New Plan! It'll E-F You Up!

Yukiko, the black leather queen, was as silent as a killer as the very snake skin she wore. The deadly grip of her hair was not unlike a python's, and her looks could paralyze any of her prey as well as venom. Rumors made her seem like a bounty hunter since she only went after those with a price on their head, but here she was being ordered around by a man half her weight…if you weren't counting his gold hair piece.

While still having a firm grip on the old man, she approached him, her long hair unwavering despite her movements. She traced her nails along the contours of the man's face, and he coward beneath her touch. "Is this man bewitching these robes…master…" she inquired.

Ryuu found his eyes were locked with hers, they were a honey gold outlined in black eyeliner, and her pupils weren't exactly round but tilted in a snake-like manor. He could not be taken away from her gaze even if he killed himself; he felt these eyes would follow him even into the afterlife. They disturbed his very soul, and pierced it like talons.

The Golden Helmet clenched his fists with satisfaction and tried to repress his grin. His face twisted wildly with excitement.

"I see no other way! To think, that this man thought he could pull a fast one on me. It's…laughable I dare say. Am I right?"

He threw his head back and let of a screech that was meant to be his laugh. The other men, and villagers, covered their ears to the intrusive noise. When the Helmet saw no one else laughing along with him, he glared around. "None of you monkeys has a sense of humor?" he snarled.

Nervously, his men began to force out a laugh, but it was so pathetic that the Helmet only rolled his eyes. "How about you, Yukiko? Didn't you think that was funny?"

Without removing her eyes from the old man she let out a, "ha."

"See! See? If Yukiko thinks that I am funny, then I am funny! HO HO HO! Even the Golden Helmet can make a joke while on the job! HO HO HO!" he declared as he twirled around and flung his arms over his head. He no longer felt threatened by the mystery strangers, and was back to his cocky self.

Ino and Sakura knew that this would bread trouble. It was easy to fight knowing that they could do it from afar, but now…?

Sakura stared at the helpless Ryuu. "Looks like we'll have to go in there ourselves. It would have been easy if it was just the mindless thugs, but…her…she looks like she was born to kill."

"Slender legs with muscular calves…sculpted abs…definition in her arms…talon like fingers…and let's not forget about her freakish hair! That girl was designed to eat and breathe destruction!"

"INO!"

Sakura nearly fell out of her secret spot perched high on the tree. Ino was there so suddenly she thought at first it was only a projection of her instead of the real thing.

Ino's face stretched into a large grin. "Scared ya', didn't I?"

"ofcourseyouscaredme!" Sakura shot back in a low whisper. "How'd you getheresofast?"

"I just climbed the tree. Once I knew that the air puppets were no longer good, I thought it'd be best if we were together instead of separated."

Sakura sweat dropped, but Ino had a point. They'd be safer together, and this way they could make their next strategy. They both looked down at Yukiko and the others. They had to think fast, or it'd be too late for Ryuu, and the village.

"What's the problem here?" Sakura asked.

Ino looked at her questionably. "Is that a real question, or are you being rhetorical?"

"No, I mean…what do we have to accomplish here?"

Hesitantly, Ino answered. "Get these lunatics away from this village once and for all."

"Now how do we do that?"

"By destroying the head and his ace." Ino understood why Sakura was speaking all of this aloud. She was trying to get them to figure out their 'plan B' out loud, and together. Ino smiled. "To get rid of him, we'll have to get rid of her."

"And to get rid of her?" Sakura smirked at Ino as if she was reading her mind, and the way Ino responded with her own knowing smile made it seem like she did.


Shikamaru was the smart one in the group, so not much got passed him. Problem solving, strategies, puzzles, these were all up his street, so he only played dumb the first time he saw Neji and Princess Hinata near each other.

Both had the same eye color, and this wasn't just your average brown or blue. They were both lavender. It was odd, and he could tell that Neji seemed confused with this too. How could people with that different color not be related? So Shikamaru began to think to himself everything he knew about the royal Hyuuga family.

'They have trust issues. They've always had them.' He managed to get into deep thought while keeping up a good running pace behind Naruto and Neji. 'They have guards, but when it comes to the crown they can only trust family, so some of their family members are the ones who protect those in line for the thrown.' Shikamaru stared curiously at the back of Neji. They never knew where he was from, not even he knew. The only thing he said that he was sure of was that his name was Neji, but what if he really was a Hyuuga? Shikamaru wondered if that would lead Neji to betraying them all to save Hinata. It was something he didn't want to think about, because Neji was one of his best friends, but it was a possibility.

"Shikamaru!"

He looked to his right and saw Sasuke next to him. "You've been slowing down. Is everything alright?" They continued to jump through the trees. Naruto and Neji, while still jumping through the branches, turned their heads to look at Shikamaru too.

"Sorry, just distracted."

"About what?" asked Neji. Shikamaru had to think on his toes.

"I was thinking….how far they might be."

Sasuke looked up at Neji. "Have you seen any trace of them?" he called up.

"I can get a better look if I stop for a minute."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Alright. Let's all stop."

Each of them came to a halt on a different branch. Shikamaru grabbed hold of his chest and took in some breaths. Thinking of his friend betraying them, while also running, really wore a guy out. Sasuke was surprised to see Shikamaru so tired. Then he realized they were all working hard to recapture the princesses. He himself was glad for the chance to stop.

Naruto leaned against the tree, arms crossed. He stared at Neji hoping they would get some good news instead of them running blindly back towards the palace, which would be in the same direction as the people looking for the princesses.

Neji was busy being smug and scanning miles ahead of them for signs of the girls. He knew that without him they would be in a complete rut; this made him smirk. Then he quickly remembered that the only reason he had such a gift was because he was a Protector of an Elementalist.

This took some smugness out of his smirk since he still hated the fact that he was only born to protect someone else.

He only dwelled on those thoughts for a few seconds longer because he heard Sasuke clear his throat. "Well?"

"The thing is…I don't see them, or even traces of them."

Shaking his head in annoyance, Sasuke continued moving forward through the branches. "Hn, we've wasted enough time stopping. Now we have to make up for it." He got as far as Neji's when his voice stopped him.

"Wait. I see a village, and there's smoke."

He turned to look at Neji. "So?"

Shikamaru was the one to speak. "If there's a close by village then there's a chance that the four princesses went there to ask for help!"

"So should we go there?" asked Naruto.

"Well Sasuke?" Neji asked raising an eyebrow.

They all waited for his orders. Luckily they didn't have to wait long.


"I'm tired of all this waiting around! Shouldn't they have scared all of those bandits to us hours ago?" Tenten stomped around in a circle for the nineteenth time. She had somehow managed her own little path in the amounts of times she had done it, but being able to control the earth had also helped.

Hinata sat on a boulder watching Tenten. She wasn't sure how to help her friend, or why she was even so anxious to encounter the large men in the first place. She wasn't even the one who had to take them out permanently by drowning them.

"It hasn't been hours, Tenten." More like years. Hinata just couldn't take someone else's life, but she was going to try and do it anyways.

"Hmp! I just want to really mess someone up, that's all. Especially people hurting innocent people not even half their size. Doesn't that just…PISS you off?" Hinata grimaced and nodded her head. "These assholes are going to pay! And when we're done with them, I say we forget about going home too!"

"Tenten…what…?"

"Yeah! That way we can go back and find Prince Sasuke's crew and kick their asses E-F Style!"

Tenten was charged with rage, Hinata couldn't see any way of stopping her, or where all this rage came from to begin with.

"Wha…what does E-F mean, Tenten?" 'Please let me distract her!'

With a toothy grin, Tenten declared, "Elemental Four Style! E-F! It makes a lot more sense when you tell someone that we're going to EF them up! Get it?" she giggled.

"That is clever." Hinata admitted. Cautiously, she continued. "Tenten…I can see how badly you want to fight and all…but I can't help but think that this is being fueled by something else."

Tenten turned her back on Hinata right away…before it was too late.

"You're wrong!" she declared. "I'm pissed solely for these people, and for no other reason!" She took several step forward-in the direction most opposite Hinata-but that didn't stop the lavender-eyed princess.

"…Tenten?"

'Damn it! Must resist! Do not look!' she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and forced her eyes to shut. 'If I look…then I'll…'

"Tenten, go ahead and tell me." Hinata prodded. When that didn't do anything, she quietly walked over next to her. Leaning in to look at Tenten's face, she began again. "Tenten, I'm your friend. You tell me everything, right?"

Slowly, but still resisting, Tenten peaked open her eyes to see Hinata's lavender ones. Instantly she wanted to let out her true feelings, because that's what happened every time Hinata looked at someone in earnest. They'd want to answer her no matter what it was she asked them.

"It's just…" Tenten began to feel awkward and hugged her arms for comfort. "…well…i'm…I'm STILL MAD THAT WE'VE BEEN CAUGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Hinata smiled, and Tenten let out an exasperated sigh of relief. "There, I said it. Now I just want to take out my frustration on someone, and they haven't been sent over to us yet. And…now that I think about that…I wonder if they're doing alright."

"You think they're in trouble?"

Anxiously, Tenten bounced on the balls of her feet. A part of her wanted to trust that Ino and Sakura were doing things according to plan and that the men would be chased over at any second. The other part of her began to feel as if they were in serious trouble, and were lying dead on the ground somewhere.

"Should we go see what the holdup is?" Tenten asked. "Maybe we can even help them out to move things along."

Hinata held her hands to her chest. "I'm not sure, but I hope they're okay."

"AUGH! This sucks!" Tenten stomped around her path for the twentieth time. "We're the Elemental Four! Shouldn't we be able to…I don't know…feel it they're okay? Like…with magic? Or something?"

Hinata's eyes opened wide with that realization. Couldn't they do that? If they tried?

In the pit of her stomach, past the butterflies and uneasiness, Hinata for once felt the answer "yes".

In a quiet voice, Hinata said, "Let's try."

Tenten looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Try what?"

Clasping her hands tighter to her chest, Hinata looked over at Tenten desperately. "Let's try and feel if they're okay! I think it could really work."

It wasn't a bad idea, but, "Do you think we can?" Tenten asked.

The Earth Elementalist walked over to the water one and knew just by looking into her determined eyes that it at a high chance of working. With no more words to be exchanged, they smiled and closed their eyes. At first nothing happened, and then Tenten suggested, "We focus on them, with our minds and our hearts. Focus on them and on us."

"With all of our mind and heart, just think of only them and us."


With the situation back under his control, and the old magician, Ryuu, no longer able to pull any tricks because of his restraint, The Golden Helmet clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Now now, we've all had fun today. But seriously, I have other things to do and can't waste any more of my precious time with the likes of anyone of this village. I was planning on being nice and only destroying your homes, but now…I'm past the point of annoyed." His glare swept the cowering villagers. "If you don't give me my star…then Yukiko will kill you all one by one starting off with this magician and followed by every woman and child!"

The Helmet snapped his fingers, and Jiro came to attention. "Hand pick the second victim to be killed. In the mean time, Yukiko my pet, let's be done with this geezer."

"Yes…master…I'll end his struggling now. Jiro, allow me a young girl next…"

From the tree Ino and Sakura both watched in horror. They still weren't sure how to execute their new plan, but they had to act fast.

Sakura swallowed nothing. Her mouth was dry. "Ino…what should we…"

Ino slammed her hand on Sakura's shoulder, and grabbed her own heart with the other. "Sakura, can you feel that?"

She knew exactly what Ino was feeling, their hearts were pounding so hard they could hear one another's. A feeling that they could describe as warm carbonated water, encased their arms and legs. Scratches and dirt evaporated off of their bodies, and their muscles no longer were weakened with strain. Sakura could hear Ino's heart. Ino could hear Sakura's. And they both could hear two others in the distance.

"Tenten." said Ino.

"Hinata!" gasped Sakura.

It was both a long moment, and a short one. As fast as it had appeared, it was beginning to ebb away. Behind, it left the two girls feeling more powerful.

Ino was the first to let out a sigh of content. "They're glad that we're alright."

"And Tenten is acting impatiently." Sakura smiled. "So let's hurry up and get this going."

Ino nodded and they both jumped off their branch knowing that they would safely land on their feet. Into the clearing they appeared both graceful and powerful. Startling gasps came from everyone, but a strangled one came out of Ryuu.

"Old man!" Sakura yelled. Ino, with the wind on her heels charged full force at Yukiko's head with the intention of knocking it off. Instead it sent her flying fifty yards into the coach that shattered into splinters.

"Ino!" blushed Sakura. "How did you…when did you learn…that was…fucking AWESOME!"

"Hmp, course it was!" Ino brushed imaginary dust off her shoulder. "I tried to hold back, but with power like this? I did my best." She shrugged.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Okay, less impressed cocky bitch."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" cried The Golden Helmet. "WHO ARE YOU TWO? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH?"

Sakura and Ino both smirked, "Do you know who you're looking at?" they asked.

"The Elemental Four!" Ryuu began to cry. His muscles ached from being crushed for so long, but with his will power he was able to make it onto two boney legs. He looked at his two saviors. "Take them out!" he pleaded. "Save this village!"

They nodded simultaneously. "Sakura, make the path!"

"Right!"

"JIROOO!" screeched The Golden Helmet. "I hate little girls! Take them out already!"

Jiro looked at the now demolished coach and the girl who easily defeated Yukiko.

"Bu..But master…"

"NO EXCUSES FALL IN LINE AND DO IT NOOOOOOOOOW!"

All the thugs got to their feet charged at Ino and Sakura, who both smiled to each other.