Lotus Of The Leaf ~Book One~

Chapter 53! Water Style! A Fight On The Sea!

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"Where the hell do you think you're going, you idiot?!" Naruto bellowed. "You have to turn around!"

"You can forget about it!" Idate snapped. "There's no way I'm turning around."

Idate began speeding up. I nodded back at the others and pushed my legs more to catch up. Naruto finally caught up to us. "Finally! About time I caught up to ya! Why the heck did you come this way?!" Naruto asked breathlessly.

"Will you shut up?" Idate snapped. "It's none of your business, kid!"

"What's with the attitude, pal?" Naruto growled.

"Naruto." I snapped. He quieted slightly. "Shut up and keep up." My head twitched slightly as I notice the familiar scenery. "Stop for a moment, Idate." I snapped and skidded to a halt with. "Do you notice it?"

"Yeah. I've already been here. Great. I'm trapped in some sort of Genjutsu." I shook my head and broke my mind from the Genjutsu. Idate and Naruto were still in it.

Idate ran off towards the cliff. "Stop!" I snap as I run after him. He dives off the cliff immediately. Naruto is quick to leap after him. I sling my arm out, and a long water tendril shoots out to wrap around his legs. "God, he's heavy!" I whine as Sasuke and Sakura held me pull them up. "Someone managed to lay one genjutsu over the other!"

"That's not easy." Sasuke muttered.

"Ah! My ninja tools!" Naruto whined.

"And then there's that..." I sighed. We finally got the two of them up, and safe.

"Look, I didn't need your help, okay?" Idate commented.

"You didn't need it?! Hey, listen, you fat head, how about a little thanks for saving your life!" Naruto bellowed.

"You only saved me because you're bound to by duty. There's no need for me to thank you." Idate retorted.

"What did you say?" Naruto growled.

"Naruto, I'm getting tired of telling you to stop." I snapped.

"He's absolutely right," Sasuke mentioned. "But look, if you don't want to wind up dead, then I suggest you stick close to us."

Idate scoffed and turned away. "Hey, where are you going anyway? What happened to Port Degarashi?"

"What about it?" Idate asked. "Forget that port. I'm heading north from here."

"You are? So does that mean it's faster that way?" Sakura asked.

"That's right." Idate smirked.

"Yeah, maybe. How do we even know if we can trust this guy?" Naruto asked in annoyance.

"That's the problem with all you ninja." Naruto snapped.

"Look, at this time of the year, there are some pretty strong seasonal winds blowing hard across the sea. Back at the starting point, I noticed the clouds. I could see the wind was blowing toward us. On top of that, there's a port to the north where the ocean current flows directly into Nagi Island. That's what I was saying. You ought to use this a little more right here." Idate motioned to his skull. I snorted and tried to hide my chuckle from the embarrassed knucklehead.

We started running down hill towards the northern port. "Hey, I can smell sat on the wind." Naruto commented.

"It's the ocean!" Sakura cooed. We slowed to a stride as we descended the stairs. "Hey, what's that over there?"

"That's the halfway point, Motaroki Shrine." I mention. "It should take about an hour to get there."

"One sec," Idate runs off to the side, and knocks on the door to a small shack. "Hey, Gramps, it's me! Idate of the Wasabi."