The Sparring Session
Natsuki and TenTen stood opposite Itachi and Neji. Neji was about to make the first move when Itachi stopped him by placing his arm in front of Neji.
"Let them make the first move, from there we can determine the best course of action." Itachi said calmly.
"I know how TenTen fights, we'll have to get close." Neji said.
"But you don't know how Natsuki fights."
Natsuki dropped a smoke pellet then she and TenTen retreated into the trees. Itachi and Neji exchanged a glance then chased after them and, once they reached the trees, it became misty forcing the two to activate their kekke genkai.
"Hidden Mist jutsu…" Itachi muttered to himself. "Neji, stay on your guard."
"We're surrounded." Neji stated and took his Gentle Fist stance.
"How many?"
"Almost two dozen."
"When they attack watch your surroundings for traps."
"Traps? They couldn't have made traps so quickly."
"TenTen has the resources and Natsuki has the plans."
"I understand."
Natsuki's clones attacked the two prodigies; Neji slammed both palms into two Natsuki clones, which in turn hit two others causing all four to puff into smoke while Itachi hit a clone in the stomach with his elbow then ducked under another's punch and countered with a kick before grabbing one of them, while a clone of his own threw three shuriken into three others, at the same time Neji kicked the clone that was being held by Itachi.
"TenTen, get ready." Natsuki whispered and TenTen nodded in response then threw a kunai that cut a trip wire near Itachi and Neji which caused two spiked balls to swing at both of them.
Itachi saw this and threw two shuriken that cut the line holding the spiked balls and Neji used his rotation to deflect them into other clones. As Neji slowed down, TenTen, using a kunai with a rope attached to a branch, swung in and kicked Neji in the chest then jumped onto Itachi's shoulders, threw him into a tree and disappeared into the mist.
"I guess I know how puppets feel now." TenTen said as Natsuki's chakra strings broke off her.
"My turn." Natsuki said then jumped onto the path ahead of Itachi and Neji. "Fire Style: Triple Dragon Flame Jutsu." Natsuki said and blew three dragon head-shaped fireballs at Itachi and Neji; all three were side by side so neither Itachi or Neji could simply side step it.
"Run." Itachi said and Neji automatically knew what Itachi was thinking. The two dived off the path and raced further down to get ahead of the fireballs. Once they were back in the open Neji made his move.
"Eight Triagram Palm Rotation!" Neji exclaimed and started rotating just as the fireballs reached him but the rotation managed to catch all three fireballs within itself, causing one huge fireball and Neji used his chakra to aim the new fireball right back at Natsuki.
"Unexpected…" Natsuki said then used her chakra strings to pull TenTen toward her, then created a stone wall to protect them from the fire.
Meanwhile...
Dairuko sat on a rock near a lake and started skipping stones.
'I wonder where Itachi and Natsuki are.' Dairuko thought as he threw a stone across the lake, lodging it in a tree.
"I've seen better throws." Tsunade remarked as she walked toward Dairuko.
"Shouldn't you be signing papers or something?" Dairuko asked.
"That's what I have assistants for."
"You abuse poor Shizune and Sakura."
"Yeah, yeah, and I don't pay them enough, big deal."
"You don't pay them enough?"
"Of course I pay them enough, fool! It was an expression."
"Whatever… you wanna skip a stone or two?"
"I wouldn't want to make you look like an amateur."
"Them is fightin' words."
"Whatever you say." Tsunade said, then skipped a stone across the lake and destroyed the stone that Dairuko had lodged into the tree from earlier. "And that's how you do it."
"Oh really?" Dairuko threw another stone that broke Tsunade's stone in the tree. "You were saying?"
"Oh, it's on."
As the smoke cleared, Natsuki noticed how damaged her stone wall was when Itachi emerged from the smoke and connected with a kick to Natsuki's ribs that knocked her into the stone wall while Neji came from the other side and hit TenTen with his air palm technique that knocked TenTen into Itachi's waiting arms, who then turned into crows and carried her into a more open area.
"It's over." Neji said, turning to face Natsuki as he took his Gentle Fist stance. "Two palms!" Neji exclaimed and hit two of Natsuki's chakra points then added "Four palms… eight palms… sixteen palms… thirty-two palms… eight triagram sixty-four palms!" the last palm strike knocked Natsuki a considerable distance away from him, when she puffed into smoke. "What?!" Neji said then Natsuki came from the ground with an uppercut but Neji dodged and countered with a kick. "That will not work on me twice."
"I'm counting on it." Natsuki said as she caught her footing and pulled a wire that was hidden under sand.
"A trap!" Neji said and paper bombs emerged from the sand around him.
"Later." Natsuki grinned, sticking out her tongue and detonating the paper bombs.
"I've got a bite!" a lone fisherman exclaimed with excitement as he reeled it in. "It's huge!" he almost brought it to the surface when suddenly a stone flew straight through his fishing rod snapping it in two and allowing the fish to get away. "NOOOOOO!" the fisherman was brought to tears at the loss of what would've been his greatest catch. "Damn you ki-" he was about to rant when he barely dodged another stone that would've hit his head.
"What else you got!" Dairuko announced in victory when Tsunade threw another stone.
"That's why you're losing." Tsunade taunted.
"Tsche as if, we both know I'm winning."
"Then throw and see how good you really are, son."
"Aaaah, Damn. You better get ready then, cause here comes the money shot." Dairuko picked up a stone between his index and middle finger and looked straight at Tsunade then threw it. It sliced through the air and went straight through the fisherman's boat.
"Child's play…" Tsunade said and placed a stone on her palm and readied herself to flick it.
Natsuki detonated her paper bombs around Neji who tried to defend himself from the explosives as best he could, but the paper bombs all just made a small flash as they burst into a flame that destroyed them. When Neji saw that nothing happened he looked round at Natsuki who had a fist cocked back. She punched him square in the face then followed that up by summoning rock that hit Neji in the chest.
"Flash paper… looks like explosive tags. They're designed to slow down opponents,, after all who's going to call an explosive tag bluff, eh?" Natsuki stated.
Natsuki did not notice the crow with a Sharingan watching her and Neji; it flew back to Itachi who was battling TenTen. TenTen swung a chain with a sickle attached that Itachi ducked under then she swung it at his legs which Itachi jumped over and countered with a jump kick to TenTen's face. TenTen recovered and dropped her sickle chain and summoned two batons on her arms. She engaged Itachi in close combat, which he easily blocked, barely noticing slight pain to his forearms due to the batons until he deflected one of TenTen's punches and countered with a body blow, knocking the air out of her.
TenTen dropped a flash pellet on the ground that blinded Itachi long enough for her to catch her breath and go on the offensive by knocking Itachi onto one knee then hitting the top of his head with her baton then his jaw, she dropped her batons and moved behind him where she wrapped a rope around Itachi's neck and pulled him to the ground where she was about axe kick him but Itachi turned to crows and reappeared away from her.
"Getting better…" Itachi said as his sight returned to him.
"Take this!" TenTen exclaimed as she unleashed a series of shuriken and Itachi did the same deflecting all her shuriken with his own.
Reflected on one of the shuriken Itachi saw Natsuki sneak up behind him and attempt to attack him, but he quickly turned to punch her and she used the body replacement technique, then reappeared below him and tripped him then retreated to where TenTen stood as Neji returned to Itachi.
"How're your ribs, Neji?" Natsuki taunted.
Tsunade flicked the stone from her palm and it flew across the lake and through three trees before it stopped.
"Nothing to it." Tsunade said.
"I think you killed a squirrel." Dairuko said.
"Such an animal lover you are, Dairuko."
"I don't like killing animals… enemies? Fine. Animals? No."
"You're such a softy… probably why you're losing."
"Oh that is it!" Dairuko walked to the rock he was sitting on earlier and picked it up. "You just watch me go!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi said.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Natsuki said.
The two fireballs clashed in a battle of strength but Natsuki's flame was pushing Itachi's back and Itachi created two clones of himself that circled around Natsuki, all the while Neji fought TenTen, then both clones performed fireball jutsu. Natsuki realised at that moment that she was only winning because Itachi had split his focus to create those clones.
Both fireballs collided with Natsuki and nothing was left but her jounin jacket, or so it seemed until Natsuki appeared above Itachi and punched him in the face. Itachi recovered and examined Natsuki, who looked mostly unscathed.
"Risky move, using your jacket for a substitution jutsu." Itachi said.
"Desperate times." Natsuki said breathing heavily.
TenTen threw a large shuriken at Itachi but Neji used his air palm to knock the shuriken off course and it missed Itachi, but TenTen pulled out two scrolls then unleashed what should've been all her kunai at Itachi.
Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and pulled out ten kunai then, after a second, he threw all ten in such a way that each kunai hit another kunai and that kunai hit another in a chain reaction until only one remained, which Itachi caught then threw back at TenTen who barely dodged it. Neji capitalised on TenTen's moment of vulnerability and got close in an attempt to finish her off, but Natuski jumped over TenTen and grabbed Neji's shoulders then threw him on the ground before she disappeared into the ground and emerged underneath Neji, while he laid there, with a knee to the gut.
TenTen stood up and saw Itachi running toward her, so she extended her hand revealing a hidden kunai that actually managed to cut Itachi's cheek but TenTen's eyes accidentally met with Itachi's Sharingan and Itachi put her under genjutsu. Natsuki appeared behind Itachi with her Chidori ready but Itachi ducked under it.
"Neji, now!" Itachi ordered and Natsuki, whose attempted Chidori attack failed, turned around and saw Neji right in front of her in his Gentle Fist stance.
"Two palms, four palms, eight palms… sixteen palms… thirty-two palms… eight triagram sixty-four palms!"
Itachi stood over Natsuki and put a kunai to her throat. "Do you concede?"
"K-kuso… I concede." Natsuki said Itachi released TenTen from his genjutsu.
TenTen woke up and saw Natsuki on the ground and knew they had lost this sparring session.
"You did good, TenTen." Itachi gave her a genuine smile.
"Thank you, Itachi-san."
"Dairuko, don't do it!" Tsunade exclaimed but it was too late; Dairuko threw his rock that skipped twice before creating a huge splash.
The fisherman was struggling to bucket-out the water before his boat sank when he saw the wave caused by Dairuko's rock-skipping. He watched as the wave approached him, then just sat down in defeat as the wave hit him. The wave came crashing toward Dairuko and Tsunade as well, but Dairuko created a wooden dome to shield them from the water.
"Oops…" Dairuko said as the dome came down. "I can feel you staring a hole through my face."
"Dairuko…" Tsunade started.
"It could've been worse."
"How?"
"I could've lost."
"Oh, you're absolutely right." Tsunade said then shoved Dairuko into what was left of the lake.
"What the hell!?"
"It could've been worse, Dairuko." Tsunade laughed.
"So that's how it's going to be, is it?" Dairuko said as a wooden branch wrapped around Tsunade's ankle then picked her up before she could break free and dropped her in the water next to him.
While Tsunade shouted at Dairuko the fisherman spat out the water in his mouth and found a large fish next to him, so he grabbed the fish and walked away in victory.
"Be honest, Itachi, TenTen and I gave you a run for your money." Natsuki said as she and Itachi walked through Konoha with her jounin jacket over her shoulder.
"That's what I wanted you to think." Itachi said calmly.
"That's your reasoning for everythin'? All 'part of my plan'? How boring."
"Sparring is meant to test one's skills. Planning is as useful a combat skill as any other."
"Yeah sure, 'Tachi."
"TenTen interests me though… when we fought I sensed something significant inside her."
"What makes you think that?"
"It's-"
"What's up, guys! I've been wondering where you two were all day." Dairuko said as he and Tsunade walked toward Itachi and Natsuki.
"What happened to you two?" Natsuki asked.
"What happened to you two?" Dairuko asked.
"Itachi and I were sparring with TenTen and Neji what about you, why are you so wet?"
"We were skipping stones."
"Riiiiight."
"I can't believe you guys were sparring without me. You're both dicks." Dairuko pouted, coming to a stop, his hands on his hips. Natsuki gasped in indignation and the two of them stood playfully teasing one another.
"Had fun with your son today, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked doubtfully, taking in Tsunade's dripping clothes and her light-hearted smile as they moved away from the ruckus behind them.
"It was certainly… unique." Tsunade answered.
"Hokage-sama!" a courier exclaimed as he reached Tsunade and handed her a letter. "Urgent message."
Tsunade rolled her eyes before reading the letter, her expression becoming more serious as she read on.
"Is something the matter, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked.
"Itachi, bring those two here." Tsunade said.
"Understood."
"I'll need to verify this letter." Tsunade said to the courier.
"Of course, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed." Tsunade said and the courier nodded and left just as Team 0 came to her. "Team 0, as of this moment you three are on standby. Pack your things, I want you to be ready to leave within 30 minutes after I give you the order understand?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." They all answered.
"Tsunade-sama what's this mission about?" Natsuki asked.
"If this letter is valid, I will explain everything but until then, just stay ready." Tsunade said and walked off to her office.
"I guess we got a pending mission now." Dairuko said.
"I wonder what it's about that got Tsunade-sama so serious." Natsuki pondered out loud.
"I suggest we wait until Hokagae-sama tells us what we need to know. For now, let's just prepare for anything that may come our way." Itachi said and Dairuko and Natsuki nodded before leaving for their houses to begin packing.