Namikaze Legends

Chapter LXVIII: Fated Battles

Ino's relationship with Menma left her with both good and bad habits that she'd picked up from spending extended amounts of time with him. It was natural progression. She was in love with him and admired certain things about him, and while there were more than a few things of his that she could do without, a few things wound up slipping into her own approach to daily life.

The bad was that she had somewhat developed Menma's distaste for doing nothing. It was the weekend, so she was off from her normal day job, but felt a bit stir crazy at being left behind while her normal team was off attempting to thwart Akatsuki. Sakura was busy, she and Hinata would invariably wind up at one another's throats for one reason or another (Menma), and Kurenai and Asuma were too entrenched in their own couple-thing to bother on a day like today.

It wasn't just her. It was one of those times of the year. There always seemed to be a lull in the weeks where the chunin exams were going on.

Sure, it was exciting for the genin who got the chance to take part. But for everyone else in the ninja forces, things seemed to be in a lull in the month or so it took to get through the entire process. This time around it was taking place in Iwagakure, and the teams had set out just the other day. It would still be another few days before they arrived.

"Fall sucks," Ino said to herself as she kept herself busy tending to her clan's flower shop. Yes, she complained about working there every now and again, but that was when she had other things she could have been doing. This was literally all she had to do on that particular day. She'd already trained earlier, and she could get another session in after she'd gotten off of her shift, "I miss summer already."

XxX

(Sora-ku – With Menma and Naruto)

If this was the place of an Akatsuki base, it was less than what Naruto had been expecting. He hadn't seen a single trap since the crow attack, so either Akatsuki were underestimating anyone that might have chosen to pursue them, or the two of them were going the wrong way.

Sora-ku was a massive city. It was truly eerie just how large it was, and no one lived there at all. The silence was chilling. As silent as things could be with a sandstorm raging around them.

"Wait," Menma said, drawing his and Naruto progress to a halt, "…Do you hear that?" He asked as a rumbling, crashing noise grew closer and closer to the two of them. It wasn't the sandstorm. They'd gotten used to that sound.

Naruto nodded wordlessly before sending a chakra pulse again, having turned it off periodically to preserve his chakra. As he did so, he immediately grabbed Menma and dragged him up the side of the nearest building. Seconds later, forty foot waves came crashing through the streets. Waves that would have claimed them as victims had they not been as quick as they were.

The water just kept coming. Ungodly flooding claimed the entire area, up past the third story of every building within sight as Naruto and Menma looked down at the waters that had almost taken them down. From as out of the way as they were, it didn't look as threatening, as out-of-place as it was.

"You'd think that when people at this level try to ambush us, they'd plan for whatever their first move is to not work," Menma pointed out only to get a wide-eyed look from Naruto as both of them jumped away from the building across the flooded street to the other side.

Crashing through the wall they'd been standing on only a heartbeat beforehand, the grinning visage of Hoshigaki Kisame reached out for both Naruto and Menma, grabbing both of their ankles and holding onto them.