Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Chunin ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

 

Night fell upon the Forest. No one had as of yet made it to the tower and two teams had died that day (well, more like one and two-thirds of a team). Each team had to sleep in shifts. While two Genin slept, the third would stay awake and keep watch. This was dangerous because all you had to do was kill the one keeping watch quickly and silently and the other two would be at your mercy.

 

For the Sand Siblings, this proved to be no problem. Gaara sat awake while Temari and Kankuro slept. Nights had always been lonely for Gaara since he was inevitably the only one awake. He had gotten used to it at one time but since regaining his senses it bothered him more. He'd often hang out with the night watch back home in the Hidden Sand as they made their rounds.

 

On top of the solitude and boredom, Gaara was cold. They'd built a man made shelter but he had to stay outside to keep watch. Behind his head, his Third Eye was floating and scanning the scenery. He wished Kankuro was awake. The two of them trusted each other more these days than they had all the time they were growing up. He could talk about anything with him. Frankly Gaara was puzzled as to why people even wanted to sleep. It made people dependent on a state of helplessness for about one third of each day. Plus he didn't see the appeal to dreaming.

 

Two things happened at the same time to shock Gaara back to his senses. One was two kunai with paper bombs attached hitting the shelter where Kankuro and Temari were sleeping. Before they even exploded, he felt someone dump several gallons of water on him. The Sand Shield had not activated quickly enough to respond and his Sand Armor was now soaked. This posed an immediate danger to him. Wet sand rendered him nearly immobile. Before he had a chance to think about this, two figures jumped out of the shelter a split second before it exploded.

 

Gaara shook himself as hard and fast as possible the way a dog shakes itself after getting out of water. A lot of the wet sand was flung off of him. Just in time, too. Three older Leaf Ninja, all boys, appeared. Like Gaara and his team, they all had something on their backs. Had the light been better, he'd have realized they were carrying water tanks.

 

“Looks like you're ours now punk,” said one of them with a smirk. “Even your brother and sister took off into the woods and left you behind.”

 

“Give us the scroll and we'll leave you alone,” said another. “Refuse and we settle this with combat. Do yourself a favor and just cooperate.”

 

Gaara analyzed them carefully. All three were obviously water specialists. All three needed a water source, and thus the tanks. The question was whether these guys had the ability to take a little water and turn it into a lot of water with a jutsu. This was not a Genin-level technique but he knew not to underestimate anyone in a battle. He also knew that Kankuro and Temari would never have abandoned him and that these guys were being foolish by not watching for them. At the moment, he was limited to taijutsu but on the flip side, now that he wasn't carrying any sand, he was sure he'd be faster than his attackers.

 

“Tell me, do you always plan your attacks out so poorly?” he asked.

 

“What's that supposed to mean… OOF!”

 

The Leaf fighter didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence. Gaara appeared next to him in a blur of speed and backhanded him with all his might before he even realized Gaara had moved. The kid was knocked to the ground.

 

Gaara guessed correctly that Kankuro and Temari were waiting for him to do something before they acted. As it turned out, the two figures that ran into the woods were actually Kankuro's puppets. His siblings had merely moved to the other side of the large tree where the shelter had been set up. No one had noticed. Not even Gaara.

 

Temari leaped out and clubbed one of them with her fan. She'd have liked to have used a wind attack but Gaara was standing too close to her target. He would have been hit. The third opponent took water from his tank into his mouth and began spitting Water Bullets at Gaara. Kankuro sent Crow into a position to block and sent Ant over to Gaara.

 

“Ant's yours if you can get any use out of him,” hollered Kankuro.

 

Gaara was not a puppet master. All Sand shinobi knew how to form chakra strings so he could get minor movements out of a puppet but nothing significant. However the arms were just what he needed. They were equipped with serrated metal blades. As the victim of the backhanding got up, Gaara grabbed an arm off of Ant and raced at him for a quick kill. The kid was quick enough to avoid Gaara but not quick enough to avoid Temari as well. With her own opponent already unconscious, she turned and sent a gust of wind at Gaara's target. He whipped his tank off his back to block the chakra blades within the gust. The remainder of the gust sent him flying backwards and straight into Ant's open torso. Gaara promptly used chakra strings to snap it shut and tossed kunai into the holes.

 

Kankuro's opponent seemed to have the upper-hand for a few moments. He had spat out Water Bullets rapidly enough to keep Crow from getting close and had avoided its projectiles. But he was now outnumbered three to one. And now all of the sudden his legs were going numb. He was getting dizzy and could no longer bear the weight of the water tank. He collapsed to his knees.

 

“Nice Heaven Scroll,” called out Kankuro. “We'll take in exchange for this.” He held up a small blue vial.

 

“What's that?” asked the Leaf ninja.

 

“The antidote to the poison you just drank,” replied Kankuro. “Waited all my life for a chance to say that.”

 

“What are you…”

 

But he couldn't finish his question. Whatever it was had taken effect quickly.

 

“One of Crow's poison darts penetrated your water tank,” said Kankuro. “You were bound to swallow at least a little of the water you were putting in your mouth. Toss us the scroll, and I give you my word we'll give you this and let you live. We could just come up and take it but you might be booby trapped somehow.”

 

The Leaf kid knew that he was beaten and tossed over his scroll. He seemed surprised when Kankuro tossed the antidote to him. He had no reason to expect an enemy to keep his word. He had cooperated because he had lost and they'd earned it, simple as that.

 

“I wouldn't engage in too much physical activity for a while if I were you,” warned Kankuro. “Rest and let that stuff do its job if you want to live.” He walked over to retrieve Ant and remove the body of the kid Gaara had killed.

 

“Next time know your opponent,” said Gaara dryly. “You had ample opportunity to observe us from the shadows. We had only seconds to observe you and we still won. Next time be smart and don't go getting your friends killed.”

 

“Or smacked silly with big iron fans,” said Temari with a grin. “Seeya.”

 

As soon as they were some distance away they had a chance to talk.

 

“You two well rested?” asked Gaara.

 

“Got four hours so I can't complain,” replied Temari.

 

“Same here,” replied Kankuro. “Let me guess, you want to head for the tower right now, don't you?”

 

“It's the middle of the night,” said Gaara. “Teams are less likely to be active now. The longer we're in this forest, the more danger we're in. Normally that wouldn't bother me so much but until I get dried off better, I don't know how capable I'll be of using sand.”

 

“That's true,” replied Kankuro, “But aren't you forgetting that the area around the tower is likely to have ambushes galore?”

 

“Would you rather sleep out here in the woods over the sound of Temari snoring?” asked Gaara with an uncharacteristic grin.

 

“I do NOT snore,” replied Temari angrily.

 

“Ah, so that's how the enemy found us,” said Kankuro with a laugh.

 

“Et tu, Kankuro?” groaned Temari. “Curse this small and incredibly cute nose of mine.”

 

“Ah, so you admit you snore.”

 

“Oh shut up, Gaara.”

 

---

 

Kiba, Shino, and Hinata had found a small cave to spend the night. All three of them slept as Akamaru and Shino's insects kept watch. Though they were close to the tower, they were nowhere near the direction the Sand team would have headed in order to reach their goal.

 

Akamaru walked over to where Kiba was sleeping and nuzzled him. He woke up and looked over at the dog.

 

“What is it, boy?” In response Akamaru yawned. “OK, I get it, my turn. No problem.” He crawled over to the cave entrance while Akamaru cuddled up next to Hinata and fell asleep. “I suppose you guys can sleep too,” he said to Shino's bugs. They all landed on the cave wall. Whether they were asleep or not was anyone's guess.

 

---

 

“I hope no one sees this,” grumbled Gaara. He was standing in the middle of four lit torches.

 

“We don't have a choice, now do we?” replied Temari. “The water they dumped on you froze. We can't have you immobile if we want to get to the tower.”

 

“Damn wind chill,” said Gaara.

 

“Well anyway your parka's dry now,” said Kankuro. “Hopefully we'll be able to move again in a few minutes. Can you use sand yet?”

 

“I don't know.”

 

Just then Gaara's Sand Shield popped up without him commanding it and blocked three kunai. Three shinobi flew at him from out of the trees. Their faces were covered with cloth and no one recognized their clothing. Temari and Kankuro immediately stepped between them and Gaara. Two of them engaged them while the third leaped over all of them and attacked Gaara. He still couldn't move his feet but using Sand was no problem. He created a protective dome over himself and used the Third Eye to spot his attacker and launched Sand Shuriken at him. Gaara's attacker signaled to his companions and the three fled into the night as quickly as they had arrived.

 

Gaara lowered his dome and tried to move his feet. “Left one's still frozen,” he said. In response, Kankuro grabbed a torch and held it up close to Gaara's left leg.

 

“Hurry up,” ordered Temari. “We're sitting ducks.”

 

“Something odd is going on,” said Gaara. “I noticed something. Those two already had both the scrolls they needed.”

 

“Are you sure?” asked Kankuro.

 

“He's right,” replied Temari. “One of them had both scrolls strapped to his back. We have less than one kilometer left. We need to move right away.”

 

“OK, I can move now,” said Gaara. “Let's go!”

 

The three extinguished their torches and took off. In less than ten minutes they were in the tower. They'd made it to safety without further incident. This place was monitored. At the first sign of a fight, several ANBU would show up. They entered a dormitory room in the basement. Temari and Kankuro went to sleep while Gaara took a warm shower. Once again, they were the first team to make it and had done so without injury.

 

---

 

The rising sun marked the start of a new day. The temperature had risen to about 32° Fahrenheit. Kiba woke with a start realizing he'd fallen asleep on his watch. Shino and Hinata were still asleep and Akamaru…

 

Where was Akamaru?

 

He certainly wasn't in the cave, that was for sure. Kiba stepped outside to have a look around. He didn't dare call out for him. The risk was too great.

 

“Arf!”

 

Kiba looked over and to his relief, Akamaru was walking up.

 

“I guess you had to pee, eh?”

 

Akamaru yapped in reply. Kiba took a good look at him.

 

“Hmm… I see. Just one problem. AKAMARU'S A BOY DOG!”

 

Kiba tossed an exploding Kunai at the imposter Akamaru. It dodged and transformed into its true self: a blue haired girl from the Hidden Sand Village.

 

“Ha, next time pay better attention when you do a Transformation,” mocked Kiba.

 

“Yes, that was a bit careless,” admitted the Sand girl. Her two teammates emerged from the woods. Both were girls. All three looked to be about seventeen years old. One had black hair and her face covered in a traditional ninja mask, the other was tall with short red hair. To Kiba's horror, he noticed she was carrying the real Akamaru and held a kunai to his throat.

 

“We are the three legendary Sand Divas,” bragged the red head. “Perhaps you've heard of us.”

 

Kiba ignored that and tossed a food pill to Akamaru. He caught it in his mouth and ate it. Immediately he turned red and let out chakra so intense that his captor had to drop him. He ran over alongside Kiba.

 

“Actually I have heard of you,” said Kiba. “Three girls who talked a big game last year, got both scrolls and then stupidly opened them and were disqualified.” They seemed less than amused. Just then Shino and Hinata ran up, having been awakened by the exploding kunai. “Hey, you two are just in time to meet our new best buddies. Remember those three nitwits from last year? Well here they are in the flesh.” Now they were starting to get really mad.

 

“Either way, you guys are in over your head,” answered the blue haired girl. “We have about five more years of experience than you three. We've been on countless B-rank missions. We won't lose to the likes of you.”

 

“Sounds like a challenge to me,” said Kiba with a grin. “Let's show them how we do it in the Leaf guys!”

 

Hinata didn't have to be told twice. She activated her Byakugan and noticed something interesting. The black haired girl she was up against wasn't a real person at all. Couldn't be. No chakra network. Must be a puppet. And that being the case, the puppet master had to be nearby. The puppet shot several kunai out of its chest.

 

"Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

 

Hinata had never been any good with the rotation of Heavenly Spin but her own technique seemed to make up for it. No one had as of yet realized that Hinata was different from the other Hyugas in a unique way. She was the only one who's chakra nature type was water. Heavenly Spin requires a wind, fire or lightning type. She easily blocked the Kunai. The puppet rushed her. It sprouted four additional arms from under its cloak and each palm had a poisoned spike emerging from it. Hinata rushed straight at it and at the last second somersaulted underneath it and used her Gentle Fist to cut the chakra strings. She glanced back into the woods and sure enough the puppet master was there, trying to conceal herself.

 

Hinata ran after her. It took the puppet master a moment to realize that she could be seen. She should have run away but she underestimated this tiny girl coming at her and tried to take her on with taijutsu. Big mistake.

 

“Eight Trigrams! Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms!”

 

Hinata strained hard for one more.

 

“Sixty-Four Palms!”

 

It had always been difficult for Hinata to perform this technique and she wasn't always successful. Neji could do it without trying. Needless to say she was proud of herself for pulling it off. Her opponent's vital chakra points were all closed off. The girl struggled to her feet but Hinata knocked her out.

 

Shino took on the blue haired girl. Immediately he felt dizzy and felt like the scenery around him was melting. He signaled for a group of his insects to bite him all at once. The pain cancelled the genjutsu. Right away he injected himself with a drug to combat the insect poison.

 

“Not bad,” she mocked. She bit her thumb and slammed her palm to the ground. “Summoning Jutsu!” At once, she was joined by two enormous armadillos. Each was the size of an old Volkswagen Beetle and had huge claws. “OK boys, nail this punk!”

 

The two armadillos rolled into a ball and rolled straight towards Shino. They could have easily crushed him. Shino waited until they were close, then tossed some exploding kunai straight into their path. The kunai hit the ground and detonated but their outer armor was tough. Nevertheless, the blast sent them flying upwards and over his head. They landed hard and came out of their protective ball form. They ran at Shino and took swipes at him with their claws.

 

Their summoner laughed as he tried to avoid them. But her laughter soon turned to cries of pain. Several hundred of Shino's beetles had crawled off of his legs, burrowed through the ground (which was now less hard because the temperature had risen) and were now crawling up her legs and biting her. Shino polished off the armadillos by tossing shuriken at their soft, unprotected bellies. The girl collapsed and Shino called back his bugs. She was too badly poisoned to move.

 

Kiba's opponent was the red head and was probably the most talented of the group. She managed to dodge Fang Over Fang several times. She was a wind user and easily sent Kiba and Akamaru flying backwards without using a fan. She lacked Temari's ability to sent damaging chakra through air currents but was pretty tough nonetheless.

 

“Akamaru, use Formation 2!” hollered Kiba. Kiba raced at the girl with Piercing Fang while Akamaru used Tunneling Fang and attacked from underneath. She managed to stop Kiba but Akamaru emerged from underground behind her. She got badly clawed up.

 

“I… told you… I won't lose to the likes of you!” she said as she struggled to her feet.

 

“Great,” thought Kiba to himself. “Now she's starting to talk like Naruto.”

 

The girl jumped up to a tree branch and began sniping at them with powerful Air Bullets. Kiba and Akamaru were helpless to do anything but dodge. Small craters formed all over the ground as the Air Bullets hit. Just then, something came flying at her from behind. It was Kiba. The Kiba on the ground was a Substitution. She jumped out of the tree and he missed. Kiba jumped down and landed next to Akamaru.

 

“Wind Sword!”

 

“Uh-oh!” said Kiba. “Akamaru, I know about this technique. It killed Hayate. We get hit with that and we're dead. I hate to use this so early in the game but there's no choice. Man Beast Combination Transformation: Two Headed Wolf!”

 

The girl stopped in her tracks. She was truly terrified for the first time in the fight. The massive two headed wolf in front of her growled angrily. Then it lifted one leg and treated her to a horribly unpleasant Dynamic Marking.

 

“AH!” she screamed. “My eyes!”

 

The girl ran straight into a tree and knocked herself out. Kiba transformed back to normal and broke out laughing. Hinata and Shino walked up to view the scene.

 

“Ugh,” said Shino. “That's the worst thing I've ever smelled in my life.”

 

“You really should see a doctor about that,” said Hinata. “That's just not normal at all.”

 

Kiba noticed Hinata had one hand behind her back.

 

“Um, what's behind your back?” he asked. She grinned and produced a Heaven Scroll. Kiba was amazed. “They left that with a puppet master of all people? That's just dumb.”

 

“Um… probably because a puppet master is farther away from the actual battle,” said Hinata.

 

“Kiba's right,” said Shino. “It was a dumb decision on their part. Either way, we've got our ticket out of here. Let's go.”

 

End Chapter 6

 

© 2009 Joseph Kerner

 

Disclaimer: Naruto is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto