"Five attacks since we left Konoha. Three within four days. I'm getting worried Satomi." A tall man with black hair looked out of the window to see a team of Anbu patrolling the area. All hands were on deck at this point in the journey.

A beautiful kunoichi with brown skin, black hair and striking dark amber eyes put a hand on his shoulder "Hotamaru, things will be okay once we get to the sand village. Stop worrying so much, will you? All five attacks were defended seamlessly."

"When the great Satomi Senju is my bodyguard I guess I don't have anything to worry about huh?" Hotamaru said as he turned around and tenderly kissed Satomi, "I'm sorry about this, love. This was not how I expected to spend our anniversary."

Satomi smiled, "You'll make up for it once we get to Sunagakure," she said coyly, "Anyways, how are the kids. It must be pretty stressful for them."

"They're in the other room," Hotamaru said as he sat on the bed, "Haru was a bit shaken up, but Yuina is taking care of it. They were targeted, but Mitsuru stepped in and helped with their earth jutsu."

Satomi stood up, "Well, we should go thank them, no? Let's go."

Taking Hotamaru in hand Satomi walked throughout the stone house incredulous that this is the result of a jutsu. Once they walked outside they were greeted by someone in regular Anbu garb; black clothes, grey jacket, sword, and most importantly a mask. This one in particular had a turtle mask, "Excuse me, but I'll have to ask you to go back in the house. The enemy could attack at any moment and we can't afford to let our guard down."

Satomi instantly took the reins of the conversation, "We would like to speak to the ninja who rescued our kids."

"That would be me," the Anbu said, "But please, let's take this conversation inside."

Before long the three of them were in the center room, "Would you mind removing your mask, Mitsuru? I'd like to thank you properly." Satomi said.

"I really shouldn't."

"It'll be fine," Satomi pressed, "It's not like Mitsuru is your real name is it?"

Mitsuru sighed and took off the mask he was wearing. He was handsome, with auburn hair and blue eyes, "I guess I don't have much of a choice then."

Both Satomi and Hotamaru bowed deeply, "You have my utmost gratitude, Mitsuru. As son of the Hokage I'm ashamed that I only proved to burden you," Hotamaru said, "And thank you for creating this house so the family could camp comfortably. I'd like to repay you, but there isn't anything as valuable as my family's safety."

Mitsuru took a breath, "Please raise your head sir," he said tenderly, "It's my job to protect you and your family. I failed that when you were forced to fight. It was an honor protecting your daughters, so don't fret please."

Satomi chuckled softly before taking note of Mitsuru's face, "You made a common mistake. We don't have two daughters."

Suddenly there was the sound of rushing feet in the hallways and the three of them looked through the door to see a young child in spats and knee-high socks being chased around by an older kid that had a dress in their arms. "Come on, Haru! Just do it one time for me!" The elder child Yuina looked like a younger, more feminine version of Hotamaru, but a tomboy through and through. She wore simple boy clothes and had her black hair cut short. In her arms was a small, white dress with blue bows and blue accents all over.

"No, neesan! You said that last time!" The younger one protested.

"What's going on you two?" Satomi said to get their attention.

The younger of the two children basically dived into Satomi's arms, "Mom, you have to help me!" The younger one, Haru, looked like a smaller version of Satomi but with Satomi's beauty turned into cuteness instead. There were a few striking differences though. Instead of black hair and brown eyes Haru had blue hair and matching eyes...for some odd reason.

Satomi laughed, "Okay, but what's with the palette swap? Release the jutsu."

Haru nodded and soon her hair changed to black from the roots and his eyes turned to a dark amber color that matched Satomi's, "Mom, can you tell Yuina to pick a new outfit. She drew me in that outfit already twice today."

Satomi sighed and looked at Yuina, "You heard your model, Yuina. Try again tomorrow."

Yuina frowned, but then snapped her fingers, "Oh I know a good one," she said, "Come on Haru, let's get you in something else."

Haru nodded and left, leaving the three of them alone. Though Hotamaru and Satomi barely notice the event Mitsuru was a bit confused, "Umm if you don't mind me asking why did you say you didn't have to daughters?" The logic was simple. If it looks like a girl, if it sounds like a girl, it must be a girl. Neither of the kids showed anything otherwise.

Satomi chuckled softly again, "I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier, Haru's a boy," Mitsuru tilted his head slowly, "Would you like to explain, Hotamru?"

He shrugged, "Yuina is an artist and Haru's dragged into drag to be her model. I don't think he minds though so there isn't much of a problem."

"Ah, well that would explain why she's carrying so many scrolls. I find it amazing that they already can control their chakra so young. Most ninja can't use it until they graduate from the academy."

"Haru takes after his mother," Satomi said, "He's definitely-" There was a sudden earth shaking and deafening crash that shook the whole house. And there was a few more tremors afterwards.

Another Anbu member teleported into the room, "Enemy ninja. We've been found."

"How? The barrier seals were activated," Satomi said before giving Hatomaru a kunai, "You protect the kids. I know you can do it. Mitsuru, we'll engage the enemy," Hotamaru ran to the kids room while Satomi ran outside. The Anbu team was fighting a team of rogue ninja with different weapons fighting against the Anbu. It was utter chaos with jutsu being cast and the earth being leveled at random. Satomi went after a man with a huge sword, "Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

The man was defended by a torrent of water that came from above and another ninja landed in front of Satomi, "We'll try this again, babe."

"Masato Ishibashi, ex-konoha jounin and missing-nin. Number six of the wanted list. Also known as Seiryu, the water master," Satomi said. The tall and muscular man before her had blonde hair and sinister black eyes and he had a sword in his left hand, "Tell me, why are you so adamant about keeping us from getting to the sand village?"

He laughed, "It's nothing personal babe, just business. It's the life of a ninja."

"Do you really think you can beat me? You're lucky you didn't die yesterday."

"Of course I can't beat you. Not alone that is."

Satomi sensed danger from her left and leaped to dodge a fireball coming at her. Suddenly from above a lightning armor clad ninja was coming down on her with a punch primed to sed her to the ground, "Wind Style: Northern Wind!" Satomi pushed the air up to throw the ninja off course as she regained her balance. However as soon as she hit the ground she noticed the earth was turning into a stream of stalagmites rushing towards her. Thinking fast, Satomi dodged outside of it's range but found herself trapped in the air. She looked around and figured she was trapped in a wind jutsu and gathered her own chakra, "Wind Style: Tempest!" Satomi released wind chakra from every part of her body to cancel the jutsu with her own. Once she landed she noticed a ring being made on the ground around her and it suddenly ignited into wall of flame that towered high above her and cut her off from the rest of the world.

"Satomi Sarutobi. You're as strong as they say." A man walked in through the wall of fire to meet her. He had orange hair and was clad in red clothes, "You probably know me don't you?"

Satomi ground her teeth, "Norinaga Athushi. The fire master called Suzaku."

A large, intimidating man with dark skin entered through the flames from the left, "As expected of one from the remaining Senju. I am Genbu, and hopefully you'll be more of a challenge than this one." Genbu held Mitsuru in his hand by the neck and threw him to the ground.

"Mitsuru!"

"I would worry about myself if I were you, babe," Seiryu walked from the east end of the flames, "Your friend doesn't have too long to live." He snapped his fingers and Genbu stomped and the ground then drove a stalagmite up through Mituru's prone body, "See?" he said while moving the hair from his face.

From the west end a bulky man with fair skin enter through with wind whipping the flames around him, "I am Byakko, the wind master." He said with a deep powerful voice, "You probably have guessed, but you will die here, Satomi.

The man encased in lightning armor also passed through, "And so will the rest of your family."

Satomi ignored them as she watched Mitsuru's body crumble to dust as a result of his final jutsu. And suddenly chakra began to visibly swirl around her, "Four S-Rank missing-nin against a Jounin, huh? If that's the case, so be it." The earth around her began to break off and spin about, "I never thought I would have the four Gods as my opponent," her skin started to turn red, "But there are things I need to protect, so I cannot lose here!" There was suddenly an explosion of chakra as a crater was made from under her feet and the air whipped around her, "Guy, thank you for teaching me this technique. Open: Sixth Gate of Joy!"

Hotamaru wasn't idle during his fight either, taking down a shinobi who had come after him, "How many are there?" The Anbu he was talking to was suddenly cut down by a swordsmen. When that ninja attacked Hotamaru he dodged to the left and struck him down with a single punch that caved in his attacker's chest. Hotamaru was reaching his limit with the Amplifier fist, a taijutsu style that blended Gai's strong fist with Hiashi's gentle fist. It was powerful, but very taxing for him.

"Die!" Another swordsman came from his blind spot with his sword raised, but before he could strike he was wound up by a thin wire and was squeezed until he was unconscious.

Of all people Yuina came with Haru hanging tightly on her back and her fingers had the ends of the wire that just took out the ninja, "They found us. So we had to come here."

"Good. All of you together? This should be easy." Coming from the same direction as Yuina was a tall man with brown skin, red hair, and green eyes. His teeth were sharpened like that of a shark and his hands were tipped with bloodied claws. He looked inhuman and the power radiating from him helped support the theory, "Let's finish this then."

Hotamaru bit his thumb and summoned Furi. It was a monkey from Enma's kingdom. He was a bit different, he had blue fur with a black pattern, red eyes and a short tail, "So I have chakra for you huh? Please, take Haru and Yuina away from here," he begged, "I know we don't always see eye to eye, Furi, but please do this for me."

"Let me help you, Hotamaru," Furi told him.

"No, just get them out of here." He said, "They'll be safe once I win here."

"He's too strong."

"I'll have to use 'that' technique." He said grimly before looking at the tiger-like man, "Can I say my final words to my children?"

The beastman smiled, "My name is Oryu. I will give you that much of a mercy, but be quick about it."

Hatomaru turned and bent down on knee to give his children a hug, "Take care of each other okay. I don't know what has happened to your mother, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Yuina I'm sure you'll be a great artist. Haru, no matter what people say about your crossdressing they can't deny that you're cute. Whatever you choose to do, you'll be great at it," he pushed them into Furi's arms, "What I choose to do, I do without regrets. I love you."

"Dad…I love you too," Yuina said.

"Go Furi!" With that the monkey and the children disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Oryu smiled smugly, "You know they won't get far.

"I have faith in my friends."

He shook his head, "Once I kill you, I'll catch them."

Hotamaru laughed, "I plan to die. But I'm taking you to hell with me!" Hotamaru clasped his hands in the tiger seal, "Secret Jutsu: Soul of the Hokage!" Chakra began to visibly stream from his body and suddenly it turned to majestic flames that wreathed Hotamaru's body. His eyes began to glow as he felt his soul become a searing blaze, "Let's finish this!"

"Now this is a challenge!" Oryu snarled, "Let's see what you got!"

"My family is on the line. You will not leave here alive!"