Chapter 26: A Power Rising

Nightshroud: Thank you for all the reviews. Don't mean to rush, but if you haven't asked me to be in the next chapter, you only have one more day to let me know. Okay, here it is!
The days after Christmas seemed to pass so quickly. Before anyone knew it, it was New Years Eve. After this day, Konoha would begin a new year. Hopefully all the horror of the past year would fade away...

Kayume was roaming about her apartment. Dashi looked up from a book he was reading and said, "Dear girl, you need to stop walking about this apartment as if you were a ghost haunting it." She looked over at him and smiled. He motioned her over and she sat next to him. "Tell me what's wrong," Dashi insisted. She looked into his eyes and sighed.

"I feel like something bad is going to happen." Dashi looked hard at her.

"Why would you say that?"

"You know that you trained me to tap into my sixth sense. I can sense darkness around. It isn't here yet, though. It seems to be surrounding us, just waiting for something."

Dashi frowned. He didn't want to alarm her, but he had sensed it even before her. Something was stirring.

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai were sitting in a lounge drinking coffee. Kakashi wasn't totally into the conversation and kept looking out the window, thinking of Kayume. Asuma caught his glances and asked:

"Something wrong, Kakashi?"

"Uh..no."

"Don't worry. Kayume's not going anywhere." Kakashi got a little irritated but brushed it off. Asuma continued.

"Anyway, Anko told me that Lord Hokage has issued an alert around Konoha. No one is supposed to leave the village."

Kakashi looked up. "Why?" he asked. Asuma smiled at his sudden interest in the conversation.

"Well, no one knows exactly why, but I got enough out of Shizune to guess that it has something to do with those Shadow Riders that attacked."

Kakashi immediately stood up and said a quick goodbye. Asuma and Kurenai watched him rush out.

"Huh...wonder what that was all about," said Asuma. He turned to see Kurenai with a little smirk on her face. "Uh, Kurenai?"

Kakashi rushed over to Kayume's apartment. After knocking about ten times, he realized that she wasn't home. As he was turning to leave, Pakkun rushed up.

"Master Kakashi, Lord Hokage has called an emergency meeting. You're to go immediately to the Hokage's office. Kakashi nodded and rushed off.

Anko wandered through the halls. "God, where are they!" she wondered. She came to an office and opened the door. The first thing she saw was Asuma and Kurenai making out on the sofa.

"Oh, God. I better get going."

Asuma pulled himself out of Kurenai's grip and said (rather embarrassed) "What's the problem?"

"Lord Hokage has called an emergency meeting. I suggest you come with me. That is, if your done with your make-out session. Ugh."

All the village's jonin and a few top chunin were in Tsunade's office. She had probably taken twelve aspirin, even though Shizune had warned her about ODing. What a day...

"I called you all here to tell you that Konoha is in a state of emergency. We received this letter today."

Konoha,

Enjoy your last day in existence.

Your destruction will be the dawning

of a new age. The age of Shadows.

Tsunade put her head down slightly. All the people present had grim expressions on their faces. Kayume stepped forward.

"I think they should know something else," Kayume said. Tsunade was a little surprised, but nodded for her to go on. Kayume looked at the faces of all those present. She gave a deep sigh and then spoke.

"I, Kayume Hakure, am one of the Protectors. We are a relatively small group, only about fifty, but we have kept evil from attacking the villages. Dashi-sensei, the leader of this group, has been keeping an eye on this group, the Shadow Riders. We don't know where they are coming from, but we know that their numbers are incalculable (for all idiots, that means you can't count them...). If Konoha tries to stand against them alone, it will surely fall, even as that message proclaims. The Protectors will do all they can, but it's not enough. All villages need to stand against this foe, this common foe, for the future of all lands." Tsunade shook her head dismally.

"It's no use. We have no means of communication to alert the other villages."

Kayume thought hard and finally said, "I can send Urulai, my butterfly summon. I just hope the other villages will come to our aid."

"All right. We're going to have to send out every jonin and chunin that we have in this village. Tonight will be Konoha's greatest battle."

"Lord Hokage, you can't send the chunin out there! They would be slaughtered!" protested Iruka.

"Those chunin have shown more skill than most of the jonin in here," Tsunade answered sharply "Besides, if we don't, Iruka, they won't have much longer to live, anyway."

Iruka reluctantly nodded. The jonin left to prepare or alert their squads of the battle. Kayume felt weighted down. Why did it have to come to this?

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura sat on the roof of Naruto's apartment. The village almost seemed deserted. No one was at the market buying food, or at the restaurant's chatting loudly, or at the park running freely. The village seemed...dead.
Kayume stood o the top of the watch tower and handed Urulai the scrolls that contained Konoha's plea. She rubbed Urulai's feeler and smiled. She whispered to it and it flew off. She watched it until it flew out of sight. It was dusk, the sun retreating earlier than usual today. She then turned her gaze to the forest outside of Konoha.

"Can we really defeat this? A power rising, ready to consume us all."

Nightshroud: The fianl battle! Here we go! If you liked this, just wait till next chapter. It's going to get good!

Next chapter:Mustering of Shinobi: All Village Unite!