"I thought that moving in a large group would have granted us an advantage, but this sucks!" Mouza complained while evading a burst of kunai knives that served as shrapnel firing from an exploding puppetry part. All that he managed to achieve was fall victim to the elongated tail which wrapped around his waist and slammed him into the ground.
Perhaps the crooked man in the dark coat decorated with red clouds, which by now most genin trapped inside this ghost city version of Konoha have learned to attribute to the Akatsuki organization, would have utilized his deadly metallic appendage better had he not been taking on nine genin at once.
"It was foolish to attack all of us by yourself!" Neji taunted the slumped, swamp-colored man hidden underneath the cover of his black coat while rushing at him. The Hyuuga prodigy threw a flurry of his two-finger thrusting strikes, aiming them at where one's chakra nodes would have been. The slumped blob of rotten flesh shrugged off Neji's strikes and began striking the ground around him with his tail in a downfall of skewering stabs resembling how a scorpion stuck its tail to its prey.
"Something with Neji's stance is off…" Rock Lee noted.
"Yeah, that something might have saved his life," Tenten replied, noting how it was because Neji keeping his back foot ready for evasive action and not devoting to his offense too much might have allowed him to move around the hunter's strikes.
"What's the matter?" Kiyomi wondered when Neji slid beyond the immediate reach of the Akatsuki hunter's tail. This man was formidable, even when facing nine whole opponents the genin had failed to as much as damage his straw hat so far.
"Something is wrong with his chakra nodes. They're… Very dim, not to mention in the wrong places. I can't get a clean hit on them, there's something inside that man that's serving as a smokescreen to his chakra nodes…" Neji grit his teeth in frustration.
"You're wrong…" the Akatsuki hunter grumbled with a husky and rather unpleasant voice. "It is because there are nine of you that any of you have survived this long against me…"
"That's it, I'm popping another clone, you know!" Naruto declared and pressed his hands in the clone hand seal position. He was referring to the shadow clones he had created and left in the location of his clash against Deidara and the Snow Ninja. A trio, now a duo, perhaps, that stayed dormant and focused on building up Natural Chakra for his Sage Mode.
"Save them. This guy is nothing either one of us couldn't beat." Kiyomi denied him. Despite looking displeased with being shut down, Naruto lowered his hands.
"Oh? You're saying you're holding back?" the Akatsuki hunchback wondered.
"If we make too much noise, we'll attract more hunters…" Kiyomi replied. "You should have paid closer attention to what your captors told you – you hunters haven't been juiced up to snuff, you're not on our level."
"All this waiting and talking…" the cloaked lump of swampy flesh croaked. "It's making me impatient!"
Kiyomi bounced back, avoiding the extendable iron tail that rushed in on her position from underground. It would have been difficult to catch her unaware with a trick she herself employed on more than one occasion. Still, the tail forced her to mid-air and away from the ground, which was one half of her ninjutsu prowess, in mid-air Kiyomi couldn't rely on her Earth Release and then tail easily corrected its trajectory, taking a deceitful stab downward after reaching its maximum altitude and bending downward.
A flock of sparks left from the tip of the tail. It tasted Meiko's fine-molded steel which her buckler was made of as it slammed against the tip and sent it arrowing at the other direction, at the direction of its original user, in fact. The tail's tip tore through the black cloak and slammed into the side of the crooked man. All nine genin looked confused by the dull thud that the body of the enemy let out once his own powerful tail drove into it.
"I thought so when I hit him," Neji closed his eyes and nodded. "It felt like his skin was made of some sort of armor, armor that not even his own steel can penetrate if it's flying at a grazing trajectory."
"You've no idea what I am, trash…" the Akatsuki member replied, raising his arm from outside the tear in his armor and revealing it to be armed with a gauntlet, likely one similar to the weapon he used against Mouza, the one that exploded into pieces of shrapnel.
"You're one of the pair that captured Gaara!" Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists.
"On the contrary, I believe I have a perfect idea…" Neji smirked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Naruto, but this thing we are facing is in fact just a puppet, hiding the true puppeteer inside."
"That's right, I didn't see him die so I don't know all of his abilities but I seem to recall moving in to him in close distance being a bad idea, you know," Naruto nodded.
"Indeed, it's very lucky that I attacked cautiously before. If he indeed is a puppeteer, then poison is also on the table. I'd reckon someone on the Akatsuki would use an extremely deadly strain of it too!" Neji took a fighting stance. "One of our powerhouses needs to smash this outer shell, that is when I will attack the man inside."
"Smashing is a big no-no," Kiyomi disagreed. "It will make too much noise."
"Yeah, who died and made you the boss!?" Mouza picked himself off the dirt and dusted off his jacket.
"You're just arguing for the sake of arguing, Mouza…" Toro looked at his teammate with disappointment. "Neji's plan is solid."
"No way!" Naruto swiped his hand and then clenched his other one into a fist. "This bastard is one of the pair that captured Gaara, I'm taking him on seriously!"
"Stand down, Naruto, while your Rasengan has ample destructive power to destroy his outer shell, it requires a close distance for you to use it. You will get knicked by his tail for sure!" Neji opposed Naruto's idea of taking center stage in this clash.
"Seriously, we just lost the attention of four hunters, are we this desperate to get it back?" Kiyomi slapped her face in frustration. Moving in a group of nine seemed like a good idea at the time but it was quickly spiraling out of control, not to mention the natural encumbrances of traveling in such a large group. Back when it was just three of them, they could have maneuvered around tight corners and alleyways, move nice and slow but also subtly. There was no subtlety with a squad of this size.
Naruto weaved a clone jutsu hand seal, creating a handful of shadow clones, clenched his hand, then raised it over his head and opened his palm. Orange markings appeared over his face, just under Naruto's eyes. Naruto's pupils took a changed shape of a minus. A pair of clones began molding chakra in the open palm over Naruto's head.
"It doesn't matter if you use your massive Rasengan again, I can't believe in those years you haven't learned that sometimes it's not about the size or power!" Neji objected to Naruto's usage of his Sage Mode. Kiyomi wasn't a big fan either, as, if her experience with Naruto's Sage Mode tipped her in the right direction, this jutsu was just certain to make a massive blast.
"Useless and slow!" the Akatsuki hunter taunted Naruto and threw his tail in a lightning-quick jab right at the unpredictable orange ninja. A fleshy slash suggested that the scorpion-like hunter was successful in scratching Naruto with his tail but an elementary visual inspection made it apparent that it was, in fact, a spare pair of Naruto clones that stepped in to catch the tail in their hands.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto growled while slinging the whirling, windmill shuriken-shaped Rasengan at his opponent. Just in time too, as the clones that had caught the tail in front of him had dispersed from the combo of minor damage and the poison they took in.
"He threw it!?" Neji leaned forward in disbelief.
"As I've said, useless…" the Akatsuki hunter proclaimed with his despicable voice as his tail raced with the shuriken to assist its master, retracting just in time for the tip to bend and push the puppet armor off the ground, just an inch or two over the spinning demise that flew his way.
Sage Naruto clenched his fist again. The Rasenshuriken detonated in mid-flight, enveloping the enigmatic Akatsuki puppetmaster in its massive blast range. A howling white sphere of destruction, comprised of microscopic needles of Wind Release chakra hurling up in a relentless storm of white gales. Every single needle, as small as a pin that could penetrate a single cell, carried inside of it the power of a raging storm all by themselves and all that power let loose upon the fragile wind pin breaking. Just like the Rasengan unleashed the typhoon it packed within upon detonation.
An attractive young man of messy, red hair rose from the smoke and examined the radius of destruction around him. His favorite puppet – Hiruko laid by his feet together with multiple blocks that were demolished by the blast while the genin were nowhere in his sight. Being outplayed and proven so wrong by measly prey… It shouldn't have been within his character to enjoy something of this nature but this made a smirk color the face of Sasori of the Red Sand.
A young woman of a fair face and wild, black hair that floated over her head as if she was submerged underwater landed beside Sasori. The eyes of this woman raced across the battlefield but she was not examining it, she just seemed uneasy in her own body, almost as if something else was borrowing it…
"My, my… A member of the Akatsuki, huh? I thought you folk were sturdier than letting a handful of kids outsmart you…" the young woman teased Sasori. To show off how little his patience was for such talk, a puppet of dark skin, black eyes, and spiky, dark hair emerged from the wreckage and crossed its swords by the throat of the young woman. Without saying so, Sasori gave this annoying gnat a few seconds to mumble one reason to keep her alive.
"Ki-Ki-Ki! Come now, what use it would be to kill this young lady when she's not even in charge of her own body?" a twisted bird-like creature comprised of a body with facial features and wings behind it, as well as ape-like limbs on the side, all covered in black feathers landed beside Sasori on the other side.
"That isn't entirely true…" Senju Ari admitted, glancing at the crossed blades about to open up her throat. "The Zero Tails might have inhabited my body but our bond is a symbiotic one. It likes to sometimes stay down and feast on the darker contents of my soul while I use all of our combined power…"
"I have no time to converse with walking, talking cartoons. I'm not one for standing around doing nothing, you see…" Sasori closed his eyes and had the Third Kazekage puppet collapse lifeless by Senju Ari's side while the real Sasori raised a scroll he pulled out from under his coat and sealed the puppet he had hoped to use in the upcoming clash with the Nine-Tails' Jinchuuriki. "Although this Zero Tails talk is amusing. I must admit I'm a bit confused if I should kill you, or not…"
"Oh, Sasori-san! You don't change, all fancy talk and stout façade!" a white, fungal man emerged from the ground while his duplicates sprouted from all around. A colorful brigade of rogues, misfits, and Yokai, all attracted to one, massive explosion that took their attention.
"Zetsu… Good, maybe you can clarify it for me, is a "Zero Tails" on the record for the beasts we must capture?" Sasori looked at a familiar face. Despite his bemused and unchanging expression, he truly was glad to see this creepy dweeb show his face.
"Hmmm… Nope, it's absolutely worthless for us. Lucky for you, since you're not supposed to be killing genin on purpose. Didn't they even neuter your poison?" White Zetsu used his unnatural, moldy body to wrap himself around Sasori though not as a constrictor that puts a squeeze on its prey, rather like a friend that reaches out over his friend's shoulder with their hand, except this time Zetsu used his entire body for such friendly hand.
"You're lucky I am loyal to Akatsuki, if you told this to someone more unhinged, like Kakuzu, he'd murder you for sure…" Sasori closed his eyes and pocketed his scroll.
"Wait up, Sasori-san!" an entire platoon of White Zetsu yelled out and ran after their fellow Akatsuki member.
"Did we slip away?" Rock Lee wondered, pressing his back to the wall, looking too distressed to peek through the corner of the gate that all three teams crossed to enter into the small district they made their way into.
"It seems so…" Guna said after letting a goopy clone of her flap about and observe the coast around them and then dissolve. "I'd be surprised if we weren't. That was one hell of a distraction!"
"You did the right thing, Naruto." Kiyomi turned to Naruto who sat on his butt with both of his arms crossed over his chest and pouted with a childish look that stared at one point in space at all times.
"As expected, it did not take long for hunters to swarm the place…" Neji stared at the district they just left. "We were lucky not to attract any on our way here, however, that much is great."
"Ugh…" Tenten stared at the wooden buildings around her. "Not this place… Like… I love me some Hot Springs, don't get me wrong, but this is the absolute worst time for a bath."
"Wonder if they have some spare kimonos there…" Kiyomi pressed her index finger to the tip of her lips. When confronted by raised eyebrows all around her she smiled and shrugged. "I'm asking for Meiko, not for myself!"
"That's… Actually worse…" Toro scratched his temple with a polite attempt to keep a smile on his face despite feeling some unease after this jest.
"Hmmm… This might not be the worst outcome for us. If we pass the Hot Springs and leave on the other side, the main street will lead us to the Inuzuka District. From there – the Aburame District." Neji pointed out.
"You intend on leaving through the western checkpoint and then traverse through the forest? That's a fairly long path…" Kiyomi pointed out, catching on to Neji's rather brilliant strategy.
"Maybe, but I consider forest a superior ground to move through under these conditions, plus, I don't think that any hunters would bother laying traps all around the wall as most genin rushed straight to the southern exit – the straightest path to the Forest of Death." Neji closed his eyes as he pondered on his own plan for a second, trying to find any obvious flaws in it as it was a rather recent stratagem, one he made up once prompted by the location he found himself in.
"Hmmm… Moving to the southern checkpoint from the western one will be quite tedious, you know…" Naruto scratched his cheek with a face similar to the one he had when he ate some bad fishcakes. Due to poor hygiene and food habits, it was a face Kiyomi and Meiko had gotten used to even in the handful of weeks they knew the future Seventh Hokage for.
"Don't be such a pansy, Naruto!" Meiko placed her hands on her hips.
"No, it's fine if he doesn't like it because we won't be following Team Guy." Kiyomi declared.
"Huh?" Naruto and Meiko both looked up at Kiyomi while Rock Lee and Tenten turned at her with blank stares. Only Neji appeared like he had known this was coming.
"I'm grateful you guys didn't make such a huge deal out of it and suggested it yourselves." Neji nodded.
"What do you mean? Shouldn't we stick together, you know?" Naruto scratched his head. "Neji and Bushy Brows and Tenten helped us out heaps…"
"They did, but the reason why we got into a fight with that Akatsuki puppeteer was that there were too many of us moving together, we're easy to spot this way and our movement is bogged down even worse than before. This isn't like the last Forest of Death exams, in this one, we might be better off staying on our own, especially if Team Guy intends on moving down the main street leading to two important village clan districts." Kiyomi explained.
"So you're ditching us then?" Mouza wrapped his large arms over his chest too and pouted in a manner, not unlike one in which Naruto was pouting not too long ago.
"I thought you were the one opposing me hanging around you guys, to begin with?" Kiyomi looked up at the big guy.
"While you have a point, Kiyomi, it does kind of feel like you've used us, in a way…" Toro shrugged. "It just cannot be helped…"
"That's fine. Before we leave, we can offer you all the directions you want. Not only that, there must be a map of this place somewhere in the waiting area since this place is a part of the network of beloved tourist attractions, alongside the traditional architecture of the Uchiha district and… Hiro Hall…" Kiyomi chewed on that last one for a fair time.
"Hiro Hall? That one's a new one, you know…" Naruto pondered on it. What a buffoon! It was just so much like him to press for information on the least pleasant tourist attraction.
"It's a venue for artists and movies, lately more for the latter than the former," Meiko explained, her eyes also clouded in shade upon recalling the place though her lips quivered with emotion far more than Kiyomi's who chose to just stiffen them in a strict pout.
"Oh… We do have cinemas, ours aren't anything special though so they're not tourist attractions or anything, you know…" Naruto shrugged, dismissing the topic altogether once the shine of the new thing dangled in front of him stopped entertaining him.
"Alright then, teams, through the Hot Springs and then apart!" Rock Lee declared with a brave gesture of a fist shooting out at the direction of the Hot Springs waiting area leading up to the dressing rooms and the Hot Springs themselves.