I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't be here typing fanfiction, now would I?

Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I got swamped with something known as "homework" and got grounded a few times. Very annoying.

Ah and by the way, Kaida, Kohaku, Akumi and Jitoru are quadrupulets. Kaida is the oldest, and Jitoru is the youngest. They're 14 and a half years old

Thanks to those who review, your comments are appreciated!.

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"Hey, you guys, want to go train? Since we've been excused from helping setting up camp, there's nothing else to do," asked Kaida to her sisters.

"Yeah, okay, sure. Just let me tell Mom," replied Akumi.

"I guess so," said Kohaku."How troublesome..."

"If you guys go, there's nothing to do! I'm in," said Jitoru.

They walked toward the edge of the forest, stopping to tell their mom, then searched for a place to train. 5 minutes later...

"I found a clearing over there!" said Akumi breathlessly, her eyes going from a very dark brown to Tetusugan and back.

"Stop that," said Kohaku irritatedly. "You know very well that annoys me. Stop it-AKUMI!!!!! I'm older than you-listen to me!"

Akumi stuck out her tongue at her sister. "You're only older by 2 minutes, 32 seconds."

"Why you-"

"Stop arguing," said Jitoru. "Akumi, stop flashing your Tetusugan, Kohaku, stop asserting the fact that you're older, it's very tiresome. Let's go. Kaida?"

Kaida had watched, smirking. "Ready? Race you!"

Kohaku grinned. "You're on!"

Jitoru rolled her eyes and leapt after them.

"Hey! No fair-you guys had a head start!" complained Akumi.

Kaida turned. "You snooze, you lose! Hurry up!"

When they got there(Kaida won), they split up into pairs to spar-Kaida and Kohaku(despite Kohaku's protests that she wanted to fight Akumi) and Akumi and Jitoru. It was neccesary, as for some odd reason, each girl was good at a different element-Kaida, fire; Kohaku, water; Akumi, earth; Jitoru, wind. Kaida had to pratice learning how to fend off water attacks, and had developed a special fire jutsu that couldn't be put out by water. Kohaku was enhancing her water jutsus. Akumi made huge towers of earth rise, and Jitoru tried blowing them down. They were all pretty evenly matched.

After a break, Akumi and Jitoru went back to sparring, and Kaida and Kohaku started some weapons pratice.Kaida attempted to hit 8 targets around the clearing without hitting her sisters, firing 3 kunai at a time, never allowing more than 5 seconds between each throw. Kohaku, meanwhile, tried to knock them out of the air.

They noticed when the shadows grew long and when the sun began setting. They took a quick rest(no longer than about 10 minutes or so, but it was enough) and started wondering about the fact that their mother hadn't sent someone, specifically, either their cousins Maemi or Shiori, to tell them to go back.

"Weird...the way Mom is, she'd have called us back, or sent Shiori or Maemi..." commented Kaida.

"Yeah...and Shiori's not the type to hide in the bushes to try to scare us, besides, we'd have sensed her," added Kohaku.

"Maybe Mom forgot? Nah, she'd never, not her 'little quadruplets',"said Akumi.

"Hm...? Shush, you guys-I sense someone else, approaching at a really fast speed, I think's it's Shiori," said Jitoru.

"Shiori?" asked Kaida and Kohaku at the same time.

"It's about time...you sure?" asked Akumi.

Jitoru gave her a look. "I'm sure I'm sure, Akumi. Am I ever wrong?"

Akumi looked at the sky. "We-ell..."

Jitoru sighed. "Forget I asked. Hey, Shiori! News? Does our mom want us back yet, or..."

A little girl (about Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi's age) leapt to the ground from a nearby tree. Her tangled hair was in a complete mess, tied back with a blue ribbon. Her face was streaked with blood, dirt and tears, and she had several bruises and cuts, as well as a broken wrist. In other words, she looked pretty beat up, which was unlike Shiori.

"Shiori! What happened to you?" asked Kohaku, concerned.

"Never... mind that," panted Shiori. "Kumo-nin... are attacking the camp...I was sent to tell you... to come back and...help...cause you guys are...almost all we have left... that stands any chance against them..."

"Wha-" started Kaida.

Kohaku cut her off. "We'll follow you, Shiori. Guys, let's go! Let's ask questions later, there'll be time. We've wasted enough as it is, c'mon!" She looked at her siblings. They nodded. Jitoru quickly healed Shiori's wrist, and they leapt into the trees.

By the time they got to the makeshift battlefield, there were very few Shukumei Clan members left, and a lot more cloud ninja. For every Shukumei Clan member, there were five cloud ninja. Their mother came over.

"Shiori, Maemi needs help, she's been holding the cloud nin since you went, but now she's in trouble," Shukumei Mikoto ordered. Shoiri nodded and left to help her best friend/cousin. "Girls, guard these scrolls-" she gave them each three scrolls- "with your life, they hold all the secrets of our clan, as well as the purpose of the Tetusugan. If...the rest of the clan doesn't make it, it will be all you four have left of the Shukumei Clan. I'm counting on you. Now, fight to save our clan!"

They nodded, and their mother went back to their father, just as twenty cloud ninja attacked them. They smiled at each other, then formed their usual back-to-back teams: Kohaku and Kaida, Akumi and Jitoru, then took control of their elements: Akumi manipulated rocks and kunai at random cloud nin, Kohaku drowned them without making a mess or a flood, Kaida burned them, also without a mess, and Jitoru swept them into the direction of her sisters' attack if they tried running, but after a while, they got tired and their defenses started failing, amd they started getting hurt. Near them, their mother and father fell. Kaida, having just killed her opponent, let out a anguished cry and sent a fireball at her parents' killer. The bad thing was, she left Kohaku's back unprotected.

Kohaku yelped as she got a gash in her shoulder, and Kaida, turning back to her sister, got a gash in her shoulder, too, along with several kunai in her back. Akumi and Jitoru were not doing that well, either. They were easily the only ones left. Slowly but surely, they got seperated, until they were in different parts of the forest.

"I have to use it, if I don't, I'll die..." murmered Kaida.

"I'm using it, I hope Kaida, Akumi, and Jitoru are using it too..." muttered Kohaku.

"Okay, this is definetly time to use it..." thought Akumi.

"Oh, god...there are too many...I really don't want to be forced to use it..." whispered Jitoru.

flashback 3 years ago...

The girls are lying on a hillside, having perfected a jutsu that knocked them unconcious, for emergencies.

"Let's use our new jutsu when we're outnumbered," suggested Kohaku.

"Nah, we can use that other jutsu when we're outnumbered..." said Akumi.

"Okay, let's use it when we're seperated and outnumbered," amended Kohaku. "Oh, and severely hurt, too. There's no reason to use it if we're unharmed."

Akumi looked at her sister."Kohaku, congrats. You just said something smart."

"Gee, thanks,"replied Kohaku sarcastically. "We're using my idea, right?

"Yeah," said Jitoru.

"Hn...why not," said Kaida.

"Okay, it's agreed. We'll use it as a last resort, in other words," said Akumi.

end flashback

At the same time, Akumi, Kohaku and Kaida performed the hand signs and activated the jutsu, falling unconcious. Jitoru was half a minute too late and was captured by the cloud nin.

"Heh...looks like this little kitty's the last one alive...she put up quite a fight, how many did she kill?"

"About 50..."

"Good..." was the last thing she murmered before they knocked her out.

Her sisters, unconcious, lay in the forest...

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Well, that's the first chapter. Sorry it's so late, but I hope you enjoyed it...read and review, please!