Naruto : Wind of Catastrophe

Two ninety-seven, two ninety-eight, two ninety-nine... three hundred.

I breathe a sigh of relief, releasing the swirling mass of chakra all at once and causing the surface of the balloon to bulge dangerously before settling.

That had been a lot harder than the first time, and the second, third, and fourth time I did it after my initial success just to be sure I had it down. It was probably because I was walking this time, and had to account for the little imbalances caused by my footsteps before they actually happened.

After I'd made sure that I had mastered the Shape Transformation exercise Hatake had been taunting me with for two months (and I'd regained control of my limbs), I wasted no time in rounding up Sasuke and Sakura and informing Lee mid-rant that we were heading back to the hotel.

I felt a little bad for the guy considering how enthusiastic he had been in instructing my teammates, but that was easily overwhelmed by my desire to get the next piece of the puzzle that is the Great Breakthrough from Hatake. Also, the sooner the guy got himself a new set of clothes the better.

Gai and Hatake were waiting for us at the hotel, but before I could show off my new skills Gai was hustling us into our rooms and telling us to gather up our things. Apparently they had already found a lead- our targets weren't exactly trying to keep a low profile- and our next destination was to be a large trading village straddling the border between Fire Country and Kusa.

I nearly threw a fit then and there. I had just run nonstop for a full day, not even taking into account the beating I got from Neji, and there was no way in hell I was going to do it again anytime soon. Fortunately for me, Gai seemed to realize how unfair that would be to us. And by us, I mean Team 7. For all I knew this was standard procedure for Neji and Lee.

Regardless, instead of the breakneck pace from yesterday, he'd decided we could afford to make the trip in reasonable bursts. So while we walked on the path to the border, I got my chance to show Hatake my breakthrough.

I look up at him, grinning. "So how was that? See any ripples?"

"Not a one," Hatake says, his eye crinkling. He reaches down and ruffles my hair. "Good job!"

I roll my eyes, smacking his hand away. "So what's next? I can do the jutsu now, right? I know the trick," I say, spinning my finger in a little circle.

"Not quite. That exercise was just the first part of what you'll need for the Great Breakthrough," Hatake says, shaking his head. I groan. "Ma, don't be like that. That was the hardest part."

"You mean the part you could have just told me how to do?"

He smiles. "Exactly!"

"So what's the next step?" I ask, resigned to my fate.

"The next step is doing what you did with that balloon, but inside of your throat."

Realization hits me all of a sudden. "So that's why my I kept coughing whenever I tried to use it."

Hatake hums in approval. "Without the proper control your chakra brushes against your throat and disrupts the jutsu. Depending on how far you are into your build up, this might result in a cough or a throat slit from the inside."

"... Oh."

He chuckles. "Don't worry, you're not going to be using the real thing until you can control a loop of chakra at a dead sprint in your sleep. For now I would alternate between slowly working on producing a stable loop of chakra inside your throat, and speeding up the loops you can do in balloons."

"What? Why?" I ask, cocking my head. "How fast does it need to go?"

"If you want to use it for anything but a handy way to deflect shuriken, it'll need to go twice as fast as it was just now," he says. "You're compressing your chakra into an extremely small area, so if you want it to have any sort of impact when you release it you're going to have to spin it just as extremely fast."

I sigh. "Great. Anything else?"

"Just one thing. A hand seal." Hatake promptly claps his hands together, interlocking his fingers in a snake seal. "Once you're ready to perform the jutsu, use this hand seal. It'll take care of the rest."

He ruffles my hair again. "Now get to work, my cute little student. We've got a long walk ahead of us." And with that he walks past me, settling next to Sakura.

"I'll show you a cute little student," I mutter.

The journey passes by uneventfully. It takes the first day of walking and then another week of walking and running in shifts to get there, which is spent training. I get fed up with trying to channel chakra into my throat pretty quick after the first dozen coughing fits, and focus my sole attention on getting my loop in the balloon as fast and controlled as possible. I make a fair bit of progress, but all it does is make me dread replicating the exercise inside my throat even more.

I'm not the only one struggling, at least. Sasuke walks the whole way with a perpetual scowl on his face and a leaf clenched between his pinched fingers, and Sakura keeps her head buried in a scroll that she got from Hatake, oblivious to the world around her.

Team 9 fall into what seems like a practiced routine. Lee and Gai bounce from one ridiculous challenge to another, doing their best to rope Neji and Hatake in periodically, though the two of them refuse to have any of it. I don't even think Neji is doing any training at all until I notice on the third day that his eyes are periodically switching from normal to Byakugan and back.

Some fancy Hyuuga training. I don't bother trying to figure it out.

We arrive at the village late into the night. The place, called Nago, is enormous. It boasts a vast array of establishments just at the entrance of the place, stalls ranging in purpose from food to games to performances. It's easily the second largest village I've ever seen, after Konoha. It's not half Konoha's size, of course, but there isn't much that can stack up to one of the Great Hidden Villages.

While Gai and Hatake discuss our more immediate plans of action, I take a moment to admire the sheer livelihood of the place. There are dozens upon hundreds of people about, bouncing between stalls and stores. The clothing styles of Kusa and Fire Country are both proudly represented in the fray.

There's a definite sense of excitement in the air. A familiar one. I smack Hatake's arm with the back of my hand, grabbing his attention.

"Is there a festival going on here or something?" I ask.

"Yes, actually," Hatake says. "This one is celebrating the end of the Third Great War, if I recall correctly."

"Your infuriatingly hip sensei is correct!" Gai bawls. "It is a festival that our two nations share every year, just as we shared the burden of a war over a decade ago."

"So we've gotta try and find this cultist guy in the middle of a huge festival?" I ask, tone dubious. "Won't that be, uh, hard? We don't even know what they're supposed to look like." Which could make things really difficult depending on just how into it this place gets with the costumes.

"As luck would have it, Gai and I managed to get a description out of our little investigation before we left," Hatake says. "They're dressed, if you can believe it, like cultists. Blue robes and not much else of note. Their leader is supposed to be the same."

"That's it?" Sasuke prods. Hatake shrugs.

"We were told he'd have some headwear as well. Maybe a book. Religious things."

"Sounds like a blast." At least we'd nailed down their location pretty quick. Hell, we might even be able to track them down with enough time to enjoy the festival.

"Indeed, my youthful genin!" Gai agrees, slapping me on the back. Hard.

"We thought we'd split you up into pairs for tomorrow, so you can cover ground faster." Hatake explains, pointing to me and Sakura. "You and Sakura are going to scope out the outskirts of the festival- small restaurants and such. You two," he says, gesturing at Sasuke and Lee, "are going to make sure there's nothing unseemly going on in the residential districts while most of the village is gathered in the business sector for the festival."

"Aw, what about Neji? Doesn't he get a partner?" I ask, jutting my bottom lip out. Neji sneers.

"Due to Neji's bloodline, he's better suited to searching for our target by himself. However, that does not mean his springtime flames will not burn just as bright as yours!" Gai... assures me?

Springtime flames, I mouth silently as Hatake wraps up the briefing.

"Yeah, Neji is going to investigate the festival itself with Gai and me, since it'll be the most difficult to navigate." He hands me, Sasuke, and Neji each a slip of paper with a seal I've never seen before scrawled on its surface. "I'll activate these when it's time to turn in for the night, so when they go off double back to here. Got it?"

"Yes, sensei," Sakura answers dutifully. The first thing she's said in days, it seems like.

Hatake smiles. "Thank you, Sakura," he says, sending a meaningful glance my way, and I dutifully resist the urge to blow him a raspberry.

While Lee drags Sasuke off deeper into the village in search of the residentials and two jonin and Neji melt into the festival, I stay rooted to my spot. Sakura doesn't move either, glancing at me for cues. I scratch at the back of my neck. The festival is right there, so...

"See 'em?" I ask, glancing around. She giggles. "Well, it is technically our area. Let's just follow the fun, I guess." And maintain a healthy, professional distance from the fun, of course. Wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.

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