Chinese was bloody hard. Sometimes, I seriously wonder if I'm Chinese... really. My Chinese is worst than a British man.

tamu: That's very nice to know! :) Thank you

Hachibi8tails: Thank you for the epic review. I'll be thinking about that 'other Jinchuriki' thing. Hmm... Anyway, Tenzo/Yamato was in the village during the invasion. Read carefully ;) Shisui is dead in this fic, like in canon, but he WILL be crucial to the story later, I promise. Much much later.

Charrmed: Enlighten me - who is Kabito? :P

zarethuzumi: Yes, Sasuke works. :D

Thanks to tamu, S.R.457, Hachibi8tails, Charrmed, Hanna Lee, zarethuzumi and The True Not Important for the reviews!

"Let's continue."

"D-D-Damn..." Kiba backed away.

"Let's see you dodge this one," Kidomaru jumped into the air and spewed a web that he stuck his feet on to, to remain hanging in the air. As Kiba and Sakura wondered what their enemy was up to, he bit his thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!"

"A summoning?" Sakura gasped.

"Kyodaigumo!"

A gigantic spider appeared beside Kidomaru.

Sakura shuddered.

"Do it!" Kidomaru nodded.

Kyodaigumo released an egg sac onto Kidomaru's hand. The young Sound nin spat out one of his golden blades.

Upon closer inspection, Kiba realized the egg sac was full of small little spiders.

"Crap," he stepped back. "Run!"

"Too late!" Kidomaru shrieked, cutting the egg sac open.

Sakura's eyes widened as she took in the sight of at least thirty little spiders descending on them.

"Game over!" She heard Kidomaru cackle from above.

The spiders began shooting webbing.

"Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu!"

Kidomaru growled. "I forgot about that pinky's jutsu!"

Each web shot at Sakura were quickly punched away, but Kiba wasn't so lucky. He was soon knocked down to the ground and covered in webbing from head to toe. The little spiders, upon completion of their work, scurried away.

Kyodaigumo pounced onto Sakura, attacking her with it's eight legs.

"Hmph," Kidomaru smirked. "Kyodaigumo will finish up here. I'd better see if Jirobo is done..."

Then, the spider summoner frowned as Sakura turned into a log. An explosive tag was stuck onto it.

Two seconds later came the boom, and Kyodaigumo's body exploded into a rain of webbing.

Sakura emerged from behind a tree with a grin.

"Sakura! Get me out of here!" Kiba complained.

She took out Kyodaigumo with just one try! The spider nin thought.

"Looks like it's time for me to bring out my... ultimate attack," Kidomaru cackled. "Spider Bow!" He spat out a bow, golden like the rest of his blades. "Now... well and truly... game over!"

He pulled an arrow back, aiming towards Kiba.

"Kiba!" Sakura's grin disappeared, and she rushed forward.

"Die!" Kidomaru released his grip, and the arrow shot forward.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" Sakura jumped in front of Kiba, her shield wall rising up just in time.

Instead of getting frustrated, Kidomaru's lips turned into a twisted grin. He leaped to another tree for a different angle, and shot another arrow.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" The wall came up again, blocking Kidomaru's attack.

"Heh... I probably underestimated you a little," Kidomaru wiped the sweat off his face. Once again, he jumped onto a different tree, and released an arrow once more.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" Is this never going to end?

Descending from the trees, Kidomaru charged forward, shooting an arrow as he did so.

"Earth Style: Terra Shield!"

With an evil smile on his face, Kidomaru tossed his bow and arrows aside, and leaped towards Sakura. The pinkette realized he had eight golden blades in each hand.

She tried to defend herself, but was lost to the constant slashing and cutting of the blades.

Kidomaru executed one final blow, and Sakura fell onto the ground, her arms filled with blood and scars.

Kiba could tell something was happening. He wriggled furiously. Akamaru, on his shoulder, was covered in the web cocoon as well.

Sakura got up again, although visibly weakened. My chakra...

"Don't try to continue," Kidomaru laughed, picking up his bow and arrows. Aiming them at Sakura, he continued, "I can tell you have little chakra left... use anymore jutsu and you'll die, but..." He released his grip on the bow string, the arrow charging forth. "... if you want to die quickly, I can help you!"

So that's what he was trying to do, Sakura thought. Through shooting the arrows and forcing me to use the Terra Shield, he was indirectly draining my already-low chakra.

She couldn't find any energy to move.

The sound of a sickening crunch followed.

Moving through one of the forests of the Land of Fire, was one Hinata Hyuga.

She was mentally cursing her luck. She'd finally managed to get rid of her stammering, although there was the occasional stutter now and then - and what does the Hokage do? He sends her on a mission to back up Naruto. Naruto, the boy she'd been obsessing over for... how long now?

Hinata couldn't remember, but she decided to focus on the mission at hand now.

Her last mission had been a relatively simple D-Rank. Hinata didn't normally do missions without her teammates, but the invasion demanded the use of as little ninja as possible for one mission.

The Hokage had explained the details to her. Sasuke Uchiha had been taken away from the village, and Naruto had led a squad to rescue him. Hinata was to provide back up.

"Here should be good." Hinata placed her hands in a seal. "Byakugan!"

"She stopped it," Kidomaru growled to himself.

Indeed, Sakura's right fist had turned into stone, and was gripping tightly onto Kidomaru's golden arrow. She wasn't quick enough to stop it from piercing her chest, but at least it wasn't too deep and fatal.

Still, it hurt. Sakura winced as she slowly pulled the now blood-tipped arrow out, and dropped it onto the ground.

Her stone fist reverted back to normal, and Sakura finally collapsed, with her chakra levels at a near zero state.

She had managed to defend against the enemy's last attack, but from now on Sakura was completely defenseless.

The wound in her chest wasn't doing much to help her chakra exhaustion either.

"You have had way too many lucky chances, pinky," Kidomaru pulled an arrow back, readying his final strike. "But now... it's really... game over!"

"Sakura!" Kiba yelled. He knew something was happening to her, and felt angered that he couldn't help. "All-Fours Jutsu!" His fingers turning into practical claws, Kiba tried to slash through the webbing, a last resort.

"Game... over!" Kidomaru repeated, releasing the bow string.

His eyes widened as his arrow shattered into pieces.

Hinata smiled in relief, as she withdrew her hand, landing with the broken pieces of the arrow.

"B-Broke my arrow?! But how?"

Assuming the Gentle Fist stance, Hinata activated her Byakugan.

"S-Sakura-san, Kiba-kun... are you guys a-alright?"

Sakura didn't answer, instead panting heavily.

"Hinata!" Kiba said gleefully. His hands finally made it out, his chakra-tipped claws allowing him to slash through the webbing. Getting rid of the remaining web surrounding his body, Kiba's jaw dropped at the sight of Sakura on the ground, barely conscious.

"Another stupid Leaf nin..." Kidomaru complained.

Kiba rushed over to Sakura.

Hinata looked back. "Sakura-san's chakra levels a-are... dangerously low... and she has a wound on her chest too. W-We need to bandage up that wound or..."

"I got it!" Kiba dug into Sakura's tool bag, finding the bandages.

Hinata charged at the arrow wielder. With a snarl, Kidomaru shot one arrow, but Hinata dodged with ease.

"Wait a minute," Kiba frowned. "The wound is at her chest! But..." He blushed in embarrassment as Akamaru barked in amusement. "Gah, this is no time to be feeling embarrassed about something like this."

"Haa!" Hinata struck. Kidomaru side-stepped, but her next attack came quickly. The spider nin was finding it increasingly difficult to dodge the attacks of the Hyuga heiress.

On Sakura's side, Kiba was slowly unzipping her pink shirt. His blush remained, as he quickly stopped the zipper after seeing the wound.

All embarrassed thoughts faded away as he laid eyes on the bloodied wound. Swiftly, Kiba got to work.

"Palm Heel Strike!" Hinata finally got her target, after several attempted blows. Kidomaru felt blood rising in his throat as he was knocked back. Coughing out the red liquid, he gripped onto his chest.

"What... is this?!"

His answer was several strikes to the body.

"8 Trigrams 32 Palms!"

Kidomaru coughed out more blood as he crashed into a tree.

I have not perfected this attack yet, Hinata walked up to her opponent. But seems like it works already.

"W-Wow..." Kiba muttered. "She took out the opponent we couldn't in just a few strikes!" Then, his attention quickly went back to Sakura's bandaged wound. Quickly, he zipped up the Chunin's pink shirt before his hormones could get any funny ideas.

Kidomaru laid on the ground, blood spilling from his lips.

"Did you get him?!" Kiba called.

Turning back, Hinata smiled and nodded.

Her answer was apparently wrong, as Kidomaru was quickly on his feet.

"Hinata, watch out!" Kiba ran forward. "Tunneling Fang!" He rammed into a log, halving it into two.

Kidomaru reappeared behind Hinata, and before the Hyuga could do anything, positioned a kunai at her throat.

"Substitution..." Kiba growled.

Hinata gulped.

"You caused me a lot of trouble, you little bitch," Kidomaru swore. "I can't feel my chakra anymore. What did you do to it?"

"She isn't obliged to tell you anything, bastard!" Kiba answered for his teammate, but Kidomaru silenced him by pressing the kunai harder on Hinata's throat, making her cough.

"You caught me off guard, you cheater," Kidomaru had a crazy smile on his face. "For that, I'll kill you."

"You'd better not!" Kiba said in alarm. He moved towards Hinata and Kidomaru, but knew he would be too late.

Kidomaru stopped, dropping his kunai, a pained expression on his face. Hinata pushed him away quickly, to see Akamaru biting furiously onto his butt.

"Nice job, Akamaru!" Kiba cheered.

"Grr..." Kidomaru fell onto his butt. I can't use any of my jutsu...

"It's time we finished you off."

"Don't think it's over!" The three-eyed teen panted. Now armed with eight kunai in each arm, Kidomaru lunged for Kiba. "I'll just have to kill all of you without using any jutsu!"

"You still think it'll work?" Kiba chuckled. "Fine, we'll show you our technique! Hinata, you stay back! I can handle this guy now he can't use his jutsu!"

"Right, Kiba-kun..."

"Cocky bastard!" Kidomaru thrust four arms forward as he got close. "You'll regret that!"

"Heh!" Kiba ducked, and grabbed Kidomaru's eight arms. "Now, Akamaru! Dynamic Marking!"

Kidomaru found Akamaru peeing all over him again. An annoyed roar ensued. Kiba jumped into the air beside Akamaru.

"Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two-Headed Wolf!"

Kiba and Akamaru merged to form a two-headed wolf dog creature, with similar features to Akamaru. Hinata watched in awe while Kidomaru watched on in fear.

"Wolf Fang Over Fang!"

That was the last human voice Kidomaru managed to register. A sharp pain in his chest followed, and suddenly all was black.

"Neji! Are we close?"

Neji nodded. "Yes, very."

Shino looked back to his team. "Do you remember the plan?"

"Yeah," Naruto confirmed.

"Yes!" Neji replied.

"Yosh! Forward!" Lee shrieked.

"Be quiet, Bushy Brows!" Naruto warned.

"Naruto is right," Neji frowned. "The plan can't be executed if we get caught."

"Sorry!" Lee apologized sheepishly.

"Alright," Naruto jumped to the front of the group. "Let's do this."

Sorry for the... rather abrupt end to the Kidomaru battle. I seriously wanted to lengthen it - but if you think about it, if you get hit by a Hyuga, your defeat is sealed. Unless, of course, you are Naruto.

And yes, it was Hinata! Many people were talking about Hinata so I decided to bring her into this arc... somehow. Surprise, surprise.

In the next chapter, it is Team Naruto's turn to shine. ;) See you all then.

A question to end off today: Favorite Naruto pairing of all time?

Leave your interesting responses in the reviews.