-Sacred Blood-

Neji ran as fast as he could, looking for anywhere to go. He himself didn't understand why he was being so frantic.

Hanabi followed closely behind him, wondering what exactly was going on.

"Where are you going? Is it okay to leave my father behind? Who did this?" She asked, bombarding him with questions.

"Be quiet!" He shouted over his shoulder. "Wait until we get somewhere safe."

"Where are we going?" She asked. More questions, but that was understandable. He was surprised that she was able to leave her father's body behind. But he remembered that she was a recently promoted Chuunin, this was the kind of thing she was supposed to be able to do.

Neji stopped running. He didn't know where to go. He decided to think logically about it, who could he trust with this? Not Lee, no matter how close they were, Lee was just too noisy. Not any of the Jounin, for obvious reasons. He eventually narrowed it down to three choices: Sakura, Shino and Kiba. The other three that knew that Naruto was alive.

Sakura had once had feelings for Sasuke, so he decided it best to wait until he understood the situation a bit more. He wasn't very close to Shino, and wasn't sure just how he would go about explaining it to him. So only Kiba was left.

It's a good thing. he thought. Kiba and Hanabi are close, she will probably feel comfortable with him.

"We're going to find Kiba." Neji told his cousin. "He's the most trustworthy in this situation."

"O-Okay." Hanabi replied and followed her guardian.

They ran as fast as their chakra-pumped legs could take them, faster than most normal people can see, until they reached the Inuzuka household. A rather large home, but not much if you were to compare it to the Hyuuga mansion.

Neji pounded urgently on the door. "Kiba, open the damned door!"

A few moments later, a tired-looking Inuzuka Kiba opened the door. "Sheez, whadya wan?" He asked groggily. "Ish late"

Neji forced his way through the door. "Is anyone else here?"

"'Nly Kamaru" Kiba answered, still slurred from exhaustion. He had been through a long day. "Shomethin Wron?"

"My father!" Hanabi said, tears starting to pour down he cheeks. "He... He's been..."

Kiba almost immediately regained full consciousness. "What happened, Hanabi-chan?"

"Kiba-san!" She wailed and wrapped her arms around the older teen. "He's..."

"He's been murdered." Neji whispered. "I found Hanabi crying over his body in our dojo."

"W-What?" Kiba was astonished. "Someone killed Hyuuga Hiashi! That's impossible!"

"Not for a Sharingan user." Neji responded. "Hiashi-sama left something before he died – a clue. I think that it was meant for me to find."

"A Sharingan user?" Kiba gasped. "You don't mean... Kakashi-senesi?"

Neji almost collapsed from that stupid assumption. "No, you moron! He wrote a name in the dirt before he died. The name was Uchiha Sasuke."

Kiba's eyes shot wide open. If he had been tired before, you would never be able to tell. "Naruto!"

"Why do..." Hanabi sobbed. "Why does he have anything to do with this? Isn't he dead?"

Kiba looked at Neji. "What do we do?"

Neji shrugged. He was confused; his logic said to tell the authorities everything he knew, but his gut told him to do something about it himself. His gut said to find Naruto.

"There is only one person who can possibly understand Sasuke's intentions." Neji stated. "Uzumaki Naruto"

"As for Naruto... do you think..." Kiba started, a different idea coming to mind. "Gaara might know something?"

"Probably not." Neji answered. "But then, who else would know anything?"

"I might know something, actually." Kiba answered. "I saw them a long time ago, near the border of Fire and Rain."

"Saw who?" Neji almost yelped. It sounded almost too good to be true.

"Naruto and Hinata." Kiba answered. "It was about ten months after they had left. I talked to Naruto for a few seconds before he knocked me down and ran off, then I saw them both leaving the area the next day."

Neji's eyes widened as something dawned upon him. "Wind is on the other side of Rain! Gaara might know something after all!"

"But isn't he a really important person, being the Kazekage?" Kiba asked, pessimistically.

"Where else should we start?" Neji asked. "Which way did Naruto run when you saw him?"

"Into Rain..." Kiba replied. "He was with another man, the dude was huge. A good two feet taller than Naruto, at least!"

"Wouldn't that make him over seven feet tall?" Neji asked. "That's kind of unrealistic."

"It's true!" Kiba rebuked.

All this time, Hanabi had been crying into Kiba's chest. But she had finally composed herself. "We leave tomorrow." She said.

"What?" Kiba asked, what the hell could she have been talking about?

"The three of us." She replied. "We leave tomorrow."

"What are you, crazy?" Kiba asked. "Hanabi, we can't just leave!"

"Actually..." Neji said, tapping Kiba on the shoulder. "She can do whatever she wants. Politically speaking, she is the most powerful person in this city."

"What are you talking about?" Kiba asked. "She's a thirteen year old girl!"

"She is the leader of the Hyuuga main family." Neji corrected. "With that kind of political muscle, even the Hokage can't do anything to stop us."

Kiba slowly realized what they meant. After it had fully sank in, he smiled. "Hanabi-chan, you're a genius!"

The next morning, most of the main Hyuuga manor had been cordoned off, yellow tape covered the doors. Only Hanabi, her escort and the ANBU detectives were allowed within the central areas.

But Hanabi and her escort – Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba – weren't planning on spending any time in the mansion. They were getting ready to leave.

They had formally applied for permission to leave the village on official, and top-secret, Hyuuga business. Since Hanabi had inherited then title of Main branch leader, she could move around more than anyone else in the village.

Neji, however, was uneasy. If Hanabi died, that might be the end of the Hyuuga clan

"Neji, I don't know about this..." Kiba mused. "It feels weird..."

"You were gone for months last year to look for them, weren't you?" Neji countered. "This is the same thing, but for a more important reason."

"I guess you're right..." He said with a sigh. "Me an' Akamaru are ready to go."

Akamaru gave a loud woof to confirm Kiba's statement.

"Okay then." Neji said with a nod, then looked at his cousin. "Hanabi-sama, what are your orders?"

Hanabi sighed. She didn't like being treated with such respect, but she understood that it was important at least as long as they were in the village. "Let's go."

A group of five ninjas traveling together was not a strange sight to behold, under normal circumstances. But when two of them are wearing Konoha headbands, one sports a Sound banner across her forehead, one has a Mist plate tacked to the top end of his sheath and the last doesn't even have any emblem at all, heads would turn.

What could bring this odd group together? Destiny, fate, or just dumb luck? No, it was nothing like that. It worked so well one might think it was planned, but the gathering of this group was an accident years in the making. Yes, all of these lives had been touched by Naruto, directly or otherwise, years before the day they all had met.

Ryu had abandoned Mist after training with the boy for a month or two, because he felt there was much more to learn by embarking on a journey similar to Naruto's.

Because of this, he had met a cold-hearted girl of Sound Village who was charged with overseeing operations over an entire country. Because of their meeting, she became warmer, slowly, but it was still evident. And that was why those two had joined up with Naruto.

Sasame's life had been touched by the energetic blonde on several occasions, and she had grown feelings for him. Hopeless as her feelings toward him may be, she still wanted to help him, so she joined up with his team.

Hinata was more special than the others though, since she had known him practically all her life. Watching from the shadows until that day. When he had returned after more than two years, she still harbored the same emotions toward him that she had all through her childhood. If anything, they were stronger. But not even a day later, he was leaving again and she just had to say something.

So she said "I love you". And that was how this all started in the first place.

So was it fate or destiny or something like that? Or was it just coincidence that he had met Ryu, who would in turn meet another Jinchuuriki and bring her into the team? Nobody knew, but they knew that they had a long path ahead of them.

Ryu had been wondering about something for a while now. "Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah, Ryu?"

"Where exactly are we going?" He asked. "It almost looks like we're going to where Waterfall used to be."

Naruto, puzzled, turned around to look at Ryu. "How do you know the location of that village?"

"I'd heard it was buried in the mountains in this country." Ryu answered. "In a valley with a waterfall over a thousand feet high. And isn't that part of the mountain range?" He said, pointing ahead at the mountains.

Risuki looked ahead and noticed it too. "I heard something about Waterfall a long time ago, when one of their Jounin assassinated someone from Sound. We tried to find the location, but after months of investigation, we didn't even know which direction to walk in."

Ryu sighed. "I have my sources."

"Jiraiya told you, didn't he?" Naruto said with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. But you know, you could have confirmed that suspicion of yours later." Ryu said, eye twitching. "Jeez, you're ruining my mystique."

"There's nothing mysterious about you." Naruto said with a wave of his hand. "Even with your amazing sword, I was able to beat you."

"What!" Risuki shouted and grabbed Naruto's coat. "You've seen it?"

"Why's it so important to you?" Ryu asked with a smirk.

"Because I like swords, damn it!" She screamed in his direction, causing him and the other girls to cower in over-exaggerated fear. Risuki turned back to Naruto. "He had to use his sword and still lost?"

"He only beat me once." Ryu said, eyebrow twitching. "And yes, I was using the sword. But that was before I..."

"Before you WHAT?" Risuki shouted again, throwing Naruto to the ground and grabbing Ryu's shirt.

"Before I left Mist." He said, pushing her away.

Naruto, Sasame and Hinata stood on the sidelines, watching in anticipation and trying to figure out who would 'win' the battle of words.

"Dammit, there's something you're not telling me!" The girl fumed. "I swear I'll see that sword some day."

"Probably." Ryu admitted. "But I'll never use it against you."

"What, you think I'm not good enough? You good-for-nothing jackass!"

"That's not what I meant." He said with a smile.

"Uhh... guys..." Naruto interrupted their argument, however amusing it was. "We're almost there, it's probably best to wait until we're like, actually in the base."

Risuki glared at Ryu, then turned and started walking in the direction they had been going before. Ryu smiled and followed, and Naruto turned to the other two girls.

"Ryu's acting normal again, I think they made up or something." He said with a shrug. "You two are still acting weird though." With that, he followed after the other two.

Hinata and Sasame looked at each other, each one with a guilty expression on her face.

While the girls were trying to think of something to say, Naruto felt something with his other sense - the strange sense of presence that he had inherited from Kyuubi. He couldn't tell what this feeling was, or who was nearby. Nut he had a bad feeling.

"I'm sorry, Hinata." Sasame muttered. "I've bothered you with something you don't want to know."

"Well isn't that sweet?" Came a deep voice, soaked in sarcasm. "You guys aren't as smart as we thought, to find you in the same place we left you."

Neither Naruto or Hinata had to turn around to know who had spoken, they knew who it was. Of the others, Ryu was the first to find the source of the mysterious voice..

"U-Uchiha Itachi!"

Risuki followed his line of sight and found Itachi, sitting on a branch above and behind them with another man. The other one was had a strange appearance with his blue skin, and a humongous sword strapped over his back, not to mention something that looked like gills on the sides of his face.

She had heard of Itachi, Orochimaru had said that name once, and it was one of the extremely few times in which she could sense fear in his voice. "Uchiha... Itachi...? What does someone like him want with us?"

"I'm interested in you and Naruto-kun." Itachi said simply. "You both have something that I desire."

"And what's that?" Risuki challenged.

"He wants..." Naruto whispered. "Our powers."

"Our... powers?" Risuki repeated those words. "How does he know about me?"

"It's really quite obvious... if you have my eyes." Itachi muttered. "Your chakra is different from the others'."

"Hey, Itachi. I'm bored with talking." The blue-skinned man complained as he lifted his hand to grip the hilt of his sword. "Let's just get on with whatever you wanted to do."

Nearby, the ghost of a previous Hokage was sitting atop the summit of the Great Waterfall. There was quite a view from up there, and he had nothing better to do. Despite his mental connection with Naruto, he was barely able to sense the boy sometimes, and sometimes he couldn't feel him at all. So he didn't have a very good idea of where to look.

He had been stuck here for weeks since the boy had left to go off somewhere. He was beginning to regret not listening in on them as they planned the trip.

He sighed. That boy is hard to keep track of.

He'll be fine. Came a thought from another being. He's got some new friends.

Hana? The old Hokage would have gasped if he had a body. How did you get into this world?

It's a long story, and I can't do much. Not even Naruto can see me or talk to me. She explained. But I spoke with him in my world a few days ago. He was kind of surprised that I was normal. She said with a mental laugh.

Yep, that would make sense I guess.

So, Arashi-sama. Only you can see me. She said. Since my existence in this world is even less tangible than yours.

Great. How is that supposed to help? He asked, annoyed. If the person you're trying to help can't even see you.

We'll blow up that bridge when we come to it. She told him. But suddenly, an uneasy feeling washed over her. But right now, something seems to be happening to Naruto-kun.

You're right! He was already running straight down the cliff face. Let's go see what's going on!

Hana, as the Fourth Hokage had called her, jumped down after him. Hey, Arashi. You've been a ghost longer than me so maybe you can answer my question; If we don't have a body in this world, how come we still have to run?

I dunno. He answered. That's always confused me too. I mean, there's even a lot of walls we can't walk through. I think we've been ripped off.

They quickly reached the ground and dashed off like they hadn't been traveling downward at sixty miles an hour. But the good thing is... Arashi, as she had called him, said with a grin. We don't weigh anything, so we can pull off stunts like that. Instant acceleration, no inertia and no momentum. Our bodies – or whatever you'd call it – move exactly as we want them to, even in the air, it's second only to pure flight. A ninja's dream.

They quickly found the source of their uneasy feeling. Naruto and his friends were facing off against two other people.

That man! Arashi said as he realized what was going on. That's the Uchiha prodigy, Itachi!

Uchiha Itachi, huh? Hana mused. I've seen him in the twisting fates...

He was the heir of one of Konoha's most powerful clans. The had-been Hokage explained. He was only six years old when I died, but was well on the way to graduating from the Academy.

He seems to have grown up a little. She commented, pointing out the obvious. And he doesn't look too friendly.

Well no kidding! The blonde ghost shot back. He's with Konoha, Naruto isn't!

No, look at that. She said, pointing at Itachi's forehead. It would seem that he's also a runaway.

What? Arashi mentally shuddered as he thought of that idea. Uchiha Itachi... the strongest member of the strongest clan... that could be bad. At least Naruto can take the Kyuubi's power.

Not anymore. The Kyuubi has found a way to separate itself from him and Naruto can't take the power without paying a price.

Well that sucks.

"Ryu, let's go!" Naruto called. "Hinata, take care of the others."

"Okay." Hinata confirmed, glad that he was entrusting her with some responsibility. "Be careful."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" Risuki shouted at the blonde. "Let me help!"

"Sorry, but our special powers aren't very useful." Naruto explained. "That guy's sword eats chakra."

Risuki growled in Naruto's general direction before sitting back with Hinata and Sasame. They all knew that Sasame wouldn't stand a chance in a fight of this caliber, so it was best to leave her with some more capable protection.

Kisame grinned. "I get the sword brat."

"Sure." Itachi said, unconcerned. "It doesn't matter how we go about this, the outcome will be the same no matter what."

"Looks like I have to draw my sword a little earlier than expected." Ryu said with an unconcerned sigh. "Oh well, a fly like this guy won't take long."

"A fly?" Kisame gasped. "I'll make sure you pay for that!"

Kisame gripped the hilt of his sword and darted at Ryu and brought the massive hulk straight downward on top of the boy. "Take this!"

Ryu didn't move at all, not until the very last millisecond. Within the blink of an eye, he sidestepped and crouched to the ground. Looking up at his opponent, he smirked. "Just to warn you; I've already found your weakness."

The blue-skinned man quickly picked up his sword, turned it sideways and slashed horizontally at Ryu. His swing ended with the sword held behind his back, and Ryu was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for me?" He heard Ryu's voice from behind him. He turned his head around to see the boy standing on his sword.

"Brat!" He shouted. "My Samehade won't be beaten by a kid like you."

"Come on, that's really a joke." Ryu said with a sigh. "Just use its full power and we'll just see. I haven't even drawn my blade."

Itachi didn't attack Naruto, he just watched Kisame's fight.

"Hey, I'm over here." Naruto grumbled.

"I'll get to you in a minute. Your friend is interesting." Itachi explained.

Kisame sighed. "I'll take this brat down. It'll be a cinch if he is really able to make me unleash Samehade."

"I'm bored. Let's just get on with this." Ryu said with an exaggerated yawn.

"I'll show you!" Kisame yelled and thrust Ryu off of the sword. "Samehade! Let's shred this kid to pieces!"

The white ribbon wrapped around the sword slowly loosened and fell to the ground. The revealed sword more resembled a bunch of short blades messily arranged and clumped together. But there was one strange thing: The blades were moving.

"That sword..." Ryu gasped. "It's alive."

"Now we'll show you what it means to take on Hoshigaki Kisame!" He said and lunged forward., only to be dodged again.

"You'll need more than that."

Ryu slowly and dramatically removed the sword from his sheath. Kisame gasped when his next attack was blocked by very large blade.

"What the?" He was stunned. "Your sheath is slender, and yet your sword is as big as my Samehade!"

Ryu's shiny silver sword gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight. The sword was easily five feet long, and about ten inches from the razor-sharp cutting edge to the back of the blade. There was a graceful forward curve from where the sword met the hilt guard all the way down to its tip, and the hilt itself was at least a foot long.

"Looks like this won't take too long." Ryu said with a grin. "Let's see if the legendary Hoshigaki Kisame is really as great as they say he is. I know most of your moves, since we're from the same village."

"And that means I know most of yours." Kisame grunted.

Itachi seemed to lose interest at that point. "Okay, it seems Kisame has his hands full. I'll take you on Naruto-kun."

Naruto didn't waste any time. He quickly charged up a swirling mass of air and chakra in his right hand.

The Fourth watched from afar, dazzled by the boy. He's mastered it. A seventeen year old boy mastered the Rasengan!

I think he learned the basics of it when he was thirteen. Hana explained I was a little more in touch with this world back then.

Th-Thirteen! Yondaime mentally gasped. That's insane! How smart is this kid?

He's only average. Hana said with a laugh. But he's a hard worker. I never did find out what pushed him so hard to learn it though.

Yondaime nodded unconsciously as he watched Naruto dash toward Itachi. The Uchiha's eyes quickly went red and he dashed forward, directly at Naruto.

"Rasengan!" came the familiar battle cry.

But when he thrust his palm forward, it was stopped before hitting its mark.

"What the hell!" Naruto screamed. "You- You caught the Rasengan?"

Sure enough, the swirling blue ball was held between Itachi's and Naruto's right hands. They were frozen in a stance, leaning into each other. Trying to win with sheer might, or to see who could maintain control the longest.

"My eyes," Itachi began his explanation. "can see they way you control the rotation of the Rasengan. It's easy for me to catch and control it myself by rotating my own chakra the in the same direction. Unfortunately, this technique isn't something that Sharingan can copy, since it's something that takes practice and patience to master. And only one Sharingan has the perfect copying ability."

"Kakashi." Naruto said. "The Copy Ninja, who copied over a thousand Ninjutsu."

"Yes, but I won't need that power to beat you." Itachi warned. "Let's see just how good your Taijutsu is when you can't pull away from me."

Naruto gasped. Itachi was right, they were both controlling the Rasengan, neither of them could pull away without it exploding. And whoever did back out would probably get the worst of it.

Itachi flipped sideways until he was parallel with the ground, then send his left foot toward Naruto. The blonde boy jumped over the kick and landed on the other side of Itachi, tried to push him aside but was evaded just the same.

The observers watched with fascination as Naruto and Itachi tumbled over each other, both of them trying to maintain a hold on the Rasengan, and both trying to land a hit. But no matter how long they went at it, neither of them was able to touch the other. It looked like a battle of stamina, and it was obvious Naruto would win that battle unless Itachi had a plan.

Back with the swordfight, Ryu was nimbly dodging Kisame's wide swings and jabs. A grin on his face the whole time. "You're slowing down, Kisame-sama."

"Damn you!" Kisame shouted. "You don't move like a normal Mist-nin!"

"Who said I was supposed to move like a Mist swordsman?" Ryu said with a confused expression on his face. "Oh well, I guess I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm using a unique style."

"Even with that huge sword, you're mainly evading my attacks." Kisame growled as he tried to think of a way to get this kid. "You trying to wear me down?"

"Well, I did say this was a unique style." Ryu sighed like he was talking to a three year old. "Besides, if I went all-out on you, it would be boring."

"Well screw you, you little brat!" Kisame screamed. "Samehade! Shred my opponent like cheese! We need to go all-out too!"

With a massive thrust, his sword flew at terrifying speed toward the baffled teen.

Ryu was barely able to think fast enough to block, but even that didn't help much. The shark-like man's sword crashed into his own with unbelievable force. He was thrown back from the blow and crashed into the ground with a thud. His sword stuck into the ground a few feet away.

"Maybe now you know why they call me Legendary." Kisame boasted. "That was only a portion of my power. And on top of that, you haven't even tasted my skill."

Ryu stood up. The attack had been mostly absorbed by his defense, but it was still a huge blow. "You're a lot stronger than I am. But strength isn't everything, as they say. Maybe I should show you my skills."

He reached toward his sword's hilt and grasped it. "Watch closely."

Kisame was astonished to see that the sword had started glowing. It changed its size and shape. The large blade altered from its current shape to a more slender, deadly-looking cutting edge. The shape had completely changed in the blink of an eye, once again. Ryu pulled it out of the ground and grinned. "The advantage of a transforming sword is being able to have the right kind for any situation. I had first assumed that I should match size and power against you, but I guess not."

"So that's your power." Kisame said with a wide grin. "Let's just see how good you are. I can match speed with the best of them."

"You flatter me." Ryu said with a matching grin. "I'm really not very fast, compared to my master. It's all about skill with me. Let's see just how well you can judge which direction I'm coming from."

Finished talking, Ryu flickered out of his position. Kisame caught blurred images of the boy – moving in three directions. He's going up, left and right? Is this an illusion? It looks like I can't trust my eyes in this situation, and I should play it defensively until I know just what he's trying to do.

Out of nowhere, three Ryu's flickered back to Kisame – all of them moving in for the attack. "So let's see," They all called in unison. "How well you judge which way I'm coming from!"

Kisame didn't have time to think, so he just tried to block the one on the right. And his sword met with Ryu's in a successful block. "Ha, eat that bra - Gwaah!" He choked. What? I feel another sword slicing me instead – no wait, two swords!

Blood flew across Kisame's filed of vision. His chest had been sliced diagonally, and the left side of his torso had been gouged open completely.

He crumpled under the pain. "What... What did you do? To do that much to me so quickly?"

"My sword's hilt is designed with chakra circuits to mold chakra without hand seals. Of course, it can only be used for one technique and nothing else, and that technique has to be fairly basic. It just so happens that the technique my master decided was best for me was the basic Bunshin no Jutsu."

"What about the attacks, they came from three directions!"

"Oh, that? Well, remember when I said I wasn't very fast?" Ryu smiled even wider. "I lied. What I used no you there was all speed. I hit your sword, use it for leverage and get more speed out of your block. With that speed, I can swing two more times, it's almost like I actually have three swords.."

"I picked... the wrong opponent." Kisame said with a choked laugh. "But this won't kill me."

"Yeah, the fact that you're talking proves that." Ryu said, looking at Kisame's torso wound. "Most people would be knocked out instantly if they were wounded there, just from the pain, and many would even die."

"Yeah, I gave a kidney a long time ago, when I was a good guy." Kisame boasted. "I never thought it would do me any good though. I guess my good karma from back then actually lasted this long. So are you gonna finish me?"

"That would be a waste of your good karma." Ryu said, sheathing his sword, then his expression became serious. "And one way or another... You were only testing me in the end.."

"You figured that out, eh?" Kisame growled. "But I'll get you next time. And remember, I'm the bad guy. I don't want any mercy, even if you are able to ever beat me again."

"I look forward to it!" The brown-haired, brown-eyed teen said and flashed a smile. "Looks like things are gonna get interesting in the other fight though. It's a lot more even than ours was."

Across the hills, Naruto and Itachi flipped and turned around, throwing any kind of attack they could pull, and dodging the other's attacks while desperately holding on to the explosive ball of energy in their hands.

A battle of stamina, that's what it was turning into. And Itachi knew that Naruto would win at this rate. He had to pull off something, and fast.

Looks like I'll have to be a bit unfair. He thought to himself. It doesn't matter, it would wind up this way in the end. It only would've taken longer.

At his next chance, he locked eyes with Naruto, pulling his unsuspecting opponent into a Sharingan-imposed illusion. It would only last a second or so, but a second was all he would need. The boy fell backward onto the ground, but he somehow retained control over the Rasengan. Itachi didn't want to waste another second, so he planted his foot on Naruto's chest and launched himself upward.

The Rasengan exploded.

Itachi was launched on a spiraling path upward, but was relatively unharmed, when compared to Naruto.

The younger ninja didn't have any time to react. To make things worse, he was forced down against the ground, and couldn't let anything absorb the blast. He took the full extent of the deadly technique. The tornado that ensued shredded his dark robes and sliced at his skin. When the violent tempest was gone and the dust had settled, Naruto lay unconscious on the ground, blood-soaked and covered in dirt.

"Anyone else would have died after a backfire like that." Ryu said, staring at Naruto.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Kisame said toward Ryu. "Looks like you guys lose. There's nothing else you can do, like you said yourself."

The younger swordsman instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword. Damn! What are we supposed to do now? Just let them take Naruto? That's really our only choice right now...

"Naruto!" Hinata and Sasame screamed at the top of their lungs and ran toward his motionless form.

"I'm coming too!" Risuki yelled, mostly so she wouldn't feel useless. "I've got to teach Itachi a lesson for that!"

Itachi finally landed on the ground, his knees didn't even buckle under his weight after falling such a massive distance. He turned to look at the three girls rushing to Naruto's aid.

"Stop!" Ryu called. "There's nothing we can do for him, you'll all die!"

Itachi walked leisurely up and hoisted Naruto onto his shoulder. "I can sense that the seal is weakening. It might be worth taking him back with me now, I'm afraid none of you will ever see him again."

This is bad! Yondaime shouted through his thoughts. Hana, we have to do something!

What are we supposed to do? We don't have bodies! She yelled back.

Anything!

The ragtag group of four watched as Itachi carried Naruto over to Kisame. "Are you able to stand?"

"Yeah, I can walk." He stated, stood up and latched the Samehade to his back. "Let's go."

"Don't you want me, too!" Risuki shouted at Itachi's back. "I'm like him, you want my power don't you?"

"I'm not interested in you." Itachi said without even turning around. "All we want is Kyuubi. You and your little two-tailed cat can go play with some string."

Hinata was in tears by now. Risuki was ready to tear someone's lungs out, Sasame was in shock and Ryu was staring at the ground. There wasn't anything they could do in their state.

"I'll tear you apart!" Risuki screamed suddenly. "Just wait, I'll shred you to pieces!"

She started a mad dash into certain death, she knew she would probably die. But she couldn't sit and do nothing. Naruto had done so much for her in a matter of only a few days.

Before she had made three steps, Ryu was in front of her. "Stop! You can't, nobody can! Uchiha Itachi is untouchable!"

"Well what else can I do?" She screamed back. "You're such a jackass! I don't even know what I liked about you!"

"Please stop." This time, he didn't yell. And he wasn't looking at her eyes, but at his own feet. "I don't want you to die."

Over a nearby hill, Arashi and Hana were still going crazy, trying to think of something they could do.

Is there anything special about the guys in his group? Hana asked the Yondaime as much as she asked herself.

Hinata is a Hyuuga, Risuki is a Jinchuuriki. And even with all that, they can't pull anything off.

Hyuuga... wait! Hana mentally gasped. Her father, is it Hyuuga Hiashi?

Yes... what are you getting at?

Hyuuga Hiashi's first wife! Hana screamed in Arashi's head.

Huh? He wondered. What about her? She was just a normal person, Hinata is only half-Hyuuga.

Exactly!

-End of Chapter Twenty Six-

Revised on 9/9/2011