Naruto : Venom

I sheepishly rub the back of my head. "Not well, you see it was supposed to be just Cat trying to stop me, but Cat went and involved more ANBU. Three teams worth, so I figure I'll match them person for person. 

Pretty much it is going to be a showdown between them and the Rookie Nine, will ANBU get me to Tsunade before I can get Tora to Tsunade." I turn to Hinata. "What do you say? Want to help us kick some ANBU ass? Or fail horribly. Either way it promises to be fun!"

...

"I-I don't think..." Hinata starts to say.

I cut her off. "Good! Don't think, if I thought this through I would have surrendered half a hour ago! Just say yes. We need you."

"But I'm not strong enough." She meekly squeaks out.

I laugh in amusement, everyone looks at me in bewilderment. "Hinata, these are ANBU we're going against. None of us are strong enough. Each of them will be stronger than us, but do you see anyone else backing down? It isn't like we have to defeat them, just keep them away from me until I get Tora to Tsunade. You're perfect for this! The Byakugan and the gentle fist are made for these kinds of situations."

"I-I suppose I could... If it is okay with tou-sama?" She looks at her father. We all look at her father.

"Go, enjoy time with your friends. When you return I'd like to hear about this mission of yours." Hiashi wants to know about the mission? Actually how did he even know about it in the first place?

"Hiashi-sama, will you permit me a question?" I ask him. He nods his consent. "How did you know about my mission?"

"You dived out of the Hokage tower while screaming about ANBU dismembering you. Word travels fast in shinobi villages. Word about ANBU travels even faster. Not to mention the huge blast of fire near the Uchiha compound."

"Ah. That would do it. Thanks!" I turn towards my group of followers. "Alright team! We need to find Ino next. She'll be useful in convincing Shikamaru and Choji to help. Anyone know where she might be?"

"She works at her parents flower shop when not taking missions. We can start there." Sasuke replies. Everyone stares at him in surprise. "What? She talked non-stop to me during the Academy, did you all think I wasn't listening? She talked about her flower shop a lot. I bet we can find her there. Come on, I know where it is."

"Sasuke you scoundrel!" I whistle suggestively at him. "Has Ino captured your heart and you haven't told us?"

"Oh just shut up and follow me." He takes off in a run. We all follow him to Ino.

"Yamanaka flowers how can I – Oh! Hi everyone! What's the occasion? Are we finally having an intervention for Shikamaru? He really needs to quit being so lazy."

"No, nothing like that." Sasuke of all people says to Ino. "Alvarcus here," He points to me and I wave at Ino cheerfully, "needs help on a mission. A Tora mission. While nine ANBU try to stop him. We want your help."

Ino's eyes gleam in unsurpassed joy. "Sasuke-kun needs my help?"

"Yeah, let's go with that." Kiba cuts in with a grin. I give him a thumbs up behind Sasuke's back.

"TOU-SAN!" Ino yells into the back of the store. Inoichi walks out to us. "Can I go with my friends? They need my help with a mission."

Inoichi looks straight to me. "Is this the Tora mission I've been hearing about? The one with the ANBU?"

"Uh... Yes?" I weakly reply.

"Good! Go have fun honey." With that Inoichi walks back into the storage room of the store. He calls out to Ino, "If any of the ANBU hurt you let me know. I have a few new techniques I want to try out and if my hypothesis is correct it could be very painful. It will probably take multiple times for me to get it right."

"Wow. That was..." I trail off.

"Unexpected?" Shino adds.

"Yeah. Unexpected." I turn to Ino. "Pretty much I'm gathering the Rookie Nine. Do you know where Shikamaru and Choji are at?"

"Yeah!" She slams her hands together. "Let's go!"

We all follow Ino to a park. Sure enough, both Choji and Shikamaru are laying in the grass watching clouds.

"OI! GET UP!" Ino is loud when she wants to be. I think my ears are ringing.

"Don't wanna." Is Shikamaru's reply.

"Shikamaru. You have till the count of three, or I punish you." That is what she said to me during the Chunin Exams. I didn't know she actually used that on Shikamaru. "One. Two."

"Alright, alright. I'm up, happy?" Shikamaru takes us all in. "Woah. Something wrong? Last time we were all in one spot was the Chunin Exams."

"I need your help." No need to beat around the bush with Shikamaru. He likes things blunt.

"What's in it for me?" He asks.

"I'll go on a mission of your choice with you and let you slack off as much as you want?" I offer.

"Deal!" That was a fast response. I did promise him a free paycheck.

I turn to Choji. "How about you Choji? You in or do I have to bribe you too?"

"I'm in. I wouldn't want to miss out on something that needs this many nin. What are we doing anyways?"

"Oh it's great!" Kiba cuts in. "Alvarcus here pissed off the Hokage so she gave him a Tora mission."

"I don't see why that needs nine of us to do. Yeah Tora missions suck, but they aren't that bad." Shikamaru adds.

Shino takes up the reins. "He got ANBU assigned to stop him. There are nine of them surrounding us as we speak."

Shikamaru turns to me. "I hate you. Why would you include me in this?"

And like that, the Rookie Nine is confronted by ANBU. Cat, Monkey, Boar, Hawk, Wolf, Panther, Zebra, Hare and Bear. Good, none of them have changed.

Cat walks towards us. I walk towards Cat. We meet halfway between the two groups.

"Alvarcus, you have amassed quite a force. Will you surrender? This is your last chance. You have to realize how outclassed you all are."

I raise myself up to my full height. Sadly I still fall short of each ANBU. Stupid twelve year old body. "No. We will not surrender. I will get Tora to the Hokage. You and your posse will not stop me. Now, I ask you, will you leave us to complete our mission?"

Cat turns to the rest of the ANBU. "ANBU! This gennin has asked us to give up. Do ANBU give up?"

"No." The other eight ANBU chant in unison.

"Do we surrender?" Cat yells to the group.

"No." Eight voices ring out.

Cat turns back to me. "There's your answer. ANBU do not give up, ANBU do not surrender. We go on until the last breath."

"Rookie Nine!" I call over my shoulder. "You heard the ANBU. We go until the end. Rules for engagement?"

Cat lays down some basic rules. "Non-lethal attacks only. Restrain, not kill. If someone surrenders, they are free to leave. No one will stop them. Once a person is caught or knocked unconscious, they are out and cannot rejoin the battle. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

With those words all of us fall into a tense silence. No one moves. Cat and I are only a few meters away. Either of us could close that distance in a fraction of a second. It is a stalemate to see who moves first. Cat or me.

The sound of footsteps brakes the silence. One of the Rookie Nine is walking towards me. They stop to my right and I spare them a glance. It is Sasuke.

"Until the end." He grimly says as he turns on his Sharingan.

Monkey walks forwards and stands in front of Sasuke and to Cat's left.

Kiba comes up and stands on my left. "We're going to kick some major ass today."

Boar stands before Kiba.

Ino struts up next, "Fighting ANBU? Never thought I would do this today." She stands next to Sasuke.

Hawk stands before her.

Hinata approaches our line. She doesn't say anything, but I can tell there is a lot of fear in her eyes. But beneath that is a fire.

Wolf stands before her.

Choji walks up next, with a noticeable absence of his chips. "This will be one hell of a story to tell."

Panther stands before him.

Shino quietly moves to Hinata's side. He remains silent, but there is an audible buzz around him. His insects are ready to battle, they are excited.

Zebra stands before him.

Shikamaru lazily walks next to Choji. "Did I mention I hate you Alvarcus? Making me fight ANBU."

Hare stands before him.

"A-Alvarcus?" Hinata breaks the silence. "I think we forgot Naruto."

"Aw crap." The ANBU chuckle at my response. "We forgot Naruto. How did we forget Naruto?"

Bear walks forwards, standing behind Cat. "Naruto is not in the village. You will just have to deal with the disadvantage of numbers."

"Really?" I smirk. "Because if my math is right, we have the number advantage." Sasuke chuckles maliciously. He knows what I am going to do.

Cat just tilts his head a little to the side. "Have you had a concussion recently? You have eight, we have nine."

"No." I take off my shirt and throw it off to the side. I hear a few gasps from the Rookie Nine. "You have nine." I push out my earth, water, wind and one of my lightning hearts. My monsters protectively stand between us and the ANBU. "We have twelve."

"So it would seem." Cat calmly replies.

A tense silence falls again. No one moves. No one talks. No one blinks.

Slowly, I form ten chakra strings from my fingers. I let them slither across the ground towards the ANBU members. Cat gets two going towards him, he is the one who escalated things this far.

Suddenly Hawk tenses. "ANBU back!" He calls out.

I lash out my strings and make them into lightning whips. The time for stealth is over. I graze Cat, Monkey and Boar, and somehow catch Wolf. Wolf get's a nasty shock and is knocked unconscious. I drop him to the ground.

The rest of the ANBU made it into the treeline. They could come at us from any angle.

"One down." I call out, taunting the ANBU teams. None of the gennin have scattered, we're sticking together. "Alright, I know we did that cool one at a time walk up and face off, but please stay in your gennin teams. These are ANBU, the only reason I caught Wolf was because I got lucky. You all know your strengths, play to them. Use every trick you can. We won't win if we play fair." I will my monsters to set up a protective perimeter around us. ANBU will have to get through them first.

Suddenly everything is dark. Pain! I can see again. "KAI!" I pulse a large amount of chakra to break the genjutsu on everyone.

"One down." Cat calls out to me, throwing my earlier insult back in my face.

"Who is down?" Shikamaru asks.

"Akamaru. They took Akamaru." Kiba sounds livid. In fact all of team eight has a subtle hint of fury about them now. Hinata's fear is gone. Shino is buzzing like crazy. Kiba is trembling with rage.

"Make them pay." Sasuke says.

"Do remember that Akamaru is fine, they won't hurt him." I chime in.

A hand bursts from the ground and grabs my ankle. "Oh shit!" I'm yanked up to my waist in the ground before Choji grabs me by the arm.

"I got ya." He assures me. "You're going no where."

Shino sprints over and lightly touches the earth with a flat palm. I hear a grunt of pain from below and the hand on my ankle lets go.

"Thanks." I dust myself off. "Did you have your beetles do that?"

"Yes. They burrowed and bit the one below." Shino clarifies.

"Two down." Cat's voice call through the air.

"Who got hit?" Ino calls out.

No one answers. Suddenly feathers are falling down all around us, it is the genjutsu used in the Chunin Exams. Pain!

...

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