Chapter 15

"Is it done?" Tenten asked.

"I'm afraid not." Sai's voice called out

There was a small rumble in the forest, followed by a loud crack. Several of the saplings splintered, as Sai once again reformed himself. The flowers and the vines also began to snap as ink oozed from multiple locations and rejoined. The five of them looked on as Sai began to grind the plant matter.

"Don't you know where ink comes from?" He asked. "It's not just coal."

"Oh, dear..." Lee said.

They dived out of the way. Sai redoubled his assault. Inky tendrils lashed out twice as fast as before. It had happened. He could not hold back any longer.

Sai had seemingly been lashing out randomly in all directions. However that was not actually the case. He hadn't just been attacking the team, he was attacking the area around the team. Trees of all sizes were reduced to shivers, and debris from the earth was kicked up. Everyone took at least some damage from this attack.

"My, my, my..." Yosei giggled. "He certainly is relentless."

"It's how they made him." Shikamaru gloomily observed.

"This is proving to be an exceptional challenge." Lee huffed. "One that may be beyond our skills."

Neji looked at Lee with a raised eyebrow. "Giving up?"

This caught his attention. He looked at Neji and then at Tenten, who simply smiled at him and crossed her arms in a way that said "answer the question."

"Not on your life!" Lee exclaimed.

"Glad to hear it." Yosei took off his mask and smiled. "Alright, kids. The gloves are off now. We're not just serious. We're DEADLY serious."

"Shino would say something about 'Trump Cards.'" Shikamaru chuckled.

A large rock shattered one of the nearby trees.

"Time to go." Yosei smirked.

He dashed away before anyone else could blink. Sai's onslaught had continued unabated. He heeded no change or warning of any kind. His mind was almost completely lost now. The Dark Five's hold on him strengthened every passing second. Then the full extent of Sai's cursed power would be unleashed.

They wanted this finished before it came to that. All their actions were geared toward that end. Shikamaru moved further away with his group. His mind was bent on the battle at hand. It was do or die time; checkmate for either side.

'Checkmate... That's it!' Shikamaru began to smile. "Our dragon-king is already in play."

The others looked at him. He gave them a very interesting smile.

Meanwhile...

The aforementioned "Dragon-king," was indeed making his play. After a few quick hand seals, Yosei unleashed his next technique. The overhanging vines within trees stretched out and inter weaved. They caught all the debris thrown in their direction. Yosei focused on the net, keeping it intact as the vines were stretched. Then he smiled.

"Kai!"

The net snapped forward returning everything that Sai had thrown. They rocketed towards Sai, who only continued to uproot debris. The two opposing forces met in mid air, colliding together in explosive force. Backlash occurred on both sides. Yosei was forced to accept some wounds, as Sai's inky form was torn asunder.

Despite some small branches impaling his left leg, ribs, and right forearm, Yosei continued. He cast more of his seeds, they seemed to take the place of any shuriken he might carry. Over and over he launched them. Sai continued to evade, splitting and remerging, twisting and bending. Yosei never hit his mark.

"Tired, senpai?" Sai asked.

"Oh, don't worry about me." Yosei giggled.

It was then that Sai realized too late. Yosei wasn't trying to hit him. All around them, various plants had taken root, and grown beyond the stage of saplings. Trees shrubs and flowers. It was a dangerous place for him to be. Yosei once again controlled the field. He liked to play games; there was no way to tell which plants were harmless and which could mean potential death.

Returning to the other four, they had been observing at a safe distance.

"The dragon-king was well played." He eyed the field and knew within seconds what Yosei wanted to do. A blooming chrysanthemum under his foot told him that Yosei was aware of them, and counting on them.

"Kirin! Move to position. Phoenix, be ready!"

"Hai, came two voices."

"Ever the Shogi player." Neji commented.

"You should try it sometime." Shikamaru replied.


"We are most definitely on the right track." The little owl hooted.

"E-T-A?" Shino asked.

"Five minutes." Fukurōsekkou replied.

Sakura tried to keep her eyes on the path, but she couldn't help looking back at their new companion now and again. Kiba on the other hand was quite fascinated.

"So what can you owls do?"

"I can't tell you." Fukurōsekkou said.

"Where'd you come from?" Kiba asked.

"I can't tell you." said Fukurōsekkou.

"Are there a lot of you?" Kiba insisted.

"Yes." Fukurōsekkou finally answered.

"Who--"

"That's enough Kiba." Sasuke interrupted him.

Kiba was about to tell him to shove it up his ass, when Shino added his two cents.

"Naruto and Hinata are still in danger."

At that Kiba bit his tongue.

"Do you have a plan?" Fukurōsekkou asked.


Hinata awoke to see a struggling Naruto. He was fighting against two of the Dark Five. The one in red, whom she remembered as Gekido, and the one in yellow, named Osoru. It was coming back to her. She had gone on the offensive in the hopes of rescuing Naruto, but ended up a captive herself.

Naruto was quite angry to see her at their mercy and was fighting to get her out. Unfortunately he had exhausted his chakra, and wasn't in much of a condition to fight. Still, it was rather impressive that they required two men just to keep him back. Normally Hinata would be blushing madly at both Naruto's physical abilities and how they were directed at her, but she couldn't be concerned with romance right now. She needed to focus.

She watched as the one in red lost his temper, and struck Naruto in the stomach. She was infuriated, but her cry of objection was drowned out by the other four. Whoever they were, they did not want Naruto harmed. At least not in the physical sense.

"Be careful, you hot-head!" Osoru scorned.

"We had to get him tied down somehow, dammit!" was Gekido's retort.

With the air knocked out of him, they had an easier time of restraining the blond. They chained him down by the hands and feet. Once locked in, an orange-red light began to glow from four pillars which surrounded them. The light reached the center and began to form a circle with some sort of pattern. Naruto was of course in the center.

The moment the pattern was complete the energy seemed to drain out of Naruto once more. This is when she made another protest. This one was actually heard this time, and the Dark Five turned to face her. The man in the cheongsam and opera mask rose from his seat and looked at her. He crossed the short distance and held her hand in his face.

"So, you're awake at last." He removed the tape from her mouth, allowing her to speak.

"What have you done to him?" She demanded.

"Ah, such love. Caring more about his condition than your own. I can't say I hate it... but I'm not sure I like it either."

"Answer me!" She yelled.

"I apologize. We all tend to stray from the conversation a little. We have merely restrained him. Now he is ready for the ritual. We need only attend to you, okusama."

"Ritual? What ritual? What are you planning to do?" She tried to needle out a little more information. Every bit would be useful.

"You'll find out." The one in blue, Setsuna, said in a half-weep half-chuckle.

He reached his hand forward and was about to unzip her jacket, when a purple clad hand caught it by the wrist. He looked down at it. He seemed rather surprised to find someone stopping him. The owner gave him a dirty look. He pulled his hand away.

"Normally, I would love to see you having fun, brother. But you should know better in this case. Now run along. I'm sure Zōo has some task for you."

Hinata watched as the purple clad warrior, Itami, swayed her hip in a posture of disapproval. She was rather surprised.

"I'm sorry, sister." Setsuna began to weep. "I've just had so little time to play on this mission. I'll be good."

He leaned down and to Hinata's surprise, kissed Itami. Their mouths opened for a moment, and they blatantly massaged tongues. Itami put a stop to this shortly, and shooed him away. She then turned to Hinata.

"Older brothers. What can you do?" Itami shrugged.

"You are siblings?" Hinata asked with a disgusted look.

"Obviously." Itami responded. She reached into her pouch, and pulled out a large vial.

"And you're a woman?" Hinata asked this question with even more surprise. The purple-clad ninja had originally been a man in the forest.

"Ah, that's right, I released the technique. It is a henge I use to travel freely. It pains me to say this, but we can't talk anymore. I have to get you ready, obaa-san."

"Obaa-san?"

Hinata wasn't able to ask any more questions. Itami opened the vial and forced it under Hinata's nose. She immediately fell asleep. She was then taken by Itami to an underground chamber. She was laid atop a table and stripped bare.

Unconscious and exposed to the cold air, her body shivered. Itami marveled at her beauty. Creamy skin. Dark hair. Curves in all the right places and of all the right sizes.

"Such beauty. I'm jealous, obaa-san."


Yosei gave another giggle at the ink blot, which was reforming itself into the original Sai's image. "I've caaaaught youuuuu." He teased.

Sai looked at him, but did not respond to his childlike taunt. He focused on the area around him. He didn't know which plant was going to attack him, but he would be ready. He sprouted two more heads so he could see in all directions. Yosei giggled again.

"You look ridiculous."

"And you are absurd." Sai replied. He was a little annoyed at his opponent's behavior.

That was the opportunity they'd been waiting for. The "Kirin," made his dynamic entry. Lee launched himself at Sai. His foot connected with the second head on Sai's shoulders, and much to Sai's surprise he sent the ink-man flying. Yosei blinked.

Sai flew straight through the woods, breaking several branches, and one tree. His body deformed and became a shapeless ink-blot once more. He spattered across the next tree in his direct path. This was over twelve yards away.

"How did you do that?" He asked with wonder.

"I'm sorry, but that will have to wait, Yosei-senpai. We're not finished here yet."

Just as Sai had finished re-forming, the next wave came.

"Enter the Phoenix!"

The cry from above caught Sai's attention. Looking up he saw the usual flaming arrows. He reached back and used a pair of trees to sling-shot himself away and into the sky. Looking down he saw the pattern that Tenten had made. The arrows landed forming the shape of a large bird in the fire. With Tenten, weapons were an art form.

"'Enter the Phoenix' indeed." Sai said. "I guess the black hawk should match, the fires."

It was then that Sai transformed his body into a great raptor. It had no resemblance to any actual species of predatory bird, but it was clearly a hawk from the creative mind of the Konoha's best selling artist. Sai had caught sight of Tenten and began to swoop down upon her. However, in mid flight he had been caught once again. The knight had re-appeared.

Multiple tendrils had reached out and caught Sai in shadowy lassos. They jerked his body back and off to the right forcing him several more yards away. Once more Sai's body splattered around the field. Once again he began to reform himself. These attacks were impressive, but could cause no real damage to Sai's new form.

Shikamaru spoke over the radio. "Soaring Eagle!"

"Roger."

Neji sat upon the arm of a shadowy siege engine. A catapult Shikamaru had created for the final move in his strategy. Everything hinged on this. Neji cut the shadow rope with a chakra enhanced chop and sent himself flying. He flew at incredible speed.

His Byakugan already activated, he say everything before him. At speeds that would liquify the human body on impact, he sailed through the forest. Without stopping, he would bounce from tree to tree and maintain the speed gifted to him by Shikamaru's ingenious technique. It really was brilliant. Neji was the only one who could pull this off.

At last Neji came upon his target. The freshly reformed Sai. He twisted his body upright, and prepared. Sai watched Neji fly forth at a speed incomprehensible. The Neji looked, it was as if there really was a soaring eagle bearing down on him. Neji reached out with as much chakra as he could amass in his feet. He struck with a dropkick, sending that chakra into Sai's inky body, which spread throughout and sent him flying a good mile.

Neji flipped backwards upon impact with Sai, and landed safely on the ground. He was breathing heavily. What he accomplished was no easy feet. The others came walking up softly behind him. Shikamaru clapped his shoulder.

"Good job."

"I knew you kids could do it." Yosei cheered. "Come on now. You still need to declare your victory, 'Shogi-master.'"

Sai had finally landed with a loud crash. It took him a long time to start to reform his body. Eventually, several large globs had begun to form and were drifting back towards each other. That's when the strategy came to a close. Sai was under siege.

All around him, white misty bodies sprang forth from the surrounding trees. Some were child-sized, others were the size of an adult. They moved forward and grabbed the many parts of Sai's body, and dragged them back to their trees. Poor Sai fought back, but the spirits were more than capable of taking him down. Sai's body was once again being forcefully absorbed into the trees.

Nearby a group of onlookers observed the scene. Yosei had to shake Shikamaru out of his stare, so he could say the final words. "Sai..."

The glob nearest the group shifted slightly to form his face. It was held there by several of the white spirits. "Shikamaru."

"... Checkmate." Shikamaru said.

Sai smiled. "It was a good game."

"Sai?" Shikamaru looked at him with a sad look. "Is... there something you want me to tell Ino?"

"Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I love her." A tear of ink rolled down Sai's cheek once more. It stayed there.

"I'm sure she knows, but I'll tell her. And don't worry. Chouji and I... we'll look after her." Shikamaru gave him a reassuring smile.

"Sai." Yosei spoke. Everyone turned to look at him. "You'll be okay... my family will take care of you."

Sai looked at him. He wasn't sure what to make of that. But he thought he understood what Yosei was trying to say. "I see. Thank you. All of you."

That was it. The last piece of Sai's body was absorbed into the trees. He was never seen or heard from again. While the official records stated that he would die that evening, the truth is that something else had happened entirely. Only Yosei knew the whole story, and he only told it to one person- Ino.

"What... what were those?" Tenten asked.

"Kodama." Yosei answered. "They agreed to help us. That's why I had you all bring him here. This is a sacred grove."

They had more questions, but Shikamaru knew they had other priorities. "Come on. We need to catch up to the others."


Author's Section

Well. There it is. Chapter 15. The end of Sai. I know of few of you will be worried by this. One reviewer commented that he would stop reading if this occurred. I want to make certain those of you who are like-minded don't stop enjoying my fic prematurely. Hinata was not, and is not going to be, raped. So rest at ease. At least, as far as that little worry of yours is concerned. Other fates will be bestowed upon her, and Naruto as well.

Mwahahahaha. Read and review.

-bakagaijin.