Phew! That is the end of day nine. Oh right! I hope you guys enjoy this particular chapter.

Yeah, I'm not really going to concentrate on Tofuu just yet. So guys please have patience.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIED

Chapter Fourteen

The Beginning

(Day Ten)

The sunrays slowly pierced through the thick fog, finally declaring the end of the stormy night. The morning was silent and tranquil with the occasional sound of the small droplets of water falling in the lake from the long grasses and the bamboo hitting the stone while rocking due to the weight of the water.

The Hokage's brunette woke up and yawned. She looked at her two roommates, who were still fast asleep, and smiled. She quickly tied her hair and carefully came out of the room, closing the door behind her slowly. Yanagi walked softly across the wet corridor and opened another door.

"Yanagi-han!" Yanagi got startled and fell.

"Er…Joker-kun. What are you doing here?" Yanagi said as she got up whilst composing herself.

Joker pouted, "That's so mean Yanagi-han. Does that mean that you don't want me here?"

"Iye, Iye. That's not it, Joker-kun. I was just surprised, that's all." Yanagi said waving her two hands.

Joker peaked behind Yanagi, analyzing the room. "Ne, Yanagi-han, why would a princess like you come to a dirty old store room this early in the morning?"

Yanagi stepped in and took out a bucket and a thick white cloth. "Well, I just thought…well…since I'm free and …well, it's not like I can be of much of a help to you guys…so I thought that I would do my best to make everyone feel comfortable and happy."

Joker looked at Yanagi and then scratched his head. "Are you planning to clean up the place all by yourself?"

Yanagi looked down and nodded. "Well…."

"In that case…" Joker took out a bucket and a towel, "Let's do it together!" He grinned and showed thumbs up at a surprised Yanagi.

"But I…"

"No buts…I'm bored anyway. I might as well help Yanagi-han!" said Joker grinning.

At this Yanagi smiled, "Arigatou Joker-kun!" Suddenly out of nowhere a kick flew right from Joker's back which Joker dodged easily by stepping aside.

"Ah Recca-han! You're up early." Joker grinned at a fuming Recca.

"Hey- hey … quit flirting with my princess!"

"What me? But, I'm just an innocent handsome hunk trying to help a damsel in distress." said Joker with an angelic aura.

"Innocent handsome hunk, my foot!" Recca said charging towards Joker who was grinning at the Hokage's flame caster and casually dodging his punches.

Recca stood in front of Yanagi and glared at Joker, "You are staying away from my princess."

"Anou…Recca-kun."

"Hai hai Recca-han! I get it. You don't have to get so jealous, you know. I know I'm too good looking. But that doesn't mean that I'll try to steal your girlfriend." Joker said grinning, which made the two of them blush.

"Wha-good looks my foot. You just sta-" Recca fell on his face. Recca got up to see the culprit behind this, just when a kick landed on his face.

"You do realise that others are trying to sleep here! Why can't you lower down your voice!" said Fuuko with a vein popping out of her head.

"Why you stupid annoying-"another kick landed on his face.

"Which part of lower down your voice you didn't get?" Fuuko said looking sternly at Recca.

"But-but…" Recca was cut short when Ganko stepped out rubbing her eyes.

"Anou…Fuuko-nee, what's happening?" Ganko asked innocently seeing a fuming Fuuko, a grinning Joker and a beaten up Recca on the floor.

Fuuko grabbed Recca by his collar, "There, you see? Now thanks to you everyone's sleep is destroyed!"

"When will the two of you ever start acting like proper civilized people? I guess there's no taming of monkeys from the jungle."

"What did you say?" Both Recca and Fuuko glared at Mikagami, who was coolly leaning on the pillar at the end of the corridor.

"You heard monkeys, now quit making so much of noise." Tokiya brushed his bangs and walked towards them just when he felt a weird presence behind him. But, he sensed it too late. Thud. Both Tokiya and the weird stranger who weighed a ton were on the moist floor.

"Uh-oh! She is in big trouble!" Recca said sweatdropping.

"Yeah, you think?" agreed sweatdropping Fuuko.

"Are you both all right?" said a concerned Yanagi.

"I kind of envy that Mikagami." came a voice from the back. Everyone turned around and gave him a look.

Domon looked innocently at everyone, "What? I mean how many times can a guy actually have a sexy girl jump on him like that?"

"Just shut up." said a vein popping Fuuko while Domon was on the floor with Fuuko's left foot on his cheek.

'Oh my dear Fuuko.' Thought Domon with tears in his eyes.

A red nosed Tokiya got up furiously, pushing whoever fell on him. "What are you bli-"He was cut short by a hug from the Uruha's red haired girl. Yes, it was the one and only-Miki.

"Hi, Tokiya darling! Missed me much?" She said batting her eyelash at him. Tokiya pushed her aside and fixed his coat. "Next time…." He turned around glaring at her, "watch where you are walking lady." Tokiya glared at her one last time to make sure his words sunk through her head and walked away.

Miki pouted, "Hmph! That Mikagami is one mean guy."

"Well, what else did you expect?" said Fuuko kind of annoyed with Miki and walked away while carrying a half sleepy Ganko.

Domon quickly got up and ran behind Fuuko. "Oh my darling Fuuko, wait for me…."

"Guess that's our queue to go, princess." Recca took Yanagi's hand and walked away, but only after making sure that he gave Joker one short deadly glare, which made Joker sweatdrop.

The Hokage followed by Joker and Miki, opened the door of the main hall only to find Kurei and Kagerou sipping their tea.

'Why does Kurei always seem to get freaky when he is near ? Why the hell is he so damn obedient?' Fuuko thought, while the others were thinking of the same.

Kagerou smiled and asked them to come and sit. Raiha, Neon and Aki soon joined them.

Two men in white ninja attire jumped out of the tree and hid behind the bushes.

"Is that the place?" One of them used his hands to block the penetrating morning rays and looked at a mountain covered with lush green trees.

"Yes, that is the very same place." The other one replied. He took out an age old scroll and held it against the sun. The once empty scroll was now a sophisticated map giving an entire layout of tunnels and traps. He pointed out a particular tunnel on the map and rolled it back in his white wrap.

The two of them nodded at each other and disappeared.

The tea continued to brew as the entire Hokage and Uruha gathered into the big room of the ancient house. The two slide doors were open to let the morning breeze in, giving a picturesque view of the surroundings. Yanagi sat besides Recca, who was seated next to Kagerou. Kurei sat opposite to Kagerou with Raiha and Joker at his side. Neon and Akki sat calmly next to Domon, who was sulking for not being able to sit near his darling Fuuko (next to Yanagi), whereas Miki sat next to Mikagami with a sly smile on her face. And then there sat Fuuko in her tracks near Kagerou (naturally, next to Mikagami).

Kagerou calmly passed the morning food, which everyone obediently finished.

"We still have five more days left." Kagerou started which caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Five days later, the moon shall not shine in the sky and to boost the next morning is followed by the longest solar eclipse in the history of mankind."

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by we have only five more days left." Joker inquired.

Kagerou sighed and looked out, "As we all know, Ryuunosuke is unable to step out into the sun. However, to break his curse he needs to perform the rituals between the hours of the morning and the evening star. Being chained by the curse, the new moon followed by a solar eclipse will be an ideal condition for him. The eclipse will last for two hours straight. While the entire sky is dark, the evening star will still be there on the sky. Also, this time is the sacred hour of the snake."

The two men jumped from one tree to another till they reached a huge water falls.

"This way." said one of the men and pointing at the direction of the water fall. The other man took out a Bo1. Taking a battle stance, he closed his eyes and then started swirling the Bo. He suddenly opened his eyes and brought the Bo on the stream as if he was going to spilt it. The stream immediately started splitting while the two ninjas ran on the soaked bed of the stream with the walls of the water around them collapsing behind them. They quickly entered the split water falls as it closed behind them and continued to flow without the slight hint of the invaders.

The gentle morning breeze blew across the lake into the room as the now dying flame flickered against it.

The entire room was still silent as Kagerou continued to explain, "The snake's hour is the time when the psychic device Light will be at its peak."

"Light?" Recca inquired.

Kagerou nodded, "The psychic device Light is one of the most powerful psychic devices in the Hokage. I haven't had the opportunity to see it actually being used as wielding this psychic device was a very difficult task. It was said that if the wielder doesn't posses the necessary psychic power than the psychic device will lead to the destruction of the wielder and everyone around him. As far as I know, the main purpose of this device is to manipulate light."

"But why will he need the power of Light if there is going to be a solar eclipse?"

Kagerou smiled at Yanagi and replied, "Well, the solar eclipse lasts for two hours, but the ritual takes more time than that. So, as far as I can say, he will be using it for blocking the rays from touching him."

Kagerou stood up and looked outside, "I'm not sure about this whole situation. I can only tell you all that we have to be ready." She turned around and looked at Tokiya, "Which is why we need you to obtain the full strength of your psychic device. Your device would probably be the only one able to counter it."

"The water dragon…" Tokiya said with uncertainty. 'But, how do I know…'

"You don't have to worry, Mikagami. Today, when the sun will be at its peak, you, Fuuko and Kurei will go…"

"Whoa whoa whoa….hold a second." Fuuko interjected, "Are you telling me that we will be going with him?"

Kagerou sighed, while the Uruha female members glared at the wind goddess, "Yes, Fuuko, you and Mikagami will be accompanied by Kurei. He is the only one who posses the required knowledge to take you there."

"Well, in that case, I'm coming too." Recca said standing up.

"So am I! I'm not letting my darling Fuuko to go alone with him!" Domon said glaring at Kurei. "Recca, Domon, you must understand…" Kagerou tried to calm them down. "So, does that mean I am to assume that you don't trust me?" Kurei replied coolly. "Darn right you are! Why should we trust you anyway? How can we be sure that you won't runaway with the stuff in that shrine?" Recca said while pointing at Kurei to stress on his point.

Kurei smirked at this, which annoyed Recca even more, "Why you…"

"I f I needed to do that, I could have just killed you all and taken Kirisawa along with." Kurei said coolly while sipping his warm cup of tea.

"Ha! As if that would ever happen! Don't forget Kurei, Recca bet you once and I would never cooperate with you even if you threatened to kill me." Fuuko glared at Kurei.

"Well, then, Kirisawa. I will just have to hold your friends captive. And regarding Recca defeating me? Well, we all know that he never really won against me. He won because I let him. He won because I left the arena on my own accord." Fuuko and Recca became quite. As much as they hated Kurei was speaking the truth. Apart from that, they knew very well that Raiha was a very formidable foe too. So were the three sisters, even though their devices were destroyed in the UBS. And there was this mystery man who had forever concealed his true identity, joker.

"Recca, listen well." Kagerou said catching everyone's attention, "A week before, Kaoru had gone to Kuu clan to meet Kuukai."

"Kuukai? Does that mean he will be joining us too?"

Kagerou nodded in reply and continued, "Yes, we need all the help we can get. They'll be arriving in another hour near the bus stop along with Kaoru, near the base of this mountain. Since Kaoru doesn't know his way to this shrine, I need you to go along with Domon to get them."

Recca and Domon nodded in reply.

Kagerou then glanced at Neon and passed a wrap to her. " I know that you already have a psychic device, however, you sisters will be needing these. I am sure that you recognize these devices as it had once belonged to your men, who had lost against Hokage during the tournament. Don't open it up now. I need you to proceed to the cave on the next mountain. Train them well with these. You have three more days left."

Neon took the wrap and glanced at Kurei, who nodded at her. She placed the wrap on her lap, "Arigatou gozaimasu."

"Raiha, I need you to round up all the members of the Uruha Shadow. Their contribution is absolutely required in this battle." Kagerou addressed Raiha to which Raiha nodded.

"Right, Raiha and neon, we will be seeing you all here in another three days. I suggest that you both head out. Recca and Domon, get a move on. Kuukai and the others must have reached. Joker, I need you to stay here with me and Yanagi. I hope it isn't a hassle to you."

"No , not at all."

With this Recca, Domon, Joker and Neon with her sisters headed towards their destinations.

Kagerou paused for all of them to leave and then continued, "Kurei, the holy shrine that is situated on the top of the mountain must not be touched now. Ryuunosuke will approach there at the snakes hour and we need to be ready to counter him. It is absolutely necessary that we allow him to perform his ritual. But, it needs to be done in our way. That way he will lose his immortality. Or else it shall be very difficult for us to defeat him."

"I understand." Kurei said calmly.

"For now, our visit to the sacred four war god shrines is more than enough. The location of the shrines is given in this map." Kagerou handed the map over to Kurei.

"Mikagami, we will prioritize to send you to the shrine related to the water god, Genbu. It is my belief that you shall be able to attain the Water Dragon."

Mikagami nodded. "The next three days, is left for you three to get the Water Dragon, retrieve the hidden information inside of that scroll and Fuuko for you to remove the seal on your hand."

"But why would I remove the seal?" Fuuko inquired.

"You won't be able to harness the power of the God of wind if you don't remove the seal. A huge part of your psychic power is going in the concealment of the key. That is the reason why your hand is throbbing so much."

"How did you… "

"Questions kept aside, we need you to materialize the key. And for that you'll need Kurei's help. You won't be able to succeed on your own."

'Yeah right that is happening' Fuuko frowned at the thought of taking Kurei's help.

"Now you three, it is time. Return home safely." Kagerou said flashing a warm smile.

Tokiya, Fuuko and Kurei got up and made their way out of the Hokage shrine, while Yanagi and Kagerou looked at them departing.

"Bye! Bye Kurei-han! I will miss you! So hurry up and come back!" Joker waved at the departing figure.

'Joker" Kurei frowned.

"I hope they return safe." Kagerou smiled at Yanagi's statement. "Don't worry they will."

In the thick forest behind the old Hokage shrine, two figures appear on the branch. "Master we have reached."

"Good, now bring the girl." Rung a cold emotionless voice in their mind.

"Yes, master" The two men clad in white ninja attire jumped off the branch and vanished.

A/N

Yup, that's all for now! I hope I have written it well. And I hope the changes in the story have helped the entire story plot! I can't wait to start writing the next chapter! :D Please do leave a review and a PM. It always motivates write more.

As for My thousands, I have put it on a hold. I need some inspiration. But, I definitely plan to complete it. ^^

Thanks in advance for your support.

1The Bo is a Japanese name for a large staff (about 2m long), which was used by common people for self defence because they weren't allowed to carry weapons. But here it is a psychic device.