I apologize for the delay. I am without excuse, but hopefully this chapter will make up for it, as it is one of the best. Not only does it set up for some of the most important battles in the story, it includes one that I like for unusual reasons. A few assorted comments follow the chapter.

Chapter Seventeen: Melee

They were on a collision course, Hinata realized almost instantly. Her opponent was tearing directly down the street in her direction, and she was running toward him. Furthermore, her opponent had sensed her and didn't seem inclined to stop.

That suited her just fine. If she could get within striking distance of him quickly the battle could be ended much quicker. She shifted chakra to her palms for a lethal inner coils strike and waited. When her opponent first became visible in the distance there was only a fraction of a second before they struck.

Or before they should have struck. At the last second the other shinobi sent a burst of chakra from his foot, making him shoot high into the air above her. Startled by the tactic, Hinata skidded to a halt, then was forced to leap away almost instantly as a shuriken bit the ground where she had been.

She glanced up just in time to see her opponent land opposite her on the street. He wore only a thin grey robe that looked as though it would offer no protection at all. Still, there was a very dangerous chakra about him, and from his initial actions he knew she couldn't take him lightly.

"We know who you are," the warrior told her with a slight smirk. "We've been analyzing how you fight, and I got called in to take you out. This should be a short battle." Forcing herself not to be intimidated, Hinata dropped into a fighting position. Instantly her opponent's smirk widened. "Oh, I'm not going to get anywhere near you."

Without warning he hurled a hand before him. On instinct Hinata leapt away from it. She sensed an intense use of chakra by his hand, but no form of an attack where she had been. While in midair she saw her opponent's other hand thrust at her and twisted aside.

Just past her swooshed what felt like a blast of hot steam, but far hotter than any steam she had ever felt before. Invisible, but probably dangerous. At this point she landed in a crouch and rushed at her opponent, only to leap away. It was a good thing she did so, because another gust of air flew from her opponent's hand. When it struck the street where she had stood, a layer of frost formed.

Landing some distance across the street, Hinata watched her opponent carefully. He was laughing softly.

"Do you see now?" he asked. "Unless you can get close to me, you can't hurt me. I, on the other hand, have every intention of hurting you from a distance. You're pretty good at dodging, but you'll slowly wear down and-" Before he could say anything further Hinata snapped a kunai to one hand and hurled it at him.

Laughing, the shinobi easily caught it by the handle. Almost too late he sensed the shifting of chakra, and a hand was flitting at the back of his head the next instant. Just before it struck he moved directly up in a blur of sheer speed. Immediately Hinata looked above herself, only to discover that he vanished into the sky above. If he was jumping that high, it had to be a jutsu of some sort.

At that point shuriken began raining from above, forcing Hinata to dodge almost constantly. She made sure she could always see the sky, however, and hence saw the shinobi hurtling back down toward her while the shuriken were still flying. There seemed to be a shield of chakra surrounding him around which flames were leaping, so she leapt away when he landed instead of attacking.

He struck the street and devastated much of it, ripping a huge crater in the concrete. Touching off a building, Hinata hurtled toward him the next instant, but he raised both hands toward her and sent a massive blast of heat. She vanished like smoke, appearing some distance away once his blast had faded.

A bit of sweat rolled down the side of Hinta's face that had nothing to do with the heat. The stone wall behind her had partially melted. She was forced to dart right the next second as her opponent shot cold air from both hands toward her. One massive portion of the street was iced but Hinata was untouched.

She struck at him again, but he dissolved in a shower of mist and reappeared some distance behind her. Smirking, Hinata's opponent clapped his hands together several times, completing his jutsu. She was wearing down, slowly but surely...

"We have you now!"

Sakura and Ino didn't move at the taunt, which seemed to echo from all about them. The next instant someone running at blinding speed blazed past them across the roof of the warehouse. He cut a corner with unreal agility and continued to flash around them in a slowly contracting square. Both watched him carefully, trying to discern the moment that he would strike.

Then Sakura reached behind her head and stopped her opponent's blade before it slit the base of her skull. With a twirl of pink hair she grinned slightly at the camouflage-clad warrior behind her.

"H... how did you know?" he asked.

"Just a tip," Sakura told him, "don't say 'we' if you're trying to convince people there's only one of you."

"He's coming!" Ino called at that moment. The warrior that had been boxing them in abruptly ceased his square pattern and tore directly toward them. Sakura had no time to react, but Ino was more prepared. She slammed her hands into the ground, sending chakra rocketing up. Ground caved away before the charging warrior, forcing him to screech to a halt to avoid falling into the warehouse itself.

At that moment Sakura used her opponent's blade to hurl him across the roof. Immediately she leapt after him, kunai slashing, but he rolled out of the way. His long and thin blade slashed quickly, but Sakura leapt away, unintentionally going back to back with Ino.

"How fitting," he sneered, rising to his feet. "We heard that you often worked well as a team, but we were prepared to take you down any way we found you. Now it appears that Sakura-teme and Ino-teme will fight the Assassin and the Samurai."

"Is that what he's supposed to be?" Ino asked, looking at her opponent with slight disgust. Now that he was no longer moving so quickly, the other opponent was much more obviously a samurai. His clothing and hairstyle were traditional, and a katana was sheathed at his waist. He did not respond in any way.

"The two of us are designed to be the perfect team against the two of you," the Assassin explained. "He's not as good as his master, of course, but when it comes to intelligent combat he's good enough for the likes of you. Personally, I think we can take you out quickly and finish of Sasuke-yarou."

"Stay away from Sasuke-kun!" Sakura and Ino yelled as one. The Assassin laughed softly, then pointed his blade at the two of them. Something mechanical shifted, and the blade extended to double its length. "No more talk."

Knowing that Sakura was going to leave her position, Ino didn't spend any time there either. Running sideways, she hurled several shuriken toward her opponent in a tight swarm. The Samurai didn't have time to draw his weapon, but he did raise the sheath in the way; the shuriken embedded themselves in it.

Though the Samurai drew and attacked in his next movement, Ino easily evaded by flipping into the air above him. In midair she hurled several kunai at him, this time in a wider pattern. With his blade already out, the Samurai barely managed to defend himself by bashing away the weapons.

A moment later Ino's kick landed squarely in the center of his back, sending him skidding across the roof and crashing into one of the sides. Flipping two more weapons to her hands, she smirked and waited for him to get up.

Across the roof, Sakura barely managed to duck beneath the Assassin's swiping blade. It had an incredible reach, but its weakness was that it could only attack in a few ways. That, and how thin it was. Evading another swipe, Sakura took off across the roof toward him. As expected, he brought the full length of his blade down, aiming to slice her in half.

Just before it struck Sakura raised a kunai over her head. The long blade crashed into it and promptly snapped. Shocked, the Assassin could not prevent the remaining half of his blade from embedding itself in the roof. Still moving forward, Sakura ran part way up the blade and sliced past him, leaving him to fall in a bloody heap.

Whirling about, Sakura glanced across the roof. Silly Ino hadn't managed to beat the Samurai yet. Even as she watched, though, Ino managed to catch her opponent's wrists as he tried an overhand strike, then kicked him across the face. He managed to keep his grip on his sword, but still flew to the side. When he rose he looked worn down and his face was bruised.

"Hey!" Sakura called to him mockingly. "Your buddy here already died! Too bad, eh?"

"Finally." The Samurai's voice was deep and gravelly, and what he said shocked both of the other two. Shifting his sword to only one hand, he wiped his face with the back of his fingers. When his hand returned to his side, what had appeared to be a bruise on his face was gone.

Sakura saw his feet as they shifted and then made a bolting motion, but the next thing she knew he was across the roof and slashing diagonally at her. It took every iota of speed she had to duck the attack, and it still sliced a bit of her hair.

His strike still not complete, the samurai somehow changed the direction of his blade. He bashed Sakura with the back end of it, sending her hurtling off the edge of the building and crashing through the wall of a nearby taller building. Still wielding his blade in only one hand, he raised it to point directly at Ino.

"Next."

His opponent evaded the kunai sweep with an agile bending maneuver, but Sasuke let his weapon fly from his hand. It slashed through the man's temple, making him shatter to dust the next moment. Surprisingly fast work.

Straightening, Sasuke glanced across the clearing to where his opponent was just dropping to land on a tree high above. He merely glanced up at the other man, who remained perched there, eyes still blank. Abruptly both of them flew into movement, Sasuke leaping forward and the man sweeping down.

Just before they collided in midair the blond-haired man uttered a strange cry. Something white exploded from his back, and he changed direction, shooting forward and slashing across Sasuke. A very swift movement and a very dangerous attack. Of course, he had managed to replace himself with a clone, but it had been close.

Meanwhile, his opponent landed lightly on a tree on the opposite side, and Sasuke got a better glimpse of his attack. Two massive, pure white wings had emerged from the other shinobi's back, arching on either side of him and ripping gashes in his robes. Before Sasuke had time to consider their construction the warrior leaped again, flashing with blinding speed as he had before.

More prepared, Sasuke front flipped into the air just past the attack. While upside down he finished his hand seals and sent a massive column of flame flying from his mouth. It caught up to the warrior just as he landed, hitting him dead on.

Both wings snapped around Sasuke's opponent just before the flames struck, and to Sasuke's surprise they dissipated off it. Before he could change his position his opponent flickered out of sight, appearing just in front of him and unfurling his wings. They hit Sasuke like a mountain, sending him flying back and crashing through a tree. The instant he struck the ground he rolled, but he got to his feet only in time to see his opponent flying in another amazingly fast strike.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's speed was also not to be trifled with. He ducked almost instantly, holding a kunai just above his head. His opponent slashed directly along it, but the chakra around him prevented the kunai from doing any damage. It did change his course, sending him higher into the air.

Whirling, Sasuke hurled two kunai that pierced each of his opponent's wings. To his surprise, they shattered, raining down a flood of razor sharp feathers that dropped directly toward him. For just an instant his foot shifted as if to run away, but at the last second he held his ground and merely sent a shot of chakra that created enough wind to slant the feathers' fall away from him.

The next moment his opponent struck from behind... as expected. Sasuke dropped forward to his hands, kicking backward and feeling a solid connection with flesh. As the other shinobi fell back, Sasuke did a handspring forward, picking up eight feathers from the ground as he did so.

Sasuke twisted the moment he landed and hurled the feathers as one toward his opponent, who was just barely gaining his feet. For a single instant Sasuke caught a glimpse of his opponent's eyes and realized he had made a mistake, and then chakra erupted. The feathers were knocked aside in midair, two of them returning in Sasuke's direction. One he managed to catch but the other sliced through his side.

Glancing at his opponent again, Sasuke growled slightly. The other warrior's wings had returned, but other wings had surfaced from his body as well; smaller wings arched from his arms, sides and chest. Each of the wings shimmered with the same light, and then a windstorm burst across the ground toward him.

Even though Sasuke braced himself against it, he quickly realized his situation was worse than he had initially imagined. It was not merely one gust of wind, but a continually blowing force. He was essentially pinned here, and his opponent was not about to pass up on an opportunity to strike him.

In that case, he merely had to strike first. Managing to slip a shuriken from his sleeve, Sasuke hurled it into the wind. Almost instantly it was blown back at him, and it would have struck him had he not dashed to the right.

Unfortunately, the warrior also shifted to his left, keeping the focus of the terrible wind from his wings on Sasuke. No longer braced, Sasuke was tossed backward and smashed into the ground. There he dug one hand into the ground to prevent himself from being launched further. The other warrior's face parted in a slight smile, but before he could attack Sasuke moved once again.

Taking his hand out of the ground, Sasuke hurled a multitude of shuriken. He was instantly swept backward, but his other hand had already raised two fingers to his face. He vanished entirely, before his shuriken swept back at him.

Immediately the other warrior's eyes widened, and he whirled to face the attack he knew must be coming. Sasuke's fist was a hairsbreadth away from his face when the winds shifted direction and sent him sailing backward. For a moment the blond haired fighter grinned, and then Sasuke's shuriken hit him in the back.

Agilely Sasuke landed on the side of a tree, now that the winds had subsided. His opponent was hunched over, wincing in pain. The next moment he looked up at Sasuke, and his eyes were completely white, even the blood vessels imperceptible. All of his wings shuddered at the same instant, then expanded to twice their former length.

Standing sideways against the tree, Sasuke smiled just slightly.

Dozens of clones filled the street, all merely standing. Occasionally a blast of heat or a freezing wind would shoot from one, but then it would be still once again. In the center of the group, his target remained just as still, waiting for each and every attack and then evading it.

Already he'd learned quite a few things about her that he hadn't known before. For one, her strange white eyes gave her a wide enough field of vision that she could always see him, no matter where he attacked from. He couldn't wear her down by making her search about herself, then. For another, her attacks were dangerous. She had struck at a few of the doppelgangers and dissipated them instantly, even with the entire genjutsu supporting itself.

So far, however, she hadn't come close to hitting him. A few times she had attacked before he could fire another jutsu blast, but soon she had realized that he could jump between clones at will and that it was futile. No more futile than standing there and merely dodging, but evidently she wasn't thinking clearly.

During the battle she hadn't even touched him. He mentally gave a scornful laugh. And he had heard that Hyuga Hinata was supposed to be an extremely powerful shinobi. This battle was no more than child's play. Skipping to another one of the clones, he hurled another blast of freezing cold that she flipped back away from.

How had she dodged that? Blinking and changing locations again, the assassin replayed the attack in his mind. In just a moment she had not merely moved quickly, but skipped over space. That wasn't possible unless she was using some strange new ninjutsu... or genjutsu. Immediately his eyes narrowed, and, skipping through clones, he examined the area around himself, trying to dispel any illusions.

He found her in a thin alleyway, on one knee. She was breathing heavily from her physical exertion, but it was obviously only chakra on the field dodging his clones. It looked as though she had been there for some time, and was considerably rested. Good plan, but not good enough.

With a burst of chakra he leapt into the sky, not caring that his jutsu was falling apart behind him. High above, amid the biting winds, he hurled several more shuriken down toward her true position. She discerned the true nature of the attack and dodged, but in doing so moved out into the open. Exactly according to the plan.

When he blasted down toward the earth, this time he did not encase himself in chakra. She prepared to attack him, and he smirked broadly. Just before he touched the nearest buildings he thrust his hands out on either side of him. This time, his chakra created intense cold in one and intense heat in the other. Before she could react he smashed his hands together, making the opposites collide.

Howling winds exploded about him, a tornado forming around him with startling speed. Loose papers on the street were caught up in the winds and shredded; its sheer force kept him floating in the air above. Having sensed in intent, Hinata had leapt back, but now it was all she could do to brace herself against the winds blasting past her.

It wouldn't be enough. Grinning a bit broader, the assassin altered the flow of his power. Abruptly the winds began to pull with terrible force, ripping some stones from the street. Taken off guard, Hinata was pulled part way across the street before she dug her feet in. At this point it was probably taking all of her strength to resist. Such a shame that he had not yet used the Ultimate level of his technique...

Abruptly the wind around him shuddered. His eyes changed to an expression of shock and he tried to compensate, but it was too late. For a moment the tornado burst in full life, then it spluttered and died. Unsupported, he plummeted toward the street. How could I have used all of my chakra? Why wasn't I paying attention to it?

Already he was beginning to lose consciousness, but through bleary eyes he saw her turn away and bound to the top of a nearby building. She was leaving? She would not even stay to finish the job? How could-

The shinobi struck the street head first with a loud snap, and he knew no more.

Wordlessly, the young man stepped up to the front door of the building. The steel doors before him sat just as silently, unmoving and glistening slightly in the light. It was a looming but otherwise unimpressive building. At the door he paused, his feet coming to rest just before he entered. His gaze flickered to a piece of paper in his hands, then he crumpled it and let the information fall to the ground. This was the place. It was time to begin.

Unnaturally slowly, he took off his glasses and cleaned them gently, shifted his light blond hair out of his eyes and unbuttoned his outer jacket. The entire time his eyes did not move from the door before him. There was a slight pause… and then Matthew entered the building.

As you can see from the end of this chapter, those of you who requested more information about Matthew will soon get it. The next chapter will also answer the question of what he has been doing in the previous time, and to some degree why he has never mentioned his fighting skill.

To the anonymous reviewer who asked about the number of chapters: this story has already been written in its entirety, but I would rather not give a specific number of chapters, as some readers could probably make predictions about the plot based on a number. However, the number of chapters remaining is more than five and less than ten.