"Hello, this is the mandatory post-chapter skit inputted by many authors in order to express how incredibly humorous/cute/retarded they are. Enjoy." Person WMA said.

Tetsuya walked into the page then, repeating a mantra of "OMG. SUGAR. OMG. SUGAR. OMG. SUGAR. OMG. SUGAR."

Haku passed by as well, saying "This is the part of the skit where one is supposed to use basic ASCII notations and stolen Japanese phrases in order to enhance the cuteness of the scenario. Baka. Kawaii. –chan/kun/sama/baka. LOL. T.T. >.>. n.n u.u O.o u.u0.

Naruto's turn was uttered by, "This is the part where one character complains of his condition in the story to enhance the humor the scenario, coupled by a few basic ASCII notations. I dislike being bled to death. Oo.

Person WMA returned then, saying "This is the part where I return to perform some random act of destruction in order to reveal my amazing author powers and show how funny I am. Enjoy."

With that, the author pulled out a wooden mallet and rammed it upwards into Naruto's lower jaw, sending him into orbit.

Well! THAT WAS THE SKIT! LOL! ENJOAY THE STORY! nn!11!1!

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Luv: They call this a "C-Class Mission"

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The four of them met in the morning where they always did. It was an intersection in the streets that was an even distance from all members of the squad, a lamppost made for an excellent landmark, and it had a little teashop place nearby to celebrate the beginning of a new day and have breaks every once while.

Kurenai, the instructor and earliest of the four sighed at the memory. There used to be a little teashop place. Then the invasion came. Apparently one of Orochimaru's damn summoned snakes decided to slide its full hundreds of tons of weight over the top of the shop. After the dust settled, the owners of the shop decided it was an opportunity to move their business to a better location. Now, there were no more snacks.

It could have been worse…Kurenai easily objected. Worse could have been Konoha falling to the combined assault of an envious Hidden Village of Sand and an ambitious Hidden Village of Sound. It was a near miracle the village managed to repel the invasion.

But now, Konoha had lost their leader, Sandaime Hokage in battle, and the village struggled in its ruined state to still keep a strong face in the eyes of their shinobi competition.

Which is why Kurenai waited for her students to arrive.

"Um… Good morning… Kurenai-sensei…?" A rather quiet voice greeted cautiously. The greeted Jounin, who was leaning against a decapitated lamppost, turned her head with a welcome smile to the second earliest member of their group.

Hyuuga Hinata was quiet, hard working, and polite. She also was shy, and because of the set in stone, pseudo-banishment by her noble family, she generally sealed herself into a state of paranoid cautiousness. Poor girl, really. After failing to live up to the pedestal high expectations, she lost self-confidence, always expecting herself to fail something or do something wrong. The girl approached, ever signified by her family inherited near white pupils and obsession with pressing her fingers together.

"Morning Hinata. I hope you're ready for the missions today."

"O-of course!" Hinata managed to reply, somewhere trapped between a stammer and a stutter. If there ever was a difference.

"Hinata. Sensei." Came the curt, abrupt greeting that came not too long after. That is, if Aburame Shino was actually greeting them, and not just noting their existence as fact. The boy had slightly similar temperaments to Hinata, but for differing reasons. Simply put, Shino was pretty damn emotionless. He rarely said anything, and he never wasted more words than necessary. Behind the pair of round sunglasses and high collar jacket that covered his mouth, one really wondered if the guy had a soul. Then again, with his contracted insects infesting his body and feeding on his chakra, it wouldn't be hard to understand the guy was having enough trouble getting the energy to keep his life, much less have one.

"Hello, Shino…" Hinata mumbled out, and Kurenai merely nodded. After spending a near whole year with the guy, all they expected in reciprocation was Shino neatly walking over and standing by them.

Much later, their last member arrived from the surviving rooftops of the village with a hearty cry and a following bark, "Here I am guys!"

"Kiba! You're late!" Kurenai called out, slightly irritated.

Unlike Hinata and Shino, Inuzuka Kiba had more than enough attitude and vibrancy to make up for his teammates. He was a jokester, machoist, loud, boisterous, and a show off if he was on a really good day. Even if nobody agreed with his antics, he didn't care. His white ninja dog companion, Akamaru always supported him with helpful yips and barks.

And of course, for those of you in doubt, I speak for both Kiba and myself: Ninja dogs are badass. Shut up.

"Well… I am sorry for being late, Sensei! But better late than never, right?" Kiba grinned. Kurenai sighed, but decided to let it go.

"Good Morning Kiba…"

"Inuzuka Kiba."

"Yeah! You guys both made it! Great! With all of Team Eight assembled, we'll be sure to kick more ass and complete more missions than all those other losers, like those show offs in Team Seven!"

Akamaru barked his agreement.

"Kiba, that's enough. Now that we're all here, we should get our mission." Kurenai announced to her team first and foremost. This was met by confusion by two of her students. Shino usually never commented, either not caring or understanding why before the other two.

"S-so soon, Kurenai-sensei?"

"The hell! We just fought off those pricks from Sound and Sand. Our village isn't ready for that!"

"Our village has to be, whether it's ready or not." Kurenai firmly stamped down her subordinates objections. Hinata was already apologizing, but Kiba turned to Shino for further human support.

"You agree, right Shino? It's too soon."

"With Kurenai. Our village has to keep up with the missions, or Konoha will look weak, which will scare off customers and hurt our economy more."

Kiba's fervor immediately died in front of the simple response. Kurenai picked up from here, "It's tough, but we all need to pull more weight, now that we're trying to recover from this attack. This means more missions and higher ranking ones, so you better be ready for today."

The last part of the Jounin instructor's speech changed Kiba's outlook in a flash. "God damn! Yes! I can finally show how great I am with a mission that matches my skill! No more shitty garbage man D-ranks for us, Akamaru!"

The said nin-dog barked again in delight and chased after his master who led the way to the mission center. Shino followed after, with a quick nod of actual acknowledgement to Hinata and Kurenai.

As the Hyuuga was about to leave, she heard her teacher call out in slight concern. "Hinata."

"Um… yes?"

Kurenai smiled, "You didn't need to apologize to agreeing with Kiba. Don't be afraid to object, I'll listen."

"…Okay…?" Hinata ventured. She was kind of confused as hell what that meant. She voiced her opinions, right? So what's the problem?

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At the mission center (or at least the half of it that survived, which was luckily the important half), there was an uncomfortable silence, as the four ninja awaited their mission.

In front of them was a large desk that doled out mission scrolls with assistance from Chuunins, but the Hokage always decided with mission was best. But now the wise old man would never sit in that great chair for him again. All it did was painfully stick the question back into the minds of each of the ninja.

Who was going to be the next Hokage? How long would they last without a Hokage? How long was Konoha going to last? Would it even last?

"Are all members of Team 8 present?" A voice called out suddenly. It belonged to and elderly man, who was also accompanied by a woman of the same age. Both of them for the longest time were the Hokage's advisors. Now they were for the moment, the Hokage's substitutes.

"All members are accounted for." Team 8's ranking officer answered. The two advisors nodded their acceptance.

"Given the situation, we have an agreement that all current graduated Genin teams will be taking more C-Class missions. Is this acceptable?"

While Kurenai gave her full assurances of her teams ability and capacity, somewhere in the background, Shino was silent, Kiba was acting pretty damn pleased, and Hinata for the most part, decided that if Kurenai-sensei said so, she might as well.

"That said, we have a mission available for Team 8, who is currently the only team present here. It is an escort mission. Will you accept?"

By then, Kiba's excitement got ahead of him, "Of course! Who the hell ya think we are? We're not about to be upstaged by those Team 7 show offs!"

"That's enough." Shino noted. Kiba immediately stopped. Again, Shino saying anything usually means it.

"If that is the case, would the client please present himself?"

A sliding door opened in the side of the chamber, and everyone turned to look.

Appearing through the door was a man in a rather bright robe. He was pretty well built, chiseled not like a Greek but more as a rock, no, a mountain. The man had muscle simply put. Bulging from his arms, making up his neck, making that wide strong jaw, etc. His hair was graying, but he still looked healthy enough, plus he had a pretty awesome long beard.

Kiba nudged Hinata with his elbow, "Hey, Hina. The guy looks pretty damn loaded. You think he's going to give us a huge bonus?"

"Um… well…"

The man's loud voice cut in before the white-eyed girl could figure out a satisfactory answer. "So you kids are the ones who're gonna look after old me, huh?"

The elder male advisor explained the situation. "This is the client you will be protecting, team eight. His name is Hanzo. He is on a return trip from a business negotiation and stopped here to hire extra protection for the remainder of the trip until he reaches his home city."

"Hanzo, huh?" Kurenai mused to herself as she watched the man for a second. She turned back to her team, "Team 8 I want you packed and ready for the trip by afternoon. Meet at the west gate."

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"So, Hina, what do you think?" Kiba excitedly confided with the Hyuuga, knocking her out of her reverie with a surprised look. The three students sat on stone benches that faced the opening west gate that was making way for their departure. Shino was aloof as always, and Akamaru was resting on his owner's lap.

"Huh?"

"You know, about this mission! C-Class man! Our first C-Class! Finally!"

"But… we got it because, um, the village is in trouble… right?"

Kiba made a face of thought, and Hinata was suddenly afraid she offended him.

"Well… I suppose it's not exactly nice to think we got in this circumstance, true. Right Akamaru?"

Bark as always.

"Still, I wonder if it's going to be any exciting. I'm hoping for some action. You know, those guys in Team Seven are always talking about how their first C-Class turned into a pretty big B to A rank. Show offs…"

"I suppose…"

Kiba turned to Shino, "Hey, what do you think? Ready to kick some ass?"

"Perhaps. But it is better to hope for the best."

"What? And let that pinky and brooding jerk hog the glory?"

"They are just exaggerating. Official reports say that they simply came at the right time. Team seven arrived in a middle of a feud which resulted in both threats eliminating each other."

"Hmmm… but that pinky is always going on about how her "boyfriend" fought off a samurai."

"Samurai?" Hinata questioned aloud. Kiba nodded.

"Yeah. She makes it sound like some sort of genius with a sword. Bah! I bet I could kick that Samurai's ass faster than that Uchiha show off."

Kurenai came in just then, a sly smile on her face, "Kiba, perhaps you shouldn't ask for so much. Hanzo might think you'd purposely look for trouble."

Beside her, their client shrugged.

"Hey! I'm not like that!"

The old man laughed loudly at that, much to the Inuzuka's disdain. "Don't worry about it. I'm putting a hundred percent of my trust in you guys! Now I'd rather prefer going home as soon as possible, but don't feel like I'm rushing you guys!"

Hinata shook her head furiously, "No you're not…"

"Right then. Let's go to my transportation then…"

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Kiba was pretty outright pissed. The man had a fucking carriage, but had room for hardly more than one and a half. Hanzo decided to take up both one and the half, leaving the whole of team 8 to walk beside the carriage and keep a look out.

The guy should have at least let Hina in! She's fucking Hina! She's entirely too nice to just be left out walking around! ARGH!

While the man and his best friend fumed about the situation, Hinata, who strayed on the opposite side of the horse drawn box, seemed quite fine. Actually, she was more curious about the cause of their employment, rather than their walking.

"Um… Hanzo-san?"

The man's head poked through cloth curtain that partitioned his window. "Yes?"

"…Well… I was just wondering… why did you need to hire us?"

Luckily, before the poor girl started thinking she did something wrong again, Hanzo just shrugged and explained. "I have businesses everywhere. But it seems that around this region, there's been a group of bandits that have been attacking my properties around here with some careful attention. I think somebody has a something against me. Anyways, now that I'm personally going through here, I should take extra care of myself around here."

"Don't worry, Hanzo. We'll get you home safely." Kurenai reassured her escort, who felt a little relieved from the enthusiasm, especially Kiba's "Damn straight!" from the other side of the carriage. Shino just watched the entire thing indifferently from a little distance away.

For the longest time, things stayed pretty much nondescript. Hinata was rather happy the mission was going so smoothly, but Kiba was starting to wonder if there actually was going to be any action. Bah.

"My insects detect something up ahead." Shino suddenly called out. Kiba turned back in disbelief, before Akamaru agreed, barking something to Kiba about him smelling something.

"What? Really, Akamaru?"

"Um… what is it?" Hinata asked.

"There is a presence up ahead." Shino put simply.

"Yeah! Somebody to kick ass finally!"

"Don't ask for trouble, Kiba. It could be a civilian." Kurenai lectured easily, stopping Kiba once more in his tracks.

The idea of the civilian quickly was losing its hold, as the presence kept its same position on the road, even as they approached. Through the afternoon sun and heated dust, they could see a figure lying collapsed on the road more and more clearly.

By then, Hanzo had poked his head through the partition again to see as well, "It's a girl?"

Odd. I thought there was more than one… Shino's brows furrowed just by the slightest at this gross miscalculation.

Hanzo seemed to pity the girl's ragged breaths as the heat collected on her kimono. "We shouldn't just leave her like this, right? Stop!"

The merchant's transport stopped at that word, and the man himself stepped out quickly got down to prop the girl up. Kurenai stood by protectively.

The girl only looked maybe only a few years older than the genin students, and was quite beautiful with her dark shining hair and smooth skin. Even though her robes were covered in dust, its quality still shone through. It felt like a fairy tale situation, the perfect looking innocent maiden just so happening to appear on the road in need of saving.

"Oi, girl! Are you hurt? Are you alright?"

The girl tried to breath in to say something, but only coughed rather loudly, while making a sound that sounded suspiciously like "water, water".

That sort of request was easily obtained, and everyone sort of gathered around to watch Hanzo help the girl half splutter and half gulp down the liquid.

"Hey girl, what are you doing out here?" Hanzo asked.

The girl took a few moments to gather herself before beginning, "I was traveling to a relative's home of mine to pay a visit." She gave a sheepish chuckle, "I didn't expect the heat to be so strong."

As Hanzo helped the girl stand up, he prodded on, "So, where are you going? Perhaps if we are headed in the same direction, I could take you part of the way."

"Oh, no. You already helped me enough. I think I can make it on my own from here."

"Really? Is there really nothing more I can do for you?"

The girl shrugged, "If you really insist, we can know each other's name. I am Haku." She said, bringing a hand to her chest.

Hanzo pretty much voiced Kiba's thought aloud, "What a pretty name, suits you perfectly."

"And may I know yours?"

"My name is Hanzo."

"Really? Hanzo… it suits you."

Hanzo laughed at that, "Don't say too much, or my wife might get jealous."

Haku shared in with the joke, but continued, "It's true though… Hanzo…"

As the girl began to speak up again, Kurenai noticed a difference in the tone of voice. Something suddenly seemed to change.

"… sounds like a name … that's worth a lot of money."

And that smile was way too evil to be meant nicely.

Kurenai was already grabbing the back of Hanzo's collar, "Get back! It's a trap!"

Haku seemed shocked by the realization, before lunging forward, a frosty blue weapon suddenly appearing in her hand as she stabbed it sideways through Hanzo's robes in a rather weak attempt to get her target back. As Jounin continued to pull, the sword easily tore back out of the robes.

Immediately, the three genin had put themselves between the offending girl and their client.

"Damn… and it had to be the chick…" Kiba was muttering. Hinata had the situation more in grasp though.

"Who…who are you?"

The girl stood up from her crouch, gently holding her sword in one hand. "Haku, a samurai. I have been employed to capture Hanzo."

With that, Haku's free hand pulled her green-blue kimono apart and let it drop, revealing underneath darker looser robes of approximately the same color and obviously with the intent of use for combat.

"Yeah, well I'd like to see you try, Haku-chan, because you're up against the whole of Team Eight!" Kiba sneered.

Hanzo was practically sweating at the ensuing fight already, and feebly groped for the door to his carriage. "I'd… think I'd better hide in here while you guys handle this."

Finally grabbing onto the sliding panel, he pulled it open and saw something else very wrong.

A blonde boy in an orange haori was already draped across Hanzo's seat lazily, a long katana held standing on the ground with one hand.

The boy grinned like a fox on the hunt, "Yo."

Hanzo shrieked while Kurenai slammed the door shut as the boy pulled his sword free. A flash of light and the entire side of the carriage split in two from an invisible slash. The attention of the genin turned in shock as they also witnessed the carriage splinter and fly into oblivion, while sword slices rang through the air. Soon enough the axle split, and the harness broke free, loosing the terrified horses. Amongst the open-air ruins, the blonde boy smugly re-sheathed the katana into its cover he held in one hand.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I'm here to get that old geezer."

"Another one." Shino noted, but then made a noise similar to a gasp, while looking at Kurenai. The jounin saw that action, and immediately spun around to face behind her with a kunai. Her weapon sparked in contact with a stopped katana, before its wielder lightly stepped away. The blocked attack came from a man older than the other two samurai, a man with rough long hair, an eye patch and a cloak with a single sleeve attached to one side.

"This is funny. At least you proved that ninja jounin at least have some hindsight. Inukage Tetsuya. I've waited far too long for this moment…" The third samurai grinned. The grin dropped right after as he noticed something.

"Naruto…"

"What?"

"It's Leaf ninja again."

"So?"

"It's getting annoying. Every time we take a big job, it's always about Leaf ninja. I'm blaming you."

"S-shut up sensei! We have something more important to do!"

"Inukage Tetsuya… you mean the same one related to that Gatoh incident?" Kurenai accused.

"Yeah. So what about it?"

"Damnit… these guys are B-Rank criminals." The jounin instructor called back to her surprised students.

"B-B Rank?" Hinata managed to say. This was definitely not in her itinerary.

"So what? It's not like it was any easier to swallow when we found out we wouldn't get that OVA about Gray Ranger's lost childhood." Tetsuya called out.

"Sensei! Shut up about your stupid comics already!"

"You shut up! Anyways Haku, Naruto. Go have fun with the little kids. I want to fight the Jounin."

"Hinata, Kiba, Shino. Secure Hanzo. I'll leave the details to you!" With that Kurenai rushed towards the eldest Samurai, hands folding over and over in preparation for an attack.

"Let's go Akamaru! I'm going to kick your ass, blondie!" Kiba rushed towards Naruto then, dog in tow. The blonde samurai merely made a large swiping motion with his weapon, the resulting force more than enough to kick half the wood debris around him towards the Inuzuka. Kiba himself stifled his surprised and managed to jump out of the way, and rolled behind another piece of wreckage. Right after Naruto was already jumping over the top of it and rushing towards Kiba, naked sword and empty sheath in either hand, while Kiba jerked and dodged out of the way, scraping away from blows with a Kunai. Below Akamaru provided distraction as the dog barked and gripped onto the back of the samurai's leg with his teeth, forcing Naruto away in pain long enough for Kiba to return some of his own attacks.

Hinata and Shino together in fact were double teaming Haku, but the samurai with her ice sword seemed to just be dancing around each attack, sliding in wide circles to get between them and Hanzo, and to strike at their backs. She for the most part, was more intelligent than try to take on two people at once, and was more than willing to wait for Naruto or her teacher to finish their own fights first.

Tetsuya sliced horizontally at Kurenai's waist, not sure what she was planning, not really wanting to know what it was, and more than confident he would beat it anyways. It came as a total surprise to see the ninja's form fade and fall apart into a mass of flower petals.

"Kawarimi?" Tetsuya raised an eyebrow. There was a sound of something bursting through the ground behind him, the sounds of creaking wood. In a few short moments Tetsuya found himself crushed against a tree, several branches pining his body against the trunk.

"The fuck is this, eh?" The samurai muttered. Unknown to the warrior though, Kurenai was emerging from the tree like a mythical nymph, kunai in had, ready to stab the man in the head.

Tetsuya snorted.

In a flash, the sword again clashed with Kurenai's shorter blade. The tree was no longer there. Kurenai was no longer hovering above the once trapped samurai, but more realistically planted, both feet, on the ground beside him.

"W-what?"

"A Genjutsu user, ah? Pitiful. I can See through those cheap illusions, no sweat. What a loser."

With that, the samurai flung the jounin off him, causing her to smash against a tree by the path. Looking up, Kurenai looked in shock at the spinning pile of cloth flying through the air towards her. By the time the blade slashed through her and the tree behind her, the woman had already disappeared again. To a normal human's vision anyways. Tetsuya merely spun around and chased after Kurenai who had dodged away like he never even saw the illusion.

This is bad. My best techniques aren't effective on this guy. An expert in close range combat. He'll definitely out pace me at this rate.

"Fuck!" Kiba shouted from somewhere. Naruto was having a blast. The doggie boy was leaving too many openings, and Naruto was easily making little cuts here and there, humiliatingly tearing Kiba's jacket to pieces.

"Kiba!" Hinata shouted in concern. Haku took this chance at the turned head of the Kunoichi. Dashing forward, she lanced out with her blue sword of hers. The attack was only dodged at last minute, but the female samurai was fast enough on her feet. A quick spin and Haku got herself enough room to smash a foot into Hinata's chest, launching the girl off her feet and causing her to slide along the ground.

Kurenai might have been a jounin on a C-Class mission, sure. But she sure as hell wasn't a genius with a magical eyeball that was pitted only against one powerful enemy.

"Hinata-" Kurenai blocked a blow from Tetsuya katana before forcing the sword back up and swiping at the man's exposed stomach. Her aim was slightly out of touch, as the blade passed through abundant cloth, but not the body underneath. Tetsuya still backed up a bit slightly over cautious and more than willing to give the woman her room. Said women picked up her female student and set her next to Hanzo.

"K-Kurenai-sensei?"

"We can't handle them like this. I want to you take Hanzo and run. We'll catch up with you later."

"But I can't leave you!"

"Hanzo is more important right now-"

Another clash. Hinata was kind enough to slide beside her teacher to take advantage of the opening to force Tetsuya away as he retreated from the palm thrust.

"Go! Now!"

"Y-yes!"

With that Hinata grabbed Hanzo and dove into the shrubbery by the side of the road.

"You're not getting away-" Tetsuya started as he began to pursue. Kurenai immediately intercepted him, move for move, keeping herself between the shrubs and Tetsuya, even while he pitifully tried to get around the woman.

"Geez! Out of the way woman!" Tetsuya merely roared, slashing over and over at the woman, who matched him blow for blow, "Bah! Fine! Naruto! Go get them! You're the fastest!"

"Hai sensei!" Naruto shouted back. Before Kiba could grab him, the blonde samurai took a single leap backwards, spanning over the entire road, before another launched him into the boughs of the trees.

"Hey, Haku!"

"Yes, Tetsuya-sensei?"

"You can handle those two boys, right?"

"If even Naruto can handle the one with the dog, I would say it's more like one and a half."

"Okay."

-

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The two of them rushed through the darkness of the woods. Even here, the sun could do little more than pierce the blackness and color the ground slightly in little leaf patterns here and there.

"Do you know where to go, Hinata?" Hanzo managed to say between his hard breathes. It was lucky he was at least fit enough to run like this.

As for Hinata that question made her do the proverbial "Oh SHIT" in her head. She didn't really think about what to do except run the hell away. Run away! How cowardly! Now her friends could be out dying while she runs with Hanzo and saves her pitiful self.

But back to the question.

"I-I don't know… I… I think we should hide… Maybe… um…" Hinata was starting to panic. No plan, comrades dying, possibility of getting lost, cut off from reinforcements, family, etc…

"Good plan. I should be pretty easy to hide in a place like this… And those guys aren't ninja, for sure." Hanzo assured. Hinata wasn't so sure, but probably much better than any other genius idea she could come up with.

Hanzo suddenly gave a shriek of pain before collapsing to his knees, grabbing at a horrified Hinata and her jacket.

"Hanzo? What's happening!"

"My legs… they're here!" Hanzo managed to gasp. His lower legs were cut half way through, slicing cleanly through the muscles from an invisible attack.

Hinata's head jerked back up to look past her injured client. Up ahead a fair distance away was the shape of the blonde and orange samurai boy glowing in the sunlight.

"Well that makes things easier, doesn't it! No more running around, kunoichi." The boy grinned as he approached.

Hinata quickly set down her injured charge, whispering to him to stay down. Right after, she stood was defiantly as she could, palms open in her family's opening stance.

"S-Stay back!"

"Or you'll what?"

The ferocity of the statement made the Hyuuga shrivel back slightly.

"So, why don't you be a nice little ninja and run away like the little coward your kind is supposed to be!" The blonde emphasized with his thumb prying loose his blade, opening a rectangle of reflected light from the exposed metal

The air was swamped with the boy's aura of his willingness and his ability to kill. Hinata could feel herself panting at the feeling. The feeling lessened slightly as the boy spoke once more, slightly softer but no less serious.

"You look like a nice girl, not the type at all to get mixed up with all this ninja business and killing. You should quit while you're ahead… don't give me a reason to fight you."

"I…I can't quit my mission!" Hinata struggled out as best she could. Weak she may have been, yes, but at least she'd be dead being useful instead of alive and failing everybody again.

Naruto sighed heavily. "Just for the mission? God, what a tool…" With his sheathed weapon in his left hand, he swung it around a few times, letting the long cable attached to it wind around his wrist instead of its usual use of being wound around his back. There was a bright flash of light that blinded Hinata for a moment as the sword caught the sun again while it was drawn, before the glare disappeared, along with the boy.

With the disappearance of the samurai, Hinata immediately brought her hands together, flipping them through a sequence of seals she practiced well.

"Byakugan!"

Veins enlarged around her sides of her eyes, while her cream colored irises brightened into an impossibly stretched white expanse against white. Now, the ninja was granted her family's perfect vision, able to see everything in all directions.

Her Bloodlimit served immediately, as she saw the blonde samurai dive down towards her from above. Jerking to the side, the ninja watched the blade dive past her, along with the rest of the boy in slow motion. She thrust her palm at the samurai's upsidedown right lung, perfectly visible with all the chakra lines running around it with her enhance sight. Before she knew it, her palm contacted the wood sheath in the blonde's other hand, who quickly intercepted the blow. Pushing off from her, the samurai righted himself in the air and landed on his feet with both of them facing each other. Hanzo was lying between them.

Hinata panicked slightly, seeing her client open to attack.

"Don't worry ninja." Hinata looked at the samurai in confusion. "I don't play cheap tricks like you ninja. I'll kill you first, and then take the old geezer. That's my promise, on the honor of a samurai." He sarcastically toned out.

Am…am I that obvious?

The orange form dark under the shadows rushed at the ninja that moment. Hinata ducked under the blade's swing at her neck, only for her duck to turn into a staggering blow in the stomach when a near invisible steel braced sheath flew out in the darkness from behind the boy's sideways back and slammed home into her guts. She was what the hell was wrong with her while she coughed out a spittle filled choke of air. She should have seen that coming, dark or not, behind the back or not. She was a Hyuuga with her Byakugan on, for God's sake! What would her father think right now-

She yelped in pain while her arms raised above her head in defense, while the blunter steel of the samurai's two handheld weapons cracked into it. 'This was no time to be distracted by anything', Hinata had to remind herself, before throwing the sheath away from her and palming forward furiously at the boy's torso, each attack narrowly missed by an obviously confused lemon-top, as he was wondering what the hell she was trying to accomplish by slapping him to death. He didn't want to know. It probably made his head swell and explode if it hit-

The samurai repeated the ninja's commentary about not being distracted as the Hyuuga managed to find an opening and smash her palm straight on into his shoulder. The orange form made a few defending swipes with his sword, making the kunoichi back up protectively. That gave Naruto a few moments to fall to a knee and clutch his shoulder.

Damnit… what was that attack? I can hardly move this anymore! It hurts! "Fucking ninja…" He growled. The dull white body of the ninja in the dark shrunk back slightly from the sound of that. Naruto increased his fervor, running along low to the ground with a sword in hand. He was quick enough to slash at the girl's leg, tearing dark cloth to reveal mingled red and creamy white as the girl cried out in pain. Blocking out the noise, he rose up with a elbow rising backwards with enough force to smash into the kunoichi's face, knocking her backward with a dull groan into the back of a tree.

Hinata's vision swam a little, which was a lot worse with her Bloodlimit on, now that her vision was swimming in 360. She had a strange notion to puke in the back of her head. She quickly dismissed that as she gasped and jerked her head to the side, avoiding a slash that cut halfway through the tree she was up against at her head region. Sliding down, she struck at the ninja's legs but the samurai knocked the thrust off course again with his blunt sword cover. Hinata merely swung back up with her other hand at the orange swordsman's chest. It was too, blocked narrowly with the cover being slammed into his chest by her palm. The samurai quickly reacted, by bringing his sword between them and drawing it quickly across her neck. Her other hand quickly stopped this too, trapping her hand on his wrist and bringing them both at a deadlock of sorts.

Naruto cried out in frustration before throwing all his weight at Hinata, bringing them both to the ground, samurai on top. Naruto quickly drew up, weapon in hand and thrust down on the ninja, who ducked her head to the side to avoid the silver blade that stabbed into the ground beside her. Right after, a fist wrapped around a wood sheath smashed into the side of her face, knocking her head back straight for the blade to stab down again correctly. Hinata brought both her hands up to stop the blow above her head at the boy's wrists. The two struggled for a moment, keeping the sword up from impaling the kunoichi in the face. Naruto smacked her across the face again to break her, but her grip held. Instead all he got was an unexpected foot rising up from behind him as Hinata kicked up. Catching the samurai in the back of the head, the boy was stunned long enough for Hinata to throw him off her and roll away. Naruto was fast though, and quickly recovered. Grabbing his sword, he lunged out from the ground sloppily at Hinata's back, managing to split her back and staining her jacket. She dry sobbed out her pain momentarily, before getting herself up at the knees, hugging her sides as best she could while glaring at the samurai. Naruto got to his own knees slowly.

"Get up… Let's stop wasting time and finish this in one go." He spat out, before sheathing his sword again and spreading himself down low to the ground, coldly waiting for the kunoichi's moment to be ready herself. Slowly, the panting ninja got to her feet, still holding a hand to her side to administer to her back as well as she could.

I can do this…

One step, then another, before it turned into a dash that left blood at every step, while her arms and eyes was raised to strike him down.

One stride, then another, and he was surging down the forest floor to meet her, sword at his sword to cut her in two.

In tandem yells, Naruto and Hinata met with a sound of chakra exploding into the air and a flash of light. The kunoichi and the samurai slid to a stop and did not look back at each other, while their backs faced each other at a distance.

Naruto's right lung and side of his heart collapsed.

Coughing out a copious amount of blood, Naruto stared wide-eyed at the red mess at his feet, before realizing what had happened.

"DAMNIT!"

The samurai fell to his knees, his mouth still dripping blood. Driving his sword into the ground, Naruto did what he could to stay upright, before his balance gave out, and he fell backwards on his knees. His eyes dulled at his last sight of himself grasping for the sky that was so white…

"Sen-sei… Haku…" He managed to whisper out before falling completely.

He didn't get up.

Hinata herself was gasping and back to holding her side while she stared at what she just did.

The boy was dead.

She killed him.

The boy was dead.

He was the same age as her.

He was a family to those other two, and she just tore it in two.

The boy was dead.

Boy, did she feel dizzy.

Just as she backed up against the tree, she heard out of the way Hanzo's voice. "K-kunoichi? Is it safe?"

She had almost forgotten about him. Turning to face the man, she gave a wary smile as her Byakugan disappeared into her regular colorless pupils. "I-it's over… I think we should get-"

Five seconds later, her side erupted in a geyser of fine red mist, painting her sleeve and side of her shocked, wide-eyed face a nice blush tone.

She stared down at her bloody hand and looked back up at an equally shocked Hanzo.

"Ah…aahh…" She managed to whimper out while her eyes welled up. Soon enough, her vision rolled up and backward as she fell to match the samurai, head by head.

Hanzo shouted for her well being. She was too young for this. "Kunoichi!"

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Tetsuya knocked away a kunai and did not mind the illusory spears falling at his head while he slashed at the supposedly invisible Kurenai.

Haku also blocked blow for blow a pair of feral Kibas, kunais in each of their hands, while dancing further and further away from Shino, who was carpeting the ground with an increasingly black mass.

They all stopped at once, with a look of shock as they felt something go wrong in the forest.

Naruto…

Hinata!

Tetsuya shook himself out of the stupor first, and swung with all his might at Kurenai. The blow against the kuani was enough to cleave it in two and through the jounin to the other side of the dirt road. Haku jumped back from one of the Kiba's swipes, before flipping forward and springing off the ninja's parka swathed back to land beside her mentor.

"Haku, end this now!"

"Hai, Tetsuya-sensei."

Kurenai had stood up then, and the three ninja surrounded the two samurai cautiously, while Haku flipped the sword in her hand in a wide semi circle, before grabbing the weapon backwards in the same hand.

"Let's cut this short, ninja. Something happened to that idiot boy back there, and I will find out what it is. Haku!"

The female sword user concentrated hard on her sword.

A sound of wood groaning soon sounded around the three ninja as they looked around. Shino looked in surprise as all the trees began to shrivel up at a rapid pace, turning into mummified wood pillars. All sorts of greenery turned black around them. Even the remaining wood on the ruins of the carriage was drying up.

"She's absorbing the moisture in the wood…"

Kiba then took a step, and it sounded very different, with a mossy 'squish'. He looked down to see the dirt road turn into a porridgey mess of mud underneath his feet. "What the hell?"

No, she's moving the water to the ground… Oh shit! Kurenai swore in shock.

Haku calmly called out, "Hijutsu: Eternal Frozen Graveyard."

She dropped the sword into the wet ground.

Immeaditly, the ground everywhere bloomed and erupted into giant sharp pillars of ice blue. Icy stalagmites burst through the ground everywhere, and ninja quickly jumped about and soon disappeared into the blue expanse of blades.

Tetsuya and Haku didn't waste time admiring Haku's new technique, as they immediately dashed into the woods, leaving the forest of ice blades behind them.

Naruto…whereever you are…YOU'RE STAYING ALIVE!

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Next Chapter: The ruined samurai bring back their prey. A ruined team eight struggles to rescue. One more clash before the victor is decided.

A/N: If there's one thing I really hate, it's author's notes in the middle of the story:

And so Sora (who was in his KH2 uniform, mind you, because as you know, he has to get new clothes and his red clothes are sooo ugly, lol!) decided he looked pretty awesome in black.

Come on! If you have to tell the audience straight out the descriptions and thoughts, instead of integrating it into the narration, you just plain suck at writing, and need to fix your style. I'm here to read a story, not your stupid giggly thoughts of how it should be. If you want to put in your stupid giggly thoughts, at least trick me into not realizing I'm reading your stupid giggly thoughts, and not put in a giant sign in the middle of the story going "HEY! I'M BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL BY SAYING HOW TOTALLY HOT CLOUD IS! I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW!"

I don't want to know. Shut up and tell me the story.

Finally, I would like further commentary on how my ninja characterization is. This is my first time doing Team Eight.

And feel free to hate me for what I did to Hinata. I almost felt my own eyes feel a little funny when I wrote that.