Chapter 18-

Below ground, Gekido had taken his time stalking the remaining three ninja. He was rather happy to at last let his anger flow. The living embodiment of rage strode forth, ready to kill as casually as someone would be ready to have dinner. He took three more steps. Right in the middle of his fourth step, he paused.

The ground began to rumble and crack for a moment, and then out came Konohamaru. A rock encased fist, with diamond spiked knuckles landed an uppercut directly on Gekido's chin. The red-clad member of the Dark Five was knocked away, as Konohamaru forced him back with a rising stone pillar to propel him forward.

"Kore" Konohamaru laughed.

"Don't get cocky kid." Gekido took out his weapons once again. "It really pisses me off. And playtime is over."

The silent chunin stood ready to face his opponent once again. He made a motion with his hands.

"Yes kid. I understand sign language."

"Good." Konohamaru signed. "Now understand this. 'Playtime's' only just begun."

With that, he ran through a number of seals, lightning-fast.

'Doton: Yari no Daiya!' (Earth Release: Diamond Spears!)

At once long thin protrusions of precious stones burst forth from the cavern walls, and stabbed straight at Gekido. The large man, dodged them quickly and ran along the walls. Moving about in circles, he continued to dodge the barrage of spears, eventually finding an opening to strike at the young boy. He attacked. Konohamaru smiled.

The diamond spears burst forth, around Gekido. He'd been encaged in an unbreakable cell. There was just one opening at the top. Gekido looked and saw one final spear coming straight down, ready to turn him into a kabob.

'Gotcha!' Konohamaru thought.

He looked to see a shade of red in the cage of diamonds. A shade of red. In a cavern. Without light. Casting shadows...

'Oh, shit!' Konohamaru leaped out of the way behind a collection of the diamond spears for cover. He did this just in time.

Gekido emerged from his cage glowing red with chakra, and staring down the young chunin with unruly brown hair. He was insanely strong. He'd broken through diamond. This was insane! Completely and utterly insane.

'What the HELL was I thinking?' Konohamaru chided at himself. 'This guy stood toe-to-toe with Sakura. THE Sakura. Of course he was going to break diamond! Baka!'

Konohamaru rolled out of the way as two war-maces shattered his gemstone cover. Gekido was on the warpath. It was as though the demon-seed's upper body had become a turbine. He swung his weapons round and round, at ludicrous speed, destroying everything in his path. And that path was a direct route to Konohamaru.


The ceiling was coming down, but Gekido reduced whatever rubble that fell into gravel and dust. Konohamaru had nowhere to run but down the tunnel. he was doing his best to drive Gekido away, but it was to no avail. He'd already used his strongest jutsus. He didn't have much left. he could only hope that the others had found a way out.

The moment Shikamaru fell, Neji had taken charge. He and Tenten had abandoned the catapult with one final shot, and then raced to give Shikamaru and Lee cover. Tenten had unleashed a series of over sized shuriken. Eight in all; four over four. They provided some cover for Lee as he pulled Shikamaru to safety.

They were down a man. They could only hope it wasn't for good. Neji could see with the Byakugan that Shikamaru had been badly hurt. His chakra system was seriously disrupted. This particular technique was not just electrical; Neji had watched as the arrow forced lightning-fused chakra into the Tenketsu of his friend.

The combined energy was literally cooking Shikamaru from the inside out. It wasn't a pretty picture. But he had no time to think about that now. He had to focus on their opponent. With Shikamaru fallen, their chances of success had narrowed. A lot.

'Yet the chance is still there.'

He turned to his team mate. "Tenten!"

His look was all she needed. "Roger!"

Quick as a flash, she unsealed one of her scrolls. A rather large siege weapon appeared in a puff of smoke. Tenten pulled the lever, and sent her projectile skyward. It flew with incredible accuracy. Osoru looked on in wonder.

"Just what is that?"

"A weapon of my design." Tenten smirked.

At that moment a loud "bang" was heard. The lower end of the giant arrow had erupted in a jet of flames, propelling it towards it's mark at a rapidly increasing speed. The yellow-clad archer quickly moved to dodge. He was met with another surprise. Just as he'd moved out of the way, Tenten had formed a hand seal.

"Kai!"

The missile exploded in midair. Osoru didn't have the time to wonder. All at ounce, hundreds of smaller rockets burst forth. They scattered, and flew in all directions. The moment any of them came into contact with a solid object, they exploded.

The enemy archer swayed, side-stepped, rolled, ducked, and used any possible means to avoid these menacing incendiaries. Wherever he turned, there was bomb in his path. He would move in one direction narrowly avoiding being blown to bits, only to find another one charging directly at him. Still he would dodge them. From the ground it looked as though he was pushing the limits of human dexterity.

'And yet, i get the feeling he's hardly making any effort.'

Neji looked on as Tenten continued to launch her weapons. However futile it might be, it was certainly buying them time. But the Byakugan was the all-seeing eye. Nothing escaped its notice. Every detail of Osoru could be seen; the drops of sweat, the look in his eyes, the flow of chakra. They didn't add up.

Then Neji came to a realization, just as Lee launched him into the air.

"He's toying with us."


Zōo could hear the sounds behind him. The whimper of a dog. The sniffling of his female captive. Their mutual grief of their fallen comrade. He ignored it; his eyes were solely focused upon the moon, now partially hidden behind the clouds.

'Almost time.'


There was a shrill cry. It came from the thousands of insects. Each one responding to the emotional vibe of their ANBU master. Aburame Shino had not seen it. He hadn't been able to hear it. But all the same, he knew it.

Kiba had passed on. His life force had faded. His chakra signature vanished as though it had never been there. He was gone. And he wasn't coming back.

'This. Is. Un-Ac-Cep-Ta-Ble!' Shino practically screamed in his mind.

Itami eyed her opponent with some interest. His pain was seeping through. It was practically tangible to her. And it was oh-so-tasty; delectable even. She was practically drooling.

The bug user's aura was so palpable, that even Setsuna and Sasuke had momentarily ceased their fighting. Their blades paused in mid-air. A hair's breadth away from touching. They both wanted to see.

Itami wanted to see, too. She wanted him, the bug-user. She could see that he was an expert at containing his emotions. Releasing them in barely visible ways. Even the most trained eye wouldn't be able to see it. But she could see it.

She could sense it. She had that gift. She knew Zōo had cracked the exterior. Only slightly But it was there. It was driving her wild.

This was pain the boy was feeling. That was her domain. She wouldn't allow any more of that. Zōo had cracked him, but she would be the one to BREAK him. And she would make love to her beloved Setsuna over his corpse. She might even have a little fun before that. Something inside her began to flow to these thoughts, she sprang forward to press her attack.

Except, that Shino had beaten her too it. When she came at him with that twisted chakra of hers he had already been ready. Shino would describe it as a simple Kawarimi, and in a way it was. But it was perhaps one of the most vicious Kawarimis a ninja could employ. Vicious and at the same time, brilliant.

He switched his body with a colony of bugs. It was as tall as he was, and nowhere near as difficult to damage. That was the trap. When her blow struck the colony it stirred its inhabitants to action. All at once thousands of hornets flew from their home and struck out against their attacker.

It was more than even she could handle, and she cried out as the stinging began. Shino watched with a concealed sense of satisfaction. He knew her name, and he would strip the title of "pain" away from her. As far as he was concerned she knew nothing about pain. But, he was more than happy to teach her.

Sadly it would seem she was a difficult student. Eventually she had killed the hornets. It took some time and effort but she had done it. And as she stood there breathing heavily something happened, that Shino did not expect. She went into orgasm.

"Kaaaaaaaamiiiiiiiii!! So GOOD!" She squealed. "Setsuna could learn from you! Never in my life have I felt anything on that level!"

Shino was in for another shock. She began to remove her clothing. Her flush cheeks radiated her intentions for him. Were Shino a lesser man he might have panicked... or succumbed. But, he was Aburame Shino. He fought.


"That is the scariest bitch, I've ever seen." Sasuke commented. He had leaned back against a tree to watch for a moment.

"That's Itami." Setsuna replied, leaning on a tree opposite to Sasuke. "Your pains are her orgasms."

"Spare me your theatrics." Sasuke snarled. He leaped forward and swung his sword.

Setsuna brought up his guard. "Yes. After all, I have quite a prize here myself." He leaned in to kiss Sasuke, which earned him an elbow across the face.

'Why does everyone just assume, that I swing that way?' Sasuke asked himself as he unleashed a phoenix fire jutsu.

Setsuna countered with a water jutsu of his own, and strode forward. Sasuke stood his ground.


Back in the tunnels Konohamaru was taking a beating. Despite his best efforts, he just couldn't match up against the demonic nin's brutality. He'd used up all of his best tricks. Everything in his arsenal, and it hadn't been enough. There was nothing left.

He took another blow, and flew across the cavern. He struck the wall, and a protrusion struck him in the shoulder blade. The bone broke and he crumpled to the floor. Konohamaru lost consciousness. Gekido smiled as he moved in for the kill.

That's when he heard something. Immediately, Gekido retracted the hand that was reaching for Konohamaru's throat, and took a step back. He just barely dodged a pair of shuriken that would have embedded in his arm. Not unlike a bull, he gave a snort as he watched the blades arc almost instantly and return to their owner. Udon had arrived on the scene.

"That's enough."

Gekido angrily struck the cavern wall. The shockwave crackled down the rock, and burst out where Udon was standing. Then came the simple replacement technique. Only this technique in particular used Gekido himself for the switch. The large ninja had to cover his eyes. That was all Udon needed.

"Kai!"

Right beneath his feet, Gekido felt the force of several exploding tags, concealed beneath a patch of cavern moss.


I know, I know. That chapter was waaaaaaaaaaaay to short, and I took waaaaaaaaaaaay too long to update. Hardly worth the wait. But honestly the ideas aren't flowing that well, and I needed to get this thing up for people to at least see that I'm working on it. Sorry. I'm doing my best. Please read and review.

-bakagaijin