Snow, Fever And Sunburst

by Tankou001

Six Years After Pulchritudinous the nine rookies of Sai, Hinata and Chouji are still thriving, though Hizano, Ty Dao and Kyogi are finally facing the love triangle that has been boiling to a climax between them. What will happen now with Kage on the loose

2. Arrival Of All

Snow, Fever And Sunburst

An OC Only Fanfiction

Hey All! Tankou001 here with a new chapter of Snow, Fever And Sunburst. Now with 66.3 percent MORE Temano! XP (Temano: What a pleasant surprise)

Now I know the last chapter was no doubt one to live up to some of my other works ^_^; I suppose it's real saving grace was the very end cliffhanger XP

Regardless I always think the worst is the first XP I promise the rest of the story will be better ^_^

Enjoy!

{HR}

Chapter Two: The Arrival Of All

Hyuuga Hizano stepped down beside his group of ninja toward the devastated village that they had gone to for a boat to Himitsugakure No Sato. He was insulted, disgusted that ninja could do such things to innocent people. The town was in ruin, fire leaped out into the air, ash showered the group of nine accompanied by thirteen polar bears. Slowly Chouji stepped into a small, burned down hut in disbelief. "They destroyed the village so that we couldn't get to Himitsugakure..." Chouji looked about before letting out a roar of rage. Hinata stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Chouji paused for a moment as Kyogi came up to ask what their next course of action would be. "They are expecting us to head for the next coastal village where they will have set up an ambush..." Chouji paused. "But we won't be getting there. Temano-kun, make a boat for us. We are heading out from here. Hinata, look around the village for whatever survivors that you can. Kyogi-kun, keep your eyes out for any scouts and stay close to Tazuno-san. Anka-chan, Maya-chan; you two will scout the surrounding areas. Pick off any remaining stragglers from the attack and look for survivors. Ty Dao-chan, you will scout the wilderness for food of any kind you can for the sea voyage. Hizano... You will come with me to the docks. All of your bears, please act as our guards until we are ready to push off. It should only take a few hours."

Everyone replied with a hasty "yes sir," before going to their duties. Hizano stepped to the docks with Chouji, the monstrous Akimichi standing at the end of the wrecked pier. Hizano spoke up finally after perhaps five minutes of complete silence. "Chouji-nii... What did you need me for."

Chouji sighed. "I needed you for a rite of sorts. We are to push off into the ocean without aid, something I was hoping wouldn't have to happen. Still it seems we must invoke the polar waters around here. I don't trust the tropical waters that are present. I feel much more secure sailing out on colder water. The cold will also deter any Kage nin after us on the water." Hizano stepped up to Chouji as he readied to start a polar kata. "Just follow my movements. You are well off enough in the style to know what to do once a kata is established."

Chouji began to dance about the burnt pier in an amazing manner, the air around him chilling. Hizano followed suit as well, dancing about with his polar kata, around his former teacher as though the two had become synchronized in their dance of frozen chakra. The waves began to get choppy and the air around them grew cold, snow falling from the sky despite the fact that there were no clouds. The very wind grew cold enough to freeze the tropical waters below the pier and eventually a few bears approached the two and joined in, the storm brewing around the Akimichi and Hyuuga becoming all the more fierce. An hour passed and all of the bears had joined the practice as well as Chouji and Hizano. The dance was spectacular and the snow falling was a downpour of snow flakes hat was burying the water around the pier.

From a distance Hazumi Ty Dao watched in amazement. To see such an intense snow storm brewing in a nearly tropical area was a true wonder to behold. The whole of the burnt village had become coated in a layer of snow a foot thick, an inch of solid ice freezing over on the thick layer of white snow that blanketed the ruined village. Long had Ty Dao finished her duties of scouting the area for food. The Kage nin had swept the area clean of anything that could have been considered remotely edible. They had made sure that the group would have no other choice but to move on and move on they were. Hey simply weren't moving the direction that the Kage nin wanted them to. Temano had bee all too successful in fashioning a wooden vessel complete with a cabin for sleeping in. Ty Dao's younger teammate wasn't letting any protection go unseen. He had made the boat thick with an internal compartment meant only to hold air in so that the boat would stay afloat no matter what. Ty Dao now at with him in the ensuing blizzard, speaking to him. "Temano, I have a personal question." Temano turned his head to look at Ty Dao. The young woman sighed through her mask. "I assume you have long been aware of the little triangle that I share with Kyogi and Hizano."

Temano nodded slowly at this comment. "It has been apparent since our first chuunin exam, Ty Dao. I have long been wondering which one you would choose." Temano had long been a good friend of Ty Dao. They had sparred often and Ty Dao, of course, always had won. Still Temano was not weak. He had inherited his father's wood element jutsu and his mother's incredible wind jutsu affinity. He never wore sleeves anymore, years ago having attained a level of mastery with his wood jutsu where his arms became marked with branch and vine patterns. Whenever he used his wood jutsu to a large degree now those very marks burst from his arms as branches in his jutsu. Long ago he had found that sleeves, in such a situation, were largely useless. He was always quite quiet and thought on everything before he made a decision. He was reserved and methodical as Hizano was though far more so.

"I don't know though. I don't want to have to choose. I shouldn't have to. I understand that being with more than one man is a bad thing socially... Still I don't understand why this has to be pushed on me... Kyogi has always been my rival as well as yours. He is crazy and hyper and fun to be around. He has everything and more in common with me and I find myself teasing him more and more not because I feel like it but because I like him... On the other hand Hizano is methodical, calm, knowing. He completes everything that I am missing. I love both of them and I think it is cruel that I have to make up my mind..." Ty Dao looked at Hizano in the middle of the horrendous storm that now showered the whole six man cell, the whole ruined village.

Temano hesitated a moment and sighed. "Then don't..." Ty Dao turned to look at Temano. "Don't choose. Society only wants you to choose. It is by no means a requirement. I have heard many times of men who took several wives. Why couldn't it be the same for you with more than one man? Regardless I don't think this is the time, Ty Dao. I believe it can all be settled after this mission, after we manage to get Hani Tazuno to his home village. I also think that it is time to leave. We are being called by one of Chouji-senpai's bears."

The two stepped into the ever growing blizzard and found themselves face to face with Banma, an elderly bear who was wise beyond even his own numerous years. The great elder bear smiled softly, gesturing behind him where the rest of the team was boarding the boat. When the group was all on the bears boarded as well. They were staying with the group of humans to keep the storm up while they traveled. Only a day south the waters became too warm, the area too tropical to keep a storm going without more people. It wasn't as if Chouji and Hizano could teach the whole group the polar katas, such things would not only be time consuming but forbidden. Ty Dao knew very well that the polar clan didn't teach anyone outside of the clan itself the polar katas even for special occasions like this. It was far better that th bears were staying anyway. They could catch fish and large sea animals for themselves and the crew while the team was at sea. The team set off immediately, Maya taking the liberty of providing the wind for the sail with her jutsu. Temano had expertly weaved branches together into a tight sail. It would have been easier to simply make an odd shaped tree but Temano insisted this was lighter and sturdier. Maya's wind jutsu caught the sail well, propelling the boat quickly across the choppy waves that were being kicked up from the polar katas that the bears continued. Chouji sat quietly on the deck with Hizano, taking a break from his katas with his former student. Ty Dao walked up and smiled. "Excuse me, Chouji-senpai... Would you mind if I stole Hizano below deck for a moment?"

Chouji only grinned at these words and nodded, standing up and walking across the deck to speak with Hinata. In truth Ty Dao could have talked with Hizano above deck but didn't want to. It made things funnier the way Ty Dao was doing them. Still that was not the primary reason. Ty Dao hated the ocean. The thought of being surrounded on all sides by deep, undrinkable water. It frightened Ty Dao to say th least. Ty Dao could run on water from speed alone. She could also walk on water if she pleased with chakra manipulation. Still the young woman could run on water for hours without seeing land at this point. People belonged on solid land, not in the ocean. When the two were below deck, leaving the rest outside of hearing range, Hizano spoke. "What's up, Dao-tan? You seem a little out of your element."

Ty Dao nodded and sat down. Of course all of the chairs on the ship were wooden and couldn't be removed. They were built into the ship itself, just another extension of the wood that made the very hull that kept water from surging in around the team. There were no windows either. Temano could construct anything made of wood. Still glass was a different matter. Instead of windows all of the group, aside from Kyogi, had small lighted objects. Ty Dao's own Yuugan Hagane, her family kunai, burned hot and bright enough that it illuminated the area. "I am a little shaky about being at sea. I don't like that water as much as most. Still that isn't why I asked to see you." Ty Dao hesitated. "Hizano, what would you do if I liked Kyogi?"

Hizano paused and shrugged. "If you liked him I would understand. It's not as if we have been going out or anything. Honestly I have been wondering why you haven't gone out with him yet. You two make a good pair."

Ty Dao shook her head. She hadn't asked the right thing. "I wasn't exactly finished... What would you think if I liked Kyogi and you... and I wanted to be with both of you... were I to date either."

Hizano struggled with his own thoughts at this. Rightfully he should have been angry at the very thought. Dating Kyogi was one thing. Hizano could understand that he had been cut from the triangle, thus was simple competition for a woman. However, Ty Dao was asking, hypothetically, if Hizano would understand, no, accept a relationship with Ty Dao where he shared her with Kyogi. Naturally that was unthinkable. Hizano, deep inside, wanted to either be number one on Ty Dao's list or not on it at all. Still he couldn't say that. It was all hypothetical anyway. He slowly forced a smile to his face and shook his head. "I think I would have to think about it. It is difficult to understand a good reason behind such things. I have to say you caught me off guard a bit, Dao-tan. Why did you bring this up?"

Ty Dao sighed inwardly. Hizano was hiding it. He cared, he hated the fact that she wanted to have another man aside from him and he was being polite about it. Ty Dao knew it would be impossible to reason with men, even a man as calm and methodical as Hyuuga Hizano. "No reason really. I just wanted to know for the hell of it. I know you two like me. I wanted to see what your reactions would be." Ty Dao hopped up from her seat and smiled energetically before prancing out of the room, leaving Hizano standing slightly confused. Should she even bother asking Kyogi? She would do it anyway. Slowly she crossed the main deck and found nothing of Kyogi. She looked around and through the blasts of chill air she looked up to the crow's nest atop the verdant sail. She scaled the front of the tree sail and hopped up into the crow's nest beside Kyogi. "Yo Danna-kun, mind if I share the nest with ya?" Ty Dao asked jokingly. Even if Ty Dao didn't let Kyogi call her Dao-tan as she did Hizano it didn't mean that she didn't show her affection to her beloved rival. Ty Dao referred to Kyogi as Danna-kun, or husband. It was her pet name for him. Being a rival of Kyogi meant that Ty Dao couldn't show any weakness to Kyogi, meaning he wasn't allowed to give her any pet names even if she gave him a few.

"Sure, Ty Dao." Kyogi said, smiling. Finally she was paying some attention to him. Kyogi had been getting awfully bored up in the crow's nest. Hinata could have taken the post but currently she was taking a rest while Kyogi kept watch with his sharp eyes. Hizano was doing similarly, his main job keeping the blizzard going, completely exempt from having to watch for enemies. Kyogi's eyes alone were the sharpest without a doujutsu that specifically improved his sight. The Goukagan wasn't truly for seeing but it helped. Little secrets in the doujutsu had appeared in droves during Kyogi's eighteen years of life. Many of them were sight based. Since Kyogi could send weak rays of heat into the snow filled blizzard he could penetrate the fog and snow for a time to aid in seeing. He just had to make sure not to look at any part of the ship for too long. Since his eyes could fire cones of light Kyogi had his own set of personal headlights that could pierce even further through the thick fog that surrounded the ship. Lastly Kyogi's vision, as a whole, was exceptional. He had never had a hard time seeing in all but the worst of conditions. His vision was 20/20 and if there were such a thing as better than that he was sure his eyes covered those bases as well. Still that meant he was stuck with the scouting jobs, seeing places nobody had any need to see and watching alone in the crow's nest.

"I was wondering..." Ty Dao started. "I know we have always been rivals but I like you a bit Danna-kun." Kyogi grinned. He could tell what was coming. "Still, I was wondering... What would you think if liked you and Hizano... If I ever decided to date one of you that is. What would you think if I wanted both of you."

Kyogi was appalled. He resisted grimacing and spoke out, turning his face away from Ty Dao a bit so that she wouldn't see the reflexive expression of disgust. Of course Ty Dao liked Hizano. Still the Nagamori knew he was better. "I guess in that case I would have to take Hizano out of the picture. I'd just beat him to a pulp until you wouldn't be attracted to him anymore and that would teach him, huh."

Kyogi laughed but Ty Dao felt a shooting sensation run down her spine, an uncomfortable vision of the two fighting to he death over Ty Dao's love. Would she like looking at either of them after they would be done with each other? Still she had to take it back. Kyogi would get the thought into his mind that Ty Dao had made up her mind on both of them and just run down to start a fight. "I guess it would. Still I didn't intend on it. I was just asking, a joke of sorts, ya know?" Ty Dao forced a laugh and sat down. "Is it lonely up here?"

Kyogi nodded with his usual grin. "It was before the view got so much better. What made you come up anyway?"

Ty Dao smirked at Kyogi's question. "Just bored is all. Thank you for the comment but I am still not going to sleep with you." Kyogi snapped his fingers comically at this. He always cracked jokes about how Ty Dao should invite him over if she ever got lonely living alone. Every eligible bachelor around her age wanted to get in bed with Ty Dao after all. She was a prime catch, like Mitarashi Anko would have been in Kakashi's time, or like Hinata would have been in her teen years. Every generation had a few women that everyone wanted. Hazumi Ty Dao was one of those women. In fact Ibana Maya, Hazumi Ty Dao and Hatake Anka were all on the top list of single, attractive women in the village. Every ninja who could clear their schedules tried to court them. Every ninja who worked up the courage to ask them out was turned down. Finally nearly every ninja that was turned down went home and cried the night away with a bottle of sake. Women like Maya, Anka, and Ty Dao took joy in causing men pain through turning them down on chances at romance. It was hard wired into their nature. "So what do you think Himitsugakure No Sato will be like?"

Kyogi shrugged. "Tropical to say the least. From there I couldn't say. However, we are staying there for at least a week so we'll get plenty of tourism down I assume." Kyogi grinned but suddenly he went very serious. He looked about, having heard something. "Do you hear that?" Ty Dao looked confused. "That low humming... Don't tell me you don't hear it." It was a dull hum and Ty Dao opened her mouth the speak. Only then, however, did Kyogi spot the massive ball of snow flying at the boat. Kyogi got in front of Ty Dao and blasted the snow with his eyes, chunks of ice flying everywhere on the deck below. "We're under attack!" Kyogi called down, leaping from the crow's nest to the deck below. "I can't see them but they're there!"

Hinata sprung to action first, quicker than anyone else on he boat. She activated her Byakugan and peered out into the frozen ocean waves before pointing off the port side. "A hundred and seventy feet off port!"

Chouji stepped to Maya and called out to Temano as well. "Hit it guys! We need to get out of here fast! Hizano, escape plan forty-seven. All of you, this may start seeming really cold if you don't release." Chouji put his hands together and Hizano stepped to the bow of the ship. Chouji spoke out. "Kai!"

Hizano was already forming his hand seals and Kyogi only had enough time to release as well, the Hyuuga man starting his genjutsu. "Art of Illusion: False Death."

The whole world fell under water for Ty Dao, however, who hadn't had the chance to use kai. Still Ty Dao was glad that her own inner fire protected her from most genjutsu. In only a few seconds Ty Dao's body heated up and expelled the genjutsu. Maya and Temano immediately went to using their own wind jutsu to propel the boat at even greater speed than before. The tiny ship skidded across the water, a single touch of a wave sending the craft flying. It was now at the point where the very storm that the group had tried to keep up was ceasing to be able to catch the small ship. The bears stopped their katas, too busy just holding on. Everyone aside from Temano and Maya were only worried about holding on as the ship sped at many miles an faster than it had any business going. Finally the ship slowed as Temano and Maya stopped using their jutsu to propel it. Both ninja looked drained at their most recent expenditure of chakra. Chouji was the first to let go of his handle on the boat. Soon enough the rest of the group separated from their hand holds on the ship and tested how well their legs now worked. Ty Dao looked back to see the now distant storm. She looked in all directions with not a single island to be seen and only then did Ty Dao's full fear hit her. In the storm it had been easy to mistake the fact that they were drifting for the assumption that the storm simply blocked out view of land which could have been just a mile away. Now Ty Dao saw that such was not at all the case. Ty Dao's fear of the ocean didn't have to do with knowing, but instead with seeing. If there was nothing impeding her vision and she still had no line of sight to shore she panicked.

And panic the young woman did. A wave of horrible fear crashed over Ty Dao as would the waves of the ocean itself were she stupid enough to fall overboard. She took a step back and then stepped back another step and Hizano ran up and grabbed Ty Dao before the jounin woman did, in fact, fall into the water. The whole world was spinning for Ty Dao. Hinata stepped up to her. "Ty Dao, are you alright? No response came from the panicked woman at Hinata's question.

Hizano realized what was wrong. "She is afraid of the open ocean. I could use a genjutsu to snap her out of it."

Chouji called out to them. "No! Ty Dao-chan can't be effected well enough by most genjutsu. Her body rejects them with the heat. I don't look forward to this ship catching fire. Banma-sama, please take Ty Dao below deck and lay her down. Let's let her rest."

Banma did so, carrying Ty Dao down under the deck. Ty Dao was certainly shaken. She belonged under the deck on this trip. For Ty Dao it was the promise of land that gave her comfort. If she could see the land in the distance, even far off, Ty Dao knew that she could activate her fever jutsu and speed across the water to get to safety. However, when the horizon hid land far behind it even Ty Dao knew that she could rush across the water for hours and never see land. Up above the deck Hizano sighed as Kyogi stepped up to him. "She's gonna be alright, isn't she?"

Hizano nodded. "She should be."

Maya called out from the stern of the boat. "They following! No energy to help again."

Chouji groaned a bit and looked to the bears, Banma just climbing above deck at the moment. "Hizano, where are they?"

Hizano looked through the ship and into the water. They were certainly there, following. "Seventy yards from the ship."

Chouji looked at Banma, "Banma-sama? Can I trust you to hold the fort here? I need six bears to come with Hizano and I. Maya-chan, you stay up top and be our surface spear woman. We'll lead them up and you'll tag them." Maya nodded. Six bears stepped up. "We break into two teams of four and split when we hit the water. Hizano, you go with one team and I'll go with the other. My team will go left."

As they paired up Hizano took his place at the stern of the ship, diving in with the rest. He broke right, advancing on the steadily approaching group of ninja. All of these ninja had breather packs on their faces, allowing them to breath in the water. The also all had harpoons in hand and flippers for swimming. Clearly these were put in place long before the team ever set out on the ocean, they were too well prepared to have just been launched when the group left. There were about twenty of them advancing. Hizano crashed into one, barely avoiding his well placed harpoon thrust. Hizano had gotten plenty of experience in underwater combat. He had spent over a year with the Polar Clan hunting with them. He could move in water as well as on land if needed. A swift punch to the assailant's face took him out of the attack right away. Kage nin seldom fought with anything but genin level ninja, a fact that confused most villages. They had, however, what seemed an infinite number of ninja on their side. This alone was discouraging.

Chouji's form became that of the Beast Man, a form given to him six years before as a wedding gift from the Bear King. In such a form he truly was a wonder to behold. While not as powerful as the original Beast Man he was certainly powerful enough to take on some bijuu and come out successful. The bears all clashed with their opponents, tearing them apart as they fought. These bears were all at least the equivalent of a jounin and some even higher than that. Hizano was a jounin and Chouji the same but both of them were far better than the norm. The watery substrate meant nothing to any of the combatants so the battle went relatively quick. After maybe two minutes of underwater struggle the twenty ninja were either dead or unconscious, making them the equivalent of dead. As the groups surfaced Hinata yelled from the stern of the boat for them to get away. Hizano didn't understand. He looked into the water and then saw Hinata's reason. There were whales, three of them. They were all gigantic beings that were powering through the water at them, toward the boat. They also weren't regular whales. These whales were clearly summons. Hizano started to swim toward the ship. One whale was perhaps beatable but three summons would be well beyond the group. They would have to flee if they could. The bears and humans boarded but just as they were getting used to the solid deck under them the ship lurched into movement, the summons beneath them trying to capsize the boat.

The whole ship was moving about. Kyogi was stumbling all over the place, trying to steady himself by grabbing onto the mast. This was ridiculous, how could there be so much opposition. He had though they were safe since they hadn't gone to the next village down. Kyogi stumbled to the edge of the ship and looked into the water. The whales seemed to be taking turns in harassing them. Two circled around the ship while the third jostled everyone around. Kyogi felt anger flow through him. He focused on the whale below the ship and let lose a devastating blast of heat that cleaved through the water and into the whale below. A scream came from the summoned whale and, out of the water to the right of the ship, came another of the whales, leaping bodily from the choppy waves and at the ship.

Kyogi didn't know what to do. He stumbled back as the gigantic creature flew through the air. Anka, however, leaped in front and her eye warped. The whale was pulled into a place in space that Kyogi struggled to see and Anka collapsed. It was Kamui, the same version of the Mangekyo Sharingan that Hatake Kakashi had first discovered in his own eyes. It collapsed space in on a single point and pulled it in, transporting whatever was contained somewhere else. Something as large as a whale, however, would have been killed outright. Kyogi rushed to Anka's side and dragged her into the center of the deck. One Kamui was enough to wear out Anka. It was, after all, a very powerful technique. Now, however, the whales left were right under the ship. They were both trying to flip the ship and Hizano was trying hard to keep the poor thing afloat. There was no way now that they could escape by fuuton. None of the fuuton users had near enough chakra to propel the ship like before. Kyogi blasted down into the water and struck the same whale as before. Again the whale screamed out in pain with its strange whale call. Hinata voice sounded behind Kyogi and he turned. "Get away from the edge!" She called, stepping forward.

Hinata's skin was steadily changing color. It was turning a light blue, her eyes, lips and the tips of her fingers turning black. This was a form that she had received from an old amulet which had been given to her by the Polar Clan when she had married Chouji. It was the Yuki-Onna, the essence of winter which the ancient Beast Man had supposedly captured and forced into a humanoid body. Hinata's feet now left icy foot prints on the deck's surface and she dove into the water, the ocean freezing where she touched it. She swam into the whales and clean through them. She froze them solid and they shattered with a kick. The water around the ship froze entirely, leaving the ship itself stuck on a sheet of solid seawater. Hinata surfaced again, her figure changing back to the normal body as she climbed aboard the ship. She panted for a moment but shook off the fatigue. Chouji rushed to her side, his form now back to the old Chouji that they all knew better. Hizano and Chouji helped get Hinata steady. "We need to get out of here!" Kyogi yelled. "They are no doubt all around us right now. How are we going to get away now that Hinata-senpai froze the place solid?"

Tazuno stepped up and frowned. "As much as I dislike taking the side of the rash one I am prone to agreeing with Kyogi-san. Hinata-sama's actions have led us to being motionless and potentially surrounded by enemies."

Chouji gave both of them harsh looks. "There is more than one way to travel water than by wind. Hinata did us more of a favor than you might think by freezing the water. Is Anka-chan stable?" Already Anka was standing up. "Anka-chan, Hizano, Hinata? You all can use suiton jutsu. Could you make a gigantic wave to push us along? Temano-kun, you can use fuuton jutsu. Even if you can't push us along you could shove air against the back of the wave to keep it going. We'll make a storm and ride it along. Surely no Kage ninja will swim into a wild storm. We'll all tie ourselves to the deck so that we'll be safe from falling." Everyone present hesitated. Anka was already winded from Kamui but she nodded. Hizano, still quite well energized, nodded similarly, Hinata quickly responding positively. In a moment Hinata was at the stern of the ship. Temano was with her. Hizano and Anka were at the bow of the ship, all ready to begin a great storm. Chouji positioned himself in the crow's nest, forming hand seals for some reason or another. "Alright, everyone get ready." The bears had all left already. They would weigh the ship down even more than it already was and they would perhaps fall off, which wasn't a good thing. Everyone responded with noises of confirmation. "Alright! Raiton: Rising Lightning Pressure!" Chouji pushed a great bolt of lightning from his hand into the sky after this. Kyogi had never had any idea that Chouji could use raiton jutsu. He had only ever seen him use katon and doton jutsu. Regardless it was a powerful jutsu because the skies now crackled with electricity, Hinata and Temano having made clouds above the ship for the storm.

Now Hinata and Temano went into action, forming a warm front behind the ship with a wave as well. Hizano and Anka started moving water backward from the front, fueling the now slowly growing wave. The ship was sinking downward already from the water moving backward and lowering where the ship was. The ocean around them started getting choppy and the boat moved around. Maya was down below with Tazuno and Ty Dao. Kyogi had vowed to stay above deck for this. The ship had to have sunken twenty feet as the water moved backward, now pushing the enormous clump of ice with the ship inside it ahead. The storm was growing well, pushing the ship ahead in the gigantic swell. Everyone on deck was lucky that they were tied off because now the storm had been made. It had only taken a few minutes to seed the storm but after those few minutes it had become self sufficient. Temano's wind was now all that they needed to push them toward Himitsugakure No Sato. The winds, though warm, were fierce. The water, though warm, were wild and angry. Chouji leaped down from the crows nest, his broad form able to withstand the heavy lurches of the ship. He looked at Kyogi and smiled. "Hey Kyogi-kun? Want to do me a small favor?" Kyogi hesitated. He didn't really like the look that Chouji was giving him. Nevertheless, he nodded. "How much thrust do you think you could generate with those eyes? I know I've seen you push yourself back with them before."

Kyogi was getting increasingly uncomfortable with Chouji's words. "I doubt I could push a giant clump of ice and a ship."

"Would just the ship itself do then?" Chouji countered. Kyogi sighed and nodded. It was true. Alone the agitation of the water would propel the ship forward. Paired with the storm and waves the ship would go ridiculously fast, far too fast than Kyogi suspected such a watercraft should ever go. Chouji smiled. "Get back with Hinata and Temano-kun. When I give the signal I want you to fire off behind us." Kyogi sighed. He had always mildly disliked Chouji. Chouji was a wonderful person and a wonderful ninja but his ways of doing things just didn't hit Kyogi the right way to spawn an enjoyable relationship despite the fact that Chouji's ways did earn massive amounts of respect from the Nagamori. He stepped in back and informed Hinata of what he was to do. Kyogi didn't, at all, like what he was being made to do.

Meanwhile, Hizano worked up front, laying off on the water jutsu some since the storm was creating mighty waves as it was. He and Anka didn't half to work half as hard as before because of that. Chouji stepped up toward the front and Hizano moved to cut him off, not wanting him to get too close to the edge. Chouji explained his plan and Hizano moved aside. The Hyuuga struggled to grasp it all. He had seen Kyogi propel himself backward before. It could be done. Hizano just didn't understand why the storm wasn't enough. It would take less than twenty-four hours to get to Himitsugakure, maybe even less than twelve at such a speed. Why did Chouji want to speed up so much now that they were away from the danger? Immediately Chouji went to work, firing katon jutsu at the ice, melting it away. He ripped through the berg that covered the ship and tore it off with various jutsu. Soon enough he called back and the ship lurched hard as Kyogi fired off his eyes into the water behind them. The water split in front of them as wind pushed and heat propelled. Maya came from below deck, steadying herself with her spear. She screamed out but the wind was now much too fierce to hear her over. Chouji stepped to her, stumbling a bit. He yelled in her ear and she nodded, staggering to the stern of the ship. Son enough the ship was powering through the tropical waters. Hizano and Anka were made to go back to their jobs of making waves. Temano and Maya took turns propelling the ship ahead by wind while Kyogi propelled it via his eyes. Hizano eventually had to stop after about an hour. Anka had to stop only minutes after. Kyogi, Maya and Temano now gave the full push of the ship. Chouji eventually let out a call, having planted himself in the crow's nest near the beginning of the insane propulsion act. Hizano could barely hear him but his vision could be used to read Chouji's lips. Land, Chouji's mouth yelled and Hizano was filled with thanks to the Beast Man for such a blessing. He felt horrible and worn out.

It was at that moment where Hizano's happiness faded and fear hit his stomach. The ship lurched sideways, nearly throwing Hizano from the deck. A gigantic octopus tentacle rose from the depths and, in the air, great birds flew toward the ship, ninja on their backs. This had to be a joke. Of course another lurching motion said otherwise. Chouji leaped from the crow's nest only to be caught mid-fall by a rising tentacle and pulled under the water. Hizano felt fear flood him. Another tentacle came up and grabbed Maya as Hizano looked toward the back of the ship. Kyogi's eyes weren't fast enough to cut her free before she was pulled under. Hizano rolled away from an attacking tentacle and ducked under the deck. The land was in sight, maybe Ty Dao would be able to fight now

Down Below Ty Dao was panicking more than ever. She knew that she would be dead if the ship sank but she dared not travel up on deck. The sight of sea all around was too much. Tazuno was with her but he provided little help. Hizano was the one to crash through the door to hr room as the ship lurched yet again. "Dao-tan! Land is in sight but we're under attack! You need to come up and help."

Ty Dao shook her head, holding her knees tight to her chest. "You're lying, I can tell! I don't want to see all that open ocean, it scares me! I'll be extinguished for sure!"

Hizano groaned in anger and stepped over to Ty Dao. "Dao-tan, get up! I'm getting you on deck it I have to haul you up there myself." Ty Dao looked at Hizano and then shoved her head into her knees, not wanting to see all of the ocean. Hizano made a noise of irritation and Ty Dao felt herself being picked up, being carries bridal style by Hizano. She struggled and flailed about but by the time Hizano dropped her she was already on deck. Hizano pointed at the distant land ahead and Ty Dao lost a bit of her fears. If she ran at full speed she could get there in minutes, certainly. The whole ship, however, lurched as a giant tentacle reached out and grabbed Ty Dao. She screamed and Hizano grabbed her hand as she was pulled back but her hand slipped. She was thrown, soon enough, into horrible, salty water. Her eyes closed tight as she struggled, burning through the tentacle that grabbed her. Above was light but Ty Dao looked down to see nothing but water for as far as her eyes could see. Below there was only dark waters, no doubt cold and infinite. She began to sank and clawed upward. Something was wrong. Looking to her side she saw yet another horrific figure. The most enormous octopus creature she had ever seen loomed under the ship. It wasn't really an octopus. It had far too many tentacles. That was all it was. Maya and Chouji both struggled with their own tentacles but one reached out at Ty Dao as she sank. She was grabbed and shaken about, trying desperately to hold her breath under the stress.

Ty Dao screamed in pain. The tentacle was trying to crush her and she looked at the beast as it brought her closer to it's center where the mass of tentacles started. She saw something open, a giant beak with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth that gnashed about inside. A scream came through the water as Ty Dao neared the beak. She closed her eyes and hoped to kami that this wasn't how it was going to end. Clearly it wasn't, of course. Ty Dao felt a hand reach around her, the tentacle going slack. Chouji loomed over her in his beast man form, his strong arm around her waist, tugging her away. As they reached the surface Chouji yelled out to her as kage ninja on grotesque birds circled above the ship. "Ty Dao-chan! Get your head in the game or get back on the ship! Land is in sight! We get through this and we'll get to land."

Ty Dao nodded slowly, understanding suddenly what it was she was supposed to be doing. She called out in confirmation and dove back into the water to face the beast. She swam up beside Maya and burned through the tentacle that the tanned woman was struggling with. It was easy when Ty Dao remembered that she would be safe. She signaled Maya go up and so she did. Ty Dao looked into the body of the beast and swam toward it. This beast needed to die. Ty Dao sped downward, making her feet fire off hot water to move her faster. She arrived near the monster's head soon enough and formed some hand seals. The area grew hot, very hot. The water around her boiled and the beast screamed out, this time in agony. Tentacles reached around her and burned apart.

Above the surface, back on the boat, Hizano fended of some more tentacles. What had happened to Ty Dao? Was she okay? He wanted to go after her but he couldn't. The tentacles threatened to crush him at any moment. Kyogi was at the stern, oblivious to Ty Dao's peril but having enough trouble as it was. Above soared grotesque birds with ninja atop them firing jutsu down onto the boat. Maya climbed aboard after a bit and tossed her spear upward, striking a bird down and causing both bird and ninja to come careening down onto the deck, the weight of the bird landing atop the ninja killing her when they hit. Maya pulled her spear back out and stumbled toward the cabin. She needed to protect Tazuno and she didn't look fit for heavy combat anymore. She had used far too much chakra using so many wind jutsu earlier.

Temano was extending the ship itself downward to attack the beast beneath while Hinata fired off raiton jutsu at the above enemies. Chouji leaped on deck soon enough to get the most out of his jutsu. This far into the ocean his doton jutsu meant nothing, underwater his katon meant similarly nothing. He needed to be out in the air for much of his attacks to work. He quickly went to firing off lightning bolts and fireballs into the air to fight off the birds. Anka stood on the deck, throwing raiton jutsu and katon jutsu upward just as Chouji was. She was also looking tired. Hizano didn't know what to do about any of this but his eyes caught something in front of the ship. Another boat powered through the water toward them. His eyes caught familiar faces on the boat. Above the boat a bird of ink flew, Sai atop it. The boat held Gaman Aryū, Sai's wife and a hidden flower of Himitsugakure No Sato. Also in the boat was Kami Miyaku and Itamae Sōzō, two of Aryū's former students and now jounin of Himitsugakure.

Hizano called out and the rest saw it. He assumed that if Maya and Chouji had climbed on board Ty Dao would be there as well. Since when had Ty Dao ever been slow about getting somewhere? They fought off the octopus monster for a bit but soon enough the Himitsugakure force arrived. Sai arrived first, landing on the deck to fend off the monster. His ink jutsu wouldn't work in the water but he was still an able ninja. His suiton and fuuton skills were much needed to fend off the enemy. The boat came next, Kami Miyaku not even waving hello before she leaped into the water to fend off the beast. Aryū fired strange jutsu from her boat that wholly consumed the enemies in the air while Sōzō concentrated on something. "Give us under a minute. We'll get a proper boat for you." Aryū had said as Sai again took off into the air to fight the airborne enemy.

In just under a minute Sōzō did, in fact, make a boat out of nothing, forming the entire craft from thin air. She breathed heavy on Aryū's own boat before motioning for people to load up. Tazuno had already come above deck and was the first to get on the new boat. The ship that Hizano was on was now sinking and he saw good reason to move off onto the new boat. Everyone moved onto it and Miyaku surfaced with Ty Dao. They powered to the other two boats and Miyaku got aboard first. Hinata made sure that the tentacles didn't get too close with her various jutsu but they were all cutting it close. Finally everyone got on board and the two boats set off as Ty Dao started climbing in. It was then that she sunk back, a gigantic tentacle wrapping around her waist. Kyogi turned and grabbed her hand. Hizano too grabbed her other hand. She screamed and struggled to get free. "Hold on, Ty Dao-chan!" Kyogi called out as more tentacles surfaced to pull the boat under.

Ty Dao looked back and then at her party. She closed her eyes. "Let go of me, guys!" She shouted.

"No!" Hizano yelled. "We need you here, Dao-tan!" He couldn't believe Ty Dao was telling them to let her go. Even she couldn't defeat that beast.

"You'll all be killed!" She yelled. "I'll hold this thing off." Ty Dao's hands were already growing hot, too hot for Hizano's grip to keep hold of for long. "You have no other choice, guys! Don't worry! I'll meet up with you later."

Hizano yelled against it and Kyogi kept his grip. "We won't let you go, Ty Dao-chan! We can't let you go! You'll die!"

Ty Dao shook her head, tears streaming down from her eyes. "Guys.." She spoke softly as she could. "There comes a time when even I know I won't win." The rest of the groups struggled now with the rising tentacles. It was getting too serious to deny. Ty Dao knew that she was the key to everyone else's escape "Don't worry... I won't die... I'll be back later, I'm sure of it. Soon enough you guys will look back and see me, my same cocky self." With that Ty Dao let her body grow hot, too hot to hold onto. Kyogi let go and then Hizano. Ty Dao was pulled into the liquid abyss below her right then. She looked down at the beast that drew her in, now only paying attention to her. It had tangled with her once already and knew better than to get airs about beating everyone else at the same time. Even a giant octopus monster would have a difficult time with Hazumi Ty Dao. Ty Dao heated her body and the water around her boiled. She burned through the tentacles and swam straight to the thing's body and grabbed the kunai on her braid, slicing through the tentacles that reached her. The beast was already beginning to sink, unable to stay afloat anymore. It was, however, definitely trying to take Ty Dao with it. It wasn't going to fail at that either, so long as it lived.

Ty Dao knew, of course, that she would die. There was no way she could survive this. If the monster didn't kill her in its death throes she would drown from being pulled down too far. Ty Dao would, however, go out in style. She would take this beast to hell with her. She raced through the water, as the beast grabbed at her. It was catching her every time, dragging her down more and more. Every time she tore through a tentacle two struck her. This beast just didn't run out of arms, it seemed, even in its dying moments. Ty Dao was pulled increasingly close to the beast's mouth, the gnashing teeth chomping hard inside the open beak. Ty Dao strained to keep away but soon enough she was thrust into the beast's mouth. She was pushed down the monster's throat and then she landed in some horrible burning liquid. She was in the stomach. She climbed to the top of the fleshy bag where she was being held and stabbed at the inside of the stomach. The noxious fumes made her dizzy and she plunged back into the stomach acid below, holding her breath as best she could. It was over. She knew she was going to die. She couldn't even take the beast with her. It was a shame. Ty Dao hadn't even lost her innocence. She hadn't ever spent a night with Kyogi or snuggled with Hizano like she had once dreamed about. She never got to do anything with them aside from idle flirting or sparring. That couldn't be the way she would go out could it?

No... Why should I go out before having any fun. At least... if I'm to die I'll do it in a blaze of glory. Ty Dao though to herself as she opened her eyes in the acid despite the burning it caused. I have claimed so long that I would attain the speed of heat! If I can't give my body to the men that I love I'll at least give it to the heat! Hazumi Makoto died at the speed of heat. It's only fitting that I, the second ever to do it, should die the same way at the same speed. Ty Dao pressed her hands together and her body heated to a whole new level. The acid around her evaporated and she stood on a melting stomach wall. "What's wrong, you slimy beast?!?" She called out as her body temperature elevated and the stomach walls convulsed. The monster octopus was screaming outside. "Don't you like spicy foods? I'll warn you! I have a tendency to cause indigestion, severe heart burn and, in a rare few, acute cases of death! I think you may just be allergic to me! Let's both go out with a bang!" Ty Dao's hands separated and she took a step forward, launching herself clean out of the stomach of the beast and into frigid water. She looked up and then down. As far as her eyes could see there was nothing but darkness. So this is how it is? She thought. At least the speed of heat will be mine. Good thing I'm so far under water. Let's see an ocean boil.

Ty Dao exploded into flames so hot that even the water around her couldn't quench them. She no longer existed in one place at a time. She was so fast that the water meant nothing, air meant nothing. She moved so fast that the substrate she moved through was only fire itself, a solid substance to her the she could walk through or on if she wanted. She wondered if this was what Hazumi Makoto had felt when he leaped into the heavens upon attaining the speed of heat. Ty Dao knew she was moving so fast that solid matter meant nothing. She knew that she was moving so fast that anything she willed could feel solid under her feet. She knew that as she walked through the beast that stood still as a picture she really was going so fast that not even light could catch her. A distinct pain in Ty Dao's chest formed. She could almost feel her insides burning themselves to nothing. Ty Dao's muscles hadn't ripped, they had melted by now. Ty Dao's eyes ceased to be and now had been replaced by shells backed by fire. She was becoming a being of heat, a conflagration that would boil everything around her and then some. She gave one looked upward and then, reluctantly, dove. She needed to dive to save the rest up top. The pressure meant nothing to her anymore. Nothing could stop her. Nothing could touch a being so hot that it didn't exist on the same plane as everything else. She hit the floor, the dreadfully cold water boiling around her as she stepped along the very bottom of the ocean. It's so dark... Ty Dao thought to herself. Then let me be the brightest and warmest thing any of these deep sea animals have ever seen. She finished. That pain in her chest was just too much now. She felt her mouth forced open and from it came a jet of flame. She felt her body ripping itself apart and then... Then there was nothing as Ty Dao knew she had exploded into nothing.

Back up on the surface the ocean had come to a boil. Hizano and Kyogi were being held back by Chouji and Hinata, fighting to save Ty Dao as she battled the beast. Hizano could see Ty Dao far under the water as she battled the beast. He saw it swallowed her and then saw her inside of it as she heated up. Then she disappeared. Hizano screamed out as the beast that had swallowed Ty Dao became nothing but heat under the water. He saw what had to be Ty Dao, a rushing current of heat, sink at tremendous speed into the very deepest of the ocean depths. Then even the trail of rushing heat disappeared. The surface of the ocean agitated behind the two boats and then exploded, sending hot water far into the air before it fell again. Kyogi looked at Hizano and then at Hinata, who was holding him back. Hizano's eyes shed rivers of tears and Kyogi wrestled his way from Hinata's arms, grabbing Hizano by the shirt. "She's alive! She's alive, isn't she?" He yelled into Hizano's face. "Tell me Ty Dao is still alive!" Hizano didn't say anything. Kyogi eyes filled with tears just like his rival in love's. "For Kami's sake, Hyuuga! Tell me she's okay! She'll be coming right up out of the surf any second, won't she? Tell me she's okay, dammit!"

Hizano's legs gave out and he sank to the floor of the boat. He just shook his head. "She's dead, Kyogi... She just... disappeared after reaching the bottom..."

Kyogi punched Hizano in the face and then leaped on his body after he fell, pummeling him angrily. "Don't you say that, Hyuuga! Dammit, don't you say that! She's just under the surface! If we turn back we can get her! She's been through worse than this, Hyuuga! Get up and help me go get her!" Kyogi pounded at Hizano's face with his fists. He wasn't giving as much force as his average punches, though. He couldn't muster up the energy knowing that Ty Dao was now dead; and he did know, no matter how much he refused to accept it. He stood and looked at his former teacher, Hinata. "Hinata-senpai! Tell me she's alright! Hizano is too weak, you look and you'll see her."

Hinata just shook her head. Kyogi stepped up to grab her like he had grabbed Hizano but a hand came out of nowhere and struck his face, sending him to the floor. It was Temano, tears flowing freely from his eyes though he exuded an aura of complete control. "Kyogi. Control yourself!" He roared. "She is dead! Don't think that you are the only one who has been hurt by her death!" Despite the fact that Temano was yelling he was still well controlled. "I need to tell you and Hizano something. I was keeping this secret because I was sure she would eventually tell you two but she didn't get to!" Temano hesitated. And then looked at both Hizano and Kyogi. "Ty Dao loved you both. She loved you as more than just teammates or brothers. She wanted to seek romance with you two and was torn constantly because she knew that it would be socially incorrect to have both of you... I had told her just today that she should have forgotten what social status stated and just confess to you both!" Temano kicked Kyogi in the head as he tried to rise. "You two were too busy trying to keep her all to yourselves that you couldn't see how much one of you wouldn't be enough for her! Now that she's dead neither of you will ever get her! How does that make you two feel? Maybe, if you ever find anyone as good as her that you both love as she loved you you'll try not to beat each other up over her and try to accept that you can actually share a lover! She had plenty of love for the both of you and you two idiots fought over all of it!" Temano kicked Hizano in the side as he finished. "Now Ty Dao is gone and, if she was still alive... If she was still alive she would still be stuck in the same position as she was before she was killed. I think... I think it's probably better she never was able to confess because I know... I know that neither of you would have accepted her feelings of loving both of you."

Temano just walked to the other end of the boat. Kami Miyaku also shared the boat with them now and was holding Maya, who cried hysterically. Anka just stood at the stern and stared back at the waves in disbelief. Chouji was helping Hizano up and Hinata went to grab Anka by the shoulders and lead her away from the stern. On the other boat Kyogi could see Sai holding Aryū, who was crying in his arms. She knew Ty Dao quite well since her and Sai were married. Aryū had made very good friends with all of Hinata, Chouji and Sai's students. She knew Ty Dao well enough now to have been family. Itamae Sōzō sat at the stern of the boat she was in and stared back before lowering her head and going to steer the boat. Tazuno stood at the boat's bow, just staring away. "Don't be sad, Kyogi." Chouji's voice came from above Kyogi. "Don't be sad for Ty Dao-chan. She was doing what she had thought was right. That's all that matters."

Kyogi looked up at Chouji and opened his mouth to speak but Chouji just turned away and went to steer to boat. Hizano, soon enough, stood over Kyogi, helping him up. "Kyogi... I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Kyogi just looked at Hizano's lavender eyes and sighed. "No, Hizano... I'm sorry. I had told Ty Dao when she asked me about my opinion of her sharing us... I had told her I would beat you up until you were too ugly for her to like. I had been set on having Ty Dao all to myself and now neither of us can have her." Kyogi closed his eyes and felt the tears stream down his cheeks. He couldn't take it. He couldn't deal with it. His legs gave out and he collapsed against Hizano weeping. Hizano just held him by the shoulders and sat next to him after they sat down.

Within the hour the boats arrived on shore. The Nara twins and Yuuhi Asame had, of course, traveled to Himitsugakure with Sai as they almost always did since he was their old teacher. Even now that they were all jounin they remained well established in treating him as the leader. Asame had a grass skirt and a coconut bra on while the twins had grass skirts and tropical colored shirts. All three wore leis about their necks and looked happy to see the other teams return. Awa Kowagu also stood at the beachhead, in her standard ninja clothing; a tight black suit that hugged her body perfectly. As the teams got off the boat, however, all of them noticed all too quickly how unhappy the groups were. The Nara twins took it the worst, breaking into tears and hysterics as soon as they realized that it hadn't been a joke. Yuuhi Asame took it similar to Anka, just standing in place, frozen in disbelief. Kowagu found it difficult to believe as well. It had just been too strange to hear. She knew Ty Dao about as well as the other Himitsugakure No Sato ninja on Aryū's team. To be fair she acted about in the middle of the three former students. She took it better than Miyaku, who had long faded into sobs as she tried to comfort Maya. She didn't, however, take it as well as Kowagu, who showed no feeling at all. To say the obvious she was taking it much better than her former teacher, Aryū, who still was crying in Sai's arms.

Eventually all settled down. The major ones crying got done. Some still sobbed a bit but not enough to get in the way of things. As it was, Team Doujutsu and Team Ascension were to do nothing but report back and enjoy their week in Himitsugakure No Sato. Team Canvas, Sai's team, was already all on vacation as it was. Team Lotus, Aryū's team, was immediately given leave as soon as the tragedy had been heard about so that they too could mourn

Himitsugakure was a beautiful place, of course. The island was a wonderful volcanic island in the tropics. It was difficult, so Kyogi would have thought, to stay sad in this place. Everyone was very pleasant and tropical birds made funny noises that would be prone to make most smile or laugh. Lizards of various different sizes walked around lazily in the afternoon sun, eating fruits from trees or just walking up to vendors and being served older fruit that couldn't be sold by the vendors themselves. A large volcano loomed behind the village and palm trees were everywhere. By the time everyone was settled down in various rooms of Aryū's house, which turned out to be gigantic, everything was very quiet. The teams all decided that a day of rest would be best and, without any further ado, everyone went to their rooms to get some sleep. Kyogi, however, had a different idea than sleeping.

In the middle of the night Kyogi snuck out of his window and behind the village. There he saw someone he guessed would be too busy mourning, but instead was on the side of the mountain. Hizano stood silently, waiting for Kyogi. "What are you doing here, Kyogi?"

"I could ask you the same thing?" Kyogi countered. He knew, however, that he had to tell the truth now. "I'm going to the volcano to do something I should have worked up the courage for a long time ago."

Hizano gave a confused look. "What would a mountain do for you?"

"There's a reason the team's name is Ascension, Hyuuga..." Kyogi spoke up as he advanced. "All Nagamori possess the Goukagan. I have ascended one stage toward the perfect eye. The final goal is to bathe my eyes in molten lava to seal the heat within them. If I'm worthy of it... If I can handle it I'll ascend to the final level of the Goukagan. I'll be able to use my heat vision without using any chakra and I'll be able to fire beams of magma from my eyes."

Hizano grimaced. "What makes you think this is actually true? What makes you think you're worthy?"

Kyogi grabbed Hizano by the shirt. "It's true because my great grandfather could do it! I don't know if I'm worthy but, by your description, Ty Dao attained the speed of heat underneath the surface. You said she hit the bottom, Hizano. The only way that heat could reach the top was if she was moving at the speed of heat. I owe her this! I owe her my eyes if I can! She reached her final goal and, as her rival and someone who aspired to win her heart, I owe her this much, at least!" Kyogi eyes were again streaming tears. "Don't deny me this, Hizano. I know you could stop me if you tried but please... don't deny me this right. If my face melts off at least I'll have died doing something for her. I'm not going to take your eyes away from you... don't take my eyes' greatest power from me."

Hizano looked into Kyogi's own eyes and sighed. "Alright... but I'm coming with you. If your eyes don't get all amazing and your face starts to burn off I'm hauling your stupid ass out of there right away."

Kyogi nodded and the two walked to the top of the volcano. It was large, but not too much so. It only took them an hour to walk. As they crested the peak the two looked down into the volcano to see lava pools all over. According to Aryū, Himitsugakure No Sato only existed so close to the volcano because the lava naturally flowed down the back into the ocean behind the mountain. The ninja of Himitsugakure No Sato had made sure of it by using jutsu to open the back up when the village was first made. Because of this method the mountain was active but still safe to live around. The two slid down into the area with the magma pools. Kyogi stared into the pools as he neared and Hizano watched from only a few feet behind him. He hesitated and swallowed hard, looking back at Hizano for a moment. Hizano just stood with his arms crossed and made a gesture with his head for Kyogi to go ahead.

Hizano didn't believe that Kyogi would actually do it, of course, but he wanted to watch. Maybe, just maybe, the idiot would actually try. Hizano stepped forward as Kyogi looked into the pool he had chosen. "Look, Kyogi, it's no good. Just come back to Aryū-senpai's..." That was when Kyogi dipped the upper half of his face into the pool, screaming as he did it. Hizano rushed forward and grabbed him by the shoulders but Kyogi wouldn't budge, the lava seeming to hold him in as he yelled in pain. "You idiot! What the hell did you do that for? Get out of there, Kyogi! We can't have another team member dying!"

That was when Kyogi's face lifted from the lava, causing Hizano to stumble and almost fall into another lava pool. Kyogi laid on the ground, his eyes closed but his face untouched. Hizano raced up to him and shook him and his eyes opened. They were a new color. Instead of their normal color the whites and irises of his eyes were a deep purple. His pupils were crimson. His eyes still had the old sunburst markings around them but now they seemed bigger and more detailed. Instead of the stereotypical sunburst they seemed to form a mask of intricate solar flares and rays, not just crimson spikes that looked like a child's drawing of a sun. Kyogi sighed a bit and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "H-Hizano? I'm surprised I can see you."

"I'm surprised you even have a face. I thought you would die." Hizano countered.

"It felt like I was going to die, I'll tell you that." Kyogi replied. "Do I look any different?"

Hizano nodded. "Quite a bit. Let's go back to Aryū-senpai's place. You can see there."

After another hour and a half of walking they arrived back at Aryū's, where Hinata and Chouji both waited behind the house for them. Neither of them looked particularly pleased at the fact that their former students had been away without telling. "Where have you two been?" Chouji asked first.

Kyogi stepped forward. "I was at the volcano with Hizano... I needed to unlock my eyes to their final stage. Hinata-senpai, please understand."

Hinata's eyes softened at these words. "You're... kidding, right?" She looked closer at Kyogi and then recoiled. "You're telling the truth."

Chouji looked at Kyogi's eyes and sighed. "I won't challenge it... but you two should be in bed right now. I am concerned about both of you. You two were closest to Ty Dao-chan. You two need to relax and try to feel better, not take walks to a volcano. As the captain of this group I am ordering you both to do no training while we are here. You two need to get all of the mourning out of you. You need to relax and try to keep level headed..." Chouji hesitated. "I care about both of you... You two have been like sons to me just as much as the rest of the teams have been like children to me. The rest are still mourning and it's important that you two mourn for Ty Dao as well. I won't have her death eating away at any of you if I can help it."

The two nodded and went back to bed. Kyogi went to his room and fell into a fitful sleep almost immediately. For Hizano it was less simple. He couldn't shake Ty Dao's death from his mind. He had seen everything, every detail through his Byakugan. Ty Dao had become nothing but heat itself. She had eventually gone to nothing at the floor of the ocean. He couldn't shake the image from his mind of her final moments and it drew countless tears from his eyes, countless tears that he should have shed during that day but couldn't bring himself to do so in front of everyone else like Kyogi had. He sat on his futon on the floor and wept soundlessly, sobbing long sobs and staring out over the balcony that he knew faced the direction where they had all done battle with the kraken-like beast. It was the direction that Ty Dao had died in.

A pair of soft, feminine hands wrapped around his shoulders. He would recognize them anywhere. They were those of his teammate, Ibana Maya. "Zano-kun stay quiet." She whispered slowly into his ear. "Maya comfort you."

Hizano shook his head and turned. "Maya, I can't. This isn't the time to..." Hizano stopped as he saw Maya's face. Her eyes were red and swollen, still shedding tears like rivers down her dark cheeks. She was nude as the day of her birth in front of him yet he didn't see any attraction in her. Hizano only saw a teammate who was just as distraught as he was, just as heartbroken and hurt as he was right then. It occurred to his mind that Maya hadn't come to him to seduce him. Maya had come to Hizano to comfort him and be comforted the same way. Maya just didn't know how to comfort anyone other than with her body. Hizano pulled her close, embracing her against him. "Don't worry, Maya. I'll keep you company tonight. Just don't expect me to take my clothes off, alright?" Maya nodded slowly. Together the two slowly fell asleep, Hizano's dreams difficult but his sleep thankfully still restful.

The surf smashed against the shore of Himitsugakure No Sato the next morning. Native children were at play in the area as the sun rose. From the surf came a figure. Her body was shrouded in seaweed and she possessed a long braid from which a kunai hung. Her face, like her body, was covered in seaweed, just enough to keep the bottom half from being seen. The children stopped as she stumbled ashore, kneeling on the ground for a moment. The parents of these children ran up to see her but she slapped away their hands. Ty Dao had experienced quite the night. She wasn't sure what had happened but she had survived. Not only had she survived but she had walked on the floor of the ocean itself to get to Himitsugakure No Sato. She wasn't sure if she had held her breath or simply forgotten the need to breath but she had never felt the need for air underneath the waves. She had lost all of her clothing but the seaweed that adorned her body would have to suffice, not that she actually had tried to put it on that way. For the most part the seaweed had simply broken off when she had walked through it, tying around her as she struggled about to pass. She had grown very hungry and, at one point, she had ended up swallowing sea water, which seemed to fill her stomach. She had eventually grown so ravenous as to eat the silt at her feet and that seemed to sustain her well enough. She did, at one point, try to think on how exactly she was still alive eating silt and drinking sea water, two things humans weren't exactly made to consume. Still she didn't bother dwelling on it. After all, she was walking on the ocean floor where cold and pressure alone should have killed her in an instant as well as the fact that she seemed to need no air.

She walked and walked and, eventually, she saw someone that she recognized. On the front porch of a house sat Temano, looking to the east at the sun rise. She stumbled toward him and, just as he noticed her she collapsed, not unconscious, just tired. He rushed to her side. "Ty Dao, is that you?"

Ty Dao only nodded. "I... think it's me... I was me last time I checked on the sea floor but I could have changed since then." She said with a mix of confusion and humor. She honestly was telling the truth in her guessing but still found it humorous. Slowly she stood and Hizano ushered her into the house. He rushed off down the halls as Ty Dao stood at the door. She wanted to move, wanted to prove to herself that she was still alive, still real. She slowly walked though the halls, not caring if Temano couldn't find her when she returned. She opened a door to find Hizano sleeping on his back in a futon. Half on top of him lie Ibana Maya, fully nude. For some reason Ty Dao felt herself getting angry and stomped up to the two, now full of energy. "Hyuuga Hizano... Time to wake up." She muttered just loud enough to wake the two up. Maya rubbed her eyes and Hizano blinked a bit. "I go ahead and blow up and the same day I decide die you jump into bed with Maya. I would have thought of it from Kyogi but not you."

Hizano blinked again, rubbing his eyes as he looked at Ty Dao. "You're alive?" Ty Dao nodded slowly as Maya slid from his form, still quite asleep. Hizano stood up, still clothed in the pants he fell asleep in. He threw himself on Ty Dao and embraced her tight, crying into her shoulder. "You're alive, Dao-tan! I thought you were gone!"

Ty Dao realized just then that the situation she had walked in on had probably just been one of Maya's antics, though it hurt her a bit that Maya had been teasing Hizano the same day as she had died. She smiled and hugged Hizano. "I am alive. I thought I was gone too... One problem... right now I'm naked and covered in seaweed. That said I would prefer you didn't get so close." Ty Dao's stomach felt strange, uncomfortable even. "I need some food."

Soon enough everyone was awake and made to know Ty Dao's life had not been taken the day before. There was great happiness. Everyone who had cried the day before because of Ty Dao's death cried again with joy as well as some others who hadn't cried the day before. Ty Dao ate a whole table of food and it mildly disturbed her teammates how she could eat so much despite her small body. It was only when Hinata looked at her with the byakugan that they figured out why Ty Dao was eating so much. She was composed entirely of chakra. She didn't seem to have any organs left in her body, just heat and chakra.

Of course this was entirely impossible. Ty Dao had to have something running her body. Still she didn't have a heartbeat, didn't seem to need to breath, as was clear by her story of walking on the sea floor. Surely she would have been sick from what she had eaten and drank under the surface of the ocean. Soon enough she was rushed to a hospital and it was there that everyone found out the truth. According to x-rays and all the medical ninja put together Ty Dao had nearly no organs at all. In fact Ty Dao wasn't made of chakra as Hinata had seen. She was made of a highly contained stars, something that nobody could fathom. How she wasn't burning a hole in the floor nobody knew. So far as anyone could tell her brain was mostly intact but what kept it from disintegrating nobody even dared guess. Her reproductive system also remained intact for the most part but her ovaries were completely gone. Her womb now just seemed a useless bag. Somehow she was able to consume any substance and "digest" it though her digestion now consisted of burning consumed items down into their base elements and burning those elements off through nuclear fusion. She weighed near five hundred pounds now though her body was largely the same. She still possessed soft flesh though it seemed indestructible. For all anyone could guess Ty Dao wasn't alive at all. She shouldn't have even been able to exist what with the fact that the only systems she possessed that hadn't undergone a series of complicated and (the doctors freely admitted this) impossible processes of nuclear fusion and collapse were her nervous system and reproductive system. Strangely enough she still produced fluids from saliva to tears to other things best left unsaid. She didn't however, produce waste. Her "Digestive system" broke everything down, no matter what it was. The nearest form of waste that she passed seemed to be her sweat, which wasn't even sweat anymore. She just seemed to release waste by steaming from her pores.

Aryū was the only one that didn't seem to be surprised by Ty Dao's change. "It's not uncommon to see the impossible in this world. I am one of the twenty-one enlightened ones who live on this earth. After all, the laws of spirituality state that anyone who reaches true spiritual enlightenment as I and my twenty brethren have should rightfully cease to exist. Even a living Buddha is supposed to feel no emotion but I do. As I see it Ty Dao-chan is just another anomaly that cannot be explained... not that I don't think we should explore this further to see if it would be possible to explain it." Everyone just looked at Aryū for a time with mild doubt. "I swear to you I have reached enlightenment even if there is no way of proving it..." She said with a mildly annoyed face. Even Sai had never believed his wife's claim about achieving enlightenment in a lava tube under the island. She had amazing jutsu but even if the chakra nature was called Keimōton, or enlightenment chakra, Aryū just seemed too chaotic to have reached spiritual enlightenment. "Seriously... I really did reach enlightenment... Isn't the fact that in over five years of being with Sai I haven't gotten pregnant enough for you?" Everybody, even Ty Dao, just sort of shook their heads. Kyogi was the first to open his mouth but Aryū, as though reading his mind, cut him off. "I'm not barren!" She screamed out as she walked out of the room, the bed behind Kyogi crumbling into a small ball and scaring everyone in the room.

Ty Dao stepped from the room, now completely dressed with mask and all back on her person. She stared at the sun for a bit, her eyes not at all hurting. Whatever had happened to her she wanted to figure it out.

{HR}

Done!

Before any of you ask, yes, Ty Dao was supposed to end up this way. Planned it from the very start, before Pulchritudinous ever even ended. Same goes for Kyogi and eventually Temano will also ascend like they have. Don't worry, everyone will have major breakthroughs. Also, Aryū has reached spiritual enlightenment. Nobody believes her because when one reaches spiritual enlightenment they are supposed to cease to exist, living beyond this earthly plane.

Because of Ty Dao's awesome change, expect her to need to make amazing voyages to discover just what is happening! Of course, Nagamori Kyogi and Hyuuga Hizano will be going with her XP

Yours,

Tankou001