Author's Note: Please don't point out spelling or grammar errors if you review. I'm already aware of the fact that they appear in my work, I just didn't have the time or energy to double check this chapter… ENJOY Though!
NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Defilers of God
Kakashi, Raikiri blazing, rushed at Hikita from behind with incredible, unmatched speed, while the huge swordsman was busy pinning Asuma to the ground underneath his foot, crushing the man's chest. The giant of a shinobi was just about to finish off his quarry with a quick slash to the neck to decapitate him, only to detect another enemy coming from behind. This caused him to turn attention away from Asuma and towards the silver haired Jonin running at his blind spot.
Leaping through the air, the masked ninja thrust his crackling attack straight at the man's chest, the impact sound with a loud clap of thunder as he drove home his strike. Asuma watched from below, now free of his attacker's weight, allowing him to stagger away. However, he kept his eyes on Hikita, who shockingly, stood where he was, taking Kakashi's attack headlong.
The silver haired Jonin looked up in astonishment, seeing the snide grin on Hikita's face behind the blue bolts of electricity shooting out from his Lightning Blade.
"No way!" Kakashi shouted.
Hikita grinned and brought his right arm around, and lashed out at the Konoha shinobi, the masked man leaping away just in time to avoid the swipe, at the same time deactivating his attack. Kakashi skidded across the ground on his retreat from his target, before looking up to assess the damage.
The problem though, was that there was absolutely no damage to be seen.
"Impossible!" the famous copy ninja blanched, unable to fully comprehend what had happened. "I used a full powered Lightning Cutter! That had to at least faze him!"
"Oh… don't get me wrong, Kakashi of the Sharingan… that technique did sting a bit," Hikita exclaimed, placing his left hand against the chest area where his opponent had hit him full on. "However, a bee sting would have been more appropriate…"
Kakashi furrowed his brow and reassumed a fighting stance, watching as Hikita began walking towards him, yanking his sword out of the ground at the same time. However, just before the behemoth swordsman could get even halfway towards his next target, Gai suddenly came rushing in from the man's right and flew right at him, spinning through the air at a high velocity as he aimed a kick towards the Jonin.
"LEAF WHIRLWIND!" Gai roared, spinning a left side kick into his target's face. The blow struck, but only managed to nudge at the Kiri shinobi's face, the man glaring at the bushy browed taijutsu specialist. Astounded by his opponent's lack of response to his kick, the spandex ninja eventually pushed off of his target and leapt away just as Kakashi had done.
"Nothing?" Gai blinked, shocked. "He's just shrugging our attacks off as if they were nothing!"
Hikita grinned and turned towards the busy browed man, only to receive another pinch in the back of his head when kunai came flying from behind him and struck him from behind. Blinking, he turned around, only to see more flying knives coming at him from above, shuriken and senbon cutting through the air and striking him in barrages. However, the weapons struck him one after the other, loud clangs ringing out as they all bounced off of him, harmlessly. Anko descended out of the air seconds later, sending a double fly kick into the man's target of a face. However, her attack was just as unsuccessful as Gai's the result being a slight stagger from the missing nin and a shrug of his shoulders.
Growling angrily, Anko dropped to the ground right in front of the swordsman and crouched low, pulling her left fist back and, unexpectedly, sending a jab straight up into the man's genital region. Every man in the vicinity winced at the killer blow, which resounded with a loud thud on contact.
However, astonishingly enough, Anko withdrew her fist in shock, and blinked up at the man grinned down at her cockily.
"Oh… thank you… I was going to scratch my nuts sooner or later," he laughed.
"Fuck me!" the Snake Jonin coughed out, sweating nervously. "Your nuts have to be the size of tennis balls, and you still didn't feel a thing!"
"Nope…" Hikita chuckled, swiftly reaching down and grabbing Anko's left breast tightly. The woman winced before crying out in agony as she was suddenly lifted off of her feet by her chest, and was hung suspended three feet above the ground. She grabbed the swordsman's arm which held her, the Snake user desperately clenching the hand grabbing her, as well as kicking out uselessly as she was brought up to the missing nin's face, in an effort to break free. The scarred swordsman laughed as he glared heatedly into the woman's eyes, watching her sweat, before licking his lips in delight.
"You certainly are well endowed… Anko Mitarashi…" Hikita hissed, looking down at her breast he held, which was covered by her jacket. "Maybe after I am done burning this village to the ground… I'll make you my personal servant…"
"Fuck you!" Anko spat into the man's face indignantly. Hikita frowned as her saliva trickled down his face and nose, which he licked up carelessly. He smirked back in delight.
"Fair enough…"
Detecting somebody else trying to get a jump on him, Hikita spun around and, with a roar of effort; baseball threw Anko right at an oncoming Ao. The man had but a second to respond before the purple haired woman collided with him at high speed, and sent both of them flying about twenty meters across the arena, before crashing to the hard earth, rolling across to a stop. Both of them were pretty much knocked senseless by the unexpected pitch.
Hikita laughed, glancing around to see Kakashi rushing at him again, along with Chojuro trying to attack him from behind. Spotting the both of them attempting to attack him, the swordsman smirked and took proper action. Thrusting his huge weapon into the ground again, he formed a single, Tiger hand seal, before raising his gauntlet, the green stone on his wrist suddenly burning brightly with pure energy. Seconds later, just as Chojuro was swinging his sword down upon him and Kakashi was bringing up the rear with a kunai in hand, green energy exploded up and around Hikita like a raging fire. The force of the mysterious chakra tore up the ground around him, sending dust, debris and rubble flying in all directions, as well as a shockwave made up of the energy from the stone he held.
The blast of wind knocked Chojuro and Kakashi flying, both of them struck by the full force of the Stone of Gelel's attack. The silver haired Jonin, in mid-flight, took the kunai he held into a two handed grip, and quickly unfurled the wire wrapped around at the end. The wire was tagged with explosive notes, which he then threw with absolute precision at the man after being blasted off by the shockwave. The weapon cut through across the air space of the arena like a bullet, aimed directly for the enemy's chest.
The swordsman spotted the incoming kunai and raised his right gauntlet, purple energy beginning to form around his hand. A split second later, the kunai's half a dozen tags detonated simultaneously, racking an area of thirty meters with concussive explosions. The flames from the blasts engulfed Hikita, clouding any sight of the behemoth in smoke, dust and debris.
Chojuro managed to land on his feet after being repelled by the enemy swordsman's technique, whereas Kakashi fell rather clumsily, unable to recover after making his last minute throw. Looking over, the Jonin gathered around wondered and hoped whether that attack had done any damage whatsoever, and waited for the smoke screen to collapse.
However, as soon as it did clear, it revealed a relatively unscathed Hikita standing in the center, gauntlet raised with a purple shield of chakra protecting him. Grinning, the man undid the barrier, the purple energy fanning out like peacock feathers, before being sucked back into the stone it belonged to. He cracked his right hand of the tension caused by the technique, and folded his arms, chuckling.
"Is that it?"
"Not quite!" Anko roared, flashing through hand signs, before throwing her left hand out. "Ninja Art: Shadow Snake Hands!" she shouted. All of a sudden, a dozen snakes shot out of her sleeve and flew at the swordsman, hissing loudly. Hikita was about to respond with another gauntlet attack, but the attack came in too fast, the snakes striking him in the shoulder and staggering him a bit, with a large number of the serpents suddenly wrapping around him tightly, and began strangulating him.
Struggling against the binds, Chojuro saw his opportunity to attack, as did Asuma. The bearded Jonin jumped forward into action and formed a few quick hand seals, before inhaling sharply and unleashing his chakra enhanced breath all in one go at his target.
"Fire Style: Burning Ash Cloud!" the Jonin bellowed, black smoke gushing out of his lips, and pouring out in Hikita's direction. The swordsman was engulfed in blinding hot smoke and ash, his lungs responding in kind before dropping into a coughing fit at the cloud surrounding him and obscuring his vision. Anko kept the enemy at bay and trapped with her own technique, gripping her wrist and steadying herself where she knelt, holding her snakes in place. Ao was also kneeling beside her, watching the situation unfold through his Byakugan eye.
Seconds after the cloud of ash engulfed Hikita, Asuma bit his teeth together; creating sparks to shoot out from between his lips. That spark easily ignited the cloud of gas, which detonated along the stream of smoke leading from his mouth, to the ball surrounding the swordsman. It took but a moment for the mass of flames to reach the cloud, which went up in a magnificent, orange and black display.
The earth shaking explosion that followed would leave a smoldering crater in its wake and hopefully a deep fried swordsman, with Anko quickly withdrawing her snakes from the bellowing heat blast to make sure the fire didn't spread down her own technique to her, the heads of her serpents literally severed off by the explosion.
Chojuro brought his sword back around in a swing as he assumed a fighting stance, the gauze along his blade suddenly disintegrating as Hiramekarei powered up for its attack. Chakra coursed over the pure steel blade, which morphed and shape into a large hammer. Letting out a loud yell, Chojuro swung the sword straight into the ground, a strike powered by chakra blasting out of the air vents positioned along his blade, increasing the strength of his attack.
"Secret Art: PULSATING SHOCK WAVE!" the young swordsman roared, his hammer like sword hitting the ground with such force, even his own two feet weren't touching the ground. A massive shockwave, as given by the name of his technique, rippled out from the center of the hit, and ripped across the ground towards the black cloud surrounding Hikita's position. Literally, a wave in the earth was generated from his technique, which had everybody in the surrounding area leap into the air to avoid the ten meter high wall of rubble and earth coursing across the arena.
The split and disruption in the ground hit the cloud, and literally caused it to cave in around it. Slabs of stone and chunks of earth came up and began slamming together in an incredible display of power. Chojuro looked up with a grin at the successfulness of his attack, but was visibly tired from swinging his sword around the way he did. However, he knew that his attack should have caused some damage, and after dropping back down to the crumbling surface of the arena floor, watched on carefully to get a solid conclusion of his technique's results.
The other Jonin landed respectively after their evasion from the young man's attack and refocused attention on the thinning wall of smoke hanging in the air.
Seconds later, Hikita emerged from the cloud in the middle of ground zero, on his knees and glaring agitatedly ahead of him. He looked around at his targets surrounding him on all sides, revealing small burns etched onto his skin that were slowly starting to heal over, as well as blood leaking from his head and left shoulder. His body was visibly ruptured inwards from the shockwave technique and the boulders of earth that had slammed into him, which broke some of his ribs.
However, in spite of the damages, his unique abilities allowed him to heal himself of the most serious of wounds, and soon enough, he was back on his feet, a bit of blood still dripping down his face as he shook off the assault.
"That hurt you bastards!" Hikita shouted, spinning around and grabbing his sword's handle, yanking it out of the ground. Remarkably enough, Deity had managed to remain standing where it was impaled, undisrupted by the ground that had shifted around it. "You'll pay for that!"
Just as he was turning to face Chojuro, tree roots suddenly jutted up and out of the ground around him, and wrapped themselves around his body, fastening him against the log. His body also began sinking into the ground, the man glaring down at the trap sprung onto him, which made him wonder for a moment whether it was a physical attack. However, when he looked up, he saw a raven haired woman with red eyes emerge from the tree trunk above him, kunai drawn and a death glare locked onto him.
"That's as far as you go!" Kurenai stated, her blade flashing in the sunlight.
Hikita blinked up at her, before grinning. "Genjutsu huh?"
All of a sudden, the illusion that was encasing him suddenly collapsed, and the man walked forward, Kurenai standing just several feet away from him. The raven haired woman had just a second to leap out of the way to avoid the swing of the man's fist at her when he lunged. Spinning through the air, she landed at a safe distance away, coming to a stand beside Asuma and Gai, who had converged on her for added support.
"Did you hit him?" Asuma asked, trench knives drawn.
"I did!" Kurenai shouted, shaking her head, feeling a bit dizzy. "He was trapped in my genjutsu! What happened?"
"I thought your techniques worked on everyone…" Gai asked, assuming his characteristic fighting stance as he glared at the swordsman in the middle of the arena, who propped his sword on his shoulder and grinned at them. "This man is no ordinary shinobi if he was able to simply stroll out of your illusion…"
"My technique just rebounded off of him," the red eyed Jonin said, glancing over at her bushy browed comrade. "I could tell because it broke, and I felt the sting of it when it rippled back on me. But that could only happen when the technique is forcefully broken out of, and he barely even put up a fight!"
"Genjutsu on any level doesn't work on me!" Hikita sneered, glancing over at Kakashi, Anko and Ao, the three of them moving around to get his back. All of them hesitated in their moves, and chose to hang back when he turned his attention on them. "Why don't you take a guess…hmm?"
"Hikita is so physically strong, not even genjutsu works on him… it's like sprinkling water over a raging fire," Kakashi growled, furrowing his brow and sweating nervously. "This isn't good…"
"Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu… not even Genjutsu has any effect on this guy!" Anko growled, biting her lower lip. "It only works when we concentrate techniques on him…"
"We should strike at the same time and diverge all of our attacks onto him! That should work," Ao whispered, his allies nodding in agreement.
The buff swordsman laughed and stepped around, so that both his left side and right side faced his opposition. "So… you're planning on hitting me all at once? That doesn't seem fair…"
"That all depends on your outlook!" Asuma replied, his trench knives becoming sheathed in chakra, and began to hum with deadly energy. "What's the point of packing a sword like that if you aren't even going to use it?"
"At your request, Asuma Sarutobi…" Hikita hissed, twirling his sword around and slamming the end into the ground. The moment he assumed a stance with his left hand placed behind his back, rocks and boulders around him began to levitate into the air. The grin he wore showed his confidence in his battle prowess, as he looked left and right at the Konoha and Kiri shinobi flanking him.
"Round two… maggots…"
At the top of the arena…
Explosions ripped across the tiled surface of the roof of the Chunin Exam's arena main building, as the shinobi within the barrier set up by the Sound Four battled each other out. Unfortunately, for all those within the barrier, it wasn't turning out exactly how any of them expected the battle to turn out…
Leaping out of a burning ash cloud, Orochimaru skidded along the tiled floor, and glared ahead angrily, watching as the Mizukage suddenly came lunging at him out of the cloud, closely followed by Ryoko, who had managed to slip behind the Sound barrier just in time at the aid of her best friend. The duo attacked him at once, the pale man back-flipping out of the way just to avoid their simultaneous attacks, the swordswoman's weapon hitting the roof instead of her intended target. Mei Terumi was able to pursue though, and leapt after the Snake Sannin.
"You're not getting away this time, Orochimaru!"
"Tsk… annoying women!" the man hissed, flipping as he descended into a hard landing. Skidding down the slope of the roof they were on, he glared up and formed a single hand seal with his hands. His cheeks bloating briefly for a second, the Sannin's tongue suddenly shot out of his mouth and rocketed up towards the auburn haired woman flying down at him with a punch ready to land.
Frowning, Mei instead grabbed the elongating tongue as it flew at her with both hands and back-flipped under it, using it as a rope and zip lining down the length of flesh straight towards her target. She kicked Orochimaru hard in the face and sent the Sannin flying with the force of her blow. The man tumbled down the tiled roof rather painfully, his direction and timing of his descent allowing Mei to form several hand signs and take aim with her next attack.
"Lava Release: Laval Globs!" The woman breathed in sharply, before literally hocking hot loogies at her opponent. The man managed to stop his rolling and leap out of the way just in time to avoiding the pulsating globs of huge saliva balls flying through the air, which struck the tiled roof several times and melting into it, literally. He did however receive some splash back, the incredibly hot liquid sizzling against his skin like acid.
Stopping himself in his leap, he crouched low and glared up at the woman, clutching the burn mark on his arm, before suddenly catching a shadow coming in from his blind spot. In an instant, he wheeled to his left, seeing Ryoko lunging at him with her sword, a grin etched on her face. In the nick of time, the Snake Sannin, flipped through several hand signs before the woman's attack struck him down from above, his body splitting in two at the clean cut. However, the two halves of the pale ninja then crumbled into mud and dirt, the Earth Clone catching Ryoko off for a loop.
"Damn you coward! Get back here!" Ryoko shouted, spinning around and sprinting up to the top of the roof, where Orochimaru was crouching, panting from his constant running.
"Oh geez…" the Sannin breathed, gritting his teeth as he watched both Ryoko and Mei rushing up towards him. "How much energy do you two have?" He flashed through hand signs again, slamming his hands into the surface he was on and glaring up at the woman. "Earth Style: Boulder Avalanche!" The entire structure of the arena's main building literally shook as his chakra took hold of the surrounding environment, and suddenly, the tiles began to crumble and shift, chunks of it forming into boulders of wood, fiber and rock, which then began cascading towards the women rushing at him.
Ryoko and Mei easily maneuvered around the boulders, but found it even more difficult as the surface at their feet started collapsing. However, they made it through, with Orochimaru retreating from the two kunoichi in hot pursuit.
Hiruzen had a handful of his own problems. The old Kage was forced into a hard retreat as he was doggedly engaging both his resurrected teachers, masters and idols, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju. The two Hokages had been brought about by Orochimaru's Impure Resurrection Technique, had their memories wiped, and were tirelessly attacking their former student. The Third slid down the roof of the building he was on, his Kage armor donned and scarred from the battle that had transpired so far, as he glared up towards the two Kages rushing at him down the tiled surface, flanking him on both sides.
Gritting his teeth, the old man formed several hand signs, before crouching low and leaping skywards, avoiding the double sweep made by the two former Hokages. The First and Second looked up as Hiruzen flipped over them, inhaling sharply and firing off balls of fire down at them in rapid succession as he abseiled over them.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" the Third shouted as the spheres of flames descended right down on top of his targets. Hashirama and Tobirama crossed their arms above them, and blocked out a majority of the raining torrents of fire that cascaded and detonated around them. Seconds later, the Third Hokage landed, crouching low and glaring down the confined battlefield towards the other two Hokages standing around the smoldered area that had just been strafed. As soon as they locked back onto him, they rushed him again, Tobirama flipping through hand seals as he sprinted up the roof.
"Water Release: Water Shockwave!" The Second Hokage shouted, moisture suddenly becoming sucked out of the air around him, and forming a thin vortex around him. Seconds later, the thin layer of water vapor surrounding the undead shinobi expanded into an enormous wave, which rippled upwards with a blast of force and charged the Third Hokage down. Hiruzen responded instantly, forming several hand seals of his own and in taking air just as his opponent had.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet Technique!" Flames jetted out of his mouth with the force of a rocketed, and charged the water technique down, both attacks colliding and exploding with a shockwave that literally ripped the roof apart around them. The attacks were so high toned that Orochimaru, Mei and Ryoko were thrown off balance and sent tumbling down the roof as the blast waves hit them, and sent debris and rubble of all shapes and sizes in their direction.
Amidst the smoke and steam, Hiruzen continued to kneel in his position, and glared down the torn up surface of the building. As soon as he glared into the bellowing wall of water vapor, he suddenly saw the shadow of one of his targets appear in it, and explode out of it. Hashirama Senju glared up towards the Third Hokage and formed a single hand seal.
"Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!" The First Hokage shouted, throwing his right hand out, which formed into wood. It then morphed into that of a log, before wood spears and beams shot out of his hand like fingers, and branched outwards to ensnare his target. Hiruzen leapt upwards and landed against one of the pillars diverging on him, and began running down the length of the wood branches looping out and attempting to catch him.
Displaying incredible speed, energy and effort despite his old age, Hiruzen Sarutobi managed to duck and weave down the wooden length of his mentor's technique, and leapt at him when he spotted an opening. Swiftly, he sent a spinning kick across the First Hokage's face, the blow sending the village's founder skipping across the damaged, tiled surface of the roof and away. The moment the Third landed back onto the surface of the battle field, he was relieved at first. But when a shadow caught his attention and forced him to look up, he received a powerful kick to the face when Tobirama suddenly appeared into view.
The blow sent the old Kage packing, flying up the roof and landing rather clumsily in the end. Staggered by the hit, Hiruzen rubbed his bruised cheek before glaring down towards the Second Hokage, who formed a fighting stance and awaited his opponent's next attack.
"You still pack a punch, master…" Hiruzen groaned, getting back to his feet and assuming a fighting stance of his own. "However…I promise you two this… I will defeat you! As this village's still living Kage; I will ensure your return to the underworld where you belong!"
In the meantime, Jiraiya was engaged in a furious across the way, explosions and shockwaves bursting all across the ceiling as the white haired Sannin fought toe to toe with an unlikely foe. Skidding to a stop, the slightly beaten up old man frowned as he glared towards the dust cloud that he had formed from using a Fire Style technique against his fast moving target, the silhouette of which appearing in the smoke screen.
Moments later, the wall of smoke lifted, revealing the foe he was fighting. The white trench coat with red flames, Jonin outfit, and long, yellow hair, was well recognized by the Toad Hermit, and all those who were witnesses of their battle. The summoned Minato Namikaze, adorned in his symbolic on the day of his death, glared emotionlessly across towards his former teacher, Jiraiya breathing out heavily in an effort to catch his breath.
"Your strength and techniques may still be with you, but without your heart and soul in the fight, Minato…" the white haired man spoke, smirking. "I'm afraid you've dropped down a couple of leagues…"
Frowning, the Forth Hokage charged at Jiraiya, his speed in his run suiting his name as he became a yellow blur all on his own. The Toad Sannin spun around and sent a backwards roundhouse kick at his charging student, who took it to the head and tumbled down the tiled roof, kicking up debris and dust on his way down.
"This is just like the spars we used to have together after you became a Jonin!" Jiraiya shouted, chasing after his downed target. "Let's go!"
Elsewhere…
Tossing another Sound Ninja to the floor, the young swordswoman Miki glared down at the three dozen unconscious and withering bodies of Suna and Sound shinobi she had managed to mop up. She had been ambushed on her way over to Konohagakure's center to check on how Yagura was doing, but got side-tracked. In spite of not being at the heart of her team leader's attack, she could still feel the correlating chakras of Eclipse working high above her in the moving black clouds, and the sheer magnitude of Yagura's Tailed Beast, fully unsheathed from its container.
Sighing, the woman twirled her staff around her, and stuck the spear into the ground, looking up with a small smile on her face.
"Technically, I'm obeying and disobeying orders at the same time," the white haired girl exclaimed. "Hikita ordered me to wipe out any enemy ninja that stood in my way, and in my efforts to avoid political backlash from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, I'm knocking out the invaders instead of the defenders…"
"It's been a while since I've had this much fun…" Miki exclaimed, placing a hand on her hip as she marveled at her work. In truth, she is the only Seven Ninja Swordswoman in existence who has not slain a single one of her enemies in battle, her calls being merely bluffs.
It was more fun for her to just knock out an opponent then kill them.
Just as she was about to proceed on passed the downed platoon of ninja, the blind girl suddenly detected a presence land about twenty meters behind her, causing her to blink in surprise and look around. Though she couldn't see her foe, it took her other active senses to focus and familiarize herself with her new adversary. Turning side on towards her new opponent, her head turned in the person's direction, smile still worn on her face.
"So… you've come to have your match with me?" Miki exclaimed.
Hinata stood firmly atop of a high brick wall that divided the road her opponent was standing in from a small estate property behind her. The Hyuuga narrowed her eyes as she glared down at the young swordswoman, her Byakugan activated and reflecting her eagerness to battle the girl.
"O-Our match was forfeited the moment the invasion began, M-Miki-san," Hinata spoke, clenching her fists and furrowing her brow. "But I still wish to fight you…"
"Is this a personal vendetta?" Miki asked, turning to stare up at the girl. "In my defense, I haven't done anything to be receiving such killing intent from you?"
"I want to see… how far I have progressed!" The Hyuuga assumed a fighting stance on top of the brick wall, right foot and right hand held forward. "I want to prove myself to Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan that I can walk side-by-side with them… and protect them. You are the perfect opponent for me… the one who can prove my worth!"
"I see…" Miki smiled even brightly, nodding in understanding. "You wish to earn your value instead of having it given to you. That is noble…"
Taking her staff up into a single-handed grip, she twirled it around her and assumed a fighting stance, looking up to where her new opponent now stood.
"I will not hold back against you," Hinata shouted.
"Then… let's do this…" Miki stated, crouching and leaping straight up towards the Hyuuga, her staff spinning around her as she lunged…
Meanwhile…
Across the village…
"Mia-chan! Mia-chan! What is that?" Little Haru asked, pointing from her perch atop of the red haired Sage's shoulders.
The two Rinnegan users had been, for the most part of the day, lounging about some of the many massage salons for coffee breaks, and trolling the markets in the most popular boulevards for clothes and food. Mia was really being economic with Naruto's money, using it to purchase the essentials needed at his place, while at the same time, splurging it on the various other stores for their own amusement and pleasure for the day. Little Haru was obsessed with buying plants to plant in the garden with Isaribi and Ino, whereas Mia was fascinated in soups to fill her cupboard, a delicacy she most enjoyed.
So far, the two have had a great day together…
However, all of that seemed to change in an instant. While they were heading back home with their hands full with bags of supplies after a good day out, Little Haru suddenly spotted something across town towering above the village's buildings. Her 'where's Wally game' on top of her sister's shoulders inevitably drew both their attention to the Three Tailed Giant Turtle and the black clouds blanketing the entire village in the distance. Though the sight awed Little Haru, it seemed to strike a different chord with Mia when she saw a bolt of lightning course down from the heavens and level a building several blocks away, the shockwave rattling her where she stood.
Frowning, the Sage of Six Paths gritted her teeth.
"This isn't good," the red haired woman muttered, furrowing her brow as she looked up towards the sky above her. She sniffed the air, catching a whiff of what she recognized as burnt barbeque, and clenched her nose in discomfort. Little Haru, in the meantime, continued marveling at the purple colors of the black clouds above her, becoming heavily engrossed in the patterns of chakra swirling in the sky.
"This is one of my eldest student's oldest techniques he developed: Black Death: Lightning of the Judgment God Zeus," Mia whispered, furrowing her brow. "It was used to blanket the entire planet's atmosphere in ash and smog and, utilizing the forces of weather and raw power, terrify the people of the planet into submission. I forbade him from using this technique!"
The attack she remembered from so many years ago may have been smaller then she remembered, but it still annoyed the red haired woman that it was still being used by another.
"Affecting the forces of nature… now that's not cool!" Mia muttered, before focusing attention on the giant tortoise towering over the horizon, spraying water from its mouth and slowly pursuing an unknown attacker around it. When the Sage turned to it and squinted to get a better look, her eyes widened in surprise and a huge smile crossed her lips. "HEY! IT'S NEMO!"
"Nemo?" Little Haru looked down at the woman she straddled, who smiled up at her happily.
"Nemo! It's the three tailed turtle I made from the Ten Tails' spiritual and physical energy over ten thousand years ago! I named him Nemo and kept him in a fish tank, and fed him lettuce every day!" Mia clapped her hands happily, waving to the Giant Turtle, wondering if it could see her. "NEMO! HERE BOY!"
"Ooooh… Nemo!" Little Haru looked up, a curious expression on her face. A few seconds later, she then beamed into a brilliant smile, and began waving happily as well. "Nemo! Nemo! Nemo!"
As the two began shouting to try and get the giant demon's attention, they suddenly became aware of a presence behind them and turned around. When they did, the two young women saw an onslaught of over two dozen Sound Ninja standing behind them, all of them led by a single Suna shinobi. As soon as the two parties turned to each other, they stared, the large group blinking in surprise, whereas Mia and Little Haru stared back curiously.
After a few minutes of staring, Little Haru smiled and waved at them.
"Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!"
"Are they an enemy?" one of the Sound Ninja whispered to his comrade.
"They look like civilians…"
"They've got strange eyes."
"Maybe the older one is a kunoichi…"
It took only the Suna Team leader a moment of consideration, before he sharply pointed at the two females and shouted.
"Get them!"
The platoon of soldiers, though hesitant at first, then broke up from their ranks and charged at the two girls from the front, flanking them on the rooftops and charging down the middle of the road. The blitzkrieg like tactic managed to surround the two Rinnegan users, who just looked around curiously at the oncoming attack, not registering to the fact that they were in incredible danger until the Sound Ninja began lunging and jumping at them on all sides.
Mia easily side stepped and ducked under every attacker as they soared at her, performing a very estranged dance routine to avoid getting hit. At the same time, she also made sure that Little Haru was safely planted on her shoulders, as she hopped and skipped around every attempted attack. Eventually, the red haired woman kicked at one of the Sound Ninja leaping at her from in front, slamming her sandaled foot right into his chin and sending him skyrocketing.
"Why are you people attacking us?" Mia asked, watching as the man she hit soared high into the air, before slamming down onto the ground unconscious. "We were just out shopping! We didn't break any rules!"
"She's a kunoichi, men! Kill her!" the Suna Team leader shouted, bringing out a kunai.
Just as a squad of the soldiers made a direct strike from in front of the two women, Little Haru, who was at first just sitting and watching from on top of Mia's shoulders, did something completely unexpected. The little girl felt an incredible impulse overcome her and, raising her right hand, furrowed her brow at the incoming ninja and, unleashed a powerful, defensive and offensive technique that literally sent them packing.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The shockwave that followed rippled out from her at the center, and easily knocked the ninja flying, as well as decimating the surrounding buildings and property. The enemy Sound Ninja that weren't intentionally targeted by the attack, were also hit full on by the blast of invisible energy, and sent tumbling with the rubble, debris and dust. Seconds later, the invisible explosion that was fired by Little Haru died out, leaving her and Mia standing in a huge crater in the middle of the suburb.
Mia looked around for a moment, seeing the Sound Ninja and the Suna leader lying unconscious amidst the ruins of their surrounding, before smiling and raising her hand towards the girl on her shoulders.
"Nice one, Haru-chan! High Five!"
The little girl gave her big sister a respectable tap on the hand, before beginning to clap and giggle happily.
"Yay! Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!" Little Haru began punching the air in front of her, shouting with every playful throw of her fist. "Ha! Ha! Ha! I am Lee-kun! Ha!"
"Yes you are…" Mia exclaimed, ruffling her little sister's hair. "We'd better go before these guys wake up. They'll be very angry with us if they get up and we're still here." The Sage turned and began walking off out of the crater and down the road, Haru happily giggling as she rode the young woman's shoulders. "Hey! Why don't we go see how Naruto's match is going? I bet it's going great!"
"Yay! Naruto! Naruto! I want to see Naruto-nee-san!" Little Haru giggled.
The pair corrected course and headed towards the arena in the distance, unaware of what was really going on…
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note: I know the fights were a bit short, but I just wanted to show where everybody was at first, while cutting down a bit on the boring dialogue in between (in all honesty, the Naruto series has too many long pauses and too much talking. I want more action!). I'll be going into more detail in later chapters on the invasion so don't worry, and hoping you enjoyed this one!