A New Path

Ch. 39 Persuaded

Tayuya watched her team with a frown plastered on her face. They were all idiots. No exceptions. She had been pleased to find out that she would be the new leader of the Sound Four since Ukon and Sakon had been captured. Since then she had been forced to missions with the two idiots that were left until the new member arrived.

She turned to the new member, watching as he watched the terrain with a phased look. He rarely spoke, which she was grateful for, but his silence was getting on her nerves. Not only that, but for some reason Orochimaru had given them an order to follow above all else. If they were to be defeated, they had to make sure that the member got away . The snake summoner didn't explain anything else, just that he was really important.

The Sound kunoichi suddenly turned to the side, the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. She assumed that it was a Sound ninja since they had hidden in the middle of a dark forest. Their earlier run in with the blond had forced them to go deeper into the woods in order to avoid running into someone else.

"What are you doing here?" Tayuya scowled. The ninja in front of her made her uneasy. Whenever he went out on a mission, he would end up killing anyone that hadn't done the job correctly. Her eyes narrowed, if the bastard got close to her then she would kill him.

Kimimaro walked into the area, his face showing no emotion. "I have come with news of Lord Orochimaru," he said flatly. The Four sound ninja turned to the newly arrived teen, "He has decided that I will be placed on this mission."

"What kind of bullshit is that?" Tayuya snapped, "Does he think we can't do our job?"

"Things have gotten complicated," Kimimaro explained with an unchanged tone, paying little mind to Tayuya's earlier outburst. "We will need to mobilize earlier than expected," he went on, "We'll need to get Lord Orochimaru's new body safely to the Sound Village as soon as possible."

Naruto let out a sigh as he knelt next to the small river in the training grounds he frequented. He had tried to get the basic exercises for water control down but it was too hard for him. If things went on like this, he would end up taking days to complete just one exercise.

Using clones would speed up the process exponentially but, due to Ino saying that it wasn't fair to do that, he was forbidden to use them for training. He pouted as he turned to the side, easily spotting Ino glaring at a leaf held tightly on her right hand. From his spot he could see that she wasn't anywhere close to getting the smallest cut in the leaf, served her right for forbidding him from using clones.

"How's it going over there Ino?" he teased with a foxy grin, Ino instantly turning to him with a heated glare. He suppressed a chuckle. She would always get like this when things didn't go her way, of course it would be easy just to ask for help but she wouldn't do that. Not yet anyway. It would take at least one more day for her to finally give in and ask him to lead her in the right direction.

The Chunin turned back to the river and placed his hands above the water's surface. Since he didn't have a natural affinity for water jutsu he had to begin with the simplest of exercises. In this particular one he had to make a whirlpool in the water, no matter how small, in order to start developing his water control.

"Hey Ino," he called with his gaze on the nonmoving water.

Ino sighed, letting the leaf fall from her hand. She couldn't help but notice the lack of progress as it fell on the ground, "What is it?"

Naruto plopped down on the ground, deciding to try the exercise some other time. "How did you learn this? It's freaking hard," he complained.

Ino smiled as she kneeled next to the blond. "Here look," she instructed, placing her hands on the water's surface. Naruto sat up and watched as the water beneath Ino's hands began to swirl, soon forming a small whirlpool, "All you have to do is use the water as an extension of your chakra. Like the chakra in your body, the water flows. Just give it a try while keeping that in mind."