Chapter 5

Alarna felt her the metal dig into the back of her neck. "Now then, who are you and why are you after the scroll?" Alarna replied with venom in her voice "As if you don't know thief!" Lara raised an eye brow at this. "What did I steal from you and your friends?" "The sacred scroll that our village has been guarding for centuries."

Hana looked up as Elania walked up and asked "Where's Alarna?" Hana looked slightly worried and asked "You haven't heard from her either?" Elania shook her head no. "Last time I saw her was before we split up." Said Elania as Hana finally found the switch to open the hidden panel with her Byakugan. "Elania, stand guard while I retrieve the scroll." Elania said Hai as Hana vanished into the dark passage.

Lara pushed Alarna to the bedroom door and said "Now then, we are going downstairs so you can introduce me to your friends. No sudden moves and no sounds."

Elania heard a sound from behind and turned to see Alarna at the top of the stairs. "Alarna, about time. Where have you been? Did you take care of the thief?" Alarna was silent. "Hello, anyone there?" Alarna still didn't say anything. "What! You gone Gaara on me or something?" Elania started up the stairs when Alarna slumped to the floor unconscious to reveal a brown haired woman with a pair of pistols aimed at Elania. Elania froze as Lara said "Who are you and why are trespassing in my house?"

Hana opened the second passage into the computer room and entered. The screen flashed a message as a electronic voice said "Scroll deciphering 95% complete" Hana looked around for the scroll as the voice said "Scroll deciphering 96% complete." She noticed a round platform that was emitting a bright blue light. She walked over to it as the voice said "Scroll deciphering 97% Complete." On it was the scroll. It sat there as beam of blue light crisscrossed over it "Scroll deciphering 98% complete." She reached a hand towards the scroll only to jerk it back as a energy flares up and shocks her. "Hm" she thought as she went through several hand seals. "Ninja Art: Shadow Hand Infiltration Jutsu." She slowly moved her hands to the energy field as the electronic voice intoned "Scroll deciphering 99%" Her hand moved past the shield and gently wrapped around the scroll as the screen flashed a "Scan Complete." As the voice said "Scroll deciphering 100% complete. Now displaying translated text." As the screen flashed and English characters appeared, Hana placed the scroll in her Jonin vest and turned to destroy the computer when she heard an explosion and the room shook. "What the! What is going on up there?" She thought as ran out of the room.

…

Elania leapt as the woman fired her pistols and threw a kunai at her. Lara leapt to the side and fired again as the kunai flew past her. Elania created two clones that charged Lara. Lara swan dived over them and fired at their backs. She rolled as the strange woman sent several shuriken her way. She bent over backwards as the shuriken flew over face.

Elania growled as she charged Lara and threw a fist at her. Lara ducked the fist and elbowed the woman in the stomach, causing her to gasp and leap away. "Rabbit, Dog, Ox, Boar, Rat: Earth style: Earthen Roots Imprisonment Jutsu!" The floor beneath Lara broke open as massive roots sprouted and began to twist around her. Lara sprinted towards a small hole that was quickly closing and head dived through it and fired at the intruder who leapt into the air and landed feet first on the roof and flashed through the Snake, Ram, Monkey, Horse, Tiger hand seals. "Fire Style: Grand Fire Ball Jutsu!" Lara's eyes widened as the woman blew a gigantic ball of fire at her. She jumped sideways to dodge it and fired at the woman as an explosion blew her through her bedroom wall. Darkness overtook her.

…

Elania swore as she felt a burning pain sweep through her left arm as the fire ball technique exploded, destroying half the house. She fell to her knees as Hana's voice said "What the heck happened up here!" Elania stood holding her left arm as Hana appeared and said"What is going on here?" Elania began to bandage the spot where the lead slug had passed through her arm and said "Alarna allowed herself to be taken hostage by the target and was knocked out by the target. I attacked and a fight ensued." She winced as she tightened the bandage and said "For a non-shinobi she sure could fight, I had to use a grand fireball to get her." Hana activated the Byakugan and said "She's alive." "What? How?" exclaimed Elania as she kneeled to check on Alarna. "She must've used the wall to shield herself from most of the explosion."

The pile of debris that Lara was stuck under had pinned her leg. She listened to the conversation as she checked her ammo level. She had managed to hold on to her guns during the explosion. "Two clips left, that's fifty rounds per clip, which is a total one hundred shots left." She thought as she heard footsteps crunching her way. She gripped her pistols as the rubble she was pinned under was lifted away. In a flash her pistols were trained on the two strange women. In that same instant she felt a blade pressed to her neck. Lara rolled he eyes to see Alarna just above her, looking as if she had phased though the wall. "Now then, we could talk like civilized people or we can continue this hopeless farce and hope no one dies." Said Hana as Lara looked at her and nodded as she lowered her pistols and said "Why did you break into my house and try to kill me as well as steal from me?"

"Steal from you? We were reclaiming what you stole from us." Growled Alarna. "If you were hoping to gain power from it then we were to kill you." Said Hana. "Power? What power? The only reason I went after it was for the thrill of exploration and add the scroll to my personal artifact collection."

This infuriated Alarna even more as she hissed "so to you it is nothing but a trophy?" Lara just nodded as Alarna leapt for her throat, but was held back by Elania as Hana gave her a look and said "Do that again and I will make sure that Hokage-Sama gives you D-ranked missions for a month." Lara just raised an eye and said "So are you going to kill me or are you going to give me the scroll and leave." Hana looked at her and said "Unfortunately for you neither. We can't leave you with the scroll, but we can't kill you because it raise questions with your government." "So what are we going to do Hana-san?" Asked Elania. Hana Just smirked and did the ram hand seal, "Henge." A puff of smoke covered Hana and when it was gone Lara was just raised her other eye brow as the smoke cleared to reveal …..her. Elania nodded as Alarna smirked.

….

Lara waited at the outside veranda for her MI6 friends. She sipped from a glass of vodka as a man with short black hair in a black business suit and black Shades sat across from her. "So why did your bosses want me for this time?" She asked as the man placed

A brief case in front of her and said "The bosses want you to find and locate a tomb that holds within it a unspeakable power before this man does." He showed her a black and white photo of a man with black hair that was oddly spiked and had black obsidian eyes. "He is infamous tomb raider who will work for who ever with hire him with the most cash."

"What do you need me for?" She asked as he held up another photo of a with loose black hair and blue eyes. "He has been hired by this man, whose name is Eric Edwardson to find the tomb of a one Orochimaru whom legends say discovered a way to live forever but was defeated in battle by two great warriors. He is ruthless and will kill any who get in his way. We have already lost two men who went undercover for us. You are to find this tomb and keep him away from it using any means necessary. The government is willing to pay you well for you cooperation and will give you anything you need to help you stop this man."

Lara drained the last of the vodka and said "No tag-alongs and I want you to help with procuring the funds necessary for the remodeling job I am currently in the middle of."

She stood and left as she said "Oh and by the way I will be doing this the way I normally do my jobs. Solo." And with that she was gone.