Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dry Ice ❯ Try it again ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. We did not invent combat boots, and we can not be blamed for using the word charka instead of chakra because Word automatically corrects it…grrrrrr. The fighting dances belong to Robert Jordan and his wheel of time series, though we might have altered them slightly.

 

Note: HAS NOT BEEN BETA READ YET, but polished version will be out soon. We just feel bad that it's been over a month since we've updated, and on another note, chapter 11 is almost done.

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Laura poked Bibi lightly in the side, worrying for her friend who failed to respond when Kakashi called her name three times. Bibi's arm came up reflexively and hit Laura's hand. Her eyes widened, “Laura, I'm sorry, I guess I'm still tired from our hike yesterday and I didn't even realize that I hit you.”

 

Laura smiled, a symbol of accepted apology.

 

“I just saw that you had it in you to attack, so don't argue otherwise. Now attack.”

 

“But I don't want to attack you,” she pleaded.

 

Kakashi had to refrain from sighing out loud. This was going to be troublesome, and he hoped to God that they weren't all going to be this stubborn. Laura and Vivian inching their way away from Bibi caught his eye because they were in a sense offering her up and leaving her open for an attack if needed.

Bibi's face took on a dazed expression as her thoughts went back to the memory that was so foreign to her about the red haired man.

 

“Konoha to Bibi, come at me with the intent to kill.” He saw her hesitate. In less than the blink of an eye, he appeared before her like magic and poked her in the side. This was the only way he'd seen her react violently. Out of reflex, she put up a hand to block it, but missed. He poked her in both sides this time.

 

He could tell that she was trying to not show a reaction and he was tiring quickly of her attitude towards the training.

 

“You know Bibi, if you never at least try to attack me, then there is no possible way for me to see what your skills and reactions are, hence I would have an incomplete evaluation of your abilities, and I would be forced to deem you incompetent. Then I would tell the Hokage to not even bother with you because you aren't worth the effort to train.”

 

His expression never changed as hey was discretely laying out the paths that she had to choose from.

 

One path was to stand still and give up any chance of being a kunochi. It would be an easy well worn path to walk that would ultimately lead to the life of a civilian, which didn't sound too terrible in itself. She wasn't particularly overjoyed with the thought of fighting; she was more of a strategy behind the scenes gal anyways.

 

The other divergent path was more like a road up a mountain with possible avalanches and unsure precarious footing the whole way to the top, but if she knew she wouldn't walk this path alone. Vivian and Laura would chose to be ninjas regardless of what anyone would say or do. They were confident in their knowledge of the characters, or more accurately, the people of Konoha and various other surrounding villages from their hours spent watching Naruto. Sure, she seen the first ten episodes and some random ones here and there, but Vivian had seen more that she had, and Laura, well she was plain obsessed.

 

Bibi waged an inner war for a few more milliseconds, then came to the realization that she was really on a one way road all along and the fork in her road was nothing more than a mirage in the desert. She knew what she had to do.

 

She swung at his head, but he side stepped it with ease. She aimed a kick for his shins, but faked and aimed for his side. He saw it coming and caught her foot. She figured that this was the perfect opening, with one of his hands full, she could attack and hit. She tried to punch his stomach, but he twisted her foot and she was on the ground with a thump before she knew it.

 

He moved as a fluid almost invisible blur to her and as she felt someone poker her side, she looked up and he was already standing before her.

 

His movements seem to be faster than what my brain can process, but if I can figure out the speed at which he's moving, then I can figure out how to react and counter attack. I know that I should try processing what's happening at a faster rate since I normally just keep the pace an average human does, but I can speed up my thought process enough and hopefully I can get my brain so send impulses faster so that I can also react quicker.

 

“Try that again.” She asked of him.

 

This time his actions were visible blurs as she concentrated on not avoiding the blow, but being hit by it so that she could configure the rate and speed at which he was moving. She felt a hand come in contact with her arm and poke it, then he was standing still beside her.

 

“Again.” This time it was a demanded.

 

She now had an idea of how fast he was currently moving so she could possible be able to adjust her focus to see his movements since she had an estimate of what she was looking for.

 

He came at her with ribbon like movements, that she could fully comprehend.

 

Now if only I can avoid the hit when it comes.

 

*poke* she was hit again.

 

I have to use more stamina to increase the force at which I move and increase the rate at which I move.

 

“Once more” it sounded more like a frustrated plea than anything else.

 

She could see by his movements and an estimated trajectory in her head that he was going to aim for her arm again. As she saw him closing in on her, she willed her body with all her might to jump out of the way as her muscles never even seemed to receive the message. She tensed, but also saw that she managed to move just slightly enough in order to avoid his teasing finger. He stood back, pleasantly surprised that she had evaded his hand. She closed her eyes, slowing down her mental processes back to normal, the over taxing of her brain was like a CPU without a cooling system.

 

A strong steady wind came out of the south west, detaching twigs and leaves alike from their parent trees. A mixture of dirt and sand was swept across their training ground as twigs were carried in pouches of high pressure air like a mother kangaroo would carry her joey. Leaves twirled and danced like sugar plum faeries as Bibi kept her eyes closed and took a deep breath. Kakashi thought this would a good moment to catch her off guard, though she was already a step ahead.

 

She knew he would think of it as an opening and go for it, but she was already prepared. She stood still, perfectly calm and collected as Kakashi rushed at her. She felt the breeze of him as he went past, but he didn't land a hit.

 

“Hm, I thought that the first time I missed was a fluke, but I see that you figured out how to move fast enough to dodge my attack.”

 

“Actually, I didn't doge this last time.”

 

“What do you mean,” he asked as he wracked his brain for a possible explanation that she could posess.

 

“I didn't need to move because you were only attacking with one finger aimed for my arm and you came at me with the same force, speed, and direction as before when there was no wind. Since I knew you weren't even close to going all out, you wouldn't realize the slight movement of the wind and your position and re-correct your angle of attack.”

 

“But that doesn't explain how you knew I would miss.”

 

“It's quite simple really, I used vectors and the law of cosine along with the fact that the wind was coming from the south west and your speed and force that I discovered before when I let you poke me to determine that the wind would push you off course just enough to miss my arm if I stood still.”

 

He scratched the back of his head, somewhat dumbfounded from her mathematical explanation, though he mentally noted her math skills and potential in taijutsu and decided to move onto his next victim.

 

“You did good Bibi, but I think that's enough for you today.”

 

“I want to go next,” said Laura as she stepped forward and assumed a fighting stance similar to the one used by Bibi.

 

“Hm, no. Vivian's next.”

 

Laura dejectedly sat down on a rock to watch Vivian's training while mumbling about ungrateful gray haired pirate.

 

“Vivian, try to attack me however you want.”

 

“…….” She looked at him and focused on steadying her breathing. She was nervous as heck because even though she knew he wouldn't hurt her, she knew all that he was capable of and that the rest of her time in Konoha depended on her performance today.

 

“Any time now.”

 

“Don't rush, geeze. You're one to speak about doing anything in a timely manner, you'd be late to your own funeral.”

 

He took out his book. Yep, every day they were giving him more reasons to add to the list of how they were different than his original team. For one, any other ninja would jump at the chance to spar with him, and even Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke wanted a piece of him when he first tested them, yet here he was, reading his book.

 

“You know, if you'd like we could break for an early lunch. I have a ham and cheese sandwich waiting for me back at camp.”

 

Now he'd done it, he mentioned the evil dairy product.

 

She blindly started kicking at him, some aimed for his stomach, some for his sides, and some for his shoulders which was as high up as her leg could reach. She wasn't half bad with her stance, though she needed to work on speed and force.

 

“Go Vivian!” cheered Laura.

 

“Use your Capoeira skills!” shouted Bibi.

 

He blocked her onslaught of kicks with one hand and those he either couldn't reach or was just too lazy to block, he twisted slightly to avoid.

 

She added in a few kick and punch combos. Brazillian martial arts seemed to be coming in handy.

 

Her hair went in every which way in a failed attempt to keep up with the movements of her body. Small beads of sweat collected on her upper lip and brows as she continued her routines.

After twenty minutes, he could tell she was reaching the end of her energy as her breaths became heavier and faster whereas her kicks became sluggish.

“That's good, take a minute to catch your breath and then I want to test you in one more thing.”

 

She nodded and grabbed a water bottle out of her backpack and drained half of it. She looked at Bibi, leaned up against a tree with her backpack on the ground beside her. She stowed the bottle back in her bag and zipped it shut again. She turned to her left to see Laura sitting on a somewhat flat rock, her hand held up to her forehead shading her eyes and her backpack still on her back.

 

“Vivian, take out the pouch that I gave you with the kunais in it and put it on.” Kakashi still stood in the center of the clearing like he was a statue, just waiting for birds to land on him.

 

“Where am I supposed to put it since I don't have pants like yours?”

 

“I'm sure you'll come up with something,” and he pointed to her legs.

 

She looked down at her attire. Shorts with no pockets, and a fake gun holster on both thighs secured with a clip and straps going up the side of her legs attached to a belt like device. Duh, those would work. She had forgotten about the fake gun holsters, and they were close to the size of the pouch and they also had snaps to keep them closed since she had made them really to store snacks and stuff in. She filled both of them, and kept one out.

 

Kakashi took out one of his own and threw it at a tree, hitting the center with deadly accuracy and causing the bark to give and crack around it.

 

“Hit it,” was all he commanded of her.

 

I can do this, I can do this.

 

She flung the kunai and it disappeared into the trees somewhere and then they heard the startled squawking of birds as they saw a cloud of disturbed flapping creatures rising over the tree line.

 

Bibi let out something between a laugh and a snort as Laura covered her mouth with both hands, trying to force a laugh down her throat.

 

~~~~another part of the forest where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are training~~~~~

 

Naruto and Sasuke collapsed on the ground, breathless and bleeding in various places. Naruto wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “Why don't we go spy on Kakashi-sensei and the girls to see what they are up to.”

“That's a stupid idea Naruto,” huffed Sakura.

 

“He actually has a point,” pointed out Sasuke.

 

“He does?”

 

“I do?”

 

“Yeah, if we go spy on them, we can see exactly how good they are and if Kakashi is treating them differently than he did when he tested us.”

 

The trio walked in agreed silence so that they wouldn't be detected.

Sasuke signaled to some bushes that would provide ample covering for them, but weren't thick enough as to obscure their vision through them. Naruto stuck his head far enough into the bush to look like he was going to inhale some leaves or possibly come out the other side.

Naruto started to lose his balance and in his decent through the bush, a kunai was flung at him, and if it hadn't been for Sasuke grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him to safety, he would have incurred a nasty gash.

 

 

“I'm going to end up with a kunai in every place but in that darn tree at this rate,” said a rather deflated Vivian. Sure, she'd only thrown a grand total of 5 kunais so far, but they make it look so much easier on the show.

“I'd say that you had pretty good aim on that one.” Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. That would teach his students a lesson on spying. He'd have been surprised if both Bibi and Laura didn't notice them because they were making enough racket to wake the dead, except Vivian seemed to be oblivious to them. She must be too tense and frustrated.

 

Kakashi watched as she raised her arm in preparation for throwing, and he mentally slapped his forehead. How could he have not noticed it? It was painstakingly obvious.

 

He stopped mentally berating himself and strode up to her, raising up his hand. She saw it and cringed, shutting her eyes tight, and stiffening.

 

*flashback*

 

She threw a knife, but it missed the stuffed dummies with the vibrant red targets painted onto them. The man with fiery red hair came up to her, raised his hand, and paused. She looked up to him, craning her neck as far back as she could to see him towering over her. His gazed was directed at the mirrors on the one wall, the only things not white aside from the targets in the entire room. His mouth was set in a line of determination, frustration, and indecision. He looked down at her and met her innocent curious large eyes as she smiled.

 

Then he slapped her in the face in a swift movement. Her gleaming smile disappeared the instant he laid his hand on her cheek and caused her to crash to the laminate waxed floor. Tears pricked her eyes and she begun to sniffle, her cheek stung like a thousand needles and turned red. The outline of his hand was distinct where he had hit her and would surely leave a colorful bruise even if she got ice on it right away, but the ice would never come from anyone here. He walked past her to retrieve the fallen knife, and as he passed, she thought she heard a mumbled sorry, but no sooner did her mind register it, then he was barking out criticism and orders to throw the knife again, and she had better not miss it this time.

 

*end flashback*

 

She was afraid that he was going to hit her, and it was clearly written all over her face. Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of it, because he'd only seen that look on helpless people that were abused and scared at some point in their lives. What was this girl hiding?

 

He smiled at her and put his hand over hers that held the kunai, adjusting her grip on the weapon.

 

“There you go, you should be able to aim better if you hold it this way.”

 

“Thanks Kakashi.”

 

Picture the target. It glowed red in her mind as she imagined herself walking up to it and feeling the cold metal of the weapon in the tree. Her mind flashed and she was mentally looking at the target from where she was physically standing.

 

She threw the kunai, holding her breath, her veins pulsing with hope and nervous anticipation. Time seemed to drag before she heard a soft clang. The telltale sound of metal hitting metal. She opened her eyes, not believing the reverberating sound. Her grin spread a mile wide.

”I did it, I did it.” *ehhhhhhh* she squealed while jumping up and down.

 

“Hai, you did it, now try two. Oh by the way, are you ambidextrous?”

 

“Um….not really.”

 

“Well, you're going to learn, starting now. Take one in your right hand, and one in your left hand.”

 

I can do this, I can do this. Who am I kidding. I remember trying to throw a ball with my left hand, and that was horrible. It hit the ground maybe three feet from where I was standing and I almost hit my physical education coach who was standing to the right of me. The coach gave an exasperated sigh, I guess he was used to near misses, though I could tell they weren't appreciated. I was always embarrassed by my attempt, so I never tried to do much with my left hand. Well, maybe I've gotten better.

 

She closed here eyes again and threw the two kunais. By gods, let this work. Clang. Okay, where's the other one. Clang. That's it, it must be. I managed to get them both to hit the target. She looked towards the tree, seeing his duller kunai accompanied by two of hers. One from before, one from now, but what happened to the other one she threw?

 

Her view panned to the right, where Laura was sitting on the rock, with her gaze straight forward, and right arm raised, holding up a sword. She then looked down, to where the lost kunai laid by Laura's feet, and suddenly, it wasn't so lost anymore. She laughed nervously, realizing that if Laura had been any slower with her sword, she would have been injured. Wait….since when did Laura have a sword?

 

“Could you warn me next time you are going to try to kill me with a kunai? Remember, we're allies here.” Her mouth turned up in a smile as she stood up and stuck the sword into the ground so it stood up on its own. Her back was sweating from having the pack against it all morning. She felt a breeze sweep across her back and upper arms and roll across her sticky skin.

 

Before Vivian could apologize, Kakashi spoke up. “Oh, I was wondering when you guys were going to take out your special weapons.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Somewhere, off in a not too distant land, Orochimaru gazed into the hazy crystal ball with his sights set on the new trainees of Konoha. His freakish tongue skimmed along his lower lip in a show of excitement and anticipation. Unbeknown to him, Kisame was spying on the spymaster himself, ordered to report back to Uchiha Itachi with his findings.