Fire and Ice ~ Naruto Fanfiction ~ Book One

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: Heaven or Hell

Ren rejoined up after saving a group of girls from Iwa swiftly and we continued on our way. Now that we have both scrolls,we changed directions and headed straight to the tower.

We entered, with little to no problem thanks to Ren's Genjutsu, and we entered. "I guess we open them now, huh?" Rin said as she pulled out the Earth Scroll from her brother's bag. I pulled out the Heaven Scroll from my sleeve. We rolled them out and stepped back.

In a poof of smoke Zabuza was sitting on the scrolls midway eating some Raman from a cup. "Took you brats nearly long enough to get here." He tossed the now empty cup to the side and stood up. "Well, you guys passed, though that Suna siblings team beat you by two hours and thirty seven minutes." Well we'll be hearing about this for a few days now.

He guided us deeper into the tower, we had passed by many doors before following sensei into one of the many other rooms.

It was spacious and had two washrooms, a couch and that's about it. "This'll be your home till the five days are up." He said, sitting down onthe couch. "So tell me, any updates on Sakumi?"

Ren, Rin and I sat around him on the ground. "Nothing really new." Ren started. "She's probably abandoned coming to the Leaf by now, Rin and I have been here for nearly three years by now."

"I didn't see any signs of her in the forest  either. Maybe she's hiding underground like her clan used to." Rin pondered.

I pulled out a photo from my pocket. "I did manage to swipe this from one of the Sound ninjas' pockets though." I help up a photo and handed it to Rin since she was reaching for it.

She looked it over and smiled. "Awe. Uncle Zabuza, you look less evil in a suit." She giggled and handed the photo to Ren.

Her brother chuckled. "What are you talking about, Rin? He looks like a mob boss."

Zabuza snached the photo of him and a purple haired woman away from the snickering twins. "Shut up." He muttered, stuffing the photo taken of him with the purple haired and silver eyed woman.

"We'll find them... I just know we will." Rin mumbled. "We just have to." Ren pulled her into a reassuring side hug as he nodded.

I smiled at the two. "We will most definitely find Sakumi-san and Suki-san, no doubt about it." I added and patted her shoulder. She gave me a gratful look and small smile.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes before Zabuza decided to leave and Rin's stomach rumbled, causing her to now raid a nearby fridge. Ren decided to knock out and was now fast alseep on the couch, and I myself was sharpening some of my senbon needlesand polishing others.

"Hey Haku?" I looked to Rin who had called out to me and was finishing her fifth apple. "Want me to help you with the katana now?"

I smiled. "Alright, just let me finish up with these first."

The five long days of just waiting was finally over and now we all lined up in short rows before the Hokage, a few Chūnin, some Jōnin, and even some ANBU, most from Konoha but some from the other villages.

It was being explained to us, from a Tokubetsu Jōnin that was caughing every few words, that a preliminaries had to be held now as there are more teams than expected that had passed the second phase.

The screen above that show the match ups for the one-on-one battles rolled through names before stopping on two names: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akadō Yoroi. While the two males were the only ones who had to stay, the rest of us went up to the second level to watch from a balcony. Aside from the caughing referee, Gekkō Hayate.

There was quite a bit of back and forth, but in the end Uchiha had won.

The matches all went on as such:
-Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino
Winner: Aburame

-Tsurugi Misumi vs. Kankurō
Winner: Kankurō

-Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino
No winner, honestly it was a drag on cat-fight

-Tenten vs. Temari
Winner: Temari, it was an interesting fight to saw the least

-Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin
Winner: Nara had won by out smarting his opponent

-Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba
Winner: Uzumaki had won, Inuzuka had let his ego take over; resulting in his defeat

It was now Hyūga Hinata vs. Hyūga Neji. Just as the Hyūga who was our age went charging at Hinata after the match had been called the Jōnins of the two fighters, Hatake and the referee had to rush in to stop him.

I looked next to me, to see my shorter twin's knuckles had turned white and the ground around her suffered to be covered by a layer of frost. I rubbed her back and whispered to her to calm as Uzumaki shouted and acted on rage.

I looked up at the screen to see the next match as Uzumaki was being pulled back to the second level by Lee. The screen light up letters made my eyes widen.

Rin vs. Xiao Mai.

I shared a look with Rin and Haku before the three of us lookedto Zabuza. He seemed just as shaken up, but hid it well from those who didn't know him as well as we did. Nonetheless he nodded to give an 'okay' and Rin hopped over the rail and landed on her feet.

A girl around Rin's height was waiting for Rin. She had long black hair and had unique eyes. With complete heterochromia iridum, her right eye a purple colour and her left a familiar silver. Could this girl be... "...a lead." My thoughts carried on to a mumble.

I stared at my Suna opponent who had one silver eye. A silver so vibrant that I could never mistake it to anything other than a lead.

"Hey." I said to the girl. "I want to ask you something."

She arched her brow up, but let me continue. "If you're spending a week in hell, what do you receive as a reward?"

Her mismatched eyes widened. "A month in sanity, neither Heaven or Hell." Her answer, my question... she was our lead for sure.

The match began and the girl took off the bandage wrappings that covered her forearms. "Well I'll be your lead." She smiled. "But you'll have to defeat me first."

A spark in the light caught my eye and I leaped back just in time to avoid being skewered and pinned by a red transparent kunai. A red crystal.

My eyes widened and I looked up at her. "You're..."

"Yup, that's right." She gave me a sly grin. "I'm Riku's daughter." With those words she charged at me like a leaping tiger.