Note: Italics denote mental thinking.

Shikamaru sat down, leaning against the bark. Konohamaru sat a little ways away nervously picking at the grass in front of him. Kabuki sat across from the tired Shikamaru who yawned while stretching his legs out and resting his arms behind his head. Kabuki watched him calmly rest against the tree. Nothing was more frustrating to him than having a "bodyguard" rest on the job.

"Aren't you even worried?" Kabuki asked in an irritated manner. Shikamaru shrugged and replied, "What for?"

"Tch." Kabuki jerked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular.

Shikamaru peeked one eyelid open. "Relax. Iruka will soon finish off those three. Besides, if anyone gets past him, they have to get past me first to get to you, even if it is a pain."

"That's what worries me." Kabuki mumbled. Shikamaru ignored his comment.

Shikamaru hadn't heard any kind of signals from Kotetsu, or anyone else for a while and that had been the only concern on his mind. He was more willing to go and help them out, but instead he had to be troubled with this guy who could well look after himself.

As though reading his mind, Kabuki casually glanced at Shikamaru and commented on the others. "Haven't heard anything from them."

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked up to the barely visible sea of stars. "I've been on missions with all of them and I know they can work well as a team."

"Well they split up, remember?" Shikamaru said nothing in response.

After a while Iruka jumped down from the trees next to them dusting his hands as he stood up. "That takes care of the rest of them. We should go look for the others." Shikamaru nodded as he, Konohamaru, and Kabuki rose. "Where to?" Kabuki asked.

As though answering his question, an explosion in the distance caught their attention. Shikamaru smirked. "Looks like Kotetsu is right on time." The trio took off in the direction of the cloud of smoke.

Kotetsu's vision blurred slightly as he stared into the trees. Fire consumed the leaves. Finally, a dark and tainted figure plummeted to the ground from above. The vines holding Kotetsu's arms and legs loosened their gripped and fell at his feet.

Kotetsu grimaced as he attempted to move toward the fallen ninja. Instantly he moved his hand over his leg. The sticky substance hinted at how deep the lacerations were. It had been the consequence of holding off as long as possible before resorting to the exploding tags. He was able to secretly place them on the ninja's back while they were fighting up close without notice. Izumo had told him to use this as a location detector after a while to ensure enough time has passed in eliminating the other ninjas. That should have been long enough.

The sound of feet meeting bark alerted him to someone's arrival. If he timed the explosion right, that would be the sound of his comrades, and not more enemies. Relieved, he saw Iruka land on the ground close to the body as he bent down to check the body. "Two more to go and we can head home." "Finally." Kotetsu replied wearily as he popped a soldier pill into his mouth.

Izumo stood on the water. His opponent stood across from him on the ground. If someone were to walk in on them now they would have thought they were having a staring contest.

The plant ninja crossed his arms. "Why don't you come off that water, boy?" Izumo smirked. The enemy had just given away his own weakness. He needed to be near the ground to use his techniques.

"Are you afraid of water?" Izumo mocked.

The ninja narrowed his eyes. "You sure are an annoying brat. I guess I'll have to make you come out myself." He slapped his hands together and wrapped his forefingers around each other. "Chiri bunshin no jutsu."

The dirt around the ninja began to clump together and rose to his height. Four dirt clones appeared. As the four clones ran over the water to him, Izumo released the chakra flowing from his feet and fell into the water. The clones stood above the water where their target slipped under.

"AH!" One of the clones fell into the water as Izumo grabbed his ankle and jerked him down. The clone dispersed in the water and became mud. The darkened water made it hard for the other three clones to see through the water. Each of them removed their katanas and began stabbing them through the water.

The ninja on shore clenched his fists at his dumbstruck clones. "Fools! BEHIND YOU! He's behind you!" The clones turned too late. Behind each of them appeared a water clone of Izumo. The ninja widened his eyes. "A water-based shinobi. This could be bad."

He backed up, ready to sneak away, but something wet impeded him. He felt the prompt probe of something sharp behind his back. "Going somewhere?"

"How...?" The ninja stared out as he saw his clones collapse into the water. He didn't plan on going down without a fight, but this was unexpected. "You were distracted." That was all the ninja remembered before he felt a thud on the back of his head.

Later Izumo made his way into the same clearing as Naruto and noticed everyone was there. Upon entering, Kotetsu guffawed as he took note of Izumo's drenched uniform. Meanwhile, Iruka was infuriated that Naruto refused anyone to help in his battle.

"Narutoooo!" Iruka yelled shaking his fist. "This isn't a game!" Iruka rolled up his sleeves and started running towards the two fighters.

"Iruka, stop!" Naruto warned wide-eyed. His opponent smirked. The ground between Iruka and them shook violently causing Iruka to stop. The ground around him began to stretch apart.

"Iruka! Come back!" Kotetsu shouted, but suddenly the ground around Iruka collapsed and the only thing holding him back from falling was the slither of his shadow.

Shikamaru was crouching close to the ground with his hands clasped together. "Luckily..." Shikamaru strained to hold onto Iruka. "Luckily, the sun's started to rise." Just enough light emitted through the trees to cast shadows over them.

Slowly Shikamaru stood up and walked backwards, causing Iruka to step back from plummeting down into darkness. Iruka gulped as he was released from Shikamaru's hold. For now he would have to stay on the pillar of dirt he stood on.

Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Jeez. This is more troublesome than I wanted it to be."

After Naruto was sure that Iruka was safe, he then focused his attention on his opponent. "Leave them out of this."

His opponent's expression became serious. "It's just between you and me now." He unclipped his black cloak and removed it to reveal a more earthly toned outfit. He tossed the black outfit out of their made up arena and let it fall into the darkness of the earth. "From here on out, you shall know me as Daichi."

Naruto took a deep breath and slid into a balanced fighting stance. He didn't know what his opponent was capable of, but at least he knew he could manipulate the earth. His hands flew into the ever so familiar pattern of his favorite technique. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Two clones appeared at his side.

From the distance Kabuki studied them. He wondered if Naruto would turn into the same monster he had before when he fought him. If those two managed to distract each other, then there would be a possibility that he'd only have to fight three ninjas if he wanted to run away. The one on the pillar wouldn't be able to help anyway. Out of the corner of his unpatched eye, he studied the three ninjas that were now focusing on the fight. They probably wouldn't even notice him if he slipped away. Quietly, he took one step back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The spiky-haired ponytail ninja spoke without looking back to him.

"Three would be way too many for you to handle, don't you think?" The water-based ninja standing next to him added in without looking back either.

"Or I could just pound you into a pancake." The spiky, black-haired weapons ninja said coolly, glancing back at the now extremely nervous mist ninja.

The bunshins charged Daichi at full speed. Daichi stayed on the defense for a while, blocking each of his opponent's strikes. One of the bunshins went in for a punch to the face and Daichi side stepped while throwing a kick to the clone, causing it to disperse. Naruto watched as he finished off the second one. Instead of charging in, as his usual habit, he had used the clones to study Daichi's tactics. They both seemed to be doing the same thing as neither of them had exerted much effort, but things were just beginning to warm up.

They both charged at each other this time. The others watched as a flurry of exchanged blows were made and kunais flew into the air. Shikamaru heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him. Konohamaru 's worry for Naruto had every hair on his neck standing up.

"Hey kid, you ok?" Kotetsu asked Konohamaru. No response. His worry-filled gaze was on the battle at hand with his hands balled into little fists. "Konahamaru?"

The young boy blinked his attention back to his comrades when he felt someone's hand touch his shoulder. Looking to his side he saw the Mist Village ninja stare at him through his one eye. "You don't have to worry about Naruto. He's tougher than he looks, and underestimating him would be a mistake."

Izumo smirked when he heard this, but he was glad the boy accepted this as he nodded. His features were still filled with concern, but not with worry.

Daichi fell to one knee, panting heavily. He acknowledge that his opponent was strong and that if the last attack had made its way to him that he would've been knocked unconscious. He side glanced behind him to see Naruto slowly push himself to a standing position. Gulping, he realized that this Naruto boy had a bottomless pit of chakra supply and it wasn't leaning in his favor. He desperately looked around for a way out. Darting his eyes back and forth he finally found it.

Naruto stood wavering. His last attack had taken a huge portion of chakra and he could feel his knees trembling, daring to drop him to the ground again. He gritted his teeth. So close. He glanced at Daichi from the corner of his eye who was staring off at something else. His mind flashed back to when he fought Kabuki at the village and how Kotetsu warned him that using the Kyuubi's chakra was dangerous to him. I have to fight this on my own.

Daichi looked back to Naruto who was staring back at him looking ready for another attempt. Smirking, he too slowly stood up. "I think this will be the last move from either of us. Don't waste your chakra now." Before Naruto could make his move, Daichi quickly launched his hands into a flurry of hand motions. His lips twitched and spread out into a sinister grin.

Kotetsu stood with his arms crossed watching him. "Izumo..." Izumo's eyes widened, "That technique!"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Daichi. "So many... hand seals..."

Shikamaru stared at Iruka who was crouching down on the pillar of dirt. "What about him?"

Just as he said this Izumo pumped chakra into his feet and sprinted to jump where Iruka was. Kotetsu and Shikamaru were surprised to see him do it, but what surprised them more was the flash of Kabuki running past them to jump as well. Iruka cocked an eyebrow at Kabuki suspiciously as he landed on the pillar with them. Izumo only glanced back to him and nodded. Izumo and Kabuki spread their feet apart and began their techniques, only hoping to finish before Daichi did.

"Doton: Dotryudan."

The ground began to shake furiously around the plant ninja. A spout of dirt shot up into the sky in the form of a dragon's face entailed by a very long neck. The dragon's face looped back downward and headed towards the pillar that Iruka stood on.

"Suiton: Aisjinheki!"

Kotetsu recognized that the technique Kabuki and Izumo were using was something that Izumo had practiced, but not used in battle before due to its higher use of chakra. As water gushed in front of them he recognized it as something he had seen higher level ninjas use to create a water barrier to protect the user from any attacks, except this technique transformed the water into ice.

The dragon's head slammed into the ice barrier. The head shattered into small masses of earth as it hit the ice, but the length of the dragon's neck seemed infinite as it kept coming out of the earth. The ice around the impacted area slowly began to crack under the constant pressure.

Iruka noted the overcoming weariness as the two water-based nins struggled to keep the wall up. Naruto do something!

As if on cue, Naruto's shout rang out. "Rasengan!"

The constant barrage from the earth dragon ceased. The last thing Iruka saw when he looked up was a bright blue aura emanating from Naruto's palm. As the aura disappeared, he saw that Daichi was not there. At first he thought the plant ninja had escaped, but when he saw Naruto's sad expression staring down into the darkness, he knew that Daichi had fallen.

Izumo dropped to his knees panting hard. Kabuki was also exhausted, but not quite as worn out.

"First time using that technique?" Izumo looked up to the somewhat blurry figure, but didn't find the energy to respond. Kabuki smirked. "Nice."

Notes: These techniques are not in Naruto, but made up based on existing techniques from Naruto.

Chiri Bunshin No Jutsu
Dirt Clone Technique.

Doton: Dotryudan
Earth Release: Earth Dragon Blast. Similar to Water Dragon Blast technique that requires 54 hand seals to perform, except made of earth instead of water. The user creates a dragon's head and neck made from the earth and directs it towards a target. Offensive B-rank.

Suiton: Aisjinheki
Water Release: Ice Encampment Wall. Similar to the Water Encampment Wall technique, except that it uses ice instead of water. This creates a barrier to protect the user from any offensive attacks. The ice is created from water the user spits out and then frozen. Defensive B-rank.

A/N: Hopefully no one dies from the wall of text.

Daichi - large/great earth/land