Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers in the Sand ❯ Chapter 20

Again, I apologize if the fight scene(s) are lame- I do romance and dialogue, not action and descriptions. >.< There should be more “action” in the next chapter. Also, all new moves are pathetic creations of my own unimaginative mind, so please excuse the poor Japanese. I'm not very good at this.

 

Chapter 20

 

“Jinjuu Konbi Henge: Soutourou!”

 

Highpitched screams could be heard down the hallway where Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino were dealing with stray Kabuto underlings. Temari shook her head as he ran along with Lee, Tenten, Chouji and Ino down another hallway. “It would seem that Kiba's going a tad overboard,” she murmured.

 

“Could be he just wants to find Kabuto and not screw around with weakling shinobi minions?” Lee asked pointedly.

 

“If that's the case,” Tenten said with a grin, “let's see if we can beat them to it!”

 

A trio of Sound shinobi appeared in front of Temari's group, looking surprised and irritated at the same time. “It's an ambush!” one hollered to a teammate further down the corridor.

 

Ino used her Shinranshin no Jutsu on one nearby ninja to attack his companion while Lee fought one on one with the shinobi that had notified the other.

 

Tenten pulled out one of her scrolls and produced a large shuriken which she flung at the fleeing ninja further down the hallway. Temari shook her head in slight irritation. “We don't have time for this piddly crap.” She pulled out her fan. “Everyone who doesn't want to die, stand back!”

 

Lee grabbed Tenten around her waist and pulled her a few meters behind Temari where Ino was already standing with Chouji. They braced themselves against the walls as Temari lifted her fan, which was now fully open.

 

“Kaze no Kizu!” She swung the huge weapon down, creating five slicing channels of deadly wind and chakra, which fanned out from her and shredded the four Sound shinobi standing in the hall and blasting part of the walls away.

 

Chouji shuddered. “No wonder Shikamaru's scared to death of you.”

 

Temari just grinned at him as they continued their trek down the hallway- stepping carefully around the bloody remains. “I may be cruel on the battlefield, Chouji old boy, but I am nothing if not tolerable around that troublesome man.”

 

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“They're this way,” Neji pointed out to Gaara and Naruto as they approached an intersection. “Sasuke seems to be missing, for the moment.”

 

“He was here before?” Naruto looked concerned.

 

“Akamaru says he was here probably less than three hours ago. He can scent both Safaia and Sakura inside that room at the end of the hall,” Kiba explained.

 

“I don't see any other obstacles- no traps or ambushes,” Neji murmured, looking around with his Byakkugan. “We should hurry.”

 

Naruto was the first one to sprint down the hallway towards the indicated door. He reached out to grasp the handle, when-

 

“EEEAAAARRRGGGHHH!!! NARUTO, I AM GOING TO CASTRATE YOUR ASS!!”

 

Six heads slowly turned from the closed door and looked at Naruto, who was quite white-eyed and panicked.

 

Shino turned to Kiba. “Does this mean that she is okay?”

 

Kiba looked mystified. “How would I know? Hinata's quiet in almost everything she does. Including when she had Teiru.”

 

Shikamaru snorted. “Temari swore up and down, literally, that she'd never let me touch her again. Which, of course, wasn't the case once she got in the mood a couple months after Akina was born. It's just the stress of the moment talking.”

 

Gaara covered his ears and closed his eyes tight. “I don't want to hear this.”

 

Neji held his stomach as if he were about to be sick- which was a distinct possibility, given his rather greenish-toned skin. “I don't think I do either. One doesn't want to know how one's relative got knocked up.” He blanched. “The mental pictures will scar you for life.”

 

“Excuse me,” Shino interrupted, “but we are in an enemy lair. May we please get on with this?”

 

Naruto shook off his freak-out and opened the door. He was greeted by the sight of his beautiful pink-haired wife leaning against the far wall, sitting on a pallet and surrounded by several towels. Safaia, no more than an unmoving form under a blanket in the corner, was apparently unconscious and unable to help her friend. A pail of water, previously hot but now lukewarm, sat near Sakura's feet. Her knees were upraised but leaning together with her ankles apart. Her arms were limp at her sides as she fought for breath. A thin stream of clear liquid mixed with blood flowed across the floor from between her ankles. It was evident that she was utterly exhausted and near her limit.

 

Naruto's hair stood on end as he realized that he could see “all” of his wife from where he stood. He closed the door immediately upon entering, slamming it unintentionally right in Neji's face. “You guys go on ahead- look for Kabuto,” he murmured through the door. “Safaia seems to be unconscious and Sakura needs my help.”

 

Sakura looked up wearily at the sound of the door slamming and her husband's voice. She blinked. “N-Naruto? Is that really you?”

 

“Dammit, Sakura!” Naruto squeaked. “There's blood everywhere! Is this supposed to happen when you have a baby? Is it okay? What did we have?”

 

She glared at him. “You… fucking… horny… bastard!” she growled rather hoarsely. “Your kid refuses to come out! I've been pushing for hours and nothing has happened!!”

 

He visibly paled. “Then… what's with all the blood?”

 

“Will you just help me already??”

 

“Ehhh…” Naruto quickly moved over to her. “What… do you want me to do?”

 

Sakura instructed him on where to sit and what was needed as the fought through the continuing contractions. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain, but she managed to wait until Naruto was more or less ready.

 

A few pushes later, she reached down and checked to see if she could feel the baby's head crowning. She let out a sigh of relief as she felt a fuzzy scalp. “Okay, the baby's coming. Finally…” She sat herself up more and braced herself. “Please… come on, please,” she grunted as she pushed with what was left of her strength.

 

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Neji turned to the other men. “Well, I don't like leaving him alone like this. Should we leave someone here as a guard in case Sasuke or Kabuto show up?”

 

“Shikamaru!” The six men turned to see Temari and her team running down the hallway. “What's going on?” she asked when they got closer.

 

“Naruto's inside with Sakura,” Shino explained as if discussing weather. “He told us to go on without him.”

 

Ino and Temari exchanged a feminine glance. “We'll stay here,” Tenten offered, “as Shikamaru planned. You guys hunt down Kabuto and keep him stalled until we can get Naruto to join you.”

 

Most of them nodded and headed off again. Gaara and Neji didn't move. “Safaia's unconscious in there,” Neji said. “I don't like leaving her here like that.”

 

Tenten walked behind him and proceeded to push him away from the doorway. “You'll just get in the way. Go on and help the others track down the bad guys, okay?”

 

Hesitating only a moment, Neji finally nodded and took off after the others. Ino, Temari, and Tenten all looked at Gaara, who stood silently in the shadow.

 

“I am not leaving.”

 

Temari grinned knowingly at her brother. “We never asked you to. But you'll have to wait outside until we give the all-clear, okay?”

 

Ino chuckled. “Some things don't need to be seen, even by your best friend.”

 

Gaara rolled his eyes as the three women entered the room and closed the door behind them.

 

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Sakura puffed and sat up a bit more to look down at the squalling newborn now in her husband's hands. She wiped a trickle of sweat off her brow. “Naruto?”

 

Naruto was staring at the wrinkled, chubby, bloody infant that was howling in his arms. Slowly he lifted his gaze to Sakura's. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. “God, Sakura,” he choked out. “A son. You've given us a son.”

 

She sighed tiredly with a smile. “I rather suspected… he's as stubborn as you are.”

 

The door opened to allow three new figures to enter. Sakura looked up as the last one closed the door behind them. “Ino? Temari? Tenten? What… how…?”

 

Ino shook her head as if disappointed. “Jeez, forehead girl… couldn't you even have waited until we got here?”

 

Temari moved quickly over to Naruto's side. She picked up a towel and swiftly wiped the birth fluids off the wailing baby. Ino picked up another towel to wrap the infant in. “You'll have to use your kunai to cut the cord,” Temari told him. “We don't have anything else.”

 

Naruto nodded rather numbly and did as she instructed. Temari handed the baby boy to Ino, who wrapped him carefully and handed him to Sakura. “Care to explain the orange hair, young lady?” she teased her exhausted friend.

 

Sakura looked at her new son and grinned. Sure enough, his little head was covered with soft, orange fuzz that, as it dried, stood on end- just like his father's. “Pink and yellow make orange,” she replied.

 

“Not really,” Ino retorted. “Although, I suppose we should just all be thankful he doesn't have whisker-like marks on his cheeks.”

 

“I think he will be thankful that he doesn't have his mother's pink hair,” Tenten chuckled.

 

“Do you have a name picked out?” Temari asked.

 

“We should do this later,” Sakura interrupted. “Kabuto still plans to extract Gobi from Safaia. He's already done something to her to release part of the seal- that's why she's still unconscious. We can't let him have her.”

 

Naruto nodded. “I hate to do this, love, but I have to leave you and our son.” He leaned up and kissed her briefly on the lips, then lowered his head and kissed his new son on his soft, fuzzy head. “But I'll be back- I promise.”

 

“I love you,” she murmured back, smiling softly. She knew her husband always kept his promises. “Be careful.”

 

Nodding, Naruto jumped to his feet and hurried out of the room. The four women watched him go with mixed feelings.

 

“Tenten, check on Safaia. Make sure she's still okay,” Temari ordered. Tenten paused for only a moment, then nodded. Temari looked at Ino. “We'll get some warm water to wash off Sakura and the baby- then… we wait.”

 

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Kabuto reclined comfortably in a cushy chair at the far end of his experiment room. A glass of wine was being swirled gently in his right hand as his left hand supported his chin as if his head were tired. A creak and then a groan echoed throughout the room and his black eyes swiveled to the door.

 

Abruptly the room was filled, more or less with 6 Konoha shinobi, all looking rather pissed off. Kabuto smiled. “Welcome, Konoha friends. It is good of you to come all this way to watch me kill your Hokage.”

 

“Like hell,” Kiba snarled, with an equally irritated Akamaru by his side.

 

“You are rather outnumbered, Kabuto,” Neji pointed out. “But we will not underestimate you. We will be taking Sakura and Safaia with us- after you have been defeated.”

 

Kabuto smirked. “Pretty speech, Hyuuga. But I have no interest in you underlings.” He snapped his fingers and a black shadow appeared in the darkness next to his chair. “Get rid of them.”

 

The figure stepped forward. “It will be… a pleasure,” Sasuke said, his voice cold and emotionless.

 

The six men exchanged a rather large glance. Their orders were to knock Sasuke out so they could take him back to Konoha for Naruto to deal with. But any one of them was capable of killing the traitor with their abilities. What could they do but fight him?

 

“Who will be first?” Sasuke asked, lifting his chin and looking down his nose at his former friends. “It doesn't matter- you will all meet the same end.”

 

“Foolish bastard!” Lee cried, jumping forward like a lightning strike. He struck out with hands, arms, fists, feet- and was still unable to land a blow, even with his unimaginable speed. Sasuke dodged every attack as if it were secondary nature. He slid around Lee's attack and caught him with an even faster punch, causing him to fly across the room and hit the wall. The Chuunin crumpled to the floor, debris from the shattered wall dusting down onto him.

 

“You are nowhere near my level,” he told the unconscious man. He turned to the remaining five. “Who is next? Or will you all come at me at once?”

 

“That's enough, Sasuke,” Naruto interrupted as he and Gaara strode into the room. “This is between me and Kabuto. Step aside.”

 

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

 

A/N: Jinjuu Konbi Henge: Soutourou- “Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf”

Shinranshin no Jutsu- “Mind Body Disturbance Technique”

Kaze no Kizu- “Cutting Wind” (Yes, y'all, I borrowed it from Inuyasha. © Rumiko Takahashi. I told you I was really, really bad with naming techniques, and I thought that since Temari uses wind attacks… Be thankful I didn't have her use Kagura's Dance of Blades! That would've been too weird…)