DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, an igloo, sheer force, the cereal saying, the universal hand sign of displeasure, a slightly overprotective brother, parallel personalities, or most of the chakra information.

Itachi: This writer sucks.

A/N: ...

"That's incredible..."

Deniizu shook her head in disbelief; she agreed with Kiba. A large igloo, suspended in a tree, was no easy feat to create in early July. Both genins had moved closer to the dome-like structure, and now were hiding behind a thick tree, stealing glances at what they guessed was the enemy's hideout. Kiba leaned against the tree trunk, with Akamaru balanced on his head, while he spoke to Deniizu as she examined the hideout.

"Now what do we do? We've circled that thing, and it seems like there's no opening," Kiba said, thinking hard, "It would probably be stupid to just run in and try to break the igloo with sheer force."

"Only probably?" Deniizu rolled her eyes sarcastically before suggesting, "We should get help; one of us should run back to the path and get reinforcements."

Deniizu looked at Kiba. Kiba and Akamaru looked at Deniizu.

"I don't want to go!" Deniizu protested.

"Neither do I!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Why should I? Why not you?"

"I have Akamaru to back me up," Kiba pointed out, and Akamaru barked in agreement, "You'd be left here alone, and that's dangerous!"

"Why can't we both go?"

"Somebody has to watch the igloo in case something happens!"

"But that isn't fair..."

"You're a kunoichi; suck it in and just go!"

"Teme!"

Smack!

"Ow! ...you hit me!"

"Arf!"

"Oh, shut up, both of you!" Deniizu growled, stomping away.

"Who shit in her cereal?" Kiba grumbled to Akamaru, rubbing the back of his head.

Thock!

Kiba jumped a little when a kunai landed in the tree trunk, level to his eyes.

"That's dangerous!" he yelled, once he'd recovered, at Deniizu's retreating back.

Deniizu didn't bother to turn around. She merely made a crude hand gesture before disappearing into the trees. Kiba shook his head, and turned back to the igloo, watching for any of the enemy's movement. But he was watching too intently; before he knew it, someone had hit a pressure point on his neck from behind, stunning him completely. And then the fight began.

Remember, if you are scouting out enemy territory, focus on your surroundings as well as what you're spying on. Otherwise you'll get sneak-attacked.

The group was back in their formation, with Michiko and Shino carrying Kurenai on her stretcher in the center, Goudon on the right, Bikto on the left, and Korii leading the way. All four of Michiko and Deniizu's dogs defended up the group at its rear; all five ninjas were silent while they walked.

Michiko was trying to keep focused; trying to keep her eyes and ears open for any more attacks from the ninja bandits. But she couldn't stop thinking about the situation two of her best friends were in.

Please, please let them be all right, she was thinking fervently, I want to do something to help, but I'm just a medical nin. Even less than that.

Goudon had similar thoughts; while he tried to watch for any threats, his mind was still on his sister's situation.

If they've harmed her, I'll kill them.

Korii sensed someone approaching on his right, and turning, he saw with his Byakugan that Deniizu was quickly approaching.

"What's up?" Korii asked, when Deniizu reached the travelling party.

"We need a plan," Deniizu said brusquely, and explained what she had seen to her team leader.

And back to the un-natural igloo of d00m..

All of the people in the igloo looked up at the sound of a struggle at the doorway. Kishimu looked at Tsume, and with a sigh, she went to help Ruko drag yet another hostage into the shelter. When the new hostage landed in front of the other two captives, his hands tightly bound, Ruko reached into his backpack and let a white something land on top of the boy.

"TEME!" the brown-haired boy yelled, trying to bite at his captors, and Monoka and the cousins got up quickly to get out of range.

"Just as energetic as Pinky was over there," Sumoggu smirked, "If a little more foul-mouthed, anyway."

Kiba stopped struggling for a moment, and his and Pooriin's eyes met. Then he remembered that they were all hostages and began struggling again.

"I swear, when you untie me, you're all dead!" Kiba roared, and Akamaru managed to roll off of Kiba's back, trying to wriggle out of his bindings.

"That's not going to do any good," Ruko said in a deadpan, "The more you struggle, the tighter the ropes will be."

"You overdid it again," Emi sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"It's better than underestimating the enemy," Ruko pointed out, still expressionless, and Kiba stopped straining against his ropes, as if realizing something.

"He reminds me of Shino," Kiba noted, surprised.

"Just what we were thinking," Pooriin and Hinata nodded.

"Shut up, hostages!" Sumoggu ordered, and Kishimu threw a well-aimed kunai so that it would graze Kiba's ear, drawing blood.

"That isn't necessary," Ruko said coolly, catching the kunai by its handle before it could hit the dog-user; Kishimu looked angry, but Sumoggu spoke as if nothing had happened.

"It's time for us to get along with our plan," the dark-haired boy said, picking up his travelling bag and heading towards the igloo door, "Ezu, once we're all out, undo your jutsu and make a new dome where I show you."

Ezu muttered something under her breath that no-one could understand, then nodded and began collecting her things. All the rest of the clan did the same, and the hostages were left alone. Kiba somehow managed to get into a kneeling position, and looked down at Akamaru, who was lying sideways beside him.

"You ok, boy?" Kiba said in a low voice, and Akamaru grinned with a small bark, "Yeah, I'm fine," Kiba grinned back, then looked at his two friends, concerned, "How about you guys? Everyone's worried about you."

Hinata couldn't help but smile inwardly at how Kiba seemed to only be talking to Pooriin. Pooriin was simply relieved that he didn't hate her anymore.

"We're all right," Pooriin answered, then lowered her tone so that only Kiba and Hinata could hear, "These people aren't really that bad. Most of them got tricked or bullied into joining. Sumoggu and Kishimu, the two boys who didn't capture you, are the only problems we have. The girls and Ruko are willing to cooperate if it'll get them out of this clan."

"The youngest, Monoka, and Emi and Ezu, the two brown-haired girls, and Ruko, the boy in the brown coat, might just stand by if their leaders are targeted," Hinata added in a whisper, "But Tsume has to protect Kishimu, the red-haired boy. She got tricked into making an oath to him."

"Tsume?" Kiba choked, then strained his neck to try and catch a glimpse of her as she packed her things, "The girl with the falcon? She has the same name as my mother?"

"We thought you'd be like that," Pooriin said, looking apologetic.

"That's the one that I wanted to fight," Kiba exclaimed, getting exasperated, "Michiko said that we'd probably be the best matched, since she has a falcon, and I've got Akamaru."

"...If you do fight her," Pooriin said after a moment, "Just...you can go all out, but...it's not like she's fighting you because she wants to...you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Kiba nodded understandingly, but he was still peeved, "You guys are safe though, right?"

Pooriin and Hinata nodded simultaneously.

"Ano...they have a good cook," Hinata said, speaking just loud enough that Monoka could hear.

The green-haired girl flashed the Hyuuga heir a grin before walking towards the igloo door. Ruko, Emi and Tsume approached the three hostages; they each helped one captive onto their feet, and escorted them towards the door. Ruko stood by Kiba, Emi by Hinata, and Tsume by Pooriin; Kageno the falcon hovered over Akamaru while the white dog hobbled along with his slightly loosened ropes.

"Where's Ezu?" Pooriin asked, realizing that they were the last to leave.

"She's outside, already starting to cancel her Ice Dome Technique," Tsume answered, while Ruko held open the door for them, "It takes a little while to let go of the jutsu. She'll unravel what chakra she can, then let go of it completely when everyone is out."

Now, the captives had caught up to the rest of the group; Sumoggu and Kishimu stood by, while Ezu held a Ram handseal, obviously with some effort, facing the igloo.

"Watch," Tsume whispered, and all three pre-teens from Konoha observed how Ezu cancelled her jutsu.

They had expected the structure to melt, since it had been made from ice. But they were wrong; the once-white dome first turned yellow.

"Yellow chakra?" Hinata asked, able to activate her Byakugan for a second without handseals, before losing her control again.

"Chakra changes colours for whichever forms it takes," Ruko explained, still keeping an eye on Ezu, "Blue is either raw chakra, or attacking and destroying chakra. Green chakra is for healing."

"So, nee-chan over there has ugly yellow chakra, which is, like, constructing chakra," Emi said proudly, while the yellow chakra changed into blue, "She made her constructing chakra totally change properties, so that it, like, became ice. My cousin's awesome. The only problem, is that you lose about a third of the chakra that turns yellow."

Changing chakra properties is one of the hardest things a ninja can do, Hinata thought, awed, Bloodline limits make turning chakra into objects or elements easier, but it still takes quite a lot of skill.

Ezu's chakra, now in its raw form, was still in the same shape and size as the ice dome from before. Now, after making the Dog handseal, Ezu held her hands in front of her, palms out, like how Shino does when dispatching kikaichu from out of his sleeves. However, instead of directing something out of her sleeves, Ezu was actually calling back her chakra. In a steady stream, the blue, glowing substance reabsorbed itself into Ezu's body through her hands. The process didn't take long, but there was still quite a lot of chakra. Ezu fell to her knees on the treebranch she was standing on, promptly exhausted, but Sumoggu and Kishimu turned away and began walking towards the road, uncaring of their clan member's condition.

"Hurry up," Kishimu commanded, readjusting his glass jar backpack, "We've got a schedule to keep."

While the rest of the group moved quickly to follow, Kiba watched as Ruko took half a step to Ezu. But before he could get to her, Ezu shook her head to clear it, and began stumbling after the clan. Ruko watched her, sympathy on his face, then jogged to catch up to Kiba, who had been led by the shoulder by Tsume to keep up. After a little while of silent marching, Sumoggu marked a large circle into the ground using a kunai.

"This will be its borders," Sumoggu said to Ezu, who was watching him, still a bit sluggish from absorbing so much of her chakra, "Tsume, Kishimu, you'll stay with me and the hostages. The rest of you, you know what to do."

The boy in black made a dismissing motion, and after pouring water along the circle, the three younger girls and Ruko all jumped as one, disappearing into the trees. Kiba, Pooriin and Hinata, while being herded into the center of the circle in the ground, could all see that they were in sight of the road. And a little to the left, a group could be seen walking along the dirt path, straight towards them. In the front, there was a brown-haired girl in grey talking to a white-eyed boy in black.

"Korii nii-chan," Hinata breathed, eyes widening.

"Shut it," Sumoggu muttered, hitting Hinata upside, "Kishimu and I'll do the talking."

"Hey! Ghost-eyes!" Kishimu bellowed, waving both arms.

The whole group looked up and saw their three friends, all within enemy clutches.

"Dammit, Kiba, why'd you have to get caught?" Deniizu called, exasperated.

"Kuso, it's not like I did it on purpose!" Kiba called back, "Get us out of here!"

"Deniizu hasn't even finished describing what she saw," Bikto muttered darkly, "We're completely unprepared. And where are the other four bandits?"

Korii had been scanning the area surrounding the bandits and hostages quickly with his Byakugan, trying to locate the rest of the enemy. Not finding anyone, Korii tried scanning the woods alongside the road, and before long, he found all four of them. The long, brown-haired girl was making a series of handseals, and she was surrounded by her three teammates.

"One of them's about to do a jutsu," Korii barked, snatching a kunai out of his weapons pouch and whipping it towards the hidden enemy, "Put Kurenai down! Twins, cover me, the rest of you guard Kurenai!"

"Get started, Ezu," Ruko said, easily deflecting Korii's kunai with one of his own.

"Way ahead of you," Ezu said, gritting her teeth and holding a Rat handseal, concentrating hard on the area around the hostages.

Emi's grip on her waterballoons and shuriken tightened. She knew that the water on the ground would make her cousin's technique much simpler, but there were dangers in any technique, and this jutsu was complex, even with water. Seeing Monoka shaking a little, Emi squeezed the girl's shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Monoka-chan," Ruko said, his voice unusually gentle, "Ezu and Emi will be able to talk to them."

"Unless they're too angry," Monoka pointed out, glumly, just as the charging ninjas reached the trees.

On the other side of the road...

"Excellent," Sumoggu smirked, as sheets of ice began to rise from the water on the ground around his group.

"This is going to be fun," Kishimu agreed, pulling out one of his jars.

Kiba started taking deep breaths, trying to keep his emotions in check so that he could think clearly. All of the group knew that a battle was near.

I have to think of a way to help, Pooriin thought, racking her brains for a plan.

A/N: And, CLIFFHANGER! Ahahahaha! I am Queen of Cliffhangers!

Itachi: You know, you risk losing readers if you keep leaving them on edge like that.

A/N: ...(shocked silence)

Itachi: It's time for you to review, reader.