Me: I don't own Naruto!

Chapter 2 – Comrade to Foe

Takagi widened his battle stance, narrowing his eyes at the olive green haired male before drawing out a kunai. "Yuhara Garasu, I should have known."

"You were always the perceptive one," Garasu lowered his black mask, revealing a scar on his cheek. "Again I wonder, what made you change village in the first place? Didn't you want to be widely known as Getsukage, Jonouchi Ren?"

Takagi bristled at the sound of his old name, shaking his head disgustedly. "I couldn't run things the way he did. That old man did nothing but make my life miserable. Life would make you realize many things. Some lessons are learnt from experience in a third person's point of view."

Garasu drew out his zonbatou, licking it affectionately. "So – which rabbit do I pursue first? There are so many cute rabbits to choose from~."

Takagi twitched visibly as the lower ranked ninjas watched him warily and fearfully, waiting for his next move. The branch snapped as leaves rustled into the air while Takagi sprinted forward to block the attack. Clashes of steel echoed throughout the forest as sparks flew into the air; shadows zooming back and forth. Kakashi leapt into the fray, pulling Garasu down with the Doton; Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu [Earth Element; Inner Decapitation Skill]. However, the olive green haired male kicked Takagi before releasing himself from the rubble constricting him. Taichi and the other seven proceeded to defend the princess as Garasu continued his attack.

"You know it's funny," Garasu chuckled darkly as he swung his sword over Takagi's head, kicking Kakashi away. "It's funny that you – a former Kage's son would actually abandon the village he was moulded to raise. You're a particular fellow."

Takagi sprung off the trunk of a tree before lashing out with a series of slashes with his kunai. "Like I said, there are things that my old man was capable of that I wasn't. So, he exiled me."

"You're meant for better stuff," Garasu snorted at his former comrade, grabbing a hold of Takagi's vest and slamming the said ninja against the tree. "What kind of idiot are you? You adopted two marionettes! At the same time, you formed a team with a lizard, an oiran and a toothpick thrower. Did your intelligence take a drastic drop after moving to Konohagakure? Getsukage-sama would be most displeased with the results of his eldest child."

Takagi's molten gold eyes shimmered darkly as he kicked the Getsugakure ninja away from him. "Gray and Mimi are not marionettes."

Taichi stamped his foot on the ground childishly, jabbing his finger in Garasu's direction. "I'M NOT A LIZARD!"

Manyama quickly placed her hand in front of Taichi, slowly unsheathing her modified kunai. "Wait, keep quiet. This guy's more dangerous than you think he is!"

Garasu sneered haughtily as he threw three big shurikens towards him. "Well, let's see you avoid this!"

Two shurikens flew behind Takagi while one came straight towards him. With a somersault, the brunette avoided the first one but noticed the other two heading straight for his head and lower torso. His eyes widened with horror and anger, realizing his carelessness too late until Gray and Mimi leapt up into the air and caught the blade with their kunai. The shurikens ceased to spin as both Genin returned his weapons with it aiming for his head. With a bemused chuckle, the Moon Village ninja vanished from Takagi's line of sight and kicked the two hard and brought down his sword on Gray's left shoulder.

"Gray, Mimi, don't fight him," Takagi dashed towards them as Garasu continued his attack against the two Genin. "He's way beyond your level!"

Mimi, ignoring Takagi's pleas, activated her Mangenkyou Sharingan as a black flame chased after Garasu. Gray on the other hand performed the Kawirimi no Jutsu [Substitution Technique] just before the sword made contact with his shoulder. Taichi stood in front of the princess as needles fired from behind the trees while Manyama unrolled her weapons' scroll.

"Uzami no Jutsu," –Manyama crossed her arms as smoke engulfed the remaining six, watching the opponent's moves carefully. "Shinigami no Kinraiden!" [Death God's Golden Thunder]

Spears and all sorts of weapons sprouted from the ground as they blocked the flying needles. Sasuke jumped the opportunity to lunge himself towards Garasu and land a kick on the man's face. The ninja, ambushed by the male Uchiha's attack, staggered back with an amused smirk as he started performing a technique. His dark vermillion eyes glimmering with amusement and curiosity at Konohagakure's champion.

"Mikazuki Tenshou [Crescent Moon Heavenly Slice]," Garasu swung his sword high before throwing a huge wave towards Sasuke, smiling maniacally.

As a huge white crescent wave came towards him, Sasuke blew out the Goukkakyou no Jutsu to parry it only to have the fireball itself to be sliced in half. His eyes widened, terrified until Naruto summoned a barrage of clones to take the hit and a stone hand grabbed him and threw him out of the projectile's range. Taichi prepared more stone walls until another Mikazuki Tenshou smashed all the barriers in one attack, causing the said boy to let out a disgruntled snort in frustration. Princess Amaterasu stumbled back as shurikens flew at her direction until Manyama pulled out her chain sickle and parried them both before reflecting them back to the thrower.

If this drags on any further, Sasuke clucked his tongue in disapproval, watching the battle progress. We're not going to make it in time!

Garasu laughed maniacally, retreating backwards past the swaying trees. "Catch me if you can, Ren-kun~!"

Takagi furiously twitched with his tone of voice as he hounded the green haired ninja along with Kakashi. "You kids stay with the princess! We'll catch up!"

Sasuke let out a disgusted "tch" as they all surrounded the princess, drawing out one of his kunai. Amaterasu fearfully trembled behind them, watching how eleven to twelve year old kids were expected to defend her. Gray located small puddles of water lying on one side, smiling at his advantage. Izumi unravelled her whip while watching cautiously for any of the bushes to move. Seeing that nothing seemed hostile, Sasuke quickly broke out of the formation and darted forward.

"We're going to take down that guy whether Kakashi or whatever his face likes it or not," Sasuke coldly ordered before sprinting forward. "You guys stay with the girl. Gray, you're stuck with me."

Mimi bristled at her relative, glaring daggers at him. "WHO DIED AND MADE YOU LEADER?"

Gray refused to grace him with a response as he followed behind the black haired Uchiha, giving signals to his teammates in case something bad was to happen. Mimi readily agreed but mouthed to the blonde Hyuuga ninja that if Sasuke does anything stupid – let her know and she will gladly murder him. Gray shuddered slightly at her murderous intent held against her cousin but knew the history of the Uchiha clan had some twisted feature to it. Focusing to the task at hand, Gray sprinted forward before catching up with Sasuke. As the two reached the end of the forest, both Jounin were forced to play on water in which Sasuke quietly berated his inability to get close and inflict real damage. However, Gray sped past him before dipping his hand into the water.

"Itetsuku [Freeze]," Gray released his chakra into the water as it slowly started freezing as the lake became solid ice.

Garasu suddenly slipped from the ice as Gray unleashed a Jyuuken strike onto the ice, consequently initiating a complete shatter and death by freezing water. Takagi and Kakashi sprinted out of the way while Sasuke began performing seals to release a fireball into the air. Garasu quickly did a few hand seals of his own as a shade zoomed towards Sasuke, phasing through him and sending the boy to his knees. The mercenary landed gracefully on the water with a curt bow.

"Isn't it beautiful," he raked back his long green hair with a small mournful smile, performing the same set of seals. "Ninpo, Mizumishii Kaimei." [Ninja Art, Vibrant Darkness]

Takagi rushed over to the boys with Kakashi until a frozen sphere enveloped Sasuke with the attack bouncing off.

"What," Garasu gnashed his teeth angrily as Gray splashed another wave of water into the air.

"Hyouton; Gyokouyari [Ice Element; Freezing Lance]," Gray quickly touched the droplets of water before freezing it into a huge linear attack zooming forward.

Garasu slashed the attack in two until he re-performed the Mizumishii Kaimei and phased it through the coffee blonde male before kicking the Hyuuga squarely in the gut and colliding his fist against the younger's head. Kakashi prepared to reveal his left eye but Takagi stopped him and lunged forward before grabbing the two boys out of the way. Garasu clucked his tongue in irritation until Kakashi slammed him into the water.

"What in the world was," Kakashi looked back as the four of them retreated from the occupied Garasu.

"The Mizumishii Kaimei is a technique in which allows the caster to backfire a person's emotions at them," Takagi explained before sprinting past the trees, glancing back a few times. "I created that technique in a sense that I would never have to hurt anyone with my own power but apparently, he learned it. The darker the emotions of the opponent, the more lethal the damage – he probably sensed that from Sasuke."

Kakashi bit his lip hard, looking at an unconscious black haired Uchiha. "Sasuke's practically brimming with dark emotions. How come Gray got so badly affected? He doesn't seem the type."

Takagi shook his head at his silver haired comrade, making sure Gray remained locked on his back. "That's only for me and him to know."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Forcibly removed from their detour, the nine of them rested in a cave with a small fire flickering. Sasuke sweated in his unconscious state as Sakura tried her best to tend to him while Gray managed to recuperate most of his senses although his chest tightened once in awhile from the agonizing emotional shock. Amaterasu leaned against her elbows, sadly watching the flames and noticing how young most of them were. Her eyes strayed towards an injured Sasuke and Gray before glancing at the others who were taking turns watching for any hostilities.

"You should eat," Taichi approached her cheerfully, handing a small rice ball. "Manyama made some for all of us in case we're thrown off-course."

Quietly accepting Taichi's offer, Amaterasu took a bite out of the onigiri before taking a look outside at the darkness past the cave entrance. A silence overwhelmed her while observing the other ninjas, some that have fallen asleep. Naruto snored away contentedly while Izumi and Sakura were doing their best to keep Sasuke's temperature at normal. Manyama pulled out a map and began following the pathways from where they were and the shortest way to the Sun Country.

"You shouldn't worry so much about them," Kakashi cut Princess Amaterasu from her thoughts nonchalantly. "They were trained to handle this."

"But you saw who that guy was," Amaterasu protested vehemently; tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "They're only kids! How can you expect them to go against a more talented and experienced ninja? All of them could have gotten killed!"

"Our main fault lay in letting our guard down," –Amaterasu swivelled her head towards the coffee blonde sitting by the edge of the cave entrance, somewhat being entranced by his stoic expression with the fire giving a soft tinge of auburn to his hair. "We underestimated our opponent because this mission had been ranked a C-class mission and normally – only Chuunin are allowed to take it. However – since there were many of us, they made an exception."

Takagi shook his head at the princess. "Gray's right but that's why they also have us accompanying them. If it were just them, I'm sure they would have all died especially with someone like Garasu on our tail. That man's the most bloodthirsty creature I've ever met."

"How come he called you 'Jonouchi Ren' back there," Mimi narrowed her eyes distrustfully at her sensei, unsheathing her kunai. "Are you a former renegade ninja we have to kill?"

Takagi shook his head before glancing outside, hearing small raindrops fall. "I'll explain myself only to you and Gray about that, Mimi. For now, all you guys need to know is that I was exiled from the Getsugakure for being unable to kill a certain contender. That's it."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at his brown haired fellow Jounin. "I remember the tradition there being murdering everyone within that person's family and cutting all relationships to graduate in Chuunin right? That's why they called it the Crimson Moon Village from what I remember."

"You're exactly right there," Takagi refused to say anymore, changing the subject. "Anyhow, if there were to be any confrontation with Garasu again – make sure you guys bring her straight already. Forget about me or Kakashi. We're big boys; we can handle ourselves just fine."

"The problem would be if he brought company," Mimi hissed darkly from where she sat, reflecting the dancing flame's image off her kunai. "The bastard already counted us; he's probably gonna bring more hippie friends that we need to duke it out with. Not only that, he's got a frickin' good assumption and foundation on how our brains work. None of us ever took a life before except you guys."

Manyama nodded in agreement, leaning against the palm of her hand. "I hate to mention it but Mimi pointed out a valid statement; Garasu knows we can't murder anyone and we can't function without a Jounin. He'll probably get a large amount of reinforcements to divert our attention and snatch Princess Amaterasu right under our noses."

"If that's the case," Gray stood up, dusting his clothes. "I'll face Garasu."

Everyone stared at him as if he grew a second head.

"Gray, didn't anything pass through your ear and into your brain instead out the other side," Takagi stared at the young boy incredulously, shaking his head defiantly at the blonde's decision. "The man's bloodthirsty – he's anything but human!"

"I noticed something awhile ago," Gray folded his legs into an Indian sit, replaying the whole battle in his head. "Yuhara-san barely relies on ninjitsu and can only balance for a short period of time on water depending on the depth. Imagining it, the attacker could have focused his chakra in an instant instead of springing out of the way and altering his attacking strategy when I froze the lake and smashed it into floating plates. He can't handle water battles; his chakra is too erratic to handle the complex method of walking on water let alone balancing on it. Jounin or not – some people have no sense of chakra control. I'm probably the best equipped to handle him since I can walk on water and because my attacks don't necessarily need to make physical contact. A defensive style contradicts his method of bringing down an opponent – he's an offensive-evasive fighter. It's like what you told me before, Takagi-sensei. Why fight fire with fire when you can fight it with water? The attack he uses is a cannon-like function instead of the normal trapping style since all he needed to do is focus all his chakra into the sword."

Kakashi diverted his attention to Takagi whose eyes widened in realization upon the observation. "Now how did he come up with all that?"

"Gray," Takagi smiled before replaying the whole battle in his head, shaking his finger in approval. "You... are a genius."

"Mind convincing the Hyuuga clan that," Gray smirked at his sensei with a nonchalant shrug, leaning against the cave wall. "They think I'm useless."

Taichi punched his fists together, giving them an excited grin. "I'm teaming up with the yukidaruma on this one! We're gonna pawn this dude!"

Gray twitched viciously at the nickname Taichi came up with, balling his hand into a fist. "I'm not a snowman."

"Well, most of your attacks are ice-based and your entire eye becomes white!"

"You're the one with lizard eyes and a stretchable tongue when you access ten percent of your power! Besides, that's the natural trait of the Byakkugan!"

"Yeti!"

"Dirt for brains!"

"Eskimo!"

"Boulder head!"

"You wanna have a go at it," Taichi bumped foreheads with Gray who glared with the same intensity. "I've been itching to kick your butt ever since the Academy, you walking x-ray machine!"

"Bring it, jackass," Gray shoved back with the same force, preparing to pound Taichi.

Upon seeing the two get into a petty quarrel, Takagi sighed with relief that the tension lightened up amongst the company. "Mimi, you're going with them too."

Gray and Taichi snapped their attention towards their sensei. "Sensei, are you trying to promote Global Warming?"

The navy bluenette jumped up and down, waving his hands frantically into the air. "Sensei, that's dooming the world into oblivion!"

"Hey," Mimi stood up, stomping towards the two males before grabbing both of them by their ears with a sardonic smile curving up her lips. "You guys might want to repeat that for me?"

"You're such a fire starter," Gray shook his head in disbelief, hanging his head with defeat. "Face it; everything burns the moment you come in contact with it."

Naruto jumped up, bouncing over to Kakashi and punching an imaginary opponent. "Kakashi-sensei, can I join them too – please? I want some more action!"

Kakashi sighed in defeat, looking at the expectant eyes of the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. "Alright, you can join the hit squad. Under the condition that Sasuke partners with you."

"Bad idea," Takagi, shaking his head disapprovingly, pointed out to Mimi and Sasuke's hatred. "Sasuke and Mimi would prefer murdering each other than the target himself. Sasuke, Naruto, Taichi and Gray are good enough. Adding Mimi to the mix would result into Pandemonium on earth especially when Sasuke is within her range. Garasu alone will have them fighting for each other's throats."

"Hey, I'm right here you know," Mimi snapped moodily before sulking away with her arms folded.

Amaterasu glanced at Takagi, uncomfortably. "Are you sure it's a good idea to put those two together?"

"The two of them often don't appear in a sense in which they can do unison attacks, synchronize on higher emotional planes and all those telepathic aspects," Takagi chuckled lightly before relaxing against the cave wall, observing the petty bickering scene unfold before him. "But these two work the best together especially in combat. Trust me; they can put a pair of relatively telepathic twins to shame."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As morning dawned upon them, both teams set forth to the Sun Country once more. Nothing obstructed their path so far and with Gray's Byakkugan running half the time – everybody exhaled in relief and calmly walked their way to the Sun Country. Taichi and Gray passed each other signals with eyebrows and glances, making Sasuke and Naruto albeit curious with their strategy. Takagi remained at the rear in case something had escaped Gray's tracking ability and Kakashi remained in front despite him feeling it to be pointless to do so.

Naruto tapped Taichi on the shoulder, whispering. "Hey, how do you and Gray do that?"

Taichi shrugged absent-mindedly, walking a bit faster to keep up. "I don't know – we just invented it during one of our exams and then the sign language became a habit I guess."

Suddenly, Gray tapped the ground several times in a certain rhythm, making Kakashi skeptical of Takagi's plan. The two were not biologically related yet their sense of synchronicity seemed to surpass that of twin ninjas. Taichi nodded as the both of them stopped as the whole team halted in their steps. Naruto tried yanking the bluenette forward but Taichi cemented his feet into the ground.

"Taichi," Manyama raised an eyebrow at the dragon, checking the vicinity. "Are you alright?"

The moment Gray and Taichi gave each other eye contact, both of them threw knives past each others' shoulders as two clouds of smoke appeared. Garasu appeared in the air as another ninja joined him.

"Amazing, you nitwits actually located me~," he grinned with a sing-song voice, unsheathing his unwieldy sword. "Now, are you going to amuse me or do I have to eliminate you so soon?"

The two ninjas wordlessly responded as a smirk appeared on both their faces. Taichi darted forward while Gray jumped into the air with a message passing across them before executing their critical strategy. Enveloping his hand with red chakra and stones, Taichi transformed his formerly ebony orbs into emerald reptilian like eyes. Gray's emerald green eyes revealed a pure white glow as veins bulged slightly at his temples.

Divide and conquer.

Gray landed a kick before throwing him higher into the air for more suspension before pounding him harder with punches. Taichi dug his feet into the around with the earth slowly moulding around his hands into a pair of claws, waiting for the landing. The other ninja with Garasu hovered towards Gray until the coffee blonde pre-teen launched himself higher into the air using Garasu's body as a foothold and throwing both of them down towards Taichi, plummeting them with insane speed.

"Now," Gray signalled before performing his other Jutsu, anticipating the next attack.

Taichi grinned confidently before whirling his arms with a quick motion. "Chiryuu no hitomane, Jishin Kagizume!" [Earth Dragon Mimicry; Earthquake Talon]

"Hyouton: Tsubame Arashii," Gray inhaled deeply before blowing out a storm of ice Swallows.

Despite his attempts to defend, Garasu and his partner found themselves locked in between the pair. "Saito, kick that snowman's ass!"

"I'm not a snowman," Gray twitched for the umpteenth time; since when did that nickname stick? The guy must be Garasu's apprentice then...

Saito manoeuvred past the flying ice projectiles before locking his hand onto Gray's neck, bringing the ice-wielder down. However, Gray used Saito's body weight and his momentum to throw the boy off while Taichi fought Garasu with the earth defending him from all fatal shots. Kakashi and Takagi remained and went on the offensive while the others had made their way straight into the Sun Country which happened to be twenty metres away from where they had previously set up camp.

"He has two bloodline abilities," Kakashi threw a questioning glance at Takagi who nodded. "But, isn't one supposed to be dominant and the rest dead? Where in the world does Taichi get all those techniques? He's only a Genin."

"Gray is a forbidden mix between two ninjas from two different villages," Takagi held his head bitterly but watched Gray and Taichi work together proudly. "His mother was the champion and ANBU captain of Yukigakure's Stealth Corps and the father belonged to the Branch family of the Hyuuga Clan. I don't know the background story but that's all I know about Gray's biological family. He prefers keeping his pain in a place where nobody can actually dig it up. Many kids despised his genius and the Hyuuga clan referred to him as the "Reject" – he learned techniques and strategies with an abominable speed and would have graduated early if he actually exerted all his effort to actually trying to graduate. Taichi became the Jinchuuriki after his family had sold him to an illegal experiment group in order to survive. Currently, he houses the spirit of one of the last Celestial creatures on this earth."

"If I remember right," Kakashi fired a kunai towards Saito who vanished, clucking his tongue in annoyance. "That would be Five-Clawed Dragon Seiryuu of the East, right?"

Takagi summoned a clone to bar the passageway. "Yep, that's the one."

Saito and Garasu tumbled back, staggering with fatigue before glancing at the two.

"What are they," Garasu narrowed his eyes, disguising the fear in his voice. "Where did these monsters come from?"

Takagi shook his head before pointing his blade at Garasu, watching his movements carefully. "No, these kids simply are humans just like you and I. And it's because of that reason, that they have defeated you. You did nothing but fight and spill blood across the land and country. Gray and Taichi have witnessed it – more than you have ever imagined."

Taichi grinned before giving him a thumbs up, sheathing his weapons in response. "You just need to look in the right places."

Gray silently nodded in agreement until Garasu chuckled darkly before making it loud and maniacal.

"What's so funny," Kakashi glowered a bit at the olive green haired man. "Did fear drive you insane already?"

"Of course not," Garasu wiped his blade with his tongue but pointed past them. "But you forgot so many things: when the moon descends, the sun shall ascend into the heavens."

Takagi pondered on the words for a moment before turning his head towards the Sun Country as realization drummed into his head, shaking his head in denial. "He was a diversion!"

Saito vanished immediately, alerting Gray and Taichi to chase after him only to be halted by Kakashi. Takagi quickly ordered them to rush on forward to the Sun Country with him praying for mercy and compassion. Gray and Taichi struggled to keep up with the Jounin as Kakashi sent one of his dogs ahead to warn the other ninjas.

Izanagi-sama, I pray that your daughter may be safe.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

That's Chapter 2! I know it's getting really messed up but that's because I'm fixing it! Don't forget to review! :D