Hello... If you felt that this took too long, well do'tn worry because it is extra long to make up for the delay. Big thanks to the usual assortment of friends and sesame street characteres that helped to read this and offer comments during the writing process. Also thanks for all the reviews - they are a nice vote of confidence. Now to answer some questions...

Shino Fan: Yep, i love dystopian novels. This fic is largely inspired by 1984, Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange. Highly recommended books for those who are interested.

Angelz3x: Thanks for reviewing... i'd remember my promise to be trashed by you in soul calibur.

LishaVilla: Sadly, i never really planned for much romance in this, but if you read this chapter, you'll see that i've tried to wrok in some hints. Hope you enjoy it.

And for those who are wondering what is the Ascent or where is Naruto... well you'll just have to read to find out.

Fraudulent Realities

Chapter 3

The three shadows within shadows raced through what had once been bustling streets, leaving spiraling dust trails and the ghosts of memory in their wake. Though the world around them remained in purple tinged darkness, they saw everything in stark white clarity. Three pairs of white pupils – tiny pools drinking in the sea of darkness around them, taking in everything. Of the three pairs, two gazed forward with the cold determination of killers. The last one, though on the surface was as devoid of emotion as its colleagues, was but a false lens that masked turmoil of hatred, bitterness and confusion.

Neji blinked uncomfortably behind his mask. As the team came to a halt at the attack position, Neji adjust his Anbu face plate, wondering yet again why he was wearing it. Masks masking masks, he mused bitterly. Crouching in the darkness, he signaled his readiness. As part of the strike team, Neji knew that things were liable to become extremely complicated – stray thoughts on one's mind was what got you killed. Still, even as he attempted to clear his mind, annoyance flared up at his assignment to the strike team. Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Hinabi, the two most influential ninjas of the main house, signaled their own readiness to Neji, their teammate. To be paired up with the two nins who embodied everything he hated about the main house – their exclusiveness, their prudish behavior, and their sheer arrogance – surely the god who threw his dice just made a very bad roll.

Still, it is logical, said a small voice in the recesses of his mind. A team of buyakugan users would most surely be able to kill off the traitor, Nara Shiakmaru. Neji's own eyes peeled back the darkness with ease, and already he could detect chakra sources nearby – their prey. He settled on going through the mission details, hoping that such metal activity would finally douse his growing annoyance. Now they would wait for the other teams to get into position, completely surrounding the rebel base. Once the allocated time of 300 counts has elapsed, they would proceed slowly towards the base and once Shikamaru had been spotted, Hiashi would activate the signal, springing the trap – a simple task. For now, Neji and his team hunkered down in their position – a large street outside what had must once have been a flower shop, judging from the sign. Hinabi silently counted down the time.

Suddenly, Neji tensed up as he sensed three figures approaching, his Buyakugan easily picking up their moving forms in the darkness. The three made no attempt at stealth, a hopeful sign that Neji and his team were thus far unnoticed. Signaling to Hiashi and Hinabi, Neji quickly drew attention to the approaching trio.

We must kill them before they alert the others, Neji gestured whilst readying himself. His hand grasped at several senbon needles, his weapons of choice. As he discovered in his own personal training, they complemented his buyakugan, allowing him to close tenketsu points from a much greater effective range.

No! We remain hidden. The plan must be followed! Hiashi's emphatic reply annoyed him. Can the man not see that their position was moments away from being discovered?

Against the almost ominous silence of the ruined village, Neji again tried to bring his superior to senses. We WILL be discovered Hiashi-sama, and the plan will fail. We must act now. Neji used swift and short movements to convey his message, hoping that such severity would show Hiashi the impending threat.

The eyes of the Hyuuga leader beneath his mask immediately dashed whatever hopes Neji had for him ordering an ambush. They bled azure anger and annoyance. Do not suppose to usurp my command branch house member Hiashi's hand movements were wild and seething. Perhaps you need a reminder of your place and your destiny. His hands moved into a hand seal that was all too familiar. Neji, gasped – surely the fool would not do that here!

He watched in horror as Hiashi's hand moved into position, almost in painstaking slow motion as Neji braced himself for the blinding pain that he knew would follow.

Pain did not come. Instead, a voice rang out shattering the oppressive silence. The trio of ninjas had just discovered them.

"Ninpou Kamaitach!"

Their position was immediately assaulted by a huge gale of wind, causing stray bits of rubble to lacerate the skin and dust to rise in huge clouds. Neji immediately doddered to the left, gathering chakra to his feet and leaping on top the rubble of the old flower shop. In the corner of his vision, he saw Hiashi execute a leap of his own. He winched as he saw Hinabi's face locked in an expression of utter shock before the gust of wind barreled straight into her, smashing her against a pile of rubble. Neji had expected that Hinabi's ability would be insufficient, she being fresh out of the academy, but seeing the supposed invincible heir of the main house so easily swatted away – he could not help but wonder why Hiashi brought her along. Probably to curry favor with the Hokage.

"You can stop your senseless arm waving now. We know where you are." That same voice was tinged with contempt. Through the clouds of dust that had been stirred up, Neji saw three figures now blocking the street, his Buyakugan easily drinking up their details. The lead woman stood commandingly in the middle of the road, legs slightly apart in a position that offered ample defense and attack opportunities – certainly an experienced ninja. Dressed in a white outfit over ninja netting, a forehead protector bearing the insignia of Hidden Sand rested prominently around her neck. The thing that immediately caught Neji's attention was a dark red sash tied to her waist – for some reason, he was immediately reminded of Anbu Commander Gaara, who wore a similar slash, albeit white in color. The source of the wind attack was held deftly behind her, a large fan bearing three purple dots, framing her lithe form in a deft pose of cockiness tinged with feminine power and grace.

As he landed, Neji was about to launch his senbon needles in her direction when he suddenly caught sight of her face. Framed by spiky blond hair, it bore a pair of piercing eyes and a mouth now twisted into a smile of amusement. He had seen her before – in that dream. There was no mistaking that cocky smile and spiky hair. Unnerved, Neji took a second look at her companions, and realized to his growing bewilderment that he had seen them before as well. There was no mistaking the platinum blond tresses of the other woman as well as the cool calm demure of the man. He wore a pair of sunglasses which Neji assumed, from the chakra surging within them, to be some sort of light amplification device – the other teams wore similar implements.

"Hiashi-sama, be careful... there's something about these ninjas that doesn't seem quite right" Neji knew that verbal communication was forbidden on missions, but he couldn't help given the growing sense of doubt that unsettled him. As expected, the head of the Hyuuga clan merely gave Neji yet another glance of fury, indicating that once the mission was over, heads (most possibly his) would roll. Signaling for Neji to attack immediately, Hiashi leap forward hoping to buy time for Hinabi to recover – the enemy had to be silenced as soon as possible before reinforcements were called for. Bottling his confusion for now, Neji followed suit.

Watching the two Hyuugas descending upon them, eyes ablaze with argent fury and fists bleeding blue latent energy, Temari barely batted an eyelid. In the distance she could see the now recovered Hinabi also charging forward. She was about to launch another devastating wind attack when Shino intoned one final reminded.

"Remember the plan Temari, Ino. The hasty Kunai is best left un-thrown." The cocky expression gave way to one of grim determination. Beside her, Ino nodded wordlessly. With that, Shino and Temari leap forward to take on Neji and Hinabi respectively, leaving Ino with the most crucial part of the plan, holding off Hyuuga Hiashi.

As she sailed through the air, Temari knew that her opponent was by way the most inexperienced – a flaw that she would use to her advantage. Landing directly in the path of Hinabi's charge, she folded her fan at the last second, using the wooden frame to block the jyuuken assault that would blot out her chakra points. Blue chakra flared visibly as it dissipated against the cold wood of the fan. The masked figure before her immediately leaps back, a hail storm of shurikens flaring out from her in mid-flight. Grinning to herself, Temari unfolded the fan and flared it out in one smooth motion – deflecting the shurikens and sending them spinning back towards their owner. A series of sickening thuds rang out as the embedded themselves into Hinabi – who disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Kawarimi..." She managed to gasp before her senses picked up a chakra signature right behind her. Spinning around, she realized that the enemy had purposely forced her to unfold her fan, and now she could not block the incoming jyuuken attack. Well, an inner voice berated – that's what you get for being sloppy. As she completed her turn, she could see the out-stretched fist of the opponent closing in on her arms, presumable to shut down the all important tenketsu points there. With no time to pull of Kawarimi of her own, Temari dodged backwards, purposely exposing her sides - where the chakra points did not contribute much to her wind attacks - and braced herself for pain. Still despite her mental gritting of teeth, nothing could have prepared her for the searing lightning bolt that torn through her body – through the haze of pain; she already noticed her normally taunt abdominal muscles were now completely unresponsive, throwing off her balance. Temari landed in a shower of debri.

Shino swore silently as he saw Temari fell. His own battle was faring poorly as already he bore several senbon needles mere millimeters away from critical zones – he knew that he could not doge Neji's attacks for much longer. And his sudden shift of attention proved disastrous as Neji deftly slipped past his defenses, and planted a solid hit to his chest, sending Shino crashing into the ruins of a nearby house. Struggling to stand up, Shino glanced hurriedly around for the Hyuuga who suddenly had disappeared. His location was soon revealed however, as a voice from behind him whispered words that spelt Shino's impending defeat.

"You are within the range of my divination"

Wu Ming studied his surroundings with boredom. The surrounding area was tinged green as his chakra goggles built in to his mask illuminated the darkness. His team was heading towards their ready position, where they would await the signal to attack. His fingers twitched in anticipation as he imagined killing off rebel scum by the dozen, their blood being shed for the treacherous deeds they had committed against his village.

A low whistling noise suddenly caused him and his subordinates to leap for cover. Scant seconds later, their previous positions were showered with kunais. Tensing up, Wu Ming immediately signaled for his team to rush to their ready point. The plan must be followed – they could always defend themselves from their ready position since he had been briefed that it was a junction between two streets, besides what had once been a mobile eatery – plenty of cover. His ninjas were good and well trained – feet padded silently on gravel as they made a dash for the ready point, dodging as kunais and shurikens constantly peppered their advance. As they rounded the corner, Wu Ming suddenly bumped into the team mate that had been taking point. A few hurried gestures revealed that a chakra string had been laid across the street, obviously to catch them unaware as they sped round the corner.

Wu Ming spat a curse – such amateur tricks would not work on Jounins of Konoha. Ordering for his point man to check for a second, hidden string, Wu Ming and the other team member assumed defensive positions to deflect yet another series of throwing weapons. The search for a second hidden string came up negative – feeding Wu Ming's growing contempt for their pursuer. Whoever it was, he certainly didn't know how to lay traps properly. Carefully leaping over the string, his team moved forward towards their position. Again the kunais whistled by, this time Wu Ming fancied a sense of frustration about them, as a cat would become annoyed should the mouse continue to evade it. Well, Wu Ming though as a sadistic smile grew beneath his Anbu mask – aptly shaped in the likeness of a mouse, we shall see who hunts who.

He was jarred out of his thoughts as again, his point man brought the team to a halt, stopped by yet another chakra string – the cat certainly was persistent. Persistent, thought Wu Ming, but still stupid, as yet again, the cat had failed to think of placing another string. These rebels certainly were not very bright. Using the massive pillar of Destiny in the distance as his bearing, Wu Ming knew that they were not far from their ready point. Once there, they could lure out the inapt cat that hunted them. Kunais buried themselves in the space where his head was moments ago.

The team sped down the deserted streets, and as a true testament to the cat's persistence, they were constantly being attacked with increasing accuracy. That his team could continuously dodge the assaults and only sustaining minor wounds, was a testament to their skill. At every corner they turned, they were met by the familiar sight of a single chakra string across the ground, failing miserably to be inconspicuous. Finally, they rounded the final corner, and saw their destination in plan sight, blocked only by one insignificant chakra string. Wu Ming relished the moment as he returned fire. Judging from the flight paths of the missiles, He threw a single kunai in the darkness, and was rewarded with a short, feminine gasp of surprise. A shadow detached itself from the top of a building, and fell into the open junction ahead. It staggered as it attempted to flee – Wu Ming's shot had obviously hit a critical point.

Grinning again, Wu Ming ordered his team forward to finish her off. The point man carefully indicated where the last chakra string lay, and Wu Ming began to step forward when suddenly, his team mates pulled him back. Confused, he was about to demand what was happening when his point man silently pointed out a second chakra string, glimmering faintly at ground level. Picking himself up, he saw the retreating figure in the junction ahead slump, obviously knowing that its final bit to kill them had failed.

"Hah! You must have thought you had us woman. Purposely getting us frustrated with your sloppy traps and attacks, you guessed that we would overlook the second string that you planted." Wu Ming knew that speaking was beyond mission regulations, but he didn't' care. His previous carelessness simply intensified the annoyance he felt towards the enemy. His teammates also prepared themselves for attack – they too had enough of the woman's hit and run tactics. "A sloppy plan, and one that would never trick us Jounins of Konoha! Attack!"

Wu Ming's point man was the first to leap forward, and the ninja felt a slight tugging at his chest as he leap over both the chakra stings. In horror, Wu Ming watched as his team mate triggered the third chakra string, which had been planted at chest level – something that all of them had missed. The entire scene reeled out in slow motion as with one hand, he pushed his other team mate back, and reached out hoping to save the point man.

Wu Ming's fingers grasped the back of his team mate's vest...

Even as his team mate's momentum carried him forward...

The chakra string resisted for a fraction of second before finally breaking...

Triggering the trap that they had thus far avoided...

Causing a shower of red blood as a flurry of shurikens embedded themselves in the unfortunate ninja...

Wu Ming recoiled as he felt warm red blood splash onto him.

In the junction ahead, Ten-Ten straightened herself and smiled grimly. With her left hand, she discarded Wu Ming's kunai, which she had easily caught. Mice always imagined themselves smarter than the cat.

In another part of this shadowy place, a smaller shadow detached it self from a much larger one. Shikamaru poked his head nonchalantly out of the wall of once had once been the ninja academy. His pursuers rushed past him, completely oblivious to his hiding place. Already he had managed to kill one off with his Kage Kubi Shirbari no Jutsu before being forced to retreat back into the shadows as the other two ninjas became more alert and gave chase. Right now, they were in hot pursuit of one of his shadows through the empty street – the darkness around him gave Shika a multitude of ways to twist and bend his deadly shadow. His senses pricked as the two enemy ninjas entered the court yard of the old ninja academy, bringing them right into his carefully planned trap. The need to end this quickly grew all the more pressing since Shika knew that he lacked the chakra to sustain the jutsu that enabled him to become one with the shadows. The ninjas skidded to a halt in the middle of the courtyard, scanning the surround for their quarry. Pretty soon they were going to realize that Shika had just sent them on a wild goose chase – he had to act now.

"Kageshibari no Jutsu!"

As one, shadows moved within shadows, descending from the academy building itself, speeding out from beneath Shika's feet as he stepped into the open and shooting forth in wild arcs from what had once been a tree, which even now Shika could not help but remember more innocent childhood moments on the swing there. Remembering the swing's most frequent occupant, he gave a nod in the direction of the now leafless tree. This one is for you Naruto.

The enemy tried to dodge, but their attempts at evasion landed their feet directly into secondary streams of shadow which Shika had positioned precisely for that purpose. He had them, and his hands moved in a flurry of hand seals to kill.

"Kage Kubi Shirbari no Jutsu!"

Urged forth by Shika's chakra, unseen hands began to creep up the bodies of the struggling ninjas – reaching for their necks. Looks like there's no need for the back up plan, thought Shika. That would have been troublesome.

A sudden flare of chakra nearly threw Shika off his feet as the enemy ninjas violently broke out the shadow bind. Now more than slightly annoyed, Shika cursed – the power of his shadow was too weak now that they were ready for his attacks. True enough, the lead ninja began to laugh loudly, a hollow mocking sound that echoed across the empty court yard.

"Nara Shikamaru, traitor to Konoha, you will not be able to defeat us with such a weak jutsu. A shadow is only as intense as the lighting which casts it. The lighting here is so bad that your infamous shadows are but a shadow of their true powers!" More mocking laughter at his lame pun. These ninjas are as loud as they are stupid, Shika sighed – however it was true that the purple glow of the shield limited his shadow skills terribly. Things now became terribly troublesome, and Shika prayed silently that Shino would be on time.

Dodging a rain of kunais and shurikens, Shika prepared to defend himself.

Kiba sniffed at the air in search of their attacker. His team had been in position for some time when an unseen attacker had suddenly burst into their midst, landing a series of hits on both his teammates. Whoever the attacker was, he fought in the style favored by the Hyuugas – more than once the projectiles of his team had been deflected by a timely Kaiten. Strangely though, his team mates did not feel any problems channeling their chakra, a sign that whoever attacking them lacked the mastery over jyuuken possessed by Neji-sama. Kiba almost felt disappointed at this though – he, favored commander of the Hokage, had been reassigned from his post at the frontlines of the battle against Mist to fight such paltry opponents. He wouldn't even need to use his special seal for this one, already the enemy seemed to be unable to handle his Gijyuu Nipou, Shikyaku no Jutsu. Sensing chakra signatures to his left, Kiba quickly sprung an attack.

"Gijyuu Nipou, Jyuujin Bunshin!" Akamaru, now fully grown, leapt with amazing dexterity for its size. Gulping down the soldier pill which Kiba tossed, it transformed into a replica of Kiba. Barely had the transformation taken place, he and Akamaru were already dashing towards the source of the chakra signature. With practiced ease, both of them entered the series of moves that were the Gatsuuga – Kiba had enough of playing with his attacker. The twin cyclones of man and beast barreled through several old houses completely unfazed, sending debri spinning wildly in all directions. His teammates could barely keep up with his destructive path.

Kiba grinned as he felt himself score a glancing blow against soft flesh, the warm spray of blood contrasting sharply with the cold hard stones of the walls he had demolished. Perhaps his opponent wasn't that weak at all – after all, he had still managed to survive his most devastating attack. Still, the out come was certain, Kiba thought, I will win.

A sudden strike to his leg immediately told him that his opponent took adversely to that conclusion. Although it had merely been a hurried counter attack, the force behind the blow sowed the beginnings of doubt in Kiba's mind – he had been under estimating the enemy. Still he as puzzled to not experience the stinging pain that a jyuuken attack would cause – in fact he almost felt as if chakra flow in him limb was easier. He rolled out of his attack, his mask smashing itself against a particularly sharp piece of rock. No matter, he navigated better by smell anyway. A short bark from Akamaru signaled that it too had suffered the strange attack from the enemy ninja. Leaping quickly to his feet, he smelt the enemy to his right, the coppery smell of blood thick about him. From the ragged breaths, Kiba knew that his adversary was having a hard time getting up. Signaling in the general direction of his team mates, he motioned for them to finish the battle. A nagging sixth sense told him something was not quite right, and he figured that it was best to end this quickly least reinforcements for the enemy turned up. The hands of his team mates swished loudly as they performed the hand seals for the signature move of Konoha.

"Katon Housenka no Jutsu!" Carefully shielding their eyes least the fireballs blinded their chakra enhanced vision; Kiba's teammates let loose a barrage of fireballs turning purple darkness into red orange fury. As their eys grew accustomed to the new light, they began shooting fire balls after their enemy, who was trying his best to dodge the flaming projectiles. The enter area was became a conflagration as the old wooden buildings where blasted by the fire attacks.

Amidst this inferno, Kiba's sixth sense continued to nag at him, suddenly making him remember some information the Hokage had personally told him about the fighting style of Jyuuken. He recalled that a jyuuken master could control the opponent's chakra flow by either closing down or opening tenketsu points. He remember laughing at the latter procedure at that time – why would anyone want to help their opponents channel chakra by opening points for them? Unless...

"Stop!" Kiba cried out hoarsely towards his teammates performing their jutsus. Suddenly, everything clicked into place for Kiba - why they Jyuuken attacks had no effects, why his leg actually felt better after being hit. However it was too late, and Kiba gasped as his teammates erupted in flames, their chakra points completely overloaded after being forcefully opened.

"So, you are more intelligent that your unfortunate underlings, jounin of Konoha." The voice that addressed him was definitely female and it pronounced his rank with an audible sneer. "Tell your false Hokage that what his has stolen from us will soon be returned to its rightful owner, and the village of the leaf will not be so easily defeated!"

Kiba tried his best to ignore the taunting voice as he ordered Akamaru to hold still. Any false channeling of chakra would be fatal now, especially since many of his moves relied heavily on his legs. A tentative attempt sent tendrils of pain through his system and warning lights flashing in his brain. Akamaru could not be in any better a state. Fighting down panic with all his experience on the battle field, Kiba struggled to regain control over the afflicted tenketsu points, even as the female ninja leap forward, a face briefly illuminated by the burning ruins - he spied purple hair and white eyes that were strangely familiar. The seething, argent anger of those eyes were now framed by the fiery inferno in the background as she easily lifted him up by his clothing. Though his body continued to struggle furiously, his mind already was preparing himself for that final blow.

Which never came. Kiba was shocked to find the hand that held him waver, and was even more taken aback when a voice tentatively cried out his name.

"Ki...Kiba-kun?"

Catch more bad cliff hangers on the next chapter....

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