"We're closing in again, only the girl, Kabuto, and the one with two chakra signatures remain." Karin called back to the group behind her.
"We should try our luck at grabbing that barrel, there's only three of them and seven of us left." Naruto said, getting nods of agreement. Forming a rough plan the group moved to surround their targets once more.
"Damn, they're on us again!" Tayuya called out with a tinge of fear in her voice. "Even Kidomaru's webs didn't slow them at all?"
"The important thing is getting our cargo to the boarder." The masked man said, turning away from the approaching ninja, and grabbing hold of the barrel.
"Not going to happen Kabuto!" Naruto yelled, landing on the branch in front of the enemy.
"Ah, Naruto, it's been a while hasn't it? I'll admit I didn't get to see much of you during the exams, although I heard about your promotion." Kabuto said, removing his mask.
"Too busy betraying the village and helping the invasion?" Naruto growled.
"I'll admit I had my part to play. Now step aside, Sasuke has betrayed you willingly, you won't be taking him home." Kabuto smiled, pulling a handful of scalpels from his pouch.
"Dynamic Entry!" The traitorous medic ninja was forced to dodge as a green blur shot forth, seriously denting the tree he had stood against moments before. For a split second he let go of the barrel, and it was engulfed in a purple glow and disappeared, replaced by a rather large pink ball with a candle-like fuse.
The sound ninja made to dart after the two attacking ninja, but paused when the ball began to whir to life, playing a catchy jingle as a pointer on the front began to spin. There were four icons on the front, a piece of bubblegum, a disco ball, what appeared to be a man scratching his back, and a rainbow colored skull and crossbones. The sound ninja all watched in horror as the jingle ended, with the arrow on the latter.
Even Naruto, who was a good distance away from the trap muttered a curse and ran for the hills, as behind him the ball went up in a prismatic mushroom cloud. The entire force of assembled ninja went scattering about the area, those in the know cursing a certain pink pony for her inventions.
Kiba, Ino, Pinkie Pie and the two-in-one Sound ninja were tossed towards a ravine. A quick pull of one of her scrolls had Pinkie unsealing her flying machine and swooping down to catch the allied ninja. "Should we leave him down there?" Ino asked, gesturing to where their opponent had fallen.
"I'd rather not, in case he comes back at an inopportune moment." Kiba said, clinging onto what appeared to be an oversized candy cane. From his perch inside of Kiba's jacket Akamaru barked in agreement. "Take us down Pinkie!"
The flying machine landed and disappeared back into the scroll with a poof of smoke. Before them, at the bottom of the ravine, stood Sakon and Ukon, cursed seal already active to level one. "Well now, Two ninja, a Pony, and a Dog. This should be an interesting fight."
Ino immediately moved back as their opponent rushed forward, taking up a defensive position and waiting for an opening to use her signature technique. Pinkie began rummaging in her saddle bags, sorting through scrolls for the appropriate weapon. Only Kiba and Akamaru met their opponent headlong.
Kiba quickly dashed in low, teeth sharpened and nails curling forward like claws. He lashed out the moment his foe was within range, swiping in strikes meant to eviscerate the man before him. He grinned as his opponent caught his latest attack, anchoring him in place as Akamaru, now transformed into a replica of Kiba charged in from behind.
To everyone's surprise two more hands shot out from the back of their opponent and caught that attack as well. "So that's what having two chakra signatures means." Ino muttered, now recognizing the sound ninja as two bodies in one. The boy and his dog managed to free themselves, just as Pinkie, now wearing strange boot-like gauntlets on her hooves, rushed in to attack.
The Sound ninja easily blocked the first attack, only to receive a painful shock in response. "Pony style: Joy buzzer assault!" Pinkie cheered happily, as the seals on her boots released charges of lightning chakra into her strikes. Forced to dodge every strike Sakon backpedaled looking for an opening to force the pony away. Seeing an overextended strike he lashed out, knocking the party-lover back just in time to once again fight the other Konoha ninja.
Rummaging once more in her saddlebag Pinkie pulled out yet another scroll, this time unsealing a large contraption that hung across her back. "Pinkie... what exactly is that thing?" Ino asked, despite the fighting going on her curiosity got the better of her.
"This is my Multi Elemental Capture and Throwback Device. I call it the Gummy instead." She said, giving the blonde a brilliant smile.
"Why a Gummy?" Ino asked, not understanding any of the description.
"Because Multi Elemental Capture and Throwback Device is too hard to say in normal conversation." Pinkie deadpanned.
"I mean why Gummy? That has nothing to do with what it is, does it?" The blonde said, trying to fight off a growing headache.
"Well, see how it kind of looks like an alligator? It reminds me of my pet, Gummy." Pinkie explained, as in the background Kiba was kicked into yet another jagged rock. Ino couldn't help but wince, knowing they should be assisting him.
"So how does it work then?" She asked, bracing herself for whatever techno-babble would ensue.
"Weeeeeeell~... See up here there are elemental capture seals, like this one the 'fire sealing method', all arrayed in a wheel. I just flip the switch here to the element I want, and 'Woosh' this thing will suck up any elemental chakra of that type, right out of the air. Then all I have to do is flip this switch here, and enable the 'Throwback mode', and I can fire similar techniques right back at the bad guys." She smiled.
"But this guy isn't using elemental techniques!" Ino shouted, getting odd looks from both Kiba and Sakon, before the two resumed fighting.
"Oh... Well I have some chakra stored up anyways, let's see if this works!" Pinkie called, turning the rig towards the Sound ninja and flipping a few switches.
Ino, suddenly realizing this was an untested invention, dove for cover.
"Okay! Throwback mode engaged, accessing reserve of Naruto's wind chakra, firing capacity at 20%, engage!" Pinkie cried, pulling the trigger with her mouth. The front of the contraption opened up, much like the mouth of an Aligator, and began to rumble. "Whoopsie, almost forgot to plant my hoooooooooves~!" She cried as a massive gale tore from the front of the contraption, tearing through several rocks and lifting the Sound ninja airborne, sending him flying down the ravine. At the same time the force of the blast leaving her device sent the earth pony flying backwards into the nearby river.
'And that was 20% capacity.' Ino could only think in horror.
With a poof of smoke bubbling up from the water Pinkie Pie rose to the surface, standing on the river with little inflatable water wings in the shape of ducks attached to her legs. "Water walking seals, pretty cool huh? They're precisely calibrated to release just enough chakra to keep me floating."
In the distance they could see Kiba had reengaged their opponent, who now appeared to be some kind of two headed red demon. Ino turned a little green at seeing Akamaru 'attack' his opponent with his urine. "Did that dog just...?"
"Yep!" Pinkie said, watching as a massive cloud of smoke rose up, and a giant white two headed dog appeared. "Ohmygosh it's a Cerberus! It's so cute! But it only has two heads!"
Ino facepalmed, cursing Naruto for leaving the pony with them. "That's obviously Kiba and Akamaru!"
"Oh, maybe I can be the third head then! I'll go ask him!" She said, hopping towards the sight of the battle. Before either of them could get there, the battle appeared to be over, as the massive wolf tore through their enemy, dividing him cleanly in half.
Kiba's celebration was cut off, however, when each half got up on its own. The wolf began to spin again, this time aiming for the one on the left as the two halves hid behind a rock formation. Seeing a chance, as each one began making hand seals, Ino ran through several of her own.
"Summoning technique: Rashumon!" came the cry of only Sakon, as placed his palm uselessly to the floor. Looking up in confusion he saw his brother making weird faces at him, instead of doing the technique. Before he could figure out why that was, a massive spinning drill of dog plowed into his cover, forcing him to flee.
Ino's technique broke shortly after, the amount of power running through her opponent was too much for her to keep a solid hold of. Kiba's technique ended, leaving the six combatants where they had started. 'Wait a moment, where's Pinkie Pie?' Ino wondered, glancing about for the random earth pony.
"Hiyah~!" Came a cry from behind the Sound ninjas, as the missing pink pony leapt from cover, swinging wildly at the two startled boys. Seeing an opening Ukon left his brothers body to merge with Pinkie, just as she triggered a little squirt flower, sending liquid into Sakon's eye.
"Agh! Lemon juice! What the hell? Who does that?" Sakon cried, rubbing his face.
"Go wash your eyes in the river." Ukon called, his head appearing next to Pinkies. "The rest of you, don't move or I kill the pony! We share a body now, I can kill her cell by cell, any time I want."
Kiba and Ino paused at the threat, looking at each other and trying to come up with a plan. "Oh cool now I'm a Cerberus too! Hey, are you thirsty? I sure am, we share a body now so you can have some too!" Pinkie yammered on and on, rooting in her bags as Ukon's face twitched in annoyance. Using the distraction Ino snuck away.
Suddenly Ukon's face started twitching for other reasons. "What are you doing?" He cried, looking down at the bottle of hot sauce with a straw in it. "How can you drink that stuff?"
"I do all the time, it's really tasty!" Pinkie said, noticing they seemed to share a sense of taste as well. "I bet I can drink the whole bottle in ten seconds flat!" She said, doing her best Rainbow Dash impersonation. Giggling she took another deep gulp as Ukon leapt from her body, coughing and spitting on the ground, trying to get the taste out of his mind.
"Sakon! The pony is insane, I can't stay in there!" He cried, stumbling towards the river, where his brother turned around to meet him. His eyes widened in surprise when Sakon stabbed him with a kunai before they could merge. From inside Sakon's body, Ino smiled, Sakon had been an easy target, washing his eyes in the river.
Seeing Kiba and Akamaru both in mid attack and closing in on her body, she smiled and counted down. '3... 2... 1... Release!' Sakon had only a split second to cry out in rage before two piercing drills barreled into him.
O~O~O~O~O
Shikamaru and Tenten landed near the female Sound ninja, and immediately got ready to fight as the rather irritated girl pulled out a flute. "I'll deal with you pieces of trash quickly, and then regroup with my team." She said.
"Like we haven't heard that all day." Shikamaru yawned. "Let's get this over with."
Tenten leapt into the trees, looking for a vantage point to strike from. In response Tayuya summoned three demonic figures to the branch in front of her. Raising her flute she played a short series of notes and the three puppets lurched forward to attack. To her frustration they barely moved three feet before coming to a halt. Looking down Tayuya noticed a shadow darting forward towards her and leapt backwards, grinning as she saw it reach a maximum distance, ten feet away from her.
'3...2...1... Kunai.' Shikamaru thought, just as Tenten leapt out behind the Sound ninja, unleashing a massive barrage of Kunai. Tayuya dodged the majority, using her metal flute to deflect those that would otherwise be lethal shots. Shikamaru held his position, noting the few kunai that flew over his head.
'3...2...1... Flash bang.' Right on cue a brilliant explosion of light erupted form one of the 'missed' kunai, filling the forest behind Shikamaru with a blinding flash. Using the split second of extra light he extended his shadow, catching the sound ninja as she tried dodging Tenten's follow-up.
'Checkmate' He grinned, seeing Tenten pull out the bigger weapons. With a poof of smoke Tenten spun mid air, gaining momentum and hurling a large scythe towards her target. The redhead made to dodge, just as a flash of light behind her caught her attention, sparing a quick glance downwards she noticed her feet were secured to the tree branch by shadows. A final swearword died on her tongue.
O~O~O~O~O
Naruto, Lee, Twilight, Karin and Kabuto were knocked along with the barrel in the direction of the boarder. The purple unicorn dispelled upon landing wrong, and Naruto hoped she wasn't hurt too badly. Ahead he spotted the barrel falling towards the ground, and shot ahead of Kabuto to grab it. Before he could reach it a sixth sound ninja appeared, snatching the barrel from the air and darting towards Kabuto.
"Ah, Kimimaro, I wasn't expecting to see you." Kabuto said, standing upright and straightening his glasses.
"Orochimaru felt this mission was important enough for it to be my last. I am to ensure the Uchiha reaches him, no matter what." The new arrival said, eyeing the competition.
At some unseen signal Naruto and Lee both rushed for the barrel. Kimimaro intercepted both, keeping the boys away from the barrel as Kabuto dashed past them.
"Ah Karin! We were wondering where you had disappeared to." Kabuto smiled, light reflecting off his glasses. With surgical precision he darted past her defenses and struck her several times with his chakra scalpels. "I know you can recover from that, but only if you sit this fight out, be a good girl and stay down."
Darting back to the barrel he grabbed it and headed for the edge of the forest, the field beyond was in clear view. Kimimaro kept pace with him, deflecting attacks from both Naruto and Lee as they tried pushing past him.
With a sudden rush of speed Lee crashed into the pale boy with overwhelming force, sending him crashing through tree branches and out into the grassy field. Naruto took the opportunity to rush Kabuto, who threw the barrel ahead of him and caught the attack, using his chakra scalpels to deal minor damage to the orange genin's muscles.
Grunting in pain and leaping back, Naruto drew a kunai and blew wind chakra onto it. Kabuto stared him down, chakra glowing around his fingers as he pushed his glasses up with the base of his hand.
To the other side of the barrel Lee dropped his weights to either side of him and dropped into his taijutsu stance. Kimimaro fell into a stance as well, bones seeming to grow out of his body like skin.
"Sasuke! I know you're in that barrel! Naptime is over!" Naruto yelled.
The wooden barrel exploded outwards, an eruption of dark miasma like chakra pillared upwards, before drifting out and desecrating the field around it. From within the swirling darkness Sasuke Uchiha flexed his wings.
"You're too loud as always, Naruto."