Chapter 6

The New Team Name

It was early the next morning, when Shino, who was just coming back from a short run before dawn, saw Henry sparing with Kiba out on one of the balconies of the palace. Henry had a rapier in one hand and a dagger in the other, while Kiba had a kuni knife in each hand.

“Don’t hold back, Kiba Inuzuka,” Henry said as he tightened his grip on his blades, “Attack me as if this were for real.”

“You sure?” Kiba asked, “I may end up really hurting you.”

“I’m positive,” Henry replied, “This is more than just an exorcise. My sister may have a crush on you, and my parents might approve, but you don’t have my approval just yet. So attack me, if you dare.”

“Oh I dare!” exclaimed Kiba. Before Henry could react, Kiba transferred his right-hand knife to the left hand, grabbed a small purple pellet out from his belt pouch and threw it at Henry. The pellet landed just in front of Henry. It exploded, filling the immediate area with purple smoke.

Unable to see anything beyond a yard or two, Henry was totally surprised when Kiba appeared out of nowhere and held both kuni blades at his throat.

“Is this real enough for you?” Kiba asked as the wind blew away the smoke. He removed the blades from Henry’s throat, leaving two small spots of blood, nothing more than a pair of shaving cuts.

“If Natalie didn’t like you,” Henry said as she wiped the blood from his neck, “I’d have you arrested for attempted assassination. But it’s my fault, I wanted to test myself, and apparently I failed.”

“Don’t say that,” Kiba said, “You didn’t know what I was going to do. Besides, if I had been a second or two slower, you would have blocked me. Isn’t that right, Shino?”

“How did you know I was here?” Shino asked, “Oh, right, you can smell me. Regardless, Henry was about to react to your attack, Kiba.”

“I was,” Henry said, “I could tell that the smoke was just a distraction, and I was nearly ready to block your knives, Kiba. I’m usually a lot faster than I was just now, or so my instructors tell me. I’m just having a slow morning, I don’t know why.”

“I know why.” There stood Queen Rachael. “You were up all night, Henry, working with Commander Howard, singing documents for the raising of the army. Henry, you know that if you don’t get at least some sleep, your fighting skills begin to degrade. And now you’re sparing. Listen to me, son, you’ve got to stop and rest for a while.”

“I can’t stop, Mother,” Henry said, “The whole kingdom is counting on me.”

“I know,” said Rachael, “But what good will it do for the kingdom if you’re not at the top of your game? I won’t stand by and allow my firstborn son to burn his self out. You need to take care of yourself, take time to rest and refresh your mind and body.”

“But…”

“No buts, Henry!” Rachael exclaimed, “I’m telling you, as both your mother and queen, get some rest. I don’t want to see you anywhere near a pen or paper, or sparing, or any other strenuous activity, for the next eight hours! Do you hear me? Eight hours!!” With that she strode out of the room.

“Your mother,” Shino said, “She’s a unique individual.”

“How did your father managed to get hooked up with such a catch?” Kiba asked.

“I really don’t know,” Henry said, “There’s a lot about my mother that I never learned. From what my Father told me, he met my Mother while on a strange journey to a distant land; a land of metal and glass with buildings so tall they could scrape the sky.”

“You can’t scrape the sky,” Kiba said in an unbelieving tone, “A building would need to be, like, a thousand feet tall and bigger, and you can’t make buildings over a thousand feet tall.”

“I wonder,” said Shino as he gazed up at the clouds.

On another balcony Hinata and Clare were enjoying the early morning tranquility.

“Beautiful morning,” Clare said, “If only there wasn’t this feeling that it’s all going to end soon.”

“You shouldn’t think like that, Clare-Chan,” Hinata said, “We’re going to save Andalasia. And let me remind you that I’ll die before I let that madman Manos touch you.”

“It’s more than that, Hinata-Chan,” Clare gazed off towards the north, “I’m also worried about me and Jacob.”

“Don’t worry,” Hinata said, “Somehow we’ll fix it so that you and Jacob can be together. I don’t know exactly how we’ll do it, but we’ll do it.”

“Everything seems to be against us,” said Clare, “The rules say I must marry someone of noble blood, and the man I love is a commoner in the eyes of the law. The only way Henry and I can be with the ones we love is if we can defeat this impossible evil, an enemy so strong that only a miracle can defeat it.” She sighed, “Why can’t life be like a fairy tale, one where the ending is predetermined to be a happy one?”

“Clare-Chan,” said Hinata, “If there’s one thing my father taught me, it’s that life isn’t a fairy tail; sometimes evil wins, and happy endings aren’t guaranteed. If you want a happy ending, you have to earn it.”

“Then do you think that we can win?” Clare asked, “Can Jacob and I earn our happy ending? And what about Henry and Elaine? What about Andalasia? Can we get though this and live happily together?”

“I think,” said Hinata, “That with hard work and dedication, anything is possible, or so says Rock Lee, and Guy-Sensei.”

Just then Clare noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her gaze north to see first one approaching dust cloud, then another, then another. All together there were nine trails of dust coming from the north. “What is that?” Clare asked.

Hinata looked north, and with her Byakugan, saw nine familiar faces running towards the city. “That,” said Hinata, smiling like crazy, “Is your miracle.”

Naruto and his fellow runners had made excellent time to Andalasia, now they were less then two miles to the city gates. Currently Sasuke was in the lead, with Naruto in second place, followed by Rock Lee, Sakura, Ino, Neji, Shikamaru, Tenten, with Chouji bringing up the rear.

“There’s the city!!” shouted Sakura, “That month of free dinner is mine!!” She then channeled more chakra to increase her speed, passing Naruto and Sasuke and taking the lead.

“I hate to ruin your confidence, Miss Sakura!!” said Lee, “But I shall be the one to win this contest!!”

‘The First Gate: Gate of Opening! Release!!’

Free from mental inhibitions, Lee suddenly shot forward and was head of Sakura by nearly 10 strides. “Victory shall be mine!!”

'I dedicate this victory to you, Guy-Sensei!! I shall win this race with the power of youth!!'

“The final stretch!! CHARGE!!”

“That Bushy Brows has got to go down!!” shouted Naruto to Sasuke, “Let’s take him!!” Sasuke nodded in agreement. They both channeled more chakra, increasing their speed. With that they passed Sakura and closed the distance on Lee. They were almost at the city gates when…

Hinata and Clare got down to the city entrance just as the nine runners crossed the gate, skidding to a halt and filling the area with a large cloud of dust.

“That was incredible,” said Clare, “But who won?”

“GUY-SENSEI!!” exclaimed Rock Lee at the top of his lungs, “I DID IT!!”

“Sorry, Bushy-Brows,” Naruto gasped, “But Sasuke and I tied.”

“He’s right,” said Sakura between gasps of breath, “Sorry, Lee.”

“Good race anyway,” said Sasuke.

It was then, as the dust cleared, that Naruto noticed that Hinata was there. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Hinata said back, “Did you really run all the way from the village?”

“Almost all the way,” Naruto said, “So, Hinata, I hear that you’ve got a problem here in Andalasia.”

“You’d better believe it,” Hinata said, “Oh, this is Clare.” Introductions were made. Just then Kiba, Shino and Henry came down; more introductions were made.

“So you’re Naruto,” said Henry, “You’re taller than I thought you’d be.”

“There you are!!” Storming out of the castle proper was Natalie, followed by Elaine, “Didn’t mother just tell you to get some rest, Henry?”

“She did, Natalie,” said Henry.

“Then why are you still up and about!?” Natalie snapped.

“Please calm down, Miss Natalie,” Elaine said, “I’ll take care of this. Henry, darling, I’m really sorry about this.” She snapped her fingers, producing a small blue spark. Instantly, Henry fell to the ground.

“What did you do!?” Ino exclaimed.

“It’s just a sleeping spell,” said Elaine, “He’s fine; Henry will be completely out for the next eight hours. He‘ll wake up feeling like a multimillionaire three times over.”

“Elaine is a very promising magic user,” said Hinata as two palace attendants carried Henry back inside the palace.

“Magic?” Naruto asked.

“I’ll explain,” said Hinata, “After we’re all up to speed on the situation.” With that everyone went inside. “Um, Naruto, after we’re done talking, you think we can have some time to ourselves?”

“Huh?” Naruto asked, “Oh, yes. Definitely.”

“Business first,” said Neji, “Pleasure later. We need to know everything that happened.”

“Speaking of pleasure,” Natalie said, “Kiba darling, I’ll be waiting for you after your little parley.” She winked at Kiba and went down a different corridor.

“What’s that all about?” Chouji asked.

“Princess Natalie has, ahem, ‘chosen’ Sir Kiba as her new boyfriend,” Elaine said.

“Really?” Tenten asked, “Kiba, that’s so awesome! You’re dating a princess!!”

“You lucky dog!” Rock Lee said, “No pun intended.”

“Yeah, real lucky,” said Kiba. In truth, Kiba wasn’t sure what he felt towards Natalie. Things were moving a little too fast for him.

They found a large empty parlor. There, Hinata, Shino and Kiba brought Naruto and the others up to speed on the coming crisis in Andalasia. Naruto had already informed Clare and Hinata of the sabotaged train tracks, who then informed King Joshua. The King assured Naruto and the others that the rail lines would be up and running in less than three days.

“So now we’ve got this huge army massing to the west,” Kiba said to Naruto and the others, “Led by this psycho wizard Manos. He wants Andalasia to completely surrender, or the whole kingdom will be destroyed.”

“Meanwhile over here,” Shino said, “Prince Henry has been given charge of organizing the kingdom’s defense; raising a proper army, training it, supplying it and choosing somewhere where we can face the forces of Manos and defeat them.”

“On a personal note,” said Hinata, “The only way Henry can be with the girl he loves, Elaine, is if he can defeat Manos. The same goes for Clare; she wants to be with a commoner as well. And even worse, Manos wants Clare, her soul to be specific.”

“Sounds like a real villain,” Ino said, “This so called ‘Dark Lord’ enslaves entire nations and captures the souls of innocent girls, just to increase his powers.

“Sounds more like a demon,” said Shikamaru, “No offense, Naruto.”

“None taken,” Naruto said, “So, what do we do?”

“What do you mean?” Sakura asked.

“What do you mean what do I mean?” Naruto asked.

“Well you’re in command of this mission,” Sasuke said, “You’re the one who’s supposed to decide what to do.”

“Wait a second!” Kiba said, “You’re telling me that the 5th Hokage put Naruto in charge of the mission? Nothing personal, Naruto, but…”

“But what, Kiba?” Naruto asked, “You think I’m not smart enough to lead a mission?”

“No,” said Kiba, “It’s just that…”

“Just what?” Naruto asked.

“Well,” Kiba said hesitantly, “Well, you are the Number One Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja of Konohagakure.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Naruto asked. “Sure I can be a bit of an baka sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of leading a mission. I’m just saying that I’m open to suggestions.”

“Well here’s a suggestion,” Sasuke said, “We need to figure out what Manos has planned. If he’s gonna invade this kingdom, we need to know when and where he’s intends to strike.”

“We should also assist in preparing Andalasia for the coming invasion,” Sakura said, “From what Hinata said, the people of the kingdom could easily be frightened into submission by Manos. I think we should be involved in the training of the army.”

“That’s good,” said Naruto, “From what Granny Tsunade told me about Manos, the people of this kingdom are gonna need all the training they can get if they’re gonna fight.”

“You and Lady Tsunade were talking for a long time before we left the village,” Sakura said, “What did she talk to you about?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Naruto said, “It was kind of personal. Anyway, what else can we do to help?”

“We should see what kind of medical resources the kingdom has,” said Sakura, “’Cause in any conflict, there’s gonna be casualties, both military and civilian.”

“We also need to assess the kingdom’s tactical resources,” Shikamaru said, “What kind of weapons are available and what can me manufactured, in a rush if needed.”

“Speaking of weaponry,” Shino said, “What supplies did you bring with your from home?”

“Just whatever we could carry,” Tenten said, “Some extra shuriken and kuni knives and our personal weapons, and one or two things I’ve been working on.”

“Most importantly,” said Sasuke, “We all have our Jutsus; Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu.”

“I volunteer to help train the new army recruits in hand to hand combat!!” Rock Lee said eagerly.

“That’s good, Bushy Brows,” Naruto said, “This is all good stuff, but we’re gonna need more, a lot more, believe it.”

“You really ought to thankful that we’re friends, Naruto,” said Sakura, “You really should get on your knees and thank Kami for my foresight. Before we left the village, I requested additional supplies. They’ll be delivered on the next train from home, once the tracks are repaired. I’ve a list of what I ordered,” she checked her pockets, “Wait, where’s my list?”

“Don’t you remember what you wrote down?” Ino asked.

“I wrote it all down so I wouldn’t have to remember it,” said Sakura.

“I’ve got it,” Neji said as he pulled out a small scroll, “You dropped it on the run south. You should feel lucky that I saw it and picked it up.”

“Oh,” said Sakura sheepishly, “Sorry, Neji, and thank you.”

“No problem,” said Neji as he unrolled the scroll, “You requested several crates of medical supplies; including bandages, antibiotics, burn salves, pain killers, yards of suture silk, and various healing herbs. You also asked for blueprints and materials for constructing various siege and anti-siege equipment.”

“I remember now,” Sakura said, “I also asked for twenty crates of blank scrolls, ten gallons of special ink for preparing explosive tags, forty kegs of gunpowder and sixty crates of dynamite.”

“Sixty crates!?” exclaimed Kiba, “You really think we’re gonna need that much dynamite?!”

“I doubt we’ll really have use for all that explosives,” Sakura, “But I’d rather be safe than sorry. And don’t worry, it’s all being shipped in specially insulates containers. It’ll get here safe and sound.”

“I’m not concerned about our supplies getting here,” Neji said. Indeed, what really worried him was the dynamite itself; in his mind, there’s nothing more helpless, depraved and irresponsible, than a group of young Shinobi with large quantities of dynamite, and Neji suspected that he and his friends would have use for the dynamite before too long.

“I just realized something,” Naruto said, “We’re gonna need a team name. If we’re all gonna work together, we’ll need a name.”

“Forgive me for interrupting,” said Clare, “But is this really relevant to the current situation? I mean, what’s in a name?”

“Naruto’s has a point,” Rock Lee said “This is the first time all twelve of us are all on the same mission, we should have a proper team name.”

“I agree,” said Shino, “We should have a name for the twelve of us, so that history should remember our involvement in the coming crisis, something that will be remembered long after our time on this world is finished.”

“It needs to be catchy,” said Naruto, “Something really cool sounding. Anybody got an idea? ‘Cause I’ve got nothing.”

“’Super Awesome Ninjas Forever!’” Chouji said eagerly.

“’The Dirty Dozen,’” Ino suggested.

“I think that’s been used,” Sakura said.

“Okay,” said Ino, “How about ‘The Heroic Dozen’?”

“No,” said Kiba, “Akamaru’s as much a part of the team as I am, so we’re counting him in, so that’ll make thirteen.”

“’The Heroic Bakers Dozen’?” Ino suggested. Naruto, Sakura and everyone else sighed in annoyance.

“’The League of Extraordinary Shinobi,’” said Tenten.

“’Super Awesome Ninjas Forever!’” Chouji said.

“’The League of Youthful Extraordinary Shinobi,’” said Rock Lee.

“Too much of a mouthful,” said Naruto, “It’s got to be easy to remember.”

“’Super Awesome Ninjas Forever!’” Chouji said again.

“Will you shut up about that!” snapped Ino, “We’re not calling ourselves ‘Super Awesome Ninjas Forever,’ it sounds like a cheap Saturday morning cartoon.”

“You’re just jealous that my name sounds cooler than yours!” spat Chouji.

The room erupted into a heated argument on whose team name sounded cooler.

“QUIET!!” shouted Shino. Everyone who was arguing fell silent at Shino’s sudden outburst, “Give the man some room to think.” While everyone else was quarreling over their idea of a cool name, Shikamaru had assumed his thinking posture, the same hand position he used whenever he was deciding over his next chess move or whenever he was in a tight spot in the field.

Finally he spoke: “Everyone in this group is driven by their individual dream. Most of us share the basics of one particular dream; to be all that we can be and more. Some of us have higher dreams, but the important thing is that we all have a dream worth reaching for, and we’re willing to fight for that dream. So, it’s only natural that our team name should be ‘The Fighting Dreamers.’”

“’The Fighting Dreamers,’” said Naruto, testing how the name sounded.

“I like it,” said Sakura, “It’s identifiable.”

“It’s not something anyone would likely forget,” said Ino.

“And it had a definite ring of coolness,” said Chouji.

“’The Fighting Dreamers,’” said Neji, “There’s a name that will be remembered for ages to come.”

“It does sound like the name for a group of heroes,” said Hinata, “And that’s just what this kingdom needs, heroes.”

“I know I’m not part of your team,” said Clare, “But I want to say that I like it.”

“I like it too,” said Kiba, “What about you, Akamaru?”

‘I think it sounds groovy,’ Akamaru said in his manner, which Kiba translated for the others.

“If Akamaru likes it,” said Shino, “Then I like it.”

“Same here,” said Shikamaru.

“Then let’s vote on it,” said Naruto, “all those in favor of adopting ‘The Fighting Dreamers’ as our official team name, raise your hand.” Twelve hands, and one paw, went up in the air. “That settles it, from now on, our team name is ‘The Fighting Dreamers.’”

“Let’s make it official,” said Sakura. She took out a blank scroll, unrolled it and wrote:

On this day, (insert date), we Shinobi of The Hidden Leaf Village, do pledge a mutual bond of friendship and fellowship, and that from now on, we shall go by the name ‘The Fighting Dreamers.’

Everyone then signed his or her names on the scroll:

Naruto Uzumaki

Sasuke Uchiha

Sakura Haruno

Ino Yamanaka

Shikamaru Nara

Chouji Akimichi

Hinata Huyga

Shino Aburame

Kiba Inuzuka (Akamaru then put his paw print next to Kiba’s name)

Neji Huyga

Tenten

Rock Lee

Witnessed by

Lady Clare Rachuba, Grand Duchess of Andalasia

Elaine Yates, Personal Assistant to Clare Rachuba

“This is so awesome,” said Chouji.

“Look out, Manos,” Naruto said, “The Fighting Dreamers are here, believe it!!”

The end of chapter 6.

Naruto: Alright!! We’ve got a cool name for the team!!

Sasuke: Well that’s all we’ve really done this chapter. There’s still a lot to do.

Sakura: Next chapter we begin preparing Andalasia for war.

Naruto: And, I finally get to tell what Granny Tsunade told me.

Ino: Finally!! I’d thought we’d never know.

AndrewK9000: Sorry, Ino, but Naruto’s going to tell only one person what he and Tsunade talked about, and that person isn’t you.

Ino: What!?

Chouji: Who’s it going to be?

AndrewK9000: That’s my secret. You’ll just have to wait and read the chapter along with everyone else.

Ino: Can’t you give us a hint?

AndrewK9000: No can do, it’ll spoil the surprise.

Rock Lee: Next chapter, ‘Beyond The Point Of No Return.’

Kiba: Be sure to leave lots of reviews!

Akamaru: Bark!! (Right!!)