Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Photograph ❯ Battle ( Chapter 16 )

#16: invincible/unrivaled

 

----

 

“So much for having a strategy.” Kankuro rolled his eyes as Naruto charged at the rogue ninjas they had been chasing, leaving the rest of the team still hiding behind a sand dune.

 

Shikamaru looked up at the sky with a heavy sigh. “After teaming with Naruto for this many years, I knew that was coming. We will give him exactly two and a half minutes to create absolute chaos in the camp with his clones, and then we will continue with the original plan.”

 

Shifting a bit to peek around the edge of the sand dune, Lee caught glimpses of orange and black amidst the smoke and destruction. “He is very talented at creating confusion.”

 

“And he's the next Hokage.” Temari pulled her fan from its harness. “Somebody needs to tell Tsunade to lay off the sake. It's obviously messing with her brain.”

 

“Oh, Temari-san, do not say that about Naruto! He is a shining example of what can be done with hard work while beating down impossible odds!”

 

Kankuro tossed a pebble at Lee. “Pipe down, bushy brows. Even with the fighting, they're going to hear you. Is anyone watching the time, anyways?”

 

“One minute, thirteen seconds left.” Shikamaru put both hands behind his head and leaned back against the sand, still wishing for clouds in the desert.

 

Lee fidgeted, toying with the edges of his bandages and sneaking peeks at the battle. “Are you sure that we should wait? He could need our assistance . . . “

 

It was Temari's turn to roll her eyes. “Don't worry, Lee. We'll get in there before Naruto destroys the whole bunch.”

 

“That is not what I meant!” Lee turned his wide eyes back towards the blonde sand-nin to find her smiling at him. “Temari-san, this not the time for your teasing. We are about to plunge into a life and death battle with the fates of both of our countries on the line!”

 

“Hey Gaara, does bushy brows always get this wound up before a fight?” Kankuro summoned his puppets from their scrolls, chakra strings glowing brightly.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Gaara-kun!”

 

Shikamaru opened his eyes and sat up. “Thirty seconds.”

 

Temari chuckled, moving into position. “I'm just passing the time, Lee, since lazy bones here won't let us go until exactly when his strategy says.”

 

Grumbling about stubborn women, and something about his mother, Shikamaru took position next to Temari. “So impatient. Two and a half minutes is the optimum amount of time for Naruto to cause chaos without the enemy regrouping and with minimal damage to Naruto. There is also minimal risk for the Kyuubi to start putting in a serious appearance. I don't want to deal with more then one or two tails. Fifteen seconds.”

 

“You're going to explain that later.”

 

“Too troublesome.”

 

“Or I'll beat it out of you with my fan. Which is more troublesome?”

 

Shikamaru paused, obviously considering. “Later. Time's up.”

 

Lee's heart rate jumped as adrenaline surged. All of the hunting and waiting and planning was about to come to fruition. Behind him he could hear the sound of sand hissing as it moved, pouring from the gourd to spin around its master. A few tendrils played around Lee's legs, but he barely noticed them anymore. He glanced back to his precious person, giving him a bright smile and a thumbs up before darting into the burning camp.

 

There were still clones everywhere, despite the fact that they were steadily being destroyed. Smoke from an out of control campfire and dissipating clones choked the air as the taijutsu master exploded into the fray. The smoke shifted, giving away the position of one of the enemy ninjas. It was enough for Lee to home in on him, leading off with a vicious kick to the head that sent the surprised ninja slamming to the ground. Orders were to take the leader alive, but the rest were to be eliminated as a threat to Konoha and Suna. Lee wasted no time in closing on the downed ninja, slamming his fist into the back of his head with enough force to meet the ground. That was one enemy down, but there were nineteen more, and he was unlikely to have another easy victory.

 

Karasu whipped past, knocking clones aside on his way to one of the enemies. In the distance, he could hear Temari yelling. Just behind him was the hiss of sand. At one point in his life, that sound would have made him start in terror, but now it was comforting. Shuriken shot past, close enough to cut some strands of hair loose. He saw a bit of movement at the edge of his peripheral vision as sand snatched the weapons out of the air.

 

The ninja that had thrown the shuriken was coming at them, his hands flashing through a sequence of seals. A clone dove at him but missed, disappearing in a cloud. Lee fell into his perfect stance, hand raised, waiting patiently. With his completely lack of first hand experience with jutsus, he had no idea what the enemy was trying to do.

 

Lee would never find out. The sand looped around the man's hands, crushing them into a ball and stopping the signs. While the man was still yelling about his ruined hands, Lee landed a punch that sent the man crashing to the ground. He spun and threw a kunai at another enemy that had been moving in near Gaara, making the woman swear and fall back when it ran through her hand, her jutsu forgotten. The sand quickly swarmed her. Lee turned away before Gaara's jutsu was finished. He still did not like to see that. The ninja that he had kicked to the ground was back on his feet, blood running from his mouth. His hands were ruined, limp pieces of bloody flesh. He charged anyways. Lee engaged him, trading kicks while trying to land the shot that would eliminate this threat to his homes, both native and adopted. There was a flash of metal, something sharp pointing out of the enemy's clothing, tipped with black. Lee fell back as the weapon was slashed at him. The sand leapt to his defense, blocking the attack. Like he had done a million times in practice, the taijutsu master kicked straight through the sand barricade, crumpling the ninja on the other side. The sand collapsed around the fallen enemy, ensuring that he would not be getting up again.

 

Lee barely noticed the fate of his fallen enemy. The sand would not let its prey escape. He had already locked on to the next target. One of the rogue ninja was battling with Gaara, fighting his way through the sand. He was fast, nearly as fast as Lee with the weights off. Most likely a chakra enhanced technique, but that did not change the fact that the sand was falling behind the attacks. With no hesitation, Lee pounced on the overly focused enemy. The ninja had been so occupied with taking on the famed Gaara of the Desert that he had completely forgotten the famous Konoha shinobi behind him. It was a fatal error.

 

Gaara of the Desert alone was a force of nature, the unrivaled master of the sand. Rock Lee alone was an unstoppable force, the proven master of taijutsu and hard work. Combined, they were an invincible force, moving together as though they could read each other's minds. There was no communication, no signal, no eye contact. Gaara simply knew that Lee was there and dropped the sand defense. The rogue ninja's eyes widened, thinking that he had finally beaten the ultimate defense, only to have vision stolen from him when Lee landed a brutal kick to the side of his head. The downed ninja was easy prey for the desert sand. Lee paused long enough to give Gaara a quick, dangerous smile before turning away to find the next battle.

 

All of the shinobi had seen pictures of the leader, the one they were supposed to take alive. Lee recognized him in an instant. He stood in the middle of the camp, uninjured. The smoke was slowly clearing, all of Naruto's clones destroyed. The former campsite was decimated, with blood and bodies littering the sand. Naruto was pulling a kunai from the throat of one of the rogue ninja's, blood splashed across his face and jacket. On the other side of the campsite, Temari and Kankuro were on guard, watching the last standing enemy ninja. Kankuro was hurt, putting little weight on one leg, but his puppets were all functional and ready to continue. Gaara moved up next to Lee, his eyes on the leader. The sand shifted around them both, ready to swarm forward and bury the man so they could take him prisoner.

 

Naruto glared at the leader, eyes gone dangerously dark. “Give it up, bastard.”

 

The ninja snorted, his hand going to the katana at his waist. “You bunch of pansy waist beginners think you can take me in? You've got another thing . . . “

 

Lee blinked in confusion as the tall man stopped talking, his hand resting on his katana. Slowly, his grip loosened. Both hands went up to the top of his head, his fingers spread like antlers. All eyes swept the area until they found the one person that could be responsible for the very dangerous ninja being in such an odd position.

 

“Success.” Shikamaru crouched at the edge of the campsite, hands on his head. “It would have been easier, if someone would have stopped making so much smoke and blocking out the sun.”

 

“What?” Naruto glared at his teammate instead of the enemy. “Are you kidding? You're blaming me?”

 

“Oh, shut up. The both of you.” Temari relaxed her stance, but kept her fan at the ready. “Put him in a useful position so we can secure him for the trip back, lazy bones.”

 

With a shrug, Shikamaru moved his hands so that they were crossed behind his back. Naruto was still grumbling and growling under his breath and he pulled out the restraints that Ibiki had sent with them. The rogue ninja was furious, it was visible in his expression, but he could do nothing. Shikamaru's shadow techniques were half the reason he was a jounin, with his amazing intelligence being the other reason. Usually, lazy shinobi do not get to be jounin.

 

Kankuro dismissed his puppets and sat down with a thump, pulling his pant leg up. “Nasty sons of bitches. This thing burns like you'd never believe.” Ignoring the going ons around him, he pulled a tube out of his pack. “I hope that thing wasn't poisoned.”

 

Lee gave Gaara a quick glance over, noting how he was standing with one arm held awkwardly. “Did you get hit, Gaara-kun?”

 

“It is fine.” Gaara waved Lee off when he tried to investigate. “The sand stopped most of it.”

 

“Hey, if you feel like helping the injured, you could give me a hand bandaging this up, you know!” Kankuro waved a square of gauze. “I'm bleeding to death here!”

 

After giving Gaara one more concerned look, Lee trotted across camp to help Kankuro. Temari stayed on guard, moving closer to the shadow master and watching as Naruto secured their captive and began the seals that would lock the bindings in place. With Shikamaru holding the leader in place, it was almost embarrassingly simple.

 

Lee started to wrap a pressure bandage around Kankuro's leg. “I do not think it was poisoned, but it is quite deep. Sakura-san taught me quite a bit of first aid, so I should be able to stop the bleeding.”

 

“Shikamaru, get down!” Temari jumped in front of the distracted shinobi, fan up like a shield, as a kunai with an exploding tag whistled through the air. Lee shoved Kankuro down as an explosion rocked the area, everything going white behind his closed eyelids. When he opened them again, there was a crater where Shikamaru and Temari had been standing.

 

Naruto was coughing as he picked himself up from the sand, several senbon sticking out of his chest. “Son of a bitch. Some sort of a trap in his clothes.” The blue eyes looked around the campsite, but there was no sign of the leader. Even with his hands bound, he had escaped in the explosion and confusion that one of his subordinates had created. “He's gone.”

 

There was a sickening crunch as sand collapsed over a rogue ninja that the shinobi had thought was dead. When Gaara was done with him, there would be nothing left to come back to life with. The jade green eyes were narrowed as the sand continued to collapse, even as blood oozed out of the lump that had once been the enemy that had dared to hurt his sister.

 

“Temari. Temari!” Shikamaru crouched on the ground, far to the side of the crater where he had once been standing, holding the blonde woman in his arms. “Wake up, Temari. You idiot, what were you thinking?”

 

Mint green eyes slowly opened, coupled with a small smile. “That you were too lazy to get out of the way.” Temari gasped and coughed, blood at her lips.

 

“Don't ever do something that stupid ever again. Do you hear me?” Shikamaru set his forehead against hers, his eyes closed and breathing erratic.

 

“Yes, I hear you. The whole desert does.” Temari's fingers tangled in the sleeve of his shirt.

 

Lee left Kankuro to finish the bandage and approached Gaara. Blood trickled over the sand as the Kazekage continued to squeeze the remains of the rogue ninja. “Gaara-kun.”

 

So subtle that it would take practice to spot it, Gaara had begun to rock.

 

“Gaara-kun.” Lee carefully set a hand on his precious person's shoulder, stepping up close behind him. “Temari-san is okay. She is talking to Shikamaru-san right now. The ninja is dead. It is all over.”

 

Beneath the warm, calloused hand, the Kazekage shuddered.

 

“Come on, Gaara-kun. Let's go check on Temari-san.” Lee slipped his hand down so that it was around Gaara's bicep and gave him a tug. “The ninja is just as dead as you can get him.”

 

When the red head continued to stare at the bloody lump, Lee bent down and brushed a kiss over his cheek. Gaara turned to look at him, eyes startled, and he took that as an opportunity to tug Gaara away from the mess and over to his sister. Shikamaru had not released the oldest of the sand-sibs. He was still holding her tightly, resting across his lap. Lee smiled brightly as he put an arm around his precious person. “See? She will be fine.”

 

Naruto gave up on looking for the leader for the moment and stopped near Kankuro. “How's the leg, man?”

 

“That's nothing compared to the sugar shock you get from watching those two.” Kankuro made a vague gesture.

 

“I guess that means Tsunade-baachan lost another bet. She was betting on Temari killing Shikamaru.”

 

“Huh? I was talking about bushy brows and my kid brother.” The puppet-nin propped himself up so that he could look over at the two couples. “Oh, what the hell, it's some sort of an epidemic. Where is my family obsessed with Konoha shinobi?”

 

“Hey, there's nothing wrong with Konoha shinoboi! I'm from Konoha, dumb ass!”

 

Kankuro slowly looked from the two sickeningly sweet couples over to the shinobi that was standing right next to him. “Get the fuck away from me!”

 

Naruto watched as Kankuro stumbled to his feet, despite his injury, and proceeded to hop away. “What'd I do?”