I don't own Naruto. But if I did, Danzo's right arm would not be how it was in Ch. 476. I don't know what I'd do differently but I definitely wouldn't have done what Kishimoto did.

Chapter 29: Child Of Shadows Against Tracker Shinobi

While Team Ten took Dansue into custody, Team Eight was trying to apprehend her hidden back-up. Smoke bombs kept firing in the branches in a set manner showing this getaway had been set up before they started. Kiba was thinking about what tricks this guy might have up his sleeves and Hinata's mind was preoccupied with worry for Akane. Shino meanwhile focused on the situation and didn't like the look of all this.

'Hmm... if whoever is doing this went to the trouble to lay traps behind them preemptively, then they must have known they would be forced to leave the village. And that girl back there in the striped dress didn't look to me like she was trying to accomplish anything other than incapacitate whoever tried to fight her. And if Sasuke Uchiha is trying to lead the others away, he must be planning something away from any possible backup Konoha can offer. Something just doesn't feel right about all this.'

Not one of the tracker ninjas had seen their target yet but could hear his position. Hinata just now thought about activating her byakugan, and saw that her team was tailing a bird with some thin strip of cloth tied on both leg. And apparently some sets of rattling sticks were tied together with a long wire that made one make noise after another in a domino style, creating the illusion that someone was running in the trees. Thus effectively tricking their ears along with Kiba's and Akamaru's noses. Scanning with her eyes, she saw the only other person in the area was a small boy who was hiding on the ground and giving nasty looks in Team Ten's direction, not that far from them.

"Turn around. We're after the wrong target." Hinata told her teammates as she stopped and pivoted. Soon they followed.

If Ichinoshikyo was going to do anything to those that captured Dansue, he didn't get the chance to before Team Eight showed up in front of him. A basic stand-off happened between them at that moment. All of the Konoha ninja didn't bother getting into defensive positions, since he was just a child close to Akane's age. Shino however was wary and kept his insects on his skin just in case. Hinata was about to deactivate her byakugan when it caught several weapons and tools hidden in the underside of his jacket and pants pockets, so she kept it up and her arms ready to block. Akamaru and Kiba just growled and tried to look tough, hoping to scare him off so they wouldn't have to fight a child.

Ichi meanwhile barely moved a muscle. His eyeglasses fell into place, making him look somewhat like Shino in a way. He was hunched over like Shikamaru or maybe he was going to pounce, but his left shoulder pointed towards them so he didn't look like he was going to attack. His left hand disappeared into his sleeve while his right hand twirled some hair above his ear. His eyes never left the ninjas in front of him as he tried to figure out how to get rid of them then rescue Dansue.

Ichi decided to go with his best getaway idea and his left hand reappeared with a flare. He lit it, turning his gaze away somewhat to avoid looking at it, and threw it above them all. Each of the tracker ninja involuntarily looked up, but Hinata's eyes allowed her to keep looking at Ichi too. She saw him go thru three hand signs quickly and mumble something. Reading his lips, she thought he said 'Twilight Style: Blindfold Jutsu.' Before she could say anything, she felt a slight chill speed up her body and then her vision darkened a little. She could still see, but now it was darker, which wasn't so good since it was already the beginning of night.

Keeping her kekkei genkai active, Hinata took a look at her teammates. She saw that Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino all had what looked like pitch black raccoon masks around their covered eyes, like Gaara's jinchuuriki markings but much thicker and connected to one another. Akamaru whined while he and Kiba both pawed at their faces, trying to get this obstruction off. Shino was trying to do the same, but in a more calm humane manner. Hinata figured she must have something on her eyes too, but her x-ray eyes allowed her to see thru it.

Ichi however didn't realize that and decided to quietly tiptoe towards Team Ten so these ninja wouldn't hear him leave. Once he started, before he even got three steps away, Hinata got in front of him. "And just where do you think you're going?"

Ichi was shocked. 'How did she...? Maybe that was too predictable, or maybe I did make noise. Better slow them more.' Since they had already been exposed to his ankle-binding technique, he figured something they hadn't seen was the best way to go. He pulled out a glow stick, lit it, and threw it above the center of them all. Then he made some more hand signs and called out the jutsu name quietly. "Twilight Style: Dark Kraken Jutsu."

The shadows underneath the Konoha nin darkened considerably and grew thin arms. These arms shot up and latched onto random body parts and then tightened. It was a lot like the Nara Shadow Strangle technique, only this time the shadows seemed three-dimensional. With this new inconvenience added in with their forced blindness, Ichi figured they probably weren't going to be trying to get him anymore. But the young boy threw some rocks into the bushes behind him to distract their ears if they were listening for him.

Hinata looked at this new jutsu and tried to figure out how to cope with it since Shikamaru wasn't around to dispel it for them. Her eyes showed her that a dark shadow had sort of parasited itself onto the base of her right foot, with her left foot being free due to the fact it wasn't on the ground for the split second Ichi cast the jutsu. From that shadow it stretched upwards with tendrils that hooked onto her leg, torso, arms, and neck in random spots, and they were inflexible making it hard to move comfortably. The same thing was true for the others with her, except both men had both feet bound by the same dark shadow, unlike her. Akamaru had three legs tied up with one paw free and was struggling to get lose. While he did that, by rolling on the ground like he was trying to scratch an itch, Hinata noticed a flaw in the jutsu.

'I see. This kid so far has been using our shadows created by those lights to incapacitate us. He must have blinded us first by moving the shadows in front of our eyes, making it so no light could enter them, except for mine. And now he's using more shadows to try and anchor us here, or so he wants us to believe. Akamaru can still squirm and roll around, meaning we can too. The shadows are rooted to us but not the ground, so we can still walk. But it looks like Kiba-kun and Shino-kun haven't noticed that yet.'

Ichi slowly tried to walk away silently, but was blocked by Hinata hitting the ground in front of him with her fists. Ichi was perceptive enough to see that wasn't a lucky guess or even an accidental miss. She knew where he was, and had missed him deliberately. Now he was nervous, for he had no taijutsu skills at his age, only ninjutsu. Barking from behind him told him that the dog and his owner had been alerted to his whereabouts too. And a buzzing sound from the guy in the overcoat told the same thing.

All of Shino's bugs formed a ring around Ichi, limiting his mobility like he had theirs. A female scent beetle had already found its way onto the back of his head in case he tried something that happened to disable the bugs tracking skills. It was very unlikely, since insect eyes and central nervous systems were different from mammals and harder to trick. Also, because they were smaller and in great numbers, it would have been impossible for Ichi to move their shadows to blind or bind them. Plus their buzzing sound was one Kiba and Akamaru would recognize and locate effortlessly.

Ichi saw he basically backed into a proverbial corner. Two of his targets could track by scent and sound so he couldn't lose them. They were tied up at the moment, but their allie had tools that he couldn't deceive. And judging by the Aburame's sunglasses, he was used to dealing with dim-light vision on the job. And worst of all for him was the girl who apparently could see thru his shadow blindfold jutsu, meaning he had no hope of blinding her. In all his past ninjutsu training and planning, Ichi never thought he would encounter a threat that wasn't dependent, or at least strongly reliant, on sight or light to do their job. So now, he was just a frightened child with no tricks up his sleeves anymore.

He crouched down into a ball and closed his eyes. "I give. Don't hurt. Just let me be with Ane-ue." He made the hand sign for a genjutsu release, and all the troublesome shadows he had created faded away. Team Eight could move around and see again.

"That was easier than I thought it would be." Kiba commented as he scratched behind Akamaru's ear to calm the dog down.

"Well, he is just a kid. My guess is that he just acts as back-up to that other girl while she does the hard stuff." Hinata thought aloud.

"Let's take him into custody then. Hokage-sama should know what to do." Shino suggested.

"Want Ane-ue." Ichi quietly muttered, sounding afraid.

Akamaru approached the boy and began nudging him forward, with Shino's bugs still flying nearby. The boy slowly stood up and began walking, looking like he was about to be executed. So Team Eight quietly led him to Tsunade, intending to keep him away from Dansue for now so the two didn't try something together.

Hinata wanted to go join up with Naruto right then rather than stand around and wait. Just before she was about to do just that, a small thought crossed her mind. 'What if that green fox returns with Akane-chan soon? Naruto would want me here for that.' That was all the motivation she needed to remain here, even if it required waiting still.


After a long chase, Team Seven finally reached the Valley of the End, where Sasuke stood arrogantly, waiting for them to arrive. Naruto was struck with a strong sense of deja vu, but now wasn't the time to reminisce. Sakura and Sai hoped that they wouldn't have to resort to a battle here, but intellectually-speaking they knew that was a pipe dream. Would Sasuke have led them here just to chat? Kakashi was more likely to arrive somewhere on time.

No pleas for a peaceful surrender were made, no comments or threats were voiced, no questions were asked. A battle between Sasuke and his old teammates, plus a new person, simply began, with the Uchiha targetting primarily Naruto. And it was going to be a big one.


Dansue and Ichi were given to Konoha's best interrogators to find out why all this happened in the first place. Anbu reports told Tsunade that no other points along the village border were affected and that those that had already faced the duo were merely in need in intensive care, but not dead. Team Eight and Ten were the best off so far, and requested to be allowed to go be back-up for Naruto's group. Tsunade denied this, telling them that they had little hope of catching up in time to be of any use.

So the nine ninja left the building, not knowing where to go from here. While they just stood there, Hinata saw Hiashi walk up towards them, carrying something on his back. A brief glimpse of red made the heiress make a small gasp and then stop breathing for a moment. "Hey Hinata, got something for you." Her father told her, catching everyone's attention.

Akane's head popped up from behind Hiashi's back, and smiled brightly. "Okaa-san!" She shouted as she jumped right off her adopted grandfather's back. Hinata opened her arms and caught her daughter, pulling her into a fierce hug.

"Akane-chan! Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Hinata tearily asked.

Akane groaned. "Okaa-san, you're crushing me."

"Sorry." Hinata said before loosening her grip, but not relinquishing it. Akane took two deep breaths. "What happened? How'd you get back? Are you okay?"

"It's a long story." Akane told her before noticing the others watching happily and eagerly. "Can I tell you in private?"

Hinata nodded and immediately left, leaving some confused shinobi behind. "Why didn't she want us to hear?" Ino asked.

"You'll understand when you have kids someday." Hiashi told her.