(This is the second Chapter in the 7 chapter story arc set in the Land of Snow! The freighter has been attacked and now the brave ninja of the Hidden Leaf are caught up in a fight with ninja from the Hidden Snow Village. How will they fare? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Meanwhile Kayo has been cut off from the Genin by the soft spoken-girl called Yukiko. She has placed her body in between the Leaf Jonin and the others, preventing her from getting through. "Sorry, but my master has instructed me to not let you pass," Yukiko says indifferently.
"I don't like your master's order very much," retorts Kayo, narrowing her eyes, "I think I'll have to make you disobey it."
"Yui is Jando okay?" whispers Kenta as he stands guard in front of her. His legs are slightly bent and placed parallel to each other, giving him the ability to quickly react in any direction.
"How should I know? I'm not a medical ninja," she retorts, throwing her arms up in the air.
"Well, what do we do then?" he asks.
"We just have to wait until the others defeat those Snow Ninja," Yui frets, "Sensei will know what to do after that."
Kenta raises his eyebrow skeptically but replies, "Okay, but then…" Before he can finish Taiki appears to the left of him and smashes his forearm into Kenta's gut and then quickly uses a roundhouse kick with his left leg. This connects with Kenta's face and sends him into a wall and knocks him unconscious. Yui starts to stand up when Taiki spins around and smashes his heel into Yui's cheek to send her into a pile of crates.
"That is three down and three to go," thinks Taiki as he tries to locate Sakura again. "There she is," he thinks when he sees her moving towards the crates where Kuroda landed. Taiki sprints over to attack her, but when he is about three feet away he sees something and jumps away, giving up on his attack.
"Damn, I missed him," thinks Ichimaru as he comes out of hiding and firmly steps in front of Sakura.
"Sakura, stop worrying about him and pay attention," he says through gritted teeth, "This guy is way too fast and skilled to just ignore."
"Oh, sorry I'm just worried about the others," she says slightly dazed.
"They will be fine, just focus on the enemy until Yoshikuni and Kayo-sensei can come and help us out," he replies as he carefully watches for the Snow-nin to make a move.
"So, what exactly was that Jutsu you just tried to use on me now?" asks Taiki nonchalantly, as he stretches his arms, "It looked like it might be pretty dangerous."
"Oh, it is nothing special," replies Ichimaru casually, letting a grin slip out, "You can just forget you ever saw it."
"You are a pretty intelligent kid," says Taiki, "But being smart is not going to help you at all against me."
"Damn, I need to think of a strategy," thinks Ichimaru as his mind churns and sifts through all of the available options, "I can't stall him forever. Sooner or later he is going to attack and I can't count on being saved by the Jonins."
Three shuriken suddenly fly around the corner straight at the Snow Ninja. He notices them and draws a kunai. Sparks fly as his weapon clashes with the flying stars and knocks them down with little effort. Sensing another attack, Taiki spins around and comes face-to-face with Kuroda. The young leaf ninja tries to stab into his heart with a kunai, however Taiki easily catches the boy's wrist and squeezes tightly to force him to drop the weapon. Then he lifts him up in the air and lets go before twisting around in a speedy backspin kick that sends Kuroda into a wall.
"Well, that was rather dumb of him," comments Taiki wiping his hands together, "But at least there is one more down."
"You should pay more attention," calls Kuroda as he stands back up, seemingly unfazed by the kick.
"Oh, so you are not down yet?" asks Taiki arching an eyebrow but preparing to attack again.
"No, but you will be," replies Kuroda boldly, as he puts his hands together to focus chakra.
Taiki smells something burning and then looks down thinking, "Crap, how did I miss the explosive he put there?" He jumps back and is just fast enough to avoid getting burned by the large explosion of the paper bomb. He lands nimbly back on top of the side rail of the freighter.
"So, some of you weaklings are a little better than I thought," he comments," I guess I will just have to step it up a bit." Kuroda has moved over to join his fellow Genin and they flow flawlessly into a formation to prepare for an assault. Suddenly a figure goes flying past them and crashes into the rail under Taiki. Then a second figure passes by and lands right next to the first.
"It looks like the enemy is better than I thought," thinks Taiki biting down on his cheek in frustration as he looks down at his subordinates. Kayo and Yoshikuni join their students and settle into the front of the formation.
Funimo and Yukiko stand back up and prepare to reengage when the leader stops them. "We are retreating," announces Taiki, "Back to the ship."
"Yes sir," responds Yukiko without hesitation.
They jump over the side of the ship, but Funimo is the last to go and warns, "This won't be the last you see of us."
Ichimaru falls back on his butt commenting, "Whoa, man, that was intense."
Kuroda relaxes his position and lets the tension escape from his body while Sakura disbelievingly asks, "Are they really just going to go like that?"
"Probably," answers Yoshikuni, "But you can be sure that they will be back again for another try."
"Yui, Kenta, you can come out now. It is safe," calls Kayo not showing any signs of exhaustion like the Genin.
"Sensei, they got knocked out by the tall guy," says Sakura respectfully.
"They did? Are the badly injured?" she inquires, moderately concerned. Sakura and Kayo go over to tend to the injured.
"The ship still seems pretty good," Kuroda thinks as he surveys the damage, "Well, at least the important parts are fine. All the crew is below deck, so they should be okay. So the only negative things about the battle are that Jando, Yui, and Kenta got taken out."
"So, who exactly were those guys?" questions Ichimaru, "I mean, they were wearing Snow Village headbands, but they were attacking a ship with cargo to help their country and they were working with pirates!"
"It was more like the pirates were working for them," Kuroda mutters, abstractedly peering off in the direction that the enemy ninja had disappeared.
"There was only one thing they could have been," says Yoshikuni, "Those were rogue ninja who abandoned their village. They must have a really big grudge or otherwise they wouldn't be attacking freighters like this one. But I'm surprised that the Hidden Snow hasn't caught on yet and moved to stop them."
"Or maybe someone is hiring them and they just teamed up with some pirates so they wouldn't be discovered," says Ichimaru, growing excited as they narrow down the possibilities.
"Whatever the case is, let's just hope that those are the only three ninja they have in the group. Otherwise we could be in big trouble," says Kuroda grimly.
Miles away on a retreating pirate ship the rogue ninja are licking their wounds and planning the next assault. "Damn those stupid Leaf Ninja," complains Taiki slamming his fist onto the table in his quarters, "They really put a dent in our numbers, plus they delayed us in getting to our prize. I'm not going to go easy on them the next time. And you two better shape up. You were completely useless! You couldn't even hold off the Jonins for a bit so I could get rid of the little ones."
"Sorry man, that guy was stronger than I thought," mumbles Funimo humbly.
"I apologize for my failure," says Yukiko down on her knees, expecting some sort of physical punishment.
"Don't let it happen again," demands Taiki as he slams his fist on the desk.
"I'll do whatever you ask me to," she replies softly, looking up but not quite meeting her master's eyes
"You had better," he replies heartlessly, "I didn't save you all those years ago and then train you in Ninjutsu for nothing. You are my tool and you had better start acting like it."
"Yes sir," she responds, bowing her head once again.
"And you, Funimo, I expect a lot better from you," says Taiki harshly before turning his back and stomping away, leaving them kneeling on the ground in shame.
(The enemy ninja have been driven away, but they will be back. How will the Leaf Ninja deal with the next assault? As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)