Chapter 28

Five hours earlier.

"I can't find those rookies." Hoki stood in a grassy grove.

A Genin from the Land of Waterfalls, Hoki wore the headband of Taki around his scalp. A minor nation from the north, Taki was an untrustworthy ally of Konoha, after their failed attempt to steal Naruto.

With a tan face and ear-length brown hair, these strands perfectly matched his brown eyes. Dressed in a sleeveless grey shirt with contrasting blue pants, this attire was held in place by a white sash.

Accompanied by his 13 year old teammate, known as Jimei, he had fair skin with black eyes. Drawing attention to his short and spiky brown hair, the headband of Taki was tied to his forehead.

Brushing the deep 'V' on his blue colored shirt, he wore fishnets over his youthful stomach. Running into the black pants he wore, linen bandages were wrapped around his left thigh.

"It's their 1st year, they can't hide forever." Fumaza concluded.

Abruptly stunned by a yellow flash, Fumaza fell to his backside, shrouded by Naruto's shadow. Chunking a handful of shuriken at this shinobi, these projectiles were dodged with ease.

"Do you have a hell scroll?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side.

Naruto's bangs draped over his face, exposing a violet glimmer from his eyes. Hypnotized by this appearance, Fumaza twitched on the ground.

"I don't feel like telling you!" Hoki retorted.

Throwing a second barrage of shuriken, Naruto caught these blades between his fingers. Teleporting behind Hoki, he kicked him to the ground before stealing the satchel on his waist.

Straining to release a shockwave of gravity, Naruto's eyes became strained and throbbed. Unable to activate his eyes, Naruto hummed with interest, unable to withstand their true meaning.

"Enough of this!" Jimei lunged at his opponent.

Swept aside without any effort, Naruto plunged his heel against Jimei's naked stomach. Pulling the scroll from Hoki's pouch, Naruto grinned with triumph before erupting into a flash of light.

"I thought the Yellow Flash was dead?" Hoki slurred, muffled by the defeated groans of his teammates.

Meanwhile.

"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shouting in unison, Sakura and Sasuke hurled a handful of shuriken.

Weaving through a vast collection of hand seals, Sasuke and Sakura perfectly mirrored each other. Clasping both hands into the final tiger seal, their barrage of shuriken tripled in volume.

Transformed clones of Naruto, these Genin confronted a gargled and slime-covered Shiore. Defined by snake-like yellow eyes, he licked his chapped lips with a forked and reptilian tongue.

"Most interesting." Shiore chuckled.

Piercing, shredding and tearing through Shiore's body, this bombarded of shuriken bisected the strange shinobi. Dissolved into a puddle of shifting snakes, this fallen ninja wasn't even recognizable

Taking several moments to regain his composure, Shiore's bisected corpse oozed together. Conjoined by hundreds of slithering snakes, there scales were as white as snow, with yellow eyes.

"Let's talk about you, my dear Naruto." Shiore moaned.

Reaching for his pale face, Shiore tore the pasty skin from his elongated and emaciated cheeks. Outlining his eye was a single coat purple face-paint, these art ran down the bridge of his nose.

"If you know these are clones , why waste your time with them?" A clone of Naruto leapt from the tree-line.

"It's not like three children can escape from me." Shiore spoke with a forked tongue.

"Still, I'd never imagine you could preform sensei's jutsu." Marveling at the Shadow Shuriken technique, it was an A-rank jutsu.

Left speechless by this realization, Naruto was shocked by the knowledge of Shiore. Fleeing for safety, Naruto and his clones erupted into puffs of smoke, forcing Shiore to moan with satisfaction.

Meanwhile.

Seated in an underground cave, Sakura slid her butt across a patch of dirt. Trying to flirt with Sasuke, her pink scalp was struck by a falling roll of paper, scribbled with obscured kanji.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, snagging the page.

"It's our hell scroll." Naruto exclaimed.

Standing up to stretch, Sasuke and Sakura ascended the vertical tunnel above them. Emerging atop the forest floor, they were met by the nervous and whiskered face of Naruto.

Encouraging his team to travel underground, Sakura replied with a sour and disgruntled expression. Sore from hours of digging, her only desire was to walk, too walk and stroll beside Sasuke.

Reluctantly nodding in agreement, Naruto leapt into the tree-line, encouraging his friends to follow. Briefly isolated, Sasuke and Sakura turn their faces to each other, enamored by shock.

"He always walks behind us, what's wrong with him?" Sakura and Sasuke spoke in unison.

Meanwhile.

"This should be good." Kiba mumbled, hiding behind foliage.

Timidly nuzzling his partner, Akamaru was crouched against Kiba's feet, wincing under his breath. Inspired by a stark scent of tainted chakra, Kiba could sense the fear in his pup.

"What happened? You stopped running." Hinata stuttered, landing beside Kiba.

Trailed by Shino, this group of young Genin were positioned on the forest floor, hiding from view. Soon startled by distant screams, Akamaru hastily crawled inside of Kiba's jacket.

"He can sense chakra signatures, and that guy has him spooked." Kiba pointed through the bushes, at Gaara.

Muttering under her breath, Hinata anxiously apologized, rubbing the back of her head. Gritting his teeth in response, Kiba poked his head through the nearby bush, spying like a ninja.

Meanwhile.

"Challenging us in the open like this? Hah!" Shigure snarled.

A Genin from the Land of Rain, he had ear-length spiky brown hair, refrained by layers of linen. Despite his young age, his most prominent feature was the pair of scars over his closed right eye.

Dressed in a full-bodied grey jumpsuit with vertical strips, an oxygen tank was strapped to his back. Held in place by six separate umbrellas, their hilts were rustic and worn, rotten from rain.

"Doesn't he know what happens when sand gets wet?" Baiu cut in, muffled by his rebreather.

A short, fat and rotund Genin from the village of Ame, he possessed fair skin with black eyes. Similar to his teammate, he wore a grey-tinted jumpsuit with vertical stripes, obscured by a waist-length black cape.

"Look at the red head, he's so scared, he can't even speak!" Midare chuckled.

Midare was a 13 year old boy with fair skin and brown eyes, partially hidden by his bamboo hat. Similar to his teammates, he wore a grey jumpsuit with vertical stripes, leading to his black shoes.

Sewn into the hat he wore, the iconic symbol of Ame was engraved across Midare's scalp. Hiding the oxygen tank on his back, he used this canister to inhale a fresh breath of air.

Standing in front of Team Baki, Gaara stood with crossed arms in front of his chest. Accompanied by Kankuro and Temari, this Genin loomed with crooked fashion, scoffing with annoyance.

"I don't need your words...I need blood." Gaara murmured with rabid eyes.

We don't even know what scroll they have. Kankuro complained, too afraid to speak out.

"Tch - then let's do this." Shigure snapped, reaching over his shoulders.

Gripped a handful of umbrellas, Shigure unlatched each of these weapons, flinging them into the air. Fueled by a slight gust of wind, these umbrellas flung open, drifting through the tree-line.

As these umbrellas hovered in the air, Shigure clapped both hands together, forming the tiger seal. Magnified by a sudden shockwave of chakra, various umbrellas began to spin in midair.

"Ninja art: Senbon Shower!" Screeching his technique, a hail of senbon surged like hail.

Bombarding the earth, Kankuro and Temari didn't even react to these approaching needles. Instead, Gaara's face was distilled by a sadistic expression, exposing an array of racoon-like teeth.

Piercing the ground with such strength and density, Shigure's attack created a cloud of dust and debris. Obscuring the battlefield for several minutes, he chuckled with victory.

"Is that all..." Gaara's voice startled his foreign opponents.

Cresting through the cloud of dust, Gaara was encased by a dense cocoon of sand. Littered with hundreds of senbon, this sphere of grain jutted and protruded in various angles.

"But he didn't even move! How can he preform Ninjutsu without hand seals!?" Baiu shrieked with disbelief.

"Ninjutsu? That's not Ninjutsu at all." Kankuro proclaimed.

"The sand moves on its own accord, its own will, Gaara doesn't even have to move." Speaking with sincerity, Kankuro was defined by a wide smile.

Without warning, streams of sand surged across the earth, forcing Shigure to leap for safety. However, this young Genin was eventually caught by Gaara's sand, swallowed up to his neck.

"W-... Wait! Here!" Midare cut in, exposing his scroll

Tossing this rolled up page through the air, it was snagged and caught by Gaara's sand. While this occurred, Baiu took several steps backwards, trembling with anxiety and trepidation.

"Let him go! You have our scroll!" Pleading for mercy, Midare pointed at his teammate.

Rustled under a gust of chakra-filled wind, a spiraling vortex of water erupted from the tree-line. Known as Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu, this pulsating attack engulfed everything in its path.

Swallowing Baiu, Midare and Shigure, each of these Ame shinobi were torn from Gaara's wrath. But instead of pausing, this behemoth of water continued to advance, drenching the earth.

"Shit!" Kankuro screamed, pulling both hands from his pockets.

Water Style...Gaara's weakness. Temari noted to herself.

Lunging forward with alarming speed, this lumbering beast of water collided against a wall of sand. Spewing wet grains in all directions, Gaara raised a crooked hand to his face, narrowing his pale green eyes.

Dissolving into a puddle of mush, Shigure, Midare and Biau were freed from their prisons. Promptly standing up, they ran into the tree-line, surging past team 8 as they fled for their lives.

"Where are you going...there hasn't been enough, blood." Gaara murmured.

Extending an outstretched hand, Gaara caused streams of sand to rapidly surge out. Dispersed under the weight of a yellow flash, Naruto appeared before him, veiling by loose pebbles.

"Unnecessary fights are pointless, right?" Naruto finished Kankuro's train of thought.

Unwilling to waste time, Kankuro was usually a good-with-the-books type of shinobi. However, he was too afraid of Gaara, terrified of the horrific might inside his young 'brother'.

"Naruto..." Gaara hummed as streams of sand poured from his gourd.

"Doesn't he feel the chakra that guy is putting out? He needs to run." Kiba was muffled by Akamaru's whimpering.

"Yea, that's my name... You ruined that chibi drawing I made." Naruto sarcastically remarked.

"Your blood...I need it..." Gaara mumbled in response.

"Mother says...your blood is special." Groaning, his eyes filled with bloodlust.

"The people in this forest are more scary than the forest itself..." Naruto groaned to himself.

As this conversation progressed, Gaara was so fixated on Naruto, he failed to notice Sasuke. A transformed clone of Naruto, this Uchiha hastily scarred team 8 from their hiding spot.

As Naruto and Gaara stood face to face, they each experienced growing aches and pains. A sharp, bubbling sensation that rose from each of their scared seals, the demons inside roared.

"Weren't you raised better?" Muttering, his words caused Temari and Kankuro to tense.

Suddenly, the pain inside Gaara and Naruto grew to such heights, they fell to their knees. Grumbling and groaning, snarling and moaning, Gaara held his forehead, while Naruto gripped his stomach.

Without saying another word, Naruto erupted into a puff of smoke, proving he was a clone. Leaving Kankuro and Temari in utter confusion, Gaara smiled with sadistic joy, as he thought of the blood that Naruto could nourish him with.