Hitomi was on her knees with her head in her hands. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. She was too young to remember her father being killed by Pein and in fact, the last time she felt this way was when her mother died of what doctors said a complicated illness but everyone else knew that it was of a broken heart. Yukino rubbed her daughter's back with passion and sympathy. Even Tenten came over to help console her unknown niece. Satori stood with Aoba, Seika, Gintokin and Junshin figuring out their next plan of attack. Satori's senbon moved up and down as he spoke to the others about their next move. Suddenly Gintokin's attention faltered from his teammates to the air.
"If we're going to defeat this thing we need to…" Satori stopped talking and looked over to Gintokin who looked like he was daydreaming.
"What is it, Gin?"
"Guys, they're coming." He said.
They all stopped and looked up just in time to see more Mist ninjas leap onto the scene. The leaf ninjas were instantly overwhelmed. The Mist ninjas tackled them and held them to the ground. Then another Mist ninja came from the trees.
"Don't kill them. We need them alive." He said.
"What the hell are you doing?" Satori demanded.
"We are going to use you for the mimic ninja."
"As sacrifices?" Tenten asked.
"What else? We will take you to the vortex and give you up to the mimic ninja."
"Why?" Junshin asked.
At that moment, Hitomi kicked her captor off of her and sprang to her feet. She was almost immediately tackled by two more Mist ninjas. She hit the ground face first. One of the Mist ninjas pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into the base of Hitomi's skull. Satori and Yukino looked on with wide eyes.
"One down." The Mist leader said.
Then Hitomi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and all of their eyes widened.
"Kage Bunshin?"
A hand sprang up from the ground and grabbed both ninjas by their ankles.
"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no jutsu." (Earth Element: Inner Decapitation Technique)
Hitomi pulled both ninjas into the ground and then leapt out of the ground a few feet away. She pulled her black bladed sai weapons and engaged the other Mist ninjas. She kicked one off of her mother and stabbed him in the chest. One ninja came up behind her but Hitomi already knew he was there. She ducked, stuck her leg out and spun around, tripping the ninja. She stood up and stomped on the ninja's neck, breaking it. One of the Mist ninjas, who was helping hold down Gintokin, grabbed Gintokin's sword and was going to use it to fight Hitomi. Gintokin's eyes widened with fury. The Mist ninja stood in front of Hitomi and was about to draw the sword when he felt two hands grab his head and twist it violently to the side. As he dropped, Gintokin was revealed standing behind him.
"No one touches my sword." Gintokin said as he reached down and picked it up.
The other Leaf ninjas were able to break the hold on their captors and were able to join the fight.
"STOP!" A voice called out.
The Leaf ninjas stopped to look where the voice originated. The Mist team leader held Yukino by her hair with a kunai to her throat.
"Stop attacking or your teammate will die."
Satori wanted to attack but he didn't want to risk Yukino. He saw Hitomi grip her weapons out of the corner of his eye. She noticed his attention towards her and looked at him. Satori subtly shook his head. She holstered her two weapons and stood down. The Mist ninjas that were still able and living came up and grabbed a hold of the Leaf ninjas again. The Mist leader still had a hold of Yukino and began to drag her away.
"Now, it's time for all of you to..."
The Mist ninja stopped in mid sentence and held his hands to his ears. Everyone put hands to their ears. Even in the midst of their pain the Leaf ninjas, now free of their captors' grasp, huddled together. The pain from the high pitched tone was almost unbearable. One by one the Leaf ninjas began to fall to the ground. Hitomi fell and slowly closed her eyes. She slowly opened them again and saw a being take shape of another mist ninja. It was the mimic ninja. The Mist ninjas were dying at the hands of the mimic ninja. She knew that she had to protect her parents and friends and she was the only one who could protect them now. Hitomi stumbled to her feet and stood in front of her teammates, in between them and the mimic ninja. She began a series of handseals. Dragon, Boar, Horse, Tiger, Ram, Snake, Tiger, Ox, Dragon, Snake. She formed the Snake seal hard with the rest of her strength.
"Gaibu mamoru no tate." (External Protection Shield)
A blue shield appeared around the Leaf ninjas with the exception of Hitomi. She had to stay stationary and outside the shield to keep it stable. The mimic ninja noticed Hitomi, stopped what it was doing and moved towards her. Hitomi gritted her teeth, knowing she couldn't move or else the shield would fail. The others were passed out anyway so if she left then they'd all die. The mimic ninja stood real close to the hyper chromatic ninja and stared her in the eyes with a curious look of a child. Then the mimic ninja place her hands on the sides of Hitomi's heads with only the tips of its fingers touching her head around Hitomi's ears. The tips of its fingers glowed green and Hitomi began to scream as the mimic ninja probed her mind.
