Last time, Hay Lin and Taranee prepared to return to Meridian to fight the Naz'riak, while Naruto gathered his Ninja allies. After making sure everyone was ready, the left for Metamore. On with the show!

Chapter 7: The Second Battle

The green fog of the Naz'riak had dissipated, and Will, Irma, Cornelia and Elyon saw the demons Will and her friends encountered the night before. Their leader stood forward. "So, we meet again after such a short time." It hissed. "Not short enough," said Will, "What do you want?" "Our Empress has decreed that for your interference," hissed one of the demons, "You are to be liquidated, post haste." Elyon glared at the demons, "Why are you taking the children of my city?" she asked with much determination. "We do only as the Empress commands," said the demon Will recognized as the one who attacked Taranee.

"Well you can tell your empress that I want them back, alive and unharmed." "The Naz'riak do not obey the requests of lowly humans!" hissed demon no.10. "The younglings have not been harmed in any way." Said demon no.1. "You harmed them by taking them away from their parents!" yelled Cornelia. "Such a feisty female," said demon no.6, "I think I'll seal up your powers as well." "You did the one yesterday," said another demon, "I, no.11. shall handle this one."

"The only thing you're handling," said Will as she pulled out the Heart of Candracar, "Is your own funeral. Guardians Unite!" Within seconds, Will, Irma and Cornelia had transformed. "This again," said no.1. It pointed at one of its underlings, "You, no.9, summon the biots." The selected demon pulled out its pouch of stones and flung a huge handful of pebbles onto the ground. Instantly there stood about 500 of the demon/robot hybrids from yesterday.

"That's a lot of onions." Said Irma. "Minions." Said Cornelia, correcting Irma. "That's what I said." Said Irma defensively. "Fortunately," said Elyon, I have a lot of guards. Am I right, Vathek?" The captain of the guard and about 200 palace guards stood behind Elyon. "We'll do what we can, my Queen," said Vathek as he ordered, "Attack!" and they charged at the biots. Meanwhile, Will, Irma, Cornelia and Elyon were also doing their share of biot bashing. During the fight, Cornelia found herself isolated from the others.

Suddenly, Naz'riak no.11 appeared in front of her and delivered a hard backhanded slap to her face. Cornelia stumbled, but soon recovered. "I shall enjoy depriving you of your powers." Hissed the demon, but before it could get any closer, Caleb had entered the fray. He stood between Cornelia and the demon, sword ready and pointed at its face. "You take one more step," threatened Caleb, "And it'll be the last step you take."

Unfortunately for Caleb, demon no.11 was too fast. Before he knew it, the demon had its scaly hand grasped around Caleb's throat. "You foolish human," hissed no.11, "You're no match for one of the Naz'riak." It threw Caleb against a wall, and he landed in a heap. "Caleb!" cried Cornelia as she rushed over to her beloved. But before she could reach him, the demon had her pinned against the wall.

"Say good by to your powers, mortal!" hissed no.11 as it's free hand glowed with purple fire. Yet, just before the demon could strike, something grabbed it, and that something, or someone, was Taranee. "Keep your slimy hands of my friend, you damned dirty demon!" exclaimed Taranee as she delivered a flaming fist to its face, sending demon no.11 hurtling onto the other side of the wall.

"Looks like you go your powers back." Said Cornelia as Taranee helped her up. "That and we found help." Cornelia then realized that the remaining biots were being slaughtered by 11 teenagers in various outfits. "Who are they?" asked Cornelia. "They're ninjas." Answered Taranee. "Taranee!" exclaimed Nigel as he tore a biot in half. He rushed over to her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Taranee. "I don't know all the details as to how I got here," said Nigel, "But I know why; I'm here for you, always." Just then a biot tried to interrupt this tender moment, but Nigel ripped its head off. "We'll talk when this is over." Said Nigel as he ran off to fight some more biots. Taranee was gazing at him with stars in her eyes. "You okay?" asked Cornelia. "He's strong," said Taranee to herself, "He's strong!"

Once all the Biots were destroyed, Naruto then walked over to Will and Elyon. "I don't know who you are," said Will, "But I sure do appreciate your help." She held out her hand, and Naruto shook it eagerly. "Glad to help." Said Naruto, smiling widely. Just then, demon no.1 growled at Naruto, "Who the hell are you to interfere in the matters of the Naz'riak?" "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, believe it." Said Naruto.

"I'll remember that name," said demon no.6, "As I send you to hell!" It charged at Naruto, it's fingernails lengthening into six-inch claws. Naruto just stood there as the demon slashed at his face. Just before no.6 made contact, Naruto disappeared in a large puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the demon's claws were stuck in a large block of wood.

"What was that?" asked Irma. "That," said Naruto, who was standing next to her, "Was a substitution jutsu." The demon then pulled its claws free of the block. "You shall pay for that, human." "Please," said Naruto, "Put it on my tab." "I shall feast on your souls!" exclaimed no.6. "You want me to take care of this bozo?" asked Shikamaru. "No," said Sakura, "I got this. I've been meaning to field-test my new technique."

Sakura then faced the demon, her hands moving in complicated hand-signs. When she was ready, Sakura shouted, "Soul-sonic Jutsu!" Her body became charged with blue lightning, she began her attack. Sakura moved so fast, that even Hay Lin had a hard time keeping up with her. Sakura's first strike was a haymaker fist to the head of no.6 that sent it flying 10 feet off the ground. Just before the demon landed, Sakura delivered a roundhouse kick that launched it towards a wall. As no.6 flew towards the wall, Sakura again appeared in front of it, delivering another kick, this one a finishing one.

The demon tried to get up, but collapsed before it could stand. The other Naz'riak were shocked into silence. The blue lightning faded from Sakura as she glared at the demons. "Anyone else care to try me?" she asked, beckoning at the Naz'riak with her hand. The demons looked at each other before vanishing, leaving demon no.1 to say; "You have made a dangerous enemy today. This is far from over!" With one last glare at Sakura, the lead demon vanished.

"Wow! That was incredible Sakura!" exclaimed Naruto. "What did you call that maneuver?" asked Shikamaru. "That," said Sakura, "Was the Soul-sonic Jutsu." "Well that explains what you've been doing these past few months in private," said Ino, "I hate to admit it, it's cool." "Yes," said Sakura, "It is cool." Meanwhile, Sakura's inner ego was doing her own version of gloating; "Oh yeah! Who rules? I do!" "Impressive." Said Saske. "Glad you like it," said Sakura. "Sakse likes it! He likes it!"

"What do we do with this creep?" asked Kiba. The demon defeated by Sakura was recovering. "Tie it up," ordered Elyon, "We'll question it about where the children have been taken." Demon no.6 however had other plans. It pulled a small object out of its pocket and placed it in its shoulder. "You'll get nothing from me, human scum!" exclaimed the Naz'riak as it pressed down on the syringe. Five seconds later, the demon was dead.

Saske reached no.6 first and examined the syringe. "Nightshade poison," said Saske grimly, "highly effective as a suicide agent." He picked up the yellow stone around the neck of the dead Naz'riak. "If all of them have such a suicide ticket," said Will, "capturing one won't be easy." "Then we'll just catch it and restrain it before it can kill itself." Said Naruto. "Easier said than done." Said Irma. "Then we'll just have to try harder." Said Naruto. "Has he always been this optimistic?" asked Hay Lin. "Most of the time," answered Sakura, "You'll get used to it."

Meanwhile, in the lair of the Naz'riak…

In the aftermath of their defeat, the Naz'riak were on the verge of fighting each other. Only the toughness of their leader was keeping them from doing so. "This was only one failure," hissed no.1, "It must never happen again." "You saw what kind of humans we're facing," hissed no.10, "especially the pink-haired one." "Yes," said the leader, "The newcomers are Shinobi. Make no mistake, they shall all suffer."

Suddenly, the klaxon sounded again. "The Empress calls," said no.1 as the demons bowed before the image of their Empress, "All hail the Empress! All hail the Empress!" "Have the Guardians been destroyed?" asked the Empress. "Forgive me Great One," groveled no.1, "But they have not." "Do I need to ask why?" said the Empress in annoyance, "Were the Guardians too much for you and your biots?" "My Empress," hissed no.11, "We nearly had the humans defeated, when several Shinobi counterattacked us."

"Shinobi?" asked the Empress, "Now why are there Shinobi here?" "I do not know, My Empress," said no.1, "Forgive my ignorance." "It is forgiven no.1," said the Empress, "This time." "There is another matter," said demon no.1, "no.6 has been defeated and terminated."

The Empress sighed in annoyance. "That can't be helped. You'll just have to carry on without no.6. The culling must be completed in time for the ritual, despite these new interlopers. What is needed is a change of strategy. Here's what you must do…"

The end of chapter 7. What diabolical scheme is the Empress plotting with the demons? Next chapter, we find out. Plus, Sakura explains to the Guardians about ninja arts and chakra. Please read and review. See you next time!