Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. In fact, I love candy.
I have noticed that my chapters are really short compared to other people's chapters…should I make them longer? My decision making skills = nonexistent. Oh no.
The huge rock landed, throwing up a giant plume of dust. The dust cleared, revealing two motionless figures on the ground. Blood seeped out from under the boulder.
But then the blood disappeared, as did the two figures, turning into blocks of rotten wood.
Substitution! The man and woman had simply sidestepped the boulder!
"Show yourselves." A man with a ponytail stepped out from behind the boulder.
"No one move," Sugita hissed to the people beside him. "They're ninja. Confrontation means certain de—"
"Kamaitachi!" With one sweep of her fan, Temari blew every single building on the street down, revealing Sugita and the rest of the people, who had been hiding inside the houses.
"Don't attack us!" Sugita bluffed, eyes wide in fear. "We – I can beat you with one punch!"
"Stop bluffing," Temari scoffed.
"YAAH!" Sugita launched himself in their direction.
Kagemane no Jutsu! Sugita found himself frozen to the ground.
"You know, we can tell that you're just a civilian," Shikamaru remarked lazily.
"No! I – I'm a ninja! I can—"
"Save it," Temari snapped, glaring at the townspeople. "Tell us what's going on. Or else he dies."
The townspeople glanced at each other, afraid and unsure of what to do.
"Three."
"We have to save Master Sugita!"
"Two."
"Are you kidding me? They're going to kill us!"
"We should run!"
"If you run I'll kill all of you!"
Silence.
"F-Fine. We'll tell you."
"As you know, this town is called Kitsaki. Some twenty years ago, it harbored a great castle, one that was feared by everyone in the area, civilians and non-civilians alike. The castle was called Fuji-jo."
"Fuji-jo? That was the castle that fended off the attackers from Iwagakure in the Third Great Shinobi War!"
"The very same. Fuji-jo's defenses were matched by no other. We thought that nothing could overcome them. We thought we were safe. We were wrong.
"Twenty years ago, there was a bandit group that formed in this area. It was said that the founder's son was so strong, that by the age of ten he was able to kill three Anbu from Konohagakure singlehandedly. We scoffed, dismissing it as a mere rumor. Then the bandit group stormed Fuji-jo. The castle's defenses were nothing against them. We managed to kill the founder of the group…but now his son rules the bandits. Every time we try to rebuild the castle, the bandits come and sack the town again. Fuji-jo lies in ruins, and without Fuji-jo, our once great city has rotted away to this."