Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Combined Elements ❯ Introducing Saara Mizu ( Chapter 7 )

Combined Elements

 

Chapter 7: Introducing Saara Mizu

Naruto burst into camp, almost knocking over Sakura, who still sat by the fire with her map. “There is smoke! Smoke behind the cliff! It could be the village!” Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, and Sakura covered her ears in pain. “Calm down Naruto.” She put a hand on his arm, getting him to calm a little, although her own body was twitching with anticipation.

 

It only took a few moments for Kakashi and Gaara to appear. “We heard you yelling. What is it?” Gaara frowned at Naruto. It didn't have any effect as Naruto jumped with excitement, telling them what he had seen. Three pairs of eyes lit up at the mention of a possible village behind the cliff. They had been traveling in the cold for more than a week, and it didn't get easier. The sooner they found the village, the better.

 

Kakashi nodded. “Let's pack up, but leave our things here. It would be better if we all went to investigate, so we have full force incase they notice us.” The other three nodded, and Naruto's grin spread from ear to ear. Finally, they would be able to find Sasuke. As if reading his mind, Kakashi pulled Naruto aside. “Listen. I know you want to find Sasuke, we all do. But right now, we will only investigate. Orochimaru cannot change bodies for at least another year, so it is important that we don't get ourselves killed before the time is right. Do you understand?” Naruto pulled a face, but he nodded. “Yeah, I understand.” Kakashi gave him a pat on the shoulder before returning to the others to help pack up.

 

Soon all of them were ready. Their things were packed away in water proof packaging and hung from a tree incase wild animals had smelled the food. Only the necessary items for combat were taken, since the plan wasn't to fight in the first place. Sakura also took a medicine kit, just in case.

 

The ninjas resumed their line, but this time Naruto was in front, leading them to the clearing he had stumbled across before. As they reached the edge of the clearing, Kakashi made them stop and hide behind several trees. He scanned the area and the cliff, seeing the smoke that Naruto had been so excited about. From what he could tell, the smoke probably came from a chimney; a good sign.

 

With his hand, he signaled the others to approach the cliff carefully. They sprinted through the trees until they reached a clear stretch of land just before the cliff. Looking up, it seemed to stretch a mile into the sky, though in reality it was much shorter. They had no idea what lay beyond the mass of ice and rocks in front of them. Gaara removed the stopper from his gourd, placing it within his jacket pocket, and Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector to reveal the sharingan. They weren't going to take any chances.

 

Hesitantly, each of them stepped out from behind the cover of the trees. They surveyed the wall of the cliff. It was extremely steep, with sharp peaks of ice jutting out. The landscape they had entered was now almost completely made of snow and ice. It made Gaara feel slightly uncomfortable. He wouldn't be able to create new sand from the ground here.

 

Each of them gathered chakra at their feet and started climbing the cliff. It took only a couple of minutes for them to reach the top, but as each of them looked over the edge, a frightening sight greeted them.

 

The surface of the cliff spread out for more than a kilometer, creating a glassy field of ice and snow. It stopped where the cliff resumed its drop to a small village below. The smoke they had seen came from several chimneys, but there were no people in sight. Among the wooden buildings, there wasn't a single soul to be spotted. The answer stood in front of them.

 

At the other side field stood Orochimaru, and at his side was a girl of about the same age as Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara. He had manipulated his new body to look exactly like the old one, and it made Naruto angry to even think of him manipulating Sasuke's body like that. A devilish smile decorated his face as he looked straight at them. It was obvious that he had been expecting them.

 

After the initial shock wore off, each of the ninja were examining the girl. She stood comfortably next to Orochimaru, with her hands in the pockets of her pants. The pants were loose, fanning out from her hips, to come back at her ankles and they were blue in color. Covering the top of her body was a tight dark blue shirt with light blue sleeves which fanned out at the wrists. What caught everyone by surprise was that the shirt only reached above her belly button, leaving the rest of her stomach exposed to the cold air. Her feet were in open sandals, yet it didn't seem like she was cold in any way. Over her shirt she wore a light purple vest with two pockets at the front.

 

Her hair was brown with some natural highlights, and tied back into a braid which reached to below her shoulder blades. Green eyes examined them from behind black, slightly rectangular glasses. Pale skin hinted that she originated from Snow Country.

 

Kakashi frowned. This was unexpected. Orochimaru wouldn't take a girl like that with him unless she was of great use to him. To be able to face five of them like this, with just the two of them, it didn't bode well. They would have to form a plan, quickly.

 

But it was too late. Naruto had finished staring at the girl next to Orochimaru, and his attention shifted back to his dire enemy. “Give us Sasuke back!” He yelled out, while simultaneously bringing his hands together. “Kage bunshin no jutsu!” About twenty copies of him appeared, each with two kunai in their hands. Without hesitation all of the copies launched their kunai at Orochimaru. The sharp weapons sped towards him as his smile only grew.

 

Suddenly, a wall of water appeared before him and the girl at his side. They all stared as the kunai bounced back, and Gaara even gasped. It was so similar to the way his sand protected him. By now, it was impossible to spread the evil smile on Orochimaru's face any further. “I see you've noticed the resemblance. Let me introduce you to Saara Mizu. As you have probably guessed already, she is a Jinchuuriki such as Gaara and Naruto.”

 

Gaara frowned. So now that he had resisted Orochimaru, he just grabbed another powerful Jinchuuriki to fight for him. How pathetic. Orochimaru seemed to know what he was thinking. “You Jinchuuriki make great tools, honestly.” Gaara's frowned deepened, and he watched for the reaction of Saara. She looked away, her mouth formed a thin line, but she did nothing to stop Orochimaru from calling her a tool.

 

This comment was too much however for Naruto. “How… how dare you!” He raced towards the two enemies, together with all of his clones. But before he reached them, Saara took her hands out of her pockets. She raised her arms to the approaching Naruto, and spread her fingers. Water shot forward as missiles, twenty in all, hitting each of the clones and Naruto himself. The clones disappeared and Naruto fell back to the ice painfully. He glared at the girl, and tried to get up, but something was holding him back. His gaze went to his legs; they were covered in ice. Naruto was literally frozen to the ground. Then he was pulled down by an arm of water, which covered him as soon as he hit the surface of the ice and froze his whole body in place. “What?!” Naruto looked stunned. He was able to raise his head enough to see the girl in front of him. “Why? Why do you fight for him? He calls you a tool! We are not tools!” He continued to ramble, almost giving her a lecture. Saara's eyes narrowed and with a flick of her finger, the water covered Naruto's mouth freezing it shut. He was now forced to breathe though his nose. A small smile crossed her face. She was enjoying this.

 

Turning back to the three ninjas still left, she realized it wouldn't be so easy from now on. Gaara's sand already hovered above his shoulder, ready to be released. He needed to test her abilities and give Kakashi and Sakura an opportunity to strike. The sand shot forward, heading straight towards Saara. It struck a wave of water about the same size with a loud crash. The sand twisted and turned, trying to reach the girl, but each time it was interrupted by the water. The battle continued fiercely, and each time the water hit the sand, some of it fell away to the ground useless.

 

Saara's eyes widened as she realized what this meant. That boy could not control wet sand. All she had to do was drown the sand he had left in an ocean of water. A smile crossed her face, and Gaara realized she had figured out his weakness. He watched carefully as Saara crouched down and placed her hands on the ground below. He realized a little too late what she was up to, as he sunk into the surface that he had stood on the moment before. Saara had melted the ice under him, creating a small pond of freezing water. She allowed him to sink until his shoulders and then froze the water to form ice once again.

 

Now only Kakashi and Sakura were left, but Gaara's actions had allowed them study their opponent. They would not be so easy to defeat. Saara still stood next to Orochimaru, who had not moved from his spot. However, he was getting impatient. This girl should have finished them off by now, and instead she was having fun. “Get serious.” Saara blinked and looked at him. “This is an order. Get serious and show them your full potential.” He was sick of this game. These ninjas were in the way of him destroying Konoha and they were getting on his nerves.

 

Saara sighed. He knew how painful it was for her to unleash the power of her Bijuu. But she knew that he really didn't care. She turned back to her opponents, closed her eyes, and prepared to face the pain.

 

Kakashi watched carefully as Orochimaru ordered the girl to unleash her full power. He guessed that, as a Jinchuuriki, her full power consisted of using her Bijuu. When Saara closed her eyes, Kakashi took advantage of the situation. In one swift movement he pulled out a scroll, bit his thumb so it bled, placed the blood on the scroll, and summoned thousands of razor sharp kunai. The kunai glowed as he used his chakra to control them, and move them in a full circle around Saara. This all happened so fast that her eyes hadn't even opened yet, but when they did, he got the shock of his life.

 

Whereas her eyes had been a nice green color before, they now shone with a piercing blue light. There was no pupil, it almost looked like she was blind, yet she looked straight at him and the kunai. The eyes were exactly the same as the water dragon that had bothered them on the boat, and he immediately understood that that dragon had been a small replica of the Bijuu locked inside Saara.

 

They stood there for what seemed like ages. Kakashi stared as he felt the chakra emitting from her body. This was frightening. The power that came from the girl was immense, more than what came from Naruto when the nine-tailed fox awoke. He wondered if this was also the kind of power that Gaara possessed, yet was afraid to release.

 

Orochimaru grinned and licked his lips as he watched his newest toy release part of the Bijuu. But he was still getting impatient. Saara was waiting for Kakashi to release his kunai, but Kakashi was still too stunned to do so. Her power was great, but he was bored, so he decided to take things into his own hands. “Get out of my way. This is taking too long.” He pushed her aside, making her loose balance for a few brief moments. Kakashi took advantage of this, releasing the spell that held the kunai in place.

 

The automatic shield of water protected her from most of the kunai as she stumbled, but a few managed to penetrate. One stuck in her arm, penetrating to the bone, and making her flinch in pain. Another one created a shallow gash on her stomach. Orochimaru was hurt as well. Two kunai had ripped open his sleeves, and from the right one, a necklace fell to the ground. His eyes widened in fear, and he grabbed for it, but it was too late. Saara had noticed the necklace falling out too, and as soon as it hit the ground, the ice melted, allowing his to sink down into the ground where it was frozen in place.

 

Kakashi watched it all from a safe distance, and he gazed with interest as Saara suddenly turned away from them to face Orochimaru instead. Her eyes blazed brighter than before and there was water swirling at her feet. Orochimaru shot a glare at Kakashi before returning his gaze to the angry Saara. “It seems you've won this time, Kakashi. But watch out for the next time we meet.” He smiled once more and jumped off the cliff. Kakashi took a step closer in surprise, as the village disappeared. It had been an illusion. Only Saara and Orochimaru were real. He looked at the girl, who stood near the edge, trying to see where Orochimaru had gone.

 

At that moment, Saara felt a searing pain through her stomach. She gasped and clutched her belly, falling to her knees. A burning sensation built up in her throat as she coughed up several droplets of blood. She knew her body would give up soon. Crawling to the place where the necklace lay buried, she melted the ice again, and grabbed the gold chain. It felt cold in her hands, but at least it was safe. With this, she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

 

 

Author's notes: Omg, this chapter is long. I wish I could write this much for school assignments! Maybe I should have split it in two, but I just couldn't find a good place to split it. Reviews are really appreciated, especially on this chapter. It makes me feel good to hear people's opinions after having spent so much time on it.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this FanFic except Saara Mizu and some of the minor enemies. The rest belong to Masashi Kishimoto.