Watching as the boy and his twin golems charged towards Raigetsu and his Anbu, Takao turned his attention to Kisa as he ran towards the fight, sliding to a stop by her side as he did so.

"Kisa." He called as he quickly looked over her body and then pressed his fingers to her neck to ensure she was alive, having been too worked up to sit and follow the rise and fall of her chest. He had been too involved in his fight to catch a good glance at what happened to her after whatever that thing on her neck was took over, but he could see that her injury was quite severe and, knowing the man who had injured her, had no doubt that she had been poisoned.

Careful not to disturbed the wound Takao quickly used his fingers to lift her clothing; his eyes widening in surprise at the presence of what he assumed was Akito's explosive clay now being used as a bleeding control device, causing him to turn back to the boy as he jumped over one of the Anbu's swords and charged towards their leader who remained steadfast.

Raigetsu was a member of Kiri's Hozuki clan and as such was a very dangerous shinobi, utilizing his unique techniques, excellence in kenjutsu and affinity to poison to become one of Kiri's top assassins. The fact that ethier Kisa or Akito were able to withstand him this long was quite the feat, though he assumed that in Kisa's case it was some sort of sympathy due to their status as fellow Kiri ninja; a status Akito did not share, putting him in grave danger.

"Everything will be alright Kisa, just sit tight." He said softly to the unconscious girl while keeping an eye on the orange Anbu operator he had been fighting who, much to his relief, seemed to be more interested in evacuating his three wounded comrades. Takao then took a deep breath and formed three separate water clones around him, all of which created water swords similar to Heiwa and prepared for battle.

"Defend her at all costs. I'm going to help our friend." He instructed before drawing the real Heiwa from its sheath and heading to assist Akito who by now had managed to tie up both the yellow and blue Kiri operators in order to make a break for Raigetsu.

"You son of a bitch!" The boy exclaimed as the one handed man drew his blade and blocked Akito's attempt to slash him across the face before parrying his knife to the side and attempting to strike him with his own weapon.

"You're fast, but not fast enough." Raigetsu replied calmly as Akito staggered backwards and knocked the blade to the side and grabbed Raigetsu's mask in an attempt to unleash an exploding palm, prompting Raigetsu to break free from the mask and step backwards to avoid a possibly fatal attack.

Grunting in annoyance the Anbu leader lifted his pointer finger off of his sword's grip and formed a finger gun from which he immediately fired a salvo of compressed water drops, hoping to catch him off guard; an attempt that failed as Akito dodged and went on the offensive, causing Raigetsu to begin running backwards while continuing to fire his gun.

Without his clay and with little other weaponry left Akito was completely reliant on ninjutsu and his kekkei genkai, most of which revolved around him being close, forcing him to try and close the distance as fast as he could before he could be struck by whatever it was that this man was firing from his fingers.

Zig-zagging back and forth to avoid Raigetsu's bullets, including wall running along a piece of stone he raised from the ground, Akito formed hand signs and launched himself high in the air while taking a deep breath and exhaling a massive, sweeping wave of fire down on his foe, who instantly raised a rock dome out of the ground to protect himself from being burnt to a crisp.

Immediately he began to counter and prepare his own attack, thought before he could finish orchestrating what seals he needed for his waterfall attack a third rock golem blasted out of the ground beneath him, smashing him through his dome and out into the air above as Akito dropped down towards him.

Grunting as he shifted to avoid being struck by the boy's fist, Raigetsu used his injured arm to elbow Akito's face before striking the boy in the stomach with his fist and attempting to decapite him, though the golem's hand reached up from below to block the strike, forcing Raigetsu to liquify to avoid being crushed.

Shifting backwards and materializing back on the ground, the leader formed the signs necessary to use his Great Waterfall technique and exhaled a massive vortex of water into the back of the third rock golem, causing it to crumble and fall to the ground as his eyes watched Akito sliding to a stop behind it.

"Onoki's rock golem technique as well. You really are quite an interesting opponent. I guess it is safe to assume you are one of the old man's students." He stated as Akito, unwilling to give him a second to breath, rushed forward again towards his opponent.

"That's the Tsuchikage to you!" He yelled as he swung his fist to strike, bringing Raigetsu to shift to the side to avoid the attack though instead of stumbling Akito slammed his fist to the ground, causing the stone and dirt below to upheave into an explosive eruption of earth that covered the area in a screen of debris, buying him time to recover.

However, as he prepared to launch another attack Raigetsu suddenly moved beneath him in the form of a fast moving flow of water and materialized at his feet while swelling his injured arm to a massive size, which he then used to smash into Akito's face, sending him flying through the air.

Smashing into the ground and rolling to a stop, Akito immediately looked up as Raigetsu again fired a volley of his compressed water bullets towards him, only to have the bullets strike the broad flat side of Senso as Takao tossed it in front of the boy to protect him and landed on his feet beside him.

"You alright there not-Deidara?" The blonde man questioned as Akito stood back up to his feet and looked over his shoulder to make sure that Kisa was not unattended before returning his attention to Takao.

"Yeah I'm fine, but we can't keep fighting this guy. Kisa-" He began to explain as Takao shook his head; his eyes narrowing on Raigetsu as the unamused Anbu as he scowled at Takao's continued defiance.

"He poisoned her. I already know and I agree that we need to get out of here quick. I wont lose Kisa too." He stated as from the corner of his eye he watched both the yellow and blue Anbu struggling to fend off the rather reluctant rock golems, though he knew that they would not keep them occupied forever.

"What's your plan?" He questioned as he returned his attention back to Raigetsu, bringing Akito to spit a mouthful of blood that had built up behind his lips from the man's strike onto the ground.

"We have to make it to Konoha. I would overwhelm them with clay clones, but I used what was left of my clay to try and help Kisa, so we will need to think of something else." The boy added as he looked to Raigetsu in thought, trying to come up with a plan.

Whatever ninjutsu this man was using allowed him to turn into a liquid form resistant to almost all damage and able to escape from the tightest situation, making it clear that he was the most dangerous of the group and solidifying his position as his main target, but how could he best deal with him? Kisa was able to freeze the moisture in his arm, but he couldn't conduct such abilities.

"I might be able to distract him long enough for you to grab Kisa and make a run for it." Akito suggested first, though the sudden shake of Takao's head made it clear that idea was not suitable in his eyes.

"I'm not leaving you here on your own. She was beside herself when we left you underground with Orochimaru's boys. She'll flip if she finds out I let you do it again, especially if you don't return from this one." He protested, causing Akito's eyes to widen with a bit of surprise. Beside herself? Was she really that upset?

Looking back over his shoulder at the two rock golems and their targets, Takao formed an idea.

"Are those things multipurpose?" He questioned as Akito snapped from his short thought, looked to see what he was referring to and nodded.

"Do you have an idea?" The boy replied as Takao smirked and nodded before stepping in closer to speak with his partner, causing Raigetsu to grow impatient.

"Enough whispering Takao. You've chosen your fate, now it's time to face it." He stated as he thrust his blade to the side, turned it to his preferred striking position and rushed forward towards the two, bringing Akito to step forward, conjure up a technique and slam his fist to the ground, instantly causing a massive landslide of dirt, mud and stone to emerge from the point of contact and rush towards the Anbu.

Unamused by such a trivial attempt to stop him, Raigetsu smirked and quickly turned his body into a stream of water that he then used to leap in and out of the landslide towards the group, negating the massive flow of earth thanks to his advanced chakra manipulation skills until he was able to emerge in front of the boy.

With a determined scowl he shot forth from the landslide and fired a volley of compressed water bullets at Takao before preparing to use one of signature kenjutsu assassinations techniques against the Stone ninja infront of him, though much to his dismay the boy suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke.

With a grunt of irritation Raigetsu landed on his feet, locked his blade to Heiwa and raised his eyes to meet Takao's in disgust. Traitors in Kiri culture were the lowest of the low and by refusing to comply with the Mizukage Takao and Kisa now fell just above that category in his eyes.

"This has gone too far Takao, well past the point of no return." He stated as Takao huffed, drew a kunai from his pouch and whipped it towards Raigetsu, though he shot it away with ease with a water bullet expelled from his mouth.

"I told you we were innocent, Raigetsu. Akito tried to tell you as well. That's why he was so determined to come back with Kiri with us." The man replied as he broke his lock against Raigetsu's and swung to strike again, causing a shower of sparks to cover overtop of them both as their blades struck one another and their chakra clashed.

"I had orders to bring you back, not him, and in accordance to our laws you were to yield to my command and return home. But instead you chose to fight, and even if it isn't her fault Kisa is not only doomed but she is a threat; a threat that attacked me and took my arm." Raigetsu replied as Takao huffed.

"She wouldn't have lost control if you wouldn't have insisted on separating us from Akito, and I'm sure slicing his face open didn't help either." He responded, bringing Raigetsu to look past Takao towards his two active comrades as Akito reappeared beside one of his golems and began to attack with them.

"Bringing that boy into this is a treachery in itself. How could Kisa of all people allow that after what they did to her father? I knew Genta personally and I could tell you now that he is turning over in his grave." Raigetsu replied, angering Takao to the point where he struck the man in the face with a water bead shot from his mouth and feverishly lashed out on him with his weapon several times.

"Leave the dead be! I knew her father as well, and I know for a fact that if he could see what Akito has done to help his daughter, he would be far from restless!" He exclaimed as in the distance Akito's golems stepped up their attack in line with Takao's plan, doing their best to try and group both of the Anbu operative together.

"You bastard kid, you are just wasting your time!" The yellow kunoichi exclaimed as she attempted to behead Akito with an execution technique via her sword, though the boy's quick reactions caused him to duck and blast her back in the stomach with his Exploding Palm, which in turn opened him up for an opportunity attack from the blue Anbu.

Jumping up over the first Golem's fist as it smashed into the ground, the man of the two ran up the rock giant's arm past his head and pulled from his pouches to separate scrolls which he then unravelled and threw in the air above Akito.

"Eat this you little shit!" He exclaimed as he activated both of the scrolls and unleashed a massive barrage of kunai, senbon and shuriken down on the boy, causing Akito to evade for a second before forming a stone dome overtop of himself to prevent significant injury.

Expecting this the Anbu above let out a smirk as he tossed his sword down into the top of the rock dome, causing it to become lodged into the stone and face towards the sky. He then immediately formed several hand seals and touched down to the ground as from the sky a large lightning bolt descended, striking the sword and causing the dome to explode into a large flash of dirt and rock.

Instantly following the attack both golems ceased their movement and turned to look at the crater in the ground where their summoner had been before beginning to crumble, bringing the masked man to stand up straight and laugh as his yellow compatriot landed stopped beside him.

"Got him. I told you we would make them extinct." He chuckled as they looked at the smoldering ground and the man recovered his sword.

"Not as easily as I had hoped, though I guess we technically did." She added with a grin, though after only a second her grin disappeared as from the ground two halves of a rock dome quickly formed around the two, trapping them inside.

Angered that one of his strongest attacks had not killed the boy, the blue operative pierced his chakra blade through the stone to cut them a way out just as what remained of both rock golems fell down onto of the dome and fused into a large, stone conglomerate, reinforcing the dome and preventing his blade from breaking through.

Reappearing by Kisa's side moments later, Akito dropped to a knee as he quickly turned to see if his plan had worked before grinning to himself. It seemed that the combination of the dome and the golems was holding as he had hoped, but it wouldn't be long before the two escaped. He needed to hurry.

"It worked Takao." He stated with a pant to alert the man's water clones, causing them to disperse into thin air as Akito lifted Kisa up in his arms and adjusted her so that her head would be resting tucked into his chest and shoulder. Much to his relief it seemed that his lifesaving Clay Foam Injection had worked and that the girl was still breath albeit rather shallow, causing much of his worry about her to remain.

"Just hold on a little longer Kisa." He whispered as he stood back up to his feet and followed the next step in Takao's plan, heading towards the man as he once again struggled to come out victorious against his peer and village superior.

Grinding their swords together across the full length of their blades, Takao and Raigetsu both pushed off away from one another and formed hand signs to create sharp bursts of water that collided in mid air between them and forced them to attack another one again.

"Even with one hand I am able to hold you at bay, Takao! Why won't you just surrender already?!" Raigetsu exclaimed as he tossed his blade in between his teeth to temporarily allowed himself better aim with his Water Gun, firing multiple rounds at Takao before being forced to avoid Senso as his opponent threw it forward like a spear.

"Surrender went out the window when you poisoned Kisa! You might find it easy to abandon your friends but I certainly don't!" He exclaimed as he dashed forward towards the man, taking a bullet in the shoulder in order to possibly score a critical hit on Raigetsu, though the man shifted the sword in his mouth enough to block Takao's blade as it fell.

Disengaging away as Raigetsu aimed his water gun at his forehead, Takao somersaulted over the man and grabbed Senso to use it as a shield once more as his foe again tried to shoot him and replaced the sword in his mouth back to his hand.

"Friends that outlive their usefulness and only serve to bring you down are not friends and only a fool would believe so. You can't save her and she certainly isn't worth dying over, at least not now!" He taunted as he charged after Takao and swung his blade, colliding his steel to Takao's as the blonde boy snarled beneath his teeth and grasped Senso's handle tight.

"Yagura's finest!" He snapped as he slammed his broadsword into the ground with tremendous might before turning his attention to Heiwa. Holding up his free hand to charge with chakra he immediately swung the blade in a circular image around him, creating multiple traces of the blade in Raigetsu's eyes to confuse him before charging forward and swinging the blade down from the left into the man, forcing him to liquify at the touch of the blade's edge to avoid damage.

"Yagura made me strong, and that is what all Hidden Mist shinobi should strive to be!" He exclaimed as he brought himself together and parried Takao's real blade away before turning his attention to the Hidden Stone ninja landing behind Takao with Kisa in his arms.

"Takao we need to go!" The boy exclaimed as he appeared, instantly causing Raigetsu to grunt in annoyance and turn his attention to where his team had been fighting the boy's rock golems, only to find a pile of debris in their stead.

"What?!" He snarled as his eyes returned to Akito and Takao, the latter nodded in agreement with the boy's words as Raigetsu, determined not to let his targets escape, liquified both of his arms and prepared to take both of them down in what he had perfected as a stopgap measure of restraining prey.

"You two aren't going anywhere!" He exclaimed as both of his arms shot forward towards the two of them, but before they could be struck a second Takao emerged from the ground behind him and placed it's hand to his back; instantly ensnaring him within the spherical walls of a Water Prison.

Caught off guard, Raigetsu immediately recalled his hands back towards his chest as he watched the spinning ball of water around him, growling through his teeth in frustration. The water of a technique such as this was a rapidly moving entity charged with another person's chakra, making it difficult for him to effectively merge with or travel through the water without risking being torn apart on the molecular level as his chakra merged with Takao's, effectively trapping him inside.

There were few things that could contain a Hozuki within their walls and this was one of them, but how did he do it? How did he get behind him like that? Was it during his disorienting kenjutsu attack? Was he really fooled by something so simple?

"Takao!" Raigetsu snapped in a sharp tone as the real Takao pulled Senso from the ground, replaced it into its sheath and looked out towards the rock prison holding the other Anbu members while keeping Heiwa at the ready.

"This shadow clone will be able to hold him for some time, but if orange comes back he won't be able to fight long." He stated, ignoring Raigetsu's demand for an answer as Akito looked back at the rock as well and then down at Kisa.

"That rock won't hold those two forever ethier. Let's go." He added before setting off beside Takao for Konoha, leaving the infuriated Raigetsu trapped for now.

Knowing their lead was short both Akito and Takao rushed towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves as fast as they could, trying their best to take the fastest route through the mountains as possible. With Kisa's condition so severe and their own resources limited they couldn't afford to allow the group to catch up with them again, especially now that any tricks up their sleeve had been expended.

Looking over to Akito as the two ran side by side following a long leap from a tree Takao could see that he was uneasy with Kisa's condition, even more so than even himself. There was no denying that both he and Kisa had developed some kind of affinity for one another despite having known one another for only over a few weeks, though he was unsure exactly what each of them thought about the manner or just how deep it ran.

"She's a strong woman. She'll keep fighting until the bitter end." He stated as Akito's eyes shifted to him out of curiosity and then down at Kisa for a moment before returning to the trail ahead of them.

"I… I know she will." He stated as he bit the inside of his lip, trying to shake the negative thoughts rushing through his head. He was still unsure if it was the poison, her injury or the seal on her neck that had caused her to pass out, but the only worry that seemed to come to mind was whether or not she was going to wake up.

"We just have to hurry." The boy added as the two of them continued on their desperate journey, traveling as fast as their legs could carry them until spotting what was known as Hokage Rock on the horizon nearly a half hour later. This meant that while they were close they still had some distance to go despite their rapidly tiring bodies.

"I can see the monument... we are almost there!" Takao called out as the two of them closed in on a bridge crossing a small river ahead of them, bringing Akito to grin between his deep pants of exhaustion.

"F-Finally!" He replied with a hint of relief as he placed his first foot onto the wooden planks bridging the expanse over the rather powerful water below and shifted his eyes upstream at massive tidal wave of water heading straight towards them, bringing him to gasp and jump backwards to dry land as he did so.

"Takao!" He warned as the man did the same, jumping back off of the bridge with little time to spare as the wave smashed into the wooden structure and washed almost all of the bridge downstream.

Sliding to a stop besides Akito, Takao was immediately put on the defensive as from he treeline both the yellow and blue Anbu operatives emerged and struck first with thrown hand weapons followed shortly behind by their swords, both of which the man managed to parry away before locking himself in combat with the team once again.

"Shit!" He exclaimed as Akito, still holding Kisa in his arms, looked to his left and jumped to the side to narrowly avoid a thrown Fuma shuriken and immediately flipped over backwards to avoid a second thrown from another direction in an attempt to catch him off guard.

"You mother-" He snarled as he prepared to curse out Raigetsu who he knew was more than likely responsible for the attack before stopping at the man's sudden appearance beside him, forcing him to quickly lean his head back to avoid his blade as it slashed less than an inch above his nose.

Quickly recovering as he squatted down and spun his leg around in a sweeping motion to which Raigetsu avoided, the boy formed hand signs underneath of Kisa's body and drew in a breath of fresh air before exhaling a large blame ball at the man, driving him back enough to allow Takao to nearly bisect him by throwing Senso like his own Fuma shuriken.

However as the blade neared Raigetsu tossed his own sword back into his sheath and grabbed ahold of Senso's handle, redirecting it back towards Takao as both the yellow and blue Anbu reappeared by his side and moved in to attack.

Infuriated by Raigetsu's use of his own weapon against him Takao jumped to avoid the massive sword before using Heiwa to snag the looped pomel at the edge of the blade's grip and return it to his control.

"I believe this is… mine!" He exclaimed as he gripped both blades and spun around like a whirlwind to deflect and counter both Anbu at once while behind him Akito grunted in anger. They were able to make it close enough to Konoha to nearly see the lights in the city's streets and there was no way he was going to let them stop them now, especially with Kisa's life hanging in the balance.

Planting his feet to the ground Akito attempted to sprint towards the bridge in order to jump across the raging flow of water to escape with the hope that Takao would follow, but before he could do so the orange-masked Anbu appeared before him, formed hand seals and caused a water dragon to emerge from the river, causing him to once more dodge right into Raigetsu's clutches.

"It's over!" He exclaimed as he flickered to Akito's side and held all five fingers towards him on his free hand, rapidly firing a salvo of Water Bullets into the boy and Kisa as he screamed in pain for a moment before disappearing into a puff of smoke, revealing a log as he reappeared a short distance away; blood running from his back from where Raigetsu's attack had managed to strike before he could substitute.

"G-Guah…" He snarled through grinding teeth as his hands trembled, slowly lowering Kisa to the ground in the process. Whatever it was that allowed him to fire water bullets had struck him once in the shoulder and another time in his lower right back, piercing through his flak jacket into his flesh before disappearing to leave an open wound. These injuries did not appear to be fatal by themselves, but he had no doubt that if they were to strike the right internal organ it could kill him in minutes.

Looking over his shoulder as Raigetsu and the orange Anbu moved in closer to him, Akito knew he had to do something fast. They had made it clear that they no longer held interest in taking any of them alive so it seemed highly unlikely that he would be left to live much longer, making it imperative that whatever course of action he chose be something he truly believed would work.

Shaking off his injury the boy adjusted Kisa so that she would be on her back and slightly off of her injured side before carefully pulling a piece of his clay no bigger than a large marble from the Foam Injection keeping her alive and placing it into his hand. This close to Konoha there was no way the Kiri Anbu were operating lawfully there and he believed that if he could somehow raise Konoha's attention to their struggle they would receive the help they needed, but at the same he couldn't leave Takao, nor could he risk cutting his chakra in half by creating a typical shadow clone for an extended period of time, especially with how much chakra his kekkei genkai consumed.

Taking one last look at Kisa's painless face, Akito pressed clay-bearing hand to the ground for a second before standing back up on his feet and turning to face the two Anbu now only thirty feet or so away from him.

"It's a little late to beg for forgiveness, Iwa." The orange masked man stated as he balanced his weapon and stood steadily by his leader as Raigetsu continued to stare him down.

"He's right, there is no going back after all of this. If you wanted mercy you should have accepted our offer at the very beginning." The leader added, though instead of answering Akito dashed straight towards him and reared back his fist to strike, causing the orange Anbu to rush forward to meet him.

Swinging his sword in an uppercutting fashion after conjuring a sort of kenjutsu mirage with the blade the shinobi attempted to bisect Akito from between his legs up through his head, only to serve as a jumping point as the boy forced chakra into his left foot, placed it to the blade and rode his swing straight up in the air, much to the man's surprise.

"What the hell?!" He questioned out loud as his eyes shot back down to Kisa as another Akito appeared before her, bringing the man to gasp at the realization that the boy above him must have been a lifeless illusion used to distract him.

"A damn clone?! You'll have to do better than-" The man taunted as the Akito in front of him raised a stone wall between himself and the Anbu, bringing the man to look up in confusion as what he assumed was the mirage descended back down upon him.

With a huff of annoyance the man instead charged his sword with electrical current before darting forward towards the stone wall in an effort to spear it through and pierce the boy on the other side, though as he moved out of his position the boy above made contact with the ground behind, slamming his fist to the stone and causing it to explode with enough force to throw the Anbu headlong into the stone wall, knocking him out cold.

Standing up to his feet as the debris cleared the Akito who caused the explosion turned his attention to Raigetsu just as the man flickered forward and delivered his own blow, piercing the boy through the stomach with his sword and watching him disappear into a cloud of smoke as he stared forward at the rock wall in front of him.

"A Shadow Clone, no doubt. Leave it to Masaru to fall for that one." He stated as the real Akito listened from behind the rock wall, preparing his next option. Although his shadow clone was short lived it had fulfilled its purpose as a meanful distraction, leaving him with one adversary to contend with before returning what remained of it's chakra back to him.

This was important however as unlike the other Raigetsu wouldn't be as easily tricked and with his ninjutsu making it easy to escape harm he would have no choice but fight him tooth and nail without any kind of clues as to how to defeat him.

"Well Akito, what's your plan for me? Surely you've thought of something." Raigetsu taunted as Akito looked over towards Takao in the distance as he struggled to hold both of the man fighting him at bay, clearly burning his energy quicker than he could recover it. His plan had to work.

Minutes later and a distance away Konoha went about it's daily routine oblivious to the fighting taking place a few miles away. The streets of the village were alive with commerce from around the Land of Fire as well as those coming to the village for both work and pleasure, filling the air with sounds of amusement, conversation and at the village gates, yet another banter-filled and rather loud bout of ruckus from the village's gate guard shack brought on by the rambunctious pair of guards inside.

"Oh man, I can't believe Lady Tsunade think's we are… together." Kotetsu complained with a nervous gulp and a shiver as he hid his face in the desk in front of while to his side Izumo steamed; his arms crossed over his chest as he looked off in the distance to avoid an awkward eye contact with his longtime friend and partner.

"What did you think was going to happen when you do something like that, huh? High fives, hand shakes, fist bumps; there are a million ways to express that same sentiment, but no, you had to hold my hands." Izumo complained, bringing Kotetsu to slap both of his hands down on the desk in front of him in rejection of his statement.

"Are you kidding me, you are blaming me for this?!" He immediately replied before going off a tirade, completely oblivious to the fact that just outside of the village something was heading straight for them, hidden just below the surface of the pathway.

However, even in Izumo and Kotetsu's blind eye on the gate the swift moving object did not go undetected as from the trees a cloaked figure watched with keen eyes, having been alerted to the object's approach by one of Konoha's most prominent sensory shinobi.

"I see what you are talking about now, it's almost to the gates. Moving to intercept." The figured called on his radio before swiftly climbing further up onto the tree he was hiding in and diving up into the air just shy of the village's entrance, forming hand signs and causing the ground beneath the object to suddenly uproot, throwing what appeared to be a malformed human being up into the air.

Catching sight of both the ground's collapse and the object flying towards them both Izumo and Kotetsu jumped to their feet, just as the cloaked man, now revealed to be an unidentified Konoha Anbu operative, pierced the form through the chest with his sword, pinning it to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Izumo called out as the two jumped over the desk in front of them out into the street below, watching in surprise as the figure on the ground gripped the stone below him and lifted itself up to look up at them, causing Kotetsu to shiver at the grotesque sight. Half of the figure's face had been melted or broken away while it's body was full of malformations and air bubbles, and although the object appeared to be a man it was discolored past the point of easy recognition.

"Ick, what is that thing?!" Kotetsu questioned as the Anbu attempted to remove his sword from the clay humanoid to no avail, though after only a moment the creature formed a hold around the blade and allowed the sword to be retracted without a fight, surprising the man.

"It's a clone made out of what appears to be clay." He stated as the deformed boy's image turned his head towards him to speak.

"I've come for help, my friends and I are under attack!" The clone exclaimed frantically as the Anbu stepped back and allowed the severely deformed man to sit on his knees, keeping his sword at the ready as he did so.

As hard as it was to make out the form of the man casting this unusual clone technique he could see a faint resemblance to Iwagakure's symbol on what he assumed was a forehead protector around his neck, causing the Anbu to be leery. This clay matched the description of the substance used by the Akatsuki member from Iwa who had attacked Sunagakure a few weeks prior, though his physical appearance did not.

"And you came to Konoha why? What reason would we have to assist in this matter?" He questioned as the clone's only eye shifted up to the Anbu beside him in distress.

"My friends were involved in a horrible mistake and were… on their way here to seek asylum when we were attacked by Hidden Mist shinobi operating not far from here. They are going to kill us!" The clone replied, causing the operative to stare at the boy in silence for a moment before looking out towards the direction of his travel.

He cared little about what mistake he was speaking about or about the danger to their lives as getting involved with another village's affairs was something he held not intention of doing, but if what he was saying was true and the Hidden Mist was operating within the Land of Fire this close to Konoha without permission, this was certainly a Konoha issue.

"How far and how many?" The man question as Akito's clone shook its head and looked back to the ground, feeling his body beginning to crumble from the use of what bit of chakra he had been given as well as his distance away from the user.

"Four, not far... maybe a mile or two! You have to hurry!" It exclaimed as two more Leaf ninja appeared, likely having witnessed the smoke and bang from the Anbu's technique from Konoha's Jounin Standby Station in the heart of the village.

"What's going on?" A man with a short, dark spikey hair and a beard questioned, instantly snapping Kotetsu's attention to them as he pointed out to the clone on the ground.

"Asuma! This thing was coming for the gate before he stopped it. It said that there are Hidden Mist ninja attacking the real him and his friends about a mile up the road." He stated as Asuma's eyes widened a bit and focused on the Anbu standing in the center of the gate who, at the clay clone's collapse to the ground, sealed it within a small rock dome incase it exploded, which it did a few seconds, surprising both Kotetsu and Izumo while Asuma simply looked to his young student and then back to the Anbu in front of them.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" He questioned as the Anbu looked to him and then back up at the direction the clone had pointed.

"Not sure. I will consult with the Hokage about this." He stated as he looked back to the four ninja standing at he village gate, focusing on the youngest member of the Nara clan to Asuma's side for a moment before looking up to the Hokage's office as several more Konoha shinobi appeared behind them.

"In the meantime maybe you all should check it out. If what that clone said was true then Kiri is operating illegally within Konoha's direct proximity. More Anbu will meet you there." He instructed before flickering out of view to notify the Hokage, leaving Asuma to sigh as he pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, placed it in his mouth and lit it with his lighter.

"Well Shikamaru, you feeling up to a little late afternoon excitement?" He questioned, bringing the boy to his left to run a hand through the back of his hair while he placed the other in his pocket and emitted a long, drawn out sigh.

"Why not. I was supposed to meet my parents for dinner but… that's such a drag. At least this will be interesting." The boy replied, causing Asuma to chuckle under his breath before leading Shikamaru and the others out of the gate towards the direction the Anbu had pointed, unsure of what exactly they would find.

Slamming into Raigetsu after parrying his blade away, Akito locked eyes with the man over his shoulder before lifting his elbow to strike him in the face, causing the Anbu to duck and rapidly strike the boy in the stomach instead.

"G-Guah!" He exclaimed as he was struck twice before he could counter by kneeing Raigetsu in the jaw and attempting to behead him with his Landmine Fist, though once more his foe ducked out to avoid being struck and created a short distance between them while lifting his finger up at the boy and flickering to his side.

"Over here!" He exclaimed as he fired a volley of water bullets towards him, forcing him to disappear into the ground to avoid the strike and reappear below Raigetsu; instantly grabbing his ankles and pulling him down to neck level in the dirt before reappearing on the surface.

Without hesitation the boy then immediately dashed forward towards the man's head and prepared his kekkei genkai to strike again, only to fail as Raigetsu liquified himself at the touch of his fist to his forehead, sprayed forth from the hole with Akito's explosion and travelled overtop of the boy to reappear behind him, just as he had done to Kisa.

Harboring a grin the man quickly grabbed his blade and swung it down across Akito's back as the boy flickered forward to avoid the attack, catching him with the tip of his sword as it slashed through his flak jacket across his clan symbol and into his flesh despite his absolute best efforts to avoid the slash.

Crying out in pain Akito spin around and formed multiple hand signs to summon another of his rock golems from the ground, though this time Raigetsu spotted the attack and charged towards the forming beast before using his chakra-charged blade to behead it, cancelling the attack before it even had time to form.

"I've had enough of you golems for one day!" He taunted as he slid to a stop on his feet and immediately went on the offensive against the boy yet again, swinging his weapon rapidly back and forth with the use of several different chakra based kenjutsu techniques, narrowly avoiding Akito's flesh several times as he attempted to evade.

Landing back on the ground after jumping in the air to avoid one of the man's whirlwind attacks Akito pivoted on his leg and quickly turned lifted his leg towards the sky in an attempt to windmill kick him on the top of the head, only to miss by meere inches and cause the ground to explode as his kekkei genkai released from his heel; a difficult explosive attack to pull off and one that he had hoped would have hit it's intended target.

"Dammit!" He exclaimed through his teeth out of frustration as both he and Raigetsu slid back away from one another, bringing the Anbu to laugh. His slowing reaction time and decreasing explosive power was evidence that he was finally beginning to tire, meaning that it would only be a matter of time before he was able to score another lucky strike on him, hopefully killing him and ending this fight.

Desiring a quick end more than anything, Raigetsu threw his blade straight towards his Hidden Stone foe and raised his five fingered Multi-Gun up towards him, firing a massive salvo of compressed water alongside his blade at the boy, only to have his weapon caught and his bullets stopped by Senso's broad blade as Takao jumped in to defend him.

Gasping at Takao's sudden appearance, Akito's eyes immediately looked over his body and the multiple lacerations across it, all of which were obvious results of his fight against the two Anbu operatives he had been challenging; both of which now fell in line behind Raigetsu.

"Are you alright Takao?" He immediately questioned as the man looked over his shoulder towards him a series of heavy pants and nodded his head.

"Y-Yeah, it's just a scratch." The man replied, though Akito knew that was not the case. At least two of the lacerations on his back were cut deeper than a simple flesh wound, as was one across his upper left arm, leading him to grunt in concern.

"The clone I sent to get help is gone, so he must have made it to the gates and delivered his message." The boy added as Takao looked down at Raigetsu's sword in his hand; his eyes focusing on the tip as something other than blood running down the length of the blade, bringing him to hold it out for Akito to observe with his own eyes.

"Let's hope so. Seems he's poisoned you as well." He stated as the boy's own eyes locked to the blade as he ground his teeth in anger. He had been purposely trying to avoid being poisoned by his attacks to ensure that he could continue to fight, but now with a burning sensation rapidly building in the open wound it seemed he too would eventually fall victim to Raigetsu's paralytic strand.

"Bastard!" Akito snapped as Raigetsu again laughed and held his hand forward towards the two in preparation to use his gun while to his side his team prepared their own weapons and ninjutsu, both of which seemed to have received their own wounds from their battle with Takao.

"You should have known that this resistance was going to end in failure, Takao. Your greatest asset in this fight was Kisa, and once you lost her it was all over, regardless of this Stone boy's intervention." He belittled as Akito tightened his fists.

"This fight isn't over yet. I won't let you take Kisa and Takao to face their death!" He exclaimed as he again dashed forward and using Takao as a jumping point leaped high in the air above the three hostiles to unleashed another bout of fire.

However as he jumped he could feel his body weakening, causing him to gain neither the height nor the speed necessary to avoid Raigetsu's water gun, resulting in him being struck several times across his body before the man flickered in front of him.

With a gasp Akito tried to counter the man's attack, succeeding in stopping his first two blows as well as kicking him back down to the earth below as the Anbu at his side jumped to assist him.

"Oh no you don't!" Takao exclaimed as he locked his blade to the blue-masked ninja with his left hand and prepared to do the same with Senso in his right, though the yellow kunoichi blocked his attempt and continued forward towards Akito, lashing out against him and deflecting her blade off of his forehead protector around his neck before pummeling him back down to the ground with a dual kick to his stomach.

"Akito!" Takao called as he locked blades with the blue masked man and slid back to defend Akito against Raigetsu's attempt to finish him off with a high pressure blast of water from his mouth, using Senso again as a shield as the boy rolled to a stop near Kisa.

Snarling as he desperately tried to stand back up on his feet despite his now trembling hands and rapidly distorting vision, Akito slammed his fist into the ground in fury. The poison was much faster acting than he had hoped and already he could feel his fingertips starting to go numb as it attacked his nervous system. Was this the same thing Kisa experienced?

"The poison is tearing through him much fast than it did Kisa; a testament to either Kisa's resilience or the power of Orochimaru's curse seal for sure. Though I must admit that I had quadruple the amount of poison on my katana's blade than I did on the kunai that brought her down, and judging by the wound on his back I would say it is safe to assume he received most of it." The Anbu leader stated almost as if he was proud of his plan, causing Takao to rush forward in anger at the group of three, slamming Senso into the ground to force them to scatter before swinging his sword at Raigetsu, only to redirect it backwards at the unsuspecting kunoichi behind him, lacerating the bridge over her nose before slamming both of his feet into Raigetsu's palm as he held back his kick.

In response Takao quickly pushed off and spun around like a whirlwind to parry both Anbu blades to the side before lashing out against each individually while behind him Akito stood to his feet after struggling to do so, picking up a mouthful of dirt with his palms and drawing a knife from his pouch before charging to help his friend and immediately catching the kunoichi's eye.

"Still standing, huh?!" She taunted as she swung her blade against the disoriented boy's kunai, though with some struggle he was able to hold her at bay.

"Y-You'll have to kill me if you want me to stop!" Akito exclaimed as he parried her blade to the side, shoulder rammed into her and slashed her across the chest with his kunai before witnessing the other Anbu dashing for him, to which he threw both handfuls of chakra infused dirt towards him and detonated it, causing a large flash and enough force to cause him to stagger.

Grunting in annoyance as he covered his face to protect his eyes the man gasped as Akito charged forward and pierced into his side with his kunai before grabbing ahold of his mask with his open hand to blow his head off, though before he could do so Raigetsu darted forward slugged the boy in the stomach hard enough to lift his feet off of the ground, knocking all of the wind from him.

Choking out a blood tainted weeze, Akito's eyes widened as the kunoichi exacted her revenge and kicked him in the face, sending him flying to the ground by Kisa's side one more as Takao swung his blade down on the woman to stop any further aggression, falling right into Raigetsu's trap.

Shifting into liquid form to bypass Takao as he locked his blade to the woman, the leader reappeared directly behind the man and used his injured arm to form a large bubble of water around his head, cutting off his air. In response Takao immediately redirected his blade to attack him, though as he did Raigetsu grabbed his wrist with his remaining hand and held his weapon at bay; staring him down as small air bubbles leaked from Takao's mouth.

"It didn't have to be this way, Takao. You made me choose this." He stated as the man dropped his blade out of frustration and grabbed ahold of Raigetsu's flak jacket, trying his absolute hardest to hold his breath while looking behind him at the Anbu operatives approaching Kisa and Akito; the later of which locked his eyes to the sight of his drowning friend as he continued to lie on his side gasping for air.

"Y-You…" He grunted in displeasure as he tried to pull himself together in order to stand up, though it became clear within seconds that his body had grown too weak for that, bringing him pull a kunai from his holster with trembling hands as the two continued to walked towards him and Kisa.

"A noble attempt kid, but it's over." The yellow said as she watched him back himself up further towards Kisa and hold the knife to his chest as a defensive manner, signifying that he was still intending to keep them from touching Kisa.

"N-No… i-it's not." He grunted as he lifted himself up to a sitting position with one hand despite his rapid pulse and shallow breathing, bringing the blue Anbu to laugh as he drew a handful of senbon from his pouch and held pressure on the wound the boy had inflicted on him moments before.

"Time to pay for what you've done!" He exclaimed as he reared back his hand to throw his weapons, bringing Akito to lock eyes with Takao for a moment in anticipation of the final blow, though before blue could strike several more shinobi flickered into sight in a large circle surrounding the group, though unlike their foes these man all wore green flak jackets over top of their blue uniforms, instantly signifying that they were from Konohagakure.

"What, Leaf ninja?!" The man in blue questioned as he backed up beside his yellow-masked companion and looked around them before turning their vision to Raigetsu, who looked around at the now seven Konoha shinobi as well while maintaining his Drowning Water Blob around Takao's head.

"Impossible." He stated with a tinge of anger as he thought back throughout their entire fight, trying to think of how it was possible that they could have alerted Konoha to their presence being nearly two miles away from the village.

"Well well, what do we have here? Four Hidden Mist shinobi operating waaaay too close to Konoha." Kotetsu called out to the group as he crossed his arms and stared down the man drowning his fellow Mist ninja, causing Izumo to smirk.

"Looks like only three from what I can see, given the fact that one of them seems to be taking a nap." The man added as Raigetsu groaned under his breath in annoyance. He knew that no matter what they were in the wrong due to their intrusion so far into the Land of Fire, but bringing these two back to face justice was a top priority, causing him to try and quickly think of any way he could get out of this mess victorious and still in one piece.

"I understand that this mission has drawn rather close to your village, but I assure you that this is a matter of Kiri's national security. We want no trouble with Konoha and if allowed to proceed will be done in a matter of seconds." He stated in reply as Takao continued to hold his breath, causing Akito to grunt in anger. This couldn't be happening, they couldn't let him do as he planned!

Opening his mouth Akito prepared to protest what was being put forward by their adversary, but before he could answer one of the Konoha shinobi, a man with a cigarette, spoke up.

"Kiri's security? Then why is there an Stone ninja laying there on the ground protecting one of your own?" He questioned as the boy in question started to shake, trying his best to keep his eyes open against the mounting exhaustion overtaking him.

"He attempted in interfere with our business, much like you all are now. Now I ask again-" Raigetsu began to plead once more though he immediately ceased his attempted as three additional shinobi appeared from thin air; each a Hidden Leaf Anbu that drew their swords and held them to their respective throats instantly.

"No, there is no asking." One of the men stated as he pressed the tip of his sword against the yellow-masked kunoichi's throat, lifting her head upwards as she swallowed nervously, bringing the man threatening Raigetsu, a Anbu with a distinctive bird-shaped mask and tan trench coat, to speak up.

"You will cease this operation and hostility immediately. This is a Konoha matter now, by order of the Hokage. If what you say is true then you will have the right to petition her yourself at a later time, but for now this hunt is over." The man ordered as Raigetsu's view shifted to the dark holes in his mask where his eyes should be and lingered there for a moment before releasing the bubble around Takao's head, causing him to drop to his knees and gasp for air.

"Very well. But you can expect to hear from us soon. This is a Kiri matter and I have no doubt that with the right evidence and persuasion your Kage will see it as such." He stated as he stepped back away from Takao and lifted his hand to order his two subordinates to retreat after retrieving their unconscious team member, only to be stopped as Takao reached his hand in the air to stop him.

"Wait." He ordered as he stood up onto his feet, pulled the strands of his now soaked hair away from his equally drenched face to see his opponent clearly and locked his vision once again to the man who moments ago had tried to drown him before taking a deep breath to calm his words.

"In the land of sound, not far from the Otogakure base, there was a campsite we used for the night. Did you find it?" He questioned the man who, although a bit surprised, nodded.

"What about it?" He questioned as Takao looked over at a faltering Akito as he continued to hold his defensive stance in front of Kisa.

"Directly to the South of that campsite, maybe a hundred yards or so, there is a large oak tree by the side of a small creek. That's where you will find Jun." The man stated as Raigetsu's stern expression slowly softened to that of a blank stare as the mention of the boy's name brought back memories of watching him grow up, both as a student at the academy a few years after him and as a fellow shinobi, though after a moment he simply nodded and turned to walk away.

"I will make sure he gets back to his family." He stated as his eyes shifted over his shoulder to Akito and Kisa, then back to the bird-mask Anbu beside him.

"I'll be seeing you all soon." Raigetsu added before swiftly disappearing from view with his fellow hunter nin, leaving Takao surrounded by Konoha ninja who all now stared at him as he huffed and wiped the water from his forehead.

"Well that was close." He stated with a bit of a chuckle despite the rather stern looks he was receiving from all of the men around him, though most of this attention shifted away from him towards Akito as the boy's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed onto his back; his head landed on Kisa's lap as he let out a small, pain stricken gasp.

"Shit!" Takao exclaimed as he moved to run to his side only to stop as the bird-masked Anbu held his sword out to keep him still for a moment before allowing him to continue, which he did with no hesitation and slid to his friends side.

"Akito. Come on dude, wake up." He stated as he shook him gently, though after but a second or two he stopped and sighed. He knew that he had been holding out against Raigetsu's poison until he knew they were safe, so it only made sense that once the Konoha ninja showed up his body would finally give in, though he now had two friends to worry over.

Reaching over and checking both of their necks to ensure they were indeed still alive Takao turned his head towards one of the Anbu as they and several of the others walked towards him, the former of which knelt by his side and felt their pulses as well.

"What happened?" A female with purple hair questioned from behind the mask, bringing Takao to shake his head.

"To them? Poison. In general? It's a long story." He replied as the Anbu gently turned to girl's head to the side at the sight of something strange and immediately looked up at the bird-masked captain upon the discovery of the curse seal on her skin, bringing the man to look at both Kisa and Akito before returning his attention to Takao.

"You'll have plenty of time to explain it to the Hokage as recompense for our assistance." He stated as both Izumo and Kotetsu walked up to the three beside Asuma and Shikamaru, immediately catching Izumo's attention as his eyes shifted onto the unconscious Stone ninja infront of him.

"Wait a minute, I know him. Isn't that the kid that comes into town once in a while from Iwa?" He immediately questioned as Kotetsu held his hand over his eyes to block out the sun and looked down at Akito as well with a nod.

"Yeah that's him alright, the kid from the exchange program. What the hell is he doing here?" The man questioned, turning his attention back to Takao who looked up at all of them and nervously waved his hands in front of him.

"That's a long story as well."