W00t. Longest chapter yet. If you paid attention to the title you should have figured out just how action packed this chapter is (wink).

Enjoy.

the usual disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything to do with him. How incredibly sad...


After the eastern duo had showered up and scarfed down a cold meal they went to sleepfor the day. It had been a rough night and early morning, and they were exhausted. As they slept in their now usual embrace, their dreams remained mostly benign.

Uzi was in his all-too-familiar flooded cell block in front of his tenant's cage. This part of being a red-eye was one of the few drawbacks for him, as possessing the crimson eyes tended to make one introspective at all times, especially when during sleep.

Hinata on the other hand was having a pleasant slumber-induced illusion. She opened her pearly eyes to find herself standing on a hill of smooth, flowing grass. All around her sat rolling plains that seemed to shift as the grass moved with the wind. She strode forward in this new world on a barely worn footpath that would not have been noticed otherwise by those without the Byakugan towards one of the few humble oak trees that dotted the landscape. She peered at the sky and felt at ease as the billowing white clouds drifted effortlessly through the brilliant azure sky. Only one thing could have made the scene more perfect…

After what seemed to be several hours of merely strolling through the dreamscape did the Hyuuga woman find something out of place in this serene atmosphere. After cresting a particularly large hill, she peered into the horizon and noticed storm clouds in the distant sky. The odd thing about them was that even though they looked like sky-born water vapor that held excess moisture, they did not act as such. Upon closer inspection with bloodline eyes, she saw that the land underneath was cast in a dark shadow. "It looks too dark…" she thought as she observed the exaggerated contrast between the cast shadows and the sun's rays.

"Wait, it's cloudy here. There's no sun shining through," she realized as she scanned the sky for the orbital star that illuminated the world. At this point she began to panic. Why was the ground so dark? Why was there no sun to be found? Why were the trees in the shadows barren as opposed to their cousins in the light? These questions as well as many more coursed through her mind in an instant as the ominous sky advanced at an alarming rate. She calmed her breathing and closed her eyes to regain her composure. When she opened them and glanced down at herself, she made another realization no less unusual or alarming than what was transpiring before her.

"Why am I glowing?!"

Hinata jolted awake as her peaceful dream looked to be a promising nightmare. She noticed that her breaths were short and swift and that her sudden movement had awoken the blonde holding her in his arms.

"What's up?" Naruto asked groggily.

"Nothing," she answered tersely.

"Nightmare?"

"Yeah… yeah."

"'S okay." He leaned his head forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Go back to sleep."

She replied with a silent nod then buried her head in his warm chest. She was happy that her bad dream earned her affection from the object of her interest. The Hyuuga drifted back into slumber with fewer cares in the world.

"But is this really a dream?" asked a whisper of a voice not her own in her sleepy state before she nodded off completely.

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As promised, the vampire household moved out the following morning. It was an amazing sight to Hinata and Sasuke's group, but Uzi acted as if he'd seen it every day. As the easterners strode in line with the legendary creatures who, amazingly enough, were not allergic to daylight, the Hyuuga decided to analyze the weapon Hans passed on to her.

She lifted the pistol and was amazed at the mere size of it. It was as long as her forearm and appeared as a solid worn block of steel attached to a grip and trigger guard. She pulled back the foot long slide to critique the innards of the gun and found the barrel could easily accommodate her middle finger and still have it not touch the sides.

After a few minutes of fiddling with the firearm, she slid it back into its hasty straps and opened the ammo bag to check out its munitions. She found every clip save one to be fully loaded along with a healthy reserve of boxed ammunition in a side pocket. She pulled out one round and found it to be a solid slug with a diameter larger than her finger.

"Geez! No wonder he only fired a few shots," she exclaimed. "This thing can only hold a few rounds each!"

Naruto looked over to his blue-haired companion and saw her newest weapon. "Where'd you get that?"

"Oh, that Hans guy gave it to me."

"Hans…?"

"That lycanthrope Silba ordered to shoot us. You know, the one who made you stumble even though you had the chakra shield up?"

"Him?!" He shouted in surprise. "Why'd he do that?!"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Why did Silba give you that knife?"

He glanced at the blade strapped to his right boot. "Oh, yeah. 'Peace offering', right?"

"Yep."

He scratched his cheek as he thought. "Must be a werewolf thing."

"Hey Naruto," Suigetsu yelled from behind them. "You kill that Silba chick?"

He looked back in annoyance. "No. She surrendered."

"That's boring. I woulda had some fun before taking her out."

"That's 'cause you're a twisted sick…"

"Let it go…" Hinata intervened, placing a hand on Uzi's shoulder.

He faced forward again and pouted, mumbling mostly incoherent things after audible muttering, "Damn friggin' nutjobs following me around…"

The Hyuuga turned her head away when she lost the battle against her laughter.

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The group split off from the vampiric hordes after crossing the border back into Uzi's country. Over the next few days the easterners ran into more and more red-eyes. It was obvious to any bystander that something big was going down.

They moved at a much quicker pace this time due to the fact that they were getting rides from the local rebels. Even the non-red-eye resistance was rising to the surface in full force; a testament to how thinly spread the military was. It took them only a few days to traverse southward to a makeshift stronghold located in the small town of Shasta, several dozen miles directly south of the capital city.

On the outside it was a simple ramshackle town. People went about their business, or at least as normally as they could without the presence of an official police force. Red-eyes openly walked the streets without consequence, bands of uniformed men let their attire hang loose as they hopped the bars, equipment was being moved into small buildings but never coming out.

Naruto and his eastern followers made their way into one of these small buildings. They entered without being thoroughly checked and the Hyuuga immediately understood why no equipment left the facilities.

The structures were actually openings to a labyrinth of underground tunnels. It was difficult to tell, but the well-built elaborate network seemed to sprout to the north for miles on end. Crates of weapons, ammunition, and other miscellaneous gear lined the walls and were slowly being picked clean as passing red-eye specialists loaded up on what they deemed necessary or fitted them to vehicles. As the eastern group passed by the lines of containers, they were met with salutes, approving nods, or otherwise acknowledging gazes.

"Naruto," Hinata began, "Where are we going?"

"Living quarters," he stated simply.

"Down here?"

"Under the storage area," he pointed down.

"Even deeper?"

He turned to her with a playful smirk. "Oh yeah."

They made their way deeper into the human hive and eventually hit the residency area. As soon as they arrived in the dimly lit main lobby they were met with a pair of familiar, friendly voices.

"Uzi!" Trench and Shades called simultaneously.

"What's up guys?" the blonde said with a sheepish smile forming on his face.

"Not a whole hell of a lot!" Trench began. "What about you? We heard about that fiasco out east. You guys got caught in that shit, right?!"

"Yeah…"

"How'd you do?" Shades interrupted, addressing Hinata more than Uzi.

"Er…" the white-eyed woman was mildly uncomfortable in the spotlight. "We beat them…"

"Yeah, but how was the fight?!" Shades obviously wanted all the juicy details.

"Hey, hey," Trench intervened. "Let's talk about this over dinner and some drinks. You guys came a long ways in a short time, right? I'm sure you wanna sit and pig out first!"

"Uh…" the eastern couple mumbled as the western duo led them to said meal. As before, they conversed for several hours before breaking for sleep.

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The remainder of the week brought more equipment, vehicles, and red-eyes to the town and its related tunnels. Before long there was an army of the western specialists residing in the artificial hive. It was clear; the final move was drawing near.

The blue-haired woman was on her way back to her bunk from one of the numerous mess halls when she passed a troupe of red-eyed soldiers carrying some familiar firearms. She decided to take a look at some of the newer shipments of weaponry that had been coming in recently. She made her way to the upper levels, found an open crate, and pulled one of the odd rifles from its foam holder.

"Well this looks familiar…" she claimed with a grin as she looked over the series of interconnected shafts and angular pods that vaguely resembled a gun. The design, had she not seen it before at the Raver's weapons factory in Roventia, practically screamed of his style. The many azure-tinted metallic components were somehow attached in the most complicated of ways, and the fact that all these rods, shafts, and pods were even solidly held together seemed to be an impossibility.

"You like it?" Shades asked as she popped out of nowhere.

"Yes!" the Hyuuga yelped as she turned around. "It looks cool, but what's so special about it?"

"Well here's how it works…" she explained. "This gun converts electric energy and friction into a charge and streamlines it with its ammunition." She ejected a barrel from its spiraling magazine and pulled out an elongated sharpened pin. "This," she held the tiny needle up, "Is the ammo. It's inserted into this… somehow…" She hesitantly turned the rifle over, unsure of the exact mechanics of it all. "And is magnetically shot out with the energy charge using it as its source. Pretty cool, huh?!"

"You bet," the white-eyed easterner agreed while eyeing the futuristic rifle. "Is this what you've been delivering?"

"Yeah, that and the freak family's drug…"

"Who's family is a freak?" asked a sarcastic scratchy voice. The surprised friends swung around to find its owner.

"Sanshatav!" Shades exclaimed when she recognized the younger Agende Vhansin.

"So glad you think so highly of my family…" he replied with his wide creepy eyes staring her down. "Shades…"

"S- Sorry, man," she apologized apprehensively. "It's just that it's a real pain to say 'Agende Vhansin' every time, you know?" She tried to play off her insult and failed miserably.

"Right…" the younger specialist responded. His eyes shifted to Hinata and his wide smile came to life. "Lady Hinata! Do you know where Lord Uzi is?"

"Yeah," she said hesitantly, slightly taken aback by the title. "I was just heading back now to meet him. I could show you where…"

"Excellent!" he interrupted with a snort of glee. He turned to Shades with his freakish eyes and toothy smile. "Thanks for spreading our 'instinct juice' around. We've really gotten some good refinement on it since. Be seeing you around!"

"Uh, right! See you guys later!" Shades waved as the two made their way down to the living quarters.

The other red-eyes seemed to either avoid or respect the western cannibal as he strode alongside the white-eyed easterner.

"Uh… Sanshatav, was it?" Hinata attempted to strike up a conversation.

"Yes, my Lady?"

"Yeah, about that… What's with the title?"

"Ah, well, you're quite famous at this point. After all, you do travel with Lord Uzi these days, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you have it!" He grinned widely at her. "Lord Uzi's a legend amongst my family, so now that you're with him, the White Eyes of Death is becoming even more well known."

"And why do you call him 'Lord'?"

"Ah, he was announced as the next master since we last met, correct?"

"Oh, right," she recalled the last time she was in Hive City. "So what're you here for?"

"I got promoted since the battle of Hive City!"

"Congrats. What are you now?"

"I'm an emissary and a pack leader!"

"Pack leader?" she thought. "What the hell is that?" She decided not to delve any further.

"Hinata," Naruto spoke as he approached her. "I've been lookin' for you. Who's this?"

"Lord Uzi!" Sanshatav stood at attention. "I am an emissary of the Agende Vhansin, Sanshatav Agende Vhansin. I am here to inform you of…"

"Tell you what," he interrupted and held up a finger. "Want some food?"

The cannibal's face lit up. "Of course! Thank you sir!"

"Oh, thank God," he mused inwardly. "That'll keep him mostly quiet for a while…"

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"So what's your purpose here, Sanshatav?"

The frightening specialist looked up while taking a bite out of a hunk of raw meat. "Ah! I'm here to accompany you into battle."

"On whose orders?"

"I was ordered to do so by Master Sanvatas. My pack has already taken residence on the surface."

"Okaaaay," Naruto replied apprehensively. "You could have told me that by the red-eyes…"

"True," his face lit up as he explained himself. "But I wanted to tell my future master in person!"

"Fascinating," Hinata thought while she silently observed the odd and slightly awkward conversation. "Are all Agende Vhansins this loyal? Or are they stupid?" she mentally added with a giggle.

"You have any news on the invasion in the south?" the blonde easterner inquired of his yellow and red-eyed admirer.

Sanshatav's usual overly excited mood sunk. "It's not going too well. Lady Sheila and the Agran brothers are… suppressed?"

"Ugh, I was afraid of that. What's going on exactly, do you know?"

"Not much," he shook his head. "All I know is that the majority of the military was ordered south. The rest are holing up at the capital."

"What about the rest of the country?"

"What do you mean?"

"The military acted as the police force in most of the country. What happened to that?"

The younger Agende Vhansin laughed. "There are no police! They all left with the army pulling out!"

"Wait," the Hyuuga broke her silence. "So there's no authority right now?"

"That's correct, my Lady. Our so called 'leader' has left our homeland vulnerable to attack on every front."

"All in favor of saving his own ass," Uzi added. He decided to change the subject. "I appreciate you taking a stand by my side, especially since we're spread a little thin here on the southern flank. I take it you know when we move out?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Naruto's face portrayed his appreciation for the loyal ally. "Alright, you get rested up with your… pack. Get ready for the battle."

The cannibal's eyes opened as wide as possible and his smile stretched from ear to ear. "Yes, sir!" With that, the freakish red-eye left Uzi alone with the blue-haired Hyuuga.

Uzi sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He looked over to his white-eyed companion and saw her new rifle propped up next to her. "New gun, eh?"

"Yeah. Gotta stock up, you know?"

He chuckled under his breath. "Ready to hit the hay? We got a big day tomorrow."

She returned his smile as she stretched. "You bet. Let's go."

As the two cuddled up together in the small cot in the large subterranean barracks, the pair couldn't help but blush as they verbally retaliated the other red-eyes' playful taunting.

"Hey Uzi! One last go at it, eh?!"

"Go White Eyes! Show him what we girls can do!"

"Keep it down! I wanna get some sleep tonight!"

"Don't break a bone if you fall off!"

"Will you shut up!!" The eastern pair shouted at everyone before they were left alone to drift into slumber.


Remember my old art challenge? Good. Remember my due date for it? January 3rd? Great.

I may have to move my own due date back, and here's why: I had a crappy day yesterday. In the span of three hours my xbox 360 and my laptop crashed... again. My laptop was the only computer in this house that had Photoshop (or any kind of art program whatsoever), so that may push me back. It all depends on how long it takes me to get my hands on a copy of Photoshop for my mom's rarely used laptop. I'm using it right now. It's sooooo much nicer than my old POS. (If you didn't understand that abbreviation, it means something bad)

Anyways, I'll be able to determine whether or not I'll move the due date back within the next couple of updates. Sorry to anyone who was real anxious, but at least you just got some more time! Partay!

Catchya round.