All New Meaning to Leaf Ninja

Market Street, the name was often spoken among house wives. This long winding road starched for several long blocks of the village. At one end of the market closer to the older and dirtier parts of Konoha are the specialty stalls and shops that ninja tended to frequent. At the other end closer to one of Konoha's towering gates are the travel merchants that bring with them foreign and sometimes strange looking goods. In between the two sides are the domestic sellers who peddled the typical wears.

Iruka, much like many ninja bachelors, found himself in quite the predicament.

He was out of food.

It wasn't his fault he reasoned while staring at his depressingly empty fridge. Being an active genin took a lot of his time. Over the last month and a half he'd been busy running D missions and training. Sometimes his Sensei would treat him, other times he'd be to tried to eat. The rare times he found time to raid his fridge were far and few between. When he found that he was down to one moldy apple and the last ramen cup, Iruka had to face facts. His fridge and shelves were not magical going to stock themselves. And unlike his teammates, he couldn't simply wait for his parents to buy more. So sucking up his pride and gritting his teeth he was forced to ask his Sensei for a day off. The man had given him that look, one of distain and irritation. Iruka had learned early on that his Sensei did not want to teach them, Iruka especially. The man only did because every jounin had to take at least one team on during their career. "You can take a day off if you want, but your teammates aren't," he'd been told coldly.

Iruka huffed slamming his fridge door closed. So he'd only be a day behind, and it wasn't like he was being taught anything amazing. He had pretty much learned must of his stuff on his own through various means; mostly from books, scrolls, and talking to other ninjas. The only thing of real value he was being taught was taijutsu. Well sort of. It was more his own style, but he was refining it by fighting with his teammates. Iruka paused at his door patting down his sides and checking for his wallet. With a tightening of his head band and a nod of his head, Iruka stepped out his apartment and made his way to Market Street.

He arrived just as the place began its full swing. Merchants called out their wears in loud booming voice, while people smothered the dirt covered street. Iruka paused in the mouth of one ally-way eyeing the churning bodies beyond. He hated shopping, it was an evil necessity in order to keep his belly full and his shinobi gear stocked. He mentally ran through his shopping list. Maybe if he hurried he could catch up with his team. With that thought he stepped out into the flow. After being jostled around, nearly run over, and shoved completely out of the way Iruka found himself nowhere closer to getting his task accomplished. He finally found himself breathing room on the far side of Market Street. Just down the road he could see the towering gates and knew he had gotten shoved off course, far off course. He sighed, there went his day plans. "What's a matter sunny?" came a call from his left. Iruka turned at the voice, "Get lost from your mama? I'm sure one of them ninja folk'll help ya find her."

"I'm not lost," Iruka snapped facing the man with the straw sticking out his mouth, "Just having a bad day."

"Havin' bad day there," the man parroted, "Well then come 'ere and let this old man give ya somethin'." Iruka stared at the sun baked man before dropping his gaze to the man's wooden cart. Now Iruka had heard the rumors about this part of the market and how some things they sold were just pure bizarre. He heard tells from drunken ninja about some of the stuff they'd eaten, and their descriptions of their food left him sometimes queasy. "Well don't just stand there buck-o, get on over 'ere." Iruka cursed his polite nature and carefully made his way forward watching the wiggling jellies that waved at him. "Now looky 'ere, ya be one of them ninja," The man whistled, "Ye a bit young ain't ya?"

"I am not," Iruka snapped straightening up as best he could.

"Well then, show this old man what a ninja is and have this," The man shoved one of the smaller jelly things at Iruka who stared at it.

"What is it?" Iruka asked allowing the old merchant to drop it into his hand. It was cold and sticky and there was something in the middle of it.

"If I told ya, ya wouldn't eat it. Now bottoms up." With one last deep breath Iruka downed the jelly. For something that looked wiggly, it was surprisingly hard and crunchy. The man watched him carefully as Iruka slowly chewed the odd sustenance. "So," he drawled.

"This is…" Iruka said around the jelly, "Really good!" he swallowed.

"Ain't it!" the man smiled proudly and puffed up his chest. "I'll tell ya what. I'll give ya six of these for 5 bucks."

Iruka blinked slightly taken aback by the man's sudden change to business. "Um.." he didn't really want to spend his money on the strange stuff. "Well I can't really buy perishables. Being a ninja and all, I'm away from home a lot and…" he trailed trying to come up with a plausible excuse.

The old man was having none of that, "None sense. This stuff here keeps like nothing else. Just put it in the fridge, kid, and it'll last for months."

"I need nutritious food," he tried again, "In order to keep up with my demanding line of work."

"This covers just about everything in the food pyramid," the man boasted loudly, drawing a few people's attention. "And if you don't think so," he started pointing to various other items. "These here will get ya everything ya need." He started listing off every single item and emphasizing their nutritional properties.

Iruka found himself running out of excuses fast. "I don't have a lot of money," he finally said.

"Surely your parents can help," the man said.

Iruka looked down, "No," he said softly, "They can't help anymore."

The man's smile fell as the meaning sunk in. He coughed and shifted uncomfortably and tried to ignore the several disapproving looks he was suddenly given. "Ah. Well," he stumbled.

"Good going, Philly!" another merchant called across from them, "Made the kid sad."

"Look kid," the man said glaring at the other, "You want food that's gonna be nutritional, keeps, and doesn't need a whole lot of preparation, right?" Iruka nodded trying to regain his composer. "Then this is what ya need. Most of this stuff doesn't need any preparation. It can be eaten completely raw. Plus this jelly here, can replace any kind of lost fluids and hydrate you."

"That they can," the other merchant, a woman, appeared next to them, "And those roots there, are perfect for restoring energy!" The woman smiled down at Iruka softly. She patted his shoulder, "They work better than them solider pills you lot are always taken," she continued.

"But the pills are especially made to regenerate chakra," Iruka replied looking at the curly and hairy root.

"As I understand it, chakra is only energy, right?" the man with the straw asked.

Iruka took a moment to think about that. He nodded, "Basically, yes." He didn't really want to share ninja secrets, plus it would take at least an hour to explain the whole chakra theory.

"Well this here gives ya all the energy ya need without the nasty side effects of drugs," Philly smiled.

Iruka gave him a distrustful look. "He is right," the woman jumped in eager to help.

"But.." Iruka tried to find some way out. He was feeling very cornered.

"You are forgetting the most important part!" a voice suddenly boomed. The scar on Iruka's nose started to tingle, giving him just enough warning to grab the woman merchant and leapt out of danger. He landed a few feet away before turning to see the Mad Man of Market Street standing where he used to be. The old merchant behind the cart was staring wide eyed at the massive man who was wielding some type of long, wide, thick leaf, with teeth that ran along the leaf's ends. It took a moment longer for Iruka to realize that it was an aloe leaf. It took another few moments of staring for Iruka to realize that the aloe leaf had also just cut through several of the stands shelves. The last encountered he had with the raving lunatic had been more than a little uncomfortable, even though he'd given Iruka a few hints to discovering his own taijutsu, and this encounter was promising to be the same. "They can be used as weapons!" he declared stepping back and pulling the leaf free.

"What," Iruka breathed in disbelief, "What is wrong with you? You could have hurt someone!"

"People are being hurt every day," the crazy man reasoned.

"Not buy food products!" Iruka retorted.

"There is where you are wrong!" The man suddenly snatched up some of the curly roots and sent them flying in Iruka's direction. Iruka grabbed the lady again and leapt away. He quickly placed her somewhere closer to her cart before rushing to stop the man. Some more roots impaled themselves into a wooden pole that was behind Iruka. He turned wide eyes on them. "Anything can be used as a weapon, especially food." The man fell on him from the sky, wielding the aloe leaf like it was a sword. Iruka attempted to block the man's attack. He was stun to see that the leaf remained intact as his kunai connected. The crowd parted quickly giving the dueling pair room.

Iruka had known the man had some type of training. He showed it quite quickly as he not only disarmed Iruka but stripped him of all his supply pouches effortlessly. Suddenly weaponless Iruka found himself back peddling and dodging to keep the man and his leafy sword at a distance. The man responded by grabbing whatever small fruit or vegetable he could grab and tossed them like shuriken or kunais. "Come on boy," the Nut-So hollered as an odd shape apple collided with the ground and put a dent in the dirt. Iruka felt his mouth drop, "What did I tell you? Anything can be turned into a weapon." Iruka's mind whirled, first trying to process the man's words, then wondering why the heck there wasn't another ninja here to stop this mayhem. Not only was Iruka endangered but so were all the bystanders standing there watching this spectacle. The final thought he had was on a more hysterical note: this was one messed up, if not deadly food fight!

"Kiddo," the merchant Philly cried tossing him an aloe leaf of his own, "Use it kid."

Iruka caught it and raised the leaf to block the incoming blow. He watched in dismay as the leaf was cut in half. "Come one kid, think!" the crazed man growled as Iruka rolled out of the way. Philly tossed him another leaf, really Iruka wished someone would toss him back his weapon pouch. Iruka took a few deep breaths trying to quiet his panicked thoughts. He slipped left as the bulky form of the man careened past. Iruka gasped realizing just then why the man's leaf was so strong. He was pouring chakra into it. It was so simple! Chakra was energy that could be transferred to other items! With this new found knowledge Iruka switched from defense to offensive.

The crowd cheered loudly as he connected with the man's makeshift sword and his own leaf held. It was decidedly weird not hearing the clang of metal as they met several times. A flash of chakra broke him from his thoughts as the man's leaf sliced through his, taking Iruka completely by surprise. The man grabbed him roughly with a steel grip on his left shoulder. "Anything can be used as a weapon," the man hissed at him franticly, "Nothing is defenseless. Everything is dangerous. For them," he jerked a head at the wide eyed crowd, "And you, little ninja. Remember that." He shoved Iruka away, and just as quickly as he appeared he was gone. Finally some of his fellow shinobi appeared to stop the fight only to realize they had arrived too late. After an hour of questioning from the shinobi, Iruka found himself suddenly with several bags of strange foods from the many vendors grateful to him for stopping the mad man. Philly gave him at least three bags of the odd jellies and roots, along with a list describing what every new food product could do and how best to prepare them, before sending him on his way.

He wasn't sure what had happen, or what had lead up to he and his teammates running for their lives. They crashed very unninja like through the trees in absolute desperation to out run the crazy woman jounin. Sounds of distant fighting reminded them of the fact their Sensei was busy fighting the rest of the woman's companions and would be unable to help them. Iruka dropped from his branch just as it decided to burst into flames and barely manage to dodge the woman's claws. He threw a few kunai and shuriken hoping to buy time so he could reach his next landing point. The woman predictably knocked the hastily thrown projectiles out of the air and lunged after him. Thankfully Kenta, and all his brute force glory, barreled into the woman, sending her careening to the forest floor and away from Iruka. The two of them wasted no time as they rushed to catch up with Tomoko.

The scar on Iruka's nose started to tingle, the way it always did when there was danger of some kind. Iruka pushed chakra into his legs as he planted his feet solidly into the tree branch and grabbed his teammates by the backs of their shirts. He yanked them all to a jarring stop at the same time their next landing point exploded. The force from the explosion sent them tumbling through the air. Iruka crashed painfully through several branches before coming to a painful stop on a thin one. He hung by his midsection arms and feet dangling in the air. Kenta and Tomoko landed with a loud crunchy thump below him. One of the woman's companions arrived on the scene. Beady eyes drank in the sight of Iruka's daze teammates hungrily. The woman joined the man shortly after, a nasty gash on her forehead. "Leave the big one to me," She snarled glaring down at Kenta who was struggling into a defensive stance. Tomoko still hadn't moved. She laid face down in the leaves body contorted over raised roots. For a frightening moment Iruka thought she was dead until she gave a low moan.

"You know how I like mine soft," the beady eyed man licked his lips. Iruka pulled himself into a crouch. He fished around in his pockets and was dismayed to find them all empty. He hadn't thought he'd used that many during their escape. How was he to help his teammates if he had no weapons? The new assailant launched himself toward Kenta and Tomoko followed closely by the clawed woman. Iruka threw caution to the wind. His teammates needed him with or without weapons. He managed to time his dive just right so that he hit both their attackers, hitting the man a little more than the woman. They crashed into the ground with him scrambling to get back on his feet.

Kenta gave him a wide eyed look. An entire conversation held between them right then. They were out matched and in deep trouble. "Take Tomoko," Iruka yelled, "Get the scroll back to the village while I buy time."

"No," Kenta argued. Out of all of them Kenta was the strongest. He would most likely stand a longer chance than Iruka. But he was also the fastest and could get the scroll back to the village quicker than Iruka.

"You're faster and I can't carry Tomoko," Iruka reasoned watching in dismay as their enemies disentangled themselves from each other quickly. "GO!" Kenta hesitated for a moment longer before hulling Tomoko over one shoulder and taking off.

The woman roared in anger and shoved her partner off as she rounded on Iruka. Iruka was already dashing toward the two and readying to kick the woman before she could fully get up. The ground shook suddenly taking him off his feet as the earth rose up around him. He forced his feet and legs back over his head so he rolled awkwardly backwards and out of the Justus' path. The woman was suddenly there planting a foot in his stomach. He flew backwards several yards before crashing into another tree. He landed in a crumbled heap at the trees base. The man, following closely behind the woman's vicious attack, was nearly on top of him. Iruka fisted his hands into the dirt and threw it upwards in pure desperation. He had used this move tons of times before to escape bullies. Leaves and dirt blasted in an arch toward the man's snarled face. He howled as dirt entered his eyes. The woman shoved her partner out of the way and brought down a mighty clawed hand. Iruka flailed around trying to find something to protect him. Maybe there was a stray kunai or something. His right hand wrapped around something cold and hard. He brought it up in time to meet the woman's claws.

It was ridiculous that now would be the time the Crazy Man's words would flow into his head and make sense.

Anything can be used as a weapon

Iruka gripped the branch in his hands tighter and channeled chakra to strengthen it. The woman pressed down, face twisted into a happy predatory smile.

Nothing is defenseless. Everything is dangerous

Everything, he thought, picking two leaves into his other hand. He tossed them and watched in fascinated horror as one leaf pierced the woman's right eye and the other embed itself in her neck. Neither was a killing blow but damn if it didn't hurt. The woman jerked away screeching in furry and cupping her right eye. Iruka took the moment. He scrambled to his feet and dashed into the trees. The man was looking at the woman with wide eyes, clearly trying to process what had happened? "I'll get you!" the woman screamed giving chase. Iruka decided then, as he let loose a volley of chakra enhanced leaves, he'd give a whole new meaning to leaf ninja.

Yuudai dashed through the trees, senses stretched to their max as he searched for his missing students. His opponents hadn't been too difficult, but he was worried about the two that had gotten past, the kids would have been sorely outmatched if the two had caught up with them. The two explosions he'd heard while finishing off his last enemy hadn't given him much hope of finding his team intact.

He'd been resistant to taking on a team of children for this very reason. Out in the field anything could happen. A C-rank mission could jump instantly to an A-rank. A group of bandits could turn into a group of rouge ninja, which pretty much summed how their mission was going now. Barely trained wanna-nins wouldn't be able to cope with that type of change. He gritted his teeth in frustration. It is one thing to lose teammates because of bad information, another to lose them because they were ill-equipped.

A flash to his right caught his attention roughly jerking him from his darkening thoughts. He leapt at it, kunai drawn and at the ready. Suddenly he found himself bending awkwardly to avoid Kenta as he rushed past. Yuudai twisted and gave chase. "Kenta," he barked falling into step with the stocky boy. Tomoko was thrown haphazardly over one wide shoulder. Kenta turned startled eyes on him. "Report."

"Two jounin level nins. One woman, one male. Iruka stayed behind trying to by us time to escape," Kenta answered his voice wobbly with emotion.

"Scroll?"

"Still with Tomoko," Kenta answered shifting to show her better. The girl hung unconscious, head thumping against the large back of the boy with each landing. "Not sure if she is hurt or not. We fell pretty far."

Yuudai nodded, "Continue, I'll go back for Iruka," he instructed already turning to go back the way Kenta had come.

"Yes sir!" Kenta's tense features relaxed slightly with relief. "Please bring him back Sensei. I owe him." Yuudai bit back a scorching retort about teammates always dying to save others and forever owning fallen teammates, the kids would learn that in time. Instead he nodded and set off following the trail Kenta had left in his mad dash. He'd have to scold the children later about making easy trails to follow even if they were being chased by nins stronger than them.

Two miles later he came to a stuttering halt and blinked at the scene before him. Leaves, brown and green leaves, were embedded in thick tree bark. A man jumped around the clearing hissing wildly as he dodged a barrage of twigs and leaves tossed like kunai and shuriken. A woman with claws for hands dropped from the canopy and clashed with a small figure in mid-air. The small figured turned out to be his last student who was wielding a long branch as if it were a katana. It held against the woman's sharp claws. She roared in outrage before planting her foot in Iruka's gut and sent to kid flying heels over head into the base of a tree. Yuudai shook himself and sprang into action. He caught the man completely off guard and in two quick moves the man was falling from the trees as dead as the dry foliage beneath. Spitting and hissing the woman was on him in seconds. Yuudai felt his eyebrows rise in surprise. A leaf was sticking out of the woman's right eye socket, fluids coated the entire side of her face. Upon closer inspection he noted several more leaves and twigs sticking out of her in odd angles, none hitting anything lethal but definitely not from lack of trying on his student's behalf. Yuudai huffed out an airy laugh both amused and in awe at what his student had accomplished and the state of the woman who was clearly rattled. Just as quickly as he had taken out the man he finished off the woman. It wasn't difficult, Iruka had already done most of the work.

Thinking of Iruka reminded him that his student had collided rather hard against the tree earlier. He picked his way across the torn up clearing, marveling at the fact his student had manage to hold his own against to earth users. He found Iruka cradled between the raised roots at the base of the wide tree. He knelt down running his eyes over the unconscious boy. Iruka probably wouldn't have last much longer against the pair. The battered boy jerked awake pressing himself into the tree, his eyes rolled around wildly until they focused on Yuudai. Yuudai sat back on his heels and waited for the boy to calm down. "Sensei?" his voice was soft, "The jounins?"

"Taken care of," Yuudai answered, "You did well in keeping them contained. However," he felt his lips kick up into an amused smile. "I think you took the whole leaf ninja thing a little too far."

Iruka blinked, then smiled proudly. "Everything is dangerous, nothing is defenseless especially in a shinobi's hand."

Yuudai nodded and pulled Iruka up into his arms. He could feel the weak pulses of the boy's chakra and knew he'd never make it back to the village. Yuudai smiled as he leapt into the trees ignoring Iruka's protest, "You are going to have to teach that trick to your teammates," and while the kid taught his teammates, Yuudai was going to eavesdrop just a little. Can't have kids knowing how impress he is just yet.

WHAHAHAHAHAH! I live!

Apologies I have been working very hard the last two years on other things. Been trying to finish college and what not, you know like writing a book.

I'd like to think I have matured a little as a writer as well, but I'll leave you all to be the judge of that.

ALSO, if I am able, I'm going to finish this before I begin the sequel to Forgotten as this fic will tie into the over all story.

So for now my lovely little readers. Enjoy!

Petague Killaboo