A few excavators carried small items from the broken opening in the mountain side and gave them to one of the elders of Hitotoki. A dragon sealing coiled around the jar as the woman shook it to hear something rattling inside. "I wonder what's in here." The elder ask while placing it in a bag were more ancient items collected to be studied.

One Leaf ninja peaked into the bag and asked her. "You don't even know what these artifacts are? Aren't you natives of this village?"

Another elder smiled and chuckled to himself. Logic would say they should have been familiar with what was dug up. "Heh, I'm embarrassed to admit it but we are even strangers of our own past."

The Leaf ninja was taken back by that. "How-how old is this village?"

The first elder shook her head. "We don't honestly know. We are happy that you people of the Leaf have come to help us unearth our past. I'm hoping this means we'll get more visitors, heh, heh."

"I take it that everything is going well for us?" A older man dressed in green and white robes stepped up to the group. "How fruitful!" He picked up the jar and turned it around a few times, feeling the heavy contents. "I'm rather excited to add these to our books."

The elders bowed their heads down and the Leaf ninja followed suite, recognize the style of his clothes. "What an unexpected surprise, Lord Kouinkage."

XXXX

Focusing to clear his vision on the cloaked girl, Neji looked for the flow of her chakra through her body. They were hints of it weaving through the channels found under the skin but they were filled with the color green. He wasn't too phased by this after seeing different colored chakra before however, he wondered what lied under that black cloak. 'She is within range of my Eight Trigrams if I want to finish her quickly. That armor she wears won't interfere with block her points.'

"Begin when you are ready!" Leeandra yelled.

"Since you insist." The Hyuga crouched further down, extending his pose and bowing his head down. He gathered chakra into his fingertips and stared at Caral to see if she would move. She stood as still as ice. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" His arms went violently towards Caral, landing blows on her albeit, guessing the location of her points. Taken by surprise by the speed of Neji's force, the Lerush moved with each number he called out. "Two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty four!" Indentations carved into the ground as he shoved her further back and Caral didn't block a single strike. Once finished, he leaped back and kept his stance. 'Something isn't right.' He sensed.

Caral's flow of chakra ran freely as she slightly moved herself out of harms way. The physical attack didn't cause much pain but she was aware of the blocking he attempted to preform. Grant, she could have moved out of the way entirely but she enjoyed studying her opponents closely. 'He's really strong. I wonder what to use next. I haven't brought out my ice pearls yet.' The Shadow of Speed nodded while holding up her hand containing six small blue orbs.

Neji glanced at them, seeing chakra infused into the pearls. 'Are those some kind of special weapon?'

She disappeared.

With his sharp vision, Neji found her a few yards away behind as senbons flew in his direction. "Trying to catch me off guard?" He quickly caught every one of them and as they fell to the ground, he noticed she was gone again. He turned around again once feeling two hits to his shoulders but she wasn't there. Two more hits into his back caused him to look again but Caral disappeared. Two final attacks landed on his lower back but this time, Neji spun around to keep her at bay. "Rotation!" He shivered from a chill he didn't worry over since he knew the girl was near by and could use ice.

"I have to think of something to stop her when I'm next to bring her down." Naruto faced Sasuke with perked eyebrows. "Do you know what you're going to try-?" He noticed Sasuke was staring at the watchful proctor instead of the match. He leaned by the Uchiha and poked his side, snickering. "What? You like her or something?"

"No, it's just weird that she has feathers come out of her neck." He pointed at Leeandra and Naruto saw brown feather protruding from under her hair.

"I see what you mean. That's weird. Hmm." Naruto began walking towards her, holding up a hand.

Sasuke knew what the knuckle head was going to do and tried to stop him. "Hey, she's suppose to be watching the fight."

"It'll only take a second."

Kinco nipped her wings and saw the young blond draw closer to her child. "What could he want?" Before she warned Leeandra, Naruto plucked a feather from her back.

"Ouch!" She felt another pinch on her and she turned to face the whiskered cheeks of the Uzumaki again. "What was that for?!" The Roteorn rubbed her neck and noticed the feather Naruto grabbed. "Excuse me, that's mine." She placed her hands on her hips.

He didn't know that was hurt her! "Oh, sorry. Blame my friend over there." He pointed to Sasuke and laughed. "He sort of dared me to-"

"You idiot! I did not and you know it!"

Leeandra looked over at the young man with hair so black it almost appeared blue when the light hit it just right. He had very dark eyes which she was a sucker for. She tried not to blush. 'I'm a loyal girl to Unari, what am I thinking? He is really hot though.'

"Anyways, what's with these?" Naruto asked, waving the brown feather in the air. "Do you use them in jutsus or something?"

"Yeah, I can make clones out of them." She replied taking it back and turned it into a clone of herself.

After the smoke cleared, Naruto grinned. "I've seen clones made from water before but never feathers. I wouldn't mind paying a visit to your village Hilla- Hima- what was it called again?"

"Hitotoki you numbskull." Sasuke corrected and struck the Uzumaki across the head. "How about you stop looking bad for the people of the leaf?"

"Ow, hey!"

Leeandra was going to say she was glad that others were interested but she heard the sounds of metal clanking. She turned to the battle. "What did I miss?"

Neji deflected Caral's weapons with ease but couldn't shake off the cold shivers which reminded him of their presence each time he moved. It was the same six spots where Caral struck him before. 'This is no genjutsu affecting my sense of touch.' He rubbed over his shoulder where he did not find those orbs on his skin. 'Maybe they're hidden in the ground?' Nothing out of the ordinary was their though. Unable to find them worried the Byakugan user but he kept his attention on her.

'Just a few more movements before they sink fully in.' She ran towards him as he ready himself. She was gone and reappeared directly in front of him with senbons made of ice. She formed a fist with the weapons between her fingers and lunged to punch him. He snatched her wrist and aimed for where he knew one of her chakra points were. He felt her tense up but she blew ice on his hand and leaped out of his grasp.

"That's a real problem." The Medazoa watched the young man hold up his frozen hand.

Shino added his input. "That was sheer recklessness from the both of them."

Neji winced at the needle like pain of coldness surrounding his hand. He breathed in and collected his chakra in his free hand before striking the ice. It cracked. The Hyuga increased the amount of chakra and struck harder, this time, breaking the ice off his skin. 'It's not like normal ice.'

'That's almost enough.' The Shadow of Speed held up shuriken and threw them at Neji who deflected them again with his rotation. "You have a nearly perfect defense against the enemy with that jutsu."

"Nearly perfect? You have yet to lay a scratch on me." He posed with his palms forward and began attacking her. Caral dodged as much as she could from his Gentle Fist technique, hoping to get her flow blocked if he hit successfully.

"I didn't mean to sound offensive." She jumped away and held up one palm in his direction. She felt the pearls were ready. "It's that, yes, nearly perfect. Tell me how can it protect you from something that's already inside?"

"Tell me what are you planning?" He bowed his head again, preparing to perform his Rotation Jutsu.

"I'll show you."

While starting at her hand, Neji trembled again from something fridge. The young man ignore it again, waiting for something to happen. Caral pushed her hand forward and he shortly scream.

"What-where did those come from?" Sakura covered her mouth, gawking at blood dripping onto the earth.

Leeandra gulped and face away for a second. "I never liked it when she used those weapons."

"H-how did your sister do that?" Kankuro asked Margay who kept her fan open over her face.

"Brother!" Hinata called out lowly.

Neji stood his ground as six spears of ice coated in his blood stuck from his back. Caral turned her hand and pulled it back. Neji gritted his teeth as the spear receded and struck out of his chest. He coughed blood but did not go down. 'She... she planted these into me?!' Caral flipped her palm upwards and lifted it. The spears followed the direction and darted from Neji's shoulders. He let out a suppressed scream, falling to his knees. His arms were shaking while holding onto one of the cold spikes to remove it but the roots buried deep into him stayed in their place. Caral closed her hand into a fist and the spears return to their original form. Blood trickled from the multiple holes in Neji's body as he deactivated his Kekkie Genkai. 'What is she?'

The pearls flew out from Neji's chest and back into Caral's hand. "These are my own original weapons made from my ice. Using my chakra I can change their shape and form. As I'm sure you're aware, they're not like ice formed from cold water. You noticed I had six of them earlier and you noticed I attacked you in six different spots. I believe you didn't noticed I inserted them into you. I had to wait for them to be deep enough before I could use them. That's the only really draw back with these."

Salise shook her head in disagreement. "I told her she wouldn't have that problem if she made them bigger but no, she wanted them to be discreet."

The bug tamer countered her comment. "But it worked. Neji had no idea he had them just beneath his skin."

"That won't work on you so much since your bugs can remove them, right." Salise added as Shino nodded.

"You've lost a lot of blood and I suggest you remain motionless." Caral cleaned the orbs with her cloak before placing them back in the pouch. "I've heard that the Hyuga clan has a proud prodigy among them. I'm going to assume that's you. I have never seen a defense strong enough to uphold against Salise's weapons."

XXXX

The Kouinkage ran his fingers over old tools, worn green plates and faded head bands. "These seem to be remnants of the war. What do you think, Taka?" The man looked over his shoulders to not see the woman he was addressed. "Where is that adviser of mine, Taka?" He asked out loud in annoyance.

Leaves crushed under the heels of a konochi as she scrambled from branches tangling around her ankles. "Katsuro, I'm here!" She swarmed fire around her hand and burned away the limbs on her legs. "That's better. Sorry for being late, Kat- I mean, Lord Kouinkage." She kneeled and rose before him. Something grey caught her eye in the bag by him. "Oh, what we have here?" Taka reached in and looked at a scarred metal band from the past. She twirled her red pigtails in both hands and titled her head. "So I guess we only had black and white bands back then too? Things have not changed!"

"Taka, lower your voice please." He handed a clearly burned forehead protector to her. The metal had blackened in the middle before it melted away from a fire attack. "Do they look like they are from the war long ago?"

Taka closed her eyes and formed the hand signs for tiger, rooster, horse then ram and yelled. "Akaigan!" Staring at the reflection of the metal with orange eyes, she saw the forest they were in covered in flames but of dark color. She watched as the wearer of the headband fought against a group of fellow ninja as they all held up their kunais and threw them directly at the person. The reflection showed the forest floor as the black fire grew closer and closer. Taka turned off her Akaigan and sighed. "It is."

"So this too is another sight of the War." Katsuro frowned and ducked his head. 'I can't believe it took place all over our village. Even this far from the center.'

One of the elders placed a piece of armor into a cart and came into very close range to the older Kouinkage. She whispered to him. "This would be much faster if you brought the young girl here."

"Hush. Not many people know of her." Katsuro replied. "We are in no rush. Besides, I gave her the mission of the skills testings to keep her out of the village for a long amount of time. We don't-"

"Umm, no. My daughter has told me other children have been scorning her for years so if you tried to keep that little girl's affliction under wraps, there's been some loose ends." Taka interrupted while writing notes in a small book. "I also understand those red cloud fools have been invading us for her but I think letting her out of our sight would put her into more harm's way, don't you think?"

A leaf ninja over heard them and questioned the reason why this 'afflicted' girl was in his home village. "Did you send a dangerous person to the Fire Country?"

Katsuro stiffen and nervously coughed. "Of course not. We are a peaceful tribe. You must have heard us wrong."

"Smooth." The Roteorn chimed in.

XXXX

"That was bearable up until those spikes showed up." Leeandra grimaced as the field was cleared. "He'll survive though." She reached into her kimono again and read. Only four names were left. The Rotoern wondered if she could take a quick break to eat since she skipped breakfast as her stomach growled and she whined. "Caral won't let me." She hoped the next one would end soon since they came in three battles per day. "Kankuro, you're up next!"

"Any tips you want to share before I go down there?" The puppet master asked the younger Lerush, hoping for some advantage.

"W-well, she gets distracted easily." Margay uttered. That was the only thing she could think of that would help the man.

Considering he used puppets which would keep her attention, Kankuro felt better about facing her. He had to keep his distance from her though. The puppeteer stepped down to Caral's level, Karasu still on his back in bandages. "I'll go easy on your sister."

Upon closer examination, the Shadow of Speed still could not figure out what the other ninja carried on his back. With her unique sight, Caral could tell it was something with limbs but not a human. 'I just have to wait and find out.'

Kankuro took off the bandages on his shoulders and pulled one immediately. In a large puff of smoke the cloaked girl heard the sounds of clicks and as the smoke cleared, she saw Kankuro with a wooden puppet hanging on his body. It had brown hair which was protruding out from the bandages from the beginning and at least four limbs under the grey cloth.

'Already using the Substitution Jutsu? He's a smart one.' The girl in black drew two knives at the ready as the puppet clicked when Kankuro launched it. It's arms open from the bottom, revealing two blades. They swung at her neck as she ducked down in time. The clank of the blades echoed in the arena as purple liquid splattered on her mask. She sniffed. 'Is that poison?' She move further away as Karasu kept pace. Caral threw her knives into the face of the puppet then it changed into a log. 'Just as I thought.' The bushes rustled as the real puppet slashed its blades against Caral's sides.

Salise gawked at the use of the wooden weapon with her eyes wide. Amazed by the idea of a body holding an assortment of daggers and saws ran through her mind. "Why didn't I think of that? I should get to work on one of my own! I have to be extra careful in watching him!"

"You sound very excited." Shino lowly stated.

"That's because I am! I don't want to miss a thing!"

Another cling of metal rang as the blades slid on her armor. 'That's right. She's wearing protection.' Kankuro glared from the top of a tree, twitching his fingers to open Karasu's elbow. 'Let's see if it can do her any good against this.' A poison smoke bomb fired off at Caral, exploded on impact.

'Poison again?' Caral disappeared out of the gas and hid in the shrubbery, completely out of sight. She observed the puppet and master waiting for the smoke to dissipated as the wind picked up for a second. Inhaling a deep breath, Caral felt her heart rate increase as her limbs were numbing, the poison entered her body. 'I didn't move fast enough. No need to fret though.' Fingering through her vials mixed from her sister, Caral removed her mask and put one vial to her lips, drinking it. 'That is a very deadly device which he handles well.'

Kankuro smirked as the girl never seemed to emerge from the gas. 'It doesn't matter how tough your skin is if the poison gets in.' When the purple haze was gone, so was the girl. He wasn't surprised since she kept up her vanishing act in each of the battles. 'She probably is starting to feel the sting of pins and needles by now.' His black eyes glanced from all corners of the arena. He flicked his wrist as Karasu shot knives from its mouth at a rustling bush. Nothing came out as the poison tipped blades stuck into the wall. "Ah!" He pulled out two senbons from his forearm. Kankuro feared they were part of the ice jutsu she had done earlier but the weapons weren't cold. However, he noticed they were dripping with a yellow liquid.