True Bonds

Sandstorm Showdown

Donning their cloaks as a shield from the sandstorm, Team 7 made their way towards the central tower, their bottom part of their new layer dragging along the sand.

'Sasuke-teme! When are we setting up camp? Shouldn't we camp out until the sandstorm is over?' Naruto questioned his teammate's decision to keep heading towards the Tower through the storm, a gut wrenching feeling that there would be trouble warning him that they were going to be forced to fight soon.

'Hn. We don't want a repeat of the Orochimaru incident, so we should head for the safest place in the entire arena, which is the central tower.' Sasuke replied, before resuming his march towards the gathering place.

'Whatever.' Naruto grumbled, disliking the fact that their course of action was to head towards the main tower and attempt to regroup with the proctors of the Exam.

Sand seeped through the spaces in between Sasuke's sandals, irritating the soles of his feet. Sasuke grimaced at the small annoyance that the tiny grains of sand caused, continuing to trudge towards the central part of the Demon Desert. The Uchiha flashed his Sharingan on and off, attempting to check for enemy shinobi. 'Hn. All clear.'

Naruto nodded, glancing towards Ino. The blond had remained silent since their showdown against Saya, and Naruto was unsure why his usually bubbly but sane teammate hadn't talked at all. Pinning the blame to tiredness as well as overuse of chakra, Naruto shrugged off the suspicion, reminding himself that they needed to work as a team in order to survive the Chunin Exams. 'Good. Let's keep moving.'

As the team of Konohagakure genin tread along the desert paths, small specks of sand flew into the team's eyes, the storm seemed to intensify before their very own eyes.

'Well well well.' A man dressed in a black robe littered with red clouds stood opposite Team 7's path, blocking their route to the tower. 'Nowhere to go, huh?'

'Akatsuki.' Naruto and Sasuke shared a nervous glance, having seen Itachi donning the Akatsuki uniform when they had gone to find Tsunade and bring her back to Konoha.

'Good job, Inumizu.' The man said, stroking the back of the head of the ninken who returned to his side. 'Now, hand over the jinchuriki and the two others will be able to go free.'

All three members of Team 7 looked each other's way, before nodding their heads and reciting Kakashi's quote in unison. 'Never. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum!'

'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball)!' Sasuke shouted, expelling a fireball the enemy in front of him. 

'Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)!' Naruto launched a jutsu of his own, the wind rocketing towards Sasuke's flames. The combination attack that the two had practiced many many times resulted in a huge fireball flying towards the Akatsuki member, but the robed man raised his hand.

At the raise of Shinga's right hand, a small man leapt out from behind the Akatsuki member, quickly spinning through hand seals. 'Kinjutsu Kuchiyose: Hinezumi Rairai (Forbidden Summoning: Fire Rats Cometh)!'

A swarm of flaming rats lunged towards the fireball, the more powerful Katon attack drowning out Naruto and Sasuke's combo.

'Damn it!' Naruto cursed, moulding his chakra to perform another technique. 'Sasuke! Another combo!'

'Hn.' Sasuke barked, before beginning to weave hand seals once again.

'You're not getting another chance.' Shinga shouted, before slamming his hands onto the ground. 'Doton: Unmei Jishin (Earth Style: Doom Quake)!'

The earth around Team 7 began shaking, cracks forming and separating the three members of Team 7. Shinga leapt towards Naruto, tanto in hand, his two teammates taking his initiative to go after a different member of Naruto's genin cell.