The workers gathered behind Tazuna who looked a little worried.
"Tazuna," said Gato, stopping at a few yards away from the bridgebuilder. "You were warned."
"Not everyone caves to your threats, Gato," replied Tazuna. "Why did you wait this long?"
"'Wait'?" asked Gato. "I've sent ninja, mercenaries, and another ninja after you. Now though, you're unguarded by those fools."
"Uhm," said Tazuna, glancing up at the building support and not finding the girl he'd expected to see there.
"All you've got is some weak little slip of a girl," said Gato. "I've broken girls that were more of a threat than that little pink-haired slut. I -"
[Battle Mode - Engaged.]
Suddenly the four mercenaries to Gato's left were all flying in different directions, one knocking Gato over in his arc, and there was a kunoichi crouching there in the center of what had been their formation.
Sakura Haruno stood slowly up. She cocked her head, eyes closed, and when she opened them there seemed to be a green flash.
Mercenaries took an involuntary step back, fingering their weapons.
Gato scrambled clear, cursing the mercenary who'd knocked him over.
"Am I to understand," said Sakura slowly, each word enunciated carefully. "That you referred to a genin of the Leaf as a 'little slip of a girl'? That you called that same kunoichi a 'slut'?"
"You don't scare me," said Gato, not wanting to be seen as backing down. "You guys, get her!"
Ka-chunk! Bweeeeeeeee!
The mercenaries had started forward when the girl in question produced a tube from one forearm which was gathering a globe of light at the end pointed their way.
"Sensei says we aren't to assassinate you," said Sakura.
Several mercenaries gave sighs of relief.
"That doesn't mean I can't hurt you," pointed out Sakura.
[Special Technique: Grenade]
Kakashi turned in the general direction of the bridge.
"Did you hear that?" asked a panting Sasuke.
"What sounded like screams of fear and pain, with an explosion or two?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah," said Sasuke, drawing himself up.
"You guys stay here and continue to practice," said Kakashi, "I'll check this out."
Sasuke blinked at the little puff of smoke where Kakashi had been. "I really hate it when he does that."
"Yeah, annoying ain't it?" agreed Naruto.
Kakashi Hatake sighed as he heard the sound of Tazuna yelling.
Sure enough, when he got there - it was discover a section of bridge had been blown up and there were mercenaries littering the area.
"Uhm," said Kakashi. "Gato - I presume?"
The guy whose back was pressed up against a support pillar by a hand circling his neck managed to croak something.
"Sakura? Report," ordered Kakashi.
"I didn't realize the bridge was that fragile," answered Sakura, releasing Gato so that he could wheeze and gasp on his knees.
"F-f-FRAGILE?!" was the predictable reaction from Tazuna.
"It's only minor damage to the surface," pointed out Kakashi. "Now, Sakura, you know we're not allowed to upgrade this to an assassination mission."
"That's right you stupid @#&$$!" said Gato. "Who do you think I am?"
"Oh dear, this isn't going to end at all well," predicted Kakashi.
"I'm Gato the shipping magnate," continued Gato. "I have money and connections. How dare you manhandle me like this?!"
"You'd be a lot more convincing if your voice didn't keep breaking," pointed out Kakashi, tastefully avoiding the mention of any soiling of garments. "Still, he's right Sakura. You can't kill him."
"Uhm," said Tazuna, looking at several of his employees who were holding large metal tools and looking VERY tempted.
"You see," said Gato with a sneer. "I'll recover from this and make all of you pay."
"So," said Kakashi, "try to leave him alive enough that someone else can finish him off."
"Wha?" said Gato as Kakashi vanished.
Inner Sakura spoke in the calm melodic feminine voice that was similar to those of the Mid-Childan Intelligent Devices. [Congratulations. You have won a free trip to: World. Of. Pain.]
Outer Sakura merely grinned in a nonhumorous manner and cracked her knuckles.
"Hey, that's her," said one of the toughs, moving towards Tsunami.
The cat on one of the dockside pilings gave the two of them a glare.
"Hey you, we're taking you hostage," said the other tough. "They left you all alone, eh? Well..."
The cat leapt down, shifting into a little girl with catears and a tail before her feet touched down.
"You were saying?" asked Tsunami.
"She's just a little girl," said one of the toughs, moving forward. Who then stopped when he realized his companion had just put his sword back in the sheath and was now backing away. "What?"
"I've seen those eyes before," said the second tough, continuing to back up. "That's a Hyuga. She was able to use a ninja technique to turn into a cat. So she's a ninja, and one of those elite clans with a bloodline thingie. I'm pretty good with a sword, I know all the basics. I ain't up to going up against no elite ninja."
"Aw, come on," said the first tough, moving forward again. "How tough could some little girl be? She's got to be maybe seven or eight at most."
"Byakugan," said Kurochan, causing the blood vessels near her eyes to extend.
This caused the first tough to start running forward, raising his sword high. The second tough apparently decided that his interests were best served looking for other employment.
Tsunami watched as the little girl drove two fingers into the descending arm, dodged the strike, and then slammed her other palm into a knee.
"You have lost the use of one arm and one leg," pointed out Kurochan as she stepped backward twice to place herself out of immediate strike-back range. "Do you want to run away like your friend?"
"You're just a little girl," said the goon. "I can't fall to you!"
"We'll see about that," said Kurochan, sounding as if she were bored by the whole thing.
Nearby, Inari watched with wide eyes. Apparently, if they knew how to do it, even a little kid could stand up to Gato and his men.
"So, what was it, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto, standing on a tree with his body parallel to the ground.
"A little wobbly there, Naruto," pointed out Kakashi as he checked for signs that Naruto was using his flight jutsu. His hammer was on the ground though, so maybe not.
"It's difficult to maintain," admitted Naruto. "I'm used to doing things differently."
"So what was up?" asked Sasuke, sitting on a high branch.
"Sakura was attacked by Gato and some cheap thugs, not like the weaponmasters you faced earlier - these guys couldn't use chakra at all and couldn't get behind her," explained Kakashi, sitting down on a tree stump and pulling out his little orange book.
"Oh?" asked Sasuke, sounding interested.
"You probably don't want to be there right now," said Kakashi, finding his place within the book and quickly picking up the narrative.
"Why not?" asked Sasuke.
"First, you're still working on the tree-climbing exercise," said Kakashi. "Second, I think what you said to Sakura played to some fears she might have since her accident."
PAM! went a small explosion as Naruto's feet were propelled from the tree trunk.
"Naruto, control," said Kakashi, without looking up.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:45)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.