Luckylee plz.

Here you are, this took me about 50 minutes, with a small break:


Karin’s head snapped up from looking at the ground, her brow creased in concentration. She looked higher, up into the foliage of the thick trees. With the slightest application of chakra, she is airborne and landing on a much higher branch.

“They are coming, Sasuke.”
Sasuke, absently leaning his back against a tree, angles his head to look at her. Though his handsome face is carefully neutral as always, she can spot the annoyance there. The brief spike of his chakra confirmed this.
“Tche. Already?”
“They will be here within six minutes.” Karin informs him, trying not to let her nervousness show.
Sasuke stands straight from the tree, and fixes the black cloak that is wrapped around him. At 23 years of age, Sasuke looks better than ever, and it is a constant fight for Karin not to blush.
“Suigetsu, Juugo.” Sasuke commands. No more than two seconds later, the two men land on his left and right. Suigetsu is lazily holding Samehada with one hand, the other occupied by cleaning his teeth with his nails. Juugo nods determinedly at Sasuke.
“Why did I agree to this again?” Suigetsu whines. By now, they all know that Suigetsu wouldn’t be here if he didn’t want to, that he could have left at any time, and that Sasuke’s plans are helping him as much as Sasuke himself.

“Idiot!” Even if they all know this, Karin can’t stop herself from getting annoyed with her teammate. “You know very well why this is necessary!” The slap she throws his way contains a liberal application of chakra, causing Suigetsu’s head to explode in water, only to reform a scant two seconds later. The swordsman rubs his jaw, partly to hide his faint smile. He, too, keeps up appearances.
“Damnit woman, will you cut it out?”
“Both of you stop.” Juugo’s calm, clear voice interrupts Karin just as she is about to return. “This is not the time.”

At this, both ninjas nod, equally grudgingly, and put their game-faces on. Without saying a word, Sasuke jumps from the tree, gracefully soaring in a chakra enhanced leap until he lands, light as a feather, on a big clearing not too far away. He is joined by his team in a split-second.
Though they have worked together for several years since the end of the 4th Ninja World War, Sasuke refuses to make up his mind on a name for the group.
Karin rises from the crouch she had landed in, and turns her head to the west, her Mind’s Eye of the Kagura supplying her all the information she needs.
“Incoming.” She warns. As one, the team turns westwards, looking at the thick foliage at the end of the clearing, waiting.

Soon, they can all sense it, even with their mediocre sensory abilities. The immense chakra signature heading their way can only mean one person.
Their hunters come to a skidding stop at the other end of the clearing, four in number, just as they are. They stop their advance, and regard them. The pink hair and red outfit are unmistakeable, as is the green spandex, now accompanied by a Jounin vest. The black hair, pale, seemingly blind eyes and Uzumaki crest identify the second female. It hadn’t been that long since he was last to Konoha. And the last one, of course…

“Sakura, Lee, Hinata.” He greets them with the tiniest of nods. The last one, however, gets more than a short look. “Naruto… Took you long enough.” Sasuke comments, angling his head slightly to the side.
“Hey, I’ve been busy. You left a fine mess for me, bastard.”
Sasuke took in his former teammate with a critical eye. They’ve both come a long way since they were sixteen, and saving the world. Naruto has grown taller, taller than he is. That obnoxious, trademark smirk is still there, but is fueled more by cool confidence than just brashness and a sunny disposition.
Sasuke has to give it to him, he’s filling out the Hokage robes very nicely. He must be the first Kage in history to actually fight in one of those, clearly ceremonial, heavy robes. But that’s Naruto, and Naruto will do as Naruto does.
Damn, but that hat is cool.

“So I have, Hokage.” Sasuke half says, half spits the word. Naruto chuckles at this.
“You know, no matter how many years have passed, I still don’t understand it. You really thought you were going to do it? That you would become Hokage over me, after everything you’d done? All in a misguided attempt to fix a broken system by taking the helm? isn't that what Danzo was trying to do? After we saved the world together, you were spared for your contribution. You were given a second chance. And you wasted it, again.”

“Stop the lecture, you idiot. I don’t expect you to understand. This is quite a bit above your IQ level.”
Naruto loses the smile, and clenches his fist. Karin barely contains a gasp, as the Sixth Hokage’s chakra spiked.

“This ends here, Sasuke. I will not allow you to harm Konoha again, and you have become too much of a threat to just ignore. This is your last chance. Stop what you’re doing. You think you’re going to make a difference, but you’re wrong. This isn’t the right way.”
Sasuke shakes his head, releasing his hold on his own chakra, gathering and moulding it within himself.
“The time for talk is over.” Sharingan eyes are glaring at cerulean blue. Naruto’s expression hardens to stone. “Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo.” Sasuke calls out to his team. They nod, and move to engage the Hokage’s companions.

“Move away, give us room.” The Hokage warns. Both the Konoha ninja and Sasuke’s team know that this heeding this warning benefits themselves more than two combatants, since they’re more likely to get killed by a stray attack than pose an actual threat to the two powerhouses.
The six companions engage each other, at the same time moving away from the golden glow of Naruto’s chakra and the dark shape of Sasuke’s S’usanoo.
The fighters themselves, after they deem they have reached a safe enough distance, pick their opponents and separate.

Lee leads away the manically laughing and slashing Suigetsu with a series of nimble backflips. Sakura punches a rapidly transforming Juugo through one of the massive trees and follows him away, and the Hyuuga heir is left with the sensor of Sasuke’s team, who regards her with a critical eye.
With but a thought, Hinata activates her Byakugan. Karin frowns. In a fight, she usually relies on her Mind’s Eye of the Kagura to beat her opponents, utilizing area of effect distractions such as smoke bombs to get the advantage, but that is useless against a Hyuuga.
They both look back towards the clearing when the rumbling starts. Explosions can be heard in the distance, and flashes of various colors are visible above the treeline. Truly an epic confrontation.
“He can’t win, you know.” Karin states, staring hard at her Hyuuga enemy while preparing her poisoned senbon.

“And why is that?” the Hokage’s wife taunts back as she takes the traditional gentle Fist opening stance, ready to spring and close the distance between them in a split-second. She knows that Karin’s ability makes her very hard to pin down, but she is confident in her abilities.
Instead of replying, Karin launches her opening salvo of senbon at Hinata. She deftly avoids most and flicks those that she can’t away, while at the same time charging Karin and rapidly closing the distance between them.

Not wanting to let this happen, Karin inhales and exhales quickly, letting out a pink mist in a wide range in front of her. Not stopping her advance, Hinata trusts her palm forward with a yell, and her chakra pushes forward, breaking up the poisonous mist and letting her pass through it safely.
She is instantly upon Karin, who defends herself against the devastating Gentle Fist with quick evasions and a liberal application of poisonous senbon.

Hinata’s moves are lightning fast, but Karin’s sensory ability touches precognitive levels, and she is able to escape most strikes, and even put in some of her own. She, too, has come a long way since the little girl whose only usefulness lay in her sensory abilities.
Frustrated, Hinata leaves an opening while directing a palm strike, and her hand is grazed by one of Karin’s senbon needles.
Hissing in pain, she disengages and puts a few meters between them to examine her hand. She realizes too late that the needles are poisoned.

Karin smirks, and slowly starts approaching the now weary Hyuuga.
“You have approximately 3 minutes before your body starts losing motor functions, and 5 before you pass out. Give up.”
Hinata glares at Karin, clutching her now shaking hand.

“You should know better than asking me to give up.” Karin laughs at this.
“Ah, yes, the idiot’s moto, isn’t it? That’s why you can’t win, and he won’t, either. Because Sasuke is simply better than he is, and that idiot can’t recognize it. His defeat is inevitable. Your own end is here.”
Karin is now within range to launch a fatal strike at Hinata, who seems to have lost complete control of her hands and all she can do is glare balefully at the smug Uzumaki woman.
Karin raises her senbon loaded hand in order to finish Hinata, but momentarily hesitates when she sees the suddenly triumphant look on her opponent’s face. It’s that hesitation which costs her the fight.
“You are within range of my divination, bitch.”

At this range, practically touching distance, there is no way she will miss. Karin gasps in pain as her tenketsu are blocked, and completely blacks out after about one hundred and thirty strikes. Hinata completes all one hundred and eighty before allowing Karin’s slack body to drop like a sack of potatoes.
She stares angrily at her fallen opponent, even as her hands start to shake, for real this time. Sakura’s antidote is not as effective as she’d hoped. She’ll have to find the pink-haired woman and hope she can make a more effective antidote if she has a sample of the poison.

Her attention is once again grabbed by the massive fight taking place not too far away from her position. The landscape is already altered, the earth itself groaning under the strain of the power of two men who, united, took down the Jinchuurki of the Ten-Tailed Beast.

She worries for her beloved’s health, of course, but she does not worry about the outcome. Naruto will not lose. Just like she trusts Sakura to be able to make an antidote on the fly right after fighting an A-rank opponent of Juugo’s caliber, she trusts her husband to beat all obstacles in his path to peace.
She had better get a move on, however, because she has lost feeling in her grazed arm and now her legs are starting to feel numb as well.

 

I laugh at your Naru/Hina shipping. Also Menace totally liked mine better, right Menace ;D

 

Challenge: "Naruto, I have two words for you: Never. Again."
Time: 20 minutes

 

I laugh at your wannabe crackfic that makes little to no sense
And we both know Menace liked mine moar D8

 

Ladies, ladies, please.

I hated both of your responses.

 

Notenoughwindchakras.

FUCK!

I deserve to be challenged after that.

 

Oh yeah? Let's see you do something better, then.

Target: Menace
Line: 'There are situations where using the Rasengan is the single worst thing you can do. This is one of them.'
Time Limit: 40m

 

That's a good one, Cheddar.

 

Screw it, I'm bored. Gimme a short one.

 

Challenge: "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."
Time: 20 min

 

“Please tell me that isn't what I think it is.”

“It's not what you think it is, Sakura-chan!” Naruto grinned widely as he raised his hand, a Fuuma Rasengan dissipating as he did so. His eyes faded back to their regular blue and she noticed a couple of Kage Bunshin sitting very still nearby.

Sakura shook her head, rubbed her eyes and stared out again over the crater of what had formerly been Konoha. The reconstruction process was going well; she could see a gigantic Akimichi striding around the outer edge with enough lumber to build a house carried in his arms. She could see Tenzo making large, sweeping gestures as he moulded wood to his will, stretching out the hundred foot thick, chakra strengthened oak arches that reached out over the lake and were forming the support for the new Konoha.

It was on one of those arches that Sakura had found Naruto, though she'd only had to follow the looks of slightly confused tolerance. She'd been four blocks away when the cackling started.

Naruto was standing in the middle of the arch, his new cloak flapping around him in the breeze created by his ridiculously powerful ninjutsu. For a moment, before the scene had hit her, she'd even been impressed by the sight. Just for a moment though.

It had only been a moment because it was at that point that Sakura had noticed the way the water was slowly but surely starting to revolve around a point and how the air was becoming uncomfortably warm, even for Konoha summertime.

It had only been a moment because Sakura had finally noticed the extremely long strands of off-white, loosely, looping ramen.

“Naruto.” She paused, then tried again. “Naruto, tell me that you haven't turned the crater into a bowl of ramen.”

“I haven't turned the crater into a bowl of ramen, Sakura-chan!”

She gave Naruto the look she'd perfected a month after he'd come back from his training trip. The one that said 'I don't believe a word you're saying so if you don't come up with a reasonable explanation in the next ten seconds I'm going to punch through a wall.'

He grinned again and she could see the sheer, unbridled amusement in his eyes.

“I've turned the crater into a gigantic bowl of ramen!”

Sakura took a deep, calming breath. It had been a stressful few months. Surely Tsunade would understand a brief bout of temporary insanity. Naruto was durable, he'd be fine. Probably.

A few moments of thought later, Sakura gave a sigh of resignation and bowed her head.

“How long until it's ready?”

 

Shoot me another one, feel like writing something.

 

Challenge: "Shadow Clones don't fix everything, Naruto!"
Target : Roarian
Words : 300-600
Time : 20 mins
Actual Time : about 15 minutes.


Naruto narrowed his eyes in contemplation - a rare sight - as he stared at the paper in front of him with slight desperation. He had never, ever been good at written tests, his Chuunin Exams certainly attested to that, and now Kakashi-sensei seemed set on him answering even more of those difficult questions!

"This is so annoying..." Naruto muttered. "And I'm not allowed any ramen until I finish it - this is so unfair!" He gritted his teeth as he let himself drop onto his back, and he stared at the clouds passing by. Right now, he could understand a little of Shikamaru's hobby - though he knew that guy would have solved the problem with his eyes closed anyway.

From the corner of his eye he saw something move, and he was upright and holding a kunai almost instantly, dropping it to his side with a sheepish smile as he recognized the bright pink hair. "Ah... Sakura-chan... Isn't it a bit late...?"

"I thought I'd come see what you were up to - your cries of protest could be heard two training grounds over..." She shook her head with a small smile. "Kakashi-sensei can be cruel, can't he? And all because you dyed his hair pink..."

Naruto pouted. "What's wrong with pink, anyway? It looks great on you!"

Sakura chuckled slightly as she glanced down to Naruto's homework. "Ah, preparation for your great works as the future Hokage, eh?" She stuck out her tongue. "Paperwork's a big part of it, you know!"

"Pretty sure there's no stupid math questions in there, though," Naruto muttered. "Who uses these, anyway? Why would I need to know exactly where a kunai lands with calculations, as long as I can do it for real?"

"A theoretical basis is always important, Naruto," she answered easily. "Did Kakashi-sensei give you any pointers on how to solve it? I'm sure that he knew it's not your strongest point..."

Naruto frowned, straining his memory as he considered Kakashi's brief visit that morning. "Ah... He did say that two heads are better than one..." He looked up, blinking. "Ah, I get it, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura preened. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah! I just need a little help with this!" He nodded eagerly. "And I know just who can help me!"

Sakura smiled. "That's right."

"Yeah! Two heads are better than one!" He crossed his fingers. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two dozen clones popped into existence around him with an enthusiastic cry. "I'm sure that lots of heads are better than two!"

Sakura's elated expression fell, and she balled her fist. "...Naruto!"

Twenty-five faces suddenly turned a little pale. "S-Sakura-chan?"

"You're so ... stupid!" Sakura ground out. "Shadow Clones don't fix everything, Naruto!"

"Of course they do! Watch, I can totally do this!" Naruto turned to his small army of doubles.
"Yeah, let's do this! We can take on anything!" He paused. "So, do any of you know how to fix this math problem thingy...?"

There was a deafening silence.

Sakura shook her head in defeat. "The strongest force in the universe... It has to be compound stupidity."

>>>>>>>

Feel free to toss me a new one if you want.

 

Reclined on the last hospital bed in Konoha, most of Naruto Uzumaki's body is one giant lump of pain.

The confrontation with Obito has been over for months now, but without Kurama's presence in the middle of his gut, his famed overnight-healing has failed him for the first time in living memory, leaving him to the mercy of everyday recovery like the rest of the shinobi forces.

He's lucky to still be alive, and he knows it.

The other Jinchuriki to have their tailed beast ripped out aren't, and Gaara doesn't count; he still technically died and was resurrected afterward, which excuses him from the list. The life-filled chakra inherited from his mother's defunct clan is most of the reason why Naruto has succeeded where ninety-nine point five percent of the others haven't.

The rest of the reason, however, is that the best medic-nin to come out of that damn war is tending to him personally, day and night, and helping to replenish his strength every time it starts to dip down to regular Jounin levels again.

The problem is that she has a tendency to shove her healing chakra in places where it really doesn't belong. Oh, sure, his body might seem to indicate an infusion there is necessary, but he'd just as soon leave it to chance and endure the pain rather than suffer the humiliation.

A sigh of dread escapes his battered lips as soft footfalls click across the tiles, and moments later the drape around his isolated bed is drawn back to reveal Sakura in all her weary glory.

She smiles a brittle smile and steps into the cramped space, closing the curtain with a flick of the wrist. It slams against the wall and dents it even more than the last time, adding another two inches to the spiderweb of cracks spreading around the point of contact.

He gulps. "I, ah, I'm doing fine, Sakura," he tries to plead with her as the familiar glow of green healing chakra saturates her fingertips.

She ignores the comment the same as she has every time this week. "Sit up and roll over," she orders. For just a moment he considers trying to struggle, to refuse. "Now."

A dull whimper slips out this time as he complies. It's getting easier for him to move around, to shift his limbs here and there, and rolling over is not a problem. But he almost wishes it was. Compared to what is coming, his regular aches and woes are perfectly acceptable.

Sakura closes the distance and presses her hands against his back, starting at the tense shoulders and gradually working her way down. Foreign chakra invades his system and begins worming through to the most immediate areas of concern.

He groans around clenched teeth as torn muscles slowly weave their fibers back together, become knotted. Knots and cramps are left intact as the chakra continues toward worse sections, leaving searing agony in the wake.

By the time her hands move over his hip and press into his stomach, Naruto is almost ready to give up. Then he feels the fingertips dancing over the ravaged seal that had held Kurama for sixteen years, digging into the skin and forcing chakra to flow where it shouldn't ever go again, storing it up in the half-shattered cage.

His eyes flash open as they always do. Even all of the cramps before pale in comparison to that sensation. She's only trying to help him cope with the vacancy inside, but it's wrong, a violation that he can't make peace with despite knowing the fox is gone every time he wakes up.

He groans. "Woah, Sakura!" His teeth grit together as he caches her hands and pushes them away with all the strength he can manage. "That doesn't go there!"

===

A little over 600 words, just within the boundary of half an hour.


EDIT: And on a side note, I'll take another.

 

I tried few times, but I can't make this line really work. That's my latest attempt.

Bros' Talk​

“Sasuke!”

“What?”

“Let's have kids together.”

*

“I swear I thought you were a girl, Sasuke!”

“That's ridiculous even for you, Naruto,” said visibly annoyed young Uchiha. “Do I even look like a girl to you?”

“No, but you're master of illusions, don't you? Could easily fool everybody.”

“Maybe now, but what about when I was younger?”

“You were underdeveloped girl?” Tried Naruto.

“And your reasons to even consider that I'm a female?”

“I have two. Firstly, you kiss like a girl.”

“I do not. And even if how would you know?”

“Don't you remember? We accidentally kissed back in the Academy.”

Sasuke didn't remember or rather tried very hard to not remember it.

“And the second one?”

“For all your talk about restoring your clan you sure don't show any interesting in women.”

“And that's why you think I'm a girl?”

“Yes. I did suspect that you may be gay, but even then you would at least fake it to secure future wife. The only logical explanation is that it's not a woman you need to restore your clan, but a man. But since you were pretending for that long to be a male you probably have trouble with revealing that you aren't one and can't start searing for a husband.”

“And that's why you proposed to me that you will impregnate me.”

“Yes.”

“That's too ridiculous even for you, Naruto,” said Sasuke. “Though it's a little touching in bizarre sort of way. But I'm not a girl or gay. I'm simply didn't have time for these things before.”

“Before I understand, but what stops you now?”

That was a good question? What was stopping him now? Nothing. But for all this talk about restoring his clan, he never actually expected to survive long enough to do that. And that's why he had cold feet now.

“I think you should at least try dating or something,” said Naruto as if he knew his problems. “Take it slow.”

“Maybe,” said Sasuke. “Do you know where Sakura is?”

“Working in hospital. Her shift ends in an hour. And you should buy her flowers. Ask Ino which ones.”

“Why?”

“That way she will know that you aren't visiting her as a teammate.”

“When did you become an expert in this? You have even less experience with girl than I do.”

Naruto didn't respond to that.

“Wait,” Sasuke said. “Don't tell me that you actually had girlfriend already.”

“Girlfriends.”

“When? Before I returned to Konoha?”

“After.”

“And you kept it secret from me?”

“I know you Sasuke. If I told you before, you would take it as a challenge and quickly tried to get a girlfriend for yourself even if you didn't want to. That would only make you and her miserable. It was better to avoid this topic with you.”

“And everybody else agreed with you since nobody mentioned you having a girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“They think I'm as unstable as I was when I was younger.”

“Some. Others just don't want you to feel pressure into doing anything before you are ready.”

“Who did you date then?” Sasuke asked after few moments. “Hinata?”

“I'm dating her now.”

“And before?”

“Mei.”

“You dated Mizukage?”

“For about a month. But she wanted more than I was ready to give and we decided to split before it got serious,” explained Naruto. “Then there was Ino and let me tell you blonds do have more fun. But there wasn't a real spark between us. Then there was Tsunade.”

“You dated Hokage?!”

“I wouldn't call it dating and be a little quiet. Nobody knows about that one.”

“But you had an affair with Hokage?”

“Yes though there was a good reason to it.”

“Does it have something to do with her visibly de-aging in past few months?”

“Yes. I used my chakra to help her body regenerate after she overused her techniques.”

“And did you really need to do it that way?”

“Of course not, but it was just more fun that way.”

“Unbelievable.”

“And the last one was Anko.”

“You dated that bloodthirsty woman?”

“Surprising enough her personality totally changes when she is relationship. She is a helpless romantic.”

“You definitely go around.”

“I blame Ero-sennin and his teachings.”

“Heh,” Sasuke finally laughed. “At least I know who I need to ask if I need an advice.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while.

“Naruto?”

“Yes?”

“You're a good friend.”

*

Naruto observed his teammate running from the training grounds. Their conversation went better than expected.

He probably could start it differently and more serious, but it wasn't his style. And really, Sasuke's face after his unexpected proposition was just too funny.

 

Aaaaaand thats the story of why Sasuke ran off to Orochimaru.

 

Really like the idea of Naruto losing the Kyuubi after the whole jyubi thing is over. Neatly takes care of his overpoweredness and all.