Later on that week, the weather turned abruptly nasty. A heavy rain storm sent lashings of heavy water down on Konoha. At evening on one of these soggy days, a very tired Hatake Kakashi staggered into his apartment, only bothering to sling his outer vest into its usual place, on the floor, before falling asleep...

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Thunder split the skies, and Neji spent most the night huddled under his bed, the noise scared him badly. And Gaara fared no better, he kept growling at the window...Kabuto kept getting woken up by the loud thunder crashes...Out of all of them; Only Jiraiya managed to snore his way through it, but that may have been through all the drink he'd managed to put down him...

A Sodden and drenched Butterfly, its wings soaked by rain, somehow blindly blundered its way into Kakashi's apartment via the window, which the Jounin had forgotten to close properly before he passed out asleep. Once in, it tried to fly to a lone flower propped up in a vase on the ninjas desk, but its water-weighted wings weren't helping. It gave up, flopping down onto the ninjas shoulder.

Most butterflies would have just lain there, not being able to move an all. But of course, this wasn't the usual kind. It shimmered with a familiar aura...The moment it came into contact with the mirror ninja, it began to glow a bright white, turning into a round ball of light, which sank thru the fabric of the Jounin clothing, and straight into his body.

But Kakashi didn't wake, he just shifted onto his side, one arm dangling off the bed. It was just as well he had moved. For the next second, two gorgeous, brilliantly coloured, butterfly wings unfolded from his back,
spreading over the bed behind him. They were long, reaching down to the end of the bed, for like the rest of them, it had been a rare and unusual breed of the animal...

Yet still Kakashi slept on.

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-BRRIINNGGG-

"Nerf"

-BRRRRIINNGG-

"Ehh?"

-BRR-Wham-

This last ring was cut short, as Kakashi threw the poor innocent clock, which was just trying to do its job, across the room where it promptly sailed into the wall. He sighed, sitting up, regretting his decision to meet his team, and Jiraiya, for lunch at the Ramen Stand. He wobbled towards the bathroom, hoping Jiraiya wasn't banking on starting a drinking contest. He rubbed the uncovered eye and sighed again as he peered in a mirror.

Something bright behind him caught his eye. he whipped round, but it was gone. He turned back, and saw it again. This time he just tilted his head slightly, craning his neck to look over his shoulder. Now he saw it Two bright wings, folded down loosely now, but were definitely coming from him.

"Ohh....%$£" he swore. This couldn't be good. He glanced at the clock, seeing he had only a short amount of time to meet the others at the stand. He checked his hitai-ate was on at its usual wonky angle over his eye, then ran out the door, the wings trailing behind him.

He ran over the rooftops, paying little attention, but as he reached the roof just opposite the stand, his foot slipped. He plunged down forwards, expecting to hit the ground hard, but the wings chose that unexpected moment to open up, their colours shimmering in the sun...enabling him to land without the usual jarring thud associated with such a slip.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the wings dropped back down. Kakashi stared into space, a little surprised -whoa, that was unexpected, but at least it saved me-. Then he looked up, and had his plans of hiding the annoyances ruined. His whole team, Jiraiya included, were gawping in amazement at him.

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"Wooowwww!" Sakura gasped as their teacher dropped to the ground, the wings flaring out behind him, the colours glimmering in the sunlight. When he just stood there, looking stunned, Jiraiya yelled "OI. NUMBNUTS" a word Naruto taught him. This pulled Kakashi out of his trance "whaa...sorry.." he strode over, swinging himself onto a stool.

Sakura gaped at the wings, reaching forward she lifted one to look at it "woww...Kakashi-sensei, they're so pretty!" Naruto and Sasuke stared, Jiraiya asked the question they all were brewing in their heads "what got ya?" Kakashi shook his head.

"Hell if i know...i just woke up like this, it could've 'gotten me' anytime in the night, I'm a heavy sleeper when I'm tired.." he sighed, he still felt tired now he thought about it. Sasuke just stared, wondering about all this madness, Naruto set about asking the usual shed load of questions, Sakura couldn't stop giggling over the shimmering wings, and Jiraiya tried to get Kakashi to go see the Hokage. But Kakashi shook his head, he felt sick now...he rested his head in his hands as he finished his food.

Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke thought he was just still sleepy, since he had complained of not feeling like he got enough sleep that night, but Jiraiya recognised this. Because of the nature of the change, Kakashi had been asleep at the time, he hadn't been instantly adjusted, and now it was taking a long time to do so, in its effect making the ninja tired.

He turned out to be correct, and was proven so just a few minutes later.

After he'd paid the bill, and team 7 and Jiraiya were starting to walk off, he felt a wave of nausea. He put a hand to his head, wobbling out behind them,but quickly felt it rise up to become unbearable. Despite his strength as a ninja, he couldn't seem to get even another step forward...the whole world went black, and the ground seem to rise up to meet him..

"Holy-" Jiraiya whipped round just a second before this happened, and barely made it over it time to catch the Jounin, the brightly coloured wings trailing out behind him as he fell. He slung the ninja over one shoulder, and looked to the rest of team 7 as they came scooting back up.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura cried, Naruto blinked, and Sasuke only murmured "he doesn't seem too well..." Jiraiya nodded at this "he isn't, the change from whatever 'got to him' is messing with his body, since for some reason, it took to long to adjust..." Sakura looked worried, but Sasuke frowned "it might've been the Sharingan, that messed it up.." "hey yeah!" Naruto joined in.

Jiraiya nodded, "That's what I'm thinking, I'll take him to the hospital, you guys just go and enjoy the rest of your day, i doubt he'll be up for training for at least a few days at most..."

And with a puff of smoke, the Sannin vanished. Sakura sighed, and Sasuke and Naruto wandered off, Sasuke to train by himself, and Naruto to get more food. Sakura sighed and began to walk home, her mind on this whole mess, what were all these animal mix-ups for?

-------

The Hokage sighed when Jiraiya delivered the news of Kakashi's switch to him "that's another....I don't think there can be many more..." Jiraiya sighed "that's what I thought, but Kakashi just turned up this morning with these wings.." he described exactly what they looked like, stating it was most likely a rare butterfly of sorts.

The Third nodded, "..people have been complaining of hearing weird noises from the woods. It may be worth a look..." Jiraiya agreed, then blinked "ah, perhaps, all of us that are crossed should come, if what Asuma fought off happens again..." and so it was decided. Jiraiya went to round up all those that would be willing to come..

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It was an assorted team that stood in the entrance to the woods a little later. Cat-form Neji, Wolf-form Jiraiya, Bat-form Kabuto, Finless Porpoise-form Asuma, and the Third Hokage. Gaara and Itachi had refused point blank to even answer the door, so the Sannin had given up, and Kakashi was still sleeping it off in the hospital.

The thing that had attacked Gaara could sense the creations it had made, those of whom he had taken vital energy from....Now, sensing them as a threat, it amassed its power shifting up into the self same snake shape it had taken before. It darted through the trees, heading right form them, and the one unchanged life form with them...

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At the exact same time, both Jiraiya and Neji perked their ears up, turning to stare in the same direction "uh oh.." Neji murmured "I think...we'd better.." and as the thing reared up from the trees, "MOVE IT!!" the Sannin finished. They all leapt various ways as it slammed at them.

Asuma tried summoning the water again, but it barely had much of an effect, the thing was stronger now, having gained a little energy from the animals that had picked human hosts, and any other living creature that wandered into its form... Neji pulled his bell free from his neck, and t changed into a glowing ball of light, which he threw as fast as he could, anything to distract it from getting near the third. It blasted part of the thing away, but it just reformed to make up for what it had lost "its too strong now!!" Asuma yelled.

Nothing seemed to be working, Asuma, Neji, and Jiraiya too, all tried multiple version of strange new attacks they'd never even known they'd had. Jiraiya created wolfs out of what seemed to be pure energy, which, along with Asuma's water hydra attacks, and Neji's bell shot, were keeping the thing back a bit at a time. Then Kabuto discovered he could easily create sonic waves, which, upon scoring a direct hit during the others attacks, seemed to disorientate and set the creature off balance.

"Its Working!!" Jiraiya yelled, but they spoke too soon. In the millisecond they paused to see their effect upon it, it struck. a massive torrent of strange, see-through, white energy raced right towards them, Jiraiya tried to summon the wolves again, but it was moving too fast…

:-:-WHAM-:-:

A Ball of brilliantly coloured light, crackling with energy, struck the thing, sending it crashing back through several rows of trees. A figure shot over their heads and landed in front of them. Jiraiya squinted in the after blaze of light, staring in astonishment at the attacking person, and the snake thing was nowhere to be seen.

"KAKASHI?!" They all gaped at the be-winged ninja, who turned and looked round, holding another ball of light in his hands, the wings flaring out behind him "oh hey, hope ya don't mind me dropping in, thought ya could use a bit of help.." Asuma sweatropped "uh yeah..." Jiraiya chuckled, as Neji gazed at the wings "Woww.."

"Well, nice timing Kakashi.." the Sannin said, sighing in relief "that thing was using up a lot of our.." he paused "well, I suppose they're their some sort of ability..." Kakashi nodded, looking down at the glowing ball. "I don't even know what this is, i just automatically knew how to create it..."

The others nodded and The Third spoke "yes, it seems these switch's you've all been involved in have given you a distinct something extra, I don't think its even chakra..." The group nodded, each one thinking about their ability as they trouped back towards the village, Neji's bell tinkling a little melody...

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The thing seethed, it had been about to exterminate these useless beings and take the unchanged life-form for itself, but another one had shown up, one with wings the colour of a rainbow, a powerful one…

It writhed in fury, dragging itself back to the crater. These shinobi had won this battle, but soon, it would attack again, and it would take what it wanted….