Hey. So to that Guest, whose review I deleted. This story may be shit, but no one forced you to read it. Besides, if mine is so shit, why don't you do everyone a favour and write a better one then? And if you wanna flame, make an account. No one knows who you rly are anyways.

And to another Guest, who review I did not delete. True, it seems stupid for Kirito to blame himself. Normally he wouldn't, but remember, he got the cursed mark here, thus his mentality is a bit unstable. Besides, he was the only other one there, so Kirito blaming himself for not being able to do more is natural.

With that aside, here's the next chapter.

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Hikari and Jiraiya had reached the village. The Sannin spoke as they entered the entrance of the village, "Hikari, I'm gonna go meet my informant, you go find an inn and get our rooms."

Hikari nodded. With his serious tone, she would have really believed him. But the girl just deadpanned at him as Jiraiya threw a pouch of money at her before going towards that one woman who winked at him.

Hikari sighed as she looked into the pouch, at least he gave her more than enough money to get two rooms AND a dozen bowls of ramen.

The girl looked at the buildings in front of her. It was almost evening anyways, they had taken quite some time travelling after all. The Uzumaki walked towards one of the inns and entered the lobby.

Hikari approached the counter and spoke, "Excuse me, I'd like to get two rooms please."

The receptionist nodded and Hikari quickly got the keys to two rooms, one for her, the other for Jiraiya. She, under no circumstances, had any desire to stay in a same room as Jiraiya.

Meanwhile, Kirito was flying from the nearest village to the next. There were several villages around Konoha, and while he heard that Jiraiya and Hikari had gone to the nearest village, it wasn't much.

Kirito had wasted enough time searching that previous village, and this time he was on his way to the next, which fortunately was the one Hikari was in.

With Sasuke, the only village he knew of near Konoha was the one Hikari was in, fortunately for him. But the Uchiha was slow compared to Kirito, so by the time he reached the village, it would already be the evening.

A while later, Hikari was lying on her bed. The girl played with a small grey dragon the size of of a puppy she had summoned. Hikari smiled as the little dragon stumbled around the bed in front of her.

Then she heard a knock on the door. Hikari scooped up the dragon and walked towards the door, "Finally..."

The girl opened the door to reveal two men in black coats, with red clouds. Hikari easily noticed the Sharingan and knew she was looking at Uchiha Itachi. As for the other man, Hikari had no idea who he was, but was still wary of him.

The slayer of the Uchiha clan spoke, "Uzumaki Hikari, I would like you to come with us."

The girl wordlessly sent the dragon puppy back to its realm and spoke, "What do you want?"

Kisame grinned, "Hey Itachi, can I cut off her limbs?"

Itachi glanced at Kisame but didn't reply. With Hikari, the Kyuubi growled in her mind, "Hikari, prepare to go all out. These guys are far stronger than you, at least for now. If you use three tails, you can probably kill one of them, but against two, you have to find that pervert."

The girl nodded as she backed into the middle of the room. Itachi spoke again, "Hikari, I believe I said we'd like you to follow us."

The Uzumaki glared at him, and for a moment, Itachi shivered from the glare due to how much it reminded him of a certain redhead.

Then, before any of them could react, a wave of chains shot out of the ground and would have skewered both of the S-ranked nuke nin, if it weren't for their reflexes.

Itachi narrowed his eyes as he saw Hikari conjure up several chains in her hands. The Uchiha had some experience fighting Kushina, since she was his mother's best friend, he had sparred with her before.

He also knew how deadly those chains were. If Hikari was half as good as Kushina was, then taking the girl with the two of them unscathed was a tall order.

Itachi spoke, "Kisame, be careful of those chains."

The swordsman glanced at his partner in surprise, but nodded nonetheless. Kisame spoke, "Well, I guess I'll go first then."

In an instant, the sharkman was in front of the blonde, his Samehada drawn and ready to rip Hikari to shreds. The girl ducked just in time to dodge the massive sword and she swung her chains at him.

The chains wrapped around Kisame's legs, to the man's surprise. Then she pulled, and Kisame fell to the ground. Itachi narrowed his eyes as Hikari quickly made a wall of chains to block them from her.

The chain wall soon fell apart and Hikari was nowhere to be found, apart from the opened window. Itachi let a small smirk appear on his face, at least the girl was crafty.

Kisame got up, growling, "That damned bitch..."

Itachi spoke in his monotonous voice, "You got careless. Let's go."

With Hikari, she leaped from roof to roof as she searched for the building she remembered seeing Jiraiya enter. But she didn't make it far as she saw Itachi appear in front of her.

The girl turned, but found Kisame with his Samehada pointed at her. Hikari tch'd as the swordsman grinned, "End of the line girl."

Kisame leaped at her and swung his sword. But Hikari saw it coming and leaned to the right, barely dodging it. Then she made a Chidori in her right hand and stabbed her lightning clad arm in Kisame's waist.

The man yelled in pain. But Hikari wasn't done. Quickly making a Rasengan with her left hand, she slammed the sphere of chakra into his chest. The sphere expanded and blew the man away, grinding his flesh as it did.

Hikari then quickly turned to face Itachi. But she was a tad bit too late. The Uchiha was already in front of her, "Not bad, Kushina-san would be proud. But its not enough yet."

The girl could only make a surprised face before Itachi slammed his leg into her stomach, sending her crashing into another roof.

Itachi glanced to where Kisame was. The sharkman growled as he stood up, using the Samehada as a crutch as his wounds healed rapidly thanks to the sword, "I'm gonna butcher her pretty little face."

The Uchiha sighed, "Remember our mission, we need her alive, preferably intact too."

Kisame growled, "No one said anything about maiming."

Itachi nodded, but he wasn't keen on doing it. The girl was still Kushina and Minato's daughter. Despite being very young at that time, Itachi remembered the two well. They had been kind to him and had helped train him when they visted his mother.

But before any of them could say or do anything, a voice yelled from a side, "UCHIHA ITACHI!"

The two nuke nin turned to see Sasuke standing on the roof. Kisame asked, "Hey, he kinda looks like you, that's your brother?"

Itachi nodded, "Indeed."

Sasuke growled and he noticed Hikari getting up on the roof, a little winded from the kick, "I'LL KILL YOU! You won't take away anymore from me!"

Itachi raised an eyebrow, that was something new. It would seem the Jinchurikii was someone important to him, and it pained the man to take away another person important to his brother yet again.

But if that stopped him, then he wasn't Itachi. The Uchiha slayer spoke, "So, she's someone important to you? If you want to protect her, then stop me, if you can."

Hatred burned in Sasuke's eyes as his Sharingan spun angrily. The Uchiha went through a set of handseals and ignited the Chidori in his arm. Then he charged and leaped off the roof he was on, heading straight for Itachi.

The younger Uchiha threw his lightning clad arm at Itachi. But to his shock, his brother easily grabbed his wrist, stopping the attack as if it was nothing.

Itachi stared at his brother in the eye, "You are still too weak. The girl's Chidori is many times stronger than yours. You lack hate, you let useless feelings and emotions hinder you. Let me remind you, brother. Tsukuyomi."

Itachi's Sharingan quickly morphed into the Mangekyou Sharingan and the genjutsu took hold of the younger brother.

With Sasuke, everything turned negative, literally. He was tied up to a cross and Itachi stood in front of him. The older Uchiha spoke, "For the next 24 hours, relieve that day, and after that, for 24 hours, you will see everything you ever care for now, taken away from you."

And that happened. For 48 hours, in Sasuke's perspective, he went through the events of the Uchiha wipeout, along with Hikari killed in front of him.

Outside, Sasuke fell onto the roof limp after 3 seconds, to the confusion of Hikari who saw everything from when Sasuke charged Itachi.

The girl glared at the elder Uchiha, "What did you do to him?"

Itachi turned to the girl, "I merely reminded him of his purpose. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, shouldn't you be worried for yourself?"

Hikari didn't reply but she thought, 'Kyuubi, let's go.'

The Kyuubi hmph'd, "I've been waiting for this for some time you know."

Hikari nodded as she felt the chakra enter her, filling her body with power as the chakra shroud formed around her body. Then the girl charged.

Hikari sent a chakra arm at Itachi, who swiftly dodged the strike. The Uchiha thought as the arm passed, 'Bijuu chakra, it seems she has some amount of control. Apart from the host themselves, the chakra is extremely corrosive.'

He decided it was best to avoid it. But Kisame had other ideas. The man swung his sword at the chakra, and as soon as the sword touched it, the sword absorbed the chakra.

Kisame grinned, "It seems Samehada likes the chakra."

Hikari cursed. The sword had taken quite some chakra away, even if the Kyuubi could replenish it easily. She could also assume the sword gave the chakra to Kisame, which was a troublesome thing.

Then, before they could continue, they heard a yell as a black figure crashed into Kisame, sending the man into the roof again.

Hikari blinked in surprise as she easily recognized who had arrived, "Kirito-kun?"

Kirito glared at Itachi who stared at him. The Uchiha slayer spoke, "Who are you?"

Kirito replied, not moving from his stance, "Kirito, I won't let you take Hikari-chan."

Itach didn't reply as Kisame got up growling, "What is with all of you sending me into the roof?!"

Hikari stood beside Kirito, "Kirito-kun, I want you to hold off that blue man, I will fight Itachi. This will definitely attract attention, and Jiraiya will notice us."

Kirito wanted to protest, but Hikari cut him off, "I have the Kyuubi, genjutsu won't work on me, you're different."

The swordsman sighed and nodded, "Fine, just don't die."

Kisame grinned at the shorter swordsman, "Oh, that black coat with those swords, you must be the one who killed Zabuza."

Kirito stared at the shark coldly, "Yeah, and you're next."

Kisame chuckled, "Oh, so you wanna hunt us Seven Swordsman, let's see if you have what it takes then!"

Kirito didn't reply and charged wordlessly. The younger swordsman charged chakra into his swords, ignoring the slight pull on the mark on his neck, "Double Circular!"

He swung both swords horizontally at Kisame who raised his Samehada to block the strike. The former Kiri nin's eyes widened as he was pushed back by the force of the strike. But he quickly stood his ground as the Samehada absorbed the chakra from Kirito's swords.

Kisame swiftly kicked the shorter swordsman away, "Is that it? Its not even a snack for thethe Samehada."

Kirito cursed. His chakra had been absorbed by the shark man's own sword. It rendered his sword skills useless and Kisame was far stronger than he was. He wasn't at full stren

Kirito quickly got up, considering his options. He could see Hikari fighting Itachi, and it seemed she was having a better time than he was. He also noticed Sasuke's unconscious form on a nearby roof.

Then he remembered, they didn't need to win, not on their own. The two of them were still too weak compared to Itachi and Kisame. But if they had one S-ranked ninja by their side, they could at least get away. Kirito cursed himself for being too caught up and jumped away onto another roof with his Acceleration.

He needed to do flashy techniques, destructive ones especially, and the Tempesta was perfect. But unfortunately for him, Kisame wasn't planning to let him do anything.

In an instant, Kisame appeared in front of the young man. The older man smirked, "Too slow, kid!"

He kicked Kirito away before the young man could start chanting. Kisame quickly pushed on as Kirito got up and dodged his attack.

Meanwhile, Hikari was sending attack after attack at Itachi. The Uchiha slayer dodged every single attack, but had yet to counter, and it was annoying the girl more and more every second passed.

Hikari growled and bent down, sending a bundle of chains along with several chakra arms at Itachi. To her annoyance, the S-ranked Uchiha merely dissolved into a dozen crows before he reformed some distance away from her.

Itachi spoke, "It's like I told Sasuke, you lack hate, you lack power to kill me. Give up."

Hikari glared at him wordlessly and formed a Rasengan and a Chidori in each of her hands. The girl then charged.

Itachi was caught off guard briefly by the sudden burst of speed. But he was an S-ranked ninja for a reason, the man leaned back just in time to dodge the Chidori and he leaped back to dodge the Rasengan.

Frankly, the S-ranked Uchiha was impressed. Even with her 'Bijuu enhanced' Uzumaki chakra reserves, which was considerably huge, throwing A-ranked jutsu like disposable weapons was not an easy feat, especially when they were the Rasengan and the Chidori. The Chidori and Rasengan, on each of their own already required a huge amount of chakra and control. Hikari could do both at the same time, and that spoke volumes of her chakra reserves and control.

The man was broken out of his musings when Hikari sent another bundle of chains and chakra arms at him. Itachi leaped up to dodge the attacks and realized he was slowly drifting away from Kisame and Kirito, who was having a hard time keeping up.

Itachi decided he couldn't waste more time and flashed through handseals, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

He was slightly surprised when Hikari sent her chakra arms and grabbed the fire ball out of midair and threw it back at him. The man dodged the fireball easily and he landed on another roof.

But Hikari wasn't done. Using the chakra arms as a catapult, Hikari launched herself into the air. She then extended several chains that quickly binded onto Itachi and pulled him towards her.

The girl made two considerably large Rasengan in both hands and slammed them into Itachi's chest. She would have killed him, if not for Itachi dissolving into crows yet again.

Itachi reformed some distance away, "I take back what I said earlier. You are strong, given time, you will be a problem."

Hikari glared at him, but was slightly proud from the compliment. Then something caught their attention as a black person was seen flying straight for Hikari.

Hikari quickly made two chakra arms and caught the person easily, "Kirito-kun? Are you okay?"

The young man nodded as he got down from the chakra arms, a bit surprised that the chakra didn't burn him like it was supposed to.

Kisame landed beside Itachi and spoke, "Hey, can we kill the boy, he's annoying. He's clearly not fighting at full strength, that's fucking annoying."

Hikari glanced at him, a bit surprised at Kisame's words. But then she noticed it, Kirito's breathing was a bit fast and he was sweating quite a bit, hell, his stance was a bit sluggish too. Normally he wouldn't have had that much trouble, but it would make sense if he wasn't at full strength.

The Kyuubi spoke, "Tch, your mate is weakened. He's practically useless for now. Where the hell is that toad?! Hikari, we will survive this even if I have to turn you into a whole bijuu."

Hikari nodded, 'Thanks, Kyuubi. But Jiraiya should have noticed us by now. Where is he?'

Her thoughts were cut off by a loud shout," DYNAMIC ENTRY! "

A green blur crashed into Kisame and sent him flying into another roof as the green figure landed in front of the Kyuubi-fied Hikari and Kirito. Kirito spoke surprised, "Gai-san?"

The taijutsu master turned to the young blacksmith, "Ah, Kirito. Nice to see I've catched up. Now, take Sasuke and run, both of you, I'll stall them."

Hikari nodded and allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to return to the seal as she used her chains to pick up Sasuke. But then before they could leave, a familiar white haired man landed behind Itachi and Kisame.

Jiraiya announced, "FEAST YOUR EYES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! TOAD SAGE JIRAIYA-SAMAAAA HAS ARRIVED!"

Kisame grinned, "Ho, so one more? This is gonna be fun."

Itachi looked around. Hikari wasn't using the Kyuubi's chakra anymore, but she could easily draw on it again. Gai was a hard opponent for him, since regardless of the man's weirdness, he was a taijutsu master and could fight without eye contact.

Needless to say Jiraiya was even more of a threat if he went all out. Among the Sannin, Itachi felt that Jiraiya was the greatest threat. Especially because of the fool's image the man made of himself.

The Uchiha glanced at his brother one more time, "Kisame. We're leaving."

Kisame blinked, "Eh, why?"

Itachi glared at his partner slightly, wondering why he had to get a stupid partner, "Jiraiya is stronger than any of us alone, with Gai and the girl, one of us will die if we take them on."

Kisame hmph'd, "Fine."

Jiraiya just stared at them, ready to take any action if the two did anything. Itachi closed his eyes and opened them to reveal the Mangekyou Sharingan, putting everyone on edge.

Then he spun his head, "Amateratsu."

Instantly, black flames surrounded the two S-ranked nuke nin. Jiraiya cursed and quickly took out a scroll, "Kaen Fuin!"

The black flames were sucked into the scroll and Jiraiya quickly rolled it up and threw it away just time as it exploded.

But when he looked back at where Itachi and Kisame were standing, both of them were already gone. Jiraiya cursed, but decided it was for the better. If he used Sage mode, no doubt he could kill at least one of them, but he wouldn't come out unscathed either.

Jiraiya approached Hikari, Gai and Kirito. The Sannin stared at the swordsman, "You know, taking on two S-ranked ninja when you aren't at full strength is stupid, do you really want to die?"

Kirito didn't reply as he sheathed his swords. Jiraiya just looked at him, he was worried to be honest. The blacksmith's mentality was most probably getting more unstable by the second.

Jiraiya sighed and looked at Gai, "Gai, sorry but, can you take Kirito and Sasuke back to the village?"

Gai nodded and picked up the unconscious Sasuke and looked at Kirito, "Kirito."

The young man nodded before Hikari spoke, "Kirito-kun, are you okay?"

Kirito nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess, I'm still out of it."

Jiraiya huffed, "Your body still hasn't fully recovered. You're strong, I'll give you that, but you still aren't an active ninja. Besides, you still have a shop to run, right?"

Kirito nodded as he turned, "Yeah. But, at least, Hikari-chan is safe."

Hikari grinned at him, "I'll be fine. Besides, go study those seals. I told you I expect you to finish at least three volumes when I get back, right?"

Kirito nodded as he followed Gai away. Hikari just watched with a slightly worried face. As they left, Jiraiya sighed, "That's why I didn't want to let him know."

Hikari blinked, "What do you mean?"

Jiraiya spoke as he jumped down, "Come on, I'll tell you in the room."

Hikari nodded and followed him back to the hotel in his room. Jiraiya sat down on the bed and spoke, "You know how Kirito and Sasuke got the cursed mark, right?"

Hikari nodded, "What does that have to do with this?"

Jiraiya stared at his goddaughter, "The cursed mark will twist the bearer's mind. It makes them mentally unstable, or at least, the ones Sasuke and Kirito have. The more chakra they use, the more the seal becomes activated. I know you sealed it, you did a splendid job. But, the cursed mark is beyond that."

Hikari asked, "Then, what do we do?"

Jiraiya shook his head, "I'm still looking into it. The worst part is this, since Sasuke and Kirito are both weak now, as in they haven't fully recovered, they are also weak in the mind, the fight with Itachi and Kisame will just increase that feeling. That's why I wanted to keep them off of this mission."

Hikari was getting more worried, "Then, what can we do?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "For now, nothing. Just focus on finding Tsunade. Once I find a way to remove the mark, I'll tell you."

Hikari nodded before Jiraiya went to apply some seals in the room, "I'll place some security seals, you go to your room and get some rest. We'll be heading for Tanzaku Gai tomorrow morning."

The girl nodded and headed towards her own room, slumping onto the bed as soon as she did and drifted off to sleep.

Later, in the compound, Kirito laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Kirito thought, 'I have to get stronger. I can't protect them like this.'

As he thought, he heard a knock on the door, and Asuna's voice came in, "Kirito-kun, can we come in?"

Kirito replied, "Yeah, come in, the door isn't locked."

The door opened and Asuna, Suguha and Sinon came in. Sinon spoke, "We heard from Gai-sensei, that you went out of the village, that you fought Kisame and Itachi."

Kirito sat up, "Yeah, I did."

Suguha frowned, "You're not fully healed yet, why did you do something so reckless?"

Sinon nodded, "Yeah, I know you want to protect Hikari-chan, but right now you should focus on recovering. Besides, you have your shop to take care of, you don't have fight."

Kirito nodded, "I got it."

There was an awkward moment of silence after that. Asuna spoke, "Well, Kirito-kun, you're tired, right? You should get some rest, plus Hikari-chan did give you the scrolls to study fuinjutsu, right?"

Kirito nodded, "Yeah. I guess I'll do that."

Asuna nodded and pulled Suguha and Sinon up and out of the room, "Let's just let him rest, okay?"

The girls nodded and closed the door as Kirito slumped back down onto the bed. As he slept, unknown to any of them, the sealed cursed mark on his neck pulsed slightly, trying to expand before Hikari's seal surpressed it again.

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Okay. Done. So review please. And if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me. And please vote on the poll. So the next few chapters will be finding Tsunade. So, I'm turning the focus to Hikari now. Asuna, Sinon and Suguha will have their turn soon. So yeah, until next chapter.