Down the warrens
I don't own anything except OC's- All copyrighted material goes to proper owners.
"Alright people, I want ideas. And good ones this time. I hear one more suggestion for a garlic bomb. There will be consequences." Oda said while lightly tapping a riding crop in his hand, sternly looking at Naruto the entire time.
"At least the garlic bomb would make for a good distraction to catch them off guard…" Naruto muttered, pouting a bit.
"Just quit while you're ahead already, Naruto." Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes.
"But I already negotiated for the last shipment of garlic and started building it. Do you realize how awkward it's going to be to try and return it?" Naruto answered, turning to look at Sasuke.
"Let's save the garlic bomb in case we need a quick escape to retreat and regroup. It shouldn't be the main part of the plan." Sakura pointed out.
"You're the best, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled before pulling her into a bear hug.
"Naruto…! Spine cracking…! Can't breathe…!" Sakura gasped out.
Oda rolled his eyes as the Genin sorted themselves out. After rearranging the strategy board to factor this stuff in, they still had yet to deal with the greatest advantage their foes held against them. Sheer overwhelming numbers. In every engagement, they were overwhelmed by some means. Despite the series of victories, they have had against their undead menace, this advantage had yet to be checked.
"Well, that is a factor, but that still doesn't solve our predicament. If we don't drastically reduce their numbers before confronting Targos, then we are sunk." Oda explained.
"Alright my darling children, put those brains together and come up with a brilliant scheme you always magically produce." Kakashi said as he read from his "adult literature".
"Why don't we flood the tunnels and drown them?" Naruto asked.
"Simple, brutal, and to the point. Good idea, kid. Why did I ever wanna kill you?" Zabuza replied with a smirk beneath his bandages.
"You're a bloodthirsty mercenary that happily calls himself a demon and with complete disregard for human life?" Naruto asked.
"True, but I actually like you now." Zabuza pointed out.
"Oh goodie…" Naruto nervously answered.
"Zabuza-san, no being a bad influence on the Genin." Haku pointed out chidingly.
"Trust me, he's late to the party on that one." Kakashi muttered.
"If you start doing that, what's stopping that from destabilizing the whole island and sinking it?" Tazuna pointed out nervously.
"We flood them VERY carefully…" Zabuza and Naruto said together with matching evil smirks.
"Correction: He's right on time for the party." Kakashi muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose at what the Hokage would say to him if he found out.
"Let's save the 'flooding the tunnels' option as a last resort…" Sakura pointed out in a deadpan tone.
"Don't we already have a last resort, Sakura-san?" Haku asked inquisitively, having been taking notes of the conversation like a good boy.
"The garlic bomb is in case we need to escape and regroup. That's more of a tactical retreat than a last resort for victory." Sasuke pointed out.
"I see. This is quite the multi-layered strategy we are coming up with." Haku said as he wrote that down.
"This is the worst plan I've heard in a while. And I have three younger brothers that have shared most of my hundred year lifespan with me." Oda said, with a face already done with this entire situational madhouse.
"Shall I provide more refreshments?" Tsunami asked.
"Yes dear please do. And bring liquor exclusively for me. I can't handle this sober." Oda answered simply.
"Look who's being the bad influence now." Zabuza smirked.
"I can be a very bad influence on your throat if you keep making remarks like that and not coming up with actual solutions, my little demon." Oda answered, glaring at the missing nin.
"Fair enough. Hm… why not attack when the vampires are asleep and only the ghouls are awake? Catch them off guard and thin their numbers as much as possible before using the garlic bomb for a tactical retreat?" Zabuza pointed out.
"It only took an hour and a half and we finally have a working plan. I don't know what I'd do without you Zabuza." Oda said in tired bewilderment.
"Alright, garlic bombs for everyone! Inari, take some more Shadow Clones and double production speed!" Naruto called out, turning to Inari with a mischievous grin.
Inari, having a matching grin, saluted the orange clad shinobi as the blonde made more clones. "Aye aye, Naruto-nīsan!" The boy called out in response like a soldier taking orders from his commanding officer.
"How am I more scared about those two bonding than them fighting?" Tazuna asked.
"I refuse to use contraptions built by a literal child." Sasuke said.
"To be fair, at least Naruto's unmatched prankster and trickster powers are being used for good for once. I think…" Sakura pointed out in an uncertain tone.
"Naruto-dono is a prankster?" Haku asked.
"We will explain that later to you." Kakashi answered with a sigh.
"Alright. Kakashi and Zabuza, you two are in charge. Once our little mad scientists are done with their production line, get to work on finding and destroying as many warrens as possible. We have one chance to be able to reduce their numbers before they get wise to us and attack us in kind with force." Oda ordered.
"Why do I have to work with the cycloptic scarecrow/demon with the big kitchen knife?" The two jōnin asked simultaneously.
"Because you two are all we have for frontline combat. Consider this a bonding exercise. You two in the face of life and death might grow closer and begin to understand each other…" Oda explained before being cut off.
"Unlikely. Stop that. Stop that!" The two jōnin said at the same time, beginning to get annoyed.
"And what will you be doing, Oda-sama?" Haku asked.
"I have to do more meetings with various business contacts to try to get trade up and running. I will have many long hours of talking with rice producers today. On that, this meeting is at a close, you all have your mission for today. Proceed at your own pace, and may the gods be in your favor." Oda said, before bowing slightly to them in respect.
Bowing back, Naruto turned to Inari. "Come on, Inari! Let's have enough of those garlic bombs ready for every raid we'll be doing today within the next two hours!" The orange-clad ninja ordered the younger boy.
Snapping to attention, Inari saluted the blonde shinobi. "Sir, yes sir!" The hat-wearing fisherman's son called out before marching off with Naruto's Shadow Clones in tow.
"Why do I have the sinking feeling that we've allowed Naruto to unleash something…?" Sakura asked nervously.
"You're probably imagining things." Kakashi said as he stood up, though internally not even believing himself on that one.
Three hours later
"Equipment and supply check." Kakashi ordered the lesser shinobi in the party.
"Kunai, senbon needle, shuriken, and exploding tag supplies fully stocked and ready, sensei!" Sakura called out, handing out the weapons' supplies to the boys and the two jōnin.
"Food pill rations stocked and ready to go." Sasuke said simply, holding up the bags of energy and chakra-restoring military rations for everyone to take.
"Garlic smoke bombs ready, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out, handing out batches of the special smoke bombs for everyone to take.
"Zabuza? Do you have anything to contribute?" Kakashi sarcastically asked.
"I used my stealth skills to map out the tunnels ahead of time to make them easier to navigate." Zabuza replied, handing out copies of his… surprisingly well made and detailed maps for everyone.
"These are very well made and detailed maps, Zabuza-san. How did you produce them in such a short amount of time?" Sakura asked, genuine amazement and respect oozing from her voice.
"Just because I love fighting I can't have a more calm and relaxing hobby like cartography?" Zabuza asked, raising a nonexistent eyebrow.
"No, just… surprising." Sakura nervously answered.
"Can you stop unintentionally scaring my genin?" Kakashi ordered.
Zabuza simply shrugged. "It's not my fault I have a naturally very intimidating presence." The Demon of the Hidden Mist replied simply.
"These maps are great! I can already see the perfect spots to set off the garlic bombs if we need to make a break for it!" Naruto called out, marveling at the attention to detail.
"Naruto-dono, are you sure these will not explode prematurely?" Haku asked, inspecting an example of the device.
"Oh, Haku, Haku, Haku… Haku, Haku, Haku, Haku. I've made more complicated stuff than this for simple pranks back home. Not to mention that I personally tested some from each batch myself." Naruto replied with a smirk, shaking his head at his new friend's seeming naivety.
"It's true. Naruto has made much more complex pranking devices back in Konoha." Sakura replied.
"If there's one thing I know for certain we can trust Naruto on, it's pranking devices." Sasuke replied with a small smirk.
"Aww, you do care!" Naruto replied happily.
"Loser." Sasuke said in response.
"Asshole." Naruto shot back.
"Cut the back chatter and focus. Sakura, backhand at the ready." Kakashi sternly ordered.
"Yes sir, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura replied, ready to slap her two teammates upside the head at a moment's notice.
"I thought you were concerned with brain damage?" Haku asked.
"It's been a few days. They'll be fine. Now then Zabuza, do enlighten us on the best way to deal with this warren complex. Preferably without us being sent to the bottom of the ocean." Kakashi said, looking to his… partner?
"Killjoy. Alright, the widest tunnels are marked on the maps. Those are the spots where they can send out the most troops, so I say we deal with those first. I marked strategic spots to put the bombs on the maps coinciding with areas of the tunnels where we can collapse them without sinking the island." Zabuza explained, pointing to the x markings on the areas of the widest tunnels on the maps.
"So, I take it we are putting the explosive seals on a delayed reaction?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes. We will put it on for 20 minutes. The goal of this is stealth. Should everything go well, the ghouls will not know we were there till it's too late. Only use the garlic bombs as a last resort and try to fight to disengage before then. Any questions?" Kakashi asked.
"Will we be doing this in pairs or splitting up completely?" Naruto asked, his serious face on because of the situation at hand.
"It will be in pairs. Sakura and Sasuke, you two handle the right flank. Haku and Naruto, the left flank. That leaves me and porn for brains over here to handle the main middle warrens." Zabuza explained.
"Why does Sakura get to go with Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"Because you need to be with Haku to teach him how to arm the garlic smoke bombs in case things go tits up, kid." Zabzua pointed out in response.
"Don't worry, Haku. I'll give you the full course on how to handle these marvels of prank engineering." Naruto said, pumping his chest a bit in pride.
"They do seem a bit complex…" Haku replied, looking one over.
"Alright. Move out!" Kakashi ordered.
"Yes sir!" The four lesser shinobi answered in unison.
With the six shinobi having, as neatly as this motley crew could, split into their pairs. Once paired, they made their way through designated tunnels. From each deep craggy hole came the rotting stench of death. Regretting eating more food for breakfast than normal, the shinobi steeled their senses and began the descent. Now came the hard part of putting the plan into action.
As the shinobi made their proverbial descent into hell, they planted the normal bombs and garlic bombs as the locations Zabuza marked on their maps before arming them and setting their timers. Zabuza and Haku needed to be taught by Kakashi and Naruto how to properly arm the garlic bombs, but that was a small hiccup. With water dripping down from the ceiling and bats hanging from their craggy surface, Naruto looked to his partner for this mission as Naruto one out after Haku finished setting and arming the first exploding tag.
"Okay, Haku. These garlic bombs are pretty easy to use. See this timer here?" Naruto began explaining quietly, pointing to a twist timer positioned on the garlic bomb in his hand near a red button.
"Yes." Haku whispered back.
"Use it to set the time for how long you want the garlic bomb to take to go off. Once that's done, you press the red button here and throw it. Once the timer hits zero, the bomb will go off." Naruto quietly continued, pointing to the red button.
"And how do you arm it?" Haku asked simply.
"Simple: You push the red button and hold it down for two seconds. Any shorter and it won't work. Any longer and it'll go off automatically, so make sure to count carefully." Naruto quietly explained.
"While these are quite impressive, I question how anything is supposed to smell them, what with the horrid stench of this place." Haku said, trying to keep his stomach settled in the dank, rot filled air.
"That's why I used garlic that was fermented long enough to overpower the smell." Naruto pointed out quietly.
"Charming…" Haku muttered.
"Any more questions, Haku?" Naruto whispered, opening the floor to any other questions Haku had.
"I am satisfied with the explanation provided, Naruto-dono." Haku answered simply.
Nodding, Naruto put his garlic bomb back in his ninja tool pouch. "Good. Now let's get to planting more exploding tags and hope we don't have to resort to the garlic bombs." He replied.
As the two began to perform their work, the same easy going way was not felt by Sasuke and Sakura. Being on the far eastern side of these warrens, they found the sea air somehow snuck into the complex and forced the air into their side. The eastern side being more solid, trapping the rancid air for the most part. The two's breathing was slow and heavy, resorting to using handkerchiefs as masks to try and slow the thick, moist stank from their breathing. They maybe could handle that smell if the thick, moist air didn't make it cling so badly.
This air made their progress much slower, and both knew this made things all the more risky. All around them the price of potential failure was strewn about. Cut up and torn viscera, chewed bones and putrid dried blood smattered across the tunnels and chambers. Ghouls by the score lounged and flopped about in their rest, monstrous, disease-addled wolves slept without a care in the world, and scores of giant black bats hung harmlessly from the ceiling.
What stood as the hardest obstacle was the few ghouls that remained awake as watchmen. While they themselves dozed on and off, both knew a single wrong move could be their downfall. Some were silently eliminated, others bypassed, but they slowed their progress even further. Time slowed to the pace of a fly trap drying, combined with the pressure and stench wore heavily on the young pair.
The two wanted nothing more than to get this over quickly, but they had to be careful. One wrong step would mean the entire plan going to hell in a handbasket, which was the last thing they needed. They needed to be smart and silent. To tread lightly and carefully.
Catching sight of one of the spots on their maps that Zabuza had marked for an exploding tag with an exhausted ghoul almost standing guard on the opposite side, the Uchiha avenger and the rosette kunoichi looked at each other. Sasuke motioned towards the spot while looking at the ghoul, giving Sakura the indication of what to do. As soon as her dark-haired crush looked back at her, Sakura nodded and began to slowly and carefully make her way towards the location for the next tag to be put while Sasuke went in the other direction to take out the ghoul.
Quietly making their way to their positions, Sakura pulled out an exploding tag to put on the area marked on the map while Sasuke pulled out a kunai. Their unspoken plan was simple: Sakura would place the tag while Sasuke would quietly take out the ghoul, then they could move onto the next spot. Easy mission. Unfortunately, fate had other plans in store for the pair.
Just as Sakura made her way to the spot and set up the tag, Sasuke made a surprising blunder. As he snuck up behind the ghoul, he wasn't mindful of the floor. This resulted in him stepping on the tail of one of the monstrously large, diseased wolves. The mangy canine let out a loud yelp of pain that echoed throughout the warren, sounding much louder than it should have been and waking every creature inside just as Sakura finished setting up the tag.
Now wide awake, the creatures all turned to look at the two with vicious snarls on their faces as Sakura quickly set the time on the tag for it to go off. "Sasuke-kun, run!" The rosette called out as she and the Uchiha avenger leaped over the crowd and made a run for it.
The two Genin made their ways through the tunnels of the warren, dodging and weaving through anything that caught up to them. Drawing kunai, Sasuke and Sakura began slashing and stabbing their way through anything in their way as they desperately tried to make their way back to the tunnel leading to the warrens. Wolves, ghouls, bats. Anything that tried to get in their way, they cut down. They couldn't afford to stop now. To stop would mean death.
Slashing through a large bat and then stabbing a wolf through the skull, Sakura tried to keep moving. "Sasuke-kun, can you use a…?" The rosette started to ask only to be cut off by her crush.
"Fireball to cover our escape? On it! I'll need to use a stream of flames for it so that I don't risk bringing the whole place down around us!" The Uchiha avenger called out in response before tossing his kunai through the skulls of two ghouls and going through hand seals.
'FIRE RELEASE: GREAT FIREBALL TECHNIQUE!' Sasuke mentally called out before breathing a blast of fire reminiscent of a flamethrower behind them.
Dozens of the creatures roared in pain as they were caught in the flames, being roasted alive. The ones who weren't caught up in it backed away in fear of the heat, flames, and light produced by them. Seeing their opening, Sasuke and Sakura made a run for it, making it through the mouth of the tunnel and beginning to make their way back while the monsters tried to put out the flames.
Meanwhile with Kakashi and Zabuza
The main warren for the experienced shinobi was a swift and easy mission by their standards. The ghouls standing guard were easy to eliminate rapidly, and the tags were easily set up exactly where they needed to. As the two finished up at the very back of the main warren, an echoing yelp bounced and traveled through the cavern, slowly rousing the seething masses with its unwanted intrusion upon their unholy sleep.
"Sounds like your genin cocked up." Zabuza muttered.
"From the direction that came from, it seems like it was either Sasuke or Sakura." Kakashi noted in frustration.
"For a second there, I thought this mission would be boring. Now it gets to be the fun part of my job." Zabuza said, a grin practically radiating through his bandaged face as he gripped his sword hilt.
Drawing a kunai, Kakashi spun it before gripping it in a reverse grip. "Remember, Zabuza. We need to try to escape so that the tags can go off. That means you can't lose yourself enjoying the battle." The cycloptic scarecrow reminded the cleaver-swinging demon, lifting his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan eye.
"Oh, that's just the cherry on top." Zabuza mused.
With twin battle roars, the Copy Ninja and the Demon of the Hidden Mist charged into the fray side by side. Slashing with his kunai while doing one handed hand signs, Kakashi launched a carefully sized Great Fireball into a band of enemies before ducking as Zabuza slashed through a group of enemies coming at the Sharingan warrior from his unprotected back. Ducking down himself, Zabuza allowed Kakashi's kick to sail over him and knock the head off of a ghoul. Charging up his free hand with Lightning Release chakra, Kakashi activated his one original and signature jutsu.
"LIGHTNING CUTTER!" Kakashi roared out, turning his left arm into a sword of sharpened electricity as he used it and his kunai to hack and slash through enemies.
"Impressive jutsu, Kakashi! I've never seen anything quite like it before!" Zabuza called out as he slashed his Kubikiribōchō sword through a small pack of wolves, cleaving them in two like a hot butcher cleaver through meat.
"Glad you like it! It's the only original jutsu I've ever created!" Kakashi replied as he impaled a large bat trying to attack Zabuza from above with his kunai before coming down and impaling a large wolf through the skull behind him.
"Very nice! After this mission is over, we should have another match before we go our separate ways to see who's truly stronger!" Zabuza called out with glee as he slashed and hacked his way through enemies, ducking as Kakashi through a Lightning Cutter coated kunai through a line of enemies.
"If we make it through this alive, I promise you a match you'll never forget Zabuza!" Kakashi replied before ducking as Zabuza slashed through another group of enemies behind him.
"I'll hold you to that, Hatake!" The Demon of the mist roared in glee as the two continued cutting a path through their enemies.
With Naruto and Haku
Naruto felt pleased with himself. He had a good day as far as he was concerned. Got to make an arsenal of garlic bombs without Oda yelling at him for more than two hours, stealthily set up all the bombs, and taught Haku a few tricks of the trade. As the two headed back stealthily, they both heard a faint echo of a noise filter past them. The kind of noise that had already been through a lot of caverns to get to them. Soon they heard commotion behind them.
"It appears our cover is blown." Haku said as he looked back.
"I'll leave some Shadow Clones behind to cover us so we can get a head start! Make a run for it!" Naruto replied, making a small army of clones that quickly ran behind them.
As soon as the clones ran back, they heard a chittering up ahead of them. Soon, swarms of bats of various sizes could be sighted and heard coming towards them. Some flapping their small wings with a vicious drumbeat to carry them, others able to bound through the tunnels on man-sized wings with a single motion. All bearing glistening rows of fangs to skewer them with.
"Looks like we'll need to fight our way out! Ready, Haku?" Naruto asked, making more clones before he and his duplicates all drew kunai.
"Of course!" Haku affirmed, readying himself and his needles.
Charging in, the two boys rushed at the bats to begin cutting a path through their enemies. Using his superior speed, Haku zipped around Naruto and his clones to throw needles at the bats' pressure points to disable them when they attacked the orange clad army from behind while the blonde future Hokage and his duplicates cut their way through the front. Trying to preserve his chakra, Haku focused on hitting the bats where he knew he could disable them or kill them with one hit while the blonde one-man army continued to brute force his way ahead.
"How are you holding up, Haku!?" One of the Narutos called out as he cut a bat in half with his kunai.
"These bats are good precision practice! The little ones are especially nippy!" Haku answered, sending a needle through one of the smaller bats' heads at the far end of the tunnel.
"Nice shot, Haku!" Naruto called out, stabbing a bat through the eye and into its brain.
"Why thank you!" Haku replied, impaling, and sticking one of the largest forms of bats, one similar in body dimension to his own, to the ceiling with a barrage of ice needles.
"I can see a gap in their formation! I'll have some clones clear a way through for us!" The orange clad ninja called out, making a small army of clones that began to act as a living battering ram to smash through the line of bats and widen the gap for them.
"Then press, Naruto-dono! We are vulnerable down here!" Haku yelled, assisting the orange consist with a torrent of ice needles to cover their flanks.
With the gap widened, the two of them ran at full speed through it to begin making their escape. As they did, Naruto's clones continued to cover their escape.
Back with Sasuke and Sakura
"Be more careful with the fire Sasuke-kun! Last thing I want is to be turned into a stinking barbecue!" Sakura yelled after tripping a ghoul into another before kicking them into the path of a charging wolf, causing a raucous pileup.
"Noted! We have to find a way to thin their ranks faster! We don't have much time until those exploding tags go off!" Sasuke called back in response as he unleashed a smaller Great Fireball to roast the pileup alive.
"Is there anything bigger you got to cover our escape?" Sakura asked.
"One! But it drains a lot more chakra, so I need a bit of time to prepare it! We'll have one shot at pulling this off with me still having enough strength for us to escape!" Sasuke called out to his rosette teammate.
"It would be greatly appreciated right now!" Sakura yelled, ducking under the path of a giant bat.
Nodding, Sasuke went through four hand seals. "Get them together in a group! This jutsu is narrower!" He called out to her as he molded the chakra.
"On it!" Sakura yelled as she ducked and weaved through packs of ghouls and wolves, and jumping up to attract flocks of bats, before running to force them into a pursuit formation.
"Now, Sakura! Jump!" The dark-haired avenger called out to his teammate as he inhaled a massive amount of air.
Leaping with all her might, the rosette cleared her way over her dark-haired crush as the enemies closed in on him. Giving his signature smirk, Sasuke knew he had them. 'FIRE RELEASE: DRAGON FIRE TECHNIQUE!' The Uchiha avenger mentally called out before unleashing the jutsu.
Soon, Sasuke breathed out a projectile-like column of flames that roared through the line of enemies like the flames of a dragon. The heat of the roaring flames burned the line of creatures away to nothing within moments. Panting heavily, Sasuke steadied himself before looking to Sakura.
"Let's go…! I'll need… time before… I can do… that jutsu again…!" Konoha's Last Loyal Uchiha breathlessly told his teammate.
"Then let's use this to get to the rendezvous point! Come on!" Sakura yelled, grabbing hold of him and practically dragging her partner along.
Back with the masked duo
The duo of the Demon and the Copy Ninja continued making their way through the hordes of enemies as they cut a path through to the rendezvous point. Kakashi, a kunai in hand and his left hand roaring with a lightning cutting electrical blade around it, continued slashing, stabbing, and hacking his way through the crowds of enemies while Zabuza had his sword back on his back and was using two curved kunai to carve his way through. Kakashi was worried about whether or not they would make it in time. Zabuza, on the other hand, was less worried. In fact, he was having the time of his life.
"Now this is fun! Hey, Kakashi! Have you been keeping count of how many you've killed as we've been making our way through?" The Demon of the Hidden Mist called out in joy.
"I'm up to thirty-nine! You?" The Copy Nin replied to his partner.
"Forty-two! Keep up, Hatake!" Zabuza replied back as he slashed through a massive wolf.
"Easy for you to say! You're the one with the oversized blade that makes it easier to kill things with! It got you a head start!" Kakashi called back as he impaled a man-sized bat through the head.
The two elite ninja continued carving their bloody path through their enemies, trying to watch each other's backs as they did so. Kakashi would stab and slash his way through enemies with Zabuza cutting down foes trying to take the silver haired scarecrow's back. Whenever Zabuza would leave himself open, Kakashi would return the favor. Carving their way through crowds of foes, the two didn't stop. The two jōnin were making great time on their way to the rendezvous point, since their enemies weren't much of a threat. There were just a lot of them.
Ducking, Kakashi evaded being cut when Zabuza sliced off the head of an enemy coming in behind him while impaling an enemy trying to sneak attack Zabuza. Kicking out, the two men took the heads off of two ghouls coming at them from behind before eviscerating two wolves and slicing two bats in half. With how many enemies the two had been cutting through together this whole time, they were really picking up on each other's rhythms and starting to match each other's movements. Though, to be fair, Kakashi's Sharingan did help him in that regard.
Starting to see the mouth to the entrance of the tunnel, the two jōnin made a rush for it. Covering each other's flanks, the tow carved and slashed their ways through enemies as they made their way to the rendezvous point. Hacking through and cutting down enemies faster than the human eye could easily track, the two were twin blurs of movement as the enemies began dropping like flies. Finally, they made it to the rendezvous point in time to see that Sasuke and Sakura had beaten them there. As the two genin were about to be sneak attacked, Zabuza threw his two kunai, impaling two ghouls behind them through the head as he drew his sword and slashed through a group of four wolves before they could pounce on the two genin.
Turning to look at the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Sasuke and Sakura were glad to see him and their sensei as Zabuza looked at Kakashi with a smug look.
"... That still only counts as three!" Kakashi told Zabuza bitterly.
"Hey kids, what do you think?" Zabuza asked.
"Don't involve them." Kakashi shot back.
"Can we bicker after we get out of here alive?" Haku asked as he arrived with Naruto just in the nick of time.
"Please tell me we can…" Naruto panted.
"Yes, Naruto. Kaboom." Kakashi answered his genin.
"Sweet! Garlic bomb time, people!" The orange clad savant called out as they all drew the prank devices.
Setting the timers, the six shinobi all prepared to press the buttons. As the enemies got closer and closer, with careful timing, they all pressed the red buttons simultaneously, held them for two seconds, and then threw the makeshift garlic grenades. When the bombs sailed forth as a group, the timers ticked as time seemed to slow to a crawl. As the seconds ticked away, the ninja all quickly turned to run. Leaping away with all their might, they cleared the area of the bombs' effects as they exploded in a terrible smelling mushroom cloud, stunning and choking the enemies as the ghouls coughed, the bats screeched in pain, and the wolves howled in agony, all from the concussive force and terrible smell.
As the six landed outside the entrance they all stopped for a second to catch their breaths. However, as Sakura began to open her mouth about the tag's, Kakashi simply covered her mouth with a finger. With his other hand he counted down three, two, one. For a second nothing happened to the point that Kakashi employed his signature eyebrow raise. Right when allegations of someone fucking up the tag timers were about to be uttered, everything happened at once.
A cascade of rumbling, cracking and upheaval of volume rocked the very land itself. Fissures began to tear the ground apart behind them as if a god of the earth was breaking bread. Fiery plumes erupted from other cracks in the distance as the entire shelf of the island began to collapse in on itself and cave. As dust and fire flung into the sky, when it finally settled, it was as if that part of the island was never there. They looked over the side of the new cliff to see the shattered remains of what was once where the caverns and its outer crust. Water from the sea began to rush in and fill in the cracks.
"Well, we made a new bay for the locals to use as a port someday. I think Oda-san will be only mildly annoyed at us for this one." Kakashi said with notable satisfaction.
"Seeing as we got the job done with minimal damage to the island, I'm sure he'll let us off the hook." Zabuza replied mirthfully.
"Is it dinner time? All that running made me work up an appetite." Naruto asked, rubbing his stomach.
"For once we agree, Naruto. I'm starving." Sasuke replied in agreement with his rival.
"Then I think it's time we retire to a victorious feast." Haku said with a smile.
"Naruto, Sasuke-kun. Try not to eat too much." Sakura told her teammates in a lecturing tone before her stomach growled with the fury and hunger of a massive beast, causing the rosette to turn as pink as her hair in embarrassment.
Well, the storm has cleared and we are back in the saddle… for now. I swear when life gets a kicking, it doesn't stop. Anyways, we have returned with more of our brand of insanity as we continue towards the climatic clash of undead and shinobi. Before we get into that more, a word from my co-writer.
Uzumaki Ricky- Hoo boy! Now this was a fun one! I know I definitely had a blast with this chapter, and I hope you all did too! Sorry about the delay in getting it out. We kind of needed a week off to recharge and get our schedules back in order.
Thankfully, we're back and better than ever! For any of you who are fans of Shy Fox Chronicles, expect a massive update for that story from me on Saturday. We kind of misjudged the length of what we wanted to write and it's too late to back out now, hence why we didn't post a new chapter for it last time. Aloha and good night, everyone!
If you like this brand of Naruto fanfic insanity, have a look over at that one. It has me helping Ricky on it and him allowing me to inject elements into it. Somehow. But regardless, next time, the storm begins to approach, and unfortunately virgil isn't there. How will our heroes take these poor portents before them? And how will they bear the brunt of this unyielding tide?