"Hey!"
Suddenly, a clear yet languid voice rang out.
A black-haired teen strolled over with his hands in his pockets, gaze locking on Kankuro as he drawled, "Put the kid down and get lost."
Hearing Mamoru's voice, Sakura found her anchor and spun around, beaming. "Mamoru!"
Naruto's face twisted like he was constipated, crushed by a suffocating gloom.
First that spotlight-stealing Sasuke, now the even more infuriating Mamoru—these twins were like clingy ghosts, forever ruining his big moments just to look cool.
"Who the hell are you?" Kankuro narrowed his eyes, sizing up the unusual teen with a cold smirk.
Mamoru lazily pulled one hand from his pocket and pointed. "I'm your daddy."
Kankuro froze, certain he'd misheard. He shot a look at his sister Temari, silently asking if his ears had betrayed him. Instead, he found his sharp-tempered sister blushing, eyes flicking nervously toward the good-looking stranger.
That only stoked Kankuro's irritation. He glared back at Mamoru and growled, "What… did you just say?"
"Deaf, are we?" Mamoru's lips curled in mockery as he repeated, loud and clear, "I said: I'm your daddy."
"Bastard!" Kankuro exploded, but the fury flashed and vanished.
With a cold snort, he dropped Konohamaru with a thud, unslung the bandaged bundle from his back, and slammed it onto the ground.
Eyes fixed on Mamoru, he spoke with eerie calm, storm clouds behind the words. "I hate loud-mouthed brats like you. Don't come crying later."
"Kankuro! You're bringing out Karasu?" Temari snapped, composure cracking. "If this goes sideways, you're on your own!"
Kankuro wasn't listening, he only wanted to teach this punk a lesson.
Konohamaru scrambled behind Mamoru the moment his feet hit the dirt, finally breathing easy.
Seeing his last chance to shine slipping away, Naruto charged forward with a yell. "Don't get cocky! I, the great Uzumaki Naruto, will take you down!"
Mamoru watched the reckless charge, baffled by what Naruto hoped to gain.
Kankuro's expression chilled and his fingers twitched almost imperceptibly at his sides.
Mid-stride, Naruto's foot snagged on something invisible and he face-planted spectacularly.
"W-what just happened?" He mumbled from the dirt.
"That all you've got?" Kankuro sneered. "A Konoha Genin this weak? Pathetic."
"Idiot." Mamoru sighed, glancing at the sprawled Naruto. "There are puppet strings you can't see. Try thinking before you leap."
"Big bro Naruto, you're so lame." Konohamaru piped up from behind Mamoru.
"Damn it." Flushed with shame, Naruto sat up and punched the ground.
"Hey." Mamoru suddenly lifted a hand and pointed ahead.
"Me?" Temari's cheeks reddened further and she tapped her chest, hopeful.
"Nah." Mamoru waved her off like swatting a fly, then jabbed a finger at Kankuro. "I meant that black-clad rat. Yeah, you. What're you staring at?"
Temari's hopeful smile froze and she looked away, disappointed.
"Cut the crap!" Kankuro snarled. "Fight me if you've got the guts!"
"Think you're tough?" Mamoru tilted his head, smirking. "Fighting's pointless without power or backing. So, whose crew are you with?"
"Huh?" Kankuro blinked, thrown by the sudden gangster slang.
He turned to Temari and muttered, "You getting any of that?"
Temari shrugged, then translated, "Not really but basically, he's looking down on you."
Though Konohamaru, cowering behind Mamoru, didn't quite grasp every word, it didn't stop his imagination from running wild.
Clutching Mamoru's hem like a banner of glory, he tilted his face upward, eyes practically spouting stars, voice stammering with excitement. "As expected… the one-and-only… ninja school number one dragon."
"How many times do I have to tell you? Stop using that disgusting nickname, got it?"
A vein throbbed at Mamoru's temple as he dragged Konohamaru from behind, curled a knuckle, and rapped it against the boy's forehead with a dull thud.
"Ow!" Konohamaru clutched his head, tears welling as he protested loudly, "Why not? It's so cool and catchy."
"Pipe down. I said no, so it's no." Mamoru said flatly.
"No way…" Konohamaru went boneless, about to flop to the ground and deploy his ultimate rolling tantrum.
Mamoru snatched the back of Konohamaru's collar in the nick of time and stuffed the kid like a parcel into Sakura's arms. "Sakura, shut him up."
Konohamaru felt the world spin and the next second, his face slammed into a 'steel plate'.
Dazed, he looked up and met Sakura's blazing eyes, silently promising murder if he made another peep.
One glare and it was as if someone had seized Konohamaru by the throat—all sound died in his throat, only his wide eyes blinking in terror.
Silence finally returned.
"Whatever…" Mamoru rubbed his brow, the mood he'd built was gone.
He turned to the uninvited pair, irritation plain in his voice. "I don't care which backwater you ninjas crawled out of. In Konoha's territory, you play by Konoha's rules, don't get cocky."
"Backwater?" Kankuro grew more bewildered.
Had he fallen so far behind that a mere Konoha Genin's words baffled him?
He frowned, shooting a pleading glance at his sister.
Temari regarded her hopeless little brother, sighed, folded her arms, straightened her back, and announced with Sunagakure pride. "Listen up, we're ninjas from Sunagakure!"
"Sunagakure…" Mamoru snorted, spreading his hands, scorn dripping. "That little hamlet in the desert? Sounds like the sticks to me."
"Why you—! Daring to bad-mouth Sunagakure!" Kankuro exploded, yanking the bandages off Karasu strapped to his back.
The wrappings fell away, revealing the puppet's true form: wild hair, three hollow eyes, four arms under tattered grey cloth, all moving with inhuman, eerie grace, exuding menace.
"What is that thing?!" Sakura gasped.
"Waaah—!" The Konohamaru Corps scattered in terror, scrambling farther away.
Naruto's jaw dropped, staring in dread at the grotesque puppet.
"What repulsive junk, ugly as sin." Mamoru said, face twisted in disgust. "Did you fish that thing out of a trash heap? Ever heard of aesthetics?"
"Hmph! What would you know? My 'Karasu' is a masterpiece of puppet art." Kankuro snarled, fingers twitching.
A grating clack-clack sounded as Karasu's four arms and two legs shifted into a bizarre stance.
"Even if you beg for mercy now, I won't let you off easy!" He threatened coldly.
"That so?" Mamoru's lazy smirk stayed put.
He strolled several casual steps toward Kankuro. His composure before a dangerous foe made the girls' hearts skip, cheeks flushing.
Just as Kankuro's fingers twitched to attack, a pebble smacked the puppet's head with a sharp clack.
A cool, deliberately show-off voice drifted from above. "What do you think you're doing in someone else's village?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Mamoru froze, and clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch, he sniffed me out? Give me a break."
He tilted his head toward the roadside tree. "Thought you'd left. Why crawl back?"
Sasuke lounged on a branch, flicked a glance at Mamoru, then ignored him. Long fingers tossed another pebble, every pose deliberate.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's shriek pierced the sky, her eyes turning to bouncing hearts.
"Huh?" Temari's gaze flicked magnet-like between the boy below and the one in the tree, dizzy, muttering, "Twin… gorgeous twins?"
Snapping out of his daze, Naruto sprang up, pointing at Sasuke, howling, "Damn it! Sasuke! Always stealing the spotlight!"
Sasuke didn't spare him a glance. His eyes pinned Kankuro, voice icy. "Scram."
With that, he closed his fist around the pebble. When he opened it again, fine sand trickled through his fingers like water.
"So cool!"
This expressive scene drew another gasp of admiration, and even Mamoru couldn't help joining in with an involuntary sigh.