punishment game every time you guys fail to beat me, follow Yuroi's example and just prepare for the next time." Akimoto just grunted, ignoring his Sensei's level headed request with what could normally be considered insubordination.
Why oh why was I made the squad leader for this guy? Darui wondered internally as he watched the defiant ninja get back to his exercises. Sorry Raikage-sama, but I'm just no good at dealing with kids the Jounin apologised to himself as he chuckled slightly. However, he was saved not by a sudden change in heart to be willing to listen to his Sensei, but by an ominious growl from the young Ninja's stomach. With a yelp of surprise at the betrayal of his own body, Akimoto accidentally let go of the branch, falling back to the ground with a loud thud.
Alerted by the loud noise from her fellow student, Karen seemed to snap out of her mood for a second, laughing slightly as she shouted over-"Aki-kun, there's some food ready over here if your that desperate." With a grunt of-"Urusai!", the silver haired ninja rolled back over to get back up. Intent on ignoring the outburst and getting back to his exercise, he reached for the branch again, only to fall short as his stomach protested once more. "Okay, okay!"-Akimoto relented almost to himself as he gave up on his exercise and walked back to the campfire.
Taking his spot once again, he noticed as usual their charge was silently stuffing his face once more, not deigning to give his charges any acknowledgements of their presence or even their efforts in making his food. Luckily, nobody at the camp could be bothered to talk to him anyway, so there were no arguments at the small sizes of their portions, Yuroi and Akimoto, even their sensei, just glad to get some food from the chef. Luckily for all three men who lacked any ability to cook, Karen was very competent, enough that if she ever failed to be a ninja, Akimoto was sure she could make it in the restaurant industry, even something as simple as rabbits trapped from the forests had been somehow glorified into an incredibly tasty stew.
With the food now before him, Akimoto could only grin as he announced-"Itadakimasu!" and eagerly started digging in. Karen smiled happily at the sight of her cooking being enjoyed, which gave Yuroi some hope that she might be in a better mood towards him. Finishing his bowl of food off, he placed his bowl down to his side where Sasayaku had been lying eagerly, awaiting this moment since he had already polished off the pieces of rabbit Karen had given him earlier. As the young wolf attacked what stew was left on the bowl with gusto, Yuroi cleared his through quietly, before hesitantly saying-"Thank you for the food, Karen…" However, much to his distress, he was entirely ignored by the still moody Kunoichi, who made a point of trying to chat eagerly with their sensei about what had happened earlier that day instead of acknowledging him.
Sensing his friends distress, Akimoto leaned over to the now thoroughly miserable Yuroi, carefully avoiding the rotund shape of their client as he whispered-"Don't worry too much about it, knowing Karen, she will have forgiven and forgotten all about it by tomorrow, just give her some space, okay?" However, this had the opposite effect as the Gennin seemed to draw further into himself, muttering over and over-"She think's I'm a pervert, she hates me…" Even Sasayaku seemed to notice his mood, whining quietly beside him in worry.
"Okay, sorry but I think we have all had enough of this now."-Darui announced, also adding his now empty bowl to Yuroi's bowl for the hungry wolf to lick clean. All three Gennin looked up to their sensei from around the campfire, even the Tono deigned to lift one piggy eye to watch him, even though his hands still continued to shovel food into his mouth. Darui seemed to hesitate now he had everyones attention, before adopting his smile again as he said-"Sorry for forcing it on you, but we all need to work together now. I know we are out of the woods for this mission since we eliminated the last group that was following, but I don't want a little prank like me using a student for a substitution to cause a rift here."
Karen smiled in a strange way as she said-"Don't worry Sensei, I don't have any bad feelings over using me as a substitution during training for Aki-kun." Yuroi visibly winced as they all realised simultaneously she had deliberately forgotten to mention him. Shaking his head, Darui muttered under his breath-"It wasn't really me who desperately needed to be forgiven…" Once again silence filled the campsite, only punctuated by the loud snuffling from the wolf's eager eating.
"Well… how about how well you think we did today?"-Akimoto asked, eager not only to change the conversation, but to also hear how well he did. Mentally thanking the Gennin for picking something that they could talk about for a good while, Darui settled into his (very) rarely used Sensei mentality as he delivered his verdict.
"Now, regarding how today went, I would say you did well-"-Darui started, but was interrupted by a-"Yes!" from Akimoto as he pumped his fist. Quickly realising he had interrupted his teacher and was being stared at by everyone, his face became slightly flushed with embarrassment, and he quickly settled back down. Smiling lazily at the enthusiasm his student showed, Darui continued.
"Now, like I was saying, I WOULD say you did well, but you were facing some incredibly amateurish ninja today. Not only did you outnumber the ninja, they were generally unskilled. Even if they had by some means obtained a useful technique such as the Mist Rain jutsu, the proof of their lack of skill being that Yuroi's Tsuchi Bunshin wasn't dispelled despite this technique being able to eat away at chakra. If that had happened, then your plan would have been ruined."
"Actually, I was aware that wouldn't happen."-Yuroi suddenly interjected, interested now they were doing an analytical study of their performance. "Ho, care to explain?"-Darui asked, intrigued as to how Yuroi would answer this. Raising a finger, Yuroi explained-"First, assuming the technique was a match to the Kirigakure Hunter-nin jutsu, then it means all jutsu but the user's is cancelled. That would include the other ninja since we were dealing with a pair."
Darui only shook his head at hearing this though, calmly countering-"But that would have meant they had one person capable of jutsu, with you none, what if they decided that was a justified risk?" However, Yuroi smirked as he raised his second finger, continuing-"Secondly and finally, Karen's genjutsu trap activated. Karen's trap genjutsu is incredible in its ability to subtly affect the enemy without their notice." Pausing for a second, he cast his glance to Karen to see if she would react to his praise, but she kept a stony façade regardless. Disappointed, he continued-"The cost of this subtlety is the delicacy of the traps, they are easily dispelled once discovered, and the Kirisame technique should have been able to destroy such chakra based traps. However, it didn't, therefore it was safe to assume all techniques would work the same."
Darui nodded slowly at the young Gennin's reasoning, once again surprised at how sharp he was. "Well, if you have considered it that far, then well done. Anyway, back to what I was saying. Once again, everybody worked well together, Karen's genjutsu worked well enough to allow you to ignore the mercenaries, and well done to Sasayaku as well Yuroi, your wolf did well in ambushing the unaware ninja and taking him down without a struggle. Now…"
Now Darui cast his eyes to Akimoto and paused for a moment. Shaking his head slowly, he said-"You on the other hand did not play your role well, as Yuroi reported, you refused to use the Henshin jutsu to make yourself better look the part of the Tono. If any of the enemies had actually known what the Tono looked like, then there would have been a large complication."
"But Sensei, I can't run like that, can I?"-Akimoto complained, trying desperately to create an excuse rather than just admit that he didn't like the idea of running around looking like a fat slob. While he didn't voice the second opinion, there was a burst of outrage from their guest as he spluttered, his jowls quivering in the cold night air as he cried-"You insolent mongrel, how dare you implicate that I cannot perform any better than your worthless self!" All three Gennin looked at the indignant boy in all his resplendent girth with incredulous looks, which only served to further infuriate him, causing his face to turn beet red as he spluttered, unable to even gather his wits enough to shout at them.
"Stop that right now guys."-Darui ordered, although his lack of any kind of authoritive tone or look didn't really help his cause. However, all of the students knew well enough to stop when ordered by the lazy man, for they all knew he reported directly to the Raikage, and they all feared his temper, and thus they fell silent and shamefaced immediately. Seeing them cowed as thus, the fat boy calmed down, once again looking down on all three of them as he tried to put them down, telling them-"Know your place you mongrels." However, his rotund appearance and memories of him squealing from earlier made this phrase have absolutely no effect on their morale; even Sasayaku tilted his head sideways slightly as if in confusion.
Coughing once more, Darui continued to tell Akimoto off. "Secondly, you handed your foe information that could have proved problematic, you know already the basics, you went through the academy process, and one of the top warnings is to never freely give out personal information that an enemy can use against you, your identity is one of the first things you must protect, especially if you hail from a well known clan, your name alone can give away vital information such as the techniques you can use, your potential as a target, even your combat strength can be estimated merely from your name, you of all people should know this the most."
Akimoto's features tensed slightly upon hearing this, something that Darui didn't fail to notice, even if Akimoto remained silent. Just like the sensei said, he understood the importance of his own name being leaked to the enemy, time and time again had he been warned, even beaten just for giving his identity away freely. After all, there were always those who targeted other ninja's just to acquire their abilities, something that the Cloud Village had done many times in their reputable past, even he had been abducted already just for his name, after all, Akimoto already knew that he wasn't originally from the Cloud.
However, Akimoto laughed loudly, surprising the others as he scratched his head nervously, replying-"I guess I just forgot, it's not like it matters much since we were going to capture them anyway, right sensei?" Darui kept silent for a second, obviously recognising Akimoto's attempt to hide away his sudden lapse caused by mentioning his past. However, rather than say more, Darui shrugged, picking up a tiny stone from nearby and casting it into the fire as he said-"I guess not, just be careful in future."
Akimoto beamed in reply, before his eyes suddenly lit up with new fire, asking-"So, how well did we do against you this time?" Yuroi also perked up at hearing this, interest kindled once more. Darui decided to stress his thoughts, leaning back as he starting going *hmm* as if in deep thought. Of course, he already had decided to congratulate the two, after all, they had actually made him work to escape this time, even if he had won, he had been hit by Akimoto's jutsu, and in his own mind, if you were hit by an enemy's jutsu you were dead, the only reason he was fine was because Akimoto had once again held back, using a non-lethal jutsu rather than one with killing intent, despite Darui having initially told the pair that they had to come at him with killing intent if they wanted to beat him.
Well, I think that but they came pretty close even if one of them was being half baked about it… Darui realised, chuckling slightly as he realised the implications that he, a Jounin, had almost been outmanoeuvred by two Gennin. Both Gennin's looks turned to confusion as they heard the chuckle from their sensei, not fully sure just what it meant. Nearby, the fat tono grunted something that sounded suspiciously to Karen's ears an insult to their sensei, before picking his massive girth from his seated position, walking indignantly back to the tents without bothering to deign the ninja with the information that he was obviously retiring for the night. Not that any ninja there really cared what their annoying charge thought.
"Well, you didn't do too badly this time."-Darui finally relented as he swung his body back into a seating position, his shaggy head regarding his two charges. He would have praised them more, but he knew the risks of growing complacent of your skills, so he was always stingy with his praise when it came to their mock battles. However, it seemed his pupils had caught onto this faster than he had hoped, Akimoto once again pumping his fist energetically with a beaming smile across his face, even Yuroi managed a confident smirk as he watched his partner's antics, Karen just rolling her eyes at both of them, before picking up a nearby branch and poking disinterestedly at the campfire.
Coughing quietly again to get their attention back, Darui continued-"Like I was saying, not too bad. I'm guessing that the plan was once again thought up by Yuroi?" However, Yuroi shook his head, before casting a nervous glance at Karen, Akimoto in turn happily explaining-"Nope, we actually asked Karen first if she had any idea's, and she thought a paralyzing type jutsu might catch you off guard, right Karen?" Karen, suddenly noticing she was the centre of attention from around the campfire now, blushed slightly as she cast her eyes down, mumbling-"I only suggested to Aki-kun that he could try using his Kaminari Chōeki jutsu for the match."
So, in a way it was a whole team effort? Darui mused as Akimoto beamed happily, continuing-"After that, I spent my free time this morning before we left camp brushing up on that old technique in secret, after all I haven't used it before in real battle, while Yuroi planned out the attack we would use around it, it was his idea to try and counter your defensive jutsu with its lightning based effect!" Darui smiled ruefully at this, once again slightly regretting that he had promised not to follow the two Gennin if they left the camp to practice for battle, since he knew that they would be most likely preparing to beat him anyway. Yuroi nodded to Akimoto's speech, continuing in more detail-
"Whenever you are pressed into close range battle suddenly, I noticed you use the Suiton: Suijuinheki as a counter to throw your foe off balance so you can either counter charge for one on one battle with your Kenjutsu, or buy time to use your Kekkei Genkai jutsu's rather long and intricate hand seal combination, so I came up with a plan that I would hold back, while Sasayaku…" At the mention of the young wolfs name, there was an accommodating enthusiastic howl from the young wolf beside his master, earning him a rub behind the ears from Yuroi. "…and Akimoto would attack at close range. Since you would counter pretty much immediately, Akimoto was to attack first, with Sasayaku a second afterwards from your blindside. No doubt you would notice Sasayaku's attack, even if he was silent, so you would have to turn and counter him first."
At this point, Yuroi's smirk grew even wider as he said-"Once you would lose eye contact with Akimoto, he could start his jutsu, luckily since it has a pretty low amount of hand seals needed due to it mostly being just nature manipulation to force lightning out of his body, he had ample time while you countered Sasayaku to activate the jutsu. When you turned back to also blow him away, the two jutsu would come into contact, leaving you defenceless even if you sent Akimoto flying. After that, it was a simple matter of reaching and pinning you down sensei."
About halfway through the second part, Akimoto suddenly realised where this conversation was about to go, and he saw the slightly evil glint that came across his sensei's eyes. As quietly as he could manage, he carefully started to shift away from the fire, ever so slowly, just enough so that he was not going to be in the way of what was going to happen next. Darui noticed this movement, and realised that Akimoto had just betrayed his partner, if he had remained in place, there would have been at least a temporary shield from what would take place next. However, the expression of fear on Akimoto's face was clearly justified in his Sensei's mind; he knew what was about to happen next as Yuroi finally finished his speech, smirking victoriously at his sensei. Oh I'm going to enjoy this, sorry Yuroi, but is too good an opportunity to be missed.
"So, you're telling me everything went according to your intricate plan? Every single thing went as you expected?"-Darui asked, a lazy smile forming on his face as he tried to keep his features from giving him away. At this, unnoticed to Yuroi, Karen's posture suddenly stiffened. Akimoto noticed this though, carefully trying to increase the speed of his backpedalling without giving himself away. However, Yuroi was intoxicated by the feel of success upon explaining his plan, his own thoughts going through his memory to the expression of surprise on his Sensei's face as his body started to fall, almost ragdoll like to the floor. Beside him, Sasayaku suddenly started whimpering unnoticed by his master, the young wolf he could only think to be an dangerous, almost predatory aura coming from the young Kunoichi, and it was frightening the stout hearted wolf. No amount of battles had prepared the wolf for the fear it was feeling now, his tail tucking into the side of its body as the wolf tried to flatten itself on the ground, making itself as small of a target as possible. With finality, Yuroi finally declared the words that would seal his doom.
"Everything went just as I had planned, Sensei!"
That was it, neither Akimoto or Sasayaku would stay around for this, Akimoto abandoning his plan to escape unnoticed as the wind suddenly expelled outwards from around him, a sure sign of his Taijutsu technique he used in battle to attack now being used to retreat. Sasayaku gave into his fear too, abandoning his master as he ran with his tail tucked between his legs for the tents. Yuroi noticed these movements, looking about him now in confusion as silently, Karen stood up, her brown shoulder length hair now falling forward over her face to hide her features. Even Darui was now starting to feel intimidated, wondering if this meant he was going to have to replace a member of his squad already.
"….So….it was all part….of your….plan?"-Karen quietly asked, the fire dying down as if in fear of her almost whispered words. Yuroi's body tensed up, his gaze still looking towards the tent where his normally faithful partner had dived into to hide, his muzzle now poking out between the gap in the tent flaps as he whimpered, afraid not only of the Kunoichi, but afraid for his masters sake as well. But even as faithful and brave as the wolf was, even the threat on his master's life wasn't enough to bring him out to protect him, that aura around the Kunoichi promised pain and torture on a level that even permeated his animal mind.
"YUROI, RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"-Akimoto bellowed out from the nearby treetops where he had retreated to, desperately trying to rouse his friend from his frozen posture. Darui almost wished that he hadn't done this now, he really now realised that his premonition of having to replace a squad member might be true. Almost… Darui stressed in his thoughts though.
Even nearby, the two ninja they had knocked unconscious and trussed up seemingly curved into protective balls, their self-preservation instincts kicking in even though they had both lost conscious long ago and were under a tranquilizer that would keep them that way for a good few days yet.
However, all was for naught, Yuroi was frozen like a rabbit in the headlights. Slowly, ever so slowly, his head turned, away from the tents, where his once faithful wolf whimpered for him, away from the treetops where his fellow Gennin continued to bellow out to him, away from his sensei who was wearing an almost apologetic expression across his features, and towards the Kunoichi who had addressed him. He didn't even move an inch as slowly, both the girl's hands reached towards her thigh, where her pouch of ninja weapons was strapped.
On a hunch, Darui put both of his hands together into a seal, quietly murmuring the words-"Kai." However, the fact that Akimoto, the childhood friend of this now very, very dangerous looking Kunoichi had not attempted to do so made him believe even as he tried to release it that this was most definitely not a Genjutsu, but real life. Nothing changed even after he made the motions needed to dispel a Genjutsu, so Darui realised that this seeming aura that surrounded the girl, that terrified the wolf, that died down the fire, that even had unconscious Ninja trembling in fear and seemingly paralyzed Yuroi in place, was the real thing.
Remind me never to get on her bad side… Darui mused silently as Yuroi's head finally stopped its slow turning motion, eyes wide in fear as he regarded the sight before him. Quietly, ever so quietly, Karen almost whispered-"I congratulate you for not running, Yuroi-kun…" As her hands were pulled free of the pouch, Darui finally started sweating in fear himself, even if Yuroi had long ago been covered in a damp sheen from fear driven sweat. Kunai he could handle, Shuriken he could handle, hell, explosive tags he could handle, but what Karen had drawn from her pouch made the Jounin tremble in fear himself, as he remembered just what classification his young student came under.
Medical Nin…. Darui thought in a stupor as he regarded the numerous syringes that sprung forth between the Kunoichi's fingers, each one containing something different, varying from a viscous looking clear liquid, to a purple looking liquid that seemingly boiled within the tube. Now he truly feared for Yuroi's life. The sensei tried to bring his hands up, to form some kind of seal that would enable him to use a jutsu that might just save the boy, but it was to no avail, now he was also paralyzed in fear, he couldn't even utter a word to try and dissuade the Kunoichi.
Somewhere deep in his thoughts, he couldn't help but marvel at Akimoto in the treetops, still bellowing out to his friend, trying to encourage him to run. He's able to shrug off this aura enough to still move and shout? Darui wondered, but also realizing that even if he could, Akimoto was making no attempt to try and save his friend directly, just shouting his throat raw from the safety of the tree's.
"Now…"-Karen finally said, her head finally raising up from its low position to look directly at Yuroi, her face now clear for all to see as her hair fell past her features and down to her shoulders once more. Once again, Darui wanted to try and use the dispel for genjutsu, but realised now that he couldn't lift his arms to do so. For the love of all things holy, I hope that's a genjutsu… Darui thought to himself as he saw the Kunoichi's eyes.
Yuroi finally broke free from his fear, those eyes instilling terror so deep in his soul it finally overrode his frozen state. Almost screaming, he tried to make for the treeline, to escape what was about to come.
He only got halfway.
And that's that, Chapter over!
I do hope somebody is actually reading this now, and this isn't just going to go unnoticed for the next year, I did have a brilliant plan for this story, but I lost *oomph* when nobody read it!
For those who are interested, no, I have no plans to have Akimoto and Karen together, as I have stated, they are childhood friends and will remain that, although they are closer than just friends, so don't be surprised at some of the scenes I will have, perhaps it would be better to imagine them as almost like siblings, same for Yuroi and Akimoto, although Yuroi is going to carry an ongoing grudge over how close Aki and Karen are.
I'm trying to go for a well balanced team, I don't want to have a Sakura situation, where the girl on the team is only good for whining and emotional bollocks, as such she's a medical and genjutsu ninja, skills that neither of her comrades have, and make her an integral part of the team, rather than just a dead weight. Mentality Sakura but tougher yet also more open and caring of others.
Yuroi is a Taijutsu ninja, with tracking skills and excellent strategist, combine Shikamaru with Kiba and a lil bit of Sasuke arrogance and you have him.
Akimoto on the other hand is just a bonkers mix, he has Naruto's hyperactivity and optimism, Lee's dedication to hard work, Sasuke's kind of overbearing genius skill (tempered by Naruto's dumb attitude), but with additional aspects from charecters not from the Naruto-verse (can anyone guess who?). Also, since he is an O.C main charecter, it's likely that I will accidentally merge traits from Yoshirou of my Bleach story into him along the way, so he should become a very interesting charecter.
Anyhow, hopefully this might get a reader some time soon, if it does, I will be ecstatic! If not, I will cry...
As usual, Reviews are appreciated and encouraged!
Seeya all next time!
P.S I'm bumping the status back to M for this story, so I can have total freedom of what to write, bad language, bloody scenes, hell, I may even try some lemon if I feel like it (good practice for if I want to use it in my Bleach story XP), just saying if anybody is curious why I changed the rating yet again.