Madoka leaps from tree to tree, setting a hard pace for his team mates. The jashinist who carried Namiko at the start is now pulling her along, helping her to keep up. The white zetsus, now slightly less in number, are still following along behind. In the ten minutes since one of the jashinists stayed behind, the white zetsu have caught up and are closing in.
One of the four remaining jashinists, a young, ginger woman with daggers, stops her headlong flight and turns back. "I will kill these plants for the GLORY OF LORD JASHIN!" she yells, and charges her daggers with lightning.
"What are you doing?" says Madoka, skidding to a stop on a branch near where the jashinist stopped. "You'll die!"
"AND I'LL TAKE THESE BASTARDS DOWN WITH ME!" she throws her arms wide and spins around and around, cutting down several white zetsus. The white zetsus she cuts down fall to the grass, sparking with electricity.
Madoka is a little terrified by the wild, murderous rage in the Jashinist's eyes. He is suddenly glad the Order of Jashin is on his side.
"GO!" yells the ginger jashinist, sticking her daggers into either side of a zetsu's head and shocking his entire body. "RAAARRR!" the jashinist roars a war-cry to punctuate her kill.
Suddenly terrified, Madoka turns and runs on. This one actually might make a dent in the number of zetsus.
The rest of the team runs on, through the trees. They make good time, putting some distance between themselves and their pursuers. Namiko is barely managing to keep up on her short legs, but the same Jashinist is still helping her. They keep a constant pace for about fifteen minutes before Madoka hears a sound from behind. He glances over his shoulder and sees the white zetsus, cut in half in number, coming towards his team through the trees.
"They've caught up to us again!" he calls out to the others.
One of the two remaining male Jashinists stops and turns to the oncoming zetsus. "Where is she?" he growls. "What did you bastards do with my sister?"
"She was tasty," says one of the zetsus. The others all laugh and agree.
Madoka covers his mouth in disgust. These things eat people!
"YOU BASTARDS!" yells the jashinist, weaving a complicated set of hand signs. A moment later, he leaps to the forest floor and casts his jutsu. The dirt beneath the Jashinist rises up and encasing him like armour. He pulls out a huge battle axe which he then also coats in hardened rock. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" the Jashinist roars, charging at the zetsus and slamming his axe into the ground, sending half the zetsus flying into the air. His blow makes a crater that would impress Lady Tsunade.
The rest of the team leaps onto Madoka's tree branch and watch the fight, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.
The Jashinist fighting the white zetsu does not look as though he needs any help, however. He swings his earth-coated axe at a cluster of the white zetsu he knocked back and smashes them all to pieces. Then he turns on the rest of the white zetsu, about ten total, and charges them. Madoka sucks in his breath when the zetsus begin to scatter so that the Jashinist cannot take them all out at once. The Jashinist simply chases them all down and kills them one by one. The Jashinist lets out a roar as the last zetsu falls, and turns back to the team. "Let's go," he says.
The team turns and runs on through the trees. They make good time, although they travel at a pace Namiko can keep up with now that their pursuers are all dead. After a good five minutes of traveling, Madoka begins to relax. They seem to have shaken off pursuit.
A sinister, maniacal laugh echoes through the trees. Madoka stops on a branch and scans the area, trying to find out where the noise came from. The sinking feeling in Madoka's gut is making him feel a little dizzy.
Suddenly, Namiko's face crumbles and she starts to wail loudly. Huge tears roll down her cheeks and she whines, "I want Mummy!"
Madoka leaps over to the branch where Namiko is sitting with her arms wrapped around the tree's trunk. He bends down and tries to comfort the little girl while the three Jashinists make a defensive circle around the two kids. The three Jashinists ready their weapons. The woman pulls out a spiky whip and the two men pull out an axe and a weighty bow respectively.
A white zetsu steps out of the shadows on a nearby tree branch. "So the prey walks right into the trap," it says, mockingly. "Did you really think we would let you get reinforcements? My thanks for saving us the trouble of hunting you down. Now prepare to die." It crosses it arms and laughs again, a creepy, sadistic laugh.
Namiko cries harder and louder. "MUMMY!"
"Take the kids and run," says woman, cracking her whip. More spikes erupt out of the whip making it look more like a narrow hedgehog than a whip.
"We will hold them here," says the axe wielder, coating himself and his axe in rock again.
"Send as many to Lord Jashin as you can," says the bow wielder, pulling Namiko off the tree and attaching her to his back.
"Farewell," says the rock Jashinist, bowing his head. "I hope I see you again in this life, but if I do not may Jashin grant you many good kills."
"Just hurry up and go," snaps the lady. "And if you let them kill you I swear to Jashin I will knit your intestines into a scarf."
"Of course," says the Jashinist carrying Namiko. Then he leaps to another tree. Madoka follows and the three of them snake their way through the zetsus. The other two jashinists defend them as they run, however, a few zetsus slip past them and chase Madoka, Namiko and the Jashinist carrying her.
Madoka and the Jashinist run through the trees as fast as they can, with a few zetsus chasing them down. Namiko clings to the Jashinist like a monkey and sobs quietly into his shoulder. The zetsus follow them close enough to be a problem, but not close enough to attack.
"They are toying with us," comments the Jashinist, after five minutes of fleeing. "Perhaps they are trying to wear us down so that we will be easier to kill."
"We should find a defensible place and fight them," suggests Madoka. "There are only a few of them - we can handle such small number."
I know a place nearby," says the Jashinist. "It should take us about five minutes to get there at this pace. We will stand and fight there."
Madoka agrees and the Jashinist bowman leads the way to the place he mentioned. Once they arrive, he lowers Namiko to the ground and crouches down to her level. "I know this is all very scary and overwhelming," he says firmly. "But I need you to be brave and help us fight, okay? It's time to show us you deserve that forehead protector."
Namiko nods and rubs her eyes dry. Then she takes out two metal fans, opens them and takes a fighting stance that reminds Madoka of Neji's fighting stance.
Madoka pulls up his gloves while the Jashinist tests his bow and readies an arrow to draw and fire.
The white zetsus begin to emerge from the treeline, grinning and laughing.
Namiko frowns in concentration and takes a deep breath. Madoka notices that the fan in her left hand is blue and has the Kanji for water in it, while the other fan is red and bears the kanji for fire.
The Jashinist draws back his arrow, aiming straight at the oncoming zetsus. "Shadow Arrows," he says, releasing the arrow. As it flies, the arrow spawns ten clones. Each one flies straight towards a zetsu. The zetsus dodge, and the arrows miss their marks. However, a second later, the Jashinist lets fly another volley. This time, three zetsus fall.
Madoka leaps forward, draws back his fist and then punches a zetsu into the ground yelling, "Shanarooo!"
Two more white zetsus emerge from the trees and start to circle around behind Madoka and his comrades. Namiko turns and points her fans towards the two new zetsus. A jet of fire shoots out of her red fan, and a stream of water shoots from her blue fan. The zetsus dodge out of the way before they are hit. Namiko spins, moving her fans in sweeping arcs, with one above her head and one in front of her body. The jets of fire and water streaming out of her fans move with her, twisting through the air like snakes. Both zetsus are hit squarely before they can react, sending them flying backwards into a tree.
Two more zetsus replace them from the tree line almost instantly. Namiko dances around the battlefield like a proper fan-dancer. The fire and water attached to her fans dances with her, shrinking and growing and changing shape as she directs with her fans.
Madoka punches and smashes and dodges her way through the zetsu, cutting them down one at a time.
The Jashinist shoots volley after volley of arrows, until he runs out and starts using chakra arrows.
The zetsus come one or two at a time, replacing the fallen. However, their numbers are steadily falling, because Madoka's team is killing them just a little faster than they replenish.
Madoka and his team slowly retreat towards the Hidden Leaf as the battle continues. One step, one tree, one dead zetsu at a time. And soon there are only three left. Madoka feels his heart lift in hope. They can make it! They are nearly there!
And then about a hundred white zetsus step out of the shadows.
Madoka and his team are completely surrounded. Madoka's heart drops right back down and out the bottom of his feet. Namiko's face crumples up and she makes a whining noise. The Jashinist sends a volley of wind chakra arrows at the zetsus closest to him. Before the zetsus he hits have even finished dying, new ones step forward to take their place.
A zetsu shoots up out of the ground and drags the Jashinist to the ground, breaking the Jashinists leg with a snap. "One nasty Jashinist left!" snarls the zetsu, raising a kunai in preparation to kill the Jashinist. "You were only seven. We are limitless. Now die!"