Saturday, May 27, 2006

   Bizarre Love Triangle, Chapter 16!!!
Well, here it is, on time! AEGFF probably won't be but whatever... anyways, here's Chapter 16, the day of the circus! w00t!

Chapter 16

The day of the circus had come, and it seemed Naruto’s potential date with Hinata had become a little group; Kiba and Hihana had tagged along as well. It was certainly interesting to watch; the strong man barely looked 14, yet he carried the cart everyone else was in on his shoulders. The members of the circus hopped out of the cart, surprisingly few in number for the amount of acts advertised. However, that was explained easily when they began the performance.

“Hey, that girl’s there!” Kiba pointed at a girl with long purple hair, the one who’d given them the flyer to the tournament and smelled of cats. She was apparently their acrobat; she was able to jump over the caravan by barely tensing her legs. All the members of the troop were fairly gifted, and looked as though they may have had shinobi training; the puppeteer was using chakra strings. Another was creating little illusions in the sky, and playing music as she did.

The only member of the group who didn’t seem to look very happy at the show was the ringmaster, who looked sternly out into the crowd. However, he did eventually get to do an act of his own, manipulating the water in the town fountain into hoops, which the acrobat jumped through easily. He also was able to make odd shapes, and create little copies of people within the town. Then, it seemed the final act was in order; the acrobat tossed two needles attached by wire in opposite directions, one landing on the wall of the ramen shop, the other on the Hokage’s office windowsill.

“Wow, look at her go!” Naruto shouted, marveling at how quickly she went up it; she wasn’t even using her arms for balance. It looked like she was about to fall off, but instead ended up rotating around the wire, and was now running up it upside-down. There were many cheers, and it was obvious she was enjoying herself. With everyone’s eyes on her, no one noticed the caravan vanish. Then, she entered the Hokage’s office and kicked out the wires, the needles plummeting into the ground.

“That was great!” Hihana shouted, clapping loudly before she noticed something, “hey… the caravan’s gone… oh shit!” She ran up to the Hokage’s office, followed by the other shinobi; they’d sensed a massive chakra in use, most likely belonging to Tsunade. Either that, or the acrobat was incredibly gifted for her age.

***

Tsunade had been fighting with Moroi as soon as she’d broken into her office and killed the ANBU who were guarding her. The girl, despite her young age was dangerous, and was parrying and taking Tsunade’s blows as though they were nothing. However, she wasn’t about to let the girl take her life; she’d realized Moroi was a member of the Kage no Jinchu.

“Who do you work for?” Tsunade yelled, retreating from Moroi for a moment to ask the question. However, Moroi had popped up behind her and kicked her out of the office through the window. Then, she was attacking the older kunoichi in the air, claws slashing and blows being dealt as they fell. However, Tsunade landed hard on her back and looked up at Moroi, blood leaking from her mouth

“I work for my sensei to liberate the nations…” Moroi whispered to Tsunade, her eyes looking guilty as she stared into the Hokage’s, “it’s a pity a strong shinobi like you has to die to realize that dream…” She smiled weakly, then grew out her claws and gouged Tsunade’s stomach, leaving a sizeable wound. However, she couldn’t finish the job and left early; the scent of blood was overwhelming her. In a flash, she was gone, leaving Tsunade to die in the street.

***

Tsunade awoke in the hospital, her apprentices Shizune and Sakura surrounding her, as well as the team she’d appointed to finding the Kage no Jinchu and Hihana. After yelling at them for not catching the assassin, she quieted down, thanking them for saving her… and for giving her some alcohol. They were mostly relieved, but then remembered the tournament… it was supposed to be held the next day.

“The Kage no Jinchu must’ve organized the tournament…” Tsunade said, “Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Hihana… I want you to infiltrate it and kill the Kage no Jinchu. Prepare yourselves to fight the enemy.” She sighed and laid back on her bed, falling into sleep. However, another shinobi was listening in; Akuihebi Uragirimono grinned, sending a message to his special group of the black ops.

“Tomorrow we’re going to begin our operation…” Akuihebi hissed, “we’ll kill the Kage no Jinchu after the brats die and then Tsunade. Then I can be the hokage.” He chuckled to himself, vanishing from the hospital room before anyone had figured out he was there.

Well, hope you enjoyed! Read and review, please.
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