7 Crushed

Tenten turned out to be a wealth of information on useful techniques no one had ever taught the village pariah. Like Naruto, she didn't have many special ninja powers, but she did have her signature technique of storage seals.

Like Naruto, the girl was something of a combat expert, although ranged instead of melee. And, also like Naruto, the one power she did have made her more effective at her specialty. But where he spammed a battle with clones to augment his effectiveness, she used storage seals on scrolls to carry far more weaponry than she could otherwise lift, much less control.

But both of them were combat multipliers, making them better at that which they could already do. He threw more punches, and she threw more weapons thanks to their signature techniques.

And yet, it was one of those sorts of situations where each one could add to the other.

"Hey, Tenten? How about we teach each other our moves?"

"You mean, 'I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours?'" she giggled.

"Err, something like that." He looked away, embarrassed. "It just struck me, you know? How my technique and yours could add to each other, 'cause a shadow clone can throw loads of weapons, too. So, in a way, we'd both get the best out of each of them if we added our techniques together."

"Yah, that makes sense," she agreed.

"Great!" he agreed, then with a bamph of smoke after forming a handseal, a clone of him appeared and started to write. "I'll have him write down the Shadow Clone technique so you can study it at your leisure. Now you go."

"Okaay," the girl blinked. "I guess that works."

The boy shrugged. "Well, it took me a couple of hours to learn Shadow Clone and they tell me I'm exceptionally fast, that most take weeks. I'll be glad to help you study it later, but I think you'll need some time to look it over."

"Okay!" she chirruped far more happily. "So let's get started. Do you have a blank scroll on you?"

"We can use the backside of this one. It's blank." He held up Ebisu's scroll.

"That works!" she laughed, and they got started.

Naruto had always had an exceptionally fast learning curve once someone actually taught him something, and Tenten was a good teacher. Soon he had the basics mastered, he didn't even need a repeat to get that far. In fact, they hadn't used up all of their morning before the test started. And that raised his ninja techniques from five to six, although seals were in a special category that people didn't often list when they counted special moves.

Still, that didn't make him any less glad to have it.

And the way Tenten explained it, storage seals were massively useful, too. You could carry camping gear and supplies on long missions, spares for your normal equipment (like clean clothes) and even hot food, all without weighing yourself down or losing speed. It made most of the worst aspects of being on long assignments almost not difficult at all!

It was, in its own way, just as helpful as being able to create a million copies of yourself. One of those force multiplier thingies. Only, since they each gave benefit a different way the bonuses stacked.

And, in a little less than an hour, Naruto was doing well enough at it to get by. Now that he knew the difference between a crude performance and a refined technique, he wouldn't call himself an expert at storage seals, and Tenten most certainly was. But she taught him well enough to get by on.

Reading together and discussing the Shadow Clone scroll he'd made for her took another ten minutes, before she agreed she wasn't ready to try that just yet, as it did sound pretty difficult. However, they still had a great deal of time in what she'd allotted for her morning training schedule, so he joined her for that and started learning how to throw weapons effectively.

They covered only a tiny bit of that at the academy, just enough to get you started, really. Also, they stuck primarily with the kunai, that all-purpose ninja tool, apparently thinking that anyone who wanted to know more could learn on their own.

Tenten had. That girl could throw anything, even things that ordinarily could not be employed effectively as thrown weapons, like sickles and long swords.

She taught him a lot, cheerful all the while, but Naruto had a long way to go before he'd be anywhere near as good, and probably never could be quite as good given the muscle memory limits he had to work under.

Still, he could get somewhere in that skill, and he intended to. Even if he could only have the basics that was still going to be useful. After all, he could only crowd so many clones in punching range around a target at once, but if they stood back and threw weapons, well, they could do more. So he made certain he knew how to train further in this by himself before they moved on.

She even dropped hints that a person could steer weapons with wires, and that sounded fascinating. After all, a number of very deadly things could be done with wires, the trick was getting an opponent to blunder into them. But if the wires delivered themselves? Attached to weapons? Double bonus!

He'd have to learn more about that. In fact, he'd just found a new specialty he wanted to study. And, what's more, she seemed eager to teach him, almost surprised that anyone would value her skill enough to want to learn it!

That any girl so talented could have confidence problems amazed him, but no longer surprised him. Look at Hinata! Loveliest, nicest girl in their class, and all but ignored by all and sundry.

He wished he could say he wasn't equally to blame for that.

"Hey, Naruto?" Tenten asked as they were walking away after training.

"Yeah?" He turned his attention to the girl he was rapidly becoming fond of. So few had treated him decently, let alone shared their techniques with him so readily, that he knew he would be spending a great deal of time with her in the future. Pity that she wouldn't remember it.

"That seal thing the Hyuga put on the branch house members?" she asked. "When one of them gets married, do they put it on their wives?"

"I dunno," the boy answered honestly. "They might, but I'd have to find out to know for sure."

"Could you? It's kinda important to me."

"Sure! Um, I know they put it on little kids, though. I think Neji got his when he was about four, or six, or so."

Tenten scowled at the thought of anyone doing that to children. No way was someone going to enslave her kids! But, darn it! If Neji was a slave, then Neji couldn't stop them from doing that to his kids. Which meant, if she didn't want it to happen to her kids...

She couldn't marry Neji.

Tenten sighed, giving up on THAT dream! And it hurt, too.

Then she perked up. "Say! Want to come back to my place? You've got to get something to eat before we go to that training area 44 thing later today, and I feel I owe you one for all of this information."

"Sure!" he agreed, then sobered instantly on thinking about the test. "Oh, and Tenten? About our test? It's a week-long survival mission inside a forest where all of the genin are trying to kill each other. Each team starts with one half of the mission requirement, and you have to get the other from some other team. No holds barred. There's going to be a lot of death. At least half of those who enter are going to fail, and most who fail will probably die."

Her face hardened. That was hard tactical data, priceless in ninja terms. "Thanks, Naruto."

"But there's more!" he cautioned. "The teams from Sand and Sound are particularly deadly. Both have attacks you've never seen before. The Sound guys you could probably take if your whole team hit them hard and fast, but they're no ordinary genin. The Sand team..." he shuddered. "They'll kill you. I've seen Gaara, the lead on the Sand team, fight, and he could take down Lee even if he'd opened all the Celestial Gates he could. He's no genin, unleashed at full power he's closer to Kage-rank. Not even Neji would stand a chance."

By now the girl was done being surprised that he had such information on her team. It seemed like he was right, he had been disguising his skill and secretly gathering information.

So she was all ninja as she asked, "What does he do?"

"He animates sand. I know it doesn't sound like much, but he can move a few tons of that stuff like it was a part of him, reaching and grabbing, crushing and killing. If it touches you, it's over. It also forms a shield around him. Your weapons would be useless. Not even Lee's best punches could penetrate all of the way. And the girl on that team is also bad news for you. She's a wind mistress, and has ability to knock flying things out of the air - things like thrown weapons. She'd be able to shut down even your Rising Twin Dragons. If you do have to fight her, do it some other way than by throwing things."

She nodded, absorbing the tactical brief and analyzing it already. "And the third?"

"Kankuro," he responded. "A puppet user. Basic strategy is to hide and let his puppet do all of the fighting. He'd be much less of a threat if you could tell which was him and which was his puppet, but he's expert at making that hard. It's strong and got built in weapons, and can take a fearsome beating. If you could fight the guy himself, though, he isn't too bad. Best bet would be to strike him hard by surprise, before he deploys it. But considering the rest of his team, I'd avoid combat altogether. He's great at throwing delays and diversions at people, and the other two would finish you off. The girl is nearly unbeatable at a distance, and Gaara is suicide to face at close to mid ranges. Together, their team hasn't got any exploitable weaknesses."

Again she was nodding. "Hey, Naruto? Do you mind if I just drop you by at my place while I get some errands done? You can wash up, and I'll be back to get you that breakfast I promised, I just have some things to do first."

"Sure! No problem!" he chirruped gladly.

They both knew she'd be running off to give her team his warnings. What he didn't know was that she had a keen enough memory to repeat it word for word, even complete with tonal inflection.

She'd trained to be in infiltration once, briefly, before they'd told her that female infiltrators usually had to sleep with their marks. But one of the skills of an infiltrator was to know memory tricks like that, and she'd gotten them.

Naruto wasn't the only one to use those memory techniques taught by books in the library. It was a shinobi village, and they had many who had an interest in remembering things without writing them down.

Of course, in the perverse way of things, she would tell her team and Lee would go tell Sakura, who'd tell Sasuke, but only after asking Ino if she had heard, and Ino would tell her team, while Neji would feel obliged to inform the main house, who'd instruct Hinata, who'd tell her team, and so the rumors would spread like wildfire through Konoha practically word for word, until at the meeting outside the Forest of Death every Konoha genin (and some few from other villages who'd kept an ear to the ground) was outfitted for a long stay in wilderness terrain, carrying extra weapons and in some cases armor.

Many would be carrying a written form of Naruto's warning that someone had copied onto paper and distributed, some even falling into other hands.

There was also a wide gap around the Sound and Sand teams, with people eying the Sand trio with respectful hostility out of the corners of their eyes. Those few who didn't already know what was up noticed and asked, so got whispered to, and the circle around the Sand team grew wider.

Some specifics hadn't made the rounds. So rather than Gaara could "take down Lee even if he'd opened all the Celestial Gates" it was transmitted as "he could take down a jonin, easily," while the Neji part was simply dropped.

Still, it was an effective message, and people were already plotting out evasion strategies.

They were ninja. If something was too tough to fight, you went around it just like any other obstacle to your mission.

I I I

"I've got to find Gaara. I must grow by defeating strong opponents."

"Uh, you know his powers are all based on a bloodline, don't you?" Naruto asked, disturbed by this change. "There's nothing there you could copy. I've seen him, he just stands there while his sand moves and kills people."

"You've seen him?" Sakura asked, disbelieving.

"Yah," Naruto shrugged. "It was like Haku and his ice mirrors, only a thousand times worse. That Gaara guy gets off on killing. From what I've heard even his own village is terrified of him - and that includes his siblings, who make up his team. That guy likes killing the same way you like Sasuke. It defines his whole being. Our Hokage might not even be able to take that guy down."

"Really?" Sakura, at least, was frightened.

Sasuke was not. "hn. I've read the reports, and don't believe them. He's just a genin. With my Sharingan I could destroy him."

Naruto blew out a long sigh, rolling his eyes. "It's your funeral."

I I I

Finding Gaara's team was easy. If Naruto hadn't already had transformed clones following all of the teams in, he would have now. The one following the grass genin, the ones Orochimaru and his cronies had replaced, died as usual, but in the ongoing effort to track him, there was always another placed just where the last one had lost him.

There had to be something the sannin could sense about them, because he never failed to notice one of his clones for long. And he'd change course in order to evade the emplaced ones.

He was, Naruto reflected, a master at this. An evil, sadistic and sick looking bastard, but also a master ninja.

Still, of all of the things Gaara was, hyper-aware of his surroundings he was not. The Sand team wasn't even particularly on their guard, waltzing in like a pack of lions at a sheep festival.

They had good reason to, the comparison was an apt one. No team Naruto was aware of (well, except the sannin, but he didn't count) could present a credible threat to them.

What was unusual was that this time around the other teams seemed to be aware of that, and were departing from their usual schedules to avoid the Sand team whenever and wherever they made contact.

This was starting to frustrate Gaara to no end. He wanted death and blood, and by gum he was going to get it!

Fortunately for the homicidal insomniac and his two increasingly nervous siblings, who'd begun to fear (and rightfully so!) that Gaara might turn on them just to sate a bit of his bloodthirst, Sasuke was enough of a egomaniac loon that he actually thought he could beat them, despite all of the testimony to the contrary.

No, to Sasuke's mind there was no other form of life half as good as an Uchiha. So, being naturally superior to all other creatures out there, he was going to take down their best and impress them all! Just to show them!

A suicidal form of egomania as there had been plenty of Uchihas killed in battle against those same 'lesser creatures' before. After all, there had been a whole clan of them at one point, and never had one of them been Hokage, or called the best ninja of the village.

The Sharingan had weaknesses, not the least of which seemed to be the habit of those who had it to overestimate themselves. Sasuke himself had been so paralyzed from killer intent alone by Zabuza that he'd been ready to commit suicide on the spot until Kakashi reassured him. But that didn't stop his arrogance now. It was as if he could no longer even recall that event.

And what made matters worse, Sasuke's feelings of innate superiority and invincibility were only exceeded by Sakura's feelings on the same subject, namely, that her crush was superior to all other creatures and invincible.

Between the two of them they created a very dangerous delusion, that led very quickly to Team 7 standing on one side of a clearing, with the Sand Siblings on the other.

And Gaara hadn't killed anything all day. He was feeling overdue. His tone was very low and level, a danger sign to all who knew him, when the container for the one-tailed beast said, "You are here to validate my existence."

Naruto rolled his eyes when Sasuke walked forward to pose and brag, "I am Sasuke Uchiha! I care nothing for your existence!" Sasuke shot a hard glare over his shoulder at Naruto whom he'd overheard whisper 'truer words were never spoken'.

Turning back to face the Sand team, this time with a deeper scowl on his face, the Uchiha bragged. "I am going to defeat you and claim what is mine by right! As a chunin of Konoha I will have more power to defeat my brother, and then I will revive my clan!"

"Go Sasuke!" Sakura bounced up and down twice, cheering.

"Oy! Temari!" Naruto shouted through cupped hands. "Do you want to step aside and talk with me while your brother slaughters my teammate? You know Gaara's going to win, so I have no point in fighting you, since my team will be disqualified anyway. What do you say?"

"NARUTO!" Sakura tried to bonk him on the head, only for the blond guy to dodge her attempt, laughing. Sasuke was glaring at him in disgust, while the Sand team didn't know what to say.

Already Naruto was skipping a significant distance over to the side, pulling out the dining room set he'd made for himself and putting a feast on the surface. "Hey, Kankuro! You're invited, too! There's more here than she and I can eat! I'd ask Gaara to the table but know I'd die before I could leave it again. So I think if he wants to eat he's going to have to wait until I can scurry off into the forest like a frightened rabbit. I don't feel like being crushed to death today."

Once a check with Gaara proved he didn't care the Sand siblings left his side, smirking, to join Naruto at the meal.

"Thanks," Kankuro picked up a slice of roast and popped it into his mouth, chewing for a moment before he added potatoes and gravy, vegetables and juice to his palate.

No one else would have noticed the slight signal he gave to Temari, who only then chose to seat herself, but Naruto had figured the puppet master would send in his toy first. He hadn't known it could test food for poison; evidently it could. But, strangers in a strange village and all, he guessed he couldn't blame them for being prepared.

Out of curiosity, he watched to see if he could tell when the real Kankuro would switch in for his dummy. The food was excellent, and Temari was making no secret of that as she joined the Konoha genin in digging in.

Out on the playing field, a drama was beginning to develop.

"Who is your brother? I will kill him for you." Gaara softly stated as he stared at his most recent prey.

"Only I get to slay my brother!" Sasuke snarled. "Only an UCHIHA can kill an Uchiha!"

"Go Sasuke!" Sakura pumped a fist.

"So, what kind of craftsmen do you guys have in Sand? I know you can't grow crops there, so you import most of your food, so I figure you have something to export," Naruto conversed reasonably, after pouring himself some juice.

"Steel, mostly," Kankuro chomped with his mouth full of rolls. "We've got tons of the stuff near the surface, just covered by sand, metals of all kinds actually. Our weapons are good enough most of you guys in Konoha use 'em."

"Really? I didn't know that. Where do you get the carbon from? I know iron comes out of the ground, but..."

"Shh!" Temari hushed them. "Give your teammate some respect. Those are his last words out there, after all."

A vein was pumping on Sasuke's head at not being the center of drama. He chose to ignore the sideshow for now and focus on the real opponent, and the glory it would gain him to defeat him.

Then Naruto had to take even that away by cupping his hands and shouting, "His brother is Itachi Uchiha! Now get on with it, or are you planning to BORE him to death!"

Sasuke's fists were trembling and he nearly broke his staring contest with Gaara to go over and clobber his teammate.

Sakura was not so restrained.

"A lot of it's in the ash we get as a byproduct from running our forges. We do have mines for coal, otherwise we'd be stuck importing wood, and the prices would break us." Kankuro continued, as if he'd not been interrupted, having his dummy trip and immobilize Sakura, muffling her screams as she shouted over the outrage of it all. "Actually, it's hard enough as it is."

"I can imagine," Naruto empathized. "And can I just say how impressed I am that in spite of how closely I'd watched you, I hadn't caught the change of position between master and puppet?"

"Thank you," Kankuro demurred. "Can you pass the butter?"

"Certainly. Oh, yes, I'd forgotten dairy products don't ship well. You must not see many of them in Sand."

"More than you'd think," the puppet master said around a mouthful of buttered potato.

Temari couldn't help herself and broke down laughing helplessly at the sight of it all, this casual conversation over the backdrop of her brother's murder!

Gaara himself was finding this a unique experience, which is why he'd not rushed things further. But no point in waiting any more. He spoke softly to Sasuke, "I will kill your brother, because you will be unable to."

"No! It is my destiny! I MUST defeat Itachi!" Sasuke shouted.

"No," Gaara disagreed. "You are mistaken. You have no destiny. You are already dead."

That was when the Uchiha felt what was going on at last. Sometime during this conversation, sand had crept up over his toes, climbed up his legs and was entering his shorts. At the very moment he noticed it, the pool of sand around his ankles made a lunge and captured the lower half of his body.

He struggled, but he was already tightly bound, his hands trapped beside him as the sand lifted him into the air.

Gaara's voice continued soft. "You will not be reviving your clan, either."

Blood spurted from the trapped Uchiha as Gaara's sand crushed Sasuke's balls.

"YES!" Naruto pumped a fist. "I am DEFINITELY making sure THIS happens again!"

Even his tablemates stared at him oddly after that pronouncement.

Moments later, Sasuke too, had met his demise, his Sharingan useless against Gaara's sand, having already been trapped before he was aware of danger.

"So," Naruto turned back urbanely to his conversation. "What kind of fan is that, Temari? Is it special made? Where do you get them done?"

Later, marching away from the strange luncheon, having given up their scroll and heading toward the exits while the Sand Siblings went on to the tower, Sakura was glaring holes in him, refusing to speak.

"Oh, give it a rest," the boy chided. "I didn't actually bring my dining room set with me today," Naruto admitted. "So instead I transformed a few clones into replicas of them. If Sasuke had won it would have been easy to detain or give the others crippling injuries, since they were already, literally, in my laps at the time I'd be revealing my trap.