A/N: I'm so sorry that I'm late! I told you the next one would be here Monday, but it's not. So sorry!

Episode 9: The Endless Ninja fight!

Marina stood tapping her foot impatiently, glaring at Ru. She and her team of genin students were supposed to be escorting him to Lake Mizuumi, yet no more than two hours into their trek, he needed a break. Luckily at the time, they were right by a meadow, so a break they took. She wanted to get on with the mission, and by the looks of it, the genins did too.

Shizumi opened her pupiless white eyes. For the past half hour, she'd been meditating, sitting on a log with Riku. Something had just now broken her concentration. She looked around, Riku was still relaxing on the log beside her, Zukei relaxing on the grass in front. She watched as he idly plucked a blade of grass. He looked quite bored.

"Yes Zukei?" Shizumi asked, assuming it was him.

"What?" He answered, looking up from his activity.

"You didn't just now rouse me from my meditation?"

"No." He went back to plucking the grass. It must have been pretty interesting.

"Was it you, Riku?" Shizume asked, turning to the girl laying down beside her.

"Hmm...?" Riku sounded half asleep, looking the part too. She had taken her ponytail out, and the ribbon she used to tie her hair with lie in her open palm, looking as if it would fall out at any moment.

Shizumi looked around the meadow. No animals around. Marina and the old man were a few feet away. It could've been nothing, but she just couldn't shrug it off. There was something going down.

"Look Ru, we're leaving." Marina said anxiously. Something seemed to be bothering her. "C'mon students."

Marina ran on as Ru and the genins slowly gathered themselves up. The genins were all quite happy to go, but the old man seemed a little unhappy. He probably could've stayed a little longer.

"What a nice nap." Riku said with a yawn, putting her hair back into it's braided ponytail. "I didn't get much sleep last night because I was excited about this mission."

"Me neither." Zukei chimed in.

"I just hope we don't run into trouble." Shizumi muttered.

"Funny, I want to." Zukei replied. "But knowing the ranking for this mission, we probably won't."

Just then, a loud explosion rang throughout the meadow. The genins and the old man looked to where it came from, seeing smoke rise from the spot. Marina was nowhere to be seen.

The sound of feet could be heard as a bunch of shadows began circling the four people. Shizume ran over to Ru, standing in front of him, her fists ready. She had been trained for this.

"Sh-Shizumi!" Riku was quite nervous. "What do we do?"

"We fight!" Zukei answered for the Hyuuga girl, pulling a long chain from his pocket. "I haven't been training with this weapon for nothing!"

Upon closer inspection, Riku noticed that it wasn't just a chain. It was a chain with a large blade attached at the end, and it looked like it could hurt someone. It probably took a lot of training to be able to use such a thing. She looked to Shizumi, who nodded to her, and went to help her protect the old man. That's when the shadows pounced.

There were twelve in all, four going to each of the genins. Shizumi seemed to have to upper hand at the beginning, quickly hitting two in the chest with her palm. They disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the other two took this cover and used it to their advantage. One snuck up behind her and grabbed her, limiting her movement. Her arms, however, could still move fine. The other charged at her and was just about to hit her when she finished her seals.

"Katon! HiKaze no Jutsu!"

Four spiraling chains of fire flew from her back, hitting the one behind her, and into the one in front. Shizumi lowered her arms, but a moment too soon, as five others quickly took their place.

As the four ninjas charged at Riku, she did a few seals. She was ready for battle. The first one ran up to her, and was just about to kick her, but she withdrew, seemingly from nowhere, a sword made of fire. She slashed him with it, and he exploded into a puff of smoke. The other three charged at her, and she did away with them quickly as well. "This combat thing isn't so tough." She thought.

The four ninjas Zukei was fighting decided to surround him, and considering his choice of weapon, it wasn't a good idea. He was swinging his chain around above his head while waiting for the ninjas to move. When they all started running his way at the same time, he turned around 360 degrees with the chain outstretched, and it hit them all, destroying them. He smiled as his work, but his celebration was cut short as five more rose from the ground.

Riku finished off three of the clones before noticing Ru's screams. A clone was running off into the forest with him! She looked over to Shizumi, who was busy with about ten ninja clones, then to Zukei, who was busy with even more. It was up to her. She impaled the other two, then ran off.

"Where's Riku?" Zukei yelled, slamming his chain into another ninja. It seemed that they wouldn't end.

"Where's Ru?" Shizumi yelled back, backhanding a ninja into oblivion. These ninjas were easy, but in large groups, they could tire someone out. They wouldn't last too much longer.

Riku dove and tackled the clone, Ru falling out of its hands. To her surprise, it didn't explode into smoke, it just pushed her off. It stood up, brushing itself off.

"So my diversion didn't work." The ninja said in a male voice.

"That's right!" Riku pointed at him. "You've lost. Call of the clones."

"Why?" He asked, shrugging. "There's still hundreds of them left."

Riku's eyes widened in shock. Hundreds!? She knew that the ninjas were easy to beat, but hundreds more would definitely put her comrades in danger. She knew what she had to do. She did a couple of seals and drew her fire sword.

"If it's a fight you want..." The ninja pulled out a real sword. "Then it's a fight you will get."

The two charged at each other and their swords clashed. Riku spun around slashing, but he parried, countering with a vertical slash of his own. She blocked the blow, jumping back a bit. How was it that his sword could block hers?

"This sword is imbued with pure chakra." The ninja said, as if reading her mind. "You won't be able to defeat me."

He pointed his sword at her, and a ball of light exploded forth, shooting towards her like a bullet. She jumped out of the way just in time as the ground where she was turned into a crater. She charged at him again, ready for round two.

Zukei stabbed his chain into one clone, then threw it into another, making them both disappear. He had long since lost count of how many clones he had killed, but he guessed somewhere around a hundred. Shizumi wasn't far behind him, killing them just as efficiently as he was. Sweat was pouring from both of their bodies. They wouldn't last much longer.

The sounds of swords clashing could be heard throughout the woods. The two had been at this for a while now, and neither looked like they were going to let up. Another deadlock. Riku spun into a roundhouse, hitting the ninja, just as he managed to throw a kunai into her arm. She pulled it out, wincing. It hadn't gone very deep, but it still hurt. At least it wasn't her sword arm, her right.

"This battle is going nowhere fast." The ninja said, pointing his sword at her again. "Your comrades will be dead soon. I'll let you join them."

He shot another wave of chakra, but this time, Riku wasn't ready. All she could do before the blast hit was raise her flaming sword. She closed her eyes, awaiting death. She felt a force push against her, and then a loud bang, and the sound of something soaring through the air. She opened her eyes in time to see the ninja's sword crash to the ground. It seemed she had deflected the chakra blast.

"Is it me who is going to die?" Riku asked, a smirk on her face. She charged at him and stabbed him with her sword. The ninja melted away, the sword too.

Zukei was probably about one minute from passing out. Shizumi too. Combined, they had probably both ripped threw a few hundred of the ninjas, steadily getting sloppier and sloppier, and giving away a few hits. They were exhausted now, and things were not looking their way.

Zukei screamed, throwing his chain into one, and when he hit it, they all melted away. He looked over to Shizumi, who managed to punch one last time, and they all seemed to melt away.

"What?" was all that came from the red-head's mouth as he fell backwards on his bum.

"Don't question, be happy." Shizumi answered, sinking to her knees. They had won.

"I congratulate you." Came a voice from in the trees. Riku looked up to see a man who looked just like the ninja she just fought. "I have run out of chakra."

"Well, it was a natural result." Riku answered pompously.

"Yes well, I have a feeling we shall meet again. My job here is done."

And with that, he was gone. Riku looked over to the three Ru had been resting on, to find him smiling. He stood up slowly, dusting himself off, and they both began to walk out of the woods. "Wasn't his job to capture Ru though?" Riku thought.

When they finally got out of the woods, Marina was giving helping the other two to their feet. She greeted the two as they got out.

"I see you guys were successful." She smiled.

"I thought you were dead!" Riku exclaimed, running over to her teacher. Marina just seemed to laugh.

"Marina explained to me that the flare of chakra from all of the clones appearing around us disturbed my meditation." Shizumi stated.

"Oh, please don't explain it all. I hate lessons." Zukei said.

"Oh shut up." Riku yelled.

And so, the five went off towards their destination, not knowing what surprises lay ahead of them. This was only the beginning of something evil.

A/N: Okay, next chappy up Thursday, this time I promise with all my heart! =)