A few days later, more Rock ninjas arrived to the Hidden Steel Village. The four Leaf ninjas were bound to a tree by hardened mud. Neji had been attempting to break free but it was useless. The leader of the Rock platoon walked over to them.
"So it looks like we have Byakugan users."
Neji glared at him with killer intent.
"I can feel the killer intent flowing from you." The Rock ninja said.
"I'll take you out as soon as I get free." Neji said.
The Rock ninja laughed. "We'll see." He said as he walked away.
Neji narrowed his eyes.
The Rock ninja walked back inside the walls of the Steel Village. One of his subordinates appeared in front of him.
"Reidai-sama, we can find no traces of our forces that were in this area over a week ago."
"Keep searching. They or their remains must be around here somewhere."
"Yes, sir." The subordinate said as he leapt into the air.
Moments later, screams were heard from the far side of the village. This aroused the Rock ninja's curiosity. He and the surrounding took off in the direction of the scream. They soon arrived on scene. They saw the body of a Rock ninja on the ground with a look of shock on his face.
"What is going on here?" He wondered.
One of the ninjas knelt down next to the body. He moved the head and examined the body.
"There are no marks on him." He said.
While he was touching the body something passed through him. What started as a small twitch, turned into violent seizures in a matter of seconds. He jumped to his feet and screamed loudly. He drew a kunai and killed the ninja that was closest to him. The others drew their weapons on instinct. While the others hesitated to act against their comrade, their leader drew his katana and quickly cut down the crazed ninja.
"Everybody get away from the bodies. You might get infected." Reidai said.
All of the Rock ninjas leapt backwards. They carefully watched the bodies for any unusual activity. Nothing happened. They semi relaxed themselves for a moment. They weren't relaxed for long before another one of their comrades were infected and went crazy. The crazed ninja drew his kunai and stabbed the nearest ninja. The others reacted with throwing their kunai at the ninja, killing him.
"What is going on here?" Reidai demanded.
"It's the evil spirits that haunt the Hidden Village of Steel." A voice said behind them.
The Rock ninjas looked back to see ten Leaf ninjas standing there with weapons drawn. The ten included the four captured ninjas and six new ninjas.
"Where did you come from?" Reidai asked.
"I'll give you three guesses and two don't count." Satori said.
Reidai narrowed his eyes. The Rock ninjas leapt into the air engaging the Leaf ninjas. Kunais hit kunais; shurikens knocked other shurikens off course. Kakashi clashed with Reidai while the other nine ninjas took on the rest of the Rock ninjas. Shuji drew both of his swords and activate his Sharingan.
"Wanna see something cool?" Shuji asked.
The Rock ninjas looked at him with confused looks on their faces. Shuji then spun the swords around his body.
"Katon: Kaen Bure-do no Jutsu." (Fire Element: Flame Blade no Jutsu)
The blades of Shuji's swords turned to fire. He charged into the ninja horde swinging his swords. His blades easily sliced through each ninja they touched. Shuji looked around and saw more ghostly entities enter Rock ninjas and saw the crazed ninjas start killing anybody around them. Satori raised his right hand to chest level and his index and middle fingers were vertical and his index and middle fingers of his left hand were horizontal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Shadow Replication Technique)
Satori created 20 clones of him. They all drew their sai and attacked the Rock ninjas.
"Doton: Retsudotensho!" (Earth Element: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)
Ronin slammed his hands on the ground causing the ground to spiral inward on itself causing the rock ninjas sucked into the ground and buried alive. Hanako pulled her hair pins out of her hair and threw them into two charging ninjas. She did a series of hand seals. Dragon, Rabbit, Monkey, Rat.
"Raiton: Rai Hari no Jutsu." (Lightning Element: Lighting Needles Technique)
Lightning shot from the sky and hit the needles that were stuck in the chests of the two Rock ninjas.
Neji and Hinata stood back to back fighting off Rock ninjas. Tsuku had pulled out his Katars and charged into a group of Rock ninjas that had surrounded Tenten and Arihiro. He leapt off one's back and stabbed another in the neck. The three of them fought off the enemy ninjas. Shuji saw more entities and one of them was about to enter Hanako. He grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out of the way of the ghost.
"What was that all about?" She asked.
"There is something here that is possessing living bodies and making them crazy." Shuji replied.
While Kakashi was fighting Reidai he noticed something out of the corner of his Sharingan eye. He saw something leave one of the dead Rock ninja's body and flow through the air and enter another. The one it entered caused the ninja to go crazy and fight both Leaf and Rock ninjas before being killed by a comrade. His eyes widened. He knew that his team was in trouble if they stayed there. He kicked Reidai in the chest sending him back a few feet. Kakashi turned and ran for the village entrance.
"Hey, we are leaving right now." Kakashi ordered.
"Fine with me." Satori said as he stabbed a Rock ninja with his sai.
Shuji looked around and saw entities jumping from body to body.
"We need to go now." He said.
The ten ninjas turned and ran for the main gates. They fought off Rock ninjas as they ran past the gates.
"What has them spooked?" Reidai wondered.
The remaining Rock ninjas chased after Kakashi's team. The Leaf ninjas ran out of the village only to be seen by more Rock ninjas. The Leaf ninjas were headed back to the Fire Country. Once there they would be safe from the chasing Rock ninjas. They were probably a few miles away from the border but a few days away from Konoha. Shuji ran side by side with Satori. He noticed another entity heading for Satori. Shuji grabbed Satori and launched up ahead. "Warn me, next time you're going to do that." Satori said.
"I'll think about it."
Satori turned around and did a series of hand seals. Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger
'Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." (Fire Element: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)
Satori shot multiple fire balls at the pursuing ninjas. The fire balls seemed to only slow down the Rock ninjas. Which was intended. Kakashi stopped his team. The only thing that stood in their way was a river and a few hundred yards of land.
"Cross this carefully. One wrong move and you'll be swept away. Satori and Ronin watched their backs as the others crossed the bridge. Ronin threw shuriken and kunai as Satori did more hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)
Satori shot a huge fireball towards the Rock ninjas. A few were engulfed by the flame but others leapt past it. Shuji saw an entity leap towards Ronin. He grabbed Ronin and threw the ninja behind him hoping he would get safely across. Ronin landed on a rock unsteadily. He almost caught his balance but a kunai struck his back. He arched in pain and lost his balance. Satori looked in horror as his friend fell into the river. He decided it was now time for him and Shuji to go.
"Time to go." Satori said.
They leapt across the river and continued to run away from the pursuing ninjas. Tenten and Kakashi stood by and threw kunai and shuriken giving the others time to get away. Satori and Shuji joined them and threw his ninja weapons.
"Come on let's go." Kakashi ordered.
The four of them took off running. Shuji was out in front with Kakashi behind him and the Twins bringing up the rear. The border was in sight. The others had already crossed it. Just then a kunai sliced through Tenten's arm and a shuriken cut its way through her leg. She dropped to the ground. Kakashi and Satori stopped to aid her. Shuji stopped but Kakashi waved him to go on. He reluctantly went across the border. As Kakashi looked at Tenten's wounds Satori fought off the oncoming Rock ninjas. He launched kunai and shuriken into the crowd. Then without warning a kunai flew and sliced cleanly through his shoulder. He dropped into the weeds out of Tenten and Kakashi's sight.
"Nii-chan!" Tenten yelled.
Satori stumbled to his sister's position.
"We need to take care of these punks." Satori said.
Kakashi nodded. The three of them stood up side by side and did hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)
The three of them shot a huge fire ball that combined with the other which created a bigger one and engulfed the pursuing Rock ninjas. The three Leaf ninjas let out a sigh of relief. Kakashi saw the entities that inhabited the Rock ninjas leave the charred bodies and retreat. The other five had stopped when they saw the huge fireball take out their opponents. They then saw Kakashi exhaustedly come up over the hill with Satori in tow carrying his sister, Tenten.
The nine remaining Leaf ninjas returned to Konoha. The injured ninjas were taken to the hospital. Satori and Tenten shared a room. Tenten could tell that something was wrong with her brother.
"What's wrong, Nii-chan?" She asked.
Satori didn't answer immediately. He didn't have to. Tenten knew that it was the loss of Ronin was what was bothering Satori.
"I lost one of my best friends." Satori said as tears brimmed his eyelids.
Tenten got out of her bed, still sore from her wounds, and walked over to her brother and hugged him tightly. As soon as Tenten's hands had touched him, Satori lost all control and cried.
Meanwhile, Ronin had washed up onto the River bank a few miles away from the battle. A shadow loomed over him. The figure pulled Ronin out of the river. He felt for a pulse and found one. The figure turned out to be a badly burned Reidai.
"Looks like one of the Leaf ninjas will be joining the Rock ninjas. And he'll be the one to help bring Konoha to its knees." Reidai said.
Next time: Naruto: Contention
The End