Chapter 11: First Fight
Luckily Kenji had marked the way Yuri had led them. Yuri had been so focused on getting them into the area, that she wasn't paying attention to the way… which in fairness Yuri still had trouble tracking. Asami sensi might have been working with her, but she still struggled sometimes. Isamu and Kenji were not allowed to help her either.
But she was glad this was a time when Kenji had marked the path and made it easier for the group to find their way out of this maze.
When they make it to the door, they pause. Asami sensi turning to the group and putting her hand on her hips. There is a pause in the air as she looks over the three genin.
"Listen to me, whatever happens out there? We need to be a team. Work together and stay close together. We don't have to protect anyone, but we need to protect each other. Got it? Yuri, if I say grapefruit, use everything you can."
Yuri nods her head. She knows this. She needs to be on her game to make this work. She knows the things she knows and will do well to get them out of here. She could do water clones and she had basics to dodge and weave. Not to mention Saskue's Taijustu she could use and not be found out. It was going to be okay.
Yuri takes a deep breath, she is going to do well.
"Kenji, if it comes to it being kunai to you as much as you can. And Isamu, go under and surprise them. I know you can do it. Am I understood?"
"Yes sensi!" All three say.
There is a moment of silence. Asami only looks at the three genin, taking them in. Yuri couldn't guess what she is thinking about, but it allows Yuri a moment to try to get her thoughts in order. She needs to remain calm and focus on what is going on. Her mind needs to remain in the zone so she can help her team and get home. Won't Saskue be jealous of her being in a fight? She knows Saskue likes to fight all the time, even Naruto will be upset. Perhaps Sakura would be wanting to fight.
Asami smiles. "Good. Now, let's see what our playdate wants to play."
She turns back around and Yuri looks at the boys. A small worry came across her face. She knew they were good, but she wonders if they are good enough. She doesn't know their full potential, the ones outside are at least high chunin, she and the boys are just genin.
Isamu grabs her hand. "We can do this."
"Ya, we can." Kenji grabs her other hand.
She looks between them and smiles. She still can't taste them, and she doesn't feel their chakra. Which is strange and she knows it might not last outside of this room. It's nice though, this is how it would feel if she was a different ninja. But it would be bad for her. She likes how she is.
"I think in here my powers are neutrilized. I haven't been able to taste any of your chakra's. Even here… I always worry about absorbing your chakra's but I don't know if that will happen"
Everyone seems to consider this, but she notices Asami is looking at the door, seeming to try to understand how they will do it. She looks back at the boys once again, seeing they are in thought for a moment.
"Strange… but we are in your family home." Kenji comments.
"Might be something to do with allowing the chief to live. They have to be the most powerful in the family right?" Isamu asks.
Slowly Yuri nods her head. "I guess so! It's a little nice."
Asami's POV:
"Alright children. Stalling is over. We need to dance." She looks back at the kids.
Clapping her hands, Asami looks at the genin fully. Seeing them one last time before they move out of what might be the safest place in Yuri's family home, she doesn't know why the others didn't come and follow the four in here, but it could mean they can't get into the area. They have to leave this place and face the two people Yuri sensed. She is about to send them into a possible deadly battle. But seeing all of them nod. A smirk comes to her face.
Brave is what they are. And they should be! Asami wasn't training them to be scaredy cats! The genin needed to be strong and able to face anything. Even if they were scared, they shouldn't show it. It went against what they were taught. After their fight, they could talk about it, but not before or during. She wasn't training loud mouths like Naruto and Kiba, they had to learn and understand. It's why she made their D-Ranked missions harder, in the field sometimes missions change to be harder ranked since people don't want to pay the higher prices. It wouldn't do any good.
Asami never believed in sugarcoating the truth. It made her sick like most sweets did. The genin needed to understand the realities of their jobs. And she would pound it into their heads if she needed to.
"Oh and if you see something strange going on, don't worry. You guys haven't seen a jonin fight at their full power just yet. Be ready for anything and be chaotic." Asami looks back and opens the door.
She holds her sword sheathed at her side, as she hears the kids take out their weapons. A small smile creeps across her face. Seems she taught them well enough to know to be prepared. It could deter the two people outside to stay away from them, or encourage a fight. Some people are strange. But she knew she would need to go all out if a fight broke out and make sure the third paid them the difference, or force Jirya to pay the difference.
No way was she going to let her genin get paid less for this mission, it now being a B-Ranked at the very least. She will demand more money for them.
"We'll walk along the river."
She takes off, not at her fastest speed, but enough to keep the kids close. Glancing back and seeing them in a diamond formation, she smiles once again. Glad this is the formation they choose. It would provide enough of a cover for them and to cover each other. While Asami would like to critize the positions, it works for now, and who knows, it could be for a surprise!
Asami loves surprises, especially before a fight and in a fight. If there was something Asami taught them, it was to be chaotic in a fight and never let them know your next move. They needed to be near the water for Yuri and to ensure they could fight. She doesn't know what the other team could do, but she didn't like not knowing.
She needs to give her team the advantage as much as she can. She can fight alone, but she isn't sure they could take on the other person, she only hopes they can hold off the other person long enough. If she could only call for backup, but they are too far away and no one would be able to help them with the fight they are about to encounter.
"They're coming." Yuri states.
Asami stops and sees the water close by. Good for them, but could be better for the people they are fighting. Standing at the ready, Asami doesn't want to take her sword out, not before she can get a grip on the situation.
But with that, a woman with long white hair in a bun and a boy standing next to her. She can make out the bright red eyes of the woman, she has a mask over her face like Kakashi, and she has to admit, the woman pulls it off better than Kakashi ever could. She would have to tell him about it later.
Needing to focus on the people in front of her, she sees the light yellow shimmer in the boy's eyes. His arms are wrapped up in bandages and in a blue tonic. Something about him feels off to her, and seems like he might be a handful for whoever ends up fighting him. Much like the woman could be as well.
Both of them were staring at the group. Seeming to be sizing the four man squad up, just as Asami is doing to them. A good ninja is able to figure some things out. Asami is even running through the bingo book and database they know of. She would need it.
Smirking Asami waits. "And what do we owe this honor? Seeing two ninja from the Hidden Valleys?"
She is looking at the woman, but it's the boy that speaks up. "We believe you have some information we want. How did you get into that tunnel? We don't want to fight, but we will if we must."
Raising an eyebrow, she wonders if she should put more into the boy, but he is barely taller than Kenji… She doesn't know who she should focus more on. Him talking is strange to her.
"Oh? We were able to figure out a puzzle. Rather simple that I let my young ones go for it."
Of course, she had much to gain, bluffing to see why they were here for a while. Something to tell her anything. It was strange the woman didn't speak up. For what it's worth, Asami has no idea who tasted like what, but she knew these two would be no joke. Her genin needed to be on guard. Yuri can only taste certain levels of Chakra, so getting both these guys is bad enough.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Asami notices the sword both of the people standing in front of her are wearing. Though, the woman's looks more like a hilt than an actual sword. Not something she sees everyday, and it makes her brain work about the type of sword the woman uses. While nothing comes to mind, the best way to find out is to fight. Which is what Asami loves.
Moving into the stance to fight, Asami needs to figure out what the woman could do and hope her genin can figure out things and plan and fight at the same time.
"Shall we dance?" Asami asks.
Without a moment of hesitation the boy begins to move. Something Asami thought might happen since the boy talked. Luckily, Yuri moves forward first and engages with him, kunai to kunai. Yuri manages to twist so the boy could be flanked. A small smile crosses Asami's face with Yuri's move. Allowing Asami to move towards the other woman.
Raising her sword up, Asami swings at her. Getting to her as she sees her only dodge the attack. Not that hard since Asami wasn't fully trying to get her. But she wanted to keep the woman's attention on her and not her genin. Asami just hopes she picked the right person to fight against and didn't give her genin the harder of the two to fight.
Asami tilts her head. She needs to figure out the skill set of the woman, and she can only see her eyes. Bright red like the Uchiha's, so she shouldn't worry. But those eyes are bright and calculating. Moving back, Asami watches as this girl takes her hilt and water slivers over to her.
Seeing it form into a sword, Asami holds her sheathed sword at the ready. She doesn't know what to expect.
A water sword? That is new to Asami, she heard about it happening, but never did she see it be formed. They were normally in a glass container she believed. It's been a while since she read about special swords, maybe she should do that once again.
The girl moves towards her quickly, Asami is able to block her and sees the lighting coming off her sword. Moving away again, Asami understands. The water and lightning sword that has been whispered about for a few years, a sword that is new and no one has seen too much in the ninja world. Only one person makes the sword and not a soul has been able to figure out how she does it.
Asami made the right choice.
Mabaru of the Hidden Valley, known also as the Red Eyed Sword.
A reputation that has been kept hidden, all Asami knows is she is younger than her. Mabaru is in the data book, but she doesn't have many data points on her. She is one of the Hidden Valley's best hidden secrets, not even her photo is anywhere. Of course, Asami doesn't know her on sight. No one has said anything about her.
The girl comes to Asami and they engage in battle for a moment. Asami is on the defensive for this, Mabaru holds her left hand in front of her and keeps swinging at Asami. For now Asami is able to keep her sword sheathed, no need to use it fully while she is figuring out what the woman can do. But once Asami sees some lighting, Asami jumps back and opens her sword.
Holding her sheath in her left hand and her sword in her right, Asami and Mabaru stand there for a moment. Staring at each other, she notices her team is at a stand still with the boy, but she does see Isamu on the ground. Her attention is quickly turned back to Mabaru when she hears the slight movement of the grass.
Asami infuses her wind chakra and hope that neutrilizes the lightning. Asami pushes Mabaru off her and goes on the attack, swinging her sword overhead, she spins and attacks, not even giving Mabaru a chance to fully recover she spins back around and attacks again.
Yuri's POV:
Seeing the two ninja in front of them, Yuri glances at the boys. While she is nervous about this fight, they need to do this. All they need is to get out of here and back to the leaf, she has all the information. She wants to go through all the information she was able to get from her family's library. It's going to help her so much.
Yuri was glad she could sense them and was able to warn Asami sensi of them being there. Both groups are in a standstill and waiting for the shoe to drop. No way will this not end with them coming to an agreement. It's going to be a fight, a big one. A quick glance at the boys, she feels they have come to the same conclusion. With them being there, there seems to be a stand off.
Words are spoken, but Yuri is watching the boy. He's the one that tastes like oranges. She doesn't know why she knows it, their tastes are mixing together, but seeing as the girl is silent, Yuri just has a feeling he is the orange taste in her mouth. She has to push the taste of her teammates to the back of her mouth.
For some reason Yuri needs to watch him. He is drawing attention to himself. She doesn't know why he is though… and she can tell the water has a stronger taste in her mouth, and the orange is just a little less to her.
Perhaps he might attack.
He might not though. Yuri can't be too sure about it though. It's better to be ready for anything.
Once Asami sensi begins to move forward, so does he. But Yuri is quick, so quick she can't even think about what she is doing. With no time to inform the boys, Yuri guesses they are engaging the boy. Going forward, she engages him and spins him around so Isamu can come and attack him.
Glad that Isamu was able to tell what she needed and act. Isamu comes up and tries to throw a punch at the man, but he misses and is tossed by the man almost into Yuri. With wide eyes she barely manages to dodge when Isamu comes flying at her. It doesn't give her time when the man comes up to her, right in her face and punches her in the gut.
Sending Yuri flying back. She lands hard a little ways away and coughs a little. Glancing up she notices the man coming back at her.
She grunts as she gets up, and before he gets to her, Kenji is in front of her and punches the man. Sadly he misses and his punch goes through the air. Kenji goes forward and manages to keep his footing when he stumbles forward. They need more help, this guy is faster than all three of them. They all have to pin him down together.
Yuri makes a single clone, it comes to them and joins into the fight. Four on one is going to be better odds for them in the end. She can keep her clone, she knows it.
"Ohhh… what fun! At least you guys are at least a little fun." The man smiles, looking between the genin.
Yuri and Isamu are on their feet and make a counter attack. Only sharing a glance, they know this could end badly for everyone, they didn't have Asami sensi and they were fighting on their own.
She rushes him while Isamu throws some shuriken, seeing the boy not even turning around, Yuri smirks a little. Yuri knows she isn't strong enough to do any damage, but thanks to Asami Sensi, the genin were able to pull off some… strange things. They had done this against Kakashi's team and they put Saskue in his place since he couldn't see the changes. Yuri is about to punch the boy when she subs herself for Kenji.
Seeing from where Isamu is, Kenji lands a punch right in the boy's chest. But it only sends him into a small stumble. Yuri looks at Isamu, their timing was perfect. And Kenji was the strongest out of them. He moves back a little before the man begins to laugh. Causing Yuri to narrow her eyes at him.
"Surprises are the best thing. I applaud you three. Maybe I should up my attacks!" He shouts.
At neck breaking speed, the boy charges at Isamu, even before Yuri can react he cuts through her water clone and punches Isamu, sending him flying into a tree. With wide eyes, they only fought against other genin… but then Asami was trying to slowly up their powers. It worries Yuri that she might not be able to beat this man. Yuri doesn't even have time to glance back when he pulls out a kunai.
Yuri is barely able to pull out something to counter, and she still gets a cut on her. Moving back, Yuri realizes he was toying with them. He knows they are stronger than they look, and now is giving more effort. They needed to get it together.
Kenji is over by Isamu to check on him.
Therefore, Yuri has to keep their new friend distracted. Moving back a little, she makes another 2 water clones, hoping she can keep them this time. It's something she needs to do. If they lose Isamu, it's not going to end well for them. She charges on him and switches with a clone and gets on the side of him. But he sees this and turns, Yuri barely escapes and is replaced with wood.
Yuri goes back and attacks him again. Switching with her clones constantly, Yuri pushes back the man. But he keeps fending her off. Yuri glances back to Kenji and Isamu, seeing Isamu sitting up she knows her job as a distractor is done.
She is now with Kenji and Isamu, leaving her clones to do the fighting for her.
"He's fast." Isamu holds his ribs. "I didn't even see him."
Kenji nods. "He is a taijustu user, maybe a master of it."
"We are going to have a hard time. I just hope Asami sensi picked correctly."
Yuri has no idea what they are going to do, but the man takes down her water clones. He turns to them, and a smile plays on his face.
Asami's POV:
Asami is struggling, she hasn't had a hard fight like this in a really long time. Even with her wind she is evenly matched in swordplay. Mabaru's sword is one of the strongest she had seen in a while. Water mixed with lighting made for a normal deadly situation. Since Asami used wind though, it helped to nullify the effects of the lighting on the blade.
Jumping away from Mabaru once again, Asami pauses for a second. She needs to figure out how to end this so she can help her genin in their own fight, since she knows they are smart, but are they smart enough to fight someone at low jonin level.
She is surely asking Jirya to pay more.
Noticing the genin are getting beaten around, Asami can't see Isamu though. Maybe he is underground. But she can't know. Kenji and Yuri are panting and the boy is smiling. She knows he isn't moving at the same speed he should be. Since his counterpart is fast, he shoul be just barely slower than she is.
Sadly, Asami can't figure out the boy's skill level without dragging Mabaru into that fight, something she didn't want seeing as Isamu and Yuri would be toast if that happened. She should have them fight against Kakashi and his lighting style. It would help the two of them. And see who else she can trust to tell about Yuri and her clan.
Swinging once again, Asami needs to pull out more things. She has to end this fight so they can rest and get out of here.
Unwrapping the bandage on her arm, Asami's funnels chakra into her arm. She rushes towards the Red Eyed Swords. She manages to land a hit but her sword is knocked out of her hands. Luckily the others sword is also knocked out.
Rushing back towards her, Asami tackles her to the ground. Asami knows how to fight hand to hand, seeing as Asuma made sure she was able to from the time she picked up a sword. He even made her fight like this sometimes as well.
Seeing her genin being pinned down and Kenji panting with Isamu's eyes closed and Yuri kneeling beside him, Asami closes her eyes.
In the moment she looked away from them, her genin was getting beaten up and forced into a corner. Asami was going to get forced into a corner as well, but she needed the genin to get out of the corner. She could only think of one thing. And seeing as the man has his dual swords out and approaches the three, Asami knows what she has to do. Play their true wild card while she finishes dealing with the Red Eyed Sword.
"Grapefruit."
Yuri's POV:
Strong, fast and can counter Yuri. Every attack seemed to barely miss the guy or glance off him. None of them had been able to land a hit. He found Isamu underground and nearly killed him. Kenji wasn't strong enough with his justu's to tip it in their favor. She sees Isamu is knocked out and Kenji is trying to protect them while she makes sure Isamu is okay.
Breathing hard, trying to figure out the next move. But seeing the swords out, she doesn't know how well of a swordsman he is, but Yuri knows this could end badly for them if this drags on any longer.
Their team work has been spot on… but it's not enough to beat this guy.
Puunches, trickery, everything is falling short. Should Yuri… no she needed to listen to Asami sensi, she knew when it would be a good time to use her true powers. Isamu was low on chakra and Kenji was struggling to keep up with her. She didn't know how much longer she could hold him off.
"Grapefruit."
Yuri's eyes widen as she looks over to Asami sensi. Staring at her and nodding her head.
Asami had the woman pinned down, but even Asami sensi was looking a little tired. This fight was going on too long. They needed to get out of it and rest. This isn't like training where they would call the match and the genin could rest themselves.
Standing up the man looks confused. Asami yelling out grapefruit isn't a normal battle tactic. It was strange. Focusing, Yuri would use the byakugan first.
"Byakugan!"
She sees his chakra points, Hinata taught her how to hit them, and she knows she needs to close off the charka points. Yuri could be fast enough for it, and she only hopes Kenji and she are able to work together to take him down. It takes her a moment to adjust, but she can see everything clearly.
She can't see his facial expression. But she doesn't care about it right now.
"Ah… a secret? Bring it on." The boy moves forward and Yuri moves with him.
With Yuri running head on into danger, she needs to protect her team. She needs to make sure they get Isamu back to the leaf since he was knocked out in the battle. Managing to dodge the attacks he is trying to hit her with, she tries to channel Saskue's speed with Hinata's byakugan, which works out well for her. Jumping back, Yuri takes a deep breath once again.
They clash and she manages to hit one point in his hand. Kenji, seeing the opening, goes after him, landing a punch. Since Kenji doesn't know any lightning things, they have no way to counter. And he outmatches Isamu on earth release. Kenji and Yuri switch from running away to head on hitting the man. Kenji punching him wherever he can hit and Yuri closing chakra points. It gets to the point he can't use his right arm.
She keeps going and once the boy figures out the tricks.
"Ah, I see. Another Hyūga? I have fought them before, and let me tell you, I will dodge you now." The man growls. "Come on little girl."
Yuri panics, she isn't the best with the byakugan, seeing as Hinata is still really shy and doesn't have the confidence to teach Yuri most of the time. Instead, she switches to Shadow Possesion Justu. Shikamaru taught her a lot more about it and he has a better understanding of it.
Another thing he was't prepared for.
Jumping away, Yuri has way more chakra then the average Nara, and she was planning on using that. Her range was longer than Shikamaru's. She could remain by Isamu and protect him while Kenji helped her pin down the man. Which he does. Throwing kunai and forcing a split of attention is what they need at this moment.
Finally, Yuri catches his shadow. "Shadow possession complete."
With a smirk on her face, Yuri can't pull out any of her ninja tools, she had seen Shikamaru keep his tools in a different spot, maybe she should do that as well. Luckily, Kenji sees the dilemma and moves closer to the man. Kenji throws kunai, and the boy is unable to dodge. She holds onto the possession until Kenji lands a kunai in the chest of the boy. Right in the heart finally.
The man slumps onto his knees, his eyes lifeless as Yuri retracts the shadow possession justu.
Yuri looks at Asami sensi and sees her standing over the woman with white hair. Yuri sits down on the ground.
Did… did they really just kill someone? Did Asami sensi also kill someone? Knowing that the academy tried to explain it and that Asami sensi was also trying to explain that they would end up killing someone at some point. Yuri wasn't ready to see it happen right in front of her though. It was a lot to take in.
Slowly, Yuri raises her eyes to look around her. She can see Isamu is laying down where she and Kenji had left him. Seeing Kenji on all four and throwing up, Yuri feels like she is going to be sick. All of this is hard to take in. Yuri's eyes land back on the body, the body of the man they had just killed, something Yuri wasn't prepared for.
Panting as Asami sensi walks over to them.
"Good job guys. That was a hard fight, but you managed." Asami stops by Isamu. "We'll rest for tonight. You all sleep for now."
Yuri is about to protest but she feels sleepy, and sleeps where she is.
Notes: Here is another chapter! Please enjoy!