"Don't you dare look down on us," Ginko said and offered Naru a confident grin. "So far our special technique goes undefeated."
"That's right," Kinko piped up. "No one has ever survived our Dual Darts."
Somewhat amused, Naru arched an eyebrow. "'Dual Darts'?" she repeated. "Isn't the name kinda... revealing?"
"So you might think." Ginko's grin became devious as he reached inside his vest. "But let us see how well you can anticipate it based on the name."
He pulled out a handful of large, star-shaped shurikens. Naru's eyes narrowed as she watched him casually toss them over to his brother, constantly withdrawing more and more from inside his clothes.
"Sasuke," Naru mumbled without taking her eyes off the enemy. "I think you might wanna back up a bit."
Sasuke nodded and mumbled, "Be careful." before setting a good distance between him and the twins.
"You should be more worried about yourselves," Kinko cackled and started juggling with the shurikens. "Or else you might be hit!"
Timed with the last word, he aimed a shuriken at Kurama's right leg. Kurama dodged in with ease, simply taking a step to the side. "Yer gonna have ta do better than that," he jingled.
"Oh, I wouldn't taunt him," Ginko sneered. He had finally stopped handing away his shurikens. Both twins now stood with an impressive amount of knives in their arms, so much so it would become hard for them to move at all. "He's got quite the temper, my brother."
"As do you, brother," Kinko chimed in. "Would you do the honors?"
"Absolutely."
With that, Ginko bent all the way down to the ground before jumping, the pile of shurikens in his arms wobbling threateningly. He kept leaping from rock to rock, finally settling high above Naru.
"Your turn, Kinko," he called, and his twin performed the same moves to get to the same height as him.
"I don't think this bodes well for us," Naru mumbled as she crouched down a little. "Speed is our greatest asset here."
"Aw, don't start worryin', cap'n," Kurama smirked. "We're still only dealin' with small fry, right?"
Naru chuckled. "Wasn't it you who said never to underestimate your enemy? Even when there is nothing to estimate?"
"Can't believe ya remember stuff like that." Kurama rolled his shoulders. "Let's just see what these insects got ta offer, yeah?"
"Yeah." Naru inhaled deeply and straightened her back. "Let's see what you got," she called up to the twins.
Even from so far, she could spot the small twitch of anger in Ginko's left eyebrow. "Alright then, brother," he said, his voice dangerously smooth. "On the count of three?"
"Yes, brother. On one..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
With the exact same speed and the exact same smiles on their faces, they began throwing shuriken after shuriken down at the cramped space where Naru and Kurama were standing. Their aim was far from perfection, but the force of their throws made it seem like the daggers were shot out of a cannon.
"What happened to all your confidence, huh?" Ginko laughed and sent two shurikens flying at each of Kurama's arms.
"This can't be their technique," Naru said as she bent back to avoid getting her nose pierced by a knife. "They're just randomly throwing these things..."
"When they run out of things ta throw, we can kill 'em easily." Kurama's cheerful voice made Naru sigh.
"Do you ever take things seriously?" she muttered and tried to set down her foot without stepping on a shuriken. "Wait a second..." A crease appeared on her forehead and she took her eyes off the enemy for a second to observe her surroundings.
"Seems like you finally noticed!"
Naru cursed as she realized every inch of the ground, apart from the small pieces of ground she and Kurama were standing on, were covered in long spikes. Even the mountain walls had become impaled, leaving no safe place to land.
"The dance floor of darts!" Kinko sang and bounced up and down in excitement.
"And here comes the big question." Naru turned her attention back to the twins, who were holding two shurikens each. "Would you rather have us impale you?" Ginko said.
"Or will you jump out of the way, and land on them yourselves?" Kinko finished.
Naru was too concentrated to answer, and that seemed to entertain the twins. "Look, the little kid's scared stiff!" Ginko said and laughed. "Shall we end his life quickly, brother?"
"Don't count me out just yet," Naru said before Kinko could answer. "Come on, hit me with your best shot!"
Identical sneers appeared on the twins' faces, and they gave no warning as they fired their daggers.
"Jump!" Naru yelled, and they both broke away from the ground just in time to avoid being impaled.
"Look, look, brother!" Kinko called. "They're gonna kill themselves!"
"Hope ya got a plan, sweetheart," Kurama hummed as gravity started pulling them down again.
"Land on my back, and don't miss," Naru said.
"... Ya sure?"
"On my back," Naru repeated snappishly. "My claws will take most of the damage."
Fur sprouted out of skin, her teeth grew and her hands morphed into heavily armed paws. She could hear the twins shout something, but she was too focused to hear. Her transformation was completed half a second before she landed, and she quickly extended her claws as far as possible.
Pain shot through her arms and legs, but she didn't pay it any attention. A second later, Kurama landed on her furry back, and she sank a little further down the shurikens. "Hold onto something," she snarled and crouched down a little. "You take them out."
"Aye, cap'n," Kurama said and grabbed a handful of her fur.
With a loud roar, Naru leaped off the ground. She could feel the wounds sting, but the sight of Ginko and Kinko's shocked faces made the pain seem lesser. "Go, Kurama," she growled as they reached the same height as the twins.
She felt Kurama stand up straight on her shoulder blades. She grinned as she knew exactly what was coming.
"For the cap'n's hands," Kurama declared and jumped off of Naru's back. "Fox Dance."
Naru didn't even need to watch to know the match was over. With the twins' cries in her ears, she focused her attention on the ground again, and was surprised to see Sasuke using one of his knives to clear a nice piece of ground for her to land on.
Sasuke backed away as far as he could and watched, wide-eyed, as Naru landed gracefully on all four. "You've eaten a Devil's Fruit?" he asked.
"No," Naru said sarcastically. "No, I just always get all hairy in a fight. Some kind of condition, I'm sure."
Sasuke looked like he wanted to start an argument, but the sight of her bleeding paws made him crouch down. "Does it hurt?"
"Come on, stop asking for the obvious answers, Sasuke," Naru scoffed and turned around. "Kurama!" she shouted.
"I meant, will you be..."
He didn't finish his sentence, and Naru grinned at his attitude. "Nine lives," she said and morphed back into a human. "This isn't anything big."
"Ya called, cap'n?"
She turned around and saw Kurama standing at the edge of the shurikens. "Yes, I did," she said. "Would you mind clearing away these things?"
"Roger that."
"Next up's the warlock, right?" Naru said confidently. "Ready to take back your bow?"
Sasuke stuck his knife back into his belt with a determined expression. "I'm ready."