Downfall of the Light 3

by OpposingForce

After several days of enduring against the Sound from invading, Naruto and Hinata finally meet their elites. NaruHina, and many others. Spoilers... none, hopefully

5. Destruction Inaugurates

Downfall of the Light 3

Chapter 5: Destruction Inaugurates

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it's that simple. Do you own Naruto?

Legend:

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts, other italic words are also within this category

Scene Changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

AN: Before I start my mumbo jumbo, there is one thing I want to tell you… I am getting tired of writing this fiction. Yes, I am getting weak, out of ideas, and just simply worn out. I have discussed this with Crimson Strike personally and he suggests for me to write another fiction within Naruto or Seed. In other words, make another genre of fiction such as humour, angst or whatnot. If it helps me think better, I will do it.

However, if you guys really want me to stick with this fiction until the bitter end, please tell me directly that is how you feel. For obvious reasons, if I start another fiction, I will not be able to update this one. I do not want to upset any of you loyal readers because making this fiction is really fun and I don't want to ruin your hopes to see a new chapter each time I post the newest one. I know this is cheesy, but with your support, there is no way I could cower and forfeit or give up. At the same time, if you simply don't care, tell me that too so I will be more comfortable leaving this fiction for a while. Thanks for reading up until now everyone.

To those who reviewed, you know who you are and you have my most sincere gratitude and thanks. I dedicate this chapter to all of you! Please enjoy!

Character Profile: This is for your advantage so you can grasp my OCs and new forged personalities better.

1. Kidoumaru of the East:

Age: 27 (Looks no older than 15 to 16)

Gender: Male

Height: 68 inches

Blood Type: B

Likes: Killing, archery, video games

Dislikes: Tayuya, and the heartless doctors, and possibly a lot more

Primary Weapon: 3 feet high bow, Web Spherical Breaker (Not used in this chapter)

Status: Enhanced Human

Gripheptan implant stage: 4

Special Abilities: Curse Seal (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Ranged (fighting style also inspired from Raider Gundam)

New forged personality inspired from Crot/Clotho Buer from Gundam Seed

Description: Kidoumaru, like Tayuya and Jiroubo, is one of the three elite ninjas who serve as Orochimaru's right hand man. His appearance may look like a regular teenager -although he is already 27- but the fact that he has six arms instead of two makes him extremely intimidating and freaky. Naturally looking like a spider, it is no surprise that he has many capabilities that represent an arachnid such as web nets, web throws, poison cobwebs, and much more. In addition, since he is an elite soldier, Orochimaru had ordered him to consume the Gripheptan drug before entering any combat so his eternal loyalty would remain at the sound while his combat capabilities would forcefully increase to raise his chances of survival in battle. Despite how much he hates it, he has no choice. Furthermore, since he was someone that was light, he had mastered the training of manipulating his own chakra to gain flying capabilities.

Kidoumaru, in his spare time, enjoys all sorts of entertainment such as archery or playing video games. Because of this continuous influence, he pictures killing no different than a game. Also, since he is a loud and cocky person, he often yells out destructive words in battle to intimidate or simply doing it for fun. His comrades and his Captain, Kiba, may find his rude screeches annoying but if it brought him strength, they would allow it to slide. Of course, Tayuya barely agreed. Due to his high sense of confidence, Kidoumaru fears absolutely nothing and will bash his way to achieve his goal to success.

2. Jiroubo of the South

Age: 27 (He is also someone who looks no younger than 15)

Gender: Male

Height: 70 inches

Blood Type: B Negative

Likes: Destruction, teamwork, reading

Dislikes: Tayuya, the medical doctors who are responsible for the Gripheptan and many others

Status: Enhanced Human

Primary Weapon: None

Gripheptan implant stage: 3

Special Abilities: Curse Seal (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee and Ranged

New forged personality inspired from Orga Sabnak in Gundam Seed

Description: It may not look like it but Jiroubo is actually the leader amongst the three if Kiba is not there to lead them. The reason was that Tayuya frequently preferred to work alone and isolate herself from them, and Kidoumaru was too loud and reckless to guide the group safely. Jiroubo is an effective leader at times but ironically he may just be as careless as his good friend, Kidoumaru. Normally quiet and collected, he is nothing close to possessing the silence that Tayuya had. At the same time, ever since he was given this job without a choice to reject, he had no other decision but to promote teamwork -which Kidoumaru had no arguments on but Tayuya certainly did. Since he was the heaviest one amongst the three, Jiroubo had a problem with flight in terms of not able to maintain it for long.

In between missions, Jiroubo preferred to read his stack of paper-pack novels to refresh his mind. Amongst the Three, he is considered the most normal since he was not killing obsessed or a girl who appreciated isolation more than anything else, Jiroubo did not know if he should view it as a compliment. Nonetheless, he is someone who likes to take things seriously but at times he can be very careless.

3. Uchiha Umi

Age: 12

Gender: Female

Height: 61 inches

Blood Type: O

Likes: cooking, parents, brother, friends, chocolate, ninjutsu arts, kisses, and especially Shani

Dislikes: bad food, mean bullies, Tsubasa hogging her brother, Kagari hogging Shani, and Yamase trying to get Shani's attention instead giving his full attention to her.

Primary Weapon: Beam Glaive

Status: Human

Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee

Umi is my absolute own creation, but her attitude is like Rin and Sakura, and possibly even Hinata.

Description: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's second child, and younger twin to her brother, Kuroto. Umi is naturally a sweet, loving, adorable, and considerate and her qualities can go on for ages. Miraculously, she has developed a liking to cook -very much like Hinata and Rin. Umi is very proud of herself that her father, Sasuke, enjoys her cooking more than his wife's. Was Sakura jealous? No, she was so delighted to see her little girl growing up nicely for her future husband but of course that was after punching Sasuke a several times in head. Umi had a liking for Shani ever since she was really young. Like any other girl, she wondered why Shani was so mysterious, dark, wise, quiet, cold, but at the same time extremely gentle when she was alone with him. Umi considers Shani as her best male friend who she can always rely on when she needs help, and very fortunately for her, Shani has been someone who aids her frequently and willingly allow their friendship to grow.

She is in love with Shani and truly accepts him even though his left eye permanently activates the Byakugan thus making him look completely hideous. Even after her knowledge of him having a demon, she could care less about it since she believes that Shani is Shani no matter what. Like any girl completely wild in her emotions and affections, Umi wants Shani to see her more than a sister to a lover. She tries desperately hard to gain his affection yet she gains no result. When she figured out Yamase likes Shani like she does, they became rivals beneath the surface yet they are close friends. At the same time, she disapproves her brother to be with Tsubasa since they are eternal rivals but nowadays she is more lenient ever since Shani became closer to her.

4. Uchiha Kuroto

Age: 12

Gender: Male

Height: 64 inches

Blood Type: O

Likes: training, combat, sister, friends, food in general (but nothing nasty or bitter), girls, arts, and Tsubasa

Dislikes: Too much to list

Primary Weapon: Beam Katana

Status: Human

Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee

Kuroto's name originated from Crot/Clotho Buer. Attitude inspired more or less from Sasuke.

Description: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's first born child, and the unofficial heir of the Uchiha clan. Unlike Umi, Kuroto may be ambitious, youthful, cheerful, understanding, kind and all but he suffers from the pressure from Sasuke to be superior to others because he is the first born. Kuroto does not mind being better as long as he is not cocky but this attitude of his resulted in having a silent competition with his good friend, Shani. These two nearly compete at everything from training, academics, doing somersaults on the jungle gym, art, running, music, and such except other pointless things that either of them had an interest in. Kuroto even wanted to challenge Shani to have a flirtation contest when they were a tad bit younger but he got blown away when the Uzumaki had no interest of competing over something like that. In other words, these two were eternal rivals but very good friends.

Kuroto, like any other boys, likes cute girls and treats them with utmost respect and friendship. Although he had a crush on Kagari before, Kuroto realizes that someone else has been watching him and admiring him, that obviously was Ino's daughter Tsubasa, and Umi's first rival. Kuroto believes that eventually he would even learn to love Tsubasa. Despite Umi not agreeing with this closer friendship, Kuroto is still grateful that Shani stepped in their sibling conflict and gradually made Umi accept it by making himself available to be a friend with his sister. Kuroto dedicated himself to be like Shani, mature and collected.

(Story officially begins! In the Sound's Temporary headquarters in the outskirts of Konoha)

"Jiroubo, Tayuya, Kidoumaru," called Akira on the radio as the medic squadron prepared for their orders at the encampment in the environs of Konoha, "Do you guys read me?" After asking that question, the only response he heard from the other end were clash of weapons, explosions, beam flares, grunts, but no one was actually responding. The Paladin did not know what was going on but he knew this was not pleasant news. "Can you guys even hear me?"

"What?" a voice finally shouted from the radio. From what Akira could gather, that was Jiroubo and he was not showing one speck of calmness. He seemed annoyed. If Akira heard more clearly, he could have sworn he heard Tayuya swearing from the background, it seemed like that those three were having some difficulty after all.

"Are you guys at the South Gate yet?" questioned the Paladin seriously while not even asking of their well being, "You should be there by now."

"We are there already!" yelled the South Sound nin loudly while his nature was usually silent, "Damn it!" Next, another explosion was heard but it certainly sounded as if it was from a far distance. After that ruckus, another set of electric bolts and discharges became evident to his ears. The blond even needed to jerk the radio away from his eardrums or he would go deaf. Now, it was then when Akira started to worry.

"What the hell is happening over there, Jiroubo?" Just when Akira was hoping for an answer, the radio signal got cut off midway. Whatever was commencing in the South Gate wasn't showing much promise for the Sound. Despite how much Akira wanted to leave his own post to assist them, Orochimaru would not be pleased if he messed up the formation at this stage. He seriously hoped that the Three could deal with whatever was holding them back so far, Akira wished he had faith in them.

They were strong, no enemies have ever defeated them before ever since Sakon had been killed during a mission over ten years ago. These Konoha weaklings should not stand a chance against them. Yet his intuitions somehow lead him to assume that these obstacles were not as simple as they may seem to be. After all, this was a demon village and the chances of battling a demon were quite high. Akira only prayed that things would not get too out of hand. He soon decided to have a thorough mission report from them when they return.

(Meanwhile)

"Damn it…" fussed Kidoumaru as he glided back while still glaring fiercely at Kagari, "What the hell are you?" Much to his annoyance, the Uzumaki girl could've cared less at his fuming words. In pure rage, Kidoumaru descended with speed while yelling with his hand aiming at Kagari as he continuously launched out webs from his wrists. The girl soon swiftly moved from left to right as she evaded all the attacks by a mere inch, and once the East Sound nin dived past Kagari the girl quickly flew upward trying to aim accurately. However, Kidoumaru beat her to it.

Having no other choice, Kagari generated a shield with her left palm as she used her right hand reached for her double bladed daggers that were equipped on her waist belt. As soon as Kidoumaru's onslaught was deflected, Kagari soon rushed down to engage him in a melee combat. Knowing his own fighting capabilities, the arachnid shinobi quickly glided back before the weapons seared through into his flesh. Gritting his teeth crossly, Kidoumaru then drew back on his bow before unleashing another arrow at the speed of a crossbow.

Noticing how his sister was so eager to fight, Shani immediately took out his own melee weapon before taking a quick glide at Tayuya. Already attacking in a fierce slash, Shani generated chakra into his blade making it as powerful as a beam cutter hopefully it would be more effective in the long run. However, once he dived down and assailed, Tayuya jumped backward making the attack a dead miss. Shani glared angrily where as the Sound girl merely grinned with malice delight.

"Kagari," called Shani as his target glided off so he had some time to actually talk without being interrupted, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Once she heard her brother actually speaking to her, Kagari leaped forward as another web came out from Kidoumaru's wrist attempting to make a web throw, "Is that all the thanks I get for saving you back there, Shani?" the Uzumaki girl said back very disappointedly.

"You should be at that place with Iruka and the others!" yelled the older twin not knowing if he should be enraged on delighted to see his sister here. If she was trying to be courageous, she had a long way to go, "You could be killed if you are out here!"

"Like you won't?" Kagari challenged his logic immediately, which made Shani grimace. Suddenly, they finally took a glimpse at Tayuya, who was charging up for a projectile assault. Emitting a creepy battle cry at the openings of her lips, the Sound girl instantly fired without considering anything. With a slight magnetic force, the beam curved midway thus it would hit Kagari as well. Having both the Byakugan and Unholy Sight, Kagari and Shani clearly knew the concentration of her attack. Not pondering any second thoughts, both Uzumaki twins reached higher flight therefore the beam missed their feet by less than an inch.

"Kill!" screamed Kidoumaru as he charged down recklessly and also shooting his webs and arrows in the same fashion. Moving to the front, back, side, up, down, Kagari miraculously managed to dodge and escape every single one of his moves. After a ferocious lunge and soaring up again, Kidoumaru took altitude and thrust to boost him into the air. Shani flinched finally knowing these two Sound nins could manipulate chakra as well to gain flight.

Damn…

"I don't care who you are," declared the arachnid male to Kagari with a snicker before unleashing another set of wildfire, "But you die as well!" Making a bitterly glare, the angelic girl swiftly flew above before taking charge at him trying to make a stab. Meanwhile, Shani took out four daggers from his holster and soon whipped them hard at Tayuya two at a time. Disappointing to Shani, Tayuya, in perfect coordination, moved her trident in the precise location with ease thus Shani's weapons proved useless. The girl only smirked arrogantly and the demon male only tried harder. Obviously, this only entertained Tayuya more.

"Another one?" asked Jiroubo from afar to himself in a rhetorical voice while smirking, "What is that thing?" In an immediate impulse, he grabbed a fallen support log from a defence tower and threw it forcefully at Kagari or Shani hoping it would hit them. Since Kidoumaru was after the girl, the log flashed right by him as he charged. If he didn't slow his movements down, he would've been hit cleanly -more or less the facial area.

"Jiroubo!" the spider ninja scolded with his head looking very annoyed. From Shani's view, his brown eyes were glinting savagely, "You jerk!" Not listening to his friend's complaints, Jiroubo only took a boulder this time before tossing it at Shani while Tayuya was preparing to perform a slash on the demon devil. Like Kidoumaru, Tayuya halted her actions therefore the rock also missed her by a several inches. Yet, unlike the arachnid shinobi, she merely remained silent but her expression appeared quite vapid and nonchalant.

'A third one?' Kagari cringed at that thought; she thought two was already enough. To make the matters worse, this last person was so ugly and unappealing.

"What are you guys playing up there?" Jiroubo spoke in utmost amusement before whipping several series of kunais and shurikens. Shani and Kagari grimaced before diving down to evade, but however, Kidoumaru was enraged.

"Don't interfere, Jiroubo!" he scolded again loudly.

"Let him," insisted Tayuya with dark serenity, "If he is being a nuisance, he will get himself killed first." After a light sinister cackle, Tayuya glided with her trident in an attacking pose before charging at Shani again. However, the Death Knight would not allow himself to be in a stage of disadvantage, once Tayuya fired another beam -which he deflected with his extreme dense demon wings in similar to his Different Dimension Reflector- Shani instantly commenced his own counter attack.

"Mana Burn!" the young warrior shouted while bursting his rays rapidly downward. Tayuya may have deflected all of them with a quick spin of her trident but it was then when Shani fired again but this time it was a vastly stronger energies of the Different Dimension Flare in a wave. Gasping at the quick rate, the Sound girl defended herself with the best defense she could muster and intercepted it all with the blade of her weapon. Even so, the force was so powerful that she was pushed back by it.

Crap…

Just when Tayuya wanted to thrust out and kill Shani for good, the Death Knight suddenly appeared right in front of her, and his one eye look gave her the chills. Simply floating in the air completely frozen, Shani obviously did not hesitate to deliver a punch right at her cheek. In a natural reaction, Tayuya moved her head away from the impact but the devil's onslaught did not simply end like that.

Angrily, Shani slammed his fist into her face with pure fury and hate, then he pulled his left hand back before giving a massive punch into her chest hopefully to break her ribs. Lastly, he raised a knee and bashed into her gut heavily, and Tayuya only vomited out her blood as of result. Although she was already in pain and more or less helpless, Shani refused to stop. In a spin, his foot smashed into her face thus sending the North nin descending down rapidly before making a devastating collision with Mother Earth.

Jiroubo and Kidoumaru's eyes showed nothing but extreme shock, but it wasn't long before the arachnid male gritted his teeth flashing immense rage, "How dare you!" he screamed while he charged up for his own beam arrows before unleashing them frenziedly at the Death Knight. This was when Kagari flew in between with her Divine Shield activated thus his attacks were all nullified. Taking out her twin daggers from her hips, Kagari dived down to the ground to engage Kidoumaru in a close range combat.

"Bloodlust!" cried Kagari when she generated and focussed the chakra onto herself. In a mere second, Kidoumaru clearly noticed that her speed had increased drastically. Not wanting her to get any closer, he fired frantically but all it did was scrape off three white feathers on her wings. Gaining more thrust in her rushing collision, Kagari easily kicked Kidoumaru in the face with crushing force therefore he skyrocketed into the air.

Using Blink, the Uzumaki girl suddenly emerged herself above her enemy with her daggers powered by a green chakra. Due to the pain, Kidoumaru could not do a thing as the beamed dagger stabbed into his chest. He wanted to scream but that was when he realized that Kagari was pushing her weight down on him so they would make another crash to the ground. Moreover, since he was the one on the bottom, it was clear who would suffer from the blow. Within three seconds, Kidoumaru experienced another set of agony.

"You bastards!" shouted the chubby Sound nin from a short distance as he gathered energy to unleash his own beam attacks. In the corner of her eye, fortunately Kagari saw it thus she flew again to evade but that only gave her previous opponent enough time to recover himself. The expression of hate plastered all over his face.

"Let's go! Hate!" screamed the spider archer insanely as he pulled his bow hard therefore the arrow he fired out had equal or greater speed than his zeal. Kagari did not foresee this comeback and she knew she had no agility to evade. Although the arrow did not penetrate through any critical parts of her body, it did the task fine at wounding her when it pierced through the side her left thigh. Letting out a painful cry, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo both smirked darkly knowing their enemy was finally slowing down. At this moment, Tayuya stood back up on her feet before ascending to the sky and rushing madly at Shani.

"Nobody does that to me!" Tayuya hissed with words flooding hatred. Her eyes were swimming with rage as if the darkest demons consumed her humanity. The moment she was close, the girl slashed Shani with ferocious strength. However, to her dismay, the Death Knight used his wings to take the attack fully. Tayuya began to hate those wings, not only did they gave him flying capabilities, it also served as a shield that she may not be able to destroy and trample through. In addition, if she couldn't penetrate it, she couldn't kill him.

In her absolute anger and aggression, she unexpectedly took out one of her knives and jammed it into his chest where an opening was. Because Shani did not think he needed to activate his reflectors before she commenced her second attack, the knife plowed cleanly into his flesh. As of result, his defenses dropped drastically.

"I got you…" the girl whispered darkly with much amusement, "Later." Raising her trident above her head, the girl prepared herself to guillotine her victim. He was indeed strong to last this long against her, Tayuya would give him that much but now it was the end. Once she started to commence the slam, Kagari intervened once again.

"Chain Lightning!" cried Kagari with lightning rays blasting from her daggers. Despite that the electric assault missed all of Tayuya's vital organs and body parts, it did, however, strike her hands. After receiving a deadly shock, the Sound girl only reacted with deeper hate for those two. This battle would last much longer than expected. To make things worse than it seemed, it appeared these two were evenly matched.

Despite that Kagari may have stopped Tayuya this time, the Sound girl smirked as she suddenly made a lunge at the Death Knight with a damaging kick to the face. Shani naturally grunted in pain while he began to fall downward and Tayuya only seized this perfect chance to her own advantage. Charging up for another blast, she violently cast down at the defenseless Shani. Once an ignition was produced by the beam, the girl's eyes widened when she saw pieces of wood scattering around, this must've been a quick replacement technique.

Tayuya did not have time to simply stare with shock, when she heard a spine-chilling cry coming from above, she knew it must be the Death Knight's. Slashing with tremendous force with his scythe, the Sound girl screamed out loud as the blade seamed through her flesh. Since Shani gathered energy around his weapon, he did not cut her in half but the burning sensation was still present. Even moving appeared difficult now while enduring the pain, both sides knew this fight would only end until both sides were killed.

(Moments before)

"Kaiten!" declared Neji as his body created an ultimate defensive shield with his concentrated palm and spun ferociously when three Sound chunnins approached him with katanas in their hand. After one violent spin, all three of them were blown away and crashed at different locations. The first one had his spine broken when his back forcefully had a great relationship with a rock, the second man got both his leg and arm dislocated as he bashed through a tree branch, and the last one was sliced in half by Tenten in mid air. Neji did not like these numbers at all, it was practically just the important people against the rest of the Sound since most of the Leaf's ninjas were killed in the initial shower of fire.

"It's really not fun killing a bunch of nobodies," said Sasuke while lowering himself to evade before jamming his foot into a man's private area and crushing it mid way. Sakura flinched noticeably when she found out what kind of move her husband made, to the very least it did kill the enemy in a mere instant. "Dragon Fire no jutsu!" he shouted as he leaped into the air firing his dangerous flames to the ground thus the earth became a temporary blaze of fire. Many of the enemy chunnins melted as the fires overpowered their bodies; that only made the Uchiha's smile wider.

"We got to get the injured to safety," called Rin to Gaara in a loud voice so everyone else would hear her. After making another unique hand seal, Gaara rushed the sand like a water wave motion and secured the Konoha fallen warriors to the rear defense line where Sakura, Rin, and Haku were. Obviously, they were using all sorts of healing techniques to reduce casualties and also firing a several suppressing attacks whenever possible. Rin cursed as she noticed the Sound kept coming in waves, even if they were experienced as Konoha's highest noble shinobis, they had something called limit. Judging by the looks of things, it just seemed so limitless.

"Kuso!" yelled Lee with a fiery passion as he launched a kick right at a Sound ninja's face and cracking his nose due to the force. In the edge of an eye, like how Neji encountered his opponents, a several of them grouped together in a surrounding formation. For the first time in any battle, Lee thought those aggressors were fools, if he earned the name of "Taijutsu Specialist", of course he would be able to defend himself against this easy obstacle. "Konoha Senpuu!" announced Lee as he made a violent 360 degree spin kick and smashed their faces into something that their mothers would not be able to recognize.

It was kind of amusing actually when you think about it, after all the time of training to become official middle class chunnins, they had to waste their lives in a meaningless battle that could easily been avoided. If they actually had some common sense whether to know the difference between right and wrong, maybe Lee would not have to have crippled their necks and force them to meet their maker so soon. Too bad, so sad, as he would say.

"What's this…" questioned Naruto suddenly as soon as he identified a familiar source of chakra coming from another direction nearby, "It couldn't be…"

"What is it, Naruto?" asked Hinata running to him after knocking down another shinobi to his death. She knew something was wrong, his eyes were scanning everywhere with uncertainties. Without warning, Naruto independently leaped off the ground and reached for the trees, Hinata was sure that he didn't even notice that she was next to him at that point. What could have gotten him to be this alerted? If he didn't want to tell her what was going on, she was going to find out for herself. After making an excuse to Ino saying that she and Naruto needed to scout ahead, she quickly pursued her husband from the rear to wherever he needed to go.

Meanwhile, at the other area Kiba and some of his support troops were heading towards the main battle at the West Gate. They took a minor detour knowing that the element of surprise was an essential method for shinobis to achieve victory. Since Kiba lived in this place ever since he was a baby to teen, he had much knowledge of the area he was about to invade. When he would see Naruto again this time, he made sure he would not leave the job half done, that insolent Death Knight would pay for his crimes after what he did to Akamaru all those years ago.

"Captain," called a member of his squad breaking his train of thought. Normally, Kiba would be yelling at the top of his lungs but he was in too much of a good mood to spoil it.

"What?" he asked with his voice containing no emotional attachment, "You want something?"

"Yeah, do you even know the way?"

"Of course, I do!" retorted the Captain of the squad proudly, "I was raised here after all. Even if I haven't been here for ages, most of the surroundings would not simply change after twelve years. Anyway, we should be there soon…" At that instant, he felt a major disturbance in the air and leaped to the right without giving any orders to the squad. The entire group looked at Kiba queerly before a legion of Death Coils consumed their faces or chest area. Kiba watched in horror as his teammates were wiped out that easily, he flinched when he recognized this specific attack for only one person knew it. Kiba knew Naruto was close. His eyes nearly bulged out when he saw him in person.

"Kiba!" shouted Naruto in a very out of character roar but filled with rage regardless from above. Kiba immediately took out of his kunais to defend as the Death Knight had his blade over his head ready to behead the traitor. If Kiba didn't take one step back, Nightshadow –the runeblade's name- would have hammered itself into his skull. However, since he was not quick enough to make an absolute evasion, Naruto still managed to slash the wimpy ninja knife into halves. Seeing his weapon was now generally useless, Kiba instantly tossed it away as Naruto incredible fury ceased to stop. Violently swing from left to right, upward and downward, the beast manipulator grimaced each time how close Naruto actually was from slicing his flesh. When he least expected, the Death Knight gave a kick to his face thus sending him back crashing on the grass.

"Naruto!" called Hinata as she finally reached the designated area, "What happened here?" she asked again as she landed beside him. Hearing that angelic voice, Kiba –who was still on the floor- slowly got back up on his feet to meet the girl of his dreams. When Hinata noticed who the person was, her Byakugan automatically activated and her previous concerns were forgotten. "You…" she hissed dangerously with full hostility, "How dare you…"

"Why such a grim face, Hinata?" questioned Kiba very casually as if he never committed the treacherous onslaught on Naruto twelve years ago, "It's been such a long time since we saw each other. It must be our lucky day to see another again, Kami-sama should be granting you one wish."

"Well," spat the Hyuga girl, "It's not working…"

"Why not?"

"I'm not dancing on your grave yet." Naruto would be laughing at her humour but he himself was too furious just by staring at Kiba. Surprisingly, Kiba was the one who laughed, and he seemed to laugh too hard.

"You crack me to the top of my bent, my sweet Hinata," the traitor spoke with utmost sarcasm but suddenly turned serious, "What makes you so sure you can kill me?"

"We can," said Naruto taking a step forward, "You may have been stronger but that doesn't mean that we having been working. I know that you have been alive all these years but who would've expected that you would sink as low as to join the sound. Look at yourself… you look like a piece of shit."

"Say what you want, Naruto-chan," mocked Kiba smirking amusedly, "Orochimaru has done a lot more for me than you can imagine, you will finally understand what kind of god he truly is! Death Knight, you will pay for stealing Hinata away from me!"

"I don't love you, Kiba!" yelled Hinata trying to get some sense into this man. After twelve years, he was still so negligent!

"Doesn't matter, Hinata," reasoned Kiba still having that confident smirk, "I will kill him no matter what. There is no way I could lose…"

"You are being way too confident…" said Hinata narrowing her eyes.

"Even if the West Gate can defend itself this time around, what makes you so sure that the South Gate can save itself from our wrath?" That statement took both Hinata and Naruto off guard. Gathering more chakra into her eyes, Hinata enlarged her vision to the maximum hoping to find out what was happening. When she did see it, her forehead began to sweat with terror once destruction was all she could see in her eyes. Fires, corpses, daggers, used explosive tags, broken body parts, and especially the five that were fighting over there, Shani and Kagari.

And at that exact moment, Hinata saw her daughter being kicked in the chest by a spider look-alike freak.

"Kagari!" screamed Hinata to no one in particular since Kiba and Naruto could not see things within such a distance. Naruto also flinched now knowing exactly was going on, his children were also battling and he was standing here not doing a thing. As his own teal eyes began to glow, Naruto easily detected the elites' chakra were equally or higher than Shani or Kagari's, and being outnumbered was certainly not an advantageous stand.

Hinata may want to just fly to her children and aid but she also had her own hands tied. Kiba couldn't have come at a worse time that was for sure. When Kiba saw the worried expressions on both his opponent's faces, he smiled with inward delight knowing their minds were altered. Judging by their looks, that Kagari person must be their daughter.

How perfect indeed…

"You speak of new strengths, didn't you?" inquired Naruto somewhat interested at Kiba's previous words –he was only trying to focuse more. "Instead of standing here all day, why don't we just get this over with? I want to kill you just as much as you want to kill me, let's get this thing over with. I have no intention to chat with an enemy."

"Getting as impatient as ever, aren't you, Death Knight?" Kiba asked raising a brow, "Your wish is my command." Naruto grunted audibly, someone had to deal with this cocky attitude. It was that moment when Kiba began to create a formidable set of hand seals that were completely unfamiliar to Naruto and Hinata, what was he trying to do. Without even announcing the technique, Kiba then slammed his palm down onto the earth and a very thick fog of smoke appeared from it. Not knowing what kind of move Kiba just performed, Hinata and Naruto both wisely formed a chakra barrier to protect themselves just in case anything drastic happened. As soon as the smoke cleared, they knew this was drastic.

"More dogs?" groaned Hinata dreadfully with her Byakugan concentrating further. Behind Kiba now were a pack of deathly hounds that were dark and fierce. By the heat emitting from them, Naruto assumed they contained the element of fire. The actual appearances of these hounds were similar to typical police search hounds but their strengths and speed were undoubtedly excelled regular mutts. If they weren't any stronger, why bother summoning them? Giving of a growl, Kiba's smile increased knowing his beasts were getting impatient.

"Kuso…" cursed Naruto in a hiss as the entire legion began their deadly rush.

(Currently at the South Gate)

The five had been battling for a long time by now, yet both sides did not show their tiredness. Of course they wouldn't since they all learned not to reveal their weaknesses to the enemy. Deep down, though, they knew they had their limits and all of them were taking steps rather too quickly to meet it. During the fierce combat, Tayuya received a deadly blow by a generated spearhead from Shani. To respond to that gift, the Sound girl angrily used her flute and played an eloquent sound. Since Shani did not know what she was actually doing, somehow his body began to ignite with a several small flares. After a few more seconds, it basically ignited him. Both of them continued to give each other strikes after strikes, neither one of them refused to stand down.

Kagari and Kidoumaru now detested another evidently. Their fight also appeared quite even since they had their own advantages at each perspective of the battle. Kagari was excellent battling close and long range but the arachnid ninja obviously had more confidence than her while fighting from a distance. To compensate for that weakness, the angelic girl always attempted to take on this fight in a melee combat. However, due to Jiroubo's ceaseless interference, Kagari nearly lost her chance every time. Yet, she did manage to deal heavy damage such as snapping one of Kidoumaru's one too many arms or possibly slashing wildly with her daggers. As mentioned before, since Kidoumaru did have backup support, he also was able to strike Kagari devastatingly with his arrows -especially on her legs.

The current situation now was more or less a standstill. Shani was hurt in the chest, Kagari had her leg wounded, Tayuya was in pain all over her body, Kidoumaru was in the same shape as Tayuya, and Jiroubo seemed to be fine. Yet, the only thing he would be lacking was chakra since he kept using it at his own ranged attacks.

As Tayuya missed another critical slash at Shani, Kidoumaru flew by them both and turned around so Shani's back would be facing him. After smiling excitedly, he readied himself to attack.

"Yeah! Death Blow!" the arachnid sharpshooter yelled loudly as he generated energies into his mouth and fired his venomous web beam. It may be quite disgusting but he didn't care as long as it was devastating. Luckily for the Death Knight, his little sister used a Mana Shield to defend against it but Kidoumaru was not pleased. He quickly moved back to dodge a Mana Burn from Kagari so he would not receive any more critical damage but yet from behind a boulder nearly struck him heavily.

"Jiroubo!" Kidoumaru yelled down in a look of disbelief and disapproval. What was he doing, trying to shoot him down?

"They're really annoying!" Jiroubo said back as if that was a justifiable reason. Once he answered, he himself reached for the skies before whipping at least six kunais at the twins. What he failed to realize was that Tayuya was amongst them and if she didn't do a thing to move out of the way, the kunais would have had her head. Undoubtedly, the Sound girl demanded a reason.

"Damn you!" Tayuya scolded with venom dripping in her voice, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Tayuya, you're the same!" With that said, Jiroubo fired a beam directly at Tayuya but she merely destroyed it with a simple slash. Shani and Kagari were shocked to witness this, what were they doing? Having enemies who fought another like this… who needed friends?

"They are attacking their own comrades…" Kagari whispered to Shani weakly.

"Yeah…" Shani said back not believing this either.

"You're the one who's annoying, Jiroubo!" Kidoumaru shouted loudly in chide. Suddenly, he yelled slightly but the twitching was completely noticeable. The Uzumaki twins only watched in stun not knowing what on earth was happening to him. It was then when they took their eyes on the other two.

Tayuya also looked as if she was in pain but her trembling did not seem to be too serious.

Jiroubo, lastly, tried to hold in the agony by gritting his teeth.

Of course, the Uzumaki duo did not understand what in blazes was going on. Within a few seconds of struggling, Tayuya could not withstand it anymore and began to shake and jolt uncontrollably as if she was on high on drugs -in fact, she really was. However, she did not appear to be close to being comfortable. Jiroubo and Kidoumaru both remained calm in the most convincing way as possible but Shani could tell they were experiencing the same torment.

"No… is it time already… Kidoumaru!" screeched the South Sound nin with evident distress.

"Kuso!" cursed Kidoumaru in a terror scream before he shot out a web to attach it into the tree branches and swinging out of action while taking Jiroubo midway and disappearing into the woods. Tayuya, despite she did not want to retreat, forced herself to follow her comrades and also withdrawn from the battlefield.

Shani and Kagari simply witness and absorbed everything that was displayed in front of them, which was so shocking that it even got them to forget that they were injured and drained. How were they truly feeling, they did not even know but mere "shocked" did not even describe it. As the two shinobis landed on the ground, Kagari immediately fell on the ground when her damaged leg made contact. Fortunately, the older twin managed to catch her before she hurt herself even more. When Kagari felt such security from her older brother, her face immediately flushed up.

"You have to be more careful, Kagari-chan," warned the Death Knight as he picked her up bridal style. The girl, however, didn't seem to hear him but only watching his face filled with concern. When her lips formed another caring smile, Shani did not know how to react. She was so reckless to have helped him and yet if she didn't he would have been more than likely to be killed. Just as he wanted to slap her so she would not smile anymore, he did not have the heart to do it when she turned her head to the right before falling asleep.

"Oni-chan…" she whispered dreamily in her slumber thus making his heart wanting to melt. Next, she took his lips into a sweet kiss, and Shani nearly fell over when he experienced the tenderness. Giving off another airy sigh as he retracted, the Death Knight placed his sister onto his back safely before taking flight once again back to the district of Konoha. Shani could not tell how the other Konoha shinobis performed during their battles, all he could pray for was hopefully they defended their designated spot well. After checking one last time that there were no more intruders in this vicinity, the Death Knight finally made an impulse to head back.

Furthermore, one thought still roamed in his head questioningly, why did those three decided to retreat? It just didn't make any sense…

(At the outskirts of Konoha)

"What…" Akira spoke to no one in particular when his eyes detected three people were heading towards their hideout. Just when he was preparing to intercept them, he noticed it was those three as they gotten closer. Akira thought that they would be looking for him but he knew his assumptions were wrong when he watched them enter the infirmary, or better yet the medical room.

Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru, still in pain, kicked down the door that accessed to the infirmary recklessly. Of course, that action alerted the doctors and medics who were inside. Seeing the elite soldiers have returned but did not seem to have achieved the goal of infiltrating Konoha, the doctors -in a very unfriendly and uncaring manner- approached them as the three fell on the ground unable to maintain their balance.

"What is the meaning of this?" questioned the doctor who was in charge, "You guys have not completed your mission yet." However, those kinds of talks did not please Tayuya one bit.

"Kuso!" she screamed in a screech with saliva and sweat dripping from all over her face and lips as if she was insane. Kidoumaru had no strength to even yell, all he simply did was twitch with pain continuing to purge through his entire system. Jiroubo suffered the same way. What did the doctors do now? Like ten years ago, they just examined them without a hint of concern or compassion.

"Orochimaru," called the Paladin from his radio hoping the other end would pick up. When Akira had some acknowledgement that Orochimaru picked up, he continued with his statement, "The Three have returned."

"Returned?" the sannin asked back not satisfied at all, "Why?"

"Looks like the medicine's effects have worn out already." Akira replied easily.

"Damn it… at a timing like this?"

"Yeah… Hey, what should we do now? How should we proceed?"

"We cannot commence the operation without them… and I simply can't let Kiba stay out there for too long either, we can't afford any more unnecessary casualties… Akira, give off the signal flares for all the troops to fall back and regroup, we can wait until another time."

"Call them back?" Akira questioned to make sure if he heard correctly, "But…"

"I know it may reveal our position but we got no other choice. Besides, Tsunade already has an idea that our forces may be out here since our attacks were on the West Gate. As long as Konoha does not have the strength to push us away, it will be okay." The Paladin decided to think about this logic before answering, after thinking of no faults, he agreed. Giving a nod, Akira received and carried out the plans.

'Those worthless bastards' Orochimaru said in his head angrily while walking towards elsewhere to tie up any loose ends.

"Fire the signal flares!" ordered the Paladin to a cannon holder, "We need everyone to regroup."

"What for, sir?" asked the soldier with respect, "The operation isn't complete yet."

"I know that, soldier," Akira interrupted him although he did not want to, "We cannot continue this without Tayuya and the others, the rest of the troops will be more likely to be killed if they stay in Konoha grounds lacking their support. Just tell your team to launch the signal flares!"

"Got it, Akira-sama!" he declared with a salute before taking off. In less than a few seconds, the squadron fired their small fireworks to the skies calling the other men to fall back.

(Meanwhile)

Kiba watched in absolute horror as another of his feral hounds turned into shreds of flesh meat before disappearing in a puff of smoke. How could they kill them with such ease? It did not seem that Hinata or Naruto were close to break a sweat and yet over half the hounds were already destroyed or pummeled. From the side, one of his feral spirits leaped at the Death Knight attempting to rip off his head in a death bite. Yet, Naruto, using a bit of thrust, made the hound land onto his left arm instead of his skull. In a turn of events, the army knife instantly plowed through the body thus a waterfall of blood came forth. As the Death Knight lowered his arm, the hound fell dead immediately.

Hinata also proved herself to be a deadly and lethal shinobi when she performed the Kaiten without difficult. Whirling two hounds into the air at once, she immediately added in the Fan of Knives as a combo to deal additional damage. Once the searing chakra shards pierced through one of the dogs, it disintegrated into nothing in less than a second. For the second victim, she generated her chakra into her palm before launching three sets of Mana Burn upward and each shot blasting through the dog's vital organs mercilessly. Having no doubts about it, Kiba knew his hounds stood no chance.

"Death Coil!" called out the Death Knight as he made a horizontal slash with his runeblade and a coil of death was unleashed. Although one hound leaped away to evade, the one behind was not so fortunate. As of result, the Death Coil literally decayed its face leaving the head nothing more than a skeleton. Of course, it was dead once that happened.

"Do you think you can hit me with just that?" questioned Hinata smirking a rare dark grin. Even if it may be completely going overboard, Hinata did not care. What was she doing, she was performing the noble Hyuga taijutsu arts of the Gentle Fist. Was it necessary for the Hyuga girl to fight at her near maximum -since she only used the Gentle Fist if she needed to gain the advantage- the answer would be no. Yet, it had been a while that Hinata actually used it again other than training with Kagari. Even though she may be skilled, if she only resorted to one set of fighting skills, the others would rust up and become defective.

"Jyuuken!" she declared once her hands made the first two-fingered stab. In a coordinated fashion, Hinata quickly struck another set of 32 right at random before slamming her palm into the hound's face. As the spirit animal flew back by the force and stamina, it also vanished into thin air like its comrades and friends. Hinata soon landed in a graceful leap and posture, her eyes were swimming with hidden fury as she tilted her head up slightly. Kiba began to terror sweat finally realizing that he would not stand a chance against these two together. He was out of options once again.

"They were hardly a fight," said Naruto, whose mouth was smiling sinisterly, "You're next."

"Just like twelve years ago," added Hinata also stepping forward to stand beside her husband, "You're trapped and have no one to help you. Unlike last time, you will not get away." Did that make Kiba worried about his chances of survival? A normal person with fear certainly should but he refused to be intimidated. Besides, it wasn't like he was out of tricks yet.

"I wouldn't talk so soon, Death Knight…" hissed the beast manipulator with another cocky grin, "Don't think that I am stupid, do you serious expect that I would take on you two if I knew I would die in your hands? I, Inuzuka Kiba, am a prepared man." Naruto just raised a brow pretending to be shocked. Obviously, his passive face made it as if his expression did not change at all.

"Entertain me then," the Death Knight demanded serenely. Kiba smiled in return.

"Gladly." After his reply, Kiba started on another form and series of hand seals. Hinata paid close attention to his hands looking quite impressed but Naruto -undoubtedly- just watched without saying a word. If he gave any sign of praising an enemy for their skills and talent, it only meant giving his opponent a set of confidence that may put himself to a disadvantage. Although Naruto had never see this before, he could tell it was another summoning technique.

"Summoning technique!" shouted Kiba as he slammed his palm onto the ground. In spite that nothing seemed to have happened after that, the feeling of chakra certainly proved itself otherwise. Both Naruto and Hinata knew something was here, the chakra signature and presence was so thick that a blind man without any capabilities of being a ninja could detect it. Would this be considered something that failed in stealth? Definitely yes, but it also told people this whatever it was could complete its job well without trouble. As the smoke cleared, since Naruto had his teal eyes engaged, he jerked back noticeably when he realized what it was; Hinata did the same.

"What is that, Naruto?" the Hyuga girl asked him no louder than a murmur.

"A twin headed hell hound?" Naruto seethed back in a question. Hinata knew he was worried, "Damn it… I thought Calamity and Raider told me these things were extinct… How the hell did this thing become something in your control, Kiba?" This dog was not massive. To be accurate, it was only considered a larger hound. However, not only was it pitch dark from head to toe, it appeared to be very hungry and more than likely to be lusting for blood. Moreover, it had one tail and splitting into two whips in the middle. As it continued to sway, Naruto easily told himself this thing was one hundred and ten percent dangerous. It may appear to be a starving death hound, Hinata easily noted to herself that something more must have happened to it, the darkness on its aura was too great to be anything in the ordinary.

"Orochimaru and some of the other elites such as myself had experimented on a hound a several years back. It was a normal dog then until we purged it with dark energies and trained it specifically loyal to only me. This pet of mine was specifically made to take you down, Death Knight. You will finally pay for stealing Hinata away from me!"

"For the last time, Kiba," Hinata scolded angrily, "I never loved you!"

"Silence, woman! Your husband will die today regardless of your feelings! I will show you the true feeling of helplessness as your dear Naruto perishes in front of your eyes! Go, my summoned hound, see that man and woman over there? That is your dinner! Do as you please!" With incredible agility, it attempted to tackle the Death Knight in a wild dash. Fortunately for Naruto -who had mastered the arts of being an assassin- he instantly leaped high to the air evading a death bite swiftly. Hinata gasped with unknown fear when she had no idea that the hound actually was inches away from biting her flesh, luckily its attention was all on Naruto for it pursued him by following suit and leaping to the air.

The Hyuga girl could not afford to just stand here and gape as her husband tried to survive this fight. Although she wanted to join him so his chances of winning would increase but Hinata knew better than to do that since Naruto preferred battling alone. Watching Kiba laughing maniacally in the edge of her eye, the Hyuga girl finally figured her next plot. All she could hope now was for Naruto to stand his ground for a bit longer as she soon became invisible using Wind Walk. She would personally thank Sakura for this when this was all over.

"Shit!" cursed the Death Knight as he slammed his blade into the twin headed freak's face. His objective was to damage the face but it became a failure as the hound opened it mouth thus the weapon struck the fangs. If this was an ordinary animal, Naruto would've easily crumpled its teeth so it would never have a chance to have meat for meals again. What totally thrown Naruto off guard was the fangs were harder than titanium, after hearing that bang sound when metal clashed with metal, the Death Knight knew he was in for it. If Naruto could read dog faces, he would've known that the hound just made a dark grin, and without any warning at all it tackled him hard.

"It's over, Death Knight!" chanted Kiba loudly giving a punch to the air, "You will be nothing but a chew toy when he is done with you!"

"Captain Kiba!" someone called from the trees catching Kiba's attention immediately. Facing the newcomer, his eyes narrowed at the Sound soldier's attitude. He may not be disrespecting anyone but Kiba could tell that that man was trying to retreat when the mission was clearly not done, "You're still here?"

"What do you mean I am still here?" questioned the beast master raising a brow in confusion, "Of course I would be. You should be working too!"

"Didn't you see the retreat signal?" asked the soldier pointing to the sky, "It flared two minutes ago."

"How come though?"

"I heard that those Three retreated."

"No way…" Kiba whispered in awe but not in fascination however. It was more like he was shocked that time went by so quickly without him actually noticing, "We can't leave yet."

"How come? Akira-sama told us that this is a direct order from Orochimaru-sama. We have to go."

"I got you!" yelled Hinata as she appeared in the air out of nowhere since she was in her Wind Walk. The Sound soldier immediately flinched defensively as Kiba threw two kunais at her knowing he had no time to worry about jutsu counters. He was too careless. To his surprise, Hinata suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke and revealed a double of herself in a Kage Bunshin thus the kunais whizzed by through her leaving her completely unharmed.

Furthermore, due to the fact that she only made one additional copy, the clone obviously had capabilities to at least half the strength of the original Hinata. In a twist of movements, the clone shifted her hands to her front waist area allowing her back to be facing Kiba but she was actually powering her chakra around her hand. After turning back with a charged blast, the replication instantly fired beam knives in a shotgun style fashion. Kiba tried to defend with a dagger but the shots struck all over his body and ignited to mess up his balance. Seizing this perfect chance, the real Hinata unsheathed one of her own set of 15-inch twin daggers before gliding at Kiba with her angel wings completely outstretched and giving off a battle cry.

Kiba smirked cockily before reaching his pouch for a several highly explosive bombs. Once Hinata reached a tab too close, he whipped it at her and it exploded ferociously and fierily at the point where it made contact with her skin. No doubt the heiress screamed out loud as the pained seared through her body, the replication could not do a thing but to watch all this with fear. Next, from within the smoke, Hinata suddenly flew out with her main objective completely unchanged, the only difference was that she had both daggers in her hands. Kiba, without question, never would've expected such a move.

Just when he was about to gasp with surprise, Hinata was already in front of him with her daggers filled with raw demonic chakra. Although her movements were a deliberate statement of grace and beauty, it also carried a deep sense of brutality. With a devious swipe with her left hand, she immediately slashed off both of Kiba's hands and the blood gushed out from the wounds and smeared all over Hinata's clothing and face. The pain was unlike anything that he experienced before, it was even worse than Naruto's runeblade tearing his flesh, and definitely even more significant than the time Hinata kicked him in the nuts.

At the next instant, in a spin, Hinata forcefully jammed her right dagger -with overpowering chakra- into a crucial body part of his, the heart. As the weapon punctured through Kiba's heart, the victim immediately screamed in torment as the chakra irregularities overwhelmed his system. It may only be a few seconds in reality but within that short amount of time, much had happened. Kiba suffered from internal bleeding, his chakra vessels popped apart due to the improper mixture, his vital organs were soon electrocuted and completely destroyed, and he was only a few steps away from death. As the punctured wound sparked a several short flares of chakra, Kiba soon began to fall back in an absolute helpless state with the Hinata replication looking very shocked. In less than a second, Kiba exploded and all was left was bit of flesh and a rainfall of blood.

"Captain Kiba!" the Sound soldier exclaimed with total panic not believing what his eyes told him, "Crap…" He knew he had to move or the heiress would kill him as well. Once he noticed that Hinata flashed a stare at him, he quickly jolted and took off.

"I won't let you escape…" Hinata said as she fired her Mana Burns consecutively but only to have hit the trees and leaves since the soldier took cover behind them before running off at top speed. Hinata cursed to herself as she dispelled her clone, she then moved her eyes to where Naruto was and made a small signal to him to give him a hidden message. Once Naruto broke free from the sword and fang weapon clash, he immediately achieved a bit of altitude before allowing his teal eyes to spot Hinata. The Death Knight's face soon showed a smirk, and finally had a conscious effort to end this fight.

The hell hound's will was undoubtedly persistent; Naruto would give him enough credit for that. As it attempted to make a twin bite on both Naruto's shoulders, the assailant quickly used Blink to teleport himself at the rear of the beast with his blade pointing directly at its body. If he couldn't fight head on since its offensive at the head was as efficient as its defense, the Death Knight just had to come up with another strategy.

"It's over… Death Flame…" After declaring his attack, a massive deathly green inferno blasted out from the blade of his sword. In a mere instant, the wild beast screeched in pain and agony before the fires overpowered his strength thus disintegrating him and anything in its path. Once Naruto saw an explosion within his own onslaught, he grinned wider before dropping the jutsu. Giving a sigh of fatigue and wanting to sit down, Naruto sheathed back his weapon before relaxing himself from the previous tension. However, someone was more than willing to relax with him as her angel wings surrounded him and pulled him close to her embrace. Naruto, obviously, knew who that was.

"Naruto…" murmured Hinata as her arms tightened around his torso before she kissed him on the cheek. "We did it… we really did." She then rested her head in his chest and breathed in his scent with a touch of charming actions, and Naruto simply smiled at her before kissing her tender forehead.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto spoke in cooing voice, "You were amazing just now."

"I killed him…" the Hyuga girl told her husband as she looked at her blood stained hands, "I killed Kiba… I actually killed Kiba… and I don't feel a thing… I actually liked it… Is there something wrong with me, Naruto?" Her husband only caressed her cheek lovingly with an evident passion to secure her. Hinata's cheeks began to flush up again since she loved it when he was so caring.

"It's okay, Hinata-chan," he reasoned softly as his arms went around her narrow waist, "It's going to be alright, really. You hated Kiba and if you didn't kill him… he will always come back to haunt us and will always return with tougher opponents or new tactics. You did the right thing… you truly did."

"But I… I don't feel… no… I feel guilty that I don't feel a thing… why is that, Naruto?"

"Maybe it's because you knew Kiba personally," explained Naruto in her ear so he could comfort her at the same time. "I know you have killed many in your life, Hinata, but yet you have no regret or remorse to end their life since you didn't know them; there is no history behind it. But with Kiba… you knew him… I knew him… and killing him is similar to killing something within our hearts. We should be aching that he is dead but the fact is that we don't. It's confusing, isn't it, Hinata?"

"Yes…" she gave her response no louder than a squeak.

"Like I said before, it's not your fault nor did he deserve it. It's just it has to be done, don't feel bad about it, Hinata-chan."

"I love you, Naruto-kun," she said peacefully before holding him warmly again.

"I love you, too, Hinata-chan," replied her husband, "We have to get back, we need to report this to Tsunade so we have one less worry to worry about." Once he tried to break the embrace and wanting to retreat, he somehow could not break the hold. He reacted slightly when he saw his wife's demanding eyes, he clearly knew she wanted to remain like this for a while and absorb all the warmth she could receive from him. Hinata loved intimacy from him wherever it may be. "Hinata, we need to get back."

"But…"

"We should see if Shani and Kagari are okay, you do know that they were fighting at the South end just now." Hinata's eyes widened with shock, she completely forgot about them. "I cannot pick up anything right now… it looks like the battle over there has subsided but I am not sure if they are killed or not. Knowing them, I am sure Shani must have gotten back." Hinata nodded hurriedly and immediately kissed her husband. Not wanting another second to be wasted, Hinata immediately took flight leaving Naruto sighing to himself before he followed his wife. The Hyuga girl could be so passionate at loving her children at times, Naruto only hoped nothing would go wrong.

(Meanwhile at a small encampment in Konoha)

"Good work, everyone," said Tsunade inside the temporary military meeting hall where all the action was. Needless to say, this place was gigantic and it was underneath the Hokage statue monuments at the north end. As she walked past everyone with a several words of encouragement, she noticed the other wounded shinobis and survivors were currently resting and eating as Tsunade continued her words. "Although I am not sure why they retreated so suddenly, but I know they will be more than likely to attack us again… Please, just be careful and I wish you all the best. I pray that Kami-sama would watch over all of us." It was then when the small gate opened to reveal two weary youngsters, Shani and Kagari -with the girl sleeping on his back and the boy seemed exhausted himself.

"Could anyone… please… take my sister to somewhere that she can rest…" coughed the Death Knight as he was about to fall. Fortunately, Tsunade quickly caught his head before he smashed it on the ground. Despite how much the boy wanted to smile back with gratefulness, all he could do was pant and intake air deeply. He was completely drained; Tsunade could not believe that he was still awake. "Grandmother…" that was Shani's name for the Hokage since Tsunade took responsibility to be Shani, Kagari, and Hikaru's grandmother, "Take Kagari-chan to…"

"What about you, Shani?" asked the Hokage in disbelief that her grandson did not care for his own health and safety. "You are bleeding!"

"I'll be fine…" groaned the Forbidden child, "Just take her…"

"You need to rest, too, Shani!" she shouted at his arrogance, "If you don't, you will be dead from the internal injuries! Shizune, come." Promptly, her attendant arrived beside the Hokage and took the weight off Shani's shoulders. The young Death Knight relaxed significantly after Kagari was off his back but tiredness was still plastered all over her features. At the same time, children -who had parents working as Shinobis began to enter from another entrance so they could be reunited with their family- came in. Yamase, Umi, Asuran, Kuroto, Tsubasa, and Hikaru were shocked to see their two friends nearly at wasted stage. Although they were only suffering from exhaustion, they still worried.

"Shani!" came a voice from afar, and the Death Knight half-curiously watched as his friends ran over to him. The Forbidden child knew that was Asuran, "Hey, dude, you okay? Why did you go out and not enter with us? You could've been killed!"

"You are such an idiot…" added Tsubasa very lazily yet worry was all over her words.

"Shani… man… what happened out there?" Hikaru questioned trying to be as supportive as possible.

"I don't think Shani should be talking to you guys right now," explained Tsunade as she isolated Shani from the group of children who were becoming genins, "I will take it here from now. He would be fine after I treat him, so don't worry about it."

"But, Hokage-sama…" argued Umi extremely concerned, "Will he be okay?"

"He is only drained from stamina, Umi," explained the Hokage warmly with much faith in her words, "Shani is strong to make out of this with no problem, he has been through a lot more than simple drainage." Umi looked very doubtful and wanted to see for herself if her admirer was truly okay. It was just her luck when Tsunade tilted her body unintentionally so she got a view of him, Umi was surprised that his hair was brushed aside but his left hand still covered it in a very tired manner. His heavy breathing certainly served as a hint, and his eye only showed nothing but frustration.

The young Death Knight then followed the Hokage's lead and went into a resting room or more so the small infirmary for chakra restoration. Asuran looked over to the bed that Kagari was in, he seriously did not believe his eyes earlier when he saw the girl taking into the skies too when she was ordered to enter the shelter. What was she thinking doing something that dangerous to jeopardize her own life, wasn't Shani's action worrisome enough? Asuran rubbed his own hair in a groan, he did not know if Shani's influence rubbing off on her was such a good thing. However, if Kagari did not follow him, Asuran would not even know if Shani would've made it back safely or be killed. Nonetheless, he was glad that Shani was alive.

Kuroto merely grunted with tightened fist while witnessing everything that was given to him; he simply hated being weak and powerless. Like Shani said before, why sit back and wait for other people to take care of things when they had the full capacity to do it themselves? Kuroto could not justify himself at all, he just followed orders and hid safely while others such as Shani did everything for them. Was he that useless? If he went out there, could he have made a difference by just a little?

He trained daily with Shani as well along with Kagari and Asuran, his skills shouldn't be in any insufficiency if he actually engaged into combat, but yet why did he stay behind? Kuroto could not allow himself to fall behind like this, Shani and Kagari had already met in an actual battle while he was lagging behind in skills. The next time this happened, Kuroto would not simply allow this to slide; he needed to be stronger to protect his family, to defend this home, and most importantly to survive for the sake of the minimal number of Uchihas remaining.

Yamase just prayed everything was okay… at this point although she was deadly worried about both her relatives' health, she also wondered why her parents did not show up yet, did anything happen to them? Then she suddenly recalled her own sister who was still in the mansion, but she calmed herself knowing the Hyuga mansion is not easily penetrated and Kari was more than likely to be okay. At the same time, she desperately wanted some of the things Shani and Kagari witnessed out there; it appeared that would have to wait until their small operations were over.

(At the same time, in the outskirts…)

"Are you sure you would want to do this, Orochimaru…" Akira asked the sannin in an very exasperated and irritated voice, "You do know that you are not making this operation go any smoother for doing this." Orochimaru was listening but his eyes weren't looking at the blond Paladin, the sannin was more focussed at the lowered level room that was in front of him. The glass he was looking through was from the higher area, therefore he could see everything inside. Who were within the room? It was those Three.

Kidoumaru collapsed on the door wearily and in pain, he even gasped heavily as if he was lacking air. In truth, it was immensely painful that he had trouble breathing -although his lungs in theory were fine. Jiroubo was on the floor; eyes bulging widely; his hands holding his abdomen as if it was about to burst. Tayuya was lying on the bed holding the blankets and biting it as if that was her life. Anyone who had some common sense would notice she was only trying to hold in the agony. In the corner of her eyes, tears were leaking out. No doubts that all three of them were undergoing another wave of anguish; Akira wondered how long they could actual last like this.

"You are always so kind aren't you, Akira," questioned the snake sannin smirking an amused smirk, "You are way too soft."

"But what good is it if you punish them like this?" reasoned the Paladin trying to argue, "If you don't do any of this, we should be still attacking Konoha right now and dominate! We are not only stalling our own operations, we are also giving our enemy time to recover! We are putting ourselves at the corner here!"

"It isn't like our troops don't need rest, Akira," justified Orochimaru collectively, "If we continue too recklessly, we would be wasting and tiring out our forces before the final attacks are over. We can't let that happen, can we now?"

"However, you are letting your elite soldiers die…"

"They may be in pain but their chakra is recovering at normal rate, that's what rest is all about, right?"

"But they are your elite-"

"It is because they are elite soldiers, that gives them more of a reason to show me the results I ask from them. I hope the next assault would not be a mere demonstration. Kiba took this thing too lightly and the cost of it was his life, I can't have my only three men being as careless as their bitch loving captain."

"I still can't believe we lost such a critical loss today… this shouldn't have been the case…"

"Then we must be more careful with these three." Orochimaru finished firmly, "I will deal with them in the early morning, it's already the late evening after all and fighting at night is not something in our favour. We will commence the next attack then. You and I should get some rest ourselves, Akira."

"Yeah…" agreed the Paladin before leaving the area with Orochimaru. Akira took one last look behind before leaving, an expression of pure empathy never left his face until he truly left the vicinity.

(At the Konoha encampment, Tsunade's temporary meeting room)

"Shani-chan!" exclaimed Hinata extremely relieved to see her son perfectly well. Although Shani had a blindfold on with his headphones in his ears, he could hear his mother's joyous cries through his music. The precise moment he knew Hinata was here, he received a very passionate embrace from her. Hinata was so alleviated that she didn't know her own strength, "You're okay… Oh, I was so worried about you!" Several tears seamed through her eyelids, Naruto -with Kagari in his arms- knew his wife was crying, "How could you do something so dangerous?"

"…" Shani's face was bright red, not because his friends and other adults were here, it was because his face was on Hinata's breasts when she embraced him. "Kaa…" When Hinata felt breathing on a forbidden part of her body, she quickly realized where her son's face was. Hinata quickly loosened him a bit so he could look at her directly as he removed his blindfold.

"Sorry…" the Hyuga girl replied shyly.

"Yeah…" Shani said back not carrying a lot of emotions, but his cheeks were blushing. As he heard Tsubasa giggling at his embarrassment, the Death Knight merely gave her the "one eyed stare".

"How could you go out there when Iruka told you to stay out of the town?" Hinata suddenly changed her tone of voice to a disappointed one. Naruto, the adults, and the children quickly felt a very distressed aura from her. "You disobeyed his orders and nearly gotten yourself killed! How could you not think about the possible consequences and acted on your own? Did you think about how your friends would feel if you got hurt? Did you ever even considered how your father and I would feel if you got killed?"

"If I didn't go, all of you people would not be standing right here having this conversation, mother," Shani spoke back without any remorse or guilt. Hinata could not believe what she was hearing, by the sound of his voice; she believed that Shani felt her judgment was wrong.

"He only suffered from exhaustion, Hinata," Tsunade told her trying to defend her grandson. Surprisingly, Hinata gave the Hokage a very cold glare. The Hyuga girl was the mother after all, Tsunade -despite her Hokage title- did not have the power to step in.

"You're the same as your father, Shani!" scolded the heiress that made Rin and Gaara move back slightly. Yamase and Umi never expected such an angered force from their peaceful aunt, even they began to cower behind their parents as Shani took every blow, "Reckless, having your emotions as your tool in life, never listen to others, always endangering yourself, not loving yourself enough!" She then even glared at Naruto and Kagari but more on her husband, "You never made an effort to teach him better things, Naruto! You always let him do whatever he wants while he should be doing things that are good for him. Because of this, he is becoming exactly like you and he also influenced Kagari to be like that too!"

"Hinata," said Neji calming her down by restraining her lightly, "You're going too far!"

"No, I am not!" the girl retorted angrily.

"If Shani and Kagari didn't go out, we would've suffered over twice as much," Rin stated trying to defend her nephew. Although she understood why Hinata would be so upset, at the same time, Rin would also be very proud if Hikaru helped out. The Kamishiro girl could not grasp why Hinata did not look at the larger picture and viewed things so narrowly. She wanted to tell her but she also wasn't in any position to tell Hinata what she should do, "I know those Three that Itachi-sempai told us before were the people that engaged Shani and Kagari."

"I know that, Rin," Hinata answered with a more calm voice than a few seconds ago, "That is exactly why I was so worried… I can't believe that my son and daughter battled THEM, they would have been killed if they did…"

"I know I don't have the power to say this, mother," the little Death Knight spoke with a voice that carried no hint of sadness, anger, or happiness. "I am not trying to sound righteous either. But if Kagari and I did not defend the South gate a lot more men would've been killed since those Three managed to kill over thirty men in less than three minutes of the war,"

The adults paid very close attention to the boy at that moment but turned when Kagari leaped off her father's arms and stood beside her brother.

"The South Gate was completely defenseless in an instant, and none of you would even notice that happening due to the fact that you all had your own tasks to carry out," explained the Uzumaki girl serenely, "Moreover, those Three could easily penetrate the town and our efforts of hiding to safety would be in vain if we didn't do something to stop it. If we engaged them at the shelters, more people would get hurt. "

"What if you got hurt, Kagari?" questioned Hinata in a voice that she didn't use when she was talking to Shani, "It's our job as adults and shinobis of Konoha to defend this village. You are only a child, you shouldn't be doing these kind of things that can jeopardize you."

"I know, kaa-chan," the Uzumaki girl retorted, "But like I said before, we do not have enough people now since the invasion was extremely sudden. A majority of the shinobis were killed as if they were nothing. Even though we might have survived, the Sound still is in the advantageous position in terms of having numbers. We lost more than we gained, and we have no choice but to do something if we have the ability to."

"You worry too much, Hinata," Naruto expressed himself in a relaxed fashion; he wasn't even angry or disappointed that his children went out to defend their home. In fact, if they actually followed Iruka's instructions, he was certain that the village would suffer from more damages and casualties. Of course, Naruto would be frightened if anything happened to them but somehow he had great faith in both Chaos and Forbidden to keep their children safe, "Shani and Kagari are growing up after all, it is only a matter of time before they have their very first battle experience. I am just stunned to hear that their first opponents were those three elites."

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered with a grunt and a sigh, "You are too carefree about this. These are our children, our light, our future, my loved ones…"

"I didn't say they aren't, Hinata," stated the Death Knight in a solemn voice all of a sudden, "But you do know that this is inevitable. Whether it is today or tomorrow or even next month, Kagari, Shani, and the rest of their friends in this room would become genins -the official ninjas of Konoha. Eventually they would engage the process of combat and other extremes, can you always be like this and baby them as if they would be babies forever? They need to grow up, and despite how much I do not want them to fight in a war that they have minimal chances of winning, I do not think I have the right or mind to stop what they believe in."

"Naruto…" Hinata murmured as the adults continued to listen patiently.

"Hinata, you have to let them go, you must give them the choice of freedom. I know that Kagari and Shani would not do something as stupid as giving up their own lives and practically wasting their talents and opportunities, but you just can't protect them like they are little infants. Although it may be a bit soon, we have to let them choose what is right for the sake of Konoha… they need to defend themselves so they could survive through this. You do know that, right?" The Hyuga girl nodded in a sniff, the others only looked away slightly to ponder in their own thoughts. Just thinking that their children becoming involved with the outside world made all the parents frown, it reminded them of the old days where the Sound first invaded.

They were ignorant to a degree. All of them believed that life would be simple and followed a path. Becoming an academy student; then soon become a genin and complete basic missions to have a taste of the real world; then promote to a chunnin to experience more exciting and valuable experiences and possibly even do some killing; promoting to a jounin and become a genin instructor so they could bless the children with hope and strength; then hopefully get married and have children and a family; and when they got old, they could enjoy life and reflect upon it. However, things were never what they seemed to be. All of them remembered their first chunnin exam, which gave them a very clear picture of what the outside world was truly like.

Greed, hatred, jealousy, envy, desperation, corruption, poverty, torture, these were merely basic examples of what they witnessed. Every moment in their life they had easily discarded that these factors existed but when they got involved in it, it was similar to an explosive igniting in their faces. They were so ignorant that the Sound had eyes on Konoha the entire time; they had no clue that the Akatsuki were searching around the world hoping to find the most powerful beings for their cause; it was so overwhelming to realize all the corruptions, and damn hell they were disgusted that they were so negligent. For the same reason, that was why all of them did not want their children to get involved so soon but yet the facts were in front of them, the children would know eventually.

"I am sure that your mother is very proud of you, Shani," said Rin with a great smile as she patted her nephew on the head. The Uzumaki boy only grinned back but his next words destroyed Hinata's heart.

"My mother is not proud of me, Auntie Rin," the Death Knight declared with a very straight face, "If she was, she would not have blamed me for anything that I have done. I did not fight because I wanted to be regarded as a hero, all I wanted to do was to protect the people I care about or they would be destroyed by now. Yet all I received was how reckless I was, how retarded I was to do such a thing. I do not do the right things to be yelled at, and if mother wishes to jeopardize my home because she doesn't want her little Shani-chan to fight, I will pray that Kami-sama damns her to hell for believing such trash." Kagari put her hands in front of her mouth, completely frightened at what he was saying.

"Oni-chan…"

"If you love to deny the things that are happening around you, mother," continued the Forbidden child now directing his words totally at Hinata, "I do not want your affection for I refuse to receive it from a coward. You have made me lost all my respect for you, I don't want someone like you to be a nuisance in my life. By the way, if you were actually the Hokage, I am more than certain that all of us would be executed since you won't do anything about it."

"You don't mean that… do you, Shani-chan?" Hinata asked on a verge of breaking down. Naruto knew just how vulnerable she could be although she was always taught to be strong. Shani just smirked to respond.

"When do I kid about these things?" he countered with a question, "I hate you, mother, for being overprotective of me and never minding your own business in my life." Naruto and Kagari jerked once they heard it, the room was dead silent and the tension between mother and son continued to increase as each second went by. Hinata was devastated where as Shani still stared at her without any feeling, he did not appear to be joking at all.

"What did you say, Shani?" Hinata asked her question no louder than a whisper. Tears were flooding her eyes but it didn't come out just yet. Her son smiled again with dark delight.

"I hate you, you got a problem with that?" The casualness in his voice was not fake, and it was that point where Hinata broke down in tears. Naruto immediately rushed to his wife's side as she wept like he had never seen before, and surprisingly he did not even glare or appear angry with Shani. Out of the blue, the Hyuga heiress pushed him away and ran out of the room hurriedly. Naruto and the others also followed her so Hinata would not do anything crazy, the Death Knight could not believe that this meeting turned into a family crisis. However, he somehow expected it knowing how Shani's attitude was similar to his but much more insulting and dark; it was only a matter of time before the little one spoke his mind. Not regarding anything else, Naruto hurriedly ran after his wife waiting for her to stop and let everything out.

Hinata suddenly Blinked away while Naruto was still following her. Activating his bloodline limit immediately, he found out that she teleported onto the roof of the building. Forming a set of hand seals, he soon copied her technique and appeared on the roof as well. Hinata curled herself into a ball with her back facing him, he obviously could tell she was crying and suffering from depression. He did not know how to proceed this at all, he only followed his instincts and sat next to her with his arms pulling her closer so he could hug her.

"Go away…" she insisted with her voice behind her arms, "I want to be alone…"

"Hinata…" Naruto groaned as he guided her nearer trying to coo her, "It's me. Come on, don't be like this…"

"You hate me too…" she replied still sniffing and her voice was trembling with despair, "I know you do hate me… everyone hates me…"

"Shani doesn't hate you, Hinata-chan," encouraged Naruto as both his arms were around her warmly, hopefully she would be better but he knew it would take more than that, "No one hates you, we could never hate you. You know, he still loves you."

"No, he doesn't… he never lies to me. He hates me… my son hates me…" Her previous aura was now replaced with a depressing one, the Death Knight wanted to do anything to see her smile again but he knew only Shani could do that now. All Naruto was capable of doing was for her not to fall deeper into her own grief. When Hinata finally leveled her head so her eyes could meet Naruto's, it immediately flooded with tears again before she practically tackled the Death Knight into an embrace. No doubt she was still crying. "My only son hates me!"

"No, he doesn't…"

"Yes, he does!" she screamed finally, "I am a bad mother! I don't know how to make my son happy! I know Kagari doesn't like me either and eventually she would hate me as well! My son… he hates me…" Hinata couldn't take it any longer, she then wept heavily on Naruto's shoulder.

Being her faithful husband, Naruto embraced her and allowed her to cry. After all, it would be quite demolishing to the heart if his children detested him. Sadly enough, if Naruto was in Shani's shoes, he would've said the same thing -of course he didn't dare to say that now when Hinata was under so much hurt.

"Believe me, Hinata-chan," he reasoned with the most appealing voice he could adjust to, "Shani can never hate you, he was just very angry that you never had faith in him in anything where he always showed so much promise in everything he did." Hinata suddenly stopped her crying and listened to what he was trying to tell her. "He has been very upset that you always baby him, I know concern is natural for a parent but Shani wants you to believe in him yet… I don't know how I should say it… you always doubt and question his motives. For once, I am sure he would want you to allow him to be independent."

"What did I do wrong, Naruto?" she asked him with tears but her voice was stronger than trembling, "What did I do to make Shani dislike me so much? Am I a bad mother?"

"I think you are a lovely mother, Hinata-chan," he replied ever so sincerely as he kissed her on the forehead, "You have raised them to be very strong people, Hina-chan, you know that? They were willing to sacrifice their lives for the future and for the sake of this place, if you weren't there to guide them, do you think that they would have such passion? You have taught Shani and Kagari to love more than physical aspects in life because you love them so much, and they learned to love you as well."

"Naruto…" she whispered with her eyes flooding with an emotion called gratitude.

"Don't ever believe that you are a bad mother, Hina-chan," he told her again and she kissed him, "You are a great one and no one is perfect. Just trust Shani a little more, okay?" She nodded in agreement but not very enthusiastically.

"Okay… but what about Shani? Do you think Kagari is…"

"We should talk to him when he cools off," suggested Naruto still holding his wife affectionately, "He will come around, I promise." Hinata then cuddled her head into his chest and rested there as her hands reached for his and held it gently. Leaning down a little, the Death Knight planted another kiss on her forehead.

"I certainly hope so…"

"I love you, Hinata, always."

"I love you too, Naruto…" she said intimately before she gave him a gentle and yet passionate kiss.

(Several Hours Later but before the sunrise)

"Akira-sama!" exclaimed Tayuya joyfully when the Paladin entered their resting room even though she is under a lot of pain. Kidooumaru and Jiroubo scowled in a hiss but their eyes lightened up when they saw what was in his hands.

"Don't tell anyone who gave you these, okay?" Akira said as he presented what he held.

"The antidote!" Tayuya said happily as she wanted to reach for it. Akira gratefully handed all three of them the medicine and they popped the cap while their hands continued to twitch. After opening it successfully, they consumed the contents in a rush. As the medicine filled their body, the elites relaxed noticeably.

"Thank you, Akira-sama…" Kidoumaru said gratefully with a smile.

"Akira-sama!" Tayuya exclaimed again this time with great delight. In an instant, she was hugging him very tightly around the waist as she cuddled him with pure charm and fondness, "Thank you so much." Her voice sounded heavenly, Jiroubo and Kidoumaru's eyes merely narrowed at her sweetness. They knew she would never talk to them with that kind of friendship.

"Aren't you affectionate today, Tayuya," Akira said amusedly with a smile as he placed her one foot away from him so he could get to the serious stuff. However, Jiroubo beat him to it.

"You want to know what happened, right?" assumed the South Sound nin while looking at Akira with a hint of neutrality. "You want to know why we didn't infiltrate the town?"

"Exactly," said Akira with a nod, "Based on intelligence reports, Konoha's south defense should be around the same as the West End and with you three entering… it shouldn't be a stalemate."

"There were two of them…" hissed Tayuya darkly as she recalled the events before they retreated, "It was a devil… and the other was an angel…"

"What?" the Paladin inquired confusedly, "How is that possible?"

"She was beautiful," added Kidoumaru to respond, "She has wings like you, Akira-sama. Large, white, feathery, strong, she is really beautiful."

"What about the other?" Akira demanded an answer from them.

"That devil has silver hair that blocks his left eye," replied Jiroubo, "He carries a scythe and his eye has no pupil but a lavender iris." Hearing upon this news, Akira seemed very pleased. The Three did not understand how their news could be entertaining to Akira, it were only facts.

Right?

"Looks like your infiltration was not a failure after all," he finally said after five seconds of smiling, "You three have no idea what kind of news you just reported to me."

"Like what?" asked Tayuya timidly with her cheeks having a shade of pink.

"You three had engaged demons, it was no wonder why you guys had a hard time." Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru looked another confusedly for they never expected that their enemies were demons. To be blunt, they first believed that their wings were their bloodline limit. In fact, it was partially true.

"Demons?" questioned Jiroubo raising a brow.

"A Death Knight and a Paladin actually," corrected Akira in a lecturing kind of way, "And it's also very interesting that you said the Death Knight had clear, pupil-less eyes. He is also a Hyuga… these two are not your average day enemies, and the Sound can never have these people running around alive. Killing one person meant dealing with two noble families at once, talk about joy."

"What should we do, Akira-sama?" asked Tayuya catching on this exciting feeling, she wanted to kill again.

"When it's sunrise, we shall commence another attack. And once you find them, deal with them as you please but just don't bring them back here, kill them in action, do you three understand?" The elites only nodded with a too knowing smirk, they liked that idea a lot. "Demons are our enemies, so they must be killed. I can count on you three, right?" Promptly, they nodded with absolute agreement.

Sunrise came within a several hours and it was time again to take in the Gripheptan to increase their fighting potentials temporarily. As Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru discarded the small container and crushed it by stepping on it, only one goal was in their minds as they prepared to take off.

"Those two demons…" whispered Tayuya smirking sinisterly.

"They're…" added Jiroubo with silent determination.

"They're going down." finished Kidoumaru with a deadly glint in his eyes. Precisely at that point, Tayuya leaped off to the right direction, Kidoumaru launched the web string from his right arm and swung towards the forest at the left and Jiroubo followed his arachnid friend's lead. Akira –from a distance- watched his loyal comrades take off as he gave them a smirk and a salute, those Three gave one back before fully advancing at top speed.

Turning back to the headquarters, the Paladin prepared for his own mission…

AN: I will apologize if my action sucks crap, this is really not my strength. Next chapter you will see Shani's reaction and thoughts about what he said to Hinata –Of course, there will be a lot more than that but that is one of the plots. However, who will he talk to? Who is the person that will take the courage to talk to him? Give me a suggestion or I will pick at absolute random.

Kagari? Yamase? Or lastly, Umi? (Pick One)

If you guys really want me to continue with this fic and not start a new one, please tell me or you will not see another update for a very long time and I can guarantee it. I do want to start a Seed fic but if you want updates with this fic, TELL ME or I will truly delay this. With that said, please take care of yourselves out there.