Opening - Resistance by High and Mighty Color
"They're already debating how they're going to cut us up and divide the pieces." Naruto bared his teeth in a growl. "I've seen it in Mizuki's memories. They've got their sights on three of us so far. Me, Hina-chan, and Sasuke."
The Hokage listened patiently along with Hinata, whose hand was still instinctively clasped over where she'd been stabbed. There was no trace of a wound or even a scar, but she found she couldn't stop double-checking.
"There were three in the group. Orochimaru wanted a Rinnegan and Sharingan. Kabuto Yakushi... he's a traitor by the way, he wants a Rinnegan and Byakugan." Hinata paled. "Then the third guy was wearing one of those cloaks we were told about in the Academy. Akatsuki. They called him Sasori, and they're planning to give him a Sharingan and Byakugan in exchange for... something."
The Jinchuuriki cast an apologetic look at the Hokage. "Mizuki never found out what exactly the guy was trafficking in, but he saw the inside of one of the cases he brought, when Orochimaru opened it. It had a bunch of syringes in it, full of liquid and all of them had different labels. He was too far away to read what was on 'em."
"Unless the Akatsuki somehow managed to find another S-rank ninja with the name 'Sasori,' then the one you saw is Sasori of the Red Sand, a missing-nin from Suna who specializes in turning the bodies of skilled shinobi or those with bloodlines into 'human puppets.' I'm assuming those syringes are DNA samples extracted from his creations." Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, and sighed. "There's only one use Orochimaru would have for such samples."
"Which is?"
"Resurrecting the originators of said DNA through a kinjutsu, called the Impure World Reincarnation or Edo Tensei." The Third scowled. "Clearly, there's no level Orochimaru won't stoop to. Fortunately, thanks to you we know about this plan, and can counter it. There's only one way to stop an Edo Tensei: fuinjutsu. You must seal the resurrected soul to seperate it from the body."
"Will any old seal work? Can we just put 'em in a basic storage seal?"
"It takes something a bit more substantial than that," the Professor replied. "The most common method is a one-point Sealing Tag, to be applied once the reanimated ninja is incapacitated with a blow that would kill them when alive. Normally, they'd regenerate, but if a Sealing Tag is applied, the jutsu freezes. They're put into a state similar to a coma, and unless the tag is forcefully removed by their allies, they remain in that state until the summoner releases the jutsu."
"So we'd have to kill or capture the summoner... and it's kinda obvious who that'd be."
"Orochimaru. How fortunate that he plans to come right to us during the finals," Sarutobi smirked mirthlessly.
"Yeah, about that... Hina-chan?"
"Hm?"
"We're gonna go all-out in our match, I promise, but no matter who wins, you've gotta be the one who continues to the next round. I've gotta be by Hokage-jiji's and Gaara's side when Orochimaru makes his move."
She nodded. "Then make sure you leave an impression in our match, Naru-kun. You'll only get the one chance to earn a promotion to Chuunin."
"Heh." Naruto grinned. "With the match we're gonna put on, neither one of us is gonna need a second chance to show our skills. The whole crowd's gonna have to pick their jaws up off the floor when we're through, believe it!"
The Hokage paused to puff on his ancient clay pipe, then spoke up, "The four of you did well, for your first S-rank mission. Kiba sent for an ANBU team to aid you, which has now retrieved Mizuki's body instead. We've been able to salvage his equipment, including some experimental new soldier pills, and we also now have a Cursed Seal we can experiment on in ways that would kill a living host like Anko or Sasuke. With luck, we might even be able to find a safe way to remove it."
"Speaking of Sasuke," Naruto replied, "Where'd he go? We looked for him yesterday, but we couldn't find him."
"Kakashi is currently training him in seclusion, both for the Chuunin Exams and the invasion. Now that the situation with Mizuki has been dealt with, I suggest you two train as well. Learn some new jutsu, new tactics, things the enemy won't see coming from the preliminaries. When the invasion actually begins, make sure you each have a supply of Sealing Tags, and soldier pills would also be a good idea."
X
What a beautiful full moon.
Fuck you, fleshbag.
Gaara lay comfortably in a bed of sand he'd gathered, staring up at the evening sky from the roof of where the Suna teams were staying. At his side lay a sheathed katana with several hundred pounds of black sand sealed into the guard. He was facing away from the vibrant orange and purple sunset, watching as the eastern sky grew slowly darker. Clearly you and I will never get along, he addressed Shukaku.
Oh sure, we can get along, just open this damn cage, or give me control of your body, and we can be best buds. The demon chuckled. No deal? I didn't think so!
"Hey, Gaara?" Temari approched her brother, still with eminent caution. "You wanna come down off the roof? Baki and I made your favorite, salted shita."
"Thank you, nee-san." Gaara stood and slid his sword into place under his sash. "I understand my taste in food is unusual; you must have had a hard time finding the ingedients."
"Gaara, look." Temari meshed her fingers together nervously. "I... I wanna know what's going on with you. You've got me and Kankurou really freaked out with how... normal you're acting."
"I thought I'd managed to explain it properly..." Gaara shook his head. "I'm sorry to worry you like this."
"That's exactly what worries me!" Temari cried out in exasperation. "What happened to 'shut up, you've never been my sister, if you get in my way I'll kill you?' I'm more scared of you now than I was then! Back then, I at least knew what to expect, and what the signs to run like hell were!"
"I..." he sighed and stepped past her. "If that's all that worries you, I can only promise that I won't go back to that. I've changed for the better, Temari, and I intend to stay this way. Let's go enjoy our meal."
After a moment, she silently accepted, and followed him down from the roof into the apartment complex, then to their apartment. Kankurou was already seated at the table, tearing into his hamburger hungrily.
"Yo, Temari, Gaara." Kankurou waved lazily. "Uh, Gaara, is it okay if I ask you something?"
"By all means." the Jinchuuriki seated himself and reached for a pair of chopsticks.
"What was with that girl who came looking for you a couple days ago? What's the deal between you and her? She seemed to like you."
"Of course Tenten likes me. Friends usually do like each other, isn't that right?" Gaara asked, perplexed.
"Yeah, but I mean, she likes you likes you."
"I don't follow."
"She's interested in you." Kankurou was suppressing a suicidal urge to laugh at his younger brother.
"...As far as I can tell, you're still just stating the obvious, Kankurou. What is it you're actually trying to say?"
Temari sighed. "Kankurou, let me handle this." she turned to Gaara. "Does Tenten have a tendency to blush around you and act embarassed, for instance when you say nice things to her?" Gaara nodded. "What about when you're in some form of physical contact? She probably turns really bright red then, right?"
Gaara blinked. "I assumed that had something to do with the heat from Mizuki's Fire Release."
"...Okay, tell me more about that situation," his sister ordered firmly.
She's acting more relaxed around me... this conversation must somehow be helping her to see me as her little brother. "When we were fighting Mizuki, he threw Tenten off-balance and in my direction, while aiming a fire jutsu at us. I responded by guiding us both to the ground, with myself on top of her..."
Kankurou started laughing boisterously, drawing a confused look from Gaara. "...under the largest sand shield I could manage at the time, which was rather small." the Jinchuuriki frowned as he relived the memories. "After that, we waited for Mizuki to pause for breath, at which point I wrapped my arms around her and used my control over the sand I was wearing as armor to fly us a short distance away from Mizuki."
Temari leaned forward intently in her seat. "Did Tenten say anything under that sand? Anything you considered unusual?"
"Hm..." Gaara recalled her exact words. "'This situation could easily be taken out of context.' I didn't understand what she meant... Which reminds me, she said something else I found confusing. When I came up with the idea to fly us to safety, and I wrapped my arms around her to take her with me, I said 'I've never done this before, I hope it works like I've imagined.' she replied with... hm... 'did you have to make that sound so dirty?'"
"...I see..."
"What's the point of all this?"
Temari frowned and hesitated. "Maybe it's best if I let you two deal with this on your own." seeing Gaara frown back, she added quickly, "It's nothing bad, it's just... something Tenten should tell you herself. She's showing signs of wanting to be... more than friends with you."
"I see." Gaara nodded, and resumed eating. "I just hope that when she tells me, I'll be able to comprehend what she's saying, unlike now. Neither of you are making any sense to me." Kankurou snorted and hunched over his plate, laughing. The youngest Sand Sibling ignored him and decided silently, my brother is insane.
Coming from you, that's pretty fuckin' ironic, Shukaku observed with a mad cackle.
I don't suppose you have anything valid to say about Tenten, do you?
Oh, even I understand this better than you do, but it's more fun to watch you stumble around in the dark like the idiot fleshbag you are. Stumble, meat monkey, stumble around for eternity! Amuse me!
...Just when I start to consider striking a deal with you, you remind me of all the reasons why that would be a terrible idea.
...A deal?
We can talk about it later, when you're just rude instead of completely incoherent.
Fuck you, fleshbag.
X
"Okay, watch this one."
Hinata glanced around Training Ground Thirty, which was a paved field with no obstructions, ideal for testing a new and powerful Water Release ninjutsu. Satisfied that there would be no unexpected visitors jumping in the way of a possibly S-rank ninjutsu, she activated her Byakugan, and a glowing vibrant blue Eight Trigrams circle appeared around her. "Water Release: Eight Trigrams, Guardian Sixty-Four Palms."
Naruto watched giddily as Hinata shaped her chakra into curved, glowing blue threads that quickly formed a full dome around them both. The threads leaked chakra-laced water that shaped itself to fill the holes between the chakra arcs, creating a perfectly smooth hemisphere of water around them. "This is as far as I should take it without a water source, at least if I'm in a battle, but I need to push myself and build my chakra reserves..." she closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. "Yes, I'll take it further this time..."
"You mean this isn't the finished jutsu?"
"No. An Earth Release user would be able to reach us in here, from below. I've solved that problem by creating a full sphere of water that I can float inside, but I can't do it with a passenger inside, because I have to maintain a layer of water over my skin to levitate myself in. I can't do that with another person, not yet. But... I can show you another new jutsu I can use through this one. Water Release: Hollow Water Dragon."
The dome of water and glowing chakra blades distorted outward, shaping into the head of a dragon with its teeth bared in a snarl. The entirety of the creature soon followed and twisted in the air, hissing toward the sky angrily. "I created this jutsu to compensate for the chakra cost of a full Water Dragon Bullet. The more water I create, the more chakra I pay, but this version loses very little power and it's made up of one seventh as much water as the original. I can use it even more freely than a basic Water Bullet, and when I do so through the Guardian Sixty-Four Palms, I don't need hand seals."
She spun and whipped her arm through the air, guiding the Hollow Water Dragon with the same arc. "It's lighter and faster, you won't get away!"
Naruto's eyes widened, and he activated his Rinnegan then turned to see who Hinata had attacked. The dragon circled around a black-cloaked child no older than either of them, preventing his or her escape. "Who are you?" Naruto demanded.
"Naruto, don't you recognize the color of his chakra?" he pointed to the boy, and Naruto noticed that his chakra was cold, pure white. "It's him."
"I came to apologize," Haku replied sadly, and pulled down his hood to reveal a Konoha headband. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but I still had to come here and tell you. I'm sorry." he tugged on the right shoulder of his cloak, pulling it off entirely and letting it fall to the ground. "I'm unarmed," he declared, and gestured to the lack of any weapons pouch on his leg or waist.
Hinata's dragon slowly retreated away from Haku, then collapsed into a puddle. "I'm not one to hold a grudge," she decided. "But what are you doing here, wearing a Konoha headband?"
"Zabuza-sama and I decided we were tired of running from Kiri. We considered joining a few other villages, but after what we saw from your team in the Land of Waves, Konoha was the obvious choice. We arrived... eight days ago, now."
"And immediately detoured to heal two injured brats at the main gate." Zabuza appeared out of nowhere with a Body Flicker. "They wouldn't happen to be friends of yours, would they?"
"It doesn't matter who they were," Haku addressed his master firmly. "By the time a proper medic-nin team arrived to heal them, the damage to their inner ears would likely have healed incorrectly. They'd be deaf for the rest of their lives, and their careers as shinobi would be over. We did the right thing by saving them."
"Wait. That was you?" Naruto asked. "You healed Gaara and Tenten?"
"So you do know them," Haku replied. "What a fortunate coincidence."
"Kiba Inuzuka," Zabuza called. "I remember the names of anyone skilled enough to wound me, and he was the youngest since Yagura when we were both kids. Where is he now?"
"What do you want with Kiba?" the two Genin replied angrily in stereo.
"Take it easy," Zabuza answered calmly. "I was just wondering whether he'd died since I last saw him. We're allies now, remember? Heh, newbies. As shinobi, you'd better get used to situations like this, where your mortal enemy from last week is suddenly your teammate, and the guy you've trusted since childhood goes missing-nin and hits you with an assassination ninjutsu. Anyway... I liked the kid's attitude, and the Hokage told us to pick some shinobi here to immediately teach whatever skills we took with us from Kiri. Kiba would've been my first choice for the Silent Killing; he's a natural."
"...Kiba's working alone right now," Naruto admitted. "He's working on improving his new jutsu, and right now it's a little unstable."
"Che, fine. I still need to teach somebody something, though, and right away. Haku, maybe teach the girl a bit of your Ice Release. From what I've heard and seen, she's got skill with her element that'd put some Kiri Jounin to shame."
"Hm..." Haku nodded, and addressed Hinata. "What's your secondary element?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly.
"Well... I'm not much good as a teacher," the last scion of the Yuki Clan admitted, "and with just the Water Release, you'll never be able to fully utilize the Ice Release, but let's try it."
"Hold on!" Hinata exclaimed angrily. "Two months ago you killed me! Now you want to train me?"
"Shinobi change their allegiances freely when circumstance calls for it, both individually and as entire villages," he replied, "And it was never personal. Our missions conflicted with one another, and I did what was necessary to help my precious person. If you don't want to work with me, I suppose I can find someone else and teach them my skill with senbon instead."
Hinata considered this. "...You really think I can learn to use a kekkei genkai I don't have?"
"In the Land of Snow, there's a ninja village filled with Ice Release users. Not one of them is a member of the Yuki Clan, so instead they use a modified version of the Water Release to simulate my kekkei genkai. If you can learn to do that, I can teach you to imitate some of my jutsu with it. I can't promize that'll work, but I want to at least try to pay you back for piercing your heart."
"And as for you," Zabuza addressed Naruto, "I heard a few days ago that you've picked up some kenjutsu skills. Apparently this village's resident sword expert trained you one-on-one." he pulled a scroll out of his pocket and unsealed Kubikiri Bouchou from within. "Are you any good?"
"I can manage," Naruto replied, and unsealed his cutlass, "but I really just use it to back up my ninjutsu."
Zabuza laughed harshly. "That's just stupid, an amateur's way of thinking! When I'm through with you, your sword skills are gonna match your ninjutsu or better. I'm gonna teach you everything I know, and you'd better damn well put it to good use. Now come at me!"
"Do it, Naruto-kun." Hinata let her Guardian Sixty-Four Palms explode into a spray of harmless mist, and Naruto charged at Zabuza. The older swordsman easily swatted aside Naruto's first few swings, but the younger ninja was far faster with his lighter weapon, and began to push Zabuza back.
"Not bad!" Zabuza grinned under his mask, and blurred as he dodged Naruto's next attack with sickening speed. "Whoever taught you one-handed kenjutsu knew what he was doing. You're focused on speed with your moves, as you should be with that weapon, but just how fast can you move?" he raised his own massive sword with both hands, then brought it down on Naruto.
Naruto threw himself to the side of the famous blade's path, and countered with a slash of his own. Zabuza smirked, and his sword along with both of his arms blurred into the path of Naruto's attack in an instant. "That's what you're gonna be able to do, kid. That..." Zabuza vanished, and reappeared to Naruto's left, then blinked to his right before the younger ninja could finish turning. After a brief moment, Zabuza began appearing, disappearing, and reappearing so frequently that there appeared to be a circle of clones dancing in and out of existence around Naruto. "...and so much more!"
"Why didn't you do this in the Land of Waves?" Naruto demanded. "With this kind of speed, you could have wiped us all out!"
"It takes a lot of chakra out of me," the former Kiri Jounin admitted as he stopped moving, "It can kill me if I hit something, I find it a bit too flashy for an assassin like myself to use... I wish I could say any of those were the reason, but to be honest I underestimated you four until it was too late. I used it a bit against your sensei, but I didn't want to waste it on Genin such as Kiba." he pointed to a scar from a kunai stab on his hip. "That mistake cost me."
Naruto lowered his weapon, and decided. "All right. If you wanna teach me this stuff, I'm game." It's like that jutsu Mizuki used, the Pulse Step Jutsu... damn it, I wanna learn how to flash step!
"First, let me have a look at that sword." Naruto hesitated for a moment, then handed the former missing-nin his cutlass. "Not bad quality, especially since it's a Konoha sword. Most of the best ones come from Kiri and Kumo, since they make the best swordsmen too."
"It's actually from Uzushio."
"Hidden Whirlpool?" Zabuza nodded thoughtfully. "I should've known; they were the only ninja village in the world known to use cutlasses. The black rustproof coating on the blade makes even more sense if it's from a village near the ocean, but it makes it more difficult for me to judge the quality of the metal. Still... I can tell that both the metal and the coating are durable, since there's no trace of damage from our fight. Since you keep it in a seal small enough to fit on a ring, I'm assuming the pocket dimension in the seal is shaped to fit the sword exactly?" Naruto nodded. "Good. Doing that means the weapon is isolated away from anything that could damage it. You don't need to oil the blade, and rust should never be a problem."
Meanwhile, Haku explained to Hinata, "My kekkei genkai lets me use a mixture of Water and Wind Release chakra. Although, in theory, anyone with those two elements can use the Ice Release, in reality it takes an absurd level of chakra control."
"I might be able to manage that," Hinata mused.
"Only if wind turns out to be your secondary element... Wind Release is the component that cools down the water to far below the freezing point. My ice can't be melted, because my chakra keeps it that cold. You, on the other hand, don't have that element yet, and you might never develop it, so you'll have to create ice the same way the Hidden Mist Jutsu creates mist."
"Water can be controlled through Water Release ninjutsu whether it's a liquid, solid, or gas. You'll need to learn how to apply shape transformation to water on a deeper level than just shaping the liquid into a ball, or a dragon. That's what I'm going to teach you, really: not an Ice Release, but a new way to use the Water Release. That's because the stronger of my bloodline jutsu use ice as a medium for various supernatural abilities that normal ice just doesn't have. Without the kekkei genkai, you'll just be able to use ice instead of water for more powerful defensive jutsu. Likewise, I imagine an Ice Bullet would be much more forceful than a Water Bullet."
X
Tenten, sprawled out on her floor amid various sheathed weapons, snored. Two scrolls were laid out on the table in front of her, unfurled. One's storage seals were only half-filled with her newest weapons, leaving the other half scattered on the table. Early that morning, she'd simply laid down midway through sealing her weapons and fell asleep on the floor.
Thus, when two quick knocks on her front door woke her up, she was less than pleased.
"Ugh... What the HELL!?" she roared and sat up to make for the door. "Not again! I've told you impatient jackasses I deliver the weapons when they're finished! Store policy, right on the front door! You can read it right now!" she paused, grabbed one of the various nearly-finished katana from the floor for good measure, then stormed through the shop toward the front door. "The Chuunin Exams start in three freaking days, so let me sleep! And that door also says we're closed, so you'd better not be here to order something. Now, what the hell..." she threw the door open. "is... so... important?"
Gaara was staring back at her with shocked wide eyes.
"...You wanted to see me?" the Jinchuuriki questioned after a long silence. "I can come back later..."
"No, no!" Tenten exclaimed and stepped aside to invite him in. "I just didn't get much sleep last night, that's all. My parents usually help me run this shop, but they're ANBU and they're out on missions most of the time. Now, combine that with the insane demand on the shop right now from ANBU and Jounin stocking up for the invasion. With so much demand, I've actually been forced to close the shop so I can finish the orders I've already received, and not have to worry about more." She held up the unfinished katana and sheath in her left hand. "Plus I was working on some new stuff for myself. Come on, I'll show you."
She led him past the display shelves at the front of the shop, down a hallway lined with more exotic and expensive pieces, and into the actual workshop where she'd been sleeping. She picked up a bundle of three scrolls from atop an anvil, grinned, and showed them proudly to Gaara. "I've been really busy lately, like I said, but the wellbeing of my friends comes first." she handed him the black scroll first. "That's your black sand, and I already applied a fuinjutsu to fireproof all of it. I actually think I made a bit too much for the seal on Kuroshi."
"And what are the other two?" Gaara asked, pointing to the grey and white scrolls in Tenten's hand.
"The grey one's for Kankurou; the white one's for Temari," she beamed, and handed them both to Gaara. "A mountain of sand, a giant fan for wind attacks, a remote-controlled war puppet... do all Suna shinobi use weapons like that?"
"Quite a few use fans and puppets, but not all of us."
Tenten grinned. "It's gonna be fun making weapons for you guys, then. Now check this out." she made her way to the table she'd fallen asleep in front of, and resumed sealing senbon wrapped in explosive tags into a slightly larger than normal scroll. "I call this one Manipulated Tools: Wrath of Heaven, and that one there..." she pointed to the other scroll, "is Pain Without Suffering."
"Knowing you, I expect they'll live up to their names."
"Actually, since your sand's fireproofed now, I was hoping to show you firsthand. We could test our attacks against each other's 'ultimate defense.'"
"I didn't know you had an ultimate defense."
"That's because I finished it last night," she replied with a grin. "Wait here, I'll go get it!"
Gaara blinked, then watched Tenten excitedly vanish down the hallway. I still don't understand. From what Temari implied, Tenten is keeping certain feelings secret from me... something she wants to tell me but can't. And yet, she doesn't seem troubled or unhappy because of that. She seems more and more at ease around me, each time I see her. So what is it?
You're a dense little ape, aren't you? Shukaku laughed harshly. It's pretty fun watching you try to figure this out with your little meatbag brain, but I hope she tells you soon. I don't want this to get old.
...That's what passes for fun to you?
I don't have much to do in here, kid.
Then consider the deal I offered you.
"Okay, check this out!" Tenten stepped through the doorway, clad in a skintight black bodysuit with thicker-than-normal black mesh armor over its entirety. "My sensei Might Guy wears these all the time, and he's always been pushing the three of us to try wearing them. He said they were 'breathable, retain moisture, and allow full freedom of movement.' He also says they look 'youthful,' but his is bright freaking green. Seriously, what kind of ninja wears bright green spandex?"
She shrugged. "Anyway, Guy-sensei finally got me to try one on, and I looked ridiculous, but he was right about one thing: I could move every limb in every direction, more easily in this than I could in the civilian clothes I normally wear. So, I got it dyed stealth black and forged a suit of mesh armor to wear over it. The stuff is damned uncomfortable over bare skin, so I've been wondering for months how Anko can stand it, but anyway... this mesh armor is different. It's thicker, and more rigid like an exoskeleton."
"It suits you," Gaara observed. "An 'ultimate defense' that requires no chakra at all, instead relying on a ninja's equipment. I fail to see how it would stop my sand, however."
Tenten pulsed her chakra into the mesh armor, triggering the fuinjutsu written over the entire exoskeleton to glow faintly blue. "Like every weapon I use, this suit includes a seal. This one forms a barrier ninjutsu over the mesh..." a layer of a clear, crystalline substance like blown glass flashed into existence over the suit, "...that can stop an attack that would normally..." she drew a senbon from her weapons pouch and stabbed it into the crystal, which deflected the needle harmlessly. "...slip right through the mesh. For instance, senbon and sand. Also, my head and hands are exposed through the suit, but with this seal that doesn't matter."
"Ah... my brother has his work cut out for him, when he faces you in three days. But I can see now why you'd want to test that seal against my sand. You want to know just how long it can hold up before it cracks, or if a strong enough attack can shatter it instantly."
She nodded. "And we've gotta test your defense too, before you count on it with your life on the line in the invasion... but mostly I just think it'd be fun to spar with you. But you reminded me to mention Kankurou shouldn't use his new weapon in his fight with me. Tell him to save it for the invasion, since I know how to deal with it anyway. After all, I designed it. Now come on! I know a great place where we can train, and not have to worry about anyone seeing what we can do."
X
A few minutes later, the two of them stood alone in an isolated clearing in the forest surrounding Konoha.
"Stain, Kuroshi." Gaara drew his sword in the same moment that its guard began releasing black sand, which poured out over the ground. "To begin, I'll try to hold back the full force of my sand in case something goes wrong."
"Likewise," Tenten smirked, and pulled out one of her scrolls. "'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional," she murmured, and the wax seal on the crimson scroll shattered in response to her voice. "Manipulated Tools: Pain Without Suffering."
"A new weapon already?" Gaara let himself grin with half-sane excitement as a collection of ordinary-looking kunai sprang forth from the unfurled paper. "What does this one do?"
"You might want to get that Shield of Sand ready," she replied, and leapt high into the air, flinging seven kunai at him. Instinctively, Gaara raised a wall of black sand to stop them, but his eyes widened subtly when the kunai were yanked backward through the air away from him. He noted with surprise that a chakra string was threaded through the pommel rings of the kunai, allowing Tenten to retract the attack and throw it again. The chakra string shattered this time, allowing the kunai to properly strike Gaara's defenses.
Gaara flinched in surprise as the kunai exploded, thanks to rolled-up explosive tags hidden under the white hilt wrappings. His sand kept him safe easily, however, and he countered, "Black Death: First Incarnation, Corruption."
As Tenten fell back toward the ground, Gaara's sand rapidly and violently washed outward over the grass and dirt, prompting her to throw a kunai into the trunk of a tree and Substitute with it. "That was close," she admitted. "I don't remember you ever doing that before... you called it 'First Incarnation,' right? How many are there?"
"Four," Gaara answered, "Keeping with the theme you created for this weapon, and the symbolism of the number four representing death." he released more sand from Kuroshi's guard. "Second Incarnation, Plague."
Tenten's eyes widened as the sand on the ground floated up into a black cloud in the air, radiating outward from Gaara in all directions. There's no way I'm gonna be able to dodge that! Just before the sand cloud washed over her, she triggered the seal on her armor, and watched helplessly as the sand coalesced over the barrier ninjutsu she now wore. "Sand Coffin." she flinched, but the barrier held. The pressure on her armor lifted as Gaara ceased his jutsu, and she responded by drawing forth her second new scroll, scattering the sand.
"I didn't want to use this yet," she declared. "Since it takes so long to refill, I was hoping to use it after holding you off with a few of my other scrolls. Still, it's gonna be fun, and I made sure to stock up a lot of these anyway... Manipulated Tools: Wrath of Heaven!"
Gaara gathered his sand into a black hill around himself, then formed a Third Eye outside it to watch Tenten unseal a handful of senbon wrapped in several explosive tags each. She threw six bundles of explosives at his defense, then set them all off at once, blowing it to bits. Her eyes widened and she gasped, suddenly worried she'd killed him. "Gaara!?" she leapt down to the ground and sprinted toward the center of the scattered sand.
"I admit it's not a tactic any Oto-nin could use on you," Tenten froze as Gaara's hand clamped down on her shoulder from behind, "but no matter. Sand Coffin."
He must have used a Transformation to blend in with the sand! "Damn!" she triggered her seal, shielding herself from the sand once again, then reached for her weapons pouch and produced a kunai, stabbing it behind her back into Gaara's sand armor which gave off sparks as it deflected the weapon. "You messed up; I've got you at close range now!" she spun to face him and attacked again with her kunai, watching with satisfaction as he successfully blocked each strike with his katana. "You're getting better," she admitted, "but I've still got the advantage up close."
"At this range," Gaara countered, "I can still use my sand, but you can't properly deploy an explosive tag."
"That was true yesterday, but now..." she leaned back out of the way of a slash from Kuroshi, letting go of her kunai to reveal a tag stuck to the hilt. "Boom."
The two of them were both struck by the explosion and sent flying to opposite sides of the clearing, along with a cloud of black sand kicked up by the explosion. After a few moments, Gaara sat up with his sand armor cracked over much of his body. "You didn't hesitate for a single instant." He cast a confused look at Tenten, who was struggling to climb out of a dune of black sand that didn't want to let her go. What is this feeling? This connection... I can feel it growing stronger with every blow we trade. We're fighting, and yet...
He stood, and forced the black sand to release Tenten, gathering much of his trademark weapon into a hill that formed under his feet. We're fighting, and yet we're growing closer together. I don't understand this feeling... "Third Incarnation, Oppression." the hill under his feet shrank as the material forming it was pulled away, shaped by Gaara's chakra into four massive, clawed monstrous arms that floated to his sides, ready to attack. ...But I'm enjoying it!
Tenten readied two scrolls full of sealed weapons, and triggered a smoke bomb just as Gaara's sand arms shot forward. She leapt into the air with the scrolls following her, and roared with a grin, "Twin Rising Dragons!"
She feels it too. Gaara grinned back, and shaped more sand arms to block and counter the barrage of weapons she let fly. It runs far deeper than friendship... perhaps this is what Temari and Kankurou meant. If so... he threw one of his own kunai to strike one of the sand arms that reached for Tenten, noting with satisfaction that she was using bursts of chakra to push herself aside, dodging the attacks even in midair. I'll share this feeling with her. "Substitution!"
Tenten gaped at him as he reappeared atop one of the sand arms she'd just dodged, and swung his katana at her, forcing her to block with the kama she'd been about to throw. His feet left the sand behind, and they both began to fall back to the ground, leaving their attacks in the air above them. She drew the ANBU kunai he'd given her from the sheath on her forearm, tossing aside the kama to wield the kunai with both hands and swipe at Gaara's throat. He leaned back to dodge the slash, even though his armor would have protected him, and immediately afterward they both hit the ground.
Why does he always get to be on top? Tenten asked herself, even with her kunai resting against his throat.
Why do I enjoy being in this position? Gaara asked himself, even with his katana resting against her throat.
He pulled his weapon away from her neck, giving her the opening she needed to press her own blade against his, rolling him over onto his back and straddling him. "I don't know why you hesitated, but it looks like I win," she grinned, with her heart pounding and lungs heaving.
"Not yet." The tip of a massive spear of black sand scratched the small of her back, causing her to force herself downward, flinching away from it on instinct. She blushed furiously at the implications of what she'd just done, since she was still pinning Gaara between her legs. "I removed my sword because I wanted to know just what part of this situation I found so enjoyable." Her blush darkened even further at that. "I know for certain, I don't want to kill you. It leaves me to wonder... what is this feeling you and I share? Does it have a name? Some way to describe why my heart is pounding in my throat..." he dropped his sword to grasp both of her arms, "...and why I don't want to let you get off of me?"
"D-Damn it, G-Gaara, you p-pervert," she stammered, blushing Hinata-red at this point. "You pervert!"
"What part of this situation is perverted?" he asked innocently.
"This part, damn it!" she lunged downward and mashed her lips against his, stealing both of their first kisses and holding it for several seconds. "Was..." she stopped and panted, "...was it really that hard to figure out?"
X
One Narutoverse ryou equals ten yen according to the Narutopedia. Hence, one point two million ryou, the pay for the S-rank mission to kill Mizuki Tora, equals $128,844 Canadian, $123,264 US, or 76,212 British pounds sterling, for which I can't find the appropriate swirly L sign on this keyboard.
Please Review!