First, sorry it took me so long to write the third chapter but I was out of town twice, first for four days to Strasbourg and a few days later for a week to Italy in a class trip so I hadn't that much time to write. But I hope that you will enjoy this chapter.
Ariana T. and Alexis kiah: Thank you for your reviews, I am glad that you liked it.
DarkInu418: Thank you and yeah, it is playing during the time skip and Sakura and Naruto won't make an entrance anytime soon.
Sabaku no Yumi: I am glad that there are less mistakes now, but unfortunately there will be always some. There will be more of the rookie nine to see during this story but I don't plan to let them appear at once. But I can promise you that Naruto will amaze Meridian ;)
Joe of the Furlings: Thank you for the review and like I said above it will take time.
DayDreamer9: Thank you and I will try, promise :)
Guardian's Light: I really tried to find all the mistakes and I appreciate it that you liked it. I hope there won't be as much mistakes in this chapter too, but like always I am pretty sure this won't be the case. So I hope you will like the fight between them, have fun reading.
I do really hope to find a BETA reader for my story, as you see, the English language is not something I am completely safe in it (even my German grammar is not that good) so it would be nice to have someone who could help me with it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters/techniques/places/names/objects of Naruto and W.I.T.C.H. and I don't intend to make money with it, not that I could anyways.
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A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."
- John D. Rockefeller
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Elyon was looking closely at the white haired man, watching for every eventually move. He had introduced himself as Hatake Kakashi but the name didn't ring any bells. She narrowed her eyes and the glow of her hands increased.
"Why are you here?" she hissed, preparing herself for an assault.
The adult ninja didn't answer but stared at her seriously with his one eye. Slowly he lifted his hand to his forehead protector, which covered his left eye…
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Will was still lying on the ground, staring at Neji fearfully. She felt like the time before she was a guardian, no power in her, no magic. In other words helpless.
"I see you finally accepted your defeat." Will couldn't answer, the pain she felt was too much for her to handle. In her whole life she hadn't felt that much before.
"This is the end." Neji started walking towards her, his Byakugan still activated. "For you and for your friends."
Hearing that her friends were probably in the same situation as she, her look became determined again. Knowing, that it was her responsibility to give her friends their rightful powers, she had to help them, she was the leader after all, the one, who was chosen by the Oracle to carry the Heart of Kandrakar. She couldn't loose here, not to him and not in this condition.
"You are starting to get on my nerves, pale eyes."
Neji smirked "Petty insults aren't going to save your friends; or you for that matter."
"You are right." said Will, getting on her feet, glaring at Neji. She took out the Heart and held it in front of her. "This will." with all her concentration, all her believe in the power of the Heart and in her friends she shouted "GUARDIANS UNITE!"
What the hell…
The jonin of the Hidden Village in the Leafs saw now for the second time someone with his tenketsu closed regaining her magic. Out of the Heard magic waves were coming, forcing themselves into the Guardian and opening all closed tenketsu.
But this wasn't all; four orbs, each having a different color were shooting out, disappearing in the horizon.
In front of him was Will, once again in her Guardian form, all the bruises seemed to be disappeared and she had so much chakra/magic that Neji shuddered.
That much chakra is not natural. It is on the same level as Naruto's
"Where is that confident smile of yours?" asked Will, electricity now collecting in her hands. "It seemed to have left you, together with your big mouth."
Before Neji could react she rose to the sky, putting a safe distance between her and the ninja, now knowing that she shouldn't be too close to him.
A lighting bolt came out of her palms, aiming directly at Neji, and again he blocked it with Kaiten.
That was too close. I can't use the Heavenly Spin too often.
While Neji was thinking about a way to defeat his opponent Will did the only thing she could think of. Firing as many lighting bolts she was capable of, hoping to eventually hit him with one and so finishing the match.
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Irma was still staring at Shino and his bugs, which were flying around him. The young water Guardian knew that she was no real match for her opponent at this state, not unless she would be going Guardian, which was not an option at the moment.
Seeing those bugs slowly surrounding her was making her feel concerned. Nobody likes it that their energy would be drained. Even more if the energy was drained by bugs.
"You can still give up." suggested Shino in his normal emotionless voice.
"So can you."
"You can't possibly think that you are able to defeat me and my bugs at the same time? You have to concentrate on one of us. If you start to attack the bugs with those water techniques of yours, I will attack you. On the other hand, if you attack me, my little friends will finish you off."
While looking at the bugs and thinking about how he controlled them with his will, Irma got an idea.
"I hope you don't mind sharing your bugs?" mocked Irma one last time before starting to concentrate on her second ability; Mind Control.
Nearly half of Shino's allies separated themselves from their current formation and started to attack the other bugs and a battle of insects started, right above their heads.
Shino was impressed, he knew that in her current form she was not powerful enough to control someone like him; he doubted that she could even do that in her guardian form, but he had never thought that she would use her powers on his insects.
While Irma was only capable of influencing single humans in her normal form she had no trouble take over the insects. Their brains were smaller and less complex then the brains of humans.
"You live up to your reputation, Water Guardian."
"Flattering won't help you." smirked Irma, looking a bit tired. Even though she was controlling only insects, she was controlling a huge amount of them and it took nearly all her power and concentration to maintain the control."
"I see you are reaching you limit." heard Irma Shino's emotionless voice, and even if she didn't like what he said, she knew that it was true.
More and more bugs slipped from her control, her little army of insects becoming smaller and smaller like her hopes to win this fight. Sweat was now covering nearly her whole body but unfortunately it would be not the only thing.
After the most bugs were freed, they started to land and slowly crawl up her body, covering more and more of her and starting to drain her energy.
Irma wanted to scream, wanted to wash them away like everything else so far but she couldn't. She used up most of her concentration for the insects and now she couldn't use her elemental powers over water because of them.
I can't loose here, I can't loose here. I have to help my friends.
Shino, knowing that he had won, felt that his allies were suddenly afraid. He looked up to the sky to see a blue orb coming with a rapid speed at them, nearing with every second until it hit Irma and she transformed into her Guardian form.
For the young girl it was like breathing again after holding the air for a few minutes.
Energy, magic and power was flowing again trough her, making her feel invincible and safe. The bugs, who were still draining on her energy were only a nuisance now, after all she was provided with limitless energy from her auramere. Those small little pests were harmless to her now, unless they were able to do other things.
But that didn't mean she was comfortable with having them on her body.
Water erupted around her washing all the bugs away from her, causing a huge wave nearly hitting Shino, who could just jump away in time. Irma, not loosing any time aimed at him and shot a huge steam of water.
The bug user reacted immediately and held up his hands. More bugs crawled out and formed a wall to hold off the water.
It was a useless attempt, the water hit the wall off insects with such a force, that it looked like regular water hitting regular insects and Shino was thrown against the wall and before he could adapt to the situation a small whirlpool appeared around him.
Aburame Shino was trapped in a cage of water, disabled to use his bugs any further.
"I hope you are going to change your opinion buddy, but for me it looks like you loose."
Shino didn't respond, but made a hand seal and disappeared from the center and came out in front of Irma. The bugs came back from all directions, crawling back into Shino and returning to their sanctuary.
"What? Do you want more?" glared Irma, water surrounding her hands.
Shino simply shook his head. "There is no need to continue this battle. You have too much energy in your Guardian form and if my next attacks should have any effect, I would have to attack you with a killing intend."
Irma raised an eyebrow. "You mean like the whole time."
"The whole time I was merely testing your powers and abilities but after I have done that I can fulfill my other orders as well."
He bowed, which was a real surprise for Irma. None of her enemies she had defeated before had ever done that. Instead they all vowed to get her back or shouted to kill her in her sleep and all that crap.
"Irma-sama, I am a Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leafs and I am here to protect and to help you to defeat Phobos and all the Sound Ninja who came for his help."
To say Irma was a bit perplex was like saying the sun is a bit hot or the game Zelda, Ocarina of time was a slightly good game. It was a really big understatement.
"You are what to do what?" Shino frowned, he didn't like to repeat things over and over, and he had the feeling that this girl would want a lot of explaining.
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Taranee was still not able to move, she realized fast that all her efforts to move her body were in vain. On the other hand she was doing the very same movement the boy with the bored expression was doing.
"What…what have you done to me? Did you bind me with your shadow?"
"Exactly, now you have to copy every single one of my movements. There is no way to break my Shadow Imitation but through great brute force, something you don't have in your current state."
"You are awfully well informed about me." hissed Taranee angrily.
"You have to be in these times or you will die." replied the lazy ninja, still staring at her.
The young fire Guardian was shocked. She had lost without an actual fight, her opponent knew that her fire attacks were not strong of fast enough to danger him, but they would let his shadow grow.
Taranee felt helpless, not even Nerissa or Phobos or any other enemy had defeated her this easy.
But there is a chance thought Taranee. If she could create some fire, she would be able to control it only with her mind. The problem was, she had never tried to do it without her hands.
Concentrating all her mystical powers in her left hand she managed to create a small flame. The result surprised not only Taranee but Shikamaru as well.
He was amazed, Shikamaru knew that magic users didn't need hand seals and in most cases phrases to use their arcane powers but they still needed some movements, even if it was only a wave with the hand and yet this girl, who had her powers only for a year created fire with only her will alone.
It was like someone who was only training to be a ninja for a year to use S level jutsu and she wasn't even transformed. The young genius was truly impressed. If her control over fire was that strong in her current, weakened state how big would it be once she had access to her full powers?
"I must admit that you show some skill here but this fireball is useless." tried Shikamaru to lower her spirits again.
Taranee smirked "You should know that nobody can bind fire." Suddenly the flame left her hand and flew towards Shikamaru's face. The nearer it came, the bigger it become. It was impossible to block, so it left one thing.
With a jump saved the boy of the Nara clan himself but like most things in life this came with a prize and the prize was that he had to cancel his Shadow Imitation Technique.
Taranee was exhausted and the prize she had to pay for that attack was nearly all of her magical energy. To use any further arcane she had to drain her life force which would shorten her life span and would put her in more danger than this fight.
She wasn't the most beautiful girl out there neither was she someone who paid much attention to her looks but she had no desire to look like Nerissa anytime soon.
Shikamaru had noticed the signs of lacking energy and tiredness and he knew that she was now in his mercy.
She was a troublesome opponent but if this was all she got she will need a lot of training.
His thoughts were interrupted by the red orb which hit the girl and transformed her in a more mature and fairy like state.
"This can't be good." muttered the ninja.
"You can bet on it" grinned Taranee now more powerful then ever. "You can prepare yourself."
Without loosing any time he formed once again the rat seal and his shadow began to grow towards the Guardian.
"This again? You should be more original" taunted Taranee and jumped out of reach.
But still, does my transformation changes anything? I can't fly, I will still have a shadow and if he manages to grab me I will fall and I can't fly high enough to shrink the shadow, other people would be able to see me. My fire attacks are only increasing the shadows so I can only use them to a small extend.
Shikamaru smiled when he saw her thoughts on her face. "I know what you are thinking and you see that it is only a matter of time that I will get you. Once my shadow catches you it will be the end for you."
"You make it sound, like it will be so easy." growled Taranee.
Even though he didn't show it he was still concerned about his fight. Actually there is still a way for her to win. Let's see if she can figure it out.
Unfortunately for him Taranee did figure it out. Now hurling fireballs in the right moments she managed to have a very slight control over the shadows of the surrounding objects and her own. Every time Shikamarus shadow was about to capture hers or using another one to increase his lengths, a fireball would let the shadow change his direction.
While both were in deep concentration Taranee created a ring of fire around Shikamaru and charged a really great fireball and shot it right at him.
It hit him right on the head and after a puff there was only a burned log. Behind her was Shikamaru and he had a tired expression.
"Guess that's it, bothersome woman. The fight ends here, you showed what you got and I am nearly out of chakra."
Out of what? Thought Taranee, still suspicious what he was up to.
"You managed it quite good against me, even though I am not a really strong fighter and you transformed without a logical explanation. You friend was a few kilometers away after all. But still good job." He said in a bored voice, putting his hands into his pockets.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Taranee perplexed.
Shikamaru yawned. "Nara Shikamaru, Chunin of the Village Hidden in the Leafs and one of your protectors and helpers in the troublesome task of defeating Phobos. Unfortunately I was assigned to this mission."
Taranee simply stared dumbfounded at the boy in front of her who seemed to forget her and stared at the sky…
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Cornelia was still eying the boy in front of her, careful so he could not catch her off guard. With concentration she let a few bins behind the boy levitate and fly at him but he simply made himself round again and the bins bounced off.
"Is that all you can do?" asked Choji. And here I thought the Guardians would be strong.
"You will see." responded Cornelia, while preparing herself again. Choji started to attack, and rolled directly at Cornelia who reacted perhaps the fastest in her whole life. With an immense concentration she made a ramp of earth so that Choji had no other choice but to jump over her, right into the other wall, which crashed down like the wall before.
After Choji walked out of the mess and chuckled. "That was some quick thinking there."
"I am not finished yet." Again ranks came out of the ground but this time far more then the other time and in a matter of seconds Choji was unable to move. "I got you now." smiled Cornelia. "You should never mess with a Guardian, fatty."
This was the last straw. Chojis face became red with anger and he shouted. "PARTIAL MULTI-SIZE TECHNIQUE!" (1) His right arm became really big and freed him from the ranks and he managed to grab Cornelia and lift her, threatening to crush her with his fist.
"Big boned people rule, hurray."
"I am beaten by someone who wears his underwear on his head? You got to be kidding me!" sighted Cornelia but suddenly she saw a green orb coming at her. She smirked.
"I am sorry to disappoint you, but this is so not over."
The orb hit her and Cornelia, the earth Guardian was there again. With telekinesis she was able to open the fist of Choji and free herself and now she was flying above him, while he was watching her, waiting for an opening to attack.
"Ready for round two?" asked the blond girl and with a wave of her hand several rocks lifted from the ground and started to fly towards Choji. The "big boned" ninja managed to avoid them or used his Multi-Size Technique to destroy the larger ones.
After a few minutes really big ranks came out of the ground and tied him up, making it impossible to move and rocks were floating over him, threatening to crush Choji.
"It is over, you have lost. Now you can go back to Phobos for whom you work and tell him to sod off."
Choji didn't respond but with letting all four limps grow immensely and forcing the last bit chakra into them he managed to free himself and smiled at Cornelia. (2)
"We can quit fighting, you have proven your skill." said Choji, while opening a new bag of chips. "I am not working for Phobos. It is quite the contrary; I am here to help you getting him back to jail. Choji Akimichi from Konoha, at your service Cornelia-sama."
Not really impressed by the fact that he was going to help her and her friends and totally not interested in his abnormal attacks, she asked him another thing what was on her mind.
"What does this sama mean?"
"It is a suffix and equivalent to "Master" in your language. This Oracle guy gave us some translating spells to understand your language. As a Guardian and our superior it is the polite thing to do."
Cornelia didn't listen to the second part of his explanation and smirked while Choji was munching chips. "Mistress Cornelia has sure a nice ring to the ears…"
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Hay Lin was still eying the strange girl, with the strange eyes in the strange stance. Not that she had the right to call anything strange since she herself was not completely normal but this was the word she saw most fitting.
Hay Lin had found out that the girl could not only see invisible things with those eyes but had a 360° degree vision too. Those eyes were totally cool, too bad her opponent had them and there was no way for Hay Lin to attack her without the attack being seen.
The air Guardian really wished she had something like that eyes, but for now she had to concentrate on that fight. She wasn't in a really good position, while not in her guardian form she was the weakest of the five but transformed, she could to do some really awesome things with Irma. Unfortunately Irma wasn't here.
But then she saw something, which could eventually replace Irma in this moment. With a good aimed breeze she let a bottle of water flew in her hands and hurled it right at the feet of Hinata. The bottle broke and water flew over her feet and in this moment Hay Lin blew some cold wind to freeze it. Now Hyuuga Hinata was frozen to the ground unable to change her position.
"Wow, that actually worked." said Hay Lin surprised.
It worked, but only for five seconds.
While not being a prodigy like her cousin Neji or her littler sister Hanabi her control over chakra was still a lot better then that of an average shinobi. So she let chakra out of her whole legs and feet to break the ice.
"Wow that was pretty cool." awed Hay Lin. Hinata blushed when she heard the girl, a Guardian nonetheless being impressed by her simple inferior Juken attacks.
"Th…thank you." She stuttered "But I still ha…have to beat you, yo…you know?"
Hay Lin gulped. Hinata prepared herself, muttered an apology and charged again at the girl. Hay Lin could barely avoid the first hit but the second strike hit her right into the stomach.
Not wanting to seriously hurt her, Hinata didn't pushed any chakra into her but used only simple strikes with her palms, but they were more then enough for Hay Lin to handle.
Using the wind in the right times she either slowed Hinata down or made herself faster, sometimes even both. But now things started to get worse. She didn't have the stamina of Hinata and got tired, now not able to avoid the strikes she was hit several times, before she fell to the ground, breathing heavily.
Hinata was now looking really sorry to hurt the girl that much, she wasn't even an enemy and yet it was an order.
Suddenly, through the window a white-blue orb came in and hit Hay Lin, changing her into the Guardian mode. Now taller, more mature and with all the bruises gone Hay Lin was ready for the real battle to start.
With a strong wind burst she hit the pale eyed girl and sent her against the wall. Hinata get up fast and charged at Hay Lin, avoiding all wind blast.
Flying was no use now; she was only in a cellar room and she wasn't as agile as the girl in front of her, so she did the only thing she could think of. She breathed deep and blew so hard, that it affected the whole room, giving no place to escape.
The cold air hit Hinata sending her flying around the room and hitting against the walls. After two minutes the wind became weaker until it completely stopped.
Hinata was still able to move, but was not in her best condition either. Still, she was used worst and could continue the battle but she didn't need to. The Guardian had passed the test. She stood up once again and smiled shyly.
"Y…You passed the test Hay Lin-sama. I, Hyuuga Hinata from Konoha, ha...have been sent to assist you and your friends i…i…in the task of capturing Phobos." said Hinata
Hay Lin looked in awe at her. "Wow, I mean great. So does it means we are friends now."
Hinata blushed and nodded. Ha Lin smiled widely and jumped in joy. "I passed a test and get a new friend. If I only could figure out what else is going on I would be really happy"
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Matt was staring in disbelief at the blond girl sitting in the branch above him. Of course she couldn't read his expression because of his golden mask but still she might know of his body language.
"So you give up, or what?" asked Ino slightly bored. "Those handcuffs are made to hold ninjas in line so you can't break them with brute force, at least not while you are in this position."
Matt growled. "Then I have to use something else, don't I?" He transformed back to his normal state and brushed the handcuffs off, now being too big for him. Ino reacted immediately and jumped down, trying to kick him.
Matt managed to avoid being hit critically but he was kicked in the right arm, which was more then enough to knock him from his feet.
"Come on, is this all a reign of earth can do?" teased Ino, now being extremely content to get her revenge. She hadn't forgotten the comment yet; Shikamaru and Choji knew how long Yamanaka Ino could hold a grudge.
Matt transformed again and stood up. "You know you fight very good." He paused and added with his most intimidating Shagon voice. "For a girl, that is."
Now he had done it, Ino was extremely pissed of. "Bastard, I'll show you." She grabbed a few shuriken and threw them but Matt simply shot them with a green blast.
But Ino had already moved; now her hand blurred while doing seals and she disappeared. Matt looked around, hoping to find her but suddenly a tree grow behind him and before he could react, roots and branches had bound him, making it impossible for him to move.
From the sides of his eyes he could see Ino coming out of the tree, with a kunai in her hand. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death" (3)
He had never heard of this technique, but in the five seconds Matt had experienced this gave him enough insight to say that this was nothing good, especially the part with death. He couldn't move, was bound to a tree and a psychotic girl, one he had personally pissed of, grow half out of a tree and was holding a knife at his throat.
But Matt was a Regent of Earth and a warrior at heart. He had faced countless dangers so he wasn't afraid, at least he shouldn't. But he was scarred, really scarred. That girl was really bad news.
"How about we call it a truce?" suggested Matt, trying not to sound to scarred.
Of course he had not such luck. "So you are afraid of a helpless girl?" asked Ino moving the kunai closer to his throat. "You can't move, you can't fight, with all the powers you posses, you can't defeat me, an ordinary girl. Makes you feel weak huh? Useless. Unworthy. And tell you what, that's what you are."
Matt gulped, not liking what he was hearing, but a not so small part of him said that this was actually true.
"You are holding one third of the most powerful magical source of earth and yet you can't dispel a simple genjutsu. Truly pitiful indeed."
"Wh…What is a ganjuzu?" asked Matt, now really doubting himself.
"Now, where would be the fun, if I tell you? You have to figure out that one by yourself. If you can manage it in ten seconds, that is."
Matt nearly panicked but suddenly he heard a voice inside of his head. A voice he had hoped never to hear again. Illusion! A Genjutsu is a illusion you fool.
Ignoring the fact that it was the voice of the person he detested at most he took the advice. By emitting magical energy he was suddenly able to move and with an elbow strike he managed to free himself.
"Ahh, so you managed it. Truly impressive." She put away her kunai and smiled. "Even though I would love to continue our little fight there is no need o do it. You managed to get out of a high level genjutsu and you nearly hold your ground against me."
Matt, now being able to think clearly again, transformed back to his normal self and looked insulted. "Nearly? I totally beat you."
Ino ignored him. "Anyways, I am here with my friends to protect you and help to defeat this Phobos guy, before he becomes to powerful with the help of Orochimaru."
"So you come here to help me by beating the crap out of me?" asked Matt in disbelief.
"Yeah." stated Ino happily like it was the most logical answer. "It helped us to see your fighting level, we can plan our strategies better, now that we know each others talents and it was fun to have an easy win."
Matt's mood dropped really fast. "I really don't like you…"
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Neji was still avoiding those lighting bolts but unlucky for him, Will was far from stopping. In the mid of the battle she had used her powers to turn things alive, to use all the articles like banks to attack Neji, but it was impossible to catch him off guard.
Every time something came from behind, he would jump or strike behind without looking. For Will it seemed like he had eyes on his backs, but on the other hand Will didn't know that with his Byakugan it was practically the same.
So the keeper of the Heart simply continued her assault at the genius, hoping, that he wouldn't have time to attack her again. Fortunately for Will, Neji didn't intend to keep attacking her. After a last block with the Heavenly Spin he simply stood there and looked into her eyes.
"There is no need to continue this fight, Guardian-sama. You have proven yourself. I, Hyuuga Neji from the Hidden Village of the Leafs was send here to help you and your friends in the task of defeating Phobos."
Will had already some experience in this whole business with bad guys and good guys and until now, this strange dude, who had introduced himself as Hyuuga Neji was defiantly a bad guy. Simply saying he wasn't was not nearly enough for Will to believe him.
So she did the only logical thing to do; continue her attack.
The lighting bolt nearly hit Neji, who could barely avoid it. Now things didn't ´t look so good for him. Will was maybe only a bit sore but her energy was near limitless, at least as long she had the heart and she was able to fly and attack him while staying of range. For a close range fighter a long range one was always a difficult one.
On the top of that his charka reserves were nearly empty, to use the Heavenly Spin that much was a risky move. Sure it saves you from nearly anything and Neji wasn't someone with low charka capacities but his weren't nearly as big as Naruto's and even he can't go around and use that technique the whole day,…probably.
So now, where she didn't listened to him, there was only a way for him to get her listening to him and that was knocking her out. Now the prized question was how to do it. She was flying; this was certainly a problem, one he could solve.
So he did the one thing he could think of. Taking an example of his good friend Lee, he charged right at Will, avoiding all electricity and after collecting a good amount of charka in his legs he jumped so high, he was on a level with Will.
The redhead didn't think someone could jump so high and the only thing which saved her was the Heart, who generated a pink wall to defend her from the strike which would have hit her in the stomach.
Will was extremely pleased to see the Heart of Kandrakar defending her like earlier when she was new in this business. The whole thing with Nerissa had made her a bit uncomfortable to use the Heart to other things then opening folds or transforming her friends but at times like these she remembered how powerful this artefact really was.
Neji was having similar thoughts about the Heart. Knowing that it couldn't be taken with brute force there wasn't any other way for him. A complicated and high level Genjutsu, which was required to do this task, was not something he could do.
If I can't defeat a girl who can't really control her powers and is rather new to fighting, I should spend more time training. thought Neji, when he looked again at Will, who was smiling smugly at him.
"Is that all you have, pale-eyes? You didn't really think I would buy that lie, did you?" shouted Will, enjoying the fact that she was once again on the top.
Neji didn't bother to response. He knew that she wouldn't believe a word he would say, it was all written over her face. She was determined to defeat him and there was no way around. So he grabbed in his bag and took out a few shuriken, still not sure to use them.
Tsunade-sama would obliterate him if he accidentally killed her and he was pretty sure that her friends wouldn't take this well too. Neji wasn't someone who was afraid of much things but a pissed off Tsunade surely belonged to them.
So he put them back and cursed his luck and fate to have to fight. "I am really on your side, this was only a challenge to test your skills." He tried to convince her.
"Yeah, so take this as a challenge as well."
Enough is enough. Neji started a last attempt to knock her out and explain it to her but suddenly he couldn't move.
What the hell…
Will had problems as well when her body suddenly didn't obey her anymore and she slowly landed next to Neji who was unable to move. Strangely his shadow was much longer then normal and went all the way back to another group of persons.
"Shadow Imitation Technique is a success." Said a bored voice and the voice of a girl immediately followed.
"Mind Body Disturbance Technique is a success as well."
"Will" she heard Taranee's voice as she landed next to her and Ino released her technique. "They are really on our side. They proved that they were send by the Oracle, look." She held a coin with the symbol of Kandrakar on it.
Will relaxed and saw Matt running towards her. "Are you alright?" Will nodded and hugged him. "Yeah, everything is fine."
She looked to the other and saw the rest of the group approaching.
"And you are…"
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Outside, in the Hoogong fields, two sides were finally meeting. Event the wind seemed to be curious as it stopped the second Phobos, Prince of Meridian and tyrant entered the field together with Kabuto and Sasuke.
Orochimaru was awaiting him, along with his man, each of them looking
at the Prince curiously.
"Phobos-kun." He greeted him with a
nod.
"Orochimaru, it has been a long time."
"Well you seemed to be occupied." Replied Orochimaru smugly
"You sure took your time to free me." said Phobos, narrowing his eyes but Orochimaru just chuckled.
"It was not an easy thing to open a fold to Meridian. It takes quite the preparations."
Phobos didn't respond. Instead with a swift of his arm, sand came out of his hand forming the scyring pool. Inside of it the castle of Elyon appeared.
"Under the castle there is the prison where my faithful servants are waiting to be freed. With the speed of your ninjas we should make it in one day."
Orochimaru wasn't pleased with the situation. Phobos was here for a few minutes and was already ordering him around.
"Perhaps we should take a bit more time for preparing ourselves. We are exhausted and need some rest."
Phobos ignored him. "You can rest after we have freed my army. If the Guardians found us now our adventure would have a fast ending."
Then Phobos smirked at Orochimaru, "Of course you are still free to voice your opinion."
The leader of the Sound Village didn't take this chance, knowing too well that Phobos was a far too mighty opponent to anger now. If he had been only a bit weaker but strangely he was at a higher power level then he expected.
He glanced at Kabuto but was unable to read through the boy, like always. Orochimaru smiled again, this was the thing what amused him most about Kabuto, the fact that he was completely unpredictable.
Did he let him recover so fast, so he, Orochimaru, couldn't take over Phobos anytime soon?
This was bound to be interesting.
"We should leave in an hour; we have to make the necessary preparations."
"Very well." agreed Phobos and turned around. He walked to the next tree and with a wave of his hand the tree was rooted out, formed to some kind of chair and placed in front of Phobos
"You can begin with your preparations." said Phobos and sat down.
Everybody was silent but after a nod of Orochimaru the ninjas started to prepare themselves.
Kabuto walked to Orochimaru and gave him a short report, explaining the events and surroundings of the palace and prison.
"Good work Kabuto; once again you didn't make me regret my trust in you." said Orochimaru, eying Kabuto closely.
The white haired teen adjusted his glasses. "You are giving me too much credit, Orochimaru-sama."
"So you say the Sharingan can't copy magic. Interesting, very interesting indeed." He looked shortly at Sasuke who was sitting on a Hoogong egg, eating a small meal.
"You can rest now; when you are ready I have a small mission for you…."
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Elyon watched closely when Kakashi reached his forehead protector and adjusted it, so is sat correctly.
He smiled "I was send by he Oracle to protect and serve you, Elyon-sama." To prove his words, he showed a coin with the symbol of Kandrakar. The Queen of Meridian was relieved to find out that the intruder was not an enemy.
"But still…" started Kakashi, now looking serious again. "I have to attack you, to test you strength. I will not hold back and I would suggest that you should follow my example. It may lead to your death if you don't give one hundred percent."
And before Elyon could react Kakashi took out a few kunai and threw them right at Elyon, who was fast enough to stop them in mid air.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Elyon, unsure with the situation. "I do not wish to harm you."
Kakashi chuckled coldly and looked right in her eyes. "You couldn't if you tried, little girl."
Elyon was a girl who could not be angered fast and saw always the good in people, she was a fair ruler and was used to unhappy and rude people and learned to live with it. But being underestimated by this weird guy, she couldn't bear it.
Suddenly a sword was on Kakashi's neck, threatening to slit his
throat any second.
"Don´t touch Queen Elyon with your
filthy little hands, bastard." hissed Caleb, who had heard the last
part of the conversation.
Kakashi turned slowly around to look at the young boy, who had leaded a Rebellion with no significant power to victory.
"What are you doing kid? Do you really thing you can harm me with a sword? Are you trying to fool me? Do you think I am that weak?"
Caleb didn't say anything but stayed at his place, still watching every move of the intruder closely, ready to kill him. Suddenly Kakashi tried to grab his kunai with high speed but was still not fast enough.
Caleb reacted immediately and slit the throat of the silver haired man. But instead of blood water came out of the wound and the ninja turned to a puddle of water. (4)
"What was that?" asked Caleb, still looking around. "Was he a water spirit?" Suddenly he felt a cold blade against his neck and heard Kakashi's voice.
"Not quite."
Caleb cursed his foolishness to let his guard down so fast but this time he was saved by Elyon who shot a white beam at Caleb. Now Caleb was surrounded by a white aura disabling Kakashi with the task of holding him.
Now Caleb and Elyon were standing in front of Kakashi once again reached for his forehead protector but this time he revealed his Sharingan eye, which shocked the both Meridians.
""What…what kind of eye is that?" asked Caleb, still staring at the red eye with the tree black stripes. The eye started to wheel around, making Caleb feel dizzy.
"Caleb!" He heard Elyon. "Don´t look in his eye, it has hypnotic powers." She touched him on the shoulder, dispelling the effect of the eye. Then with a wave of her hand silver clouds were steaming out, creating a wall between Kakashi and them.
What an immense charka capacity. I didn't know that someone like that could exist.
Kakashi was worried. After a look with his Sharingan he got the knowledge that this girl was really powerful.
Sure, he was warned by this Oracle guy that Queen Elyon was not someone to take lightly but he didn't think that she would be that much of a threat.
So he created a Shadow Clone and hid himself in the room, eying closely what would come next. (5)
Elyon was able to see through the smoke and created a bubble which caught the Clone. Elyon was happy, that nobody was injured and the fight was over so fast but Caleb was still suspicious. He had tricked them once with some kind of duplicate, he could do it again.
"Please my Queen, check if he is the right one."
Elyon understood immediately what he was saying and inside the bubble a solid cloud hit Kakashi and this time disappeared in a puff.
"Damn, he fooled us again." cursed Caleb looking around again. Elyon closed her eyes and summoned a white orb between her hands. After a few seconds it raised to the roof where it stood still.
Kakashi decided that he waited long enough, but he didn't know what kind of ability this white orb had. He couldn't understand it like usual so it was the best to have a sneak attack.
He created another clone and he let it charge, to see what would happen.
The second the clone was in sight, the orb shot an energy beam which hit the clone in the stomach, causing it to disappear. Kakashi eyed the orb closely, this was a dangerous thing indeed, even though he was sure that he could avoid the beams it would be better to destroy it.
After making the seals for the body flicker techniques he appeared behind Caleb and Elyon and stated his attack.
By positioning himself so, that Elyon and Caleb were between him and the orb he gained a few seconds. So he kicked Caleb and managed to perform the necessary seals.
While Caleb crashed into the wall, Elyon managed to avoid the beam of the Orb but was unable to disturb whatever Kakashi was doing. Suddenly a great fireball left his mouth, or better his mask and Elyon could only avoid it thanks to her ability of teleporting.
Instead of her the fireball hit the orb and destroyed it, leaving Kakashi enough time for his next attack. Rapidly he was performing seals again, but this time far more then earlier.
Before Elyon could react the water in the small well raised and formed a dragon and was threatening to crush the young Queen. (6)
He has the control over the elements too? She managed to created shield just in time to protect herself from the water but when the sight was clear again, there was no trace of Kakashi.
Then she heard a noise from the room next to hers and when she teleported there, she saw Kakashi and Caleb in a hand to hand combat. Until now she thought of Caleb as the best fighter she knew and had always been sure that he could hold his ground against every enemy, no matter how powerful the opponent was.
He had survived enemies like Phobos, Trecker, Cedric, Nerissa and Miranda, with nothing but his wits and experience he gained while fighting them his whole life. So it hurt her seeing him, being toyed like that by Kakashi who had a book in his hand and was reading it, while avoiding or blocking every single attack.
Meanwhile Caleb was beyond angry. He didn't train his whole life to fight just to be underestimated by a white haired ninja who read a book. His blows became faster, his kicks harder and he even used a trick he once learned from a pirate captain while he sailed on his ship for a few months when he had to find members for the Rebellion, but even that was pointless as the older man simply avoided the leg with a fast reaction, not looking up once.
The man was able to see through his techniques and attacks and managed to avoid them perfectly and Caleb knew that the fight was more a farce then a fight. The man could kill him any time but he didn't play with him just to anger Caleb. It was to show the Queen that he was a superior fighter, someone who could fight the best hand to hand fighter of Meridian and read a book at the same time.
Caleb hated it, he absolutely hated it but he had to continue. Even if he was just playing with him he had to keep doing that so it would give his Queen enough time to attack this ninja
Elyon was mad as well. Caleb had become a dear friend and had risked his life countless times for the people of Meridian and the Guardians. He was the boyfriend of her best friend and if there was something Elyon didn't like, that was making fun of people precious to her.
The ground under the feet of Kakashi began to shake and gave Caleb the opening he was looking for. He managed to land a strike with his right fist in the stomach of Kakashi and to his horror this one vanished in smoke too.
He had been fooled by a mere clone.
Elyon realized this as well and started to look around, hoping to find the ninja. Suddenly two hands came out of the ground, grabbed Caleb's feet and pulled him in the floor. (7) Now the only thing that was on the surface was Caleb's head, making it impossible for him to move.
Kakashi appeared behind Caleb and looked at Elyon, his left eye covered again by his forehead protector. He had decided to cover it again. It did allow him to react faster, by allowing him to see some of the attacks before but he couldn't understand and copy them and he was unable to hypnotize her, so it drained his energy nearly for nothing.
"So, I hope you will become serious now. If you are the best Meridian has to offer I am really disappointed."
Elyon quickly raised her hand letting ropes of energy coming out of her hand, which wrapped around Kakashi, disabling him to move.
But his time Elyon was still looking around. She knew that this was another one of his clones, but this was a game which could be played by two. Suddenly the whole room was filled with Elyons'.
The real Kakashi was hiding in the other room, from where he could see what was happening. After dispelling his clone, he immediately knew what the Queen had done and revealed his Sharingan once again, hoping to see through the clones.
After watching them for a few seconds he was pretty sure, that he had discovered the real one and prepared his next attack. After a few seals electricity began to concentrate on his right arm, forming the One Thousand Birds, or the Chidori, (8) the one attack he invented himself.
After a few seconds he stormed in the room, running through the images, causing them to vanish straight at the real Queen who had just freed Caleb.
Before Caleb could warn her Elyon had turned around and Kakashi's arm with the mysterious technique vanished, disturbing his attack and setting Kakashi in a state of shock.
How the hell did she let my arm vanish?
Any normal living being would have an emotional breakdown when one of their body parts would disappear like that but the silver haired man was not a ninja for nothing. He was used to loose body parts and he regained his clear thinking.
Now things were looking really bad. He couldn't use any techniques and was unable to fight properly. He still didn't know how she let his arm disappear but he was sure, she could do it again anytime so it was rather pointless to continue attacking her.
He sighted and knew that he had lost so he covered his Sharingan with his left hand and smiled at them.
"You passed the test your highness. I must admit that I am very impressed, even though you still have to learn."
Elyon nodded slowly while Caleb was confused. Test? What test?
"I
hope you will explain yourself now." said Elyon, still looking
angrily at Kakashi who nodded slowly.
With a wink of her hand the arm he had lost reappeared still with the charged technique but the copy ninja simply stopped it and looked at them.
"It seems that I owe you an apology for attacking you, let me explain…"
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A/N
So this chapter ends here, I hope you weren't disappointed with the fighting scenes, it was kind of hard to let Elyon fight against Kakashi since the degree of Elyon's power are relative unknown, but hey this is why writing is that much fun. So here is once again the attack guide.
Here is the attack description. For those who want to read more, I mostly orientated myself on the wikipedia entries of Naruto.
(1) Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Multi-Size Technique) The user can increase any part of the body.
(2) Cho Baika no Jutsu (Super Multi-Size Technique) The user increases all parts of his body and everything they hold, making them to giants.
(3) Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death) The user vanishes from sight and the victim thinks a tree grows out behind him, trapping him. Then the user comes out of the tree and is able to kill the victim. Although the tree and the disappearing is an illusion the user can kill the opponent.
(4Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique) The user creates a clone of water which has only ten percent of user original power. The clone can only have a certain distance to the user.
(5) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) The user creates a solid clone out of nothing who can take a few blows before disappearing. It can perform jutsu´s as well and after being destroyed, all the knowledge it gained is given back to the user.
(6) Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique) The user forms dragon out of water which hits the enemy
(7) Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner DecapitationTechnique) The user emerges from the ground and pulls the opponent into the earth, leaving only his head on the surface.(8) Chidori (One Thousand Birds) The user collects charka, which turns into electricity in his arm and after collecting he activates his body and charges with high speed at the opponent. A Sharingan is needed for this technique, otherwise the opponent could avoid it and the user wouldn't have time to adapt to the new situation. While running, this technique makes the sound of hundreds of birds.
