Chapter 27: The Main Attack!
"Hey wait. Yuri." Shikamaru grabs her hand. Stopping her from moving. "Do you and Naruto remember what happened yesterday? What Gaara said? I do. For sure."
Yuri thinks back. She does remember what Gaara said, and she remembers it bothering her as well. It was words that were going to bother her until she figured something out. "All the same, I will kill you. Just you wait. I'll kill you all."
"That's what he said, but then he didn't do it." Shikamaru mumbles.
"It was the perfect chance… to kill all of us…" Yuri mumbles.
Gaara had the chance. He could have targeted Shikamaru, who was the weakest out of the three of them and force them to try to protect Shikamaru and Lee. It would have worked, Yuri can see it clearly. But Gaara didn't… it would have made sense.
"It was like he didn't even see us or something." Shikamaru continues.
"We're not good enough for that guy." Naruto talks back to him.
"Right now the only person that can make him feel anything–"
She doesn't know what is bothering her, but Gaara seemed to be on a leash. Which is really strange.
"The only one is Sasuke."
"Wait… guys… he said all… shouldn't that–" Yuri begins.
But neither one of them is listening to her. They both seem so caught up in their own heads that it isn't making any sense. Gaara being able to kill them, he could have right before Guy got there. It is as strange as she can think. He told them he felt alive when he killed people.
But she tasted something else. Dead snake skin. Something is going on here… and she isn't liking it. She needs to tell Shikamaru and Naruto… Kabato left and he's back? Why would he?
"Guys… please–"
"Shikamaru, Yuri we have to go talk to Kakashi sensi right now." Naruto says.
Shikamaru only looks at Naruto. "What are you planning to do?"
"Will you two listen to me?" Yuri steps towards them.
But Naruto takes off, and Shikamaru follows him. Yuri groans and runs after them. Why is Shikamaru not listening to her? He normally listens to her and will pause to hear her out. Was it because she had shown anger at Sasuke? There is something else at play here. But she has to follow the idiot and the lazy smarty pants
"Kakashi sensi!" Naruto yells.
She is panting and seeing Lee out of bed, this is bad. Lee might not be safe here… and it worries her. And the taste is overwhelming out here. Blood, Orochimau and Kabato's. This isn't a good combination. She glances over and sees Sakura is the only one dressed for anything.
Ino and Choji are in casual clothes, and she doesn't like it.
"What… what is it, Naruto?" Kakshi asks.
She steps in front of him but he talks before she can. She wanted them to be on the same page. She knew they weren't and no one knew what she was thinking.
"You just have to stop this match, right away." Naruto tells them.
Causing them all to look at Naruto. And she knows no one is going to listen to her. She needs to tell someone about what her thoughts are.
"What?" Kakashi asks.
Yuri gets low next to Shikamaru. "Shika… Orocimaru, blood and Kabato… I don't like the combination…"
Naruto goes on. Telling them to stop the match since Sasuke is going to die if he continues. While Yuri agrees, she knows there might be something more.
"What do you mean Yuri?" Shikamaru asks.
"Think about it… he didn't kill us then, even though he could have. Kabato and Orochimaru here? You know what's strange? I should be tasting a stronger mint, the sand siblings father… but I'm not."
Shikamaru doesn't say anything to Yuri though, she is being ignored, or he is thinking. One of the two. But she has to say something.
He finally looks at her. "You sure?"
"I am. I tried to tell you two, but you were both so freaked out."
But no one is listening to Naruto. They barely react to what he says. While Sasuke could die… it wasn't just for this one thing. She didn't taste the actual Kazakage… and it was strange. It wasn't something she liked thinking.
"Relax. No need to panic." Kakashi begins. "You know, Sasuke and I weren't just goofing around. There's a reason we were so late getting here."
Yuri snickers and she turns back to Shikamaru. But he holds up a hand. She doesn't like this. Shikamaru has been dismissing her so much today, probably thinking he's some big shot since he had a really good match before her's.
"Are you sure you aren't letting your hurt feelings about Sasuke being late cloud your judgement?"
Shikamaru's words cut Yuri deep. And she can only sit there blinking at him. Is she? Maybe. Does she think there is greater danger today? She fully does think that. She is mad at Sasuke about leaving, but the taste doesn't lie. And she hates that while yes, Shikamaru could be right she knows it isn't. And he knows it. But she gets so mad, she balls her fist up.
"At least…" Yuri tries to start.
"Save it, Yuri. You're upset about Sasuke."
But they hear electricity. He is holding a ball of electricity. Guy explains it as Sasuke hits the ball of sand Gaara is hiding in. It leaves everyone shocked, but she doesn't know. She begins to move away from Shikamaru and then, what is even the point of talking to Shikamaru? Yuri is beyond upset that he isn't listening to her.
But Gaara screams about him being hurt and then an arm coming out, one that isn't Gaara's. There is a stillness on the field as she can't move. The taste of blood is greater than Orochimaru's… and she needs to get everyone out of there. Yuri tastes Asami sensi and begins to move towards the taste, maybe Asami sensi will listen to her!
The sand crumbles, and she sees Gaara had blood on him.
And she feels sleepy all of a sudden… and feathers? She even sways while she moves a little.
No.
"Release."
A genjustu? Why? What reason is there for doing this? Putting everyone to sleep.
Something is about to happen here. And she drops to the ground once the explosion happens. Making sure to be safe, she isn't strong enough should there be a fight breaking out. She had just fought, and she had the chakra to fight… she wasn't sure about fighting possibly people who are smarter and stronger than her. And there are some more awful chakra's, she didn't notice before. Not with everything going on.
But there are sound ninjas at the end of the stairs. Yuri only stares at them as they notice her. She doesn't move just yet.
Yuri needs to protect Shikamaru and Naruto. Though… she is pretty sure Shikamaru saw through the genjustu. She notices Hani and her team is chasing after Gaara. Maybe she should go after them…
But fighting breaks out and Yuri tries to keep down, but Asami cuts someone down right in front of her. Seeing Asuma and Kurenai fighting as well, she pauses. Asami looks at her for a second but looks back forward.
"Yuri!" Asami sensi. "Go after him! Go."
"After him?" Yuri has to pause.
"Sasuke and Gaara! Go after them! Kenji still isn't 100% and Isamu is in the infirmary. I need you to go find Sasuke and stop him from doing something dumb." Asami shakes her head. "I am giving you an A-Ranked mission. I know you can move fine on your own. Use your head. Don't get caught."
She takes a moment to process this information. She… she is going on a mission alone?
"No one else is coming with me?" Yuri asks, she doesn't want to go alone.
"You aren't. Yunagi was sitting by and was out. Asuma! Wake her up!" Asami yells.
Asuma quickly gets the girl woken up. And she is brought over to Yuri.
"I can't find Akira though. Domi will have to do it." Kurenai says, with the girl who was overly loud at the preliminaries.
"You three, go after Sasuke. Do not engage in fights, once you get him calm him down. Yuri, you are in charge of finding him. Yuri is a sensory type and can find people. Follow her lead."
"Right." The three say.
Yuri doesn't hesitate as she moves forward. Asami protects them as they make their way out of the arena. Yuri has never worked with these girls, and she doesn't know what they can do. But if Asami Sensi is trusting her on this mission and she believes these girls can also do it… Yuri will go with it. She knows she can work with anyone, she has to be able to work with anyone. The girls don't speak for a moment. The problem is… she doesn't know their skill level that well and what they can do. She can't form a strategy without knowing everything.
Even with knowing skill level, she doesn't know everything going on. Just as the Sand and Sound are attacking, Orochimaru and Lord Third are now fighting, Sasuke is chasing Gaara, and it seems the whole village is under attack. She knows the area of the leaf, but Orochimaru used to be a leaf ninja, so he also knows the area. Yunagi and Domi and all kinds of unknown in these situations, and she doesn't like it.
She needs to know more about them to evaluate what skill levels they are.
"I need to know something about each of you. Yunagi I know you have ice, Domi what do you do?" Yuri tries to focus on Sasuke, she needs to pinpoint his taste.
"I only know the basics really. I have earth release, that's the primary one." Domi says.
Groaning internally, she knew Domi wasn't the best… but she only has basic releases? Basic justus? While she could deal some damage, everyone could do those things. It wouldn't allow them to beat anyone should they come across them. They were going to be sitting ducks until they caught up to Sasuke.
Yunagi speaks up. "Pardon her… she was destroyed by our sensi this last month for her… spectacular loss in the preliminaries."
"Don't bring tha–"
Yuri rolls her eyes. "Stop. I saw and bet against you. You could train more."
Domi reminds her of Sakura and Ino when they were younger. And that isn't saying much since the two of them still act like entitled brats most of the time. Yuri needed to figure out what she was going to do. They were chasing Sasuke, and there were fights breaking out all around the village. Nothing was going to change how things were working out.
"Wait… aren't you the girl dating Sasuke Uchiha? The hottest Rookie?" Domi asks.
"Shut up Domi." Yunagi snaps.
Yuri shakes her head and focuses. She needs to find Sasuke and stop him from being dumb. Unless Sasuke has already decided to be an idiot. He did go after Gaara, someone who he shouldn't have. No way was Sasuke all that smart. But she needed to focus, and not on how big of an idiot her boyfriend was.
They need to move quickly and be sure they aren't found. Of course… people will notice three genin moving about. And since she can sense people, it makes sense for her being in charge. She would work on her leadership skills later.
"Listen to me, I am in the front, Domi then Yunagi. Not a full line, but we need to remain in a formation. A little line would allow us to move quicker and be less detectable." Yuri says.
Neither girl fights her as she picks up her pace. Both of them are fresh and willing to fight. From what she remembers, neither of their injuries were serious. Which works for her, she needed to ensure they were willing and able to fight. Yuri on the other hand was coming off a fight and while she hadn't been injured… She needed to keep up. She was setting the pace.
As they move through, she picks up Sasuke's taste. And she moves that way, seeing that they are both behind her, she activates her byakugan and sees Sasuke's chakra. It's still a while ahead of her and her byakugan isn't as good as it should be. Not to mention Sasuke is at the limit of her range on it. Deactivating it she continues on and moves quicker. She also tastes blood and peppermint.
Gaara and Kankuro… she can't believe she has to go on a date with that guy. Though… it might be null–
She needs to focus. Details can be thought about later that have nothing to do with the circumseances that are happening currently.
As they get closer three people get in their way. She pulls out her kunai stops in her tracks, needing to remain in her place and figure out the situation they have just found themselves in. Yuri pauses and she sees Hani.
"The woman after my own heart. Hani of the sand." Yuri smirks and shakes her head.
Hani smiles and tilts her head. "Oh? Yuri of the Leaf. Shall we finish our match?"
While Yuri would love nothing more than to finish their match, this is no longer a controlled environment. And it wouldn't be fair since they have teams around them now, it would be an uneven match of strength. She knows Hani's team is strong, they only got beat because they were matched up against people who happened to be stronger than them.
Asami sensi said not to engage in a fight… but she doesn't know if they can avoid it. They could run, but that would mean they could get pinned down by more people. Since these people are similar in power level as they are, it makes more sense to fight Hani and her team. It would be more dangerous to move away and try to avoid the fight.
A tense moment passes as Yuri realizes they have to stand and fight.
"Let's dance." Yuri smirks.
Yunagi raises an eyebrow at Yuri and Yuri launches forward. She needs to be careful about using abilities. Yuri knows she would be killed by Asami and Shikamaru if she used anything she had copied that might not have been learned. Hence why Doki was her teacher. Hani and Yuri were on a similar level since they had fought against each other before. She clashes with Hani and smirks.
But they needed to get information. Yuri had no idea why the sand was attacking them.
"Why are you even attacking us? I thought the Leaf and the Sand were allies." Yuri asks.
Hani shakes her head. "I don't know all the details. I just have a mission."
"Shame, the woman after my heart…" Yuri mumbles.
Hani moves and goes after Yuri once again, putting Yuri on the defensive.
The man behind her with the desert cat shakes his head. "Hani, we need to–"
"Oh shut it!" Hani yells. "Let me at least find out if I would have won!"
The one with the weapons comes up behind Yuri and she has to dodge him, as he nearly hits Hani. Yuri moves too fast, the guy… she believes his name is Awagi, has to divert slightly. Hani barely avoids it as well. Yuri didn't put her full skills on display.
Yunagi joins in the action and shoots Ice shurikan at the boy, and he has to dodge out of the way. Yunagi remains calm and collected though she was another one who was put against someone stronger than her. Leaving the desert cat to go ahead and attack. Domi steps in and tries to light the cat on fire. Good for Domi, keeping her teammate protected.
Yuri goes back after Hani, she should help with the others, especially Domi, but she can't bring herself to do so. Hani is the biggest threat Yuri has identified. But she knows it's best not to count the other two out. Breaking away from Hani, she goes after the desert cat boy. But Hani gets in her way.
Yunagi is holding her own though she and Awagi are engaged in battle. And they seem to be pretty evenly matched. Yunagi doesn't carry weapons around, she uses the ice for everything, even making kunai. She is about to tap him when a desert cat comes in and disrupts her justu. Glancing over, she notices Domi is struggling against the owner. Why can't she remember the name of the guy?
Facing Hani again, Yuri realizes two things:
First, Hani was also holding back in their fight. Second, and more important, Yuri and her team will lose. Overall they are a weaker team, mostly because Domi is at a slightly lower level and the sand team is better put together, they know who to engage with and fight against. Yuri needs to think of a way out of it. They could disengage and chase Sasuke, but the taste is fading from her mouth.
Yuri getting cuts and injuries from the fight isn't going to help her. The more injuries she got the less time she would have to plan and get away. Hani shoots water at her and it is infused with wind. Cutting Yuri some more. And Domi is starting to get destroyed by the boy. Yuri is going to need to get them away from here, eventually. Rather sooner than later. The longer the battle goes on the less chance they had of completing their mission.
Could she get Domi to disengage quickly enough? Possibly not.
And with Hani going all out on Yuri, she has to decide if she needs to use shadows, that might allow for them to disengage and get away. But that would tip her hand a little that she knows more than she is letting on. Hani lands a cut on Yuri and she knows she needs to do something.
But Yuri tastes someone approaching, a jonin is coming to them since the taste is getting stronger. Pork dumplings, a family member of Hinata and Neji, and she has tasted this before, in the Preliminaries. It's Yunagi and Domi's sensi.
Yuri needs to delay, she needs to delay until their sensi gets here. And what better way to stop fighting than to give up dome information? She is a sensory type ninja after all and she could talk herself into a delay. Might give Domi and Yunagi a chance to regroup.
"Wait." Yuri and Hani engage as she witnesses Domi becoming injured. "We know Orochimaru is here. Why? Where is the Kazekage?"
Thankfully, this might work. As Hani seems to pause at her words and doesn't seem to move for a moment. Yuri realizes she was just chaotic, and she knows just how much information to give up at this time. She knows how to keep them engaged. It's what Asami sensi did all the time.
Hani narrows her eyes. "The Kazekage was watching the match."
"No… no he wasn't. He wasn't the Kazekage, I can't explain it all… but I know it was Orochimaru, he attacked us in the forest of death. And I know the Kazekage wasn't at the matches."
Yuri isn't lying, and they know it. Ninja are taught to lie and taught when to tell the truth. Being with Asami sensi, Yuri has learned both the hard way. She knows when is the time to lie and when she needs to tell the truth. This is managing two things: delaying the enemy and revealing she knows something they don't. Both will throw off their rhythm and hopefully give her team the advantage.
Hani moves back as the desert cat comes after her. Yuri doesn't move though, she knows what she has to do. And she knows the Sand will follow their leader to the ends of the earth, much like the Leaf would.
"You're lying!" He says.
"I can prove it." Yuri says.
This causes all of them to pause and look at Yuri. She has them, and she knows the next part is a gamble. But so long as they ask questions and pause so she can let the sensi come to help them, the better for her and the team around her.
Hani speaks up first. "How?"
"The sand siblings. They have a distinct taste an-"
"Taste?" The one with a coffin asks.
Her eyes cut to the coffin guy. He didn't even let her finish speaking. And that is good for her. All their attention is on her, meaning it's giving Domi a chance to lick her wounds and maybe move away.
"It's a clan ability. Families taste similar. And I can taste the kage's. They have strong enough chakra, and so do the sand siblings, a mint of some kind." Yuri keeps her guard up. "And since your village seems to be working with the Sound, it makes sense why you aren't reacting."
Yuri waits, but all their faces are blank. It's a lot to take in, and she was going to give them time to process all the information. She knows it's weird, but it was out there and since she is using it, might as well give them something to doubt this invasion.
"Why are you telling us all this?" Hani asks.
She looks at Hani. "Call it a gesture of good faith. I don't think the Kazekage is here, why would he be?"
This causes them all to pause and look at Yuri, seeming to process the information. They are clearly outmatched by the sand team, and she guesses they are all above Chunin level. But Yuri knows giving them information could help to keep things calm.
Not to mention, she knows they seem to be hesitant about this information. With her trapping them around her and looking at her, there is a place she knows they won't be looking. She trusts the sensi to come and save them.
And before she knows it there are throwing needles being thrown and all three of them stop and drop. Yuri doesn't relax right away though, she just wants this to be over. She needs to know this fight is over honestly. They haven't found Sasuke. Hani tries to engage chakra and is unable to.
"Sorry. The Hyuga's have a few more tricks up their sleeves than what Neji showed." He jumps down next to Yuri. "Good job girls. Nice tactic Yuri."
"Thank you Sensi." Is all Yuri can say.
Domi and Yunagi come up to them and tie up the trio. Leaving Yuri to remain there, watching the others, but something is still bothering her. Well… a few things.
For starters, she clearly doesn't know everything about the Hyuga's. She doesn't know what he just did, and it bugs her. Maybe Hinata knows and she would have to ask her about it after everything was over. Another thing was how quickly Sasuke was moving, and she could taste Shikamaru, Naruto and Sakura on the move. Of course they would have been on the move. Lastly, why the sand and the sound were working together.
It didn't make any sense. She was bothered by it and how Gaara and Naruto could have the same taste, when she probably knew they wouldn't be related. But they don't have the same after taste, the cotton candy and blood yes, mint and apple? No.
"Come on! What the hell?" Hani says.
The older Hyuga smiles. "That is a trade secret, sorry."
Yuri only looks around. She doesn't know what else to do, but she needs to complete the mission Asami sensi had given her. Stop Sasuke from being an idiot and kick his butt herself. She was still mad at him.
"We need to find Sasuke." Yuri finally says.
She crosses her arms and looks at Yunagi and Domi. Waiting for them to finish, and once they do Domi shakes her head. That is all Yuri needs to know that Domi is having second thoughts about being on this mission. She knows Domi was beaten and probably scared. They all lived in a time of peace… not like the two great ninja wars.
But that doesn't mean there won't be things happening. Such as now. And she had less chakra than she should at this moment.
"We should stay here right?" Domi looks shaken.
Yunagi shakes her head. "Asami sensi gave us a mission Domi. Get Sasuke and hold our position."
And she sees a giant toad. Meaning Jirya is helping out finally. That makes her happy, and means he is going to finally do something. Why did it take him so long to help? She thought he was watching Naruto's match. Seems he was being weird and missed the matches. How annoying.
"Good. Master Jirya is helping." Yuri mumbles.
She knows he can summon toads, and it's part of the reason why he tastes like toads. Even that taste seeps into her mouth. It isn't the most pleasant thing in the world. Shaking her head she puts a hand on her hip.
"We are going to see this through. With Jirya helping out, it makes our job a little easier." She looks at the others.
"Let's get moving." Yunagi says.
Yuri is stopped by a strong taste of blood. And it reminds her of back in the area, Gaara is going into whatever happened before. And it's stronger this time. But she sees in the distance a toad and some sand creature. She freezes in her spot. The taste is so strong… she can only look up in awe at the look of it.
"What… what is that?"
"Cotton candy blood…" Yuri mumbles.
She can only stand there and watch. The toad turns into the nine tailed fox and all Yuri can do is stare, much like the team around her. Until they both come crashing down. And she widens her eyes. All the battles seem to die down. And there is an air of calm coming about. And she realizes a lot of the taste is gone.
No more Orochimaru, but no Hokage, the blood is gone and the cotton candy is basically gone at this point. She knows the battle is over, and they are going to be fine. With everything that happened, Yuri can only imagine the forces that were dispatched to take out the threat.
"The ANBU." Yunagi mumbles.
Yuri looks and they are surrounded by ANBU members. She didn't realize how tired she was or how injured she had become with the fight. Falling to one knee she holds onto her arm. Panting, she had used up more chakra than she realized, and she knew it was a good thing the fighting is about to be over now.
"Status report Hisata?" One of them asks.
So his name is Hisata? A cousin to Hinata and Neji. Seems to be part of the branch family, and a skilled one at that. Hinata should train with him since he seems to know more than Neji does. He just took out three Sand ninja when Yuri and her team couldn't.
It didn't matter to her, they were able to live to see another day. Which was fine with Yuri. It just means she might be able to punch Sasuke hard after this.
"We were attacked, and these girls managed to hold them off. They were chasing after Sasuke Uchiha. But they seem to have been able to hold their own." Hisata explains.
The ANBU looks at the girls and Yuri lets out a sigh. What a drag… and everything was still happening. She was just glad the ANBU was here, and they didn't have to do anything chase after. With the big things gone now, and it seems like the invasion is at an end, Yuri just wants to sleep now.
Notes: Another chapter done! Wow! I am so thankful for all the support and attention this story has been getting! It makes me so happy. Please leave a comment and follow the story!