Editor Note: I figured I couldn't really have a nice long story if I had only 2 characters so this chapter features TenTen, Neji, Naruto, Hinata… they are just introduced here but they'll have more scenes later on.
Ino felt as if everything suddenly had turn cold and black. The ground around her slowly filled up with blood. She fought hard as she could but there is no way for her to beat such an enemy. The assassin had succeeded in his task. She couldn't move and it will only be a matter of time before the rest of her blood is drained from her body. As the last bit of her energy left her body her eyes slowly closed. She tried to keep them open for as long as she can but her eye where getting too heavy.
Shikamaru dashed straight the open area, but he quickly found himself surrounded and severely out numbered. Even though circles of assassins blocked his view he can still hear Ino's voice disappearing from the wind. "I'll save her, and there's nothing you guys can do about it," shouted Shikamaru as he drove right into the middle of them.
The battle was fierce, although Shikamaru can easily take them down easily the large and never ending waves of assassin quickly wore him down. "I can't go on like this," breathed Shikamaru.
When he stopped to catch his breath 4 Assassin took the opportunity and attacked him from behind. Before the assassins were half way in the air when suddenly 3 quick shadow knocked them right out of the sky. The assassins fell to the ground hard. One try to get up but a figure landed on his chest and quickly knocked him out cold. This was Tenten weapon mistress of Kohona. Followed by Hinata and Naruto. Hinata has been known to be shy but one of the best healing ninja around. While on the other hand Naruto was always full of energy and seems to never know the meaning of "give up". The last assassin attack almost landed before his hand was caught and quickly thrown aside. Last to arrive was Neji he was also carrying 2 bags which looked a lot like lunches. As Ino would say it, the freaky Ninja with a pair of creepy eyes that can see through anything and has a view of almost 360 degree. "Don't worry about these losers, we'll handle them, now duck and I'll make a path for you" Tenten said right before she threw 6 kunais right at Shikamaru head level.
He ducked in the nick of time and watched as the kunais nail all 6 assassins in front of him right in the neck. "Thanks."
With that he ran straight through open path and found Ino's bloody body near the edge of the pond and the previous assassin with blood dripping of his fingers. Unlike the others he just had to deal with. This one had a golden plate on his left arm. He never seemed to have noticed it before. He suspected this was either their captain or a really unlucky assassin that just happen to lose his arm in a fight. "YOU are going to pay for what you have done," shouted Shikamaru.
He reached into his pouched and pulled out a kunai. "Hmm… he's standing in the open so I can't use my shadow techniques here and Ino is losing too much blood, she's going to die soon if this fight takes any longer than it needs to. There has to be someway to end this real quick," Shikamaru thought. Then he smiled, "looks like today is your unlucky day," whispered Shikamaru to himself. He pulled back into the shadows of the trees and disappeared.
In the mean time the fight between the large waves of assassin and the 4 Kohana ninja got fiercer. Naruto jumped right into the middle and got piled up upon. Then let loose an explosion of nasty after gas that burned both the eyes and nose of all the assassins. Hinata kept apologizing after every strike she delivered. Then Tenten let loose a barrage of shurikans into the large army. They heard the sound of assassins falling. "Yes, I'm still the queen of pain," laughed Tenten then her stomach started to growl. Neji finally decided to move and slowly forced his way into the huge crowd. Periodically throwing bodies aside or kicking them into the air. Right before he made it to Tenten an assassin cut the bag he was carrying. The sandwich fell towards the ground. As the pieces fell Neji faced turned serious and speared the assassin right into the heart. Both blood and pieces of the assassin's teeth flew out of his mouth. Then Neji caught each piece and reassembled the sandwiches in mid air and place them back into another bag.
Shikamaru reappeared across the pond and began to start bending the water with a combination of chakra and kunai. The assassin turned around only to stare into the eyes of a huge beast made completely of flowing water. He dodged Shikamaru's dragon attack and did a series of hand sign and pulled out a summoning scroll. Slamming it into the ground and called forth a giant spider. Venom dripped out of the terrifying beast mouth and the flowers around it quickly wither away. "The flowers, they're disappearing…I must… protect the flowers," Ino struggled to say. She slowly stood up, and grabbed her bleeding shoulder. "This ends now…now it's MY TURN," smirked Ino.