"Normal speech"

"Thought"/Flashback

"Kyuubi/Other voices"

A/N:

Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto… This is merely for my, and hopefully everyone else's, enjoyment. Thank you!

Recap:

Taking a mission to rescue a kidnapped princess, Naruto and his comrades get to the bottom of things. They meet with and solicit the help of the land's "Ninja Guardians" as they investigate this crime. They discover who is responsible and attempt to thwart their efforts. With conflicting interests, the "12 Ninja Guardsmen" of the Land of Honey's Feudal Lord has been dissolved. As some fight for power and land, others fight to maintain the peace and wellbeing of those they care for.

Bewitching Eyes

Kohaku and her soldiers were now engaged in a small battle of their own. The little area that they clashed was quickly being littered with bodies from both sides. Injured as she was, Kohaku wouldn't let it hinder her. She set her sights on her target. She had only one thing in mind…

"Hiraku, uncle, YOU BASTARD…!! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!

Yuzuki vs. Daisuke

"I'll make you regret this!!" Yuzuki yelled.

As she came at him, Daisuke simply smirked and said, "I'd love to see you try…"

Yuzuki got to him and swung hard and fast. She missed taking his head off as he ducked under the attack. Using her momentum, Yuzuki spun into a back kick. Daisuke blocked it and stumbled backward. Yuzuki kept it up as she brought her weapon down on him. She barely missed thanks to a slight back jump in Daisuke's step, but she wouldn't let that stop her. With no wasted motion, and using her lodged weapon to increase her force, she shifted into a swift flying kick…

It wasn't swift enough, however, as Daisuke slipped by the attack. Before she could even land on the ground, Daisuke grabbed her by her neck, swung her around, and slammed her to the ground.

As he proudly stood over her, he claimed, "Look at this…! I've got the witch Yuzuki at my feet." He then proceeded to kick her, "This… could have been avoided if… you… would've just agreed… to join me when I offered…! This is what happens when… stupid people… make stupid decisions…!"

Ayumu vs.

As Ayumu turned to continue her search, Kiba and Sai ducked back before she could see them. Once again they questioned what was going on.

Ayaka replied, "If you meet the gaze of Ayumu while she's using that technique… it'll be the last time you ever do. You'll be trapped in her genjutsu and be unable to do anything…"

"A genjutsu…?" Kiba said dumbfounded. "That's no big deal with our numbers."

"You say that because you don't understand… If you happen to look into those eyes of hers even slightly, it won't be long before her genjutsu takes effect. Your entire body will quickly seize up, and, from what I've witnessed… so do your organs. If they should ever stop working, then…"

Kiba and Sai looked as if they understood. "If that's the case, then what do we do?" Kiba questioned.

"Well…" Sai began. "As long as we don't look into her eyes there should be a way…"

He seemed to have come up with something. Kiba and Ayaka were interested in hearing what it was…

Yuzuki vs. Daisuke

Daisuke was still kicking his downed opponent across the ground. He then stopped kicking Yuzuki to pretentiously say, "Now… I'm sure that you regret going against me… For this, I'm willing to give you another chance to rule at my side." He then corrected himself, "Well… not so much at my side as under me." With a smile on his face as he looked down on her, he asked, "So… what do you say?"

There was no reply from her. All he got was a stare from her cold, blue, bewitching eyes. This prompted more kicking from Daisuke. Having had enough, Yuzuki put a sudden stop to this as she caught one of Daisuke's feet.

After spitting a speckle of blood, Yuzuki responded, "Like hell I would join someone that hurt the people closest to me…"

She shoved him away. Another smile appeared on Daisuke's face as Yuzuki stood to her feet. He had to admit it, he didn't like being opposed, but he liked how interesting and exciting this was.

Takumi vs.

Yamato now had his hands full and couldn't do anything to stop the charging Takumi. All of a sudden, he motioned to stop. Yamato soon found why.

"Water Wall!!"

A wall of water exploded into the air. Takumi stopped short, but, from above, Ryou attacked with Takumi's trident. Takumi avoided being skewered by his own weapon by stopping in his tracks. He didn't even give Ryou another chance to attack as he kicked him aside. He then refocused on Yamato and a now alert Kouki. Reunited with his trident, Takumi began advancing on them…

"Water Prison!" Ryou said, showing that he wasn't done.

The water at Takumi's feet came alive and engulfed him in a small orb. He struggled but couldn't get free. Things seemed to now be in their favor…

"Even if you can use water-style techniques, you won't be able to free yourself from my 'Water Prison'."

They watched on as Takumi floated within the bubble. If he just drowned, that would make things simple… but when are things ever that simple. Showing no signs of worry, Takumi raised his trident and the water began to part.

At this point, the common allies thought, "What else can this guy do?"

Ayumu vs.

Ayumu was still searching for her former ally. All she would come across was animals. Not intentionally, but also not caring, she would steal their life in her hunt for Ayaka. She then heard rustles in the bush that sounded like someone running away and followed. When it stopped, she thought she caught up but found no one.

Suddenly, she noticed something coming at her. She quickly turned to meet it with her fearsome gaze. She managed to do just that before it was too late for her… but it wouldn't stop. It slashed her across her abdomen. Before long, she was surrounded.

"What's going on? Why isn't my jutsu working? What are these things?!"

"It seems like this may work," Ayaka said.

"It was a good plan, Sai," Kiba complimented.

"I figured that it was worth a try to see if her technique worked on everything or if it only worked on things with actual life. It seems that it was a good thing." He drew on a scroll, "Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll…"

More lion-like beasts were created. They then went on to join their fellow creations. They encircled Ayumu. Since her eye technique was ineffective against these growling beasts, Ayumu would just have to do it some other way. She readied her kunai as they were poised to pounce.

They attacked the first chance they got. Ink and blood was spattered all over the area as Ayumu fought as best she could. When it was over…

"Ahhhhh! My eyes…!!" she screamed.

Ayumu had successfully defended herself but was now blinded… temporarily. Though the beasts Sai summoned managed to do some harm to her, the best they could manage was luckily splattering their ink onto and into Ayumu's eyes. If ever, now was the time to attack.

"Let's go Akamaru…! Fang Over Fang!!"

Kiba and Akamaru launched their combined attack. The unsuspecting Ayumu was blasted back into a tree. As she just lay their, not making a single movement, Sakura and Hinata arrived. They were too late to get involved in this fight but were relieved that no one was hurt. Or so they thought…

Ayumu let out a rough cough as she regained consciousness. Not wasting anytime, she weakly began cycling through hand-seals.

"What is she up to now?" Kiba questioned.

"I have no idea," Ayaka responded. "But it can't be anything good for us."

Her seals completed, Ayumu proceeded to remove her clothes…

"Wh-why is she doing that?!" Kiba was questioning with a blush on his face.

He wasn't the only one questioning this action with a blush on his face. The only one present that wasn't blushing was Sai who instead seemed confused by the others' reactions.

As Ayumu stood before her enemies in the buff, her skin began changing. Things began appearing on it that resembled…

"Those… couldn't be…!" Sakura was in disbelief.

"Oh no…! Everyone take cover!!" Ayaka shouted. "And don't look at her!!"

Everyone went into hiding. As they did, a few of Kohaku's soldiers appeared on the scene.

"What is that?" one of them questioned.

"No!! Don't look…!!" Ayaka warned.

Unfortunately, she was too late. Ayumu was revealed in all her glory as the things all over her body opened up with a flash of red. Ayaka and the Leaf shinobi could do nothing but watch as all the soldiers literally turned to stone.

"Wha- what the hell…!?" Kiba said with a bit of panic in his voice.

"It's the fate of you all," Ayumu stated. "You'll all be petrified in stone for all eternity once I set my gaze on you," she sneered.

She was a scary sight to behold. All over her body were red eyes that could turn any unfortunate soul to stone. What was even scarier was that she was now coming their way. As she made it to where she thought her latest victims were, Ayumu became infuriated. Once again, she was given the slip. Furious, she pushed over and smashed the stone soldiers to pieces.

Safe for the moment, the Leaf and Ayaka took the time to collect themselves and try to come up with a good plan or so. It would help if they had some intel on the technique they would be up against. Before, they only had to worry about looking into her eyes, but how could they avoid that if her eyes were everywhere on her body?

Ayumu was still searching for her opponents. With her technique, it was a lot easier to keep an eye out for them. She wasn't even taken by surprise when a ferocious bunch of dangerous drawings approached her. No sweat and no stress, Ayumu didn't budge an inch as 20 or so attacked.

The team was bewildered as every one was turned to stone… Even the bird attacking from above was petrified as an eye opened on the top of Ayumu's head.

"What!? Her jutsu works on things that aren't living too…!?" Kiba was confused. "But before…!"

"Then she's more fearsome than I thought," Ayaka stated. "For now, let's investigate the area where she first activated this scary jutsu… Hopefully we'll be able to figure out how it works…"

They snuck back as Ayumu smashed through the statuesque beasts, but…

"I see yo~u…"

They returned to find something even more baffling and horrendous than what they had just witnessed. The soldiers had been smashed to pieces and everything including trees, bushes, and flowers had been turned to stone. It was inconceivable.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight and win against someone like that!? We can't even get close to her unless we want to become statues," Kiba pointed out.

"If we could somehow attack from a distance… but she'll probably just see it coming no matter where it's from," Ayaka pondered.

"Someone could always act as a decoy. They'd be sacrificed but maybe the enemy would focus on them enough that she doesn't notice another attack," Sai suggested after finally catching his breath.

"Are you crazy!?" Kiba opposed. "No one here is going to give up their life just so that we can win! It'd be a pointless, hollow victory!"

"Then, what do we do?" Hinata asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"You can all die!" they heard a voice say from a distance. It was Ayumu, and she continued, "You can all let me turn you to stone and your part will be done. You won't have to worry about another thing after that. You don't even have to worry about it being painful because it's not… at least maybe until I start slowly chipping away at you…"

Without looking at her, everyone scattered, but…

"Not so fast…Ayaka…!"

Ayaka was ducking behind a tree when she suddenly felt her legs seize up on her. She turned to see that they had been turned to stone.

"How is this possible?"

"I'm able to turn anything I set my sights on to stone… if I choose to," Ayumu explained.

Still partially hidden, Ayaka continued speaking, "So, how does it work exactly?" While she asked this, she tried to figure a way to save herself.

Ayumu responded, "Like I'd tell you and your little friends that are probably listening in."

Ayaka cycled through seals as Ayumu approached, "Living Forest Manipulation…"

She tried to control the trees and use them to her benefit once again… but it wasn't working. The strain of trying to utilize her jutsu was making her head hurt and blood drip from her nose. It just wasn't working, and soon, neither would she.

As Ayumu rounded the tree to get a good look at Ayaka, she saw an arrow coming at her. She evaded it but was forced again and again to keep moving. From a distance, Hinata was providing cover and forcing Ayumu back.

She pressed a button on her H.A.L.O. to communicate with the others, "I managed to get her away from Ayaka, but she can't move on her own," she informed them.

"I'm on it," Sai said as he swooped in on a bird and scooped up Ayaka.

As they flew away, they were seen by Ayumu, "Damn it…! Don't think that you can just run away!"

She gave chase, slowly catching up to them. "I'm almost in range!" she shouted as she got closer.

She was suddenly stopped by an unusual earthquake. From what she could see, Sakura had punched the ground and caused it to shake. Even after she stopped, Ayumu noticed that the ground was still rumbling. A pair of hands grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her down. She was now knee-deep in the ground and was struggling in getting free. She could see Sakura in the distance twirling around before releasing something her way.

She struggled and struggled as she tried to get free. Unless she could, she would be split by the giant axe coming her way. She managed to pull up her legs and leap over the axe at the last second. As she lingered in the air, she was overwhelmed with several arrows. Ayumu shrieked as many of those fired by Hinata managed to take out many of the eyes on her body. Even so, she had managed to provide herself with cover. Before any critical points could be hit, she caused a wall of earth to spring up.

"I can no longer get a clear shot," Hinata informed.

Seeing that Ayumu was now going after Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru, Ayaka made a decision.

"Set me down over there by that tree…"

"What are you going to do?" Sai asked.

"I'm going to see to it that this ends," she said. After being set down, she called to Ayumu, "Let's you and me end this!"

A little skeptical, Ayumu gave in to her urge to kill anyone for the time being. She approached with a smirk on her face as she recognized Ayaka's seals. Once again, she struggled to manipulate the surrounding trees. Blood trickled from her nose as she tried as hard as she could. The smile on Ayumu's face grew larger as she came closer and blood began dripping from Ayaka's shut eyes.

"Now… turn to stone!"

"I don't mind, as long as I give these seedlings a chance… to bloom…!"

Blood poured from her nostrils, eyes, and ears as she managed to get one of the petrified trees to come to life. It wrapped its branches around Ayumu, ultimately restraining her.

No matter how hard she kicked and screamed, she couldn't get free. This provided a clear chance for…

"Target in sight," Hinata said as she let an arrow fly.

Ayumu could do nothing but watch it fly right at her and… pierce her between her original eyes. Her head drooped and her jutsu came to a halt. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one. Blood puddled on the ground as it poured from Ayaka's skull.

Sakura laid her down and checked her pulse. She said nothing but shook her head.

End of chapter…

Ayumu is defeated at the cost of a "Guardian's" life…

As many of the conflicts come to an end, and the "Guardians" drop like flies, can Naruto and his comrades avoid the same fate?

Next chapter: Three-pronged attack…