-1Rising

Chapter 5 Part 2-Kunoichi Breakout! Shinobi Deadlock!

DISCLAIMER: I own Raven Ashcrest. I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters.

A mysterious figure walked out of the darkness. Sakura recognized him immediately. "Aoi! You…why do want us?" Aoi levitated up to Sakura's level. "I want…information." Aoi sneered. "What kind of information?!" Ino yelled. Aoi glided over to Ino. "What kind of info…hmmm…oh, yes, information on certain…legends." Sakura struggled against her chains. "What…legends?", she growled. Aoi grinned. "Legends…of the nine winds, demons, if you will." All the kunoichi were confused on the statement. Ino was first to break the ice. "Why do you wanna know!?" Aoi merely shook his head, then unshackled them. They fell to the ground and were knocked out, as well as broke some bones. Four other figures picked them up and took them to what seemed like jail cells.

Meanwhile, Raven was still trying to sneak out of the hospital. He managed about 30 feet before Tsunade noticed he was missing. "RAVEN! You know you're not supposed to be up and running yet! Your leg is still screwed up!" Raven yelled without even looking, "Shut the hell up! I know what happened! Now let me do what I need to do!" With that, he ran off to find Naruto, Kiba, or somebody who could help him.

About an hour later, he finally ran into Naruto. Raven was panting, his leg having caused him large amounts of pain. "Naruto! Thank god I found you! I need your help." Naruto looked at him and noticed his leg was swollen. "Is it something to do with the kunoichi?" Raven nodded. "Yeah, I think I know where they are. Problem is, I haven't been discharged." Naruto thought about this and came up with something. "Raven! Transform into one of the Shinobi and-" Raven interrupted him mid-sentence. "Make a clone to fool Tsunade. Naruto, you're a genius! Come on! We need as much help as we can get." So Naruto set of to gather the remaining teammates while Raven put his plan into action.

Sakura woke up to find herself in her undergarments and beaten, as well as in a jail cell. "Holy crap…what happened?" Then she had a flashback. Aoi was trying to interrogate her, and she refused to comply. So he beat her, but she still didn't give. Aoi then decide to break their morale by putting them in jail cells. She had an idea. Even though this is concrete, maybe I can break through it with my strength. Sakura started charging chakra, until her hand was surrounded by it. Then she slammed her fist in to the wall. The outer layer crumbled, but it revealed an inner layer of steel. What?!? No matter. This will break…I know it will!! With that, she resumed her strategy. Tenten was trying to cut her way out, Hinata was using bursts of chakra on her cell, and Ino was rapidly punching and kicking it. Yet nothing seemed to work. After 2 hours, Aoi visited Sakura in her cell. "Well well, trying to free yourself, eh, Sakura?" She didn't say anything, she only glared at him. "Ooh, the silent treatment, I'm so scared. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Aoi laughed evilly. "You've been beaten and beaten, and you refuse to give up any information. Fine. I'll go harder on you then anything I've tried so far!" He opened the cell, walked in, closed it, and starting slashing her with his sword. She guarded and didn't give up in spite of the pain. He stopped for a minute. "You know, if you told me what I wanted, I'd stop and let you go." Sakura flatly refused. "I never give up, and I won't tell you anything!" Aoi sighed. "Very well." He grabbed her by the throat and rammed her into the wall. "No response?" He slammed her into the wall again. Then, he kissed her. She looked like she was going to puke. Then, she slapped him in the face. "What the hell was that?!?" Aoi grinned. "You know, Raven hasn't told you much about himself, has he?" Sakura grimaced. "What are you getting at?" He responded, "I know more about Raven than you do by a long shot. Like the fact that he…" Sakura's eyes widened. "…is an assassin, a bounty hunter of sorts." Sakura's jaw dropped.

Meanwhile, Raven, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, Shino, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, and Choji were standing at the edge of the forest. Raven told the squad what they were about to face. "Guys, this is one of the toughest missions you will go on. We are dealing with an S-Class missing-nin. He's also an expert assassin. But he's kidnapped the Leaf kunoichi, and are we going to take that?!?" There was a resounding "No!!!" from the squad. Raven continued. "Are we going to let some psycho just waltz in and kidnap people?!?" "NO!!!" "Are you ready?!?" "YEAH!!" "Then…who's gonna bring the blood and pain?!?" "WE ARE!!" "What are we waiting for! Go, go, go!!" With that thundering speech in their minds, the eight Shinobi head off toward their target area.

Sakura was reeling from the shock, when she noticed walls going up in the main part of the cave. "Aoi, you sicko, what do you have planned?!?" Aoi told her, "I'm going to have a rematch with Raven. I owe that bastard some payback for what he did to me! I hate him!" He regained his level tone. "Raven and I are going to fight in that arena, and everyone-including you-will see how much of a ninja he really is!"

After several leaps and jumps, the shinobi reached the cave. Lee looked up the massive door, which was locked. "How do we get inside?" Raven had an idea. "I'll scout ahead and see if there's a way in through the back. Meanwhile, you guys see if you can find a way in on this side." Raven set off to do his part of the job. He snuck around back, turned into liquid, and by chance, he found Sakura's cell. She was sleeping. Raven thought, Wow. She looks like an angel. Does that mean I died and went to heaven? "Psst! Sakura!" She woke up. "Huh-who's there?" "It's me, Raven!" Sakura lit up at the fact that Raven had made it. "Raven! Where are you?" He responded, "I'm invisible. I'm here to break you out. The other shinobi are at the front, trying to find a way in." She sighed. "Good luck. Unless you can make us invisible, there's no way out. And Aoi has the only key." Raven activated the Raisengan almost instinctively, looking for a way out. "What the-I thought he ran away!" "Well, he's the one who kidnapped us." Raven almost snapped into the phoenix. "Sakura…he'll pay for what he's done!" Raven crept out of the jail cell and went to smash open the front door. He took at a hammer and starting smashing the lock mechanism. Sure enough, it broke, allowing everyone else to get in. "Raven, what a surprise."

He turned around to find Aoi staring at him. "What do you want?" "Payback." He looked the now-finished arena. "So, that's where you want your fight, eh?" Aoi looked at the arena, then fixed his gaze on Raven. "It's gonna be a fight to the death. If I win, the kunoichi stay with me. If you win, they're free to go." Raven thought about this for a while. Everyone was waiting. He came to a verdict. He grinned, looked Aoi in the eye, and said with a disturbing chill to his voice, "No…holds…barred. It's a deal. Get ready, Aoi…'cause you're fighting the Firebird!" Aoi simply sneered. "Oh, this is gonna be sweet. And you're in over your head…you're fighting the Dragon!!" Raven was taken aback. "What?!? The dragon was killed seven years ago! How-no matter. It's on!!"

So there they were, the former friends-turned-bitter enemies. A split-screen appears, with Raven on the right side with a phoenix emblem and red chakra surrounding the frame, while Aoi was on the left with a dragon emblem and purple chakra surrounding the frame.

Next time: Phoenix vs. Dragon! A clash for the ages-who will come out on top?