Kapitel 10: Chapter 10: Trips, Traps and Tricks
Chapter ten – Trips, Traps and Tricks
"It's because we help out when they're in trouble that we can count on them to come running when we need it." - Nara Shikamaru
Naruto trotted after Shisui, feeling like a drowned dog where she sagged in her wet clothes. The rain was coming down in harsh puddles, and from time to time Naruto could swear it was hailing.
Her hair was plastered to her face even though she was wearing her hood up. Even the best raincoat wouldn't have kept this hammering rain, and the one Naruto had borrowed from Akiko was far from top notch.
The inherited pants Naruto got from Shisui lay like glue against her legs and it was both uncomfortable and annoying. Naruto couldn't be even more soaked even if she jumped in a lake.
Looking up to the sky she saw lightning strike towards the ground from high up above them, followed instantly by the sound of rumbling thunder.
"Shit! It's right upon us!" Gritted Shisui out and took a step closer to Naruto as another flash went off.
"It's everywhere." Retorted Naruto loudly through the howling wind, knowing eighty percent of her volume was drowned by the music of Mother Nature herself was creating.
"No, it's right over us. You can tell by how long the span between the lightning strike and the sound of thunder is. The longer the break is between a lightning and thunder the further away it is. But there is no such space. The lightning and the thunder is simultaneously, which means we are right in the middle of the storm!" He shouted back, and as if nature was proving Shisui's point, a tree was struck by a yellow flash so bright Naruto went blind for a second. Next she heard a crash, and when her eyes finally adjusted it was to see a burning tree lying right by Orochimaru's feet in the pouring rain.
"Crap… If only the tree had fallen a bit more to the right." Muttered Naruto in a normal volume, but the storm didn't allow for anyone but herself to hear it.
Shisui was gripping her wrist, his eyes wide as he looked worriedly in every direction. "Shit, shit, shit, shit. We should get under shelter. This is suicide." He said and started dragging Naruto by her arm towards Orochimaru.
But their path was cut off by Gai who seemingly appeared out of thin air. It was hard to use their peripheral vision because it was cut off by the hoods of their cloaks.
"Come my youthful comrades. We are heading for shelter so we can have a meeting!" Gai exclaimed and had the energy to give them a shiny smile that reflected another lightning strike somewhere behind them.
Shisui was about to say something, but Naruto stopped him by stepping forwards and nodding to Gai. "Where exactly?" She asked, they were on the top of a treeless and bare mountain. The best cover she could see was boulders that might screen them from some wind. But wind was coming from every direction and putting up a tent could be dangerous in this type of weather.
"Just follow Choza-sensei! I'll make sure your path is safe while we walk. No lightning can cut down Konoha's Green beast!" Gai shouted so loud neither Naruto or Shisui had problems hearing him.
"Lead the way." Naruto shouted back, also having no problem getting heard by the two others. Gai turned and started leading them sideways towards the edge of the mountain they were crossing. The sides of the mountain had steep drop that could give anyone vertigo if they stared down for too long.
Naruto used chakra under her feet to make sure she didn't accidentally slipped and fall to her death, making sure to have a grip on Shisui's upper arm while they walked. The Uchiha had already made good progress on the wall walking exercise, but he hadn't mastered it completely yet. She was not about to let him fall.
The others were already far ahead of them, making their way over the diagonal parts of the mountain and Naruto was wondering where the hell they were heading. One thing was certain; this was not somewhere anyone would like to go if they had an alternative. The bad weather, the steep side they were clinging to and the slippery surface made sure no one would be tempted to take this route.
Gai offered to carry Shisui, but the boy declined. He even made Naruto let go of him so he could try and do it all by himself. Naruto stayed close though, watching every little slow step he took while he walked sideways along the steepest part of the mountain.
Suddenly Gai stopped and pointed upwards. They had been walking diagonally downwards from the mountain edge, and the mountain bulged slightly outwards at the top before cut in again many meters down. Here there was a small landing that lead inwards for quite a few meters. The place was very well camouflaged and sheltered anyone inside very well.
Happy by the promise of a break from the rain, Shisui and Naruto eagerly followed Gai as he climbed up on the landing which had been completely missed by Naruto until she was right underneath it. She wondered how anyone had found this place in the first place. It wasn't really an obvious place to go look for a hiding spot. Maybe someone had fallen once, and on their way up they'd found this landing.
"This weather is abysmal. Can we stay here tonight Choza-sensei?" Naruto heard Ebisu complain to his sensei. It was much easier to hear in here than it had been outside. The sound echoed slightly on the walls and though Ebisu hadn't been speaking loudly Naruto still caught every word. Choza was running a towel through his bushy hair and smiled apologetically to his student.
"I'm sorry, Ebisu, but no. We have quite a bit more ground to cover before we reach the base." He replied before Naruto looked further in on the landing. It might be described more like a cave with a landing leading out.
"How on earth did anyone find this place?" Anko was asking Orochimaru, and Naruto hid the smile on her face by looking down towards the ground. Orochimaru answered her something unspecific before calling the two teams to him. Everyone gathered around.
"We'll stay here so we can get some food. From here on out I think it best if we split our teams in two, one who'll go before the second one and take a different route." Orochimaru said and fished up a scroll from his pants and bent down to unfold it on the rocky ground. Everyone peeked down while a map was displayed. Orochimaru pointed to a location on the map and then looked up at everyone.
"We're here at the moment. Because of the weather we're a little behind schedule, but if we press on into the night we should reach our next stop and won't lose any time. I have decided to divide our teams according to specialty, and the group I'll be leading will take the more dangerous route." Orochimaru explained while indicating what route his team would be taking. "This route is closer to where we expect the enemy bases is, at least it's an area we've lost many good shinobi and had more than a few ambushes. I'll be taking Anko, Genma and Gai. You three all are skilled in stealth very well." Orochimaru said and looked at each child in turn as he said their names.
He then looked towards Naruto and Shisui who was standing the furthest away. "Naruto and Shisui will go with Choza and Ebisu by taking the north eastern route. It's a little longer, but it requires less sneaking. That doesn't mean you'll be taking any roads though. Everywhere is dangerous. Hopefully by keeping to smaller groups and spreading out both teams, we will be able to get to the base without conflict. But if you do..." Orochimaru said and trailed off for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Kill them." He said simply, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Naruto rolled her eyes.
Everyone nodded and started bustling around, trying to find the best possible spot to sit down and start eating. Orochimaru denied Gai to light a fire, saying that the light was too visible in weather like this, so instead they would be eating whatever they had cold.
Genma sat down with Naruto and Shisui, his bowl of cold soup he'd been keeping in a container already half empty because of the speed he was eating at. "I hear a civilian village not too far from the route you two are taking was raided not too long ago. Choza-sensei knows of course, but I'll just give you the heads up." He said between two spoons full.
Naruto nodded while she was trying to open her own container. It had been hanging off the side of her backpack by a strap, and the rain had made the lid slippery. Clumsily she got it off and poured herself some into a bowl. Half afraid she'd drop the container while she poured Naruto used both hands.
Straightening up she looked up as Shisui pulled out a cloak from his backpack. Turning towards her, he laid it in front of her. Naruto looked questioning down at it, one eyebrow raised. "Use that instead Naruto. What you're wearing isn't really good enough for this type of weather. Your lips are blue." He said with concern. Naruto's fingers flew to her lips, but all she noticed was how pleasant it was when her warm breath hit her freezing fingertips.
"The orphanage isn't good at equipping anyone these days. I think it's a little strange Konoha can't offer us more than a summer uniform, and that's only if you're a chūnin or higher." Said Genma and pointed to the uniform that was now visible. He'd laid out his cloak to dry while they took a break, and the uniform he wore was proof that Genma had already passed the chūnin exam.
"Tell me about it." Muttered Naruto and thanked Shisui. She wasn't sure how Genma knew she was an orphan, maybe Anko had told him. Naruto didn't care to ask. Taking off her own soaked coat that seemed to have absorbed water rather than repel it, she laid it out next to Genma's before starting on her meal. She felt instantly cold and thought longingly back to Anko's warm apartment. It was dark and murky, but it was never cold for some reason.
After five cold, but still desired spoons of soup, Orochimaru's voice carried from his side of the cave. He was sitting with Choza, and the two men had been talking about different strategies in front of the map. "… don't you think so too, Naruto?"
Her head snapped up confused, not having caught the start of the sentence. "What did you say?" She asked. Her mood had lifted some now that she had cover and was relaxing, but talking to Orochimaru could never left Naruto with anything but frustration.
"I said..." Repeated Orochimaru, his tone avoided of hostility but his expression annoyed. "That this weather is a good opportunity for you to show me your progress with your suiton training. We didn't have time yesterday because I had to prepare for this mission." Said Orochimaru in his most silky voice. Naruto scowled.
Putting down her bowl hard, the soup spilling a little over the edge, Naruto got up and turned her back to the company.
Walking up so she stood further out on the landing, therefore again getting wet, Naruto placed her hands in the proper seal before concentrating. Orochimaru was correct in a way. This was a good opportunity to practice drawing moisture from the atmosphere. After all it was not often the air contained as much water as the sea.
With her eyes closed Naruto stretched out her chakra, attempting to grasp at all the small drops of rain her chakra could reach. It was difficult, a hell of a lot more so than fuuton had ever been. Back when training with Kakashi and Yamato she had worked herself down into the ground, but the progress had been swifter and more natural. Suiton just wasn't an element that came natural to her.
Her chakra was now gathering raindrops, creating first a small puddle that hung in midair. Furrowing her brow she concentrated harder. More raindrops were gathered, engulfing over and expanding the puddle she had created so far. Gathering and maintaining at the same time was extremely difficult, but Naruto wasn't known for being a quitter.
She was trying to distribute her chakra correctly too, not using too much as that could make her technique deflate.
Opening her eyes she looked at her handy work. This was the largest puddle she had made to date and it was hovering in front of her while growing every passing second. Naruto had one hand outstretched, and slowly she started moving it in circles.
The water followed along, and soon a rotating sphere of water was spinning madly in front of the palm of her hand. Orochimaru's voice piped up from behind her again. "Good Naruto. You've made very good progress. Can you move the water in multiple directions too? Now you're simply moving it in one specific direction." Orochimaru said. His tone was intrigued, but Naruto had actually had the same idea as Orochimaru, and was already attempting to do what he had just suggested.
Biting her lip she focused on keeping the water together and spinning at the same time. Inside her head she was back together with Ero-sennin, practicing the rasengan by the means of a balloon full of water. Endlessly spinning the water in a circle by her chakra alone.
This time she wasn't using chakra just to spin what was trapped inside a container though. "Use slightly more chakra. Try to split your mind in three. One focuses on keeping the water together. One focuses on rotating clock wise, while the third focuses on counter clock wise." Suggested Orochimaru calmly.
Naruto realized Orochimaru was thinking exactly the same as she herself was. It would be like her rasen shuriken, just simplified and at the same time a ton harder. It had been years since she last made a rasen shuriken.
It wasn't working at first. All she could manage was to slow down the rotation of the water. She was having the same problem again. She couldn't focus on splitting her mind in three though. One to focus the water in one direction and the other in the opposite. But maybe… Naruto closed her mind. She had made kage bunshin so often it was like second nature. But creating one and still keep the water up was a new challenge. "Kage bunshin no jutsu." Naruto said in a low forced voice.
Next to her, her clone popped up, the water lost all rotation and started falling, but she was quick, and the water flew back up into its shape. The second clone started focusing on the direction Naruto couldn't manage herself. It was successful. And Naruto smiled triumphantly as the water started spinning wildly in no less than four different directions. Naruto was struck by the similarity of the rasengan and the large ball of water. Even the color was similar.
Shisui whooped and started clapping and cheering, Gai followed a heartbeat later.
Struck by an idea, she pressed more chakra into it, but her attempt at creating a suiton rasengan caused the ball to explode. Water flew in all possible directions. And the little Naruto had managed to dry up was again soaked to the bone.
Anko started laughing, rather nastily, but Naruto didn't let it get to her. She had made good process. That was an attack that could actually harm someone.
"Very good, Naruto. I'll admit defeat. Shisui hasn't gotten nearly as far with his doton affinity. You were right. The kage bunshin can give you a lot of things for free." Said Orochimaru. He didn't look sad about being proven wrong though, so the win wasn't as satisfying as she'd imagined.
Orochimaru got to his feet and walked up to her as Naruto turned towards the group sitting around watching her. "Put your hands like this, Naruto." He ordered. Naruto raised an eyebrow but did as instructed. Mimicking Orochimaru's hand position. He had had his hand fisted while his pointing fingers were touching one another, his elbows high.
"I want you to do exactly what I'm doing." He said, his eyes boring into hers. "This might help you with multitasking while doing ninjutsu. It's a mental practice that helps with coordination. Not much… But some." Orochimaru explained. He took his left hand and started moving it in an oval shape outwards from his body. It did a circle before touching the tip of his finger again. Naruto did the same.
"Good." He said and stopped the movement. Instead he started moving his other hand in the same formation but the opposite direction. Naruto again followed his lead. "Good, now you're going to do both actions at once. One hand will rotate in a clockwise direction, the other in a counter clockwise direction and for each round your pointy fingers will touch each other." He did the movement, but Naruto at once started messing up. Her right hand started mimicking her left hand, both rotating in the same direction. Orochimaru continued though, flawlessly keeping a steady rhythm as his hand rotated in opposite directions.
Naruto tried again, her rhythm out of place but clumsily doing the right directions. She continued, her rhythm getting better while she watched Orochimaru demonstrate in front of her. Slowly he stopped, and Naruto's hands started messing up. But biting her lip she continued while Orochimaru watched. It was working. Concentrating the rhythm slowly get better with the movements. It took effort though.
"You are now moving your hands in three directions. One is keeping them up. One is moving counter clock wise and the other clock wise. This is what you did with you suiton. Practice this and add new element to make it more complex. Flex your fingers in opposite directions for example. Try to envision this pattern and you might not have to waste chakra on a kage bunshin for your technique. That suiton ball could be really powerful if you practiced and polished it up." Said Orochimaru, and without another words he turned and went to sit down again. Naruto nodded and stopped herself from smiling towards Orochimaru.
What the hell?
Anko was minding her own business, cuddled into her blanket while she attempted to get some feeling back into her frozen legs. The squad was lively considering the conditions they were dealing with. Gai was chatting animatedly with Naruto about her new technique- whatever that had been. Anko frowned as she thought about what Naruto had displayed earlier.
That was a difficult piece of chakra exercise. Maybe the idiot had finally got a handle of her own chakra reserves. Before Anko would have clapped along with Shisui, but now she felt a spite inside her that wanted Naruto to fail. Fail at something. Anything, just so she could see that she wasn't always right.
Her teammate was always so certain about thing. When she met someone she either immediately took to them or kept her distance. Like first impressions was all that mattered. It pissed Anko off. Especially since Orochimaru despite Naruto's hostility was intrigued by her.
He often asked Anko all types of questions considering Naruto. The brat was just as available to answer all his questions. But since Naruto was such a brat Orochimaru was going to Anko for information Naruto should be giving without their sensei having to ask. Like where she learned her futon affinity, who taught her meditation, what sort of exercises she did on her own, and what sort of people Naruto spent her days with outside of training.
Kami, Orochimaru had once asked Anko about Naruto's preferred beverage. Why couldn't that idiot answer him instead of Anko? And what about her? Was she suddenly not important enough anymore? Was Naruto the new apprentice suddenly?
Anko huffed out loud, drawing the source of her annoyance attention to her. Blue bright eyes that shone even in this murky weather turned towards Anko and for a moment they stared at one another. Anko put on her best scowl before pointedly looking away.
But the idiot didn't get the point and instead stood and came over. Annoyed, but secretly also curious as to what Naruto wanted, Anko didn't object when Naruto sat down next to her.
"Um… Anko?" Naruto said hesitantly. The dark haired girl gave a sound that indicated she was listening.
"So… I talked with Akiko the other day." Naruto muttered uncertainly. Anko felt confused, that was not at all what she had expected her to talk about. She had expected something about borrowing a brush, Naruto had forgotten hers, something that was becoming more and more obvious for each passing day, but not Akiko.
"What did that brat say?" Anko asked, putting on her most spiteful tone. It usually worked wonders on most people, but Naruto was not most people. She just didn't make sense most of the time.
"Well… It's Hana really. She ran away. Akiko was upset about it." Naruto continued fiddling with the hem of her borrowed raincoat.
Anko snorted out loud. That was hardly news. Though she didn't know Naruto's roommate was the latest runaway, it happened so often these days it should be seen as the new trend.
"Good for, Hana. Why are you bringing this up to me? Did I ever give you the impression I'd miss that brat?" Anko spat and shuffled away from Naruto. The blonde sighed and rolled her eyes.
"No, I just thought… I promised Akiko I would look out for Hana while we were on this mission, dattebayo. And I said I'd ask you if you'd help out too? After what happened with Emi I thought you'd unde-" Naruto rambled on, but was interrupted as Anko exploded.
"I don't give a rat's ass what happened to that brat. For all I care she can go kill herself for all she wants. I hate those girls and their fucking "problems". Hana can go starve herself and even if I ran into her I wouldn't give two damns what she choose to do with her pitiful life! It's their own fault for being idiots!" Anko shouted, making sure absolutely everyone heard her. Everyone looked nervously in Anko's direction. Even Naruto seemed to think she'd gone too far. But she didn't care anymore.
If Naruto wanted to make that pathetic civilian girl her new best friend then she could go ahead. Anko certainly wouldn't stop that brat. Getting to her feet she looked at her sensei. "Are we leaving soon? I thought we were behind schedule." She asked in a growl.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, but smiled knowingly and nodded. "Yes, let's pack up and get back on the road."
The day after the worst storm of the year Naruto was following Choza together with Shisui and Ebisu. Shisui had told her in a whisper that the reason they split up was probably because they were the ones worst at infiltration. Naruto had been offended at first, but Shisui had corrected her and said it was only natural that they weren't in the other team. Seeing as they had barely become genin and if anyone was going to be offended it would be Ebisu. Which he was.
Ebisu was in a terrible mood and he regularly sent scornful looks to his two new comrades, as if this was their entire fault. Choza didn't seem to care either way. Maybe his stay in the hospital made him take it careful on this mission, and that's why he didn't seem to have anything against being debunked to the "bad team" but he wasn't as positive as Naruto remembered him to be.
As the father of Choji, one of the kindest and most polite men she'd ever met, she expected Choza to be similar. In a way they were. He was just as kind but rougher. Naruto guessed Choza had less problems killing people than Choji did.
In general Naruto was getting a bit bored, she wanted to practice her suiton technique, but since they were attempting to stay low she couldn't start using large amount of chakra. If she did a mediocre chakra sensor would be able to pick up on her signature from miles away.
Instead she told jokes with Shisui, questioned Choza about the situation on the front lines, and wondered if she should prank Ebisu. But she wasn't sure if she'd be reproached or not for doing that.
Instead she decided to try and talk to the man she knew would grow up to be Konohamaru's sensei. "Are you chūnin?" Naruto asked eagerly, gesturing to his cloak that his whatever uniform he might be hiding underneath.
Ebisu sent the girl a scowl, but nodded importantly at the same time. "Yes. I made chunin on my second attempt. To pass the chūnin exam you need a great deal of power and stealth, and Hokage-sama only promotes the best." He answered her stiffly.
"I see, and Genma? He's a chūnin too right?" Naruto asked curiously, ignoring the biting tone Ebisu was using.
"Yes. We made chūnin at the same time." Ebisu clarified, straightening his black glasses slightly before letting his hand drop to his side.
"So why didn't you get promoted when Gai did? He made chūnin on his first try right? When Anko and Kakashi did?" Naruto asked just for the hell of it. She knew it was rude, but Ebisu had a stick up his ass that needed to be taken out.
Ebisu bristled, and while he frowned she noticed that his hands were fisted. "He got lucky. He got easy matches before the final round. He went up against that idiot Obito twice, he had plenty of energy left for his final round against Kakashi, so of course he had an easier time than me and Genma who had harder opponents from the start." Muttered Ebisu with his nose in the air.
"Obito isn't an idiot." Growled suddenly Shisui from next to Naruto. She hadn't realized the boy had come up to them, but he was now sending reproachful looks in Ebisu's direction. "He made chūnin when you did. So if he's an idiot then you're one just as much. In fact I regularly spar with him. He's gotten really good the last year, and he's well into chūnin level by now. At least that's what father says." Shisui explained heatedly. Ebisu didn't have a comeback to that, instead his ears started going red and he increased his pace.
"There's a difference between physical mayhem and calm collected tactic. Obito is good with the first but not the second, which I believe is required to be a chūnin. I'm not sure what Hokage-sama thought when he promoted Obito, but I at least don't believe the promotion was earned." Ebisu answered haughtily. Naruto rolled her eyes.
"You just said the Hokage only took the best. Apparently Obito was one of the best since he made chūnin. Tell me, have you ever actually fought Obito since the academy? Can you brag about actually having defeated him in a proper fight?" Naruto asked heatedly, pissed off that Ebisu was being such a jerk towards his comrades. They had even been classmates. If anything Ebisu should be happy on Obito's account that he managed to grow stronger.
"No I didn't fight against Obito, but I did observe his matches. He was defeated by Asuma in the end, but he did win two matches before Asuma. His fighting style was also extremely unconventional. He got lucky." Ebisu snapped back. His voice raised and drawing Choza's attention for the first time.
"How do you know he got lucky? Maybe he just has a different fighting style that works better for him?! I can beat you with a single technique myself! I don't even have to touch you for you to lose." Naruto snapped just as heatedly back, pointing dangerously at Ebisu with an unsteady hand.
Naruto wasn't sure why she was getting so upset on Obito's behalf. But in a way she felt like she was being criticized herself, it sounded just like something the older Ebisu would have said about her.
"Hah! You're barely a genin, while I'm a chūnin of Kono-" Started Ebisu said, but the next moment he was interrupted as Naruto said in a growl.
"Orioke no jutsu."
In her place was the henge she had created. Where her formless child body took the appearance of a bombshell of a blonde girl who stared cutely at Ebisu with such a wanton look it was shameless.
As a child Naruto hadn't thought twice about using this technique, but she had to admit it made her a little uncomfortable to use it now. It wasn't like she was displaying her real future body. No way did her breast grow as large as this, and her hair was far from that straight. But it had the desired effect on her target.
All three of her comrades froze in shock. Shisui's eyes popped out of his head and a blush so deep they could match the color of the sharingan flashed over his pale skin. Predictably Ebisu dropped to the ground with a nosebleed, but what surprised her more was that Choza was almost completely unaffected. Only a red tinge to his cheek gave away some discomfort, before he started bellowing in laugher.
Shisui had turned his back to her at lightning speed, his shoulder tense and his head down while he spluttered incoherent words to the ground. Ebisu had yet to wake up.
"Hahaha… ah… Transform back… haha… Naruto-chan." Choza said while drying one of his eyes. Naruto did as told and smiled cheapish to her team captain.
"You have spent too much time around Jiraiya-sama." Chuckled Choza and shook his head from side to side. "Good strategy though. You never know when unconventional measures are needed to take down your opponent. You're unpredictable. I always like that in a ninja." Choza said and patted her on the back, a smile still adorning his lips and laugher evident in his eyes.
"Why didn't it affect you then? That's never happened before..." Muttered Naruto dejectedly.
"What?! How often do you use that technique?!" Spluttered Shisui and turned around to face her again. His cheek was still tinted red but he was furious. "You can't go around… doing… That! Where did you learn that thing? It's…just...!" Shisui was at a loss for words, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh. She quickly regained herself though, since her laugher wasn't helping the situation much.
Instead Choza answered her. "The reason it didn't affect me is because… Well, you know how people like different things? Like some like fish while others prefer meat?" Asked Choza carefully, trying to thread carefully about this subject when surrounded by such young children.
"Yeah, I know. So she wasn't your type of girl then?" Naruto concluded, starting to think up different possibilities. Choza couldn't be the only one who wasn't affected then. When she came to think about it more carefully, she realized that the technique usually worked best with bachelors anyway. Like the Hokage who lost his wife during the kyūbi attack, Iruka who was single, Kakashi who Naruto wasn't sure had ever had a girlfriend, and Gai who also seemed to be an eternal bachelor. Maybe Gai and Kakashi were secretly dating one another, but that didn't fit since they both were affected so much by the orioke no jutsu….
"Exactly." Answered Choza quickly, wanting to change the subject. But Shisui wasn't completely ready to let it drop just yet.
"Don't you ever do that again, Naruto! What were you thinking?" He muttered and snapped a finger to her forehead and pushed her back with the tip of his finger.
"Wha-?" Naruto said as she stumbled back while touching her forehead. "I taught myself that technique, and I'm gonna' use it to win against Ero-sennin next time I see him, dattebayo. And from experience I know that usually the more powerful you are, the more of an affect it has. I think it's because people who train all the time don't take time to get themselves a partner though." She explains. "It might be interesting to see how Orochimaru reacts to it..."
"No!" He hissed and grabbed her shoulders, panic glowing in his eyes while he shook his head furiously. "You can never use that technique in front of sensei! He'll fry you! Do you hear me? Never use that thing ever again!"
At that moment Ebisu came around, wondering what had happened and noticing for the first time that he had a bad nosebleed.
They were almost at the base when they ran into problems. A small scouting group of five Iwa ninja intersected them while they were making their way across a clearing in the forest, and took Naruto completely by surprise.
She immediately had to make sure she didn't know any of these people before she acted, because while Naruto knew Konoha was at war against Iwa, she still couldn't bear the thought of having to attack a friend. If Killer Bee ever showed up she wouldn't know what to do.
Choza was fast though, and before they had managed to throw a single Shuriken he had expanded in size and was attacking at full speed. Shisui had jumped next to Naruto while Ebisu had moved closer to his sensei. Naruto looked bewildered around, wondering who to attack first.
"Come on, we'll take the one with brown hair out together okay?" Shisui whispered to Naruto. The blonde nodded, and together they attacked a man standing a little away from the others. He smiled evilly when he saw who his opponents were. He had good reason to of course. Two eight year old kids were hardly the most threatening sight.
While Naruto jumped up in the air Shisui went down low. Slashing out with his tanto while Naruto threw two kunai at their opponents. He twisted through the air, avoiding both Shisui's slash and the kunai. Shisui retreated immediately, and just on time as the explosion tags Naruto had attached to the kunai exploded. Their opponent had avoided it too. And still didn't have a single scratch on him. Naruto frowned.
Shisui started going through hand signs Naruto didn't recognize, and next moment a spinning spear of fire shot from his mouth. Naruto used the opportunity to help him out, adding her wind element to the fire and blowing up the fire to three times it original size.
The man wasn't smiling anymore when the fire subsided, he had gotten hit on his left side, and he'd gotten rid of his vest. "Insolent little children shouldn't play with fire." He barked back before throwing his hands down to the ground, already having done some hand signsNaruto hadn't caught.
Shisui had mirrored his moves, but he wasn't as adapt at doton techniques as the Iwa ninja was. And though he managed to reduce some of the effect of the attack, it still wasn't enough.
The ground erupted in spikes, shooting up under Naruto's feet. Shisui had stopped the ones that would have pierced himself, but he looked alarmed when Naruto's leg got hit by one of the rock spears. She fell to the ground, her leg not able to take the hit and collapsed sideways when her feet hit the earth. Her leg had been ripped open around her shin, blood oozing out from where the spear had hit it.
Luckily it could have gone a lot worse. The spear hadn't pierced through her leg, it had only grazed it. Still… It hurt.
"Son of a bitch!" Naruto swore, cradling her leg while she tried to get back on her feet. She was furious now. She was angry at herself for not being able to dodge the attack. This body had too many limitations. She didn't like her own restrictions, and now this happened.
"Naruto!" Shisui shouted in worry, torn between going to her aid and keeping his focus on the Iwa ninja.
"Concentrate, Shisui! I'm fine." Growled Naruto and got to her feet. Willing herself to ignore the stabbing pain in her leg while she stared furiously at their enemy.
"Too much for you? What are you? Academy students?" The Iwa taunted while spinning a kunai around his finger. "I'll make it quick and painless. Just stand still and it will be over soon." He shouted and smacked his hands together. Two rocks flew up from the ground on each side of Naruto and Shisui, coming at such speed they were both taken off guard. The stones came colliding towards them, intent on squeezing them both between the two rocks. Naruto wasn't sure how to get out of this one, her body wanted to jump, but her head was screaming at her to get Shisui out too.
She threw herself forwards, hitting Shisui hard in the back and pushed him out danger. She fell to the ground just as the stone closed in on her, and realizing it was too late for her Naruto closed her eyes. She waited for the stones to crush her between them, and waited… and waited. But the stones never made contact. Naruto opened her eyes confused, and gaped as she noticed the giant hands stopping the stones from crushing her. Choza had saved her.
Naruto got to her feet and pelted out of there just as Choza smashed the boulders to gravel before descending on the now deathly pale Iwa ninja. Getting a better view of the situation Naruto realized all the other Iwa ninjas were dead. There was just one guy who Ebisu was tying up who seemed to still be breathing, and Naruto looked in awe towards Choza. He made quick progress of the Iwa ninja, who was at a disadvantage against Choza's techniques. His stone element just didn't work properly against someone at Choza's size, and he was soon dead.
Shisui ran over to Naruto. "Are you okay? I can't believe you pushed me! You could have died! Never do that again, alright? I can take care of myself! Please stop doing that!" Shisui rambled on with wide frightened eyes. Naruto patted his shoulder and smiled.
"I won't stop helping my friends, Shisui. I'm glad you're okay." Naruto said and smiled weakly. Her leg was still hurting, but looking down she knew that the wound was already healing.
"And your leg! Sit down, we'll get something to wrap it up in. How deep did it go? It didn't go through the leg did it? There's a lot of blood here..." He whispered the last words when he saw how bloody her pants and leg had gotten.
He closed his eyes and swallowed, but when he opened his eyes again he had turned into serious Shisui. Breathing calmly he stopped himself from talking, and reaching into his pouch he took out a water bottle, some tape, bandages and a bottle of something Naruto didn't know what it contained.
He forced Naruto to sit down before taking her leg out and pushed the hem of her pants up some so he had a better view of the wound. Taking the water bottle he started rinsing away the blood while keeping some pressure on the leg with his left hand.
Once he had a clearer picture of the wound he grimaced, but didn't stop working. It went up her whole shin, as if someone had taken a rough bread knife to it and cut. It was hard to stop it from bleeding but because of Naruto's healing it was already less bloody then it had been.
Naruto hissed when Shisui started using whatever was in the bottle over the skin of her leg, it stung. Shisui told her to stay still so he could make sure he didn't do anything wrong. So Naruto bit her tongue and kept her foot from twitching. Next he took out his bandages and the tape that would keep it under pressure. Expertly he applied the bandages up her whole shin while Naruto watched in interest. She had not known Shisui was so handy with medical care. It was just basic stuff, nothing at all like what Sakura could do, but he was only eight. She was impressed.
"Good job, Shisui-kun." Said Choza once Shisui was finished. The Uchiha smiled weakly up at Choza before ducking his head again.
"Thanks. Father taught me this before starting my ninja training. He says someone who wields a kunai should also know how to patch up the wounds inflicted by it." Shisui explained and let Naruto's leg go.
Gently Naruto tried to put some pressure on it, and though it still stung it was already healing too rapidly for Naruto to be worried. Shisui probably didn't have to go out of his way like that, but she wasn't sure how to explain her healing ability. To do so was just asking for trouble with Orochimaru if he ever found out how quickly she healed. But Shisui had just wasted a lot of bandage on her, and she wondered how to make it up to him while she started walking on her leg.
"Should you be walking on that leg?" Asked Ebisu and came over to where they were gathered. Looking less haughty then Naruto had expected.
"It's fine. I'll tell you if it gets worse. Shisui did a great job." Naruto answered and nodded to her teammate. Shisui still looked worried down at her foot.
"Should she still come? One thing is the first stage, but with a leg like that… Maybe she has to drop the second stage? Whatever that is?" Shisui asked Choza who nodded in agreement.
"I think you're right, Shisui-kun. Naruto-chan can stay at the base until she's well enough to go home. We can pick her up on the way back from the second stage. But there are medic-nins at the base. We can have one of them look it over." Choza answered while Naruto started scowling.
"I'm coming with you! This isn't too bad. Give me a day and I'll be as good as new, dattebayo." Naruto said exasperatedly.
Choza was already disagreeing, but Naruto held up a finger. "Just let the medics decide okay? Don't leave without hearing what they have to say at least." Naruto said urgently. She didn't want to leave Anko and Shisui out on a mission like this without her. If anything happened to them….
Choza seemed skeptical, but nodded reluctantly. "Alright… We'll see what they say at the base. Now we should get going. It's still a far distance left and we now have one more person to get there." Choza said and pointed in the direction of the tied up Iwa ninja who was still unconscious.
"Where are we taking him?" Asked Naruto puzzled while Choza started sealing up the dead bodies into scrolls together with Ebisu.
"Interrogation." Choza replied easily. A little too easily.
Naruto frowned.
Half a day later they made it to the secret base. It was hidden within a mountain through a long and winding tunnel to somewhere Naruto suspected was underneath a lake. At least the steady dripping of water that went into an underground pool indicated at least something wet was above them.
At first Shisui had insisted Naruto got a piggyback ride from him. To return the favor, as he himself called it. Reluctantly Naruto had agreed, simply for the pleasure of getting him to shut up. Shisui could be very pushy, and after fussing for an hour, constantly asking if she was okay or if they should slow down, Naruto gave in and allowed the Uchiha to carry her.
They made quicker progress though. While Naruto's leg was healing quicker than most, it was still injured.
Choza was carrying their hostage in a similar matter, but he had his legs and arms bound while Choza had him slung over his shoulder. Choza was also carrying Shisui's backpack. Seeing as Naruto was current occupying the pot where the backpack had been previously.
When they finally made it to the base Shisui was still carrying her, and Naruto found that her leg had healed a lot faster because she hadn't been using it. Apparently there was something in that advice Sakura had kept giving her back in her own time; giving wounds a little rest did speed up the healing progress. Maybe Naruto should have listened more…
Though she felt bad about Shisui carrying her for so long. Not only did he carry her, but also the heavy backpack Naruto had on her back. It probably weighted more than she did. Luckily Ebisu had offered to take the backpack from time to time, lightening Shisui's load and making sure they could keep some speed up.
The first who greeted them was a man who asked for a bunch of passwords from Choza. He and four others were stationed far into the hidden cave, and Naruto suspected a lot more was hiding around there too.
The guards had taken the hostage from Choza before they were escorted in further. Naruto was put down to walk on her own when the cave got so low the adults had to bend down to get in. Luckily for Naruto and the other two, she was still small she didn't have to do anything but walk normally.
Inside there was a lot of activity going on. It looked more like an underground field hospital than a base. Not that Naruto was sure how a base was supposed to look like. It just wasn't this.
Tents had been put up where people were being treated for different injuries. Small shouts and grunts of pain could be heard from covered areas, and further in was a food hall where people were sitting in quiet groups eating. There was people sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, and in general it a little overfilled compared to what Naruto had been expecting.
Instead she looked eagerly around for Anko and her team, but couldn't see a hint of them anywhere. She didn't get to look long though, because Shisui grabbed her wrist and together with Choza and Ebisu was dragged over to the nurse station.
"She got pierced in the leg on her way here. Can you check her condition?" Asked Shisui while gesturing to a moping Naruto next to him.
The medic smiled warmly and nodded at once. Taking out her hand, indicating that Naruto was to hold onto it, she looked searchingly at Naruto. The woman was a Hyūga Naruto didn't recognize, and reluctantly she took the woman's hand. She felt like such a child. Hand holding and all that shit...
She followed the woman to an examination table placed against one of the tents while the others stayed behind. Just as she was about to jump up, the woman took a hold under Naruto's arms, and lifted her up. Naruto's cheek burned in embarrassment, but let it drop. The Hyūga didn't know that Naruto wasn't actually eight. She just looked it.
"Now dear, let's see what happened to you. Don't worry though, it will be alright. What's your name?" Asked the Hyūga and smiled warmly, at the same time activating her eyes and stretched out Naruto's leg to look closely underneath the bandages. Having the byakugan had to make things so much easier if you were a medic. Thought Naruto absent mindedly.
"I'm Naruto." Answered Naruto while the woman worked. She was efficient and scribbled down a few notes while she bent and stretched her leg all the while having her white eyes activated. In the end she placed Naruto's leg carefully down and looked questionably up at Naruto.
"Um… Your leg..." The woman said, peeking back down at Naruto's shin. "There's hardly a scratch on it. Just a fresh scar. When exactly did this injury occur?" Asked the woman, a trace of annoyance in her voice. Naruto sighed exasperatedly.
"Today, but I knew this would happen. I tried to tell them this wasn't necessary, but I had to get your permission to continue with the mission. Will you tell them everything is fine?"
The Hyūga nodded, now sending the group by the front an annoyed look instead of Naruto. "Friends can get a little hysterical at times. Since you're so young they might have overreacted. I'll talk to them dear. You're more than fit to continue with your mission." She said and stepped back. Naruto jumped down from the bed and smiled triumphantly while she walked back to her team. The medic right behind her.
"Naruto-chan is completely fine. There's no internal bleeding. There are no broken bones and no muscle tears. She's fit to continue on her mission." The Hyūga told Choza and the rest with a slightly exasperated tone. She probably had more than enough to do than check over injuries such as Naruto's.
"What?" Said Choza confused. "How's that possible? I saw the wound earlier. Half your leg was ripped open, Naruto-chan."
Naruto shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, not sure how to answer. The Hyūga on the other hand seemed to think Choza was exaggerating. "There's just a bit of scarring on her leg, there might have been blood earlier but she was never in any danger. She's fine. Now please excuse me, I have some urgent patients waiting for me." She said sternly to Choza, and with a nod to Naruto she walked off.
Shisui was the first to speak. "No way. Show me your leg. Her byakugan must be malfunctioning." He said stubbornly and pointed to Naruto's leg. She shook her head.
"What does it matter? It looked more serious than it was. I feel fine now. I got to rest the leg while you carried me too, so I'm ready to go. But where's Anko and the rest of them?" Naruto asked, trying to diverse the topic.
Shisui was about to argue back, but at that moment a new figure took away Naruto's attention. "Minato!" She shouted and walked away from the group.
The blonde man looked confused around for a moment, before looking down and noticing Naruto on the level below where he was standing.
"Hello there, Naruto-chan. What are you doing here?" He asked, a slight strain to his voice while he looked at the group she was standing with. His eyes rested on Shisui, and they narrowed even further.
Naruto gestured to her backpack and smiled widely. "We come bearing gifts. We hear you guys need some supplies." Naruto answered cheekily back. Minato nodded and jumped down to where she was standing.
"Let me show you where we store them, they look heavy and I'm guessing you're eager to get rid of some of these things." He said and smiled more relaxed. Naruto noticed he had lines underneath his eyes, and seemed tired. She wondered how long he'd been out on the base.
Grateful to get rid of the backpacks, they followed Minato deeper into the cave. He gave them a short tour of the place, mentioning where they could find the bathroom and a place to sleep for the night, before entering a low ceiling area where he crouched down. "For now we'll leave them here. Someone will come and sort out the content later. If you have personal belongings you take those out first." He explained while the others did as instructed.
"How many bases are there?" Asked Shisui while he took out a sleeping bag from his backpack.
"I can't tell you that." Minato answered with an apologetic smile. "You shouldn't really know where this one is either." He said and looked pointedly at Choza. "Why is Shisui-kun and Naruto-chan here again?" He asked pointedly. Choza shrugged and gestured to the two youngest in the group.
"Orochimaru-sama vouched for them. Told us they could handle it. I think they did well on the mission so far." Choza said with a relaxed smile.
"They've been genin for less than two months." Pressed Minato on with a forced smile, peeking down at Naruto while his brow furrowed even more.
"Why is it bad that we came along?" Asked Shisui confused.
"Because you're genin, and on top of that you're inexperienced… This place is for chūnin rank and up. Genin aren't supposed to be close to the front lines at all. In emergencies we take in wounded people. But we don't want you to know of this place in case you're captured." Explained Minato and looked worried at Choza. "And why aren't they with Orochimaru? He came in yesterday with Anko-chan and the rest of your students." Minato asked confused.
"Anko is here?" Naruto asked relived, looking immediately around the dark tunnel.
Minato sent her a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, they're eating... I think? That's the last place I saw them."
"Good to hear they made it here on schedule. We separated to have two smaller companies coming in from different sides. We took the longer but safer route because Shisui and Naruto have never done this type of mission before. But we still ran into some problems." He said and trailed off, his eyes furrowing when he again looked towards Naruto.
"I see. Well, what's done is done. Let's get you guys some food and a place to relax. I'm sure the others will be glad to see you all made it with your health intact." Minato said and the group followed him out back towards the noisy hall.
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To be continued...
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein