Hatake Kakashi: Fascination

Hatake Kakashi: Fascination: Part XXV

“Who should take the scroll?” Oriko asked, one of the guys sat behind the desk in the tent, eyeing the kanji ‘heaven’ on the side of the scroll,

“That’s for you guys to decide between yourselves,” Oriko looked at her team mates who had blank faces before stuffing it in her pouch and they hurried out of the tent to find a gate.

“What’s the plan of action?” Asano whispered as they stood at the gate, waiting to enter,

“I think we should head straight for the tower and ambush teams as they make their way there,” Sakura responded,

“I agree, that would give us the greatest advantage…we can also thin out the numbers to increase our chances of passing,” Oriko continued, using as many brain cells as possible to focus on the task at hand, finding her desire to succeed and impress her sensei as well as Anko and the others growing by the minute.

“Ok~! Go!” Anko’s voice was heard as the gates opened and all of the teams sped off, Sakura and Asano only just keeping up with Oriko,

“Hey! Slow down, would ya!” The only male of the group complained,

“We don’t have time, Asano, we must get to the tower as fast as possible, just keep your mouth shut and your senses open!”

“Who made you boss?!”

“Asano, don’t you want to make Chuunin?” Sakura’s gentle voice quelled his disagreeable nature for the moment, and he kept quiet, but wasn’t particularly impressed with either kuniochi, Oriko could sense the younger’s anger but ignored it and kept on moving. 

They’d been running for hours, and all of their stamina was suffering, as they landed on a branch and prepared to jump off, Oriko thought she could sense something. 

She hoped it wouldn’t be another gigantic monster that she was forced to nearly cut in half with her still-wild fan as one attacked them earlier, she paused and signalled for the other two to do the same, as three Genin appeared out of the bushes about ten feet in front of them, they noticed Oriko and her team right away,

“Asano! Get a Katon ready to combine with my Fuuton: sebon attack,” she whispered as he nodded and they began forming hand seals, “You too, Sakura, get that chakra ready and focused,”

The pink haired kuniochi nodded as Oriko leapt from the tree branch and cast her Jutsu, at the same time Asano active his and they managed to give two of the team nasty burns which left then unable to move,

“You assholes!” The last of the team cried, as Sakura suddenly flew in from above and nearly pummelled the young boy to the ground, but proved his speed by just about dodging,

“Asano, you go in, I’ll cover you,” The hot headed team mate nodded and leapt towards the other shinobi as Oriko threw some kunai attached with wire threads and some kibakufuda; while also sending a bunshin in for a distraction or to get Asano out of the way – whichever came first. 

The young shinobi fought with Asano in taijutsu form for a little while, as Sakura too observed and looked for an opening.

The boy saw Oriko throw the kunai and the kibakufuda and tried to move away from them, but Asano was surprisingly fast and kept the other boy on his toes and stealing most of his concentration as Sakura saw an opening. 

Leaping down she smashed the ground with one of her chakra punches, breaking the earth up and unsteadying the boy, as Oriko prepared a Goukakkyuu no Jutsu and activated it, giving Asano just enough time to leap out of the way – although not before singeing some of his hair.

The boy too leapt back thinning he’d successfully avoided the katon, but in the confusion leapt back straight into the exploding tags, and one teams had now been reduced by at least one. 

“Sakura, Asano, check them for the scroll,” She too leapt down to deal with the rather mangled body of one of the boys in front of her, but he seemed not to have a scroll.

“Here,” Asano called after a few seconds, “But it’s not an earth scroll,”

“Damn…well, we’ve lost time here; we’d better get going,” the other two nodded, and although panting, their resolve too seemed to have been strengthened; “We should take it with us anyway, it too will help us if only by hindering others,”

 --//--//--//--//--

Kakashi wandered slowly, whilst reading Icha Icha Paradise, to Tsunade’s office, he’d just gotten back form yet another mission the Hokage had sent him on; although not sure why she seemed so determined to keep him away from the village, it sure was stressing him out a little.

Especially after having been given another student to train, and then to be called away at a crucial time of Chuunin selection exams…the Hokage could really make strange decisions when she felt like it. 

By his calculation, Oriko and the other Genin had been in the forest of death for four days and regardless of the outcome, Kakashi was looking forward to having Oriko back.   He eventually made it to her office and knocked slowly on the door, wandering in by her command,

“Ah, Kakashi, as you know the second test of the Chuunin exams will finish tomorrow; if Oriko passes, I presume you will want to be around to help her with the month’s training allocated between the second and the final test?” He raised an eyebrow, internally of course, in mild surprise, expecting to be given another mission,

“Hai, Hokage-sama,”

“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, the missions you done recently have been of great help, and I can afford you some time off,” Kakashi nodded, with a small smile,

“Arigato, Hokage-sama,”

“I’m impressed Oriko has made it this far, you must have trained her well,”

“Ah…she seemed to have natural sense as a shinobi… but I am glad that she hadn’t failed…yet,” Tsunade nodded once more, before dismissing him, genuinely surprised at what a gem the stranger she found some months ago was turning out to be.

 --//--//--//--//--

Oriko, panting heavily at the strain of yet another battle, with enemy shinobi pulled out her fan and whipped it wildly, now tired of conventional fighting and just about desperate enough to use such a risky move, in order to prevent the team from reaching the tower. 

Which was only a few hundred meters behind them, although still hidden by dense under growth and many different traps; the particular team they were facing proved to be especially tricky.

 “Shandaroo!” She could hear Sakura’s cry from a little way to her left as she smashed a tree branch basically in half, and nearly crushing another Kuniochi in the process. 

Oriko’s blade of Fuuton chakra cutting through the trees with ease and managing to cut off the boys pouch from his waist, as she quickly formed a kage bunshin to retrieve it, which it just about picked up and threw towards Asano before it was destroyed by a kunai driven through its chest.  

Asano caught the pouch and found exactly what they were looking for: an earth scroll;

“Yes! Got it,” He cried and his remaining team mates who paused and leaped backwards from their battles, Oriko turning her back to the still moving Genin who weren’t ready to give up the fight. 

One of the opponents, gifted in the art of concealing himself, snuck upon Oriko, and he too stole her pouch full of scrolls.  He drove a kunai through her shoulder and attempted to drive a second through her other shoulder but she as fast and span around kicking the boy away from her, but it proved to be a fatal mistake.

As he flew backwards she could clearly see him holding onto one of her pouches, and before Oriko could react he was gone, along with the rest of his team not slow to follow.