Author's Notes: Thanks again for everybody who read my story so far and has encouraged me with reviews! I've never written an extended action chapter before, so bear with me if it seems a little off (also, it a little short, I think). I'm hoping to have the next chapter out by September 2, but unfortunately, I have a picnic to attend that day, so my apologies if it comes a little later (or earlier!). Anyway, please review, and enjoy!

"Give up," the blind ninja called out. He stood a hundred feet above his pursuers, crossing his long arms atop a thick tree branch. His confident sideways grin exposed both his jagged teeth and his natural tendency to underestimate his opponents, even if he knew little to nothing about their fighting styles and power. He wasn't accustomed to upper-level ninja interfering with his business.

"Shikamaru?" Chouji kept his gaze trained on their targets in the trees above them, his fists balled tightly at the ready. "What's our plan?"

"We'll test the cheese, and then walk the dog," Shikamaru replied, tightening his hair band. From such a distance, he wasn't sure whether he needed to use code words, but it never hurt to be safe; after all, combining Bushin with Henge jutsu made for great eavesdropping material, and was almost impossible to discover. Plans tended not to go over so well once they enemy caught wind of them.

"When do we know to walk the dog?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru whispered, "Watch the weather," and the three of them reached for their radios. They were to gauge their opponents' strengths and weaknesses and then take charge of the battle, leading them along until they could find an opportunity for a quick checkmate, according to Shikamaru's orders. It was a vague, simple strategy, but he could color in the details when he knew more of what to expect with those three. He could tell by the blindfold over the leader's eyes that he was probably a long-range ninjutsu user, because his apparent inability to see would make it difficult to perform the minute complex actions required in taijutsu. His companions were black-and-white twins, so it was obvious that whatever power they possessed was connected. Because these kinds of ninja worked in tandem, defeating one usually ensured victory over the other.

"The fox is hiding," Ino continued. "You gonna snare the crow?"

Shikamaru grinned in response, pressing his hands together into the Rat seal. "Let's make this quick." Today the battlefield was thankfully in his favor: it was a cloudless, albeit cold day, and they were fighting in a forest, where he could extend his shadow almost indefinitely, especially in the early afternoon when they were just beginning to lengthen. If he couldn't win now, his advantage would only grow stronger over time.

He wanted to win now though. Snaring the crow meant to catch the opponents in a Shadow Bind, and he could feel his attack weaving between the tall trees, climbing within the fat branches. The hired thugs were completely oblivious, continuing to stare down their noses at the Konoha shinobi that they were sure they could dispatch with ease, as they had all of their previous adversaries. Some ninja, such as Naruto, would become irritated knowing that they were thought so little of, but Shikamaru knew how to use this to his advantage. Overconfidence was a ninja's worst enemy.

Because the twins were closer, Shikamaru's shadow was upon them quickly, but he dared not connect his to theirs. It would be best, he mused, if he could capture all three at once. Then, by only taking a step forward, he could force them to fall a hundred feet back into range of his team's attacks, if they were still alive after the plunge. It was unlikely they would catch another branch on the way down; Shikamaru had learned to suppress his opponents' chakra while he caught them in a shadow bind, a useful technique taught to him by his father upon advancement to jounin.

His shadow spiraled around the wide tree trunk, burying itself within folds of the rough bark as it stole towards its target. It was now five meters from his position, and now four, three, two, one…

Namazu launched himself into the air before he could become a victim of the Kagemane no jutsu. Then suddenly, at the apex of his jump, he disappeared. Shikamaru swore. The best course of action, he quickly decided, would be to complete the jutsu to capture the other two and break their necks for a speedy win, but before he could, the leader appeared in the middle of Team 10 with a smirk. He was tall enough that he could slam his knee right into Shikamaru's chest, finishing his attack by slapping him across the face with his forearm, sending Shikamaru flying backwards.

"Ude!" Chouji screamed, and his right arm immediately grew to match the rest of his body in size. He threw his entire being into his attack against Namazu, swinging the mass into his best friend's assailant. Despite being blind, the enemy shinobi skillfully jumped onto Chouji's arm, leaping off and delivering a mid-air spin kick that sent the big-boned ninja spiraling into the ground. Ino had no time to react before he swept her legs out from under her, slamming his heel into her stomach on the way down. Then, as quick as he appeared, he was back in the tree branches. That grin never left his face.

Shikamaru struggled to lift his torso up by his elbows. He had made a miscalculation. Somehow, the blind man was an adept taijutsu user, and a very fast one at that. Chouji was the only taijutsu type on the team, and though he was extremely powerful, his lack of speed would put him at a disadvantage. It would be best to clip the leader from a longer range. A Kagemane would help, but seeing as how he'd somehow dodged the last one without looking, it was doubtful it would work easily. And then there was the problem of the twins: neither had made a move yet, and now they were free to do so, as Namazu's blow had reset his shadow bind. At this point, it was anybody's game.

"How did he do that?" he heard Ino's voice ask through the earpiece of his radio.

"Shikamaru? Any ideas?" Chouji asked.

He had none yet, and he had no time to sit and think. The twins were gone.

- - -

"We should hurry back to the village!" Raikou shouted. Locks of his greasy black hair were plastered to his forehead, and he was forced to wipe the sweat off with a small brown handkerchief. It wasn't exactly warm outside that day, but Raikou was unused to the ninja's way of life, and the knowledge that his safety could be on the line if Namazu failed scared him shitless. But there was no way he would lose to some brats from Konoha. Raikou headed one of the largest crime rings in the world, and Namazu's team was one the best of his employment.

Walking in front of him were his two clients. They were distant enough from him that his ears could catch only snippets from their hushed exchange for the first few minutes, most involving Hakuge and his brother, as well as repeated iterations of the number seven. He found that despite his policy barring involvement in clients' affairs he really desired to hear more, and so decided fervently to speed up his pace inconspicuously to listen. This was, after all, the strangest pair that he'd ever worked for before.

They must have known of his desire to eavesdrop, because although Raikou did his best to conceal his movements, the pair began to chatter in louder voices about seemingly less important matters, none related to their deal with Raikou. It was agitating. He dropped behind a few paces and wasn't surprised when they resumed their previous conversation softly. This time he made no effort to even care.

"Raikou-sama," the longhaired Furitsuke called back, looking behind him. "At this rate we won't reach Konoha quickly at all. Would you prefer if the two of us stay someplace, while my partner brings the target here?" At this, the squirming backpack he carried ushered a loud noise and began to kick.

"What about when my employees return to Konoha?" Raikou shot back. "Where will they go when they realize we're not at the meeting point?"

Kogoe adjusted his glasses but didn't turn around. "They won't make it back to Konoha," he muttered quietly.

"What?"

"Your subordinates may be powerful, but they won't defeat the Konoha cell. I can guarantee that."

Raikou was unaccustomed to hearing that his personal shinobi teams were inadequate, and he was growing livid at the suggestion.

Kogoe continued, "They're overconfident. They know they haven't been beaten in the past, and they refuse to believe that today their record will be broken. They don't realize that their opponents are one of the most distinguished jounin squads in all of Konohagakure, responsible in part for the defeat of Akatsuki. Hakuge hired them personally, just as I said he would. Against them, Namazu, Suzu, and Nari don't stand a chance."

"How do…" Raikou stopped his pace entirely, once again wiping a thick sheet of sweat from every pore in his face, "How do you know all this?"

"It's not difficult," Kogoe tilted his head slightly, and few locks fell from under his hat, so dark a shade of blue that they appeared almost black. "We've had this planned for longer than you realize, Raikou-sama. Now, would you care to stay in the forest or in a nearby village with my partner while I'm gone? It may not look like it, but I've made several concessions thus far, your decision of occupancy among them."

Customers don't make concessions, Raikou thought. I do. By this point he was so angry he was trembling, his white-knuckled fists clenched tightly as his sides. He had never been so infuriated by a client before. This man was smart, he acknowledged, but he was also tactless and greedy. Cold. He hated working for asswipes like these. "I'd feel more comfortable within a city," he murmured, keeping his small eyes trained on Kogoe.

"So be it," Furitsuke shrugged, walking between the two of them. "Raikou-sama and I will head for the nearest town, along with Hakuge's wife. We'll wait there for you. But how will you know where to go?"

"I'll find you," Kogoe replied, "but first there's a spectacle I'd like to watch." He disappeared into the trees.

- - -

Suzu, the black-haired young man who dressed in a long-sleeve white shirt and dark pants, watched Team 10 silently from behind, standing ten feet off the ground within the great pine trees of the Fire Country. His brother hid on the other side of the clearing, also observing the day's opponents. Their leader kept twitching his head, trying not to make it obvious that he was looking for the two of them. Suzu smiled. None of them seemed ready to fight someone as powerful and godly as their captain, Namazu. The brats had already lost.

Namazu body-flickered, cueing Suzu and Nari to prepare to launch their technique. The blind leader reappeared behind Team 10 again, donning a ready stance to prepare for an attack. It came not in the form of fists but in a shadow; the pony-tailed leader was extending his towards Namazu's, who sidestepped gracefully to avoid it. Suzu found the jutsu interesting, and knew that the shadow-user would become their first target.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was dumbfounded. The man was blind, wasn't he? Yet he had dodged not only physical blows, but also an ethereal attack that could only be sensed through sight. He leapt away when Namazu appeared in front of him trying to finish him with a strong kick, and he slid several feet, kicking dusting into the air, as he leaned forward with a kunai held backwards in his hand. Damned troublesome, he thought with frustration.

It was his last thought. He had no time to react as the twins appeared on either side of him in a flash, executing seals with remarkable fluidity, finishing each with a Ram sign. Shikamaru forgot which way was up. The colors he saw inverted, black becoming white, red becoming blue, and his vision swam and turned upside-down. The smells of the afternoon, of pinesap and dango from the nearby town, became that of refuse, causing his eyes to tear and blur what was already unintelligible. His ears picked up nothing but the wind, which became a thick, wraithy wail and only served to disorient him further. The twins had fried his brain in an instant. Without even knowing, he stooped forward onto his knees and retched.

"Shit!" Ino yelled into the microphone, causing Chouji to wince and Shikamaru to become even more ill. She looked over at Namazu as he sped towards their leader, ready to finally take him out. "Chouji!" she yelled, but the large shinobi was already on his tail.

"Baika no jutsu!" he bellowed, inflating into a balloon-shaped mass. Namazu turned around and scowled as his adversary rolled his limbs inside his body and began to barrel towards him. The twins looked at each other for a brief second, and the three of them leapt out of his way, not wishing to break their arms by coming in any form of contact. They jumped once again into the high trees, allowing the other members of Team 10 to rush towards their fallen comrade, who was still leaning forward on his hands and knees, visibly nauseous.

"Shikamaru!" Ino pulled him up by his shoulders, but it was obvious from his pained whimpering that he had not yet recovered. Chouji offered a friendly hand on his upper back, but kept his eyes on their three foes, all standing in the trees, arms crossed, watching them intently.

"It's not… genjutsu…" Shikamaru choked out through thick saliva. "I can't dispel it… don't get too close to them"

"Don't talk," Ino commanded.

"No, I'm fine… it only lasts for a few seconds… but then your senses return to normal. But if they can get to you during that time…" he looked up, animosity burning in his beady eyes. "We need to support each other especially well today," he advised. He shakily worked to his feet.

"What about backup? Reinforcements?" Chouji asked.

"What, from Konoha? They'd never make it in time… and we can't afford to send someone for them. It sucks, but this is our battle."

Ino grinned, "Troublesome, right?"

He pointedly ignored her remark. "First we need to find out why the leader can use taijutsu when he can't see. It may expose a weakness. Stay away from the twins in the meanwhile. We'll play the defensive strategy for a bit; just watch them, and try not to get hurt."

"Alright, Team Ino, let's move out!" Ino pumped her fist into the air. Shikamaru sighed heavily at the kunoichi. Maturity could only solve so much, he supposed.

On the other side of the battlefield, Suzu was still staring confidently. They may have lost the advantage—they had already shown the full effects of their Shitsudokushou technique, after all—but he doubted the Konoha brats carried too many aces up their sleeves. This fight was going to be over soon.

When the three launched back into battle, Team 10 was ready for them. Namazu tried to take Ino out with a body flicker and a swift kick, but she redirected the attack with her arm and jumped back. The twins appeared around Chouji's sides, but he was able to throw one away forcefully with an oversized arm, and then knock the other off balance by slamming his foot on the ground. Shikamaru understood now.

"Watch out, their techniques require them to flank you," he whispered into the mic, dodging swift attacks by Namazu. "Don't let them get around you!"

"Right," his comrades replied.

Chouji's last attack had thrown the white-haired twin just a few feet away from Ino, so she decided to control him with a Shinranshin. She performed the seals and created a circle with her hands, positioning it so that she could see Nari between her fingers. In a minute, he would be attacking his teammate against his will.

Instead, he just looked at her.

What the hell? She concentrated harder, but Nari continued to stare. She was about to redouble her efforts when she realized he had begun another complex series of hand seals. Suzu was behind her, mirroring the signs, and Ino rolled back onto Nari's side to avoid the same fate as had befallen Shikamaru. Because her mind-body disturbance hadn't worked, she instead tried her Shintenshin, Mind-Body Switch. She connected, and found herself in Nari's head.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was doing all he could to avoid Namazu's quick fists and kicks, which showed no sign of letting up. He had no time to try a Kagemane, so instead focused as conservative an amount of chakra as possible into his limbs for speed, but even in doing so was scraped by some of Namazu's attacks due to the latter's taijutsu skill. After every few blows the giant shinobi would body flicker and try to catch Shikamaru from behind with a knockout move, but each time he was barely able to block or redirect the hit. It only took a minute or two before fatigue began to settle like lead into his strained muscles. Namazu appeared behind him, so he spun on his heel to block an attack that didn't come. Instead, Namazu body flickered behind him again, swinging in a half circle arc, bringing his foot into Shikamaru's stomach. As he flew twenty meters into the woods and eventually felt his bones crack against the rock-hard bark of a tree, he realized his attacker was wearing steel-toed zora sandals. For the second time in that three-minute period, Shikamaru's vision morphed colors and swam like wet ink, this time from the intense pain in his back and abdomen. He looked up as Namazu materialized directly in front of him, his foot once again in the middle of a full-range curve towards Shikamaru's head, readying a blow that would likely end fatal. Shikamaru aptly collapsed to his right, causing Namazu to spin in the air above his head. He landed on a pile of caltrops. He grunted in pain and looked down, realizing he could no longer move.

"Kagemane no jutsu, success."

Back in the clearing, Ino couldn't understand the workings of Nari's mind. It held no individual thoughts, only constant streams of unintelligible information; they looked as though they were being transferred to and from another junction point, as if Nari's was one of two connected brains. It was, she realized. Some of the encoded thoughts belonged to somebody else, most likely the other twin. It dawned on Ino that the communicated through some sort of telepathy, allowing them to coordinate their attacks together.

She tried to turn towards the other twin, but for some reason couldn't move Nari's body. His muscles were stiff. She became aware that the streaming information in his brain was suddenly pulsing and warping, filling the space with what appeared to be a shapeless mass. Nari began to shake and sweat uncontrollably as the activity in his mind coalesced into a misshapen monster, steadily growing and filling the crevasses of his brain. Ino found no place to move, and was suddenly shoved back into her own body.

Chouji was holding her during the brief venture into the enemy, and he jumped when she recoiled and fluttered her eyes open. Suzu and Nari turned their black eyes back onto Ino and Chouji.

- - -

Had he been in full condition at that moment, Shikamaru could have killed Namazu easily.

Caltrops were a rarely used, archaic weapon in the world of shinobi, though most still carried a handful for that rare circumstance. Shikamaru had scattered them on the forest floor when he dodged Namazu's last attack, and because the taijutsu expert had fallen for them, he thought he had his ability level figured out. He was painfully aware that his broken and cracked bones prevented him from throwing Namazu onto the ground and rolling on the pins fatally due to the shadow bind, but now he could get him to talk. "Who do you work for?" he asked forcefully.

Namazu managed only a loud, arrogant laugh.

"Answer me, or I'll kill you now."

"You're bluffing," Namazu grinned.

"Am I? Can you take that risk?" Shikamaru winced as he tried to set his body down and force his enemy to mimic his actions.

"Your right forearm, collarbone, and left femur are fractured. I've severed three veins in your abdomen, and while none will cause fatal internal bleeding, you may find your position as a shinobi compromised for a short while."

"If I live," Shikamaru offered.

"You won't."

The wind switched direction to flow southeast, and Namazu twitched, obviously trying to turn his head toward its source. It was the sign Shikamaru had been waiting for.

"You're blind, but you're an adept taijutsu user," he began. Namazu laughed again. "I've been trying to figure it out, but it looks like you're able to sense fine vibrations in the air, aren't you?"

Namazu drew in a short breath in surprise. Had his headband not been in the way, his eyes would have widened for a brief second.

"You are able to see, through an extremely heightened use of your other senses. In fact, better than I am: you're able to sense, by vibration, the internal damage you caused me with your last attack. You're also able to use your chakra to further augment your sensory perception… but that's not all. You have a very weak sixth sense, the ability to sense chakra. That's how you can dodge my Kagemane no jutsu: you could tell the small amount of chakra that I add to my shadow to shape it."

The blind ninja glowered. He had underestimated his opponent.

"There's more," Shikamaru grinned, "your abilities also lend you a disadvantage. Along with your others, you also have a heightened tactile sense, so any pain inflicted on you is amplified. The caltrops you're standing on must be excruciating." He began to choke, coughing up a thick film of bloody saliva. Along with his consciousness, his chakra reserves were beginning to fade, the process sped up by the pain that consumed his body. He hoped Chouji and Ino would finish up their fight soon.

"Smart little fucker, aren't you?" Namazu growled, his face growing red. "But you're getting weaker; I can see that now. And there's one thing you forgot."

"What's that?"

"I can alleviate my tactile sense in order to further supplement my others. If I wish it, I can erase pain from my body. I can't even feel your caltrops."

Shikamaru grimaced. He hadn't figured that out. Forty-six plans of action flew out the window immediately. Luckily, the one that was just now beginning wasn't one of them.

Namazu's body jerked, and Shikamaru released his jutsu. Namazu let out a yelp and jumped back onto safe ground, hopping on one foot. "Shikamaru," he yelled, "Why didn't you tell me he was stepping on makibishi?"

"Sorry, Ino," he laughed, followed by the hacking of more blood. Ino's real body laid on the ground about thee meters away.

"Shit, I can't see a thing. A blindfold?" She lifted up the forehead protector and opened Namazu's eyes for the first time in fifteen years. "Nothing," she said. "But I'm not gonna put this thing back over his eyes. It's ugly as sin. Are you all right, Shika? You didn't look so good while I was running here."

"Just a few broken bones," he countered with the best grin he could muster through the pain, "just a little troublesome. Don't think I'll be moving much more the rest of the battle. What about your body? You're just lying out there on the ground, while Chouji's trying his best against the other two. You're a sitting duck; plus your foot's bleeding because of him."

"Well, crap. Make sure to tell me if something comes up and I need to get back. So, he can sense air vibrations and chakra?"

"Good, you heard. I was afraid his attack had knocked out my radio."

Ino laughed in Namazu's voice. "What do you propose we do?"

"Well," Shikamaru began, "I've come up with the three best plans, depending on whether or not Chouji's shown any form of victory yet."

He hadn't. They were both unaware of the fact that the twins were hovering over Ino's limp body, flashing their hand seals rapidly. The force of their jutsu pulled Ino out of Namazu's mind and into her own, which was suddenly feeling very, very fried and confused. Suzu picked her up, and the three ninja all jumped back into the protective branches of the trees.

"This is it," Namazu called back down to Shikamaru with a toothy smirk. "We're finished. You're finished. Done. Through."

Shikamaru struggled to his feet despite his three broken bones and bloody internal cavities. "I'm not finished," he choked out. "I'm never finished until my job's done."

Namazu laughed and vaporized at Shikamaru's side, shoving him full-force back into the tree. He landed just short of the caltrop minefield.

"Neither am I."