The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 34: Leaf Typhoon

Fortunately for the Uzumaki, instead of going for a kunai, Sakura's hand went for his collard, bringing the spiky haired boy closer to her. "Naruto... I swear... If you..." Whatever the Haruno's threat was, it was left unsaid when a huge explosion thundered through the forest, strong enough to cause the ground to shake.

"What was that?!" Lee immediately asked.

All anxiety disappeared from Naruto. "I don't know... But it came from the movie set."

Instantly, the three Leaf ninjas moved to surround the two civilian girls, with Naruto and Sakura both drawing out a kunai.

"Wha... What's going on...?" A worried Shion asked as she looked at the direction of the set where a tower of smoke could be seen rising into the sky.

The three shinobi did not even bother to answer the blond girl; instead they continued to scan their surroundings. Naruto's Sharingan move back and forth from side to side, as they searched for any signs of movement. "Let's start making our way back to the..." The spiky haired boy started to say before suddenly coming to a halt and his head snapping to the side. Immediately, his teammates turned to face the direction he was looking at.

A long figure among the trees walked calmly towards them. As it got closer, the genin could see it was a bald man with most of his lean body covered in bandages. Wrapped around his shoulder was a Hidden Rock headband with an X carved across the village's insignia.

"Argh... There are three of them..." The man complained in a rough voice as he stepped into the clearing. "Damn it! I told Gentan to set it off sooner." He swore under his teeth.

Naruto cautiously glanced back at his teammates. "You guys take the girls and step back... I'll distract him while you go around us." He said under his breath. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, the other two Konoha nins nodded in approval.

"I don't suppose you kids want to step aside and let me take girl, do you?" The bandaged man asked halfheartedly, receiving a glare from the younger ninjas. "Argh! I'm not in to the mood to entertain a bunch of brats..." He complained before, in one quick and sudden movement, sending a pair of kunai flying at Leaf genin.

Naruto readied himself to block the projectiles with his own kunai when his Sharigan caught sight of the pieces of paper tied to the blades. "Explosive tags!" He immediately called out before grabbing Yukie and jumping out of the way while the others followed suit with Lee grabbing Shion.

A second later, two sizeable explosions went off where they had been standing.

Once back on the ground, Yukie gave her protector a look full of fear and worry. "What's going on?!" She asked.

Instead of answering the young woman, the blond boy looked up at his enemy just in time to see another set of kunai flying towards him, not wanting to leave it to chance, the Uzumaki focused on the blades with his Sharingan. "Amaterasu..." He whispered and the kunai were instantly covered in black flames that detonated the tags at a safe distance.

The Rock nin was taken aback. "Oh... So you are Uzumaki Naruto..." He said as he looked at the blond boy and noticing his peculiar Sharingan. "Well, that changes thing." He added with a noticeably more jovial tone as he cracked his knuckles.

"Remember the plan." Naruto said to his teammates before suddenly dashing towards the Rock nin, his kunai still in hand.

"What are you doing...?!" The Uzumaki could hear Shion shout as Lee started to pull her away.

The bald man grinned before doing a quick set of hand seals and slamming his palm on the ground. "Teikoku Niwa no Jutsu!" He called out.

Naruto barely had time to see that crimson colored scriptures appeared on the man's bandages before the ground exploded underneath him. The boy was flung into the air, but managed to spin himself right side up and land safely, however he immediately noticed there was something wrong.