WE INTERRUPT YOUR READING TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT:

...-FFFFFFFFUUUUUUU

As I'm sure you've no doubt realized I haven't updated this story in almost five months. I'm not even sorry. I've been extremely busy over the past few months with exams and have been finding it a struggle to find the time to update with all the stress I've been under. Thankfully, my last exam was about a week ago, and since the summer holidays are coming up soon I'm hoping that I'll be able to update more frequently. In the meantime, this is probably one of the longest chapters I've done, so hope you'll enjoy :)

PS: Yes, I have changed the names of the characters for probably the fifth or sixth billionth time, but I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's who.

~~Carmen~~

I'm not exactly what you'd call a 'morning person.'

In fact, I can pretty much turn into the world's biggest bitch if someone dares wake me up before noon; even if I'd had a full night's sleep beforehand. Needless to say, I wasn't likely to be feeling all that cheerful the next morning after I was forced to stay awake and keep watch with Melissa for hours on end. And then when I eventually got the chance to go to sleep, I couldn't because Diane and Natasha, who were on the next shift, refused to shut the fuck up. I lost count of how many times I was woken up by their continual giggling fits, and no amount of Melissa telling them off would get them to stop.

And now, when I'd finally managed to get to sleep, I was woken yet again; only this time it was because of Julia and Riley screaming their heads off. I opened one eye lazily, seeing the ground just inches from my face. It felt like I had cotton wool stuffed in my ears, muffling the sounds of my friends' loud voices. I shut my eye again, wondering if I would be able to catch a few more minutes of sleep. But fate wasn't having it. The second I was starting to feel drowsy again, I was jolted back awake; this time by the sound of a third voice; one high pitched and whiney and horribly familiar.

"I know we're supposed to be working against each other, but please...couldn't you let us stay here? Just for a few hours? My teammates, t-they're really badly hurt...A-And I can't...I'm afraid I won't be able to protect them b-because I'm all on my own..."

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up too quickly, causing the world to spin violently around me. I glanced up, my eyes trying to adjust to my gloomy surroundings. Natasha and Diane were curled up in the dirt beside me, both still fast asleep and completely oblivious to the noise. The rest of our little group: Julia, Riley and Melissa were standing a few feet away at the entrance to our little underground shelter, arguing animatedly with someone. I leaned slightly to the side to get a better view and spotted a girl who looked to be a few years younger than us. She had a head of bright pink hair and luminous green eyes which were brimming with tears of frustration. I squinted at her, certain I'd seen her somewhere before, but unable to place a name to the face.

"Listen," Riley was saying, seemingly done screaming and deciding to take a calmer approach. "I get that you're upset and everything, but you can't stay here. There's no room and besides: we were here first."

"What she means is: why don't you make like a tree and get the fuck outta here!" Julia snapped.

The pink-haired girl scowled at her, defiant despite her tears. "You can't make me leave. I-I'll fight you if I have to."

"Yeah, right." Melissa scoffed from the sidelines. "There's six of us, and only one of you. And, let's face it, Sakura. You're not exactly the most...shall we say 'adept' fighter."

I felt a jolt as I suddenly realized who it was we were talking to. She was Sakura Haruno! That annoying bitch from Naruto's team! I glanced behind her and sure enough spotted Naruto and Sasuke unconscious on the ground beside her, vaguely pained expressions on their faces. My gaze flickered back to Sakura to see that her face had suddenly drained completely of all colour. She didn't even seem to comprehend Melissa's insults.

"You...h-how did you know my name?" she whispered, aghast. I froze, keeping my back against the tree trunk behind me, hoping to remain unseen in the gloom. I didn't want to end up involved in this; especially now that Melissa had really put her foot in it. What was she thinking saying that? Didn't she know how bad this would make us look?

"Fuckin' perfect." Julia muttered angrily, shooting a filthy look in Melissa's direction. "Bravo Mel. Real smart of you."

Melissa ignored her, acting like she hadn't spoken. Sakura eyed the two of them cautiously, silently demanding an answer that neither of them was planning on giving.

"Uh...w-well...I mean, this isn't really that big of a deal." Riley stammered, trying to salvage what she could of the situation. "She only knows your name because umm...she overheard you when umm...when you were uh-"

"Shut up!" Sakura snapped, cutting her off. "You expect I'm just gonna believe any lies you make up? How stupid do you think I am?"

Julia snorted. "You really want an answer to that?"

"I said shut up!" she cried, her expression fierce. She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a kunai knife and held it out in front of her defensively. Obviously trying to play it tough, but she couldn't disguise the fact that the hand holding the knife was shaking violently. "I knew there was something weird about all of you. I always knew. The way you dress, the way you act...you're nothing like a Shinobi should be. I mean, you don't even have headbands!"

There was a panicky look shared amongst my three friends. This didn't go unnoticed by Sakura whose expression of dread had been replaced with an arrogant smirk as she realized she'd hit a nerve. The hand holding the kunai suddenly wasn't shaking as much.

"There is something going on here, isn't there? I want answers. Now!" she snarled. Beside me, Natasha, who was still curled up sleeping, flinched at the girls' raised voice. Her eyes flickered open and she sat up, looking around blearily.

"The fuck's going on?" she mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her tired eyes. "Why all the noise?"

"Look who finally decided to wake up." Riley remarked, scowling at the brunette.

"About time too." Melissa added scornfully.

"Fuck you guys; I'm a heavy sleeper." She grinned wearily; but the smile quickly faded when she picked up on the ominous atmosphere. "Something going on?"

Her gaze fell on Sakura, who was still crouched by the entrance to our hideout; her unconscious teammates laid out beside her. Natasha gasped, her brown eyes widening in horror.

"What's she doing here?" she demanded.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Melissa said, scowling at the pink haired girl. "She was just leaving." The sentence was accompanied by a fierce look that spoke volumes.

Sakura tore her gaze from Natasha to return Melissa's glare. Her grip tightened on the handle of the knife. "We're not going anywhere." She said.

"Fine!" Natasha snapped. "Fuck it; we'll leave." She leaned over and roughly shook Diane's shoulder, trying to wake her. The blonde groaned and tried to feebly swat her hand away but Natasha wasn't having it. She attempted to pull the girl to her feet, even though she was still half asleep. She tripped over my foot as she went past me, almost falling on her face, still dragging Diane with her.

I pulled my leg out of the way, wincing at the pain in my ankle. "Fucking watch it!" I snarled, but she paid no attention to me.

"Wait a second," Julia said indignantly. "We've told this bitch-" She gestured to Sakura. "-countless timeto get the fuck out of our hiding spot and now you've just decided to let her have it anyway?"

"Yeah, sure. She can do whatever the fuck she wants. I don't care." Natasha said distractedly. "I just think we should all get outta here before the shit hits the fan."

Melissa frowned. "What the hell're you talking about?"

She paused for a second, eyeing the rest of the group. "Don't tell me you forgot?" She rolled her eyes, exasperatedly. "Really? You don't remember the Sound ninja?"

There was a shared look of confusion among the others. I felt the blood drain from my face as the realization dawned on me. The Sound ninja...they were after Sasuke. Sasuke, who was lying not five feet from us. They had been ruthless when they found Sakura; she'd been beaten almost to a bloody pulp.

But now things were different. Because we were here with her.

So what if they did the same thing to us?

I swallowed, a cold dread settling in my stomach. Sure, there would be more of us than there were them...but still; Sakura wasn't much of a fighter. She was still able to hold her own against them, even if it wasn't for very long. We'd never even had any sort of training as Shinobi.

We wouldn't stand a chance.

Suddenly, Natasha's idea of running didn't seem so stupid.

"What's going on?" Diane mumbled, still half-asleep.

"We're leaving." Her friend replied sharply.

"Yeah...t-that's probably a good idea." Melissa said, glancing around uneasily as she had came to the same realization I had.

"I'm coming too!" I said quickly. I clambered to my feet, intending to follow their lead, but the sound of Julia's sudden rambunctious laughter made me pause.

"You guys are pussies!" she snorted. "I'm not going anywhere; I'm not scared of those fuck face Sound ninjas."

"Fine!" Natasha snapped, finally losing her temper. "You stay here if you want. But I can't be held accountable for what happens. You know, all of you know what these people are capable of. You've seen what happened to her-" she pointed her finger at Sakura, who flinched. "What're they gonna do to us, huh? We can't fight them."

"She kinda has a point..." Riley admitted.

"What're you talking about?" Sakura finally spoke up. Her arrogance from before was now replaced once again by fear.

"Forget it." Melissa snapped savagely. "It's got nothing to do with you anyway."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Don't give me that! You were clearly just talking about me. About the Sound ninja." Her tone turned accusatory. "You know something..."

Melissa heaved an frustrated sigh. "We don't know anything, ok? We just...we just wanna get outta here before we get caught up in something we really don't wanna be a part of."

Natasha, who was facing the entrance to the clearing suddenly froze up, then in a voice almost too quiet to hear whispered:

"I think it's too late for that now..."

Sakura's head whipped round in the direction the others were facing, her green eyes widening in horror. The feeling of dread I had increased tenfold. Natasha, Diane and Melissa were blocking my view of the clearing so I scrambled over to Julia on my hands and knees, peering round them to see, even though I already knew what to expect.

Standing at the edge of the clearing, not ten feet from us were three menacing figures. I recognised them only from a faint memory of watching the Naruto series at home on my computer. On a screen, they didn't seem like all that much. In person, well...that was a slightly different story. The threesome consisted of a boy with black, gravity defying hair and metal plates on the side of his head, a girl with ankle length hair and malevolent dark eyes and what I assumed was a boy, though I couldn't be sure since his head was almost completely covered in bandages, leaving only one eye uncovered.

"Well, well. Look what we have here." The boy with the spiky hair sneered, eyeing us all with noticeable scorn.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, her knife held out in front of her protectively. "What're you doing here? What do you want?" She cried.

The boy with the bandages stepped forward, his one visible eye narrowing. "We're here for Sasuke." He said, his eerie voice sending chills down my spine. "Wake him up; we want to fight him."

"What's going on?" Diane mumbled, her attention caught by the sound of the newcomers voices. She eyed the three Sound Ninja suspiciously. "Who're they?"

The black haired boy's gaze shifted to her, and his sinister smile only grew. "Maybe we can have some fun with these freaks, first." He said. "Before we deal with Sasuke."

Natasha took a step forward, keeping herself between her blonde friend and the boy. "You son of a bitch." She snarled. "You lay a finger on any one of my friends and I'll kick your nuts up into your throat!"

His expression darkened with sudden rage and he took a menacing step forward. "What the hell did you just say to me?" he bellowed.

"Take it easy, Zaku." The bandaged boy hissed. "Don't forget our purpose. We're here for Sasuke."

His companion snorted. "I know that. But I'm not gonna let some freak talk to me like that!"

He glared at Natasha, who scowled back, unfazed. A short, uncomfortable silence followed, which was broken when Julia suddenly clambered to her feet.

"Well," she announced, "This has been real special and all, but...I think I'm just gonna haul ass outta here, before things get really nasty." She grinned cheerily and gave a half-hearted wave. "Bye guys. Was nice knowing you."

Melissa whirled round. "Julia, don't you dare leave-" Her words choked off. She was talking to thin air.

Julia was already gone.

I stared at the spot she used to occupy; still struggling to come to terms with the situation. Had that really just happened? Had Julia really just abandoned us?

"That fucking bitch!" I yelled. "How could she just-"

"Just forget about her." Riley snapped. "We've got bigger problems right now."

I quickly turned my attention back to the three Sound ninjas who were watching us with sudden guardedness. Obviously Julia's disappearing act had put them a little on edge. Sakura, on the other hand, hadn't even noticed the change. She stepped forward, holding her knife out in an attempt to be threatening.

"What do you people want with Sasuke?" she demanded. "I already know that Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." The Sound ninjas looked shocked at this. "And what's that strange bruise on the back of Sasuke's neck? You're behind all of this, aren't you?" Her voice rose as she became more and more upset. "And now, you want fight him? When he can't even defend himself?"

The black haired boy scowled, his lip pulling back from his teeth in a fierce snarl. "First that stupid girl, and now you? I'm sick of you freaks thinking you can talk down to me! First I'm gonna kill this girl and all her annoying little friends. And then I'm gonna kill Sasuke."

"You just fucking try it!" Natasha snapped.

He scowled, taking a threatening step forward. "What the hell did you say to me?"

"Natasha." Melissa hissed, appalled. "Don't antagonise them..." She turned to face the three Sound ninjas, putting her negotiator face on. "Look, none of us want any trouble, ok? This whole thing you have against Sasuke and her-" she gestured to Sakura. "It's nothing to do with us. We're not even friends with her."

"So what?" the boy sneered. "It doesn't matter to me if you're her friend or not. I'll kill every single one of you before I let you talk down to me again."

"Zaku's right." The girl said, speaking up for the first time. "We shouldn't let these idiots get away with disrespecting us."

The two paused and I quickly realized they were eyeing the bandaged boy, a little cautiously, as if waiting for him to talk. He seemed to be something of a ringleader in the trio.

The boy with the bandages stared at us all through his own visible eye, his head tilted to the side as if considering something. Then his eye darkened and even though his mouth was covered I could tell he was smirking.

"Alright. We'll take them out; then we'll deal with Sasuke."

The three suddenly moved as one, lunging towards us almost faster than I could see. There was no time for us to run, to get away. We could only stand frozen as death stared us right in the face.

"Leaf hurricane!" A new voice suddenly yelled out. There was a blur of bright green and the trio of Sound ninjas were thrown back by some invisible force, landing hard on their backs. I quickly ducked for cover behind Natasha and Melissa, bracing myself for an attack. A few seconds passed, and when nothing happened, I quickly scrambled to my feet, peering tentatively around my friends to see what had happened.

Standing with his back to us, facing the three Sound ninja was one of the most ridiculous characters in the whole of the series: Rock. Fucking. Lee.

He was clad in his trademark clingy green body suit and his oil black hair was cut in a hideous bowl cut. White bandages were wrapped around his arms and, for some unknown reason he had a small squirrel perched on his shoulder.

"Oh great..." Melissa muttered irritably. "It's him."

"Who the fuck is that?" Diane hissed to Natasha, who seemed to stunned to answer her. The Sound ninjas clambered to their feet; their expressions dark with rage. The bandaged boy tilted his head, his one visible eye fixed on Rock Lee.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled furiously.

"I am the handsome devil of the Leaf Village. And my name is Rock Lee." He declared proudly.

Diane raised an eyebrow sceptically. "'Handsome devil?'" she repeated incredulously. "With that hair?"

"Diane, shh!" Melissa said.

Diane stared in disbelief at the boy, shaking her head in disgust. "You stupid bitch..."

He turned to stare at us, eyes wide with surprise as if he'd only just noticed us. "Oh, hello." He said cheerily. "Are you friends with Sakura?"

Riley laughed. "Hell no!"

"My mistake. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, anyway." He grinned merrily.

"Fuck off!" Diane snapped.

"Ignore them, Lee." Sakura said, shooting a dirty look in Diane's direction. "They're not worth paying attention to. I don't even know what they're doing here."

Natasha snorted reproachfully. "Excuse me, bitch?" she snarled. "In case you've forgotten, we were here first. We've got more right than you do being here."

Sakura clenched her fists and for a worrying second I thought she might actually take a swing at Natasha. But instead she turned her head to face Rock Lee, a sudden puzzled look on her face.

"I meant to ask you Lee...w-what are you doing here?" she said, her voice suddenly soft.

"I will always appear anytime you are in trouble Sakura!" Lee declared proudly, giving the squirrel on his shoulder a quick pat, before picking it up and setting it on the ground, where it quickly scurried away into the undergrowth.

"But right now on this test, I'm your enemy." Sakura protested.

"I already told you Sakura; I will protect you until I die!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

Natasha smirked. "Well, isn't that...gay."

"Enough talk." The bandaged boy spoke up, his visible eye narrowed in anger. "I'm done dealing with you jokers." He turned to the black haired boy beside him. "Zaku, you can have Sasuke. I'll take care of the rest of them."

I tensed, bracing myself for the oncoming fight. And our probably inevitable deaths...

I could only watch as the boy with the bandages charged at us, pulling up his baggy sleeve to reveal a strange metal device attached to his arm. Sakura abruptly sprung into action, pulling out a handful of kunai knifes and hurling them out into the clearing at him. She was probably aiming for his head, but seeing as she was completely shit at pretty much everything, the knives ended up embedded in the ground a good few feet away from him. He leapt into the air, his arm extended and aimed at Rock Lee, who suddenly ducked down, plunging his arm into the earth and yanking out a huge tree trunk.

I blinked, completely confused. How the hell did he do that? No offence to the series or anything but...wasn't this all just a little too unrealistic? I glanced up to see a similar expression of bewilderment on Diane's face and, considering she had never watched the show before, realized she must be thinking the same thing I was.

"Um...Nat?" she asked. "Quick question: what the fuck is going on?"

"To be honest?" her friend replied a little uneasily. "I'm not entirely sure myself..."

I turned my attention back towards the ongoing fight in time to see Lee suddenly vanish in midair. The boy with the bandages skidded to a halt, his visible eye darting back and forth, trying to spot his missing opponent. One second he was standing out there alone in the clearing, the next Rock Lee had inexplicably reappeared underneath him and slammed his foot into his chin, causing him to fly up into the air. My view of the clearing was obscured by the roof of tree roots above my head, but I already had a rough idea of what was going on above my head.

My gaze fell on the black haired boy as he yelled out lunging forward and plunging his hands into the earth. There was a rumble under our feet and a massive pile of dirt burst out of the ground as the bandaged boy fell back down from the sky to earth, landing hard on his head in the pile of mud. There was a muted thud and a cloud of dust was thrown up. It quickly cleared to reveal the boy's lower half sticking up out of the ground in a comical way. I struggled to hold back my laughter as his legs were left kicking around in the air. He managed to pull himself out of the ground, shaking his head in a daze.

Rock Lee reappeared, landing on the ground on the ground a few feet away, a look of complete disbelief on his face.

"What?" he cried. "This cannot be!"

He scrambled up from his crouching position panting heavily with fatigue. The bandaged boy straightened, pulling up his long sleeve to reveal a strange metal device attached to his arm.

"Now it's my turn." He snarled and charged towards Lee, swinging his metal fist at his face. Lee dodged easily but despite the fact the other boy's punch missed him by a good bit, his head still snapped back as if he actually had been hit. He yelled out in pain, collapsing to his knees and throwing up violently on the forest floor.

"Your jutsu is indeed fast," he continued, "But, you see, ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound."

"Lee!" Sakura cried, alarmed. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Needles to say, Rock Lee didn't answer. I stared at him, horror-struck, watching as a thin stream of blood trickled out of his ear and down the side of his face.

"I forgot to mention this little gadget I'm wearing." The boy with the bandages said smugly. He pulled back his sleeve revealing the piece of metal attached to his arm, which glinted in the dull light. "You see, I don't need to strike you with my fists. I can hit you with the power of sound. Feeling a little dizzy and nauseous? Best if you don't even try to stand up for a while."

Zaku smirked. "You don't stand a chance against us with that old fashioned Tai jutsu. You can't win when you're up against the jutsu of the future." He boasted. He yanked his hands out of the ground and held up his own hands to display the small holes embedded in the centre of his palms.

"Right on..." Natasha muttered sarcastically.

"I think it's about time we ended this." The other boy said, his visible eye fixed on Lee, who lay trembling on the ground. He took a threatening step towards him.

"That's what you think!" Sakura shrieked, jumping to her feet, pulling a small handful of shuriken out of the pouch attached to her belt and hurling them at the boy. He raised his arm and the shuriken bounced harmlessly off of the metal device on his arm. He turned to face her.

"I'd almost forgotten about you." He sneered.

She seemed undeterred by his threatening tone of voice and reaching into her pouch, launching another few shuriken in his direction.

"Catch these!" she screeched. The black haired boy, Zaku, darted forward in front of his teammate and stretched out his hands, sending a blast of air out of his palms and the shuriken, which were sent flying back towards the pink-haired girl. She flung herself to the side, only just managing to dodge them. There was a sudden blur of movement behind her and the girl member of the Sound team appeared and wrenched her back by the hair, causing her to collapse on to her knees.

"My my, what soft and shiny hair." She purred, her face twisting into a disgusted snarl as she dug her fingers into her scalp. "Y'know, maybe if you spent a little less time on your looks and a little more time training, you wouldn't be so useless!"

Sakura flinched at her harsh words, tears springing into her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. The black haired girl glanced up, her dark eyes falling on us and she smirked cruelly.

"Hey, Zaku!" she called over her shoulder. "You know what'd be fun? Why don't we try teaching little miss beauty queen here a lesson and let her watch while we finish of Sasuke and her little friends?"

"Yeah, about that..." I piped up. "She's not actually our friend."

"Carmen," Melanie hissed. "Shut. Up."

Zaku turned to face us, a malicious grin spreading across his face. "Why not?" he replied, "It sure sounds like fun to me."

He started towards us but he hadn't taken more than a few steps when Natasha, who still had a firm hold of Diane's hand, suddenly panicked, turning and bolting for the line of trees at the opposite end of the clearing, dragging her reluctant blonde friend behind her.

"Nat! Don't!" Melissa cried but it was far too late to stop them. Zaku's head whipped in their direction, his eyes narrowed in anger. Natasha might have been a fast runner, but she was a lot slower with Diane in tow and they had barely covered any distance when Zaku caught them up, wrenching Diane back. Natasha stumbled, crying out when her friend's hand was wrenched from hers. She turned around to face him and he delivered a swift, deft punch to her temple. She staggered from the force of the punch, landing hard on her back, her hand flying up to her face. Zaku just laughed callously.

"This is what you get for thinking you can mess with the Sound team." He hissed. One of his hands reached into his pocket and drew out a wicked looking knife.

"No!" Melissa shrieked. "Don't hurt them!"

Natasha glanced up at the sound of her friends' voice, her eyes widening with alarm as they fell on the knife. I caught sight of what looked like a nasty bruise flowering above her eyebrow just before she suddenly leapt to her feet, swatting at the boy's hand that was clutching the kunai, causing it to fly out of his hand. Zaku stood for a moment, scowling at her, infuriated by her smug grin. In one rapid motion he reached forward and grabbed Natasha by a handful of her hair, driving his fist into her stomach. She cried out in pain and Diane glanced up, her eyes wide with fear.

"Nat!" she screamed for her friend. Natasha turned as much as she could whilst Zaku still had a hold of her and I could see her eyes watering slightly.

"Run, Diane!" she yelled back. "Save yourself!"

The blonde froze for a second, her gaze darting about as she seemed undecided on whether to get away or stay and help her friend.

"Run!" Natasha screamed again, a second before Zaku suddenly released his hold on her hair, threw her down on the ground. She landed hard and I saw Diane's blue eyes widening as he turned towards her. She stumbled back starting to run, but she wasn't fast enough to get away.

"Where d'you think you're going Blondie?" he sneered, grabbing a hold on her shoulder and yanking her back; throwing an arm round her neck. She cried out in a panic, trying unsuccessfully to free herself.

"Don't fucking touch her!" Natasha snarled, but there wasn't much she could do since she was still doubled up in pain from the blow to her stomach. Melanie staggered forward, tears in her own eyes.

"Don't! P-Please, don't hurt them." She begged desperately. "We...we'll give you our scroll. We'll give you anything. Just let us go, please."

"I don't think so." He sneered maliciously. "You freaks should've thought twice before you insulted me. Now you're not gonna live long enough to regret it."

He reached into his pocket pulling out another knife, his arm still around Diane's throat. I wanted to do something to stop him, but my limbs felt frozen, paralysed by fear. I could only stand and stare.

The razor sharp edge of the blade glinted in the light as he raised it, but before he could knife Diane in the neck with it, there was a blur of motion over his shoulder and Julia suddenly materialised behind him. She lashed out with her open hand, slapping him hard on the side of the head. Zaku's head jerked to the side with the force of the hit and he let out a yell of pain and surprise. His grip on Diane loosened. She saw her chance to escape and promptly took it, driving her elbow into his ribs. He staggered back and Diane scrambled away from him, falling down beside Natasha who hadn't yet moved.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her voice shaky. Natasha didn't look at her, she seemed too focused on Julia.

"Where the hell have you been?" she yelled furiously. Julia didn't seem even seem to notice that she had spoken. She was too busy laughing uncontrollably at the look of fury on Zaku's face.

"You bitch!" He snarled. "I'll make you pay!"

He whirled round to face her, aiming his open palms at her. He sent a blast of hurricane force wind hurtling towards Julia. The power of the airstream was so great it ripped branches and stripped the bark from the trees. I could only imagine the damage it could do to Julia. But when the black haired boy lowered his arms, stopping the flow of air she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!"

Zaku whirled around in the direction of the cry, his eyes narrowing when they came to rest on Julia who was leaning against a tree at the other side of the clearing, a good twenty feet or so away.

"That was pretty cool." she taunted. "Can you do it again?"

His lips pulled back from his teeth in a furious snarl. He swung his arms up, aiming his open palms at Julia who just smirked.

"Zaku, don't!" the Sound girl yelled out, her head turned towards her teammate, though she still had a hold on Sakura who was sobbing almost hysterically.

"She's just baiting you." The boy with the bandages hissed. "You of all people shouldn't be stupid enough to fall for that."

"Yeah, Zaku!" Julia sneered. "You're not stupid are you?"

"That's enough." The other boy snarled. "If you want to live you'll shut your mouth."

Julia laughed. "Why don't you make me?"

His one visible eye narrowed as he took a threatening step forward, raising his metal arm. But before he could even use it Julia had vanished again, only to reappear less than a second later right by Melissa's side. The brunette jumped in fright, her expression darkening in fury after she had gotten over the initial shock.

"What're you playing at?" she hissed. Julia grinned back, unfazed.

"Nice to see you too."

"Shut up! I can't believe you! You just disappeared and left us all, not giving a shit about what happened and now you expect us to welcome you back like you never did anything wrong? Fuck you!"

"That was pretty low of you, Julia." Riley said disapprovingly.

"Quit whining." Julia snapped. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"You shouldn't have left in the first place!" I said, scowling. She turned on me, livid.

"Don't fucking try to-"

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" An indignant voice from the clearing outside cut Julia off. I turned away from her, trying to locate the speaker. My gaze fell on the girl from the Sound trio, who still had a hold on Sakura. There was a flash of silver, a glint of something in the corner of my eye and I glanced down, my gaze falling on the kunai knife clutched in her hands.

"Oh, come on!" the other girl hissed, her tone exasperated. "It's pointless. That's not going to work on me."

"It's not meant for you." She snarled, her green eyes glowing with anger. She raised the knife and in one swift movement sliced off a large chunk of her hair. Having nothing to hold on to, the older girl stumbled back, losing her balance.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, her hair slashed short, now only reaching just past her chin. She whirled round to face Zaku, her fists clenched. The boy staggered back, surprised. He got over it quickly and turned to his teammate in desperation.

"Kin!" He yelled at her. "Finish her!"

Kin regained her composure and tugged out a pair of her own kunai knives, lunging at the pink haired girl and sinking the blades into her ribcage. But in the split second that the knives made contact there was a muffled bang and a puff of smoke. The smoke quickly cleared and in place of Sakura a large chunk of wood with the knives embedded in them.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, completely confused.

Melissa gazed into the clearing, her eyes narrowed in thought. "It must be the Substitution Jutsu."

"The what?"

She shook her head. "You can't be much of a Naruto fan if you don't even remember the Substitution Jutsu."

Julia rolled her eyes and muttered something incomprehensible. I ignored her and returned my attention back to the fight. Sakura had reappeared a good few feet away from where she had first been, grasping a handful of knives in each of her hands as she charged towards Zaku.

"Kin! Get out of the way!" he cried, as he stepped back, raising his arms. The black haired girl leapt to the side as Sakura lunged, hurling the knives in his direction. A blast of wind from his hands sent them flying back towards her. The second before the knives hit, there was another bang and cloud of smoke which revealed another log punctured by the kunais. Zaku lowered his arms, a scowl on his face.

"You gonna keep playing this all day?" he sneered. "'Cos I got news for you; I'm not falling for it!"

Sakura reappeared again, this time heading straight for Zaku. He grimaced pulling out his own pair of knives and throwing them forcefully at the girl, but he was too slow. She dodged the attack and before he could do anything, she tackled him to the ground. He yelled out in pain as she sank her knife into his arm, biting down hard on his other hand, like she was some rabid animal.

"Are you crazy?" Zaku cried, his eyes wide with shock and rage. "Get off of me!"

He clenched his fist and brought it down again and again on her head, trying to loosen her hold on him. But Sakura wouldn't budge; she just kept her eyes screwed shut, somehow able to endure his punches.

"Somebody get this crazy chick off me!" the boy shouted, looking to his teammates for help. Although help from them wasn't really needed as Sakura seemed to be at the end of rope, as with one final punch she was sent crashing to the ground.

"Now you're gonna pay!" Zaku panted as he clambered to his feet, whirling round to face the pink haired girl who was now too exhausted to move. She could only kneel there, gasping for air while he raised his outstretched his hands.

"Say so long kid!" he sneered.

"We have to do something!" Riley whispered desperately, tugging on Melissa's arm. The brunette bit her lip, seemingly trying to avoid looking at what was going on outside.

"We can't." She said, not looking Riley in the eye. "It's too dangerous and we have to stop getting involved in these things."

"But she's going to die!"

"No she's not." Julia scoffed. "I'm pretty sure someone jumps in to save her anyway." She frowned, trying to remember the details of the episode. "Her blonde 'friend'...what's-her-face..."

"That doesn't matter!" Riley said. "We could still help somehow; it's better than just sitting here doing absolutely nothing while she gets the shit kicked out of her."

She made to stand up, determined to step in and stop the fight but Melissa grabbed her wrist, yanking her back.

"I told you, we can't Riley." The other girl opened her mouth to protest but Mel kept on talking, cutting her off. "I know you want to help and your heart's in the right place and everything but you need to realize that we won't be doing her or ourselves any favours by trying to stop it. She couldn't fight them, there's no way we'll be able to either! As selfish as it sounds we really just need to focus on our own group; our own problems."

"Speaking of which..." Julia said. "Where're Nat and Diane?"

I glanced out into the clearing, surprised to see a group of three newcomers had suddenly materialised in the area. I couldn't pay them much attention; I was more worried about the disappearance of my friends.

"They must've ran while we busy watching the fight." Melissa muttered.

"Why didn't they just come back to us?" I asked. "We weren't supposed to split up!"

"They can't have gone far..." Melissa said, craning her neck to get a better look. "Maybe they just decided to take cover in the trees. It's probably safer than being out in the open."

"Unless there's someone else even worse out there..." Julia said grimly.

Riley gasped suddenly, grabbing on to my arm, making me jump.

"Did you see that?" she asked urgently, pointing to a line of overgrown shrubs on the other side of the clearing. I shook her off, trying to see what she was looking at. There was a flicker of movement from the darkness; a flash of blonde hair which caught my attention. Most likely Diane. But then again...it could be someone else...someone we really didn't want to run into...

"It's them!" Riley said joyfully, clambering to her feet.

Melissa eyed her warily. "Where are you going?"

"They got pretty badly beat up." Riley said indignantly. "I wanna make sure they're ok."

"That's probably not the best idea right now...We can check on them later. They'll be fine where they are." Melissa said, trying to reason with her. "We should just wait until-"

Riley scowled at her wordlessly, clambering to her feet and, before any of us could stop her, she dashed out into the clearing. By some miracle she managed to make it across without attracting any attention from the Sound group, who were too preoccupied with the three newcomers. I could've sworn I saw the boy with the bandaged face glance in her direction, his visible eye narrowing in anger; but Riley had vanished into the undergrowth before he could do anything.

I could only hope that whoever we had seen lurking in the darkness really had been Diane and Riley wasn't running into something nasty. Not that I was going to do anything. As much as I wanted to help my friends, I had to agree with Melissa. It'd be better if we just waited till the Sound three had left. And if I remembered what happened in this episode right; they should be leaving fairly soon...

I turned my attention back to the ongoing fight in the clearing; specifically the three newcomers who had formed a sort of human barrier around Sakura. There was a chubby boy with red swirls on his cheeks and a white scarf wrapped around his neck who seemed more than a little uncomfortable; a taller boy with spiky brown hair tied up into a ponytail and a blonde girl who Sakura was staring up at with wide green eyes.

"Ino..." she gasped. "But why?"

The blonde turned to her, smirking. "Ha! I'm tired of you showing off in front of Sasuke and getting all the credit!" she sneered teasingly.

The boy with the bandages, scowled at them, rage radiating from every pore. "These Leaf Village worms will be sorry they squirmed their way into something that doesn't concern them!" He snarled sinisterly.

The fat boy with the scarf flinched at his words, visibly squirming uncomfortably. He turned to his two teammates in anguish.

"What are we doing here?" He hissed. "These guys are bad news man!"

The boy with the ponytail scowled back at him. "Don't look at me!" he protested. "This was all Ino's idea." He shot a dirty look in the blonde girl's direction, before smirking. "But hey, what were we supposed to do? Just sit back and let a girl do all the fighting?"

I glowered at his back. 'That sexist asshole...'

The blonde girl, Ino, giggled uneasily; turning to smile apologetically at her friends. "Sorry I got you both dragged into this." She said nervously. "But we are a three man team, right? All for one and one for all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The boy with the ponytail said, smirking. "What's meant to happen will. And if we gotta fight then we gotta fight."

The chubby boy whipped his head round to stare dumbfounded at his teammate. "Fighting? Who said anything about fighting?" He cried shrilly. "Screw that, I'm getting outta here."

He made to run for it but the taller boy with the ponytail reached out and grabbed his scarf, holding him back with difficulty.

"Chouji!" he hissed indignantly. "Knock it off!"

The fat boy paid no attention, continuing to struggle. I found myself inwardly cringing at the embarrassment they were causing themselves. Though it was kinda comical to see that Chouji boy flailing around like that.

Ultimately, I wasn't the only one who found it funny, as I heard a snigger from the Sound ninja, Zaku; who was sneering at the three newcomers.

"Better a live sheep, than a dead lion. Right fatso?" he chortled.

Chouji immediately froze.

"Ah, shit..." I muttered. I knew what was coming now...

"Did I hear that right? You wanna try saying that again?" he hissed, barely containing his anger. He whirled round to face the other boy, his face like thunder.

"Who are you calling fat? I'm just a little chubby, ok?" he screamed, enraged.

"Great." The boy with the ponytail said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot; now we gotta live with him."

"Don't worry. It won't be for long!" Zaku snarled. He raised his arms again, his palms open; about to unleash another wave of hurricane force wind. The three Leaf ninja tensed, preparing to attack.

"Shit! She's gone again!" I jumped at the sound of Melissa's voice, turning to see her kicking at the dirt in frustration.

"What is it?" I asked. "What're you-" I trailed off into silence as the realization of Julia's sudden absence struck me.

"Son of a bitch..." I muttered.

"This is just fucking perfect. Now what'll we do?" Melissa cried.

I frowned. "I don't see why we can't just make a run for it..." I suggested, a little tentatively.

"Because when Nat and Diane tried to 'make a run for it' they almost got killed by Zaku, idiot." She snapped back, shooting my suggestion down.

"Well what other choice do we have?" I hissed, irritated. She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Y'know if we're fast enough they probably wouldn't even notice us." I said, trying to convince her. "They're too busy fighting 'what's-her-name'...Ino's team to pay attention to us anyway."

There was a loud crash and a yell of pain from the clearing, that proved what I had just said. I turned around, leaning forward slightly to get a glimpse of the ongoing fight, but Mel's hand on my shoulder stopped me. I glanced over my shoulder at her and she pointed wordlessly at the motionless figures of Naruto and Sasuke, who were still lying only a few feet from us. At first I didn't know what she was trying to show me; then I noticed the purple flames rising up of him like smoke and the grimace on his face.

"Uh oh..."

"We've probably only got a couple of minutes at the most before he wakes up and completely flips his shit." Mel said quietly. "You're probably right; we should leave. Now."

I nodded in agreement and scrambled to my feet, whirling round to come face to face with Julia, who had miraculously reappeared while we had been talking. I stumbled back, giving a strangled shriek before I crashed to the ground, landing on top of Melissa.

"Hey guys!" Julia said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the glares that were directed towards her.

"Where the hell've you been?" Mel demanded.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Where d'you think? I went and found the others which is more than you fuckers did!"

"But you can't keep on disappearing without telling us anything!" Melissa protested angrily. "I'm getting sick of it!"

Julia snorted. "Stop complaining." She held out her hands, and when we didn't take them, sighed loudly and hauled us both to our feet. As we straightened up, the earth seemed to lurch underneath us and I stumbled, almost ending up flat on my face again. Once my head had stopped spinning I glanced up to see Riley, Diane and Natasha huddled together in the shade of a small tree. Natasha was still clutching her stomach and Diane seemed slightly shaken up but aside from that they were all relatively unharmed.

Melissa dropped my hand and ran to them, flinging her arms around Natasha and Diane with enough force to nearly knock them over. I wandered over and collapsed next to Riley. Julia remained standing, rocking back and forward on her heels.

"I'm so glad everyone's ok." Melissa was saying. "That could've gone so much worse..."

"Yeah, I guess..." Natasha said. "We have got to stop getting ourselves into these situations..."

"We'll just have to try and avoid any of the main characters of the show as much as possible." Riley said. "That's where things start to get complicated."

I frowned, straightening up as something suddenly occurring to me. "Hey...what're we gonna do when it comes to the Preliminary rounds?" I asked.

"The what rounds?" Diane said.

"Oh shit..." Natasha said. "I forgot about those..."

"Forgot about what?" Diane demanded. "What the hell're the Preliminary rounds?"

"You basically have to fight against one of those psycho ninja people by yourself and hope you don't end up getting yourself killed." Melissa said.

Diane laughed uneasily. "Are you kidding me? We can't fucking fight them!"

"Look, it's not worth thinking about now." Riley said nervously. "We...we can just cross that bridge when we come to it."

"In...what two days?" Julia scoffed. "It's the second day; we're already almost halfway through this part of the exam. It's not really that long away."

Natasha screwed up her face. "I don't wanna think about that now." She scrambled to her feet, stretching her arms. "We need to find somewhere else to stay for the night. It's gonna start getting dark again in a few hours."

I glanced up at the sky which was dark with rain clouds. My hands were trembling with nerves as my thoughts turned to the oncoming Preliminary rounds. I knew that as hard as the second round had been, this was going to be ten times worse...