Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto franchise or any of the characters, unfortunately.
Day 2
Naruto paced around the tent hastily, his mind racing with ideas every second. Most of them were almost guaranteed going to fail and were certifiably crazy, but the few that did seem to have some merit were stored in his mind.
They were under a serious disadvantage.
Team Seven still had not found a single scroll over the past day, and Naruto knew for a fact that the other teams had found scrolls. They needed to find a Heaven scroll as fast as possible, which wasn't going well at all. Sasuke looked similarly distressed, looking at the ground as he sat and thought idly. Sakura just looked frustrated, if the scowl on her face was any sign.
Naruto was also frustrated, but not because of the mission. The entire clone experience from yesterday was extremely eye-opening, and showed just how strong his fellow Jinchuuriki were. If Team Seven were to meet the two of them, they would get absolutely destroyed. Naruto really couldn't deny that fact no matter how much he tried to search for a way to defend himself. The sheer amount of power that radiated from Fu and Gaara in that brief instance was enough to convince him of that fact.
But that doesn't mean he was going to concede defeat.
For now, it was better to keep his distance from the two for as long as possible.
"What's our plan now?" Sakura asked.
Naruto spinned a kunai between his fingers. "We just need the Earth scroll, and quickly. The longer we take, the higher the chance that we fail."
Sasuke snorted. "We aren't on a good track so far. If we don't get it by today, it's more or less elimination for us. There's probably some teams already in the towers by now. It'll be harder and harder to find teams that also have an Earth scroll specifically by then."
Naruto hummed in agreement. "That means…we need to go all out."
"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned, pulling her hair backwards as a breeze of wind came towards them.
"We're going to need to split up."
[Battle Strategics increased by a level]
[Battle Strategics is now Lvl 5]
Naruto was surprised at that notification. That skill rarely leveled up.
Sasuke nodded whereas Sakura looked plain horrified.
"Split up? Split up?! We almost died, Naruto! There's a crazy lady running around trying to kill Genin, and you want us to split up?" Sakura asked angrily, her eyes scrunching up.
Naruto sighed. "I don't think the crazy lady will be coming back. There's a lot of Jonin that came to protect us when they were notified about the intruder."
He really did understand her concerns. But he wanted to get out of the forest as possible, and it seemed that Sasuke had the same sentiments.
Sasuke just crossed his arms. "He's right, Sakura."
The pink-haired girl just took a deep breath, before closing and opening her eyes. "Are we all splitting up separately?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. Sakura, you need to team up with Sasuke."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "And you'll go alone? Aren't you being overconfident, Naruto?"
"Overconfident?" Naruto repeated. "No, but I know what I'm capable of. Sakura is more of a support shinobi, and she supports your abilities much better than mine."
Sasuke ignored him entirely. "How about I go by myself?"
Naruto shrugged. "Like I said, me and Sakura won't be a good team by ourselves. And I have shadow clones."
In one fluid motion, Naruto summoned a dozen clones.
"Scout the area! Run as fast as possible! Immediately self-destruct if you find an enemy, and do not approach the target or let them see you outright!" Naruto commanded his clones.
"Yes, boss!" The clones yelled as one.
Naruto turned back to his teammates as his clones dispersed.
The fact that he got his shadow clone's memories when they went away was a mind-blowing realization. It was something Naruto didn't notice before, which, on second that, he really should have realized the second he used the jutsu. It really
was the main advantage of the shadow clones, in his opinion.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. "You still wanna go by yourself?"
[Persuasion increased by a level]
[Persuasion is now Lvl 4]
What's with my skills today?
Sasuke just mumbled frustratedly to himself before looking into the eyes of Naruto. "We're taking the scroll. And you better find at least one scroll, Naruto. Let's meet back up at the center tower in a day. It's either you get a scroll and come to us, or we have the scroll. If we don't see you there…"
Naruto nodded in determination. "Don't worry. I'll be there."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure?"
"Cus' I don't have another option."
He was going to find the Earth scroll no matter what.
[—]
Naruto made his way through the thick overgrowth of greenery in the forest, pausing every minute looking for a good route to travel. He wanted to maximize contact with the other groups without endangering himself, which was obviously hard seeing just how large the forest was.
He had a few encounters, not with other shinobi, but strange creatures that attempted to attack him. A few blows and they ran away, fortunately.
Right when he thought it was getting hopeless, he could see a flicker of black in
the corner of his eye. Naruto immediately stopped and hid behind a large tree, preventing any sound from escaping his mouth or from any movement he made. He slowly peaked around the tree, looking to see who the figure was.
The figure seemed to be mumbling loudly, and was quite clearly a female, if the feminine tones to her body were any sign. "I told him not to wander on his own…"
Naruto froze. He recognized that voice.
Kurotsuchi was right in front of him.
He realized he had two decisions. Either attack the girl right now, and steal any scroll which she might have, or attempt another method. He could fight her, but he wasn't sure whether he could win without using any of his shadows. He didn't remember her stats exactly, but her level was much higher than his.
Regardless, he needed to do something. His team's standing stood on the line. That's when Naruto realized. Her teammate wasn't with her! The last time Naruto had seen Ubuki, he was beaten up and bleeding horribly, meaning she probably was looking for the spectacled boy at this time.
Naruto smirked.
He got out of his hiding spot. "Hello?"
Kurotsuchi's face lit up in panic as she heard another person. Immediately, her hands went into a combat position as she trained her eyes on Naruto.
The blond put his hands up passively. "I'm not here to fight."
"Then what are you here for? Konoha Genin!" She spat venomously.
Naruto recoiled slightly at the blatant disgust in her words. "I'm Naruto, it's nice to meet you as well. Although the weather is quite nice—"
The Genin found his hand moving on its own as he caught the kunai which was flying towards his head. The metal was only an inch away from the middle of his eyes, giving Naruto a weird headache as he slowly pulled it to the side.
Wow, she's absolutely crazy.
"Although the weather is quite nice, I'm here for a serious matter," Naruto said, throwing the kunai aside. "Your teammate, Ubuki, I believe? I know where he is."
Kurotsuchi flipped her cropped, black hair to the side. Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion as she listened to the blond. "Ubuki? You know where he is? How?"
"I was patrolling the area for my team, when I saw a person with glasses trying to run away. I came a little closer, and I realized it was the Iwa Genin that I saw before, your teammate. He looked relatively injured, so I tried to come closer. Weirdly enough, once he saw me, he motioned continuously for me to leave the area, as if something really dangerous was after him," Naruto said, basing his story after some truth, but not wanting to reveal that it was a shadow clone. "I really didn't want to risk my health or position, so I went back. I think I can route you to your teammate, if you come with me."
"Why do you want to help another team?" Kurotsuchi asked. Her eyes were still filled with doubt, but Naruto could tell there was hope as well. She probably really wanted to see whether her team was okay or not.
"Well…my teammates abandoned me," Naruto said, looking down in shame. "They thought I was bringing them down, and asked me to patrol the area before they went for the middle tower. We already had both the scrolls, so we were planning to get into one of the towers at midnight. They didn't feel it was safe before scouting, so they sent me. By the time I came back, they were long gone."
Kurtosuchi's face showed evident pity but that didn't stop her from asking a question. "Why can't you just enter the tower and say you're part of your team?"
Damn.
Naruto sighed dramatically. "I tried, of course. The proctors said I needed both scrolls if I wanted to enter."
"That really doesn't make sense, does it? But that feels like something Konoha would do. I guess I really don't have another choice. But be careful, if you tried to backstab me or try anything behind my back, I won't be…nice that time around," Kurtosuchi warned, her voice becoming threatening at the end.
Naruto didn't really find it very scary. He was also surprised with how quickly she accepted. If anything, he had already expected the whole plan to be a bust. Maybe she really felt sorry for the blond with the story about his teammates? He shrugged internally.
"Alright!" Naruto said cheerfully. "Follow me."
"Wait!"
Naruto felt his heart skip a beat when he heard the accusatory tone in her voice.
"How did you know Ubuki's name?"
That's it? Naruto thought, his heart rate immediately dropping back to normal.
He cocked his head. "I heard it."
[—-]
Sasuke felt his skin itch widely as mosquitoes began to swarm him. He really needed to get out of here.
Sakura just sighed. "We've been walking for hours, Sasuke-kun! How long will it take for us to find someone?"
The Uchiha clicked his teeth together. Was she always this annoying?
"If you walk so slow, we'll never find someone. Follow me!" Sasuke ordered, not looking back as he went into a dash.
Sasuke only managed to run for a minute before he noticed something. It was a smell. Not a pungent one, but an aroma of flavor. Someone was cooking food.
Sakura came behind him, panting in exhaustion. "S-Sasuke—"
He placed a hand over her mouth, before putting a finger to his own, signaling for her to be quiet. Sakura, for some reason, turned bright red as he did so.
Shaking his head, Sasuke slowly crept forwards, slightly crouched so as to not make any sound. He further motioned for Sakura to follow, trusting her to know how to keep quiet. He still remembered from the bell test now she instantly went to hide, and did so pretty well for a fresh out the Academy Genin.
They got closer, and soon, the crackling of fire was to be heard.
Sasuke could feel his mouth water as he eyed a boar being slowly roasted over a campfire of sorts, but quickly blocked those thoughts away.
I am the heir to the Uchiha clan! I am an avenger. Sasuke thought, frowning at his own wants.
He still couldn't keep his eyes off the food, however. But he ignored that. Taking another step forward, he instantly scanned his surroundings.
"Sasuke!" Sakura whispered excitedly. "On the tree trunk, look, look!"
Sasuke felt his eyes move to where Sakura pointed. On the tree trunk next to the food, lay three scrolls. Warning messages immediately lit off in his brain, each of them telling him not to go over to the clearly obvious bait. He urgently looked over to the pink-haired girl behind him, whose eyes were lit with elation.
"Sakura, don't think about it. It's a trap," Sasuke stated.
"Oh? How did you know, Uchiha?"
Sasuke immediately went alert as he heard a new voice.
His eyes came to…
Neji Hyūga.
Sasuke stared at the pale white eyes and the annoying smirk on the boy's face. He felt his eyes redden, summoning the legendary Sharingan into the world. Scarlet eyes stared into white ones.
The Hyūga clan were well known rivals of the Uchiha before the massacre. Before the incident, the Uchiha clan were well considered number one in Konoha. During those times, there was a tangible animosity between the two clans. Of course, Sasuke was too young to see the true depth of the rivalry, but he heard several stories from his parents and brother by that point.
Both of the clans had Doujutsus, ones that were patented to their bloodline. And, inevitably, there was the question within everyone, a question which people were too afraid to ask.
Sasuke was going to answer it for them.
He dashed towards the Hyūga recklessly, wanting to wipe out that pitiful smile as quickly as possible. Imagine Sasuke's surprise when his punch was caught, not by Neji, but by a green-suited boy which he definitely recognized. Lee's grip was strong, but Sasuke tore his hands away either way.
Lee bowed. "Sasuke-san, it's unfortunate we met so early on."
"And why's that?" Sasuke growled angrily, making sure Sakura was still behind him at the same time.
"Because I wanted to defeat you in the finals, but once this fight is over, I'm afraid you will be down one scroll."
Sasuke felt for the scroll in his back pocket, where the paper was attached tightly, relief filling him for a short second as he noticed that it was still there. If it somehow left him while he wasn't paying attention…Sasuke wasn't sure how angry he would have gotten. It would have been a horrible, shameful experience if they lost the Earth scroll and Naruto came with the Heaven scroll at the tower.
He wasn't going to let that happen.
Sakura trembled next to him. "Sasuke, what do we do?"
Lee and Neji stood in front of them in casual positions, but Sasuke knew better. They were mentally preparing to move at a moment's notice. Sasuke knew he had no chance against the both of them, even with Kakashi's training.
Lee spoke first. "Please, give us the scroll, Sasuke-san. I'd like to prevent any fighting between us, as we are both from Konoha, after all."
Sasuke just sneered. He saw how the boy looked at Sakura as he said that. "Over my dead body."
Neji laughed. "Well, that won't be too hard."
Sasuke felt the rage enter his veins. He understood what Neji was aiming at, but he also knew it was a part of his tactics. Neji was purposefully attempting to make him mad, hoping that Sasuke would do something reckless.
He wasn't going to fall for that so easily.
Sasuke entered his own stance.
"I'd like to see you try."
Lee looked apologetic, but Neji's smirk just grew. "Alright."
Neji ran forward without any other words, trying to stop the Uchiha as fast as possible.
Lee stood behind, knowing that Neji would win the fight regardless of whether he interfered or not. From what he gained from the last time he fought the Uchiha, he was severely lacking in some aspects. Neji Hyùga, the one person he rarely defeated, would wipe the floor with Sasuke as many times as he could.
But that was before Sasuke underwent his training. The raven-haired boy knew he had his faults, and had extensively worked on them with the resident Jonin in his team.
And here was this overconfident bastard, trying to fight him head on.
Sasuke's tomoe in his eyes spun like a whirlpool the instant the Hyūga started to move. The first palm that tried to breach his defenses was instantly swept away to the side. The Uchiha spun his leg in revolt, aiming directly for Neji's liver.
Neji pushed his leg down with the side of his arm, before trying a kick of his own. Sasuke crouched downwards, letting the kick fly past his shoulder.
He dug into his pockets, pulling out several shuriken as he stepped backwards. He charged the weapons with lightning, the metal objects cackling with energy. He threw them with frightening speed at the Hyūga, who looked startled for a second before smirking.
"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"
A ball of chakra rotated into thin air, surrounding the Hyūga densely, and reflecting all of the glowing shuriken like they were dirt.
Sasuke just scowled.
Of course, the Hyūga had jutsus of their own. Sasuke had underestimated the clan due to his own hubris, thus leading to the surprising situation that had followed. He knew about how their Taijutsu managed to completely disable chakra, but not at all of the jutsu before him. They kept some stuff secret just like the Uchiha, apparently.
Neji stopped his jutsu right after. "You see, Uchiha? That's the difference between me and you."
Big deal. It's just one jutsu. Sasuke thought to himself, just frowning on the outside.
The pale boy went back into a battle stance. "Now, how about we end this whole—"
Everyone on the makeshift battlefield froze as they felt the earth tremble underneath them. Even Lee, who was busy talking with Sakura as their respective teammates fought.
What was happening? What was causing the shaking of the literal earth itself?
"All of you…will die."
The voice was quiet, but struck through the rest of them like an arrow.
What…what is this pressure? It reminds me of Itachi! Sasuke thought, shocked.
Lee, Sasuke, Sakura, Neji all whipped their heads to the newcomer, who stood on a nearby branch with his arms crossed and eyes closed lazily. His red hair was a sharp contrast to pale skin. Sand rose in front of him, the earth in front of the boy dissolving into more sand as it became alive and levitated, eager to be used to its master's bidding.
Sasuke pulled out his kunai, charging it with lightning chakra.
I have a bad feeling about this.
[—]
Naruto whistled casually as he strolled around the forest with his best friend, Kurtosuchi, right behind him.
"Are you sure we are going the right way?" She asked dubiously, checking her surroundings every other second.
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! My memory is impeccable…most of the time."
Kurotsuchi just laughed nervously.
He went back to whistling.
Naruto knew for a fact that the girl behind him had a scroll, which was the entire reason he was entertaining her in the first place. But, he didn't want to get into a direct confrontation with her either. Her level was near Lee's and Neji's, and those were people he definitely wasn't confident in beating without either of his shadow's help.
The blond was just looking for a moment to deceive the girl and escape with the scroll unharmed. He wasn't willing to be injured without any of his teammates to help him, either. What happens if he just loses both his legs and there's no one to carry him? He shuddered at the thought.
"We're getting closer!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.
"Shh! What happens if someone hears you?" Kurotsuchi asked, her eyes darting around all over the place.
The Uzumaki chuckled. "Who the hell would be lonely enough to find us here in this huge forest?"
"I'm here."
A tan girl with bright, amber eyes and even weirder hair made her appearance.
"Fuu," Naruto breathed out, cursing his luck internally.
The girl flipped onto the ground next to them.
Naruto completely forgot what he saw the last time he met Ubuki. There was a reason why the normally strict boy looked terrified.
"Oh, you know my name? I guess I am a bit popular. Hey! You both look pretty strong!" Fuu said, eyeing them appraisingly. "Let's see…you guys look strong, and I'm really, really bored. This whole situation is begging for a fight, right?"
Naruto gulped as he could see the chakra rise from Fuu's skin.
It was Jinchuuriki vs Jinchuuriki all over again, except this time, he was one of them.
This isn't going to end well.
-[end]-
Yo!
Huge news/SP : I officially have a Pa treon. Currently, the next chapter (Chapter 16) is up for Tier 1s. Add /PaladinKaladin after the com. Or just search up my name on the website. Chapter 17 and 18 will be up tomorrow and the day after for higher tiers. Thank you to anyone who signs up and supports me financially as a creator! This writing takes a lot of time and effort, and it would help me a bunch on my path to become a writer if you do register.
For everyone else, the next chapter is still being up next Tuesday, so don't worry!
Hope you liked the chapter! It's Naruto and Kurotsuchi vs Fuu, and Sasuke and the rest vs Gaara. The might of the Jinchuuriki, truly. This chapter was mostly set up for their game plan and the next chapter.
How will our favorite blond deal with it this time? His luck, white noticeably, is seriously horrible. He might bump that up a few points.
Onto the question of the day:
Question 1: If you could have one ability from the Naruto series, which would it be? I'm deleting Shadow clones from the options, as that's the obvious choice. Its between the Sharingan and the Flying Raiijan for me.
Thanks for reading,
Make sure to follow, review, and favorite so you don't miss out on the next update, which is next Tuesday.
Schedule: Updating every Tuesday!