Naruto pulled out a list. "A good prank doesn't rely on one punchline," he said sagely. "I made three clones, not just one."
"What…this is a list of teams?" Sakura asked. "This is a list of half the teams taking the text. This is a list of teams with earth scrolls?"
"Hey I suck at being subtle," Naruto said, "but stealth I can do. You think I just strolled into the Hokage's tower and swiped a secret scroll without being able to sneak around?"
"Naruto, what is your third clone doing?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.
"He went back to my apartment to get a jar of itching powder and a laxative," he said innocently.
Anko sniffed her dango suspiciously. "Did I really leave them piled up like that?" she muttered.
She didn't see Naruko slip into the closest ladies' room with an evil cackle.
"I don't want to know," Sasuke said firmly.
Sakura looked at Naruto with a sick, disturbed expression. "What is wrong with you?"
"I'm that awesome, dattebayo!"
Sakura shuddered. "So we have this list. Do we know where we can find anyone on it?"
Sasuke looked down the list. "This Grass team didn't look that strong. We should aim for them."
Naruto and Sakura nodded – it was as good a plan as any.
…
"So that's a 'no' on knowing where they all are, isn't it?" Naruto asked.
"You're the one who was watching them get their slips," Sakura pointed out.
"Idiot," Sasuke observed.
Armed with information but no way to use it, Team Seven wandered around in the forest. After a while, Naruto had to wander off to relieve himself.
"What a moron," Sakura grumbled.
Sasuke said nothing. Biological imperatives were not weak. Unlike useless fangirls.
Then a Rain-nin went flying overhead, pushed into the sky by a pillar of ice.
"What!?" Sakura yelped.
"I think Naruto is under attack," Sasuke observed.
"Little help here!?" Naruto called.
Sasuke jumped through the bushes. "Hmph. You can't handle them?"
Naruto turned out to be fighting two other Rain-nin. "That guy jumped me, these two showed up when I got rid of him," he called back.
Sasuke took a heartbeat to take in the battle. Naruto's taijutsu was still pretty weak, but his forms had improved under Guy's training. With the chakra-enhanced strength of his punches, he was actually holding his own, even though there were attackers on either side of him.
The heartbeat ended and Sasuke launched himself at the closer ninja. The ninja turned to face the new attacker, clearly shifting from 2v1 against Naruto to a couple of 1v1 fights. He struck at Sasuke, which Sasuke blocked easily. "Now!"
"Ice dragon lance!" Sasuke's opponent was surprised to find himself shot into the sky by a pillar of ice.
Sasuke grinned. He could do teamwork, as long as the others did what he told them to do. It wasn't a couple 1v1s, it was a 2v2. And now it was back to two against one, their favor.
The last Rain-nin took a step back, eyes calculating.
Sasuke took a step forward, eager. "Katon! Great fireball no jutsu!" he called, exhaling a roiling ball of flame that swept up the Rain-nin.
"Suiton! Hidden waterfall no jutsu!" the ninja called. With shocking speed the clouds above coalesced and crashed down, forming a barrier of water between himself and Sasuke's fire. "Too bad for you, I am your worst…what!?"
The water swirled around and vanished into Naruto's mouth. The blonde dragon slayer was bent backwards and clearly inhaling with all his might. When the water was gone he relaxed and flipped upright with a grin. "Thanks for the meal," he growled.
"What are you!?" the ninja yelped. "Suiton!" he ran through hand seals, but Naruto never found out what the jutsu was going to be.
Sasuke leapt at the Rain-nin and delivered a hard kick to his temple. "Don't forget about me!" he roared.
Sakura pushed aside a branch and looked at the unconscious Rain-nin. "Sasuke, you're so cool!"
"Hmph," Sasuke snorted. "Where were you?" Useless fangirl.
Sakura held up a couple pouches of buldging supplies and an earth scroll. "Looting the bodies," she said cheerfully. "I checked them for traps, disabled them, tied them up with their own ninja wire, set up a signal flare with an explosive tag that will go off in ten minutes, and retrieved their scroll. Oh, and I liberated their kunai and shuriken just in case we run out before we get to the tower."
Sasuke blinked. Maybe not so useless.
Naruto shrugged. "They weren't the Grass team, but we still got the scroll we need, right? So let's get out of here."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:20)
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.