"So is this just going to be one massive sparring battle or one-on-one combat?" asked Naruto.
"Or a tournament to see who's best?" Lee added.
"One-on-one is probably best" Neji suggested. Kiba and Ten-Ten nodded in agreement. I could feel my heart racing from excitement. 'It's been so long since I've had a good sparring match' I thought. So long since I had anyone to train with, so long since I had seen the leaf village. A sparring match would be appreciated. I turned to Naruto, thinking he might be a good opponent.
"No!" he blurted out, holding his hands up defensively.
"I'm good, I think I'll take on someone more of my level like Kiba" he said. I rolled my eyes sarcastically.
"Hey, your below us you little brat, and what's wrong scared of Yumi?" Kiba challenged. Naruto sweat-dropped. I stiffled a laugh, I guess my scoldings have scared the wits out of him.
"I'll spar with Neji" Ten-Ten said. Both Neji and Ten-Ten got into a fighting stance.
"I challenge you to spar" Lee said, also in a fighting stance. From what I knew he only used tai-jutsu. I'm best with ninjutsu and my skills in genjutsu and taijutsu I think are even. 'This'll be interesting' I thought grinning. Kiba and Naruto were going at each other like a cat and a dog, and Ten-Ten and Neji were both in combat also now. I let my chakra flow primarily to my legs and arms. I would need the speed if I were to face him. 'Frontal attack or some sneaky move?' I wondered. Lee ran foward with a burst of speed. Frontal attack. I made a few quick hand signs, and put my arm out, "Striking shadow snakes!" I yelled. Out of my sleeve came about five or six snakes. They stretched out towards Lee who was running towards me. To my surprise he dodged each one of them. The snakes fell to the ground, now nothing more than dead snake skins.
"Hiii-ya!" he did a high kick, but it was quite easy to dodge. I gasped and realized he was on the ground doing a spinning low kick. 'So the first attack was a diversion' I realized. I jumped to dodge it. Seeing I'd dodged his sneaky move he was on his hands trying to kick me while I was in the air. Crap, he kicked me in the stomach and the blow sent me flying backwards in the grassy field. Okay taijutsu, not my strong point. He was back on his feet again, one arm behind his back and one arm out. He wore a grin of triumph. I gritted my teeth together. I ran forward and threw punches which he also threw at me, and blocked my attacks. Out of the blue I raised my foot to kick, but he did a back-flip and dodged the attack. While in the air he threw a round of shurikens. Immediately the chakra flowing in my arms seeped into my finger tips to my nails. I deflected the shurikens with long, five inch claws. I allowed my claws to shrink back. Making the tiger hand sign I felt my chakra start to build up. I felt something stir within me, but I quickly suppressed it. 'No, I wouldn't use that power' I told myself sternly.
With new speed I burst foward, my fist raised to strike. Again Lee and I threw punches at each other and dodged one anthers strike. His fist came dangerously close to my face, I blocked it with my left arm while swinging my right fist upwards. I pulled my left arm away. He blocked my punch, but didn't see my left fist. I struck him hard. He fell back rolling on the ground. I was wondering if I'd been to rough, but he was rising to his feet.
"Quite a worthy challenger" he said grinning as he was rolling down the orange, leg warmers he wore. 'What's he doing?' I wondered. I watched him take off leg weights he had strapped to his legs. To improve a ninja's speed they may train with leg weights on, but I really don't get how taking some five pound weights is going to help.
"Ah, that is better" he said as he dropped the weights. They hit the ground with a bang, and a huge cloud of dust flew up in the air.
"Holy-fudge buckets!" I breathed. Also with new speed he charged. He was so fast I could barely see him. I... I guess you could say it was lucky I had a tailed beast sealed with in me otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see him because he was so fast. I was able to keep up with him. Neither of us were able to land a single punch of kick though. My nose twitched slightly at the scent of a different chakra around. I spotted a few familiar faces; Kurenai Sensei, Guy Sensei, and someone I didn't reconize; all of them sat up in a tree watching us.
"Hiya!" exclaimed Lee. I had been distracted, and narrowly dodged his attack. I was panting hard, so was he. To my left Kiba and Naruto flopped down in the grass panting hard from sparring.
"It would seem... now would be a good... time to rest" Lee also flopped down. The tree the unfamiliar jonin was in shrunk down. 'Wood style ninjutsuist?' I thought. The ninja walked across the field.
"Captain Yamato" Naruto greeted him. I noticed Sakura and some other kid walking across. He had black hair, and very pale skin as if he'd never been out in sunlight. Dear lord he was wearing the lowest pants and a black belly shirt.
"Hey Sai" Naruto waved to him. Dear lord I'd never seen a ninja dress the way Sai did. I was about to ask where Kakashi was, but then I guessed he was probably on a mission.
"Good to see you again Yumi" said Kurenai Sensei.
"Same here. I'm glad to be home again" I said grinning. I had missed the Leaf Village while away that was for sure.
"Excellent work Lee, your doing awesome in your training" Guy Sensei said grinning.
"Thank you Guy Sensei, I always try my hardest" Lee replied. 'Those two are weird' I thought noticing they had the same coconut-head hair cut and the same green spandex body suits. Not just weird, but creepy!
"Hey, I made some special food pills" she said holding out a basket of large, purple food pills. They didn't look very appetizing, but I was starving.
"Uh that's okay" Naruto said, "Yeah we're fine" Kiba agreed. Unknowingly I grabbed one and popped it in my mouth. I bit my lip, my eye twitching uncontrollably. 'Oh god' I thought panicking.
"Well what do you think? They're my from a special recipe" she said grinning. Using all my will power I swallowed it.
"Pretty good, it could use some sugar" I lied. 'Oh my goodness they tasted like.... like.... I don't even know!' I thought resisting the urge to gag. Sai stepped up looking down at his hands.
"Um.... Sakura" he said quietly.
"What is it Sai?" she asked holding out a food pill to him. His eyes widened at the sight of it. 'Did everyone know they tasted awefull, but me?' I wondered.
"It's just that... those food pills taste awe full" he admitted. Sakura turned to face him head on. 'I feel like the third great ninja war is coming on' I thought. In a burst of speed Sakura punched him hard in the gut and was forcing a food pill into his mouth.
"These are delicious! I made them myself you know" she yelled at him.
"When did she acquire monstrous strength?" I whispered to Naruto.
"Lady Tsunade" he whispered. So she was the hokages apprentice. Jeez, nothing was the same. I was about to ask about Sasuke, but I already knew. While out of the village I was tracking Orochimaru down and discovered he'd become Orochimaru's apprentice. My sick in the head father was planning on using Sasuke as his next vessel, his next body for when he switches bodies again. After talking for a while, getting to know each other again I headed home. My room, was quite dusty, very dust.
"I can't breathe!" I shrieked. I ran to the window coughing and gagging and pried it open. I sucked in fresh air. Everything seemed the same, but it wasn't. The village had changed quite a bit.
