Three Weeks Later, Sunnydale High School, Student Lounge, Noon

"'Are you a people person, or do you prefer keeping your own company?' Well, what if I'm a people person who keeps his own company by default?" Xander asked as he looked at the question in his career placement test.

It had been three weeks since the mess that was Halloween came to an end and while some might think the Scooby gang could have a couple of weeks until the next crisis came up. Sadly one of the higher beings in the universe had to be name Mr. Murphy because not only did they have a psycho ex-friend of Buffy's to deal with but a dark part of Giles' past as well. For the Former an old friend of Buff's from Hemery High School in LA showed up with the story that his father had been reassigned to Sunnydale. As a result Ford had to go to school at Sunnydale High school along with the rest of them which pleased Buffy to no end. Xander could kinda see why as it was always good to see an old friend again after a long time. Turned out though that Ford was dying from some incurable disease and thought that becoming a vamp was the only way to survive. Obviously no one had told him that in becoming a vamp your soul vacate your body and hand it over to a demon spirit. Fortunately thanks to some nosey snooping by him and Angel they managed to sniff out the truth in time to warn Buffy. Together they foiled the guy's plans but not in time to prevent Ford and a couple of other 'true believers' from being kidnapped by the local vamps. Their bodies had shown up about four days later but thankfully did not rise as newbie vamps. The latter crisis though came from Giles' past as a reckless dabbler in the black arts that messed with some conjuring magic he shouldn't have and wound up killing a friend. That should have been the end of it but the demon they had conjured didn't stay gone after the first time and was hunting down the original group members. Thanks to some quick thinking on Willow's part they had been able to vanquish the demon by forcing it into Angel for his inner demon to destroy. It had been close though and had almost cost Ms. Calendar her life since as soon as it was finished with Giles' friend Philip it had jumped bodies into Jenny's. It was a good thing that he had managed to sense the taint to Jenny's chakra right away or things might have gotten very complicated. As it was Giles almost did something stupid by offering himself in trade for Ms. Calendar's life regardless of the fact that you should never trust a demon. It all worked out in the end and he had explained away his input by saying he saw Jenny's eyes flash neon green for a moment. He didn't want to let them know how much he had retained from his little stint as a ninja Halloween night.

With the others they had lost virtually everything they had gained that night except for a few vague talents. Buffy had shown an increased aptitude for speaking and reading French as well as sowing in home ed. Willow showed increased talent when it came to perceiving the spirit world and almost walked into walls for a week before she stopped thinking she could walk through solid objects. However those abilities pretty much vanished over time and they had assumed that the same could be said of him and what he knew as a Jounin. That was not entirely true though as the memories and knowledge he had gained there was still pretty much there. Some of the more advanced stuff though was a complete blur but everything up to the rank of chuunin was still fresh in his mind. It was like the ending of the spell had washed away all of the newest stuff but left the basics pretty much intact. In any case that along with the muscles he had gained from that night made him eager to find out if he could be as big a help in fighting demons as he thought he could be. Sadly when he had tried to pull off some of the same techniques he had Halloween night he found himself incapable of doing the more powerful ones and easily tired out with the jutsus he did manage to pull off. Obviously knowing how to do something in your mind didn't mean you could do it for real. Like anything else in life a person could explain how to do something until they were blue in the face but it still took lots of practice to do it.

So every spare moment between school, hanging with the guys and fighting the demon population he trained in private both to keep what he had and to move towards what he had been that night. The physical stuff like running, weight lifting and practicing his balance he could do at any gym in town but he wanted to keep the number of people who saw him doing it to a minimum. So with a little borrowing and a little resourcefulness he had managed to cobble together a gym for himself in the old condemned science building near the High School Campus. It had taken some fire damage thanks to those guys and their Frankenstein monster but the fire department showed up in time and managed to put the flames out quickly. The building was still scheduled to be knocked down but it had been so for years so who knew when the town council would actually get down to it. In the meantime it allowed him to train in private and improve his skills bit by bit every day. He still had some trouble with certain techniques and had just recently learned to create two replications of himself but it would be awhile before he would be able to attempt the shadow replication technique. That was a technique that only Jounin level ninja could do because they had sufficient chakra to pull it off. A Chuunin might be able to pull it off once but wouldn't be able to maintain it for long and would be pretty wiped afterwards. For someone at the level of genin it was impossible and unfortunately his skill level was at the halfway point between chuunin and genin. Still he was getting better and he hoped that he could at least be competent enough to be considered for the chuunin exam by mid-summer. That was his goal at least but it would all depend on how much training he managed to get in without the others finding out about it.

Buffy, Willow and Giles aren't the only people I have to keep this from though, Xander thought as he filled in the answer for the question he just read, I also have to keep this from mom. I was just lucky I was able to put the forehead protector back in that box without her knowing I took it in the first place.

He knew now with the knowledge he gained from Halloween night that his mother had to have once been a ninja of Konoha. It was something that had thrown him for a loop when he had gotten home and put the pieces together. For as long as he could remember he had never seen her as anything other than a spineless drunk of a woman who stood by and did nothing while his dad beat him. Now though he knew that she once had the abilities of at least a genin, although hopefully a chuunin, but that that opened up a whole new box of questions. If she had these abilities then why didn't she stand up for herself? Why didn't she stop the beatings and force Tony Harris to become a better husband and father? It made no sense! The only answer he had come up with was that she was on a mission of some kind and was under some pretty impressive cover. Part of a ninja's job is to be invisible to the enemy both in the literal sense as well as the figurative. Sometimes that meant pretending to be something absolutely different than what you really were in order to blend in. Perhaps his mother's cover was to appear to be the drunk wife of an equally drunk Tony Harris? If that was the case then she would have no choice but to stick to that role until the mission's conclusion. What that mission could be he wasn't sure but given that this was the Hellmouth it could be any one of a number of things. Maybe they were hired to keep an eye on the place because they believed some exiled ninja was going to try something apocalyptic in the future. If so then perhaps they weren't all that certain when this exile was going to try something and so had his mom move here before he was born to keep watch.

If that's the case I could get her in some serious trouble if I told her I found her forehead protector, Xander thought as he moved onto the next question in the career placement test, Maybe I already have caused her some trouble by jumping around town doing ninja stuff. If that's the case then the only way I can make it up to her and not get her in any more trouble is to keep my training completely secret.

It wasn't easy though as it meant very little sleep some nights. This got him in trouble and sometimes detention if he fell asleep in class. Fortunately though, most people saw this as just the usual bit of slacking off that he did off and on every week so no one suspected anything. Even the Scoobies didn't think anything of it other than he overexerted himself on their patrols and needed to lighten up a bit in that area. He didn't like the idea that they might become so worried that they'd try and push him out of the slaying so he would have to use his training to up his stamina more. If he did then maybe he would be able to get away with sleeping less and staying awake longer during the day. Until then he would play the role of slacker and use it as a cover.

"So, mark 'none of the above'," Buffy said looking up to see Willow approaching from the direction of the hallways.

"Well, there are no boxes for 'none of the above'. That would introduce too many variables into their mushroom head, number-crunching little world," Xander stated with some frustration and more than a little annoyance at whoever designed this thing.

"I'm sensing bitterness," Willow said observationally as she sat down next to her friends.

"No, it's just these people can't tell from one multiple-choice test what we're gonna be doing for the rest of our lives. It's ridiculous!" Xander exclaimed as he dropped the pencil he had been using.

"I'm kinda curious to find out what sort of career I could have," Willow said with an eager smile at the potential prospects for her future.

"What, and suck all the spontaneity out of being young and stupid? I'd rather live in the dark," Xander said although that statement was more a result of his opinion of the test than pondering a future job.

"You're not gonna be young forever," Willow advised as she knew that sooner or later her friend would have to find a way to support himself.

"Yes, but I'll always be stupid," Xander said in perfect deadpan in an attempt to get a laugh.

They just sat there and looked at him without saying a word.

"Okay, let's not all rush to disagree here," Xander said a little insulted that his friends didn't immediately contradict his 'stupid' claim.

"You're not stupid," Buffy said seriously placing a comforting hand on his forearm.

It improved Xander's mood considerably to have the support of his own personal hero knowing that if she said something like that she genuinely meant it. The mood turned sour quickly however when a familiar snotty voice reached his ears and he turned to see one Cordelia Chase walking by with a clipboard in hand.

"'I aspire to help my fellow man,'" Cordelia said reading one of the answers to the questions, "Check. As long as he's not smelly, dirty or something gross!"

"Cordelia Chase, always ready to give a helping hand to the rich and the pretty," Xander said with sarcasm as he mentally wondered if the woman could be any more spoiled.

"Which, lucky me, excludes you. Twice," Cordelia said scathingly as she proceeded to walk by with two Cordettes in tow.

Unable to come with a superior comeback he resigned himself to the fact that there was nothing he could do no matter what he felt like.

"Is murder always a crime?" he asked speculatively as he recalled a few moves from Konoha he'd like to practice on Queen C.

Buffy however was focused on her test as she said, "Do I like shrubs?"

"That's between you and your god." Xander replied as he put his retaliation against the rich brat on the shelf for later.

"What'd you put down?" Buffy asked Willow no doubt with the intent of choosing whatever the redheaded genius chose.

"I came down on the side of shrubs." Willow replied only giving her blonde friend a quick glance as she continued with her own test.

"Go with shrubs! Okay!" , Buffy said as she marked the correct box in but let out a growl of frustration right after, "Uhhh! I shouldn't even be bothering with this. It's all mootville for me. No matter what my aptitude test says, we already know my deal."

"Yup, high risk, sub-minimum wage..." Xander said with mock excitement.

"Pointy wooden things..." Buffy said as she added to the list of things she had to look forward to in the future.

"Then why are you even taking the test?" Willow asked no doubt confused as to why the Slayer would bother with the test if she didn't expect to put the results to good use.

"It's Principal Snyder's hoop of the week. He's not happy unless I'm jumping. Believe me, I would not be here otherwise." Buffy said clearly not happy with Snyder's latest attempt to make her life miserable.

"You're not even a teensy weensy bit curious about what kinda career you could've had? I mean, if you weren't already the Slayer and all." Willow asked trying to make the test seem interesting.

"Do the words 'sealed in fate' ring any bells for you, Will? Why go there?" Buffy asked snappily as her friend seemed to forget her 'destiny'.

"Y'know, with that kind of attitude you could've had a bright future as an employee at the DMV." Xander said shaking his pencil at her since he believed she was being a tad too snippy towards Willow.

He knew that Buffy was always worrying about her 'fate' as the Slayer and whenever anyone advised her to think or plan about the future she got cranky. If he was in her position and had a destiny he thought he could not escape he wouldn't want anyone to bring it up in his presence either. Still he knew that Willow was just trying to cheer her friend up and didn't deserve to get her head bitten off for that.

"I'm sorry, it's just... unless Hell freezes over and every vamp in Sunnydale puts in for early retirement, I'd say my future is pretty much a non-issue." Buffy said sounding pretty down which was no surprise given the topic.

"Look Buff you can't keep thinking like that. It's like they always say, if you think you're going to lose than you're going to lose." Xander said trying to shake his friend from her self-induced funk.

"I know, I know. It's just hard to believe I can have an entire life outside of slaying when the next fight might be your last." Buffy said trying hard to believe his words rather than her own personal experience as a Slayer.

"Well you have one thing that no other Slayer had and that's going to be the thing to make the difference." Xander said with unwavering confidence.

"What?" Buffy asked with interest and perhaps a sliver of hope.

"Friends. All the previous Slayers fought and died alone thanks to those idiots in the Watchers Council." , Xander said with no small amount of bitterness voiced towards Travers and his goon squad, "With us around I'm betting you'll beat the record for the longest lived Slayer by seventy years easy."

Buffy looked at him as though he had just promised her a life of nothing but happiness and he had no doubt a war of to believe or not to believe was being waged within her. If she chose to believe his claims and it turned out not to be true sometime in the future it would be a serious blow to her soul. However if she chose not to believe him her life would be considerably darker and hope would become as fleeting as a dream upon awakening in the morning. That meant everything came down to either taking a chance or staying safe and secure in our own beliefs regardless of whether they were right or wrong. In the end, for someone like Buffy, there was only one real choice she could live with.

"Thanks Xander." Buffy said as she wrapped her arms around him in a real hug.

Abandoned Mansion, Sunnydale, Same Time

"My Spike is gone! GONE! GONE! GONE!" Drusilla wailed as she knelt next to her bed clutching her Ms. Edith to her chest.

It was like this every day for the past three weeks and if the newborn vamps who worked for her weren't so afraid of her they'd have gone elsewhere after the first day. However thanks in part to the few humans they had tricked into believing that they were going to be turned Drusilla had been brought much closer to her full strength. She still wasn't strong enough to face the Slayer one-on-one but she was more than strong enough to be named leader and kill anyone who said otherwise. The only time she was coherent though was at night when the moon was out. During the day she was lost in her own madness which tended to follow a predictable pattern. It would start out with mourning Spike at the top of her lungs, slide into a raving hatred of the 'mean boy' and end with what could only be interpreted as a scatterbrained planning session. So far all the rest of them could make out was 'birds of a feather kill together' and 'if you cannot beat them then join them'. While that gave the various vamps under her an idea of what she had in store for the Slayer and her crew it was still like trying to understand advanced arithmetic. You might be able to figure out part of the problem but understanding the entire equation was something best left to others of a similar mindset. In any case most of them decided that until she did something really crazy that might get them killed they would follow orders without bothering to understand them.

Still there were rumors going around that there was some new player in town who made the Slayer look like a wimp by comparison. At least that is what most of the demons and non-aligned vampires believed after word got around about Spike being killed off. Some of the local residents of the warehouse district had gone to see the site of the blonde vampire's demise and been a little intimidated by what they had found. Not only had there been the charred remains of two known and powerful demons inside but also the front doors, the metal front doors had a hole melted in them. It had not been done with explosives nor had it been done by a flamethrower as the heat that would have melted the door would have also made short work of the weapon itself. Some thought it had been done by acid but that had been quickly seen as wrong as the evidence at the scene did not suggest a liquid based weapon. Most had come to believe that the Slayer and her friends had somehow found some dragon artefact that gave them its fiery breath as a weapon. Some didn't care one way or the other and had left town within a week of the Billy Idol vampire's death. Still those that served under Drusilla weren't worried. She might have been crazy but she was also as deadly as either Spike or the Master and had the ability to perceive the future. For those reasons if no other they knew that they would survive and prosper in the end. However fate has a way of rendering the odds meaningless and when the demon spirits that inhabited the minions of Drusilla reached hell they knew they should have left town when they had the chance.

The first vampire perished when a single bolt of lightning exploded through the ceiling and slammed through the floor dusting the vampire. The other ten could only look at what had happened and wondered at the odds that lightning would choose that time to strike and actually hit one of their number. Over the next three seconds they took some solace in the fact that it was a scientific fact that lightning almost never struck the same place twice. However what these undead corpses failed to realize was that the elemental attack they had just witnessed was not one that obeyed the laws of nature. As they would soon find out there was a mind at work behind that attack and it desired only their deaths. These denizens of the undead got their first indication of this when seemingly out of nowhere two nearly invisible wires shot out from the shadows and guided by an unseen hand circled around two supports trapping four vampires who had been standing between them. Before they could try and snap the wires and get free the wires pulsed blue for a moment and then like a cool arriving time traveler effect from the "Terminator" series electricity arced between the two supports. It was so concentrated that it was almost impossible to see through but that wasn't much of a concern as its intent was to kill not to obscure something from sight. It lasted only for a few seconds but when the electricity finally ceased not only where the vampires toast the wire had been vaporized as well and now existed only as vapor rising to the ceiling. This left only five of the original ten vampires besides Drusilla who had been in the warehouse. Needless to say they were seriously spooked by this point and quickly formed a circle around the table in the center of the room. It was a basically sound strategy to keep your enemy or enemies from being able to sneak up behind you but it had one fatal flaw.

It didn't take into account an attack from above.

It was from this direction the next attack came as a woman clad almost completely in metal dropped from above to land on the table behind each of the vampires. The only way the vamps sensed her arrival was the displacement of air that heralded her arrival but that just allowed her to see their faces before the end. Rising from the crouched position she had landed in she placed her hands together almost in prayer before forming a series of seals symbolizing the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. When she was finished some of the vamps were reaching for her in order to tear her limb from limb while the rest were trying to put as much distance between themselves and the woman as possible. Neither got the chance for as the woman completed the final seal she said something under her breath and with the final syllable of the final word everything within thirty feet in all directions became enveloped in a maelstrom of electric energy. It only lasted ten seconds but that was all it took to reduce both the vampires and the table the woman had been standing on to ash.

Now while some vampires would think that even an insane demon would be worried about anyone or anything that could dispatch ten vampire minions Drusilla was actually pleased at the current situation. She had her loopy grin on full blast and was barely restraining a fit of giggling that was growing within her.

"Well done children! Mummy is so happy." , Drusilla said while clapping her hands together, "Come on out! Mummy has a job for her children."

The woman in metal merely went down on one knee in front of the mad female vampire whereas the others made slightly showier entrances. The first was a fairly muscular man who stood without a shirt and had metal gauntlets on his hands up to but not past the elbow. He wore leather pants that had a slightly glossy and almost metallic sheen to them but were definitely made of cloth. He was bald as well as almost completely hairless as well in every visible area from eyebrows to chest hair to the hair on the back of your arms. For the most part his face was expressionless, the epitome of professionalism, but if one looked into his eyes you could see an almost eternal look of dissatisfaction. What it was he could be dissatisfied about was anyone's guess but what they saw in the dark spots of his eyes was reason enough for most people to look away.

The second was slightly more sickening in appearance as looked like a half dead corpse already with blackened splotches all around the skin that was visible. He was clad in traditional armor on his chest but his arms were bare for the most part with only half his forearms covered as they were wrapped in the thin wiring. His pants were baggier but it was clear that beneath the cloth his legs were much thinner than would be normal for someone wearing pants of that size. The hair on his head was sparse and was made up of patches at random intervals on his head. Thus it was hard to tell if he was an old man or merely a badly burned and sick young man based on what could be made out of his body. Still he carried an air of death about him and if one were to stand near him a static charge in the air could be felt as well as an unknown discomfort that most were eager to avoid.

All in all these three were some of the most unusual and intimidating killers ever to come to Sunnydale in a long time. Which of course meant that they met with Drusilla's immediate approval.

"We are going to have so much fun! However first the bad boy must be taught a lesson." Drusilla said as an odd energy filled her eyes and a focus she had never before known came over her.

She now had only one mission in this town and she would not be satisfied with anything other than total victory. After all Daddy had taught her well how one should go about taking revenge on one's enemies and she would do him proud.

Abandoned Science Building , Evening

"KATON HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!" Xander declared as he brought his right hand up to his mouth.

Trying to control his chakra better he fired off five fireballs at the targets he set up intending to hit each one dead center without knocking them off the table. He had pretty much put trying to perform the more advanced techniques on the shelf for the time being and was trying to improve his precision and control. That was the point of this exercise. Any genin could will a technique to manifest but the results were often wild, uncontrolled and undisciplined. However to be able to hit one of these cans without destroying it or knocking it off the table took a level of control and precision that took a lot of practice. So far he could hit three of the five targets without knocking them off the table but the remaining two often wound up melted pieces of scrap metal. Still if this could help him control his chakra use more precisely he wouldn't waste so much trying to force some techniques to work. This would allow him to train longer and perhaps advance a bit further in his training by learning a few new techniques. Still until he managed to get a perfect score with these targets he would stay with this exercise and strive to do the best he could.

There was another area of being a ninja that he wanted to do better at but it was also one he could only train to a limited degree at. While he showed potential to be able to perform genjitsu and ninjutsu he had no means to improve his taijutsu or hand-to-hand combat skills. He was doing weights and cardio trainings as well as trying to improve his flexibility but when you were training alone there was only so much you could do. For some forms of training you needed a partner or teacher of some kind and the secrecy that he was certain he needed for his training made finding a sparring partner impossible. The only person who might be able to help in his training was his mother and if he was right about her being deep undercover then he had to steer clear of her. With no other ninja from any of the hidden villages much less one from Konoha he had only the knowledge he gained from Halloween to guide him. Still there were some good points to having this info in his head and he had found that out earlier today when filling out that career placement questions. There were quite a few of them that he answered differently had he never been made a ninja for one night. He would have chosen the easy answers, the ones that wouldn't put him at the bottom of the barrel job-wise but wouldn't put him in the spotlight either. Now though, knowing what he was capable of as a ninja, he knew he could do better and so he didn't want that potential to go to waste. Some might have discounted his prowess and abilities as a ninja that night as something he couldn't have done without Janus giving him a boost. That might have been the case if everything he had worn that night had come from Ethan's costume store but he had gotten the forehead protector from his mother. He knew it was that piece of cloth and metal that had given him the more specific memories of Konoha than the uniform itself. After all with only a few changes in terms of color and size the uniform he wore could have been found in just about any of the hidden villages. That told him that becoming as good as he was that night was possible if he wanted it badly enough.

If it can make me a real player here on the Hellmouth it'll be worth it. Xander thought as he set up another five cans on the table.

For an hour straight he did the same exercise and while the progress was small he did manage to go from three out of five to four out of five. He stood there for a moment trying to decide whether or not to call it a night or not but given that it was a school night and the results of the career test would be posted tomorrow it was probably better to turn in early. Putting the destroyed cans into a box and picking his shuriken, kunai and throwing needles into one of the cabinets. He didn't want to make it too obvious that there was someone practicing in here since it might inspire them to stake the place out. He didn't even want to think what kind of complications he'd have to deal with if either demons or humans found out about what he was doing here. The demons would probably try and kill him just to make sure that they didn't have something other than the Slayer to worry about. If a human found out they would either sell the info to the demons or they would start gossiping about it and that would get back to the gang in no time flat. That would only make things worse as G-Man would probably get on the horn to the Watchers Council in England or at least mention it in a report. Even if they didn't put too big a priority on it a standard background check on his family might lead them to contact some of the hidden villages and that would only make trouble for his mom. The memories he retained from Halloween weren't all that specific about what sort of punishment a ninja could look forward to if their cover was broken but it couldn't be pleasant.

Once every piece of equipment and debris was cleaned up from his training he slipped out the window but not before putting his own special security system in place. It wasn't anything fancy but it would let him know if anyone had been in that room while he was away. All he did was hook a piece of string onto a nail that was sticking out of the window frame and then tie the other end to a stake he had stuck in the ground a short distance away. The length of the string was such that no one would think it was tied to anything until they tried to open the window and that would lead to the stake being pulled out. No doubt the intruder or intruders would try and stick the stake back into the ground to make it look like nothing had happened but he'd be able to tell. Given how low tech it was he doubted anyone would think anything of it and no one would immediately think of a ninja being there from the string and stake alone.

I just hope that mom and dad are asleep when I get in or I'll have to come up with an excuse pretty quickly. , Xander thought as he began the long trek back to the Harris Household, It would have to be one that doesn't require them to call Buffy or Willow's parents for confirmation and yet seem perfectly reasonable at the same time. Fortunately after so many research parties and the times I got in trouble coming up with one on the way home shouldn't be too hard at all.

Sunnydale High School, Next Day, Lunch Time

Why am I doing this again? Xander asked himself as he tried to move to the front of the mob that was gathered around the results of the career placement test.

It had been at the back of his mind all morning and almost got his history teacher mad at him but fortunately he had actually studied the subject being discussed. Mr. Mason looked absolutely priceless when Xander told him the right answer to the question he asked. It had gotten a few laughs from the others in the class but the teacher had recovered by going after those people and making them look foolish in the extreme. Now that he could finally check the results he wasn't sure he wanted to. After all while he knew he wasn't going to let the test dictate the course of his life it would bother him if he looked and saw that he was best suited to some stupid job like a prison guard. Cordelia was already looking down the list to find her name and job match but personally the only job he thought she was fit for was either army drill sergeant or dominatrix. After she was the undisputed queen of putting people down and could certainly yell at people loud enough. Plus in his opinion she would look kinda hot in a leather outfit with a whip in one hand. Not that he was into that sort of thing of course. Only vamps and serious head jobs mixed pain with pleasure or in some cases mixed the two up.

"Oh, here I am. 'Personal shopper or motivational speaker.' Neato!" Cordelia remarked sarcastically as she obviously didn't get the job prediction she wanted.

"Motivational speaker? On what? Ten ways to a more annoying you?" Xander asked sarcastically given that he thought that motivating people was the one thing Queen C couldn't do.

"Oh, what about you? You're..." Cordelia said in response as she looked down the list to find his name.

Unfortunately when she did the rich girl broke into a fit of giggles before walking away and Xander just knew that she would tell her groupies so they could rub it in later. Having new incentive to find out what job he rated he scrolled down the list with his eyes until he found his last name than panned across until he found the job title he had been given. What he saw didn't match Cordelia's response of giggles and disbelief. According to the career placement test he was best suit to be a soldier. While that wasn't a standard job for these tests it was a respectable occupation and with a little work he could be good at it. Apparently Queen C found the idea of him being a soldier of any kind laughable in the extreme and while that might have been so of his pre-Halloween self it fit perfectly with who he was now. Still it kinda bugged him that someone he knew, albeit reluctantly, would find it that ridiculous for him to be suited to fight for the USA. He'd tell Buffy and the others and see what their response would be just to have something to compare Cordelia's response to.

He found them in the hallways and managed to catch the tail end of the conversation they were having.

"Angel ice-skating." Willow said in a way that implied she thought the concept was weird.

"I know. Two worlds collide." Buffy said in agreement with her redheaded friend but if he wasn't mistaken it looked like she was happy with the combination.

Stupid brooding corpse! He just had to use her one weakness to his advantage! Xander thought as he recalled Buffy mentioning once that she loved to ice skate.

Just when he thought that he might actually had a chance with the Slayer now that he was becoming a warrior himself. After all he figured that the only difference between him and Deadboy was that the vamp could fight on equal footing with Buffy and he couldn't. He had hoped that after a few more weeks of training and practicing he might be able to slowly show improvement on patrols with her and gain her respect as a warrior. From there he could make a few daring and heroic rescues and that would open up the door to asking Buffy out on an official date. If Deadboy was going to take her skating though it was going to be next to impossible to get on Buff's good side for at least three months. Still Buffy was a girl worth fighting for so he was willing to wait until a better chance to woo her appeared. Until then he should see what they think about the results of his job placement test.

"Wouldn't you two say you know me about as well as anyone else? Maybe even better than I know myself?" Xander asked with a bit of unease that comes normally to those that did not know how a person or persons were going to respond.

"What's this about?" Willow asked a bit confused at the question.

"When you look at me, do you think 'soldier'?" Xander asked with all due seriousness.

The response they gave him, giggling, hurt him more than he let on. He tried to defend them by saying that they didn't know the changes he had gone under since Halloween. They didn't know that right now he could probably kick Bruce Lee or Steven Segal's butt if he wanted to. Still he couldn't help but feel a bit bitter at them for how little they thought of him.

"Um, crossing guard, maybe, but soldier?" Buffy thought as she got her giggling under control.

"They just put up the assignments for the career fair, and according to my test results I can look forward to being gainfully employed in the American armed forces." He said making it clear that he thought that the test accurately foretold his future.

"Well, at least you'll be able to see the world." Buffy said with renewed giggles at his apparent pride in his predicted occupation.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Laugh now, missy, they assigned you to the booth for law enforcement professionals." Xander said as he told the Slayer what had been next to her name on the list.

"As in police?" Buffy asked with a look on her face like some demon had just hit her upside the head with a stone pillar.

"As in polyester, doughnuts and brutality." Xander said mockingly as he was definitely enjoying getting back at her for that crack about being a solider.

Buffy whined just like a sad puppy at that thought even though she knew that he was just bringing up the parts that were most laughable about being a cop. There was more to being a cop than what he had said and it was a respectable position despite the incompetence of the local P.D.

"But there are donuts!" Willow said with a smile trying to show Buffy the silver lining to her dark cloud of law enforcement.

"Well, I'll just jump off that bridge when I come to it." Buffy said with further whining as though she was actually contemplating jumping off a bridge if law enforcement was indeed her future.

At this moment something caught her attention and the rest of them looked to see Giles walking towards the library with a large stack of books in his arms.

"First I have to deal with Giles. He's on this Tony Robbins hyper-efficiency kick. Expects me to check in every day after homeroom." , Buffy said as she decided to get it over with and walked after Giles, "Police?"

Xander didn't understand why Buffy was so surprised at being given the nod for a future in law enforcement. After all isn't that what she pretty much did as the Slayer every night? She went out and fought the good fight against the murderous monsters and the deviant demons as though it was her duty and took great satisfaction in a job well done. He actually couldn't think of another job that she was better suited for and the only thing she probably wouldn't enjoy would be the regulations and paperwork. He almost laughed at the images his mind produced of her sitting at a desk drinking coffee and trying to write up a report that her C.O would accept. Given how the Slayer regularly butchered the English language it would take some serious practice and force of will to write down something even remotely similar to proper English. Still at least as a cop she would be getting paid for the nights of fighting the good fight rather than just being forced to accept a 'good job Buffy' from the Watchers Council.

He was about to follow Buffy in order to give her emotional support in what was most certainly going to be a painful experience but was stopped by Willow's hand.

"You didn't check to see which seminar I was assigned to, did you?" Willow asked with a little bit of concern.

"I did, and you weren't." Xander answered honestly.

He was sure that there was some kind of mix up or something. Willow was one of the most brilliant students in the school with the potential to be a Nobel Prize winner as far as he was concerned. After all she was the person he went to when he needed help with his schoolwork and other problems. The faculty must have gotten the paperwork messed up because there was no way they would exclude one of their brightest students from this chance at advancement.

"But I handed in my test! I used a number two pencil!" Willow said and Xander could tell that if he didn't say something quick she was going to give herself a heart attack.

"Then I guess you musta passed." Xander said with the utmost confidence since Willow failing a test was like the sun not rising.

"It's not the kinda test you pass or fail." Willow said seriously apparently not liking the fact that he was making light of something she took so seriously.

"Your name wasn't up there, Will." Xander said trying to convey with his face that he would be there for her and that he was sure it would work out in the end.

"Well I'm not going to stand for this! I'm going to go find the teacher in charge and demand to know why my name isn't on there like everyone else!" Willow said with firm determination and resolve.

Then before he could do anything she walked away no doubt in the direction of the teacher's lounge or maybe Principal Snyder's office. He thought about going along to lend moral support but figured that since he wasn't any good at intimidation and Snyder didn't like him to begin with Willow was better off handling the troll herself. He in the mean time would spend what time he had before the next class trying to devise some new training exercises to help further his development towards the title of Jounin. He was making progress on his own but he knew that if he was going to reach a wall where his current exercises wouldn't be enough. Without other ninja of similar rank to test himself against he would have no way of growing past a certain level of skill. It was like you could only practice playing hoops for so long before you need to find someone to play against. No mere imaginary opponent or scenario could match up to actually fighting someone unknown. He supposed that he could go and try and join one of the martial arts schools that were in Sunnydale but unfortunately that was a little public given his situation. Too many people would see him in the class and approaching the building on the streets making it only a matter of time before his new 'skills' became common knowledge. His mother wouldn't like that one bit and it would only cause problems for her cover story if he used any techniques from Konoha here in Sunnydale. Even using one move reflexively like he no 'like he' would be trouble and perhaps put an end to her mission here right away. What that would wind up meaning for him he wasn't quite sure but hopefully it would just mean he would have to move out and get a place of his own sooner than he had intended. However it also meant that he would likely never see his mother again and that was something he was not prepared to see happen.

If someone had asked him two months ago how he would react to his mother being forced to leave Sunnydale and leaving him behind he would say that he would be doing the dance of joy while saying 'one down and one to go'. After all two months ago he thought that his mother was no better than his father in that she was a weak and pathetic drunk who lacked the backbone to deal with their problems with something other than drinking. As far as he had been concerned if they were both shipped off to prison or something he wouldn't have shed a tear or even bothered to write them other than once to rub their imprisonment in their faces. Now though, now that he knew what his mother really was and that her behavior since his birth was just following orders from her village. It didn't make the pain and misery he suffered any less terrible but he could forgive her if it was for a good cause. If only he knew what her mission was and what she was doing staying in Sunnyhell for so long he could put his uncertainty about her to rest. Maybe he could even persuade her to let him help in some way but until he came up with some sort of safe way to tell her what he knew he was forced to leave things where they were. He just hoped that if she ever found herself in a bind she wouldn't hesitate to come to him for help because as far as he was concerned she had only to ask for it.

It's kinda fun having a parent you can actually be proud of and respect. Xander thought to himself as he decided to get something to eat before his next class started.

Night Time, Sunnydale

I should just have the local liquor store deliver to our front door with all that Tony drinks! Jessica thought grumpily to herself as she left the local booze joint with the fat slob's order.

No sooner had she gotten home from work that day then Tony had told her to go to the store and get him three six packs of his favorite beer. She had asked what had happened to the beer she had bought two days ago but when she looked into the living room the empty cans on the floor answered her question. She had spent the entire drive there wondering how the man could stand up right or even talk coherently with all the alcohol he knocked back. His problem with booze was one of the reasons he couldn't hold a job longer than three months and why she always managed to find his pink slip in the mail. Most of the businesses and managers in town already knew what type of man Tony Harris was and usually only hired when they needed a fall guy for some scam. Tony never went to prison or jail though but that was more because the businesses wanted to keep him around in case of repeat problems. In the end though it always meant that she was responsible for providing the lion's share of the family's revenue and half of it was spent funding that man's problem. It was part of the reason why she could only occasionally get Alex anything new or nice instead of just some used items from the local thrift store. It was one of the reasons why he had those awful shirts in his closet. She couldn't afford to cloth him in the latest fashion or even in something relatively new from the mainstream clothes stores. Still she did what she could to make sure that he had the comforts and precious things that really mattered even though Alex never knew it. It was those things that made or broke a person and from what she could tell her son was growing up to be a fine man. He would be the one to have the loving wife and two point three kids along with a stable job that he enjoyed. Not like her. She had made this prison for herself and her son. Had chosen the identity that would be hers until the day she died in order to safeguard the most precious thing in her life, her son.

Once she reached the car she fished around for a moment for her keys but then froze as a familiar but nearly forgotten feeling crept up her spine. It was a feeling that she had experienced on more than one occasion both here in Sunnydale and back in her native land. She was being watched by an unknown number of people and she had the distinct impression that they did not have benign intentions towards her. The only question was whether they were vampires, demons or her worst nightmare come to pass at long last. Despite the odds she was optimistic and believed that the odds were greater that it was one of the local demonic entities of this town. After all she had done a competent job at hypnotizing that man Ethan Rayne Halloween night so he could not have brought them here or let them know that there was a sharingan user here. No it was far more likely that some vamps were considering whether not to give the blood and booze special a try. Once she had the keys to the car she pressed the button on it to automatically unlock the car and prepared to open the door when suddenly she was lifted into the air by a painful orange light and deposited none too carefully on the ground.

For a few moments her mind was a haze of incoherency and confusion but as her senses returned to her she looked in front of her and saw the remains of her car shattered and aflame. This was a turn of events that not even she could have anticipated for while there were numerous deaths and disappearances in this town car bombings were unheard of. Well at least for everyday civilians but it was a possibility if you worked for Mayor Wilkens and didn't stay on the man's good side. However since she was of the former rather than latter it didn't make sense for someone to want to kill her in such a loud manner. What disturbed her though was that she had only been in the store fifteen minutes and the entire front of the store was clear glass. She had an almost entirely clear view of the car the entire time and while she had not kept serious tabs on it while she filled Tony's order it was a feat of some skill to get near it without her seeing them. Who ever was responsible and for whatever the reason someone had taken the time to notice her and by proxy perhaps her family. Whether they were merely a loose end or detail to be handled or because somehow she had made an enemy of someone was irrelevant at this point. She was in danger and so was her family. That alone was enough to make her consider putting her escape plan into action regardless of the fact that Alex hadn't exhibited any ninja-like behavior. All she cared about was the safety of her son and of herself with her priorities happening in that particular order.

She would stay here in the parking lot until the police arrived if only to avoid the bother of being charged with leaving the scene of a crime. Once that hassle was over and done with she would go home and begin to set things in motion for her and Alex to disappear from Sunnydale and relocate to Cleveland. As for Tony … well … the slob could fend for himself for once and if he wound up a bum on the street well she wouldn't shed any tears.

I just hope that Alex will forgive me for this one day. Jessica thought as she watched the symbol of her life here burn away.

Rooftop, A Short Distance Away, Same Time

"You messed up Manzo. She's still alive." Said the metal clad woman as she looked down at the target her comrade was supposed to have killed.

She had been standing there ever since they had been able to pin down the mother of one of their targets to a specific location. On this rooftop she had stood while a member of her team went down and rigged an explosive tag to the woman's car. The plan had been for one Jessica Harris to get into her car and when she put the key into the ignition and turned it the tag would detonate killing her instantly. Needless to say when the tag exploded while Mrs. Harris was outside of the car and most likely only gave her a mild concussion it was disappointing.

"So what Chiyo! Our client said she wanted us to terrorize this Harris boy before moving in for the kill!" , Manzo said sharply proving he did not take criticism well, "She didn't say that his momma had to die. Better for her to go running home to her brat with tales of someone wanting her dead than being a corpse."

"Hehehehe! You just don't want to admit you screwed up Manzo!" said the wizened man looking down gleefully at the flaming car down below them.

"I'll show you screwed Taji!" Manzo said angrily as he began to form some hand seals.

"QUIET! Both of you! We have been hired to do a job and the Order does not smile upon failure." , Chiyo said as she stared down both of her comrades with her electric blue eyes, "I will not have you bring about this assignment's ruin just because you could not get along. One more bout of bickering like this and I will report you to the oversight committee upon our return."

This rendered them silent almost immediately and any hostility they had once shown towards one another vanished beneath a mask of professionalism. No sane member of the Order ever wanted to anger the members of that committee and even a few of those who were insane did their best to behave rather than face them. This group was just a step below the ruling body of the Order and they were in charge of handling the bureaucracy of it all. It also was the group that passed along reports and assessments on to the ruling body. This meant that if one wanted to look good in the eyes of the top brass it meant putting a good show on for the oversight committee. While it was true that both Manzo and Taji could protest anything Chiyo mentioned in her report the pencil pushers were far more likely to believe a Jounin like her than two chuunin like them. Not that ninja ranks from their former village meant anything to exiles like them but apparently there were enough among the Order who did value them to defer to Chiyo's judgment.

"Now that we have given the first sign of our presence our target will most certainly attempt to ascertain who is responsible. There is little evidence left behind by your failure Manzo to clearly implicate us and it is doubtful that there is anyone in this town who could identify the remains of a explosive tag." , Chiyo said walking away from the edge of the roof they were on, "However it does present us with an opportunity to lure our target into a trap if the right information is left for him to find. The two of you will visit the local hovels and hang outs where the lowly worms gather and pass on the appropriate information. Do not use your true forms but rather transform into something more appropriate for this locale."

"What will you do while we're mingling with these worms?" Manzo asked with barely restrained animosity.

"I will be preparing the final resting place for our mysterious Mr. Harris so as to make his end as perfectly lethal as possible." Chiyo said somewhat enigmatically as she vanished in a puff of smoke.

Two Hours Later, Harris Household

Xander was in the kitchen trying to fix an evening meal when his mother walked in the door and the sight of her condition almost made him drop the plate he had been holding. There were smudges of dirt on her jacket and there was a sizeable tear in her skirt. When combined with the nasty gash on her forehead with some stitches keeping it shut and it looked like she had been mugged. However mugged in Sunnydale generally meant vampires but he could see no bandage on her neck and he knew she had not been turned over the last couple days so her appearance was something of a mystery. If not a vampire then what could have attacked her and how hard would it be for him to find and kill.

"Mom? What happened?" Xander asked as he placed his plate of food down on the counter and rushed to his mother's side.

"Nothing. Just had a little problem with the car." , Jessica Harris replied as she sat down in a chair next to the dining room table, "It seems there was a gas leak and when I unlocked the car it set off a spark and blew the whole thing."

The Zeppo didn't buy that for a second but he didn't want to worry his mother by letting her know that perhaps something a little more serious was afoot in Sunnydale. However trouble usually zeroed in on Buffy rather than him so why had his mother been targeted. The only noticeable thing he had done that might have drawn attention to him and his family had been last Halloween with his little stint as a ninja of Konoha. Maybe some family member of the demons he cooked was gunning for revenge or if worse came to worse maybe that psycho-vamp Drusilla looking to pay him back for Spike. In any case he had to put an end to it quickly before things got too far out of hand for him to handle it by himself. More importantly he had to deal with it before Buffy and the gang found out about it. He knew that they would have nothing but the best of intentions but investigating why someone would be so interested in him and his family would put a very costly spotlight on them. Giles would make inquiries with the Council and Buffy would pound every demon she could get her hands on for information as to why they were paying so much attention to the Harris family. This would cause no end of trouble for his mother with the ninja from Konoha and Hokage-sama. After all he was still certain that his mother was on some super under cover mission for some client and was probably given orders to maintain her cover at any cost. Any undue attention paid to the Harris family ran the risk of them finding out the truth about one Jessica Harris and blowing her cover sky high.

That means finding the ones responsible and putting them in the ground quick and before things progress too far. Xander thought as he continued to console his mother and try to help her feel better.

Sunnydale High School, The Next Day, Afternoon

Well now I am officially worried! Xander thought to himself as he walked down the halls towards the student lounge where the various job representatives had set up their booths.

He had been out half the night asking around the various lowlifes and demonic beings in this town if there were any new players in town or if someone had put a contract or something out on Jessica Harris. He had gone out in disguise of course to make sure that the 'people' he spoke to would be intimidated enough by what they didn't know about him to talk. Of course his selective use of a dagger might have had something to do with it but in the end the results had been the same. There was gossip in the demon underworld that there were some 'phantom people' in town and that they were mercenaries of some kind. No word yet on where they could be found or who had commissioned the hit on his mother. It wasn't that he hadn't pressed the no 'the' hard enough for information or that they might be lying to him because he was certain they had told him everything they knew. Still it was something and there only so many places in town where mercenaries like that could hide without being seen by someone and reported to the police. That is assuming of course that they were of the bloodthirsty sort and not professionals who were adept at not drawing attention to their position. If they were really good and really professional at what they did then his mom would have no choice but to use the training she received in Konoha to defend herself cover be damned. Still he would see if he could handle it first before he involved his mother and forced her to screw up her assignment.

For the moment though he had to report to the U.S Army booth and hear the representative's routine through although it would probably be edited and shaped to appeal to new recruits. He knew enough from fighting the good fight on the Hellmouth and from his fictional memories as a Jounin of Konoha that war wasn't anywhere near as glamorous as it was made out to be in the movies or on TV. Still it would be something he could become good at combined with his ninja training would make him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Not that he would be blatantly using the jutsus on the battlefield of course. He wasn't crazy enough to do something that could get the Hunter-nins of Konoha to come after him. After all one instance of military personnel seeing him use the replacement technique or transforming into someone else and they would treat him like their prized test subject. They would do anything they felt they had to in order to find out how he had done what he had done and if they could find a way to make it so that all their soldiers could do it. Needless to say this had to be avoided because there was no way he was letting anyone strap him to cold and uncomfortable metal table while they used Mr. Happy Scalpel to cut him up. Still the least he could do was go and see what this representative had to say and then make his decision as to whether or not he wanted to serve his country.

He saw Willow coming in from the hallway opposite him and saw that she was still a bit bummed about not being on the list along with everyone else. Not liking seeing such a look on his bestest bud's face he decided to do his duty and try to cheer her up somewhat.

Walking up to her he said "Willow! What are you doing here? Fly! Be free, little bird, you defy category!"

"I'm looking for Buffy." Willow said in reply to his question of why she was here.

"Oh, she went with Giles about an hour ago. Some kind of field trip deal." Xander said having seen them earlier in the day.

"If she doesn't get back soon, Snyder's really..." , Willow began to say but immediately changed direction thought-wise when she saw something behind him, "...done a great job with the fair this year, hasn't he, Xander?"

"Principal Snyder! Great career fair, sir! Really! In fact, I'm so inspired by your leadership, I'm thinking principal school. I wanna walk in your shoes. Not your actual shoes, of course, because you're a tiny person. Not tiny in the small sense, of course. Okay, I'm done now." Xander said trying to copy Willow's false cheer at seeing Snyder but eventually to stop while he was ahead before he jammed his foot too far down his throat.

"Where is she?" Snyder asked with his usual 'cheer' and 'optimistic thinking'.

"Who?" Willow said no doubt trying to protect her friend by action dumb.

"You know who." Snyder stated not fooled one bit by the dumb act coming from one of the school's brightest students.

"You mean Buffy?" , Willow asked making a show of looking around the room, I just saw her..."

"And don't feed me that 'I just saw her a minute ago, she's around here somewhere' story." Snyder said cutting the redhead off sharply as he clearly didn't want to hear their efforts to cover for their friend.

"But I did... just see her a minute ago, and she is... around here somewhere!" Willow said insistently trying to sound completely honest and truthful.

"For what it's worth..." Xander began saying trying to act as reinforcements for his friend.

"It's worth nothing, Harris. Whatever comes out of your mouth is a meaningless waste of breath. An airborne toxic event." Snyder said stopping the Zeppo's counter offensive in its tracks.

"Well, I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to be so honest with me. And I can only hope that one day I'm in the position to be that honest with you." Xander said being entirely honest and hoping one day he could give this troll a piece of his mind.

"Fascinating." Snyder said before he walked off no doubt to terrorize some other student.

"Well, love to stay and chat, but I got an appointment with the petty officer on standard operating procedure. Ciao." Xander said seeing two people in suits approaching Willow from behind.

They didn't look like ye old Men in Black or government agents so he wasn't immediately worried about them trying anything evil or villain-like. Besides which it was daytime and most nasties that called Sunnydale home preferred to wait until it was night outside before doing anything. Besides with this many witnesses around they would have to get her outside before they could make her vanish and he would step in long before then. After all if these guys really were dirty he'd have no worries or regrets over beating them silly and showing them a few choice Konoha moves.

The Next Day , Sunnydale High School , Library

"So G-Man is there any special reason why you called this meeting or do you just want some people to practice your dire prophecy speech on?" Xander said laying back

"I'm afraid we may have something considerably more tangible than a prophecy and perhaps more dangerous." Giles replied as he removed his glasses to clean them.

"More dangerous than a prophecy? Giles you do realize that the last prophecy we faced had me dying and the Master opening the Hellmouth right?" Buffy asked looking at her Watcher with some concern and disbelief.

This was pretty much the common feeling among the rest of the Scooby gang as they had all gotten used to the craziness of the Hellmouth and Rupert Giles' reactions to it. When the glasses came off and he used his handkerchief to clean it usually meant something big was coming or already here. Given how soon after his mother had been killed and the gossip he had managed to come across about the new players he had a bad feeling his personal investigation was about to become a lot less personal.

"Yes. I have received word from some friends in the Council that a contract has been put out on one of us and that it has been picked up by the Order of Teraka." Giles said in a voice that told them how dire the situation was.

"The Order of what?" Buffy asked with some confusion as to what they were dealing with this time.

"Contract?" Willow said on the verge of panicking.

"The Order of Teraka is a society of deadly assassins dating back to King Solomon." Giles explained with almost an air of distraction as his mind was probably going over everything he knew about the Order looking for any way to safety he could find.

"And didn't they beat the Elks this year in the Sunnydale adult bowling league championships?" Xander said with moderate levity as he tried to make light of this league of assassins.

If Buffy took this group too seriously she would work all the harder to find them and would probably find out that it was his mother who was the specified target of the mentioned contract. That would only complicate his efforts to find these killers and finish them off before they could complete their mission of killing his mother. He would have to reveal to them that he had been training to become a Jounin level ninja and had been planning to take a more physical role in the nightly slaying. Once the truth was out it was only a matter of time before his mother was recalled to Konoha or even killed on the spot to make sure that the secret techniques and teachings of the village remained a mystery. He had to wrap this up quickly or at least try and make Buffy and company believe wholeheartedly that it was the Slayer who was the target and not Jessica Harris.

"Their credo is to sow discord and kill the unwary." Giles said attempting to return this discussion to a state of seriousness.

"Bowling is a vicious game." Xander stated resisting the learned Watcher's efforts while redoubling his own.

"That's enough, Xander!" Giles all but yelled at the Zeppo as the situation clearly had the man worried enough that his tolerance for jokes and levity was gone.

Dropping his head in shame right on cue it had the desired effect as Giles took on a look of regret at the sight.

"Sorry. It's just not the time for jokes. I need to think." Giles said as he placed his glasses back on his face.

"Well the first thing we have to do is find out who they want dead and get them somewhere safe." , Buffy said as she looked to Giles as always for guidance, "Are you sure your contacts didn't say anything about who these baddies wanted dead?"

"No I am afraid not. However he did mention that those assassins that were sent rank fairly high in the Order and have never failed to carry out their assigned mission." , Giles replied with his optimism waning as he recalled what his friend had told him, "Not the most comforting of information as you can see."

"So what? I'll get the pleasure of ruining their perfect record. It's not like I haven't dealt with big bads before Giles." Buffy said with confidence that she could handle whatever came her way.

"They're a breed apart, Buffy. U-unlike vampires they have no earthly desires, but to collect their bounty. They find a target, and, uh... they eliminate it." , Giles stated as he tried to impress upon his charge the seriousness of the situation, "You can kill as many of them as you like, it won't make any difference. Where there's one, there will be another, and another. They won't stop coming until the job is done."

"Well, isn't that a cheery thought?" Xander muttered as he found that his little problem just became a plausibly unending problem.

"I will attempt to find a way out of this mess. Perhaps by finding whomever commissioned this assassination we might be able to persuade him or her to cancel the contract." Giles said as he began to move towards his office.

"Given the number of demons and vamps Buffy's managed to tick off I wouldn't hold my breath Giles. Things with horns and glowing eyes tend to hold grudges." Xander said as he didn't see someone like the local vamps or demons willing to do anything to stand in the way of someone killing her.

Xander's optimism was waning quickly as the information that Giles had just related to the gang. If this Teraka group really was as relentless as the Watcher was making them out to be then he had two choices as to how to deal with this situation. He could either confront his mother and let her know that she had a major problem on her hands and needed to call in some help or he could tackle the problem by himself in the hopes that he could make killing Jessica Harris too expensive to keep up. After all unless the person who put out the contract had bottomless pockets of cash and a lot of time on their hands they would call off the contract once the Tarakens' fee went past what they could afford. While he wasn't sure how his newbie ninja of Konoha skills would stack up against trained killers he was willing to try his luck for his mother's sake. He would only risk letting his mom in on the truth if these guys wound up being more than he could handle. He felt he owed her for turning out to be a mother he could respect rather than just a female version of Tony Harris. He knew that the new discovery didn't make up for the mistakes she made in the past but it was easier to forgive her knowing she had done it for a good reason rather than a bad ones.

Tonight your killers for hire are going to go from being the hunters to the hunted! Xander thought with a firm determination that would have done Buffy the Vampire Slayer proud.

Rooftop of the Town Theatre, Night Time

C'mon you mercs! Where are you? Xander thought to himself as he looked down at the people below before examining the nearby rooftops.

He had snuck out of the house as soon as he could without attracting his mother's attention and had swiftly made his way to the abandoned science building to pick up a few things. One had been the flack suit and mask he had worn on Halloween around three weeks ago that started him on his new path in life. The jacket would hopefully provide him some protection against blades and needles while at the same time giving him a way to carry his own weapons. The mask was just to make sure that he couldn't be identified by these assassins as it might provoke them into a frontal assault on his mother sooner rather than later. If they couldn't identify him they just might mistake him for a ninja from one of the hidden villages or an exile leaving a nice dead end for them to follow. He had used the weapons Ethan Rayne had provided to make molds in order to fashion new ones. After all he couldn't expect to be able to retrieve every weapon he used so he had to devise his own method for replacing them. So when he had left his own personal training area he had gone out well armed and hopefully prepared enough to handle whatever came up.

With that in mind he had begun a search of the more remote and less frequented areas of Sunnydale as they would provide the best places to set up base. Assassins by their very nature preferred places where their privacy could be assured and they could focus on their task. For the ninja of Konoha it was the same way for the most part. Most times when they were hired their clients offered them a place to spend the night before accomplishing the mission. Sometimes it was a place of abundant splendor while other times it was buildings that should have been condemned years ago. Mixing the remoteness of the location with an operative's natural ability to hide made them almost impossible to detect before they wanted to make their presence known. He supposed that given the bakas that were the Sunnydale police department any members of the Order of Teraka who came to town wouldn't have to worry about hiding. They could probably kill someone in broad daylight and the police would just chalk it up to gang members on PCP like they always did. He couldn't afford to second guess himself and begin worrying about his choices. He had to stay focused and finish combing the city for a sign of his quarry and if the opportunity presented itself he would take one of the assassins out.

Better get on with it then. Xander thought as he leapt across the distance between the theatre's roof and the building across the street from it.

He had divided the town into sectors and been combing them last night and had continued this night leaving two thirds still unexamined. He hoped to reduce that to two thirds down to one third by the end of the night leaving anything left for tomorrow night. With a little luck he would find them tonight and find a way to send them packing with little or no prompting. After all while the bad guys that came here certainly had their share of neat tricks and moves to the best of his knowledge the techniques used by the hidden villages were unique. Hopefully that would give him an edge against these Taraken mercenaries allowing him to take them out hard and fast. If he let the fight drag on for any serious length of time either he would make a mistake or they would use their superior experience to turn him into a greasy teenage smear on the ground. He still hadn't managed to build up his chakra stamina up very far and would tire sooner rather than later if he wound up being forced to use jutsus. It was completely rotten timing for these guys to show up now before he had managed to really get the hang of this ninja mojo he had come to inherit from both his mother and the spell on Halloween night. If they had just been nice enough to wait a year or so before coming here to start trouble he was sure he could have reached the level of chuunin by then. Maybe even managed to make it halfway to Jounin if he really pushed it and didn't have to worry about too many late night save-the-world-from-the-forces-of-evil sessions with the gang. Still his best right now would have to be good enough because he doubted he could just say 'bad guys, bad guys go away and come again another day' and make them leave. He just hoped that he wouldn't wind up having ouchie regrets later tonight or he might just do what the smart people of Sunnydale did when they learned the truth of this town.

Leave and never come back.

He was just passing a construction site where a new public town library was supposed to be in a couple of months when he thought his eyes caught a flicker of movement in the shadows between support beams. Barely touching down on the roof he had been heading for he immediately executed a back flip to the roof of the building he just left. Barely managing that maneuver he took a few moments to steady himself before walking to the edge of the roof that faced the construction site. There was your standard wooden fence around the site with barbed wire lining the top to keep out intruders. Inside the fenced off area there were scattered pieces of machinery and equipment but as far as he could tell it was deserted. The ninja in him though knew that looks could be deceiving and that a perfectly abandoned looking area could in fact represent a trap waiting to be sprung. He knew it was only a moment that he saw the movement and it could have been a trick of the light or his imagination but it wasn't like he had a better lead to follow up. Still he was no fool and would not walk into a trap if indeed a trap had been set up in the construction site area. Fortunately though there were quite a few jutsus he could do that would let him know what if anything was in that fenced in area without having to endanger his person.

"Bushin no jutsu!" he said after performing the necessary hand seals.

Three clones appeared out of thin air that were identical to him in every way but were essentially ghosts as they had no substance and would disappear if they received a solid hit. He would have wanted to try for shadow clones as that technique produced an actual body rather than an illusion but he didn't have enough chakra to do it without becoming exhausted afterwards. He had managed to do it Halloween night as a Jounin but that had been because he had the power of Janus to fall back on. With his own self-generated chakra producing them was possible but would consume a lot of his energy which would leave him in poor shape if the Terakens were in there. If he had any chance of beating them it would be by using his chakra efficiently and tactfully. He watched the go off into the construction site without having to give them orders as he could pretty much control them mentally from where he was. He had directed the first two to begin looking the place over while the third remained in plain sight so that he could wave his hands or something if it turned out his glance of something turned out to be something more.

For twenty minutes he watched the clones walk about the construction site looking in every nook and cranny while he waited for any sign one way or the other. Looking back in his mind for the memory of what he saw when he had been hopping by he was certain he had seem something humanoid in shape. He couldn't tell if it had been male or female as all he could recall was a shape and nothing else. For all he knew some demon or vamp that had decided to set up shop rather than the Teraken assassins. Still he had nothing better to do at the moment so stand there he did until the search was just about completed. The Fates however must have decided that he deserved a little excitement in his life because just as his clones finished their respective tasks he sensed danger from somewhere behind him and it was heading straight for him. Not waiting for anything or even turning to find out what form this danger had taken he dove and rolled to the right before returning to his feet. He had only a moment to see what threat had been heading his way before seeing something else coming and having to dodge again. Still he had identified the threat he had managed to avoid and knew that the threat level of what he was up against just went up a notch.

Ninja? The Order of Teraka sent ninjas after me? Xander thought to himself as he dove forward and under the second kunai thrown at him rather than going to the side as he had done before.

This had been a plot twist he had not been expecting to say the least and if they were ninja from one of the hidden villages he had better hope they weren't any higher than chuunin in rank or else he would wind up a pin cushion. He had to throw off their game plan and quickly or the length of this battle would be measured in seconds. Moving closer to the edge where he had overlooked the search of the construction site he withdrew two kunai, one in each hand, and started to block the blades thrown his way. He wasn't planning on doing that forever though but he did want whoever was trying to kill him to think so. He blocked two more blades before making it look like he had been hit and fell over the side of the building to the ground below. In truth however he waited until the last minute before using the replacement technique doing his best to make sure that the vapor that techniques produced went unseen. As soon as the item he had used, a piece of scrap metal that had been on the rooftop, he immediately did a spider-man to guide his fall towards the alleyway using the tree climbing exercise that most genin could do. He only wall-walked far enough so that the fall wouldn't be heard and he wouldn't be hurt. As soon as he was sure of that he dropped to the ground he used the transformation technique to change into an alley cat. He made sure that the cat was black so that he would blend into the immediate surroundings and hard to see without excellent night vision. He slipped around the corner into the alley wedging himself between a dumpster and the wall of the alley. He knew that it was generally a bad idea to limit one's maneuverability like that but if he had done his job right they would not know where he was at the moment. It was a strategy to expose his enemies or at least one to show him/herself in order to find out exactly what he was dealing with. He needed to know what village they were from because once he knew that he could begin to formulate a strategy.

After all with the exception of a few basic jutsus a village tended to base their techniques around theme of the village of their origin. For example ninjas from the hidden village of sand based their special techniques on sand and wind. Therefore if he could get a good look at their forehead protectors he would know which village and which techniques to expect as well as some idea how to counter them. So with his little cat like eyes he kept an eye on the three most likely approach vectors for ninja and hoped that he had not over estimated the effectiveness of his evasion tactic. After all if he was dealing with Jounins then there was no way that they would have fallen for such a simple deception. If it was just a team of chuunins or genins he'd stand a fighting chance of beating them once he had more info on what he was dealing with. So he waited and waited until ten minutes had passed with nary a sign of anything be it friend or foe. Could they have just given up or had they split up and gone off in different directions in order to find him? Or maybe this had just been a simple 'hello' to let him know that they could kill him anytime they wanted? In any case he was consuming chakra here and if they were as good as he feared they would be then he would need every ounce of energy he could get his hands on.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" came a sarcastic and definitely bloodthirsty voice from above him.

Not even bothering to look up to see who had found him he got out from behind the dumpster as quickly as he could before canceling the transformation technique and returning to his true form. Not wanting to leave his back as such a tempting target he jumped into the air to do a forward flip but when his head was pointed at the ground he pulled two shuriken out with his right hand and threw them in the direction of the voice. He knew he wouldn't hit anything but hopefully the surprise attack would ruin the ninja's aim enough so that most of anything he threw at the Zeppo would miss. Once he had his feet back on the ground he tried to make a decision on tactics specifically whether to go on the offensive or remain on the defensive. It was a fact that aside from being able to sneak up on him without being sensed but other than that he had no idea how good this guy was. Running would only show him just how good his adversary's stamina and speed was but not any of his techniques and moves. Therefore the only way to see how many different ways this guy had to give him a serious 'ouchie' was to turn around and face him head on. Bringing up a kunai in a defensive stance he waited facing the direction he had just come and waited for his pursuer to catch up.

"So you decided to turn and face me did you?" came the same voice that had found him in his hiding place as a cat.

"Well I just thought 'hey maybe this guy just made a mistake and wasn't trying to skewer me with kunai on the roof'." , Xander said in perfect deadpan humor, "After all I'm sure you'd never try and kill a perfect stranger for money or fun."

"Hehehehehe! Right!" came the voice as he emerged from the shadows and when the Zeppo saw his pursuer he knew he had his work cut out for him.

The man looked like he had stepped into an aging machine prototype and had random body parts turned into little more than skin and bones while others looked healthy. He had monofilament wire wrapped around his forearms but he was sure that this guy knew all too well how to use them. There were also burn splotches here and there but Xander did not let the appearance of this ninja fool him one bit when it came to the judging of skill and ability. Deception was part of the ninja's arsenal of weapons and a foe that appeared harmless could in fact prove to be most deadly. The only way to know for sure was to start this confrontation off and see what transpired.

Rat, Dog, Ox, Hare! , Xander thought as he formed the hand seals before saying, "KATON HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!"

Bringing his right hand up to his mouth with half of the final hare seal he peppered the area around his ninja adversary doing his best to hit him but also making escape difficult. Unfortunately it seemed this man was even faster than his balls of fire as he managed to get clear of the attack in one leap. Deciding to take a chance with hand-to-hand combat he charged the man intending to disable any chance of retaliation with a swift kick to the stomach. However this guy obviously had other plans as he caught the kick before it could make contact and held on tight. Xander decided to turn this to his advantage and have the man support his weight while he delivered another kick higher up on the body. This second kick was dodged though and when he regained his footing the world was lit up with pain and a violent blue light. It was unlike any sensation he had ever felt before as muscles jerked and his mind fought for coherency. He had no idea how long the electricity arced up and down his body but he did know that it was his improvised donkey kick that freed him. The kick did not have a lot of strength behind it but it did get him free and cause his opponent to stagger back three or four steps.

Ooohhh 'kay! No close quarters combat with this guy! Xander thought as he fought to shake off the lingering effects of the electro-shock therapy.

The only positive thing that he had acquired was that he knew where at least one of these ninjas came from, the hidden village of Cloud in the country of Lightning. That meant that all of the attacks this guy would send his way would be electrical in nature. This meant electrified limbs in close quarters and lightning bolts from long distance. It also meant that he needed as much room as possible to dodge and this alleyway just didn't meet his needs. He had to put some distance between the two of them and then relocate this fight to a more open area like a vacant lot or baseball field. Though in retrospect though it might be a bad idea to go to the vacant lot if it turned out that the lot had cars or some other ignitable substance in range of this guys attack.

Or would it be? Xander thought to himself as an idea began to take shape in his mind.

Deciding to go with this idea he threw a trio of a kunai, shuriken and throwing needle at his opponent before taking off at a dead run. He knew that there was a propane storage area about five blocks to the northwest of here where they waited to be delivered to the various dealerships and stores. If he could lure him there he might be able to set this guy up to get one helluva hot foot along with his other foot and his legs and every other part of his body. All it would take would be one powerful fireball at the right time and at the right place to detonate those propane tanks and beat this guy. He knew that it wasn't exactly Scooby Gang method of operation to harm a human being, which despite his seemingly supernatural techniques and appearance he was, but if he had to choose between himself dying and this guy … well … he'd put some flowers on this guy's grave.

He knew the guy was behind him and gaining but he couldn't risk taking the time to use a technique or weapon to slow him down again. He doubted that this guy's teammates would miss his presence forever and when they found him he'd be up against either two more ninjas or just two more assassins from the Order of Teraka. He didn't know which he preferred but he had no intention of finding out if he could avoid it somehow. So he pushed his legs harder and did his best to make it to the propane place before electro-puss got close enough to attack him from behind.

He turned the final corner and saw his destination in the distance but just as hope began to rise inside of him he got a sharp dose of reality as monofilament wire surged past him and crossed him in the front. A kunai was tied to each wire to aide in its flight and as they crossed paths in front of him he knew what his enemy intended to do. Leaping as high as he could he dodged the wire and prevented it from wrapping around his chest but it did manage to ensnare his right leg. This threw his entire leap off but he managed to avoid falling flat in his face by using his one free foot and both arms to catch himself. He had feeling there was another shock if he didn't move quickly so he decided to try a change of tactics. Instead of trying to cut the wire he decided to use this guys own tactic against him after a slight revision. Bringing out his kunai tied spool of wire he threw the kunai beneath him and like he predicted his ugly enemy didn't expect him to counter attack. That was probably the only reason why the kunai succeeded in piercing the guy's leg almost to the handle. The pain from the attack caused the guy to loosen his grip on his wires and this is when Xander made his move. Yanking upwards with all his strength he pulled the guy's leg out from under him sending him to the ground swiftly. Taking this respite from the fight he pulled another kunai, minus the wire, from a pocket on the flack jacket and cut the wires wrapped around his right leg. His enemy had recovered from his fall and Xander knew that he had better get out of there before Mr. Scorchy Gruesome decided to try his trick again.

Fortunately he didn't have much farther to run and soon was close enough to leap over the fence surrounding the storage area landing not ten feet from the propane tanks lined up next to each other on metal shelves. He put some distance between himself and the side of the fence that he had come over and then turned to face his pursuer. Now would come the difficult part of staying alive while at the same time directing the bad guy into the kill zone. Unfortunately two minutes later another force made him remember that he was not dealing with amateurs that would walk stupidly into a trap as something slammed into his back both bruising him and delivering a sizeable shock. Xander fell to the ground in a heap, unable to catch himself this time, and it was only through sheer determination that he was able to roll out of the way of the follow up attack. Refusing to be beaten while lying on the ground he rolled to his feet and forced his legs to support him as he rose into a standing position. He cursed himself as he saw that his peril had just increased as another assassin had made himself known and judging from his appearance he was a ninja from the country of Lightning as well.

He had a body that would put a professional body builder to shame with the exception of the fact that it was as smooth and hairless as polished steel. It was clear that he had chosen his clothes with the purpose of showing off his physique but this Zeppo was glad that he hadn't decided to pair a G-String with the combat boots. He had to repress a shudder at that mental image and cursed his imagination for coming up with it in the first place. Still it meant he had two adversaries to deal with now and he had trouble enough trying to stay alive against one. Hearing the sound of displaced air behind him he saw that his initial assailant had caught up with him leaving the Zeppo to try and keep an eye on both of them.

"Manzo! What are you doing here?" the one with wires wrapped around the forearms.

"Chiyo sent me to make sure you got the job done right." , Manzo said with clear intonations in his voice indicated he didn't think is friend could do anything right, "She wants the kid here killed immediately and figured you'd screw it up without my help. Judging from the blood on your leg she was right for once."

"The kid just got lucky! He isn't the slouch we thought he was!" Wire Dude shot back making it clear he did not like working with Manzo.

"Excuses, excuses, excuses Taji! Maybe when this contract is over with you should be reassigned to something easier like killing an unruly farmers and peasants." Manzo said enjoying the signs of rage on Taji's person.

Talk about luck! If these guys hate each others guts as much as they appear to maybe I can get them to kill each other without lifting a finger. Xander thought as he thanked whatever deity decided to lend him a little bit of help.

"Look, guys, it's clear you guys have some issues to work out so how about I leave and we can reschedule this little smack down for some day next week. What do you say?" Xander said trying to insert himself into the argument.

Unfortunately all it did was direct their attention back his way and apparently shelve their dispute for later. Xander still believed that he could use their lack of professionalism to his advantage but it would have to be done with actions instead of words. It would take some inventive tumbling and jumping to make one of their attacks hit the other in just the right way but it was the only chance he had to win. Picking his dropped kunai up from where he had dropped it after Manzo's attack he slipped into a basic guarding position while keeping both of his enemies in sight. He knew that this Taji guy who he had been dealing with alone up until now was fond of wires and electric shocks. If Manzo's appearance was any indication taijutsu was his personal preference and that meant lightning charged kicks and punches. If he could get Taji to tangle Manzo up in the monofilament wire he could limit both ninjas' mobility and maneuverability. Then all he would have to do is use the wire he had on him in conjunction with a shuriken and kunai to pin Taji's wire to the ground before detonating the propane tanks.

Yeah! All I have to do is get two ninja who are obviously chuunin or knowing my luck Jounin to screw up in a way that benefits me and then blow them up! , Xander thought grimly as he watched to see which of the two would attack first, Lady luck don't desert me now!

In the end it was Taji who made the first move tossing two kunai his way with wire's tied to the rings at the bottom of the grips. Deciding to take a chance Xander charged straight for the attack instead of moving away but just as he was about to get hit he lowered his running stance and allowed them to pass over his head. He knew he'd only have a few moments to act before Taji dropped the wires of the kunai that he had thrown and went for another weapon. Taking aim he threw the kunai in his hand at the psycho's right shoulder and while it was not a dead on hit a deep cut was made causing Taji to cringe with a barely suppressed cry of pain. Hopefully that meant some cut muscle or perhaps a few ligaments. It would limit his ability to use his right arm and possibly throw off his aim a bit improving his own odds for survival if only by a little bit. He had no time to contemplate the matter further though as he almost immediately sensed danger from behind and rolled to the left just in time to avoid a crushing punch by Manzo. The muscled man was not close enough to his friend for the punch to his Taji unfortunately but it did give him one opening to do some damage to the brute. As soon as he got to one knee he threw three throwing needles aiming for precise points on the arm that had delivered the punch a few moments ago. He knew nothing of the skill of acupuncture but he knew where some sensitive nerves were located based on the few times he came back from slayage patrol hurting more than usual. His aim needed work though as only one of the needles, the one aimed at the upper part of the arm, hit its target but the desired effect was achieved as Manzo proved he was less able to conceal his pain as he cried out.

"What's the matter guys? I've managed to tag both of you guys once in some pretty good spots but I have hardly a scratch on me." Xander said trying to turn the pain they were most certainly feeling at the moment to anger.

He might be able to talk a good game but the Zeppo knew that the success of his attacks were more due to luck than skill. This was his first fight against live adversaries since Halloween night using the skills he had inherited and one screw up here would make sure he never got to test his skills again. Moving to get behind Manzo so as to avoid any more throwing objects from Taji he slid to a stop and decided to pick up the pace of this fight. After all if he could get these guys to rush their moves or attack at a similar speed they would have less time to see through his strategy.

Rat, Dog, Ox, Hare! , Xander thought as he formed the hand seals before saying, "KATON HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!"

He knew it was risky repeating the same technique twice in a row it was one of the few ninjutsus he was sure he could perform without messing it up or overly draining himself of chakra. As he expected they managed to dodge his fire element attack in time and turned to launch a few offensive moves of their own. Not wanting to give them a moment to form any hand seals he threw half of his remaining kunai, shuriken and throwing needles at the two of them at a rapid pace. This got the desired reaction as they hastily moved to get out of the way before seeking cover behind some of the metal shelves. It was then that he began to suspect that something was amiss since so far neither of these guys had used any ninjutsu's or illusionary techniques at all. They had used the standard weapons of the ninja and some taijutsu techniques but nothing too impressive as far as he was concerned. Had he overestimated their abilities? Or were they trying to lull him into a false sense of security by making him think he had the advantage in this fight? These were hardly the big scary Teraken assassins Giles had described since aside from the shocks he had received he was pretty much unharmed. If it was true these guys were just sand bagging him then it meant that they were setting him up for something. Maybe waiting for their final teammate to show up or perhaps something simpler like humiliating him by having him fall for their deceptively poor performance. In either case he could not allow either possibility to come to pass and that meant that his original plan to trick them into immobilizing each other was a wash leaving only one desperate possibility.

Rat, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Bird, Dog, Boar, Xander thought as he formed the necessary hand seals before saying, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

As three shadow clones appeared next to him he knew from the amount of chakra he had just used up that his next move would be his last. However he knew it was his only chance. He could not afford to let this fight drag out any more than it already had been lengthened. With a thought alone he and his clones sprung into action and began to throw propane tanks at the two cloud ninja hoping to break a few bones. Of course this was just phase one of his plan and once he had littered the area around the two men he put phase two into motion by signaling his clones to jump up and backwards in all directions. Once they were high enough and he judged the speed of his jump correctly he decided it was time to put the final phase of his plan into motion.

Rat, Dog, Ox, Hare! , Xander and his shadow clones thought as they formed the hand seals before yelling, "KATON HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!"

With those words he peppered the ninjas and the area around them with fireballs and it only took a few seconds of bombardment before the effect he desired occurred. With a thunderous explosion the propane tanks he had thrown at them detonated engulfing them in an inferno of fire. Even if they had managed to dodge at the last second the concussive force of the blast would have at least left them stunned. While it might be worth it to try and finish them off he knew that he was in no condition to do so with so little chakra to work with. His best bet was to make tracks and try to call in the cavalry. That meant either Buffy, Giles, Willow and since he figured they would need her in the end he would even try and get his mother involved. He knew this would likely get her into trouble with her superiors but he didn't think Buffy could beat these ninja on her own. Even with some support magicks from Willow and Giles the Slayer would be facing an uphill battle. One that she might not win if she faced them alone and most certainly would not win if the third and final member of the team showed up fresh as a daisy. Only an experienced ninja could defeat them and Jessica Harris was the only one close enough that might be able to do the job. With that in mind he climbed up a nearby fire escape and once he made it to the roof he began to run in the direction of the high school. It would be easier to get there by rooftop as he did not need to worry about all the twists and turns as well as the traffic slowing him down.

If there are any deities or devils that have a soft spot for me at the moment I hope you're feeling charitable! , Xander said as he cast a quick glance back at the fire he had started, Because I'm going to need some seriously good luck to come out of this one alive!

Just Outside the Now Aflame Propane Storage Facility, Same Time

"You can come out now. He's out of range." Chiyo commanded once she was certain that the conditions of her plan had been met.

The ground cracked open in response to her command but unlike most natural cracks the ones that formed now formed two perfect circles in the ground. From the circles rose Manzo and Taji on which there was no visible sign that they had suffered any ill effects from the explosion. Not so much as a single laceration on either of their bodies aside from the ones the Harris boy had inflicted on them with his unanticipated attacks. He was certainly better than they had been told he would be but she was not worried. They would simply have to cease playing with him or attempting to employ elaborate strategies and just kill him outright. A pity since the leadership of the Order tended to reward operatives in proportion to the amount of skill they exhibited before a kill. Still fooling around with this boy would be dangerous especially if was given any time to construct a more thorough counter strategy than he could while fleeing for his life. Still she found herself wondering where the boy managed to learn the techniques he used against her comrades. It might be something to look into once the mission itself was concluded. If there was another ninja from the hidden villages here in this town the Order would want to know either to recruit the person or to sell knowledge if its presence to parties who might be interested. In any case she could see why the ruling body of the Order had instructed them to abandon the usual method of operation of attacking the target separately. Alone none of them would be able to defeat him without causing more damage than the Order usually permitted. Assassins in the Order prided themselves on a quick and efficient kill as they were professionals, the elite, rather than a ragtag group of mercenaries or hired goons. As such it was considered an embarrassment for an operative to leave an abundance of signs that he was there. That is why assassins separated and took their time to set up the perfect kill shot. For this young ninja though the rules had been amended to allow her and her temporary teammates to work together and perhaps even advise them to follow that route instead. Odd ruling for them but reasonable enough.

"Hehehehehe! The fool actually thought that such a transparent trap would be enough to finish us off!" Taji said with a sadistic glee as he looked in the direction the boy had gone.

"I'm going to enjoy making that punk pay for sticking me in the arm like that!" Manzo said as he pulled the throwing needle the boy had thrown out of his arm.

"Ooooh! Poor baby!" Taji said sarcastically while leering at his 'comrade' mockingly.

Manzo looked angrily at the member of his party but did not do as Taji expected because he knew that Chiyo would only reprimand them again. He was right because she would not tolerate such unprofessional behavior from someone on her team. She was determined to move up the ranks within the Order until she was regarded as elite enough to no longer be tied to these fools. She was the team leader and the reason why she had to work with these buffoons was because the ruling body of the Order didn't think she was good enough to deal with a mission on her own. In a way the Order was much like the hidden villages in how they treated the assassins in their ranks. You started with a team and only after several advancements were you considered skilled enough to work on your own. She had no problem with this because she was not hampered by the moral constraints of the Kage of her village or any of the others she was instructed to work with. All the ruling members of the Order cared about were results and professionalism. Killing machines were of no use to them and fools who spent too much time posturing to make themselves look good often died at the hands of their own supervising operative. A true member of the Order of Teraka had to have an even mixture of both in order to function and advance in standing. She had molded herself in that manner from the moment she had been approached to join the Order and had tried to meet the expectations set by her supervisor. She hoped to become the youngest member of the oversight committee in the history of the Order for it was there that the power resided. Oh it was true that the ruling body was above the committee but it was said that the members of that group had not changed since the Order's founding.

It didn't matter. Her only concern was advancing as quickly but as respectfully as possible and she would not allow these bumbling fools to undermine her efforts.

"Come. We cannot lose sight of him." She said and with a charged leap she jumped up to the rooftop her prey had departed the area on and pursued him.

He was just one more step on her path to victory but he was proving to be far more interesting than she had anticipated. She would honor his death by giving him no quarter and fighting at her best.

The Rooftops of Sunnydale, Twenty Minutes Later

This is not going my way! Xander thought as he continued on his path towards the High Schoool.

Manzo and Taji had picked up his trail sooner than he had anticipated and apparently the third and final member of their team had joined up with them soon after he left the destroyed propane storage facility. He was getting tired and they were quickly beginning to close the distance between them. He believed that he'd make it to the school before they caught up with him but only by a few seconds at best. By that time he would be seriously fatigued and would be massacred by the three Terakan assassins inside of a minute. That meant he either prayed for a miracle or he somehow arranged for reinforcements to be waiting for him when he got there. However since he wasn't telepathic he would have to find some other means of getting in touch with the guys and his mother while at the same time not making himself vulnerable to his pursuers. It was then that the old Xander luck changed for the better when he spotted some vamp walking down the street talking to someone on a cell phone. Dropping down to street level he doubted the walking corpse even realized he had been staked before the Zeppo grabbed the cell phone from him, pierced his still heart with a piece of wood and then jumped back up to the rooftops before resuming his flight to the High School.

The first number he punched in was the phone number for the High School library as he was fairly sure that Giles and maybe Willow would be there at this time of night. It took a few rings but eventually he heard the sound that indicated that someone had picked up the receiver on the other end.

"Hello?" Giles said in inquiry on the other end.

"Giles! We're in big time trouble here!" , Xander said as he made a leap down to a flag pole in the side of a building before using it to jump to another rooftop, "I managed to trip over the HQ of the Teraken assassins you told us about and right now they're on my tail!"

"WHAT?" Giles exclaimed and Xander could tell from the background noise that this had startled one or two people in the same room with the Watcher.

"We don't have time for you to brew some tea and calm down G-Man! I'm heading towards the High School now and should be there inside of twenty-five minutes." , Xander said as he quickly estimated his ETA from the building he just past and his own memories, "I need you and Willow if she's there to begin making preparations for when me and the terrible trio arrive. These aren't your run of the mill assassins Giles. They're ninjas from the hidden village of cloud."

"How do you..?" Giles attempted to ask but was quickly cut off by the Zeppo.

"No time for lengthy explanations! Let's just say that some of what I was given on Halloween night stuck and I was able to make a positive ID of these assasins" , Xander said as he took a quick look behind himself and saw three dots catching up quick, "They're good Giles, real good! Maybe even Jounin level good. That's why I need you to set something up for when I get there because I don't know if Buffy and I will be enough to beat them."

"V-very well Xander. We will be ready when you arrive." , Giles said apparently willing to shelve his questions for the moment, "However when this crisis is resolved I will expect a full explanation of what you gained from Ethan's Halloween prank."

"I'll fill out a report in triplicate. Thanks Giles." Xander said before terminating the connection.

He wasted no time before he dialed his own phone number and impatiently waited for his mother to pick up on the other end. He was reasonably sure it would be her because his father rarely moved from his easy chair in the living room when he got home from work. If Tony did answer the phone it would take some inventive persuasion to get him to put his wife on the phone especially if he had finished a six-pack of beer already. Hearing the click he waited for someone to speak on the other end in order to find out who it was so he would know what to say.

"Hello?" came the voice of his mother and really thanked whatever higher being was looking out for him because it seemed as though his luck was getting better and better.

"Mom! Ninjas from the hidden village of cloud are in town and on my tail!" , Xander said quickly as he made a particularly difficult jump to another rooftop, "I'm heading for the High School to hook of with Buffy and the others. I need you to sneak out of the house and meet me there pronto!"

"Alex? I … but …" Jessoca said with emotions that Xander couldn't really identify but he didn't have time to worry about that.

"Look mom I know that you're here undercover on some mission for Konoha but I'm in big trouble!" Xander said as he felt his energy level continuing to drop, "I don't have a lot of chakra left and these guys aren't exactly amateurs! Please mom! I'm sure Hokage-sama will understand when you deliver your report. You're my only hope!"

For a time there was silence and neither he nor his mother spoke a word. Xander could only imagine how his mother felt at that moment when confronted with a serious choice. Does she violate the parameters of her mission to help her son or does she leave him to fend for himself and hope that he somehow comes out on top? The part of him who had been living in the Harris household his entire life expected her to abandon him to save her own skin. After all that is what she had done every time Tony Harris wailed on him or did something else to make his life a living hell. She could have stepped in at any time but she did not. However ninja Xander knew from the memories he had received on Halloween night knew that his mother had to weigh her responsibilities to Konoha with her own personal desires. This part of him wanted to believe that the woman he had seen walking around at home for the past seventeen years of his life was just a carefully crafted façade. He wanted to believe that beneath that disguise was a caring and loving woman who would never let any true harm come to him and would help him when he was in trouble. This answer that she was about to give would determine which Jessica was the reality and which was the lie.

"I'll get there as quickly as I can Alex. Don't go on the offensive until I get there." Jessica Harris said in a voice that was all business.

"Wasn't planning on it. Between me and Buffy we should be able to buy you the time you need to get to the High School." , Xander said with barely controlled elation at the discovery of the true Jessica Harris, "Thanks Mom!"

"You're welcome Alex." Jessica said with love in her voice before hanging up.

Alright! Now at least we have a fighting chance! Xander thought with a smile as he entered the home stretch to the front doors of Sunnydale High School.

Even though he knew that the battle was far from decided he couldn't help but think that their victory was all but certain. After all his mother was likely a Jounin herself given that she was here in Sunnydale solo without a team of her own. Add to that his slightly above Genin abilities and Buffy's own fighting prowess and these ninja from the hidden village of cloud would be manageable. Difficult but Manageable. Pushing himself a bit harder for a slightly longer jump than one he was used to he leapt across an intersection. Unfortunately it was in mid-air that he sensed danger but since oxygen had no substance he could not alter his course or do anything but try and defend himself while completing the jump. Turning around he brought his arms in front of himself to protect himself from a physical attack hoping at any kunai, shuriken or throwing needles didn't hit anything vital that would prevent him from forming hand seals. When he saw what was coming at him though he almost wished that they were throwing his way. Instead a bolt of what looking like lightning was streaking towards him as thick as you average man's arm. Channeling what chakra he had to his arms he hoped that it would protect him against the brunt of the electricity otherwise it might just punch right through him.

When the lightning bolt hit him his body was submerged in pain making conscious thought almost impossible. The only saving grace that he had was that it only lasted for a few seconds and the force of the attack was actually enough to ensure he reached the roof he had been aiming for in the first place. While he was jarred back to some semblance of alertness by his body hitting the roof his arms still protested when he tried to roll back to his feet. Still he knew that unless he got up and running again they would just continue to pelt him with bolts like those until he was one crispy critter. Still he was going to have to pay a visit to the hospital when this was all through because boy did these burns smart. As soon as he got back to his feet he forced his legs to pump harder and faster because there was no way he was going to get killed this close to his backup. He tried to make himself harder to hit by zigging and zagging at random intervals so that they couldn't anticipate his position and time an attack precisely enough to hit him. It would mean taking a bit longer to reach the High School but it was necessary to prevent another nasty attack like that. He just hoped that Buffy and company would have something pretty cool waiting for these guys when he got there or all his mother was going to find when she got there was a couple of charred corpses.

Please have something ready Buffy! Xander thought as he watched the school getting closer and closer.

Sunnydale High School Courtyard, Same Time

"Hurry up Giles! I can see them coming!" Buffy said as she brought her wooden staff into a ready-to-kick-some-ass position.

"I'm moving as fast as I can!" , Giles snapped at her as he drew symbols into the dirt around the border of the courtyard, "Given that Xander only gave us Twenty-five minutes to prepare something for three deadly ninjas who just happen to belong to a society of deadly assassins I am amazed I've gotten as far as I have with this ritual!"

"Sooorrryyy! Just try and hurry it up a little because they've almost made it to the parking lot." Buffy said with equal tension and barely restrained anger.

Neither the Slayer nor the Watcher meant their harsh words but were merely using it as a way to vent the tension and growing anxiety that their goofy comrade Xander was bringing their way. They had all been in the library researching the current known members of the Order of Teraka in an attempt to anticipate who would be sent here to Sunnydale and how they could be defeated. They had even been making some headway in that direction but when Xander had called and told Giles who they were up against any plans they had constructed went straight to hell. Giles hadn't spun a detailed picture of who exactly these ninjas were but he did say that they were far deadlier than anything depicted in the entertainment industry. The Slayer had almost joked about how goofy they'd likely be but the abrupt way that her Watcher had begun to run around the room stopped her. If Giles was so worried that he was moving like a man possessed it had to be serious because in all the past dangers they had faced he never spoke to her like this. However good these ninja were she would do her best to prove herself their betters and put an end to it all.

Above her a section of the roof exploded and violent electricity flashed through the air letting everyone know that the ninjas had arrived. Their arrival was soon mirrored if a bit less spectacularly by Xander who flew over the charred hole left by the electric blast and landed none too gently by Buffy's side. Looking down at her friend the Slayer was shocked to see her Xander-shaped friend so badly beat up. His hands and forearms were seriously burned making every finger twitch or movement seriously painful and the rest of him wasn't much better off. Tears and cuts were visible all over with none being too serious but if he let them go for too long he would lose a lot of blood or they would become infected. Still seeing him rise from the ground with some kind of dagger in his hand she could tell he still had some fight left in him.

"Hey Buff! Sorry to drop in like this but there are these guys that were just dying to meet you." Xander said with his familiar lopsided grin on his face.

"Well I hope they're prepared for a dazzling show because no one has ever gotten any seconds." Buffy said confidently wielding the staff she held.

Xander just laughed a bit at this but just as quickly as his amusement had appeared it vanished as he looked back the way he had come to see their enemies for the evening finally arrived. They looked weird for sure and almost peripherally she could sense their power but it only caused her to tighten her resolve all the more. This was going to be a nasty one and she definitely saw some hospital time in their futures no matter if they won or lost. Even if they worked themselves to the bone they had so little time to prepare for these guys and they were likely so good at their jobs that a clean victory was impossible. Nevertheless they would fight to whatever end awaited them and hopefully with the help of Giles' spell they'd come out on top.

Then all of a sudden the three that she had seen on the roof disappeared in a flash before reappearing a little over fifteen feet away. This floored Buffy as she had never seen anything human move that fast before without some kind of mystical enhancement. Sure as the Slayer she could move at speeds that were above human limitations but that was because she had been granted those abilities due to her Slayer status. Where had these guys gotten their powers?

"Don't let their abilities fool you Buff. They're not using magic and they are one hundred percent human despite their wacky looks." , Xander said as he moved the kunai in his hands to a slightly better defensive position, "Ninjas from the hidden villages can do some pretty amazing things using energy produced by their own body and souls. Stay frosty and don't hold back. If you see an opening take it and deliver the kill shot."

"What! Xander we can't kill humans!" Buffy exclaimed in shock at her usually light hearted friend so casually tell her to kill another human being.

"Look Buffy! We don't have time to fuss over morality right now!" , Xander yelled as he almost bit her head off with the tone of his voice, "These ninjas will kill us! Our only chance of survival here is to kill them first! If it helps then know that these guys have probably killed hundreds of people for money and nothing else! They're worse than vamps because at least those bloodsuckers actually need to kill to survive!"

It shocked the Slayer to hear these words in such blunt detail but taking another look at the three ninja watching the Scooby gang from across the courtyard he realized Xander was right. She could sense nothing human in them aside from their appearances. They might be human in body but that seemed to be as far as it went with these assassins. Looking into their eyes her soul quivered at the bloodlust and complete indifference to murder she saw in them. They truly did not care who they killed or for what reason. All that mattered to them was the completion of their contract with who ever hired them to come to Sunnydale. Steel appearing in her eyes she knew that despite the wrongness of it she would have to kill these three human beings in order to protect her friends.

It happened without warning and before either Slayer or Zeppo realized it the three ninjas were upon them and the battle was joined.

The Rooftops, Ten Blocks Away From Sunnydale High School, Same Time

Hang on Alex! I'm almost there! Jessica thought to herself more to ease her own fears than to mentally reassure her son.

Jessica Harris, formerly Uchiha Jun'ko of the hidden village of Konoha, was a storm of emotions as she thought both on what probably awaited her at the High school and what her son had said to her earlier. Apparently her earlier belief that he had forgotten what he had inherited from the spell that the chaos mage Ethan Rayne cast was seriously in error. He apparently believed he could give as good as he got in a one on one fight with one of these ninja from the country of lightning and knew that she had once been a ninja herself. However that was not what was upsetting her the most. Her son apparently believed that she was here on some kind of official mission for Konoha and that the past seventeen years of his life had been miserable for a good cause. He was willing to forgive all the hardships and misery he had been forced to endure and that she had done nothing about because he believed it was for the greater good. It must have felt like a sudden burst of sunshine entering a room that had once been vacant of all but the smallest specks of light. He now saw her as someone to be proud of and his misery being worth something to someone. How would he react when someone eventually told him 'the truth' someday in the future? The pain she felt when imagining the look of hatred and betrayal in his eyes upon learning of her 'evil deeds' was almost more than she could bear. If only she could prove that her version of the truth her son might see her as she truly was rather than how she was seen by others of her native village.

I will show him tonight then! I will show him what kind of ninja I truly am and make him proud of me! Jessica thought to herself as she gripped the knife tighter in her hand.

With this determination she quickened her pace and swore to herself that if the ninja from the hidden village of cloud had done anything to her son she would return it upon then tenfold.

Sunnydale High School, Courtyard, Five Minutes Later

Well things could definitely be going better! Xander thought as he stood next to Buffy trying to help her defend Willow and Giles until the spell was ready.

It had only been five minutes since the battle had started and already the Zeppo was beginning to wonder how much longer they could keep these guys busy. He had no doubt that whatever Willow and G-Man were trying to put together would help them but he was not sure if he and the Slayer could buy them the time to implement the spell. His fatigue was only growing since he had fled the propane gas storage facility forcing him to use every ounce of energy he had left to just block their attacks. Buffy while fresher and not as tired as he was still took a few moments to adjust her speed level to where she could keep up with the ninja that targeted her. He didn't blame her as this was her first time facing ninja of the hidden village variety and these guys were definitely of the Jounin variety or he'd eat Hokage-sama's hat raw. Still it made him wish all the harder for his mother to get here soon or all that would be left of the four of them is a layer of wet meaty chunks. The only reason they had lasted this long was because the ninja Manzo, Taji and Chiyo were sticking to taijutsus and weapons in their attacks. No ninjutsus or genjutsus had been used by them so far and while he was internally suspicious of that fact he was for the most part glad. The more time that these jokers played with them or used moves that both he and Buffy could handle the better chance his mother would be able to get here in time.

It was at the conclusion of this thought that the one called Taji charged in with kunai in both of his hands and tried to deliver a double slash to the Zeppo. Bringing his own two kunai up to block he immediately launched his next attack and tried to kick the man in the ribs in order to open the ninja up for a more effective strike. Unfortunately and much to his surprise his leg passed right through Taji's form and for a moment he wondered if it had been some type of normal clone that had attacked him. That however was unlikely as normal clones had no real substance of their own and weren't much better than holograms. That would seem to imply that the Taji in front of him was a shadow clone of some kind but that also seemed wrong since he should have felt physical contact when he hit it but instead his foot passed right through. His confusion was resolved a moment later as the Taji that he had struck transformed into a cloud like substance before dissipating into the air. He should have anticipated they would possess a technique like that given that just about every one of the hidden villages had some kind of variation on the shadow clone technique. Since this was the case though then where was the real Taji. He got his answer less than a second later as someone latched onto him from behind using some kind of grappling technique. Xander was only able to struggle for a few moments to try and break free before Taji repeated the technique he used the last time he had a part of the Zeppo in his grasp. Electricity arced up and down the untrained Harris' body with only the fact that his limbs were locked up in pain keeping him standing.

Buffy saw this and moved to help her friend but was quickly intercepted by Manzo who delivered a powerful electrically charged attack to her chest. This sent her flying into one of the schools outer walls before falling down into a heap. Only her resiliency as the Slayer allowed her to avoid serious damage from the attack but it did leave her stunned and unable to help her friend. It looked for all intents and purposes that Xander Harris would die but everyone forgot one thing. He was always better than he looked and because of this almost everyone's jaw dropped when there was a sudden explosion of smoke around Xander's body. When the smoke dissipated Taji was seen holding one of the trashcans that were arrayed throughout the courtyard. When all of them began to wonder where the real Xander went the man himself was only too glad to deliver an answer from above.

"KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" Xander yelled as with half of his remaining chakra he unleashed a fireball down on Taji that engulfed the strange man in flame.

He couldn't maintain in for very long as he was quickly draining what physical and mental energy he had to use for chakra molding. He did have enough energy for one final move that he hoped would reduce the number of their opponents from three to two.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" he said as he struck as hard as he could with a kick that sent Taji high into the air.

Normally this would be followed up by Kage Buyou technique but he didn't have the energy to pull of such an attack. All he could was watch as the cloud ninja fell to the ground. Unable to rise into a full standing position he was forced to be satisfied with a crouching defensive position. He and Buffy watched Taji's still form hoping against hope that he would remain like that. His attack must have had some kind of positive effect on this killer because there was no way that Xander would believe he had sacrificed so much vital energy for nothing. With his own body in such a drained state he had little doubt that he wouldn't be able to repeat that little stunt and without knowing what other little stunts that these guys were capable of doing. That would leave him in a defensive position for the remainder of the battle leaving only Buffy to try and trim the enemy numbers a little more in their favor. He had little doubt in her prowess against the enemies located on the Hellmouth but against trained ninjas of the rank of Jounin he wasn't sure if she would be able to survive the next attack.

Obviously one of the non-corporeal demonic entities had overheard this bit of news and decided to stack the odds against the side of good because much to the dismay of the Scooby gang Taji did indeed rise, if a bit unsteadily, to his feet. Turning towards his enemies a look of barely contained fury was on his face as he no doubt was feeling a little humiliated at being knocked down by a weakened genin level ninja. He and Buffy only looked back with stony resolve and a determination not to let their dreams and hopes for the future die here.

All at once the courtyard was suddenly filled with eldritch light and Xander heard the sounds of a triumphant Willow filling the air. Looking around the immediate area himself the Zeppo could see that the symbols and markings that had been carved in the ground glowing with blue light. Anywhere in which the ground had been disturbed blue light had come forth and lit up the area better than any artificial light. It was clear to the Zeppo that this had been the 'something' that G-Man and Willow had managed to prepare for the ninja from the hidden village of cloud. What surprised him even more though was that he could feel himself gradually getting stronger while his enemies seemed to be feeling distinctly unsettled. It was when he looked at Buffy and saw the confident smile on her face that he realized what must have been happening. Somehow the spell that Willow and Giles had cast was transferring some of the cloud ninja's chakra to him and Buffy. This caused a smile of confidence to appear on his face as well since with the chakra that was being absorbed into his body he might actually manage to go on the offensive for once. Maybe if the spell lasted long enough they wouldn't have to fight at all as it would not take too long for the cloud ninja to be so drained so as to be unable to move at all much less fight.

Unfortunately that would be too easy according to the Fates because the look of unsettlement on the faces of the ninja soon turned to annoyance. In perfect synchronicity they generated chakra fields around their bodies and with three mighty roars of defiance and power spider-web cracks shot out in all directions from them. Earth was disturbed and the symbols that either Giles or Willow carved into the ground were broken beyond repair. Thus the spell was also broken causing the flow of chakra from the ninjas of cloud to him and Buffy to end.

"An interesting strategy Mr. Giles. However do you really think that we haven't come across similar problems in our lifetimes?" Chiyo asked with some contempt for such an amateurish spell.

It occurred to Xander that they probably would have since it was only logical when facing a ninja to try and deplete their chakra somehow before engaging them in battle. Indeed, according to his false memories from Halloween it was the preferred M.O for a ninja to wait until an opponent to let their guard down. Such strategies allowed for a quick and efficient kill. After all if you timed it right than knocking off a target would be a piece of cake once his or her defenses were down. These guys would have had to proven themselves capable of dealing with spells like this if they wanted to stay in the Order of Teraka. Still at least some good had come of the spell before it was terminated. He was back up to about half of his maximum chakra production capacity. He would still need to fight smart to defeat these guys but at least now the situation wasn't quite as grim as it had been beforehand.

"Still you have proven your resourcefulness with that spell and so we will skip this warm up period and move straight to finishing you all off." Chiyo said with both Manzo and Taji wearing identical bloodthirsty grins.

"The only ones who will be finished off here will be you three." Came an older female voice from above and to the right of them.

Looking up Xander was completely unable to keep a smile from spreading across his face. Standing there wearing a sleeveless blouse and loose jeans with her Konoha forehead protector above her eyebrows was one Jessica Harris. With a kunai in her hand she looked so different from the woman he had been living with his entire life. She had a look of determination on her face that put anything Buffy had shown to shame and had a presence that made it clear to the cloud ninja that circumstances had changed. She leapt down from her place on the rooftop and took up a guarding position in front of him and Buffy. While it looked like Buffy might take some offense at being seen as someone in need of protection Xander knew it was probably for the best. His mom had more experience dealing with ninja than him and Buffy put together and as a Jounin would be facing them on more equal footing. He'd still get his own shots in of course but at least with his mother here they might be able to avoid spending undue time in the hospital.

"Oh? Who are you Pretty?" Taji asked with mock interest.

"It doesn't matter now." , Jessica Harris said with zero emotion, "After all what use do the dead have for names?"

"Quite right. Let's get to it then." Said Manzo as he charged the elder Harris woman believing the entire time that he would finish her in one move.

Chiyo was smarter though and had spotted the forehead protector right off the bat.

"Manzo! Stop!" Chiyo yelled but it was too late as the big hairless lug had already crossed the point of no return.

It was with no little bit of awe that Xander saw his mom deal with her opponent with speed and precision. Crouching down she allowed the muscled man's punch to flow over her head but at the same time she thrust her right open palm hard into his chest. This served to knock the air completely out of his lungs and his eyes to bulge out of their sockets. He was given only a moment to reflect on this unexpected incident before the female Jounin from Konoha immediately slid into her next move.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" Jessica Harris yelled as she delivered a bone crushing kick right to Manzo's jaw sending him into the air.

Before he even reached the apex of his flight Xander's mom seemed to disappear from sight with only a slight cloud of dirt marking where she had once been. She quickly reappeared and the Zeppo recognized the move for what is was, the Kage Buyou technique.

"This is what you get for hurting my son!" Jessica Harris declared leaving little doubt that some serious pain was heading Manzo's way.

It started with a knee to the right kidney and was followed by a roundhouse kick to the left arm. Just about everyone in the courtyard could hear the bone crack and they knew that even if he was still able to use that arm it would cause him great pain to do it. With no more than a second passing Jessica used the kick to slide herself to an on top position so that her face was no more than two feet away from Manzo's. With a cruel smile she began to rain stomp after stomp onto the man's chest while using a variation of the tree climbing exercise to make sure she stayed close to him. Right, left, right, left went her legs as she hammered Manzo's rib cage with powerful kicks. When the two of them were just over ten feet from the ground she grabbed both of the man's arms and firmly planted both her feet on his chest. For a moment Xander was mystified at what his mother was planning on doing but when he took into consideration what that position would do to the guy on impact he winced in sympathy for what the ninja was about to experience. The two combatants landed with a sickening crunch as the ninja from the hidden village of cloud too the full force of the landing. With the immovable ground pressing up against his back and Jessica Harris' feet firmly pressed against his chest Manzo's rib cage suffered multiple fractures with possible internal damage.

Stepping down from her groaning adversary Mrs. Jessica Harris looked as though she had just finished a light stroll. It was the look she gave the remaining two ninja, Taji and Chiyo, that let them know it was only the beginning.

"In the infamous words of a certain professional wrestler" , Jessica declared with an abundance of confidence, "WHO'S NEXT!"

Same Place, Same Time, Uchiha Jun'ko's (aka Jessica Harris) Perspective

I know I sound confident but the truth of the matter is I'm in no shape to face two skilled ninjas, Jessica thought to herself as she tried to make sure she missed nothing concerning her adversaries' movements, I am just too out of shape! If these guys came at me in my prime defeating them wouldn't be an issue. Despite that fact I will not leave my son to face these monsters alone!

"Smooth moves mom! I'd say the odds are turning in our favor." , Alex said confidently from behind her, "Now it's three of us against the two of them! Feeling lucky you two spark plug wannabes?"

"Tough talk for a runt who was half dead ten minutes ago!" Taji said with a sneer that made it clear that he was not afraid of Alex in the least nor doubted that he and his comrade would win in the end.

"Yeah well thanks to my friends' spell I'm almost back to full strength you shriveled old prune! With me, my mom and the Slayer coming at you I'd say the odds of you winning are pretty slim!" Alex barked back in retaliation for the blow to his pride.

"We shall see child." The woman in armor said with no perceivable emotion in her voice.

"Alex, since you seem to like the one with the wires I'll leave him to you." , Jessica said in a no nonsense tone of voice, "I'll handle the lady in armor."

"Yes sir!" Xander replied with a mocking military salute.

"Wise ass!" Jessica muttered just barely loud enough for him to hear.

"You should know mom." Xander stated as he focused his eyes on his designated sparring partner.

To that Jessica could only snort with amusement as she did know indeed her son's habit of mouthing off to people he didn't like. It was that mouth though that had earned him many beatings both from schoolyard bully's and from Tony at home. The pain didn't do anything to curtail his quips though. He just made them more imaginative and more damaging. She supposed that was his way of retaliating since he didn't possess the strength or skill to face the source of his problems in the same way they hurt him. It was the only weapon he had and he was determined to use it well against anyone that rubbed him the wrong way. Now though it seemed he had inherited knowledge of some techniques from her home village of Konoha. She was still determined that when this was all over to leave town with him and find someplace else to hide but perhaps it wouldn't hurt to help him refine his skills some. They would still have to be careful of where they trained and she would have to stress with him never to be seen using them but it could help if they ever were discovered by the Hunter-nins. If she got back into fighting form and brought her son up to a more impressive level they might actually be able to hold their own against a squad of Hunter-nins. It would be especially good if he turned out to have inherited the Uchiha family's bloodline limit ability Sharingan.

"No time for daydreaming woman!" the armor-clad ninja said as Jessica realized that her enemy was now only a few feet away and closing.

Uchiha Jun'ko hastily brought up her guard and managed to block the punch that had been aimed at her face but the strength of the blow was still enough to push her back a few steps. She knew this enemy was right. From here on out she had to focus completely on her adversary and nothing else or she would loose due to sheer lack of discipline. Ducking under the kick that the armored warrior sent as a follow up to the kick she grabbed that same leg right her right hand before jamming the elbow of her left arm into the back of the knee. It wouldn't break the leg but it would hit some nerves and make it painful for her to bend that knee. Hopefully the reduction in mobility would be enough to make up for her lack of training the past eighteen years. Surprisingly enough the ninja woman in armor didn't cry out in pain at the blow but all that probably meant was that she had a high tolerance for pain. That or she believed that it was a sign of weakness to let one's enemy know their attack worked by showing you are in pain. In any case she had to move the fight further from Alex and his friends both to give him room to fight and keep the inexperienced 'Scooby gang' out of the fight. Letting go of the woman's leg she decided to see if the old rule about ninja techniques was still true.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" she cried and thrust her right leg forward and up hoping to catch her opponent in the jaw to stun her and set her up for the next move.

Unfortunately the old rule 'a ninja must never fall for the same technique twice' was apparently still taught to academy students because the armored ninja arched backwards causing the kick to miss the jaw and left Jun'ko vulnerable. Channeling some chakra to the foot that was still planted on the ground she leapt into the air as best she could to avoid the counter attack she knew was coming.

After a series of hand seals the woman placed the final seal to her chest and said "SOUL BOLT NO JUTSU!"

Heralded by a flicker of bright light a bolt of energy shot out from the chest of the armor-clad woman and crossed the distance between the two of them in slightly over one second. Jessica barely had enough time to cover her body with her arms before the attack struck and even then it felt as though all the nerves in her arms were being blown apart. When she finally landed on the ground she tried to move her arms into a position that could be used both for offense as well as defense but what happened shocked her. Her arms did respond to her commands but the movements were delayed and erratic. A signal from her brain to her right arm to bend more would be followed by that arm looking like it was undergoing convulsions of some kind before settling into the designated position. She tested her legs slightly and was relieved to find that at least they seemed to work properly.

"As you can see Konoha ninja your arms will no longer respond to your commands as swiftly and efficiently as they did before." , the armor ninja from the hidden village of cloud said as she settled back into a taijutsu stance, "My soul bolt technique has essentially scrambled the signals your spirit is sending to your body through your brain. While the desired body part will move you will find it considerably harder to use in combat and almost impossible to form hand seals with."

Damn it! Taken out by one move by some tramp from Cloud! , Jessica thought as her mind raced for ways to limit the damage this handicap would have on this confrontation, If I can't force my arms to work properly, and soon, the battle will end with me and Alex dead!

Putting her arms as fast as she could into the best defensive position for her body she decided that it was time to go on the offensive with her legs and home for the best. As soon as she got within range her adversary did as expected and tried to use the malfunction in her arms to her advantage. Fortunately in anticipating this she was able to dodge by bending backwards to avoid the blow and use that move to slide immediately into a flash kick she had seen in one of Alex's video games once. Uchiha Jun'ko almost smiled as she felt her foot connect right her enemy's jaw sending the metal-clad maiden airborne. Not willing to waste this chance as soon as she landed she pushed off the ground with her left leg and rammed her right knee into her opponent's back as it became visible. As expected the combination of the two kicks left 'armor girl', as Alex would call her, incoherent and temporarily unable to defend or attack. It would not last long though and soon her opponent would recover so she would have to press her advantage now or lose it. Surging forward with a burst of speed than anyone outside of the hidden villages would have trouble keeping up with she rammed her shoulder into the woman's back and slammed her into one of the courtyard's walls.

Leaping backward before stepping back a few paces she waited to see if her attacks had any effect on her enemy. It was a dangerous move since it would allow the woman to recover her senses as it was doubtful her combo would work a second time but it was more dangerous if she was being deceived. For all she knew she had been beating on some kind of replication and was wasting energy she would need for fighting the real Cloud ninja. The body slumped to the ground as she expected but as she waited and waited for it to disappear as a replication would or be replaced with something from the courtyard nothing happened. Despite the growing signs that the person she was looking at was indeed real and not some kind of decoy to attract her attention Jun'ko couldn't help but feel she was being deceived in some way. Looking up and down as well as out of the corner of her eyes she tried to see if there were any changes in the surroundings or any suspicious impressions in the grass to suggest a camouflaged individual. She found none though and was forced to accept that she had indeed been hitting the right person and not something else. This caused her to break out in a smile of pride. There was no way that this ninja could walk away unharmed from that combination of moves.

"Well done Konoha ninja. I had thought the loss of your arms would render you almost completely harmless to him but apparently I was mistaken." , came the voice of the armor-clad ninja as she rose to her feet, "However while you did hurt me do not think that your tactic will change the course of this battle in your favor."

Turning around Jessica Harris was almost floored by the things she saw and threw any previous theories about this enemy out the proverbial window. While she was not certain about the woman's prediction what she saw where a piece of the faceplate had been torn away chilled her to the bone. Within that armor was not a person of seasoned but young years. Instead there was a face that looked like it belonged in the ground being eaten by maggots and other assorted flesh eating bugs. The woman's skin was a sickly pale color that seemed to hang on her skeletal bones like cloth draped over a chair. Dead white hair could be seen in the corners of the torn area of armor and they looked like they might fall off at any moment. Jun'ko had heard rumors about cases like this but never truly believed that a person could become so obsessed with gaining power that they would sacrifice everything for it. Clearly this person didn't care that she looked three quarters of the way dead as long as she was gifted with significant power. The armor was likely just to make her a little less noticeable when traveling. Still it was something of mystery how she was able to move that armor as though it fit her perfectly when in fact it was three sizes two big for her skeletal frame. Probably some form of chakra manipulation.

"It might not clinch the fight for me bone lady but it definitely shows me that I can do some damage." , Jun'ko said with a confident smile, "That's progress at the very least."

"Perhaps." Bone lady said before charging forward once more into battle.

Xander's Perspective, Ten Minutes Earlier

"Alright Taji. Let's dance!" Xander said as he brought his kunai into position with one in a defensive position and the other in an offensive position.

"Fine runt but I'll lead!" Taji exclaimed as he pulled two kunai from behind his back and threw them at Xander.

"C'mon old man! This is stuff a first year academy student could deal with!" Xander said as he easily blocked and deflected both kunai away from both himself and the gang.

"Maybe but sometimes the basics work just fine." Taji said as he yanked back on wires that had been up until that moment almost invisible.

Noticing that he may have screwed up Xander looked in the directions he had deflected the kunai towards and was shocked to find them coming right back at him. Deciding that simply dodging them or blocking them again would be useless there was only one move left open to him. He just had to hope that he could perform the seals in time to make his idea work or else electro-geezer would just redirect the kunai elsewhere. So he waited, his heart beating in time with the seconds as they passed, and when he felt the kunai had reached just the right distance from his body he sprung into action. With as much speed as he could dare without messing up the hand seals he was forming he quickly performed the replacement technique. As soon as the smoke from the technique appeared he leapt up to the rooftop to his immediate right and flattened himself against it to make his form less noticeable. He permitted himself a grin when he saw the kunai do what he had intended as they both hit the trash can he had used and actually went through to the opposite side. Immediately he got up into a crouching position and threw two kunai of his own aiming for the bottom of the trashcan. They both hit their target and one actually managed to snag one of the monofilament wires Taji had tied to the end of his kunai and pinned the trashcan to the ground. He knew it wouldn't last long and would be fairly simple to pull out but for the next few seconds that guy would not be able to move or use his arms. Time to make him pay for underestimating one Alexander LaVelle Harris!

"KATON HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!" Xander exclaimed as he brought his right hand up to his mouth before starting to fire the flaming spheres at Taji.

Normally this technique was use to hit a large number of enemies in a given area or force one enemy to frantically dodge them breaking whatever tactic the bad guy was using to pieces. In this case however it was all too easy for him to direct every last fireball at one target. Due to that modification of the technique five fireballs slammed head on into the Cloud ninja connecting hard with the guy's chest. Pressing his advantage he leapt off the roof and tackled the dazed ninja to the ground before rolling and flipping him into the air. Kicking himself to his feet he turned to face his foe just in time to seem him impact the ground. He figured he had time for one more move before Taji would recover his senses enough to fight back. The problem was what kind of move would he used and would it be enough to take this freak out of the fight. Looking around to see what he had to work with he skimmed through the techniques he knew as well as the techniques he could actually pull off. When his eyes came to rest on the fountain in the center of the courtyard he stopped and it was as if a light bulb had just lit up in his mind. It was risky and personally he wasn't sure if it would work or not but he decided there was no time for doubt and leapt onto the water surrounding the center sculpture of the fountain. Quickly he began to form the seals he would need for this particular technique while at the same time praying that there would be enough water for this to work. At the moment his theory was that while there wasn't all that much water in the fountain to begin with the fountain was on. That meant that there was fresh water being pumped into it and water being drained out of it at the bottom. If he could draw on the water from both of those sources this technique should technique should work. True he hadn't tried this one since the spell ended on Halloween night but he knew how it worked based on false memories so all he needed was to follow the instructions in his mind and mold enough chakra for the job.

It was about this time that Taji finally got back to his feet but when he turned around and looked at Xander all he did was laugh when he saw the seals the Zeppo was forming.

"Nice try kid! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" , Taji said with outrageous laughter, "Any ninja worthy of the title knows you need a large body of water for any of those high level techniques. Even then only Jounin or higher can pull them off and you're no Jounin!"

"If you look at things normally than yes it would be impossible for me to do this technique but then again this is Sunnydale so normal is a big fat joke!" , Xander said believing sincerely that where this town was concerned normal did not exist, "SUITON SUIRYUUDAN NO JUTSU!"

With those words both the cloud ninja and the unofficial ninja waited to see the results of the Zeppo's boastful words. After five seconds had passed with no results Taji began to laugh out loud and figured he would finish this little skirmish sooner rather than later since the boy had to have used up the majority of his chakra with that failed technique. His laughter stopped dead in its tracks though as water exploded from two different locations in the fountain and shot into the sky. Once they cleared the roof of the school they merged into a single column of water and it looked for a time that the water would continue to rise forever. Eventually though it reached its apex and with that achievement the water at its top morphed into the loose shape of a dragon's head with glowing yellow eyes. Xander was oblivious to this though as all his concentration and energy was being pooled into making sure he didn't screw things up with this move. If he had some attention to spare he would have seen the water dragon look down at the ninja from the Order of Teraka and said ninja beginning to take a few steps back. As though the pseudo dragon sensed the fear growing inside of its prey it lunged forward with its jaws open wide to receive its prey.

However Taji apparently wasn't about to be beaten by a mere novice and decided to show this upstart one of his own impressive moves.

"TEMPEST FURY NO JUTSU!" Taji bellowed and at his command no less than ten monofilament tailed kunai shot out from behind him.

What was different from his usual wire/kunai combination was that each wire and each kunai were alight with a electrical charge of no less than twenty thousand volts apiece. Another difference was rather then heading for Xander as one might expect the attack was heading for the water dragon instead. Obviously it was the Cloud ninja's intent to use the idea that electricity can separate water into its base molecules to disperse the Zeppo's attack. However what this idiot did not realize was that there were two problems with this idea. The first was that usually the separation process needed to be carried out in a confined container rather than in mid-air where the dragon was now. The other was that by sending that much current through the wires and the kunai he was doing a better job heating the water than dispersing it. This meant that instead of having a column of relatively cool water heading his way he now had warm water coming at him that was rapidly approaching something that could be called hot water. He eventually did realize his mistake.

When the water dragon was about two feet in front of him but by then it was too late.

The water dragon slammed into Taji with impressive force and slammed him up against one of the courtyard walls knocking the wind out of his lungs. However the technique did not stop as the Cloud ninja had expected. It continued to pound him with who knew how many pounds of water per square foot causing him to wonder when rather than if his bones would begin to buckle. The fear turned out to be unfounded though as the torrent of water suddenly cut off and the Teraken assassin was allowed to fall to the ground. Xander could tell just by looking at the guy that while no bones had broken his adversary definitely wasn't enjoying himself. Sadly the Zeppo wasn't feeling good himself as it had taken a little over half of the chakra he had gained from Giles' spell to make the water dragon blast technique work. He had been forced to reach deep into the drain and far into the fountain's pipes to get the water he needed leaving him with a sore body and something that had to be a headache coming on. Using his willpower and concentration to summon the water he needed was more difficult than he had anticipated but he had got it done so he could live with a slight throbbing in his skull. He watched Taji get to his feet and smiled at the slow and obviously painful manner in which he did it. The cloud ninja was probably a mess of bruises by now and no matter how tough a person was their body had a natural way of dealing with the pain they create.

It avoids provoking pain at all cost. , Xander thought as he tried to get his second wind in case this guy had anymore fight left in him, Some people can block out this pain and continue to fight. Given that this guy prefers long range attacks and makes people think 'no C.Q.C (close quarters combat)' with electric shocks I doubt this guy can take the pain he's feeling.

Taking a moment to sense the life energy of his friends he was glad to see that they had stayed out of the fighting once things had started to heat up. He had seriously underestimated these guys when he had thought Buffy would be able to handle them. At the speeds these ninja were going he doubted the Slayer would be able to block or dodge more than two of five attacks sent her way. It became crystal clear to him now just how different fighting a ninja of the Hidden Villages was compared to fighting warriors of other types in this world. Buffy might be faster, stronger and more agile than any normal human but against those trained in villages like Konoha or Cloud she was only minimally better than your average human. That pretty much left Giles and Willow in the 'infant' category if they tried to fight these ninjas as they did not possess the eyes to keep up with the Cloud ninja nor the skills or the power to do any good. It was up to him and his mother alone to face these assassins and so far he'd have to say things were looking pretty good.

"Looks like it's time for you to throw in the towel sparky." Xander taunted as he prepared to deliver the final blow.

"How about he just tags in a fresh player instead!" yelled the voice of a foe he had thought down and out.

Turning his head he saw Manzo had somehow gotten back to his feet and was charging him like a raging bull. While that was enough to concern the pseudo-ninja what really caught his attention though was the fact that the Cloud ninja's entire arm was encased in visible, crackling, chakra produced electricity. It wouldn't matter if he blocked it because the volts in the blow would still surge through him and a direct hit without blocking it would kill him for certain. Dodging wasn't a possibility as Manzo was only a few feet away and closing. He himself was still fatigued from dealing with Taji. This meant no matter whether he decided to run or jump neither would be impossible for the Cloud ninja to match even with his injuries.

In short unless some kinda freaking miracle happens I am SO screwed! Xander thought as he waited for either his death or his savior to arrive.

Jessica Harris aka Uchiha Jun'ko's P.O.V, Same Time

Good! I my arms are starting to work normally again! Jessica thought as she blocked an attack by the armored woman and managed to land one of her own to the stomach area.

It had been a painful ten minutes working to restore proper functioning to her arms but now that they were back she'd finish this ninja off and go to help her son. She had not been able to see all of his fight with the other Cloud ninja but I was able to see enough to be proud of him. To perform such a high-level ninjutsu technique and draw the water from such an iffy source took guts and willpower to accomplish. If they were back in Konoha when he did this she was sure that the ninjas in the family would be dumping many a compliment on him right now. Maybe even little Itachi in his young adult body would have been impressed but she had found it hard to tell anything about what was going on inside that kid's head. Still she was certain that both he and Alex would have gotten along swimmingly and maybe her son might have even been able to get a smile out of the broody child. Anyway at least now she could focus more on her battle with the armored female ninja in front of her rather than worry about her son getting hurt. While she had never been on the receiving end of that particular attack she was sure it must have hurt the Cloud ninja significantly enough for Alexander to be able to wrap things up. Once that was done he would probably come to help her with this last ninja so all she had to do was stall for a bit of time and then it would all be over.

Just then she noticed movement out of the corner of her eyes and after successfully putting some distance between herself and the armored ninja woman turned to identify the source of that motion. She was shocked to see that it was the Cloud ninja identified as Manzo whom she had believed dealt with and he was getting back to his feet. In all likelihood he would come after her to deliver some payback for causing him such pain but as the moments ticked by without the brute turning in her direction she suddenly realized she was wrong. She wasn't the target.

Alex was.

The shock of the realization and instincts she had all but forgotten were there clicked into place and almost without realizing it the birthright of the Uchiha clan activated. Everything around her suddenly became crystal clear and she knew she had to stop Manzo NOW before it was too late. Breaking off her battle with her female foe she charged for a spot halfway between the muscled Cloud ninja and her son in order to block any attack the monster might try. As she began to sprint she saw Manzo begin to form seals for a technique and judging by the seals being used it was a powerful lightning element ninjutsu. Never breaking her sprinting pace she watched as he finished the combination of seals and saw his arm quickly become enveloped by chakra produced electricity seeing it zip up and down his right arm. It was then that she recognized the technique from her time as a ninja of Konoha and more than that she knew what it could do if it connected with its target. Increasing her speed she knew now more than ever that she had to intercept Manzo and finish him for good or else it would be too late.

"How about he just tags in a fresh player instead!" Manzo yelled as the potency of the technique had apparently reached its peak.

It would be close but she was certain that she would make it in time to save her son and put the creep down for good. However that estimation went out the window as suddenly in a blur of speed the armored woman Jun'ko had been fighting only seconds before appeared in her way apparently intending to bar her path. Going around the bitch wouldn't work as it would only increase the amount of time it would take to reach the interception point she had chosen. The only way she could save her son was to go straight through the armored female ninja from the Hidden Village of Cloud and surprisingly it had come from the armored one's own ally. Summoning the requisite seal combination to her mind she began to mold her hands into the specified seals and it was only as the chakra electricity began to manifest on her own right arm that the woman in front of her realized who and what she was up against. It didn't help her though as both she and Jessica Harris had crossed the point of no return. Both were now committed to their chosen actions and all that was left was for them to do was follow through and see what happened. As if her arm had been replaced with an actual lightning bolt Jessica slammed her right fist into her female foe's stomach and saw the metal shatter as though it had been made of clay. Jessica didn't stop though but rather she poured on the power and continued to move forward causing her lightning-like arm to explode out the back of the female ninja from Cloud village. By the time Jun'ko's shoulder had reached the point where it would have made contact with her enemy's the Terakan assassin had practically been torn in two.

Clearing her first obstacle Jessica could see that even though she had added only half a second at most to her estimated time of interception it had still cost her precious time. It was then she realized and accepted that she would not be able to both block and counter attack in the time remaining. Only one option remained for her and with one amazing burst of speed she seemed to materialize in between Manzo and her son. Cocking her right arm and sending it forward she was only able to perceive it heading towards its target before her world was enveloped in white light and pain.

Buffy, Willow and Giles' Point of View, Two Minutes Earlier

Dear Lord! , Giles thought as he watched the battle go on in front of him, I never actually thought I would see a battle between ninjas of the hidden villages or that one of my charges would be one of them!

Stunned disbelief was the only way to describe what the still members of the Scooby gang were feeling right at that moment. Ever since they had first spotted these assassins all of them had known that this battle would be unlike any other they had fought before. For Buffy it was her Slayer sense what warned her these guys were trouble and even when she had temporarily been fighting one of them she had been afraid. These ninja were nothing like those goofy guys in pajamas with big swords she had seen in countless Hollywood movies. These guys were powerful and deadly in a way she had never seen before. Even baddies like The Master didn't come close to these guys no matter if the topic was speed or strength. Her own Slayer eyes had trouble keeping up with the movement of each combatant and that was the only reason she had not entered the battle after Xander's mom had shown up. She instinctively knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with any of them and probably would just get either herself or one of the Harris' killed trying. So there she stood with her Watcher and her friend Willow watching these warriors spit out one freaky move after another.

For Willow it was like everything she had ever thought she knew about Xander or his family had been nothing but a lie. She sure as hell didn't know he could do that switcherroo technique he did before or that column of water that looked like a dragon but wasn't move. Nor did she know that Mrs. Harris was anything other than a timid woman who always said it was okay for Xander to stay at her place on one night or another. It was a little easier for her to understand were her childhood friend had gotten these skills since she had seen him do something similar on Halloween but he had told them all that he had forgotten everything the spell had infused into his brain. It had been pretty much the same for Buffy except that she was doing a little better in the classes where French and sewing were required in order to get a good grade. If he had in fact kept the memories he had gotten from the spell than why hadn't he used them to help them out on patrols or anything else for that matter? There were just too many unanswered questions and too little time to ask them at the moment. So she would wait here with the others and wait until the battle was over before giving her so called friend an earful.

In the case of one Rupert Giles of the Watchers Council he was a little more informed about what was going on in front of them but even then he was stunned at what he saw. He knew of the treaty that had been signed between the Council and the Hidden Villages as a whole and how it was basically a hands-off policy between the two parties. The Watchers Council would not interfere nor hinder an operation being carried out by one of the Hidden Villages nor would the Villages prevent the Slayer or the Council from doing their duty. If the two were forced into a situation where they had to work together measures were to be taken to limit the data either side managed to glean about the each other. Neither side was interested in forming a closer alliance with each other because both had secrets they wanted kept and didn't want to tempt one side into stealing said secrets from the other. It was recorded in the chronicles of the Council to have happened a few times anyways but the incidents were few and never reached a level where it would be impossible to keep important facts from the public. In this case however the town's own syndrome of denial where the unusual is concerned would minimize the problems and the Council would foot the bill for the rest. In any case seeing such unusual and potent forms of attack and defense was superior to reading about them in one of the books in his personal stash. For a mind he entertained the possibility of sending Buffy to Konoha over the summer to learn a few techniques but immediately discounted that as impossible. The ninjas of the Hidden Villages guarded all the particulars about their techniques and resources fiercely and made sure no one found out about them unless they were meant to find out about them. Hopefully though Xander would be able to clarify some things when this was over.

It looked as though Xander had the upper hand against the one with wires wrapped around his forearms and was minutes from finishing the battle. Mrs. Harris on the other hand just seemed to be recovering from the mysterious attack the armor wearing ninja woman had hit her with earlier. If she was the senior ninja between her and Xander, which was most likely the case, then it would not take her long to gain the upper hand as well. If all went well than matters should be over in a matter of minutes and then both Harris' could begin explaining the particulars of the situation and their reasons for concealing the truth from those they professed to trust.

At that moment though Buffy noticed some movement where before there had been nothing but stillness. Looking over she was surprised to see the big muscle guy that Mrs. Harris had defeated earlier getting back to his feet. From the way he had his left arm pressed up against his chest her combo did some serious damage but apparently not enough to keep him off his feet. The badness of the situation only got worse as all three of the Scooby gang realized that neither Xander nor his mother realized that things had gone back to three on two rather than two on two. Both ninja were so focused on their current opponents that neither noticed that circumstances had changed. Buffy gripped her staff and prepared to charge in and deal with the bald Arnold but a hand clamped down her shoulder stopping her from moving.

"Giles! Let me go! I have to stop him!" Buffy exclaimed as she tried to wrench her shoulder out of her Watcher's grasp.

"No! Even wounded as he is you would not last two minutes against him!" Giles said as he reinforced his left arm with his right.

"So I'm just supposed to let him ambush Xander!" exclaimed Buffy as she was clearly outraged that her Watcher would tell her to watch one of her friends die.

"Do you think I want to just sit here! In the time I have known you three I have come to care for you greatly!" , Giles said angrily as he spun his Slayer around so that they could face one another, "As such it frustrates me to no end to realize that there is nothing I can do to help Xander! These ninja are so far above us it would be like children attacking a trained soldier! We would be lucky to survive at all if we attacked that assassin!"

Buffy could read the emotions swirling in her mentor's eyes and realized that he meant every single word he had just said. However it did not change how she felt at that moment and so she continued to struggle in her Watcher's arms. Even if she could not beat baldy she could at least distract him enough to allow for both Xander and his mother to realize an old problem had come back. However just as she managed to get her right shoulder free from Giles' grasp without hurting him fate decided that her time was up.

"Looks like it's time for you to throw in the towel sparky." Xander taunted as he prepared to deliver the final blow.

"How about he just tags in a fresh player instead!" Baldy yelled as electricity began to coat his entire right arm as he charged.

All of the events for the next few seconds seemed to occur in snapshots for the Scoobies, like watching something happen in a dark room with only a flashing strobe light for illumination. First they saw Xander turn his head and a look of fear come over his face as he realized his predicament. Next they saw Mrs. Harris notice the situation and move to intercept the muscled man before he could strike. Then 'flash' and the armored woman Xander's mom had been fighting appeared in her path attempting to block the interception. Flash Xander's mom tearing through the armored woman with her right arm covered in lightning. Flash Xander's mom appears between the bald body builder and with her arm still chock full of electricity attempts to counter her new opponent's attack. It was with that final snapshot that their vision seemed to return to normal and the strobe light affect ceased entirely. However when they looked upon the scene before them all three were wishing that the darkness between flashes had remained for then they would not have been able to view the sight before them.

All three were still on their feet. Xander, his mother and Manzo were all standing as if nothing was wrong but that perception changed as they saw Mrs. Harris throw up quite a bit of blood. She did not fall as they expected and when they adjusted their position to see why all but Giles averted their eyes. The bald guy's arm, the one that had once been electrified but now was not, was buried almost past the wrist into Mrs. Harris' body. The reason why it had not gone deeper was apparent when they estimated where the right arm of Xander's mom would have ended up. The reason why the Teraken's arm had not gone any deeper was because Mrs. Harris' arm had struck him too albeit only in the left shoulder. Her arm was no longer electrified either but was buried only just past the thumb joint before the wrist. The Watcher didn't need to know what this meant for the woman or what it would mean for his most impulsive charge when he finally accepted the truth.

The ninja from the Order of Teraka staggered back from Mrs. Harris and went to one knee while gripping his shoulder in pain. There was serious damage there but as it was not too deep it was unlikely to result in him losing his arm if he survived this battle to get medical treatment.

"Y-y-you w-will not .. cough .. harm my son!" Mrs. Harris forced out of her mouth while another spit up of blood fell to the ground.

"Mom?" Xander asked and Willow could tell that her bestest bud since pre-school was on the verge of losing the battle against fear.

Mrs. Harris trembled as she turned to face her son, each step obviously taking tremendous willpower in order to make the required limbs respond. None of them needed to know when their friend finally caught sight of his mother's wound as his eyes widened in shock and fear at what he saw. He no doubt was waiting for some word of encouragement, some explanation that would let him believe that she would be fine and everything was going to be okay.

"A-Alex … I …" was all she managed to get out before her body finally registered the wound and caused her to fall to the ground.

She didn't touch the ground though as in a flash of movement Xander caught her and cradled her gently in his arms.

"Hang on mom! I'll finish these two guys off and then we can get you to the hospital." , Xander said in a bright tone more to convince himself than anyone else, "Everything will be fine!"

Buffy and Willow hugged each other as tears began to fall down their cheeks as they knew what their close friend refused to see. Giles removed his glasses and tried to focus on cleaning them, anything to keep him from looking at such a painful scene. It is said that no parent should have to outlive their children but in this case a son should not have to lose his mother, his true mother, so soon after discovering who she truly was inside. The Watcher had heard snippets of conversation and drawn his own conclusions based on the boy … no … the young man's behavior and knew that his home life was hardly ideal. Up until this night he had believed that both mother and father were hopeless drunks and that it was amazing that Xander had turned out as well as he had. Combining the image of his mother standing defiantly atop the roof of the school with what he knew of the Konoha ninja he was able to see the truth more clearly than he ever had before. However the truth only made him all the more sorry for what his charge was going through.

"I… I wish t-that were so A-Alex." , Mrs. Harris said in a voice barely above a whisper, "It seems though that the time has come for me to pay for all the misery I failed to protect you from."

"It's okay mom! I know you were just following orders! I don't remember everything from Halloween night but I do know how strict they are about staying invisible." , Xander said trying to wash away any guilt his mother might be feeling, "I'm okay with that! You don't even have to worry about getting in trouble with Hokage-sama back in Konoha. I'm sure once we explain everything to him he'll understand that you had no choice but to break your cover to help me. Right mom?"

A quiet smile spread across her face as tears trickled down her cheeks and she reached up with her right hand to caress his face. You could see the love she had for her son in that moment, the love that told you that she was looking at the most important thing in her life right then. You could also see that she was straining to convey to her son all that was important before she met her end. She knew, in her heart she knew, that she would not live to see the sun rise in the coming morning. Xander of course was still living in denial, still believing with all his heart that everything would be okay. All three of the Scoobies who watched this scene dreaded seeing the moment when the truth would finally hit him and his world would come crumbling down around him.

"Alex... my darling Alex… my time has come." , Mrs. Harris said even softer than before, "But b-before... cough... but before I die I want you to remember two things. Your true name is Uchiha Alexander of Konoha and I... cough... cough... I... l-love… you…"

With those final words Jessica Harris' right hand fell limply to her side and the light that once burned so brightly within her began to fade into nothingness.

"Mom. Mom! NO! Please Mom! Giles get an ambulance! Please!" , Xander said as tears began to finally fall from his eyes, "You can't leave me! Not now! Not when... not when I've finally found a mother I can be proud of! C'mon Mom!"

He shook her, tried to jostle her back into the land of the living. It was a scene that was all too similar to anyone who had a loving family. Whether it was a mother, a father, sibling or grand-parent the refusal to believe that they were dead and gone was the same. However it was with these truly strong close family connections where the refusal to let go was the strongest. It is the memories that tie a person to close family members that make that sort of parting the hardest and while Xander's memories of his mother might not have been the best but in light of the revelation of who she truly was what did it matter. Alexander LaVelle... no... Uchiha Alexander had discovered a mother who he could love and be proud of so it mattered little how his life had been up until then. Now that precious thing, a loving parent, was being stripped from him and the concept was tearing him in two.

"NO! I won't let you die! I'll bring you back no matter what it takes!" , Xander yelled as he clasped his hands together with both index fingers point up, "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

With that bellow of effort an almost invisible blue energy began to burn around him and occasionally leapt off of him before returning to the main body of energy. The ferocity of this aura grew again and again and when it seemed to have stopped Xander placed both of his hands on his mother's chest and apparently tried to force it into her. Seconds passed with no perceivable change to Mrs. Harris' state but this did nothing to deter Xander but rather cause him to force more and more of the blue aura into the dead body. Giles was not sure what the energy was but he speculated it was life energy of some kind. Perhaps even the special energy that ninja of the Hidden Villages used to perform their amazing techniques. Giles began to move forward, to try and gently stop the young man from tormenting himself with the idea that he could bring his mother back, but stopped when all of a sudden the energy changed. Where once the energy had been blue it had now changed to purest white and Xander was now rigid with both hands still on his mother's chest channeling energy. Then as suddenly as it had occurred the aural energy vanished but what concerned the Watcher more was the fact that Xander had collapsed when the energy vanished.

In that moment all of the Scoobies converged on him with Giles laying him on his back and the girls on either side. Willow was weeping openly with fear for her longtime friend whereas Buffy was keeping both eyes on the two surviving ninja from the Order of Teraka almost daring them with her eyes to try something. While the Slayer stood guard her Watcher began to check the young man's vital signs as best he could. Breathing, heartbeat, eye movement and all other signs were checked. His horror mounted as with each test for life was taken and failure was the only result he received. Xander was not breathing. Xander's heart was not beating! His eyes were both still and when the eyelids were rolled back there was no life in them! This shattered whatever emotional control or restraint Willow might have had and she let out her grief while laying her head on Xander's chest. For Giles it was both a time of grief as well as a time for guilt. He blamed himself for not doing something earlier. Maybe if he had let Buffy try and intercept that bloody murderer Mrs. Harris might have been able to come up with something better than simply blocking the attack with her own body.

Buffy was in a similar state of mind except right then and there rage outweighed her grief and she made a silent promise to her friend that neither of the two surviving ninja would leave the courtyard alive. She didn't care that they were human. She didn't care that it might violate some outdated Watcher Council rule. All that mattered to her was revenge. She would avenge the death of her friend and his mother and then she would tear this town apart looking for the one who put out the contract in the first place. No more Miss Nice Slayer! If the demons of this town thought that they feared the Slayer now they would be soiling themselves by the time she was done!

For Willow all there was within her was grief and sadness as she realized she would have to go to the funeral of yet another good friend. However this one would be worse because while she and Jesse had been friends Xander had been the best. Whenever she was lonely or depressed he never failed to cheer her up with some kind of corny joke or oddball comment about some trivial or ridiculous thing. All through their friendship he had been like that and it had helped her through her tough times as the school geek. Now he was gone and while Buffy and Giles weren't exactly chopped liver neither of them could possibly fill the empty place that existed in her heart now. Lifting her head up from her friend's still chest she cupped his right cheek in her hand just like his mother had done before she died.

"Xander! Please come back! I need you!" Willow cried between sobs as she pleaded with everything she had for her friend to come back to her.

Elsewhere

Where am I? Xander wondered as he looked around the nebulous dark cloud he had awakened to find himself in.

His mind was slightly muddled as he continued to try and discern his location and facts came slowly into his mind. He had been holding his injured mother, trying to infuse chakra into her body to sustain her until the ambulance came and the paramedics could take over. Then a strange feeling had come over him as he had upped the level of chakra he was channeling and then nothing. Everything had gone black until he had woken up and found himself here. There were no discernable markings or signs anywhere center on. Nothing but and endless storm cloud like substance that made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead of himself and even then it was iffy. It was as he was turning round and around checking out the landscape that he saw something, a point of light that was almost like a needle in shape. Deciding that that was as good a place as any to get some answers he ran in that direction intent on catching up to that piece of light.

All during his running he felt this niggling at the back of his mind that seemed to be whispering something to him. However as he could not understand it he ignored it in favor of something he could see and comprehend such as the light in front of him. After a few minutes he could tell he was catching up to it and that it might be close enough that if it were a living thing it might be able to hear him.

"Hey! Wait! Wait up!" he yelled as he maintained his speed and watched as the light he had been chasing got bigger and bigger as he got closer.

He cheered mentally as the light seemed to hear him and stop. That meant that it was alive and if it was alive and could understand English he might be able to get some answers about where he was and how he got here. Closer and closer he came until he could begin to actually pick out features appearing on the body of light in front of him. It was continuing to grow in size as he got closer and with size came detail until he could tell it was actually a glowing person rather than just light. The person was undeniably female wearing some kind of loose pants and shirt with a vest of some kind on as well. Some rectangular object was strapped to the person's right thigh and a headband was wrapped around the woman's forehead. As the distance closed to less than fifteen feet the details of the person suddenly shifted into ultra-high definition and Xander stopped in his tracks as he saw who it was.

"Mom?" Xander asked pretty much rhetorically as he looked at her wearing the uniform of a Konoha ninja.

"Alex? Is that you?" asked the almost transparent yet glowing form of one Uchiha Jun'ko aka Jessica Harris.

"Yeah mom! I'm here to take you back! C'mon!" Xander said happily as he reached out to grab his mother's hand to lead her back the way he had come.

"No Alex! It's too late for me!" , Jessica said jumping back from her son's arm, "Go back and live!"

"Don't start with the crazy talk Mom! We can both go back! Your wound wasn't that bad!" Xander said shaking his head in denial of what his mother was telling him.

"Alex stop it right now! I know you're hurting but you have to let go of me!" Jessica said as she hugged herself out of habit rather than necessity.

"NO! I don't want to hear any of that crap! This is Sunnydale Mom!" , Xander said becoming angry at his Mom being so willing to just give up, "Crazy stuff happens here all the time so why not miracles too! You have to come back! You have to!"

"I want to, god knows I want to, but it just isn't meant to be Alex." , Jun'ko said looking at her son with sad yet accepting eyes, "I was a ninja long enough to know when someone is injured beyond the hope of recovery. I doubt even Tsunade-sensei could heal the wound Manzo inflicted upon me."

"Tsunade-sensei?" Xander asked with some interest as he was sure somewhere in his fake Jounin memories he had heard that name before.

"She was my sensei, my mentor, when I graduated from the academy in Konoha as well as a specialist in the field of healing jutsus." , Jessica said as she became lost in her own memories, "People were always amazed at what she could do and it didn't take long before she stopped being referred to as the grand-daughter of the First Hokage and was simply seen as a skilled healer. She would probably have tried to heal me anyways just like you are trying to but eventually she would accept the reality of it all."

It was when his mother referred to Tsunade as being the grand-daughter of the First Hokage that an image came to his mind of a blonde woman with a weird diamond tattoo on her forehead. He did seem to recall vague impressions from his fake memories that she was viewed as an expert in using healing jutsus and if his mother thought that even Tsunade-sensei couldn't save her then maybe she was destined to die now.

Closing his eyes he felt the defiance and refusal to accept the situation fading away into the background of his soul and quiet acceptance take form. He hadn't wanted to believe that something so precious to him could be taken away from him so soon. It had only been a little over three months since he learned the truth about his mother and already fate had conspired to take her away from him. Still living in denial would solve nothing and dying out of sheer stubbornness would be just plain stupid. There were still people back in Sunnydale who needed his help and now that the cat was out of the bag he could help them more freely than he was able to before tonight. Giles, Buffy, Cordy and his bestest bud Willow would still need him to help fight the baddies and thwart yet another apocalypse when the month of May came around. He couldn't just abandon them for his own selfish reasons just because it would hurt him to be separated from his mother.

He had to go back.

A feeling of warmth and love appeared on his upper arms and he opened his eyes to see his mother looking at him with those loving eyes of hers and a smile to match.

"I will always love you my son." , Uchiha Jun'ko said as she bent down to kiss her son on the forehead, "Now go and do your mother proud!"

When her ghostly lips touched his forehead the darkness of the storm clouds vanished and all that he knew was white light and warmth.

Sunnydale High School, Courtyard, Two Seconds After Willow's Plea

"Gasp" was all the sound Xander could make as his eyes sprung open and his body began to return to normal.

"Xander! Ohmygodyou'realive! Don'tyoueverdothattomeagain!" came Willow's voice in a rush as she wrapped her arms around him tightly as he sat up.

"Xander!" Buffy said as her head whipped around to confirm what her ears had just informed her of.

"My word! We thought we had lost you." Giles exclaimed as he tried to regain his British stiff upper lip.

Xander could hear these words being spoken by his friends but it was as if they were on the other side of a busy highway with only every second or third word getting through to him. In this case though the traffic that was preventing him from hearing them was called rage and revenge. Those forces were the only thing he was listening to right at that moment and they demanded he unleash them upon the Cloud ninjas for what they had done. A request he was only too happy to grant.

"Xander?" Willow asked with a small amount of fear as a look of all consuming anger took form on her best friend's face and it was a look that had never been there before.

"Shoulda saved yourself some time and just followed that slut to hell brat!" came the strained but still strong voice of Manzo.

At these words Xander's head jerked in the direction of the Taji as he seemed to will all his fury and murderous intent at his target. For most people this look alone would have them reconsidering what they said if not completely retracting the statement. Amazing how few bad guys ever listen to non-verbal warnings like that.

"Don't worry though. Give me five minutes and you'll be sitting by that bitch in no time!" Manzo said with a sneer as he clearly still believed he was in the dominating position.

That was the final nail in the Cloud ninja's coffin as any chance of mercy disappeared with Taji's ill-chosen words.

Reaching over he lifted the Konoha forehead protector off of his mother's head and slipped it onto his own before tightening it for a better fit. Getting to his feet he shook off any attempts by Willow or Giles to stop him and faced his mother's murderer with his sweat drenched hair slightly obscuring his eyes from sight.

"Oooh! Did I hit a nerve punk? What're you going to do about it? Guess that slut didn't teach you to recognize when you're outmatched brat!" , Manzo declared purposefully antagonizing Xander oblivious to the young man's tone, "You may have taken down that baka Taji but I think you'll find yourself way outclassed with me even if I'm a little banged up!"

To this Xander just channeled chakra to his eyes and decided to let the birthright of the Uchiha clan speak for him. The red eyes of the Sharingan were known throughout the Hidden Villages as well as to what family they belonged. Before this night was over both of the remaining Cloud ninja would know the fury burning in those eyes and swear that death had come for them in the form of an unknown Uchiha.

Everyone around him gasped as they took in his new eyes and he could imagine it did look pretty strange on him but it felt right. As soon as his mother had told him his true name he knew that he possessed the birthright of the Uchiha clan. From what he could recall from his fake Halloween memories the Sharingan was genetically encoded in every Uchiha but only manifested itself under duress commonly found in battle conditions. So while a farmer Uchiha or an Uchiha in charge of a store did possess the Sharingan they did not live the sort of lives that would facilitate its manifestation. Using this bloodline limit ability and his own training there was no doubt in his mind about the outcome of this fight. However despite his powerful desire to draw out Manzo and Taji's torment he would remain true to his mother's spirit and the teachings of Konoha he still retained.

"So you got lucky and managed to trigger your Sharingan! Seeing as how you didn't use it against us before I'm guessing you just got it which means you don't know how to use it yet!" , Manzo said sounding brave despite the slight twitch in his left eye, "So get ready to sleep with the bugs brat cause here I come!"

This frontal attack was exactly what Xander had hoped for but before he could begin pounding this guy in earnest he had to move the fight away from his mother's remains. She might be dead but there was no way he would allow that bastard Manzo harm her body any more than it already was right now. Leaping forward himself he had his first experience with the powers of the Sharingan as he was able to anticipate exactly where Manzo's fist would go as though he had seen this fight play out already. With his left hand he slammed a palm thrust into the Cloud ninja's gut and then while his enemy was dealing with the shock of the blow he moved into the next one.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" Xander yelled as he slammed the heel of his right leg into the jaw of Manzo sending him into the air.

Going to all fours he used the strength from both his legs and his arms to thrust himself into the air and appear right behind and below Manzo.

To start things off he jabbed at a pressure point on Manzo's back to temporarily disable his nervous system making it impossible for him to move but also dulling whatever pain he might feel. From there he grabbed the man's right arm and swung up from his right side while at the same time twisting the arm as far as it would go. Once he reached a point where he was face to face with Manzo he planted one foot on the man's chest and adhered to it with chakra before lashing out with his other foot and breaking the man's arm at the elbow. Grabbing the unbroken left arm he swung back below the man before using the arm in order to deliver a bone-shattering knee thrust into Manzo's back. Apparently the effects of the pressure point he had hit a few seconds ago were wearing off as Manzo screamed out in pain as his back broke. Either that or the pain the Cloud ninja was going through was so incredible that even his dulled nerves couldn't keep him from screaming. Now it was time to put the finisher on this combo and he knew just how to do it. Delivering a kick so Manzo's feet were where his eyes were looking he wrapped his arms around the man's legs at the knee and firmly planted both feet in the Terakan's armpits. Then he just gave a slight push with his chakra and let gravity do the rest.

"CRIPPLER COMBO!" Xander yelled and with enough force to leave spider-web cracks reaching three feet in all directions planted the man to just below his armpits in the dirt.

Letting go he stepped off his defeated enemy but before his friends could compliment him on his move he whirled around and threw two kunai which hit a point just to the right of the main exit to the courtyard. Half a foot to the left of those kunai was a scared looking Taji who apparently was trying to make a silent exit while he could.

When Xander's eyes and Taji's locked the Cloud ninja knew that any chance he might have had for escape was gone and that if he didn't act quickly he'd die just like Manzo and Chiyo.

Not even bothering to say anything Taji immediately began to form seals, every single one of them caught by the Zeppo's Uchiha eyes, and on the last one unleashed a bolt of lightning as thick as a telephone pole. However Xander's eye of insight saw this coming after the first few seals and instead of hitting him the bolt went right through to hit Manzo. Taji was shocked as he couldn't immediately understand what had happened but when he saw who he thought was his target disappear in a puff of smoke he knew that the Bunshin no jutsu technique had been used. Looking around frantically he tried to see where the Uchiha was coming from but it wasn't until the assassin looked straight up that he finally found him. However he could only dodge as less than a second after he vacated the spot where he had been standing an almost exact replica of the lightning bolt he had just shot at the Uchiha struck the ground. Staying still only briefly when he landed before heading after his foe he decided to see how Wire Guy dealt with some more firepower.

"KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" he yelled and bringing his right hand up to his mouth fired a ball of flame the size of a wrecking ball at his target.

Taji expected this apparently as he quickly turned and began throwing wire towing kunai in all directions before making three seals and saying "STORM BARRIER NO JUTSU!"

All at once chakra produced electricity shot out along the monofilament wires and when the power level reached a certain level two seconds later the energy even began to jump from one wire to another. It was the fact that the chakra electricity was jumping from wire to wire that prevented his fire element attack from going any further. As soon as the ball of flame hit it immediately dissipated and unless Xander's eyes were very much tricking him the barrier seemed to get quite a bit stronger.

"HA! Fell right into my trap now boy! HAHAHAHAHA!" , Taji crowed from behind his barrier, "Guess the Uchiha clan isn't as unbeatable as they say! Use all the ninjutsu techniques you want brat! My barrier will just eat the chakra up and use it to reinforce its own strength!"

To this Xander said nothing but just continued to stare at the Cloud ninja with his revenge set eyes and his Sharingan capturing every move the Zeppo's enemy made.

"The silent treatment eh? Well than take this!" , Taji said before forming another series of hand seals before yelling, "LIGHTNING RAIN NO JUTSU!"

With that he threw a sphere of electricity about the same size as Xander's own Grand Fireball into the air but once it reached its apex it exploded an dozens of mini-bolts of lightning began to rain down around the Zeppo. They weren't very big, about the size of a pencil, but the charge they carried with them was about equal to that of your average tazer. Even dodging as fast as he could he wasn't able to avoid all of them even with his Sharingan helping to show him the individual bolts' descent paths. Fortunately though the fifteen years he spent receiving beatings from Tony Harris combined with weekly patrols with Buffy gave him a pretty high pain threshold. Still he couldn't just stand there and soak up this abuse all night. He had to find a way past this barrier and he had to find it now!

In the space of the next three seconds he went through all the jutsus that he had retained knowledge of after the Halloween incident looking for a move that would finish this fight. Just like last time though he managed to come up with a sweet move that should do the trick but also like last time there was a condition that needed to be met in order for him to pull it off. The problem was visibility since if Taji saw him beginning to use the technique he would be able to counter it easily. Normally a ninja could fix this problem with a few smoke bombs but as Ethan hadn't included those with the costume nor had he the materials to make his own he would have to improvise.

Time to gamble, Xander thought before forming hand seals and saying, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

For a moment his vision blurred as his chakra was divided into four other replications amidst the dispersing smoke generated by the technique. He didn't stay around to see what would happen as he immediately used the remaining chakra in his body to displace the ground beneath him allowing him to sink into the dirt. Once he was fully submerged he began to make his way to his target using his senses and Sharingan to home in on the target's location. Through the dirt he could hear what was being said above him even though he could not see it and prayed that his plan would work out.

"What do you hope to accomplish with that move brat? You just made four weaker copies out of one big loser!" Taji jeered apparently unaware that the shadow clones were just a diversion.

"KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" Xander clone number one said as he finished forming the necessary hand seals to deliver his response to Taji's comments and question.

This attack was copied in complete synch with the other shadow clones and the original Xander knew that he had to hurry because when his copies exhausted their chakra supply they would likely disappear. Trying his best to hurry things along without giving away his location he was fortunate to arrive at his destination just as his shadow clones exhausted their individual chakra supplies.

"Told ya! HAHAHAHAHA! So what are you going to try now runt!" , Taji said with untold arrogance at his soon to be victory, " With so little chakra left all you can do now is spit on me! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

With those words the original Zeppo could sense all of his shadow clones disappearing and knew it was time to spring his trap.

Strengthening his hands and arms with chakra he punched through the dirt above him and said "DOTON SHINJUU ZANSHUU NO JUTSU!"

In the blink of an eye and before Taji could counter the attack in any way the Cloud ninja was yanked down into the earth until he was buried up to his neck in it. Emerging from the ground and feeling what chakra he still had slipping away he made a mental note that this particular technique used more chakra than one would think. He would definitely have to work hard to increase his own chakra capacity before he tried it again or else he might find himself in an unpleasant situation. Putting that aside for the moment he advanced on Taji quickly and before the moron clued into the fact that he wouldn't be able to escape his dirt prison with brute strength Xander pulled two kunai from his vest and placed one at the neck and the other at the temple of the ninja's head.

"It's over Taji. You and your comrades have lost." , Xander said in a tone of barely controlled rage, "Tell me who put out the contract and I won't torture you to death for playing a part in my mother's death."

"I swear! I didn't know Manzo was going to kill her!" Taji said as he began to plead for his life.

Xander just pressed the kunai harder against the man's skin to let him know he better answer the question and sooner rather than later.

"A female vamp in some warehouse in Sunnydale! She's nuts! She's the one that put the contract out on you!" Taji said quickly as he was beginning to feel blood trickle down his neck.

"Thanks. Now you die." Xander said as he drew back his kunai a little in order to put the strength and speed behind it to penetrate their individual targets.

"You said you wouldn't kill me!" Taji yelled in shock as his moment of relief gave way to a storm of horror.

"I said I wouldn't torture you to death. I never said I wouldn't kill you." Xander said and with those words he plunged the two kunai into the neck and temple of the Cloud ninja killing him thoroughly.

Yanking the kunai back out again he wiped the blood and guts off on the grass and turned to see that the storm barrier technique that Taji had erected had come down. Whether it came down when he was submerged up to his head in the dirt or when he was killed the Zeppo didn't really care. All that mattered to him now was getting to the warehouse and finishing off Drusilla once and for all.

"Xander?" came the unsteady and a bit fearful voice of Buffy who was staring at him from two paces in front of Willow and Giles.

"Don't worry Buffy. It's almost over." , Xander said as he slipped the two kunai he had just used into his flak jacket, "Just one more loose end to tie up."

"Xander you can't go after Drusilla on your own! Even if you've gone all super ninja on us you're totally maxed out from fighting these guys!" Buffy said in protest as she subconsciously stepped towards the main entrance to the courtyard to block his path.

"I may not be at my best right now Buffy but I have more than enough to deal with one psycho vamp with a death wish." Xander said as he shook off her concern and made to move around her so he could get underway.

He didn't like to lie like that to Buffy but if he waited until he got his strength back Drusilla could leave the warehouse and go somewhere else. Somewhere he wouldn't be able to find her and kill her for setting events in motion that ultimately resulted in his mother's death. He refused to let that happen! However the Slayer had other ideas as she continued to block his path and it was getting to the point where he was starting to get annoyed.

"Out of my way Buffy." Xander asked his friend in as polite a tone as he could manage given his current state of mind.

"No! Look we can go after Drusilla tomorrow when you've rested." , Buffy said with her own unique resolve face, "I doubt she's going to skip town just because these guys didn't win."

"Indeed. Also the Order of Teraka won't give up just because these three failed. Drusilla knows this and will likely just wait for the next group to arrive." Giles said in order to further reinforce the idea that the mad vampire could wait.

"Please Xander?" Willow asked and as soon as he looked at her and saw her eyes he felt his resolve to hunt down Drusilla tonight crumble.

"Fine. Look we better get out of here before the local idiot police show up and start asking questions." Xander said as he thought he could hear sirens in the distance.

"Right. We can go to Giles' place and then you can explain how you can apparently be stabbed then poof and put a trash can where you used to be." Buffy said with a look that said 'I want answers and I will have them one way or another' with no room for negotiation.

"I'll tell you what I can but try to understand that for the sake of my mom's real job I'll have to keep some things to myself." Xander said as he gazed over to where his mother's body lay.

He felt some guilt at leaving her here for the police to find but he doubted Giles would approve of him lugging a dead body into his apartment. Besides without any eye witnesses to pin this on the Scooby gang the idiot cops of this town would look for the simplest explanation they could come up with. Which either meant 'gang members on PCP' or they would construct a scenario where each of the dead persons in the courtyard killed each other. Quick, easy and simple which was the way everyone seemed to like it in this town when it came to the unusual or the unexplainable. It would certainly make things easier for him when he burned the warehouse Drusilla was in to the ground after he batted her and her minions around a little.

When that was done he would have to see to the funeral arrangements for his mother because there was no way that he was going to let Tony make those decisions. He'd probably be happy buying the cheapest casket, the cheapest tombstone and the least expensive spot of land in the cemetery and then drink all the insurance money away. Besides he already knew what he would do and how he would do it. He had known the moment he had seen his mother standing atop the roof of the school looking down at them all.

He would take her home.