Yo yo! Welcome back! This is chapter 6 of Konoha's Orange Comet! As always, the responses to your reviews are down below and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as it took quite a while to write.

Amaterasu53: Thanks for the feedback and of course! I think the little details are just as important as major details in a story. The key behind it is to not overdo it and make the little details boring or overshadow the major details.

Engineer4Ever: Yessir! You got it. Sasuke is mainly going to focus on his fire affinity and as for the Chidori…I'm not too sure yet. I don't see any reason not to let Sasuke have it anyway, just because it's one of his main moves in canon as well as to also rival the Rasengan when Namiko learns it eventually…still up for grabs in my head thought. Thanks for the feedback!

QueenAztec: I'm glad that you love the fic so far and I'm quite thrilled that you're enjoying my writing. I aim to please.

Anyway, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Konoha's Orange Comet!

Arc: The Land of Frost.

Chapter 6: Better Late Than Never…?

Namiko Uzumaki had always been the impatient type.

Which is why she found it extremely irksome when her team; Team Seven, along with Shikamaru as well as the Frost Daimyo and his aide, had been walking for a few days, and had yet to even make it out of the Land of Fire. The group were currently on day three of their journey – so far – and were still quite a way from their destination, all because they had to walk at the pace of the Daimyo.

At their last rest stop Kakashi had deduced that at their pace, it would take them another day and a half to cross the border of the Land of Hot Water, then maybe another two days to cross into the Land of Frost and from there, a final day to reach the Daimyo's residence as it wasn't deep into Frost Country. That would mean that they would spend an entire week just getting the Daimyo there in the first place. Thank Kami they would be able to go at their regular pace when returning to Konohagakure. As much as she enjoyed missions and was proud to be on a B ranked one as a genin, she wanted this mission to be over as soon as possible.

It was at this moment that Namiko decided to let her eyes wonder to their client, and in connection, his aide, who they had learned to be called Kenzo. Both men gave her a bad vibe, though, it was two completely different vibes.

The Daimyo gave off a vibe similar to the one she had gotten from Gato when she had first met the man during their final battle in Nami, a vibe that was just outright despicable. She also hated the fact that every four or so hours, the man would insist that they take an unnecessary break. Of course, the Daimyo wasn't conditioned like them and couldn't walk forever without break, but they were walking at the pace of old turtles!

Out and out, she didn't like the man.

As for his aide? The man didn't look like much but since she had met him, she felt as though there was something off about him. She couldn't quite place it, but she felt as if they should definitely be weary of the man, a concern she had raised with Kakashi who had told her he'd keep it in mind.

The Uzumaki then took the time to glance upon her teammates for the B rank mission. The four genin were walking in a box-like formation around the Daimyo and his aide while Kakashi trailed at the back. Making up the front of the box was Sakura to the front left, while Sasuke was over on the front right. Shikamaru was parallel to Namiko, walking at the back left of the formation while the Jinchuriki herself was to the back right of the clients.

Pushing her worries and complaints to the side, it had been a rather okay trip. It was still pretty warm with a few cold breezes passing through the trees every now and again. She knew sooner or later they would be in the freezing cold, in a land that was known for its blizzards, so she'd try and enjoy the warmth as long as it was available.

Namiko let a small grin come to her face as she reached into her ninja pouch and withdrew a book. Advanced Level Fuinjutsu: Book One. Thanks to the help of her shadow clones, she had managed to finish up the first Fuinjutsu book Kakashi had brought for her as well as the second book she had gone out and bought on her own at Kakashi's recommendation. She was now on the aforementioned book which was third in a long series of Fuinjutsu books.

While her progress with Kenjutsu had been extraordinary, her Fuinjutsu training left quite a bit to be desired. She and yet to get her calligraphy to the point of Kakashi's liking, so, she had been focusing on understanding the theory behind Fuinjutsu, however that was easier said than done.

The art of sealing was more complex than anything Namiko had ever encountered. As a matter of fact, it made learning the Futon and Raiton manipulation look like the Henge no Jutsu. Therefore, she had decided to take a break from using her clones to try and understand sealing, and instead personally finish up the third book on her path to comprehending the sealing arts.

The blonde opened up the book to the chapter she had paused on a few days prior. This particular chapter talked about the cohesion between Space-Time Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu. Apparently, a variety of Space-Time Ninjutsu were either based off Fuinjutsu, or used in unison with Fuinjutsu, a great example being the Space-Time Ninjutsu technique that gave her hero the moniker he had earned.

The complexity of Space-Time Ninjutsu, coupled with the intricacy of Fuinjutsu made Space-Time Ninjutsu extremely rare and even harder to replicate, which is why it was such a feat for the Yondaime to take the Nidaime's Hiraishin to levels of greater proportion. However, not all Space-Time Ninjutsu required knowledge of Fuinjutsu, or Fuinjutsu at all for that matter, but to Namiko, it seemed as though the ones that did were better, i.e., the Yellow Flash's Flying Thunder God.

As she read, she wondered if at any point in her career she would be able to use her Jinton and move as fast as the Yondaime was able to. His Hiraishin provided instantaneous transport to anywhere in the world, once he had placed a marker prior. Her Jinton simply gave her the ability to move her body fast. That was when the gears in Namiko's brain began to move as fast as they could as an idea struck her.

Maybe she could use seals in conjunction with her Jinton…? In order to use her Jinton and go somewhere, she needed to see where she was going. And at times, turning and slowing down proved to be difficult. So, what if she could use Fuinjutsu the same way the Nidaime and Yondaime did? Once she got a hang of Fuinjutsu, maybe she could hopefully create a seal that her chakra could easily pick up on and use as a homing beacon, of sorts? Then, she would be able to run wherever she had placed a seal without thinking twice, which could potentially save time and in the long run, save lives and make it easier to protect her precious people.

Then, another idea struck her. What about a seal that could be used by others to let her know if they were in trouble? She could apply both a seal like that as well as her homing seal to her precious people and be able to save them if they ever needed, without knowing exactly where they were.

"Is the book that good, Uzumaki-san?"

At this point in time, Namiko was grinning like a madwoman who had just escaped from an asylum. She quickly replaced the grin with a sheepish smile and had the decency to blush a dark shade of red from embarrassment. She then turned to the source of the voice; the Frost Daimyo's aide Kenzo.

"Ah Kenzo-san, it's not so much the book but more so, I just had an idea that would help me a lot with my ninja training," She admitted while rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. This man gave her the 'heebie jeebies', which was saying a lot because she had a giant Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside of her which she wasn't really afraid of.

"Oh, I see," He offered her a smile and to be honest, Namiko couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. "You shinobi take your training extremely seriously." He pondered while looking at her. She nodded her head with a smile of her own, and luckily, it got the man to drop the topic as he turned back to facing the direction of their travels.

Namiko took a moment to look at Kakashi walking behind them with a knowing look on her face. To Kakashi, that seemed like a rather normal conversation and nothing was out of the ordinary, he felt as though Namiko was overexaggerating. He would have mouthed to her to 'stop being paranoid' but for obvious reasons, he couldn't.

But he did shoot her a look that said to behave herself, to which she rolled her eyes and turned to Shikamaru, who had taken in the encounter with a calculating phase. Shikamaru met her eyes and shrugged at her. He himself didn't see anything wrong with the interaction but did mentally give himself the task of keeping an eye on the aide.

"Hatake-san, I believe it is time we take a break, I'm feeling quite winded." The Daimyo proclaimed, using a small Japanese hand fan to cool himself down. Namiko groaned, internally of course, in frustration. It seemed as though they'd never make it to the Land of Frost.

While Kakashi felt the same way as his hyperactive genin, he offered the Frost Daimyo one of his signature eye smiles. "Of course, Hyoketsu-sama," He replied before turning to Namiko. "Namiko, if you would."

The blonde genin gave her sensei another knowing look before crossing her fingers and materializing a shadow clone, which had the same annoyed expression on its face. Namiko took the clone by its hands and began spinning around with the clone in tow before launching it up in the air.

Everyone in attendance watched as the clone rose high in the sky before it looked in every direction before dispersing, sending it's memories back to the original.

"There's a clearing this way, maybe about a ten-minute walk." The original Namiko said while pointing in an Easterly direction. Kakashi nodded and gave the order to turn East, and head to the clearing Namiko had scouted.

The group obliged and headed East. And as Namiko said, about ten or so minutes later they came upon a little clearing. The genin all dropped their packs – save Namiko who held her belongings in a scroll – and stretched, as much as they were annoyed by how many breaks the Daimyo wanted to take, it was nice to relax for a bit.

Namiko, still annoyed, turned to her sensei. "There's a stream a little way that way, I'm gonna fill up my canteen, and anyone else's too for that matter." She said, gesturing in the direction the stream. Kakashi gave her an eye smile and nodded.

Namiko then proceeded to get everyone's canteens, and once she was in possession of all seven, she began to make her way towards the stream. It took her a few minutes, but she finally made it to the stream, and once she was there, she crossed her fingers, and a few shadow clones came into existence.

She gave the clones the canteens, and orders to fill them up before she made her way to the edge of the stream and sat down on the forest floor, crossing her legs in the process. She closed her eyes and began reaching out to her chakra.

Back when Kakashi had first started taking their training seriously and had given her books upon books, essentially giving her homework, she had read in one of the books (read: her clones had read) that meditating was not only good for one's soul, but also helped with chakra control. It made sense to her, chakra was essentially a combination of physical energy and spiritual energy.

Namiko had started meditating in the hopes that it would help her better understand the Jinton. Of course, the basis of the Swift Release was simple. It allowed her to push insane amounts of chakra to her appendages, therefore allowing her to move at unimaginable speeds depending on the amount of chakra sent to her limbs.

The Third Hokage, along with Kakashi and the white-haired pervert, Jiraiya, had explained to her that the working theory they would be using for the Jinton's origin would be that it was a nature transformation Kekkai Genkai comprising of her Futon and Raiton affinities. However, that theory left a lot of questions on the young Uzumaki's mind, for example, how could her Jinton be a mixture of two elements, if it realistically didn't use any elements? When she activated it, there was no wind or lightning involved whatsoever.

She had remembered Kakashi explaining to her that it would make sense for the Jinton to be Futon and Raiton, since Wind had the potential to be extremely fast and hazardous while Lightning was quite literally, the fastest thing in the world and the Kyubi had backed up this claim as well…though that was yet to be seen. The only difference was that Kurama attributed her Uzumaki life force as well as its chakra as a factor in the Jinton's creation as well.

All things considered, a lot of stuff regarding her Kekkai Genkai didn't make sense to her. And while she knew it was her responsibility to develop and understand her powers, she oh-so-dearly wished that there was someone else out there with the Jinton to guide her. But – she figured – that we don't always get what we want for a reason.

Understanding the Jinton wasn't her only reason for meditating, however.

She also loved the feeling of her chakra. It was warm, like a fuzzy feeling of sorts. However, when she reached to far, she often picked up a more sinister chakra which she had deduced to be Kurama's. The Kyubi's charka was potent, rich and filled with nothing but dread from thousands of years of hatred. She of course had made a promise to the Nine Tails to get rid of that hatred, and while she fully intended on following through with that promise, when she had felt just how much hatred was stored within the fox, she knew it wouldn't be easy.

"What the…?"

As she was reaching out to her chakra, she began to feel as if something was in turn trying to reach out to her. It was a weird and odd sensation that had never happened before. It felt like chakra, but it was…different to say the least. Soon enough, it felt as if she was in a tug of war battle with whatever this strange sensation was, and she was beginning to lose. As to not succumb to whatever she was losing against, Namiko tried to cut the flow of chakra so that the odd sensation would go. However, it was too late.

Namiko's eyes snapped open, but she wasn't in by the stream she had been at, nor was she in her mindscape with the Kyubi. An apt description of where she was would be a white void that was filled with nothingness. Namiko began looking around but couldn't see nothing, just white.

The Uzumaki began to walk around the void, but sooner or later it either seemed as if she was walking in circles, or not moving at all, she honestly could not tell the difference. That's when Namiko noticed something materializing in the distance, it was quite far but she began running towards whatever it was she saw.

Once it was in seeing distance, her eyes widened. What she was looking at was essentially a carbon copy of herself…at least, a carbon copy of half of herself. The other 'Namiko' only had half of her appearance, split evenly down the middle. The other half was almost completely white, the only color whatsoever being a small black dot to the top of the whiteness.

Before the real Namiko could question it, the copy of her gave her a small smile – or small half smile as that was all she could give – before Namiko suddenly returned to reality.

"What in Kami's name was that?"

"Uh…Boss?"

Namiko turned to the source of the voice, one of her clones, and saw that all of the shadow clones she had created were looking at her oddly. Before she could question it, however, the clone that had called out to her Henged into a mirror and Namiko's eyes widened at what she saw.

Her hair was floating and glowing, as it normally did when the Jinton was activated at maximum output. However, she knew for a fact that her Jinton wasn't activated at the maximum output. But there was more; her azure orbs she called eyes had orange pupils instead of the usual black. Namiko cut the flow of chakra for good this time and watched as her appearance returned to normal. Her hair falling back to its resting position and her eyes returning to normal.

Namiko, still deep in thought, simply gestured for her clones – who were finished refilling the canteens – to disperse, to which they did but not before giving their creator confused looks. Once she was alone, Namiko started into the stream, just looking at her reflection in deep thought.

What she saw in that white void still greatly plagued her mind. She assumed that there was only one place that could possibly give her answer to what she saw but before that could happen, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Over here, Sakura."

Namiko turned around to see her pink haired teammate come out of the tree line.

"Are you all done, Namiko?" Sakura asked, and the when the Kyubi Jinchuriki responded with a nod, Sakura smiled. "Well, the Daimyo's ready to get a move on again, so Kakashi-sensei sent me to find you." She explained.

Namiko nodded before she stood up and grabbed some of the canteen, with Sakura picking up the remainder.

"Alright, back to the mission." Namiko said with a wide grin plastering her face.

Sakura giggled at her teammate before the two kunoichi began making their way back to the team.

Namiko breathed a sigh of solace and watched as her breath condensed in front of her. It had been a long journey but that had finally made it to the Land of Frost. Their route so far had been uneventful and quite plainly a breeze, as they had no trouble passing into the Land of Hot Water and with the Frost Daimyo in their company, crossing into Frost Country was as easy as can be.

They had finished going through the necessary customs about two hours ago and were now continuing on their path towards the Daimyo's residence. Right before they had crossed into the border, they had all donned white winter cloaks and were currently making their way down the snow-covered road while blending into their surroundings.

As they walked, Namiko's mind began to circumnavigate her thoughts about the Daimyo and his aide. They had proven to not be, as Shikamaru would put it, troublesome but at the same time, she still had an edgy feeling about the aide. And as her mind was active, it subconsciously went back to the scene she saw back when she was meditating by the stream.

It had been a total of three and a half days – as Kakashi had predicted – since that, so what she saw was still fresh on her mind, and she had no words to explain it. She had communicated with Kurama and questioned it about the topic, but that had returned negative results. And she felt as if she told Kakashi about this, he'd really the information to Hokage which would make her be placed in the hot seat.

She took a few seconds to glance at her teammates. Could she possible explain to them what she saw? And even if she did, would they be able to help her come to a solution? Maybe not. Another second was taken to glance at Shikamaru who wore an annoyed expression on his face, probably from the cold. It was times like this she was glad she had a giant demon fox inside of her that kept her body temperature up. The fox may have been doing it for its own good, but it helped her in the end. A win in her books.

She inwardly laughed at the pineapple-haired genin's misfortune before returning her thoughts to what they had originally been on. The half copy of herself she had seen. Then there was also the weird sensation that pulled on her chakra. Could that sensation been the half clone she saw? And if it was, why? And why was the clone only half of her? What did the white part of the clone mean?

The Kyubi Jinchuriki accidentally grumbled out loud as she shook her head to clear the thoughts. But in doing so, the other six people she was walking with all turned to her but luckily, they didn't question, most likely playing her frustration down to the cold.

The group continued to walk in silence, and all was calm until they noticed two figures walking towards them, covered in head to toe in black winter cloaks. It was hard to make out either of the figures' appearance so on instinct, the five Konoha shinobi had their weapons ready under their cloaks in case that's what it came down to.

As the mysterious individuals got about twenty feet away from the Daimyo's group, they stopped walking – causing the Konoha shinobi to follow suit – and rose their heads to meet the gazes of the Konoha nin. When their heads rose, Namiko and company were able to see the features of their potential adversaries. There were two men, one of whom had fair skin, long green hair and yellow eyes, with a small scar under his left eye. The other man was just as fair as his companion with long red hair and rather pale lips.

From the back of the group, Kakashi called. "Can we help you gentlemen?" His beloved Icha Icha Paradise had already been placed away in his ninja pouch and his hand was at his hip, ready to reach and reveal his Sharingan should need be.

"Hmm…not necessarily," It was the green haired man who spoke as he turned his gaze to the Frost Daimyo who looked as if all the color had drained from his face. "The Frost Daimyo on the other hand, he could help greatly." The man admitted with a sinister smirk on his face.

Before Kakashi could offer a quip of his own, the Daimyo's aide offered some words. "What business do you have with Hyoketsu-sama?"

The other man, the one with the red hair and pale lips, decided to speak up. "Well, you see, good old Daimyo-sama, here is quite the character when it comes to wealth," The man said, earning curious glances from those around him. "In layman's terms; he has too much wealth, so we've decided to…relieve him of some of his unnecessary wealth." The man said, shrugging in the process.

From the back, Namiko called out. "So, you're just a bunch of good for nothing thieves!" She accused and they watched as a look of contemplation came across the green haired man's face.

"Thieves? Something like that. Good for nothing? Far from." He said with a smile on his face. "We are members of the Lightning Group, we attack murderers, criminals and other low life and take everything they have and use to the benefit of those on the fringes of society, those who cannot help themselves. We are more than just thieves; we are honorable thieves."

Namiko clicked her teeth in displeasure. "Honorable thieves? There's no such thing. A thief is a thief." She declared and the two men, who were of the Lightning Group as they declared, looked at each other before offering her a shrug.

The red head replied. "That may be, but people like this man," He pointed to the Daimyo. "Who over tax the poor for his own gain, are just as despicable, and I am quite surprised to see shinobi from 'do no evil' Konohagakure protecting him, not to mention the famed Kakashi Hatake." He declared.

The statement kept Namiko quiet as she didn't necessarily have the right words for a rebuttal. Kakashi on the other hand, had something to say.

"It appears that once again, my reputation precedes me…however, whether what you say is true or not, we have been tasked with the mission of protecting the Frost Daimyo, which is what we will do, so I suggest you step to the side and let us through." Kakashi took a moment to look at the genin under his command. He couldn't tell how strong these two men were, but he knew how far both Namiko and Sasuke had come since the Wave mission and hoped that they could take one of them while he handled the other if need be. Sakura, as he knew, was good auxiliary support and as for Shikamaru; he knew what the Nara was capable of.

Before either of them could respond to Kakashi's declaration, Sasuke decided to offer his two cents. "And what makes you idiots think that the Daimyo is just going to be walking around with something worth stealing?"

Both men chuckled darkly. "Our intel has it, that the Daimyo's most prized possession never leaves his sight, whether he goes to the bathroom, the kitchen or the Land of Fire." Just as the man finished explaining, he dashed towards the Daimyo with a kunai drawn. It was so quick that he easily bypassed Sakura as well as Sasuke, who hadn't activated his Sharingan yet as to not give his trump card away early.

Before he could reach the Daimyo, however, metal clashed with metal as Kakashi intercepted the man's blade. The man retracted his kunai from Kakashi's and tried to swipe at the Konoha jonin but Kakashi was quick to parry his attempt and deliver a swift blow to his stomach, forcing him to jump back to his partner.

Kakashi studied the two men aptly. Kakashi could tell that both men would be difficult opponents and that he most likely could not take both of them on at the same time, but what he didn't know which of the two were stronger, so he found it difficult to tell his students which one to take on. Before he could make a decision however, the green haired man spoke.

"We have no qualms with you, Konoha-nin. Just let us have the Daimyo and we'll be on our way."

Kakashi took a moment to feign considering. "Even if what you say about the Daimyo is true, it would look pretty bad on our village's name if we were to abandon a client in the middle of the mission, don't you agree?" Kakashi asked.

The red-haired man chuckled. "We couldn't care less about Konoha's reputation."

Kakashi – who had yet to determine which of the two he would take on – narrowed his eyes when the decision was made for him. "Karyu, I will take on the jonin myself, you handle the kids and grab the Daimyo." The red head, now identified as Karyu, grumbled.

"Whatever you say, Fushin."

Over the past two months or so, Kakashi knew that his genin's skill level had increased dramatically ever since he ditched his incompetence, so, with his mind made up, Kakashi looked at his genin over his shoulder. "Shikamaru, Sakura, protect the Daimyo and his aide. Namiko, Sasuke…you know what to do." While the Nara and Haruno nodded with a resounding 'hai', the blonde-haired and dark-haired genin looked at each other with a smirk before nodding in affirmation.

Kakashi took the initiative and ran at the man called Fushin, prepared to engage in combat with him. They traded a few blows before Fushin was forced to flip back and create some distance. Kakashi turned to his students and gave them a curt nod before confronting his opponent once again.

Soon, both Kakashi and Fushin were battling a few dozen yards down the road from the rest, and the man they had been tasked with fighting turned to them with a bored expression on his face.

"Let's make this quick, shall we?" Karyu wasted no time and flashed through a set of hand seals before slamming his hands on the ground. "Doton: Tajuu Doryuuheki! (Earth Style: Multiple Earth-Style Wall!)" The genin, the Daimyo and his aide watched as the earth around them began to rise, seemingly aiming to trap them within.

The genin were quick to react, as they grabbed the Daimyo and his aide and jumped out of the enclosing mud walls before they could be trapped. The bored expression on Karyu's face was replaced by an annoyed one.

"Huh…seems like you're not completely stupid."

The genin ignored his words and Namiko turned to Sasuke with a smirk on her face. "Let's do this, Sasuke!"

"Hn."

Namiko deadpanned at her teammate's lazy/arrogant response before withdrawing a kunai and running at the Lightning Group member. Karyu took out a kunai of his own and prepared to intercept Namiko, but to his surprise, the blonde's speed suddenly increased twofold.

"What in the…?"

Namiko was upon him in an orange blur before he could react. She swung the kunai at him, but he had caught his bearings enough to dodge her kunai and respond with a swipe of his own. Namiko, having the Jinton activated, was easily able to dodge the attack and deliver a swift kick to the man back, sending him forward into the path of Sasuke, who had already finished a set of hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!)"

Karyu's eyes widened, wondering how a kid was able to produce a fireball so huge. That was when he noticed Sasuke's Sharingan, realizing that this was no ordinary kid but an Uchiha, the last loyal one to Konoha. The red-haired man cursed and slammed his hand on the ground, causing a wall of earth to rise and block the fireball.

Once Sasuke's fireball died down he flipped away before cursing under his breath. "Seems these brats are worth their salt. Time to kick it up a notch I suppose." The man placed his hand in bird seal and the genin watched as his chest swelled up.

"Yoton: Gomumari! (Lava Style: Lava Spheres!)" He called out as dark spheres began firing towards the genin. They were able to dodge the first few and their eyes widened when the dark spheres, supposedly made out of lava, landed on the snow and began to melt it at an alarming rate, letting them know that they couldn't let that touch them.

Over on the side, Shikamaru sighed. He could already tell that this shinobi was out of their league, and it seemed as though he had a Kekkai Genkai. He noted that if they didn't have to protect the Daimyo and his aide, the four genin would probably be able to take the man, or at least keep him busy until Kakashi was able to finish his fight.

But then again, he didn't know in detail Team Seven's skill, but he was surprised at how well Namiko and Sasuke worked together. In their first attack on the man, they had been able to set up an attack without communicating. Sasuke had known when to release his fireball as to not get Namiko caught in the blast, and Namiko herself had done well to push the man into Sasuke's path.

Shikamaru pursed his lips and placed his hand in a weird pose, gaining confused looks from the Daimyo, the aide as well as Sakura.

"We need a plan…and fast." Were his thought as he put his mind to work.

"Seems like those kids of yours aren't half bad…" Fushin commented as he and Kakashi watched as a giant fireball collided with an earth wall in the distance. The green-haired man sighed and turned his attention back to Kakashi. "Such a shame you had to get in our way." The man withdrew an oddly shaped kunai and twirled it in his hand before launching it at Kakashi.

The silver-haired jonin jumped back to avoid the kunai but his eye widened as the kunai exploded upon impact, sending him flying across the snow-covered ground behind him. Once the smoke died down, Kakashi narrowed his eyes at his adversary.

"We didn't so much 'get in your way', it's quite the opposite really."

The man named Fushin eyed the Konoha jonin cautiously before shrugging. "Good point," The man then placed his hands in the Tora hand seal before channeling chakra. "Then I suppose it would do me and my partner good to do what we need to and get out of your way as soon as we can." Kakashi felt the man's chakra flare. "Taiton: Mofu Daireppa! (Typhoon Style: Severe Wind Destruction!)"

Kakashi's eye widened as he heard the Jutsu's name. "Typhoon Release?!" It was a nature transformation he had never heard of before, and as his eyes widened, they saw when a giant tornado materialized between him and Fushin.

The tornado whipped around menacingly and teared up the surrounding ground as it spun violently towards the silver-haired jonin. Kakashi cursed and began flipping back in order to create some distance between himself and what seemed like his impending doom.

Once there was enough space to buy himself some time to think, the Jonin put his mind to the test. He had a few options, but some were either not good ideas, or would be too over complicated to execute.

Kakashi pondered the science behind tornadoes. They were formed when warm and humid air collided with cold and dry air. So, in order to stop the malicious chakra-based 'natural' disaster, he would have to either cool the air until it overtook the hot air, or vice-versa.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, he didn't know any Ice Release techniques, and to him, it seemed as though adding fire to the tornado would be bad news.

"This is so unlike you, Hatake." Kakashi grunted as he had to dodge another one of the exploding projectiles. As he landed, he saw Fushin through the gale force winds with a few more of the bizarrely shaped kunai at the ready. "I've heard great stories about you…the man with over a thousand jutsu, the hero of Kannabi Bridge, the Yondaime Hokage's prized student…where is that tremendous valor you're known for?"

Kakashi chose not to respond to the man. Instead, he withdrew a few kunai of his own and launched them at Fushin, applying chakra to them to increase their velocity and cutting power. Fushin simply smirked as he flicked his wrist and launched his kunai to meet Kakashi's head on, exploding and adding some flames to the tornado when they did.

Another cursed left the Jonin's mouth as he tried to deduce the best course of action. Since heating up and cooling down the air fueling the tornado was out of the question, his only other option was to reverse the flow of air. But in order to do that he needed something fast going the other way. He took a moment to glance at his genin. Namiko would have been perfect if she hadn't been engaged in a battle herself. She could have easily run the opposite direction with her Jinton activated and stopped the tornado.

Kakashi was suddenly forced to shield his eye as a loud and bright explosion rocked the earth. Once his eye wasn't in danger from the brightness they widened as he realized where that explosion had come from; Namiko and the others. Kakashi quickly made a decision and revealed his Sharingan, spinning furiously.

With a quickness, he created another shadow clone and they both eyed Fushin down daringly. He needed to get this over with and ensure that the Daimyo, his aide, and more importantly his genin, were okay.

He needed to end this quickly.

"Namiko, Sasuke." The two genin who had been called were beaten up and panting lightly, evidence of their rather exhausting skirmish with the man called Karyu. The aforementioned genin looked over their shoulder to see Shikamaru with a foreign feature spread across his face. Determination. "I have a plan," It was a simple plan, but if executed perfectly it would ensure their victory. He then turned to Sakura. "I'm going to help Namiko and Sasuke get rid of this bothersome guy, okay?" Her only response was a nod, though he couldn't tell how much resolve it held.

Shikamaru jogged over to Namiko and Sasuke and they held a whispered discussion for a few seconds. Karyu picked out on what they were trying to do and aimed a volley of shuriken towards the genin. Being skilled in shurikenjutsu, Sasuke was able to launch his own volley and meet the adversary's head on, stopping them in their path.

"You guys got it?" A 'yup' and a 'uh huh' came from the mouths of Namiko and Sasuke respectively. "Alright then, let's see if we can end this quickly." With one more glance at each other and firm nods, they began to set their plan in motion.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun as he dashed towards the member of the Lightning Group. As he was upon the man, he had to dodge a strike to his torso, which was quite easy with his Sharingan. On the other hand, being able to land a hit of his own on the opponent was proving difficult. While the man's bigger physique gave Sasuke more of a target to hit, the man showed great skills in maneuvering his body away from Sasuke's strikes.

While Sasuke was engaged in the Taijutsu battle, he realized just how even they were going, allowing the Uchiha to realize that maybe Taijutsu wasn't this man's forte. But that was fine, Sasuke didn't need to beat the man in a Taijutsu battle, after all…he was only the distraction.

Out of the corner of his eye, for just a split second, Karyu saw the blonde-haired genin running at him using that tremendous speed of hers. He got ready to counter but when she had reached him, she smirked and jumped over him, landing elegantly a dozen or so feet away from the Yoton user.

Karyu turned and glared at her and was about to launch a few lava spheres towards her, but suddenly realized that he couldn't move his body. He began struggling and was able to turn slightly to see the kid with the pineapple hairstyle holding a hand seal, and a long black line connecting them, or much more specific, their shadows.

The genin had used Sasuke as a distraction and used Namiko's to hide Shikamaru's shadow possession.

"Kagemane no Jutsu, (Shadow Possession Jutsu), success." Shikamaru said as a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. He had only just used the jutsu, but his captee's strong chakra signature and built figure was proving to be too much for him to handle. With a grunt, Shikamaru turned to Sasuke. "If you're going to do something, now's the time."

Sasuke nodded and ran through the hand seals for his fireball jutsu and unleashed it at Karyu. The genin watched as it collided with Karyu and once the fireball had dissipated, nothing but the burnt ground remained. With a smirk on his face, Sasuke fell to the ground in exhaustion, the man had definitely been a tough opponent, maybe not as tough as the Ice Release user they had faced in Wave, but tough, nonetheless. Namiko fell to the snow-covered ground as well as she looked up into the evening sky. Shikamaru on the other than let a small smirk come to his face as he sat down.

However, the genin couldn't relax for too long.

"You little brats!" They all flew up as Karyu's voice rang out, though he couldn't be seen. "I'll kill all of you."

Karyu sudden appeared in a blur and sprinted towards Namiko before aiming a roundhouse kick at the girl's head. She was quick to dodge and try to respond with an uppercut to the man's chin, but he once again showed his speed and dodged. Namiko couldn't react in time and change the direction of her hand so Karyu was able to punch her in her elbow, causing the blonde-haired Jinchuriki to yelp in pain.

The jonin-level ninja then withdrew a kunai, twirled it in his fingers and dug it into Namiko's left thigh. As she fell to her knee, she let out another yelp of pain as a few tears came to her eyes. Her teary eyes then widened in shock as she realized that the flow of chakra that kept the Jinton alive was involuntarily cut. She didn't have much time to question her Kekkai Genkai's sudden deactivation as Karyu kneed her in the chin, causing her to topple over backwards.

Then, in a blur of speed, he delivered a blow to Sasuke's torso, sending him tumbling backwards into the snow. The Uchiha rolled until his head collided with a snow-covered rock, rendering him disoriented. The red-haired Yoton user then spun on his heels and dashed at Shikamaru and punched him to the floor with a right hook.

Shikamaru groaned in pain before he felt his hands grabbed behind his back and tied with what he could only assume was ninja wire. He then saw Karyu slap a piece of paper to his chest, before kicking him in his face sending him back.

"This'll teach you."

Shikamaru looked down to see an exploding tag fixated on his fishnet shirt. He then looked up and saw Karyu with a sinister smirk and his hand in the half ram seal. Shikamaru's eyes widened in horror as he realized that he was starting death in the face.

Before Karyu could end the young Nara's life, however, Karyu deflected a kunai aimed for his head with a kunai of his own. They both turned to the source and saw Sakura with a glint of determination in her eyes.

The Haruno had been contemplating with herself if she should've left her post guarding the Daimyo and his aide and joined the fight but had ruled against the idea not wanting to get in her teammate's way. She had been relieved for a few seconds when Sasuke's fireball had seemingly finished him off, but that was immediately replaced with dread when the man had returned.

Karyu, with a bored expression on his face simply took the same kunai he had used to deflect and launched it at the pinkette with great speed, imbedding the kunai into her skull, causing her to fall backwards into the snow, dead as night.

"Well, that was easy," the man said before turning back to Shikamaru to see him looking back at him with a blank expression, even after he had, to all appearances, killed his teammate. Realization then dawned on Karyu as he placed his hand in a seal and with a yell of 'kai', the world around him warped back to reality and he saw Sakura with a shocked expression on her face. The man was quiet for a few seconds before a smirk came to his face. "I see…you used the kunai earlier to split my attention and cast a Genjutsu on me, quite the plan," He mused before glaring at the kunoichi. "It would've worked too…if I was a sorry excuse of a ninja." He then turned back to Shikamaru and got his hand ready to detonate the exploding tag. "I'll deal with you now, and her later. Boom!"

"Shikamaru!"

For Namiko Uzumaki, who had just yelled the Nara's name, time seemed to slow down. But not only did time slow down, she was able to see everything in a more…clearer picture. She saw the injured Sasuke to her right, the panicked Sakura to her left and the scared Shikamaru in front of her.

She knew the Jinton had activated, on its own for that matter too. She could tell by her warm and rich chakra flooding her system, as well as the burning pain that was the stab wound on her left thigh. That didn't stop her, however.

The Kyubi Jinchuriki, before she knew it, was running towards the Team Ten member. This was when she realized that something weird was happening. She seemed to be running at a regular pace, while everything around her happened in slow motion. She could hear Sakura's scream rippling through the air and the sizzling sound of the paper bomb as clear as can be.

Even so, she would deal with whatever was happening at a later point. At the moment, there were more important things at hand.

She finally reached Shikamaru and ripped the exploding tag off of his chest and threw it backwards, towards their foe while trying to dive to the floor with Shikamaru. This was when time seemed to catch up with itself and everything resumed to normal speed.

Nonetheless, the paper bomb made it about two and a half feet away from Namiko and Shikamaru before it detonated, causing a loud and bright explosion to rock their battlefield.

And that's chapter six!

A but of a cliffhanger, but we move.

I mainly used this chapter to not only lay some foundation for something I want to do in the future, but also as a set up for my 'filler' arc. I used the Lightning Group as my villains because why not really. I know their ages or whatever may not line up all that well but at the same time…this is a fanfiction story, so does it really matter? Lol.

I also want you guys to let me know how I did with the fighting scenes and if I need a lot of work moving forward.

Also, when I started this fic I made the decision to stick to about 6k words a chapter, but I think moving forward I'm just going to write until I think the chapter is at a good place to end, while also making it at least 6k words.

Anyways, as always, thanks for the support and let me know what you guys think in the reviewed. Peace!

-AplhaZulu99