Edited!

It was the second night since the encounter of the mysterious woman and Kakashi was growing tired of the lack of answers by the man who first attacked Sakura in the river. Though on a good note, they did find out his name. He went by the name of Benjiro and was from Tea Country. Somehow, he had left his village and was alone and nearly dead when the woman took him in. He looked to be Naruto's age with messy brown hair and matching eyes. To be honest, he didn't look like he belonged as a missing-nin and according to Benjiro, he was being taken care of just fine. But that was the extent of the answers.

What the mission was, why they attacked others, and what the girl's identity was stayed undetermined.

Sakura and Sai had suggested that they ask one of the other guys in the next tent over. At first, Kakashi had shied away from the idea and thought that with Benjiro- being the youngest and more vulnerable of the group- he would get easier answers. But he was disappointed. Even after the many threats of using his Sharingan on the poor boy, Benjiro feared the "boss" more.

So, that was where he was heading now.

Shuffling his feet to the next tent, he opened the flap to see Naruto staring intently at the two that stayed tied back-to-back. They too were identified with just a quick glance into the bingo book after the removal of their masks. The Sound-nin was Naoti and the taller of them, Yoi, was from River, though unlike the younger man in the next tent, both looked to be well into their late thirties and he couldn't help but wonder why they followed a much younger woman. Nothing against women, but he knew his missing ninja and they were all prideful on who they took orders from.

"Alright," Kakashi said in a firm, cold voice. "Your little friend next door told us everything except for a few details."

Of course, this was a lie, but he wanted to play with their minds, hoping to get more of an effect. "First off, why were you going around borders, killing other shinobi?"

"That little punk squealed?!" asked Yoi angrily.

"I ask the questions," Kakashi replied in a lower tone, making the man flinch ever so slightly. "And I won't say it again."

"What'll happen if I tell you? I don't want to go back to my old village and neither does Naoti."

"You'll be taken to Suna-now answer the question."

The man hesitated and looked to Kakashi, immediately staring at the single crimson eye that spun dangerously. Swallowing he started to explain.

"There isn't anything to tell. If you want to know where the boss is or who she is, then we can't help you," he said gruffly. "Hell-I don't even know her name! We just call her boss."

"Why don't you know her name? Wouldn't you want to know who your teammates are?" Naruto questioned harshly.

"Normally. But this chick doesn't trust us. She doesn't trust anyone."

"And why is that?" Kakashi questioned, pleased that he was actually getting some information on the woman.

"Something with Konoha. I guess they treated her bad or something-Hell, I don't know! If she found out I was talking to you about her then she'd kill me!"

"She won't come back here alone just to kill," Naruto scoffed. "That would be a waste of time and she wouldn't succeed against all of us."

"She is coming…It'll be to kill us, so we don't say anything about her…"

"She didn't seem that bad," said a new voice that entered the tent. Kakashi looked over to see Sakura walk in. "If you don't know anything about her then why would she kill you?"

"We know…things about her."

Kakashi inclined his head for the man to continue, but the glare didn't lessen.

"That prick there," Yoi tossed his head at Naruto. "Got a taste of what she can do…"

Sakura's brows drew together as she sat down next to Naruto. "And what was that? I don't understand…"

On the first night after they had set up camp, she checked on Naruto whose color was drained eerily from his face and his blue eyes dull. He wasn't feeling well at all and said that the Kyuubi's chakra was pulsing erratically. She ushered him to take his shirt off and followed with a quick scan to see that his heart rate, organs, pulse, and chakra levels were healthy and fine. But the mystery was how Naruto was frozen to the spot in mid attack. Whatever jutsu she put on him, it allowed his chakra in his vessels and muscles to freeze momentarily by what she assumed was the woman's chakra from the jutsu.

Finally, Yoi answered. "I'm not stupid enough to tell you about it! I actually value my life!"

"What about you," Kakashi said with a tap of his shoe against Naoti's sandal. "You haven't said anything at all."

The man looked at him with distant eyes but still didn't respond.

"He can't talk," explained Yoi. "The boss cut out his tongue when he was found yelling and beating some travelers. Crazy chick…"

Naoti looked away in embarrassment and agitation. It didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi. It was more than clear that these two men didn't like her but still feared her to some degree.

"She just cut it out?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Meh," Yoi scoffed. "She was going off on saying we shouldn't kill innocent people 'cause it shows the lack of honor and dignity and blah, blah, blah…. She's off her rocker! I mean I've seen her kill people all the time! She says that they're scum because they don't fight for what's right but for their own selfish needs! Ha!"

He barked loudly, and his voice grew louder. "Since when have we ever seen her do something good?! Take Naoti for example! He was just messing with those people and was going to give 'em a quick death but she barges in on the fun and knocks him down, ya know? Give's both of us a good beating! Then while I was down, she went to Naoti and picked him up, so he was on his knees while pulling out a kunai! Then she starts rambling but stops mid-sentence…Next thing I know, she's pulling open his mouth and cuts his tongue off! The poor bastard was bleeding to death while she just watched with those damn grey eyes! Fuck it! The boss is crazy! That's why she's the boss! If it wasn't for one of the women that we were messing around with, then Naoti would've been dead! How in the Seven Hells is that good and honorable for her to do that to him?!"

Naoti grinned humorlessly and shook his head.

Kakashi took it all in.

It was strange that this missing ninja had morals. Not many-if any- did. And even though he saw Naruto and Sakura cringe at the thought of the woman cutting out a man's tongue, and he saw the look of disgust and hatred for her by these two men, he couldn't help but understand her reasoning.

She was in charge of these two-much older- men and a younger boy that depended on her judgment. If she wanted to stay in charge, she would have to be cold and harsh at times, very much like the few moments with Naruto and Sakura. Hell, even Sasuke's actions had called for Kakashi's harsh demeanor to come out at times. He could only imagine how much more she had to step it up for hard-headed killers to be kept in line. If she allowed them to get away with things like that then it could very well end up horribly if they turned against her…Maybe she knew that too…Maybe that was why she didn't give them her name or show them who was behind the mask…

"Then was it you two going around killing other teams?" he asked. "It's not like it would be the first time you went against her, correct?"

"I admit that we went to Suna and messed with a few, but that was it! Nothin' to make you guys come all this way!"

"Who else could it have been?"

"You said it was a group of four with an Oto-nin and Konoha-nin, right?" Yoi asked with a sick grin. "Sounds like the group we were sent after…"

"I don't believe you," Naruto said with a firm scowl in place and arms crossed. "I know you had a hand in it."

"Listen you little prick!-"

Suddenly, Sai pulled the flap to the tent open and looked straight to Kakashi. "There's something you should check out…"

Knowing that this couldn't be good, Kakashi followed Sai out of the tent, ducking through the door with Sakura and Naruto bringing up the end. Stepping out into the dark, he could feel his senses prick on edge and the all too familiar feeling returned.

The same feeling he got whenever he was being hunted….

The crackling of the low fire and running river echoed in the distance, bouncing off a cliff wall on the other side of the bank. A frigid wind wrapped around Team 7, shaking the tents and branches all around them. Scattered leaves were tossed into the air whilst clouds blanketed over the moon like a mother covers a child's eyes when something bad is on the verge of happening. Chakra washed over their senses, effectively giving them no clue where the hunter was. Kakashi looked past the fire to where the dark wall of haunted trees stood, trapping them between the forest and cliff side with the river at its base.

"Sai," Kakashi's voice was quiet in urgency. "Put that fire out now…"

"But Kakashi-" Naruto started as Sai began to cover the fire with Sakura rushing to help kick dirt over the embers.

"Naruto, the fire will only blind us and give whoever's out there an advantage…"

Naruto stayed silent and looked towards the forest. The wind rushed past his ears and Sakura pulled her gloves over her hands. It was shortly after when a blur of movement darted through the shadows at breakneck speed and low to the ground.

"There!" Sakura alerted.

Sai turned to look where Sakura had motioned, but a figure ran around the many trunks of the trees where he had been watching. "No-it's there."

"Well, which is it?!" Naruto asked in a harsh whisper.

"There could be more than one."

The silence was deafening as Team 7 stepped closer towards the forest, waiting for someone to make the first move. Kakashi scanned the forest in every crook and crease while momentarily letting his crimson eye linger on a shadow. Crimson and black clashed with a pair of piercing yellow before the figure shifted, bearing naked white fangs in a snarl as a growl erupted from its throat. Naruto and Sakura turned to the sound in time to see the figure before it disappeared into the melting shadows.

"What the hell was that?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi lifted his chin and lightly sniffed the air, realizing what they were dealing with. "It's a summoning."

"Of what? And who summoned it?!"

"That's irrelevant Naruto," Kakakshi chided as he pulled a kunai out. "We'll ask questions later."

Silence blanketed the clearing and the breeze combed through the grass at their feet. Sakura pulled out a kunai, never really liking the idea of a summoning hunting them.

"Kakashi?"

But he didn't answer, too intent on locating the creature.

It was then that a figure darted between two trees at them and ran straight towards Sai-but the shadow was unprepared to meet a painting of a tiger halfway. Snarls and growls were erupted from the throats of the two beasts however luck wasn't on their side. Before anyone could make a move, the shadow bit down onto the tiger's throat, making it poof away as it charged at Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura with ink-stained fangs. Sakura and Naruto jumped toward Sai while Kakashi leapt into the air and blew a fireball across the earth floor, sending heat mirages to rise against the cold wind. The fire spread across the grass, illuminating the area, but he had underestimated the summoning as it appeared through the flames, leaping into the air after him.

It was then that he could see it was a wolf with yellow eyes, dark fur, and sharp fangs that eagerly tried to tear into his flesh. Fortunately, he was much faster than the wolf as he back flipped, threw a kunai at its belly, and landed hard on his feet. The wolf growled as it landed with a stumble, still turning to Kakashi with dangerous eyes. The wolf was too high on adrenaline pumping through his veins to realize that he was bleeding deeply.

A battle cry behind caused the wolf to curl its ears while he looked to see Sakura punch the ground just in time for the earth to rumble and crack, catching one of the paws in between boulders.

The wolf gave a short yelp and struggled to get loose except it was short lived as another painting, this time larger in the shape of a bear, galloped towards the immobile canine. Nevertheless, the wolf didn't know fear, determined to shred the bear in his mouth, anxious to feel the liquid run down its chin. The bear grew closer with pounding strides and the wolf's ears flattened against its skull while presentation a beautiful view of the dagger like incisors. The bear reached the wolf and raised a lethal claw above its head before bringing it down towards the summoning's skull, but the wolf dissolved in a black smoke-earning a blink from everyone watching. Another black vapor conjured above the bear and the wolf appeared, taking the back of the bear's neck into its mouth and letting the fangs sink in before shaking his head viscously, tearing it into a puddle of ink.

Only thirty feet away, Kakashi was prepared to put this animal down as he sent out his own summoning. Dogs appeared out of the wolf's vision and a fight erupted as dogs of all size tore their own blade like teeth into the feral animal. It was an unfair fight, but the wolf had a small advantage of turning to smoke before shortly appearing a few feet away-though even that didn't do any help.

As all team 7's attention was on the many dogs and wolf, the masked woman had walked out of one of the tents with Benjiro behind, having snuck in while they were distracted. Behind her mask she witnessed Kakashi call his summonings, never knowing that one could have so many.

He was more of a nuisance than she gave him credit for.

"What about Naoti and Yoi?" the young teen whispered to his leader.

The woman shrugged dispassionately.

"They got themselves into this mess. They can get themselves out…." came her careless response as she pulled out a kunai. "Now, get ready to run."

Before Benjiro could question what she meant, the boss flickered away before appearing near the vicious dog fight.

She saw her summoning, Aki, was bleeding from many wounds that punctured his thick fur and through muscle. Blood soaked his beautiful coat that looked muddled with slobber and some of the other dogs' blood. She couldn't bear to see her precious friend getting torn apart in an uneven fight.

Before her feet landed to the ground, she tossed a kunai with an explosive tag into the mess of dogs, shocking the rest of team 7. Evidently, they hadn't expected to see her appear out of nowhere. The explosion shook their focus, but sadly for her plan, the dogs had all gotten away unharmed while her summon appeared by her side in a vapor of black smoke.

"You!" Naruto pointed accusingly.

"Who else?" She smiled coldly, but it wasn't noticed behind her mask.

Benjiro watching with wide eyes, not sure what he should do. He wasn't a fool to think that he was strong enough to be a worthy opponent to any of the Leaf shinobi that occupied the clearing. Deciding to stick close to his boss, he appeared by her side, opposite of the giant wolf.

"So, you came back for your team?" Sai asked, slightly confused as he tried to understand if this was another example of a bond that Naruto talked about.

"Was it that obvious? I must be losing my touch," she answered sarcastically. Benjiro glanced at his leader, noticing that despite her teasing tone, her eyes were hard. While he didn't know what she looked like, he had gotten good at reading her emotions by her eyes.

Sensing his attention, the woman met his gaze before turning back to her summoning.

"How are you holding up, Aki?" she inquired quietly, watching as the dogs regrouped around the Leaf-nin.

The giant wolf curled his lips into a snarl. "I've had worse, pup. You should know better than to ask."

"Hmm."

Across from them, Naruto took a bold step forward.

"If you think we're letting you get anyone else, you're in for a wakeup call," he growled.

"I don't see why you guys are still hung up on this. I already told you, we aren't the team you're after. Move on and complete your mission elsewhere."

"Do you think we're stupid?" Naruto countered with his fist clenching at his sides.

Before she could answer, Sai spoke up to ask his own question. "Why would you think we would just take a suspect's word and ignore the evidence in the reports?"

"I don't know what you read. All I know is we didn't do it."

"Then if you're innocent, just turn yourself in until we can get to the bottom of it," Sakura added.

The woman scoffed and a hand came to rest on her hip. "And then what? You'll let me go?"

It was then that Kakashi stepped forward to address the woman. "Then we won't charge you for the attacks. Either way, you can't expect us to walk away because you claim innocence, and you can't ignore the fact that you fit the description… I think you can see where this is going."

The words trailed off, leaving a clear promise that they wouldn't back down from their objectives. The woman could feel her frustrations rise. She was now in a situation that she wanted to avoid. The entire team against her, Aki, and Benjiro would not end in their favor. Not that Benjiro would be much help with his inexperienced skills.

"Hey, Kakashi," a small dog spoke, breaking the mounting tension. The brown pug eyed the masked woman and wolf before turning to the waiting handler beside him. "Some of us need to go back. The wounds are too severe to enter in another fight."

"Wise choice, dog," Aki growled.

The pug looked indignant at the snide remark. "I said some of us. I never implied I would be leaving."

"Pakkun," Kakashi interrupted. "All of you should go. Take care of yourselves."

"But—Kakashi-"

"We have it covered now. Thank you for the help."

Pakkun's wrinkled face fell, but he knew that Kakashi was right. Between the for four of them, they could manage against the missing-nin and summoning. "Alright, but if you need us, call."

"I will."

"Thank you, Pakkun," Sakura added.

The pug's short tail twitched appreciatively. The others began to disappear, but Pakkun waited, wanting to give his friends one piece of advice.

"That wolf can only reappear in a short distance after he evaporates. It's enough space for a kunai throw or longer-range attack."

"We'll keep that in mind."

Aki snarled at the pug who glared one last time before disappearing.

Watching the exchange, the woman felt only slightly better to have the pack in ninken out of the fight. She supposed it was her turn to do the same if they were determined to fight her.

"What's it going to be?" inquired Kakashi who turned to give her his full attention with narrowed eyes. "Will you cooperate and explain your side, or are you going to attempt to get your teammates free?"

"Does cooperating happen to involve chakra restraints?"

"For everyone's safety, I'd day that's a given."

"... So, this sounds like an ultimatum instead of a negotiation."

"Well, now I'm curious what it is you'd negotiate on."

"Hm. I'm sure... My thoughts were, your team can keep those two in the tent. And we'll leave," she offered flatly, setting a hand on the teen's shoulder. Her proposal to trade her team was said so casually that it shocked Team 7.

"What?" Sakura responded, not expecting that to be what the woman was willing to exchange.

"And what's your thought process with that?" Kakashi asked, slightly disturbed at the suggestion.

"If you want the honest answer, all I came for was the kid. If you turn the other two in, you'll still be completing your mission. It's a win-win."

"Are you serious?" Naruto growled.

The wolf mask landed on him and the gaze was heavy despite not being able to see her eyes through the darkness. "On the rare occasion, yes. I'm serious."

"You would just abandon your teammates to save yourself?!"

"Don't act like they're saints. Those two are missing-nin who enjoy hurting those weaker than them. They've been nothing but a headache. Please, do me the favor and take them."

Confused even further, Sai felt his guard go up at the change in tune from the woman. Hadn't she just risked everything to come into camp and rescue the others? "Is this a form of reverse psychology?"

"No," Sakura answered for Sai. "I don't think so."

The woman tilted her head and offered a half shoulder shrug. She hadn't expected them to be appalled by her reasoning as much as they were. It struck her as odd that they would be shocked by the morality- or lack of- of a missing-nin. Did they expect her to die trying to save those two idiots?

Psh, she wasn't desperate.

"You guys don't seem keen on my suggestion," she commented after the silence and unspoken accusations filled the space between them.

"Unfortunately, not." Kakashi answered coldly. "This is your last chance. If you won't come willingly, then we'll force you."

"You really want to fight me? It won't be like the last time if you choose this."

"Good. Last time was a little brief for my liking," he challenged.

The woman did not respond, only stood statuesque. Aki was wounded, which meant she would be taking the brunt of the fight. Even if she cooperated and proved that they weren't the team the Leaf was after, she would still be taken back to Konoha because of her missing-nin status.

That was not going to happen

"Yeah," Naruto added. "You're getting brought in, no matter how hard you fight."

"You seem to have a vendetta against me, kid," she noted off-handedly.

"I admit, when I heard how Benjiro talked about you, I thought you were a decent person who maybe went down a bad path. Then I heard what you did to that Naito guy and still tried to give you the benefit of the doubt because I don't know what it's like as a missing-nin. But then you go and abandon your teammates. Even if they aren't perfect, you abandon them and tried to trade them for your own freedom. Not only are you a missing-nin, but you're trash too. Anyone would betrays their friends are worse than trash!"

The woman tilted her head down as the insults rolled off Naruto's tongue. The porcelain wolf mask reflected the natural light from the waning moon, accentuating the muzzle and eyes hauntingly as the woman glared. They didn't need to see through the mask to know she was pissed at the allegations. The drop in temperature was enough to get the point across.

"I've outgrown my need for friends a while ago," came her callous response.

"How can you be so cold?!"

"You're still young. You might not be aware, but betrayal doesn't come from your enemies."

"Don't act like you know me or think you know what I've been through! I want to know why you can just shut them out so easily! Why did you leave Konoha to be a missing-nin?"

"... Because the lesson I learned was betrayal doesn't come from strangers either."

Any retort Naruto had died in his throat as he glared, mulling over her words; putting together that she may not have left willingly.

"Boss," a quiet, but firm voice interjected by her side.

The woman glanced at Benjiro who stared back with a fire in his eyes and lips pulled into a thin line.

"I'm ready to fight if you are." His declaration came out louder, more determined. He turned to glare at Naruto and the others with fists raised.

She said nothing to him, at first, touched that sweet, quiet Benjiro would voluntarily step up to fight with her when she faced insults. While he was well versed in tiajutsu, his ninjutsu was lacking and certainly cause for issues against the Leaf team. She didn't come to fight against them or risk the boy's life.

"Benjiro. You need to leave."

Wide eyes landed on her mask, a look of hurt shining brightly back at her.

"What—I can't leave. You need my help-"

"Do you really think these guys can take me in?" she countered, her eyes creasing behind the mask to show she was smiling. "You know me better than that, Benjy."

"I-I know but…" He looked back to the opponents before turning back to her. "There's always the possibility something could go wrong. I want to help."

He was right. Her opponents were skilled. That was obvious. And they valued teamwork which all but announced they fought well together. However, there was one factor that instilled the self-doubt in her that she would make it out.

Hatake, Kakashi.

She wasn't certain she could win against someone as skilled. One who could copy her jutsus with the Sharingan, was a prodigy of his time, and had numerous attacks to choose from to use against her.

She would be going against a former ANBU agent. Someone elite and trusted by Konoha officials to carry out lethal missions. The hesitancy she felt with confronting someone like that on the battlefield was due to never testing herself against someone as accomplished before now.

Sure, there was the skirmish earlier that day, but it wasn't a real fight on either side.

The same couldn't be said for the next one.

"Listen to her," Aki voiced to the kid. "I'll be here to help."

Benjiro shook his head but didn't respond.

Sighing, the woman turned to face him and set a hand on is shoulder again. While he was a teen, she still wasn't very tall. He came up to nearly the same height, only an inch or two shorter than her.

"Go home. I'm certain your family has been worried about you."

"They'll just be angry," he argued, again shaking his head. "I want to stay and help. We can get away from here and you can keep training me-we can still complete missions like we usually do, and it'll be fine."

"You need to go home," she repeated in a firmer tone. "Your family will be more relieved that you're safe than angry. That's where you belong—not this missing-nin life. You're better than that."

Benjiro's face fell and his shoulders curled in defeat. Taking another kunai out, the woman handed it to him, a meager gift but better than nothing. Tentatively, he took it, dragging his gaze back to the mask.

"Go follow your dream of a bladesmith," she forced a smile. "I'll stop by in a year's time to see how well you've progressed."

Blinking away tears, the teen nodded, finally giving in.

"Please be safe, boss," he bowed, with the kunai in both hands as if it was a cherished item rather than a chipped piece of steel. "Thank you for looking out for me and training me the last 9 months."

Straightening from his bow, the woman tilted her head to him.

"Take care, Benjy."

The teen sprinted off into the forest at a surprising speed. Instantly, Naruto, Sai, and Sakura lunged to follow, just getting past a few trees before of vapor of black smoke revealed the massive wolf. The summoning snapped its jaws at the three, forcing them to stop in their tracks and leap back to avoid injury.

Back in the clearing, Kakashi and the woman took turns watching the fight that was beginning to take place against the wolf, then back to the opponent before them.

"Why'd you tell him to go when you could've used his help? Your summoning is wounded and it's only you against us," Kakashi questioned, taking a kunai from his own pouch.

The woman pulled one of her tanto blades from her sheaths, the silver edge catching the light just enough to show its sharpness.

"I can fight better when I don't have to worry about him."

"Well... at least you're aware of the situation you find yourself in."

"Now, that's a little passive aggressive, Hatake. You're going to hurt my feelings."

"Give it time. Your pride will be hurting next."

Simultaneously, they lunged at each other—closing the distance between them within seconds. Kakashi leapt into the air the last five feet, kunai in hand as he swung down toward her shoulder. The woman leaned back, causing the kunai to miss, but Kakashi was already swinging horizontally, back and forth. She managed to keep space away from the kunai enough to finally bring her own short sword to clash against his steel. The next dozen swings were either misses or collisions with only the blades biting into each other.

Getting frustrated not landing a blow, she quickened her pace in hopes to force Kakashi to faulter. The momentum allowed her to shift her weight around with a swift step forward to crowd him. She was close enough to feel the brush of his shirt on her upper arm as she swept the tanto towards his thigh. Before the steel made contact, a gloved hand gripped her wrist and redirected her momentum away. The motion was forceful and quick, causing her to stumble a few feet away.

But Kakashi didn't let up. He followed her, taking her disorientation as a chance to crowd and swing, hoping to land a hit. Unfortunately, she was ready to counter.

Jerking her arm back, her elbow collided with his face, followed by another swing of her sword that sent his kunai into the air above them. Kakashi brought his arms up, blocking a kick aimed at his chest. She made a move to punch him but he front-flipped suddenly. The woman's eyes widened despite leaning her weight back to avoid collision with his heel. What she wasn't prepared for was his heel to kick the airborne kunai, propelling it right at her.

The blade shot straight through her side, never slowing down as it sliced through flesh and embedded into the hard earth behind her. Biting through her grimace, she dodged under another blow before sweeping her leg out, knocking Kakashi back as he fought for balance.

Pulling out two more kunai, Kakashi struggled to get his feet under him as the woman charged. The injury did little to slow her down. More like the opposite. Her speed was increasing, her defenses suffering, but that didn't bother her. It was full offense that she was sending his way.

She brought her sword down, once again only meeting steel. They continued like this, swapping blows, occasionally landing a hit on one which was shortly returned by an opposite attack. Trade for trade. When Kakashi sent a kick at her, she was thrown into the hard ground-then forced to bring her sword up to block a kunai descending upon her. Spinning on her back, the woman found her footing and returned to the offensive.

Kakashi was expecting that.

He swung his arm horizontally then vertically, hoping the combo would land, but she flipped over the top of him, pushing off his shoulder with her free hand. They separated, sprinting away from each other before closing in and trading blows. Shortly after they reconnected, Kakashi faked a kick and sent a haymaker instead. The woman was sent into the air before landing with stiff thud on her side. Again, Kakashi attempted to send a kunai into her, but she rolled out of the way.

Jumping to her feet, she launched forward, introducing a few punches and swings that he countered as before. She hadn't expected much else and was using the momentum to set up her attack.

Kakashi was easily deflecting what came within reach, but her speed was picking up again, causing the distance to become smaller before he managed his blocks. The momentum forced his footwork to quicken as she pushed him back with her attacks. The fierceness of her strikes caught him off guard enough for him to decide to return a couple counterattacks.

Surprisingly, she managed to block his punches and blades, but the aggressive maneuvers clearly startled her. His right fist connected with her shoulder, and he followed by sweeping his left leg out behind her ankles. The force pushed her back, but at the last moment, she rolled from his impact and stumbled in a sloppy twist before catching her balance; only falling to her knees for the barest of seconds. Straightening, she brushed her disheveled shirt back down and glared at him before returning to the fight.

Stepping back, Kakashi arched away from the tanto blade that aimed for his chest and elbowed her arm away.

The woman flipped the short sword between her fingers, so the blade was towards the outside of her hand and by her pinky. She took a solid step into Kakashi's space with a spin and brought her right arm up just above her head, then swung it in a downward diagonal towards his right shoulder.

The power behind her swing stopped in mid-air as his hand enveloped her wrist. Their gazes met, both shining with adrenaline and focus. The split second was fleeting when the woman released the sword from her grip.

The steel fell in silence between them before her left hand captured it. In a continued motion, she thrust the sword under her trapped arm in a horizontal swing aimed for Kakashi's abdomen.

By the time he realized what was happening, he was scrambling to avoid the blade at the last moment. Arching his body away while releasing her wrist, the sound of tearing fabric broke the silence around them.

Once the distance separated them, Kakashi set a hand to his stomach where she had managed to catch him off guard. She was thankful that she didn't embarrass herself by dropping the blade. However, when he removed his hand, they both saw that it was only a graze across his abdomen and a line of blood wetted his shirt and vest.

Frustrated that it didn't land as deep as she intended, and they were still on even ground, the woman launched again with Kakashi bringing his kunai to meet once more. This time, following her lead to sacrifice defenses for speed, he managed to connect his elbow to her chin followed by a kick to her chest.

The combo sent her sliding back on her heels and her short sword to fall with a clang to the ground. She made an attempt to grab it, but Kakashi closed the distance, sending another kick at her. Arms up in a cross, she blocked the kick and steadied her stance. After a few more exchanges of attacks, Kakashi sent a punch with his weapon in hand. The woman ducked, grabbed his arm and side-stepped behind him. With her other hand on his shoulder, she kicked her feet up—wrapping around his neck—and in a fluid motion, twisted them both around until Kakashi crashed to his back.

But similar to her, he got his feet under him and countered with his own strike. Finally, they broke away and put space between them. Each were panting lightly, heart rates pounding against their chests.

The woman took that break to bring a hand to her injured right side. The graze from the kunai was torn open more from the fighting and blood was soaking into the fabric of her shirt down to her hip. A hidden scowl pulled at her features, and she risked a glance at her summoning. Deeper into the forest, Aki was fighting the others, but from the looks of it, was holding his own.

"Well…" she exhaled, turning back to Kakashi, "my pride isn't as sore as you made it sound like it'd be."

"True, but the fights not over yet."

"Unfortunately," she deadpanned.

"So, do all your teammates just call you Boss? Or do they call you by your name when strangers aren't around?"

"Neither. Both. Whatever you want to believe. What's it matter to you?"

"I'm just trying to see if there's something I can call you by. You won't take off the mask. And I'm not going to call you Boss…"

"… Why the small talk?" the woman asked, hostility creeping in her tone. "Are you fucking with me? Or trying to distract me?"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. We won't know until we try to kill each other."

"I'm hoping it doesn't have to come to that."

She gave a confused look from her mask but was answered when a sudden presence appeared behind her. Eyes wide, she barely ducked under a kick of the second Kakashi as the other in front of her vanished into the trees. Unlike the first attack that she had managed to dodge, she was too slow for the next that swiped her feet out from under her, making her get a moments view of the sky as she once again landed on her back. Before he could make a move to keep her down, she rolled backwards in a flip and stood to her feet only to cartwheel to the left when small fire balls were shot towards her. She landed momentarily only to be kicked in the back and knocked to the ground on her stomach.

Flipping to her feet, she engaged with the nearest Kakashi in close combat. After successfully blocking her attacks, the woman changed it up by tossing shuriken disguised as a punch. Kakashi was not able to dodge the attack and the stars sunk into his collarbone and shoulder, but not before kicking her back a dozen feet. He disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Clone.

Before she could decide if she was happy to be rid of one Kakashi, the real one jumped from one branch to another above, sending a kunai at her with an explosive note.

Eyes widening, she rolled to the side, getting out of range. A Bang! shook the ground momentarily as dust and grass was erupted into the air. The wind blew it away shortly after to a soot covered, masked woman with her right sleeve tattered and shredded. Blood filtered down her arm with few chunks of skin hanging. She managed to dodge the note, but the explosion was bigger than expected, catching her exposed arm.

Needless to say, she was pissed. He had taken her moment of distraction from checking on Aki to form another attack. He was relentless. It was only a second of looking away and he had managed to create a clone with no fluctuation to his chakra.

She needed to pay more attention-she was better than this! No way was she going to continue getting knocked down. She was plenty familiar with the hard dirt at this point.

Trying to steady her heartbeat and keep her temper under control, she glanced around, looking for Kakashi. The wind was quiet now and she looked to the trees, trying to sense any chakra but wasn't surprised when she found none. Her heart skipped a beat when a dozen shuriken were launched at her from the canopy; steel grey eyes narrowed as she flipped and spun just out of reach of the twisting blades. But luck wasn't on her side. The shuriken passed her before curling much like a boomerang and it was then that she realized they were attached to chakra strings. Each string shimmered from the light of the moon as they wrapped around her forcing her to stumble backwards. With chakra coursing through her fingertips, she formed a small inch long blade that cut through the strings before they fully constricted and cut off her supply.

Kakashi saw this-slightly stunned that she was able to think quickly in such a situation. He had planned on the strings taking her down, not to make her moves a little sloppy but still mobile. He knew he had to work fast.

As for the woman, she was tripping over a few of the missed strings and could feel her balance leaving her as gravity pushed her back. A body flickered in front of her with a kunai bare to her neck, sending her falling on her back once again.

Dammit!

The force of her body smashing against the ground crushed the air from her lungs and she gasped as her mind spun with incoherent thoughts. What happened was a blur as she tried to gain understanding of how she ended in that position. However, it suddenly became unimportant once fingertips rested under her chin where the mask ended.

Kakashi saw grey eyes narrow dangerously and darken in color. Before having the chance to pull her mask off, he felt two slim fingers curl under the black fabric of his cheek.

Both froze….

The clearing grew quiet as if everything was thrown on pause and neither breathed…

Kakashi looked down to the determined eyes of the woman and he couldn't help sweat at their situation. "This is a little unexpected."

"Always expect the unexpected. Didn't they teach you that in the academy?" she snapped lightly. Agitated that she was being pinned to the ground only grew with his warm breath washing over her exposed throat. His black eye was deep and calm like dark waters while the crimson was intense as fire. She stared back defiantly. She couldn't help but notice his platinum spikes look almost surreal in the moon light.

"A wasted lesson if you ask me. There's too many variables to predict in a fight." Kakashi was trying to buy time and think of a way out of the situation. Was he really willing to risk his mask if it meant taking off hers?... His curiosity was gnawing at him.

"You're not being funny," she said dryly.

"No. Perhaps not…"

And up went her mask in one final jerk only to meet smoke in his face from the clone and a cold blade to his throat from behind.

"That wasn't smart, Hatake," she said in an even tone.

Kakashi grew serious knowing that she was going to the offensive quicker than he thought. Her temperament was starting to change into a missing-nin being trapped and he didn't want her to feel cornered while having the freedom to act against them.

That would only cause more problems. Desperation was a powerful thing and she had nothing to lose now that the kid was gone.

In that moment, the ground shook in a mild earthquake, causing ripples to disrupt the stream flow and large boulders to come loose from the cliff face on the other side. Massive splashes of rocks in the water caused small wakes to wash ashore near them. Kakashi used that time to flicker away from the deadly kunoichi, knowing it was Sakura that caused the disturbance.

The woman didn't turn around right away, instead keeping her back to him as if in thought. When she finally did turn around, her head was tilted and eyes gleaming. Furrowing his brows, Kakashi looked down to her hands, no longer holding a kunai but finishing three hand seals.

His attention jerked back to her face, instantly nervous what she had planned as she brought a hand up to the muzzle of the mask and blew through her fingers. His knee jerk reaction was to expect a bright burst of scorching flames to roll towards him, but instead a black, almost purple hued fog spread rapidly across the clearing. It swallowed everything in the vicinity, blocking the light from the moon and open sky.

Kakashi held his breath at first, suspicious that it was poison, but after testing it in a shallow inhale, determined it safe. He tried to see through the eerie fog, however visibility was limited to a meter in front. The sound from the fight with the summoning and his team was concurrently muted but obvious that it was still taking place unhindered. That meant the fog didn't reach too far out.

Before he could think on it further, something rustled in the branches. He sent a kunai into the pitch clouds though didn't hear it land. A snap behind him. He tried to predict the movement and sent one more blade into the darkness. Again, a miss.

In that moment, the next noise that came wasn't of someone moving but a distant howl of a wolf, so faint yet clear. Initially, he assumed it was the summoning, but another howl on the opposite side of him repeated. He tried to extend his chakra, even strained his hearing to the max. He could still hear the fight with the others continuing uninterrupted. His senses seemed unbalanced, some things muted while others were clear, but nothing for certain. It was debilitating.

The sound of haunting howls pulsed more adrenaline in his system. Was it more summonings lurking in the smokey haze?

Or perhaps a genjutsu.

Bringing his hands up to a release sign, Kakashi surged chakra to the Sharingan for insurance and tried to dispel it.

The fog remained. Heavy and incapacitating.

Not a genjutsu. At least the fog wasn't. The howling was no longer present, he noted.

This time he waited. The noise of movement continued- first at one side, then the other. She was toying with him.

Wind… He needed wind.

Bringing his hands together, they began to fly between seals expertly. When he got to his fourth seal, a kunai sliced through the air, catching his bicep. Flinching to the side, he started the signs again, while focusing on where the next attack would come from. This time, the woman darted in, unseen until the last few feet when a porcelain mask melted from the darkness. She sliced his arm, only to disappear into the smoke once again.

The process repeated to where he assumed he had her location figured out or was almost finished with the seals, but she was somewhere in his blind spot, sending a shuriken or herself to attack.

Finally catching onto her pattern, he ignored his instincts of where she lurked. Closing his eyes, he waited until she emerged from the shadows, still going through the seals once more. Lashing out, his hand broke from his seals and wrapped around her neck as she appeared in his vicinity. Flipping her around, his other hand grabbed a kunai only to bring it down into her shoulder.

There was a momentary pause before the woman in his grasp poofed to reveal a log. Alarmed that she tricked him, he flashed through his hand seals until finally finishing and sending the fog to dissipate into the sky with a wind jutsu.

Bright evening light washed over the clearing illuminating the trees, the fight happing in the forest, and the masked woman across from him.

"You're hiding your attacks from my Sharingan."

"Of course, I am. Why-is that cheating?" She put a finger to the chin of her mask as if mulling it over before shrugging. "Either way, it doesn't really matter. Following rules was never my game."

"It's smart," he conceded, "if you can manage it the whole time."

"Oh?" She tilted her head and he imagined she was raising a brow at the challenge. "You know, I had time to think about your tricks and reputation. I'll admit, it's been a while since we last met or since I heard about your accomplishments, but enough came back to me. I think I figured out how to get around your little plagiarism stunts."

Kakashi blinked as her words rolled around his mind. The last of it barely registered as he was hung up on the middle of her speech.

"What do you mean that we met?"

"Well," she smirked, "it took me a while to recall certain memories in Konoha, but we met, unofficially, before."

"And when was this?"

Chuckling, she shook her head. "You think I would just tell you? I find it enjoyable that you don't know who I am. I mean that's the whole point of the mask, but even so, it's still entertaining to see you flounder around the puzzle. I get the feeling you aren't puzzled very often. I suppose I should feel honored for that."

"Some would find it insulting for people not to know them. Do you really not care about being recognized or remembered?"

"Usually, I would agree. But when both of those could lead to a hunting party for my head, I think I'll stick to being unknown."

"And how can a person without a name be hunted by someone?"

"Now that's a silly question. Are you fishing for information?"

"Perhaps."

The woman watched him for a little while, thinking something Kakashi only wish he knew. Finally, she spoke.

"Fine, I'll share a little bit; Some people may know that I'm aware of what they did which could start a lot of problems should it get out. And many people have died already for this secret by their orders. Whether they know if I'm alive or not is something I don't want to find out. I'm fond of living."

"And this has something to do with Konoha? Or is this an event that happened after you became a missing-nin?

"Nice try, but sharing time is done."

"I wouldn't say you divulged enough information to be considered sharing."

"Trust me when I say that is more than most know."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to press the subject more, but stopped, and instead sighed. "Fine... I guess I'll just have to get more out of you when you're apprehended."

"Cocky."

"No. Confident," he corrected with his own smirk. "Speaking of, you seem sure of yourself that you figured out how to avoid the Sharingan. You have my curiosity peaked."

"Oh, right," she complied, a smile in her tone as if she was eager to test her theory. Bringing her hands up in front of her, she couldn't keep the bubble of excitement from showing. "I was hoping to test a theory... Let's see if you can copy this…"

Instantly, her hands began to fly into a dozen signs, the speed only a blur to the normal shinobi eye. Kakashi's hands flew to match, meeting each seal at the same time and speed. Seeing he was copying her didn't slow the attack down. Landing on the last seal, she jumped closer to the river, Kakashi following suit as if her shadow.

"Daibakufu no Jutsu!" They both yelled out.

The river water surged back from its natural flow and swelled into a massive wave. The shape changed and twisted until morphing into a sideways cyclone. Both watched it form, noticing that only one was truly in the shape it was supposed to be in but neither certain who it belonged to.

Narrowed eyes met across the empty space, before both extended their hands out toward the other. The water pulsed… then surged forward…

Right at Kakashi.

Realizing that the jutsu was not his, he leapt into the sky, hoping to jump above the massive cyclone but it managed to hit him, slamming the shinobi into two trees. The shape dispersed, flooding the clearing out before soaking through the grass or running back into the lowlands. One of the tents with Naito and Yoi shuddered under the weight of the water, one corner crumpling but otherwise still standing. Yoi cried out a few curses from inside. No one paid him any mind.

Kakashi sat up, feeling the pain from the impact radiate through his spine. His hair hung lower from the weight of the water and droplets ran down his forehead. Glaring across the clearing, he saw the woman watching, but noted that her breathing was heavier after the attack.

The jutsu was powerful. He didn't need to execute it to recognize the high level of training it took to use it. If he wasn't hyped up in the middle of the fight, he would have noticed sooner that the completed jutsu was not his, as his chakra supply hadn't depleted any. Not just anyone was capable of a massive attack and still have chakra reserves to continue fighting. He was beginning to wonder how someone so skilled remained out of the Bingo books.

And why had he not been able to perform the jutsu?

As he stood to his feet and returned to face her, he thought back to why she would think he couldn't copy it. The high level of difficulty wasn't the issue. He knew equally and more powerful attacks—had even copied them flawlessly. The speed hadn't been the problem either. But she was confident—even said she figured a way to outthink him with the Sharingan.

"Your pattern was off…" he stated, finally breaking the problem as well as the silence between them. "You added more seals in there then what's needed."

The woman laughed softly, not condescending but almost a breathless chuckle. As if relieved.

"They said you were clever in battle. You figured it out."

"How exactly?"

Feeling confident that him knowing wouldn't make it easier to figure out which seals were false in the future, she decided to explain. "As you mentioned, I added more seals mixed with the correct ones, but I didn't fully complete them. They were only enough to mimic the form but not charge the chakra. I also practiced the incomplete hand signs before coming here in case we ended up fighting."

"And by moving through the seals so quickly made it difficult to see what was complete and what wasn't," he finished.

Tapping the nose of her mask, he felt her smile. "Bingo. I'm glad to see my theory worked."

"Clever, I admit. But you can't hope to do that for every attack. It takes immense focus to not fully form hand seals so quickly."

"True. That's the downside of it. And I don't plan on us fighting long enough for me to get that efficient at it."

"Hmm, that would be a poor strategy for me to allow," he agreed.

The lightened mood was interrupted by the dull throbbing in her right arm from the earlier explosion. Blood still oozed from the chunks of missing flesh. Despite her using longer range jutsus to resist adding stress to the gash in her side, it continued to bleed, soaking her shirt. The wet fabric was sticking to her skin and cooling with the breeze adding discomfort to her already pain-ridden body.

Her adrenaline was fading, especially as the conversation continued, which explained why the pain was becoming more apparent. Over Kakashi's shoulder, the woman saw her summoning still fighting with the leaf-nin, not letting up.

And here she was having a teasing discussion with her opponent.

She needed to focus. Her theory worked… once. But it still worked. She just needed to incapacitate Kakashi so they could get away.

Pulling her last blade from the sheath on her lower back, the other still on the ground near the tents, she got into a low position. Seeing this, Kakashi lowered his center of gravity, preen to move in any direction within a heartbeat.

"Decided not to continue with long-range attacks-?" Kakashi's sentence was clipped short as she darted at him before he could finish.

Leaping into the air, he threw his hands into seals before releasing it at the charging woman. White electricity erupted from his outstretched hand, forming into a massive wolf, the size of her own summon. The lightning beast rushed after her, maw opened and ready to bite into her.

The woman stopped in mid run and jumped to the side, avoiding collision with the terrifying wolf. It spun in the dirt to pursue. As it got closer, she could feel the air around her charge with energy and the hairs on her arm lift. Stashing the sword away, she slid under the wolf as it jumped at her until she was on the other side with a safe distance between them.

Kakashi was now in the branches, following her as she dodged the attacks while throwing shuriken at her. Sending a couple in retaliation to him, she wasn't surprised when he dodged them. Then again, she was only doing it to force Kakashi to move away, giving her time to focus on the lighting wolf, hungrily snapping at her.

The relentless jutsu followed her evades, causing her to grimace as the lightning got closer each moment. Vaulting back to allow more space, she realized that she was intentionally being herded towards the river. Narrowing her eyes, she turned back to the wolf, wondering if it was Kakashi's control of it or if it naturally strategized against opponents. Either way, lightning and water didn't mix and she didn't need a first-hand account to realize it. She needed to end it before things became worse for her.

Landing on the ground, her hand flew into seals before slamming into the earth.

"Kanketsusen Souzou!"

As the wolf closed the distance, the ground beneath it opened up into a ten-foot circle and it launched into the air to avoid falling in. Instantly, a colossal blast of air erupted, sending the lightning beast to disintegrate from the force of wind until only sparks and crackles dispersed into the evening sky.

Any split second of relief she felt was gone when Kakashi appeared feet in front of her, engaging in close combat. The woman jumped back and tried to deflect but a kick sent her rolling across the surface of the river. Sending chakra to her limbs, she attempted to stay on the surface until finally coming to a stop. Standing to her feet, she had to duck as Kakashi crowded her space once more.

Not recovered from using a large amount of charka on her last jutsu, she stumbled in her defenses, struggling to get her bearings internally and externally. Kakashi didn't let up. He managed to grab her shirt when she tried to dodge from another blow and spun her around where she was in a headlock. Thrusting her feet up to the air, she kicked back to the surface of the river and bent forward, pulling the shinobi over the top of her and rolling away.

Adjusting her mask that had shifted, the woman risked taking a moment to recollect. But a risk it was. Kakashi was already charging back at her, the distance only feet and decreasing. In his hand was her short sword that he had stolen before she flipped him over, aimed to run her through.

Sucking in her breath, she did the only thing she could think of. Bringing her feet together, the chakra at the soles of her shoes dispersed, dispatching her below the surface of the brisk waters just as the blade swiped.

Kakashi stopped where she stood milliseconds before and instinctively looked down, expecting to see her through the moving surface. Instead, a rectangular piece of paper floated to the top with all too familiar writing across it.

Shit!

He leapt back as far as he could, hoping he cleared the danger zone in time. No sooner did he leave the surface of the river, a massive explosion spewed a water geyser into the air, splitting and spraying across the clearing and cliffside. A few other boulders dislodged from the rocky outcropping and tumbled into the abused river. Watching the stones fall to avoid injury, Kakashi's attention was pulled to the kunoichi sprinting up the cliffside towards the top ridge.

Determined to not let her escape like the first night, he fell into pursuit, hurtling as fast as his legs would allow. Sensing that he was behind her, she spun and sent shuriken towards him, before continuing her dash away. Kakashi deflected a couple and dodged the last, never slowing down. Realizing he wasn't going to catch her in time, he set his hands together for another attack.

"Mud wall jutus!"

The woman could feel the surge of chakra behind her but didn't dare turn around. She was almost to the top.

80 feet. 60 feet. 35-

The earth beneath her shoes rumbled again, causing her to stumble but still maintain forward momentum. Until a colossal wall shot from the cliff and directly into her path. The masked woman tried to stop but failed as her shoulder collided with the jutsu. Wincing from impact, she glanced at the height of the wall; a bulldog sculpture in the center of it looked down at her. The hum of chakra beneath the brick layer told her that it would not be torn down easily and going over or around it would take too much time; allowing Kakashi to catch up.

Growling under her breath, she turned to face Kakashi, never slowing down. His crimson eye glowing in the night as he got closer.

Fine, she challenged mentally, placing the soles of her shoes against the brick mud wall. She half expected the chakra to reject her attaching to it, yet it allowed her.

Bending her knees, she summoned more chakra to her feet, now hanging upside down, the mud wall a massive ledge. Long, dark locks dangled overhead, blocking the distant edge of the clearing from view, the tents looking minuscule. But she wasn't focused on that.

Jerking her legs straight, she launched herself directly at her opponent. The widened crimson told her he hadn't expected the perilous move. Pulling the stolen sword out, he swung horizontally at her as she flew by, but she managed to twist out of reach, continuing her decent to the river below. For a moment, he could only watched until just before she hit the water. With furrowed brows, he stashed the sword in the strap of his kunai pouch and jumped from the cliff, following her just as she breached the surface and disappeared from view.

The woman grimaced underwater, the sting from the fall rang through her body despite her using chakra to soften the impact. The surface above her rippled still, waves creating unsteady light to shimmer, acting as her only comfort. Below her was nothing but cold darkness, even if the river wasn't too deep. The night did little to help her vision. Stroking through the river, the woman broke the surface with a gasp of air, mask still firmly in place. A splash pulled her attention over her shoulder to see Kakashi landed roughly 30 feet away.

Grumbling under her breath, the woman summoned chakra to the palms of her hands and pulled herself to stand on the surface once again. No sooner was she turning to face him did she see he was already in the middle of performing another jutsu.

Heart lodging in her throat, she could only prepare for what was to come next and hope she had something to counter it.

His hands landed on the last seal, and he jumped back, giving more space between them. The woman followed him with her eyes as she felt his chakra spike and the water suddenly bulge and twist in front of him. A loud moan came from the river as it raised high above them and formed a forceful dragon that stared at her for a split second. The jutsu was both grand and terrifying, making her feel tiny and vulnerable. Eyes bright and rageful, it opened its jaws and crashed towards her.

The woman jumped back to allow her time to finish her own signals before sending a deadly wind blade at the volatile dragon, decapitating it just below the jaw. The water sloshed between them, the river never having a chance to resume its normal flow.

Before either opponent could counterattack, a harsh cry broke through the tension.

"Get away from him!" Naruto demanded as he charged at Aki who had Sai's leg in his mouth.

"Naruto! Wait!" Sakura yelled but her friend didn't listen.

Shadow clones jumped onto Aki's back, some with kunai raised to stab the giant summoning. The wolf released the dark-haired boy to bite at the nuisance on him before they could do damage.

Swallowing, the woman looked back to Kakashi who didn't seem eager to continue the fight. The distress in his team's voices and the fluctuating chakra in the air told him they were not having an easy battle.

A howl of pain echoed through the trees as the few kunai pierced the summon's dark coat. It caused the woman to flinch, not being noticed by anyone else.

Taking advantage of the lull between them, the woman sprinted towards the shore, sensing Kakashi following immediately. But she wasn't worried about him in that moment. She needed to help Aki.

As she got closer, she sent a kunai in the direction, hitting a clone with a weapon. She repeated it with a shuriken which swung in an arch, hitting three more clones. Before she could attack another, the ground beneath her shattered, cracks splaying all across the clearing as a mini earthquake separated the crevices deep into earth. The woman kept her balance, finding a large section to stand on until the rumble stopped.

Aki took advantage of the pause between attacks and no longer having clones on his back. He made a move to disappear, but a pair of snakes wrapped around his left two legs, causing him to fall hard on his face. A guttural growl left his throat as more snakes slithered and twisted around him.

"Damn it," he snarled under his breath and tried to bite his way from their hold. More and more came as Sai continued to paint; his brush sprawling across the scroll trying to get enough so the summoning wouldn't escape.

"Keep going Sai!" Naruto yelled as he saw the wolf was starting to get tired swiping and biting the snakes away from him. Desperation gnawed at the beast and with a wicked snarl, Aki started to tear the snakes with his fangs.

"Hey!" Naruto ran to the wolf with three other clones as they tried to stab the beast, but he just fought back; biting a clone and jerking along the ground in hopes of freeing himself.

"Aki!" the woman shouted as she attempted to run to his aid.

Kakashi intercepted, but the woman was not slowing down. Narrowed eyes gleamed through the mask as she met him head on, chakra blades elongating 4 inches from her fingertips. Swiping at him, Kakashi wasn't prepared for the chakra assault and earned a gash along his collarbone. Attempting to hit him with the other blade, she was redirected after he successfully blocked her.

But her footwork was fast, her focus recalibrated.

She slid across the ground and looped the back of her leg around his calf. It unbalanced him enough to land on his stomach and she grabbed the sword from his strap.

Not giving him a second look, she charged at the snakes, ready to slice them and the clones away to get Aki. She was about to swing down when a kick came out of nowhere and sent her flying across the clearing only to have a tree stop her dead from her roll.

Coughing and gasping, she opened her eyes to see the world tilted on its side. Small black spots twinkled in her vision and the image of the clearing blurred. The woman blinked to rid herself of the disorientation. There was no way she was going to pass out from one kick. Forcing air into her lungs was painful and the gash to her right side had split open further. Rolling to her hands and knees, she realized that her sword was no longer in her grasp.

Who the hell kicked her?

That wasn't important. Straightening her mask with her bloodied palm, the woman gathered enough strength to stand to her feet.

In the distance, her wolf started to grow feral, and its attacks turned lethal. Sakura saw that her teammates where having problems and she rushed to Naruto's side before punching the ground, making the wolf fall through a crack. The snakes wrapped over its muzzle and four of Naruto's clones landed on the giant wolf, keeping it down as it growled its complaints.

The woman's mind was racing and her heart was beating erratically against her chest painfully. Before she had time to make use of the situation, a snake had slithered its way to her after her impact with the tree. In her disorientation, she hadn't realized it was at her feet until it slinked up her back. By the time she recognized a strange weight to her shoulders, the ink snake tangled its way around her throat. Not realizing what it was at first, the woman panicked, already having a fear of the unpredictable reptiles. Now a snake that was at the command of an enemy shinobi made it even more dangerous.

The snake squeezed. Her calm demeanor vanished and all she saw was red.

Panic set in every vein and bone in her body and a thick layer of sweat from fear pushed through her pores. She gasped and was able to curl her fingers around the scales of the snake against her throat. The move only succeeded in it tightening its hold with a small hiss. Running out of air and the lack of circulation to her brain was beginning to make her vision blur dangerously and the black spots returned. Slowly, she was losing consciousness and Aki was turning frantic knowing that she was in trouble. Falling to her knees, she tried to search her pouch for a weapon, but the shuriken and sword had fallen from her grasp in the attack. Any counterattack she had was blocked by the wall of terror and alarm.

Her eyes darted side to side, seeing Aki being held down and Kakashi walking over to her. Sai kneeled above his scroll with a paintbrush hovering above the parchment; waiting to see if she was going to pass out like planned. Sakura stood away and watched with Naruto, hoping the battle was near its end.

Instincts. They always had a way of showing up at the strangest times.

Her chakra rose in a sudden thundering rumble and the shining of an auburn teardrop necklace glowed in a radiant hue. Kakashi paused in his steps, remembering the last time he had seen it earlier that day.

With her free hand shooting to the air, she focused her energy on Sai just as her vision turned black…She wouldn't give up…

With a sudden surge, Sai jolted with a shock and his eyes widened. Without any control, his hands shakily tightened its grip, breaking the paint brush with a snap before setting his hands together in the release seal.

She was rewarded with the snakes unraveling around her and Aki while returning to the paper he summoned them from. A desperate gasp left her lips, sucking in precious treasured air.

"What the-" Naruto started and looked to Sai who was starting to twitch and shake while a hand pulled out a kunai. "Sai! What are you doing?!"

Sakura ran to his side but stopped and held a hand for Naruto to do the same. "It's that jutsu again!"

Suddenly a dark growl left the throat of Aki and he turned to bite at the clones who managed to stay on to hold him down. With her vision returning slowly, the woman picked herself up with a hard glare through her mask aimed at the leaf-nin.

"Sai!" Sakura yelled as he tossed the kunai at her, cutting a thin line across her cheek.

"I have no control…" he struggled to say as another hand went to his pouch. Kakashi tossed his gaze from Sai to the woman who used that time to slowly retreat.

"Release him or I'll make you," he ordered darkly.

"I didn't do anything that you're accusing me of…" she replied as she took a few more steps away, thinking of a plan to get out with her summoning. "I didn't attack those teams, so you have no reason to continue this."

"And you expect us to believe you?! Let Sai go!" Naruto ordered.

The woman's chakra pulsed unconsciously. It went unnoticed to her that her hold on Sai was starting to grow out of her control. The dark artist went silent as pain gripped his body and his shaking increased though his hand stopped moving to the kunai pouch. His organs felt like they were going to explode and burst on fire. Sweat beaded his forehead and complete fear was written on his face. The others saw this and Sakura pushed her hands towards Sai to ease whatever pain was there, but even her strongest healing chakra met an even stronger resistance.

"Kakashi! Sai can't hold out much longer!"

Kakashi looked over, knowing that there was only one more thing he could try with the kunoichi.

"I saw how you took care of that kid. I know you don't want to do this to someone even on another team. Stop it now or it will end badly." Kakashi threatened and started stalking towards her with his back hunched slightly in case he needed to charge after her fast.

The woman stopped moving towards the safety of the forest and looked to Kakashi. "Just back off and let us go! It's pointless to continue-I don't belong to any villages! Especially those that will just turn their backs on you!"

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto asked in panic and anger. "Konoha would never do anything like that!"

"They would kill the same people they were sworn to protect! They can't be trusted!"

"Shut up! You're a liar!" Naruto turned back to Sai and Sakura who had her brows drawn together in intense concentration.

The woman finally looked away from the encroaching Jonin to see Sakura and Sai struggling. The boy's face was contorted in pain with a small trickle of blood rolling down the corner of his lip and nostril. Grey eyes widened behind the mask.

She was doing it again… just how in the hell did she lose control? If it wasn't for the necklace around her neck…

Swiping her hand horizontally through the air, she severed her chakra source from Sai who fell to his knees gasping in relief. The pain-induced twitches and blood leaking from his lips ceased instantly. Sakura gasped in realization that the woman had released the jutsu and healed Sai except for the vomit that he hurled shortly after.

But the movement from her arm was all that Kakashi had noticed, and he flickered at her while finishing his seals. The woman barely had time to register that the quick movement had set the white-haired shinobi off and had no time to move from his attack.

The sound of chirping birds cut through the night air, high pitched and deafening as it got closer, until slowly dying away to a cold silence.

Sakura and Naruto looked to see Kakashi's face illuminated by the dying light of his chidori and a standing figure pinned against Kakashi and a tree.

The woman felt she was on fire through her abdomen which she swore no longer existed. Her lungs were empty, her heart beat slow, and her flesh searing under the hand of the man that held her back against the bark. She couldn't see anything as darkness swallowed the edges of her vision, her body feeling substantially heavier. Blood washed into her mouth before she coughed violently onto his Jonin vest, staining it scarlet. With labored breathing, she could feel her body turn limp as she bowed forward, letting her forehead lean against Kakashi's collar bone.

Kakashi was welcomed with the same cold feeling that crushed him, which he got every time someone died at his hand. Even after all these years, he wasn't used to it and had decided long ago that he never would be. But now the feeling was back, leaving him colder than before. The warm breath through her mask felt wrong against his skin and it only made the realization of just how frigid he was. The smell of metallic and citrus tickled his nose and when the chidori finally died, he tilted the woman's head back, and lowered her to the ground.

The woman shakily put a hand over the gaping wound at her side, a poor attempt to staunch the bleeding. Her pressure was weak and Kakashi settled his own hand over hers to help, even it if was futile. The other gloved hand raised to her mask but stopped when hers settled on his forearm. He halted, not sure whether to respect her last wishes or finally get a look at his rival.

"Don't you want to be known?" he asked, hand returning to her mask. The last of his words were unspoken but lingered clearly between them.

In case you die?

A strangled sound left her lips as her hand fell to her side, and he realized it was a short laugh. Troubled, he pulled off her blood splattered mask, letting her sable locks curtain around the new face. He had to hold back the sudden foreign feeling that rose over his depression at the sight of smooth light skin with glistening steel grey eyes. There were shorter bangs that framed her face and rosy lips that were painted with blood. She was definitely pretty, and he somehow wasn't prepared to meet the face of his opponent.

"Hey, Kakashi! Are you alright?" Naruto shouted from next to the others, breaking Kakashi from his thoughts.

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Sai was sitting on the ground as Sakura tended to him, though he looked relatively safe.

"Sakura—how's Sai?" he questioned, ignoring Naruto.

"He's alright. He's... stabilizing."

"If you can, I need you over here."

"Right." Sakura looked to Sai who offered his usual forced smile, somehow more forced than she's seen. "If something starts to feel like its worsening, call for me."

Receiving only a nod from the shaken artist, she began running towards the captain of the team. She was only a few yards away when the faintest traces of mist started to form beside the unsuspecting team leader. The traces of dark vapor was too familiar to the kunoichi who slid to a stop.

"Kakashi! Behind you!"

At the warning, Kakashi leapt out of the way as the wolf summon morphed at his back, just managing to miss daggered fangs tearing into his shoulder. Landing a short distance away, he glared at the wolf who planted himself over the wounded kunoichi.

"Stay back, Copy-nin," he snarled, lips curled back to show his weapons ready to pierce into flesh.

When neither Leaf-nin made a move to attack, Aki leaned over his now unconscious ward. As deliberate and careful as he could manage, he bit her shirt by her shoulder before readjusting to the collar at her back.

"Wait," Kakashi warned, one palm splayed out in front of him. The wolf's piercing golden eyes landed hard on him, and his lips curled around the fabric of the woman's shirt. "Sakura is a medic-trained by the best-she can try to help your summoner. If you take her away, she will die."

"… If you follow us or try to interfere again," Aki growled, unphased by the threat of losing his companion, "so will you."

As a slight pause swelled between them, Aki took a few cautious steps back while dragging the unconscious woman with him. Once certain they would not follow, he disappeared in a vapor of smoke, leaving the leaf-nin in the clearing with the two tents.

"Why? Why would he just leave when she was critically wounded?" Sakura questioned, eyes shooting to Kakashi for answers. She was obviously shocked that her medical knowledge would be turned away in a dire situation.

The captain of the team felt his shoulders slacken as the weight returned tenfold. Sighing, he turned back to Sakura, trying to keep his emotions from showing too much on his face.

"If I had to guess, he doesn't trust us to not apprehend her in the process." After a passing second, he gave a half-hearted shrug. "He's not wrong."

"But she'd be alive."

"From a feral animal's perspective, being dead is better than being alive and caged…"

The sentence and reality of the situation lingered between the two of them, both retreating to their own thoughts on the matter.

Kakashi had not wanted to end the night in the woman's death. It felt… wrong. He didn't even know her name or why she left Konoha. There were unanswered questions about her lack of status in the Bingo books—even more when he saw the high level jutsus she performed and still had chakra to fight on without slowing down. And the talk of corruption in Konoha. There was too much mystery swirling around her.

Her fighting wasn't intended to be lethal. That much was obvious. If it was, she would have used her jutsu, or whatever it was, to attack him from the start. Many times, he had fought opponents with intermittent discussions, usually filled with threats or gloating about how one did not stack against the other. But with her, it was more teasing than anything.

He didn't want to kill her. Then again, she was injuring Sai, his own teammate. Any attack on their welfare brought the option of dying by his hand to the table.

It was an unspoken rule. One he repeated, hoping it would ease the guilt and take some of the blame from his shoulders.

Speaking of which…

"Let's check on Sai and make sure he's alright."

Sakura nodded, turning around halfway through his suggestion to the still sitting artist.

Kakashi followed behind, eyes darting to the shadows lingering beyond the boundary of the forest. There were no threats. Why would there be, now?

But a small, miniscule shred of hope lingered that maybe it was all a trick, and he hadn't killed someone who held answers he desperately wanted. Holding in a sigh, he stopped short at the sight of the artist staring blankly at the two pieces of his paint brush.

"Are you alright, Sai?"

Again, his fake smile flashed. "I'm just fine, Scarecrow."

Kakashi ignored his name and turned expectantly to Sakura and Naruto.

"She had the same jutsu thing as Naruto but this time her chakra went all the way into his organs," Sakura started to explain. A worried crease appeared between her brows as she looked to Sai as if puzzled. "I don't know what she did, but Sai's fine now. Nothing wrong at all once he threw up."

"What?" Kakashi asked with furrowed brows.

"Well, I shouldn't say that there's nothing wrong. The injuries stopped when she retracted her jutsu. He has lingering inflammation and bruising in his organs, but I'd say a day of healing and antibiotics will have him back to feeling 100%."

"What do you mean that the injuries stopped if his organs are all messed up?" Naruto questioned, scratching the back of his head.

"Er… Imagine someone punching another's arm repeatedly. The damage being inflicted during that is the tiny capillaries are bursting, causing blood to get trapped below the skin's surface. The more the punches continue, the more contusions are forming. But once they stop hitting the arm, it feels like a dull pain and the damage being done stops. The person is left with soreness and a bruise forming that will take days to assimilate.

Her attack is similar. It froze him to the spot and began to… I suppose, stress his organs, making him convulse and get sick. Once it stopped, his body only began feeling the aftereffects. There's no damage or trauma being done anymore."

Sakura shifted, giving Kakashi her full attention for the next bit of information. "Right before you used the Chidori, she was moving her hand to stop the jutsu, not hurt him. I'm not sure she meant for it to have a severe impact on him."

Kakashi stayed quiet and couldn't help the depressing wave. She was trying to stop Sai, not kill him…. He had jumped to conclusions and ended up killing her. The guilt was crushing now and he looked to see Naruto talking to Sai animatedly about how food will help him feel better.

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura asked.

"We'll need to tell Gaara what happened and give him the two in the tent…" With that said he turned away from the three, knowing that Sai was alright now, and walked to his own tent planning to do one more thing that he hadn't told Sakura…

Find out who that woman was….