Inheritance

The Chunin Exams III

"Okay then Tsuchi Kin, don't you worry about a thing. I'm gonna get you out of here and safe before you can even blink, okay - and that's a promise."

"Not if I can help it!" Zaku's voice roared over the clearing, just as Dosu rushed out from nowhere, levelling a swing of his gauntlet at Naruto's summons forcing him back slightly from Dosu's team mate, who now stood with nothing between him, Kin and Naruto, palm outstretched, facing them. "Sorry but, you're both going to die right here." He finished with a savage grin, as he prepared what was his trademark attack back in Oto.

Kin realised much too late that they had of course underestimated Dosu. He was easily the strongest of the three of them, and the best at strategy. He had obviously waited out of sight while Zaku fought the toad, waiting for it to be distracted enough to take it out of the fight temporarily, giving Zaku a free shot at the Konoha Genin and Kin.

"Zankūkyokuha!"

The name of the technique ushered forth a vicious deadly torrent of wind towards them, and for a split second as Naruto shifted to face the threat, Kin thought Naruto was just going to move out of the way and leave her to her fate - but he never faltered.

In one movement he was back on his feet, turning smoothly to face the oncoming slicing winds, and almost from thin air, the blond was holding a staff in his hand, rapidly spinning it as he held it out in front of him, spinning it so fast it was just a brown blur to everyone watching.

And then the jutsu hit, and even as the wind whipped around her, carving chunks out of the trees either side of the one she and Naruto had their backs to, digging a channel in the very earth to mark it's path - not one blade of deadly chakra infused wind made it past the blond now crouching in front of her panting heavily as the jutsu dissipated and the maelstrom died down, as though a pocket of invulnerability had been created around just the two of them, making them immune to the effects of the jutsu that had decimated the surrounding area.

Kin was at a total loss. She had never seen anything block Zankūkyokuha before - it was Zaku's most powerful attack, a guaranteed kill. What this Konoha genin had just done was unprecedented for ninja at their level.

"Gamasenso, I can't do that again, this clone is pretty much spent!" Naruto ground out to his summons, his staff disappearing as quickly as it had come. Overloading his weapon with chakra, and then spinning it to form what was tantamount to a 'chakra shield' was something he had come up with while experimenting by himself, and was particularly proud of. Overloading a chakra sensitive weapon left it leaking chakra, unable to contain what the user was channelling. Spinning the weapon and pumping even more created a wall of defensive chakra in front of him, capable of soaking up attacks just as he had done here.

It was however, incredibly chakra intensive, and while that wasn't normally a problem for him, this Bunshin was practically running on empty, and the jutsu had been powerful enough that he'd needed to channel even more chakra than he'd ever had to before.

"Then go!" Came the response, as the toad disengaged from Dosu and leapt back to Naruto's side. "I apologise. My lapse of concentration was an unforgivable mistake, and has made your mission far more difficult than it should have been."

"Don't sweat it, you're doing more than enough by getting me a chance to get out of here." Naruto glanced back towards her, how tired he was evident in his face. "I'm gonna go now - don't be afraid to dispel if you're in trouble, I'll only need a window of a few minutes to get out of tracking range."

Kin had thought it impossible for the tension in the clearing to increase, but she had been wrong. Nothing more was spoken, but the toad's muscles had gone tight, and Kin could picture the murderous intent on the amphibian's face.