TNA - Infiltration

Note: This is the sequel to my previous story entitled "Battle At Kohaku Island."

"Fura!" A woman called out with a disconcerting scream of desperation. Tears welled up in her deep brown eyes. They streamed down like a creek along the contours of her stout face. The teardrops dripped onto the sleeves of a long brown haired woman with piercing blue eyes and a scar on her left cheek.

"Masaki!" A masculine voice boomed from a few feet away. A man wearing a tan flak vest was pinned to the rocky ground via a blade embedded in his shoulder, courtesy of Hittokiri, who was standing over him.

The man's eyes, which were amethyst in color, reflected rage in its rawest; purest form. "Hittokiri, you bastard! Why are you doing this!?"

Hittokiri smiled as he sunk his blade deeper into the man's shoulder, eliciting a grunt of pain from him. "Well that's a stupid thing to ask Fura. Its because you two won't tell me whether Setsuna is in the village right now or not."

A thud and the sound of someone gargling brought Hittokiri's attention away from the man pinned beneath his blade. Much to his displeasure the woman identified by Fura as Masaki was lying on her side, clutching at her bleeding neck futilely as she gasped for air.

Hittokiri let out a long drawn out sigh as Fura screamed, "Masaki! No!"

He gave the long brown haired woman a disapproving glare, "Dammit Maria, why did you slit her throat? Now there's no way this guy is going to tell me what I want to know."

Maria merely shrugged as she pulled out a cloth and wiped the blood off of her blade, "And? Its not my fault you suck at interrogation. If that sack of crap won't talk then kill him so we can move on to the next sentries."

Hikari, who was leaning against a tree a few feet away frowned, "Don't talk to him like that."

Maria rolled her eyes, "Bite me."

Daemen, who was also leaning against a tree a few feet away shook his head.

"You're going to pay for this," Fura said through his grief filled sobs, "Each and every one of you are going to get exactly what you deserve, especially you Hittokiri…"

"You know something…you're probably right…"

Lightning traveled down the length of the sword embedded in Fura's shoulder, who writhed in pain as the volatile chakra entered his body. Hittokiri continued to pump lightning nature chakra through his blade until Fura's cries died down and he lay deathly still.

Pulling his sword out of the now dead man, Hittokiri sheathed his blade and turned to Hikari and Daemen, "That's enough with the sentries. If we kill any more there's a chance that Takigakure will become aware of our presence. Let's just get on with the infiltration."

Hikari blinked, "But what if Setsuna isn't in the village right now. We'd have come here for nothing."

"True," Hittokiri agreed, "But if that's the case I'll force it out of the village leader himself if I have to. Now, let's go."

Maria frowned, "Tch, who died and made you leader?"

"If you think you know the perimeters of Takigakure better than I do then by all means lead us Maria."

The three shinobi looked at Maria expectantly who looked around for a moment before her frown deepened and she crossed her arms under her bust, "Fine, lead the way."


A few minutes later the four shinobi found themselves crouched behind an outcropping of bushes. Their eyes were currently trained on a beautiful waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff that formed a sparkling lake.

"Okay, the entrance to Takigakure is beneath this waterfall, so we're going to have to get wet."

Hikari raised a hand to her face, small veins instantly bulging around her eyes as she suddenly was able to see eight hundred meters around her location. "The closest sentries are about seven hundred meters away. Is it really this easy to gain access to your village Hitto-kun?"

Hittokiri shook his head as the veins bulging around Hikari's eyes receded, "Nah, there's a special barrier placed directly beneath the waterfall. Anyone who tries to enter will be trapped within it and slowly drained of all of their chakra."

"Well that sounds unpleasant. How do we get past the barrier?" Daemen asked, already imagining what it would feel like having your chakra forcibly drawn out of your body by such a jutsu.

"Don't worry," Hittokiri assured, "I'll take care of it. Just make sure you stay behind me at all times otherwise you're screwed."

Daemen, Hikari, and Maria nodded as Hittokiri jumped from behind the bush and dashed towards the waterfall. Not wasting any time they followed after him as he dove into the water with a particularly large splash.

"Cold," Hikari muttered to herself as Daemen helped her into the chilly water since she couldn't swim.

After a few minutes of swimming Hittokiri motioned to the others to stop which they did so without any hesitation whatsoever. Satisfied that his companions heeded his warning he clapped his hands together and a large swirling purplish black dome of chakra appeared before him.

Raising his hand to his mouth Hittokiri bit down on his thumb, hard enough to draw blood. Looking back to his companions once more he swam into the ominous swirling dome of purplish black chakra.

Within a few seconds the dome dispersed, Hittokiri perfectly unharmed. He waved to his comrades to hurry as the dome began to slowly but surely reform, which they did with haste.

After a few brief seconds of more swimming the four shinobi finally surfaced, icy water dripping from their cloaks, hair, and the tip of their nose. "H-how did you d-do that?" Hikari questioned, her teeth chattering slightly as she attempted to warm herself up.

"It's a special ninjutsu that uses the blood of a Takigakure shinobi to temporarily disrupt the sealing barrier. The only problem is that now Takigakure knows I'm here."

Hikari arched a brow, "How?"

"My blood is registered in their data banks, which means they have my DNA sequence. Whenever the sealing barrier is dispersed it records the blood used to do so, that way they know exactly who it is that's entering the village."

"So how long do we have before the welcoming committee gets here?" Daemen asked, looking around the damp cave they were currently in curiously.

"Well the sentries will probably get here first so about a minute at best. To get to the village we have to scale this wall," he informed, pointing up at a cliff wall.

"Why don't we wait here for the sentries first, kill them, and then enter your dumb village," Maria said with her usual frown in place.

"Because fighting in such a cramp place puts all of us at a disadvantage that's why. Once we get up this cliff wall you can fight all you like," Hittokiri replied curtly.

Summoning chakra to their hands and feet, they took to the smooth wall of solidified sand.
They had barely made it halfway when a deafening string of crashes rocked the cliff wall, threatening to dislodge them. Above them, rocks began to cascade, dislodged by explosions thrown from the sentries that had arrived below.

"Get behind me!" Hittokiri shouted as he unsheathed one of his blades and released an arc of lightning to cut through the worst of the falling debris. The rocks still pelted them, but the damage they received was minimal.

Daemen was the one that saw the cluster of kunai headed their way. With a flick of his wrist several dozen tendrils of shadow emerged from the cliff wall, deflecting the assault.

"Keep climbing!" He yelled to the others, "I'll keep them off of us!"

One of the sentries performed a series of hand seals as he began to scale the cliff wall, "Fire Release: Grand Fireball!"

Letting go of the cliff wall with his hands and channeling more chakra to his feet until he was standing horizontally, Daemen clapped his hands together, creating a wall of shadow that withstood the force of the giant fireball.

Keeping the wall of shadow erected Daemen began to climb upwards once more. He caught up with the others at the brow of the cliff, and the moment they were over the lip and onto solid ground again he released the jutsu.

Hittokiri stood over the cliff which the pursuing shinobi were wasting no time in scaling. Pointing two fingers in the approaching enemies' direction Hittokiri channeled lightning and water nature chakra throughout his body, "Storm Release: Massive Energy Explosion!"

A solid, large white beam of energy surged forward, slamming into the cliff face and causing a massive explosion. Hittokiri turned to the others, "That should hold them off for now, at least until we get to the village anyway, which is probably already on high alert."


They set off over the rocky ridges, heading directly east for the village gates.

Deafening bangs went off, the solid rock beneath their feet tipped and began to break up under the pressure of the combination of jutsu going off behind them. "We need to find a place to lie low for a while," Hikari suggested as she scanned the area with her Byakugan.

"Yeah," Hittokiri agreed as they ran through a shower of shrapnel and dust, "Follow me and get ready to mask your chakra! There's a secret underground passage I used to use when I was little that's not too far off from here!"

Daemen, Hikari, and Maria kept close on his heels, and when a particularly large rock exploded, Hittokiri suddenly changed direction and dropped down a gap in the cliffs. Daemen, Hikari, and Maria followed. They fell quite a distance, and in anticipation of hitting the ground they channeled chakra to their feet.

To their surprise instead of meeting solid ground they met icy cold water with a loud splash. Hittokiri, who was standing next to a wall equally as cold as the water his companions were in raised a finger to his mouth, "Shhh."

Far above them the explosions continued, but luckily for them they seemed to be getting further and further away. Their pursuers had not noticed their descent. "A little warning would have been nice," Hikari grumbled as she climbed out of the water, shivering slightly as she did so.

As Daemen and Maria pulled themselves from the water Hittokiri motioned for them to follow him, "Come on, this passage leads directly to a trap door in my old house, assuming its still there anyway," he mumbled the last bit.


A few minutes later the four shinobi found themselves in a vacant house, everything inside of it covered in a thin layer of dust. "What a dump," Maria said as she observed the small house, "You actually lived here?"

"Hey, its been more than a year since I've set foot in this house, its only natural that it'd look like this if there's no one here to take care of it," Hittokiri retorted.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Whatever Blue Hair."

"Anyway," Daemen spoke up in an attempt to change the subject, "We're in Takigakure now, so what's our next move?"

"Well, since infiltration is no longer an option I was thinking we should split up into two teams, one for distraction, and one to search for Setsuna," Hittokiri replied.

Daemen nodded, "Okay then, let's go."

"Hold on," Hittokiri  said, "I haven't told you the teams yet."

Daemen arched a brow, "What are you talking about? I already know I'm on your team."

Hittokiri shook his head, "Actually, I was thinking I should team up with Hikari for this."

Daemen's face paled considerably as he shook his head vigorously, "No way am I teaming up with Maria. I know you want to be close to Hikari since she's your girlfriend and all but come on, Maria is her partner. She's used to having to put up with her crap, which means they work better together."

"What's the matter Daemen? Don't tell me you're scared." Maria challenged, her piercing blue eyes staring directly into Daemen's pitch black.

Hittokiri shook his head, "Its just this once man. I need Hikari with me, her Byakugan, coupled with my sensory abilities will make it a lot easier for me to find Setsuna."

With a heavy sigh Daemen caved, "Alright man, but you owe me one for this."

Hittokiri chuckled, "Trust me, I know."

Maria unsheathed her blade, a wicked grin on her face as she walked towards the door, "Finally, I thought you two would never shut up."

"Hikari and I will leave out the back door, good luck."

Daemen nodded and then followed after Maria, "You too."

"Thanks for not teaming me up with Maria," Hikari said, giving the blue haired teen a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah well, I know how much you hate having to work with her so it's the least I can do, besides, I could never forgive myself if something were to happen to you because of my stupid family feud."

"Don't talk like that," Hikari said with a reassuring smile, "As long as I'm by your side I'll be fine."

Hittokiri ran a hand through his spiky dark blue hair, "Yeah, you're right."

"Well, Daemen and Maria aren't going to be able to distract them forever, let's go," Hikari said as veins began to bulge around her pale purple eyes.

Hittokiri nodded, "Yeah, let's."


"Damn!" Maria hissed, as a blow to her hand forced her to drop her sword.

She heard someone shout, "They're here!" And an arm grabbed hers roughly.

The hand that pulled her up broke with a snap as Maria slammed him into the nearby wall of a building. A kunai sliced past her, barely missing her chest, which she guided into the chest of the shinobi she had just slammed into a wall.

Moving quickly to retrieve her sword she slipped through her attackers effortlessly, cutting them down one by one. "You guys must be Chuunin," she said, more to herself than the shinobi she was cutting down, "Because there is no way a Jonin would be killed this easily."

As she deflected the blade of another shinobi she glanced in Daemen's direction, who was currently controlling his tendrils of shadow to fatally pierce through anyone who dared to get too close.

Pain sliced across her shoulder and Maria cursed, in her brief lapse of focus one of the enemy ninja had managed to cut her. Enraged, she jabbed her blade forward, which slid through her assailant's ribs like butter. Pulling back violently she took to the air, forming hand seals as she did so.

Throwing her head back, she gathered a great deal of water in her mouth, "Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"

A spear of spiraling water erupted from her mouth, slamming into a shinobi below her, easily piercing through his chest and out the other side. Performing a back flip Maria landed on a nearby roof, "I'm going to kill each and every last one of you!"


Hittokiri turned to Hikari as the two made their way towards a large tower in the middle of the village. "Any luck yet? Remember, shoulder length blue hair, a huge ass sword, and eyes the same color as mine."

Hikari frowned and shook her head, "I still don't see anyone like that."

"And I don't sense him anywhere either, guess we'll just have to ask the village leader directly then. He should be inside the tower directly in front of us."

"He's not going to give us any information without a fight," Hikari warned, "If you tire yourself out fighting him you won't have any energy left to fight Setsuna when we do find him."

"Don't worry," Hittokiri said with a grin, "The village leader is strong, there's no mistaking that, but I'm confident in my ability to defeat him without expending too much chakra."

"If you say so…," Hikari trailed off, hoping that her boyfriend wasn't in over his head.


Daemen emerged from his shadow and unleashed a tendril of shadow that pierced through a seemingly unaware shinobi. To his surprise the ninja's body dispersed into water seconds later, "A water clone?"

"Give it up," a feminine voice said from behind Daemen, "We've got you completely surrounded.

Sure enough dozens of ninja were currently surrounding the Kagegan user, their blades dangerously close to his face. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Daemen said with a smirk, "Fire Release: Hellfire."

Suddenly, without warning, the ground in the immediate area erupted in a wide pillar of flames, engulfing the surrounding shinobi, as well as Daemen. As the pillar of intense heat began to expand the cries of agony within it increased in volume and then died out only seconds later.

Daemen emerged from the red hot flames, unscathed. With a snap of his fingers the pillar of searing heat dispersed, leaving behind the fallen forms of Takigakure shinobi writhing in pain.

Seconds later Maria landed next to Daemen, a cocky smirk on her face, "Hey, not too bad Daemen, and here I thought all this time that you were just another weakling."

"Thanks," Daemen replied sarcastically as he erected a wall of shadow to protect himself from an incoming projectile of lightning, "Just make sure you stay out of my way."

"Heh, I was just about to tell you the same thing," Maria replied as cut open the neck of a very unfortunate Takigakure ninja.


Hittokiri kicked open the door to the village leader's office, startling a beautiful woman with long luxurious blond hair and bright sparkling blue eyes. She blinked in surprise upon seeing Hittokiri, "Hitto-kun," Hikari's left eye twitched at the way the woman addressed her boyfriend, "So the reports are true…you really have come back…"

The woman frowned upon seeing Hikari, "Who's she?"

"That's none of your business Yui," Hittokiri replied before Hikari could speak up, "Where's Sosuke? Or better yet, where's Setsuna?"

The woman ignored Hittokiri's inquiry, opting instead to ask a question of her own, "Is she your…girlfriend?"

"So what if I am?" Hikari spoke up, glaring at the blonde haired woman.

Yui ground her teeth in anger, "Hittokiri is mine, no one else has the right to have him but me!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you lost the 'right' to have me when you sold me out to Iwagakure along with that bastard Setsuna and Mimari, now answer my question Yui, where is Setsuna?"

"I'm the only one who knows where Setsuna is," a deep masculine voice said from behind Hittokiri and Hikari, both of whom swiftly turned around.

There, standing in the doorway was a tall man wearing the standard tan flak vest that most Jonin of Takigakure wore. A large blade that Hittokiri vaguely recognized was strapped to the man's back.

Hittokiri smirked, "Perfect, I was looking for you uncle. Now, tell me where Setsuna is, otherwise I'm going to have to beat it out of you."

"You lost the right to call me uncle when you betrayed the village Hittokiri, I no longer consider you as my nephew." The man with jet black hair replied sternly.

"Heh, fine then Sosuke, are you going to tell me what I want to know without a fight or not?"

The man now identified as Sosuke grasped the handle of the blade strapped to his back, "Do you even have to ask?"

"Guess not," Hittokiri replied with a grin as he sent a powerful kick to Sosuke's stomach, sending him flying out the nearby window and down to the rocky ground below.

"I'll let you take care of things here Hikari," Hittokiri said before jumping through the newly made hole in the wall.

Hikari took a classic Gentle Fist stance, here eyes trained solely on Yui, who had been glaring at her the entire time, "I guess that means you're all mine."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Yui replied as she unbuckled the clasp of the dark blue cloak she was wearing and threw it off of her shoulders.

For a moment, Hikari stared in astonishment.

Every inch of Yui's body was covered in kunai knives. Belts and belts wound over and around her petite body, and rows and rows of sheathed blades covered her as well as any armor could have, across her chest, arms, and legs.

'All of those knives must weigh more than she does,' Hikari couldn't help but think to herself. "Do you really think your armor of kunai will be able to stop my charka enforced strikes?" Hikari questioned as she activated her Byakugan.

"It doesn't matter if you can't hit me," Yui replied confidently as her hand moved and a kunai flashed passed Hikari's face. She had managed to duck to the side at the last second, the thrown weapon lodging into the wooden door behind her.

'Okay, she isn't as slow as I thought she would be,' Hikari thought to herself as she felt a warm trickle of blood running down her cheek.

Yui pulled out another kunai, "I wonder…what is it that Hittokiri sees in you? I'm much better looking than you so its rather obvious that he isn't with you for your looks," she flicked the knife forward, but Hikari was ready for it this time, managing to dodge the thrown projectile without getting so much as a scratch.

Charging forward Hikari struck out with her palm. Yui stepped back quickly and Hikari struck out with her other palm in another attempt to hit her surprisingly agile opponent. Yui spun to the side, pulling out another kunai and swiping upwards at her face.

Hikari leaned her head back, the blade missing her flesh but successfully clipping off the ends of her bangs. "You're going to pay for that," Hikari growled angrily as she went on the offensive.


In a flurry of slashes Hittokiri and Sosuke matched one another blow for blow, the force of their numerous clashes sending vibrations throughout the air. "Heh, pretty clever of you to use that blade against me," Hittokiri remarked as he was pushed back by the taller man.

Sosuke hefted the blade over his shoulder as the two momentarily stopped fighting, "The legendary blade of the once feared General Hakushin, Chuuwazai. Its chakra neutralizing ability is the perfect counter to your preferred fighting style of channeling your blades with lightning chakra."

"True," Hittokiri admitted, "But don't forget that I'm the one that took down the original wielder of that blade."

Sosuke's left hand shot forward, "Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Hittokiri dropped to his knee as soon as he saw the hand fly forward. He felt the air above him sizzle as a streak of white lightning flew across the rocky terrain and struck a building.

Hittokiri looked back to see a six foot wide gap in the wall of the building. He turned back to Sosuke, a smirk on his face, "Hey, I thought the leader of the village was supposed to protect it, not destroy it."

Without uttering a word Sosuke charged straight toward Hittokiri, lifting his blade out to his side for a horizontal stroke at Hittokiri's right side. Hittokiri pointed his blade straight down, blocking the stroke as Hittokiri turned to his right.

Sosuke kept moving, stepping past the rouge ninja on his right side, spinning to his own right, completely about to bring about a second swing, this one higher than his last. The two blades clashed, producing sparks from their brief union.

Hittokiri stepped back quickly and crouched low as Sosuke's blade whistled past his head, lifting his sword with both hands up to his shoulder as he did so, and as he rose back up, stabbing directly for Sosuke's face.

Sosuke titled his head to the side, the blade missing him by a few centimeters. Drawing back, Hittokiri stabbed his blade forward once more, drew it back, and stabbed again in rapid succession. With each attack Sosuke merely leaned his head to the side as he dodged to the right and left, each stab missing his head by mere centimeters.

Sosuke jumped back, holding his hand forward, his fingers crackling with electricity, "Lightning Release: Dragon Storm!"

Hittokiri's blade glowed as lightning crackled around it, allowing him to bat away the five electrical dragons that had sprouted from his uncle's fingers. "Please, you're going to have to do a lot better than that."

"I could say the same to you Hittokiri. If this is all you can manage you had better turn back now while you still can."

Hittokiri grinned as he unsheathed his second blade, "You think you're all high and mighty just because you're using that blade, but you know what they say," he charged forward, "Two blades are better than one!"


Hikari executed an elbow strike. Yui moved back and then went down. She bent backward, her knees bending and her torso going lower and lower. Hikari's elbow hit nothing but air as Yui's hands hit the floor behind her, and before Hikari could follow up, Yui's feet left the floor as she somersaulted backward, her left foot striking Hikari in the chin on the way up.

'This woman's fighting style is annoyingly…difficult to counter,' Hikari thought to herself as she backed up.

Even as Yui's feet landed back on the floor and her torso came back up, she grabbed four more kunai and let them fly toward Hikari.

Hikari managed to dodge three of them but the fourth cut in her right sleeve before flying past her to clatter into the wall. 'Something isn't right here…I should have been able to dodge that,' Hikari thought to herself with a frown on her face.

"What's the matter?" Yui taunted, "You seem to be getting slower…"

"Stop mocking me!" Hikari said before moving in on her opponent.

Yui drew another kunai and met her charge, swinging high at Hikari's face with her left hand. Hikari ducked, catching her opponent completely off guard as she dropped to the floor, spinning and putting out her left leg to rip both of hers out from under her. She hit the floor hard and Hikari drew back her hand as she prepared to strike.

Suddenly Yui sprang upward, but not in the expected manner. She rose onto her hands and swung her legs toward Hikari, catching her off guard and clamped her ankles around her neck. Then she twisted her body about, and Hikari's head was wrenched to the side and she was tossed through the air, flipping over before hitting the floor on her back.

'Okay, she really is starting to piss me off,' Hikari thought as she got to her feet quickly, but Yui was already on top of her, a kunai in each hand. She slashed twice, one horizontally and the other vertically.

Hikari barely managed to move out of the woman's reach, 'My body isn't responding the way it should…," Hikari's thought trailed off as Yui danced out of her reach.

"You're even slower now than you were a few seconds ago, I guess my poison will begin its second stage now."

Hikari blinked, "Poison?"

"Oh come now, you didn't really think I'd use just plain old kunai did you? Each one of them are laced with a special poison I came up with. The first stage slows down your reaction speed."

She drew another kunai, "The second stage stifles your chakra," she grinned wickedly, "And the final stage induces unconsciousness."

Hikari grimaced.


Sosuke winced as Hittokiri's blade pierced his shoulder and slammed him into the wall of a nearby building, his oversized sword clattering to the ground. "Like I said," Hittokiri said triumphantly, "Two blades are better than one."

"You're right," Sosuke agreed as he clapped his hands together, "Two is better than one!"

Hittokiri vision was obscured as smoke filled the entire area. "Damn, I can't see a-"

His sentence was cut short as something extremely hard hit him in the jaw, sending him flying backwards from the force. He landed on his feet a few feet away, rubbing at his now sore jaw, he frowned at the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, "What the hell was that, there's no way Sosuke can hit that hard…"

The smoke cleared and standing before Sosuke was another man, this one just as tall as he was. He wore a wide brimmed hat and tattered brown robes. His skin was pale and gaunt and he stood completely still as if he were a statue.

"A summoning?" Hittokiri questioned in surprise.

"His name is Shiryuu and he was supposed to be your personal summon," Sosuke informed his opponent as he pulled Hittokiri's blade out of his shoulder, "Of course you went ahead and betrayed the village so I ended up forging a contract with him instead."

Hittokiri shook his head, "And you think some summon is going to give you an edge over me? You had better think again."

Shiryuu suddenly threw both of his arms out sideways, causing a concussive burst of air all around himself. He lifted his right hand up, a dark, purple light appearing within his grasp.

Hittokiri blinked and then Shiryuu was gone, "You had best not underestimate me boy," a gravely voice said from behind him.

Hittokiri whipped around and jumped backwards just as Shiryuu punched the rocky ground beneath his feet. A burst of energy erupted, disintegrating the ground all around him and creating a twenty foot deep crater.

"Whoa," Hittokiri said breathlessly as Shiryuu emerged from the crater, his hollow white eyes trained directly on him.

Shiryuu held up his right hand, the dark purple light still within his grasp, "Storm Release: Dark Rapture."

"Okay," Hittokiri said as Shiryuu approached, "You've convinced me, you're definitely a lot stronger than I thought you'd be. Still, it won't change the fact that I'm gonna win this fight."

"Talk is cheap," Shiryuu replied as he vanished and reappeared behind Hittokiri once more.

Charging his remaining blade with lightning Hittokiri clashed with the dark purple light in Shiryuu's hand. The ground around them crumbled and Hittokiri's blade began to crack under the immense pressure.

"Dammit," Hittokiri swore as his blade snapped in two and he was forced to jump back to avoid Shiryuu's attack.

"Still don't want to retreat?" Sosuke questioned as Shiryuu emerged from another crater. "You don't seem to be doing so well."

"Nah, I think I'll stick around a bit longer, after all, you still haven't answered my question Sosuke."

Sosuke shook his head as he lifted his oversized sword off the ground, "Don't you get it Hittokiri? Its over, you've lost."

Hittokiri shook his head, "Not yet I haven't," he formed a hand seal, "I'm just getting started!"


Yui threw another kunai. Hikari ducked to the side and ran along the wall, "Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!"

Hikari spun in place rapidly as she released a huge amount of chakra from her chakra points, creating a rotating shield of chakra around herself to deflect Yui's knives, which she was throwing at a rapid-fire pace.

"How long do you think you can keep that up with my poison stifling your chakra?" Yui questioned with a laugh as she let kunai after kunai fly forward, each one bouncing uselessly off of the rotating shield of charka Hikari was projecting.

Suddenly, Hikari stopped spinning, her rotating shield of chakra instantly dispersing, she dove away from the wall in a roll, coming to her feet just within reach, and swung for her opponent. Yui went low, swinging out one leg to strike for Hikari's. Hikari continued her spin, lifting up her left leg over Yui's sweeping kick and spun completely about.

As Yui came back to her feet, Hikari lifted her leg higher and completed her spin with a hard roundhouse kick to her head. Yui went down face-first onto the floor.

Yui, she didn't rise. Apparently the impact of her head hitting the floor knocked her out cold.

Hikari sighed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly Yui shot up, her feet rising up in the air as she lifted herself into a handstand, and Hikari found herself with Yui's thighs locked securely on either side of her head.

Looking down she could see Yui glaring up at her past a bloody nose, her teeth clenched in pure rage. She twisted sideways again and released her grip on Hikari as she did so, sending her into a spinning flip to hit the floor with her shoulders first.

As Hikari made it to her knees Yui screamed as she ran towards her, "Die you stupid bitch!"

Hikari got to her feet and saw the glint of the kunai just in time, catching Yui's hand with the kunai in her right hand. With three quick strikes to Yui's arm it fell to her side limply, the kunai she held clattering to the floor.

She tried to throw a punch with her remaining good arm but Hikari swatted it aside, striking it three times in the process. Much like her other, Yui's arm fell to her side limply, utterly useless.

Hikari struck out with an open palm, "Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"

A vacuum shell rammed into Yui, flinging her across the room and slamming her into the wall. "You made the mistake of losing your cool," Hikari said, "Hittokiri is mine."

"Go to hell," Yui spat.

"Not before you do," Hikari replied, before striking Yui in her exposed abdomen twice, "Two Palms!"

She struck her two more times, "Four Palms!"

The wall Yui was embedded in began to crack as Hikari struck her four more times, each strike as blindingly fast as the last. "Eight Palms!"

Yui felt her body begin to go numb as Hikari kept up her relentless assault, the wall beginning to give way with each blow, "Sixteen Palms!"

She spat up blood as sixteen more vicious blows assaulted her petite body, one of them hitting her in her throat, "Thirty-Two Palms!"

As Hikari entered the final stage of her assault, which was thirty-more strikes, she felt her body going numb, 'I have to finish her off, it feels like her poison is entering its final stage…,'

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Hikari's final strike hit Yui right between the eyes, and the wall, having taken more punishment than it could take finally gave way. Yui's now limp body fell to the rocky ground below, the wall's fragments falling with her.

Hikari fell to her knees as Yui's poison finally entered its third stage, induced unconscious. "At least I beat her…," she muttered as she blacked out.


Unfortunately for Maria and Daemen, Maria's assumption that they were fighting Chuunin turned out to be correct. Since then a dozen of extremely skilled Jonin had joined the battle, which made things exponentially more difficult for the two rogue ninja.

Daemen caught a punch aimed for his chest with his right hand. He lifted his attacker's arm up and turned his back to him, pulling his arm over his left shoulder, and wrenched downward.

The unfortunate ninja's elbow popped loudly and he screamed in pain. Not stopping there Daemen slammed his right elbow back into his stomach, knocking the wind from him, then shot his fist upward to hit him with the back of his knuckles to his face, knocking the man to the ground.

Turning around Daemen spotted a woman tossing a dozen chakra enhanced kunai his way. He threw his head back as he performed the necessary seals for the jutsu he was preparing, "Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bomb!"

Flames erupted from his mouth in three arcs, one to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead of him. They easily burned through the woman's thrown projectiles and converged on her quickly.

The woman however merely smirked in response as she prepared her counterattack, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A giant dragon of water roared to life from the woman's mouth, easily dousing the flames of Daemen's jutsu. Seeing that his jutsu had been trumped Daemen tried to move out of the giant water dragon's path but the man he had knocked to the ground grasped his ankles, halting his movements, "Shit."

"Water Release: Giant Vortex!"

Water surged up from behind Daemen, rising up several dozens meters in height. It streamed down in one big cascade, much like a gigantic waterfall. It hollowed out the ground and wiped away the giant dragon of water, as well as its caster in a huge wave.

Daemen turned to see Maria behind him, stabbing her blade into the spine of the man that was holding his ankles. "Thanks…Maria," He said stiffly.

Maria pulled her sword out of the now dead man's back, "Don't mention it," She glared, "Seriously, tell anyone I helped you out and I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"That's assuming we make it out of here," Daemen replied as his Kagegan vanished, his eyes returning to their natural green color due to his lack of chakra.

Several Takigakure shinobi surrounded the two, their weapons drawn. Maria clutched her bleeding side as she sheathed her blade, "I've lost a lot of blood and I'm running low on chakra…I hate to say this but we're going to have to retreat…"

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Daemen questioned as the shinobi approached.

Maria raised her free hand to her face, "Isn't it obvious? Hidden Mist Jutsu…"

The battlefield quickly filled up with a thick mist, making it impossible for everyone to see. Everyone but Maria that is. "Let's go," She whispered as she grabbed Daemen by the arm and dragged him away from the hostile enemy that was searching through the heavy mist frantically for them.


Hittokiri panted heavily, Sosuke and Shiryuu circling around his tired and battered form.

The landscape had been ravaged by their fierce fight, the remains of buildings were scattered everywhere. His cloak was tattered and several gashes had been cut into his chest and abdomen, "Dammit…"

"I hadn't thought that you'd be able to put up this much of a fight," Sosuke commented, "You even managed to break the legendary blade of General Hakushin."

"But this is where it ends for you," Shiryuu said, "I am disappointed in you Hittokiri."

"I still have one more trick up my sleeve," Hittokiri panted before closing his eyes in concentration.

"Tch, as if I'd actually let you." Sosuke said as he raised Hittokiri's blade over his head, before he could strike however a bright light emitted from Hittokiri's arm, blinding him temporarily.

When the bright light faded Sosuke cough up blood violently, "You…"

Hittokiri was standing before him, his arm, which was now nothing but pure electrical energy had pierced straight through Sosuke's abdomen, "Don't worry," Hittokiri said with a grin, "I avoided a fatal blow, after all, you still need to tell me where Setsuna is."

Pushing his uncle off of his arm and onto the ground Hittokiri dashed toward Shiryuu, "You're next," he exclaimed as he punched the man in the face, to his surprise Shiryuu face cracked slightly, sand dripping from it.

"That's some tough skin you've got there," Hittokiri remarked as he pulled back his fist and punched forward again, this time Shiryuu caught the strike, his own arm pure electrical energy.

"No way," Hittokiri said in astonishment.

"Stand down Hittokiri, you and I no longer have any reason to fight."

Hittokiri winced as his arm began to move erratically. "And why's that?"

He jumped back as his arm reverted back to its original state and hung limply as his side, "Dammit…I lost control, I guess I didn't have enough chakra even though it was only a partial conversion…"

"In having lost to you, Sosuke has violated the contract between he and I. You may ask of him whatever it is you wish, I will not interfere."

Hittokiri stared at the man, wondering if he was lying or not. After a while he merely shrugged and made his way over to his uncle. "So…you ready to cooperate now?"

"You might as well kill me…because I'm not telling you anything."

"I could do that," Hittokiri says, "But I won't. When the village finds out that you've been defeated by me they'll all turn their backs on you. I want you to live with that shame."

"Tch, cheeky little bastard aren't you? But you won't be that way for long, none of you will. My son…Setsuna…he is the one who will change this accursed world of shinobi…I'm sure of it."

He coughed up more blood and the smiled, "And he's going to start by wiping out the New Akatsuki."

Hittokiri's eyes widened in surprise and seconds later Daemen and Maria arrived. Daemen noticed the look on Hittokiri's face first, "Hittokiri, are you okay?"

Hittokiri shook his head, "We've got to go, now."

Both Daemen and Maria arched a brow as Hittokiri took off and then followed after him.

Hittokiri jumped through the hole in the wall of the tower he had made earlier when he kicked Sosuke through the window. "Hikari!" He rushed to her side and propped her up, "Hikari, wake up!"

"She must have been poisoned by Yui," a gravely voice said.

Hittokiri looked up to see Shiryuu leaning against the far wall, "I can heal her if you want, but in return you must forge a contract with me."

"Fine," Hittokiri answered without hesitation, "But I won't do that until you heal her."

Seconds later Daemen and Maria emerged from the hole in the wall, "What's going on Hittokiri."

Hittokiri turned to the two, "I know where Setsuna is, he's leading an invasion force…"

"For what?" Maria questioned.

Hittokiri frowned as he answered, "To destroy the New Akatsuki."