Chapter Eight

"KIBA! IF YOU DON'T MOVE NOW, I DON'T THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GET ANOTHER CHANCE TO SEE TOMORROW MORNING!"

"SHUT UP, SHINO! STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE AND HELP ME!" Kiba yelled from below.

"Hinata, find the thinnest point in his wrists and ankles."

"Done," Hinata whispered, catching on. She pulled out four kunai and expertly flung them, as they stabbed Kazuki's monster at the designated point. The creature gave a strangled roar as it hit the ground.

"SLICE IT!" Shino yelled to Kiba once more, as Akamaru pounced.

"HINATA! USE YOUR LITTLE WATER TRICKS OR WHATEVER!"

(A/N: If anyone has seen the Naruto episode where Hinata has like, this psychological power to control the water around her, yeah, that's what I'm referring to.)

"THERE IS NONE!" Hinata screamed back. Kiba growled and then spat on the floor.

"Is that enough?" he yelled, referring to his small puddle of spit.

Gross, Kiba. Gross.

"Hey, if there's a canyon outside the exit borders of this base, there should be a river below, right?" Shino calculated. "If your mind can reach that far, can you get there?"

Hinata gasped in effort, but there was nothing.

"There's a-a river, but I can't reach it. Shino, we have to help Kiba before he dies!"

"What are you suggesting we do, then!"

Hinata flinched. Her comrades had never scorned her before, but she bit her lip.

"If you can direct him to where we are, I might be able to do something."

"Fine- KIBA! GET OVER HERE! NOW!"

Wasting no time, Kiba swung himself over a trashcan and scaling the wall, he leapt up on the roof, with Akamaru behind him.

"What's the plan?" he panted.

"DUCK! NOW!" Hinata screamed, as she pulled both of her teammates by the collar down on their stomachs.

Kazuki's monster fired three blasts at them, one to finish each of them off, but Hinata was ready.

"HINATA! GET DOWN!"

Clutching her broken ribs, Hinata gave an intake of breath to numb it up.

"One more," she whispered. "I need four…"

The neon, blinding shots from Kazuki had reached them at last, and Hinata snapped up on the balls of her feet and gracefully spun as chakra emitted from her opening points. With great precision and calucation, Hinata echoed the firings back at the monster as Kaiten whirled around her. It angled off and severed the monster's wrists and ankles, just according to their plan.

"W-Whoa…"

"!"

The scream pierced the hot air as Kazuki and the monster exploded into sparks and fire. The blast windswept Kurenai's team as they were knocked off their feet into the alley below. Hinata grabbed Akamaru off the roof as the four of them tumbled and collided into the trashcans.

"Ouch…owowowow…"

Hinata was laughing softly in triumph.

"C'mon," Shino said, trying to maintain the leader-like atmosphere he had. "We have to find the others."

"Wait," Kiba gasped, "What'd you…do!"

"Kaiten," Hinata panted. "Neji-kun helped me refine it everyday for three months."

"You call THAT Kaiten? That's more like Ultra-Sonic-Ginormous-Ultramania-Boom-"

"We get the point, Kiba," Shino cut off.

"Tenten? Neji?" Lee said cluelessly as he watched his teammates blankly. They ignored him…as usual.

"She's doing the Dragons," Neji spoke out. "These clones are nothing like Naruto's bunshins- they're the real thing."

"But—"

"I have no idea how he's managing it, or what kind of jutsu's behind this, but if Tenten's plan goes well, we can get out of here alive."

Lee's lower lip trembled. Youthfulness! Survival! Oh, if Gai-Sensei could see how much they've grown…

"Horse, dragon, dog, snake," Tenten whispered as she clasped her hands together. "Rising Explosive Twin Dragons…"

"Lee!" Neji ordered over the shaking winds. "When I tell you- you take the weapons that Tenten's going to summon and use Bunshin to hold them in place in the ground!"

"W-WAIT!" Lee cried out. Had they forgotten? He had like, 0 percent talent in ninjutsu, so what on EARTH made them think that he'd do it now?

"C'MON, LEE!" Tenten screamed.

Lee frantically looked at their surroundings.

C'mon…gotta remember academy training…remember the seals…

"GOD- JUST DO IT FOR YOUTH!"

These words exploded from Neji and Tenten's mouth before they could savor their dignity. Lee looked up, crying from happiness and confidence.

"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

With a small poof and a wail of "YOUTH!", Lee sprang out of the smoke and widened his eyes at his accomplishment.

Not one, not two, not three- but FIVE replicas of himself! They all raised a fist in victory, but then—

"YOU IDIOT! I SAID WHEN I SAID FOR YOU TO GO!"

…he had done it too soon. Oh well, at least he managed a ninjutsu. This was a once in a lifetime experience.

Tenten grabbed Lee's calf weights and they sunk into the kanji letters of the scroll. A loud bubbling noise issued from her hands and before anyone could blink, weapons shot out and Neji skillfully grabbed them all by hand, and summoning more shadow clones, he planted them in the deep dirt in the midst of all the clones.

"Fifteen seconds before this place blows," Tenten ordered, as she wrapped a string filled with explosives around one of Lee's bunshins.

"But…but…" Lee sputtered. After all of that hard work to make a clone- and they were just going to blow it up anyway?

"Ten seconds…"

"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE, LEE! WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID CLONES!" Tenten yelled. She grabbed him by the neck and with Neji, the three of them leapt over the alley fence just in time.

BANG.

Tenten was half laughing as she clapped her hands over her ears in victory.

Lee sighed and slumped on his back. He sure missed his clones…and his weights.

"Get over it, Lee," Neji said in a commanding voice.

"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS!" Lee sobbed, grasping his comrades in a rib-cracking hug. "YOU FINALLY REALIZED WHAT YOUTH IS ALL ABOUT!"

Tenten rolled her eyes and glanced at Neji who slightly winced at being in such close contact with a weirdo like Lee. Tenten raised an eyebrow and caught Neji's eye.

They both smiled.

Sakura grasped her forearm to heal the wounds. She looked at Sasuke, whose eyes had already begun to harden in its own coldness. Naruto's chakra crackled the hot air and abruptly, Sakura was blown off her feet.

"NARUTO!" she screamed.

But the fox demon that had buried itself inside Naruto's soul had woken up from its deep slumber.

Sakura fingered a three-scar wound on her left arm and suddenly remembered what Captain Yamato had said about the Kyuubi.

"The more his chakra increases, the tails will increase at a faster rate…until there are nine in total. His chakra grows as his anger heightens. He loses his sense of self and anyone around him when the fourth tail forms."

Sakura leapt off the ground and grabbed Naruto's arm.

"Naruto," she coughed, "calm down! Anger won't get us anywhere! C'mon, Naruto…please!"

Sakura winced in pain as the boy snapped a hand around her wrist. He flung her aside, and all of the images of his trademark smile and Sasuke's scowl collided and vanished before her eyes.

Hey, Sakura-chan!

-You moron- get away from me.

Don't worry, Sakura-chan! I'll save you!

-Why should I accept teamwork from you, bonehead?

Idiot! I'm better than you!

-You're no good to me if you're just going to be a liability.

A strangled scream of frustration made its way out of Sakura's mouth as she recklessly shot back up and fired a shuriken blade at Sasuke's feet. With a crunch of dirt, it stabbed the ground as Sasuke expertly leapt to the side. Abruptly, his eyes widened as the shuriken began to smoke.

"Explosive!"

Sakura launched her hand on Naruto's shoulder and transplanted a portion of the little chakra she had left. Immediately, his bloodshot eyes grew that old Western blue and he blinked.

"Sakura-chan!"

"GET DOWN!"

A thunderous explosion formed a crater and upturned some of the rocks that had been imbedded in the ground. Sasuke remained unscathed as his unmatched speed let him pivot around Sakura and appear behind her.

"Nice, Haruno," he breathed, "if I had been caught in that, that wouldn't have made my way to victory, would it?"

Slowly, Sakura brought a hand up to her ear, and tucked a few strands of her pink hair behind it.

Sasuke blinked, as if just noticing.

"You kept it short," he said in an oddly hollow voice. Sakura was oblivious to the change in tone, but she thrust her hand in her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. Without turning around, she held it out to her side and Sasuke took it, flipping it over.

It was their very first portrait of them as Team 7. Kakashi's smile, Naruto's jealous stare, Sasuke's grimace, and Sakura's giggling face.

A look shot across Sasuke's somber face.

Naruto was at a loss for words. "I forgot about that," he whispered.

Sasuke's face twisted into a smirk as he fired an abrupt punch at the girl in front of him, but this time, Sakura was ready.

Sasuke's fist grazed her ear as she ducked and swung out her leg, but he flipped back and dodged. And hand met Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hey," Naruto said, "I don't think it's that cool to hit a girl, bastard."

Naruto's grip on Sasuke's shoulder bone quickly escalated and Sasuke's face screwed up in anger and pain. He slapped Naruto's hand away, but pain exploded in his cheek as he felt several Kage Bunshin meet their mark.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles, "You used to say that you didn't want to see people precious to you die ever again, right?"

Sasuke let out a laugh.

"I must've not been thinking to say something stupid like that," he said. Naruto ground his teeth.

Sakura desperately shook her head.

"SASUKE! DON'T PROVOKE HIM!"

"What'll happen if I do?" Sasuke said, an eye on Sakura's terror-stricken face.

"What did you say?" Naruto said, his eyes narrowing. Sakura screamed.

"SASUKE! DON'T DO IT!"

"What will happen if I do?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura began to breathe faster. So, Sasuke did want to fight the full-blown fox spirit inside Naruto.

Sasuke smiled.

"Hey Naruto," he said. Sakura widened her eyes.

"Hokage's a stupid title. Only a fool would be idiotic to want to lead a pathetic country like Konoha."

Sakura screamed.

I'm truly sorry for all those who have been waiting for an update! As of 2009, this fic has been put on an infinite hiatus. I may post a summary of what I intended to write soon as to not leave you completely hanging.

The reason I'm ceasing to write for this fic is because I published it way back in 2005 and obviously, I've grown out of it and the writing style. There's far too much canon in the manga/anime now that it sort of renders this story null and void. To be quite honest, I was about to delete it but instead, I am leaving this on my account for the sake of you faithful readers. THANK YOU for sticking with me. You are awesome.

Again, my apologies.

-aNdreaa