Chapter 24

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Ninja Gaiden or DOA

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Many have asked about this recently; the events of DOA will eventually come into the picture. The Ninja Gaiden games take place first chronologically so the first DOA Tournament is still about a year and a half away in this story and there are a lot of events in between. Here's chapter 24:

Last time:

Genshin led his forces in the attack the Hayabusa Ninjas and steal the demon statue. He hoped to put an end to the Dragon Lineage for good but the intelligence reports he was receiving indicated his forces in Tokyo had been wiped out. Elizebet was on her way and the CIA Agent Sonia escaped her. He had also lost Rasetsu. Genshin sighed at the loss of is student but decided he could have a moment of silence for Rasetsu later. Raising his arm to signal his forces; Genshin said, "Tonight the Hayabusa Clan comes to an end! Go forth and do not fear the unknown. Pillage and burn!"

With that order given The Black Spider clan launched it offensive against the Hayabusas to finish them once and for all….

The Hayabusa Village

Naruto and Kasumi arrived about two hours after the invasion led by Genshin had begun. The first thing they were greeted with was the sight of the Castle of the Dragon in flames….

The Uzumaki Clan Compound….

Aoi was standing before the massive, morphed spider fiend form of Obaba. She was both horrified and disgusted that the old woman had become this….thing. Obaba stared down at her beautiful, most favored grandchild with pride in her eyes. She could see Aoi-chan had grown much stronger now that she was and Uzumaki. The black combat suit Aoi was wearing showed that she'd become a much more fit kunoichi in the last few months since Obaba's 'death' –a true femme fatale. On Aoi's right flank was Ayane and on her left was Hinata. Momiji was elsewhere in the village guarding the Dragon Shrine with her sister Kureha.

"Obaba-sama….is that really you?" asked Aoi hoping it wasn't. "Please tell me it's not…."

Obaba chuckled, "But it is me Aoi-chan. This magnificent form was granted to me by the fiends. The end of this village is nigh and you and your clan should flee. Go to the Mugen Tenshin Village or something. When we are done here nothing will stand taller than dust. I'm going to wrench the Dragon's Eye from the cold, dead hands of the Dragon Priestesses and I don't want you to interfere or you'll incur my wrath; granddaughter or otherwise." spoke the old sorceress turned fiend threateningly.

"One of my sister-wives to Naruto-kun is a Dragon Priestess! I won't let you touch her!" growled Aoi.

"This thing was your Grandmother Aoi?" asked Ayane. "Thank the gods you didn't inherit her looks."

Aoi sighed. "Well, she was supposedly very attractive like….over a hundred years ago."

"Don't be so condescending towards your elders Aoi-chan." growled the irritated Obaba. "I know you'd trade off your beauty for power like I possess in a heartbeat."

"I'm not like you old hag!" yelled Aoi. "I wouldn't want power to turn me into a monster. I want to protect Naruto-kun and my family! You are going down Granny!"

Obaba shook her head in resignation. "So be it. I had hoped to talk sense into you but it seems your love for Uzumaki Naruto has made you blind. I guess I taught you too well to side with the strongest. I will try to make your death painless Aoi-chan."

Aoi leapt back and pulled her throwing knives. Ayane was ready with her Kodachis and Hinata activated her twin lion fists. Every muscle in their bodies was coiled up like a spring….

Obaba exploded into action swinging her massive arms almost like helicopter blades at them. All the girls dodged and a single throwing knife from Aoi struck Obaba in the chest doing virtually no damage other than piercing the skin. Obaba laughed and said "This is it?" while pointing at the tiny blade sticking out of her. "Come now Aoi-chan, you can do better than-" Aoi activated the explosive tag attached to the knife using chakra and blew a major chunk out of Obaba's armored chest. The sorceress turned fiend bellowed out in agony as she fell onto her back. Shaking her head, Obaba reared back up again and tried to smash them with her massive left hand.

The three girls avoided the earth shaking impact with Hinata landing closest to it. Before Obaba could retract her arm, Hinata attacked yelling "Eight trigrams sixty four palms!" The brutal attack combined with the twin lion fists pulped everything from the forearm down making Obaba shriek in pain. Before Obaba could recover Ayane used her twin kodachi's to attack the base of Obaba's spider like abdomen. The old woman appeared to be vulnerable there because she screamed and blood flew sending the fiend reeling.

Obaba leaped back up and tried to crush them repeatedly with her massive weight but the girls were far too nimble for her to land a hit on one of them. Obaba cradled her mangled left hand and tried to regenerate it only to be hit by Aoi who had switched to her bow. Three arrows with exploding tags connected and the fiend was in a world of pain. One hit her in the face blowing half of it off and sending gore flying, one in her chest added to the damage but the one that hit her abdomen was the worst. It hit the already gaping wounds inflicted by Ayane and only multiplied the damage there.

Obaba realized she had to withdraw and regenerate. She had totally underestimated the Uzumaki's and was in danger of dying if the continued. Obaba swung her uninjured right arm in a backhand to bat the girls away but Hinata leapt onto the speeding appendage and stuck to it using chakra. As she sped up Obaba's arm with her byakugan blazing she drew her kodachi and channeled water chakra through it forming a jagged seven foot blade of ice. Obaba had no time to react as her arm was severed just above the elbow and it flew away from her due to the momentum.

At the same time Ayane darted in again and added massive damage to Obaba's abdomen. The fiend was so distracted by Hinata's assault that she never saw Ayane coming and the damage was catastrophic. Obaba tried to drag herself away but was so badly injured that all she could do was slither on her belly and try to pull herself along with her shattered left arm. Aoi told the others, "Let me put her out of her misery." Seeing Ayane and Hinata get clear, Aoi fire two more arrows directly into the base of Obaba's abdomen causing it to rupture.

Obaba was wheezing her final breaths as Aoi came into her view with her bow at ready. Obaba gasped out, "W-well done Aoi-chan; most favored Granddaughter…." With that the old woman turned fiend convulsed and gasped out a final time before she fell dead, this time for good….a few seconds later she exploded into mystic ash leaving Aoi confused and upset. She'd made peace with Obaba's death and now had to go through it all over again….

Meanwhile at the Castle of the Dragon….

Genshin found himself completely disgusted with the situation. Both Hayabusa Jô and Hayabusa Ryu were waiting for him when he attacked. To his credit, Genshin had injured them both but not without taking injuries himself. He was positive he could take either one of them in single combat but the Father/Son team was working in perfect synchronicity and it prevented him from landing any decisive blows. The only positive thing that had come from this epic duel among the flames was he had retrieved the Demon Stature and passed it on to Elizebet.

As sickened about it as he was, Genshin decided to retreat as he felt exhaustion coming upon him. He wasn't going to die this day so he withdrew leaving the worn out Hayabusas behind him with the threat that he would return and defeat them.

The graveyard….

Naruto and Kasumi were cleaving a trail of destruction second to none against the horde of Black Spider Ninjas as they fought their way into the west side of the village. A higher ranked middle ninja saw his comrades dismembered bodies littering the landscape and was considering a retreat from the two blood soaked Uzumakis. To the remaining Black Spider Ninjas it was a vision of hell. They had come to conquer and instead were being slaughtered. He saw Naruto kneel and hoped the Uzumaki was too exhausted to continue but instead saw a massive number of snow leopards appear in a cloud of smoke. He heard Naruto's voice boom over the field.

Naruto said, "Our enemies are the ones with spider web markings on their uniforms my friends, I ask that you help me in exterminating them and drive them out of our village."

His friend Lucretia said. "It will be our pleasure Naruto." She turned to the others and said, "Kill them all! Let none escape the wrath of the Snow Leopard Clan." The leopards launched in to action and the Black Spider Ninjas left in that part of the village were overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of the big cats. The Black Spider Ninjas surviving after the initial assault were completely routed and ran for their lives. To add insult to injury Naruto created a couple of dozen shadow clones to help hunt them down.

With Elizebet and Genshin….

"Our offensive on the west side of the village has completely collapsed." growled Genshin. "Our forces are being routed. We need a major assault to regain our momentum."

Elizebet sighed. She focused her energy at the Sea of Trees and a massive portal appeared. "Come forth and destroy Golgotha! I command you!" A thirty five foot tall Cyclops like fiend emerged from the portal. It seemed to stare blankly before its single eye focused on the burning castle. Slobbering, the creature trudged forward to wreck everything in its path. Genshin asked in exasperation, "Why didn't you call in this 'Golgotha' fiend earlier before were incurred so may losses? He could have demolished the Hayabusa Village defenses and we could have finished them off with ease."

The visibly tired Elizabet said, "Golgotha is a mindless beast and a destroyer. He will level everything in that village; both friend and foe. He is uncontrollable and we keep him chained up so he won't turn on the fiends as well. Golgotha is a weapon of last resort. Pull your troops out unless you want to lose them."

Genshin gave the order to retreat from the monster's path as Golgotha ponderously plodded towards the Hayabusa Village. Everyone saw Golgotha's massive form lumbering towards the village and the Black Spider Ninjas started to pull out rapidly. For his part, the exhausted Hayabusa Jô was looking over his options. He considered calling for a retreat into the hidden shelters because he and Ryu were too exhausted to fight such a massive beast. Things were looking rather bleak as the Cyclopean embodiment of destruction slowly came forward.

Ryu got his Father's attention and said, "Look." as he pointed towards the grave yard on the west side of the village. A massive cloud of smoke appeared there and out of it stepped a fifty foot long snow leopard scaring everyone even worse.

"What is that?" asked Eilzebet in shock.

The giant snow leopard said. "Sage Naruto, why have you summoned me?"

Naruto (who was standing on her head) said, "Forgive me Lady Felicia but I need your aid for me to defeat that thing." as he pointed towards Golgatha who had stopped and was now staring at Felicia.

"Oh, I see." said Felicia. "I suppose I can help you Sage but this will probably be a rough fight." She lowered her head as her muscles started to ripple. Suddenly Felicia exploded into action and pounced upon Golgotha. The Cyclops wasn't expecting the sudden attack and was barely able to avoid Felicia ripping his throat out with her massive jaws. He pushed her off but not before Felicia took a massive chunk out of his torso.

Elizebet's mind was reeling. 'Uzumaki Naruto is a SAGE?! They haven't existed since before the Dark Dragon's time. We have to get out of here!' She turned to the gaping Genshin who was watching the epic fight before him in awe. "We have to pull out Lord Genshin! Golgotha is going to fall and nothing we can do will stop it."

Genshin regained his composure and said, "Right, I'll order everyone to pull completely out." He felt the ground shake repeatedly as the two titans battled it out and radioed his troops.

Golgotha was incredibly strong but slow. Without claws or even a weapon his defenses were failing. He was trying the grapple with Felicia but the sheer speed of the Boss of the Snow Leopard summons was overwhelming to his slow mind. His normally impenetrable skin was being carved up by Felicia's teeth and claws coating the Sea of Trees with colossal amounts of blood and gore. He kept trying to punch Felicia away with his fists and occasionally landed a hit but it was to no avail. Finally the Cyclops like fiend realized he couldn't win. Golgotha turned and tried to retreat but it left him wide open.

Felicia pounced on his back and bit his neck. Golgotha let out a strangled cry as the vertebrae in his neck were crushed in the massive feline's jaws. To the people watching his neck being crushed sounded like a cement bridge breaking up and collapsing. Golgotha hit the ground in a thunderous crash that shook the whole area like an earthquake. The Cyclops fiend was dead and exploded into mystic ash leaving Felicia towering over the Sea of Trees. "Well, I suppose that takes care of that." said the massive feline. "Is there anything else you needed help with Naruto?"

"No, thank you very much for your help Lady Felicia." said Naruto gratefully.

She lowered her head so Naruto could hop off safely. Seeing him land she said, "Until we meet again Sage Naruto." Then she vanished in an enormous puff of smoke.

Outside the burning Castle of the Dragon….

A few minutes later the blood covered Naruto met up with Ryu and Jô outside of the fire's reach and said, "Damn; the Castle of the Dragon got set afire again. Don't they have any respect at all for historic buildings?" The two Hayabusas just sweat dropped at Naruto's antics.

"I never imagined Lady Felicia would be so relentless in battle given her kind disposition." said Ryu.

"She is a snow leopard Ryu; what did you expect? Summons are incredibly powerful allies and must always be treated with the greatest of respect." said Naruto in a lecturing tone.

Lucretia came prowling up and said, "I'm glad you feel that way Naruto. Lady Felicia wasn't made our leader by being weak and deserves the proper respect you give her."

Naruto turned to the big cat. "How was the hunt? I don't see any of the others around."

"It was a good hunt; very few of us were hurt and those that were should recover without trouble." said Lucretia. "Everyone else has returned home. I just thought I'd let you know before I went home myself."

"Thank you again Lucretia." said Naruto.

"No problem Naruto." said Felicia as she licked her lips. "You might want to inform your villagers about us snow leopards though. I think quite a few got spooked."

Naruto nodded. "I'll do that. I really never imagined summoning lots of you guys inside the village so I guess it slipped my mind."

"Well, do make sure to take care of that my forgetful summoner." she said with a touch of humor in her voice. "Also, say hello to your mates for me. I haven't seen them in a while." With that, Lucretia vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto saw Ryu adjusting his gear for a trip. "Where are you going Ryu?" he asked.

"I'm going after that fiend Elizebet. She took the Demon Statue and I need to get it back at all costs." explained Ryu.

"Do you need help?" asked Naruto.

Ryu shook his head. "No, you don't know all the languages I do so on an out of country trip I'm best going solo. Besides, Father and the village could use your help. I need to tell Kureha-chan what's going on and head out. Father, Naruto; I'll see you soon." Ryu headed over to the Dragon Shrine to bid farewell to his lover.

Momiji came out of the shrine a few minutes later only to see her husband coated in blood. "Naruto-kun; are you alright?!"

Naruto nodded. "I'm fine Momiji-chan. None of this blood is mine. I'm so glad you're okay. I'd kiss you but I'd get blood all over you. Come to think of it; I need to check on the girls too." he said as he made a shadow clone. "Kasumi-chan should be over at the compound. Check on her and all our himes to make sure everyone is alright. Dispel once you're sure." His shadow clone nodded and took off. "This has been quite a hectic night; first a battle in Tokyo and now this."

"The night isn't over Naruto." said Jô. "I need you to help me set up a perimeter and help with the wounded. I hope our losses were not heavy. There's only so much one village can take. Momiji, gather the healers, we have our work cut out for us."

"Hai, Jô-sama!" Momiji and Naruto both said as they went to their tasks. They had a very long night ahead of them indeed….

Hayabusa Village, the next morning….

Naruto and his wives were all exhausted. They'd washed the copious amounts of blood off of them at the public baths and then took baths again at home before changing into fresh and clean combat uniforms. The village itself was intact for the most part although the upper floors of the Castle of the Dragon and parts of the outer walls were once again in shambles. Naruto's clones were already everywhere repairing the defensive walls of the Hayabusa Village. Hinata and Momiji were particularly tired from helping the injured all night. Aoi was very troubled. Seeing Obaba again as a monster had shaken her up badly and she was sitting close to Naruto leaning on his arm for comfort. Kasumi and Ayane were tired from patrolling all night for Black Spider Clan ninjas. Like all the other patrols though, they'd found nothing of their enemies except dead ones. In general they all wanted to sleep for a week but there was still too much to do around the village.

The Uzumaki compound was untouched thanks to Naruto's defensive seal barriers. Akito and Akihito were standing guard. They had been out fighting the Black Spider Clan last night but after the invasion was repelled they both elders took a well deserved rest. They weren't as young as they used to be but still got up fairly early to watch over the compound. The rest of the Hien Clan was helping out throughout the village as they could. They weren't combatants yet but that didn't mean they didn't want to help so they were acting as messengers and transporting food and supplies.

The Hayabusa villagers got off fairly lightly considering the scale of the invasion. Since the main goal had been to gain the Demon Statue the majority of the villagers were able to hunker down in defensive positions while waiting for the orders to counter attack. The orders never really came because of all the snow leopards and Naruto's shadow clones cleaning house. Most of the Hayabusa losses were at the perimeters of the village when the initial attack began.

The Uzumakis were soon given an unexpected visit by Hayabusa Keiko. Her family had been trapped by Black Spider Ninjas only for Naruto's clones to rescue them last night and helped them to safety. She kissed a clone passionately for rescuing them only to be embarrassed when she found out it was a shadow clone. When she'd initially found out Momiji was part of a harem of all things Keiko originally assumed that Naruto was some kind of notorious, heartless womanizer but Momiji explained the full situation to her and she had became rather infatuated with Naruto. He'd saved her from that awful mountain; she found out he'd completely wrecked Kamkaze Yaiba (even if he didn't kill him, breaking every bone in his body was good) from Ryu-sama and now he had rescued her family from certain death at the hands of the Black Spider Ninjas. Her Mother said Naruto was a hero and her younger brother Akio already idolized Naruto already so they approved of her 'getting to know' Naruto better.

Hien Chiharu greeted her at the door of the Uzumaki Compound and showed her in saying Naruto-sama and his wives had finished breakfast and were in the main family's dining room. Chiharu asked Keiko to wait while she announced her. A few moments later Chiharu showed Keiko in and Keiko was a bit taken aback by the appearance of the Uzumakis. They were all in their fresh combat gear but were slumped over at different angles and looked like hell from the lack of sleep. She had been introduced to them in passing by her cousin Momiji-chan but she hardly recognized the normally vibrant women.

Naruto seemed to be staring off into space. Ayane had her head laying on the table with one eye showing and gave a half hearted wave to Keiko. Aoi appeared to be asleep resting against Naruto. Kasumi seemed to be meditating but it was obvious she was fighting to stay awake and was losing the battle. Hinata was lying back fast asleep and Momiji greeted her cousin tiredly with a yawn. The Dragon Priestess said, "Keiko-chan, what brings you by this morning?" as she stifled yet another yawn.

Keiko smiled weakly and said, "I think I came at a bad time. I came to thank Naruto-sama for rescuing Akio-kun, Kaa-san and I last night from the Black Spider Ninjas that invaded. I thank you deeply Naruto-sama." she said with a bow towards Naruto. At Naruto's silence she said, "Naruto-sama?"

Ayane groaned and said, "Naruto-kun is asleep with his eyes open again. He mastered the art so he could sleep through the lectures at the ninja academy in his home village. It's one of his many….unique talents." She yawned. "You'll have to wake him up if you want to talk to him."

Keiko asked timidly, "Ummm….Can you wake him up Ayane-san?"

"Why me?" asked Ayane. "….'m tired."

"Well, you are sitting right by him Ayane-chan." yawned out Momiji.

"Fine." grumbled Ayane as her left arm shot out and backhanded Naruto across the chest. Keiko's eyes were big as saucers as Naruto fell back with unblinking eyes as he crashed to the floor taking Aoi with him.

Momiji didn't seem to react to Ayane's rather brutal methods but Keiko almost fainted in shock. She hoped Naruto-sama hadn't received a head injury from the impact. That's when Keiko heard Naruto-sama snoring much to her disbelief.

Aoi stirred briefly and muttered "Naruto-kun" before she fell back to sleep using Naruto's chest as a pillow.

"I'm sorry Keiko-chan but Naruto-kun is out like a light." said Momiji. "You'll have to come back later. He'll probably be asleep for about three hours unless we're attacked."

Keiko asked, "What would happen if you were attacked Momiji-chan?"

"He'd wake up in an instant; destroy the threat and go back to sleep." muttered Kasumi half asleep.

Keiko sweat dropped. "Well, I'll come back by later or tomorrow. I'll see you all later!" She was answered by several female moans that sort of resembled 'goodbye' mixed in with Naruto's soft snoring.

Chiharu soon showed Keiko out apologizing for the situation. She'd assumed Keiko was there to see her cousin Momiji who was (mostly) awake. Keiko assured her it was all right and she would visit tomorrow afternoon….

Tokyo

The fiend Asuka was in contact with her master Lady Ishtaros. "You want us to lend Elizebet a hand in resurrecting the Archfiend Vazdah Lady Ishtaros? Is our goal not to revive Dark Dragon? Surely he is a far more worthy entity than Archfiend Vazdah is my Lady." Ishtaros looked at her Captain of the Tokyo region on the TV screen. Asuka even in her human form had fiend features such as glowing red eyes. The beautiful Japanese woman always wore white kimonos and in modern times, sunglasses. With her eyes covered she could pass for a runway model by human standards. She had long, jet black hair and ivory skin. Originally a kind and gentle soul, Asuka was a daughter of nobility murdered along with her newlywed husband centuries ago only to be brought back from the dead by Ishtaros. Asuka had wreaked bloody revenge on the noble's family that killed her beloved. She slaughtered the offending clan to the very last child and erased them from Japanese history.

After that Asuka dedicated herself solely to Ishtaros' will and lived to serve her master faithfully. Of all her Captains, Asuka alone had Ishtaros' full trust to not have her own agenda. Ishtaros said to her subordinate. "I want nothing to do with reviving Vazdah. Truthfully I doubt Elizebet and her kin will be successful in the task. The Dragon Lineage and even the CIA are after her. We are 'lending a hand' to her in name only. Recently the Sage Uzumaki Naruto once again reared his ugly head and wiped out a good portion of the Black Spider Clan of ninjas that used to serve me. It was in the Sky City ward of Tokyo."

Asuka nodded, "I am well aware of these facts my Lady. Tokyo is my domain. I could not serve you properly if I did not know what goes on here."

"Of course Asuka, I'm well aware that you are in touch with things." said Ishtaros. "The way we are going to 'aid' Elizebet in her task is to draw out the Hayabusa forces and spread them thin. If we do this perhaps fortune will shine upon us and Sage Uzumaki Naruto, our real target, will come out to play with us. That is where you come in Asuka."

Asuka pondered a few seconds and said, "We know the Tokyo Police Department has a contract with the Uzumakis through my human spy network. You want me to manipulate things so the police will call upon the Uzumaki Clan for aid, yes?"

Ishtaoros nodded. "You are astute as ever Asuka. This is why I entrust you with this task as you are my most trusted retainer. Be warned though; use expendable troops when you can. I have gained a number of them for your use from Elizebet as she wants to rain hell upon Tokyo using the power of the Demon Statue. That foolish woman has no patience….but I digress….Sage Uzumaki and his kin tend to leave a trail of bodies in their wake. You saw what happened to the Yoru Clan."

"Indeed I did –and they were supposedly invincible." agreed Asuka. "I'm sure I can find someone foolish, prideful or greedy enough in my network to take on this task and draw them in." Her thoughts drifted to the Karasu Clan that recently was taking on jobs too big for them –without her permission. "….Then I can employ the lesser fiends Elizebet gave us to ambush them." Asuka finished. "In reality, you believe that us keeping the Uzumaki Clan busy will appear we're helping when in fact Elizebet and her ilk a probably no match for the Dragon Lineage. Furthermore we're using Elizebet's minions to do or bidding. As always you are quite clever Lady Ishtaros. Is it your intention to gather information on the Sage or are you hoping to destroy him and his clan with this operation you have tasked me with? I know Eclissia already has gathered information on Sage Uzumaki Naruto though she is keeping that information hidden to herself."

Ishtaros' eyes glowed angrily. "Eclissia never mentioned this to me….how do you know Asuka?"

Asuka explained calmly, "You know I keep tabs on my fellow Captains my Lady. Information is everything. Eclissia is ambitious and wants to gain your favor by destroying Sage Uzumaki Naruto. She doesn't want any of the rest of us to have a chance to do so and as a result she is hoarding all the information and resources she can gather for the task."

"I will have a talk with Eclissia and get the information to you Asuka." said Ishtaros in a controlled but angry tone.

"And of the mission my Lady…?" questioned Asuka.

"Gather information." said Ishtaros. "If you feel like you can destroy him by all means do so but you are not expendable. I have had you as my most loyal retainer for far too long to throw you away as I would others in your place."

"I am honored my Lady." said Asuka.

Ishtaros sighed. "I warn you Asuka, I believe Uzumaki is truly a monster that is a threat on par with the Dragon Lineage. Do not underestimate him."

"You bidding will be done my Lady." declared Asuka. Ishtaros nodded and ended the call. Asuka went over to her laptop and began going though files. "So much to do and so little time…." she said to herself. Asuka looked at Naruto's picture on the screen for the first time and she gasped. Something in her stirred that hadn't for centuries. Asuka stared at the image and said, "Beloved?!" in a whisper….

New York City, USA

The legions of fiends that Elizebet unleashed using the Demon Statue had turned New York into a fiend's paradise ruled by the Greater Fiend Alexei, the self proclaimed Graceful Ruler of Lightning. Given what a mess New York was Ryu had to wonder where else Elizebet was making a disaster of things. He heard Alexei's laughter along with bolts of lightning and thunder. Shaking his head in disgust at the Greater Fiend the Dragon Ninja leaped off into the night and started doing what he did best; feeding the Dragon Sword the blood of the fiends that it hungered for….

One week later….

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters

Detective Arii Maya checked her mailbox at work and found there was a notice for document she had to sign for in the mail room. She'd been very busy. Recently the Sky City Ward had to be cleaned up from only what could be described as a mass slaughter. Her freshly expanded team identified the remains of the brutally hacked up bodies as remains of the members of the Black Spider Clan of ninjas who were involved in criminal activities worldwide but they weren't ready for this level of action yet. There had been severed limbs and heads everywhere. Several of her team lost their lunches at the sight of the grisly work ninjas were known for. On the positive side nobody quit….

Several recent cases involved the large Karasu Clan of ninjas which were known to be yakuza backed and widely employed in the criminal underworld. Still, what happened to the Black Spider ninjas seemed to be completely out of the league of the Karasu Clan that occurred just over a week ago –especially given absolutely no evidence of whoever caused the slaughter was left behind. The Karasu Clan was good but not that good. She'd submitted numerous reports to the higher ups about the situation and how it needed to be escalated but funds and manpower were limited. That much she understood but it still didn't help the public image of the Police Department when masses of dismembered bodies showed up in a skyscraper out of nowhere.

Sighing, Maya went to the mail room to sign for whatever document they had for her. It was probably the new budget that would reduce her to tears of grief from the cutbacks. After signing in she received the interoffice envelope addressed to her with a classified slip on it. Ignoring the fact she was being ogled by the mailroom clerk and his buddies she decided to open it in her office away from prying eyes –That way if it was the dreaded budget cuts from accounting she could at least grieve in silence away from prying eyes. Closing the door behind her she saw it was a message from the Police Commissioner instead of accounting.

Detective Arii Maya:

It has come to my attention from both your reports and those of others that recent the activities in the Sky City Ward have been the direct results of ninja activity. As you know we can simply not have this happening in our fair city. Since it escalated so quickly I am authorizing you as our Specialist in Ninja Affairs to contact the Uzumaki Clan and get their expertise on these matters. Since you two handled the Yoru Clan Case together I'm assigning you to once again work in concert with Inspector Otaki Seburo. You both proved efficient before and I'm counting on you being efficient again.

I expect great things from you in the future Detective Arii; don't let me down.

Signed,

Commissioner Kobayashi

Maya read it twice and her excitement was palpable. Maya was looking forward to seeing Uzumaki Naruto again. She called Inspector Otaki and confirmed he'd received a letter as well before she decided to contact the enigmatic Uzumaki Clan. She had absolutely no idea this was just a precursor to a fiend invasion….The bizarre events taking place in New York City simply couldn't happen in Tokyo, could they?

POSTSCRIPT:

Well, Ryu is off to battle the fiends once again in Ninja Gaiden II while Naruto and the others have their own adventures waiting in the wings. I couldn't bring myself to blind Hayabusa Jô like in canon. I really like the character and frankly, losing his vision didn't add much gravity to the Ninja Gaiden story as far as I was concerned.

The battle with Obaba was planned long before I wrote this chapter. I wanted Aoi to be the one to finish her off regardless of who was involved. The love/hate dynamics between Obaba and Aoi were interesting to me so I decided this would be their final battle. Having Obaba gain the power of the Dragon's Eye would have made her tougher but I didn't see how she could have pulled it off without killing or maiming both Kureha and Momiji which I would not do. (Besides, Ayane killed Obaba by herself in the game even after she had the power of the Dragon's Eye). At any rate, I figured it wouldn't be out of the question for Obaba to go and try to warn Aoi off given her past behavior so I rolled with it.

As for Hayabusa Keiko, she's a bit of an open book that has a kind of a fan girl thing going for Naruto. Many people have asked for a physical description but I can't find a picture of her on the web. She appeared in the comic book that came with Ninja Gaiden Z: Yaiba. The best description I could give of her is she bears a strong resemblance to Momiji in her face and voluptuous body but doesn't look quite as stern. Instead of Momiji's ponytail she has a bob hairstyle and at least in the comic she's shown with a purple full length kimono with a dark purple obi and brown ninja sandals.

Next chapter we are back in Tokyo. Blue out. 3/20/15