"Where the Konoha Dance…"

By Wubbie

NOTICE: Naruto does not belong to me. I wish it did, because there are a couple things I wish were done differently. However, give credit where it's due… Naruto was written by Masashi Kishimoto, and published by Shonin Jump! It's currently being licensed in the United States, so I just wanted to say that I claim no ownership to anything in here. I'm just borrowing characters and making up my own story. Well, here we go…

NOTE: I don't want to take up more space in the chapter than I need to for author's notes and shoutouts and stuff. So therefore, I'll place them all in the FIRST author's note page. That way, anyone who had a question or something can just go there and others won't be bothered to see it.

Chapter Nine: Suspicion

Year: 21AK (21 Years after Kyuubi Attack)

Neji gripped his kunai as the Cloud army rushed towards him. Every muscle in Neji's body was completely on fire. What was worse was that Neji was almost completely drained of his chakra. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he panted heavily. The Kaiten had taken a toll, but it was a sacrifice he had to make if he wanted to protect his troops. They were relying on him, just as his comrades in Konoha were doing. He was to sneak into Cloud territory and attack their army from the rear, just as Naruto and Jiraiya would attack them from the front. Unfortunately, they were somehow discovered.

As Neji waited in anticipation, he felt his soldiers rushing forward, hurling kunai at the rushing ninja. Many fell as kunai landed and hit their mark. These men would never rise again, except for when they would be collected later to be buried properly, hours after the battle. As the two armies rushed towards eachother, several figures would be dispersing throughout.

These five figures composed the most powerful ANBU unit in the Cloud's existence. With every step these five made, a monstrous roar could be heard. Neji's eyes watched each of them carefully for they stood out. Not only that, their movements were completely different from the rest of the Cloud army. Whereas the Cloud army rushed forward and directly toward the Konoha and Sand troops that Neji had been commanding, these five weaved in and out, almost zig-zagging in perfect formation.

When the two armies collided, countless shinobi fell. Various katon and raiton jutsus were being utilized and several explosions occured when the two elements combined. Smoke filled the sky, signalling to the surrounding area that there was a great battle about to occur.

Neji eyed his surroundings carefully. The movements of the five Cloud ninja was extremely unusual. It went against the grain of both armies and was not an ideal formation for a melee fight they were engaged in at the moment. In fact, it was similar to the formation a pack of wolves would have used to ensnare a single rabbit. As Neji pondered this, he realized exactly what they were up to. But it was too late, the five Cloud ninja began to converge upon their prey. Neji quickly pulled a soldier pill from his pocket and swallowed it. He would probably not make it out of this battle. The five were gunning for Konoha's Byakuugan.

.: In Konoha :.

Kakashi stood motionless in front of the memorial dedicated to the ninja who had died in service. For what seemed like seconds to Kakashi were actually hours as he prepared for the coming battle. Kakashi was going to replace Gai while he healed, while Jiraiya would take the campaign against the Cloud. Kakashi would most assuredly meet Hagane Retsu, one of the most powerful ninja in the world, a man who singlehandedly defeated the Sand's Kazekage and the best puppet-nin and weapon's specialist that the Sand and Leaf could offer.

"Still blaming yourself?" a woman's voice said out of nowhere.

"I was just trying to see if he'd be able to give me any advice," Kakashi said softly, "I should've listened to him so many times."

"Well, can't change the past, Kakashi. Don't spend so much time dwelling on it. Or you'll miss out on the now," Tsunade said, "There were so many years I've missed, trying to forget what happened many years ago."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said, bowing his head. "Thank you for the advice."

"No problem," Tsunade replied. "But what do you intend to do against Retsu? Orochimaru had once fought him."

"What happened?" Kakashi asked.

"It was a draw," Tsunade explained. "Retsu had to flee as Jiraiya and I arrived to provide Orochimaru some support. He would not be able to defeat all three of us singlehandedly."

"A wise decision," Kakashi said as he absentmindedly fingered a kunai in his hand. "Is there any advice that you can give me?"

"Just don't use Raikiri. The man's skin is truly made out of steel. It is the only thing Kusanagi was never able to pierce."

"I see. Thanks for the advice." Kakashi repeated. "I must be off then."

"Good luck, Kakashi," Tsunade said.

.: Elsewhere :.

"The preparations are complete. Our troops are advancing and will be there in three days," the young, dark-eyed Jounin reported. "Atotori has reported in and relayed the information to both us and the Cloud."

"Good," a voice said. "And what of Hiretsu? Is he ready?"

"I spoke with him today. He is ready. This war will be the greatest war the world will ever see. It will need history's greatest warrior. He will come."

"Good."

.: Neji's Battle :.

Neji grimaced as the Five came at him. They did not foolishly rush in, however. It would seem that they would move toward Neji and allow him to react and sidestep. After many minutes of this did Neji realize that the movements they were using were forcing him away from the battlefield, further isolating him from the rest of his troops. He was alone in this fight now.

Another pattern that the Five used confounded Neji. Every time one would rush forward, the others remained, and then the one would rush backwards. Then another would repeat the same movement. This process was continually repeated as they spiraled around Neji. But this time, Neji figured out that they were testing Neji's reactions. Countless stories had been told of the Byakuugan of Konoha. The 360 degree field of vision was certainly being tested.

"Are you ready, Hyuuga?" a man announced. The man was a tall, broad-shouldered figure. He wore a simple Jounin's vest, black shorts with fishnets, and had his forehead protector wrapped around his head in a bandana. His arms were covered in tattoos, with a large, angry gorilla upon his tricep. Everything about this man was loud and angry. Even his voice boomed and rumbled.

"You first, Yamazaru-sama," the smallest of the bunch piped up. The booming one, Yamazaru, smiled and burst forward. Neji scowled as he raised his kunai and braced himself for the powerful-looking ninja, who appeared to be the leader of the group.

"Ikazuchi no Mai (Thunder Dance)," the man simply said as he performed several hand seals. With that, the air around Neji begin to quake and Neji began to feel disoriented and lose his sense of balance. Yamazaru rushed forward and took advantage, punching Neji in the gut, sending him flying.

Neji righted himself in midair and somersaulted, landing on his own two feet. He panted and stared back at his opponent. "He's fast," Neji thought to himself. "And strong too."

With that, Neji stared at Yamazaru's chakra points and shot forward. He began aiming at them to send chakra, yelling "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)."

But as Neji attempted to strike at Yamazaru's chakra points, Yamazaru weaved away from every single strike. After the 34th strike, Neji grew angry and lost his composure and simply yelled, "Kaiten!"

Yamazaru got knocked back about 10 yards away. He fell to the ground, but propped himself back up. His mouth was bleeding, but he didn't care and simply licked the blood off his lips. He looked at the other four around him. Yamazaru laughed and snapped his fingers. At that moment, the remaining four burst forward and attacked Neji from all angles.

It was simple taijutsu and the other four weren't as nearly as good as Yamazaru. Neji was too spent from doing another Kaiten and absorbed many of their blows. Eventually, he could no longer dodge and was simply getting pummeled back and forth between the four. But as Neji kept getting pummelled, he watched for a weakness in the four.

He found none as he realized that they worked in perfect harmony to dissect Konoha's vaunted Byakuugan-user. But after several seconds through his painstaking beating, he noticed a hole in their teamwork. It would seem that the smallest one was not attacking as often and as visciously as the other three. With that, Neji parried a punch, ducked a kick, and aimed toward the heart of the smallest of the Five.

Time stopped as Neji struck his opponent. The young ninja was very small and could not have been more than thirteen years old. As the other three kicked Neji yards away, the young ninja fell to the ground, bleeding from the mouth. Yamazaru stopped smiling as they all converged upon their fallen comrade. As this happened, various Konoha ninja rushed to Neji's aide.

Yamazaru picked up the young ninja who was still breathing and muttered, "Stay alive kid."

The three other ninja looked concerned and looked to their leader for guidance. Yamazaru surveyed the battlefield. His troops had lost, but his mission of killing off the Byakuugan-user had failed. There were too many Konoha ninja in the area to contend with. The 100 Cloud ninja he had been given was simply not enough. They were nearly all dead. He gave the nod, and the five zoomed away from the battlefield.

As the Cloud army was retreating and the Konoha ninja tended to Neji, he glared as the Five sprinted away.

Yamazaru looked concerned as they were jumping from tree to tree in the dark night. As the boy in his arms struggled to keep his eyes open, Yamazaru whispered, "Good soldier, good soldier."

.: In Konoha :.

"So how did they find out about our task force?" Tsunade asked Shikamaru. "There's no way that they could've found them on their own."

"Do you think it was a spy, Tsunade-sama?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes. There's no doubt. We have a spy in our midst," Tsunade concluded.

.: Elsewhere in Konoha :.

Kayou smiled as a black hummingbird descended toward her and with a small -POOF­- turned into a small scroll.

NEXT CHAPTER:

Chapter Ten: Kakashi, Konoha's Elite Jounin