For the first time in many ages, Konoha had been at peace. The Fourth Great Ninja war was over. Kakashi Hatake had retired as the Sixth Hokage as Naruto Uzumaki realized his life's dream to become the Seventh. Though still fragile, the bonds between the great shinobi nations were growing- old hate dying slowly with the past.

Their struggles were far from over. Remnants of enemies still lingered in the shadows. However, for the first time in many ages, Keiko felt at home and focused on the troubles of one world. The portal that brought her to this world from her home in a parallel universe in feudal Japan lie dormant. So far as they knew, no one else knew how to use the portal without the texts she had found on her home world. It had been a means to an end. She was cast out among the Inu Yokai and hunted by her cousin, Sesshoumaru, for trying to protect humans. With no allies on her world, she travelled to others to help humans fight back against evil and learning various jutsu and magic along the way.

She had never truly felt at home anywhere until meeting the silver haired shinobi Kakashi Hatake. Despite some unusual turns, they had now been married nearly 20 years. Aside from struggles with the Otsusuki, all was well.

-
Somewhere buried in the woods, gravel bounced across a rocky floor as a solitary cave shook. Characters carved into the stone wall began to glow as the quakes violence began to grow...

Keiko's eyes shot open. Light was just starting to shine through the window and stretch across the room as her eyes struggled to focus in panic. Kakashi was sitting up next to her, her reading in the low light. Sensing no external cause of her alarm he raised his eyebrow at her questioningly.

"Bad dream?" he asked as her breathing returned to normal.

"I'm not sure," she said vaguely, still focused on something she couldn't see.

Kakashi continued to survey her out of the corner of his eye. They had their fair share of strange occurrences and Keiko's senses about things that were amiss often tended to be accurate. He figured if he could get any additional detail out of her over breakfast, it might be worth mentioning to Naruto when he went up to visit the office of the Hokage later that day.

Kakashi sighed and closed his book. He reached over to run his fingers lovingly through his wife's starlight hair and his eyes softened. She seemed to come back to reality and smiled back at him. A moment later he withdrew his hand and stretched before throwing off the covers and getting on the floor to do morning pushups. Keiko went and busied herself in the kitchen.

The sound of dishes clinking became a background noise as she stood looking out the window over the sink. She stared off into the treeline leading into the woods, lost in thought.

-

In the middle of the runes carved into the stone, a doorway opened and glowed as a spectrum of color swirled faster. Out of it stepped several figures. The leader was young and wore a dark coat lined with a fur collar. His dark hair was slicked back revealing an adornment on his forehead. He smiled cooly as his associates stepped through after him.

"I told you it would work, Chrollo," said a blonde-haired youth.

"Good work Shalnark," Chrollo mused. The smile widened across his face.

A petite raven-haired girl adjusted her glasses as she looked at the others. "I'm not exactly sure what we are planning to accomplish here when we don't even know what we will find," said Shizuku.

"We already went over this," glowered Phinks, his hardened expression fixed. "We're looking for new powers and technologies to give us additional advantage to our cause. If we don't find anything here, we just dial up somewhere else."

"Until we know more about the area, I suggest you keep it down," hissed Feitan behind the cowl of his shirt.

"We're short on people today so let's split into two groups and survey the area," said Chrollo, ignoring the chatter. "Machi, Shalnark, Nobunaga, you're with me to the west. Feitan, Phinks, Shizuku, and Franklin, you check out the east side. Meet back here in four hours."

The teams all nodded silently and departed.

-
Keiko continued to be distracted through the morning. She had no guest lectures for the day at the Konoha academy or the joint venture academy which was co-owned by the five great nations, so Kakashi drug her along to the Hokage's office.

"Shitsurei shimasu," Keiko said at the door as Kakashi just floated in. Naruto and Shikamaru looked up from the document they had been studying behind the desk. There were still piles of papers around the room, despite that they had recently installed a computer to cut down on paperwork.

"Nee-chan," Naruto complained, "you don't need to be so formal when others aren't around."

Keiko just blinked at him. Naruto was unnerved by her reaction. She was always smiling and warm toward her friends and family. She was not his sister by birth, but he had regarded her as such since she came to the village. She was one of the first to acknowledge him, as one of the few who could understand what it was like to have a demon within. Or in her case, to be one. She was not one of the tailed beasts, but despite her appearance, she was as powerful as some. She kept a great deal of this suppressed after Kabuto had done some tinkering with her DNA during the war. Otherwise, nothing had changed about her personality. She seemed distracted and not her typical self. He turned to look at Kakashi questioningly.

"She's been like this all morning," Kakashi explained. "She had a dream about the portal cave and she's been zoned out and jumpy ever since. She didn't say if it was the one near Konoha or the Hidden Wind, but I assume it's the one here."

"Have you sent anyone to check out the portal for any activity?" Shikamaru asked.

"No patrols have reported anything unusual; I did ask at the gate. I figured I should see what you want to do," shrugged Kakashi.

Naruto crossed his fingers, the bandaged ones from his transplanted arm crossing over the others as he leaned forward in thought. "We already have extra patrols out in the area watching for activity from the Otsusuki. They should probably be sufficient for the surrounding area, but just in case, we should send a four-man team to check out the cave. I know she doesn't put much stock in her skills of observation, but her premonitions often tend to be right."

Kakashi nodded, having known Naruto would feel the same.

"I'll go pull a list of available teams," Shikamaru said.

"Actually, I would like Keiko and I to accompany them as well since we have prior experience with the portal," Kakashi suggested.

Keiko nodded in agreement and finally broke her silence. "It's faint, but I'm starting to pick up strange scents and auras as well. It might just be visitors to Konoha, but I suppose it's better to be sure."

"Strange auras in what way?" asked Naruto.

"I can't really explain honestly. It's just different," Keiko admitted, tapping her lower lip thoughtfully with a pointed nail.

"Hmmm. I was going to send Chunin with you but maybe we should send a couple available Jonin considering the source of disturbance," Naruto thought aloud. The shinobi world was already confronted with celestial beings from the Otsusuki. The last thing they needed was invaders from another universe.

Shikamaru was flipping through the mission schedule and scanned his finger along the page for that day. "Konohamaru is available while Team 7 is recovering from their last mission. He's really the only Jonin available at the moment. Mitsuke was not on the last mission with team 7 however and would be available to fill the fourth slot."

"That will work," Kakashi nodded. It was a fairly balanced team in terms of strengths, he thought. Kakashi was not near Shikamaru's level, but he was a fairly good strategist. He excelled with elemental releases and with leadership, all which had undoubtedly led to his title of Sixth Hokage. Konohamaru was still a bit green as a Jonin, but he was talented and had a good head on his shoulders. Mitsuki was one Kakashi hadn't been able to get a great read on, despite being involved in watching him since they allowed Orochimaru to send him to live in Konoha. But he was the most levelheaded of the Team 7 Genin. Keiko was ever evolving in skill, particularly since Kabuto's meddling. It made her a good sparring partner for Naruto, who's power since the last war had surpassed nearly all that had come before him.

After collecting the other two members of the team and explaining the details, they set off through the main gate.

After they made it a mile or so into the woods, Kakashi was scanning the area diligently. Konohamaru's eyes were scanning back and forth as well. Keiko could tell by their body language that they were also sensing what she was sensing. It was faint, but ominous; the unusual aura leaking small amounts of bloodlust.

As they got nearer to the cave, the aura all but disappeared, but a scent lingered still. As they entered, Kakashi crouched down to examine the ground before even giving the wall any attention. Keiko ran her fingers across the runes hoping they would give her answers for her peace of mind.

"Someone has been here recently," Kakashi said. "The dirt was disturbed before we came in and I'm sure Keiko can smell the recent scent of people better than I. I know it doesn't necessarily mean the portal was activated, but we should be on guard."

"I don't think there is any way to tell if it has been activated recently," Keiko said after completing her exam of the wall before turning to leave with the others.

The group made camp a ways from the cave, out of sight in case anyone returned.

"I keep feeling like we are being watched but I can't actually sense any aura from chakra use nearby," Keiko said.

"I know what you mean," Konohamaru said. "I'll take first watch. Hopefully it's nothing, but I get the same feeling. Not much we can do until they make their move."

"Unfortunately they have the element of surprise if they already know where we are. I agree, sniffing them out will do little good," Kakashi said.

Mitsuke said nothing and gave no indication through his body language on his thoughts. He sat against a tree, silently listening.

In the branches of the treeline, eight members of the Phantom Troupe shrouded themselves in Zetsu to hide their presence as they watched the strangers from a distance.

-
Chrollo observed them silently. They used aura differently than on his world. He could still sense their presence but it wasn't actively leaking through their pores in a constant flood. It was almost like a dormant power within their bellies, currently coursing lazily though to their extremities. He had his eyes on the woman with them. He could tell that they were all fairly powerful, but something about her peaked his interest above those with her.

The Troupe waited until the young one among the four strangers took over the watch before making any movements.

"What do you think?" Chrollo asked, barely audible.

Shizuku adjusted her glasses as she replied softly, "I doubt we could capture them all easily without much confrontation. But we may be able to capture one and distract the others."

"I agree," Nobunaga said.

"Tch. We could take them all. We are twice their number," Phinks scoffed.

"That may be, but we still aren't sure what we are dealing with," said Chrollo, smiling with his eerie, calm confidence.

"Personally I've had my eyes on the woman..." Feitan started.

"You would," jeered Machi.

"Not for those reasons. She seems like she would be the most interesting to interrogate," Feitan said without a hint of inflection in his voice.

"I had my eyes on her as well. She seems to rely too much on a sense of smell and her aura to keep her alert compared to the others. It's a mistake often used by the powerful. We can use that to our advantage and likely reap the largest reward from her," Chrollo grinned. "For now, speed and cover of darkness is our ally. Hopefully the youth with them is the least experienced, but don't rely on that."

The others nodded.

"Shalnark, you lead a diversion. I highly doubt we would be able to sneak up on them with the sense of smell of the woman and the grey haired man I'm trusting Nobunaga to grab her while the others are distracted. "

Shalnark had been scanning the area for potential puppets. He smiled ear to ear when he spotted a pack of unsuspecting boars asleep in the underbrush. He pulled out his winged transponder needles and his control and got to work.

*Boom*

Bats fluttered out of the trees across the starlit sky as the foliage on the ground shook violently. Saplings toppled over as the ground shook and the herd of startled boars charged toward the shinobi team.

The group of four crouched, weapons drawn, each of them suddenly awake and trying to focus in the moonless night. Kakashi felt Keiko crouched next to him, though her presence was otherwise almost completely masked now. He could feel the heat off the backs of Konohamaru and Mitsuki behind them, unmoving as he was.

As the boars continued their charge toward the group and did not veer away, they were forced to make a move. The moment they did, the Troupe was on them. Nen surrounded them as they lit up their presence, all except for Nobunaga. Keiko felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck and when she reached back to feel the winged needle, her consciousness subsided to a body with a will of its own. She felt someone grab her around the waist and toss her over a shoulder. But the scent was not one of her friends.

Though her body would not move of its own accord, Keiko tried to overcome her surprise and come up with a plan. They had dealt with ambushes before, but usually they were not so organized and the focus was to kill rather than capture.

She could sense the increased strange flow of chakra from these strangers even as the one carrying her fled with her toward the cave. The man carrying her activated the portal and just before he could make a move toward it, several shuriken pinned him to the wall. One pinned his left hand and another cut through his shoulder. Grunting, he tossed the dead weight of the woman through the portal before deactivating it to face his opponent. Lightning was gathered in one hand of the other man, keeping the cave illuminated. His eyes were fury behind the mask covering the lower half of his face. He spun a kunai into his other hand and clenched it in his fist.

"You will tell me what your goal is here, and where you sent my wife," the man commanded.

-
On the other side of the portal, Keiko fell heavily to the ground. The moment the portal was cut off, she regained control of her body. She yanked the needle from her neck and prepared to draw her katana from the alternate space where she kept it hidden.

There appeared to only be two strangers on this side of the portal, but one was off in the woods a ways and didn't appear to be an immediate problem.

The muscular man in front of her had a cigar in his mouth and he approached her confidently. His considerable sideburns distracted her for a moment rather than his bare chest where a spider was tattooed with the number 4 in the center.

"I see it was a good idea for me to stay behind," he said as he blew a puff of smoke. "Lucky me," he said flashing his teeth with a look of lust on his face.

At this point, it was taking everything for Keiko to keep from snapping. She knew if she lost it, that she could bring more unwanted attention down on her than this man.

"I don't think that the boss will mind much if we have a moment alone before the others make it back," he said tapping the end of his cigar suggestively before flicking the rest into the grass with a *thwick*

A vein pulsed in Keiko's temple. Her heart seemed to stop and then thud menacingly. The man stopped in his tracks, the smile fading from his face as he watched the woman in front of him shift. Her eyes went red, her nails and teeth seemed to lengthen slightly. A low rumble emitted from her. For a moment, time seemed to stop.

He started to back away slowly, sensing if he made any quick movements that it would anger her further. This sudden change in demeanor and appearance partially filled him with bloodlust, and part with fear.

The floodgates opened. Her chakra flooded over the clearing as if thousands of gallons of water had been poured over all at once. The man dropped to one knee, his hand clutching the dirt as he felt the overwhelming pressure. Wind whipped violently across the grass, causing her hair to blow violently behind her like a thousand angry serpents. He knew this was it. Just the mere presence of this aura was crushing. He closed his eyes so he did not see the claws that made his life force go dark.

The woman stood still as the aura faded, blood dripping to the ground from the clawed hands hanging at her side. Her features started returning to normal as her chakra stilled. She fell to her knees next to the corpse, panting and shuddering from what she had just done.

The man in the trees was all but forgotten by Keiko. He stood in at the edge of the clearing, leaned next to a tree. He was dressed in a manner that looked like he had dipped himself in a deck of cards. It played well off of the eccentric swept back red hair and his gleaming yellow eyes. A trickle of blood ran down his hand. The man licked the drop with a grin. He hadn't realized he had been biting his knuckle as he watched. He hummed what was half a moan. How he longed to have his slender fingers around her beautiful throat; though whether to make her cry in pain or pleasure, or both, he hadn't decided. But that was not the reason why he came.

He emerged from the wooded area confidently, shrouding himself in a layer of aura just in case. Keiko sensing this stranger put up a defense, weakly put up one of her own.

"Nicely done," he cooed as he flipped a playing card between his fingers. "You have saved me a great deal of trouble, in fact. I should thank you."

Keiko eyed the man over. In addition to his strange attire, he had a star and teardrop painted on opposite cheeks. It reminded Keiko of a Pierrot, had it not been for the fact that he was grinning.

"I can see why they took the risk on the mission now. Your aura is simply delicious my dear."

Keiko started to growl. She knew it was a feint. She had blown too much of her chakra in her outburst and she wasn't recovered yet.

"Don't worry my dear, I'm not here for you. I'm here for him," the man said, pointing a long slender finger at the dead man beside her, "but all the same I can take you somewhere safe until we figure out what to do."

"We?" Keiko asked.

"Why yes. You see, I was supposed to kill him and take over his place in the Phantom Troupe, at least in name. I need the cover to get close to my true target. I was not planning on your involvement. I suspect his friends will not be far behind. You should probably hide until I come for you," the man said simply as he put his hand back on his hip, expression never changing.

"Who are you?" she said continuing to eye him warily.

"My name is Hisoka. A pleasure. And you are?"

She didn't answer. The way he placed emphasis on the last word made Keiko shiver. It dripped with menace but she wasn't quite sure of the meaning behind it.
Keiko made to stand but sensing she was not quite recovered, Hisoka was at her side in a flash and scooped her up in his arms. She looked at him in surprise.

"Don't get the wrong idea dove, I'm not the chivalrous type. However, if you linger here, you will cause a problem for me." He set her down a ways off in the woods in a tree. "Now be a good girl and wait for me. Conceal your aura if you wish to stay alive til then."

After leaving Keiko behind, Hisoka positioned himself next to the cadaver and started flipping through his deck of cards. He waited. A while later, shouting could be heard in the cave.

"That grey haired bastard almost killed me," Nobunaga said loudly, "why didn't you let me finish him off?"

"Ah, it's about time," Hisoka said as the other Troupe members emerged. Most of them looked like they barely escaped with their lives. They all stopped bickering when they saw Hisoka seated next to the dead body.

"Oh, this one," Hisoka said cooly, following their gaze, "attempted to take your target for himself. I am sorry about her getting away. She was gone before I could make it down here. She left him in no condition to carry on, so I finished the job. It seems you have an opening for a member."

Chrollo sighed. He didn't really care to deal with this right now. He rearranged his gaze into a calm, confident smirk. "It seems you are right. As you might be aware, if a leg of the Spider is cut off, the one who cut it may replace it. Welcome to the Phantom Troupe, four."

"Hisoka," he grinned evily.

-

Hisoka had been gone most of the night and part of the next day. Keiko was regaining strength to some degree but she was afraid to move until she was confident she could avoid any other unpleasant surprises. Although she got a bad feeling from the man she met last night, at the very least he had shielded her from the Troupe. She wouldn't exactly call it a partnership, but it was more than she had when she arrived.

"I honestly did not expect that you would stay," the familiar drawl came from below her.

She jumped down lightly and Hisoka twitched like he was going to catch her, but he saw there was no need. "Sorry I'm so late. Initiation and all that you know."

She looked at him quizzically, but didn't inquire further. All she knew is that he was not friends with the Troupe. Whatever purpose he was using them for, she didn't much care right now. She just wanted to focus on making contacts to get home. The fact that the Troupe members had made it back through the portal had her concerned about the state of her companions on the other side. She didn't want to fear the worst. Her gaze must have indicated what she was thinking because Hisoka chimed in.

"I'm afraid that cave of yours sustained some damage. If it is possible to repair it, you should probably wait until things have settled. Members of the Troupe are watching for your return. I can take you to a place to lie low for a bit if you don't mind my company," he said, reaching gracefully for her hand.

"That would seem prudent" she said slapping away his hand, "at this time."

He eyed her interestedly. She kept a stoic expression on her face. Inside he knew she was probably aching to find allies and those she could cling to in an unfamiliar place. He could tell by the expression that flashed for an instant last night when he held her and took her to safety that she hoped she could trust him. But she put up walls to shut this out marvelously. She was quite interesting indeed. He longed to get another taste of her fury, but wasn't sure he was quite ready to be on the receiving end as of yet. It would interfere with his current plans. He must keep his bloodlust in check. Regardless, she would keep his amusement until he received any word from Chrollo.

"Well, come my dear. We have a bit of a way to go before we reach our destination," Hisoka said silkily as he tried to snake a hand around to the small of her back.
Keiko slinked out of his reach. This wasn't like when Kakashi had given her gentle touches after they had just met. His had been ones of innocent encouragement. Hisoka's touch felt like each one was trying to lay some sort of claim to her. It weirded her out. But for the moment she supposed he would have to do until she could make other contacts. "Where are we going?"

"Heaven's Arena," he grinned.