Trouble in the Sand 2! the Return of the White Snake!

For disclaimer, please refer to the prelude
Long? Why, yes it is...
~~~~~ Trouble in the Sand 2! The Return of the White Snake! ~~~~~

~~~Chapter 1
It had been about three years since that incident in the Sand village… and gloom and darkness reigned supreme over the land. With the third hokage dead, and Sasuke on the run from Kimimaro after a horrible defeat, there was nothing in the way of lord Orochimaru from carrying out his deeds.
Naruto sat outside his apartment in Konoha in the pounding rain, still in a dark lifelessness that started when Kakashi and Sakura had died. He wore his drenched orange jumpsuit, and blackness shadowed his eyes. His emotionless face stared down at the two Konoha headbands lying in the mud; Kakashi’s and Sakura’s.
“Why had I been so worthless!?” He cried out.
“What’s wrong with you?” Asked a sweet voice hanged its head down in front of him.
“I’m Rutsu Yoshinoto, what’s your name?” Asked the girl.
She had brown-gold hair, tied in a ponytail, with bangs just over her eyes; she was wearing a black shirt and pants, with blue boots, gloves on her hands, and her Konoha headband wrapped securely on her arm. She was also wearing several scrolls on her back and around her waist.
When Naruto just sat there without a word, she punched him upside the head and yelled, “Why are you so rude!”
At that moment, Naruto slowly looked up, and he swore he could see a little of Sakura in that girl. His spirits finally brightened a little.
“I’m… Naruto…” He muttered slowly.
“That’s more like it! Now then, how about you come with me to the hokage’s mansion, she wants to see you… I think…”
So she grabbed Naruto by the arm, and, flinging him into the air easily, she pulled him to the hokage at top speed, mud flying up behind them.

Once they arrived, they burst straight through the door. The second Rutsu let go of Naruto, he flopped onto the floor, to dizzy to stand.
The hokage, Lady Tsunade, simply looked up over her desk at Naruto, with an annoyed look in her eyes.
“Ok… ignoring Naruto’s disposition, I’d like to explain why I asked for you to come here,” she began, “as you probably know, Konoha is the last village that is not under the control of Orochimaru. So, I have gathered the strongest refugee ninja from the streets of Konoha, in fact, I have already briefed them. I think they are getting ready in anyway possible. Naruto! I want you to lead them on a mission.”
Naruto quickly sat up at the thought of a mission after all this time, let alone leading one.
“Your mission is to seek out other refugee ninja out there, that also includes Sasuke and team Hebi. After you recruit them, you will all go for Orochimaru, and stop his tyranny. Some Konoha ninja teams have already been sent on this mission; Hinata, Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Neji were all sent out. Sadly, they have all bee captured. I would send the Jounin and Anbu out, but they are to busy caring for the refugees and are needed here.”
“Hinata…” Muttered Naruto; she had been the only one trying to help him in those three lonely years.
Then, Naruto noticed a man standing in the corner, “Hey, who’s that?” he asked.
“I’m a refugee from the Sand village, Hiruma Akuno,” said the boy, walking out of the shadows, swirling a cane on his wrist.
The boy was wearing black clothing and a bamboo hat, he had light blue eyes and curly black hair.
“What’s the cane for?” Asked Naruto, as rude as ever.
The boy swiftly disappeared and reappeared right on the other side of the room. A flower sitting in a vase on Tsunade’s desk suddenly fell to pieces.
“That,” he replied smoothly.
Tsunade jumped up, and gave him a swift uppercut to the face, “THOSE WERE A GIFT!!!” she screamed in blind fury.
Hiruma crashed through the wall, and his nose bled badly.
“Your mission starts the day after tomorrow, I suggest you go and meet your new team mates, now, GET OUT!” Tsunade menaced, an evil aura began to show up around her.
The three shinobi shrank into there shoes and ran for their lives…
~~~Chapter 2
The three shinobi walked down the muddy street. The clouds had cleared and the rays of sunlight were shining down like hope for a new beginning.
“I wonder what the guys that are coming with us are like,’ said Rutsu.
The group was coming up on the exit of Konoha, where a gang of three shinobi was waiting. There was a boy with gray hair to the bottom of his face, a scarlet dot on his head, and a brown cloak going to his knees over his bare chest and black pants. The other newcomer was another boy wearing a blue vest and white pants, with short and spiky blue hair.
“I’m Kamizo Hikary and that’s Komacki Kaguya,” the blue-haired boy said, pointing at himself and then towards the grey haired one.
In the middle was a familiar face… Gaara. But Naruto ignored seeing Gaara for the first time in so long, and rushed up to Komacki, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him against the wall.
“Ka…GU…ya!!” Naruto yelled, his eyes begin to shed tears.
“Humph…” muttered Komacki, his rib emerging from his chest, pushing Naruto away., “I’m not who you think I am…”
“Naruto, stop! That isn’t Kekon or Kimimaro,” said Gaara trying to stop him.
“Huh… oh…” sighed Naruto, settling down.
Once they were all well acquainted, they packed all their bags and left into the forest. Their first destination was to be the Mist villages, where Neji, Kiba, and some powerful shinobi were said to have been captured. This was the best lead they had, and, even if it was to be a trap, they had to take that risk!
“We should be upon the Mist in about two days,” stated Gaara, after explaining the layout of the village.
“Do we know what we’re going to encounter on the way there?” Asked Komacki.
“Not really.”
Komacki and Gaara obviously got along. The whole time, Rutsu was following right behind Gaara, her eyes fixed on him.
“What is it?” Gaara asked, a little embarrassed.
“Ummm… nothing,” Rutsu answered shyly.
The two of them blushed a little.
“Hey Naruto,” Hiruma whispered in Naruto’s ear, “I think those two have the hots for each other!”
The two boys started chuckling and Gaara just blushed more, but didn’t lose the serious expression on his face. Rutsu, on the other hand, puffed up her cheeked and blushed a little more, but she had an annoyed face. She bonked the two jokesters’ heads together, knocking them both to the ground.
Naruto and Hiruma stood up shakily, barely able to keep up with the group. Everyone began to laugh, and even Gaara chuckled a little.

The journey seemed to be going well, so they decided to set up camp. But, there was someone watching them from the trees. A dark figure in the shadows of the camp fire sat in trees wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. The man smirked as the shinobi drifted off to sleep, and began to develop his plan to take them down.
It seemed that Akatsuki had not completely disbanded 1 year before now… I guess some of them still work together as rogues of the forest.
~~~Chapter 3
The blue shark-like man in the black cloak sat on the tree in wait.
In the morning, once they had all rose from dreams and nightmares, they packed up and continued their long journey. Little did they know, the Akatsuki Rogue, Kisame, was right on their tail, ready to strike.
“The Mist village should be within sight in just about two hours,” said Kamizo confidently.
“Awesome, we can rescue Kiba and Neji!” Yelled Naruto, his spirits finally renewed to the rank of Konoha’s #1 Hyper Active Knucklehead!
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you continue,” stated a voice that seemed to stumble down from the trees.
Kisame jumped down, his sword already going down to shave off Rutsu’s head. But Gaara’s sand blocked it just in time. Kisame jumped back, his Samehada at the ready.
“A shaving sword huh,” said Hiruma, striding toward him swinging his sword on his wrist as usual, with a confident gleam in his eye, “your mine!”
“Sure, I only need to kill one of you, the others will get you later,” replied Kisame.
“Unlikely…” said Hiruma, flinging his bamboo hat aside, now surprisingly serious., “Go guys, I’ll catch up later.”
With a slight nod, the rest of the gang jumped into the trees, rushing towards their goal once more. Hiruma pulled his sword out of his cane, and drooped the sheath on the floor. He squatted down close to the ground, and both he and Kisame suddenly disappeared, the swords play had begun.
Swords clashed rapidly, the two fighters moving quickly on the battle field.
“Wind blade!” Yelled Hiruma, sending a blast of wind straight from the tip of his sword.
Kisame spat up water fast, launching him into the air, swiftly dodging the attack. Kisame then came down towards him, getting ready to shave through Hiruma’s skin. He hit successfully, and as he pulled back Samehada, blood was spilt from Hiruma’s left shoulder and into the ground.
“AUGH!” Hiruma yelled in pain.
“How’s that?’
“Not bad, but watch this!”
Hiruma performed a long series of hand signs as Kisame watched curiously. When he finished, wind gathered itself around his wound and became his skin, but it was still clear.
“I can replace any part of my body with wind, now matter what it is, as long as I’m alive.”
“So all I have to do is not let you use that jutsu eh?”
Kisame rushed at, slashing at him wildly. But, he could not hit Hiruma; he dodged expertly, not getting hit once. Hiruma’s blade came down across Kisame’s chest, giving him a huge cut.
“Won’t stop me like that,” Kisame muttered, but admittedly in pain.
When he faked a fall to the ground, Kisame took Samehada and shaved Hiruma’s legs. Hiruma fell to the ground.
“And now all I have to do is not let you do that jutsu of yours.”
But just then, Hiruma cut off Kisame’s legs. Kisame just smirked, and a huge amount of water began to gush from his mouth. Soon, the whole clearing was flooded.
“Chakra sharks,” Kisame muttered.
Eerie glowing sharks appeared in the water and went after Hiruma, who just floated there, like a sitting duck…

~~~Chapter 4
Hiruma just floating in the pool of water created by Kisame. Chakra sharks were rushing towards him to devour what was left of him.
“NOT YET!” He yelled, forming a single hand sign, “HAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”
Wind rushed straight into the water wrapped itself around him, repelling the chakra sharks. All of his injuries healed instantly, and his chakra became visible, lashing out in all directions.
“This is over, Kisame Hoshigaki!”
“Oh, what’s this?”
The water began to go every, Kisame’s jutsu was broken, and wind was flowing quickly in all directions.
“Hurricane… slash,” mutter Hiruma.
He began to swing is sword arm like a buzz saw, and it got quicker, until a cyclone extended into the forest. He slashed in Kisame’s direction, and the cyclone turned into a wind, going faster than a hurricane. Kisame’s flesh was literally ripped from his body, and he was crushed by the ultimate gust.

Hiruma’s chakra powered down.
“Whew! That was pretty tough,” he said.
He rushed into the woods after his friends, leaving Kisame’s body torn to shreds against a blood-covered tree.

“HEY!” Yelled Hiruma to his friends that were waiting for him.
“Hiruma! You’re alive!” Naruto and Kamizo yelled.
“We’re less than a mile out of the Mist village,” Gaara informed.
They began to dash through the trees, and the air begun to become heavy with mist, making visibility about 50%. Swords clashing could be heard in the distance. Three girls could be seen fighting a tall pale man, whose lower face was rapped in bandages.
When the man noticed the group of shinobi, he decided to retreat for now, but he would be back. The three girls turned around and introduced themselves as the refugees of the mist.
“I’m Kisara Momochi, this is Sen Remo and Brandi Arthtic,” Said the girl with long braided blue hair and sea green bangs.
Kisara was wearing a black choker with a small compass on it, a maroon short sleeved short dress, a pink belt and matching pouch with her sword on it, metal plated gloves with the mist symbol on it, black closed-toe shoes, and she had a tear drop scar under her choker.
Sen Remo had curly mid back length hair, Orange with black highlights, that was wild and unruly, jade green eyes, and she also had on a choker. Her shirt was an orange wrap around sleeveless shirt, with a large yellow ribbon around her middle, tying into a large bow in the back. She wore short black shorts, and no shoes.
Brandi Arthtic had black hair in a ponytail. It reached her lower back, she had silver eyes, a trademark of the Arthtic clan. She also wore the choker. Her shirt was a blue tank top, with black capris. There was a black pouch in her back pocket filled with her rubber bands. Her ninja shoes were black.
“Hi, I’m Naruto, this is Gaara, Kamizo, Rutsu, and Hiruma,” replied Naruto, pointing to his companions in order.
“Welcome to the mist,” said Brandi, “We escaped Orochimaru’s goons, but these guys named Kiba and Neji were able to go with us.”
“We’ve got to save them, too!” Blurted out Kamizo.
“We know, we’ve been trying, and we need your help,” responded Sen.
And so the seven shinobi, new friends and all, rushed into the Mist village. Little did they, the leader of Orochimaru’s base in the Mist was a man called a demon, one of the seven swordsmen revived by Orochimaru… Zabuza Momochi, and his assistant, Haku…

~~~Chapter 5
The group of seven walked through the mist, following the directions of the three new female members. Ruins of buildings destroyed by Orochimaru’s thugs were scattered around the area; that was all that was all that was left of the Mist village. Kisara shed a tear in regret for her lost home.
“What’s wrong?” Asked Rutsu kindly.
“It’s just that this all that is left of my home, and we all fought so hard to defend it, but my father, whom was thought to be dead, and my friend, also thought to be dead, killed most of us…”
“That’s horrible…” replied Naruto.
The group continued to search the ruined village.
“Only a little further…” muttered Kisara.
The group came upon a wall with the Sound’s symbol painted on it. They all began to walk around trying to find the entrance into the fortress. The door was locked on the other side of the border.
“I know the way in; we need to stay hidden once we’re in,” explained Sen quietly.
She began to search along the eroded wall until she came upon a stone that looked slightly bigger than the others. Sen pushed the stone in, and the wall sank into the ground just enough for a person to fit through.
Once in, they stayed close to the walls and in the shadows to keep from being spotted. But it was all in vain.
The second a sound shinobi noticed one of them, an entire hoard of about thirty to forty ninja attacked. Sand began to steadily flow from the large gourd on Gaara’s back, and Rutsu got into a fighting stance.
“We’ll take over here, go!” commanded Gaara.
The sand now surrounding Gaara started to torrid over the sound ninja, who were crushed under the pressure, or at least half of them were.
The other went onwards into the ruins that were so badly rebuilt.
Rutsu was dashing through the sound ninja’s ranks, burying them in ruble or burning them with fire. At the same time, Gaara had a ring of sand dancing around him; the same lashed out, stabbing through the sound shinobi.
“Fun isn’t it?” Rutsu joked.
“Heh, I guess,” replied Gaara.
With this, their relationship grew.

The others had come to a large entrance that was covered by a ragged purple drape, and, once they took out the two guards at the entrance, they quietly entered the structure.
At the end of the hallway, they came to a large lit room, and they heard Haku and Zabuza talking with Orochimaru.
“So, you want us to kill the intruders?” Asked Zabuza.
“Precisely,” answered Orochimaru.
With that, Orochimaru disappeared, leaving Zabuza and Haku to deal with the refugee heroes and heroine.
‘He’s mine’… Thought Kisara…

~~~Chapter 6
‘He’s mine…’ thought Kisara.
“Haku, it seems we have visitors.”
Everyone was scared as hell when they found out that Zabuza already knew they were there. Kisara rushed into the room, with her sword at ready, while Haku stepped out. As he did, the wall of the ruin began to freeze over, and you see your own reflection in it all.
“Crystal ice ruins…” muttered Haku, shifting into the ice itself.
Inside the room, Kisara and Zabuza’s sword clashed rapidly, ringing through the halls.
“Give it up,” demanded Zabuza, “you know that you can’t beat me when you’re away from water!”
Even though she was at an obvious disadvantage, Kisara continued to fight. She almost got a hit in, but before she could, Zabuza rammed her in the side of the head with the dull side of his sword. Kisara did fall to the ground, but got back up, determined to defeat her father.
“Why did you abandon me!” She sobbed, as their blades clashed once more.
“Because you were always so weak!”
He pushed her up against the wall, his sword almost at her neck. Then, Kisara noticed something; she jumped up and over Zabuza, who just stared at her, confused as she ran for the restroom.
She turned on everything that could produce water. It all gushed from the bathroom, covering the room. Kisara performed a series of complicated hand signs, and a crowd of water clones sprouted out of nothing but water.
“Humph, copycat.”
Zabuza tried to do the same, but all the water had been used by Kisara, and she had now formed several cyclones in the room.

Haku was swiftly jumping from wall to wall as the shinobi tried in vain to catch him. Whenever he saw an opening, he would throw a senbon needle. Naruto, Kamizo, and Brandi were all on the floor, writhing in pain and covered in needles.
Sen had summoned her tiger, Tira, and had halfway transformed into a cat. Komacki had his spine in one hand, and a drill made of bone on the other. The two of dance with cat-like reflexes and natural talent, around the shower of needles.
“This isn’t fun anymore!” Wailed Naruto, rolling around on the floor.
Miracle occurred. Komacki’s spine wrapped around Haku, and Sen was ready to pounce. A furious storm of claws came at Haku, but before it hit…
“Stop!” Hake cried out, beginning to sob. “I never wanted to do this… I just want to live… and help Kisara…”
Everyone just stared in amazement, some angrier than others.
“Than prove it! Help Kisara beat Zabuza!” Komacki replied harshly.
So as Komacki took back his bones and Sen de-transformed, Haku walked slow into the room, which was already icing over.
“What are you doing Haku?” Zabuza demanded.
“What I should of done a longtime ago… SENBON NEEDLE SHOWER!”
Over a million needles must have flown from the ice, and all of the pierced Zabuza, who fell over, paralyzed.
“Are you alright?” Asked Haku, hanging his head over Kisara, who was sitting against the wall breathing heavily…

“Guys! Where are you!” yelled Hiruma, lost in the thick mist.
He wandered aimlessly, until he heard voices. A hunched man with sleeves long than his arms and bandages all over his face could just barely be seen in the distance.
“So, you want me to take this to the village that lies over seas, Kabuto?” Asked the man wrapped in bandages.
“Yes, now go, and do not waste time; the intruders are already here; Dosu!”
Kabuto disappeared, and Dosu ran of down the road, dragging a bag with something moving in it.

Once Zabuza had been defeated, everyone was healed. Then Naruto looked around in the hallway.
“Hey… where’s Hiruma?”

~~~Chapter 3+4=7!!!
Hiruma rushed around trying to find the others (in a circle no less). When he couldn’t find them, he sat down and pulled out manga… but couldn’t read in the mist.
“Why me…” He muttered to himself.
He sat there in wait, and, before long, the others found him. He explained to them that Dosu had something moving in a sack, and that he had left on this ship to one of Orochimaru’s lab on the coast.
“That must’ve been Neji and Kiba!” Exclaimed Naruto.
“Come on, there’s a dock nearby, we can take a ship from there!” Explained Kisara.
The shinobi all dashed towards the bay, where they found an array of boats and ships, all with the sound symbol painted on its side. There was a small motored one that looked just about the right size.
“Hey, what about this one?” Asked Sen.
“Perfect!” Replied Brandi.
But, standing on the deck of the boat, was a girl that seemed to be deep in thought, a spaced out look in here eyes.
“Hey, who are you!” Naruto rushed to her.
The girl spun around and jumped, bonking Naruto on the head, “Oh, are you all right?” Asked the skinny brunette, “I’m Shibo Uirusu.”
The girl was short and pale; she had a scar over her left eye, and a saddened expression as well. She grabbed Naruto by his arm and helped him up.
“By the way… you wouldn’t happen to know the person who raised me, would you?”
“Sorry, no.”
Naruto called for the rest of the group to board the ship, and introductions were in order. Afterwards, Komacki explained their mission and that they needed the ship.
“Sure, you can use it, I was just standing here and sort of… well, spaced-out.”
With that, they all prepared for their journey; checking the gas, motor, rudder, systems. Once they were ready, Kamizo untied the ship from the wooden dock, and off they sped, out of the mist.
As they went along, some of them could sense a weird chakra in the water, but decided to ignore it.

“So, brother… what are we to do to them?”
“Kill them!”
The voices floated in the water, ready to attack the unsuspecting team.

Eventually, the ship rumble out of the mist, and the bay lab could be seen. It sat alone on the beach, black with smoke bellowing from its top.
“I remember this place…” muttered Naruto, “It’s the lab where Orochimaru used to experiment on human DNA being crossed with human DNA.”
The two ninja hidden in the water sat quietly, almost ready to attack…

~~~Chapter 8
The man with long dark green hair swam in the water, with a small sickly boy on his back. The time had come! He held up a spiked sword, and, as cloud had begun to settle in, lightning struck the ocean itself. The boat stopped in its tracks.
He jumped out of the water and landed on the stand-still boat’s deck.
“I am Raiga Kurosuki, and this is Ranmaru,” he said in a booming voice.
His body was covered in bandages, and over that was a black shirt and grey pants. The boy was in a sleeping bag on his back, so he was unseen. He held out his sword, and as lightning struck him, his blade began to electrify.
“I’ve heard of you,” said Brandi, “you’re another rogue of the Seven Swords Men of the Mist!”
“That’s right, now die!”
He brought down his blade, also bringing down a bolt of Lightning came down with it, striking Hiruma to the ground.
“Why… me?” He said, falling to the ground.
“Lightning? I want to fight!” Declared Brandi proudly.
She pulled three rubber bands from her pouch onto her three middle fingers and pulled back with her thumb.
“What’s that gonna, this isn’t play time,” said Kamizo.
But, when she let them fly… d*mn… they flew through the air at high speeds, and slammed right into Raiga’s forehead. Surprisingly, Raiga flew off the ship into the water. Brandi held up two fingers and waved her hand, as everyone’s jaws dropped straight to the floor.
“Go ahead, I’ll catch up,” Said Brandi confidently.
So Haku created an ice mirror over the water, and once everyone but Brandi was on, it began to drift towards the shore.
Brandi jumped into the sky, swiftly pulling out and firing rubber bands at Raiga, who couldn’t stop them, since lightning wouldn’t effect rubber. Worse for him, the rubber bands were on fire!
Raiga tried to keep his clothes from catching fire, but it just wouldn’t stop.
“Time to finish this, GRAND FIRE BALL JUTSU!”
Brandi made a circle out of her index finger and thumb and blew into it. A great ball of fire bellowed from it. Raiga stepped back, stunned.
“And now… RUBBER SHOWER!”
She flung rubber bands into the air, and they all came down onto Raiga. But before they hit, he disappeared; both of her jutsus dwindled down to nothing.
“Wha? Where are you!”
Suddenly, lightning struck her, and she flew against the cabin on the ship. There, where the bolt had struck, stood Raiga, all the flames dowsed.
“Lightning strike armor…” He muttered.
The biggest bolt of lightning struck him, as Brandi watched in amazement. It covered his body, an aura of electric blue sparking about him from head to toe.
He charged at her, both of his spiked swords now at the ready.
“Humph, you think you’re the only one with that kind of ability? Watch this… URRRRAAAAAAAUGH!!!”
She stood, tall and proud, a serious look in her eyes. She jumped into the air… at least, her torso and up did! Her waist had separated, and connecting it was at least a thousand rubber bands. From the air, she grabbed the rail on the other side of the ship, twisting herself rapidly as she flew.
Now up-side-down on the railing, her knee disconnected. She let go of her waist, letting herself spin at an amazing velocity, her shins hurtling in a giant spiral.
“Bye-bye.”
Her ankles and own began to slam into Raiga over and over again. When she finally stop, Raiga had fainted, and fell to the floor. The lightning dispersed, and Brandi threw his dead body over board.
She drove the ship to the island at full speed…

~~~Chapter 9
Brandi drove the boat up to the and slammed it right into the beach. She flew off the ship and into the sand, face down. She popped her out to the sight of the rest of the group snickering.
“Shut, the hell, up…” She muttered angrily.
“Anyway, now that we’re all here, let’s get going, we’re here to save Neji and Kiba!” Declared Kisara.
The gang dashed across the sand, waves splashing against the wind.
“Halt, stop right there!” Declare a voice that seemed to rumble from the sands itself.
A dark red haired man emerged from the sand, grains spilling from his puppet like body, he wore only grey pants and shoes. A long cable with a poison covered kunai on the end extended from where his belly would’ve been. He had blades coming out of his back. A cylinder container was shoved in the left side of his chest.
“I am Sasori,” the floating man sand, “and you die here.”
“ Ugh, I’ve been a little stiff lately,” Kamizo said, stretching his arm, “you guys go ahead, I’ll take care of this guy!”
Naruto nodded, and with that, everyone but Sasori and Kamizo left again for the lab. Kamizo’s chakra began to lash out behind him like peacock feathers, the only strange thing was that it was purple.
“I wonder, why is your chakra purple?”
“Well, you see, I’m actually a survivor of the Star village, we used the power of a meteorite to enhance our chakra to the point that we can physically manipulate it!”
“Interesting, but it will make difference in the end,” Sasori said, raising his up towards Kamizo.
Panels popped up with seals on the inside from his arms, and MILLIONS of hands extended from each one, each of them multiplying again and again. Soon all those hand charging at Kamizo, whose chakra created a shield around him.
“That won’t help you,” Sasori said, a sadistic smile planting itself on his face.
The barrier cracked open, and shattered.
“Wha, but how!”
“Your chakra is too weak.”
“Then I’ll just have to try harder!”
His chakra thickened taking a solid form in the shape of floating crystal shards. Purple shards flew at Sasori, slashing through the wooden hands. But, a white tail with metal balls connecting each segment, and a sharp point at the end, broke all the crystal in pieces, which simply fell to the floor.
Kamizo began to float, charge at Sasori, who fire thousands of poison-tipped needles his way. Kamizo’s chakra formed square shields, and all the needles simply clattered off of them. Though the needles were too weak, Sasori’s blades were not. He charged at Kamizo, slicing him chakra up, which also solidified and fell to the ground.
“Admit defeat, these simple attacks can’t stop me!” Cried Sasori.
Kamizo fell to the ground, as Sasori loomed over him, licking his lips in a sick way…

~~~Chapter 10
“No, no, no, no!” Kamizo screamed in defiance.
His chakra grew brighter and stronger than ever, engulfing the area in a purple glow. He stood shakily, tripping over himself.
“Heh, time for you to die.”
“I think not!” Yelled Sasori, charging downwards once more.
Sasori suddenly stopped. He could feel a strong pressure around him, as the chakra crushed his body.
“That takes care of that.”
“Heh heh heh, HAHAHAH!!!” laughed Sasori from outside the chakra.
He had transferred himself to another puppet that had been lying in wait underneath the sand. He pulled a couple of huge scrolls out and unraveled them on the beach. He performed a few and signs, and, in a puff of smoke, one thousand puppets appeared out of nothingness.
“THIS IS THE END!”
Kamizo simply stood, coughing up blood from the draw back that his ability caused. He looked up, a serious look in his eye.
“I won’t die here, I WILL REBUILD THE STAR CLAN! RRAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”
He charged towards Sasori, blood falling from his mouth to the ground, his chakra glowing brighter than ever! All the puppets did the same towards him, rushing with many various weapons all over their structures.
Chakra cut up puppet after puppet, wood and metal falling to the ground.
“What’s going on? His Chakra levels have increased ten fold!” Yelled Sasori in fright.
Then, the chakra finally reached Sasori, and pierced the container in his chest, and blood began to gush from it. Every single puppet left fell to the ground, Sasori’s body left in pieces…

The rest of the group was waiting outside the lab. They had killed off the few guards standing in wait for them.
“I wonder if Kamizo is ok…” Naruto sighed, his thoughts drifting away.
“Well, Sasori is a puppet master. He’s the one who made the puppets that Kankuro used…” explained Gaara.
Shibo was standing in the sand, spaced out as usual, when Kamizo came stumbling to them.
“Oh my lord! What happened to you?!” Asked Kisara.
“I just over used my ability,” he replied.
“Ah yes, you are from the Star clan aren’t you?” Sen said, healing his wounds.
The injuries weren’t all that deep, so it only took a few minutes to heal them.
“Alright, are we al ready,” asked Gaara.
“I am, as long as I’m by your side!” Cried Rutsu, grabbing his hand lightning fast.
The two of them blushed, and everyone began to snicker… They all walked in with mouthfuls of beach sand…

~~~Chapter 11
The huge steal-plated doors creaked open, as Gaara pushed them open with sand. Huge glass cylinder containers with some kind of mutant in them lined the walls, a green liquid glowing within them. Rusting pipelines and lights covered the ceiling. The hallway was dimly lit only by an eerie green glow.
“These things are disgusting,” snorted Naruto as they all walked deeper into the lab.
Suddenly, the glass began to crack, and the mutated being, stumbled out of them, attacking. Their flailing attempt at battle was unpredictable, not to mention their numbers.
“What are these things!?” Yelled Sen, desperately defending herself.
The weird things moaned sickly, and grabbed Brandi, Kisara, Hiruma, Kamizo, Rutsu, spaced out Shibo, and Naruto.
“Let go of me!” Demanded Kisara, as they all struggled to get free.
Trying in vain, they were dragged away, melting into the floor by the zombie-like monster.
“BRING HER BACK!” Yelled Gaara, sand slamming into the floor rapidly, until he fell to his knees, sobbing.
“We’ll rescue, rescue them all,” said Sen, trying to comfort him.
Gaara stood up, and wiped the tears from his eyes. All that was left of them was Komacki, Sen, and Gaara. The group, now a trio, walked onwards, bravely to rescue their friends.
Sen had already summoned Tira, and Komacki already had a drill of bone over his left fore arm.

Captured, the seven shinobi were thrown into a cell, where Kiba and Neji were also captives.
“Kiba, Neji! You’re all right!” squealed Naruto in delight.
“We’re still captured, idiot,” Neji retorted rudely.
They just sat there, silently waiting to get rescued. Shibo pulled out a deck of playing cards.
“Go fish?”
“Fine…” they all sighed.
“Not me,” declared Hiruma, crawling into the corner to read manga.

Gaara’s sand lashed out angrily, killing off sound ninja, and Sen and Komacki did the same. After killing about twenty of so, the trio continued into the lab, until they came into a large room.
“Ah, I thought there were ten of you…” snarled a man walking out of the door on the opposite side of the room.
Dosu, Zaku, and Kin stepped into the room, smirking confidently. Kin and Zaku wore similar clothes; Zaku and she both had black hair, Zaku’s spiked up while Kin’s flowed down her back.
“If you want to save them, your gonna have to beat us!” Said Zaku confidently, “And we’ve gotten much stronger.”
“Humph, fine,” declared Gaara without any second thoughts…

~~~Chapter 12
The battle had already begun, Zaku was fighting with Komacki, who already had him backed into the corner, Kin was already knocked out in a corner with Sen poking her with a stick, and Dosu’s weapons were ruined by sand.
“That was fast… Retreat!” Yelled Dosu, him and Zaku dragging Kin out of the lab.
“… Pushovers…” muttered Gaara.
Three, maybe that number was small, but they were still strong.
“Hahahah, you really kicked their a**’s!” Yelled a voice from the ceiling.
Looking up, a two-headed man, both heads with grey-ish hair down to the chin, and both wearing a tan uniform from the sound village.
“I guess… we’ll have to kill you!” one head started, and the other finished.
“Who are you?” Asked Komacki.
“Sakon… and Ukon.”
“I’ll do it, the rest of you go,” commanded Komacki confidently.
The others nodded, and dashed onwards into the next hallway. Sakon and Ukon snickered, putting their heads down and dashing at Komacki.
He tried to punch him, but Komacki stepped back to dodge, another hand came out of Sakon’s elbow, it was Ukon’s. Komacki used his rib cage to block it, but was still intrigued by this ability.
“I’m guessing that that body is only one of yours, while the other’s body parts can come out anywhere on it, right?”
“Correct, I own this body, but Ukon is able to fuse with anyone and use his body in anyway he likes, or theirs for that matter.”
“Yes,” hissed Ukon, his head popping out of Komacki’s shoulder.
“So, whatever happens to me happens to you, huh?” In that case…”
Komacki put his right hand behind his head, his left being his bone drill, and he pulled out his spine. Ukon yelped in pain, and Sakon rushed up to him and grabbed Komacki. Once he let go, He split in half, one part Ukon, one part, Sakon, half of both bodies a black armor-like structure. Then it happened.
“Release: Curse Seal level two!” The brothers yelled in unison.
Black markings swallowed their bodies, and enlarged and turned a dark red. They now both looked like demons, with horns on their heads.
“Now you die,” the muttered as one.
The two charged at him, switching places swiftly, licking their lips manically. Komacki jumped up just in time, and fire his finger bones like bullets from his outstretched hand. Little ball shaped bones flew threw the air, but missed Sakon and Ukon.
“Brother, let’s combine again,” requested Ukon.
“I get it,” replied Sakon.
Sakon and Ukon merged together once more, and still had their curse seals active. They jumped after Komacki, who tried to catch them with his spine whip, but missed.
Sakon and Ukon began a barrage of punches and kicks, using both of their body parts. Komacki tried to use his bones to block, but the barrages was too quick. Komacki fell to the ground, struggling to stand and fight.
“It’s over!” Yelled Sakon and Ukon with delight…

~~~Chapter 13
“Wait…” Muttered Komacki, writhing in pain on the floor.
A black pattern expanded all over his body, starting from his bandage covered ankle. A tail with bone segment sticking out of it extended from below his waist. Spiked bones came out of his back and he hunched over. Black circles emerged around his eyes.
“I never knew where that mark on my leg came from, or why it always caused me pain, but now I do!” He boomed, “Orochimaru put it there, and I will kill him for that reason, and I will free my brother!”
He burrowed under ground with his drill, his tail flipped vigorously around behind him.
“This is the move my brother perfected… DANCE OF THE SEEDLING FERN!!!”
Huge bone spike started to emerge from the ground everywhere, stabbing Sakon and Ukon in vital places. Their bodies were torn to pieces, a blood-covered mess on the floor.
Komacki emerged out of the bone closest to the door, and jumped out, and walked forward, and then went into a run to catch up to his friends.

Gaara and Sen sat against the walls, waiting for Komacki, when he finally caught up.
“There you are!” Said Sen with delight.
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking,” replied Komacki, “where’s Haku?”
“Right here!” Haku answered, emerging from a block of crystal ice on the ceiling.
“Where were you,” asked Gaara?
“Gathering information, it seems that our friends are being held in the cells, they should be just below us.”
“Got it,” replied Gaara, his sand busting a hole in the ground.
They all jumped down into the dim room. Next to them when they landed was the cell with the other nine shinobi being held in it.
“Got any twos?” Said Naruto.
After Gaara ripped the cell door off, he rushed in and hugged Rutsu, who looked surprised before she began to blush. Before they left a voice called out to them from a different sell.
A girl with a blue v-neck and denim capris sat there in the dark, she had black hair down to a little below her shoulders.
“Please… take me with you,” she sobbed, “I need to find Sasuke Uchiha, but Orochimaru caught me and locked me in here… my name is Chihiro Uchiha, and my byakugan and sharingan can help you…”
“You,” said Neji bluntly.
“Sasuke? Uchiha?” Asked Naruto, confused.
“Sure, the more the merrier,” said Kisara kindly.

After the group got out of the lab and killed several more sound ninja, Gaara used the sands to destroy the structure, and killed everyone left within it.
“Next we head off this island to the Cloud village in the North,” explained Gaara.
They headed back to the ship, thinking about what they would see in this new area…

~~~Chapter 14
“According to the information I gathered, Hinata and Choji are being held in Orochimaru’s weapons base in the clouds… wait, the clouds?” Haku said with sudden realization.
“But… how do get up there…” Naruto asked, leaning back against the boat’s railing.
“A cannon…” Said Hiruma.
“How do you know?” replied Kamizo bluntly.
“Well, I maybe a refugee from the Sand village, but I was born in raised in the clouds,” he explained proudly, “but the cannon is probably under Orochimaru’s control, seeing as he has something up there…”
Everyone pondered this for the rest of the strip, except for Shibo, who stood in the middle of the deck… spaced out…
“Ah, that’s right,” declared Hiruma, “the cannon is in an abandoned factory in a village on the eastern coast!”
“Finally useful,” muttered Brandi.
“Why me?” Sobbed Hiruma, crouching in a corner.
The group hurriedly went straight along the coast, until is upon a village with a large metal structure. Shadows loomed over it from a thick cloud high above.
“That must be it!” Yelled Naruto with delight.
A wooden dock was built just outside the factory, so they decided to park there. After leaving the ship, they walked toward the building, but it didn’t seem as if Orochimaru had ever been here, let alone anyone for years.
“Let’s just hurry and launch ourselves into the sky,” said Brandi coldly.
As they walked up to the wide-open doors, it truly didn’t seem that Orochimaru had been there. Luckily, the first room they came to was where the cannon boarding was.
Hiruma set the cannon, and once they all had loaded, BOOM! They were like little specks of dirt flying through the air to mainlanders.
Then, catastrophe struck. They were all flung in different directions, landing on the cloud far away from each other.
Hiruma, Gaara, Haku, and Rutsu landed to the far north, Naruto, Komacki, and Kamizo fell to the east, Chihiro, Shibo, Kisara, and Brandi fell to the south, and Sen, all alone, fell to the west.
Not only that, but, on a cloud just off the western main cloud where Sen had fallen, loomed a dark figure, smirking. That figure easily jumped to the main cloud.

A small sound city stood before Naruto, Komacki, and Kamizo, gloomy and black, a factory stood deep within its reaches.
“That must be the weapons base…” Muttered Komacki.

Shibo, Chihiro, Kisara, and Brandi stood before a forest of white fluff. Kisara poked her head through the clouds, and quickly pulled back when she saw the ground many miles below.
“Where are we,” she moaned.

Hiruma, Haku, Gaara, and Rutsu stood before a large, deep blue lake, probably where the cloud rained.
“We should find the others…” sighed Gaara, disappointed.

Sen lay, knocked out, as the dark figure stood over her, a large panther purring next to her…

~~~Chapter 15
“Get up!” Demanded the girl, kicking Sen in the side.
Sen lazily looked up, her eyes widening when she saw the girl standing over. She wore a black wrap around sleeves shirt with a black ribbon around the middle tying into a bow in the back, short black shorts, and no shoes. She had long black hair, and yellow catlike eyes.
“Remember me, sister.”
“Ren…”
Ren Remo kicked Sen across the clouds, who steadily stood up, already changing into her half-cat form, and summoning Tira. In a puff of smoke the tiger appeared, standing upright and proud.
“Still using that worthless tiger?” Asked Ren, stroking the dark black panther besides her, “I don’t believe you know Kuro, do you?”
Without warning, Ren morphed into the fluff, become a black spot on the clouds. Kuro pounced on Tira, who fell on her back, fighting her way up. Then, the worst happened, the storm clouds rolled in.
Thunder and rain poured down, and the darkness loomed over them, making it impossible to see the black spot that was Ren. Suddenly, Ren flew out of the clouds and slashed Sen with cat-like claws. Sen took the hit off guard.
The frenzy began. Ren would fly over under and side-to-side around Sen, who couldn’t where it all was coming from. The two tigers kept on fighting, Tira seemingly winning, but breathing heavy.
With the twentieth gash, Sen fell to the ground, blood covered mess. Ren smirked, and looked to see the two cats. They were both on the ground, knocked out.
“You’re still too weak,” Ren muttered, “you will never kill me.”
“You forget,” Sen answered, coughing up blood, “I was always more skilled in our ability! In fact, the only strength you have is from Orochimaru, right?”
Ren twitched at this comment. She spun around and began to punch, kick, and slash mercilessly. San was pushed into the cloud, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
Ren stood up and muttered, “Stupid,” as she walked away.
“Wait… this isn’t over!”
“Hmmm?”
“CLONING TECHNIQUE: NINE LIFES JUTSU!”
Copies of Sen morphed from Sen’s original body, complete and solid human beings. Nine in total, the Sens smirked, readying their claws.
“Remember this, one of the best techniques from the Remo clan.”
The clans had blood and everything, unlike regular ninja clones that just disappeared, these would only go away if their original chose to do so.
“MASSACRE: CAT CLAWS BARRAGE!” Sen yelled, all of her clones charging at Ren along with her…

~~~Chapter 16
Sen and her clones rushed at Ren, who instantly morphed back into the dark cloud.
“Shadow clones…” She muttered as she disappeared.
Clones of Ren and Ren herself begun to fly out the clouds as Ren had before, slashing the clones of Sen. But, Sen’s power had increased, with catlike senses, she grabbed a Ren clone and stabbed it, making it disappear in a puff of smoke. Sen’s clones did the same, until the real Sen grasped the real Ren.
“This game ends now,” said Sen.
She hesitantly stabbed Ren through the back, almost as if it hurt. A tear dripped from her face.
Suddenly Purple chakra shot into the sky.
“Kamizo!” Sen yelled with delight, dashing in that direction.

Gaara also saw the flare of purple chakra.
“This way, hurry,” he commanded as the rest of his followed him.

Kisara, Chihiro, and Brandi also dashed in that direction, but Shibo had begun a battle with a girl wearing black capris, a very small black shirt, a flowing violet cape, and black shoes. She had sleek black hair tied back in a pony tail, her menacing glare piercing through Shibo.
“So… you still want to continue?” Said the girl, floating in the air.
“You killed my family, Kaoru Kurai,” muttered Shibo, her left arm already blood-covered, blood also dripping from her mouth.
“Only after your mother killed mine!”
Kaoru flew down at Shibo, a streak of darkness following behind her. Shibo jumped up, and snakes emerged and snapped at Kaoru, who dodged with ease.
“If the one who took care of me were here, you would be dead!” Shibo screamed.
“Hahahah, do you really think that?”
Kaoru, grabbed her cape, swinging it around herself, and she disappeared. Cocooned in the cloak, she reappeared behind Shibo, coming out slicing her back.
Shibo fell to the ground, soaked in blood. Kaoru just laughed, her hand in front of her mouth in an insulting and better-than-you way. Shibo struggled to stand up.
“You’re done kid,” laughed Kaoru.
“NO,” she yelled, only her eye whites showing, “you haven’t seen all he taught me yet!”
She looked straight up, she had obviously spaced out again, and she stuck her hand down her throat. As it came out, it was holding the hilt of a sword. All the way out, the blade shined bright in the light, gastric acid dripping from its silver body.
“Acid Grass Blade,” she muttered, getting into fighting position.
“Grass Blade,” that’s impossible… unless…”
Kaoru was then off guard, and Shibo knew it. She jumped from little cloud to another, and slashed at the older women. Her gastro acid flew off the blade, splattering THROUGH the clouds.
Kaoru knew that being hit by that would mean death. She ducked and weaved as Shibo flung more and more acid at her.
“That’s my chance!” Said Kaoru, noticing a blind spot.
She jumped up behind her, stabbing Shibo with a kunai.
But it wasn’t over. Shibo did drop the grass blade, but she hung onto a cloud, while Kaoru fell to the ground, landing perfectly on her feet.
“Time to die.,” muttered Kaoru with obvious killing intent…

~~~Chapter 17
Kaoru leapt up, lunging at Shibo, who dodged by flipping up onto the cloud she hung from.
“Take this… GASTRO CANNON!!!” Shibo yelled out, her final jutsu.
Her mouth opened wide, and her gastric acid spewed out, eating away everything it hit. When it all ended, nothing was left of Kaoru.
“Time to go find the others!” Shibo said, wiping her mouth.

Shibo caught up to the group as they were waited for her outside the weapons base.
“Where were you?” Naruto rudely blurted out.
“Taking care of business,” Shibo stated simply.
Most of them turned green when something dripped off of her mouth onto the floor.
“Um… well… let’s go…” Naruto said, ready to throw-up.
Everyone nodded as they dashed into the open gates of the weapons base courtyard. The path was lined with rusty gears and broken weapons.
As they came upon the open doors, they looked at each other for a split second and stormed in.
“Stop, now!” yelled a woman walking towards them from the end of the corridor.
She wore a black cloak and scrolls with summoning seals on them, and a large scythe on her back. She had black hair with red highlights.
She reached for something in a pouch on her waist and pulled a wiggling blue glowing ball. She greedily swallowed it whole.
“What was that!?” Asked Rutsu.
“A soul… it’s my ability!” She replied.
“Everyone, go, Rutsu and I will handle her!” Gaara demanded.
Naruto nodded, and they all turned into another hallway and ran down it. Sand began to pour out the gourd on Gaara’s back, and Rutsu got into a fighting position.
“My name is Ikuji Shi, and it’s time do die!” The women said, smiling sadistically.
She held her hands, which began to vibrate violently. Suddenly, two lifeless rose from the ground, and fell over. Just after, two souls floated out of the ground behind them and morphed into their chests.
Life infused into them, selves out of the hole in the metal flooring.
“I can revive the dead using the souls I take from people.”
The zombies moaned and began to limp towards Gaara and Rutsu.
“Zombies? Humph…” Muttered Gaara, knocking them down with sand.
Ikuji giggled manically, pulling back the two souls, which began to dance around her.
“There’s more where that came from,” she said, summoning two more zombies from the holes in the ground.
“So… we have to kill you?” Asked Gaara.
Gaara and Rutsu turned to each other and nodded. Then they both disappeared and reappeared behind Ikuji, both of them stabbing her with kunai.
“Heh…” She breathed out, “you think I’m dead?”…

~~~Chapter 18
Ikuji’s body dispersed, a purple soul floating in its place. The ball of light drifting to the floor, and Ikuji’s body reappeared in moments.
“It is purple because of my ability. Also, as long as my soul is still in the world of the living, I can resurrect my own body!” Ikuji shrieked excitedly, “No matter what you do, I won’t die!”
Three more bodies rose from the ground, and were injected with souls. Stumbling over each other, the zombies chased Gaara and Rutsu. Rutsu acted quickly, using a fire jutsu to burn the zombies to a crisp.
“Good work, I’ll take care of the zombies, since I think that I am more suited for taken down hordes, and you go after Ikuji!” Suggested Gaara, and Rutsu nodded with agreement.
Gaara’s sand spread around him, taking down the zombies that were now emerging from the ground in massive numbers. Rutsu jumped after Ikuji, who turned towards her with a gleam in her eye. Ikuji stopped her by placing her palm against her chest.
The horrid part, when she pulled her hand back, a blue ball of light emerged. Rutsu’s soul. Rutsu’s eyes turned white, and her lifeless body fell to the floor.
“RUTSU!” Yelled Gaara in anger.
Sand spikes began to stick out in all directions piercing everything, and even the room began to collapse. Sadly, Ikuji had already fled deeper into the weapons base, and Gaara’s attempts were in vain.
When he calmed down a little, he walked to over to Rutsu’s body and fell on his knees, sobbing. He lifted her body and began to carry her to the others, who had been on their way back since the disappearance of Rutsu’s chakra.

“Wha, what happened?” asked Naruto when he saw Rutsu’s stilled body.
Gaara simply looked down, still slowly shedding tears, and answered, “Her soul… a woman named Ikuji took it… I believe she is still in the base though”
“Then we can reclaim it and save Rutsu!” Kisara said, trying to comfort him.
Gaara nodded and hid Rutsu’s body in a small hole in the wall. It wouldn’t be noticed because it wasn’t putting off anymore chakra.

As the group ran down the halls deeper into the building, all rushing to save Rutsu’s soul.
“We have to hurry, Ikuji could eat the soul at any time!” demanded Gaara.
“But how is that possible?” asked Haku.
“I think it’s here bloodline trait or something; it allows her to take souls, eat them, and even place them in dead bodies to resurrect them,” explained Gaara as quickly as possibly.
The others simply pondered the thought of a power so evil, but only one thought was coursing through Gaara: he was going to save Rutsu…

~~~Chapter 19
They rushed through the halls, deeper and deeper into Orochimaru’s weapons base. The stakes were high, and all were willing to give up anything to save their friends life, especially Gaara. Without warning, the hallway opened into a large room, filled with floating souls.
“Hahahah!” Ikuji laughed, floating in the middle of the remnants of past lives, “You actually came… well then, I’ll be taking the souls of those twelve you brought me!”
A wave of energy emitted from her hand, pulling the souls out of everyone but Gaara. He could only watch in vain as their bodies dropped dead on the floor. Gaara’s fists tightened and he shed more tears. He looked up at Ikuji, smugly floating, and his sadness was replaced with full blown rage and insanity
“You… you… I’LL TAKE BACK THEIR SOULS, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!” He yelled out in rage.
“Come and get me!” She replied, a large amount of souls dancing around her, “But I suggest you don’t destroy any of these souls, you could kill one of them!”
Gaara cringed at the thought of killing his own friends. But, no matter what, he would fail. His head fell, dangling at his shoulders. His arms came up over his head and then clapped together in front of him.
Sand from his gourd lunged at Ikuji, who swiftly dodged every hit. Ikuji flew downwards at Gaara, prepared to attack, a sadistic smile coursing across her face. She threw several souls at him, all of which had kunai circling them.
“Heh, is that the best you’ve got?” Remarked Gaara as the sand flung them away without harming them.
“Not at all.”
Suddenly, she grabbed Gaara’s shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her mouth gaped open, a faint glow coming from her throat.
“SOUL CANNON!”
A beam of blue light streamed from her mouth, enveloping Gaara. He flew into the wall; he shakily stood. Bits of sand fell from his head, and cracks were now obviously there. His sand armor was breaking.
“Sand… coffin,” he muttered.
Sand flew from behind him and grabbed hold of Ikuji, swallowing and crushing her. But when the sand withdrew, she emerged from a ball of blue light.
“I can return to the form of my soul at will, that kind of attack won’t work on me!”
She jumped back, and souls began to swarm to her fists.
“Soul gloves.”
The souls instantly formed to huge fists over hers. She jumped at Gaara, flinging punches in his direction. The sand just couldn’t block it, the punches got to him, and more of his sand armor fell away.
Ikuji punched him right into the corner, and fell to the floor, covered in blood and sand.
He struggled to pull up his broken and tattered body, shaking and falling back to the floor each time. Ikuji stood over him, smirking.
“This is over,” she said, stomping on his bruised head, “shall I take your soul now?”
“It won’t end like this…” Gaara muttered, lifting her foot off his head, “This is for my friends, and I won’t loose!”
A ball of sand covered him, hardening to the point of ultimate defense.
“Get out here!” Ikuji yelled, trying to punch her way into the sand.
Gaara sat inside, muttering some sort of chant, sand beginning to cover his arm. In only a moment, tan sand hardened into a large arm over his, temples pulsing along it...

~~~Chapter 20
The arm of sand flew right out of the sand sphere and knocked Ikuji into the wall. Gaara stood, a tan sand hand with pulsing blue veins coursing along it covered his right arm.
“Arm of Shukaku,” he said.
“Heh, won’t stop me!”
“We’ll see,” Gaara said, disappearing and reappearing behind her.
He smacked her with his empowered arm, sending her spiraling downwards.
She slammed into the ground. She stood shakily, and raised her arms up in front of her, and thousands of souls gathered on her body. Suddenly, they all smoothed out into the shape of her body. She bent back and sighed, before she turned into tiny spheres. All the balls flew at Gaara, dancing as they went.
Gaara was surrounded. The tiny blue orbs began to tackle Gaara one by one, all over his body. Gaara coughed up blood, and his Shukaku arm fell to pieces, landing on the floor as a pile of sand.
“How do you like that?” Asked Ikuji’s voice, which seemed to come from every little speck of light around him.
The barrage came to a stop, and Ikuji’s body shape reformed, but still glowed like the souls. Gaara got up, stumbling over himself. He took in a heavy breath, and his gourd turned to sand and joined with the rest of his sand.
Gaara crossed his hands and his temples began to pulse violently. Out of nowhere, sand started to flow in from every crack or hallway connected to the room. But the sand just fell to the floor.
“What? Is that all?”
“Not… quite…”
The sand began to creep up walls. It dripped like rain from the ceiling. Soon enough, the floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered by a layer of sand.
“Sand cage!”
Hands lashed out from every angle at Ikuji, grabbing at anything they could get to. She quickly dispersed into particles again, but Gaara was ready.
Sand incased every last ball, and crushed them, but one alone escaped. From that one speck, Ikuji reformed and turned back to normal.
“Barely… escaped,” Ikuji managed to say through heavy breathing.
“More where that came from!”
“Bring it.”
Once more, the glowing blue armor enveloped her, but this time, it was sparking. She slowly floated into the air, her arms and legs outstretched.
“SOUL CHARGE!”
A large blue shockwave emitted from her, incasing everything. All of the sand was vaporized, except for what receded into Gaara rebuilt gourd. Gaara only live because the sand shielded him.
“Not done yet,” muttered Gaara.
“Good, this is the most fun I’ve had for a long time!” Remarked Ikuji, a sadistic smile still housing on her face…

~~~Chapter 21
“Time to die!” Ikuji declared, gathering souls at her palms as she charged at Gaara.
“Not yet!”
When Ikuji tried to put her hand to his chest, he did a back flip, kicking her hand up. Upside down, he put his arms forward and sand shot out from behind him. Ikuji jumped back just in time.
She rushed back in, turning the souls on her palms into her soul fists. Swinging at Gaara, she pushed him back. To stop her, he created to squares of sand and used them to block.
When he saw an opening, he kicked her in the chin and then wrapped her in sand.
“Sand coffin!”
Ikuji jumped out just in time and scored a punch on Gaara, who went spiraling into the wall. The sand caught him, though. Gaara jumped onto the floor at her feet; spinning on the floor, he kicked her down into the puddle of sand below.
A hand made of sand came up, grasping her tightly, and flung her into the wall. She stood, spitting out blood. Soul fists ready, she charged at Gaara, flinging punch after punch at him. He easily blocked them with sand.
“Time to end this,” declared Gaara, jumping back.
Suddenly, Ikuji had several balls of sand circling her. Instantly, spikes shot out, stabbing her. She fell to the ground. Souls flowed from her mouth and back into the twelve bodies lying on the floor. The group shakily stood.
“Ugh, what happened?” Asked Kiba, as Akamaru barked from inside his jacket.
“Doesn’t matter, follow that soul!” Demanded Gaara, pointing at a soul floating in the direction a Rutsu.

After the group had left, Ikuji shakily stood.
“Think I’m dead, huh?” She said to herself, swallowing a soul.
Her wounds instantly healed, not a single drop more of blood came from her. Not even a scar was left.

Gaara hugged Rutsu as she awoke from what seemed like an endless sleep.
“Never again,” Gaara muttered, sobbing.
Everyone just smiled, grateful for what Gaara had done.
Rutsu then kissed Gaara on the fore head.
Gaara fell over… stone cold and statue still. Everyone fell over laughing…

~~~Chapter 22
They searched for Hinata and Choji throughout the base. When they found them, the worst had happened. Choji was dead.
Hinata, thankfully, was ok.
“They killed him because he ate all their food…” said Hinata.
“Sad… but understandable…” muttered Neji, glaring at the tub of lard sitting in the corner.
“Nobody really ever liked him anyway, let’s get moving!” Remarked Naruto.
They left the boys body, covered in rats, sitting in the corner of that cell.
“So… Unless we’re all going suicidal, how do we get down?” Asked Kamizo.
“The Sky Train,” muttered Hinata, “it’s what they brought Choji and me here with.”
“Is that it?” Asked Naruto, pointing at a large station.
There stood a large steam train. Painted a bright red and lined with black. The green and white cars polished to perfection; it all gleamed in the sun’s light.
The tracks looped and swirled down to the ground. The team knew it would make them all hurl… and so they pit Shibo in the back of the train from fear of acid.
Once they were all on, the train started on its own. Apparently, as Hinata explained, it was machine controlled through wires on the underside of the tracks.
And down they went.
“I’M GONNA HURL!” Yelled Naruto.
“ME TOO!” Replied Kamizo.
“We all are!” explained Kisara, as everyone turned green.
All the windows were shoved open and multi-colored chunks spewed from them all.

“Oh my lord! It’s the end of the world!” Yelled a farmer watching from earth, running around flailing and screaming.

By the time they got to earth, the train was now brown and green… not to mention that half of the car where Shibo sat was gone. They tumbled out of the train, falling over each other into the woods.
When they came back, they all looked refreshed, and the area reeked like a dead skunk.
When Hinata mentioned that Shikamaru and Tenten were in the Sand village and they should head there next, Gaara hesitated in thought.
He knew what had happened… he hadn’t been able to defend his home from Orochimaru, and now it was destroyed, a sound ninja training facility on top of its ruins. Gaara’s fists clenched tighter than ever, and Rutsu had to hug him to get him to go any further… a really, really big and sexy hug…

~~~Chapter 23
Of course, the sand village was very far away, and they had to make several stops along the way. Also, Orochimaru’s largest amount of ninjas is based there, so it wouldn’t have been wise to go there at this point.
The boat landed on the shores of the Country of Earth. A long path led up into the mountains, where Orochimaru’s Prison cell was based. Gaara in the lead, they ran up the path, and, once at the tip top, the huge prison block building could be seen. Larger than the mountains themselves, sludge flowed around, and the dark aura of it and the swirling black in the sky flowed eerily.
“Byakugan!” Said Hinata and Neji, checking the building.
“Wait… what? There’s some kind of barrier around it, we can’t see into it,” stated Neji, turning off his byakugan, as Hinata did the same.
“Then let’s get a move on!” Demanded Naruto impatiently.
Their shoes pounded on the floor, as they dashed over the bridge that crossed the sickly green sludge.
“What is that?” Asked Shibo.
“Probably waist… there are thousands of people here…” Answered Komacki.
“You mean like…” and with that she spewed over the side of the bridge.
Everyone was silent until they were in the building.
They stood in a dimly lit hallway, lined by plain grey doors and violet flames. Tiny scribbled names were written to the side of each door, and the majority had a lot of marked out names as well.
“Creepy…” muttered Haku.
“Don’t worry, we’ll kill them all!” Said Kisara, trying to comfort him.
Everyone just stared at here, a childish smile on her face, when she said ‘we’ll kill them all’, and they all took a few steps back.

Of course, a large prison had a large amount of guards.
Outside, on a ledge of the building, an average aged looking women, a man with spiky brown hair and a copper colored leather vest, and three guys; one with a green shirt, another with a blue one, and a red one, they each wore black pants and the sleeves of their shirts were longer than their arms.
“And so the fun begins,” said the women, “time to slaughter these kids.”
“Heh, time to hunt them down,” said the brown haired man.
“We. Will. Kill. Them. All!” Said the three look a likes, alternating between speakers.
They all dispersed into the building and took chase to the hero and heroine.

The group reached a large room with fourteen hallways. They each took one. That’s where they made the wrong choice.

When the guards arrived, the three look a likes followed after Naruto. The women took chase to Chihiro. Finally, the brown haired man went after Hinata and Neji, (being the odd ones out, they were forced to go together).
And so the hunt began…

Note~~~ There will be a lot of skipping around in the following chapters

~~~Chapter 24
Hinata and Neji dashed down the narrow hallway. Suddenly, a grey wolf blocked their path, snarling. One had appeared behind them, too.
“I’m Hunter, Orochimaru’s ‘hunter’,” said the brown haired man, walking up behind the wolf blocking their tracks.
“Orochimaru’s huh?” Remarked Neji, “Then you need to die. Hinata!”
The cousins activated their Byakugan, readying for a fight.
“Ha, that little trick won’t help you, summoning jutsu: wolf hoard!”
Suddenly, about thirty wolves surrounded Neji and Hinata. Several of them lunged for Neji, but his Hyuuga style of taijutsu was too swift. He pushed his palms, pulsing with chakra, into certain spots on the wolfs bodies. The beasts fell to the ground, immobilized.
But there was more where that came from. Even more wolfs attacked; this time, for Hinata, too. Back to back, the Hyuuga cousins smirked and went into a frenzy of palm thrusts and finger jabs. Chakra point after chakra point was blocked throughout the wolves’ bodies.
“Well then, my turn, Wolf frenzy!”
Hunter got down on all fours. He pounced at Neji and began a barrage of punches and kicks. The onslaught was too quick for Neji; he was caught in the attack.
Hinata jumped in between Hunter and Neji and began to swing her outstretched arms around in a sphere like shape. Afterimages of her chakra became lines marking her hands, and when Hunter tried to punch through, he flew back into the wall. Neji looked at Hinata, as she smirked back at him, and he realized how powerful she had become.
They dashed up to Hunter, and with symmetrical motions, they unleashed the full force of their taijutsu, pushing Hunter into the walls of the jail house.

The women suddenly appeared in front of Chihiro, who fell on the ground in surprise.
“I’m Kaoru Kurai, and I’m her to kill you, you stupid little brat!”
Thinking quickly, Chihiro went through a swift cycle of hand signs, and flames shaped like a phoenix flew from behind her, ramming Kaoru. Kaoru fell back and jumped off the floor into the air above Chihiro. She landed behind Chihiro with a slight thud.
“By the way, do you know who’s here?” Asked Kaoru, “If not, then I suggest you look forward.
Chihiro turned forward into the hallway, and her heart skipped a beat and began to pound hard and fast. Standing in the way, was a man with grey-ish hair to his shoulders and two scarlet dots on his forehead. Kimimaro. Also, he was holding someone by his neck. The boy wore a white version of Orochimaru’s uniform, a small tattoo, a curse mark, on the back of his neck. He had black hair that went back, and a sword attached at his waist. Sasuke Uchiha.
“Now that this deed is done,” said Kimimaro with little emotion, dropping Sasuke to the ground, “I’m going back to Orochimaru.”
Sasuke coughed up a little blood, and Chihiro fell to his side.
“You shouldn’t get to close… he’s mine now!”
Sasuke’s sword quickly whipped out of its sheath, but Chihiro dodged.
“Why Sasuke?” She said, tears beginning to fall from her face.
“It’s one of my abilities… to manipulate another’s mind!”

The three look-a-likes jumped around Naruto, hitting him with a barrage of kicks and punches, until he fell to the floor. What was thought to be Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, and three more shadow clones jumped after the threesome.
Naruto stood on the back side, sending more and more shadow clones after Dariza Kachi, the one in the blue shirt, Eromy Watoi, the one in the red shirt, and Tiduo Rantz, the one in the green shirt. But there taijutsu was too strong. They repelled all the attacks and smirked at Naruto.
“Well… well… you… aren’t… that… strong!” Said the three, switching between speakers…

~~~Chapter 25
Hunter fell to the ground, but stood in seconds.“How?” Asked Hinata, beginning to shake in fear.“Because… my chakra is stronger than yours!” He replied, sending her flying into the wall with a swift punch.“Hinata!”No good, she was knocked out. Neji picked her up and made a run for it; he knew that she would die in this situation. Hunter didn’t take chase but instead disappeared, heading back Orochimaru.“My master’s plans are falling into place… time to head back,” he said, as he disappeared into nothingness.Dariza, Eromy, and Tiduo continued to fend off Naruto’s shadow clones, until naruto pulled out rasengan that is.“Take this! Rasengan!” He yelled, lunging for the three.Dariza jumped in front of and grabbed the ball of swirling chakra, smashing it.“Is… that… all… you’ve… got?”Naruto cringed as he jumped back to the ground. Suddenly, Dariza grabbed Tiduo’s legs, and he grabbed Eromy’s. The three began to spiral in the sky, and fire spewed from Eromy’s sleeves. Flames covered the entire room, and Naruto couldn’t dodge.When the fire cleared, he was rolling around on the ground, trying to put out the flames. When they were finally gone, he stood and started to try to beat them down himself, but they were too strong, and in moments, they had him pinned to the ground.Chihiro kept trying to get to Kaoru, but Sasuke kept getting in her way. She had even had to reluctantly have to hit him with some of her jutsus, but they didn’t seem to be doing much.“Sasuke get control of yourself!” Chihiro yelled, shredding tears of sadness.Sasuke’s face didn’t show any sign of even hearing her. Instead, he lunged at her, his sword at her throat.“Sasuke… NO!”With that, his eyes shut tight, and he shook his head.“Chi… Chihiro?” He said.“Sasuke!” She screamed, hugging him tightly.“I… can’t… breathe!”Sasuke stood, along with Chihiro, and they both stared at Kaoru, glaring menacingly.“Oh, but you still won’t beat me!” Remarked Kaoru.“You’ll be surprised by our combined power!” Replied Chihiro, both of them activating their sharingan…

~~~Chapter 26
Kaoru flipped and jumped in between Sasuke and Chihiro, hitting them at every opening she could find. Eventually, they were both bleeding and breathing heavy.
“Sasuke, it’s time.”
“Yeah… here we go!”
“Sharingan combination! Explosive Dragon wave!” They yelled in unison.
They both spit flames that grew larger and larger until they combined into one. The flames burst into the shape of a winged dragon. A roar boomed in the hallway, and the pressure bent the walls.
The flaring beast charged at Kaoru, burning her to a crisp. But she wasn’t done yet. She shakily stood, and darkness began to flow from behind her and cover the walls, ceiling, and floor.
Chihiro and Sasuke stood back to back, as Kaoru’s illusion began. Like infinite monitors, Kaoru’s head appeared in rowed grids on every surface. The walls closed in.
Chihiro shrieked, in terror, and hugged Sasuke for comfort, who hugged back, holding tightly.

From the outside, it looked like the pair had been enveloped by a black sphere. Kaoru laughed as she disappeared into blackness.

Back inside the darkness, Chihiro began to cry. Then, something happened. A small flame began to light on her back. It expanded in the wings of a phoenix. Sasuke let go of her as she floated up.
A yellow light emitted from the girl, and it’s range widened. Sasuke watched in amazement, and Chihiro’s awakened powers dispelled the darkness.

Naruto kicked the three look a likes off of him just as they were about decapitate him.
“Time for something that ero-sensei taught me… something only he knew how to do!”
Naruto went through a series of hand signs and then slammed his palm into the floor. In a puff of smoke, to young frogs appeared on his shoulders.
“So, your finally using this technique,” said the male on his right. Gamabura.
“Time for us to shine!” Remarked the female on his left. Gamabata.
“It’s over!” Remarked Naruto…

~~~Chapter 27
“Hermit mode,” muttered Naruto.
“Hermit? Is… that… supposed… to… be… a… good… thing?”
Naruto disappeared at high speeds, reappearing behind the three and Gamabura spat oil all over them. Once Naruto landed on the floor, Gamabata spat fire, creating a large explosion on the look a likes.
“O… M… G!”
Rolling in flames, the three fell to the floor. They shakily stood, singed black
“Looks… like… it’s… time… to… call… in… onee-san…”
At that, a tall man in a black shirt with overly long sleeves walked into the room.
“I am Watto Hin, and it seems you have hurt my younger brothers… for that, you must die!”
He rushed up to Naruto, and, instantly noticing that the two toads were the source of his newfound power, aimed for them. The toads jumped and landed back on Naruto’s shoulders just in time to dodge a kunai.
Naruto, Gamabura, Gamabata, and Watto went into a clash of punches, kicks, and jutsus. The fighting was fast, and almost invisible to the human eye. In the end, Naruto kicked him in the chin and pushed a rasengan into his chest. A hole opened in his skin… but blood wouldn’t flow; machine parts were the only thing there.
“Heh… If you want to know, I’m a cyborg created by Dr. Denma Duom, Orochimaru’s leading scientist. He’s famous, and I’m certainly not his only creation, but you’ll see them in the future; now it’s time to fight!” He explained, scoring a kick on the side of Naruto’s head.
Naruto spiraled into the wall, bleeding from his mouth. He charged at Watto, but Watto only punched him in the gut so hard he threw up. Naruto slammed into the ceiling and then back to the floor.
“Ya know what?” Said Watto, stepping on Naruto’s head, “I don’t think Orochimaru has use for you… well then, brothers! Line up!”
The four siblings lined up.
“Earth… Fire… Water… Wind!”
A blast of earth, water, fire, and wind combined flew from the middle of them, and headed straight for Naruto.
“Damn! I can’t die here!” Yelled Naruto as he lay on the ground.
He crossed his fingers in a plus sign and two shadow clones appeared. As the beam of elements grew closer and closer, the three Naruto combined two rasengan into won.
“WIND: BIG BALL RASEN SHURIKEN!” Naruto yelled out, charging into the beam with his last desperate jutsu…

~~~Chapter 28
The rasen shuriken began to fade away.
‘NO! I can’t lose!’ thought Naruto.
Suddenly, the rasen shuriken doubled in size and power, and Naruto continued to charge through the multi-elemental beam. The different elements dispelled, and Naruto broke through, slamming the ball of swirling wind chakra into Watto. But it didn’t just affect Watto; the shockwave from the attack affected them all. They all flew back, Naruto was harmed very little, but the bodies of the brothers were ripped to shreds.
“Huh… I gotta remember that that still hurts me, too,” Naruto said to himself, laughing a little.

The friends all met at the end of their halls.
“So…” started Hiruma, “we all could’ve gone down the same path, and still ended up here no matter which path we took?”
Everyone was panting, after fighting hoards of Sound Ninja. In that room, a switch stood on the wall at the far end. Naruto hit, and all the doors in the jail burst open, freeing thousands of civilians.
“We’ll lead them back,” said Neji, motioning to Kiba, “besides, Hinata’s injured anyway.”
With that, those three left the prison to lead the refugees to safety. The rest of the group decided to wander throughout the building, until they came to what seemed to be a conference room.
“Why hello there,” said a familiar voice, as Ikuji turned her chair to face them.
“Welcome, brats,” said Kaoru, also turning around.
“The hunt has ended, you’re the prize!” Said Hunter, turning around also.
“Time for the experiment to begin!” Said a cold, insane voice from the man sitting at the front of the room.
He wore a lab coat to his knees, a sleeveless black shirt, and black jeans. He had grey hair and smoked a cigarette.
“I’m Dr. Denma Duom!” He yelled, spinning in his chair and suddenly stopping, “Shall the experiment begin?” He then said in a cold whisper.
“Huh? You’re the guy who made Watto!” said Naruto.
“Why yes… so you’re the kid who beat him!”
Denma’s eyes stared with a brutal coldness at the group, piercing their minds.
“Now then… who’s ready for me to open them up, and rearrange your insides?” He added, smiling sadistically.

~~~Chapter 29
“You know, I’m Orochimaru’s best scientists… one of his ‘three snakes’.”
“Three snakes? What’s that?” Asked Naruto.
“Well… let’s just say it’s between Kimimaro, Honz Zygot, and I. The three best of Orochimaru’s army!”
With that, he pulled out scalpels and threw at Naruto, but Gaara blocked his shots.
“Thanks Gaara, but he’s mine!” declared Naruto.
“Fine by me… I’ll kill that Ikuji girl.”
“Sorry, we’ve gotta go!” Said Ikuji.
Suddenly, everyone but Denma disappeared.
“We’ll gather information from who ever is left here, you two take him down,” commanded Kisara to Kamizo and Naruto.
“You got it!” Replied Kamizo, flashing a thumb up.

Once the others left, Denma jumped onto the conference table and dashed down it towards Naruto and Kamizo. Naruto summoned Gamabata and Gamabura, and Kamizo let readied his chakra. Denma proceeded to throw even more scalpels in their direction.
He tossed a vile of green liquid onto the floor, and black gas bellowed into the room, lowering visibility to zero percent. Suddenly, Denma emerged from the smoke, a vile of violet liquid in each hand. He forced the mixture down each of their throats.
“Heheheheh… the fight just began, and now you’re poisoned… not deadly though, just you won’t be able to see, feel, or smell!”
“Huh! Wait!” Naruto tried to spurt out something, but his senses were already going blurry.
“Can the two of you really beat me with only taste and feeling?”
“Naruto! Can we?” Asked Kamizo.
“Yeah… Because I’m gonna be Hokage!”
“Heh… I expected that, “replied Kamizo, chuckling a little.
But before they could move, Denma was behind them. He cut open both of their backs with two more of his scalpels. He reached into both of their backs and pulled out some kind of organs.
“Your Livers… Are now out of your body!”
Naruto and Kamizo both began to throw up blood, among other things, all over the floor.
“You can still stand, right?” Asked Denma.
Naruto and Kamizo both shakily stood, blood covered the floor, and also ran down their back. Kamizo’s chakra appeared, but it was shaky and weak, and Naruto could barely bring out three shadow clones.
“Shall I take more?” Denma remarked, “Perhaps your stomach?”
Both of them cringed at the thought.
“Hey, *cough* Naruto,” Kamizo spat out, “this guy is, *cough*, really serious, are you sure we can win?”
“Maybe not, but we have to try!” Replied Naruto, a shaky confidence in his voice.
“You continue to fight?” Asked Denma, adjusting his glasses, “Maybe I can find the source of that will if I poke around inside you enough!” He yelled as he charged once more…

~~~Chapter 30
Naruto and Kamizo were franticly trying to find their way as Denma dashed towards them. Neither of them could see, smell, nor feel. Denma smashed their heads together and used both feat to kick them into the wall, doing a back flip back onto the table.
“Are you sure you want to fight?” Remarked Denma.
“Yeah… We’re not gonna die!” Yelled Kamizo.
With that, his chakra spread throughout the room. Denma looked quickly back and forth, surprised a little by this new little stunt.
“Naruto! You get him and I’ll feel for him!”
“Yeah.”
Kamizo used his chakra to send messages to Naruto, and following those messages, Naruto plunged into the fight, punching and kicking in Denma’s. But the plan had its flaws. Kamizo couldn’t tell exactly where Denma was, and Denma kept moving, which made it even harder.
“You bore me… time to die!” Said Denma, opening his mouth wide.
Acid pooled into the room, spewing from his mouth, covering the floor in green goop. Naruto and Kamizo jumped onto the table, as did Denma. Suddenly, Naruto realized what this technique was. It was similar to Shibo gastro acid attacks.
“How do you know Shibo’s technique?” Naruto asked, looking hastily around, unable to see Denma.
“Shibo? That brat? Why, she’s the one I decided to pass on my legacy to, but then Orochimaru dumped her somewhere. Oh well.”
With that, the battle resumed, this time over burning acid. Using the same routine, Naruto and Kamizo attacked with hesitant fury. But, sadly, Denma was much faster, and soon had them both on their stomachs, reopening the cuts on their backs.
“It’s time I removed your hearts!” He yelled in an evil laugh.
Kamizo and Naruto struggled to get free, but his grip was too strong. His cold hand reached into their backs, and sharp pain pierced every part of their bodies.
The two ninjas groaned and yelled in pain, as Denma grasped their hearts.
“Hee hee hee! Your lives end now!”
“DYNAMIC ENTRY!” Yelled a man with green tights and a bowl hair cut.
The man flew in, his foot outstretched, kicking Denma across the board room into the computer on the other side.
“The leaf villages beautiful green beast… Might Guy!” Jelled Guy with a thumbs up.
“Guy-sensei!” Naruto and Kamizo yelled with relief.
“Sorry I’m late, I had to find you and then break in. The second I got back to Konoha, Tsunade-sama sent me to help you!”
With Guy there, the chance of victory rose greatly. Denma sadistically smiled, staring menacingly at his new specimen…

~~~Chapter 31
Guy and Denma seemed to be evenly matched. They attacked whenever they saw in opening in their opponent’s movement. The punches and kicks flew around in an almost chaotic matter.
“Severe Leaf Hurricane!” Yelled Guy, jumping back and then twirling into Denma.
Denma flew into the wall, but swiftly jumped off of it back into the battle. Somehow, Denma was suddenly behind Guy. He thrust his palm into Guy’s back, sending him into the ground.
The impact created a hole going straight through several floors of the prison.
“Heheheheh… Time to get back to you two,” Denma remarked, staring sadistically at Naruto and Kamizo.
“Sixth gate… REALEASE!”
Suddenly, at super-high speed, Guy sensei, now dark red and covered in pulsing veins, jumped from the hole. He instantly went into a frenzy of physical attacks on Denma, who was barely able to fend him off. Denma rolled back, trying to escape Guy, but he caught him, kicking him down into the floor.
“MORNING PEACOCK!”
Guy went into a fury of flaming punches, setting Denma on fire. After the onslaught, Denma fell to the floor, burnt to a crisp.

After that, the group met outside the prison, and Neji, Hinata, and Kiba were directing the escaped refugees. Rock Lee was also there. Lee was like a younger guy, the same clothes and haircut.
“Naruto! Over here!” Lee yelled in excitement.
“Lee!” Replied Naruto.
“Tsunade-sama wants us to help you on your quest… Let’s make it youthful!” Yelled Guy; and with that, Naruto, Lee, and Guy all raised their fists in the air with excitement.
The rest of the gang just stared.

Inside the board room, where the fight had commenced and ended, Denma shakily stood. His sadistic look still planted on his face.
“Pretty strong… I wonder who we can have defeat him…”
Denma made a dizzy walk to the door, and stood there, looking back into his defeat.
“I guess that is yet to be decided…” He sighed.

“Now we can get to the Sand, where Shikamaru and Tenten are being held,” said Haku.
However, this made Gaara flinch and his fists clench. He obviously didn’t want to go back to the place he couldn’t defend all that time ago. The place that Kekon Kaguya had destroyed by letting off bombs in the village.
“Gaara…” Rutsu said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
She suddenly spun him around and kissed him.
Gaara nearly died…

~~~Chapter 32
Chihiro used her healing jutsu to help Naruto Kamizo get their senses back to normal before the group set out again.
As they jumped onto the ledge behind the prison, Kamizo and Naruto were praising guy…
“GUY-SENSEI!” The two of them said together.
“I just got a youthful idea… let’s walk on our hands all the way to our next destination!”
Naruto, Kamizo, and Lee were on their hands instantly…

By the time they got to a forest in the land of rain, Naruto, Lee, and Kamizo all had to be carried by someone.
Suddenly, someone yelled from above. Looking up, a girl wearing a pink, sleeveless shirt, and a red skirt fell from the sky, something that looked like broken wings flailing behind her. She slammed into the ground.
“Owwwww…” She said, moving her brown hair out of her face, as the mechanical wings retracted into a pack on her back.
“Who are you?” Asked Hiruma rudely.
“I’m Itaru Hunt!” She replied, delighted to meet new people, “By the way… I’m sort of lost… mind if I tag along with you people for a while?”
“Sure! The more the merrier,” said Rutsu, holding hands with Gaara.
“Are you to in love?” Itaru said.
Both Rutsu in Gaara turned a fiery red and snapped away from each other.
“N… no…” Rutsu stuttered.
Suddenly, four mechanical legs sprang out of Itaru’s pack, lifting her into the air.
“I’m somewhat of an inventor, “she said.
Everyone else just stared in awe…

“Where’s that inventor of mine!” Orochimaru screamed, slamming his fist on the table.
“Orochimaru-sama, we’re sorry but we just can’t find her,” replied Ikuji from the other end of the table.
“She is essential to my plans… that brat!”

Guy sensei walked with his down in an un-youthful way, since Itaru had stolen his spotlight. Itaru was a big hit among the rest of the group, but Lee still hung with Guy at the end of the gang.
“I wonder what we’ll find at this ninja training facility in the sand…” Lee thought out loud.
“I wonder if we’ll find that third snake,” said Komacki, “Honz Zygot or something…”
At that, Itaru flinched a little…

~~~Chapter 33
Hands were coming from Itaru’s pack as well, lifting other girls up while the boys had to walk.
“Just be polite and go with it,” said Itaru, as Kisara stuck out her tongue at the boys.
An old man with long white hair down his back and dressed in traditional red and green Japanese sage clothing with a telescope sat in a nearby tree.
“Are my eyes deceiving me?” He said, “Flying girls? Am I in heaven?”
The suddenly appeared in front of the group.
“The great toad sage Jira-“he said before Naruto cut him off.
“Ero-Sennin~! Why are you here?”
“Naruto? I thought I saw flying chicks… Oh my god!” He said, finally noticing Itaru, “It’s a merry-go-round of girls! Let me ride!”
He jumped up next to Rutsu, and Gaara instantly pulled him back to the ground, with his sand, by his neck. He shot an evil look at Jiraiya.
“You’re Gaara,” he said as he stumbled back in fear.
“Pervy sensei, are you here to help us on our mission?” Asked Naruto.
“Nah… wait… are those girls coming along, too?”
“Yes, they are,” answered Haku.
“”Ooh, you’re pretty hot, too!”
“I’M A GUY!” Said Haku, almost like the devil himself.
Jiraiya shrank into his very shoes, “Uh… oh… well, I’m come along if all these girls are going!” He replied, drooling.

Later, a lot further into the forest, Jiraiya was already trying to peak at the girls unmentionables from below, but got slapped every time. Even one of the Sennin couldn’t master something like peeping.
“Jiraiya is that all your gonna do?” Asked Guy.
“NO… well… maybe…” replied Jiraiya, pushing his index fingers together.
Every girl was watching Jiraiya, ready to attack him at any given moment, but he had reverted to just reading porn.
“Can we stop? I… uh… have to go to the bathroom… I’ll just be in that little bush for a bit…” Said Jiraiya, creeping quickly off the path.
Everyone went wide eyed when certain… noises… could be heard from the direction he had gone in. Shibo’s barf burned a hole in the ground. There was even a little sweat, which he quickly wiped off, on his head when he came back.
“Whew, all done,” he said.
“What EXACTLY were you doing?” Asked Shibo.
He whispered something in her ear, and she instantly threw up all over his face.
“Oh my lord!” Screamed Jiraiya, running around frantically, “It burns like hell, get it off, GET IT OFF!”
Kisara sighed as she doused him with a torrent of water. Jiraiya grabbed her hand and shook it violently.
“So what’s your name?” He asked.
Haku walked up to him and threw about thirty or so senbon needles into an unspeakable place…

~~~Chapter 34
The group was still wandering through the forest in the land of rain, worrying that they might actually be heading in the direction of Konoha.
“Halt! This is Orochimaru’s territory, who goes there?” Asked a man from the tree tops.
“Hey I know you!” Yelled Naruto instantly, “You’re Suien!”
“Why yes, you little brat, Orochimaru-sama revived me for the purpose of guarding the former rain village, which now houses Orochimaru’s elite ninjas.”
The man jumped down, ready to strike with a blade made of water. Kisara counter it with her own just in time.
“Go, Brandi and I will beat him!” Kisara demanded.
“And I’ll kick him in the balls!” Brandi said excitedly.
They all dashed away, heeding Kisara’s request, and fearing Brandi’s objective.

Suien jumped from side to side, slashing at Kisara and blocking Brandi’s rubber bands. Brandi had already turned herself into the separately rubber band girl, and Kisara had her sword covered in water.
“You’ll never kill me alone!” Yelled Suien.
At that, they smirked, and Brandi stretched out her arms and wrapped them around Suien, and Kisara jumped into the air, her sword pointing downwards. But as Kisara plummeted, Suien disappeared and reappeared behind Brandi, and cut her back several times.
Brandi fell to the ground, writhing in pain, as blood spilled from her back, coating the ground around her red. Kisara lunged at Suien in furious rage, violently and uncontrollably trying to cut him. No use.
In her madness, Kisara lacked every bit of common sense, leaving some huge blind spots, and Suien was well aware of this. He quickly jabbed his sword through her side, and her blood splattered the ground, scarlet red.

“Hey… where’s Jiraiya?” Asked Naruto, as they were coming up on the border to the sand.

There he was… sitting at the top of the tree, watching the girls get badly beaten down by Suien
“I can’t bear this anymore… this guy’s hurting girls, time for an intervention!”
He jumped down behind Suien, just as he pulled his sword out of Kisara, placing her in the same boat as Brandi.
“You dare hurt women? The great Jiraiya will punish you for that!” He said gallantly, surprising Suien…

~~~Chapter 35
Suien jumped forward, turning around.
“Jiraiya?”
“Yes! The GREAT Jiraiya, Jiraiya the toad stage, JIRAIYA THE PERV-… wait… damn it Naruto!”
“Oh… you’re here to save these pathetic kunoichi? Well then, just try it!” Suien said, stomping on Kisara injured side, making her yelp in pain.
Jiraiya’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“You shouldn’t hurt women… I’ll kill you for it!” He said through clenched teeth.
Jiraiya lunged at him, a swirling ball of chakra in his hand, which he thrust at Suien, but he easily dodged. Suien slashed at Jiraiya, but he rolled away just in time, slamming his palm into the ground.
Suddenly, a giant toad in a dark blue vest with a Japanese character on his back, and a pipe in his mouth appeared.
“Jiraiya? It’s been a while!” The old toad said, obviously a little annoyed.
“Gamabunta… that guy, Suien, is hurting Kunoichi! And he must be punished!”
Gamabunta glanced up at him with even more annoyance in his look, “That’s all you called me out for? Forget it.” With that, Gamabunta disappeared, and Jiraiya fell back to the ground.
Suien laughed mockingly at the ‘gallant’ Jiraiya. Jiraiya stood, still more confident then most would be. He put a ring, made of his curved fingers, around his mouth and blew fire at Suien, which Suien stopped with a wall of water, but that was what Jiraiya had planned.
Once again, Jiraiya slammed his palm into the ground, and a small puddle of brown liquid appeared under Suien, whom sunk into it. Jiraiya walked up in front of him, and summoned a mid-sized toad, and appeared sitting on it’s head. The toad began to spit oil all over Suien, and Jiraiya spit fire on him once again. The result was obvious.

Once the smoke cleared, there stood Suien, covered in black spots, but still standing.
“How did you survive that?”
“You crazy perv! Orochimaru didn’t just revive me, this new body he gave me is incredible!”
With that, Suien jumped at Jiraiya, his water blade in his hand once again, and began to slash at Jiraiya. When Jiraiya made the move to dodge, Suien grabbed his leg and threw him into the ground.
From there, Jiraiya tried to spit fire at Suien again, but missed even at such a close range.
“Ha! Do you really think you can stop me?”
“I guess I have no choice, time to resort to that,” Jiraiya said, closing his eyes and putting his palm to the floor…

~~~Chapter 36
Two toads appeared on Jiraiya’s shoulders, but they were both a lot older than the ones that had sat on Naruto’s shoulders. Black lines went from ear to ear and over his nose on Jiraiya’s face, and he crouched down.
“Hermit mode…”
“A small power up like that won’t be enough to beat me!”
Suien jumped up onto the roots of a very large tree, and went through a long series of hand signs. Instantly, two large dragons made of water rose from lakes on either side of the tree and charged at Jiraiya. Jiraiya just there, and caught both dragons in one hand, and crushed them. Water flowed all over the ground, washing away the blood of Brandi and Kisara.
“How?!” Yelled Suien, shocked.
Jiraiya jumped up to Suien, punching him in the gut so hard that his bones could be heard braking and blood came from his mouth. Suien flew into the massive tree trunk, dead.
“Because… When girls are in danger… I’ll appear to protect them!”

The group sat at the border into the sand, sitting up against a few trees at the edge of the forest. They stared at the huge facility standing on top of where Gaara’s beloved village once stood proudly.
Jiraiya walked out of the trees with Kisara and Brandi on either shoulder.
“Let me heal them!” Said Chihiro, motioning for Jiraiya to set them down gently.
Jiraiya sat down with the rest of the group to discuss what had happened…

They had talked for about an hour two before Chihiro was finally convinced that Brandi and Kisara were good to go. Although they had woken up one hour and fifteen minutes ago.
“I feel as light as a feather!” Screamed Kisara with joy, jumping and flipping around with Brandi.
Haku suddenly appeared out of no where and tackled Kisara to the ground, hugging her like a kitten. Everyone laughed as Kisara struggled to get out of his grip, until finally giving up and hugging back.

Everyone wore tan cloaks because of the sand, which was flying around in a constant sand storm. Haku, however, had made a moving igloo, where her and Kisara (along with the other girls) sipped tea quietly. Except for Rutsu, who wanted to be outside with Gaara.Eventually, Rutsu dragged Gaara, who actually preferred the sandy conditions, into the igloo. Also, Jiraiya kept trying to get in, so Haku ended up having to cover up the entrance with thick snow. So Jiraiya had to walk, with a hyper-active Naruto jumping around him trying to get him to teach him a new jutsu…