Struggle [On Hold]

Uzumaki Naruto's Grand Entrance

"Come on, Sakura. Time to go." He closed his book with a snap, and pushed himself off the building he had been leaning against. His eye gazed off in the direction of the smoke as he shifted his weight so one leg was holding more than the other.

Sakura immediately came to attention. "We're going?" She asked hopefully, her brilliant green eyes darting to the area of the forest where the smoke was coming from.

"Something like that." He looked at the area of smoke, "If Temari and Naruto went to investigate, then most likely the thieves escaped through the northern route of the forest. We should meet them there, don't you think?"

Sakura blinked. Had he been waiting for that the whole time? That seemed uncalled for; she felt anger building up inside of her chest. She wanted to strangle the slow-moving sensei. But she didn't. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was probably right. Temari and Naruto would be fine on their own, and the mission was at risk. But even as she thought this, there was a sinking doubt in the pit of her stomach. Teammates always came first, right?

She was slammed back to earth when Kakashi took off, leaving her alone. Her green eyes widened, and quickly, she took off after him.

Temari watched Kumori warily, holding her fan out in front of her in a defensive position. Her intuition told her that things were not stacked in her favor, she had to play smart if she wanted to get anywhere with this. She had no idea how strong he was, what jutsus he used, and how good his observation skills were. This was going to be a good fight, and just thought of it made her lips curl up into an anticipating smirk. She hadn't been this excited to fight for quite a long time; it brought back some old emotions she had almost forgotten about.

When it became clear that Kumori was not going to attack first, Temari immediately threw herself into action. Not wanting to give too much away; she settled with simple taijutsu at the moment. It wasn't her specialty, but that didn't mean she didn't have any skills for it. She gracefully swung her still closed fan, aiming it precisely for the side of his skull. As she had anticipated, she missed. But she didn't stop the attack. Spinning so she faced him, she lifted her right foot and thrust it outwards, hitting him cleanly in the chest. Kumori stumbled back, the wind knocked out of him.

Temari sensed an opening. She clenched her nails against the hard surface of her fan, and swung its closed-form firmly into Kumori's side. When he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Temari's eyes widened. When had he replaced himself? She closed her fan in a rush, and returned to her defensive position as her eyes scanned the area, her ears straining for any little sound that might give a clue to Kumori's location.

Ah. Sharp as ever.

Whirling around she blocked a kick aimed at her. She flung him away by pushing against him with her body weight. With one swift motion, she had all three stars exposed. "Time to die." She spoke more confidently than she felt. "Ninpou Kamaitachi." She muttered, knowing full well that the attack wouldn't kill him. Stun him, maybe, but definitely not kill him.

Poof. Smoke. Another kawarimi! "Who do you think I am! I'm not going to fall for that more than twice!" She yelled out, her voice ringing through the forest, a tone of rage mingling with her voice, "You can't beat me!"

"Watch me," Kumori whispered lowly in her ear. She spun to react, but he managed to knee her in the stomach before she could activate her own offensive.

No. She wouldn't lose this way. Not this pathetically. She was still in the game. She had to be, for the sake of her own dignity, and maybe even her life. She quickly got to her feet and prepared for defense. She blocked a kick, dunked out of the way of the punch, rolled to the side to avoid another well-aimed kick. This wasn't even a battle anymore. It was more of Kumori's well-aimed taijutsu against her swift dodging.

Neither side was giving in; and neither was prepared to lose.

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Temari's voice. He had heard it. At first, he thought he was going crazy; the smoke getting to his head. But it had rang out again, just as clear as before.

"You can't beat me!"

There was no mistaking her voice for anything else. He had to hurry though; it sounded as though she was in a fight. And losing, by how bruised her pride sounded. He had to get there, and he had to get there fast.

The problem was finding his way out of the thick smoke.

Well, if he couldn't get rid of the smoke, why not see over it?

There was a large crash in the distance of hundreds of trees being destroyed all at once. Temari had only turned her head in that direction for a split-second. Before she knew it, Kumori had struck like lightening

Temari stood up again, a large red mark on her cheek where his fist had contacted flesh. There was no way in hell this could be happening. This punk couldn't be stronger than her. There was absolutely no way. But by the way things were looking now, she should just kiss her dignity—and her life, goodbye.

But she didn't.

Nah. Temari was never the type of person to quit. She merely raised her fan in a defensive position and resumed the relentless dodging, waiting for the perfect moment to strike quick and deadly, like a cobra.

But when she went to block another attack, Kumori was sent flying off to the side. It took Temari a few moments to register what had happened, before turning to see what had caused it.

"Uzumaki Naruto's grand entrance!"

-End of Chapter 4-