Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 12 | Bizarre

He held back a sigh of irritation as he came to look upon Rock Lee and Might Gai. The two were whispering about youth as they always did, though the whispering was more of a talking volume. Granted, that was not new either. They finally spotted the other man and their eyes visually bulged out of their heads.

"How did he find us, Teacher Gai!?" Lee shouted.

"I'm not sure Lee, but we must take him back to the village now!" the older man responded.

"But Teacher! How can we defeat him quickly!?"

"Lee, you have a way to go. Isn't it obvious? With the power of youth!" Gai exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh, Teacher Gai! You're right! I still have so much to learn!" Lee yelled, crying. They embraced each other, oblivious to Neji as he approached them. In one swift movement, he blocked all of their chakra points and they fell to the ground. He made a point to hit the ones near their mouths, making it so they would cease to annoy the population for the time being. He reverted his eyes and gave a sigh of annoyance.

"Imbeciles." Dropping off the roof, he landed next to the woman who had agreed to hold his bag for him, thanking her and taking it back. He turned to the crowd that had gathered. "If they ask where I've gone, please tell them I went west. These creeps have been chasing me for weeks, and I've only now gotten the opportunity to attack them."

The crowd nodded unanimously before they went back to what they were doing.

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Around the same time, Shino sat on a small fishing boat that had been headed directly to the Land of Waves. The ship would soon be arriving at the port. The man sat on a crate watching the water go by when he heard orders beginning to be shouted from different parts of the vessel. A few men rushed by him and he stood, catching another one by the arm as he felt the ship begin to turn.

"What's happening?" the shinobi asked.

"The village, it's burning!" the fisherman yelled as he pointed in the direction of the island. He turned his eyes to see pillars of smoke and flames from the settlement that could be seen from where they were.

"So you're turning around?"

"That means it's probably under attack! We would love to help them, but we can't!"

"Tell your captain to keep heading there. I'll take care of the attackers and when you get there help me find all the survivors." After a moment, he nodded and ran away. Shino jumped over the side of the boat and landed on the water before darting toward the island.

As he grew closer, he could sense that there were shinobi in the village. He released some chakra-draining beetles and began heading along the coast to a tall house that sat next to the water. There were many chakra signatures in the building and he began moving faster as a wall of the house blew out. As he grew closer, he heard yelling from the inside, the voices sounding panicked. He forced himself to go faster in the last stretch and came to a halt upon reaching the large hole in the wall.

He quickly analyzed the situation; seeing a woman being backed into a corner by two men, a boy being held by another, and an old man being held by two. As the boy yelled for the men to leave his mother alone, Shino created a shadow clone.

"Com'on kid, we just wanna' have a little fun," the man holding him cackled. Shino's clone shot at the man holding the boy and he himself jumped at the two going after the woman. Upon being released, the teen ran at the two holding the old man at the same time Shino did. The two men were dispatched, clearly not having been too skilled. Shino noted that the boy was pretty quick with a kunai and wondered where he had gotten the one he had used. When the old man was released, he ran over to the woman who was sat in the corner crying, obviously shaken from the experience.

"Tsunami!" he cried, bringing her into a hug which she reciprocated. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I couldn't protect you! What kind of father am I!?"

Shino looked at the boy who was much more collected than the other two. The Aburame made note of this, seeing great potential for him if he ever wished to be a shinobi.

"What's happening here?" the newcomer asked. The boy quickly bowed in thanks and looked up, only for his expression to grow angry as his eyes landed on the man's forehead protector.

"Why are you here?!"

Shino's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"We don't need Konoha's help!" he shouted, becoming defensive. His words clicked in the young man's mind. Reaching up, he used his kunai to put a slash through the symbol for the Leaf Village. The teen looked at him in surprise.

"Thank you for reminding me. I defected from Konoha to meet with a friend. Do you happen to know if a pink haired woman has been around this area?"

"You're one of Sakura's friends?" the younger male asked, skeptical.

"You know her then. Kurama sent us a letter—"

"Oh, alright," he nodded, believing him. "Well, her and the others went to Arashijima two weeks ago. They said they'd be coming back about now."

He shook his head. "But we have a big problem right now!"

He pulled something from his pocket and handed it to the older male. Shino looked down to find a green headband with a forehead protector engraved with a star. "You said you're here to join Sakura, right?"

The young man gave a nod. "Then welcome to Arashigakure. Questions can wait 'till later. I'm still a shinobi in training, so I'm probably gonna' need your help to take out the bandits."

"Right." Shino gave another nod and replaced his old protector with the one he had been given. "Let's go."

As they turned to get the other two out of the house, the man the boy had taken down began forming hand signs as he stood.

"Get out, now!" Shino yelled, jumping over to the two in the corner and breaking down the sliding doors that were just next to them. The man let out a yell, completing the jutsu he had been performing.

"Fire Style! Great Beyond!"