Chapter 19-

There was a grunt as Gekido was pushed back from the explosion. He flew several feet and rolled to a stop. He stood up sweeping the rocks from his clothes, and glared at Udon. He started to walk forward and then stopped, throwing up his arms. Udon had launched himself forward with a kick.

The second his foot hit Gekido's blocking arms, he used them as a springboard and did a back-flip. Before he even landed, he'd drawn his shuriken. The instant one of his toes touched the ground, he let them fly. Within seconds he'd flashed through the hand seals, and the four shuriken became thirty-six. They flew with a high-pitched "whirr" straight at Gekido.

The red-clad powerhouse made a chop. At once, a hand of red chakra flew out, and grew in size. When Udon's weapons struck this wave of power, their trajectories were drastically altered. They split into groups of two. They passed Gekido on either side as he continued walking forward.


There was a loud "bang." Suddenly Gekido found himself tied and arms pinned to his sides with steel cable. In the next second the air was forced from his lungs and his feet from the ground, as he was yanked away like a fish on a reel. Twisting along the corridor every exposed part of his body was scraped against jutting features of the passageway. Rocks, kunai, broken glass, caltrops, and anything else Udon had thought to litter the cavern with on his way to help Konohamaru tore into the clothes and flesh of this monstrous man. Udon hurried after his trail of blood.

Neji flew high into the air, thanks to the assistance from Lee. Osoru smiled at this pathetic display.

"I'm afraid our time together must end, soon."

In a puff of smoke, four shadow clones appeared. They slowly brought their arrows to the ready. They waited as Neji continued to ascend, though his speed was beginning to fade. The young Hyuga had a look of determination on his face that Osoru could only laugh at. He and his four clones pulled back on their strings and set the arrows loose.

It was another high-speed volley. But this time, with all the shadow clones, the number of arrows doubled. To Neji and the other's it seemed as though the dome itself had turned black, and was collapsing all around them. Neji continued upwards however, and he didn't even blink. Instead, he slowly began to raise his arms.

'Should I be worried?' Osoru wondered.

"Kaiten!"

Neji began to rotate in the air with all the speed he could muster. The tried-and-true "Heavenly Spin" already deflecting the earliest of arrows. He was untouchable. Invulnerable.

"But what about your comrades?" Osoru asked, cocking his head to the side with a face of feigned fright.

Neji's technique was quite large. It had surpassed Hiashi's by a great deal. But it wasn't enough to turn away all the arrows. He would be left untouched, but everyone below him would be repeatedly impaled. They had no way to protect themselves.

That is, if Neji didn't have another trick up his sleeve. The surrounding air had suddenly changed, and everyone nearby felt it. A slight tingle. A feeling of pins and needles. An electrical charge.

The chakra from Neji's body had been enhanced with the addition of an element; lightning! A surging, white-hot ball of electrical energy continued to rise high in the sky. As Neji's technique continued to spin, the arrows began to shake.

"What...?"

All at once the arrows altered their paths, and turned in mid-flight. Now flowing like a black river, they flew back to the sky. Back to the diamond ceiling where Osoru and his clones were positioned. With a great display of finesse and power, they struck true and pierced the clones of Osoru, as well as the diamond ceiling. Osoru himself ran along the ceiling in a mad dash; desperately trying to avoid his own ammunition.

Wherever he ran the arrows followed. Osoru had given Neji all the weapons he needed. When running didn't work, Osoru went with Shunshin no jutsu. Shifting positions all over the ceiling. Neji compensated with a wide burst of arrows spreading them out in a single strike, pinning the darts across the entire area of the ceiling they were under. He then continued the stream with the remaining arrows. While the chase on the ceiling took place, the three konoha-nin below took the chance to regroup.

"Where... did Neji learn such a technique?" Lee was astounded.

Tenten though equally shocked, was able to keep her head in the game. "I don't know, but now's not the time to wonder about that."

"Right. Shikamaru!" Lee carried said unconscious friend over to Tenten, who was already bringing out her medical kit.

She had wanted to be like Tsunade. She could never hope to be such a gifted medic, but she could at least patch up the wounded. The problem was, the young Nara needed more than some stitches and bandages. Neither her nor Lee had Neji's keen vision, but she could tell by the damage just what was happening to Shikamaru. Something had to be done fast!

Lee did his part by keeping watch. It was fortunate that he did so.

"Tenten!"

The girl looked up and saw Neji's special Kaiten, begin to dim. She also saw it begin to fall. Gravity caught up with him.

"GO!" She screamed.

"YOSH!" Lee was off like a shot.

Zōo observed his captives. The white eyed woman, the Hyuuga, wept almost silently for her fallen friend. The blond, Uzumaki Naruto, was no longer writhing in pain. He hung in his bonds limp, breathing in a labored fashion.

"Past the point of return..." he observed. Then he cast his eyes to the moon once again. The red rays of light reflecting from its surface cast down over the area. Glyphs began to glow all around the area. Zōo stood motionless basking in the light. "Soon..."

Lee had practically flown through the air. In truth it was an extremely high powered jump. He rose in the air beneath the dome. As Neji passed out from chakra-depletion, he began to fall, and Lee had caught him mid air. Lee then descended with his friend in hand, landing as softly as he could to avoid any injury to Neji.

In that brief moment of concentration needed to perform such a feat, Osoru seized his chance. He landed right behind Lee, and faster than Lee could counter, he struck him hard. Harder than ordinary men could withstand. With a single strike from the bow, the young ninja hit the ground, and the ground ruptured in a wave, shaking the Earth and leaving a small crater beneath them. Osoru looked down and and could see Lee's eyes rolled back to a pure white. He then turned towards Ten-Ten.

Ten-Ten was no weakling. She was a master of Ninjutsu, and a greater master of Weapons- all weapons that were part of a Ninja's arsenal. She had faced many enemies, alone and with companions, and with training, experience, and no small amount of grit, had risen to the occasion every time. Coming back each time, that much stronger. That much more experienced. Yet, before this demon-bred monster, she was helpless... and she knew it. There he stood, draped in yellow, over the bodies of her friends. They were among the strongest people she had ever known, and they had fallen. Even when Neji had somehow managed to turn what must have been his strongest attack back on him, it had not been enough. Even now, injured as he was with arrow shafts protruding from his body, he stood there seemingly as strong as when the fight had begun. This monster stood there looking at her, and would have regarded her as nothing, but for the fear that had to be in her eyes. She knew it was there. She couldn't hide it. That fear seemed to bring him sustenance. He reveled in her fear for a moment more, and then quicker than she could react to, he brought up his bow and unleashed an arrow. It struck her, right between the eyes. Her world went dark.

Gekido shattered his bonds and rose from the ground. He was battered and bloody, his clothing was torn to shreds, and his weapons were gone- separated from him by that last maneuver. He heard a tell tale sound. Something akin to a pitter-patter. He turned around, and there was the young four-eyed nuisance barreling down the tunnel along the path that Gekido's own body had created as it was dragged along. Gekido spat. He stood there facing the brat, arms raised in a combative stance.

"What else you got?"

"I'll show you." the young man said, as he launched himself toward Gekido.

Gekido let fly a fist which connected with the younger man's body. A left hook which forced him into the right wall of the tunnel. The impact created a cloud of dust, which concealed his opponent.

"A girl. A brat. And a worthless brat. Am I going to have to fight the little whore-in-training, too?! Damn it! This really pisses me off!" He let a foot fly and it landed on something hard. The dust cleared away from the force of the kick, and revealed Udon beneath his foot. Blood started to trickle out of his mouth. Then he smiled, and just as Gekido wondered just what was so funny, he felt a prick in his foot, then a slow burning sensation, that spread up his leg. He felt weak.

"My own special recipe." Udon said to him. Moegi's our medic, but she's not so good with numbers. It's hard for her to deal with all those measurements, and portions, and ratios. That's where I come in. Helping her gave me an expertise in pharmaceuticals... and poisons."

Gekido's vision blurred, and he began to stumble back. "Little shit..."

Udon rose to his feet, coughing a little more blood as he did so. "That's what I've got!" he yelled, and lunged forward with a kunai, stabbing Gekido in the eye. They fell over, and Udon felt the thud of the blade piercing the orbital socket and the scrape of bone and steel as it continued to slide into the brain. Gekido did not rise again.

Moegi stood over Sakura in their hidng place. She had escaped the tunnels with Sakura on her back, and sought refuge in a hollowed out tree camoflauged with a genjutsu. She spent her time between helping Sakura to heal, and eyeing the entrance to the tree. Moegi whispered a prayer into the world.

"Please, be safe."