16^7

Uzumaki Naruto silently swore as more Sound Ninja darted out of the underbrush to join in on the fray. He grabbed a handful of kunai from his pouch and flung them at the incoming ninja more as a distraction than an actual attack, and was rewarded with a few grunts as several kunai found their mark. He used those precious few seconds to leap back and summon forth four Shadow clones to help with the fight.



A quick glance to his left revealed that Hyuuga Hinata was still holding her own for the time being, spinning in a vicious circle defeating any attack the Sound ninja could throw against her. To his right, Inuzuka Kiba and his ever faithful Akamaru were gracefully darting among enemies with impressive speed. Yamanaka Ino had taken up the role as medic and waited behind until she was needed. Haruno Sakura was nowhere in sight. The Sound ninja had realized Kiba’s speed and had backed off to pummel him with Sound waves.



A particularly accurate blast nailed him in the base of the spine, causing him to drop to his knees where a kick to the face sent him into a world of blackness. Naruto turned to the enemy at hand and right into the fist of a particularly large Sound ninja. Accepting the blow, he managed to barely block the next two out of instinct. This team wasn’t prepared for an ambush of this magnitude. It was just a simple scouting mission, how had it gone so wrong so fast?