" I am Imaizumi Mutsumi, the leader of this village" said a man with dark hair. One by one everyone around introduced themselves to the villagers that had gathered to meet us.
"Yes we are here to help" Shikamaru told them.
"Thank you so much for coming. What you saw earlier has been happening to the village for a while now. Unfortunantely we are not strong enoug to fend off their attacks" Sakamoro Mutsumi told us. I frowned, we'd taken care of them easily. 'Then again we are ninja' I reminded myself.
"Can you tell us a little about their fightning style, do they use any ninjutsu besides taijutsu?" asked Sakura.
"The Toshiki Clan is a group of wandering ninja. They've been wandering for a while, and for some reason have decided on this place. The are known for their kekigenki, an ice release type" said Imaizumi. Shikamaru nodded understandingly. I'd never seen ice type jutsu. 'I should work on different chakra types' I thought.
"What can we do to help?" Lee asked eagerly.
"I'd do almost anything to show these bastards a lesson for terrorizing a village" Naruto said putting his fist in the other hand. Imaizumi and Sakamoto didn't speek, apparently thinking hard about what could be done.
"You could secure the village perimeter" Sakamoto said.
"We should probably start soon. They could be back soon" Sai suggested. We stood up about to leave, when someone stopped us.
"Wait" said Ito Haniko, "at least take the chance to eat something" she offered. As if in response my stomach chose that momment to sound like a dyeing whale. I grinned sheepishly. Eagerly Naruto agreed to having a meal. We left and went into another room. Food was then brought into the room. Rice cakes, roasted crab, and roasted vegitables.
"Oh wow, thanks!" Naruto cheered. "It sure looks good, thank you" Sakura said.
"Yes indeed" Lee replied.
"I'm glad you enjoy it" Ito said smiling. She and her brother Ruko left the room. I was so full by the end of the meal it was a wonder I could walk without wadling like a duck!
"We should split into two groups to secure the village" Sai said.
"Right, Naruto your with Sakura, Yumi your with me, and Sai your with Lee" Shikamaru decided, "Make sure the village is safe, and send for help if you encounter the enemy" he said. 'He divided the group well' I thought. 'If Naruto and Sakura encounter the enemy Naruto has his shadow clones, from Sai and Lee's group Sai could send a mouse using his super beast scroll jutsu, and then I could send a snake to send a message out' I thought. We split up from there, Shikamaru and I headed out north. We left the gates of the village and into the forest surrounding the village borders. My sensitive nose could faintly smell the salty ocean.
"Can you find the scent of the Toshiki Clan?" Shikamaru asked. I stopped sprinting through the trees, closed my eyes and inhaled. Birds, other mammals, the woodsy natural scent of trees and grass. Nothing.
"No, not a trace" I replied.
"It's posible they managed to cover up their scent somehow" Shikamaru said. I thought for a while, bingo, I had an idea. I sharply bit my thumb and then made the boar, dog, snake, mokey, ram hand signs.
"Hiya!" I said slamming my hand onto the ground, "Snake Calling Jutsu!" I yelled. Black symbals spread out from my hand. There was a bang and a puff of smoke all around us. Somewhere inside of the smoke came the sound of rattling and hissing. I grinned, 'my newest jutsu, 'Snake Calling Jutsu' success!' I thought proudly. The smoke cleared quickly revealng twenty or possibly thirty snakes around us, sitting up at attention.
"Whoa!" Shikamaru exclaimed stepping away from the snake that had slithered onto his foot. I could sense his tension and fear of being surrounded by so many snakes, especialy when half of them were lethaly-poisonous. Me on the other hand, I wasn't the least bit frightened.
"Yumi Yakussshhhi, daughter of the sssnake princessss, you have sssommoned us?" hissed a five foot long snake.
"Can you understand them?" Shikamaru asked. I nodded, ignoring him and hissed in response.
"We're looking for the Tossshhhiki clan, can you help usss?" I asked. The snake nodded.
"More than glad to help" another said. In a flash the snakes had shot away from us to search for members of the Yakushi clan. I sat down on the tree branch. If any Toshiki Clan member was lurking around the forest we'd know.
Naruto:
"Eeeek!" Sakura shrieked.
"What? What? WHAT?" I panicked. I pulled out a kuni half expecting it to be an enemy, but no it wasn't. Sakura was pointing to a snake on the ground. It's tongue darting in and out of it's mouth. I frowned, 'snakes? Orochimaru, Kabuto.... Yumi!' I remembered Yumi also used snakes. I bent down facing the small snake.
"Naruto you fool! It could be poisonous" she scolded me, but didn't jump down from the tree she stood in.
"Are you with Yumi?" I asked. 'Boy do I sound dumb talking to a snake' I thought. 'Sakura probably thinks I'm crazy now' I thought sadly and sighed. To both of our suprises it faintly nodded.
"Is it a summoning of Yumi's?" Sakura asked. I looked back and nodded. From the snake came a whisperding, "Toooooossshhhiiiiki" it whispered the name of the Toshiki clan and looked to the right.
"Is it west?" I asked curiously. The snake nodded before slithering away.
"I think we're on the right track" I told Sakura. Together we both sprinted away going east. 'We'll find them and show them what happens when you pick on defenself villages' I thought angrily.
