THE WILL OF FIRE: 1. The Serpent (A Naruto Fanfic)

The Serpent, Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

We were jumping from branch to branch and I kept thinking about the best strategy for this group. We seemed as hopeless as we looked. I kept thinking if what Shikamaru said could help me. Think-how can I connect shogi with our mission? Ok so promotions were no help. I suddenly stopped and Naruto stumbled right into me. I used my chakra to spin around the branch (doing a 360 around a branch isn’t exactly a thrill to your stomach) to prevent myself from falling. Sasuke and Sakura stopped three branches away.

“Hey what’s with a sudden halt?” asked Naruto, puzzled.

“I think we’re being followed but I can’t pinpoint their location or determine if there’s even someone there. I just feel this presence…”

“How can you say for sure that we should be worried?” asked Sakura.

“That’s exactly it-I can’t. But I have a bad feeling about this. We’ll continue but be extra careful. There’s no need for death in a D-rank.”

“You’re saying like D-rank is something below you. You’re a Genin too, you know,” said Sakura.

“D-rank is below me. I went on D-rank missions when I was five. This is just stupid.”

They all looked at me, Naruto with amazement, Sakura with envy and Suske with that blank expression he always had. That kid hat problems.

“Forget it,” I said, “Let’s just go.”

And like on cue, there was a giant boulder that came crushing down on our branch. I jumped in time but Naruto went down with pieces of the branch. I landed on the tree trunk and ran down. I grabbed his hand and threw him back up. He gained balance on a nearby branch and the boulder came rushing back. He ducked this time and conjured up a bunch of clones. But he didn’t see the source of the boulder attacks. I jumped back at right to the top of the tree and tried to pinpoint the attacker’s location. We were totally screwed. I heard screaming and ran back down. Sakura was saved by Naruto and Sasuke was desperately trying to find out attacker with Sharingan. Judging by the look on his face he wasn’t getting anywhere. Lucky for us I recognized the attacker by his fighting style. And this was not a D-rank opponent we were handling.

“Runs as fast as you can! This is beyond your abilities!”

“What about you?!” I hear Naruto yell, probably sensing my thoughts.

“I’ll hold them off! Get outta here!”

“Them! You mean there’s more?” I heard Sakura.

“I’ll explain later! Naruto, take them to safety!”

I caught Naruto nodding and he grabbed Sakura that was injured. Sasuke helped him and I saw him look back. Was he…actually worried? But the look was gone and they went with the injured Sakura. I saw the boulder chasing after them.

“Not so fast,” I mumbled and used two of my snakes to block it. I also made a few hand signs that captured the area like a small bubble. The attackers were forced to jump down and we could finally meet face to face.

“You three, huh?”

“Well, if it isn’t Lily. Long time no see.”

They were three Otogakure Shinobi that I once encountered on one of my missions-and their henchmen just happened to be the guys I robbed when I met team Kakashi. They were these guys who were covered from head to toe so no one could find them by appearance and were basically the leaders of the main assassin organization of Otogakure. They were some pretty dangerous folk.

“Since when did you get classified D-rank?” I asked, provoking them.

“So you’re leading a D-rank mission,” said the one in the middle that always did all the talking, “I thought that was below you.”