Uchiha Heiress Remix Chapter 64, a naruto fanfic

Chapter 64: Who's Pursuiting Who?

The former student and teacher continued dashing through the forest, each focused on only one thing, to capture the rogue shinobi. Then the two reached what appeared to be a bamboo grove, but they soon passed through it as fast as possible so that they wouldn't lose the trail of their target.

"Dammit, where the hell did he go?" Naruto got out in annoyance as they had been in hot pursuit for a while now, but there they had only seen small traces of the traitor.

From on top of the annoyed chunin, the small pug was looking ahead. "Calm down, I can still smell him, he's still running towards this direction." Pakkun commented with his usual monotone-like voice.

"We'll find him, Naruto. I'm sure of it." Iruka reassured with a determined tone. "He's not getting away this time." He then added

The blond chunin firmly nodded at that. "Right!" Naruto replied as his expression matched his sensei's tone.

However what the two chunin didn't see or even notice was that the moment they passed through the grove, multiple areas began to distort for a moment and then just as quickly return to normal. Then all over the grove the faint sounds of mechanisms activating began to echo menacingly.

Just outside the bamboo grove. . .

After a few more minutes of dashing, the two finally exited the grove and then they saw a huge shadow being cast from a far. It only took a moment before their eyes adjusted to the light and they saw a large abandoned building was the source of the shadow.

Having better senses than the two chunin, the small pug was the first to see the building as he then made himself known. "Yup, no doubt. Mizuki's in there." Pakkun declared with half narrowed eyes.

However upon seeing the building, the older chunin's eyes widened as he stopped a few dozen feet before reaching it. "This is. . ." Iruka breathed out with a slight shock on his face.

That got the blond to also stop and turn to look at his former Academy teacher. "You know this place Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Then a flood of memories began to wash the scared instructor's mind as he recalled how this place looked in the past. "Yeah, it's been awhile so I didn't remember at first. . .but I took my Academy teacher exam here. . ." Iruka replied with a hint of nostalgic tone in his voice.

Whatever answer the blond was expecting, this certainly wasn't. "Eh? This is where you took your exam to become a sensei?" Naruto soon asked in confusion.

The older chunin however didn't reply as he couldn't afford to lose any more time reminiscing the good old days as he walked forward, only stopping just a few feet away from the entrance of the building. Which in turn also made his former student, as well as the small pug on his head, to also follow after him.

"Naruto, you wait out here and inform the others when they arrive." Iruka soon ordered with a serious tone.

Which caused the blond to stop to a halt upon hearing said order. "What!? You gotta be kidding me Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief at the request.

". . ." Iruka didn't respond as his gaze was still looking at the building as another wave of memories surfaced once more. "Remember when I said that I was very similar to you?" He suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Naruto got out as the sudden question halted his anger and left the blond confused .

"Well, for the beginning of my days in the academy I was pretty alone. Didn't have any real friends of my own and was most of the time alone." He soon started explaining,

". . ." Naruto meanwhile didn't say anything as he of all people knew how that felt, so he listened in complete silence.

"Then one really bad day, I went to the Memorial to remember my parents, I was left depressed and cried there for a while. " Iruka soon revealed as a comforting smile appeared on his face. "But thanks to the Third Hokage, I was consolidated. And then that same day, Mizuki came as well and wanted to be friends with me." He then added in a nostalgic tone.

The blond however crossed his arms and looked very annoyed at hearing the second part. "Sorry, not sorry to say, but. . .Knowing how the asshole is, he must have had some underhanded reason for being there." Naruto countered while narrowing his eyes.

The older chunin could only smile sadly and sigh as he didn't deny those words. "And although I was really thankful and happy to have a friend. . .somehow deep inside of me. . .I never really trusted Mizuki." Iruka eventually admitted. "How it pained me to have such feelings back then. And because I wanted to keep my first real friend. . ." He continued with a sad tone. "I tried to deny them, I turned a blind eye to anything suspicious and rumors I heard of him." He then confessed.

". . ." Naruto couldn't reply to that, let alone dare to reproach the older man, because he knew that he would have probably done the same if he was in his shoes. Just to keep one friend would have made him do crazy things, just to keep himself from being alone again.

"So had I trusted my instincts I would have seen through his malice he had towards you and maybe even. . ." Iruka soon started before trailing off in a guilty tone.

"Stop him from tricking me to get the Scroll of Sealing?" Naruto finished what the older chunin was planning to say.

Upon hearing that, the sad smile reappeared on the scared chunin's face as he nodded. "Yeah. . .but I know that's just wishful thinking." Iruka soon admitted. "But regardless, please understand Naruto, as someone who used to be his friend. I have to be the one to stop him." He then concluded.

Meanwhile, the blond shinobi didn't utter a single word after the older shinobi had finished. As he gave some serious thought to his surrogate older brother's thoughts and feelings, but at the same time also considered his own as well. Then after finally sorting his thoughts, he turned to face his former sensei.

"I understand Iruka-sensei. But. . .I also feel the same." Naruto replied in a serious tone. "You already know about what he did last time." He then reminded.

". . ." Now it was Iruka's turn to remain silent as he looked at his determined former student.

After all, the older chunin knew just how impactful that day was for his surrogate younger brother. The day he learned why everyone hated him so much and also how it could have ended a lot worse had it not been for his bond with the blond. And how the blond shinobi could have taken a very dark path.

"So instead of worrying about who should stay behind or who goes after him, let's get that teme together!" Naruto then declared in a determined manner.

Iruka could only let out a sigh at that, but at the same time he couldn't help but smiled proudly. "He's grown so much. . ." He thought to himself in a proud manner as he could already imagine the blond wearing a particular red and white hat. "Alright, let's go." He soon decided.

"Yeah!" Naruto replied with a nod as they looked at the building as the older of the two went to the door and opened it, only seeing darkness coming from within.

The small pug jumped off the blond's head and looked at the two chunin. "I'll go and find the girls and lead them over here." Pakkun meanwhile informed, knowing that he wouldn't be of much help in battle. Then when he received nods from the two shinobi, he quickly dashed off back into the bamboo grove.

"Be prepared for anything." Iruka soon advised as he readied a kunai.

Naruto meanwhile smacked his fist into his palm and then cracked his knuckles as he nodded. "Right." He replied, glancing around as the two entered the entrance. . .

Inside the abandoned building. . .

When the surrogate brothers cautiously entered the building, they looked everywhere to find any sight of the rogue shinobi. However, they continued walking in. . .

SLAM!

Only for the doors to close behind them as large wooden blanks blocked the entrances, blocking their only exit. Then their vision was dampened as a result of no light in the room and from what little they could see, there were large lumps of earth everywhere.

"Finally. . ." A familiar voice rang through the abandoned building in an echo-like manner, which caused the two Konoha shinobis to instantly tense up. "I was going to fall asleep waiting for you two." The voice then confessed with an obvious taunting manner.

In response, the two chunin didn't even bother to pounder to know who it was as they quickly went back to back, trying to make sure that the other wasn't exposed. "Sorry for the wait, Mizuki. But now we can settle things." Iruka retorted while struggling to find the traitor.

"Are you sure you want to do this again?" Mizuki's voice however questioned from the shadows. "After the beating I gave you two, I thought for sure you would have run with your tails between your legs." He then remarked in the same taunting manner.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to make us even consider running from you of all people." Naruto countered with narrowed eyes.

Then a sinister chuckle was slowly heard before turning into a full blown deranged laughter echoed through the abandoned building, making the atmosphere feel sinister. "That's good to know! Would have been disappointed otherwise!" Mizuki soon declared and then. . .

WHOOSH! CRASH!

The rogue shinobi seemingly appeared right on top of the two chunin, one leg raised upwards. However the two surrogate brothers just barely sense the attack and scattered out of the way, just in time for the leg to hit the ground and break a decent part of the floor.

Both then had to use their arms to block any random debri from hitting their faces. "Shit!' Naruto swore out, wiping away some sweat that ran down his head.

Because of both the dust and the crushed floor, it created a large dome of dust, completely hiding Mizuki even more despite it being nearly pitch black.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

Iruka's eyes immediately widened, already knowing what those sounds represented. "Naruto watch out! This place is filled with traps!" He called out.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Clank!

However the older chunin's warning came too late as a barrage of kunai and shurikens were launched from multiple directions. The two chunin tried to dodge, however it was so dark that it made it difficult to see where the projectiles were coming from, so they were forced to use their hearing, which they weren't used to, making it hard to dodge or block them.

"Dammit! This is gonna be a tough one!" Naruto growled out as he kept moving and just barely dodged another barrage.

Meanwhile from within the plume of dust, a sinister chuckle could be heard. Then when the rogue opened his eyes and at the same time his eyes slowly started to change, they once again became slits. But this time they began to emit a menacing yet sickly dark yellow and since it was the only source of light available, it made the rogue's presence more intimidating and sinister.

It was thanks to this sudden change that somehow allowed the white haired rogue to see in the dark. Then those eyes quickly moved left to right until they landed towards the older chunin. "Time to begin the hunt. . ." Mizuki soon whispered with a vile and elated tone before dashing in.

WHOOSH!

Right towards the dome of dust was blown away as a blur rushed towards the nervous chunin. Meanwhile, said chunin's attention was more focused on the multiple projectiles that came his direction, that when he saw the incoming blur it was already too late and that he had time to see two golden lights staring at him.

WHAM!

Then the next thing Iruka felt was a world of pain as something hit him on his sides with enough force that sent him flying backwards only to stop as he crashed onto one of the many boulders that the room had.

The academy instructor then fell on the ground, coughed a few times and held his injured side. It was then he saw three large gashes on his vest. While he did receive a lot of physical damage, he was still lucky that it only slashed his vest which didn't pierced his skin, though there were minor cuts on the chainmail he was wearing.

"What kind of weapon does he have!?" Iruka thought in confusion at the sight of the slash like strike that was delivered to him.

Meanwhile the blond shinobi finally managed to escape the kunai trap as he jumped atop of a large boulder. "Iruka-sensei! You alright!?" Naruto called out. While he couldn't see well, he heard the impacts from the other side of the room, causing him to feel concern.

"Naruto! Be careful! Mizuki has some kind of weapon that gives him more strength than normal!" Iruka called back and warned.

Naruto however narrowed his eyes as he kept his guard up as a thought came to mind. "Shit. . ." He muttered as images of deformed and sinister weapons appeared in his mind. "Don't tell me. . ." He thought to himself.

WHOOSH! CRASH!

However any thoughts that the blond shinobi was forming ended when the blur rushed towards him. But unlike the older chunin, he was ready so he narrowly managed to dodge just in time by jumping off the boulder. Which then resulted in said rock bursting into many pieces.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! TAP! TAP!

Then as the blond was still in mid air, the blur rushed towards nearby boulders and hopped off at incredible speeds.

"Well well, it looks like the little demon moron's improved a bit?" Mizuki remarked in a taunting manner. . .from behind the blond.

The blond's eyes widened in shock as he turned to look back. "Wha!?" Naruto got out in shock.

WHAM!

Now it was the blond's turn to be sent flying as he too was sent flying and then abruptly stopped when he crashed onto a boulder, which shifted his momentum, causing him to slam onto the ground the next moment.

"GAH!" Naruto gasped out in pain the moment his back hit the ground as pain spread all over his body.

Meanwhile from the original boulder the blond had stood, two eerie glowing eyes stared at the fallen blond. Then a row of sharp teeth formed a twisted grin as a sinister and mocking chuckle echoed. "Oh~ Did I strike the great hero too hard? Don't die on me too easily now!" Mizuki suddenly shouted in a deranged manner as he melded with the shadows, vanishing in an instant as he laughter echoed throughout the building.

Within the bamboo grove. . .

The kunoichis meanwhile were in hot pursuit, tracking and following both the traitor's and the two surrogate brothers' trail. It didn't take long before they reached the grove and they instantly saw that their trail was getting more and more recent.

But suddenly the small wolf cup stopped running, causing the rest of the kunoichis to stop as well. Then the small animal began sniffing the ground a few times and her ears straightened upwards. "Arf arf!" Okki barked loudly while pointing her snout forward."Hey! I can smell the old man's scent!" Was what she said.

"Okki-chii says she smells Pak-Pak!" Nina quickly translated the group, which caused a small giggle to escape her fellow kunoichi's mouths at how she described the small pug dog.

"Yosh, that means Naru-kun and Iruka-sensei must be near too." Satsuki stated with a nod before turning to her teammate. "Nata-chan, your up!" She then called out with a grin.

Nodding to that, the Hyuga Heiress stepped forward as she activated her Byakugan, then she saw a very three trails, with one trail being the largest. "Hmm, I see a strong chakra trail. . .it must be Naruto-kun's." Hinata both replied and informed the rest of the group.

"Then it would be best if you lead the way Hinata-san." Yami suggested as she looked at the road ahead and couldn't help but feel concern.

The Hyuga replied by a nod as she had the same concerns as the swordswoman. "I agree, after all even though we're indeed in a hurry, it's also best that we also must be careful." Hinata replied with a serious tone.

Meanwhile, as the three kunoichi's were discussing, the animal lover's attention was busy looking around her. "Oooooh!" Nina got out in childlike amazement as she fully caught the sight around her. "I wonder if there's pandas around here!?" She practically squealed with stars in her eyes.

The question was so out of context that the girls blinked a few times as they tried to process it, then they turned towards the younger looking kunoichi. "Why Nina-chan?" Satsuki however asked in a curious manner.

The young appearing girl smiled widely in response. "Because they are so fluffy and soft!" Nina excitedly declared with stars in her eyes.

"I-Is that so?" Hinata then got out in confusion as she couldn't help to reprieve the animal lover because of her innocent eyes and demeanor.

However the blue/silvered haired teammate on the other side, didn't have any problems. "No Nina-chan, you can't befriend, cuddle and or wrestle with a panda if we see one now." Yami however sighed out, already feeling and guessing what the young appearing girl wanted to do.

"Aaaaaaaw~!" Nina whined out while puffing her cheeks in an adorable manner.

"Reow!" Ora cutely roared annoyingly at her big sister. "No means no missy!" Was what she said.

"Arf! Arf!" Okki barked out with a slight smuggly expression on her face. "Yeah! Let's find one after the mission!" Was what she then informed, which in turn delighted the young appearing girl.

However this only made the small tiger cub even more annoyed. "Hiss!" Ora annoyingly hissed at the wolf cub. "Don't encourage her Okki!" Was what she scolded.

This interaction caused the animal lover to burst out laughing at the two's banter. On the other hand, while the two heiresses didn't know why, they had a feeling that it was their regular banter, which couldn't help them from smiling amusingly as it lightened the mood.

However, unlike the cheerful mood her teammate was displaying, the young swordswoman took a step forward and scanned the area, then her senses that she had developed to detect danger were telling her that something was here.

"Everyone, be alert, something isn't right. . ." Yami however stated, her hand already on her sheathed katana and at the ready.

This simple statement cooled the group down and nodded. "Hai. . ." Hinata replied in agreement, preparing her bow.

As they slowly began walking through the bamboo grove, they all sensed a slight disturbance. Not wanting to let this slide, the bluenette activated her Byakugan and focused it on the area around them.

It was at that moment, there was something that she didn't notice before. All around the area was flushed with many distorted areas made of chakra and at the same time she saw that her teammate's chakra path had been slightly altered.

The group then saw the Hyuga make a simple hand seal. "Kai!" Hinata called out as a burst of chakra expanded throughout her body and vanished.

With the exception of the younger looking kunoichi who was shocked by the disappearance of the Hyuga, the rest of the kunoichi instantly realized what this meant. "Genjutsu!" The two immediately stated in unison and proceeded to do the same action as their teammate to cancel the illusion.

Suddenly the animal lover and her small companions jumped as they were left alone. "Hey! Where did everyone go!?" Nina however called out in unison.

However before she could move, the animal lover felt something grabbing her shoulder. Her body instantly tensed and her eyes widened as she instinctively raised her hand and punched the person that grabbed her, however not before she felt a wave of chakra coursing through her body.

"Yeow!" Satsuki yelped in pain. "Nina-chan! Calm down dattebakon!" She ordered as she began to reappear.

"Eh!?" Nina got out in confusion as the Uchiha and the other two kunoichi suddenly appeared out of thin air. "Satsuki-neechi? Where did you guys go?" She then asked in confusion.

"Please, don't be hard on her." Yami however requested with a sadden tone. "It's probably that she doesn't even know anything about Genjutsu." She then explained.

"Oh, that's right, she's been living in a forest." Satsuki replied in an understanding manner. "Mah, Anko-neechan's gonna have to train you more Nina-chan." She then added while rubbing her cheek.

Suddenly the young swordswoman's eyes turn fierce with a menacing white gleam in them. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she's at least capable of dispelling Genjutsu before the next mission." Yami declared with a dark smile on her face.

"Eep!" Nina yelped with terror as she and the two cubs rushed past the Uchiha and swordswoman, and hid behind the Hyuga. "Hinata-neechi. . .Yami-neechi's scary scary. . ." She muttered with fear in her face.

The Hyuga couldn't help but let out an amused giggle at that. "It's just that she's worried about you, that's all." Hinata however reassured while petting the young appearing girl's head.

The bluenette knew that the older kunoichi was only concerned for her teammate's safety. After all, it was a very dangerous concept of being completely unaware of genjutsu, that could easily leave any shinobi at the mercy of an enemy. To which the swordswoman and by extension, their sensei wouldn't let that happen and they would be very. . .adamant on making sure it would never come to pass.

Then the Hyuga once more focused her Byakugan at the path ahead and noticed that there were more areas that had genjutsu, but also more than just that. "Everyone, there are still more genjutsus as well as many traps mixed in, alongside the natural terrain." Hinata informed the group with a serious tone.

The group finally realized that they were now in the middle of a large trap zone. So they made a semi circle around one another as they cautiously and fervorously looked around for any other surprises.

Meanwhile the younger looking kunoichi, who had next to none experience to the art of genjutsu, was comically looked left and right while having a serious expression, however that only made her look more adorable than serious. However that seriousness only lasted for a few moments before she got tired of looking around and decided to take one step forward. . .

CLICK!

"Eh?" Nina got out in confusion as she heard that, which was soon followed by the sounds of many mechanical noises.

The two very nervous tiger and wolf duo looked down and saw the switch their big sister had stepped on something. "Arf/Meow. . ." Both Oka and Ora groaned out in unison with a low yet frightened tone. "Uh oh. . ." Was what the two said as they knew what was going to happen next.

The kunoichis froze like a statue at the sound of the noise, but then instantly were aware of what had just happened as well. "Nina-chan!" The other girls exclaimed in shock.

"Chirp chirp!" Ori meanwhile chirped out while jumping on top of said girl's head. "Run run!" Was what she said.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The kunoichis then looked up to notice a barrage of kunais raining towards them. "Wah!" Nina yelped out while hopping in startelement before she and the others dashed away, however. . .

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

It only resulted in the animal lover walking through even more traps and were then quickly activated as a result.

"Eh?" Nina got out as she looked back and tilted her head in confusion once more.

CLANK! WRRRY! WHOOSH! WRRRY! TOH!

In the next instant, a symphony of myriad sounds of mechanical parts began to echo throughout the area, each more sharper, heavier and deadlier than the last. Which caused the three kunoichi's faces to turn blue and horror filled their very souls.

"Nina-chan! We are going to have a long talk after this!" The normal calm and cool headed Yami shouted with pure irritation, terror and concern to the display.

What transpired next was the kunoichi's all desperately evading the larger traps such as large boulders and metal spikes, while blocking or parrying the smaller projectiles. However, for the smaller kunoichi. . .

"Wah!" Nina yelped with fear as she and the smaller animals continued running away from the traps. "Sorry Yami-neechi!" She then exclaimed as she dodged more and more throwable weapons that continually bombarded the group along with a sharpened bamboo spire coming out of the ground around them.

"AWOOO!" Okki howled out as she zigzagged around her older sister. "RUN AWAY!" Was what she said.

"RWOR!" Ora mewled out while bobbing and whipping. "NO KIDDING!" Was what she meowed out.

"Chirp Chirp!" Ori chirped frantically as she held for dear life on top of the brunette's head. "Danger danger!" Was what was chirped out.

Then after what felt like an eternity, but in reality only a few more minutes,of nothing but running and dodging, the kunoichi finally reached a space where there weren't any more traps. Finally they all skidded to a halt and confirmed that they indeed had escaped the traps, which made them let out a sigh of inmeanse relief.

"Oh thank Kami. . ." Satsuki breathed out in relief as she and the rest of the kunoichi continued to pant more so from the fright than actually being tired.

"Ah! There you girls are!" A familiar monotone voice called out.

To that, the girls turned to see the familiar pug rushing towards the kunoichis, then he was at a close enough distance, he slowed down until a halt and calmly walked towards them.

"Puppy!" Nina exclaimed with joy as she kneeled down and started petting the small pug, much to the wolf cub's annoyance and slight jealousy.

"Oh, Pakkun-san," Hinata said in a surprised manner. "What happened with Naruto-kun and Iruka-sensei?" She then asked.

"Yeah! Weren't you with them?" Satsuki soon questioned as she felt concerned that something might have happened to them.

The small pug turned his head and pointed to the direction he came from. "The two are up ahead." Pakkun replied as he turned back to the kunoichis. "Iruka told me to come and find you guys, so that I can lead you to them." He then explained.

"So you can lead us through that trap infested place?" Yami soon asked with relief of not having to deal with traps anymore.

"Why do you think the other two didn't have any difficulty catching up with Mizuki?" Pakkun countered as he low key felt proud of himself.

The young swordswoman let out a sigh of relief at hearing that. "Good, now we won't be running in blind." Yami then added.

"Right. . .who would have thought that the asshole was a sadist all this time." Satsuki declared in disgust.

The bluenette nodded in agreement as she saw all of the very brutal traps that were meant to painfully harm rather than to incapacitate or kill in one blow. "He most likely set these traps hoping to torture anyone who falls for them." Hinata deducted.

"From the brief meeting with the man." Yami began to say while resheathing her blade. "He does indeed appear to be mentally unstable. So I'm inclined to agree with the assessment, Hinata-san." She added with a disturbed and disgusted tone.

"Well at least it can't get worse, right?" Nina innocently got out with a big smile on her face while about to take a single step forward.

Which caused the small pug dog to widen his normal droopy eyes, now widened. "Wait-!" Pakkun called out in a panic, only for the girl in question to already finish her step. . .

CLICK!

And then the sound of another switch being activated echoed below the confused animal lover's foot.

"?" Nina looked down and tilted her head to the side with an adorable and puzzled expression on her face.

"Oh boy. . ." Pakkun muttered while placing his paw on his face.

". . ." The three older girls looked at the younger appearing girl, who was now sweating along with the animal trio. "Chirp Chirp!" Ori then chirps with a worrisome tone while looking down. "Uh oh! Uh oh!" Is what she and the rest of the kunoichis felt.

Immediately, more rustling was heard throughout the bamboo grove, causing them all to tense. Then they began to look around and in the same multiple areas, from the ground a little further away to behind bamboo, something began to move. It didn't take long before the dark silhouettes began to become visible, leaving the kunoichi's speechless.

The bluenette let out a gasp as she couldn't believe what she and her teammates were seeing. "Puppets!?" Hinata breathed out with a baffled tone.

That right, puppets of all different shapes and sizes began appearing from the grove, some were the standard wooden humanoid shape and others were more simple animal-like. Regardless, they all more or less appeared just like the puppets that would come from Suna.

"This is going to get annoying dattebakon. . ." Satsuki grumbled out as she readied herself. "How the hell did Mizuki-teme have the time to prepare these!?" She then asked in confusion and annoyance.

"And how are they still able to move?" Yami asked with a confused tone. "I thought only Suna shinobi using chakra strings were able to control and move them." She added

Then the small pug narrowed his eyes and saw the puppets. "Hmm, they should be controlled by command seals with instructions to kill anyone that tries to move past here." Pakkun deducted.

The bluette took that as he cued and focused her Byakugan onto the insides of the puppets and she indeed saw seals, which had many blue chakra strings connecting them to the rest of its body. "His right, I can see the seals releasing chakra strings to control from within the puppets." Hinata informed the group.

Once her doubts were cleared about the puppets, the swordswoman regained her composure. "I see. However, we must fight to move on nonetheless." Yami replied, took her stand and prepared for battle.

With nothing else said the puppets made a mad dash, each with their weapons ready to kill the kunoichis. However before Nina could do the same, she put the tired Ori on the small dog's back and then rushed after the rest of the kunoichis, while said dog hid behind the bamboo to stay out of the fight.

Back within the clearing. . .

SMASH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! CRASH!

It had been a few minutes since that unlikely team of young shinobis had engaged with the Stupid Brothers. And sufficient to say, it wasn't going the younger side's way as they were more busy keeping distance between them and the brothers or risk being smashed to pieces.

"This is ridiculous, they'll destroy everything at this rate." Shikarmaru stated before groaning. "Damn this is troublesome. . ." He then muttered.

Then the ice user made a single hand seal and channeled his ice chakra. "Secret Jutsu!" Haku thought to himself as hundreds of ice needles began to manifest around the area. "Thousand Needle Death!" He then added as the needles were sent towards the two brothers.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER!

However the brothers merely extended their hands and began spinning around like a top, then when the needles collided with them they instantly shattered. It was only when the needles had ended did they stop and merely grinded amusingly at the ice user.

"Hey Big Bro, they really thought they could hurt us with puny pointy things?" Raijin soon asked.

The older brother then let out a goofy and mocking laughter at that. "They are so stupid that they thought they could!" Fujin replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Haku's left eye in turn twitched in annoyance upon hearing that. "Pot. . .meet kettle. . ." He muttered with a slightly irritated tone.

"Again, troublesome." Shikamaru remarked while rubbing the side of his head. "We need to change up our strategy." He then ordered.

The Nara knew that, even if they weren't the smartest, they were still fighting two very high level enemies. Not even considering their physical combat abilities, which was already a huge issue, but their sharp instinct made traps completely unaffected as well.

So as the young chunin watched, his teammates continuing attacking the two brothers, he desperately tried to both continued analized the two while also trying to make a plan.

WHOOSH! BUMP!

It was at that moment when the younger brother had tilted his head to dodge an ice shard that he accidently bumped his head on his older brother's.

"Oi! Careful!" Fujin remarked as he said it out of annoyance as he began to rub his head, though he did so out of being annoying rather than actually feeling any real pain.

"Sorry big bro." Raijin replied with a nervous grin on his face.

The instant the young Nara saw that, a plan instantly began to form in his head. "That's it!" Shikamaru thought as he readied himself. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!" He then mentally ordered.

Then the young Nara's shadow expanded towards the distracted brothers, however just like before the two brothers instantly reacted and got out of the shadow's range causing them to laugh at the younger shinobi.

However Shikamaru merely smirked as he quickly changed his hand seal, because of this sudden change caused his shadow to split into two and each headed towards the brothers individually.

"!?" The two smiling brothers were shocked by this turn of events, thankfully for their sharp instincts, made their own decisions and forced their bodies to jump out of the way, just in time before the shadows would have reached theirs.

However the young Nara wasn't frustrated or annoyed by this, in fact his earlier grin was still displayed on his face. Then with another seal, the shadows once again gave chase to the brothers.

What followed next was an honestly well display of agility from the brothers as they completely focused on the shadows to never reach them. However because of the two being so focused on said shadows they didn't realize that they were getting closer and closer to each other, until they were a few feet behind the other.

Once the young Nara saw that the two brothers had gotten closer to the area he had planned he turned towards the ice user. "Haku! Keep them distracted!" Shikamaru quickly ordered.

Meanwhile the ice user who had watched what his squad leader had been doing, his eyes widened when he realized what the shadow user was doing. So without a word, he nodded as he brought his hands together. "Ice Style: Frost Terrain!" He thought as he slammed his hand onto the ground.

Then just as the shadows began to retract from their earlier, the brothers grinned that they had once again succeeded to not fall for the Nara's jutsu, however that glee only lasted for a moment as ice pillars began to spread out through the ground right in front of them.

"!?" The two brothers were so startled by this that once again by instinct they jumped backwards, however by doing this. . .

BUMP!

The two brothers slammed head first into the others, quite literally in this case as they began to feverishly rub their sore heads.

"Ow! Raijin!" Fujin exclaimed annoyingly as he thought it was his younger brother's fault.

"Sorry big bro!" Raijin apologized as he thought it really was his fault.

Upon seeing this, the young Nara's eyes widened. "Chōji!" Shikamaru called out.

His best friend didn't even need to be told twice as he cockeed back his arm. "Partial Expansion Jutsu! Arms!" Chōji declared, expanding the size of his hands.

WHOOSH!

Then the Akamichi's enlarged limbs were sent soaring through the two brothers with enough force to cause the wind to whirled loudly.

The sudden sound of wind caused the two brothers to look at the source. "Huh?" The two dumbly got out as they we're less than concerned by the incoming attack.

GRIP! GRIP!

Then the younger brother needed only to stretch his arms forward and not only grabbed the enlarged fists, easily stopped their momentum without being pushed back a single centimeter. "Wow! Hey big bro, he made his hands bigger!" Raijin got out with an amused tone.

The comment also amused the older brother, but in a different way as he began to drool a bit. "That means we have a lot more to eat!" Fūjin declared as he licked his lips.

The chubi young teen felt a jolt of pure horror upon hearing that. "Wha!?" Chōji got out in shock and horror upon hearing that and tried to retract his arms, however the Akamichi could do nothing as the younger brother held his arm with a powerful grip.

"Chōji-san!" Haku called out as he was concerned for his friend's well being. "Ice Style, Frozen Hold!" He meanwhile thought, placing a hand to the ground as a trail of ice slithered towards the two brothers.

CRACK! CRACK!

"Huh?" Raijin got out when he heard the loud crackling sound, which caused him to loosen his grip.

Using their momentary distraction, Chōji quickly retreated back just in time to evade the ice jutsu. Then the brothers looked to their sides and saw that both of their arms were now encased in ice.

"Now! Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru thought and then extended his shadow.

WHOOSH!

The shadow quickly slithered and glided through the ground and headed straight towards the brothers, however just as it was about to reach them. . .

SHATTER! SHATTER!

They once again showed their inmeanse physical prowess and effortlessly broke free from their bindings and then jumped backwards, just before the shadow was about to reach them.

"Damn. . ." Shikamaru quietly swore out with a scowl on his face. "Those sharp instincts of theirs could be just as dangerous as their strength. . ." He then stated.

"Agreed." Haku replied as he clapped his hands together and began channeling his chakra. "So holding back would no longer be the most appropriate course of action." He then added in a serious tone.

Then the ice user unleashes a wave of a powerful ice chakra throughout the area. Causing the two brothers to look around in confusion at the sudden change of the weather.

"Hey, big bro. Is it getting kind of chilly? Or is it just me?" Raijin soon asked while slightly rubbing his arms from the cold.

"No, no. I feel it too. Must've forgotten that it's the snowy time." Fūjin replied while also rubbing his arms.

Haku soon took in a deep breath to calm himself down. "Secret Jutsu. . ." He then whispered with an intense tone.

Then the area around the two brothers began to grow even colder and multiple thin ice shards began to manifest. Then the shards began to increase in size until they reached another and fuse together and formed multiple ice mirrors. However they continued to float in their place; they had materialized and formed a large semi-dome shaped container around them.

"Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Haku mentally declared as he then went to one of the mirrors of ice and melded into it, his reflection appearing on all the mirrors.

The Nara heir meanwhile narrowed his eyes to the sight of the technique. "So this is Haku's ace. . ." He thought to himself before he kneel down, tap his fingers together and start thinking of a plan. "Come on, gotta use this chance to think of a plan. . ." He then added to his thoughts. "Chōji, keep an eye on them and warn me if something happens." He soon ordered.

The young Akamichi, who was briefly stunned by the sudden appearance of the mirrors, snapped out of it and nodded. "Will do!" Chōji replied.

Meanwhile the younger brother looked around the mirrors with a confused expression as he then leaned his head towards his brother. "Hey, big bro. . .How come there's a lot of you?" Raijin soon asked in confusion.

"Don't be so dumb dummy! There's more of us now!" Fūjin explained with a tone that he was very sure of his answer.

"Oooooh! Your right!" Raijin replied in realization, believing that his brother's words were fact.

Haku meanwhile rolled his eyes to that as a single mirror materialized in front of him, then he prepared some senbon needles in between his fingers. "Have to be precise with these strikes. . ." He muttered in an icy tone.

Then with a single dash forward, the ice user entered the ice mirror. The brothers who were still amused at seeing their multiple reflections saw that said reflections were seemingly beginning changing and the ice user began appearing in each of the mirrors that formed the ice dome.

"Hey big bro. How come there are a lot of that skinny guy?" Raijin asked with a confused expression on his face.

"You dumb dumb, its because he has many brothers!" Fujin answered in a knowing way.

"Oh! I get it!" Raijin replied with a nod and a chuckle.

In the same situation as Team Seven, the two brothers couldn't see that the ice user was dashing in between the mirrors, making it appear as if he was teleporting. However since they weren't the sharps tool in the box, they merely thought they were also brothers.

To which caused Haku to sweatdrop in response, however he decided to take advantage of this as he readied his senbon and began to quickly rush between the mirrors. Then once he located all of the major or critical parts of their anatomy began to throw his senbons at their exposed areas.

WHOOSH! THUMP! WHOOSH! THUMP!

However unlike his battle with Team Seven, the ice user completely understated the brother's physical prowess as each and every single senbon that hit their bodies bounced off them as if they were mere toothpicks hitting solid metal.

"Hey, big bro. Do you feel mosquito bites?" Raijin soon asked while rubbing the area the senbon had hit him.

"Yeah, I felt them too." Fujin replied while also rubbing his arm.

This caused the ice user to sweat drop once more, however this time out of genuine concern. "Well that is. . .unfortunate. . ." Haku got out with a concerned tone to what just occurred. "I better take a page from Naruto-kun's handbook and improvise. . ." He then thought to himself.

The Ice user then began to coat the needles with ice, trying to make the tips more sharper. Once he finished he onces again began dashing between mirrors and launching his improved senbons at the brothers.

WHOOSH! THUMP! WHOOSH! THUMP!

This time, thanks to his improvise ice senbons, they finally manage to pierce the flesh of the two brothers, but their physical prowess was once again being displayed as the senbons didn't pierce no more than one or two inches and given their massive size, they only felt more discomfort than any actual pain.

"Well it's better than nothing. . ." Haku thought with a disappointed tone, but then proceeded to continue his barrage.

". . ." The two brother's faces slowly began to distort, as they were getting more and more annoyed by the annoying bugbites.

WHOOSH! THUMP! WHOOSH! THUMP!

The ice user then began to increase both his speed and the quantity of the senbons and throw it at any exposed area, trying to see if there were any weakened areas that he could exploit. The brothers were now grinding their teeths as their bodies were now nearly completely covered in senbons, and then. . .

"AAAAAAAH! THIS INSECTS ARE ANNOYING!" They then declared in annoyance as the senbons were sent flying out of their bodies by their raw brute strength.

Then the brothers rushed forward at incredible speeds and instantly reached a nearby mirror with their massive fist cocked back and. . .

SHATTER! SHATTER!

Effortlessly destroyed the ice mirror, instantly mirroring the same situation he had experienced in Wave. Forcing the young teen to quickly conjure another mirror near his teammates and jump out before the first mirror was shattered.

"Damn. . ." Haku thought, now sweating in a nervous manner. "Pakkun wasn't kidding about their strength. . ." He then added in his head.

The ice user's teammates let out a sigh of relief at this, as they were both shocked and terrified when they saw the mirrors had been shattered and imagined he was still inside of it. "Quick thinking Haku." Shikamaru commented with a cocky tone but he was very relieved that the ice user was fine.

Haku could only let out an awkward chuckle at that. "Well I learned my lesson after being punched by Naruto-san last time he shattered my mirrors." He confessed.

"I'm guessing by the way you said it, it wasn't a very pleasant experience, huh?" Chōji got out with a deadpan tone.

"Let's just say, I wisely made it a personal rule to not stay in my mirrors when someone smashes one. . ." He responded in a joking tone as he could still feel the phantom pain on his face.

Then the mood turned serious as the Nara narrowed his eyes. "But that was your strongest jutsu. . .wasn't it?" He stated more than asked in confirmation.

Haku in turn sweatdropped to that more so in concern. "Yes. . .unfortunately." He awkwardly replied as he was now very, very concerned about how to deal with the two brothers.

". . .How troublesome. . ." Shikamaru grumbled out as he was getting tired of this situation.

"Ok, now I'm starting to get nervous." He admitted as he unintentionally started shivering from a cold breeze passing him.

When the ice user saw the chubby teen shivering, he blinked a few times and then recalled what his student had said about the brother's. "Chōji-san, I think you just gave me an idea that would make Naruto-san feel proud. . ." Haku soon informed with a smile.

The Akimichi however blinked in response. "I did?" Chōji got out.

"But I just hope I have enough chakra for it to work. . ." Haku replied and admitted.

SHATTER!

"ANNOYING BUGS! GO AWAY!" The brothers shouted as they finally destroyed the last of the ice mirrors, scattering fragments everywhere before they then melted.

"You and me both. . ." Shikamaru replied with some sweat running down his head as they got ready for the next round.

Within Konoha. . .

Ino was calmly walking through the streets of the commercial district while holding two flowers in her hand. After she had heard that her sensei and Kurenai-sensei had been hospitalized, she wanted to both visit them and give them each a flower, to wish for them to have fast recovery.

TAP! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

However as the young Yamanaka was exiting the district, she began to see that there was a lot of commotion with many shinobi's being mobilized all over the place. In some instances, they were paired up in groups of four while others were by themselves and some were even caring for some unconscious people.

Upon seeing this, the young platinum blond could only frown as it caused her to feel uneasy. "I hope it's nothing serious this time. . .we just got over one disaster." Ino muttered to herself in concern, unintentionally glancing towards the stub of where her arm before she continued on her way.

At the Hospital. . .

Tsunade was looking through multiple different files reporting the injuries of those that were brought back from trying to recapture the escaped convicts. As she would expect of Konoha shinobis, they brought most of the escapees relatebly unharm. With some exceptions such as minor concussions and some broken bones as they didn't get captured without a fight, but nothing life threatening.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Excuse me Tsunade-sama, may I please come in?" A young female voice requested from the other side of the door.

This caused the Hokage to stop reading the files and briefly looked at the door before closing the files entirely. "You can come in." Tsunade replied with a nod.

CLANK!

Immediately at the moment when the door opened, it showed to be none other than the young Yamanaka with a hesitant expression on her face.

"Ah Ino, what can I do for you?" Tsunade soon got out and questioned in a calm manner.

The sudden question causes the normally confident blonde to become meek as a result. "Ah, well, nothing much. I just wanted to visit Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. . ." Ino responded.

"Yet here you are." Tsunade however pointed out. "So? Is there anything you need?" She soon asked.

"I, well. . ." Ino soon started, though she was unsure of what to say before calming herself down. "I was curious to know how they got injured, but when I tried to ask Asuma-sensei, he just said it wasn't anything serious. . ." as her face had worry and concern written all over.

Tsunade easily realized what the girl's teacher intentions were. "He must've not wanted her to worry." She soon deducted in her head before closing her eyes. "It's just as he said, while they did gain some serious injuries, they were neither life threatening nor permanent, so they will recover in a few days or a few weeks tops as long as they rest." She then replied with a composed manner.

Upon hearing those words from the greatest medical kunoichi of their times, it gave inmeanse relief to the young blonde. "Ah, that's go to hear." Ino got out while sighing as a new thought came to her mind. "Oh! And I also wanted to ask, while I was walking through the village, I noticed a lot of shinobis on active duty. . .are we in some sort of danger?" She asked with a concerned tone.

"As of last night, there was a prison break at one of the nearby prisons near the village. That's why there are many shinobi on active duty right now." Tsunade soon revealed in a serious tone.

"Oh! Ok then." Ino responded with a nod though her face still showed clear concern. "Did the prison break have something to do with Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei being hospitalized?" She then asked.

That immediately got the Hokage's attention as she looked at her fellow blonde. "She has a very sharp intuition, as expected of Yamanaka." Tsunade thought in an impressed manner. "Yes, they were there during the prison break, they tried to stop them, but they were overwhelmed by them. Though thankfully their injuries weren't too serious." She soon enough answered.

The blonde Yamanaka in turn nodded to that, understanding right away, though felt worried over something. "So. . .I'm gonna guess that everyone's busy being out on missions then?" Ino hesitantly got out.

This caused the Hokage to let out a sigh. "There were a few incidents with one of the most dangerous escapees. So while Team Seven and the members of Anko's Viper Squad had volunteered to recapture them." Tsunade began explaining as she rubbed her forehead, trying not to think about how those two teams nearly committed mutiny at that time as they self recruited themselves for the mission. "I also just sent Shikamaru, Chōji and Haku to provide backup just recently." She then revealed.

The platinum blonde's eyes soon widened in response. "What!? Shikamaru and Chōji too!?" Ino asked in concern before unintentionally holding the stub and grinded her teeth. "Dammit, I feel so useless. . ." She meanwhile thought in frustration.

At the sight of the young platinum blond's face, the Hokage knew what she was probably feeling. "Ino, is there something you would like to say?" She soon questioned in a calm manner, making sure not to sound as if she was demanding to know.

"Huh?" Ino got out and began to subconsciously hold his stumb. "N-No, Hokage-sama. I-I don't." She then got out while trying to avoid eye contact.

"Are you sure? Does it have something to do with feeling as though you're useless due to your current situation?" Tsunade stated more than asked in a serious tone.

"!" Ino's eyes immediately widened upon hearing that as she looked at the Hokage in shock.

Then after confirming her suspicion, the female Hokage's expression turned gentler and compassionate. "While I won't even dare to say I know what your feeling as losing a limb is something no one other than someone who has experienced the same could ever hope to comprehend." Tsunade soon confessed.

". . ." Ino was immediately rendered speechless as she heard this as she lowered her head in despair.

"However, I do know what it means to feel powerless in a hopeless situation." Tsunade then declared in a dead serious tone.

The sudden comment caused the young Yamanaka to be left surprised. "Eh?" Ino got out in confusion as she just couldn't imagine someone like Tsunade of the Sanin, someone that practically every kunoichi aspired to be like could ever feel powerless.

Then with a sad yet enlightening smile, the female Hokage began to tell her tale, about how she had lost everything she had cared for and how she couldn't do anything to save their lives, even with the title of the world's greatest medical shinobi. She then followed how she spent most of her later years just wallowing in alcohol, gambling and despair. Finally how it was the meddling of a certain annoying blond shinobi and his teammates/fiancées that finally made her confront her past.

". . ." Ino meanwhile was in a state of awestruck as she listened to the entire story with no interruption.

After letting the young teenager process her story, the Hokage gave another sympathetic smile. "I could say that yeah it will get better after a while, we both know that's a lie." Tsunade eventually confessed. "The pain of what we lost will never be gone, it will be part of us for the rest of our lives." She soon enough revealed.

"!?" Ino's eyes widened after hearing that. ". . ." However she then gained a pained expression as she knew this, but just didn't want to admit it, so having like a legendary Kunoichi herself say it, made it more a truly bitter pill to swallow.

"But at the same time, acting as if that's the end and not moving forward is also wrong." Tsunade soon declared as she thought back to when she was traveling around with just her assistant. "I was lost for so long, sank into an ocean of depression, anger, self loading and worst of all. . .made many worried about me." She then confessed with a nostalgic tone in her voice.

Then the female Hokage couldn't help but recall when she first met the trio of Team Seven, how she made her apprentice and the last of what she could consider her family worrying about her every day.

"So I can only say this. . ." Tsunade soon started as she looked straight at the young kunoichi's eyes..

". . ." Ino could only remain silent as she waited for the role model of all kunoichis to gather her thoughts with bated breath. Hoping that anything she would say could make her situation better, if only a little.

"Take your time." Tsuande finally stated, which confused the young Yamanka, making her smile gently at her. "Your pain that you have gone through isn't something that you can simply overcome instantaneously." She eventually instructed. "But at the same time, don't shove away those closest to you because of anger and regret." She then added.

"Tsunade-sama. . ." Ino breathed out as she looked at the blonde Hokage with an expression of awe on her face.

The Hokage's smile then lessened a bit. "Sorry if I couldn't really give you a real answer on the matter." Tsunade soon apologized.

The young blonde gently shook her head at that. "No. . .I truly appreciate you telling me this Hokage-sama. . .I think I really needed to talk to someone who could understand. . ." Ino responded with a small, yet grateful smile on her face

Tsunade in turn nodded as she smiled at the young girl. "Feel free to come and speak with me anytime you're feeling down over this issue." She soon offered.

And with that, the young Yamanaka gave the Hokage a deep bow and turned to leave the office as she wanted to contemplate her fellow female blonde's words.

Once she was alone again, Tsunade took out the paper that had the strange formula that was found on the escaped criminal that tried to kill his god son before his initial capture. "Now then, what the hell is this formula?" She thought to herself as she once again tried to find its meaning.

Outside the hospital. . .

As the blonde Yamanaka left, she was unaware that she passed a certain red-orange haired man as he was leaning against the gate, going forward to think about what to do next.

"Leave it to the busty leader to go and get the brats thinking about what to do next in their lives." Kurama remarked to the receding platinum blonde.

Suddenly, a set of arms wrapped around one of the man's arms. "Ah, she's just living up to old man Third when he gives speeches." Anko replied and explained in amusement as she then looked towards the blonde. "Still, think she'll be alright?" She then asked since she was a good friend of the Yamanaka Head since they both worked in interrogation.

"I don't know. I ain't no psychologist." Kurama responded and admitted. "But it doesn't matter if the Busty Leader's speech reached her or not. At the end of the day, it all depends on her." He then concluded.

"True." Anko replied with a nod of agreement as she, of all people, knew that when dealt with a horrible hand, it's up to themselves to continue playing or not. "Also, you sure you don't want to help the gakis?" She then asked in concern.

"Like I said, I would, if I could. Ain't in no condition to, unless he's at death's door." Kurama replied and confessed as he could still feel his body being just barely stable the last time he had helped. "But I think this is a good opportunity for them to deal with their problems without my help." He then stated and explained. "Why let them become completely reliant on my power?" He soon pointed out.

"I guess." Anko responded with a nod of understanding. "I just thought you'd want to get back at Mizuki." She then added.

"While I would like to put my hands on that asshole." Kurama replied with a dismissive manner. "But, I think the gaki need this more than I do." He then added with a knowing tone.

"Then how about just keeping an eye on him?" Anko soon suggested.

This caused the humanoid Bijū to pause for a moment, put his hand on his chin to ponder and then smirked to his mate. "I could use some good entertainment." Kurama remarked in a slightly sadistic manner.

The tone of her boyfriend also caused the snake mistress to grin with equal delight. "And that's what I love about ya." Anko replied in a satisfied tone.

"Then let's get going before they end it too soon." Kurama replied as the two started walking away from the hospital area.

"Also Kyu-kun," Anko started with a teasing grin while taking one of his arms and placing it in between her breasts. "You prefer the Hokage's bust or mine~?" She then playfully asked.

"Her's may definitely be bigger." Kurama confessed in a nonchalant manner with a nod. "But yours are firmer, that's for sure." He then added while licking his lips with a smirk on his face.

Anko's grin soon became seductive as a result. "And that just earned you more points and a show after this in our room." She revealed while licking her lips.

"Oh, you got the pole installed into our room?" Kurama jokingly asked.

"Not telling~" Anko teasingly replied with a wink, before she disappeared via Shushin.

And with an amused grin on his face, the humanoid Bijū shook his head and followed behind.

Within the bamboo grove. . .

SLASH! SLICE! SWOOSH! SLASH! WOOSH! SLICE!

The kunoichis of both Team Seven and Viper Squad were in a heated brawl as they were fighting a small army of puppets.

"Take all these puppets down! Leave none left!" Hinata ordered, delivering a swift kick to one of the puppets, destroying it before delivering a chakra enhanced palm strike to another.

"Sure thing Nata-chan!" Satsuki replied, slicing through a puppet with ease before jumping up and delivering an axe kick to another.

"Hai!/Hai~" Both Yami and Nina replied in unison.

"Ora!" Nina called out towards her animal companion. The small tiger cub let out a small yet adorable roar as she jumped onto the girl's head. "Shiny shiny!" She declared while striking a pose where she stretched one arm to the side, while the other she bent her elbow, but still pointed in the same direction.

"Roar! Roar!" Ora adorably roared. "Kurīchāmāji! White Tiger!" Is what she said.

Flash!

Suddenly the animal lover was engulp in a white flash, though it was very bright the light only lasted a moment. Then once the light had vanished the girl's skin had turned the same white and black striped fur as her small white tiger cub and her eyes changed to a bright azure color.

However, that wasn't the only noticeable change as the aura, her carefree expressions that usually came from the animal lover had completely changed. The girl now stood with more confidence and while she still looked child-like, the girl emanated a slightly more prideful demeanor.

"Now then, shall you fall!? Ora Form!" Nina declared with an elegant yet prideful tone as she gave a small pose, waiting in anticipation.

Two puppets jumped at the tiger girl as if they were accepting the challenge. Then they both swag their limbs to hit the kunoichi.

While the attacks weren't very fast, they were still dangerous as they could deal a decent amount of damage.

BAM! BAM!

However, the tiger-girl didn't even bother to move as she raised both her arms and used them as shields. Once the attacks landed, the girl wasn't even fazed by this and merely grinned at them.

"FALL! SHATTER!" Nina roared loudly as she slightly raised both of her hands.

SHATTER! SHATER!

Then with a fit that was completely opposed to her small stature, the tiger-like kunoichi used nothing but brute strength to both push the puppets and slammed them on the ground, shattering them upon impact.

However the small kunoichi didn't stop there as she rushed at another group of puppets, grabbed two and began spinning around in a wild and frantic manner. This action causes the two puppets to hit and shatter the rest of the group of puppets into pieces.

Then once the puppets were nothing but the heads, the girl threw them at the remaining puppets with great force and shattered them as well. "Nothing is stopping me now!" Nina proudly declared as she put her hands on her hips.

A puppet jumped towards them, until the tiger-like Nina jumped and slashed it down with her claw, causing it to shatter into pieces. Then she adjusted her body and used her other claw to swipe the other, resulting in more wooden parts landing on the ground.

GRIP!

She then suddenly went and grabbed the head of one of the puppets and began swinging it around with relative ease, destroying all the other puppets coming towards her. "OHYA!" Nina roared.

Meanwhile, the rest of the kunoichi could only blink at the very distinct fighting style their younger looking friend was displaying, and suffice it to say, it left them very speechless and bewildered.

"Um. . .since when did Nina-chan act like that?" Satsuki soon asked as she used her shield to bash a puppet and then cut it in half with her blade.

Meanwhile the blue/silvered haired swordswoman remained perfectly still as she expertly held her blade. Then when three puppets jumped at her at the same time, she proceeded to do a spin slash and then the next moment the puppets were cut in half.

"We were also just as surprised as you are when we found out about her personality change." Yami simply confessed as she readjusted her blade.

Hinata also stood her ground as she used a precise pinpoint palm strike to attack each puppet that got close to her. And when more puppets were about to overwhelm her with numbers she did a kick rotation to stop them.

"Could it have something to do with her strange abilities?" Hinata deducted as the thrown puppet was sent past her.

"Anko-sensei and Kurama theorized that because she fused with Ora and the others that somehow their personalities also influenced her." Yami soon revealed.

Suddenly multiple kunais began raining down one the kunoichi as they barely managed to dodge the rain of kunais and when they turned to look upwards, they saw multiple frog-like puppets on top of the bamboo. each had their mouths wide open. Then the puppets cocke back their head and thrust forwards, causing multiple kunais to be shot out.

"Ok, that's annoying. . ." Satsuki grunted out in annoyance. "Yami-chan! With me!" She soon ordered while gripping her tantō.

"Hai!" Yami responded with a nod, the two releasing their chakra as she stood back to back with one another.

The two swordswomen then quickly rushed forwards, just in time to dodge another barrage. Then they channel chakra through the sole of their feet and quickly begin running up the bamboo. However the puppets didn't stand there and allowed this to continue as they once again cocked back their head and were about to fire again, until. . .

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Hinata shot two arrows at the bamboo that the swordswomen were running and used it as a small semi platform to jump higher. This single action allowed them to jump over the kunai and over the puppets as well.

SLASH! SLASH!

Then once the two kunoichi adjusted in mid air, they allowed gravity to do its jump and pulled them down. This allowed them to deliver a downward strike, which instantly decapitated the kunai launching puppets.

Meanwhile, Nina was still fighting yet another group of puppets alongside Okki who was busy dodging said puppets. These puppets were more wolf-like, while they weren't as fast or shot projectiles, they made that with their speed, sharp claws and fangs.

"Grrr! Arf! Arf!" Okki growled and barked as she jumped onto one of the puppets and bit it on its neck area. And then with a surprising show of biting strength, despite its small size, she broke a large chunk of it. "You ain't harming Big Sis! You stupid pieces of wood!" Is what she said as she ran towards another puppet.

"Not bad Okki-chii! Keep it up!" Nina replied with a smirk on her face.

Then one wolf puppet managed to bypass the two's defenses and went to bite the tiger-like kunoichi's neck. But Nina thrusted her hand forwards and slammed her palm onto its head. What followed was the sound of wood slowly cracking and then burst out.

This caused the kunoichi to let out a scoff at the destroyed puppets' remains. "My iron guard is stronger than you!" Nina declared in a stern tone, stomping one foot forward as it left cracks in the ground as a result.

Then the rest of the wolf puppets rushed towards the small wolf cub, as they tried to gang up on the small creature to tear it apart. However the wolf itself was too fast for them as it sped past them with ease while striking them down with its fangs and claws, as well as its hard head.

At that moment, the wolf cub then bounced off one of the bamboo trees and launched itself towards the puppets coming at her, but at that moment, she spun forward for a rolling somersault, then delivering powerful paw strikes, destroying all the puppets with relative ease.

Once all the puppets were destroyed she landed next to her big sister. "ARF ARF!" Okki barked out while lifting her chest proudly. "I'm the top wolf here!" Was what she boasted.

Meanwhile more and more puppets began appearing from the bamboo, even some of the puppets that, while damaged, cut in half, or missing limbs, still had their seals intact began to stand up again and continued to attack them.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Satsuki got out in annoyance as she gave two quick slashes to cut two incoming puppets.

With smooth and fluid movements, the blue/silver haired swordswoman dodge every puppet and slashed each puppet that gave an opening. "We need to end it quickly. We're wasting too much time." Yami soon stated.

The female Uchiha had the urge to scratch her scalp wildly at their current situation. "Kami! I wish I could just burn them all! But I'd just put the entire grove and us up in flames!" Satsuki got out, annoyed that she couldn't use her signature fire jutsus.

Suddenly the female Hyuga's eyes widened as a plan formed in her mind. "That's it!" Hinata as she looked upwards and then two of her teammates. "Yami! Nina! Round all the puppets together and launch them into the air!" Hinata soon ordered.

Both members of Viper Squad only needed a moment to realize the plan the Hyuga was and nodded. "Hai! On it!" They replied in unison as they charged in, passing through as many puppets as possible.

Every puppet, be it damaged or whole, they all quickly turned towards the two kunoichi and instantly gave chase after them.

"That's it, follow your target. . ." Yami muttered in a serious tone.

"Try and catch us if you can!" Nina meanwhile taunted while Okki let out some mocking barking.

Because the puppets had simple controlling seals on them, they attacked the first intruders within their range. However the two kunoichi took advantage of this characteristic to force them to not only focus on them, but also chase after them as well.

As they continued running, all of the puppets finally grouped together to follow the two kunoichis. However when one looked at each other and then instantly split apart from each other. This sudden action caused the hoard of puppets to split as well.

CRASH!

The two kunoichi then quickly turned around and made a circular maneuver until the two Viper Squad members ran past each other. This made the puppets crash into one another, causing them all to get tangled.

Then the two kunoichi's slided to a stop when their plan had worked. "Now launch them into the air!" Yami instructed.

"Hai Hai! Yami-neechii!" Nina declared as she jumped into the air and brought her hands together as chakra began to flow around them. "BANZAI! SLAM!" She roared as she came crashing down.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a large pillar-like slab of earth right under the puppet shot upward, then after a foot or two it stopped abruptly. Because of its size, the force of the slab being raised and then stopping, it effortlessly sent all of the puppets into the air instantly.

Upon seeing this, the bluenette turned towards her teammate. "Satsuki-chan!" Hinata called out.

Satsuki soon smirked at their teammate's plan being successful. "Thank you Nata-chan!" She cheered, already knowing what to do as she went through the hand signs at a rapid pace and took in a deep breath. "FIREBALL!" She mentally roared as she blew out a massive flame into the sky.

FWOOSH!

The fireball instantly collided with the helpless puppets and incinerated them to ashes. Then, when the burned remains of all of all of the puppets had fallen onto the ground and making sure that no more puppets were in the area, the kunoichis and shinobi animals let out a sigh of relief as they resheathed or put away their weapons.

"Took you girls long enough to finish up." Pakkun remarked as he came out of the shadows while on his back was the still tired and sleepy Ori.

"Well there were a lot of them." Satsuki reminded with an annoyed tone.

FLASH!

It was at that moment that the tiger girl glowed for a moment before Nina and Ora were once more the two laid on the ground, both being very letting out a long sigh of exhaustion, more so the small tiger cub as she laid down her eyes ready to close.

"Good good job Ora." Nina told her tired companion while gently petting her head.

"Meow. . .Meow. . .~" The tired Ora meowed softly while enjoying the petting. "But of course Nina-oneesan. . .you can always count on me. . .~" Was what she said.

Then the small pug walked towards the animal lover, so that she could pick up the tired red bird and put her on her head again. "Chirp. . chirp. . ." Ori tiredly chirped while waving one of her wings. "Good job. . .good job. . ." Is what she said.

Meanwhile, the small wolf cub was barking and jumping next to the puppets' remains that they had destroyed previously. "Arf! Arf! Grrrr!" Okki barked out in a taunting manner with a smirk. "How you like that! Don't mess with us!" Is what she said as she used her hind leg to kick one of the wooden limps away from her.

The kunoichis giggled a bit at the wolf cub's antics while her tired animal companion just shook her head and rolled her eyes. However once they all regained their breath, with the exception of the animal lover and her small friends, they all looked at all of the destroyed puppets and felt that something was out of place.

"Something's not right. . ." Satsuki stated while narrowing her eyes while she resheaded her sword.

"I agree." Yami replied with a nod of agreement as she tightly gripped the hilt of her blade.

This caused the smaller girl to stand back up, pick up the tired tiger cub in her arms and tilted her head with a cute yet confused expression on her face. "Hmm? What? What's not right?" Nina however asked in an innocent manner.

Hinata gave a kind smile to the confused animal lover. "It's because of all these puppets, Nina-chan." She began while turning towards the destroyed puppets.

"Huh?" Nina got out, more confused than ever.

"Arf!" Okki barked out with an annoyed tone. "I don't get it!" Was what she said.

"Reow. . .~" The tired Ora meowed out with a tired yet puzzled look on her face. "For once I agree with you. . ." Was what she said, albeit a bit embarrassed for not knowing.

The small pug could only let out a sigh upon hearing that. "Listen, it's one thing to make traps." Pakkun started as he pointed to the many activated traps with his small paw. "Even if they are very elaborate, they can be set very quickly by any skilled shinobi." He then explained.

"But shinobi puppets?" Hinata continued as he knew exactly what the pug was trying to explain. "That's not something you can make in a few hours." She soon revealed.

The small pug nodded in agreement with the kunoichi's evaluation. "Exactly. Even the most basic Suna puppets will take weeks just to make one." Pakkun soon stated. "And how many did you see?" He then questioned.

"Tons!" Nina answered while spreading one of her arms out to exaggerate how much they were and because she didn't want to accidentally drop her tired friend.

"Awoo!" Okki then let out a small howl. "Like a lot!" Was what she said to emphasize her big sister's answer.

"That's right. . ." Pakkun replied with a nod. "That can only mean that these puppets had been here long before Mizuki had escaped." He then stated.

It was then that a light bulb appeared on top of the younger looking girl's head, which Ori managed to fly up to and turn it off with her beak before she went back to sleep. "Oh! I get it!" Nina got out in realization before she blinked a few times. "But why were they here then?" She soon asked.

After the younger looking kunoichi had finally realized this, the rest of the kunoichi looked at the puppets with narrowed eyes. "And that Nina. . .is what we want to know too. . ." Yami responded.

Suddenly, the small pug's nose twitched as he turned towards the forest. "Someone's coming!" Pakkun soon declared.

That immediately got the girls on edge as they didn't want to believe it was the Stupid Brothers. But they still didn't dare to discard that possibility and went into high alert.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

"Who's there?" Yami questioned in a serious tone.

At that moment, an unfamiliar woman appeared from the bamboo, she had long black hair which was braided down to her back with jaw length bangs as she was wearing a short sleeved blouse over a flak jacket and shorts while also wearing bandages around her legs.

". . .Who are you?" Satsuki eventually asked the question on everyone's mind.

Within the dark and abandoned former training ground. . .

The sounds of clashing could be heard within the darkness, alongside the sounds of groans and tears of clothing and flesh as well. The battle against the escapee/traitor had been gone for well over ten minutes as the two former sensei and students had been on the defensive covering each other's backs.

"Iruka-sensei, you ok?" Naturo asked while his eyes were constantly scanning the area.

"Yeah. . ." Iruka replied as he was panting a bit. "Kind of embarrassed that I'm holding you back." He then added with both an embarrassed yet proud tone.

It was clearly shown that the chunin instructor had more injuries than the blond, since he didn't have the same constant exposure in intense battles than the younger shinobi, he had been more exposed towards the traitors attacks. However despite all of this the older chunin couldn't help but feel proud by how much his former student had grown and how much he knew the blond would only continue to grow later.

"My my Iruka, you must feel so pathetic letting the little demon do all the work huh?" Mizuki tauntingly remarked, his voice echoing throughout the building.

This meanwhile the blond to grind his teeth in both anger and annoyance. "Smug teme. . ." Naruto growled out. However before the blond could say anything else. . .

WHOOSH!

Multiple whirling sounds could be heard heading towards the two chunin. Then with a quick use of their kunais, the two former sensei and student managed to block the kunais that were aiming at their skulls.

Shhhh . .

Only for their eyes to widen in horror when the sound of hissing coming from said kunai's reached their ears.

"Oh you son of a-" Naruto could barely get out before he and the scared chunin dove away right before. . .

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A chain of explosion occurred where the two had been, large craters were formed and pieces of debris were sent flying everywhere. Then once the smoke caused by the explosion had settled, the two chunin were shown standing practically next to the building wall.

"Che, as reckless as always. . ." Iruka groaned out as he let out a small gasp of breath.

"Why am I not surprised. . ." Naruto remarked while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Though he didn't used to be that way before. . ." Iruka began to say with a sad yet nostalgic tone.

Upon hearing that, the escapee let out a loud and demented laughter, which echoed through the darkness. "It really doesn't seem like you understood me at all even after all these years." as glowing gold eyes shine from above. "So allow me to explain it. . ." He soon began as his expression became more sadistic looking.

The escapee then finally allowed himself to be seen, though he still had a good distance away from the two as he didn't allow them to get any chance to attack him. However they could still see his vile and monstrous grin plastered on his face.

"The real reason I was nice to you is plain and simple. . ." He soon began as he smirked in a vile manner. "Because I wanted to be close enough to be when you were having your little miserable state! It made me happy more than anything to see your misery!" He then declared with a sadistic tone in his voice.

"What!? That son of a. . ." Naruto mentally got out with widened eyes before growling in anger.

". . ." However the man in question wasn't affected much by this revelation, in fact he looked more so mournful than shocked or devastated.

Said reaction made the traitor's face turn slightly puzzled by this. "Oh? Was expecting more reaction than just that." Mizuki asked with an honest yet slightly mocking tone.

And as if the final puzzle piece had finally been placed, the scar faced chunin could finally see his past memories without the filter of denial and saw how his former friend had always acted strangely towards him all the way to their confrontation during the Forbidden Scroll incident. He never truly felt anything akin to friendship towards him.

"I. . .Somehow always knew that was the case." Iruka soon confessed in a somewhat hollow tone. "Can't really say that it doesn't hurt to know though." He then admitted.

"Well, that's a shame." Mizuki responded, not even caring about hearing that. "But oh well, not that it matters anyways. Still going to kill you." He added as his vicious and vile grin returned at full force.

Then the glow of two lights vanished once more into the darkness, just before rushing towards the two chunin.

At the forest clearing. . .

BAM! CRASH! BAM! CRASH!

"Move! Move! Move!" Haku whispered as he kept doing as he ordered himself.

It had been a good solid 10 minutes since the young ice user had been in constant brawl with the two stupid brothers. And he had been on the run since they found out that he was the source of the annoying bugs that had bothered them so much.

"Annoying Bug!" The two brothers shouted as they jumped with their fists forming a hammer blow.

"Dodge!" Haku mentally ordered himself in a panic.

CRASH!

Yet another massive crater was formed just as the ice user had shunin out of the way. Trees, boulders and debris were sent flying everywhere, even the other two companions of his had to take cover to not get hit by anything.

Then after Haku had reappeared he quickly began making one hand seals. "Ice Style!" He soon began as he finished his signs.

However the ice user wasn't just doding and escaping the brother's relentless attacks. Every time he had managed to get some space he used that time to cast low level jutsus to attack the brothers.

"Arctic Winds!" Haku thought as he unleashed an arctic cold gust of wind that created spires of ice midar as they were launched at the brothers.

WHOOSH!

The powerful gust of wind and spires did indeed hit the brothers, but they did next to no damage from their powerful bodies. "ANNOYING!" The two began.

SHATTER!

Both the wind and spires were instantly destroyed and only the ice debri that remained was floating around them harmlessly.

"Twin Glacier Pillars!" Haku thought as he slammed his hands onto the ground.

SHINK!

Two large pillars sprouted out of the ground and struck the brothers in their chins, but just like before, they received next to no damage and only made them angrier. "LITTLE!" The two got out.

SHATTER!

Then the brothers simply grabbed the pillars with their bare hands and crushed them into dust. Which caused more ice debri to float around them again.

"Ice Needle Shower!" Haku mentally declared as he launched dozens upon dozens of needles made of ice.

Just as before this battle, the two stupid brothers were once again covered in hundreds of ice needles. And somehow managed to stop their movements, however a second later the ice sculptures began to shake violently. "BUUUUUUUUUG!" The two roared in fury.

SHATTER!

After the brothers had shattered all of the ice needles, the ice user nearly fell onto his knees but managed to remain standing, however that didn't stop it from panting heavily and looking very pale as well.

"I'm running out of chakra. . ." Haku mentally struggled out as he looked at all of the misty wind floating around the area. "Please let this one work!" He soon thought as he prepared one last hand sign. "Raging Blizzard!" He soon declared.

WHOOSH!

Then all of the misty wind began to glow with intensity and began to move around the area at rapid velocity, creating a miniature blizzard that began to freeze everything in its path. The tree's began to lose their leaves, rocks and debris were covered in a thick snow.\

However what was more impactful was that the both of the Stupid Brothers were also been affected as well, while it didn't cause any damage, they began trembling from the cold.

"H-Hey, big bro. . .I'm getting really c-cold. . ." Raijin got out while rubbing his arms rapidly.

"C-Come o-on! T-This is nothing!" Fujin struggled, trying to sound uneffected, but with his trembling shoulders and his runny nose clearly showed that he was feeling just as cold.

Upon seeing that, the ice user's eyes widened with both hope and elation. "Now!" Haku thought to himself as he forced his chakra to flow one more time. "Ice Style: Glacial Entrapment!" He mentaly declared with all his might.

Suddenly large ice bindings were forming around the brothers cuffs, but when the ice winds came into contact with the bindings, they instantly began growing and expanding in size. Which made them larger and heavier than they originally expected.

"Now!" Shikamaru mentally ordered himself as he crouched down and made his signature hand sign. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!" He thought as his shadow stretched out and split into two.

Whoosh!

"!?" The Two brother's instincts once again reacted to the incoming danger and just like before they jumped back to avoid the shadows. However unlike before they couldn't jump backwards as quickly as before as they felt their body becoming colder, slower and rigged, which was even more affected by the large ice cuffs.

"Get off!" The two brothers shouted as they had enough and smashed their cuffs effortlessly, however the moment they did so. . .

THUMP!

"!?" The two brothers had left themselves completely exposed and the Nara's twin shadows finally connected to the two. "I can't move!" They both shouted angrily.

"Shadow Possession success!" Shikamaru declared with a smirk. "Finally. . .Great job Haku!" He soon praised in relief.

The young Nara had to give his friend a lot of credit, he knew that no matter what they tried they couldn't defeat, so catching the two brothers was the next best thing. However, because of their abnormally sharp instincts that was just as impossible.

So the ice user used his abilities to create an environment that would affect the brothers at a physiological level to hinder their movements to allow the Nara to finally catch them with his jutsu. However. . .

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Then the two brothers began shouting angrily and frantically struggling in place.

"But I don't think I can hold them for too long. . ." Shikamaru struggled to say while concern and fear were clear in his tone..

The ice user nodded in agreement as he fell on one need and panted heavily. "I know. . .but every second we hold them, give the others more time." Haku admitted, as he began to rest, in hope of restoring enough chakra to help the Nara.

Within the dark and abandoned former training ground. . .

Clank! Clank! Clank!

It had been roughly ten minutes since the two chunin had once again reengaged in combat. And while this time their eyes and ears had finally been able to adjust to the dark, they finally were able to fight and react much better than before.

However that wass it, react better to the attacks and even now the enemy shinobi was still using hit and run tactics as well as using traps to attack from unexpected places. Which was causing the two chunin to slowly lose their composure.

"Ok. . .this is really starting to get annoying!" Naruto complained annoyingly as he really wished that he could use Kurama's chakra to heighten his senses to locate the enemy shinobi.

SLAM!

Then before another barrage of attacks and traps could be triggered again, the entrance door suddenly burst open as the large wooden blanks shattered by the impact. Which caused all of the shinobi inside to turn towards the entrance.

A large beam of light entered the dark room, illuminated nearly sixty percent of the room. Then blurs rushed inside from the entrance. "Naru-kun, Iruka-sensei!" A familiar voice called out.

That in turn got the blond's attention as he then smirked. "Hey girls, what took ya so long dattebayo!?' Naruto soon asked with a joking tone in an attempt to lighten the mood.

However, with the exception of the smaller kunoichi, the attempt from the blond had the exact opposite to the kunoichis. "You wouldn't believe the hassle it was for us to get here. . ." Satsuki replied in annoyance as the other girls nodded in agreement.

And by the annoyed expressions of the rest of the kunoichi's it was very believable that the female Uchiha's words weren't an exaggeration. "I see. . ." Naruto merely replied with an awkward grin on his face as he instinctively knew that he shouldn't make a joke or risked the wrath of very annoyed kunoichis.

"Still I'm glad to have reinforcements." Iruka breathed out in relief. Although the older chunin did want to resolve his grievances with his former friend, he wasn't foolish as to not see that they needed back up.

"So, you brats got past all the traps I left behind." Mizuki however remarked from the remaining shadows in the building, annoyance clear in his voice upon watching the reinforcements.

With the exception of the smallest kunoichi, the kunochi's eyes began to slightly twitch as their patience was at the very limits and could snap at any moment if their murderings expressions and them tightly gripping their weapons with incredible force were of any indication.

To which caused the two male shinobi's to jump backwards in horror, while the animal lover and her small companions hid behind the blond shinobi with terrified expressions. "Yup, whatever they had to deal with, definitely pissed them off." Naruto thought, both glad and nervous about this.

However the traitor didn't even notice or even care about this as he let out a sigh of acceptance more than anything else. "Well. . .I guess my play time has run out." Mizuki meanwhile nonchalantly commented as if he still had complete control of the situation. "Well, I still need to get a few things." He then added more so to himself than his persecutors.

"As if we're gonna let you get away again Mizuki-teme!" Satsuki declared as she and the rest of the Konoha shinobi prepared themselves for battle.

However, once again the traitor didn't look fazed by the threats. "Well while I would try to be a good host and entertain everyone. . ." Mizuki sarcastically began as he reappeared at the upper floor. "I had my fun and I have things to do. But before I leave, how about I'll let them entertain you all. . ." He then declared in amusement and with a wild look in his eyes as he pressed on a panel in the way before rushing out.

CLICK!

"Eh?" Nina got out in confusion while the tiger cub growled menacingly at the white haired man.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Suddenly from the ground multiple areas around the abandoned building began to crack and burst apart then what appeared to be massive steel pods came up from those holes. All of the pods had a glass plating on one side of them which would allow anyone to see inside, however because the area was so dark no one could see the interior of these pods save for dark silhouettes.

The Konoha shinobis were so startled by the sudden appearance of these pods that they only noticed at the last second that the traitor appeared to have escaped the building. "OH COME ON!" Naruto and Satsuki exclaimed in anger and frustration.

However, before they could say another word. . .

Clank! Shun. . . .

The sound of the pods opening was heard as they slowly began to open. Then the dark silhouettes that were inside began to move and then. . .

"EBIIIIIIIIIIII!" A familiar, more so to the members of Team Seven, sounding screeches began roared out through the area.

Those that never had heard this screech were both stunned and baffled by them as they weren't terrifying, more so very strange. "What. . .was that?" Iruka couldn't help but ask in a cautious manner.

The blond shinobi smacked his face and slowly slid it downwards. "Oh you have got to be kidding me. . ." Naruto groaned with irritation oozing with each syllable.

The two kunoichi's from Team Seven weren't feeling any different as their faces of annoyance were clearly on full display. "Not again! MORE OF THEM!?" Hinata and Satsuki exclaimed in frustrated unison as they still could remember their last encounter with them, which made their eyes twitch a bit at remembering.

"Hm?" Both Yami and Nina hummed out as they were both confused and surprised by their friend's reactions.

"What do you mean again?" Iruka soon questioned with both confusion and slight dread in his voice.

However the trio didn't need to respond as from the pods, the multiple silhouettes slowly began approaching the group. They were very slow at first and some even fell flat on what appeared to be their face, before quickly getting back up. Others even pushed another silhouette out of the way before the one that had been pushed made angry gestures at the other.

Then once the silhouettes were close enough, the two members of Team Viper Squad and the older chunin were left completely baffled by the enemies.

"W-What the!?" Iruka shouted with a baffled shock expression as he readied a kunai.

"Are. . .those?" Yami hesitantly began with a baffled and confused tone.

". . .Shrimp?" Nina got out in confusion as she pointed at the mutant as the Os trio also looked in confusion.

"Hai. . ." The Team Seven trio didn't bother to explain or correct the animal lover's misunderstanding as they were too frustrated and annoyed at the sight of their old enemies that they had to deal with. . . again.

Then suddenly Nina's eyes became stars as she turned towards the shrimps. "Ooooooh~!" She got out while her mouth began to drool and her ears atop her head wagged with excitement.

"No Nina-chan, you can't eat them!" Yami soon answered as she knew what her teammate was thinking about.

"Awwwww~!" Nina whined in disappointment before pouting adorably.

"EBI!" The shrimp mutants however screeched and hissed in anger as they rushed towards the intruders.

The Konoha shinobi quickly regained their composure and quickly blocked and attacked the mutated shinobi. Then they processed to dodge and weave out of the way as they couldn't be dogpile by their sheer numbers.

The older chunin easily dodged or blocked the sloppy attacks from the mutated shinobis. Then once he managed to make it lose its balance, he delivered kicks and kunais slashes causing green goo blood to flow out of the wounds.

Poof!

The blond shinobi quickly pulled out his scroll from his pocket and summoned his sword and once he held it he took his battle stance. "Yami-chan! With me!" Naruto ordered.

Then in a moment, the swordswoman stood beside the blond while also holding her blade ready for battle. "Hai! Naruto-sensei!" Yami responded.

Suddenly both their blades glow blue from their chakra being channeled through them. Then once the mutated shinobis were close enough. . .

"Blade Beam!" The two shouted in unison as the two swordsmen swag their blades in the same directions sending two circular streams of chakra.

WHOOSH! SLASH!

The first being the blonds was the biggest and easily sliced all of the nearest enemies bodies in half. However this attack didn't cut the rest of the enemies as they jumped on top of their deceased comrades.

WHOOSH! SLASH!

It was then that the blue/silvered haired swordswoman's attack finished the job and sliced the enemies head clean off. Then all of the mutated shinobis bodies began to ooze the same green blood before the rest of the body dissolved and melted into goo.

At the sight of this caused the young animal lover to cringe at the sight. "Ew~" Nina got out in disgust, before her ears twitched. "Uh oh!" She muttered as she crouched down just in time to dodge a mutated shinobi that was trying to grab her.

The small wolf cub barked as she rushed towards the mutant's leg and headbutted it in its shins with enough force to cause it to lose its balance and shift its weight forward. Then the small animal looked upwards towards her big sister as its eyes gave a small shine.

The moment Nina's eyes met her friend's, her own eyes shone as if she understood what she wanted to tell her and then processed to do a backflip. "Wham!" She shouted to kick the mutant straight in its face.

With the combo of both attacks and its loss of balance, it caused the mutated shinobi to fall backwards head first and slam hard onto the group. A loud crack sound soon followed and showed that the back of its head was split open.

Then the two sisters spun for a bit in mid air before landing at the same time with the younger looking kunoichi's arms spread sideways while the wolf cub had a smug expression on her face. However the moment the two could say anything even more mutants began to rush at them.

This caused the two to once again proceed to do more backflips to dodge the rushing mutants, by jumping on top of them, causing them to crash into one another. Then once they had a good position on top, they began to deliver strong kicks and headbutts at the exposed mutant's area, to which then continued to backflip out of the way afterwards.

Meanwhile with the animals in the girl's hold. . .

"Chirp chirp!" Ori chirped as her eyes had large swirls as she held onto her sister's head for dear life. "Swirly swirly!" Was what she said.

Meanwhile, the small cub was in no better situation as she was holding the back of the girl's hoodie-like coat. "Meow!" Ora mewled loudly as she put a paw on her mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick!" Was what she declared.

"Hang on on!" Nina declared with excitement as she jumped off another mutant's head.

CLANG! SLICE!

After blocking a strike with her shield and then slashing another mutated shinobi, the female Uchiha used her right hand to annoyingly rub her head. "Dammit, I thought we didn't have to deal with these anymore!" Satsuki raged in annoyance.

After sending five clones to keep as many enemies away from the group, the blonde shinobi channeled chakra to his sword and sent a few Blade Beams at another part of the hoard. "You and me both!" Naruto growled out before him and his apprentice continued their assault.

"How are they even here? These were in Orochimaru's base last time. . ." Hinata meanwhile asked.

"EBIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" The mutants screeched.

However they couldn't even ponder any longer as the small army of mutated creatures rushed towards the Konoha shinobis with a feverish mad dash.

"Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" The Hyuga meanwhile declared, moving her arms at a rapid pace as the attack sent all the mutants flying away as a result. "Iruka-sensei, you, Naruto-kun and Tsubaki-san outside go after Mizuki while we take care of these monstrosities." Hinata requested as she took out her bow and pulled back the string and arrow.

However Iruka frowned slightly at this as he kicked another mutant shinobi away. "Are you sure you can handle these things?" He asked with a concerned tone to leave his former students against these monstrosities.

The blond shinobi on the other hand merely grinned at that. "Trust me, we dealt with a whole lot more before." Naruto declared as he placed his sword behind his back and summoned ten clones to help out the rest of the girls. "So the girls will be fine without us." He added with complete confidence in his voice as he pulled back his sword.

To that, the academy instructor nodded as he rushed out of the building. "All of you be careful!" Iruka soon called out in a concerned manner.

Then before blond shinobi would follow the older chunin, he paused for a second before turning towards the bluenette. "By the way, who's Tsubaki?" Naruto muttered in confusion before he slashed another mutant.

"Ah, she's Mizuki-teme's former fiancée." Satsuki answered in a nonchalant manner by their mental link, before she rushed towards the mutants as well.

". . ." Naruto's eyes went blank for a moment as his brain couldn't process what he just heard, but then when he did. "WAIT WHAAAAAAAAAT!?" Was his only response as his roar echoed throughout the building.

SLASH! SLICE! SLASH! WOOSH! BAM!

And thus the battle continued on, no one knowing that the worse has yet to come. . .

JG (JGResidentEvil)'s A/N: Hey everyone! JGResidentEvil and Fight2Protect here finally here with the newest chapter! We would've gotten it done faster but. . . *awkwardly looks to co-writer*

F2P (Fight2Protect)'s A/N: Yo. . .hey guys. . .been a while, huh? *looks away* 6 months a while. . . *laughs awkwardly*

JG: CURSE YOU REAL WORLD ISSUES!

F2P: Yeah, we're not going to make excuses, we both have been really busy with our real life and had less and less time to work on the fic. But regardless, for those you were wondering, NO we are NOT quitting or giving up on this fic as SOME readers *looking at the haters* may have suggested otherwise. *raises fist vigorously* As we will never give up when our love for our fic still burns bright!

JG: *Fist bump to the sky* HEYOO! Anyway to start with like always, Review Responses! Here's my review from Knight'sShade:

I'm surprised that Ino doesn't get a prosthetic puppet arm like they have in Suna, or one of the armor ones that the samori have. She'd still have to learn chakra threads technique to use either of them, as well as 1 handed signs (as far is I know you can't mold chakra, with the exception of chakra threads, with either for jutsus) Heck Tenten could probably make her one if she has the chakra metal for it.

Hehehe, oh we got plans for Ino, so your not too far off. For those that say to just skip, here's the thing, everything is gonna be important in its own way, so many, many surprises are gonna be happening. :3

F2P: *laughs evilly* That's a surprise for later though. . .Anywho, here's my Review Response from Leaf Ranger:

And so the battle has begun. The stupid Brothers have proven their mettle, but Chouji and Shikamaru have Haku with them. It might be hilarious if we see him freeze them in giant blocks of ice. Guess we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Iruka go after Mizuku, with the girls on their heels. Here's hoping all that firepower can put him down and good. Guess we'll see.

Happy New Year, great chapter, and see you next time!

Yes! That's right! Now a much better (and frankly more worthy that the filler) against the Two Legendary Stupid Brothers! Because let's face it, the filler counterparts didn't show just how much Legendary they truly were. Yes, their stupid, but they wouldn't be dangerous if they were just Sannin level strong. So we decided that they would have instantly sharp instincts that will MAKE them dangerous to match their strength. AND BOY ARE THEY DEADLY NOW!

JG: Good kami almighty the Stupid Brothers are hard as hell to write out though in terms of originality for dialogue. -_-"

Don't get us wrong, we aren't gonna make them as durable as say. . .Micheal Myers (On the spot due to the Halloween Kills movie trailer, goddammit why won't he say dead!?).

F2P: And as you just read, freezing them wasn't that useful at the start. SANNIN LEVEL STRENGTH can make it hard to keep them in place. But Haku isn't going to let that stop that from using his ice in a more creative way! And yes, we took a page from Sasuke with the whole changing the environment to finally stop them.

JG: Feel free to send in your own ideas for original Ice Jutsu as well! All to increase Haku's arsenal since he's the only real Ice User (Thanks a lot Kirigakure). You'll be given full credit for it.

F2P: Also yup, this is a personal mission for the surrogate brothers, but sorry to say it won't be easy to take him down as we wanted to show that Mizuki isn't an idiot like before, still an ass, but a stronger and smarter ass, especially after he took that little pill. Things will be getting more interesting in the next chapter. *evil chuckle* And well for the girls, well there were. . .minor inconveniences and then that last surprise at the end. . .Bet no one saw THAT coming!

JG: Yeah, all the puppets were a hiccup, but come on, you really thought the mutant shinobis were gonna be a one time thing? Nope~!

F2P: Get used to mutant shinobi! Because they're here to stay thanks to Orochimaru! Well, maybe this will be the last time for THESE ones. As more interesting ones will be coming soon. . . *evil chuckle*

JG: If you have ideas for other types, suggest them in a review with any specific details about them and like before, you'll be credited for them.

F2P: Though only if we can use it. Lets just say. . .appropriate level threat monsters for now, because as you all see *looking at the shrimps mutants* they are not all dangerous as of now. But we will definitely use them later!

JG: In any case, we do once again apologize for the long wait and we're glad for the fans that are still around for the story. *Bows to the readers*

F2P: *Bows too* We can't promise that it won't happen again, but we DO promise that we WILL see this story to the end! For both ourselves and our faithful readers!

JG: Yeah! And we have a whooooole lot of plans for it, so keep an eye out as things will get crazier!

F2P: So hope that everyones staying safe and we'll see ya next time!

JG: See ya! ;) *Throws smoke bomb to the ground and vanishes*

F2P: Peace out! *walks towards the door and exits normally*