Yes, I know... I'm lazy, sorry... Enjoy anyway.=^-^=

I especially want to apologize to Kiarawangwilliams. I didn't mean to ignore this story, and hope you haven't lost interest, but here's the action you were waiting for.=^-^=

Ch. 9 - First Strike

The sun had completely set on the village as shadows made haste to infiltrate the outer perimeter of the peaceful Konoha. The main gates had been long closed as security details scouted the perimeter of the wall. Down at the base, a small group had convened in secret. "Is everything ready?" One of the infiltrators had asked as they dropped down from a tree.

They were wearing a black demon mask and a concealing robe. "Of course. We can start immediately once Lord Raiko gives the order."

The first man was joined by another wearing the same mask as they both looked towards the top of the wall. "Good. After that old man's failure, I'd hate to be the one to disappoint him next."

He got a deep chuckle in response. "Power can do strange things to people." He then continued his low cackle which seemed to disturb his companion slightly.

Naruto looked up from his cards as he started to hear an alarm. Bon and Rin noticed it too and joined their new friend in his curiosity towards the window. The ninja placed his hand down and stood with a worried expression. "What's going on?"

He turned to Rin. "That's the emergency alarm. Something must be threatening the village." Naruto was quick to grab his jacket and put it on. "I need to go and check in with Grandma Tsunade."

"But didn't she tell you that you had to watch us? Are we coming too?"

Naruto paused a moment. "No….. I probably shouldn't." He then held his hands together. "Shadow clone Justsu!" In a puff of smoke another Naruto stood beside him much to the amazement of the two Exwires.

"Awesome!" Rin exclaimed next to the speechless Bon.

"I'm going to go check it out." The clone said as he jumped out the window and proceeded over several roof tops. The real Naruto sat on the edge of the bed as he waited for news on the emergency.

"That was so cool!" Rin praised.

The ninja gave a modest nod. "Yeah… I guess, but its only one shadow clone."

"Just how many can you make?" Suguro queried with disbelief still on his face.

Naruto took a moment to think. "Well, I've made hundreds… I think the largest amount I've made at one time was a thousand though."

The teen was taken aback by the number. "Whoa…. Talk about a one man army."

Naruto enjoyed the praise as he rubbed the back of his head. "I guess."

"That's so cool!" Kuro exclaimed as Rin gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, totally the coolest trick I've ever seen!" Rin's tail wagged wildly behind his back almost in time with Kuro's as the emergency situation seemed to be long gone from his mind.

"What's our status?" Tsunade asked Shizune as they convened on the HQ's roof top.

"The tracking squad ran into some problems on their way back. They should be here in a few minutes."

The Hokage gave a nod. "And what about the intruders? Have the barrier core tracked them down yet?"

Shizune gave a regretful shake of her head. "No….. it seems they disappeared right after entering. They have traced the point of entry though. We have an Anbu squad already dispatched to that location."

"Good." Tsunade started with a serious tone. "We are not going to let our enemies waltz right in again. I want all available squads here now!"

"Yes ma'am!" Shizune responded as she turned to one of the Anbu standing guard. He quickly left along with Shizune. The lady Hokage remained and looked over the darkened roof tops of her village. Almost the entire village was reduced to rubble before, and they had only just now gotten things back together. There was no way her Hokage pride would allow it a second time.

Though Naruto's concentration was lessened by the current alarm, the boys continued their card game. "And that's a run of three. I'm out" Bon declared with a proud smirk.

"Aw man…. That's the fourth game in a row." Rin whined in defeat. He dropped his cards in a pile in the middle as he slumped onto his hand. "You must be some kind of pro at this." He deduced with a frown.

Bon raised an unimpressed brow at his deduction. "You're kidding right?"

Naruto gave a grunt in his own question. "Yeah, but you're awfully good at this game."

"Yeah, well you two always seem to go for the same cards. You practically take each other out." Bon defended as he pushed his cards into the pile.

Rin took a good look at the cards Naruto had thrown into the pile, and sure enough, they were the ones he'd been trying to get. "Whoa…. He's right." He then shrugged and started to shuffle them together. "Anyway, next round!"

Suguro sighed in boredom as he leaned back. "Nah, I'll pass this time. This is getting old."

Rin gave him a smirk. "Or maybe you don't want to finally lose?"

The teen scoffed at the proposal. "As if! Besides, don't you have better things to be wasting your time on?"

"Like what?" Rin asked as he finished getting the cards in a nice and neat stack.

"How about figuring a way to finally get home? You've been missing for days you know. If the Vatican gets wind of it, they'll think you ran off. Heck some of the instructors already think you ran off…." He finished in slight annoyance.

Rin raised a brow. "What? Why would they think that? I already said I was going to become an Exorcist."

Bon shook his head at the naïve reasoning he was given in return. "Yeah, but what were they supposed to think? The odds of you actually doing that by the next exam are pretty dismal, and if you don't…. well, you really don't care do you?"

Rin shrugged. "Not really. They can say what they want, but I'm gonna do it if it kills me."

"Oh, I doubt they'd have it any other way…" Bon grumbled in resignation. He then seemed to remember something and took a good look around the room. "So this is where you've been staying since you got here right?"

Rin placed the cards on the table. "Nah, I stayed with old man Ichiraku at first. I worked for him in exchange for him letting me stay at his house, but he had to leave yesterday to go and help his brother out."

Naruto gave a nod. "Yeah, and then I offered to let him stay with me after since he didn't have anywhere else to go. I overheard them talking when I went there for lunch."

Bon then scratched his head in confusion. "So does that mean you've been wearing the same clothes for the past few days?" He wondered in slight disgust at the idea.

"Well, Mr. Ichiraku let me wash my shirt when I got some Miso broth on it but yeah, basically." He received a disbelieving expression in response. "I didn't really have a choice about it! All I had was what I was wearing when I first woke up here." Rin protested in his own defense.

"And me!" Kuro added in feeling a bit left out.

"I could use a bath though…" He seemed to ponder at the thought while Kuro snubbed his nose up at the idea. "Not me!"

"That's weird…."

Rin snapped out of his thoughts. "What do you mean?"

Suguro set his chin slightly into his fingers as he leaned forward. "It's just that…. I'm pretty sure Mr. Okumura mentioned your sword being taken. When Mrs. Kirigakure came in one time, he said that thinking you'd gone to practice with her."

Rin crossed his arms in curiosity. "Nah, I was practicing on the dorm roof with Kuro. I was using a wooden sword for that." Bon took another moment to think before shrugging it off. Rin could have just stashed it out of sight and his brother didn't see it.

"So you use a sword?" Naruto inquired after cleaning off the table they were using.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be a Knight." He informed. "It's a…"

"It's one of the Meister qualifications you need to have in order to become an Exorcist." Bon answered for him. Fully anticipating Rin wouldn't remember.

"Oh right, you mentioned different kinds of Exorcists before."

"Yeah," Rin continued. "I fight with a sword, so I'm a Knight."

Naruto then turned to Suguro. "Then what about you?"

"I'm going for an Aria classification, but I plan to be a Dragoon too. An Aria fights using a demon's fatal verse. While a Dragoon fights with Firearms." Bon then paused a moment and looked up at Kuro. "Now that I think about it, you could probably hold a Tamer Meister since you have a familiar Rin."

Rin seemed surprised at the idea as he picked Kuro off his head. "Oh, really? Cool!"

Naruto scratched the side of his face. "I guess there's more than one way to beat a demon huh?" He then let out a slightly overwhelmed laugh before jumping to his feet. "I need to go!" He looked over to his house guests. "Wait uh… we need to go!" He quickly grabbed his headband and waved them over to the door. "Come on!" Both Rin and Bon seemed confused for a moment before remembering the alarm from not too long ago. They followed Naruto out the door with nothing more than a few scattered pieces of clothing to impede them. Naruto led the way in the quiet and empty streets as he explained what was going on. "Grandma Tsunade is calling in all teams because of some intruders in the village. That other man from before got a message from his temple about an attack. They couldn't find who they were looking for and supposedly headed out towards the village."

"So they are the intruders?" Bon reasoned as he kept up as best he could.

"Yeah, but they haven't confirmed it yet." Naruto responded with determination in his expression. "That priest said they were probably looking for the temple's young heir since he holds important secrets about the temple, but he wasn't at the temple when it was attacked. Anyway, he's pretty sure that it's the same group and that if anyone sees someone in a demon mask, they need to report it right away. All teams are to convene at the Hokage's office for assignments."

"And since you're supposed to watch us we have to come with you?" Bon reasoned easily.

"Yup. You guys'll be safe there. I'm sure there are already several teams out looking after the villagers."

They were about halfway to the office when Kuro noticed something strange and stopped. "What was that?"

Rin noticed too and stopped, but Bon and Naruto kept going. "What's up Kuro? We need to keep moving." Kuro dashed off through an ally before answering and Rin couldn't decide fast enough what to do. Naruto and Bon were too far away and he didn't want to lose track of Kuro again. With a sigh he dashed after the little cat demon. "Sorry Naruto!" He impulsively apologized as he tried to keep Kuro in sight. After trailing the cat for a few minutes he finally stopped and the fur on his back stood on end. "Kuro!" Rin yelled as he stopped next to him. He wore an angry expression, but it faded when he saw the aggression on the cat's face. "Kuro?"

He then heard a laugh and turned to see where it had come from. "My young prince, I am glad to see you are doing well."

Rin furrowed his brow as he brought the figure into focus. They wore a dark cloak and a strange mask? He couldn't really tell right away but it didn't look like an Oni mask. "Who are you!?"

"Be careful, Rin! His smell…. It's really bad!" Kuro then increased his size and growled.

The figure simply chuckled in response. "You wound me my young Prince, to think you don't remember me….. No matter. I didn't come to reminisce." He then raised his left hand and almost immediately Rin found himself grabbing his nose.

"The hell is that!?" He'd looked away along with Kuro as they were distracted by the smell, and when they looked back, he was gone. "Damn! He's gone!"

"Rin! Look out!" Kuro charged past him to knock down the beast who eyed his half demon friend hungrily. Kuro grabbed the creature in his teeth and swung him away to crash into a nearby building. "Ugh! It tastes like sudama!"

The creature crawled haphazardly on the ground and finally made it out into the light of the moon. "Is that…. It's one of those things that Nuehaus had!" The sight was hard to forget and the stitching and rotting flesh couldn't be more of a giveaway. The form seemed like that of a large wolf with an extra head on its back to go with the extra set of hind legs. It rose to its paws and growled. "Shit….." Kuro made a move to pounce when more growls were heard around them. They now found themselves surrounded by the broken and distorted growls of creatures with marginal identifiability. The fight that ensued was more than one sided as Rin broke down any he could get a solid hit on while their sheer numbers simply continued on.

"We can't stay here!" Kuro finally stated as he turned to Rin.

"No shit! There's too many. Damn! If only I had my sword, this would be easy!" Kuro bent down and Rin hopped onto his back. "Let's just get back to Naruto and Bon. We need to tell them about this guy!"

Kuro took off swiftly and used the sturdy building tops as his path. "Where did they go?" Kuro asked while keeping on a straight path.

"….. The Hokage's office….?" He said as he looked around. When he spotted the familiar building he pointed. "That way!"

"Damn it!" Suguro cursed as he rubbed his head. "I knew he'd pull something!"

Naruto stood atop a tall building nearby as he looked for the missing Rin and his cat. "I thought he was right behind us."

Bon let out a grumble as he turned back to the Hokage building several yards behind him. "You can't take your eyes off the guy I swear."

"Naruto!" Naruto turned to his approaching teammate sitting on the back of a drawn bird. "Sai?"

"Why are you waiting there? Have you reported to Lady Hokage?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, not yet. I was supposed to bring Rin and this guy to the Hokage's office, but Rin disappeared on the way here." He explained as he pointed down towards Suguro. Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. All eyes turned to the main gate where the large doors seemed to warp as a second crash is heard.

"The main gate!" Sai noted with slight urgency as he turned his ride.

"But I thought they were already in the village?" Naruto questioned.

"It's most likely a distraction." Sakura declared as she jumped to join Naruto on the roof top. "I was wondering what was taking you so long."

Naruto looked down at Suguro and then to Sakura with a sheepish expression. "Well-"

"Rin disappeared!" Bon shouted up to him. "This isn't the first time he's done that!" He finished with a scowl.

Sakura let out a sigh and shook her head. "Couldn't keep track of two people for one day could you?"

"I think we need to head over to the main gate." Sai reiterated from his bird as he pointed. One of the gates was starting to fall into the village and the destroyer was now visible in the new gap.

"Is that a….. statue?" Naruto questioned in bewilderment.

"Does it matter?" Sakura countered as she dashed off. "Come on, Lady Tsunade told me to bring you to the main gate anyway." She then turned to Sai. "You take him to Lady Tsunade, and then join us." She requested as Naruto went after her.

Sai quickly landed his bird beside the young Exwire. "Get on."

Bon looked at it warily. This bird looked… like a drawing? "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." Sai insisted as he reached out a hand.

Suguro climbed on and held for dear life as he was taken up. Sai quickly flew the short distance to the Office's roof Bon was able to get a good look at the intruder and his eyes widened. "Holy crap! That's a Golem!?"

"You know what that creature is?" Tendo asked as he approached with Lady Tsunade and a few Anbu.

Suguro turned to him with a brow raised. "Don't you? A Golem is a demon after all."

He wore a grave expression as he responded. "Then that would make sense. These invaders are surely those whom attacked the temple after I left."

Tsunade gave a nod. "Then it's confirmed. They must've come here to get the young heir." She turned to Shizune who was standing at the ready. "Send another squad to guard the Gonyo monks who arrived earlier today.

"Yes, milady." She responded with a bow.

"Now you," She started again while addressing Bon. "Tell me everything you know about this demon."

Bon seemed slightly surprised, but only for a moment. "Uh... Golems are the kin Amaimon King of Earth."

"Amaimon?" She questioned.

"Yeah, he's one of the Baal, the kings of the demon plane. All earth attribute demons are related to him." Bon then pointed to Dazzle. "Just like all Salamanders are related to Iblis King of fire."

Tendo nodded in understanding. "Then if it is Earth, we should use lightning style against it." He reasoned to bewilderment of Suguro.

Tsunade was just about to relay the information before the young teen cut in. "Hold on man, what are you talking about?"

Tendo turned with an intrigued expression. "Lightning style ninjutsu is strong against earth style."

Bon let out a sigh. "No! I don't know about this ninjutsu stuff, but lightning is an attribute related to fire! On the chart of demonic elements earth and fire have no relation. You need to use air."

Tendo didn't really understand what he was talking about. "Chart of demonic elements?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't you guys know this?" He asked in slight disbelief. "I mean you are Exorcists right?"

He gave a nod. "Though clearly of a different caliber than what you are accustomed to. Most of our familiars are Salamanders like this one."

"Regardless, we'll use wind style ninjutsu then." Tsunade reasoned to get the conversation back on track. "What else can we use against it?" She almost demanded.

"Well, Golems aren't generally aggressive demons so I don't know about fighting them, but using a fatal verse is the easiest way to do it. You have to recite it within range, and it'll kill the demon."

"Ah, that I do know of." Tendo proclaimed. "But do you know the verse required?"

Bon gave a nod. "Yeah, but I'll have to figure out if it's a mountain golem or a valley golem first. They have different verses."

"Good." Tsunade stated as she turned to Sai. "Take him to the gate." She then turned to one of the Anbu. "I want you to relay the information to the other squads immediately."

Before Bon could have any real say in the matter, Sai took off quickly towards the rampaging golem. By this point it had succeeded in prying off the other door and was stomping through. As they approached the vicinity, the large number of ninja engaging the demon became more clear as everything from explosions and blades of all sizes were launched. "I didn't think they were this big." Bon muttered with wide eyes.

"How can you tell what kind it is?" He heard from behind. Tendo had followed them with his salamander who now had a ridiculous wingspan. The small salamander seemed to be carrying the man despite the severe size limitations of the little demon.

Bon pointed towards its head. "Look around the head, and back. Lighter stones, and more green mean it's a valley golem. Mountain golems tend to be more barren and composed of igneous rock."

As Sai directed his beast to fly around the right, Tendo broke away and flew to the left. "Looks rather barren to me!" He noted as he crossed under the two boys.

Bon agreed with a nod as he took a moment to think. "Alright, golems have verses in the book of Deuteronomy… 32:22!" He declared in recollection. "Alright Sai, you're gonna have to be careful. The minute I start this, that thing's going to concentrate on us."

"Understood." He responded without any semblance that it fazed him. The bird then flew a bit lower so that Bon would be in range.

"For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and burn into the lowest hell," He began with a strong and confident tone. The golem immediately homed in on them like Bon had said and both of its arms lifted up to swipe at them. Despite the rough ride and nearly falling off at one point, Bon continued to recite the verse. "And shall consume the earth with her-" His concentration was finally broken when the bird he was riding suddenly imploded. "Whoa!?"

Sai quickly grabbed him and pulled them both down to the closest building top still standing. "Are you two alright?" Kiba asked as he and Akamaru jumped up to them.

"Yes, but I do wonder what that was just now." Sai stated as he looked up at the golem with an analytical gaze.

"We've been having a similar issue down here. Akamaru's trying to figure out where the kunai are coming from." He held one up to show Sai. It was a black metal with the kanji for demon written on the blade.

"Man, I was so close." Bon cursed to himself as he stood up. "Just a few more words."

"What's he doing here? Shouldn't he be back with the Hokage?" Kiba asked with a slightly irritated expression.

"No, because he's supposed to kill the demon." Sai informed with a slightly serious expression.

"It's a Kamaitachi!" Tendo declared as he too landed with them. "I saw the whirlwind sliding upon the demon's back. They move as fast as the wind and strike without a sound." He continued as he approached Bon. "If you are to complete this verse, we are going to have to occupy the smaller demon as well."

"Aw man! It's kin of Pazuzu. I have no idea how to fight that." He begrudgingly admitted.

"But what about those demonic elements you mentioned? Surely this has a weakness we can use."

Bon shook his head. "Pazuzu is king of wind. You'd need something attributed to rot to get the advantage. Demons like ghouls or naberious ."

"Kiba! What did he say!?" Shikamaru called from below with Choji right behind him.

Kiba, who was lost in the strange conversation, snapped to his senses. He jumped down to talk to him. "Sai says that Bon guy is supposed to beat him with some kind of verse. Unfortunately there's this wind demon that is hiding on this thing. It's the one who keeps throwing these kunai out of nowhere."

Shikamaru raised a brow. "A verse? Like chanting?" Kiba could only shrug since he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Excuse me." Tendo interrupted as he jumped down to them. "But to make this quicker, all you have to do is keep that kid covered long enough for him to finish the verse. Then the demon will be out of our hair."

The young chunin let out a breath and nodded. "Works for me then." He then turned back to Choji. "We should coordinate the others to keep that thing's attention. One simultaneous attack should give us enough time."

Tendo then turned up to Suguro. "You ready young Exorcist?"

Suguro didn't have to say anything for the man to know he was. Sai had already drawn up a new beast, this time a dog, and Bon was on its back. Sai directed the chakra beast from afar as he drew up more to join it. Upon seeing the script dogs approach, the golem began to swing down its massive arms to stop them. The agile animals jumped around one, while the other was caught by Choji as he expanded his arms. Several other of the ninja's attacks kept his attention for a short time before he shook himself out of it. "Gotta focus!" That focus was unfortunately interrupted as all the chakra dogs exploded at once much to Sai's surprise. The demon whirlwind shot around the grounded exwire as he pushed himself up. "Shit…."

As the twister settled in front of him, he was surprised it didn't come right at him, but quickly figured out why when he heard the deep hiss from behind. "Back off weasel!" Kuro cried out in anger.

"Kuro?"

"What are you waiting for, Bon!?" Rin shouted from the Cat Shide's back. As if to defend against its new predators, the Kamaitachi started to release smoke from its wind and it quickly enveloped the boys. Kuro didn't allow the smoke to stop him from defending Bon, however, and used his nose to keep a lock on him.

Bon realized his chance was now or never as he brought the verse back to his head. "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and burn into the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase," He shouted confidently. He could hear lots of things around, but he didn't let them distract from the verse even when he heard Rin growl in frustration only a few feet from him. "And set fire the foundations of the mountains!" He finished with absolute resolve. As he looked up, he could see the clearing of the smoke and finally saw what had Rin so caught up.

While Choji held one arm, Rin had blocked the other from crushing the both of them as Bon chanted. He quickly found himself reliving the night with that naberious as he saw Rin keep the golem arm at bay despite it being several times his size. "What's the deal here! Isn't that supposed to kill it!?" He grunted under the strain. A deep groan was heard in response as the towering giant began to crumble away, and the arm he was holding up along with it. "…. Never mind…." He rescinded as he tossed the boulder he still held aside. "Where the hell did that thing come from anyway?"

Bon let out a breath. "Heck if I know…." He paused before turning back to his fellow exwire. "And where the hell did you go anyway!? Every time I turn around you disappear!"

"Whoa man geez." Rin countered with his hands raised defensively. "Kuro caught a whiff of something, and you guys were too far ahead to hear me." He then turned to Kuro who seemed to be in search of something. "We then ran into this creep in a mask, and his horde of those rotting demons, like that one from the exwire exam."

"Naberious? Just how many are we talking about?" Bon inquired with frustration still on his face.

"I don't know, but it was too many. Kuro and I high tailed it out of there before they buried us." He then grabbed his nose. "And it reeked too."

"Yeah, like stitched together corpses are supposed to smell like daisies or something. Anyway, did you see where the Kamaitachi went?" Bon posed as he looked through the clearing smoke.

"He disappeared." Kuro informed with a growl. He then turned to Rin with an apologetic expression. "I couldn't beat him. He's too fast."

"No worries, Kuro. We beat that golem demon."

Bon was quick to correct him. "But what about who was controlling it? Golem's don't just attack at random, and we're nowhere near a mountain big enough for a golem of that size to be living."

"RIN!" Kuro shouted in urgency as a twister erupted from the ground underneath him. Bon fell back and away from the wind that now cloaked the young demon hybrid.

"What the heck!?" Rin shouted in surprise. "Ow! Hey! Stop it!"

"What's going on?" Kiba wondered as he approached from Akamaru's back. Several ninja followed suit as those who remained uninjured approached as well.

"I don't understand. Why would it go after him if you're the one who killed the golem?" Tendo questioned as he dashed up as well. "It didn't even try to trap you." Bon couldn't answer that question at all as he thought over a way to help.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" They all heard from above. It was quickly followed by a horde of Naruto clones rushing at the small twister in mass. Unfortunately, as soon as any of them touched the gust, they were destroyed. "Didn't even get close!" Naruto grumbled as he stood back with several of the others.

Kuro also seemed hesitant to approach even as he hissed at the twister. "Let Rin go!"

"Anything we throw at it will just be thrown back." Shikamaru stated as he looked over the strange wind. "We need some way of slowing it down if we're going to get it away from Rin."

"Come on, Okumura!" Bon encouraged with agitation.

"Hey! You're not stuck in here with the crazy weasel thing!"

"Perhaps Dazzle could distract it then. Kamaitachis like fire after all." He held up his hand and the salamander crawled up and around it.

"Whoa, you wanna barbeque him!?" Kiba questioned as he saw the small lizard's mouth ignite.

"Not quite." The salamander let out a small stream of fire at the twister which seemed to catch it immediately aflame.

"Damn it!" Rin shouted in response as the orange flame slowly shifted to blue. "Cut it out!" He added in as the twister expanded slightly and then cut out altogether. The demon was now visible as the large white weasel it was. It also had a rather large number of kunai still holstered around its body. It let out a menacing hiss before retreating away in an another twister which dashed right through any who stood between it and the gate.

"What was that?" Tendo questioned warily as he comforted the terrified salamander sitting on his shoulder and trembling. Rin glared at the demon before losing sight of it with everyone else. Despite being swirled in flames he was barely singed, and was littered more in shallow cuts presumably left by the Kamaitachi.

"You beat the weasel!" Kuro proclaimed happily as he shrank down and pounced onto the young hybrid's head.

"Of course." He responded.

"So it retreated, but why? What was the point of this attack?" Shikamaru pondered as he looked around at the small area of destruction.

"Most likely, they are after our young heir who was brought here after the temple was attacked. I must go to him now." The salamander tamer declared as he held up the small creature who spread his wings. It was a small surprise to many when they grew by several times and took off with the young monk in its talons.

"You okay Rin?" Naruto asked as he came over.

"Yeah, that small fry couldn't do more than little cuts." He responded as he looked over the small cuts littering his arms. "They'll heal in no time."

While the two of them talked, Neji seemed more than a little curious over the young man as he approached Shikamaru. "Have you noticed it?"

Shikamaru turned to him. "Noticed what?"

The veins around Neji's eyes began to become more defined as he looked. "When I met him earlier I felt something strange with his chakra. Now I believe I understand why." He then gestured towards the teen. "You should be able to see it swinging at his feet."

When the somewhat uninterested ninja looked as Neji suggested he seemed confused at first. There wasn't too much light around, but there was something swinging. "Is that…. A tail?" He wondered as he squinted his eyes. It blended in well with Rin's dark pants and the remnants of the smoke that was settling to the ground.

"Yo, Shikamaru!" Choji shouted to get his teammate's attention. "We're being called back to the Hokage's office. A bunch of those mask guys showed up-" An explosion cut him off, and as they all turned to it, they realized it was from the area of the Hokage's office.

So yeah, sorry again. I won't say I won't do it again, but I'll try to keep focused. This story is already half over anyway. I never intended for it to be long from the beginning.

The first thing I want to note, is the comparison of jutsu elements with the chart of demonic elements. Since it is a demon they're fighting I figured it should be demon element logic. Because of this world's concept of ninjutsu, the idea of demons holding a separate chart. I also want to mention the very limited knowledge held about demons specifically by the monks here. The worlds are different, and so this is my way of making True Cross Exorcists as helpful as the severely broken ninjas of this world. (by comparison anyway.)

Last note, yes Neji was talking about Rin's tail if you didn't gather that. He left Naruto's in a hurry and forgot to tuck it under his shirt... I'll mention that later. Ya'l may have remembered how Neji was back when they were around the door to the cram school. This is what is being talked about.

Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter despite it talking so long, and hopefully you don't hate me and will leave a comment? I'd appreciate it... please?=^-^=