A/N: Now a new chapter is done. As promised, there's action. Hopefully, it's still good. Do read and review, would you kindly? And keep it classy!


[Somewhere near the Ma no Sabaku]

The wind breezed through the open desert, carrying motes of sand over the dunes of the Ma no Sabaku. There was nothing but a sea of golden brown for miles, with the occasional cacti and rocky outcrop breaking up the scenery. Truly a harsh environment, but creatures still find a way to survive; especially since the nutrients soaked into the sand make it possible for ground-dwelling animals to grow large.

Fortunately for some Suna shinobi, this part of the exams was easy, which was the case for three of them as they walked through the wastes. One of them was a boy with gray hair, his battle-scarred body lean and strong, very likely from hard training and actual missions. He wore earthen green attire that included a vest and enabled him freedom of movement. All in all, his appearance coupled with the way he carried himself implied that taijutsu was his specialty.

Another was an adorable twin-tailed kunoichi with brown hair and eyes. One would've called the girl a loli, what with her large eyes and her small stature. She seemed frail, but the way she walked spoke of a nimble body type. If Tsunade were to ever find this girl, and learn the secrets of what was obviously her dōjutsu, she would be put through hell in order to become a great medic.

The third was a blonde with brown eyes, and wielding a small fan. She was roughly the same height as the taijutsu boy, and her hair was queued behind her back. There was a bit of intelligence in the way she carried herself, but her abilities had yet to be seen. However, she seemed to be a mix of both brawn and brains, as there was the hint of taijutsu training in her slender body.

Luckily for the Hunter, sneaking into this place was a breeze; and it would seem that Sabaku no Gaara had made quite a few reforms in his time as Godaime Kazekage, because it was a little difficult to infiltrate the village this time. For that, the Jinchūriki had earned his respect, and protection in the shadows by whatever Guardian he could muster. But at the moment, he was watching the second part of the exams below him through the scope of his sniper rifle Hereafter. It would seem that Naruto and his fireteam were zipping around on their Sparrows, moving to a collision course with the Suna team he was watching.

"Do you really have to stay this far away?" asked the Hunter's Ghost, hovering over his shoulder. It had a green shell to discern it from others.

"Any closer, and I'd be found out." The Hunter answered lackadaisically, without taking his eye off the scope. "Besides, this was the highest place I could find without being discovered."

"What about your promise to the Speaker? Shouldn't you be watching over him?"

The Hunter turned to face the Ghost, his helmet dissipating in white light as he looked at it with an incredulous expression. "What do you think I'm doing?" he asked, letting out a calming sigh before going back to his scope. "Ghost, you ever see a butterfly coming out of its chrysalis?"

"Several times." admitted the Ghost, wondering exactly where its Guardian was taking this.

"Well, you could help a butterfly come out of its chrysalis; but that would weaken the bug. It would go out into the world, unprepared for what's to come…its wings would be too weak to fly without our help. Naruto, however, is shaping up well for a butterfly."

"That is assuming the Darkness has not set its sights on him."

"The Darkness already has its sights on all of us." the Hunter reminded. "It's only a matter of time before it comes for us seriously. How we weather the upcoming storm will show how strong we truly are."

"This coming from the man that can't even weather his wife's pregnancy." interrupted a feminine voice next to the Hunter…the calm words hitting him in the gut like a punch from the Yondaime Raikage. A Hunter in a leather hood lay next to him in a prone position, looking through the scope of her MIDA Multi-tool. "Face it, when it comes to pregnant ladies, your balls fall off really fast."

"And I suppose you'd know all about that wouldn't you, Kurama?" asked the hunter, without taking his eye off his scope.

"I was sealed into her; of course I would know." Kurama replied sarcastically. "But what I really want to know, Minato, is when you and Kushina are going to reveal yourselves to Naruto."

The Hunter named Minato was silent about that. There was nothing he'd like to do more than to run on down and admit to Naruto that he was his father; that he was responsible for the harsh childhood he'd had to endure. And gods willing, he was happy to accept any justified scolding his son would have in store for him, but not now. Not when the Guardians needed to take this world back in the name of the Light. A foothold was needed to eventually take the fight to the Darkness. When we take this world back, I promise you my son; you can speak with us all you like.

"You can hold your excuses for now." said Kurama, snapping Minato back to reality. "It looks like we're going to get some action after all."

No surprise there, Minato thought to himself, rolling his eyes before going back to his rifle scope, speeding around on Sparrows like that is sure to get you into a fight sooner or later. And look at this! You've sped into my view. How will you handle this situation, son?

"How much Glimmer are you willing to bet they're going to beat that team down?" asked Kurama, the challenge clear in her tone.

"I don't know; as far as Naruto's track record goes, he'll probably try to make a deal of some kind…you know, before trying to beat someone's ass down and resorting to theft?"

"Yeah? Well I've got six hundred Glimmer says that negotiations will go to shit and they'll wind up fighting that team."

Minato grinned confidently under his helmet. "You're on. But I'll only pay you if all six of them start fighting." he said, reaching out to his left side. Kurama met him halfway, the their fists gently colliding before they went back to holding their rifles.


[Ma no Sabaku]

Team Shira had been on the move since this stage of the exams began. Being Sunagakure natives, and having had quite a few missions under their belt, they were already used to these conditions. Seeing as they were too tired to run any further, the three of them settled down to rest.

"Yome, Shira, hand me your supply scrolls," said the blonde, reaching her hands out, "we're going to see what we've got so that we can plan for rationing if we can't find anything to eat out here."

The brunette and the silver-haired boy handed their scrolls to the blonde, who spread out the scrolls. As her brown-haired friend left to take the first watch over a dune, she cut her hand and ran it over the scrolls, allowing the smoke to clear out before she quickly began her calculations. True to Temari's word, there were enough supplies in each scroll to last two days: a first aid kit; a long-lasting soldier pill that could keep a ninja energized for an entire day; a box of hardtack in six rectangular wafers; a large, high-calorie chocolate protein bar; two large bottles of water; and a compass to point you in the right direction. In short, they were the sort of emergency rations that were carried during the Third Shinobi World War; before soldier pills lightened the load.

"How's it looking Sen?" asked the silver-haired boy.

"Well Shira, going by food alone, we're going to have to settle for half a hardtack and a square of chocolate for each meal," began Sen, as she re-sealed the contents of each scroll, "As far as water goes, we have enough in each bottle to last us a day…plenty of time for us to attack a team for a piece of parchment, and find a groundwater vein. Obviously, we should not use the soldier pill unless absolutely needed; but other than that, we should be fine so long as we…"

{Play: "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath}

Sen was cut off when she noticed that Yome suddenly raised her hand. A careful ear to the air revealed a mechanical sound, like the whine of an injured beast. It was closing in on Team Shira very quickly. "We've got a team incoming!" Yome finally said, panicking. "They're coming in fast!"

Within seconds, three forms sped over the dunes just in time for Yome to crawl away. The three blurs landed in such a manner as to surround the entire team. Sure enough, the three Suna shinobi saw that it was the Guardians that had come.

One of them was dressed in a leather greatcoat, with the infamous Konoha hitai-ate tied around his upper-arm. He wore a pair of gauntlets that had large copper wires wrapped around his forearms, crackling with electricity; those things resembled something like inductors or electromagnets. Apart from his helmet and gauntlets, there was not a shred of what Shira would consider as proper armor. Holstered at his side was a weapon with gold parts, which gave the impression of a commanding officer, but the near-complete lack of armor implied some kind of ninjutsu specialist.

Another was the heavily-armored girl that looked like she could take on entire armies with a faceless helmet. She also wore a white cuirass with golden trim, wolf and eagle motifs engraved upon its surface. However, her walk gave the impression of someone who did not want to cause unneeded harm. All the same, it was best to not push this girl too far; not with the large and menacing weapons she was carrying.

The third was a girl in a burlap hood. She wore very light armor that screamed 'big-game hunter' in at least twelve different languages. There was a knife holstered at the left side of her hip; one that looked like it had seen use as both a tool and a weapon. The weapon in her hands was intimidating, with spikes along the front end, and a bloody knife strapped to the front. Her blue helmet had a big, blocky visor with a slit cut into it.

The three Guardians dismounted their streamlined steeds and walked in close. The one in the leather greatcoat motioned for his companions to standby, though the two of them prepared their weapons for battle. The armored Guardian shouldered a weapon that gave Team Shira the impression of a TV camera, while the other readied her spear-like weapon to impale her targets if necessary. "As much as you probably won't believe us, we're not here to fight." said the leader. "In fact, we're here to make a deal."

Now this caught Team Shira off-guard. From the tales they'd heard of the Guardians, they'd been out in the world doing a lot of bloody vigilante work. A lot of bandits and shinobi had been killed at every encounter with them; to be fair though, the latter was mostly made up of nuke-nin, so that was pretty justified. The problem with their acts, apart from the ruthless efficiency of their kills, was that no matter how much good they did, they were effectively terrorists that only hunted other terrorists due to the fact that they were not affiliated with any village.

"Forgive me for being skeptical." Shira said skeptically, readying himself in a fighting stance. He was not so tight as to be limited to striking techniques, neither was he too loose to stick with grappling; he was right in the middle to allow for more options.

"If we wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." said the leader, "We have an offer that you just can't possibly refuse."

Before he could say a word, Sen had silenced him with her hand raised. "What do you have to offer?" she asked, never taking her eyes off the Guardians, and their deadly weapons. It was very likely that her genjutsu would not work, given the fact that their bodies were covered in form-fitting rubber-suits underneath their attire.

"We hand you all our survival scrolls and our piece of parchment." began the leader, "In exchange, we get to have a look at the map."

The offer was indeed too good to be true. They stood to gain too much for so little; the Guardians had to be getting something out of this deal. "What's the catch?" asked Sen, still not believing what she was hearing.

"No tricks, no catch, not even a single string for me to attach." The leader answered easily, "You get all our supply scrolls and our piece of parchment; all for a look at the map."

"Bullshit," interjected Shira, getting the leader's attention, "We both know that this is too good an offer to refuse. What do you stand to gain out of this?"

"I won't make you take the deal," the leader replied, shrugging nonchalantly, "I'm pretty sure there'll be other teams that'll be more eager. Though if you want a stipulation, then how about a bet?"

"What kind?" asked an intrigued Shira.

"I fight you with none of my weapons, leader-to-leader," began the leader, "you win, you get everything I said you'd get. You lose, and you'll have to give us your piece of parchment."

Shira felt confident in himself as he released his stance to crack his knuckles. "Fine, you're on. But if I win, you will have to turn yourselves in to the authorities…however many of you there really are. Don't get me wrong; you guys are doing good in the wilderness, but you still have to explain yourselves to the Hidden Villages."

The leader grunted. "Fair enough. But I'll have you know, your jails are probably going to be filled up so fast, you might as well just leave us alone…and that's to say nothing of the time it would take to interrogate all of us." he then reached his hand out, prepared to shake. "So, do we have a wager?"

"Prepare for a beatdown, bookworm!" said Shira, shaking the hand before slipping back into his stance.

"Yours…not mine." The leader answered the challenge with a simple shrug, undoing the belt to the gold-laden weapon, and allowing it to drop to the sand, before placing his sword and larger weapon next to it. He then rotated his shoulders before slipping into his own fighting stance. His palms were open; likely to make it easier to intercept and deflect blows, allow for grapples, and to increase the surface area of his strikes. "But just so you know," he said, the electricity arcing dancing around his fingers, "lightning is my friend."

Shira smirked. "That's fine. I could always use a challenge, Lightning Rod!"

The two of them stared each other down. Shira in his versatile taijutsu stance, while "Lightning Rod" bobbed forward and back, rotating his hands. A few tense seconds of silence increased the tension between them before Shira began the fight with a straight kick. Lightning Rod was barely able to dodge, but countered with a palm-strike aimed at Shira's chest, causing him to bend backwards. Just in time too, because there seemed to be a bubble of energy surrounding his opponent's hand that burst, the explosion seemingly enhanced and directed by the force of the strike. However, Shira was forced to back-flip away as his opponent had followed through with a second explosive palm-strike.

{Play: "Megalovania" from "Undertale"}

As soon as he landed, Shira leveled a venomous glare at his opponent. "Oi, oi! What the hell were in those gauntlets?!" he snapped, "I thought you said 'no weapons!'"

"There's no trick in these gauntlets." answered Lightning Rod, slipping back into a striker's stance, "They're just designed to store up electricity."

Before Shira could ask any more questions, he immediately found himself trying his hardest to avoid a barrage of palm-strikes that were aimed at various targets of opportunity on his body; shoulders and elbows were obvious enough, even more so for the head, but the easiest target of them all was his center mass. One hit, and he would probably feel more than just a bit disoriented; he'd very likely have a hole in his chest. As he dodged more strikes, he noted that his opponent always planted his feet to the ground to add more momentum to his palm-strikes; it looked to him like Lightning Rod was stomping in the sand. "The hell do you think you are, a sumo?!"

"If I were, I'd be really fat." said Lightning Rod, continuing his assault.

As he kept avoiding palm-strike after palm-strike, Shira noted a pattern. His opponent was continuously on the offensive, and he himself was unable to counter; as long as Shira was on the defensive, he was eventually going to be tired out beaten down with impunity. He needed to wait for an opening in Lightning Rod's assault before he could put some space between them so that he could calm himself long enough to be able to fight back. A long enough time in this fight told him that the explosions were short-ranged, as well as the fact that the strikes were very direct.

Eventually, he would find an opening, and take advantage of it to bat away Lightning Rod's arms, and land a kick to his chest that would knock him back. With the amount of breathing room he was able to get, Shira took a calming breath as he slipped into a fighting stance. As he did, his entire body was covered in chakra; but instead of empowering his muscles, the air around him seemed to be getting quieter…if such a thing were possible. Now he could get back on the offensive.

Lightning Rod landed on both feet, moving back in to continue his attack. Fortunately for Shira, he was given more than enough time to respond. He would start his counterattack with an upwards palm strike, watching as his opponent backed away before he was grabbed by his helmet, driving the Lightning Rod's face into his knee. Certain that he was disoriented, Shira took advantage of the time to slam his fist into the Guardian's chest, hoping to break a few ribs and forcing his opponent to surrender. Unfortunately, this did not seem to last, as Lightning Rod broke free from the grapple after he forced Shira to bend backwards from what amounted to a sucker-punch with a palm-strike, and hopped back to allow a strange energy to lift him into the air; gliding backwards before performing a three-point landing.

There was no way he was going to let his opponent gain back any ground, and so Shira ran after his gliding adversary, and continued his assault upon rising from his landing. A single punch to the visor of his helmet cracked the glass, shortly before he followed through with another grapple, forcing Lightning Rod to hunch over forward to take a few knees to the chest. After breaking from the grapple again, the Guardian regained his composure and slammed both hands into Shira's chest. Surprisingly enough, as he was knocked back, Shira felt electricity being sent into his body…momentarily disrupting his muscle control as he was sent flying; fortunately, he was able to regain enough control to right himself in the air to land on both feet.

Once there was enough space between the two of them, Lightning Rod righted himself; allowing himself to recover. Shira panted as he glanced back at his opponent, his body doing its best to regain control of its muscle control. "Impressive." he said, slipping back into his stance. "You caught me off-guard there. Looks like you earned the right to be leader of this team, but I'm just getting warmed up."

"You're not the only one." agreed Shira, calming himself down to prepare to continue the fight.

Sen and Yome looked between the two combatants; there was no doubt that Lightning Rod's comrades were watching with a good amount of concern under their helmets. The next move would decide the outcome of the fight. Shira's Muon no Ken allowed him to cover himself in a cloak of chakra that silenced his movements and made it much more effective for him to perform counterattacks. It also made his feints even deadlier, as it made it easier for him to fool his opponents.

On the other hand, Lightning Rod had yet to showcase the full extent of his Raiton skills; but what they did know was that this strange power of his allowed him to create a small explosion from his palms, and allow him to glide. There was nothing subtle about his fighting style; but that did not make it any less deadly. Whatever it was that he was using, it was definitely not chakra.

It was Shira who would make the first move, charging at full speed; his movements stealthy and subtle. Lightning Rod, on the other hand waited patiently for his opponent to come to him. Once the former had gotten close enough to the latter, Lightning Rod immediately began to glow as electricity seemed to be charging into his body. He hunched his upper-body forward, allowing the lightning to arc around his body before he finally stretched, a shockwave of electrical energy expanding from his body, knocking Shira back.

"Time to end this." said Lightning Rod, arcs of electricity sparking and dancing around his body. They coalesced into his hands, shortly before he pointed both palms at a recovering Shira. Lightning bolts jumped from his fingertips, striking Shira in one go as volt upon volt of electricity shot into his body. For some reason, he seemed to be teleporting all around the battlefield, electrocuting him from all directions. By the time Lightning Rod was done, Shira had collapsed to the ground in a spasming, twitching heap.

"Shira!" Sen and Yome cried together.

When it was done, Lightning Rod sent the remainder of the electricity crackling all over his body to ground before he stood over his opponent. Shira twitched and spasmed before his arms and legs dropped; he was taking very deep breaths. "Don't worry, he's still alive." he said, leaving Shira to rest on the ground. "I set my lightning to a low current but high voltage. He should be getting back up fine and dandy in a bit."

"And what would've happened if you'd used a high current?" asked a very concerned Sen.

"Pretty sure the vultures would enjoy their dinner if I did." answered Lightning Bolt, turning to face Sen and Yome with the broken visor of his helmet as he picked his weapons back up. "Seriously though, a we won the bet. As agreed, we get your piece of the parchment."

Yome was reached into her pocket. She held it in both hands and was about to…

"Don't do it, Yome." hissed Shira, struggling to get back up. "We lost, fair and square."

There was reluctance in her grip. "I'd listen to him," Lightning Rod sang, his hand drifting dangerously close to his golden weapon. As though to emphasize his warning, Armor-girl, and Big-Game Hunter's grips tightened on their weapons. "The second you destroy that parchment, we're gonna have to kill all three of you. And believe me, I don't want to do that to you."

She was shaking; wondering what to do. After finally coming to a decision, Yome released one hand from the parchment and reluctantly handed it to Lightning Rod. Once he was done, he pulled out his own piece of parchment, placing the two sheets together and spreading them out. Within seconds, the seals kicked into action; brush strokes began to appear on the map, detailing the borders of the desert and the landmarks first, followed by the location of the tower in the middle of the desert. Soon, lines marking where the groundwater veins would be located began crisscrossing the map while black dots began to spread out at random intervals…but what caught everyone's attention was the red dot.

"Ghost, you ready?" asked Lighting Rod. Team Shira wondered exactly who he was talking to.

Without warning, a small machine appeared out of nowhere, hovering near his shoulder. It then moved forward, before looking downwards with its single eye. A bright, conical blue light was emitted from its eye, as it moved around the map as it seemed to take in every detail. When it was finished, shining the light all over the map, the machine turned it off before turning to face Lightning Rod.

"I've got it." it said, much to the shock of Team Shira, "We're ready to go."

Lightning Rod folded up both halves of the map. "Now we no longer need them." he said, offering them to an awestruck Team Shira. "Though you're going to need that map more than we will."

Sen and Yome both took one half of the map gingerly as Lightning Rod reached into his coat to pull out three supply scrolls. "Here, you're also going to need these." he said, handing them to Shira.

"Why the hospitality?" asked Shira, hesitant to take the scrolls, "We lost. We don't deserve any of these."

"The way you fought reminded me of a friend I once knew," said Lightning Rod, as his helmet repaired itself, "He couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu; and yet, he was able to hold his own against the Kazekage during the Chūnin Exams in Konohagakure no Sato with nothing but taijutsu. Unsurprisingly, he lost; but that didn't diminish my respect for him, or for the hard work he had put in to become as great as he was. I guess you could say that I have respect for you now…and these scrolls are a reward for being a worthy opponent."

As he took this in, Shira felt more confident to accept the scrolls; but only one question remained: "Won't you need those?"

"We can always hunt for our food," said Armor-girl, lowering her weapon. "Don't worry about us."

Shira took a deep breath, reaching out to grab the scrolls. As he pocketed them, he turned to face Lightning Rod with a confident expression. "You and I are going to have a rematch in the future…and when that happens, I'm going to turn you in to the authorities for sure."

"Looking forward to it." said Lightning Rod, turning around. A single nod had told his companions it was time to go. The three of them holstered their weapons, reaching out to their sides as their streamlined steeds appeared out of thin air.

"Wait!" called Shira, just as the three of them mounted their steeds, "What's your friend's name?"

"I called him Gejimayu," answered the Guardian, "and if you see him, you'll know why."

"What about yours?"

"Technically, my name is classified," explains Lightning Rod, "but you can call me 'Mahōtsukai', or 'Mahō' for short."

"My codename is 'Kyojin'." adds Armor-girl.

"I'm Kariudo." finishes Big-Game Hunter.

Before anyone else could say a word, the Guardians sped away on their streamlined vehicles. Team Shira was left behind in the dust, wondering exactly how advanced the Guardians were.


{Play: "Overtaken" from "One Piece}

[Outside the Ma no Sabaku]

"Ha! I win! Pay up!" jeered Minato, his eyes still looking through his scope. He reached his hand out to the left, expecting to get his Glimmer.

Kurama snorted, looking through her own. "Technically, neither of us won because while a fight did start, you said you were only going to pay if all six of them fought."

"You're just saying that because you're a sore loser! Now pay up!"

"Again, it doesn't count." growled Kurama, her voice taking on a dangerous tone, "It was a draw, so let. It. Go."

Minato sighed in exasperation. Sometimes the Bijū would be unreasonable when it came to honoring her bets. "Fine, but I get to make the next bet; double or nothing."

"1,200 glimmer? Now it's getting interesting."

"Yeah? Well wait until I make the bet." warned Minato.

A moment of silence passed between them as Minato and Kurama followed Naruto's fireteam through their scopes. "So Kurama, I've been wondering," said Minato, keeping his eye on Naruto's progress, "is Naruto really going to do what I think he will?"

Minato could feel the equivalent of a witty grin on the female Exo model's face. "Why ask, when I'm pretty sure you already know the answer?" she asked cattily.

"I guess I wanted to make sure." Minato admitted, "It's not everyday that you learn that your son is planning a preemptive strike on the enemy's doorstep. Though I wonder if he's cutting the head off the right snake."

"Right or wrong snake, that strike's success should be more than enough to buy us some time." Kurama assured, "At the very least, with the majority of the Akatsuki's command taken out of the picture, we can at least use the intelligence we've collected to get the other Jinchūriki their Ghosts. We may even be able to free my brothers and sisters and get them good and proper Exo bodies and Ghosts."

"We're going to need every Guardian we can get." agreed Minato, "The Darkness is out there, waiting for our next move. For all we know, it may already have an agent in this world; waiting to strike when we least expect it."

"Right, right." Kurama dismissed. Minato had not said anything new; after being made into a Guardian, she found a new purpose in life. Still, she felt the need to change the subject. "So, the rumors I've been hearing are true?"

"What rumors?" asked Minato without taking his attention off his scope.

"That the Traveler is coming."


A/N: The Traveler is coming here? When? How? I'm not telling. Though I wonder what Minato will be betting 1,200 glimmer on…? Anyway, a round of applause to Soleneus for being there for the first part of this chapter. So please review our works, would you kindly? And keep it classy!


Vocabulary

Mahō—it's short for "Mahōtsukai" or "warlock" in Japanese, but the word itself (魔法) means "sorcery".

Gejimayu—the nickname means "centipede eyebrows", but in English, we know him as "Bushy Brows" for very obvious reasons.


References

Butterfly exposition—pretty much based on Locke's speech to Charlie in "Lost"

The supply scroll contents—based on old WWII emergency rations carried by pilots.