"Time for morning training," Naruto said as he jogged off towards the training grounds. "I have to work on my taijutsu today, and I should try some target practice with my kunei-"
Naruto stared up from his back at the sky. Tenten's head obscured his vision. "Are you okay Naruto?"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto rubbed his back as he stood up. "I'm fine."
He looked over at Neji who had also stood up and was dusting himself off. "Oh, sorry Neji."
"Hn," Neji grunted and Tenten smiled.
"Oh don't mind him. He's just upset you weren't a certain girl, right Neji?" She elbowed him and he pushed her away.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he glared at her.
"Huh, what's going on?" Naruto looked back and forth between the two.
"Oh, Neji just went on this date with this girl named Rei and hasn't seen her since," Tenten explained as Neji's eyes narrowed behind her. She leaned in and whispered, "He's been upset ever since."
"It wasn't a date!" Neji insisted.
"Wait, Rei? Rei Mizuno?" Naruto asked.
"Do you know her?" Tenten asked.
"Yeah, we hung out when she was here." Naruto nodded and smiled at Neji. "So, she's your girlfriend, eh Neji?"
"She is not-" Neji begain.
"Neji," Hiashi appeared behind the younger ninja. "It's time for your training, come."
Neji nodded and followed the older Hyuuga but not before glaring back at Tenten and Naruto.
"I can't believe they went on a date," Naruto laughed. "Neji on a date!"
"Yeah, I know," Tenten agreed. "But she hasn't been around for a while."
"Come to think of it, it has been a few months since they visited, hasn't it?" Naruto noted.
Saliva dripped from the fangs of the shadowed creature as its red eyes groped for a victim. The streets of Konoha were empty though and the beast growled in irritation. But then the wind carried a scent which pricked its nose. He turned towards Konohamaru who was coming down the street and it lunged from behind. Konohamaru froze as he sensed the killing intent and turned in time to see the fangs and claws heading towards him. He didn't even realize he had dodged, it was pure instinct ingrained into him through his ninja training. He avoided the claws again and jumped back putting some distance between the two. He quickly formed hand signs before the creature could lunge again.
It growled and bit into Konohamaru's shoulder. It purred in triumph but it didn't relish his flesh for long. Konohamaru exploded into smoke as the creature bit into wood. It threw his head angrily letting the replacement log slam into the fence. Konohamaru watched the demon thrash wildly in the empty street as he paused to catch is breath. "What is that thing?"
Its longish ears perked up and it turned its red eyes upon Konohamaru's hiding spot. Konohamaru choked, "It heard me?"
The creature let out a roar before lunging towards Konohamaru. But before it could sink its fangs into the real genin it was kicked out of the way. Konohamaru blinked at the jounin standing before him, "Ebisu-sensei?"
"Konohamaru, are you all right?" He asked tilting his head towards his student but not taking his eyes off of the creature.
"Yeah," Konohamaru nodded and stood up on shaky legs. "What is that thing?"
"I don't know, but it won't get away," Ebisu's glasses flashed dangerously. The creature slowly began to back away before jumping away and disappearing in a flash.
"I thought you said you weren't going to let it get away!" Konohamaru yelled and looked for the creature.
"I'm not!" Ebisu's forehead furrowed. "I need to go and report this to Tsunade-sama."
"But it's getting away!" Konohamaru insisted.
"I'll get to it!"
"What exactly are we looking for?" Asuma asked as he, Kakashi, and Gai searched Konoha.
"A strange black creature with glowing red eyes, fangs, and sharp claws," Kakashi answered.
"Oh, what fun," Asuma muttered.
"There!" Gai pointed to the running shadow beneath them. Kakashi pulled out a kunei and flung it towards the creature. It landed in front and stopped it in its tracks. They landed behind the creature and it turned its red eyes towards them and bared its fangs. It was the size of a large dog with long pointed ears, black fur, huge hind legs, large fangs and claws, and glowing red eyes.
"What is it?" Asuma pulled out his serrated knuckles and fitted them onto his hands. Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector and activated his Sharingan.
"It has a dark aura about it, it must be a demon," he determined.
"This'll be interesting," Gai slid into a fighting stance. Tensing momentarily before he took off Gai threw a punch out. The demon dodged and Gai left a crater in the ground before chasing it out beyond the gates. Asuma lunged with his knuckles and extended the blades with his chakra managing to slice the creature's leg. It howled in pain and snapped at his hand but he retracted it in time.
"Lively thing, isn't it?" Gai regrouped with Asuma and Kakashi.
"Yeah, but now it has nowhere to go," Kakashi noted that the creature had been backed up against a high wall of rock. He formed hand seals then put his hand up to his mouth. "Allow me, Fireball jutsu!"
The creature let out a horrible shriek as it burned to a crisp. Gai dusted off his hands, "Well, that was interesting."
"And it's about to get more interesting," Asuma frowned as he inspected a patch of trees nearby.
"What?" Kakashi asked as he and Gai walked towards him.
"Looks like our little friend left some treats for us," Asuma pointed at six green eggs the size of full grown cats nestled in the grass.
"This can't be good," Kakashi sighed.
"Hikage Village, eh?" Kakashi said as he looked over the report Shizune had handed him.
"It's about time we invoked that treaty we set up with them, don't you think?" Tsunade looked towards him and Gai. "I'm assigning some more ninjas because of the forest surrounding Hikage. I don't know how they get in and out of their village but I want to make sure our ninjas make it in and out as safely as possible. Your team will consist of you two, Neji for his byakugan to see the demons and his impenetrable defense, Sakura for her strength and healing abilites, and Naruto because he'd complain if he didn't get to go.
"The jounin of Hikage are experts on demon slaying and control. Right now we can't risk destroying the eggs ourselves, we might just trigger them to hatch. And we need to know if there are any other demons or eggs around Konoha. It's your job to bring back Hikage ninjas to help with our demon problem."
"But why not just send a carrier bird?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm afraid it'll get eaten by one of Hikage's demons," Tsunade said dryly.
"Ah," Kakashi nodded. "I see."
"Alright, Tsunade-sama, leave it to us," Gai gave her the thumbs up.
"I hope Yue or Chiba come," Shizune whispered and Tsunade nodded.
"I definitely wouldn't mind either of them showing their cute faces in Konoha again," she agreed and the two giggled.
"Bakemono will probably be the one to come, he is the expert on demons," Gai pointed out.
"He prefers to be called Ke," Kakashi interrupted and Tsunade raised an eyebrow, intrigued by his sudden defense of the jounin.
"Well, whoever comes make sure they come here as soon as possible. Time is of the utmost importance." Tsunade ordered.
"I can't wait to see the Hikage ninja again," Naruto smiled in anticipation as the Konoha ninja team moved through the tall grass. He leaned over to Neji. "I bet you're excited to see Rei, eh Neji?"
"Don't get too excited, we still don't know if we can trust them," Sakura reminded and Naruto frowned.
"If we don't give them a chance," Kakashi spoke up, "we'll never know. Now will we, Sakaura?"
"Oh, yes Kakashi-sensei," Sakura frowned. Weren't you the one to tell me to be careful around Bakemono?
"Well there it is," Gai announced as the forest came into view. It was a dark patch of black and green. Twisted vines wrapped around the gnarled old trees with branches that seemed more like claws than wood. "The famed Hikage forest. That's an even better defense than yours, Neji. It's the only reason why such a small village like Hikage has been able to survive so long."
"Our strategy is stealth," Kakashi informed. "We will avoid all contact with demons. Even if we can defeat the ones we encounter we will only expend chakra which will surely attract bigger demons."
The other ninja nodded in agreement as he formed the signs for a summoning. Pakkun appeared from where he had slammed his hand down on the ground.
"Yo," the small dog raised its paw in greeting. Neji activated his Byakugan and he and Pakkun led with the others close behind as they delved into the dark Hikage forest.
Kotetsu and Izumo leaned heavily against the trees surrounding the demon eggs.
"This is boring," Kotetsu scratched his nose. "I almost wish one would hatch so we could get some action."
As soon as the words left his mouth one of the eggs began to move. Izumo and he fell into defensive stance and watched the egg with held breath. A large bug emerged from underneath the egg and went on its way. They exhaled.
"I wonder why the bug can touch the egg without triggering a hatching and we can't," Kotetsu said.
"Because the eggs need a fairly large amount of chakra to prematurely hatch. A bug can't supply that much chakra, but a human easily can. And if there's a human who's stupid enough to touch them, they'll immediately hatch and start to wreak havoc on Konoha," Izumo explained and Kotetsu frowned.
"I never thought I'd say it but I hope the Hikage ninja get here soon."
Pakkun sniffed the ground while Neji searched digilently with his Byakugan as the others followed close behind. Naruto frowned in annoyance. "We've been here for over an hour, just how deep is this stupid forest?"
"Shh!" Sakura shushed and he winced. "Do you want to attract demons?"
Naruto sighed and kicked a rock absently. The rock rolled away and knocked against a boulder. A crack appeared and Naruto stopped. The crack split and sent the pieces of the boulder crashing into more rocks and it caused a huge chain reaction sending rubble crashing down to the forest below. The crash echoed through the dilapidated trees.
"Idiot!" Sakura yelled and began to shake Naruto violently.
"Look out!" Neji yelled as a huge centipede like creature came crawling towards them. Its hundred legs moved at the speed of light as its pinchers gnashed violently in anticipation of a meal. Its eyes glowed red as the strange markings along its backside coated with what looked like fur glowed accordingly.
Naruto jumped into the trees as it buried it's pinchers in the ground he had just occupied. He threw a kunei down at it but it merely deflected off its tough shell. He landed on a branch and frowned. "Damn, it didn't even make a scratch."
"Take this!" Sakura yelled as she aimed a punch towards its head. It scurried out of the way and she ended up punching the ground and upsetting the tree Naruto was standing on, sending him crashing to the ground. He jumped away just in time.
"Watch it Sakura!" He yelled and she glared at him.
"Don't yell at me! You're the one who brought it here!" She clenched her fists and he flinched. But before they could argue any further the centipede creature loomed above them. Naruto threw himself in front of Sakura in an instant with his arms extended, intending to take the blow. However, the centipede was struck by what seemed to be an avalanche of rocks and mud coming down the hillside. It rolled away from the ninja down the hill and into the forest.
Naruto looked down the steep drop after it. "That was weird, where did that avalanche come from?"
"Naruto?" A familiar voice asked. He turned to see Rei standing up on the hill above them.
"Rei!" He waved cheerfully. She half ran, half slid down the hill and ran up to them in greeting.
"I can't believe it's you!" She smiled brightly but froze at the sight of Neji. She blushed slightly. "Neji, you're here too."
"Yeah, we're here on-" Neji began.
"A very important mission," Gai interrupted and Neji frowned. "Now what are you doing in the forest all alone, little girl? Shouldn't you be home with your mommy and daddy?"
"She's a Hikage genin, Gai," Kakashi sighed and pointed at her forehead protector. "Although that still doesn't mean you should be all alone in this forest."
"But don't you live here in the forest?" Naruto asked and Rei nodded.
"Yeah, me, Rin, Toya, and Ke-sensei all live here," she confirmed and the Konoha ninja winced.
"You live in the forest full of demons?!" Sakura blinked in disbelief.
"Maybe Ke really is an insane monster," Kakashi muttered.
"I can't believe you live in the forest," Neji commented as he and Rei walked up front with Pakkun.
"It's really not that bad when you get used to it," Rei shrugged. "Besides, it's way better than living in the village."
"What?" Neji looked at her in confusion.
"Whoa! This is where you live?!" Naruto ran ahead. Neji followed him with his eyes. Without him knowing it they had emerged into a large meadow. It was at least three square miles of beautiful tall yellow grass and flowers. In the center of it all was a very large house with an adjoining greenhouse along with several small outdoor gardens. Rei headed towards the house and waved them on.
"This place is so pretty," Sakura passed her hand over the flowers as they headed towards the house.
"Toya, Rin, and I live in that house with Ke-sensei. He built it and brought us out here away from the village to train," Rei explained.
"I wonder how he built the house?" Kakashi questioned.
"With wood and stone," Ke answered as he appeared behind Kakashi who flinched. The Copy Cat ninja turned slowly towards the Hikage jounin and sighed.
"You really need to stop doing that."
Gai inspected the thousands of books and scrolls which lined the shelves of Ke's study. They spilled out from the shelves into disorderly stacks on the ground and practically buried Ke's desk. There was barely room to walk around all of the texts that were crammed into the room. Gai returned his gaze to the shelves and nodded approvingly at the scrolls detailing the taijutsu of various countries. Then he noticed the majority of the room had been devoted to demon texts. "This is an impressive collection, Bake, er, I mean Ke. I've never seen so many texts on demons," Gai noted.
"That's because there are maybe three scrolls on demons. I wrote most of these," Ke said and Gai looked at him in surprise.
"Really? All of them? There must be hundreds here," Gai nodded approvingly at the shelves.
"Yeah, well I've had a lot of experience," Ke shrugged. Kakashi walked around aimlessly, his eye meandering over the books. However his eye opened wide and he flew towards a shelf. Picking up a book with shaking hands his eye shone. He thrust the book towards Ke.
"You have the special editions of the Makeout Paradise series! With author commentary!" He said in awe. "Can I please, please, please borrow them?"
"Sure," Ke shrugged. "I haven't even read them."
"You, you, haven't read them?" Kakashi stammered and Ke nodded.
"Yeah, Chiba gave them to me as a gift. I couldn't get past the first chapter though," Ke explained and Kakashi's face fell.
"I remember spending much of my youth in the library studying ninjutsu, genjutsu, and especially taijutsu. Ah, the springtime of youth!" Gai's eyes began to shine.
"What's up with him?" Ke whispered to Kakashi as Gai clenched his fists and pumped them into the air, seemingly in his own reverie.
"Yeah, he'll do that sometimes. It's best just to ignore him," Kakashi dismissed.
"So, why did you guys come to Hikage anyway? I'm sure you weren't just taking a stroll." Ke said.
"Well, it seems as if Konoha has developed a demon problem," Kakashi began. "A demon was sighted in Konoha and we were able to destroy it but it has appeared to have laid eggs. We wanted to recruit one of Hikage's ninjas to exterminate the eggs and make sure there aren't any eggs or demons left around Konoha."
"You can to the right place, that's for sure." Ke nodded. "Now tell me, what did the demon look like?"
"It was about two and a half feet all, four feet long, long pointed ears, fangs, claws, glowing red eyes," he described the creature.
"Fur or scales?" Ke asked.
"Fur," Gai had snapped out of his reverie. "Black fur."
"How long were the ears?'
"I'd say about a foot and a half." Kakashi tapped his cloth covered lips with his finger.
"Were they skinny ears or flat fat ones?"
"Skinny," Gai clarified. Ke cocked his head and walked over to the shelves and began to pull out scrolls. He glanced at each one before throwing them aside. Kakashi ducked to avoid one of the projectiles and glared at Ke angrily. But Ke was oblivious to his anger and continued to search through the texts. He succeeded in emptying out most of the bottom shelves before gazing up at the upper shelves. Ke animalistically climbed up the bookshelves and began to search through the upper shelves. Kakashi and Gai hopped around below to avoid the scrolls and texts as they rained down upon them.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kakashi demanded but Ke remained ignorant of their annoyance. Finally, he pulled out a scroll and nodded. Unrolling it he turned it over to face them.
"Was this it?" He showed the picture of a demon to them.
"Yeah! That's it!" Gai nodded vehemently.
"Well it looks like you have a rabbit demon problem," Ke informed as he jumped down.
"A rabbit?" Kakashi blinked. "Are you sure? It was pretty vicious to be just a rabbit."
"Oh rabbits can be mean," Ke put his hands in his pockets and leaned against his desk. "With their cute little whiskers, button noses, and puffy little tails. Real nasty little things."
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you," Kakashi crossed his arms and Ke shrugged.
"It's a demon rabbit, it's going to be a little tougher than just a rabbit," he said. "The good news is its eggs are easily destroyed with ofuda. When were the eggs laid?"
"Don't know, we just found them after we destroyed the demon," Kakashi said.
"What color were they?"
"Green," Gai said and Ke nodded.
"Good, green means they were recently hatched. We don't have to start worrying until they turn red."
"Hey, Izumo, Kotetsu," Shikamaru called as he, Kiba, and Akamaru, approached his fellow chuunin in the forest. "We're here to relieve you."
"Well, I hate to tell you this but there's not a whole lot going on," Izumo said.
"Yeah, it's pretty boring," Kotetsu agreed.
"Meh, I'd rather have boring eggs than full bred demons," Shikamaru shrugged.
"Well then, this job'll be perfect for you," Izumo waved as he and Kotetsu left.
"Babysitting eggs, eh?" Kiba knelt down next to the six eggs. "The glories of being a chuunin."
"Hey, don't get too close!" Shikamaru warned. 'They feed off of chakra."
"Oh relex, we're fine, right Akamaru?" Kiba motioned towards the dog who only whined. "What's wrong Akamaru?"
"Hey," Shikamaru knelt beside Akamaru and inspected the eggs. "Look at these. Why are these two red and the other four green?"
"Something doesn't smell right," Kiba frowned.
Ke shoved some scrolls in a backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Turning to Gai and Kakashi he said, "I'll go to Konoha and get rid of the demons. It'll be quick and painless. I won't even have to go inside the village if we're lucky."
"You're going now?" Gai asked. "Shouldn't we report to the Ankokukage?"
"I generally try and avoid all contact with him, so reporting to him might be a problem," Ke said.
"We should report to him," Kakashi insisted. "The Ankokukage should assign an official mission and put together a team."
"Fine, we'll go to the freaking village," Ke gave up.
"I can't believe this beautiful of a garden is in the middle of this horrible forest," Sakura breathed in the fresh daisies which grew around the house.
"Yeah, it is a bit strange," Neji's brow furrowed. "Why aren't demons constantly attacking this house? Or for that matter, the village?"
"Because they're scared of Ke-sensei," Rei shrugged.
"Well, why didn't demons attack the village before Ke?" Neji asked.
"One of the three founding clans of Hikage was the Chiba clan. They were originally very gifted priests who created a spiritual barrier around the village to ward off demons," Rei explained.
"So Hikage is pretty much impenetrable, huh?" Naruto crossed his hands behind his head. "Between the demon forest and the spiritual barrier nothing can get to the village."
"But if the spiritual barrier was broken," Neji began.
"Then the demons would overrun Hikage, destroying it from the inside." Sakura finished.
"That's one of the biggest fears of the Ankokukage. But Ke-sensei won't let it happen," Rei assured. "No one has ever made it through Hikage forest without Ke-sensei knowing."
"What do you mean, without Ke knowing?" Neji's eyes narrowed.
"Ke-sensei was the one who sent me to you guys in the forest. I didn't even know you were there, he just told be to patrol that area. Ke-sensei is allied with a lot of the demons in the forest who act as lookouts and informants for him."
"So he's trained among demons, takes his jutsus from him, and now he friends with him?" Naruto blanched. "This guy is pretty weird. I wonder if he has a demon face too."
"Why else would he wear that mask?" Sakura shuddered. "His real face must be terrifying."
"Well, I'm not obliged to tell," Rei shook her head and Naruto frowned.
"Aw, you're not fun."
"You're welcome to figure it out," she invited.
"Hey Neji-" Naruto began.
"No." He shot him down.
"You don't even know what I was about to ask!"
"You were going to ask for me to use my Byakugan to see Bakemono's face."
"Lucky guess," Naruto pouted.
"My Byakugan isn't a toy!" He yelled.
"Hey!" Ke yelled as he, Gai, and Kakashi came out of the house. "We're going to the village to consult the Ankokukage about the demon situation in Konoha."
"We, we're going to village?" Rei asked her face contorted with worry.
"Don't worry," Ke placed a gloved hand on her head. "You're not coming. You're going to stay here and try not to burn the house down. Rin and Toya should be back soon."
"We'll be back," Kakashi said to Naruto and Sakura as they walked off. Neji's eyes, however, were on Rei.
Why didn't she want to go into the village?
"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Rei asked as they walked into the kitchen.
"Hey, what are these?" Naruto asked as he found a plate of round balls dusted with a powder on the table.
"You're welcome to try them," Rei pushed them towards him. "They're really good."
"Wow!" Naruto's face lit up as he bit into it. "These are amazing!"
"They're delicious," Sakura agreed and even Neji nodded in approval. "Who made them?"
"Ke-sensei," Rei informed and Naruto flinched.
"He's a baker too?" He asked in disbelief.
"Hey, I think Rin and Toya are back," Sakura pointed out the window at the returning ninja.
Naruto ran to the entrance and waved as they came into the door.
"Naruto?" Rin blinked at him but broke out in a smile. "Hey! What are you doing here?"
"We're here on a mission," Naruto explained as Sakura, Neji, and Rei appeared behind him.
"A mission eh?" Rin raised an eyebrow when she saw Neji. She leaned in close to Rei. "Is it a mission of love?"
"Shut up!" Rei hissed before Rin stomach growled loudly.
"Fine, shut me up with some food. I'm starving!" Rin clutched her stomach.
"Dinner's not for another hour," Toya glanced at the clock in the hall. "Maybe you can have a snack. Unless you guys are hungry too."
Naruto's stomach answered.
"I guess we're eating then!" Rin smiled triumphantly.
"Yeah, and it's your turn to cook," Toya smiled at her and she frowned.
Kakashi pulled out a kunei and pressed it against his finger. Ke glanced over at him and reached out to still his hand. "You don't need your dog here."
"How did you know about Pakkun?" Kakashi asked putting the kunei back in his pack.
"Hake told me," he shrugged.
"What's a Hake?" Gai asked before a furry creature the size of a cat fell on his head. Gai scrambled with the creature before tossing it aside and holding out his fists in defense.
"Not your most graceful moment, Hake," Ke picked the furry creature up and set him on his feet.
"I slipped," it muttered and brushed itself off. It glanced back at Gai who was eying it dangerously. He flinched and hid behind Ke. "Don't let him hurt me!"
"He's not going to hurt you," Ke assured. "Gai, Kakashi, this is Hake. He's a raccoon demon who serves as my eyes and ears in this forest."
"Hello there, little guy," Kakashi leaned down and held out his hand. Hake took his index finger and shook tentatively. "Are you going to protect us from all the big bad demons in this forest?"
"I don't think Hake's quite up to that responsibility quite yet," Ke rubbed Hake's head affectionately and Hake purred. "But don't worry, the demons won't attack us. The ones who aren't my summons are scared of me." Ke let Hake drop to the ground as they continued through the forest.
"I know the demons won't hurt us," Gai whispered to Kakashi. "But what about him?"
"I heard that," Hake muttered as he plodded next to them and Gai flinched.
"You don't tell Ke everything, do you?" Gai asked leaning down next to the raccoon demon. He blinked at him with his large black eyes.
"Yeah, pretty much everything," he said and ran up to Ke.
"What do you think this is Sakura?" Naruto asked as he ran his fingers along the strings of the cello.
"Don't touch it!" Sakura warned and shoved him away from the instrument. "You're just gonna break it!"
"They're not that fragile," Naruto pouted as he looked around the instruments which littered the room. "Who do you think plays all of these? Bakemono?"
"I'd be surprised if it was. How cultured can a ninja raised by demons be?" Sakura asked.
"Naruto, Sakura," Toya greeted as he found them in the room. Sakura turned around startled and Naruto quickly dropped the drumsticks he was holding.
"Hey Toya, can Bakemono play all of these?" Naruto waved his hand towards the instruments.
"He can play most of them," Toya confirmed as he placed a hand on the piano. "He can play the piano best. But the majority of these instruments are mine."
"You mean, you can play all of these?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, when I came here to train with Ke-sensei he taught me to play the piano and a few other instruments. I kept going and learned how to play these others on my own. It actually wasn't that hard once I got started."
"Well," Sakura sidled up next to him blushing. "Can you play us something?"
"Yeah, no," Toya shook his head and backed away from her. "I don't think so."
"Come on, play something on the piano!" Naruto pushed him down to the bench and pulled up the dust cover for him. Toya frowned in annoyance before cracking his fingers. He set them upon the keys and began to play. Naruto and Sakura listened in admiration as he began. Soon enough he began to sing.
"Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life."
"Wow," Sakura said softly. "That was really good."
"What's wrong?" Toya frowned at their saddened expressions. "Naruto? Sakura? What's going on?"
"Nothing, Toya," Naruto shook his head. "You're really good. And you have a really good voice. It's just that song reminded me of…of something."
Neji wandered around the greenhouse behind Ke's house and glanced around at the hundreds of plants. One plant caught his eyes. It had bright dark green leaves with beautiful white flowers. He leaned in towards the plant and inspected the blooms closer. The petals were slender and so thin they were transluscent giving the illusion of silver petals. He reached out and brushed his finger against the petal. He felt a small prick and the plant's buds burst into full bloom. He jumped back in shock.
"It feeds off your chakra," Rei's voice called from behind. He turned to see her walking towards him.
"It feeds off of chakra?" He questioned and she nodded adjusting the pot.
"Yeah, you see, it's not really a plant. It's a form of plant demon. They're all over the forest too."
"Hmm, this place seems to be infested with demons," Neji looked around distastefully and she shook her head.
"Not everything here is a demon," she said and waved her hand towards a bucket of water. She motioned with her hands drawing the water up into the air and flicked her wrist, sending the airborne stream into another potted plant. "See? This one needs water, not chakra."
"How," Neji pointed to her. "How did you do that? How did you move the water like that?"
"Huh? Oh. It's an element manipulation jutsu," she explained.
"But you didn't even make any hand signs," Neji disputed and Rei shrugged.
"It comes naturally now, I don't really need to make the hand signs to focus my chakra. Apparently my clan is supposed to be really good at manipulating elements."
"Clan?" Neji's brow furrowed. "What clan did you say you were part of?"
"Clan?" Rei blushed. "Oh, well."
"Dinner's ready!" Rin said from the doorway.
Kakashi, Gai, and Ke made their way through the streets of Hikage. It was smaller than Konoha and a great deal more deserted. Despite it being the middle of the day there weren't children running around the street or mothers and fathers on their way to market. Instead there were a few groups of two or three shady looking chuunins sporting the Hikage insignia. Gai frowned when he saw a few chuunin chatting with what had to be prostitutes.
"Where exactly in Hikage are we?" Gai asked as one of the prostitutes winked at him.
"Main street," Ke answered and Gai frowned. Gai leaned in close to Kakashi.
"Something is a little off here, don't you think?" He asked.
"Here we are," Ke announced as a large gated building towered before them.
"Why is it gated off like that?" Kakashi frowned and Ke shrugged before walking past the chuunin guards who looked at him warily. They walked through a small garden with lovely fountains and flowers.
"This seems awfully nice," Kakashi looked around.
"Especially when compared to the deplorable conditions outside," Gai's frown deepened. Ke led them through the doors of the building and up the stairs. Portraits of past Ankokukages lined the stairwell.
"They all look…very similar," Kakashi noted.
"That's because they're all members of the Chiba clan," Ke said as the mounted the top of the stairs and passed into the hallway. "Every single Ankokukage has descended from the Chiba clan in some way or another."
"Kakashi? Gai?" A familiar voice called from behind. The three paused and turned to see Chiba and Yue coming towards them. "What are you two doing here?"
"They're here because Konoha has a demon infestation," Ke explained.
"Well, you came to the right place," Chiba assured.
"And this place," Gai looked around. "What is it exactly?"
"This is the Ankokukage's residence," Chiba informed.
"It's very…nice," Kakashi noted.
"That's because the Ankokukage siphons off all the money from the village to pay for his own expenses," Yue said bluntly. "Come on, his office is this way."
"Is he always this direct?" Kakashi whispered to Chiba.
"Unfortunately," Chiba rolled his eyes.
They entered the Ankokukage's office. He raised his eyes in mild surprise. "Konoha ninja, this is a surprise."
He looked past them towards Ke. "But not as big of a surprise as you, Bakemono. Why the hell are you here?"
"Trust me, I wouldn't be here unless they made me come," Ke jutted his thumb towards Gai and Kakashi.
"Well, we don't exactly want you here either," he sneered and Kakashi and Gai exchanged looks.
"Ankokukage-sama," Gai addressed the older man. "Konoha has recently encountered a demon. Although we destroyed it, it left behind six eggs. We were hoping to have some Hikage ninja come and exterminate the eggs."
"Well, we'll do anything to help our Konoha bretheren," he smiled. "I'll put together a team of chuunin-"
"Our chuunin couldn't tell their asses from their faces," Ke interrupted. "None of them can cast the ofuda needed to destroy the eggs properly."
"Well I won't risk sending one of you three out. It would leave Hikage completely unprotected," the Ankokukage shook his head.
"Oh, like how you left it unprotected when we went to Konoha in a pathetic attempt to show off our strength?" He shot back.
"You insolent little-" the Ankokukage stood up with his hands fisted.
"Maybe one of the genin can go," Chiba put himself between the two. "After all, they know how to cast the ofuda. And they're experts on demons because of Ke's training."
"Fine," the Ankokukage agreed stiffly. "The three genin will go. Toya will be team leader."
"But Rin's a far more capable leader." Ke argued.
"There's no way I'm making a stupid little demon girl a team leader," he hissed. "Toya is the leader."
"That's fine," Yue nodded and grabbed Ke around the arm dragging him out of the room.
"Thank you, Ankokukage-sama," Kakashi thanked before following them out. Gai bowed in respect and quickly followed as well. Yue dragged Ke around the corner and pulled him into a room. Kakashi, Gai, and Chiba entered and Chiba shut the door behind them. Yue let Ke go who immediately grabbed a hold of a table and let it fly towards a wall. It splintered into pieces but he didn't pause to watch. Instead he kicked a chair in and smashed a lamp on the floor. He continued his rampage until every stick of furniture in the room was destroyed.
"Violent, isn't he?" Kakashi looked on in disbelief as Ke went after the windows. The glass shattered and sprinkled into shards on the ground around Ke's feet. Ke stood there with his fists clenched staring out of the broken windows.
"Are you done?" Yue asked and Ke glanced back at them. Gai and Kakashi flinched as the demon jounin's black enamel eyes stared back at them. He looked away towards the night table which was the only intact furniture left. He knocked over the glass on its top and then let out a deep breath.
"Yeah, I'm done." He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
"It's okay," Chiba said as he kicked some of the debris. "I can always get new furniture."
"This is your room?" Gai asked and Chiba nodded. "Why do you live with the Ankokukage?"
"Because he's my father," Chiba said simply and the Konoha ninja were shocked.
How did such a jerk raise someone as kind as Chiba? Kakashi wondered.
"The stars are so bright out here," Sakura stared up in wonder at the sky framed by the dark trees around them. "It's so beautiful."
Neji looked over at Rei and his expression softened, "Yeah, beautiful."
"Hey! We're back!" Kakashi announced as he, Gai, and Ke came out of the woods.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto waved in greeting as the three jounin approached them.
"When are you leaving for Konoha?" Rei asked.
"Never," Ke shrugged. "You three have been assigned to go instead. Toya, you've been chosen as team leader."
"What?" His eyes flashed. "That doesn't even make any sense! Rin's a far better leader than I am!"
"Then make it your first official decision to make Rin the leader," Ke suggested and Toya smiled. Ke motioned towards the house. "Come on. It's too late for you to leave now. You'll leave tomorrow morning. You all are welcome to stay too. Unless you want to camp out in the woods with the demons, of course."
