''it's time to duel!'' yugi moto glanced over at his adversary; Bakura.

''hmpf, so it is. Yugi, prepare to meet your doom'' his glare pierced Yugi clean through, as they faced each other across the dimly lit room.

''Bakura, you always know how to creep me out!'' Yugi laughed at the white haired british boy, who in return giggled lightly

''oh i'm,..I'm sorry...'' Bakura brushed a small flick of his snow white hair out of the way of his eyes and looked down sadly. ''I didn't mean to scare you.''

''oh, it's alright. Don't worry about it''

''are... you sure?''

''of course, it's nothing bad. Actually... Bakura, maybe we could go get Joey and Tristan before we do this, have a four way duel!'' yugi's face beamed as he looked to his friend ''come on, it'll be fun!''

''if you say so then, yugi'' Bakura smiled and pulled himself up, picking up his duel disk and strapping it to his wrist. ''let's go!'' He laughed and pulled the curtains apart, spreading beams of light across the room, showing boxes, games, cards and clothes littered across the floor.

Yugi stood up on his short legs, his height dwarfed by Bakura's.

...

The hokage's office was full.

Naruto glanced around as he saw the faces of his friends: nejji and Lee, kakashi and gai, shino, shikamaru, choji and kiba. Yamato stood at the side, flanked by two masked ANBU blackops members.

''right, it seems an incident has occurred on the border between the land of wind and the land of fire.''the hokage, lady Tsunade eyed all of the Leaf shinobi standing to attention in the room ''Late last night, a squad of the hidden sand village's border patrol force came under attack by an unknown and unseen assailant. One squad is already on route to the border from the hidden sand, and you are to rendezvous with them at this point'' She pointed on a map to a small cavern close to a red cross, obviously placed to signify the point of the attack.

''and what's the composition of the Sand strike force?'' nejji spoke up

''5 jounin and 5 chunin is all they can muster, although they'll send reinforcements as soon as possible'' tsunade pushed a scroll forward on her desk. ''take this, kakashi, it'll explain inside on your journey''

''it's not much to go on'' kakashi sounded grim ''are... you sure it'll be enough? What's the capabilities of our enemy?''

''it's hard to tell, there was only one survivor of this attack, and he's currently in intensive care. Although, the bodies found were cut apart, which could mean they have a unique wind stlye, or are advanced in the used of weapons in combat''

''I see'' Kakashi turned round to face the team ''okay, strike force beta, meet at the hidden leaf main gates in 30 minutes sharp. Collect your ninja tools and we'll head out asap, now move out''

The group filed out of the room into the corridor beyond, leaving kakashi alone with the hokage.

''kakashi, the enemy have the advantage, but i'm sure your squad can pull it off. Good luck''

''thanks'' kakashi nodded then followed the group out of the room.