Disclaimer: The view lightens to a fancy stage, where stage hands arepreparing forthe upcoming play. A lone figure sat on the stage childishly swinging his legs. The view zooms onto the figure startling him from his carefree-osity. His eyes widened and hurriedly spoke, "Woah! Well sorry to the readers and reviewers out there! I went on a little vacation with my family and now I'm back. Looks like my breaks off so I have to go. But before I go: Any elements of Harry Potter and Naruto belong to their rightful creators: J.K.Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto." The figure leaps up and vanishes in the scurry of the hands.

Chapter 6

The entrance of autumn was blatantly apparent as the heat lessened and the trees darkened. Distant children voices echoed around the hospital as people of various sizes scurried from place to place, busy with personal business. Though summer has declined, the sky remained blue as wisps of lazy clouds drifted along. It was one of those days where Kokuei wished he was outside enjoying the view. But of course he was stuck in bed, staring out of the window cursing his burning wounds. It had been a few days since he woke from his brush with death, and they were aggravating. Kokuei sighed, he could only hope that his genin would come and take him out.

As if on cue, the door to his room opened with a bang, and in stepped the pupil-less boy. Kokuei sighed; Kinji did that every time just to annoy him. Following said annoyance; was a Chinese-attired girl with a bird and an impassive emerald-eyed boy. Kokuei shook his head and turned on the girl.

"Rikou, do you have to let him do that every time?"

The girl smiled, "Yes we do; it's entertaining for us."

Kokuei's mouth twisted and mumble, "Well it's not for me…"

Kinji smiled toothily, "Come on sensei lighten up; it's a beautiful day. It's a wonderful beautiful day…"

The emerald eyed boy's eyes scrunched and cut him off, "Kinji, no need to deafen him with your ah… unique singing talent."

Kinji shrugged and sat by the window, obscuring Kokuei's view of the sky. "I'm bored… All we've been doing is resting, resting, and more resting."

The emerald eyed boy rolled his eyes at the improper use of grammar. Kokuei turned to him, "You haven't said anything for a while, Harii, feel like the minor character of a story?"

The boy smirked lightly, "Yeah, I mean everyone knows that obnoxious and idiotic people are the protagonists of a story."

Kinji nodded but paused and cried out, "Oi!"

Rikou laughed, the little bird sitting on her shoulder imitating her. Kinji turned to glare at both of them.

When the chuckles died, Rikou turned to Kokuei and informed him, "We came by to tell you that we're going on a joint mission with the other genin teams. The Hokage said it was something about teamwork on a grander scale. You will probably see us though; we have to patrol the village until the next group of police officers is trained. It's weird though, I thought the Uchiha clan was the police, what happened to them?"

Kokuei opened his mouth to answer, but Harii beat him, "It has to do with Itachi."

The occupants of the room turned to stare at him. "What? He was one of my old classmates. We kept in touch."

Rikou shook her head and continued, "Well it doesn't matter; we still have to patrol for a while. I wonder where we're going to start." Rikou glanced at the clock in the room, "We better go; it's almost time to meet our leaders."

The boys nodded and the genin filed out of the room slowly saying their goodbyes. Harii, the last one out, nodded at Kokuei and closed the door to his room. Kokuei sighed, back to his sky gazing. Kokuei's eyes widened and cursed,

"Damn it! Kinji closed the curtains!"

Team 4 was the first one to enter the room where their new joint mission started. Kinji looked around nervously and coughed multiple times to ease his anxiety. As Rikou stepped into the room her eyes widened spectacularly and whipped her head from side to side, trying to see all of the tapestry. Harii cocked his head and swiveled until he found a particular branch of the tapestry.

On the walls hung a magnificent tapestry, one of a giant tree branching out. At the roots lay the names of the original clans who came together to become what was now Konoha. From these roots branched out many limbs from which later families joined. Every now and then two clans would combine and rarely would the family names change. Many branches withered at a specific event, one, Harii noticed, was a slightly green-tinged branch that was labeled Suigyoku. However before it rapidly withered a small miniscule twig branched away; Harii stored that image in his mind for later.

The sound of the entrance door opening startled the three, who quickly turned to meet the newcomers. In walked Team 8, with their sensei in tow. Their sensei spoke something to them and left the room. Kinji's eyes widened and his mouth curved into a smirk. He sauntered over to Team 8 and proceeded to strike up a conversation with a certain female member. Said female casually smirked at Rikou and winked.

Rikou stepped forward as if to berate Kinji, when Harii placed a hand on her shoulder. Rikou turned and glared at him, daring him to interfere. Harii sighed and shook his head, he squeezed her shoulder, "It's Kinji, he can take care of himself, especially with a questionable innocent like Benzaiten Megami."

Rikou sighed and looked at the blatant flirting among the two. "She always tries to beat me at everything! First it's beating me in class work, then becoming more recognized, and now trying to get close to Kinji! I mean really!"

Harii shook his head and opened his mouth to speak when the door opened once more to allow Team 5 in, in all of their arrogance. The surprisingly humble jounin shook her head at her genin and left the room to join the jounin of Team 8.

The trio of Team 5 sauntered over to Rikou and Harii, sneering at them. The one in the center openly glared at Harii, and opened his mouth, "Sharp-Nose, why are you here? You can't seriously believe that you're a real genin."

Harii's mouth twitched slightly as Rikou's lips thinned. Harii placed his foot in front of Rikou, blocking her progress towards the trio. Harii shook his head, "Look Suisama, it's not the time for this; maybe when we're not on a mission, but not here and certainly not now."

The teammate on the right arrogantly rolled his eyes. However the feminine companion right of Suisama spoke then; her falsetto voice piercing their ears. "Shut up Sharp-Nose, we don't need to deal with your ass wipe; Suisama- dono here was just stating a fact."

Harii opened his mouth to respond, but Rikou reacted to the comment first. "Clean that mouth out bitch!"

Fuu turned to Rikou and sneered at her, "Watch who you're talking to firstie!"

Rikou glared at Fuu and spit out, "Sorry if I'm proud of my parts, Fu!"

Harii and the trio simply stared at her. Fu opened her mouth to retort something vicious when the door slammed open and in walked the Hokage.

The Hokage slowly walked his way to the front and spoke surprisingly loud for one so old. "Welcome! As you all already know, the police are short on patrol so they hired us to patrol for them until their next class is ready to take over. Why they are low, well you can find out knowing your young curiosity. This mission will approximately take three days. Alright for such a schedule, we have devised a system to place every one of you at different locations equally." The Hokage paused as if he expected groans, "You will be divided into 3 genin teams. After your shift, you will report here to receive information on your next shift. Any questions before we start shift assigning?" Another pause ran uninterrupted. "Alright, Team 4; please come up to the desk."

Kinji reluctantly peeled himself from Megami and joined Rikou and Harii at the desk. The Hokage looked down to his sheet of paper and back up, "You will be patrolling the gates, keep a watchful gaze on both the village and the gates. Your responsibility is to provide intelligence on the status of the gates as well as the duties common to law enforcement. Alright you have the night shift; you start at 10. You may go."

The team nodded, accepted the outstretched sheet and walked out. They closed the door behind them and looked at each other. Kinji smiled and loudly exclaimed, "Yes! The night shift! That leaves us with 8 hours of free time!"

Rikou shook her head, "What are you so excited about? It's only free time, I mean we already had three days of rest, I think it's time for some training or some practice."

Kinji and Rikou started to argue once again; Harii sighed and pushed up his glasses, "Whatever we do will be decided by the third party within this team." Rikou stopped him mid-rant and started at Harii, "I say we go to our houses to prepare and then go hang at the Ichiraku until our shift."

Kinji had brightened up at the answer and cheerfully headed towards the Hyuuga House, waving his hand behind him. Rikou's lips thinned and walked briskly to her house. Harii ran up to her retreating form and spoke, "Sorry about that, I had to choose something relaxing, both of you needed it."

"What do you mean the both of us need it? Don't you mean Kinji needs it?"

"Nope, you needed it because you were all tense today from those other teams." Harii paused, "I wonder though, why?"

Rikou glared at Harii, who fell silent; even his footsteps became light as if he didn't want to anger her more. Unfortunately his presence voided this half-hearted attempt. Rikou growled and turned to Harii, "Will you quit following me?"

Harii chuckled, "Well I don't want to be aggravating like Kinji," Rikou rolled her eyes at this, "but, nope, not until you tell me what's wrong."

Rikou gritted her teeth and spit out three words. Harii blinked and cupped his ear, "Come again?"

Rikou glared at Harii again, "You know you are aggravating, just worse than Kinji."

Harii smirked and bowed, "I live to serve, my lady."

Rikou exhaled noisily, "Fine, fine… Suisama, Rai, and that… that… ugh!" Harii had to stifle a chuckle from her, "They were bullies. Maybe it was because I was a know-it-all, maybe it was something else but they were my academy bullies; happy now?"

Harii's eyes glinted dangerously, but faded quickly, "Well it shouldn't bother you that much, it was just a childhood case of cruelty, everyone faces one sometime. Besides what happened to the strong and smart girl Kinji loves?"

Rikou nodded absentmindedly, but backtracked and turned red, "Harii! Kinji does not like me! I don't even like him in that way!"

Harii chuckled, "Ah preteen romance, full of cluelessness and stupidity. I can't wait until I'm old enough."

Rikou glared at him intensely that Harii sighed in relief when he saw her house, "Well here's your house; I'll leave you to making your seals, have fun and don't forget to come to Ichiraku when you're done!"

Rikou continued to glare at him only for her mind to click at his words, "I don't have fun making seals… and I don't forget things!"

She merely received a faint chuckle in reply.

Three synchronous clunks were heard as Team 4 finished their ramen. They paid for the ramen and headed for the gates. Kinji burped loudly and was gifted with a slap from Rikou. They started to argue again all the while Harii was strolling behind them, his smirk deepening with each insult. Love Birds.

When they came to the gates, they slowly curved to the right, ending up walking a concentric circle to the barrier. Stars winked into existence and the wind swirled around them as Kinji broke off from his fight with Rikou and slouched his walking stance. Rikou started, "You know that's bad for your post…"

"Yes I know that it's bad for my posture thank you very much." Kinji paused and continued in a more peaceful tone, "It's just this night that has me worrying about Hinata."

Rikou's eyes sought out Harii's and held a questioning gaze. Harii opened his mouth, but Kinji spoke for him.

"Usually during these kinds of nights, I would be there for Hinata when she woke from her nightmares. These kinds of nights bring back unwanted memories for Hinata. It was the same night when she was almost kidnapped." Kinji paused, "It was during the Leaf-Cloud negotiation. Frankly, I'm surprised that you don't know about it, it's not classified information. It's funny really; it was what drove my cousin and me apart while it brought my sister and me closer."

Rikou turned her questioning gaze towards Kinji as he continued, "But enough of this, let's get back to the mission."

Rikou's bewildered face was quickly covered as she shivered and pulled the cloak tighter against her. It was truly becoming autumn as the temperature lowered at a steady rate. Harii and Kinji noticed and stepped closer to her, in order to warm themselves.

A pregnant silence reigned for what seemed the longest time, until it was cracked by Kinji's sudden stop. His Byakugan was activated, searching the area for signs of mischief. Harii and Rikou's hands flew to their weapons. A nearby bush rustled and all attention flew to the escaping dog, running through the disturbed bush. Rikou sighed in relief and stepped forward, only to be pulled back by Kinji. Rikou looked alarmed but when she followed Kinji's finger downwards she was relieved to say that she had not stepped onto the dog's… present.

Harii stifled a snort and the team resumed patrolling the area taking extra care to maneuver around the pile.

Harii had wondered why the Hokage was assigning genin an upper C/lower B-rank mission, no matter how simple the missions were. On top of that, why had he assigned Team 4, the team with two bloodline limits, especially one with the ability to see all 360°, at the gates? And why couldn't their jounin teachers join them on this mission? Questions, questions…

Harii sighed and looked upwards to the clear sky. His eyes traversed the inky mass, seeking for Sirius. His eyebrows came together in a frown as he failed in his search. He tried once more, but before he got far he tripped on a tree root. Physics took over and Harii's body, pulled by gravity, face-planted against the dirt road. Rikou and Kinji glanced at Harii, who motioned them to continue. Cursing, he lifted his body up with his arms. A glint of light caught Harii's attention and he cried out in warning.

Rikou and Kinji stopped abruptly and armed themselves, surveying the area. Harii slipped a hand to his chain, when a rustle from the tree above them shifted their attention. A cloaked figure flew out and poised himself for an attack. Rikou threw her kunai at him, striking dead between his eyes. The body looked shocked and puffed out of existence. It was Harii's turn to be shocked as he felt hands grab his ankles, reflexively he twisted as he jumped, forcing one of the hands to lose its grip. Harii felt an alien tingle rise from the hand and felt the ground beneath him trap his legs. He wriggled and attempted to escape, but with each attempt the earth constricted more, making Harii feel more faint.

Harii looked over to the others and saw Rikou in a similar state as he was. Kinji on the other hand was in the air, back flipping away from the hands. The owner of the hands rose from the earth, small debris cascading down his figure. His form was wrapped in a thick black cloak, and the only identifying feature was large protrusion on his back, the boulder build, and the slash mark on his forehead protector. A Missing-nin…

Kinji's thoughts turned from worrying about Hinata to the kidnapping attempt to his cousin. He missed his cousin, his brother; he had changed after the kidnapping, after his father's death. Kinji believed that his cousin still thought his father was forced to be the sacrifice. Though his cousin might have been the genius, he had never resented that fact. After all he was his cousin, his brother. He still remembered the last time he had talked to his cousin like a favorite brother. It seemed like an eternity to him.

It was another one of those days that he and his cousin would go into the family courtyard and train; whether it was him teaching his cousin or his cousin teaching him. That day his cousin told him of a new technique: the Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou no jutsu. He learned of the power and the speed of the technique. He had proceeded to attempt to perform the technique as usual, only to fail mercilessly. He blushed; never had he failed to do a technique! Sure he couldn't have done it as fast as his cousin but still he was the heir to the Hyuuga family! Arrogance bubbled below his skin, boiling his blood; he wanted to do it! His cousin, sensing the rising chuckled innocently and reassured him. Kinji shook his head and followed his brother's words. Over and over he tried and each time brought more accuracy. Finally on his last try before he gave up he managed to land all strikes except for one. His cousin smiled at his tantrum and soon was given a question from him. He merely replied with another irritating smile.

Kinji's thoughts were shattered as his eyes caught sight of shifting earth. He evaded the chakra guided ground and faced the unearthed enemy. When a figure dropped from the tree, and cackled, "Well, well, well. It looks we've caught some genin, eh Rock-nin?"

The Rock ninja grunted in reply and the figure laughed. He leaned over and his head was bathed in the dim light of a nearby streetlight. His cheeks were scarred and his forehead adorned a slashed clouded protector.

"Hi there! I'm sorry 'bout trappin' ya, but we'll be takin' your dead corpse's as proof o' our mission."

Kinji growled and stepped between his team and the missing-nin. The Cloud ninja's eyes widened and his mouth smiled eerily. "Well, well, well. Look here, it's a Hyuuga! When I kill ya I'm gonna take tha' eye o' yours."

Kinji's eyes flattened and he activated the Byakugan. The Rock-nin formed a seal, and with a mutter earth began to slowly climb up Harii and Rikou's legs.

The Cloud-nin laughed, "My friend here's a little bumped in tha head. But he's smart enough ta know when ya 'bout ta attack. When tha' dirt cova's completely, ya friends are dead!"

Kinji growled again, and flicked his hands, Odayaka na Dangan no jutsu! The kunai flew towards the Rock-nin, but was knocked off course from two thrown kunai, catching their propelled counterparts in the ring. The Cloud-nin laughed and threw more kunai, purposely at Harii and Rikou. Kinji cursed and imitated the Cloud-nin by altering their course. Kinji shot kunai once more and rushed to approach the Cloud-nin. The ninja skipped backwards and slipped on knuckles. He grinned at lashed out at Kinji, who avoided the bladed fists. The ninja drove his knee into Kinji's stomach and elbowed him to the ground.

The Cloud-nin clicked his tongue, "Tick, tick, tick. You're wasting time here. Your friends don't have much hope left if ya keep this up."

Kinji glared at him and pushed himself to his feet. The Cloud-nin nodded and lashed out again; Kinji retreated and fell into a stance. With his hands held open he spoke, "Hakke Sanjyuu Nishou."

He appeared at the Cloud-nin's chest and started to commence his attack. Blow upon blow struck the Cloud-nin, who staggered at the attack. Kinji retreated and the Cloud-nin coughed up blood. He grinned, a toothy grin and pulled back his hand and flung it forward. A lance flew from his hand which soon duplicated into multiple lances. Yari Kougeki! Kinji pulled back his palms and swiped them before the lances: Hakke Kusho! The lances flew aside to reveal the Cloud-nin poised to slice Kinji with his knuckles. The blades raked against Kinji's right arm and drew blood. Kinji bit his lip in pain as he fell back, tipping the Cloud-nin over him. Planting his feet on his knees Kinji drew back his right palm and drove it into his chest. Kinji's palm glowed and he spoke, Odayaka Myaku. A ripple of chakra fled from his palm into the chest blasting the Cloud-nin to the ground three meters away, face first. The Cloud-nin looked up and cursed, and planted a shaky hand to lift himself. A dim shadow appeared around him and soon his shaking was abruptly smothered by a large boulder.

The Rock-nin, who now was missing his hump, walked over to the boulder and stood next to it. His tongue moistened his lips and a gravelly voice grounded out, "Damn condescending Cloud chuunin. You forgot the fucking first rule of a ninja: see underneath the underneath."

He turned to Kinji and grinned; "Now it's your turn, my fellow ninja."

He picked up the boulder easily and threw it at Kinji. Kinji's eyes widened and he dashed to the side. The Rock-nin calmly walked over to his rock and chucked the boulder once more. Kinji ducked under the rock and rushed towards the missing-nin.

The missing-nin drew back his hands and unleashed a flurry of fists at Kinji before he had gotten close enough to attack. Kinji dropped to avoid the heavy fists and crouched, palms toward his opponent. Hakke Kusho!

The technique propelled the Rock-nin several meters away, dust rising as his feet dragged along. Kinji appeared before him and performed his Hakke Sanjyuu Nishou. The Rock-nin threw up a wall of earth and punched it. A column of earth extended outwards towards Kinji's stomach.

Kinji twisted and flipped over the wall, his thoughts sharpening as adrenaline coursed through his body. Kinji fell into the stance while airborne and exhaled, Hakke Sanjyuu Nishou. He lightly stepped and appeared several centimeters near the missing-nin's chest. His eyes narrowed and he began his onslaught.

2… 4… 8… 16… 32!

Each strike precisely hit their target; Kinji flipped backwards and tensed, observing the outcome of the attack. The Rock-nin remained standing as earth fell in clumps from his body, Dosei Bugu no jutsu he whispered.

He smirked and voiced, Kyourandotou no jutsu. His hands pronged themselves at the ground beneath Kinji. Kinji's eyes widened as he felt the earth below him shift and slowly began to turn. Kinji leaped upwards, only to be pulled down once again by the swirling earthen pit. His eyes sought the weakness of the technique but couldn't find one. His mind raced, his breathing quickened, and his eyes desperately sought out a solution. At once his mind went back to his last peaceful meeting with his cousin.

His eyes focused once again but this time on the source of chakra: the missing-nin. His mind noticed the unwavering stance. Focusing his chakra into his feet he blasted above the maelstrom and uttered, Odayaka Myaku.

The Rock-nin was surprised at such a recovery and was blown to the boulder, he had previously used. Wanting to end the battle, Kinji prayed to who ever reigned the above that his next attack would work. He fell into the Hakke stance once more and whispered, Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou no jutsu.

1… 2… 4… 8… 16… 32… 63!

Kinji winced as his last series of strikes became sloppy, with only 31 of them hitting the intended target. The Rock-nin collapsed and once Kinji deemed it safe, he walked to his teammates. Before he reached the halfway mark to them a slight motion in his Byakugan view made him turn around.

The Rock-nin had steadied himself and had the boulder lifted, although weakly, and was poised for the throw. Kinji dashed to the side as the boulder arched from his hand to the ground. The Rock-nin appeared near the boulder and threw it again, finally collasping under Kinji's technique, and again Kinji dashed away. However this time he dashed to his teammates, seeking to free them. Hurriedly Kinji focused some chakra into his palms and placed them on the neck-high earth. The earth promptly crumbled as the chakra of the Rock-nin in the dirt was jammed. Rikou and Harii stepped out of the ring of earth formed and took out kunai. However as their hands moved to their containers, they were roughly shoved aside by Kinji.

Kinji turned to dash to them, only to feel immense pain as he felt his body whip around, smashing into the earth. His body smacked against the boulder as it pinned him, his left arm under the great weight. Pain wreaked havoc on his body as the adrenaline began to fade. The cut in his right arm flared in pain. Yet it was cruelly smothered by the overbearing wave of pain. All too soon did Kinji felt something was wrong. There was supposed to be another wave of pain, not the unnerving numbness radiating from his arm. Shock overwhelmed his body's limit as sweet darkness swept him from reality. His last thought was his last brotherly question to his cousin:

How is this jutsu supposed to help me, Neji-juutei?

A/N: Eh. Again sorry about the wait. I would have updated yesterday but ffnet's document uploader didn't work. Thanks to my Beta Morier for the unbelievable quick beta. I also apologize for my vivisection of the Japanese language. Time should be more plentiful now that vacation's over, unless there's a heat wave or friends call. Anyway here's the Translations:

Translations:
Odayaka na Dangan – Gentle Bullet
Hakke Sanjyuu Nishou – Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms
Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou – Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms
Yari Kougeki – Lance Assault
Hakke Kusho – Eight Trigrams Empty Palms
Odayaka Myaku – Gentle Pulse
Dosei Bugu – Earthen Armor
Kyourandotou – Maelstrom ('The state of affairs being in great turmoil' actually)
juutei – younger cousin

Until Next Time

AibohphobiA