Sakura had been sent to relieve a lot of Datogakure warriors over the past few battles. The building they were held up in stank, but Sakura had been warned of this. She had been given a sterilized medical suit to help the shinobi. As she strode past she saw an older blonde lady. She wore a jacket with 'gambler' on the back of it. Sakura's first thought was how unsanitary that was, but as the woman finished healing and stood up, she realized who it was.
Tsunade Senju turned around to see a pink-haired girl looking at her with amazement in her eyes. Tsunade groaned.
"What's wrong, brat? See something you're jealous of?"
Sakura's face darkened instantly, but she walked past the Sannin to begin her work on a ninja whose leg was spasming.
Tsunade muttered, "Serves you right, brat."
Tsunade ducked under a kunai. She turned to see Sakura diligently working on the patient, but she narrowed her eyes. Tsunade decided she would oversee the girls' work.
When Sakura was done fixing the twitching of the leg, she looked up at Tsunade.
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"You threw the kunai, no?"
"Kunai are unsanitary my lady. I would not risk a patient's life for some vendetta."
Tsunade grunted and replied, "Is Konoha sending more grunts like you to help their new dicksuckers?"
Sakura stabbed the Sannin in the leg. It was almost involuntary, an action from pure anger, one that got the attention of the lady in the room. A black haired lady stood up and rushed over to check on Tsunade.
"Lady Tsunade, I would like you not to speak bad about people you don't know. If it weren't for Dato, the damage to Konoha would've taken years to recover from."
"Mmhm. They still are leeching off of Konoha."
Sakura said, "I know their ninja, Dato is not leeching, Konoha is using Dato as a crutch because it needs one. It's in need of a better medical corps, a better academy and worst of all, it's in need of strong shinobi."
Sakura sent a pointed glare at the woman.
Tsunade didn't reply but Sakura noticed she wasn't looking at her wound.
"You're afraid of blood. You? The great Tsunade of the Sannin, you're afraid of a little bit of blood. You must grow terrified every month."
Shizune could not help but giggle.
"Shut up. That village has taken everything-"
"Then get more. I know a boy who grew up with nothing and no one. Yet he has a lot now, and if he lost it all I know he'd get back up. Because unlike you, he has some will left in him."
Shizune replied, "He sounds inspiring, who is he?"
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Shikamaru Nara was tired of the constant missions. At this rate, if he kept succeeding they'd promote him to Jonin. He'd taken a team of genin into the front lines with Oto and they'd captured the villages near Oto with ease. Now he had to wait for reinforcements. The war was coming to a close, and Shikamaru was beyond glad.
But this man, in front of him, might not let him live to see it. He was a tall figure, standing as large as Asuma but much less inviting. He had a blade at his side, it was a black blade with a red edge, and stained in blood. He didn't have a headband on his head. So Shikamaru couldn't get anything other than his abilities.
He'd slaughtered one genin from Datogakure under Shikamaru's command. The man seemed to cover his blade in fire release, allowing him to sear the genin. The sacrifice had allowed Shikamaru to get into the current position he was in. Shikamaru sat on the forest floor. Leaves floated in the wind as the man turned, fury in his blue eyes. The man's black hair lightly drifted in the wind. This was his chance, if only the man would step forward to die. He did, and Shikamaru smiled. Shadows crawled unto the man from behind, clearly this man had never fought a shinobi before.
[Shadow Release: Shadow Decaptitation]
The man exploded, everything but the head was blown to smithereens. With nothing left of the man, Shikamaru could feel the promotion he was going to get. For a moment he looked up at the clouds. They were so nice, just floating along, one after another. Nothing special about them whatsoever. He wondered if he could retire after this mission. It would be so nice, he'd been away from Konoha since getting his Chunin promotion.
He was snapped back to reality when a man from Dato appeared. A white cloak fluttered in the wind as a crow cawed in the distance. His white cloak gave him away as 'Crow's Eye' Karasu. It was this man who'd been leading the conquering of castles around. Dato had crawled its way into Rice Country and the Daimyo was struggling to come up with a peace deal.
Shikamaru had surmised that the Daimyo of the Forest Country wouldn't give up. The Daimyo was a cousin of Raito, and so a member of the Arashi clan. He had no reason to stop until Rice country gave up a lot. Shikamaru sighed as he looked at Karasu Arashi, who looked at him with a classic disinterest.
"You're alive. I'm the first of reinforcements of six four man cells of Dato. I'll leave you with a clone, but I need to check in on other bases."
Shikamaru replied, "I lost one genin from your village. I'm sorry."
Karasu said, "I've lost many more, such is the toll of this ghastly engagement."
Shikamaru nodded and decided to seal the enemy man's head. He wondered what kind of intelligence could be gotten from his mind. Two genin came out of nowhere and Shikamaru told them to keep guard of his body while he slept. It took the Nara a moment but as he stared at the sky, he eventually did. Shikamaru dozed off, with the sounds of distant battle in his ears.
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Raito rushed the gang members, and with no need for the Instant Doubling, he simply perceived better. Moving through the ranks fast and swiftly. He cut down fifty men in under five minutes. In a few moments the gang only had one member, the man who'd remembered just who Raito was.
Naruto on the other hand, punched the samurai so hard, everyone heard the crack of bones caving in. Naruto stood unfazed. Then he realized they had to clean up the mess. So for the next hour, the two cleaned up the site and took care of the bodies. Giving them to the interrogation unit to do as they pleased.
Eventually the two friends returned to the crane to finish their previous conversation. As they sat down, a clone delivered them food from Ichiraku. Raito began to eat the food earnestly.
As they finished eating, Naruto asked, "Did you feel warmth when you were with Mitsuro?"
Raito nodded, still slurping down a bowl of ramen.
"It's probably because you care for her. I think it may be a sign that you're growing attached to her."
Raito replied, "That's not good. I don't want to hurt her. Especially since I have to leave."
"I agree that you'll have to leave. However, that doesn't mean that your attachment is bad. If you like her, get to know her more…"
Naruto laid down on the crane and stared at the clouds.
"I think I'm going to ask Hinata to be my girlfriend… The more I've gotten to know her, the more I like her…"
Raito smirked, "Someone's lovesick…"
Naruto scoffed but as he turned his head to look at the construction sight below he saw an image of Hinata. He blushed realizing he really did like her. Her blue hair and lavender eyes, she was so cute.
Raito looked at him and said, "Who ya thinking about over there?"
Naruto was surprised by the interruption of his thought process.
"HEY! I ain't thinking bout anybody!"
"Oh sure! I'm not a ninja…"
Naruto sent a glare toward Raito but let up immediately.
"Okay! Fine, I'll ask her out."
"Haha! I didn't even convince you of that."
Naruto flipped Raito off and the two friends continued teasing each other throughout the day, mixing it with serious conversation. There were no more interruptions through that day and as the sun set, the two got down from the crane. The two escorted the owner back out the city gates, leaving him with his guards for his road back to his home.