Chapter Four: Beasts of the Shadows!

The sun was starting to rise up over the horizon. The darkness of the forest seemed to fade away as the bright yellow light from the sun shined over the forest. The forest animals all came out from their homes and started hunting for food. The chirping birds flew through the morning sky. It was a beautiful morning.

Meanwhile, down in the forest, Team Neji was just awakening. They were a little tired…after all; they did have a fight with a couple of bandits last night. And after that, they started to dash through the forest, trying to close the gap between them and Ankoku no Kuni. Once they did that, they all relaxed and lied down, desperately trying to get some sleep. They had a bad night last night.

Naruto sat up straight as he stretched his arms and yawned. He rubbed his eyes as he looked around. "Is it morning already?" he asked with half-closed eyes and a sleepy voice. The one to answer his question was Neji, who was sitting up against a nearby tree, eyes looking up into the bright morning sky. "Yeah, it is. Did you have a good nights rest?" Naruto shook his head. A small smile formed on Neji's lips as he chuckled.

He looked off into the distance and spotted Sakura kneeling down beside the river. She was currently refilling their canteens with a fresh supply of crystal clear water. She was also washing some of the dirt and grim out of her hair. She splashed a little water on her face to help wake herself up. She stood up straight and with the four canteen bottles in her hands began to walk back towards her group.

"Here you go." She said as she handed Naruto his canteen, which he looked at hesitantly before grabbing it. Sakura looked towards Neji and tossed it to him, which the Hyuga Genius caught with one hand. She knelt down and started to fold up her sleeping bag. She glanced at Naruto, who was still trying to wake himself up.

"Looks like someone didn't get much sleep last night." She said with a small smile. Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and she gave a small laugh. She glanced towards Neji and started to ask a question: "Hey, did Tenten come back yet?" He shook his head. "No, but she should be here right…about…now." And at that exact moment, Tenten walked out of the dense forest, carrying two bags full of fruit.

"I'm back!" she cheered with a proud smile on her face. She walked over to the group and dropped bags on the ground. She sat down and let out a sigh. "For a dangerous forest, this place is full of good fruit!"

"That's good." Sakura said with relief. Another question went through her head at that exact moment. "Hey Neji, how did you know that Tenten was going back at that exact moment?" the Hyuga Prodigy raised an eyebrow before closing his eyes and looking away. "Instinct." Tenten rolled her eyes as she jumped to her feet.

"You were watching me with your Byakugan!" she accused him. "I thought you had much more confidence in me to do alright on my own!"

"I wasn't watching, I was just merely watching out for the safety of my squad-mate." Neji said, not even bothering to look at Tenten, who was kind of upset. She clenched her fist and stomped her foot. "Neji, you are so rude! What if I went in there and started to change my clothes? Then you would've seen all of my goodies!"

Sakura gasped as she reached over and put her hands over Naruto's ears. "Tenten! You can't talk about that stuff, especially since Naruto is here. He's too young to be hearing about this. And I'm pretty sure Neji doesn't want to hear about your so-called 'goodies'."

"My so-called goodies! Well let me tell you something Sakura, I…" Neji interrupted their conversation. "Can we please change the topic?" he was still looking away from them, but Tenten could've sworn she saw a small blush on his face. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay Neji, we won't talk about our womanly things around you…" she glanced to her left. "…or Naruto."

Sakura removed her hands from Naruto's ears and he looked around. "What happened? I missed the entire conversation!" he whined. "What did you talk about?"

"Oh nothing." Sakura said, getting to her feet. Naruto had a skeptical look on his face, but decided he would drop it…for now. Neji stood up and walked over to his team.

"Alright people, if my calculations are correct, then we have we should at least make it into Ankoku no Kuni by at least sunset and if we keep traveling, we should be at their village entrance by tonight." He explained.

"That's good. The faster we can get out of this forest, the longer we can rest." Tenten said as she knelt down and picked up her large scroll.

"I wonder what Ankoku no Kuni looks like…" Sakura thought to herself. She'd been asking herself that very same question since they had left the village. She was curious. Was it dark, was it scary, how did it look and feel? The name had already sent chills down her spine, but now she wanted to actually see the place with her own two eyes.

Neji was also deep in thought. He wasn't thinking about Ankoku no Kuni itself, but more about the thing that was resting in his hip-pouch. The scroll that they were supposed to escort. The Sukuro no Ankoku. He was still thinking about what had happened last night…the way the bandit was sucked into the scroll as soon as he opened it. He replayed that scenario in his head many times, and each time, he wondered…what if that was one of his teammates who had opened the scroll. He was glad none of them did, but still…the artifact that they were escorting was very precious cargo.

"Neji…Neji…" Tenten waved her hand in his face. He snapped out of his trance and glanced at her. "…are you okay?" she asked, worried about her comrade. He rubbed his temples and replied with a slight nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you guys ready to head on out?"

"I'm ready." Tenten said, hands on hips. Sakura put her gloves on her hands and cracked her knuckles. "Ready to go Neji." He nodded his head. "Naruto, how about you?"

"Just a minute!" he yelled, desperately trying to put his pants on. Sakura shook her head and sighed. "Oh Naruto…"

"Ankoku no Kuni…" Naruto said aloud. "…so then does that mean that they're land is completely covered in darkness?" they had just left their previous campsite and was already asking questions. Tenten thought about his question for a minute. "You know, now that I think about it, he may be right. What if there land is covered in darkness?"

"They must have a lot of lights over there." Naruto said. Sakura chuckled. "You're a fool Naruto." He smiled back at her. "I know."

"So Neji, what do you think Ankoku no Kuni is like?" Tenten asked her friend. He stared straight ahead for a minute. It took a minute, but he finally answered her question. "Naruto's answer might be right. It may be completely shrouded in darkness."

Sakura looked straight ahead. "If's it completely covered in darkness…then the people who live there, they must have somehow adapted to the darkness. How they did it, I don't know. But I plan on finding out."

They traveled in silence for a few minutes. As they traveled, Tenten noticed something strange. The farther they went…the darker it got. She stopped suddenly. She turned around and was shocked at what she saw. "Hey guys, you have to check this out." They all stopped and turned around. Wide eyes and the occasional gasp were seen and heard.

In the distance, the sun was out. The sun was just starting to set. There was light still out. But…as you traveled closer to Tenten, it started to get darker. How was it getting darker…Neji will explain.

"Were here. We've finally entered Ankoku no Kuni." He said to his team. Sakura looked on in amazement. She looked down and noticed there was a border line. On one side, it was dark, and on the other, it was still light. She took in a deep breath and exhaled. It shocked her a little but she'll was ok.

"You were right Naruto." Sakura said to him. All four of them turned around and stared into the vast darkness of what was Ankoku no Kuni. They saw a few torches stationed among the tree tops. They each provided a small light, but other than that, there was nothing but darkness. Neji looked down and noticed more torches on the ground floor.

"It looks like the ground has more light than up here. Follow me." He jumped off the tree-branch and fell to the ground. Tenten followed shortly. Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and followed their leader.

"This place is creeping me out." Tenten said as she walked behind Neji. They walked in single-file formation. Neji was the lead. He kept watch over what was going on. Tenten was behind him and Sakura stood behind her, and Naruto brought up the rear. Tenten glanced to her right and could've sworn she saw a pair of beady yellow eyes watching her from the shadows. She gave a small shriek, which caused everyone to jump.

"Tenten, what is it!" Neji asked, getting defensive. She pointed into the shadows, arm shaking a little. "There…in the shadows…there was something watching me." Neji looked in that direction with his Byakugan. He scanned the perimeter. He saw nothing. "Tenten, there's nothing there. Come on, let's keep moving."

The group continued to walk. The darkness and constant seeing of eyes started to creep Tenten out. She grabbed Neji's arm and held on tight. He just sighed. He couldn't do anything in this current situation.

Around that time, Naruto heard something. It sounded something like…footsteps. They were shuffling along the ground, and then they started to pick up speed. It sounded like they were coming towards him. He turned around. There was nothing there. The sound of footsteps had stopped suddenly.

He stared back into the distance for a few seconds. He turned back around and caught up with the group. He leaned forward and whispered into Sakura's ear: "Hey Sakura, did you hear that?" she raised an eyebrow. "Hear what?"

"The footsteps."

"Footsteps? What footsteps?"

"Are you telling me you didn't hear those footsteps at all?"

"Naruto, I didn't hear anything." She said to him. He narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Alright then." He leaned back and walked straight.

Silence fell over the team. The only sound that was heard was their footsteps. Tenten still looked around occasionally…she had a bad feeling she was being watched. Naruto still continued footsteps…whether he was going crazy or not, he knew something was up. Neji and Sakura were either blind or deaf, as they didn't hear or see anything.

At that exact moment, a low growling sound echoed through the forest. They all stopped walking. Naruto looked left and right. "Did you hear that one?" Sakura nodded slowly. "Yeah, I heard that one."

"Neji?" Tenten asked.

"I know, I know." He used his Byakugan and scanned the perimeter around them once again. Once again, he came up with nothing. There were no enemies within range of them. He narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong. "I don't see anything. That's a problem."

The growling sound was heard once again. This time, it was louder…and sounded closer. The group looked around and saw nothing. Tenten looked into the forest and saw another pair of beady yellow eyes watching her. She took in a deep breath and pointed in that direction. "Look, I told you." Their eyes followed her hand and they saw the eyes too.

"So I guess I owe you an apology." Neji said. Tenten glanced at him. "Yeah you do, but not now." As the group stared at the yellow pair of eyes, they completely forgot to watch their backs. Running footsteps were heard again. This time…it was heading straight towards them.

Sakura had a funny feeling in her gut. Something was warning her, telling her to turn around. She didn't listen at first, but then she heard a voice in her head yelling turn around. She listened to the voice and did what it said, but it was too late. Before she could do anything, a large black shadow tackled her to the ground.

It moved so fast that no one hadn't even noticed until they saw her being carried off into the distance. "Sakura!" Naruto yelled. He started to run after her, but Neji had already took action. He dashed forward, hands ready.

"Hakke Kūshō!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He thrust his palm forward and an invisible blast of compressed chakra flew from it. The blast struck the dark shadow that had attacked Sakura and blew the shadow back. Sakura struggled to her feet. Neji ran over to her and helped her up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But what was that?" she asked him. They both looked at the shadow that laid across from them. It slowly stood to its feet. Its body was large, almost the size of a full-grown child. It was black as the night with red streaks hiding in its black fur. It yellow piercing eyes were glaring at Neji and Sakura. Its fangs were enlarged to the point where the beast could barely close its mouth. Its claws were also enlarged to the point where they looked like miniature knives. In total, it looked like a huge demonic dog.

"Is that a dog?" Sakura asked Neji. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but it looks like it."

"What is that?" Naruto asked himself. Tenten stared at the beast. She didn't know what it was, but she did know this…it was dangerous. That's when she heard a loud barking sound. She turned around and saw another one jump out of the bushes, heading straight for Naruto. Reacting fast, she reached in her hip-pouch and pulled out three kunai. She threw the blades forward. The three kunai struck the beast on its side. It stopped running and just stood there. Crimson liquid oozed from where the kunai struck it. It growled a low husky growl at them.

"Another one?" Naruto asked, staring at the beast. Tenten nodded her head and pulled out two scrolls. "It doesn't look like they're going to let us go peacefully." She said to him. Naruto understood what she meant and formed a hand-seal.

"We don't have time to waste here. Were so close to the village and we can't let these things stop us. Sakura, let's take care of this thing." Neji glared at the beast. Sakura cracked her knuckles and stood in her fighting stance. "Right!"

Another battle was about to take place. This time…it was on Ankoku no Kuni territory.

[Mysterious Animals Attack The Team! What Will Be the Outcome of This Battle?]

Hakke Kūshō(Eight Trigrams: Empty Palm): This technique is similar in practice to the Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin, but has a specific target rather than a general area. To perform it, the user precisely pinpoints the enemy's vital points with the Byakugan and releases a high-speed palm thrust. A compressed "vacuum shell" using the Gentle Fist is formed to violently push the opponent away.