An arrow. Leaving the whistling song of imminent demise in its wake. A single, solitary threat unerringly seeking its target. The heart of the unaware.

But what it found on its way to its target was something else entirely. Or perhaps nothing at all.

The arrow most certainly sank into the flesh of the living. Then into bone. Then out through flesh. This process repeating three times before the great power behind its release was expended. And yet no sound escaped its victim save for the squelch of flesh, the crunch of bone, the spurting of blood and the quietest, pained gasp.

Twenty feet away, Naruto beheld what would have been his death. An arrowhead piercing the back of his commander. "Kakashi!" As the man fell, as Naruto ran to catch him and take him behind a tree he saw just how thoroughly he had to work to stop the arrow. It had pierced both of his forearms before punching into his torso. "Wh... Why?!" he demanded.

"Naruto," Tenten said, only to stall as she saw the state of the Jonin. Shaking her head, she continued. "We need to go. He's coming for us. For all we know he's already behind us!"

"GAHHHHHH!"

The scream of pain was distant, but unmistakably belonged to the archer. The mortally wounded Jonin coughed blood into his mask with his words. "Not likely," he said with humour. "I tried to put him down, but best I could do was give you a fighting chance. Don't waste–"

Over a kilometre away, the real Kakashi blinked into awareness of what his two clones had done. It had been a gamble, sending half his chakra off to check on the Genin. But with his own student and his sensei's student out there, and with his instincts screaming at him that something was awry, he couldn't leave their fate to chance. Even if it put his own at greater risk.

He had been right to take that risk.

Kidomaru of the Awakened Eye. He wasn't as concerning a combatant as Deidara, his current opponent not doing much at all to hide his identity. But that was like comparing Madara Uchiha to Fugaku Uchiha. Both had fought Kage. Fugaku had killed the Fourth. But for as much as Kakashi revered his sensei, he wouldn't kid himself believing either Minato or Fugaku could hold a candle to the co-founders of the Leaf. Both were dangerous in their own right, but one being more so than the other didn't diminish the lesser at all.

And worse, the Genin were the ones having to deal with him. They weren't ready for an opponent of that level. It had been proven when even outnumbered so heavily he still had them running for their lives with no way of fighting back.

Finding Kidomaru before anyone else had been pure luck. Finding him ready to kill his sensei's student, well, he hadn't known that at the time. Just that his bow was drawn with the power of all of his arms. That would be deadly no matter who was on the other end of it. A plan had formed in that moment. Another clone. The first clone's chakra halved again, down to a quarter of an already diminished state. One to give one good hit, the other to save whoever that arrow was meant for.

If only he had managed the killing blow he had meant to. Whatever happened over there was in the youngsters' hands now. One of his clones had used up all its chakra to pass on his orders. The other expended all of it in its attack.

The forest around him was a blasted crater. A further dent in an already reduced basin. Another scar on the land from ninja warfare, though the rest of the forest was a testament to how nature would always reclaim what it lost. The missing nin who once hailed from Rock had used his explosive release techniques liberally in an attempt to claim their lives. His dragon held at bay by Guy while Kakashi tried to pin down the bomber himself, or at least ensure he couldn't interfere with the taijutsu master's systematic dismantling of a legendary beast made of explosions.

The great imitation dragon was not breathing heavily. It was a construct. It didn't need to breathe. But the greatly damaged state of its body. The wings had been detonated and destroyed at some point. The tail likewise, though Kakashi had seen that one occur. Guy's Front Lotus technique drilling the great appendage into the dirt, forcing the dragon to detonate it to break free.

The so-called Green Beast was currently red. Kakashi wasn't sure how many of the Inner Gates his self-proclaimed rival had opened. For something like this, at least one was a necessity. The state of his skin proclaimed three. The Copy Nin hoped it wasn't too many more than that. It would be terrible luck if both of them managed to exhaust themselves independently if this were to become a drawn out battle.

"MORNING PEACOCK!"

That was a technique Kakashi was unfamiliar with. Though he couldn't deny how devastating it was. Guy launching himself right at the breast of the clay beast, yelling as he threw rapid-fire punches into it so fast that he drilled right through the creature and came out the other side before the explosion of the monster could catch up with him.

Guy rolled as he landed, staying on one knee for a long moment before rising and making it appear he was perfectly fine to carry on.

He wasn't. Kakashi could tell. Those abilities were far beyond three gates. The strain Guy was trying to hide, he was running out of time to be a help instead of a hindrance.

Deidara's applause suggested he could see it too. "I gotta say, that was amazing hm! Never seen someone take it out with brute force like that! Well, I've never seen anyone take it out, period. But as a first exhibition I've got nothing to complain about! One of you even had the good manners to witness it, with a Sharingan even! Hm! Hey, Copy Nin! The Sharingan means you never forget what it sees, right? How does it feel to know you'll remember my art forever?!"

"I've seen more impressive things," Kakashi shrugged to hide stretching his joints.

"And I bet you could go back and see most of 'em whenever you damn well pleased, hm!" the blond scoffed. "That's why my art is better! Each exhibition is a one of a kind experience, only living on as a memory, warped and distorted with time!"

"Except with a Sharingan," Kakashi reminded him. The Sharingan didn't allow such things. The viewer would always remember it exactly as it was.

"Except with a..." Deidara's enthusiastic flailing halted. "Huh. Yeah. Yeah, actually that sucks! You ruined it! Your stupid eye ruined it!"

Kakashi glanced the other Jonin's way, quietly passing on a message as the bomber ranted. "We need to end this quick."

A shallow nod. "I agree."

They attacked simultaneously as the enemy still raged. Too experienced to be surprised by such a manoeuvre, Deidara met that challenge with mines he had seeded earlier.

-(-)-

He was gone. Vanished in smoke. Even the fresh bloodstains marking the Uzumaki's clothing were gone.

A clone. Kakashi had just spent a huge chunk of his chakra to save Naruto, and to deliver the message. Shadow clones could survive after damage, but it cost their chakra to do it. Chakra that in this case Kakashi wouldn't get back for whatever he was dealing with.

Don't waste it. That must have been what he was trying to say. "Thanks, Kakashi!" Making a cross with both middle and index fingers, another Naruto appeared, then disappeared immediately afterwards. "We're going after him."

"Kakashi?" Tenten asked, confused.

"The archer."

She wanted to protest. She had already seen what would have been multiple deaths if not for whatever clone technique Naruto and Kakashi had used. The best they had been able to do was annoy and inconvenience the enemy. But Kakashi had given his instructions. She had been a Genin for longer than Naruto. She was the more experienced of them. She wasn't weak enough she'd embarrass herself in front of her junior out of fear. "Right."

In another part of the forest, the plan was relayed to Hinata by the same blond.

Then again to Sasuke and Sakura.

"You're serious? You want to fight him head on now?" the Uchiha demanded, as animated as he got which consisted of an angry glare. "Do you ever stick with a plan for more than five seconds?"

"The situation changed, ya know?" Naruto answered with frustration. Every single time he made a suggestion the Uchiha would be the one to gainsay him. "Your sensei came to help us out! If he thinks we've got a fighting chance we need to take it!"

"Tch."

"Sasuke," Sakura tried to say soothingly but also with insistence, "Whatever we do, we can only succeed against that guy by working together. Your sensei put his faith in us, right?"

Knowingly or not, she had stumbled onto saying something that would resonate. His sensei had been the only one to ever believe in him. "Hn." It sure was easier to take coming from her than from the Uzumaki though.

They weren't the first group to arrive at the archer's location. Tenten and her Naruto had arrived first. The group of three arrived as the archer abandoned bandaging the two stumps where left arms had been to turn, leap from his tree and draw his bow.

Work together. That probably included not letting the blond idiot die, appealing as the idea was. Well, sacrifices had to be made.

With the chirping of birds, the Uchiha clan heir lunged at the airborne archer at ridiculous speed, lightning coated hand poised to run through his chest.

Not fast enough. The arrow loosed not to hit its target but to free up the bow as a weapon. Then the wood and string caught the Uchiha, trapped within it as the archer yanked on the weapon to choke the boy and quite literally throw him off course.

"You..." the archer breathed heavily, "The Copy Nin was one thing but you're far too early to catch me like that." He examined the gathered young ninja, the group growing by two in his periphery. "You think you have the upper hand now?"

"What a time to talk about hands," Tenten had to quip, getting a laugh from three different blonds at once.

With a flourish, the archer's vestments were thrown away to leave him bare-chested, the sweat of his exertions visible. His bow hooked onto his arm, his one remaining full pair of hands came together.

But for one of them, even disoriented from being so roughly intercepted, he still had enough awareness to see the path of the assassin. "That way," he pointed with a slight wheeze, the two tomoe in his eyes spinning furiously.

"I can still follow him!" Hinata called out in support, her eyes pointing in the exact direction the archer had fled.

The group chased him down, spread out to deny him easy opportunities to flee in other directions. Suddenly it really did feel like they had the upper hand, despite how the archer implied otherwise.

Maybe that was why some of them didn't listen. Or perhaps were too eager to register the warning in time. "Wait stop!" Hinata shouted.

Sasuke, Sakura and one of the Narutos. Each one found their foot caught, then stumbled, then fell and found themselves entirely ensnared in a sticky substance like a spider web. Tenten wasted no time bringing a kunai to free the first of them she got to but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't cut it. "What is this?!" She prided herself on maintaining her armaments. They were the key to her fighting style. Yet somehow this substance was unimpressed.

"It's... Infused with chakra?" Hinata questioned aloud, before quickly moving to Naruto. "I can get you out, hold on!" she promised, her fingertips coated in chakra.

"It's fine! Get the others!" the blond insisted before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Frustrated, Hinata pointed. "He's there!" Naturally the archer hadn't been able to pass up the opportunity of their fighting force being partially incapacitated. He was readying his bow as he found yet another blade sailing his way with unerring precision.

From above came Naruto, dropping foot first onto the archer who brought his bow up to block before flipping and planting his feet on the tree trunk.

Suddenly, that Naruto found his attempt at a surprise attack turning into a taijutsu battle against a man with six limbs. Taijutsu wasn't the blond's best area. He was no slouch but against an experienced fighter like the archer, it was possible his only saving graces were the man's severe injuries and an obvious gaping hole in what would be his usual style. Lopsided wasn't enough to describe how the man fought. He tried to cover that weakness by keeping his bow in his left hand, attempting to parry with it. But it was a stiff, unnatural response that didn't do nearly enough to make up for his left side's shortcomings. His senses were precise. Aware. He easily, almost contemptuously evaded the weapons the bun-haired Genin was still throwing at him. But no matter how sharp his senses were, he had trained his body to react in certain ways and five minutes was not enough time to rein in those now harmful instincts.

So it was only natural he would give up on a fight where he was only wasting valuable time and energy. Sucking in his cheeks, the archer sprayed a viscous fluid from his mouth that coated the young Uzumaki, pinning his feet to the tree, his arm to his own body. The trap unbalancing his movements so his knee dropped to leave him even more stuck.

It was a great amount of the chakra-laden fluid that the archer expelled. But not entirely through his own will. As right when he had opened his mouth, a second Naruto burst from elsewhere to drive a knee into the back of his neck. "That's for spitting on me, asshole!"

The impact jarred Kidomaru's brain. For an instant, thought and consciousness completely left him. His chakra no longer supporting his steps on the tree's surface, he reawakened from striking a tree branch on his way to the ground.

His instincts flared. He was in immediate danger. He needed to move but his body wasn't listening to him. Sluggishly, he reached to put his bottom hands together... The right meeting only empty air.

Oh. Right.

The best he could do was a last ditch effort to protect himself. Whatever fluids he could produce. Sweat, spit, anything. He used it to form a protective cocoon over himself. A shield to ward off any attacks. If the unknown threat came from the Hyuga it would be over.

"Fire Style! Grand Fireball!"

Not the Hyuga. The Uchiha again. Kidomaru felt the heat but his cocoon saved him from the worst of it. He just needed the moment to gather himself. Come up with a plan of escape. He had realised he was at too much of a disadvantage here to complete his mission. He just wished he could blame that fool for changing the mission, but there was no salve for his pride after being driven back by Genin. Crippled or not.

The mole technique. That was his way out even if it wasn't ideal. Get enough distance to perform the body flicker unimpeded, and he would be gone.

And then... He couldn't move.

The Hyuga was above. Her fingers like daggers carving through his cocoon until he was fully exposed. Or rather, his head was. The rest of him was buried in the earth.

"Hoo!" a scratchy voice called loudly in relief. "That crap was hot, ya know?!" Naruto slowly, awkwardly pulled himself out of the soft earth he had created, that he had used to drag the archer under. "Glad he was right to be confident about that shell or whatever!"

"Did... Did we win?" Tenten asked uncertainly, giving the buried archer a wary look.

"I think so?" Hinata answered, scanning their surroundings and finding no obvious threats.

Naruto, fully emerged, made a clone which then walked over to the head poking out of the ground. Seeing the third eye, the clone leaned down and poked it. Twice. The archer took it. Stoically, if angrily. "Yeah, we won." As if he'd been waiting for that confident declaration, the tan-skinned would-be prisoner spat another stream of web-like spit, connecting the blond's hand. "Shit!" In the worst reaction possible, he drew his hand back–

Only for Hinata to dart in, first severing the connection between the two, then poking the archer in his exposed neck. "Gah!" the archer hissed in pain and discomfort. "Hyuga bitch."

"Pretty vulgar for the wise and enlightened routine you were pulling earlier," Sasuke remarked, smirking down at the trapped and now paralysed man, getting only a silent glare in return.

Without saying a word, Sakura moved forward, behind the archer so as not to be seen, before she moved her hands through several seals. Then, pulled out a vial. "Ara ara," she said, surprising everyone present with the sheer seduction in her voice, "drink your sake, great warrior! I love the taste of sake on a man's tongue!"

His eyes glassed over, like he was staring at something none of the Genin could see. "Heheh, alright, how can I say no to that!" As the pinkette put the vial to his lips he happily drank it down without complaint.

"Wha–" Naruto blurted, only for his girlfriend to put a finger to her lips.

Quietly, she lowered herself to her knees behind the archer, putting her hands on either side of his head, her fingers glowing with the viridescent light of medical chakra. "Amazing! Hey, hey, would you tell us about your most recent adventure?! The other girls want to hear about it too, right?" She shot a look at both Hinata and Tenten.

The two girls gave each other surprised and only slightly confused looks. This was going in a far different direction than they had expected. Capturing the enemy alive, it only made sense to go with an interrogation. But to have seen Sakura who had done basically nothing for the fight suddenly take charge, seemingly making the whole thing go so much easier. "Y-yeah, I love hearing about," Tenten almost looked like she was about to vomit, "Big, strong men."

Unlike Tenten who tried to force the words out, Hinata found a way to make it convincing. She looked to Naruto, more accurately, his back. And said what she had always wanted to. "I've always thought you were amazing." The words came out as truly heartfelt, enough that Naruto turned to look at her in surprise. But by then she had already looked away, refocused on the person she supposedly said them to.

"See?"

"We–... Well, I can't let you lovely ladies down after... hearing that!" the archer laughed. "Ahhhh..."

"Mister?" Sakura tried again, "Your mission?"

"Oh... Yeah..." Whatever she was doing to him, it made sure he didn't notice her slip. "I was... It was this dumb bullshit plan... Me and my partner kill some guy to get the Leaf involved in finding out who did it... Then we'd kill them too. Way too complicated but that's what you get when you take a contract from a hidden village."

"A hidden village?" Tenten asked suddenly, Sakura giving her a sharp look. "Uhh, oh, aren't they full of really strong ninja of their own?! You, urp, you must be very strong if they looked to you for help!" she finished in a simpering voice.

"Well I don't like to brag," he responded in a tone that conveyed how much hot horseshit that statement was, "But if you want to take down one of the best the Leaf have to offer, you... Ohh, right there."

"They wanted you to take down one of the famous ninja from the Leaf?!" Sakura continued to simper.

"Heh, yeah! Well, until the brat decided to change her mind at the last second."

Hinata's eyes widened, remembering something deadly important. Quietly, she pulled Naruto away, her Byakugan fully active despite the fight being over. "There's someone else!" she whispered hurriedly.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I think Kakashi and Guy are fighting 'em. Between those two, we'd just get in the way."

"No, no! He just said! He has a partner, but there was also someone else involved!"

Much as he wanted to, Naruto couldn't outright deny the possibility. It was also possible that his partner was the 'brat' he mentioned and they had a bad relationship, but the threat of a third enemy shouldn't be ignored. "Pass it on but let Sakura do her thing, we don't let our guard down."

"Right!"

"Can you believe that shit?! Thinking she could talk down to me just because her family are a big deal, like that means she's worth anything! I–" His anger seemed to flow out of him at Sakura's gentle, chakra-laced massage. "Oh, baby your hands are magic."

She giggled. "I know. So what did the spoiled princess want you to do?"

"Tch. She wanted us to kill one of the kids instead. Turned Hatake and Might into 'secondary targets'. Those two aren't secondary anything. Proved it when I finally got my shot on the kid and the Copy Nin showed up out of nowhere. Then–..." He frowned. "Then..." His mouth clicked shut, and when it opened again he spat blood. "Oh whoever's got their hands on me right now is fucking dead."

"Damn, he just raced to the end there," Sakura complained, taking her hands away and stepping back.

"Who was it?!" Naruto demanded, taking his cue from Sakura that they didn't need to be subtle anymore. "Who wanted me dead?! Which village sent you?!"

The archer grimaced, bit hard on the inside of his cheek. "Tough luck, you little shit! You should've asked that before your little mindfuck wore off. I'm not selling out our clients! But hey," he continued, leering at Hinata, "I'll tell you for free you kids gave me a nice dream of that one's lips around my dick!"

"So much for acting all enlightened," Sasuke snarked.

"I am enlightened!" the trapped man barked back. "You have no idea the beauty I saw in my final moments, my organs pierced one by one with perfect precision! The kind of euphoria I can only experience when I demonstrate the same brand of precise murder!" He turned a murderous glare on the blond. "But every time I had the chance to enjoy that bliss you fucked it up with your fucking clones! You and the fucking Copy Nin! When I get out of this, I'm going to kill you, kill him, then kill that bitch for fucking up this– Ah..." His tirade stopped. Silenced. His eyes, so focused and furious, grew vacant, confused, pained.

"What just..." Tenten murmured.

Hinata's eyes widened, having seen something move rapidly through what little of her sight she dedicated to the prisoner. "He's bleeding! Pull him out!"

"But–!" Tenten tried to protest.

"Just do it!"

Once again Naruto performed the mole technique, sinking into the softened earth to pull the archer out. As soon as he did, he and all of the other Genin understood her urgency.

The archer's limbs had once again been cut down by two, his legs simply gone, along with everything below his abdomen. The organs that weren't simply missing were shredded. With one last twitch of his face, he died as every impediment to catastrophic blood loss was removed.

It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together. "Hinata, where is she?!" Naruto demanded.

"I...! She's over–!" the Hyuga pointed, only for her hand to drop as the figure she saw vanish from her sight. "She's gone. I'm so sorry! I didn't think she'd attack from underground! I thought it was more important that I could see farther!"

"It's..." Tenten spoke, wanting to say one thing but choosing to say another. "It is what it is."

-(-)-

The battle between the Jonin and the mad bomber was anything but so decisive.

"Rrrrrah!" Guy yelled as he leapt eighty feet into the air. Trying to take a swing at Deidara who despite Kakashi's attempts to box him in from range, stood happily as his avian bomb dipped to the side and out of the way.

The taijutsu master slammed hard into the blasted earth, cratering it in an explosion of loose rocks. He didn't waste a moment, gathered up those rocks and threw them like bullets before chasing them with another mighty leap.

"You know I've got to admit," the bomber sighed, dodging again with only a minor scrape from one of the rocks to show for it, "This is pretty disappointing, hm. One great moment and it seems like you two are all out of options."

"We've got options," Kakashi responded with calm he didn't feel.

"See, you say that, but all he can do is jump at me like a gorilla and you..." A flicker of realisation. "You don't seem to be doing anything at all."

"Is that what you think?"

"How long have you had that eye of yours covered?" the blond asked, staring down suspiciously even as he saw the other preparing for another pointless act. "You're fighting conservatively. That one lightning jutsu you used to attack my bird, a few minor techniques to keep my creations at bay... And yet you look like you're on your last legs. Surely the Sharingan can't have that much drain or you would never have become famous for it." His considering tone dropped instantly as realisation struck. "You did something."

"You think so?"

"You did something, you sneaky Copy Ninja! Something significant enough that you can't even fight me anymore. The great ninjutsu expert completely inert because if you try anything that even has a chance of working, you'll be exhausted after."

"Sounds reasonable to me," Kakashi agreed. "Maybe you should run before my plan kicks in."

A tense moment of silence. Before the bomber smiled. "Hm! Maybe I will." The bird winged away.

In the direction of the other battle.

Kakashi cursed under his breath. "Guy!"

"Yes!" Guy answered, rushing over to join him in chasing down the bomber. His breathing was laboured, his expression a stiff, painful smile.

"Are you good?"

"As good as I need to be!"

Coming from Guy, that wasn't a promising answer.

Far above, not needing to deal with the forest in the way, Deidara placed his scope over his eye, observing the forest passing below him. He should have become suspicious sooner. Kidomaru the poser was only dealing with a group of Genin. He should have arrived to back him up against the Leaf Jonin already. That should have been his first clue. But seeing someone detonate his dragon like that! It was amazing! Could anyone really blame him for losing track of time?!

... The boss probably could. Well, that would be tomorrow's problem.

He frowned. Scoffed as he saw what he was looking for. The mangled half-corpse of his partner. Kidomaru was a weak poser, not as strong as he thought he was, but he was still Deidara's partner. Killing him was an insult. His hands spread to his sides. He would need to make his feelings clear.

Far below, Hinata paled. "The other one is coming from above! He's dropping things!"

"Dropping what?"

"I don't know!"

"MOVE!" Kakashi's yell cut through the Genin's words, Guy saying nothing at all as he bounded through and took his student and the medic into his arms, through and past the curtain of falling bombs. Kakashi grabbed his own student, moved to grab the other two but stumbled.

"Stay here!" Hinata demanded, still furious at herself for her earlier mistake but at least she could protect someone she loved. And also Kakashi and Sasuke. "Eight Trigrams Revolving Heaven!"

For the second time that day, a chakra dome formed around Hinata as she used the Hyuga main branch's secret technique to once again defend herself. Bombs that rained down pinging off of the rotating chakra shell before detonating a safe distance away. As the technique ebbed, she found herself feeling dizzy, swayed on her feet. "Is everybody... Okay?" she asked.

"Hinata, you're amazing," the blond breathed, looking up at her in admiration. She blushed and looked away with a small smile.

"Get off me, idiot," Sasuke grumbled, shoving his blond adversary away and thoroughly ruining the moment.

"We're all A-okay!" Guy shouted with a thumbs up. Still holding the pose, his reddened skin began to fade back to its natural colour. At the same time, his mind faded to unconsciousness, his body falling forward into the dirt.

"Sensei!" Tenten cried out, rolling him over to see he was still grinning like an idiot, still holding his pose.

Sakura ran her hands over him, performing a medical diagnostic jutsu. "What in the gods' name... What happened to him?! It's like his whole body has been running at a thousand percent for days!"

"More like," Kakashi grunted, "Ten thousand percent for about a half hour." The other Jonin looked about ready to join Guy in unwilling rest, but powered through. "It's a technique. He should be fine."

"Should be fine?! I've never seen anything like this–!"

"Little Hyuga," Kakashi cut in, ignoring the medic's frantic nannying, "Is he coming back?"

"No," she answered immediately. "He dropped those whatever they were, then just kept going west."

The cyclops let out a sigh of relief, finally letting his adrenaline ebb. "Good... That's good." If Deidara had stayed to fight, they probably wouldn't have made it out alive.

"Sensei," Sasuke spoke with not unusual severity, but unusual intensity, "We need to tell you about some things we learned."

With his natural eye, the Copy Nin looked at the mangled remains of Kidomaru. "Right. Let's get back to town. We're going to need to rest up here for a while anyway. Naruto, put those remains in a scroll. And... Guy and I are probably gonna need a little help getting up the hill."

Genin all as fresh as spring chickens and Jonin on the verge of a coma. This was not how missions were supposed to go.