"Ka...Kakashi-sensei!?!" Naruto gapped, his body paralyzed from the shock. "We thought you were dead!"

Kakashi continued to pace slowly, until he stood at the center of the group, the others standing around him, forming a somewhat malformed circle with him near the center. "We'll, I'm not. What made you think that I was?"

Most of them stood silently, contemplating the words. Sakura, however, was livid; a vain on her forehead was visible, and she pointed her finger at her former sensei, her arm trembling from her pent-up rage. "You idiot! The entire village thinks you're dead! You fought with Pain right after getting out of the hospital, and there was no trace of you. When our searches came up fruitless, we assumed the worst!"

"Aye, you people always underestimate me," sighed Kakashi. One would think that he wasn't grasping the gravity of the situation, but he always acted a bit... distant. "I was out for a few weeks. If it weren't for my nin-ken, I surely would be dead."

Udon, always the calculative type, sat back on the earthen ground and brought his hands up into a thinking position. When he thinks things over, he prefers to conserve as much energy for the effort as possible; standing was wasteful. "Your nin-ken? Your ninja dogs...?" He scratched the side of his nose and sniffled, trying to repress a runny nose. He always got those at the most inconvenient times.

"Yeah," Kakashi explained. "I don't really know the details, being unconscious at the time, but my dogs managed to carry me away from the village and helped me recover. I was out of contention for a while, but I managed to pull through."

"But why the secrecy?" Naruto pleaded. Although he was tempted to follow Udon's lead, he ultimately decided to remain standing. "Why not contact the village once you were all better?"

"A few high-ranked members of the village, the Hokage included, know of my survival." Kakashi turned his eyes to Shizune, who was sitting a small distance from the rest of the group, and the others turned their heads towards the medic in unison. She nodded her head, confirming that she, too, knew of Kakashi's survival. "However, I specifically requested that the news be kept away from the general public. The reason..." He pointed in the direction of the structure. "...is that."

"You were investigating as well?" Shikamaru guessed. "If you hadn't noticed, none of us are wearing our hitai-ite." He pointed to his arm, where he usually wore the symbol of the village; it was, as Shikamaru alluded, conspicuously absent. "We didn't want our mission to be linked to our village. I'm assuming that the reason you cut off communication to Konohagakure was for a similar reason?"

"Yeah," nodded Kakashi. Shikamaru pressed on.

"Then why do you still possess your hitai-ite? I don't mean to doubt your judgment, but I wonder how you went into the place without it being spotted."

"Because I never went in." This gave Kakashi a few confused looks, so he explained, turning his body to face each one of his group. "I merely observed from the exterior, and kept a line of communication with one of the workers. More accurately, he kept the line of communication with me; considering the tight security of the place, I can't imagine how he managed to pull that off."

Konohamaru's eyes widened; it took a few moments, but he finally grasped the reality of the situation. "I bet that's the same guy that helped us for our mission. I don't know how, but he directed us around perfectly. We never got detected."

"So you met him," Kakashi replied, smiling. Or, at least, had an expression that could almost arguable be considered smiling, considering his mouth was always covered by that mask of his. "I managed to keep contact with the higher-ups in the village, so I was alerted when your mission was drawn up. The message was relayed to my contact and he took care of all of the details. Still, I'm amazed that he pulled together such an intricate plan in a short amount of time. I swear, he may be a rival to Shikamaru."

"I doubt that," Konohamaru replied, grinning. He crossed his arms in defiance. "He's nothing like Shikamaru. Shikamaru is too serious and actually dresses sensibly." That response resulted in a few members of the group chuckling, but Shikamaru ignored the statement completely. Apparently, what people thought of him was, as seems to be his choice of terminology, troublesome. Konohamaru continued. "So you were working with Hayashi, then. I wondered how he got the information about us from."

"But things didn't go quite as planned," Shikamaru interrupted. His attention was no longer on the structure but now back on Kakashi. "We will have a fight on our hands."

"So, one of you was detected," Kakashi stated. His eyes seemed to wander, no focusing on anything. Not the structure, not any member of the group, not even a particular branch; his eyes just seemed to drift, meandering around. "I'm assuming Diabolos is pulling out all of the stops."

"Seems like it," Naruto replied, his face stern. His mind was on a roller coaster ride trying to fathom what exactly caused his earlier predicament. This mission wasn't routine. Then again, trying to infiltrate a cone over two kilometers high really can not be called routine, at least by any sane person.

"Judging by what I heard, you plan on separating the group and attacking them individually." Everyone nodded in agreement. "I, uh, don't think that would be too effective."

"What do you know about our opponents?" Shikamaru inquired. While most showed a small amount of surprise at the statement, Shikamaru just contemplated. He thought it foolhardy to expect anything out of Kakashi; he was just too unpredictable at times. Kakashi's shrewdness, although maybe not quite at the level of the Nara, was definitely respectable.

"That they reproduce chakra at an insane rate, they are shielded by some sort of chakra cloak, and that they have very rapid healing capabilities, even beyond Naruto's."

A subtle mixture of horror and depression hit a few members of the group, particularly the medic-nins. As almost expected, Naruto was unfazed; either he already figured something like this, or he was completely oblivious to the repercussions of this last statement. If it was the latter, Tenten's remark fixed that. "So they are virtually indestructible."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the word, but not nearly to the extent that one would expect. Apparently, Naruto had a shrewd side to him as well. "Not quite," Kakashi affirmed. "But lesser blows will heal in a matter of seconds. The only to take an enemy out is to deal a single fatal blow, either to the head or to the heart. Finding a way to drain their blood instantly would work too, but don't expect to slit their throat and move on; since they heal so fast, it would take several attempts to finally defeat them, and you likely will be given only a small handful of opportunities before you end up attracting an audience, so choose a better strategy if you have one. And you better well have one."

"What if we get a bunch of them together and blow 'em up?" Naruto cheered, spreading his hands apart to portray a large explosion. He slightly lost his balance during his gesture, and swung a foot back to regain his balance, the sight a welcome bit of comic relief to most.

"Not many of us have explosive techniques, and your rasenshuriken, if I remember, is a forbidden technique," Kakashi replied. "But hitting multiple enemies with a single, wide-spread ninjutsu is not a bad idea. But remember that if the attack doesn't kill them, you will have to be swift with a follow-up strike."

To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto smirked. A devious expression that harkened to Naruto's pranking days and easily enough to give those who knew him well, Kakashi not excluded, a small trickle of fear. But as quickly as it came, the expression vanished as Naruto refocused. "But what about the cloak that surrounds them?" He asked. He knew about chakra cloaks, especially ones that burn anything that attempted to penetrate them. He possessed the ability, er, tendency, to summon one in times of stress, and he hated it. "If we can't touch them..."

"The cloak isn't that intense," Kakashi stated. "It will take a few hits to start feeling its effects. If you feel your hands or body start to feel unusually warm, retreat and allow yourself a few minutes to recuperate and allow the energy to diffuse back out. The enemy is quite slow; if you haven't noticed, they are still about two kilometers from our current position."

"OK, change of plans," Shikamaru announced to the rest of the team. Everyone stood at attention. "We will split into three teams, each with three members. Naruto, Ino, and Lee will be in charge of the west front. You guys will be covering the most ground; you are in charge of about half of the circumference of the structure. Ino, do not use your mind-body switch technique, and use your other telepathic techniques with utmost caution; your primary role is to support the others using medical ninjutsu and your supplies. Gai, can I request that Lee take off any training aids that he has and be given authorization to open at least two celestial gates should the need arise?"

"Well," Gai stated, "although he is my prized pupil, he is now a chuunin; I no longer truly have authority to give him permission; the celestial gates are a forbidden technique, but he must make the decision on his own."

"Thank you, sir!" Lee cheered, tears rolling from his eyes.

Here we go again... Sakura sighed.

"You are my prized pupil. You deserve no less!" He gave his patented "Nice Guy" thumbs-up pose, now complemented by a wink.

"Thank you, Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee copied the same pose.

"Your welcome, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Will you both shut up!?!" Naruto yelled. Both dropped their poses and Gai glared at Naruto.

"You will never appreciate the flames of youth!"

"Moving on..." Shikamaru sighed, before turning to Shizune. "Shizune, you will be with Tenten and Neji, and cover our current quarter, the southeast. Neji, you may use your jyuuken style, but only aim for fatal blows; you will end up with severe injuries to your hands if you attempt to close too many tenketsus at once. Sakura, Gai, you are with me, covering the northeast. Any questions so far?"

"Yes," Neji replied. "Why is Lee's team covering such a large area. Even with Lee, taking on two hundred fifty enemies is a large task, especially since Naruto and Ino aren't nearly as proficient as Lee at taijutsu, and those cloaks they have probably reduce the effectiveness of ninjutsu."

"That is correct," Kakashi replied. "Naruto's rasengan would be a risky bet. It would connect, but the form would be unlikely to hold for too long, unraveling and potentially hurting the user. But you clearly don't know what he was doing while he was gone during the summer." He nodded at Naruto; apparently, he managed to get some forbidden information. But he was bound to find out anyway; he was Kakashi Hatake, after all.

"But Lee is still stronger," Neji stated.

"You clearly don't understand," Shizune stated. She smiled and narrowed her eyes, directing them at Neji. The look startled Naruto; it was similar to the sadistic look that Tsunade sometimes gave when she was planning something particularly devilish. "What Naruto is capable of now would make Lee's fight against Gaara look like a pillow fight."

"He can open the celestial gates!?!" Gai cried. He couldn't image anyone learning the technique, save for his prized pupil. And it took Rock Lee years to open five gates. Naruto was that far in only a period of a few months?

"No," Naruto replied. His eyes were level, but he was smirking. "I know what you are thinking; that much power requires a hell of a lot of chakra. It's too bad chakra isn't what I use..."

"What do you mean!?!" Lee shouted. "If you can surely beat me at my best, then you must be truly alight in flames of..."

"Thanks, but..." Naruto interjected, rubbing the back of his head. He then grew serious and met eye to eye with Lee. "The exact details are an S-class secret. I cannot let in the specifics of the technique to anyone other than a high-ranking Konoha official."

"What I can state, however..." Naruto's grin returned. "...is that you will be seeing it soon. My first time using it in a real mission, too. Lee, prepare to be amazed."

"Yosh!" cried Lee with an enthusiasm that drown out any sense of normality from the meeting. That is, if there was any sense to begin with.

"But," Neji stated. "They are still covering a very large area; three people will not be enough to stop their advance."

"And that's where the remaining four of you come into play," Shikamaru explained. Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, and Kakashi turned their heads to the unofficial leader of the mission. "You will travel to Suna, and alert the officials there that the attack has begun, and we request their immediate assistance. You must make haste; we cannot afford any delay, and the forty-five minute round trip may still be too much, but we don't have any better means of help. Unfortunately, Naruto, Lee, Ino, you may be in a hard battle for a long time. Just don't take on more of them than you can handle; don't try to be a hero or anything."

"I think I can make things a little faster for you, Kakashi," Naruto interjected. Before anyone could react, he bit the top of his left thumb, causing it to trickle a small amount of blood, put his hands together in a string of hand seals, then thrust his left palm onto the ground. A net of kanji and other symbols, some completely unidentifiable, appeared on the dirt, and a puff of smoke engulfed the area. In the haze, a blurry silhouette flashed into existence. When the smoke lifted...

"Yo!" A red toad, accented with black marks on its head and all four legs, and standing at nearly six meters tall, was sitting right in the middle of the clearing and taking up a good deal of space in the middle of the group. He wore a dark blue jacket and a katana, nearly as long as he was tall, was strapped to his back.

"Wow, you've grown!" Konohamaru gaped. "The last time I saw you, you still sat on Naruto's head!"

"You can talk?" Moegi wondered. Of the group, only she and Udon had never seen a summon up close like this.

"Yup!" stated the toad, addressing both genin at the same time.

"Gamakichi," Naruto commanded. The toad frowned; it was rare that Naruto, even in the heat of battle, neglected the usually obligatory greeting, friendly chat, and food talk. "I need you to take Kakashi, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi to Sunagakure, pronto!"

"Yes, sir!" Gamakichi saluted, then turned to Kakashi. The other three were already in front of the toad, raring to go. "Time to hop on!" Kakashi and Konohamaru jumped up and landed on the toad's back, one beside the other. "Take it easy; I'm not a carriage, ya know!" Gently grabbing the other two in each arm, Gamakuchi hopped off into the distance.

"Everyone, you know your roles," Shikamaru commanded. "Our battle starts now. Get to your positions and fight!"

"Before we go," Neji interrupted as Naruto's groups exited into the desert, "what are our chances of succeeding this mission?"

Shikamaru's face suddenly fell, catching Neji and the rest of his and Shikamaru's groups by surprise. They didn't need to hear the words, but they got them anyway. "My father always told me that, as long as we anticipate our enemies units, we will always win. He also said that, for a Nara, miracles never occur because they are never needed. I can say without a doubt that he was wrong on the first point, and I sincerely hope that the second is wrong as well."

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"What is our status, Temari?" A red-headed young man was sitting at a large office desk, its surface completely barren save for a single sheet of paper and an ornate metal ink pen. He wore a dark red robe, the expected attire for the Kazekage, the leader of Sunagakure and, in political power, only a notch or two from the Feudal Lord of the Wind Country himself. His eyes were surrounded in black, giving him the appearance of a raccoon or tanuuki, and he had the word "love" in kanji as a red scar above his left eye.

"Our troops are on stand by and ready to strike at any time," Temari replied, leaning against Gaara's desk. The fan-wielder of the village and one of the strongest wind-manipulators in the land, her power was far fiercer than her appearance would give off. And her appearance, in terms of toughness was no slouch; she wore black skin tight pants that, in spite of the dark color, showed her legs' muscular tone. Her lavender t-shirt was more loose-fitting, but her chest's curvature was still quite visible underneath the cloth. She wasn't nearly as 'well-endowed' as Tsunade, and would prefer it that way. Her arms, no less imposing than her legs, were smooth; even a warrior like her had to take care of her hygiene. "Gaara, we can invade at any time."

"No, we need to wait for conformation," Gaara replied. "I trust that our source will be reliable and prompt."

"If I'm not intruding on anything," Temari asked, "just who is this 'source'?"

"A Konoha shinobi by the name of Nara Shikamaru," Gaara replied, narrowing his eyes.

"That lazy-ass oaf!?!" Temari's eyes twitched in annoyance. She walked up to the desk and slammed her hands onto the wood surface. "He'd be the type that would fall asleep in the middle of the mission! How can we trust that he will be punctual?"

"Temari, silence!" Gaara blasted, causing his sister to retreat hastily into a chair. When Gaara was angry, he was pissed; his temper, like that of his sister, was an on-off switch. There was no such thing to him as being a 'little' piqued. "In case your memory fails you, he did manage to kill an Akatsuki member essentially single-handedly, and contributed to dispatching another. His intelligence exceeds my own and, quite possibly, any other shinobi in this land. I'm surprised you don't trust your own boyfriend." Gaara smirked evilly. He loved teasing his sister; even without his demon, he still had a sinister side to him.

"What the hell did you say!?!" Temari jumped right back up and put her face within centimeters of Gaara's. "I hardly know that bastard! What makes you think that we are seeing each other?"

"I don't," Gaara dismissed, parting his eyes from Temari's. He didn't bother with the staredown; knowing her and himself, it could last hours. "I just don't understand why you take the issue so seriously. If I mention any other name, you just ignore it. However, this isn't the case with Shikamaru. Do you really still despise him for humiliating you at the Chuunin exams so long ago?"

"In case YOU don't remember," Temari snapped, undeterred, "I won that fight, and am now your second in command of our military! I can't say that he is ranked quite so highly. I also saved his ass when they went after their traitor. Not only that..." She was unable to complete her sentence when another Suna shinobi barged into the office through one of the open windows. Temari, startled, glared at the intruder. Gaara, however, just folded his hands in front of him and didn't even turn his head to face the intruder; he was used to this.

"And may I ask is the purpose of this... interruption?" Gaara's voice was eerily cool and collected.

"Our watchmen have spotted an entity coming from the northeast. It seems to be some sort of... toad or frog."

"Frog?" Temari asked, bewildered.

"Temari," Gaara, noticing Temari's confused look, addressed his sister, "did I mention that Uzumaki is with the group?" A pause. "And that Shikamaru does act intermittently as Tsunade's military advisor?"

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"We're in position." Neji told the rest of his team. They had retreated a small distance into the forest; the further away from the structure they were, the less dense the enemies would be. The forest also aided them considerably; Shizune and Neji were by no means capable of fighting more than a small handful of enemies at a time, and the forest cover reduced mobility and evasion, making Tenten's weapons more likely to hit their target. As long as the enemy didn't completely level the forest, the small group had the advantage.

"What is our strategy?" Tenten asked her teammates. Neji was quick to respond.

"I will attack first. I will not go for an immediate kill; I will first need to gauge the capabilities of our enemy. If they have powerful long-range attacks, we'll need to stay as a group and rely on Tenten for most of the fatal strikes while we eliminate any stragglers. If they do not, we can attack individual ones and reduce their numbers much more quickly."

"If you can help it," Shizune replied, "do not attack with your hands in either case. We'll last much longer if we use a weapon with a long reach; the less we come in contact with their chakra, the less we'll have to recuperate."

"I'm set," Tenten confirmed. He pulled a small scroll from her cloak, and unwound it on the forest floor. A puff of smoke, and there lay an ornate iron staff. In spite of her thin appearance, Tenten was a force to be reckoned with, and could handle such a heavy weapon with ease. "Shizune?"

"It's been a while since I've used this," Shizune chirped, taking off the backpack that she wore. She always cared the bag for carrying medical supplies. "Before I became a medic, I wanted to be a teacher. I figured this little trinket would be a teacher's best friend. Ah, here it is." She pulled out a scroll, similar in size to Tentens, and unrolled it. A puff of smoke appeared, and on the now flat scroll was the 'trinket' that she has mentioned.

"A... mace?" Neji stated. A black spiked ball, probably seven to ten kilograms in mass, was hanging from a heavy black chain. On the other end of the chain, in Shizune's hand, was an ornate wooden handle just long enough for Shizune to put both hands on it; of course, Shizune only required one. While Neji was emotionless, Tenten was shaking her head, grinning.

"I'm glad I never had to attend one of your lectures."

"Neji," Shizune addressed. "I'm aware that the Hyuuga clan frowns upon the use of any weapons in hand-to-hand combat, and that the clan's main family prohibits their use entirely. Yet, I am certain that using your Jyuuken style will make your chakra system more vulnerable to their energy."

"I'm aware of that, Shizune," Neji assured. "However, I'm perfectly capable of taking out an enemy with a single, powerful blow, and I'm also capable of dealing damage without coming in direct contact with the enemy. Also, unlike either of you, I can protect myself, at least in the short term, from more powerful techniques. Until we know for sure what exactly were up against, I have the best chances of surviving a prolonged fight, at least until the abilities of our opponents are determined."

"Agreed," Shizune nodded. "But don't take any unnecessary chances. Your village comes before your clan. Remember that."

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"Lee," Naruto addressed. The three members of their team – Lee, Naruto, and Ino – were in a tight formation with Naruto in the lead and the other two side-by-side, and were racing across the desert sands. "When we get there, I need you to gather as many people into one spot as possible."

"But Naruto," Ino argued, "they are far too strong to take on at once."

"Don't you remember Shizune's words?" Lee countered. "Naruto will surely show them the true power of youth!"

"Ino, Lee," Naruto explained. "Although what Shizune said is true, there are three main weaknesses. First of all, in ideal circumstances, it will take me about two minutes to get to that state, and I will be unable to move in the meantime. Having Lee round them up will also distract them from our position in the meantime. Secondly, once I'm actually in that state, I have a strictly limited supply of energy; once it's used up, I'll retreat. I'll need to do as much damage as possible in that time; that's why they need to be close together. Lastly, if I do take out many of them, I'm certain that I'm probably going to feel it afterwards, thanks to their chakra cloaks. You two will need to take over then."

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"Here's the plan," Shikamaru, kneeling on the ground, addressed his teams. Gai and Sakura, standing on either side of him, looked down onto the forest floor, where Shikamaru was drawing a diagram of their current position relative to the cone, including a wavy, but otherwise inartistic, line representing the border between the sands and the forest. "We are currently here..." he drew an 'X' below and to the right of the circle, well on the other side of the wavy line. He was never good at art. "...about three kilometers from the cone and about two kilometers from the forest's border. The closest enemies are here, about one kilometer from our current position and closing.

"Our mode of attack is to divide our section of the forest into several smaller areas." He drew several small points on the map. "Six points, each spaced apart about four hundred meters apart. Since we are taking on one-hundred twenty-five enemies, that would make for twenty-one enemies per point. Sakura, Gai, honestly, how many of these enemies do you think each one of you will be able to take before tiring out?"

"Probably between six and eight," Sakura stated, "assuming that each is a low B-rank threat."

"I can take on an average of fifteen-point-six B-ranks at a time," Gai bragged.

"You keep track?" Sakura asked.

"How else can I tell if I have surpassed by eternal rival?" Gai returned smugly.

"And how is his record?"

"Well, um..." Gai's voice trailed off; he was defeated. "He never told me! Of course; my eternal rival is far too hip to simply tell someone of his abilities!"

"It doesn't matter." Shikamaru stood up, causing the other two to focus on him. "Sakura, you start at the forest's border and work your way in. Gai, I'll set you in position. Fight your opponents, and defeat them as swiftly as possible. Sakura, when you dispatch your first enemy, look for one in the south; Gai, you work northward. Sakura, after you defeat three enemies, retreat to the south, but make sure all others that you spot find you and follow you. Gai, you defeat seven enemies, then retreat to the north. I will be waiting at the location where your groups will converge with a trap ready. Once we get them inside of the trap, I call for you to retreat, which you must do as quickly as possible. I'll then spring the trap, which will trap them in several explosive tags, then we'll move on to the next area. Every other area, we'll refuel on soldier pills." A yawn. "Make sure, at each area, you only defeat your quota, but no less. I created enough explosive tags to rig eighteen of them at each point; that will be enough to destroy a dozen of them cleanly, even if only a third of them actually attach to their targets."

"When did you make so many tags?" Sakura asked.

"Last night," Shikamaru replied. "Looking through the documents that Konohamaru retrieved, I concluded that whoever ran that thing had a strong military force used solely for preventing workers, and therefore information, out. Judging by the nature of the work there, I also assumed that he was impulsive and preferred absolution; the only way, by any logic, to guarantee a military victory with available forces is to use them all at their greatest power. There is one thing that caught me by surprise, though."

"And what's that?" Gai interjected.

"Naruto. When he mentioned to me the details of the illness that he had, I had an eerie suspicion that it had something to do with that building. However, I didn't expect that it was directly related to the Temperance Generator; when its control mechanism was shut down, Naruto's energy completely returned. The Generator, from what I gathered, controls beings that contain a large amount of tainted chakra like the enemies that we are facing and suppresses their power. However, Naruto does not contain that chakra and has never come in contact with it; he should not have been influenced. There is likely another property, a side effect, that was causing his condition, but I do not have enough information to deduce a hypothesis."

"Don't worry about it," Sakura chirped. "When we complete this mission, we'll take a specimen and use it to gather more information from it. If we can find out and isolate whatever is causing those weird chakra, we might be able to find out what happened to Naruto. If we are lucky, we can also create an agent that can counter its effects."

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"How far do we have to go?"

A small group two men, one young boy, three women, and one canine companion, were running along the forest floor. None possessed hitai-ite, and their clothing gave the impression that their battle style relied rather little on stealth. In fact, none of them seemed to have anything in common other than their general proximity to each other.

"Ten kilometers and closing." The leader of the group, a young man that, by the sound of his voice, was in his lower twenties in age, called back to his group. "Hopefully, we'll be there in about forty minutes, given our current pace."

"I hope we're not too late," spoke one of the females the words soft-spoken and containing no small hint of worry.

"I'm sure we'll get there in plenty of time." Another female assured.

"You young'ns have a lotta energy," stated the other man of the group. Unlike the others, he was struggling to catch his breath. Either that, or he was a rather impressive actor. "Can't ya give an ol' man a break now an den?"

"What do you mean 'old man'!?!" shouted the last female. "I remember you going through a certain desert, doing backflips in the searing heat while the rest of us were baking in the sun! And now you're tired!?! Besides, the sooner we get there, the sooner I get to rip Diabolos a new one! Oooh!"

"Look," demanded the young boy of the group. While not as brimming with confidence like his leader, he managed to keep a calm demeanor. "We don't have much time. We have to hurry."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had this chapter written up quite a while ago, but sort of lost inspiration after a while, so I dropped off of the scene. You can thank user "Top" for convincing me to go with this story, although I'm significantly altering the plot from my original plans. I plan on incorporating a non-canon fight against Pain in this story, and I also plan on making this a cross-over with another universe. Before you ask, I'll make sure to keep the characters detailed enough so that you don't need to now the other series to enjoy this, and they'll play a relatively minor role.

And before you ask, the last conversation is from those characters I plan on implementing from the other series. They'll have a mostly supporting role, and will be introduced in the upcoming battle. And I purposely left out all physical descriptions. Don't want to give away too much, now!

Lastly, there is a slight alteration to the format from here on out. I am not using bold lettering anymore. All thoughts are in italics, as will be move names (although I will likely use their English translations for reasons of consistency. I don't feel like butchering the Japanese language for the sake of original moves and abilities.)