"No," Yahiko exclaimed. "No, no, no HELL no! I am NOT babysitting these three!"

Kiba, Neji, and Naruto all had their arms crossed with an angry look on their faces. Jiraiya stood between the three youths and his former orange haired student, and sighed with an exhausted look.

"Look, there's no one else who can take them to the Chunin Exams. And this may be our ONLY chance to infiltrate Konoha for any information."

"I don't care! Find someone else because I'm not dealing with these three brats and that's final!"

Less than an hour later, Yahiko had the same moping look that Naruto, Neji, and Kiba had a moment ago. He stood in the medical wing, currently empty, waiting for Tsunade to apply the disguises to the three boys.

"Alright, Neji you're first." The rogue Hyuga approached the medical Sannin who was dipping her fingertips in a jar. "Obviously your eyes are a distinct giveaway of your heritage, so I've got a simple solution. We're going to put scars around your eyes, and put a bandana around your head. This way your Byakugan will remain active at all times and nobody will be able to tell."

"So how do we fake scars exactly," Neji asked.

"Something we girls like to use called makeup!" Tsunade quickly started dabbing her fingers around Neji's eyes.

Around ten minutes later, Tsunade took a huge step back, showing the end result of her work. Neji looked up at the Sannin then over to his two friends, whose eyes were wide.

"Dude, it looks like your eyes got messed up badly," Kiba stated with shock.

"And for the final touches," Tsunade continued, pulling out a black bandana. The Sannin leaned forward and wrapped it around Neji's eyes and tied it behind his head. "Now, activate your Byakugan."

"Yes ma'am." Neji closed his eyes then activated his doujutsu. The veins running to his eyes couldn't be seen under the cloth. As far as anyone could tell, Neji just seemed like a blinded boy.

"How's it work?"

"I can see everything," Neji replied. "What does it look like to you guys?"

"Like you couldn't see a punch coming at you from a mile away," Kiba answered.

"Sweet," Neji muttered.

"Now, your story is that you can hear the distinctive sound waves from an opponent's movements to attack and defend yourself," Tsunade began. "Your eyes were damaged by an enemy's attack during a routine scouting mission so you trained your ears to be your eyes."

"Understood ma'am," Neji replied before walking next to Naruto.

"Kiba, you're next." The energetic Inuzuka walked forward and took a seat on the stool in front of the Sannin. "The main issues with you are your cheek marks and your eyes. Now, we've developed a special type of cream that should cover your marks, even if you get punched or thrown in water etcetera. And for your eyes we have contacts which will disguise the feral look."

Without another word, Tsunade started to apply the cream to Kiba's face. While that was happening, Naruto was testing out Neji's eyesight by waving his hands, holding up a certain number of fingers, and even trying to strike him at one point. Despite the distraction of Naruto fooling around, Tsunade managed to apply the makeup perfectly.

"There we go," Tsunade announced. Neji and Naruto looked over, and their jaws immediately dropped. Kiba's face no longer had his clan marks, and instead of the slit pupils, he had normal, round pupils.

"Kiba," Neji muttered.

"Dude, you look normal!"

"Yeah, yeah," the young Inuzuka muttered. "Don't rub it in jerks…"

"Naruto, you're next. All I have to do is cover the whisker marks and you should be ready." The blonde Jinchuriki nodded once then followed Tsunade's fingers with his eyes as they pressed against his cheek.

There were countless people working on the large bridge that was meant to connect with the mainland. This was their only hope of breaking free from Gato's control. Even though the business tycoon had thugs that killed and intimidated many, everyone knew the only hope they had was to connect with the mainland immediately.

Orochimaru approached the small village that was so eager to break free of Gato's control. It was a perfect example of depression and poverty. A piece of filth for a village in the eyes of the sinister snake. Behind him were his five students and an army of thugs Gato hired. They were to simply destroy the bridge and kill the workers, but Orochimaru had other thoughts in mind.

Danzo wanted to begin a campaign in the Land of Water, what better way to start than to have a fortress in the one country between it and the Land of Fire? He would tear this village down and build a new one for Danzo's forces, ready to invade to ally themselves with the Mizukage.

Normally Orochimaru only looked out for number one, and there were very few individuals he cared about. The only reason Orochimaru truly cared for Danzo's power or praise wasn't because he cared for the village's strength or he was loyal to Danzo. Orochimaru knew that he was the prime candidate for the title of fourth Hokage, and he would inherit everything that Danzo has already built, thus putting himself on the thrown for power.

"Lord Orochimaru," Kimimaro spoke, "shall we commence the attack?"

"Yes," the Sannin spoke with a gleeful pleasure, "burn this village to the ground. Leave nothing standing." Gato's thugs charged forward, screaming like a bloodthirsty mob. Orochimaru's students waited until the thugs had passed before their master spoke again. "Try and leave a few villagers alive. We could use some extra slaves to help rebuild our new fortress."

"Yes master," the five students replied before bolting forward. Orochimaru snickered to himself then calmly approached the village, hearing the sounds of people's bloodcurdling shrieks of terror.

Yahiko was sulking down the path to Konoha while the three immature brats he was assigned to deal with yapped about mindless subjects. He should be back home planning ways to extract information, or how to build their numbers, but no. He was stuck babysitting during the Chunin Exams. Yes, Tsunade and Jiraiya said that this was his opportunity to infiltrate the village and find information, but Yahiko knew that most of his responsibilities would involve taking care of these three.

"Hey, Yahiko sensei," Naruto's voice called out. The orange haired shinobi twitched irritably, growing even more agitated by being called sensei. "Shouldn't we have different names? Ya know, aliases or whatever?"

"Yeah, you should," Yahiko muttered. "Well, start thinking." Naruto sighed, narrowing his eyes angrily at the older spiky haired shinobi. 'Stupid mission that's got me running around babysitting these stupid brats because some stupid busty blonde sent out every other stupid person who could be their sensei so I'm stuck with this stupid assignment…'

"Hey Neji, doesn't leaving your Byakugan on drain your chakra," Naruto asked.

"No, I just need chakra to activate it. I don't have to feed my eyes chakra like a normal ninjutsu. But, let's get our names down before Yahiko-sama gets even angrier than he already is."

"Alright, I think my name should be…Ryu."

"Ryu," Neji repeated. "That's a cool name."

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "Why can't I have that name?"

"I came up with it first," Naruto snapped. "Now you two should think of good names."

"How about…Fang, it's simple, and easy to remember," Kiba replied.

"Weak," Neji exclaimed. Kiba shot a glare at his friend. The young Hyuga looked to the sky, trying to think of an appropriate alias. "Hizashi…"

Naruto and Kiba both looked over at their friend, slightly surprised with the choice. Yahiko even glanced back, knowing the meaning behind that name. A slight smirk formed across Neji's face as he looked up to his two best friends who smiled back warmly. Yahiko huffed then moved his gaze back down the path.

"Wait," Naruto exclaimed, "We need last names! CRAP!"

"No we don't," Yahiko replied. "We'll just say we're wandering shinobi who freelance in various villages, large and small."

"Will Konoha believe such a lie," Neji asked.

"Normally wandering shinobi would have to pay twice the entree fee in any village. The reason is so that some villages wouldn't want to reveal the surnames of some of their shinobi, mainly the ones holding kekkei genkai or members from powerful clans, so they just decided to charge more money for those without surnames. Wandering shinobi or mercenaries would still have to pay double amount even if they had proof they hold no allegiances to one village."

"So why would some wandering shinobi want to join the Chunin Exams if they're not apart of any village," Kiba questioned.

"To increase their profits," Yahiko answered. "If villages are looking to hire freelancers or mercenaries, they're going to go for a formal ranking. Young Genin, while very rare in the merc business, usually don't get hired for anything more dangerous than cheap manual labor. Chunin get hired for many missions, and can usually grow a reputation from there. Most mercs don't get much higher than Chunin and just rise through the ranks after that. We'll say we're from a mercenary guild." Yahiko held out a piece of paper to his side. "Paperwork officially stating that we're a group from the Phoenix Merc group. Their leader has owed a few debts to Jiraiya, and they're an unofficial part of our group."

"Why unofficial," Naruto asked.

"Their leader and Jiraiya are friends, but the leader doesn't want to risk his income by joining up with a group of rebels who hardly have ten thousand followers. Hell, Konoha alone has nearly twenty thousand shinobi altogether after the Kyuubi attack. Combine that with the Iwa, Suna, and Ame and they're practically invincible. The only chance we could have is if Kumo and Kiri joined forces. Unfortunately, Kumo is too proud and untrusting of every other country, while Kiri is a ruthless and isolated so the odds of an alliance are slim to none."

Yahiko shook his head and gave a blank stare at nothing, "Why am I telling you all this?"

"Cause we asked," Neji replied. Yahiko sighed to himself, confused as to why he went into so much detail for these kids.

Konan kept an eye on the trees and forest around her. This place was around the area where Itachi came into contact with Konoha. Who knows what kind of surprises they could expect.

"Do you have a scent yet Hana-san," Shizune asked.

"I'm working on it…"

Konan turned her head and followed her two partners as they moved down the trail. If there were any shinobi watching them Hana would most likely be able to sniff them out. She was a prime example of the Inuzuka lineage: impeccable senses, strong drive, and independent. Despite this she was much more level headed than Kiba or even their late mother. Hana's sniffed a bit more intently, raising her nose in the air.

"I think I got something…" The kunoichi team moved faster as Hana followed the faint scent. "Definitely got something!" The team went full speed, following Hana through trees and bushes. The young Inuzuka suddenly stopped with the others freezing behind her. "I have a bunch of new scents…I think the Kurosuki Family is right up here."

"Do we have a plan," Shizune asked Konan.

"Ask them politely to join our group so that they won't have to serve Konoha."

"And if that doesn't work," Hana questioned.

"Get ready for a fight," Konan stated before walking forward.

The kunoichi came out of a bush and into the clearing, seeing several men sitting around campfires looking extremely bored. One man nudged his partner then pointed him towards the approaching kunoichi. The group stood up and stood in the way of the trio of kunoichi.

"What're you doing here," the man asked before the kunoichi could even stop. The group stopped a few feet away from the Kurosuki gang.

"We want to talk to your leader; Raiga." The group looked to each other then back at Konan.

"Why do you want to see Raiga-sama?"

"We want to talk about an alliance."

"An alliance to whom," the man asked. His eyes narrowed and his body tensed along with his friends.

"We know this gang is affiliated with Konoha," Konan snapped. Shizune and Hana looked to the blue haired kunoichi. Their faces remained calm, but their hearts raced slightly. "We're a group that doesn't want that to happen, so we're going to ask you to join."

"Keep dreamin girl," the man snapped, raising his fist. A pair of small blades popped out from his gauntlet. "I'd suggest you run along now before Raiga-sama shows up."

"I'm afraid I'm not going to leave," Konan seethed, her eyes hardening at the Kurosuki thug.

"Wait," a voice called out. All of the Kurosuki gang stood to their feet, turning to the opposite side of the camp, seeing a towering figure with a hump on his back. "Who are you three?"

"Like I said: we're a group that doesn't want you to be with Konoha, so we're going to ask you to join us, or die," Konan repeated. The entire gang started laughing while Raiga slowly walked forward.

"What group would that be," Raiga questioned. "You're obviously not from Kirigakure otherwise you would just attack on sight. That only leaves Kumogakure, except they tried a few months ago with a team twice your size…and I killed them. So…you must be a rogue group of shinobi who doesn't like Konoha. And judging from the marks on that one's cheeks," Hana placed her fingers against her cheeks, mentally cursing herself, "she's from the Inuzuka Clan, formerly of Konoha before Danzo-sama ordered their complete eradication otherwise known as the Inuzuka Genocide. So…you three must be out to overthrow Danzo-sama. So, if we keep you alive and hand you over to Konoha we'd most likely get a reward. Men, deal with these witches and keep at least one of them alive."

"What'd he call us," Shizune asked, her temper rising.

"Well," Konan began, "guess we're doing this my way."

Shizune shot forward towards a group of Kurosuki thugs. One wielding a halberd swung for her head. Shizune ducked and flipped her wrist, revealing a scalpel from her overly long sleeves. She quickly sliced across the man's throat, spun around to a man wielding a sword and stabbed into thigh, puncturing one of the man's arteries.

"Try to keep some of them alive," Hana shouted as she jumped on a man's back, launching herself into the chest of a second man. She rolled onto her feet then punched a thug who charged her across the face. "There's no reason to recruit them if there's nobody to recruit!"

Konan stepped to her right, knocking a man to the side with her foot. She stepped back to her left then elbowed a second thug in the gut, causing him to keel over. The third thug who charged was surprisingly quick and sliced Konan right down the middle with a sleek katana. He smirked for a moment until the two halves of the blue haired woman exploded into hundreds of sheets of paper.

"What the hell," one of the thugs shouted.

"What's going on?"

A few dozen pieces of paper hardened while the rest were used as distractions. The paper flew forward, slicing several gang members in a blinding white whirlwind. The gang members all cried out with fear as they looked about frantically, unsure of what to do. The whirlwind finally stopped, a few pieces of paper swirled up and combined to form Konan's upper body.

"Well, ready to join?" The thugs all trembled then looked back to Raiga.

"Impressive," the hooded swordsmen admitted.

He pulled out two swords with spikes coming out. Raiga aimed the tip out at Konan and fired a blast of lighting. Konan flew apart into countless papers once again, creating a smaller but more concentrated whirlwind around the swordsmen. Raiga tapped his blades together, sparking lighting to surround his entire body.

"Lightning Strike Armor," Raiga exclaimed. Konan's papers continued swirling around while the woman herself thought of a way to get past the armor. "What's wrong? Too afraid to attack me?" The papers started rotating faster and faster. Raiga smirked until he realized something. The winds were powerful enough to weaken his Lightning Strike Armor. 'No, it can't be!' The papers shot away from Raiga, using the winds that were created to rip Raiga's armor apart. "Damn it!"

Shizune and Hana came from either of Raiga's sides. The swordsmen quickly shot up in the air, flipping backwards as he held his swords out. Two bolts of lightning shot from the sky and struck both swords, covering them both in lightning.

"Fangs of Lightning," Raiga shouted as a powerful lightning bolt came from the sky, shooting down towards Shizune and Hana.

The kunoichi gasped briefly as the bolt was about to strike. On impact, the lightning bolt caused a devastating explosion, causing the Kurosuki Family to cover their faces from the smoke that shot out. Raiga flipped backwards before landing on the ground. The smoke cleared, revealing a barrier of nothing but paper that shielded Shizune and Hana from the lightning bolt. Raiga's eyes widened with shock as did the rest of his gang. The paper scattered from the barrier around the kunoichi and assembled back into Konan, clothes slightly tattered and showing a few scratches from the attack.

"Below," a soft voice told Raiga. The swordsmen spun around, slicing a pillar of paper that tried to attack him. The papers reassembled, causing Raiga to continually slice the papers. "One of them is charging."

Raiga sprung to the side as Shizune attempted to strike him. The swordsmen twirled his swords, spun around then fired a bolt of lightning from his swords. Shizune shot forward as the bolt hit the ground, causing a small explosion. The blast threw Shizune forward, causing her to roll a few times uncontrollably before coming to a stop. Raiga landed on his feet then snapped his eyes over. Hana was spinning around, using her Tunneling Fang ability. Raiga raised his Lightning Strike Armor at the last second as the brown haired kunoichi struck him. On impact, all the lightning went straight towards Hana and exploded due to the force of her attack. The blast sent both combatants flying back. Hana bounced once, flipped head over heels and landed on her feet while Raiga simply landed and skidded to a stop.

"You okay Ranmaru," Raiga asked, shifting his eyes back.

"I'm just fine Raiga-sama," the soft voice replied.

Konan moved next to Hana who was twitching slightly, a side affect from the lightning jutsu. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Hana replied. "A little shaky, but nothing I can't handle. How do we handle this? It's like he has eyes in the back of his head. He dodges any surprise attack and counters any attack he can't avoid."

"He's a tough opponent, but that doesn't mean he's unbeatable…"

Hana huffed slightly, but then her eyes snapped open. She sniffed the air a few times, picking up two scents from Raiga. The first smelled like death, dirt, and metal, obviously being more dominant than the second scent.

"There's two people we're fighting," Hana stated. Konan snapped her head over to Hana, examining her shocked expression quizzically. "It's faint and I hardly even noticed it before, but I'm sure that Raiga is giving off two different scents. That could be how he's able to dodge our surprise attacks."

"Where's the scent coming from," Konan asked, making sure her voice was low enough so Raiga couldn't hear.

"I would assume that the second person is that inhuman hump on his back," Hana replied. "He's not hunched over so it's not hunch back, and he got his swords from his hip so it's not a pack for his weapons. It has to be a second person…"

"Right," Konan replied, breaking herself up into paper. Hana watched, knowing Konan was going to tell Shizune.

Hana ran forward, eyes focused solely on Raiga. The swordsmen screamed as he slammed his swords into the ground, splitting the ground in half with a powerful blast of lightning. Hana leaped in the air and hurled three kunai at Raiga. The swordsmen lifted his blades up, slicing the kunai into pieces.

Hana spun around, pulling out a chain with a ball weigh on the end then hurled it forward. The chain spun around Raiga's hand. Hana then pulled back on the chain, causing Raiga's hand to move forward. The swordsmen grunted as he tried to pull back. Hana began spinning around, using her Tunneling Fang to wrap the chain around her body, pulling Raiga forward. The swordsmen screamed as he tried to plant his feet down, but all that caused was him skidding forward.

"Enough," Raiga shouted. Hana smirked to herself, slowing her Tunneling Fang down slightly.

"Raiga, no," Ranmaru shouted. On the weight of the chain was the symbol often found on paper bombs. All it needed was a surge of chakra.

Raiga's sword lit up with lightning, flowing through his arm and into the chain. As it got to the weight, the end of the metal weapon exploded, burning Raiga's cloak, consuming his arm in fire. The swordsmen screamed with agony as his cloak slowly flew off, including the pouch on his back holding a small boy.

"Ranmaru," Raiga shouted. In a flash, Shizune showed up, taking the boy before he hit the ground and shot towards Hana. "NO! Idiots, stop them!"

The Kurosuki goons all looked to each other skeptically. A few of the gang members ran towards the three kunoichi. A wall of paper cut off the gang, circled around and encased the Kurosuki thugs in a bubble. The paper swung around, slamming into a stone wall, bouncing into another stone wall before slamming into the ground and bouncing high into the air. The bubble opened, releasing the goons who hit the ground in an unconscious pile.

The paper all reformed to Konan's upper body, glaring at the remaining gang, "Stay out of this, got it?" The conscious gang members all nodded, whimpering slightly with fear.

Raiga grunted as he connected his swords together into a double bladed sword, holding them both with one hand as his stub of an arm was bleeding. Konan reassembled herself from the feet down, walking forward as she reformed.

"Give Ranmaru back," Raiga shouted. Shizune looked to the young boy in her arms. He had short purple hair with big brown eyes.

"Well, looks like we're bargaining now," Konan stated.

"NO," Raiga boomed. "Give him back or I'll kill you all right now!"

"With one hand and without this boy telling you where your enemies are," Hana questioned. Raiga's face twitched slightly with annoyance, confirming Hana's thoughts. "I don't think you stand much of a chance."

"Give…him back NOW!" Raiga raised his sword into the air bringing a powerful bolt of lightning down onto his weapon.

"Raiga-sama," Ranmaru muttered quietly. Shizune looked down at the boy, noticing he received a few burns from the explosion.

"I'm going to heal him," Shizune stated. "Think you can handle him on your own?"

"Not a problem," Hana replied. Shizune removed the pouched that held Ranmaru, revealing that the burns were more extensive than she thought.

"Plan of action Konan-san," Hana asked.

"I'll go in for the initial strike then you finish him off. Getting that sword away from him will cripple him." Hana nodded. Konan exploded outward into a storm of papers.

The papers shot forward in a swirling tornado. Raiga fired a bolt of lightning directly into the center. The papers sped up, creating a swirling whirlwind which broke the lightning apart with the powerful wind. Raiga screamed as he slammed his blade into the ground, shooting another bolt of lightning through the ground. The lightning shot up from the ground once it got under the papers. A blinding flash of lightning engulfed all the papers. Konan flew out from the wall of lightning, smoking, clothes torn even more, with cuts and dirt all over her face.

Hana managed to sneak up once the wall of lightning faded, socking Raiga in the face as hard as she could for Konan. Raiga stumbled back from the blow as Hana grabbed the hilt of the sword with her feet then shot herself away from Raiga using her hands. The Inuzuka kunoichi skidded to a stop, twirling the double bladed sword around before snapping them apart.

"Give those back," Raiga shouted to Hana.

"You have on chance to join us," Hana snapped.

"Never," Raiga seethed. "Konoha, Danzo, no one can stand against them! I'd be insane to stand against them! Danzo has agreed that he'd keep Kirigakure off by back as long as I do what he says! There's no way that I'm going against him!"

"Fine then," Hana snapped, spinning the swords around her fingers so naturally. Raiga's eyes narrowed in anger that someone could use his swords with such ease.

Hana shot forward while Raiga braced himself. Hana jumped into the air and used her Tunneling Fang, holding the two swords out in front of her. She dove through the ground and tunneled through. Raiga's eyes widened with shock as he started jumping back, trying to get away from wherever she would attack. The ground broke up from behind Raiga. The swordsmen screamed as he swung his massive arm back, hitting nothing. Suddenly, Raiga cried out as something tore his back out. Hana's Tunneling Fang, with the Lightning Fangs ripped Raiga in half. The Inuzuka threw her feet out, skidding to a halt as Raiga's two halves fell to the ground. Hana lowered her arms, letting the blood drip from the swords from the deceased Raiga.

Ranmaru's eyes were wide with shock. Shizune blinked with confusion as she looked back. It was luck that her body had covered the gory sight, but the look on Ranmaru's face was a shocked and tormented as if he witnessed it with his own eyes. Tears rolled down the young boy's face as he started to sob uncontrollably. Shizune's eyes softened at the sight as she continued to heal the burns on the boy's body.

Hana walked towards the Kurosuki Family, flinging the blood off of the two swords. The gang was in awe, gapping with shock even as Hana stopped in front of them. The Inuzuka kunoichi pointed the tip of one blade at the gang, bringing their attention to her.

"Your leader is dead," Hana said coldly. "You're no longer required to follow him, nor do Konoha's dirty business. I ask you to please join our group and fight against Danzo's oppression. As long as Danzo rules nearly half of the world there will never be a moment of peace for any of you. There's a chance Konoha knows who you all are and they'll try to hunt you down to make you work for them again. If you join us, you can disappear and fight against Konoha and bring about a new world of peace. Please help us…"

Shizune looked up to Hana then down to Ranmaru. 'She certainly has a way with words…'

"Listen lady…we became apart of this gang so we could get some extra money," one thug stated. "We're not revolutionaries and we're certainly not willing to-,"

One young man walked forward followed by four of his friends. The gang looked on in shock before another tall man walked forward. More members stepped forward by the handfuls. Nearly one third of the gang, around fifty or so people was standing behind Hana. A few members were standing next to Shizune, asking if they could help.

"Alright, so a few people think they can be revolutionaries," the same man from before snapped. "What makes you think you can stand against Konoha?"

"What makes you think your broken gang has a chance without Raiga backing you up?"

A majority of the remaining gang members looked to each other skeptically. One young man came forward quickly at that part, followed by around two dozen more gang members. Now a little over half of the gang was standing with Hana.

"Whatever," the man muttered. "I'm not throwing my life away for some stupid dream…" Hana scoffed then let the rest of the gang walk off.

"Well," Shizune said as she finished healing Ranmaru. "That was successful."

"I certainly hope so," Hana muttered. The Inuzuka turned to the nearest Kurosuki soldier. "Do you guys have an area where you keep your rations, supplies, and weapons?"

"Yeah," the bearded man replied. "We don't have much of anything besides weapons and money. We usually hunt for food and only eat what we need."

"That's better than nothing," Hana stated. "Can we take it all to our base or do we need wagons?"

"We should be able to take it all on our own," the man answered.

"Alright, let's leave as soon as possible," Hana ordered. The man nodded then ran off with the rest of the thugs following him.

Hana looked over, seeing a few new recruits helping Konan up as she slowly stirred herself awake. The blue haired kunoichi looked up, noticing Kurosuki goons running into their camp while Hana, hands on her hips, watched them like a military general. Konan stood to her feet and walked over to the Inuzuka kunoichi.

"So what happened," Konan asked, rubbing the back of her head.

"Raiga is dead, and a great deal of the Kurosuki Family has agreed to join our cause," Hana answered. "I also got Raiga's swords." The Inuzuka held up the blades in emphasis.

"Good job," Konan said with a smile. "What about the rest of the gang?"

"I'm assuming they're going to try to make it on their own as a gang of thugs. They didn't feel like throwing their lives away for our cause." Konan sighed then looked out the opposite direction. "Should I have forced them to join us?"

"No, if you did we'd be no better than Konoha," Konan replied. "You made the right choice by giving these people an option."

"Thank you Konan-san."

The Kurosuki gang started coming back with rations, money, weapons and just about everything they could get their hands on. They piled everything into a few small wagons that they offered to pull. After nearly an hour, they were about ready to leave after getting the last of their supplies. Shizune had placed Ranmaru back into a new pouch that the group found in Raiga's tent, and placed the young boy on her back.

"You shouldn't have healed me," the boy muttered. "I'd rather be dead." Shizune looked over her shoulder at the depressed boy. "Without Raiga-sama…I should just be dead…"

"That's not true," Shizune replied. "I know it's tough to see it right now, but your entire life is ahead of you Ranmaru-kun. You could be so much more without Raiga to influence you."

"He saved me…he gave me a purpose…and now that he's gone I have no purpose…" Shizune smiled and started to walk up to Hana and Konan.

"You're so young Ranmaru-kun. You have your entire life ahead of you. I'm sure you'll find a new purpose without Raiga."

"You don't know that," the depressed cripple snapped. Shizune stopped next to her partners, Hana watching the last of the supplies being gathered while Konan turned to the medical ninja.

"We ready to go," Shizune asked.

"I think so," Hana replied, turning to Shizune.

"Alright boys," Konan shouted. "We need to move fast so no one can pick up on us so don't slow down! Our base is about an hour away, so don't fall behind cause we're not going to slow down for each one of you, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," the gang shouted. Most of the new recruits already feared Konan from encountering her in battle, or one of the many who was bashed around in the paper bubble.

"Then let's move," Konan said to Hana and Shizune. The three kunoichi ran ahead of the gang who followed behind as quickly as possible.

Wow, I guess I got carried away with the Raiga fight…hopefully it was good and didn't seem rushed to you all. There will be more about Ranmaru in the future, so no worries. Thanks for reading, please leave reviews =)