Saw a page asking haters to 'stop talking shit about Hinata' today. Fuck off. It's always Sakura who gets talked shit about. Everyone's like "Hinata is awesome" and "Sakura is useless". I like Hinata, like many other NaruSaku fans, but for some reason NaruHina fans hate Sakura with a passion. O_o
Just a small rant there. Seen too many anti-Sakura pro-Hinata pages for my liking.
My tests are over! As Kiba would say - wahooo!
My personal issues aside, Team Itachi now has a bloody number of 270 reviews. :) Thank you all.
Rain Dove: I could add drunken Lee in, but I don't see how it would work. I didn't write that he brought sake along for the mission :P now that you mention it, Kiba doesn't seem like the type to give up, does he? :/ To be honest, I just needed an excuse to get them out of the picture for awhile, because I'm solely focusing on Team Naruto for now. Thank you for your epic review once again.
hi1235: Soon. As you might have guessed, he is appearing in this arc.
Corpj123: That is a good question, but I can't answer that ;)
tamu: I definitely will!
WaterDrop: What do you mean by 'secondary arcs'? All arcs are arcs, there are no primary or secondary ones. If you are talking about the anime-only arcs, I will probably only do the ones in Shippuden coz the anime-only arcs in the Part I of Naruto are just plain bullshit in my opinion. How far I plan to go with the story? I don't know. Haha!
Thanks to Hachibi8tails, S.R.457, Pen-Name-Kitsune-chan, Rain Dove, Hanna Lee, Charrmed, hi1235, Corpj123, tamu, Pyr00tje and WaterDrop for the reviews!
"So...?" Orochimaru asked.
"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said respectfully. "Kimimaro has agreed to check on the Four."
Orochimaru nodded and looked away.
They should have been here an hour ago... The only thing keeping them would be... enemy ninja.
Well, whoever these enemies are, Kimimaro will take care of them. Hehe.
Tayuya was thrown back by the impact.
What power... This guy is no weirdo... he's the real deal...
There was another puff of smoke, and Tayuya realized her Doki had disappeared. The flying spirits vanished.
"Looks like it worked!" Lee smiled, emerging from the smoke.
He even defeated my Doki...
A normal person would have retreated, but Tayuya was no normal person. She tried to play her flute again, but Lee was instantly in front of her, giving her a powerful kick in the face.
Collapsing and coughing out blood, Tayuya forced herself back up again. The black marks on her face began to merge, and she transformed into a demonic form. Lee studied his opponent with his interest as Tayuya grew horns and darkened skin.
"Ooh, you grew horns!" Lee observed, unable to resist hopping over to his opponent and poking her new horns.
Infuriated, Tayuya tried to sock Lee in the face, but in a moment he was gone.
Tayuya turned, expecting him to be behind, but her reward was a kick to her left cheek.
"Haaya!" Lee landed and threw a punch. Tayuya caught in and tried to punch the spandex-wearing ninja herself, but he ducked.
Jumping away, Tayuya grunted as she tried to formulate a battle plan.
She couldn't catch a break, with Lee in front of her a few seconds later.
With an almighty jump, Tayuya was up and away just two seconds before Lee's foot sank into the tree branch she was on.
Landing on her feet, Tayuya reached for her flute again, but Lee was quickly beneath her and kicked the flute out of her hands. "Leaf Hurricane!" He proceeded to attack his opponent, but Tayuya caught his foot.
Lee's eyes widened. She managed to keep up with my youthful speed!
With a smirk, Tayuya tightened her grip on Lee's foot and slammed him into the ground.
Recovering quickly, Lee was back on his feet and threw four consecutive punches, but Tayuya parried every single one.
Finally seeing an opening, Tayuya drew her fist back and then jerked it forward to give Lee the hardest punch in the face he'd ever received, sending him flying.
Landing on the ground, Lee brushed the dirt off his clothes.
It seems what she did to herself increased her physical abilities and endurance, he thought. In that case...
"Gate of Rest, open!"
Tayuya glared at her opponent. What is he doing to himself?
"Gate of Life, open!"
I'll finish off the enemy in one shot!
Tayuya stepped back as Lee's skin began to turn red, and massive amounts of chakra began to pour from his body.
"This should be enough," Lee remarked. "Now!"
Tayuya blinked once. Suddenly she was crashing through a tree. The pain of ten consecutive punches came rushing to her body, and she groaned in agony.
His movements were so fast... I couldn't even see them!
Suddenly, Tayuya felt herself being hauled up to her feet.
The next second she was being hurled into the air with a kick to her chin. Tayuya was instantly alert. Is he going to use that Primary Lotus move on me? Fuck, fuck.
Before she could react, bandages wrapped themselves around her body. "Fuck off!" She swore.
At an inhuman speed, Lee kicked Tayuya to the left, then advanced to the left and kicked Tayuya to the right. This continued on for half a minute, before he finally pulled his bloodied and bruised enemy towards him with the bandages connected to his wrist.
"Hidden Lotus!"
They are gaining on me, Sakon frowned, looking back and seeing the three Leaf shinobi chasing after him. At this rate...
The Sound ninja stopped and dodged Naruto's sword just in time.
"Give me back my friend!"
Sakon smirked and kicked Naruto away.
'Naruto' disappeared, and another Naruto landed in front of Sakon and punched him in the face.
Sakon fell from the trees to the ground, but managed to steady himself halfway in mid-air to land on his feet. The punch was a hard one, as Sakon discovered when he felt blood leaking from his mouth.
Naruto, Shino and Neji landed, surrounding Sakon.
"How did you...?" He questioned, out of curiosity more than anything else.
"I hid a Shadow Clone behind," Naruto smirked. "When you attacked, I used the Substitution Jutsu to switch between us."
"Not bad," Sakon acknowledged.
"Enough small talk," Neji was now in the Gentle Fist stance. "You can choose to give us back our comrade..." He charged forward. "... or we'll fight you for him!"
Easily dodging a flurry of attacks from Neji, Sakon kicked the Hyuga boy away.
"Don't underestimate me," Sakon said confidently.
"It seems we have a strong opponent on our hands," Shino spoke.
"Anyway, this guy is the last one!" Naruto grinned. "We'll just kick this guy's ass and bring Sasuke back!"
"Hmph." Sakon folded his arms. "Do you think I am some beatable Genin?"
"You are at a disadvantage here," Neji pointed out. "Fighting while carrying that container around with you will result in loss of speed. However, if you set the container aside, one of us could take it away when you're engrossed in the battle. Destiny is in our favor."
Sakon grunted. "If you want to know how much of a disadvantage I'm at, why don't you try me?"
"Gladly!"
Sakon turned his head back to see Naruto aiming for his head with a sword.
To the blonde's horror, a hand emerged from Sakon's back and grabbed the sword, twisting it out of Naruto's hands and tossing it to the ground. The hand then tried to fist the Chunin, but Naruto jumped away in time.
"What's that?" He asked himself.
"Now who should I take out first?" Sakon smirked. His gaze fixed on Shino. "Right, the quiet guy." He charged.
"Hm?" Shino looked up.
"Shino! Watch out!" Naruto yelled.
Neji jumped towards Sakon, but a fist protruded from the Oto nin's shoulder and knocked Neji away.
"Parasitic Insects Jutsu."
"Huh?" Sakon watched as bugs began pouring from Shino's jacket. He stopped to see the bugs flying towards him. "So you are one of those bug users from Konoha... the Aburame Clan."
"Yes." Shino kept his hands in his pockets, as Sakon narrowly avoided the kikaichu.
"You don't only have him to worry about." Neji appeared in front of Sakon and activated his dojutsu at the same time. "Byakugan."
"Fist Barrage!" Sakon cried, gaining two extra arms. Neji could only look on in amazement and surprise as the Sound shinobi attacked with four fists at a time. Unable to keep up, Neji was eventually knocked back and thrown to the ground.
Temporarily keeping one of the Leaf ninja out of the battle, Sakon continued his focus on dodging Shino's insects. He attempted to charge towards the Aburame, but Naruto quickly appeared in front of him and drew his sword.
"Take this, you bastard!"
Sakon gained one extra arm emerging from his right arm, and with two right hands stopped Naruto's blade.
"Feet Barrage." Sakon kicked Naruto backwards with four feet. He then jumped into the air as the kikaichu zipped past. "Annoying insects." He continued his retreat from the chakra-eating creatures.
Sakon switched directions to charge for Shino.
"Insect Wall Jutsu." More bugs spread from Shino's jacket, surrounding the human hive protectively as a shield. Sakon stopped going forward, instead ducking as more insects flew over him.
The insects gathered together, and Sakon frowned as they formed a sharp spear.
"Parasitic Insects: Spear."
Shino thrust his arm forward, and the insect-filled spear flew towards Sakon, who dodged by diving to the side. The spear crashed into the ground, exploding with insects flying everywhere.
"Hidden Jutsu: Insect Tornado."
More of the bugs came flying out of Shino's sleeve, and there was eventually enough to form a wild tornado.
Shino's arm went down, and the insect tornado was slammed down on Sakon.
Sakon managed to jump away from the technique just in time.
"You are quick," Shino noted.
"I am," was the smug reply.
"Too bad you are fighting multiple opponents! Hyaaa!" Sakon looked up, to see Naruto descending on him with a sword raised.
"Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance!"
Now looking to his sides, Sakon discovered there were three Narutos surrounding him.
As the Narutos reached their target, Sakon looked up and raised his fist to punch away the Naruto in the air. A fist appeared from his right hip, tossing away the Naruto on the right. The Naruto on the left was kicked away from a foot coming out of Sakon's left hip.
The clones dispersed and the original Naruto landed on his feet, rubbing the spot where he'd been punched.
"What are you?" Neji questioned, his eyes narrowing.
Sakon's reply was an evil smile.
Infusing his weapon with Wind chakra, Naruto leaped towards Sakon and swiped the blade. Sakon dodged every strike. "Fist Barrage!" He sent Naruto flying with a flurry of fast punches.
The Leaf's newest Chunin coughed out blood as he felt himself colliding with a tree.
"Insect Clone Jutsu." A clone of Shino appeared beside him, and the two charged at the unsuspecting Sakon from behind.
When Sakon realized it, both Shinos had already smashed into him.
"Insect Iron Tackle!"
Sakon was thrown forward, and Neji saw it as an opening. He leaped up and attacked, but Sakon managed to dodge even in mid-air.
"Fist Barrage!"
Neji slammed into the ground, coughing blood that stained his shirt.
Shino's Insect Clone rushed towards Sakon as he landed, trying to tackle him again.
Sakon ducked, and grabbed the clone's arm before expertly slamming him to the ground. The Shino lookalike exploded into insects that managed to crawl up Sakon's arm.
"Damn!"
Shino nodded as the remaining kikaichu returned to the safety of his sleeves.
Growling, Sakon swept the insects off his arm, but the tiny bugs dodged his hand easily and returned to their feasting place.
Getting the feeling of tiny bites, Sakon immediately felt some of his chakra being drained.
"Now's your chance. Neji." Shino nodded towards the Hyuga.
Neji ran forward and attacked.
Even with chakra-eating insects on his arm, Sakon showed no distraction, easily dodging Neji. "Feet Barrage!"
Neji tried to dodge the attack, but was ultimately thrown to the ground again.
Sakon managed to swipe off the last of the insects, but already felt himself weakening.
"Hello, Sakon."
Sakon looked up warily. His lips broke into a smirk.
"Kimimaro."
Shino, Naruto and Neji looked up.
The one called Kimimaro stared at them from a tree with a passive expression. Naruto felt fear gripping him. Whoever the stranger was, for some reason, Naruto could tell that he was strong.
"It looks like you're having fun." Kimimaro descended. "But Orochimaru-sama wants the boy now."
"Tsk," Sakon unstrapped the container off his back. "Impatient as always."
Kimimaro shot him a dangerous look as he took over the container. Sakon's response was a weak smile.
"Damn it," Neji cursed, as Kimimaro started running from the scene.
Sakon cracked his knuckles. "Now, it's time for my fun."
"And mine." A Sakon lookalike came out of Sakon's body, a smirk on his face.
"What the hell?" Naruto backed away.
"Ukon," Sakon smiled.
Ukon had a crazed look on his face. "Just three brats?"
"Who is this guy?" Neji frowned. "Is this a clone jutsu of some sort?"
Black marks spread over Sakon and Ukon's faces.
Naruto was instantly alert. That's Sasuke's...! So these guys have it too!
"You brats are going down," Sakon boasted.
"Naruto." Neji looked towards his team captain.
"Yeah?"
"You go after Sasuke." Neji prepared himself for battle. "Shino and I will take care of these guys."
Naruto had a grim look on his face. "Will you guys... be okay?"
"Yes." Shino confirmed.
"Naruto," Neji repeated. "The priority of this mission is to rescue Sasuke. Do not let the mission end in failure." Smiling, the genius placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I... have faith in you and your ability. You can bring Sasuke back."
Naruto grinned.
Neji smiled as well. One and a half month ago, the once aloof boy never imagined he would be saying such words. However, Naruto had changed him.
"What are you bastards talking about?" Sakon raced towards the Leaf shinobi.
"We won't be giving you any time to yourselves!" Ukon chuckled evilly.
"Alright." Naruto sheathed his weapon. "Good luck, you two." Pushing chakra into his feet, Naruto rushed away from the battle, in the direction of where Kimimaro had gone.
"Oi!" Ukon yelled.
"Your opponent is me!"
Ukon turned, to see Neji in front of him, preparing to strike.
Shino raised his arms as Sakon neared.
"Let us fight." The bug user spoke, as insects rushed out from his sleeves.
"Here we go."
Ino, in the body of Jirobo, walked into the prison cell, accompanied by two ANBU. Shikamaru was by her side, carrying her limp body. "Damn, Ino, you're heavy."
Glaring at Shikamaru to hush him, Ino placed her hands in a hand seal.
Jirobo's body went limp and collapsed, while Ino woke up in Shikamaru's arms. The Nara let her down.
"Thank you," one of the ANBU nodded towards the two members of Team 10. "You may now leave."
Shikamaru and Ino exited the prison, but all too soon, a voice echoed throughout the village.
"WHAT?!"
Hinata, Kiba and an unconscious Sakura rushed into Konoha.
"The hospital, Kiba-kun," Hinata reminded.
"I know!" Kiba yelled. "I have someone in critical condition here - where do I go besides the hospital?"
Before Hinata could reply, a voice echoed throughout the village.
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"
Hiruzen winced.
Itachi Uchiha slammed his hands on the desk of the Hokage.
"How did this happen?"
"I don't know," the Hokage answered truthfully.
Itachi growled.
"I have already sent a team of Chunin and reliable Genin to rescue your little brother." Hiruzen said reassuringly.
"Chunin? Genin?" Itachi was in disbelief. He held his head in his hands. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He growled again, and exited through one of the windows. "I'm going after him myself."
Hiruzen made no attempt to stop the Jonin as he teleported away. The old man simply sighed, and resumed his paperwork.
Baki glared at the paperwork.
The Suna Jonin reluctantly signed it.
Being the acting Kazekage was hard work. Almost the entire population of the Sand wanted the position, but Baki certainly didn't. Unfortunately, with him being the best Jonin around at the moment, the council had declared him as acting Kazekage until they found a permanent replacement.
Baki had been offered the job full time, but he'd shuddered at the thought.
Paperwork everyday? No, definitely not.
Suddenly, a Jonin burst into the office.
"Can't you knock?" Baki was annoyed.
"Sorry, Kazekage-sama-"
"I am not the Kazekage," Baki sighed.
"... Apologies, Baki-sama. But we just received this message here." The Jonin presented a scroll on his desk. "It's important, please read it." He placed his hands together, releasing the seal on the scroll.
Unrolling the scroll, Baki's eyes widened as he read the contents.
"Sasuke Uchiha, huh..."
Baki closed his eyes, deep in thought.
He then dropped the scroll into the dustbin below the desk and looked up towards the Suna Jonin in front of him.
"I want Temari, Kankuro and Gaara Sabaku up here in ten minutes."
Hope everyone liked the chapter.
Question for today: Favorite Jinchuriki besides Naruto, Gaara & Killer B? Mine would be Fu - simply because she's sexy. Yes, yes, I am a male after all.
Leave your interesting responses in the reviews.
In the next chapter, Shino and Neji pit themselves against the sibling duo of Sakon and Ukon. Meanwhile, Naruto catches up to Kimimaro. Until next time!
P.S. I have a feeling someone's going to put in the reviews 'Tayuya was underpowered' and how she's a 'trusted guard of Orochimaru' and all. Get this - she wasn't weak or anything. Lee is just freaking epic.