The Ultimate Weapon (Naruto Fanfic)

54-Consequence of Disobedience

"I still question why I ever decided to follow you two." Jinhai lagged behind his teammates, wondering at the darkening sky.

Kuria too was beginning to worry as the day became night, "Well, I can't say it was my best decision either. No matter what though, we're in this as a team." The faint spark of worry betrayed the determination in her voice however.

After an hour or so of wandering the town, Jinhai had finally convinced his teammates to return to the hotel room. Unfortunately, while the town was quite small, the three couldn't find the hotel at all. Even Eiji was starting to worry at what Aoi might do should they be discovered missing. Alas, several hours of searching had yielded nothing.

"You know, if I had stayed behind then maybe I could have called out the window to you."

Eiji seemed to snap. "Well 'you know' Jinhai, you came with us! It wasn't like we forced you, we convinced you. Admit that you were just as bored as we were. Stop acting like Aoi's dog! Maybe if you stopped complaining and constantly thinking you were above us, we'd be back inside the room by now!"

"Oh? So now it's my fault?" Jinhai seemed unusually provoked by this, and quickly rose to the jabs. "If you hadn't been so reckless, we wouldn't have left at all! You were the one that wanted to leave in the first place! Greatest jonin in the village? Fat chance of that happening if you can't even sit down, shut up, and train for more than ten minutes."

"It's better than being some wash-out that trains twice as hard as I do and only amounts to having abilities barely equal to my own. You probably won't even make it past chunin. Admit it Jinhai, you have no skills to be a ninja."

By this point, Jinhai's face had turned redder than his hair as his blood boiled. "I might not have the skills that you, or even Kuria for that matter, have. I might not be as strong as you either. I know one thing though. I have a determination that you will never possess. I have the wits to train myself now so I am stronger now, not in the future when I'll be regretting every time I showed up late to practice, or didn't give it my all during exercises. So while you might have the skills to do battle, it will amount to nothing if you don't strengthen them."

"Hate to point out the flaw in that thinking Jinhai, but a battle won't always be won with determination. In fact, determination won't matter one bit if you're blown to pieces the moment a battle starts." Something in Eiji's demeanor changed, and Jinhai responded in kind. Both settled back into fighting stances. "You know what, with that thick skull of yours, it might be better to knock this knowledge into you."

With the scuff of dirt being thrown by their shoes, the two launched toward one another. Kuria stood in shock, not comprehending how the two had gone from nothing to a full on fight in a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, she tried to step forward and stop them. The thought had barely formulated before everything was a blur and she was suddenly sitting on a tree. Looking around wildly, she spotted Aoi, who held a finger to his lips.

The smack of flesh drew her attention downward. Both boys had thrown a punch, but one landed a tad more true as Eiji dodged Jinhai's attack while hitting him straight in the nose. A faint crunch could be made out, and Kuria winced.

Moving away, Jinhai held his nose a moment while eyeing his opponent. Eiji smirked. This appeared to be a mistake though, as the moment it did Jinhai sped forward at full speed and knocked Eiji's feet from under him. He didn't go down though. Instead, he caught himself with one hand, and lifted a foot in an attempt to connect a kick with Jinhai's stomach.

The redhead caught the kick with ease, flipping it, and the connected body, so Eiji's face hit the dirt. Before his face-down opponent had any chance to get his bearings, Jinhai had trapped the boy in a hold. When Eiji began to struggle for freedom, a steady pressure on the hold quickly halted that. It seemed the battle was over.