The War Angel (A Naruto Fanfic)

Summoning Jutsu

"Come on, you can do better than that."

I charged after Horo and kicked. His hand came up to block me, then he grabbed ahold of my ankle and flipped me over. I landed crouching on all fours, panting hard. Horo raised a brow and frown slightly at me.

"What?" I asked, standing up.

He stared at me a while longer, then shook his head. "You keep going for the obvious attacks," he told me. "If you're that predictable during a real battle the enemy will have you down in no time."

I nodded and came after him again. I've been training with Horo for almost three week now, and although I hated it at first, I soon found myself moving much much much faster than I did before. And my attacks? Well, consider the fact that I can break through the trunk of a tree a huge step in my favour.

I swung my leg out at him and he ducked beneath it. His arm shot out to punch me but I blocked it and punched after him as a counter attack. It slammed straight into his stomach and he flew backwards.

"Not so obvious now, am I?"

Horo chuckled as he got to his feet. "Maybe not. But you're punches are still too weak."

"What? No they aren't! I can punch straight through a tree!"

"Please bear in mind that the tree you punched through was as thin as your arms."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha. I seem to recall it being as big as your head."

"Funny," he muttered.

"Lea-chan!"

I turned around to see Sakura coming towards me, waving.

"Hey, Sakura," I greeted.

"We haven't seen you around for a while. What have you been up to?" She held a basket full of flowers in her hand.

I pointed to Horo. "Training with this old geezer."

"Will you stop calling me that?!" Horo shouted from behind me. Sakura giggled.

She stuck out her hand. "Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you."

Horo smiled. I frowned at him. Why was his face so red? I think there's a virus going around...

"Horo Maken." He took her hand, smiling down at her so hard it started to look creepy. "Nice to make your acquaintance. Although I hope we can be friends."

Sakura withdrew her hand slowly. "Uh ... yeah, sure."

I sighed. "So what are you doing here, Sakura?" I asked, hoping to drag her attention to me. Horo was obviously making her uncomfortable.

She held up her basket of flowers. "I was just collecting these for Naruto."

I frowned. "What happened to Naruto?"

She rolled her eyes, the look of annoyance she only reserved for Naruto on her face. "He pushed himself too hard and now he's in the hospital."

"What?!" I turned to Horo. "I have to see if he's okay."

He shook his head at me. "He's fine. A day's rest is all he needs. So no need to go down there."

"But-"

"We still have a lot of training to do."

Sakura patted my arm in assurance. "Don't worry Lea, he's right. A days rest is all he needs. And knowing Naruto, he wouldn't stay in the bed for long. I'll tell him you said hi."