Chapter 10: A Temporary Close

Having a chance to restart their battle, Zoro and Kiba took each other on with no regret or holding back.

Kiba dashed forth with a kunai in hand to combat against the three katanas of Zoro's. He jumped up in the air and stabbed downward aiming for Zoro's head. Zoro quickly sidestepped and swung his head back, using the katana in his mouth to not only block the attack but reflects off the hand of his opponent.

"This guy has one hell of a jaw," thought an astonished Kiba. Before he let himself get too distracted, he flip-kicked Zoro right in the face while still in mid-air and came down with a punch right afterwards. Zoro stepped back from the impact but immediately went onto counter with an attack of his own.

"Oni Giri!" he shouted while connecting the forward-triple-slash dash on a landing Kiba.

Kiba dropped to the ground while dripping blood from the wounds of the recent attack. "I'm not done yet!" he convinced himself and got right back up.

"Need a break?"

"Fuck off. Let's go!"

Both Zoro and Kiba ran toward each other in a head-on collision of close combat. The fighting went no-hit for a while, with both men constantly dodging each other attack's. Zoro broke the stalemate with a slight cut on Kiba's cheek with the katana in his mouth. Prepared to use another technique, Kiba quickly spun away and elbowed his head. A slight stagger gave Kiba a much needed opening to take advantage. He short-hopped with a knee on the guarded chest while elbowing the back of the neck. Zoro slashed a katana recklessly to bat him away, but Kiba hopped onto the outreached sword and double dropkicked him right in the head. Zoro dropped the katana in his mouth while flying back a couple of feet.

"How about you? You want to use a time-out?" Kiba retorted back this time.

"Not when things are starting to get heated up…"

And they continued. Desara watched wth interest. "Remarkable. You tell these monkeys to go at each other and they do it without any second thoguht. Hmph, how unremarkable…" she commentated. Suddenly, a light went off on a device attached to her collar. "You can't be serious. God, you can't trust these other boys to do their jobs at all…" Then in an instant, she disappeared.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like neither Zoro nor Kiba noticed as the vines that surrounding them (and the ones in their bodies) slowly started to wither away.

-SCENE-

Meanwhile, in town, Robin and Hinata were facing a skinny and fashinably bright enemy in front of the lab. He had a green mohawk with sunglasses, which made him stood out very obviously. The recenly flashing collar only added on to his uniqueness.

Kane, as he called himself, sprung a straightforward attack right off the bat, leaving Shizune unconscious. Although, the spiritless warriors around him no longer had the stamina or strength to stand back up again after what seemed-to-be an hour, this only meant that Kane can swing his weapon of choice even more aggressively, not that he held back by much before.

He wielded two long chains that seemed attached to his arms through a bracelet with extremely good range and very destructive. Both Hinata and Robin stood amidst broken debris and half-destroyed houses, breathing hard, while bearing many wounds.

"My devil power doesn't stand a chance against his chain, which he can swing around considerable well despite its weight," observed Robin.

"A couple of more hits, and I'm afraid I can't stand back up," concluded Hinata hopelessly, "I need to find the right time to close in the distance!"

Once again, the two long chains whipped forth in a sudden burst of speed, targeted at the body of the two ladies.

Robin jumped up and immediately summoned 4 arms to restrain the enemy's arms and legs and 2 arms to grab the chin. "Seis Fleurs…," began Robin. Unfortunately, the chain previously aimed at her was flicked upward to knock her off-balance in mid-air. This lost of concentration triggered Robin to released her planned attack and get caught by the chain by it being wrapped around her neck.

Meanwhile, Hinata rolled to the side to avoid the oncoming weapon and then ran alongside it to try to confront Kane close-up. Unfortunately, the chain was pulled back and then wrapped around her neck also.

"Now, now. I don't want to kill you darlings, but I sure as hell will if you're going to fight like that," he threatened followed by a sinister laugh.

While being strangled, Robin gave Hinata a quick glance, which the shinobi returned with a nod.

Robin crossed her arms and quietly spoked, "Cuatro Fleurs." Two arms bloomed on each arm on Kane's body. One pair of arms twisted his wrist to lose the chain's grip he had on Hinata while another pair held the wrist tight in order to restrain the movements of the right hand.

As soon as Hinata was released from the stranglehold, Hinata dashed toward the enemy with kunai in hand. She threw a kunai right to the wrist of the left hand to stop the enemy from using it. Once she got up close, she took no time to initiate the finishing move.

"Divine Retribution!" She bent her body low, while facing forward while her arms pointed behind her. Then in a quick flur of movements, she stepped forward and repeatedly pressed lightly on two specific points on the enemies chest and then kicked him back (with Robin's timely release, of course).

The enemy stood unfazed while checking his body. "Hahaha! Is this really all you got? To think, I avoided close combat with a Hyuuga no less all this time for no reason at all. Boy, did I luck out!"

"One more sudden movement and I cannot guarantee your life," Hinata said calmly while breathing heavily. She faced Kane right in the face completely opened with no fears or doubts in her eyes at all, proving her words were not just some bluff.

"I advise you to listen, Mohawk-san. In the short time I have known Hyuuga-san, I have realized one thing. Although hesitant, she is very precise in every action she takes."

"Like I'm going to listen to that bull…," he began before pausing for an instance.

"Kane-san, you should be feeling a weird feeling of burning gathering around the two chakra points I have repeatedly stabbed earlier. Due to me consistently closing and opening those two chakra points, I have caused it to be unstable. At this point, it is gathering all your chakra at an uncontollable pace. A sudden movement, such as a punch or kick, might cause the gathered chakra to explode out of your body." She allowed a short pause for Kane to absorb this thought in as he began to freak out, while trying his best to stand still (he was shaking, but that kind of movement wouldn't be enough for Divine Retribution to take in its dramatic effect). "As a captive of Konoha, you are now under our jurisdiction. If you fail to cooperate…"

"You f…," he shouted as he lashed his chain aimed at Hinata's head, going at full speed. Hinata stood still, completely calm with the weapon now merely inches from her face.

Suddenly, the chain decelerated to a complete drop in velocity and lifelessly fell to the ground.

"What do you suggest we should do next, Hyuuga-san?" the archaeologist asked, while examining the dead enemy.

"We should bring Shizune-san and anyone else injured to the hospital. I'm sure Naruto-kun and the others can handle the rest."

-SCENE-

In the village, Chopper was bleeding profusely while Nami was up against a side of a building, barely standing with a broken ankle.

"CHOPPPER!" she cried while a gigantic ape-like monster ravaged on him.

He was going to finish it with a jumping stomp but Chopper quickly revert into his standard form and rolled away. The impact of the pound on the ground pushed him away, throwing him straight into the building Nami was standing nearby.

"Chopper! Are you alright?" she worried while holding him up.

"Don't worry Nami. I'll protect you, just like everyone else would," he weakly convinced her while trying to get back up on his feet but falling over.

"Just one more Rumble Ball, and that will finish it," he replied as he tried to get back up again. He managed to get back up on two feet but stood unsteadily.

"Chopper, you've already taken two Rumble Balls. Are you sure it's okay to take another one so soon?"

Chopper briefly paused in thought but shook his head. "Nami, you should stay away…"

"No! If you're going to do something stupid, I won't leave you up against this monster by yourself!"

"Nami, although I can barely hear it, I understand the cries of that animal. He is being forced against his will from somebody, who should be nearby to give him his commands. If you can stop him, then we can end this!"

"Chopper, I can't…"

"Please Nami, I don't know have to do this. I…" Chopper spoke before the ape-like monster starting walking away.

"What's going on?" asked a shocked Nami while staring at the once extremely vicious monster who is now walking away in a docile manner. "It doesn't matter. We have to get away before it changes its mind. Come on!"

-SCENE-

"Tenten, help out with Shino and the rest near the shopping district," Neji ordered while examining the village with his Byakugan eyes with haste while jumping building to building. "I'll go help Sakura and Lee before it's too late."

"How did it get so bad? We just had a small D-rank mission outside of the village and this happens. I'll make sure the attackers behind this get a taste of what's coming!" she replied before splitting away to her designated location.

Neji continued forth and arrived to te area in front of the library. He saw Lee and Sakura utterly defeated while the enemy was disappearing into the distance.

"Damn…" Neji muttered before attending to his fallen comrades.

-SCENE-

Tenten just arrived and make it in time. Chouji and Ino were breathing roughly with all sorts of wounds, while Shino was quietly standing on the side with his trademark weapons of choice facing against a blue-haired guy in his underwear with a hawaiian shirt with a flashing collar on.

"If I weren't sent here to fight you, you bunch would be all right. It's unfortunate for you that I feel SUUUPPER this week!" he said while posing his oversized arms together to show a star.

"Everybody, are you guys okay?"

"Tenten, watch out! He may look and sound like an idiot, but it seems that he's a tad tougher than that," Ino weakly spoke while barely standing up straight.

"Guys, I think it's time to debut our new formation!" suggested Chouji.

"…" silently responded Shino.

"We haven't really worked on that yet," Ino said weakly.

"A new formation? Hah! Anything you throw at me would be useless!" responded the enemy.

"We have poured our heart and soul into this new technique. And we will use it to defend our village to our dying breath!" shouted Chouji.

Then came an awkward silence in which the enemy faced away…

"That was beau---ti---FUUULLLL!" he cried out with tears on his face. "I don't know how to counter such a powerful phrase like that!"

"Why do I feel like this guy is on the wrong team?" Tenten thought while looking at the apparently "strong" enemy.

"We know you're faking it. If you really valued the work of others, you wouldn't be ambushing us like this!" Chouji continued.

"I… I don't know what to say… I'm so confused… Why am I working for that guy in the first place… I'm Supppppeeeerrrrr Franky, I should be doing what I believe, and not follow some shady fat quack along with whoever is ordering him around. What is WRRRRROOOONNNNGGG with MEEEE?" he shouted before running away.

"That is one messed up guy," Ino stated before collapsing to the ground.

"I'm so hungry…." Chouji mumbled before dropping.

"Shino, take care of the rest. I'll try to track him down!" Tenten shouted, prepared to run after him.

"Not necessary. I have placed a bug on him," he stated before forming a bug clone of himself. "This will be enough for basic surveillance." Then the clone ran off in the direction of the enemy.

-SCENE-

"You have a lot of explaining to do…." Kakashi said while carrying an overweight bald man in an army suit tied up in rope.

"Damn, that freakin' rat bastard!" cried Hayze.

"Gai will bring him back soon enough. In the meantime, I offically welcome you to Konoha."

Author's Notes: Yes, sorry for the very long update. Anyways, here's the chapter with it closing the "invasion" but with more to come. If anyone's still into this fic (and I sure as hell wouldn't blame you if you just abandoned it, because I almost did myself), please review and enjoy. Feel free to criticize, find any mistakes/inconsistencies, or just plain speculate. Have fun!