I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I'm supposed to be posting once a week, and the last two weeks passed by with nothing. My aunt's in the hospital, and then my car died, so life has been kind of hectic. Thankfully, everything is picking up and looking better, and in the past week I finished a full three chapters, one each for Rinnegan Raising, Life of a Human Sacrifice, and the long-neglected Serpent's Apprentice! I hope you enjoy all of them!

-Alexander Jay

Chapter Thirteen

Two people had the same idea upon hearing Itachi say there were no limitations. As soon as he told them to begin, Sakura and Kiba sprang into action, launching their fastest attacks at enemy teams. Both of them charged their limbs with chakra to accelerate and throw a powerful right hook at their target. Both were succesful; Sakura clocked Shikamaru so hard that the shadow-user was knocked off his feet, while Kiba hit Karui, still winded from her fight with Naruto, hard in the shoulder, dislocating it and throwing her to the ground.

Then they were counter-attacked furiously. Sasuke engaged Sakura in taijutsu, swiftly overcoming her enhanced speed and strength with greater skill and reflexes, Sharingan flashing red as he anticipated and countered her every blow. Hinata attacked Kiba, using a classic Jyuken combination to injure his legs before switching to something Neji had taught her, shutting down his arms with precise jabs while he couldn't run.

Then Naruto's team got in on the action, and people forgot who their new teammates were and automatically fell in alongside their old teammates, and within two minutes it was utter chaos, and four teams of three were falling back to assess the situation.

The four Jonin-senseis hung their heads in shame at the display. "I didn't expect that," Itachi muttered.

"No one did," Asuma comforted him. "At least we know Kurenai trained them not to waste time."

Kurenai shrugged. "They took the initiative," she said. "If they hadn't forgotten who they were supposed to fight," she said, raising her voice so all the Genin heard her clearly. "They would have done well."

Now the Genin had the decency to look embarassed. Looking around, they started drifting back into the temporary teams they'd been assigned to. Their senseis waited patiently.

"Let's try this again," Itachi said. "Go to your bases, and thirty minutes from now, you may begin."

They set out quickly, disappearing from sight in moments. The four Jonin retreated to the top of a large cliff overlooking the training field, where they could watch all the action.

#

Naruto, Shino, Samui, and Ino arrived at a small hideout, a one-room building mostly hidden in trees. It consisted primarily of some wooden planks forming a roof, with the preexisting trunks and thick roots of the trees serving as walls. Dirt had been dumped on the roof, and grass was growing over it, making it even harder to find.

"Not bad," Ino said as they walked in, lighting a match to see inside. She quickly lit a lamp sitting on a small table.

"It seems well hidden," Samui agreed curtly.

But Naruto shook his head. "Kiba can track us by scent," he pointed out. "This won't stay hidden for too long."

"I agree," Shino said. "Ideally, it will be protected, not merely hidden."

"Does that mean one of us will have to stay here?" Ino asked.

"No problem. Brace yourselves," Naruto said, crouching down and making hand signs. Ino and Shino both put a hand against a wall, and Samui mimicked them. A moment later, Naruto slapped his palm down on the floor, and the whole structure shuddered. A tremendous groaning of wood filled the space, and dirt began trickling down from the ceiling and walls as the hideout shook violently, almost knocking them off their feet. They held on for over a minute as Naruto worked his jutsu. Ino gasped as the shaft of light from the entrance abruptly vanished, leaving only the lamplight for them to see by.

At last, it stopped. Naruto got to his feet, looking happy. "Flowing Earth Technique," he explained.

They all shook their heads, tapping their ears. The noise of what he'd done had deafened them briefly, their ears still ringing. After another minute, Samui gestured for Naruto to talk.

"Flowing Earth Technique," he repeated. "I sank this place down into the ground."

"And how do we leave?" Samui asked.

"I can make tunnels from here, leading out to wherever we need them," he answered. "And I can collapse the tunnels when we're done with them."

"That will mean that you must remain here," Shino said. "To facilitate our use of this place."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't mind. I'll be our backup plan."

"And how will you know what's happening out there?" Samui asked.

"My origami creatures," he answered promptly. "Some of them are specifically made to transmit sight and sound back to me."

"This isn't perfect," Ino pointed out. "Hinata can find this place, and I'll bet Choji could dig it up."

"But I'm here," Naruto reminded her. "I'll fight anyone who tries to take the base, or the medallions."

Samui nodded slowly. "Keeping the Jinchuriki in reserve is a reasonable tactic," she mused. "Are you a competent tactician as well?"

She was a little surprised when he shook his head. "Shino's probably better," he said. "Can you handle the strategy for getting the other medallions?" he asked his old classmate.

"I can," Shino agreed. "This situation will be similar to ants attacking each others' mounds. We will tread carefully, but strike with power."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Isn't stealth a better option?" she pointed out.

"Against a guy who can smell us coming a mile away, a girl who can look through walls, a guy who can paralyze you if you're standing in a shadow, and a guy who's been trained by a master assassin?" Naruto asked. "I don't think stealth will go very far."

"Reconnaissance, however, is another story," Shino said. "Between my insects and your origami creations, we can discover much of our opponents' preparations. This must be our first priority."

"He's right," Samui agreed. "We can't go in blind."

Naruto grimaced. "True. Alright, let's get started, Shino. Oh, right," he added as something occurred to him. "While we're doing that, we need to know what you're capable of," he told Samui. "So we can figure out the best plan."

To her credit, she didn't even blink. "Of course," she answered calmly.

#

Hinata, Sakura, Karui, and Choji entered a hideout built into a cliffside, the entrance concealed by a natural wrinkle in the rock. They lit the lantern and sat down, all looking at each other warily.

"Sakura had the highest academic scores in the Academy," Hinata began. "So she's the best bet for planning a strategy. She did well at that last time we had a team exercise."

Sakura gave Hinata a slightly suspicious look, nodding slowly. Karui raised an eyebrow at the behavior, turning to Choji. The tubby boy paused in his near-constant eating of potato chips to answer her unspoken question.

"Sakura likes Naruto, but Hinata's dating him. They're always kinda tense."

Karui nodded, confusion cleared up as both Sakura and Hinata leveled small glares at Choji. "Well, put it aside for now," she said. "We need to focus on the objective." she looked specifically at Hinata. "You're not upset that I fought your boyfriend, are you?"

Hinata smiled a little. "Not at all. I'm sure he started it on purpose, he can be a bit of a troublemaker."

"So we won't have any trouble working together," Karui said. "And you?" she asked Sakura. "Can you handle that she's dating him? Or are you going to sabotage us to spite her?"

The pinkette bristled at the accusation. "Of course I won't! Who do you think you are?"

"Then get cracking on a plan, pinky. They won't wait around, so we need to be fast."

Sakura huffed, grabbing the map and unfolding it on the table. "Obviously, we need to find their hideouts and determine where their medallions are hidden. The hideouts will be roughly the same size, and all somewhat concealed by natural means, like this one. That's going to limit where they could be located."

That said, she took a pencil and began analyzing the map, muttering under her breath as she scribbled here and there. After a minute or two, in which the other three watched her silently, she looked up. "Get some paper and all three of you write down what abilities and skills you have," she said. "Make it as thorough as possible, I need to know what everyone can do so I can plan."

"And what about you?" Karui asked. "Do we get to know what you do?"

She sighed internally as Sakura's face went red, the girl clearly heading towards an explosion. She may be smart, but she was as emotional as you could get. To her surprise, Choji stepped in.

"Um, Sakura, she's kind of got a point, doesn't she?" the tubby boy asked. Sakura looked at him, confusion and a little betrayal showing in her expression. "We've got to know what you can do so we can improvise. My dad always says that no one's plan survives contact with the enemy. Once we start fighting, we'll have to do things differently, so we've gotta know what you can do, right?"

The pinkette huffed again, but reached into her bag and dug out a notebook. She scribbled furiously for a minute before pushing it over to Karui and returning her attention to the map. The dark-skinned girl picked it up, reading what she'd written down.

Sakura: future wife of Naruto, best brains in the Academy.

She smirked at the girl's obvious pride. It wasn't a bad thing, not after dealing with Omoi.

Perfect chakra control, can perform D-Rank techniques and several C-Rank genjutsu with a single hand sign. Genjutsu cover only sense of sight, but can misdirect or hide an opponent's target. Precise chakra control allows for enhanced speed and strength in a fight with high efficiency, so I can keep it up for several minutes.

Now that was more than Karui'd expected. Most shinobi enhanced their bodies with chakra unconsciously, but doing it deliberately invariably burned more chakra than it actually made use of. To boast high efficiency enhancement meant that Sakura was actually getting the most mileage possible out of her reserves. The brainy pinkette was starting to look more useful by the moment.

A few more advanced C-Rank genjutsus that use more hand signs, but can also interfere with the sense of sound. I also have one B-Rank genjutsu that immobilizes the target, but it's close range and uses up lots of chakra over time.

That was all. A good variety of genjutsu, and several levels of skill, but apparently no ninjutsu. She could compensate with her Raiton jutsus, at least. She scribbled down her own information on the next page. For a minute, she toyed with leaving out her best techniques, but the memory of Naruto mockingly asking whether she'd ever get better, and if knowing her techniques was all it took to beat her, made her include it.

Karui: swordswoman and lightning specialist. I have moderate chakra control, but can perform basic techniques with one hand sign. I can use a few of my Raiton techniques even with my sword in hand. I mainly fight with my katana, but at range I can use lightning in several ways, including the ability to trap my opponent and keep them in place, but it doesn't last long. My speed and agility are more an advantage than my strength in a fight. My best techniques use my sword. One electrocutes the first person to come in contact with the blade, and the other extends my slash with several bolts of lightning.

Choji took it from her, reading over both her and Sakuras' entries, raising his eyebrows a few times. He flipped the page when he was finished, writing down his own information before passing it to Hinata. The Hyuuga girl kept a calm face while she read, then wrote quickly. Even from across the table, Karui could see that the girl was writing in flawless, looping cursive. Because of course a pretty clan heiress, dating a Jinchuriki raised by the god of shinobi, also had perfect handwriting.

Hinata passed it back to Choji when she finished. The tubby boy read what she'd written, looking less surprised than he had with Karui and Sakura's entries, then passed it on to Karui.

Choji: taijutsu specialist. My clan secret techniques let me use up calories to expand my body for greater striking power. The basic technique allows me to become a giant ball that rolls over my opponents and spins fast enough to deflect most projectiles. I have moderate chakra control, and good taijutsu skills. I only know a couple ninjutsu aside from my clan techniques, such as the Shunshin and the Chakra Pulse to disrupt genjutsu.

A taijutsu specialist who focused on strength over speed. Well, she could use her own speed to help react to anything that might threaten him in his enlarged form, and with Sakura's genjutsu they could leave their opponents confused and distracted so he could easily pick them off.

Hinata: taijutsu specialist. My clan's bloodline lets me use the Jyuken, which is able to defeat an opponent with only a single blow. I also use several Suiton jutsus for long range combat, such as water bullets and a water cyclone. My bloodline lets me see in every direction and through objects and people. I can see chakra, and also see through most genjutsu. I don't know any genjutsu myself.

Water techniques usually combined well with lightning, and it sounded like Hinata's taijutsu utilized speed more than strength, like Karui's own swordsmanship. She could work well with the Hyuuga girl. And those eyes would make recon a thousand times easier. She passed the notebook to Sakura, who took it absentmindedly, setting it aside while she finished working on the map. It only took another minute or two, then she sat back and began reading while the other three looked over her handiwork.

Nine circles were clearly marked on the map as the most likely spots for the other hideouts to be in. Two at different spots on another cliff, one near the river, a few at certain spots throughout the forest, though Karui wasn't sure why Sakura had chosen those particular locations, and finally one by the lake. Much of the map had large X's on it, apparently meant as locations where the hideouts wouldn't be, such as the meadowy area. But altogether, it looked good.

Sakura finished reading and then began scribbling again. "Good. Now we need to share what our teammates are capable of."

She looked up at their surprised expressions and grinned. "I can't make a good plan if I don't know what the competition can do, can I?"

She finished writing down what Kiba and Shino's capabilities were and passed the book to Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress took it and read before writing in flawless cursive again. Choji followed suit, and at last Karui found herself writing down what Omoi and Samui could do, all of it. Maybe she shouldn't have, but she found herself getting caught up in it all. Her fight with Naruto had been unsettling, and she was determined not to be shown up by these Konoha shinobi a second time. If that meant giving her temporary teammates intel on her real teammates, so be it. Her team would still come out ahead in the Chunin Exams.

#

Shikamaru, Kiba, and Omoi all looked automatically to Sasuke as they sat down in their hideout, hidden near a bend in the river. He was a little surprised; he would've expected Kiba to fight for dominance, and he didn't think the cloud ninja would immediately concede leadership to any of them, but apparently he was wrong. Come to think of it, he'd fought Kiba and Sakura at the same time during the free-for-all at the beginning. That had clearly earned Kiba's respect, and maybe it had gotten Omoi's as well.

"Kiba, you can track any of them back to their hideouts," he began. "We'll need that, it'll let us attack first and take the initiative while they're still searching for us."

"I dunno, Sakura's been learning genjutsu from sensei lately. She may be able to hide their place so I can't get in."

"You and I will go together," he said, pointedly looking Kiba in the eye as he activated the Sharingan. Kiba nodded, grinning enthusiastically now. "We'll go after Hinata's team first. She'll be the biggest threat in a fight there, and they'll probably go out on recon before anything else, so there's a chance we'll reach her base and she won't be there. You and me for offense, with Omoi as backup. Shikamaru, you'll stay behind to guard the base."

"Sounds smart," Shika agreed. "You should let Kiba hit first once you're past any genjutsus, that way they'll be reacting to him and with your Sharingan you can intercept any attacks that would trip him up. Then between you and Omoi, you can figure which opponents are most easily incapacitated and get them out of the way so all three of you can focus on whoever's left."

A small but insistent bark caught his attention and he nodded at Akamaru. "Sorry, the four of you. Oh, but watch out for Choji. Hinata may be the biggest threat in a fight, but Choji's a close second."

Sasuke smirked. He'd always suspected that Shikamaru was much sharper than he let on, now he was finally seeing it in action. He turned to their newest team member. "Omoi, anything to add?"

The dark-skinned boy shrugged, looking deep in thought as he stared at the table. "I dunno, it seems okay. I think Karui could beat Kiba in a fight, but she's tired after fighting Naruto. I just hope that she didn't injure her wrist. If she did, it'll affect her swordplay, and she's so stubborn she'll fight like normal, and then she might try to block when she can't do it, and the attack'll go through, and then she'll be stabbed and she might die..."

The three Konoha shinobi all stared at him as he continued mumbling, unsure what to say. Even Akamaru was giving him a confused look.

"It's probably not that serious," Sasuke finally said. "Are you up to fighting your teammates?"

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"Well, no point in waiting around if we're gonna take the initiative," Sasuke got to his feet. "We have to wear the medallion so it's clearly visible to anyone. The question is, should I wear it, or should Shika?"

"Why him?" Kiba asked, looking askance at the shadow-user.

Sasuke smirked again. Shikamaru himself had met his gaze and didn't look surprised at all. "For one thing, he'll be staying behind, hidden for now while the rest of us are fighting the other teams. Also, his techniques are perfect in a shadowy place like this. If they do show up, he'll be able to handle almost any one or two opponents."

"Not Naruto," Shikamaru said honestly. "Maybe not Sakura either, depending on her genjutsu skills."

"There's only one way we can fight Naruto and win," Sasuke said. "I've got a plan, but I'm still working it out. You'll just have to trust me when we get to that point."

"Sure," Kiba said. "About the medallion, I think you should wear it. Akamaru agrees."

"Shikamaru should," Omoi replied calmly. "There's too much that could go wrong if Sasuke wears it while fighting. It could get stolen, he could get attacked by everyone at once, it might snag on a branch and choke him to death, the metal might conduct lightning attacks better to him, his fire techniques could melt it-"

"I also vote for Shikamaru," Sasuke said, interrupting Omoi's rambling. He was already starting to understand the cloud ninja.

Shikamaru sighed heavily as everyone looked to him. "Two to two, huh? It'll be a huge drag if I have to wear that thing and they come after me. I might not even try."

Kiba looked ready to explode at the Nara's casual disregard for the mission, but Sasuke quickly jumped in. "Yeah, but how bad would it be if Ino found out that you just gave up and handed it over? You wouldn't hear the end of it for months."

Shikamaru grimaced, then sighed again and held out his hand. Sasuke gave him the medallion, ignoring Kiba's glare.

"Let's get going. Kiba, the other teams will be going out on recon, and we don't want to run into them right now."

"Then we'll have to start from the clearing and follow their scent trails from there."

"Lead the way. Shika, we'll be back in a few hours, hopefully with two medallions."

#

Naruto sat in a meditative pose, focusing on his origami creations. Shino had requested several small tunnels spreading in all directions and opening at random distances for his insects to leave through. Naruto had created origami butterflies, cranes, and grasshoppers to go out with Shino's insects, and now he was finding out what they could see.

As long as he was controlling a swarm like this, he had a general sense of their individual locations relative to his own, and could send them to one place or another with a thought. But as far as the information they sent back, he could only focus on one at a time, and that left him unable to direct the rest of the swarm. So for now, they had spread out far and wide, settling down in unobtrusive locations - helped by the camouflage-patterned paper he'd used to make them - and he was jumping from one to the next, seeing and hearing through one set of artifical eyes and ears after the other. It was slow work. His Aunt Konan could somehow observe through many of her creations simultaneously, processing all the information into one giant image. Naruto knew he had years to go before reaching that point, and it would make a big difference.

For now, he was looking for any sign of the other shinobi, or something that might look like another hideout. There were roughly a thousand origami creatures. and even jumping through three each second, it wasn't a quick job. Next to him, Shino was also concentrating on his connection to his insects, looking for signs of human chakra. Ino and Samui waited, discussing ideas for how to cooperate in a fight.

"I specialize in lightning techniques, but I'm good at taijutsu as well. Your clan has special techniques, don't they?"

"Yeah, we specialize in affecting the mind. I can only do the most basic technique that lets me take control of a person's body, but it's slow and not that hard to dodge."

"If I can pin them down, could you hit them and not me?"

"Yeah, but are you sure you're that good?"

"We'll find out. You can fight too, can't you? Wouldn't it be more accurate at close range?"

"I'm not fast enough with it yet. Maybe if Shino can use his insects to surround them and keep them from running, then I can tag them."

"Even better if you can use the other person's body to carry the insects to more enemies," Samui suggested.

Ino shuddered. "I don't like insects."

"But it could be an effective tactic."

"Pretty sure they'd just run away as soon as they see me coming."

Samui thought about that for a second, then shrugged. "If nothing else, it's a good diversion. But it may be better if you bring them closer to me so I can electrocute them."

"Let's go with that," Ino agreed.

"Found it," Shino announced. "Some of my insects just detected Kiba's chakra. They're in pursuit."

"Where?" Naruto asked.

Shino focused for a moment. "The insects are on a tree, it's very shady there, I believe it's an oak tree, and there's a snake living in it."

"North of here? South, east-"

"Northwest," Shino answered quickly. "They came from the tunnel that emerges from the hollow tree."

"That one," Naruto murmured. "I've got butterflies there. Gimme a minute."

The team waited in tense silence as Naruto and Shino concentrated. "There!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm tracking them now, it's Sasuke, Kiba, and Omoi!" he frowned. "None of them have the medallion."

"Where are they headed?" Ino asked.

"Back to the clearing we all started from."

"Kiba must be planning to follow the scent trails," Shino stated. "He needs a point to start from."

"Should we keep following?"

"Shikamaru must have the medallion. Locating him would serve us better. And I already sent some insects to that clearing, I thought Kiba might do this. They'll hide in our opponents' clothing and we can track them from then on."

"Won't Kiba smell them?" Ino asked.

A pregnant pause filled the air. Shino sighed heavily. "I've never anticipated tracking a target familiar with the smell of my insects," he admitted. "Naruto, keep an eye on them discreetly with your origami creations. I'll continue searching for their hideout."

"I'll do my best, but I can't do much more if I'm following them," he said.

"We've already moved our base, Kiba can't find us," Samui pointed out. "But if they track the other team, we can find that hideout. It's a valuable piece of intel."

"Agreed," Shino said, nodding to the cloud ninja. "Naruto, stay on them. If nothing else, we might be able to follow them back to their hideout eventually."

#

"So, we all agree?" Sakura asked.

Choji nodded, Karui scowled, but nodded. Hinata looked over the plan Sakura'd written down one last time before slowly nodding.

"Come on, this will work," Sakura insisted. "Hinata will wear the medallion, and all of us will go search together. It doesn't make sense to split up, this way she's got all three of us as backup while she looks for their hideouts."

"Yeah, but I don't like that my part of the plan is to basically make a target of myself," Karui argued, folding her arms over her chest.

"You'll have me and Choji to cover you there," Sakura argued.

"No, you're supposed to let the enemies expose themselves by coming after me, then hit them," Karui pointed out. "I just go out and have to defend myself."

"You'll be fine, they won't be attacking you for long," Sakura said.

"And I'm not supposed to fight if I can help it," Hinata said, looking put out by the order.

"You'll be using your Byakugan constantly, it'll use up a lot of chakra," Sakura reasoned. "You'll be recon and our lookout, with you there we can see them coming a mile away! If you fight too much, we risk losing that advantage."

"I still don't like it," Hinata said coolly.

"Me neither," Karui agreed.

Choji nervously chomped down the last of a bag of chips, crumpling up the empty wrapper and sticking it in his pouch. "Let's at least give it a try," he suggested. "I mean, we'll never know how good it is if we don't, right?"

Sakura smiled gratefully at him while the other two girls looked skeptical. Karui huffed, then said, "Fine, let's go already."

They had hardly left the hideout when Hinata tensed. "Someone's -" she cut herself off, leaping to one side and unleashing a burst of chakra from her hand. The crude maneuver deflected an arrow just enough to send it into the cliff face next to Choji, rather than into the boy's leg where it had been aimed. "Here!" she said unnecessarily.

"Stick to the plan!" Sakura said.

Karui whipped out her sword as Sasuke, Kiba, and Omoi emerged from the treeline forty feet away. Omoi unsheathed his katana as well, but something held her back from engaging him. They had sparred many times since becoming teammates, a fight there would be long and drawn out. It would be better to take on one of the Konoha shinobi and let Choji or Sakura tackle Omoi. "Sakura, Omoi's weak to genjutsu, but he's fast enough to avoid Choji," she said.

Without waiting for the pinkette's reply, she attacked Sasuke, slicing an arrow out of the air. He twirled his bow about once before engaging, using the metal weapon like a makeshift sword against her blade. She was surprised that he managed to hold her off without help, then noticed his red eyes and cursed herself for forgetting. His Sharingan was the reason he could fight her so evenly. Well, there was a solution for that, too. She broke off the fight just long enough to perform two hand seals, still holding her sword, then thrust out her free hand at Sasuke. To her shock, he mimicked her, performing the same seals while holding his bow and thrusting his hand out like a mirror image. A lightning ball burst into existence at their fingertips and darted at one another, the two techniques crashing into each other in a flash of light that they both had to look away from.

Before she recovered, something heavy and smelly hit Karui from the side, throwing her off her feet. She tumbled across the ground, coming to rest near the cliff face. Looking up, she saw Kiba grinning at her, his features more feral than before, the fangs more pronounced. "You can thank me later, Sasuke!" the Inuzuka announced as he headed back to the fight. Sakura was battling Omoi, confusing him with genjutsu and landing punches and kicks here and there while he was turned around, but Karui doubted she could take on Kiba at the same time. Choji was dodging attacks from a second Kiba, one she guessed was a transformed Akamaru. She'd heard that the Inuzuka clan and their dogs had secret techniques that allowed them to physically transform into stronger bodies.

Then Hinata was there, intercepting Kiba before he could reach Sakura. Her Byakugan was intensely focused as she deflected his rapid punches and then landed several quick palm strikes, followed by a pair of finger jabs. Kiba's arms dropped to his sides, flopping weakly as he doubled over in pain. Akamaru, hearing his partner cry out, turned towards him. Choji seized the opportunity to use his own jutsu, swelling up so he was a foot taller than Akamaru and grabbing him by the shoulders. With one powerful move, he lifted the transformed canine up and then slammed him to the ground, pinning him with one massive hand. Karui felt her respect for the shy boy grow.

Sasuke dashed around the other battles, reaching Omoi quickly. With one hand, still holding the bow, he struck the back of Sakura's knee, throwing off her balance so she fell in a heap. At the same time, his other hand came down on Omoi's shoulder and he disrupted the boy's natural chakra flow, breaking the genjutsus Sakura had him under. "Go free Akamaru," he ordered the swordsman. "Kiba, run!"

With that, he engaged Hinata in battle. Karui got to her feet, racing to intercept Omoi before he got to Choji. But her teammate made a hand sign and held up his sword, channeling lightning chakra through it to emit a bright flash of light. Choji, who'd been looking at him, flinched back, then had to redouble his efforts to hold Akamaru down. Karui swung her sword at Omoi, but as she'd expected, he blocked with his own blade. They fought back and forth for a minute, but he had always been the physically stronger of the two, and he pushed her closer and closer to Choji and Akamaru until the large boy couldn't stay there. He grabbed the transformed canine with both hands as he moved, but Akamaru transformed back to his small shape and slipped out of Choji's giant hands, dashing between Karui's legs to trip her up before escaping into the forest. The hilt of Omoi's sword connected with her jaw as she tried to regain her balance, and she fell. A flash of light was all she could make out after that.

Moments later, Choji pulled her to her feet and they retreated as a blast of fire scorched the cliff face. They met up with Sakura at the treeline, and the three of them watched as Hinata and Sasuke fought.

Their quiet, elegant teammate was dancing around Sasuke, chakra visible around her hands in a faint blue glow. He ducked, dodged, and wove his way around her every strike, his bow discarded in favor of a pair of kunai. As if determined to match her prowess, he took every opportunity to lash out, swiping at her with his knives from every possible angle. But Hinata dodged as well as he, and so it continued like a coreographed dance. Sasuke backed off long enough to breathe fire again, but Hinata pulled up water from some reservoir only she could have known about underground, making a geyser to block the fire. Steam erupted into the air, but the two doujutsu users were back to fighting before it even cleared, neither one impeded by it.

"Yeah, we should really keep her off the front lines," Karui said sarcastically, looking over Choji's head at Sakura. The pinkette flushed, but didn't say anything. "We've gotta bail her out, those two are evenly matched. Where did the others go?"

"I don't know," Sakura admitted. "Omoi did another lightning flash to blind us while they took off."

"Kiba and Akamaru needed to get away, they were hurt bad. Omoi probably went with them to make sure they're safe. We can take Sasuke."

"Uh, I dunno," Choji said. "I don't wanna get in the middle of that, and he'll see right through any of Sakura's genjutsus."

"Hinata and I can take him," Karui said confidently. "Be ready to back us up, if it looks like you have an opening, take it and make him suffer."

"Since when are you giving orders?" Sakura demanded.

Karui glared at her. "Since your plan got us all beat!" she snapped. Without waiting, she headed back into the fight. Hinata saw her coming and stayed in one place rather than continuing the circular dance, to make sure Sasuke didn't turn around and see her coming. For once, their teamwork was flawless; Hinata moved forward with an aggressive assault that Sasuke had to quickly back away from, and Karui brought the back of her sword down on his shoulder, popping it cleanly out of the socket.

The Uchiha's yelp of pain was short, but unmistakable. To Karui's surprise, however, he recovered in a moment, dropping and rolling away from Hinata's follow-up attack and then leaping into the forest. He extended his left hand and a chakra string shot out from it, snapping onto his bow and yanking it back into his hand as he escaped.

"Don't follow him!" Hinata insisted, seeing Sakura prepare to do just that. "He's been trained by a master assassin, he'll be sure to set traps against anyone who goes after him right now."

There was a long silence as they all relaxed. Karui looked Sakura right in the eye. "We need to regroup and rethink our strategy, pinky. Come on, none of us are ready to go out on recon just yet."

Sakura grimaced, but didn't argue as the four of them trooped back into the hideout.

#

"A perfect situation for us," Shino stated as Naruto finished relaying the fight to the other three. "Kiba, Akamaru, Karui, and Sasuke are injured, Hinata has been through a large fight, and both teams are retreating to their bases. We will soon have both their locations, and can strike at our leisure."

"Samui and I are ready to go fight," Ino declared.

"Good. I think it best if Naruto wears the medallion, as he will stay behind. Each of us should have an origami creature to communicate with him through, and a second for redundancy."

Naruto nodded, promptly creating a trio of origami snakes, selecting different colors for each one. The brown snake slithered up into Shino's coat, coiling around his bicep and resting its head on his shoulder, the purple one slid into Ino's outstretched hands, waiting until she lifted it up before coiling loosely around her neck, hanging there like a scarf. A black snake coiled around Samui's arm as she watched it indifferently. This was followed by a trio of identically-colored butterflies fluttering over, folding themselves up to hide under clothing.

"Just rub or tap the head, and I'll get notified," Naruto told them. "And I'll pay attention to them while you're fighting, so I know if you need some backup."

"Cool," Ino said.

"This is a very useful style of ninjutsu," Samui commented. "Where did you learn it from?"

"My Aunt Konan," Naruto said. "She developed it fighting in the Third Great Ninja War."

"It is an excellent reconnaisance tool," Shino stated. "Naruto, once we have the location of Sasuke's base, you should begin forming a tunnel leading to it. Sasuke and Shikamaru will undoubtedly set traps around not only the entrance, but the whole surrounding area. Attacking from below should bypass most of their security, and disrupt their response."

"I know the general direction already," Naruto said, making some hand signs as he walked over to a wall. He placed both hands against it and the wall began to shift, dirt and stone pulling away from one spot to form a tunnel. It was slow work, moving about as quickly as walking casually. But none of them complained. They all understood that the strategic value was worth the wait.

"I shall continue sending insects towards Sakura's team," Shino said. "With luck, a few of them can hide on those shinobi and we can track them at will."

"This is gonna be too easy," Ino cackled.

#

"Well that turned out bad," Sasuke said as they got back into their hideout.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, looking them all over.

Sasuke was holding his shoulder gingerly, having just popped it back into the socket while on the move. Kiba's arms were still in pain and barely moving. Akamaru was hunched up in Kiba's jacket, his nose and eyes just peeking out at the rest of them. Omoi was in the best shape, with only some bruises here and there, but he looked tired already, and not up to another fight.

"Hinata's whole team was there," Sasuke said. "She fought me to a standstill. Omoi got caught up in Sakura's genjutsus and she beat on him for a while, Akamaru got pinned by Choji, and Kiba was taken out by Hinata before I fought her. Karui hit my shoulder while I was busy with Hinata, I barely made it out."

Shikamaru nodded slowly, eyes focused as he listened. "Tell me in detail what they all did," he said.

"Why?" Kiba sneered.

"I'll try to come up with a strategy," Shikamaru explained. "The more I know, the better. You ran out right away and got beat. Maybe we need to slow down and make a better plan this time."

"I don't think it's going to matter," Omoi said. "That Hinata girl is too scary strong, between her and Karui, they can take us down no matter what. They might stab us or electrocute us or-"

The other three tuned out his pessimistic rambling. "I'll start," Sasuke said, addressing Shikamaru.

Shika listened intently for the next thirty minutes as his teammates recounted the fight in detail to him. Outwardly he was still, but his mind was buzzing with activity as a plan started taking shape within.

#

"How's it look?" Karui asked as Hinata activated her Byakugan again. The girl remained still for a few seconds, checking in all directions before shaking her head.

"It's not this one."

Sakura put an X through that possible location for a hideout. That was the third one of nine they'd checked. "Next up is by the river," she said, indicating the spot on the map.

"Let's go then. Can't be wasting too much time."

They leapt through the trees, heading for the next point on Sakura's map. Karui had point, closely backed by Hinata, with Choji and Sakura side-by-side in the back. They'd settled on a path to run that would take them through all the possible locations Sakura had marked for enemy hideouts, with Hinata checking each one. They were all tense, ready at any moment for a fight to break out, and going so long with nothing only made it worse. The situation hadn't been helped when Hinata reported seeing Naruto's origami creations scattered throughout the woods, meaning he might be spying on them at any time. If they found his hideout, he would have plenty of forewarning. But destroying every origami creation would also be a dead giveaway as to what they were doing, and it would take too much time anyway.

"Let's see," Hinata murmured as they reached the next location. She put her hands together to focus as her Byakugan activated. A heartbeat later, her eyes widened. "Sasuke's team!" she announced. "The hideout's close, the entrance is just over there by those rocks!"

"Then let's go!" Karui said eagerly, whipping out her sword.

She was surprised when Choji was the one to jump in front of her and hold out his arms in an unmistakable "stop" gesture. "We can't go in there!" the chubby boy said urgently.

"Why not?" Sakura asked, nearly snarling at him.

He cringed a little, but explained himself. "If Shikamaru's there, we don't stand a chance. His clan techniques use shadows, and if their hideout is anything like ours, there'll be tons of natural shadows for him to use. We'd be beaten just by walking in."

That was a sobering thought. "So what do we do?" Karui demanded.

Sakura was the one to answer, though, the pinkette smiling again for the first time since they'd been attacked. "We make them come out to us. Hinata, how buried is the hideout? How far down do we have to dig?"

The girl thought for a moment. "Ten feet, maybe fifteen," she answered.

"Choji?"

Karui grinned as the boy gulped nervously, but strode forward to the spot Hinata indicated. This was going to be good.

#

"So it's obvious what the best course of action is," Shikamaru concluded.

All three of his teammates stared at him in shock. He just shrugged casually. "I'm really good at shogi too. Tactics just come naturally to me when I try."

"I'll say," Kiba muttered, getting nods of agreement from both Sasuke and Omoi.

"We all know what our part is, right?" Sasuke asked, getting to his feet and carefully rolling his shoulder to check how it was doing. He got nods from them all, including Akamaru. "Then let's not wa-"

The ground shook and the ceiling began to crumble. All four looked around in shock, unsure what was happening.

"You said Naruto has Earth techniques, right?" Shikamaru asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, but there's none of his chakra in the earth right now!" Sasuke snapped, looking around with his Sharingan. "It's not him!"

Before anyone could say more, the ceiling was physically torn away, half of it crumbling and raining down on top of them. Blinking up at the sunlight, they could see a large form, nearly eight feet tall, standing over the hole in their hideout.

"Choji!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Crap! Hide!"

"Attack!" Kiba countered as he and Akamaru bounded up out of the hole, racing at Choji.

"Stop!" Shikamaru ordered, catching them both with his jutsu before they got too far away. "They've got the advantage, we need to scatter and divide their forces! Don't forget the plan!"

"He's right!" Sasuke said, nocking an arrow and looking for targets. "We need all five of us, the plan won't work otherwise! None of us can afford to be out of commission! Escape is more important than anything else!"

"Good luck," Omoi said.

"Meet at the second rendezvous point in three hours!" Shikamaru ordered as he canceled his technique, letting Kiba and Akamaru go.

The Inuzuka and his partner changed course, avoiding Choji at the risk of moving closer to Sakura. Just as she moved to intercept them, already preparing a genjutsu, an arrow zipped by, not an inch from her nose, causing her to yelp in surprise and jump back, concentration shattered. Kiba and Akamaru dashed off into the woods, both using the Inuzuka Man-Beast Transformation to move faster.

"Shikamaru has the medallion!" Hinata said.

"Great," the shadow user moaned.

"I've got her," Sasuke said, readying another arrow. "Omoi, get Shikamaru as far away as possible before they catch you, then hold them off while he escapes."

The swordsman nodded, for once not ruminating on what might go wrong. The two of them fled out the regular exit for the hideout. As Sasuke leaped out of the hole, he saw Sakura and Karui headed in that direction, leaving Hinata and Choji for him to fight. A good combination, one fast and precise, the other slow but powerful. And worse, with the river so close by, Hinata would have more opportunity to use her water techniques. And if he tried to just escape, the two of them would join the chase after Shikamaru.

The first arrow kept Choji at bay while he attacked Hinata. Thankfully, she was also still recovering from their fight, and wasn't quite as fast as she had been. It let him keep pace with her for a minute until Choji arrived, already bulked up and ready to bulldoze Sasuke into the ground.

Which Sasuke'd expected. Turning a dodge into a high somersault, he stuck his feet to the bottom of a tree branch and hung upside down, looking down at Choji. The impressive feat worked just as expected, getting the boy's attention so that he looked, unthinking, up at Sasuke. Their eyes made contact and Sasuke used one of the ocular genjutsu Itachi had taught him. Choji was suddenly trapped in an illusion of chains ensnaring his arms and legs, growing heavier the more he pulled at them.

But it wasn't a success if Hinata disrupted his genjutsu, so he had no choice but to keep pressing the attack against her. Worse, that technique demanded a lot of chakra, leaving him a little shaky as he had to avoid her every strike and still keep her away from Choji. It took a minute before he found his rhythm enough to start talking.

"We both know this is all pointless, Hinata."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, launching into a basic kata. He'd seen her practice it, and had no trouble avoiding it and thrusting a kunai at her shoulder, which she twisted to avoid.

"Your boyfriend can beat all of us."

"Maybe, maybe not. I know his weaknesses."

"Really?" He dropped the kunai, focusing chakra to the empty hand and shifting its nature to fire, all without a single hand sign, releasing a blast of flame inches from Hinata's face, forcing her to leap back to avoid getting burnt. "I do too, and I also know that the last time he went all out was against Itachi."

She paused instead of closing the distance and continuing the battle. "What's your point?"

"That he came pretty close to passing that test on his own, when it was designed to require our teamwork. He's that powerful when he fights for real, Hinata, that he nearly took out Itachi's Shadow Clone single-handedly."

"It was just a Shadow Clone."

"And how well did you and I fare against Shadow Clones?"

She frowned. "What are you getting at, Sasuke?"

"That if either of our teams want to pass this test, Naruto has to be defeated. They aren't stupid, they'll have him wear the medallion. Unless he's defeated, we both lose in the end."

"You want to cooperate."

He shrugged. "You and I know him better than anyone. My Fire techniques can counter his Wind, but I need a way around his Earth."

"My Water's useless there."

"Sure," he nodded. "But Karui and Omoi both use Lightning. Together, they can overcome his Earth techniques."

She smiled a little. "Alright, so maybe the eight of us together have some advantages against him. I'm still not convinced that the four of us can't steal the medallion off him and keep it away from him until we've also gotten your medallion."

Sasuke laughed. Kiba had suggested the same solution of stealing Naruto's medallion instead of trying to fight him outright. "What's more likely, Hinata, that you'll actually be able to run from him and get our medallion, or that a combined force will prevail? And when Naruto's team is beaten, we'll duke it out between us."

She was clearly wrestling with the decision. He waited. Pushing it now wouldn't help. And if this failed, well, that plan of theirs would need some revising.

"On the far side of the meadow, there's a big oak tree," Hinata said. "You can't miss it, it's got dozens of marks from being hit with kunai and shuriken. Both our teams will meet there in two hours to discuss teaming up."

Sasuke grinned.

#

"What the hell?" Ino gasped as they walked into the hideout. Judging by the hole in the ceiling and the general wreckage, it had clearly been breached already, by the opposite method as theirs. Instead of entering from below, Choji must have dug into it from above.

"They're long gone," Samui guessed, looking around at the place. "We won't find anything here. The question is whether they escaped, or if they lost their medallion."

"We won't get the answer easily," Shino said. "Perhaps it is best to seek them out. They have now fought each other twice, giving us the advantage."

"What do you think, Naruto?" Ino asked, petting the origami snake on her shoulders. "We're gonna go look for one of the enemy teams to find out what happened."

The purple snake nodded several times. Shino took the lead, heading out through the hole in the ceiling. He glanced at the position of the sun as the two girls joined him. "It is roughly four hours and twenty minutes until sunset, and one of them may be in the lead. We cannot delay any longer."

"This direction," Samui said, gesturing into the woods.

"Why?" Ino asked.

"At least three sets of footprints are going in that direction," Samui answered. "And I recognize Omoi's footprints. He always heads for high ground when he's scared. I think he's going to the cliff about two miles from here."

"Then let's follow him," Shino said. "But stay alert."

The three of them sped off in pursuit.

#

"I don't like it," Sakura said immediately.

"Hinata, how right is he?" Karui asked. "About Naruto being too strong for us?"

Hinata frowned, deep in thought. Karui suspected she was trying to figure out how biased her own opinions of her boyfriend were, and how accurate a report she could give.

"I think he's right. I never really thought about it before, but he's always happy to throw himself into a fight. Maybe he's happy because he's usually not threatened, so he also never goes all out."

"That's a big maybe for us to trust their team on."

"Didn't Shikamaru say they needed their whole team for their plan?" Choji stepped in.

The three girls all looked at the chubby boy, making him squirm slightly under their stares. "I'm just thinking, even if we go along with their plan to stop Naruto, maybe all we need to do is take out one of them, and we can stop their plan."

They all glanced at each other, eyes lit up. "That's an idea," Sakura said. "If we assume that they're counting on Sasuke and Omoi to fight Naruto, that leaves Shikamaru to guard their medallion and Kiba and Akamaru to take ours. If Hinata and Karui also fight Naruto, that only leaves me and Choji."

"Could Kiba and Akamaru take you both down?" Karui asked seriously.

"My genjutsu don't work great on them, they can still smell me," Sakura scowled. "And Choji had a hard time with just Akamaru."

"So that makes sense. Me, Hinata, Sasuke and Omoi fight Naruto and defeat him, but exhaust ourselves. Then Kiba and Akamaru take out you two and they have all three medallions, while Shikamaru keeps their medallion somewhere safe."

"The question is, how do we stop them?" Sakura asked.

That prompted a glum silence. Shikamaru's plan was good, as long as they assumed that Naruto really was too difficult for their individual teams to fight.

Then Hinata smiled. "I know what to do."

#

"Hey," Sasuke greeted Omoi. "Everything work on your end?"

The Cloud ninja nodded. "You know this plan is crazy, right?" he asked. "I've never heard of a strategy like this one."

"Yeah, it's crazy. But crazy works. Hinata's willing to talk to our team in an hour." He looked pointedly at Shikamaru, who nodded.

"We'll have enough time."

"Great. Once Kiba shows up, we'll be ready."

#

"There," Shino announced. "Sasuke's team, sans Kiba and Akamaru."

"Let's take them down," Ino announced, popping her knuckles.