The assassin leader and his dark mage slithered their way toward Usagi and Ue, toying with the young warriors. Neither of them realized it until a blinding light engulfed them all, making them turn toward its source. Before their shocking eye were Leonardo and his brothers, a column of blue light enveloped him, his ki resonating with his brothers' and causing the accursed handcuffs to vibrate violently. The weak restrain was no match for their combined, amplified force and soon overloaded with it. One short snap and all four were free. The moment the handcuffs fell from their wrists, three more columns of light joined the first. Together they shot up to the roof of the cave, blasting a huge hole through it and knocking the two vile creatures flat on their backs in the process.
- This is kinda over the top, dontcha think? - Mikey joked, seeing how his body starting to change.
- Maybe, but this is personal - Leo replied before his jaws swelled forward, making him lose his ability to speak.
Raph said nothing as his eyes darted over Tenten and her injured friend. The color had started to come back to Neji's face, probably due to Leo's spiritual mystic ki, but his eye remained closed. Tenten stared at him, the look on the tomboy kunoichi spoke in volume.
Don't worry about us, just kick their ass! - Was what transpired through her eyes.
Raph slightly nodded his elongated neck and head before rising with his brothers. Four mystic dragons floated just above the ground, their eyes shooting dagger toward two shadow beings who were still shocked upon their transformation. The wizard shot an energy ball toward Leo, but it did even less than tickling the blue dragon. The assassin leader furiously grabbed his underling's throat:
- Fool! Can you not see what they have become? Use 'that' spell!
- B-but master, I...
- Do as I say! It's now or never! Unless you want me to execute you right here and now, traitor!
The stuttering mage had no choice but to obey and started to chant. It didn't take an expert to see that what they were about to do could be lethal, so four dragons lunged at them, but the shadow clan leader shrouded them both in dark smoke, evading those razor sharp teeth by a hair's breath. Ue and Usagi used this time of distraction to find their way back to the Konoha ninjas. Lee had unwrapped his bandage and tied it around Neji's wound, while Tenten chewed off some soldier pills and fed it to her unconscious friend. The make-shift bandage did little to halt the blood flow, and the medicine showed no apparent effect.
- I may not to be much help, but I shall take care of him - Usagi suggested.
- All of you are on a different level compared to us - Ue added - Join them in battle, and save us all from whatever that assassins was planning to do.
Tenten and Lee looked at each other and then at the dispersing black smoke. If there's something they wanted to do right now, it was to pay back for what those creatures did to their comrade. Carefully slid Neji to Usagi's arms, the two remaining members of team Gai stood up, drawing out their weapon and inner chakra. They were ready to face their enemies, but... in what form?
- Where are those two? - Lee looked around, unable to locate neither the assassin nor the wizard.
The four dragons had the same thought as well, since they too were straining their eyes to look for anything out of place.
- Lee-kun, don't you think this place is getting darker and darker? - Tenten narrowed her eyes, trying to see pass the dark.
- I can see it as well. This is definitely their doing. But can it be that simple? Do they want to blind us?
As if to answer his question, a voice boomed throughout the wasted lair, making both the ninjas and the dragons jumped.
- IT IS TOO LATE, SCUM! MY BRETHREN AND I ARE NOW MERGED WITH THE SHADOW COMPLETELY. THANKS TO YOU FOOLISH KAME TO PROVIDE US THE DARKNESS WE NEED.
All of them looked up to see the hole they made had revealed them to the surface, and right now outside was...
- Nighttime? - Lee said in disbelief.
- TIME FLIES WHEN YOUR MIND ARE OCCUPIED, DOESN'T IT? NOW I SHALL REWARD YOU FOR CAUSING MY CLAN SO MUCH TROUBLE.
The mocking voice seemed to be coming from everywhere around them, causing confusion. Furthermore, the darkening scene only made them all the more agitated and panic, except for one. As they were being plunged into the darkness, Leo raised his head and aimed it downward. Blue flame burst out from his mouth and came out erupting. The light from it illuminated him and his brothers. Raph immediately caught up and spitted out lava, joining the light with Leo's.
- IT IS FUTILE, KAME! YOUR FEEBLE PURIFICATION LIGHT IS NO MATCH FOR OUR DARKNESS!
- We'll see about that! - Tenten called out to the void, unleashing her scroll - Lee! Slingshot!
The boy in green knitted his fingers together, forming a leverage for the kunoichi. Tenten held the scroll by her side, and the moment she stepped on Lee's hand, she suddenly felt herself launched up high toward where the hole to the surface was supposed to be. Spinning fast in the air like a bullet, Tenten gripped on the side of the scroll and let it fly free around her, allowing everything sealed inside to be released. A chain of explosion blasted into the darkness, its light formed the shape of a dragon spiraling up toward the sky.
- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, GIRL? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
The scream of pain following it only proved that she indeed inflicted some damage, and the light coming from her attack briefly showed them the way out. With the light as protection, Mikey descended down, carefully rolled their friends onto his vast carapace, then followed his brothers out before the dark engulfed them again. But they were far from victory.
- YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE! WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE!
If anyone of them could make out some faint stars up above, now everything turned pitch black. Even the light coming from the flame was reduced to a weak glow, not to mention the dragons couldn't keep it up forever. Tenten was about to unleash another chain of exploding tags when something grabbed hold of her arms, and something else strangled her neck. Her friends and comrades seemed to suffer the same fate.
- YOU ARE FIGHTING THE WHOLE SHADOW CLAN HERE! DON'T YOU EVEN DREAM ABOUT WINNING!
Raph shook his head and snapped his jaws around, but the tentacles made of darkness just tightened the grip and choked him even worse. Mikey was turned upside down, but Lee held on, adhering his feet to the hard carapace with chakra. On each of his hand were Ue and Usagi, with Neji's dangling in the rabbit samurai's arm.
- WE WILL CONSUME YOU ALL UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT! AND THEN THIS ENTIRE MULTIVERSE!
- This guy... sure love to talk - Tenten struggled to free herself without much success.
From afar she could hear Ue and Usagi yelling something, but they were too far to make out anything, and the fact that her mind's slipping away didn't help either. The corner of her eyes caught sight of her turtle friends in their mighty dragon form, strangled by darkness itself.
"R...right..."
- Wha...? Neji? - The tomboy kunoichi stopped in her track, her teammate's voice ringing in her ears.
"The core... of the leader... is on your right. About 15 degree downward."
Neji's voice was rough and broken through the radio, but Tenten could definitely hear him loud and clear. The Hyuuga boy had regained conscious and used his Byakugan to pinpoint the source of all this darkness.
- EVERYONE! Focus your attack here! - The kunoichi yelled out, burning the last precious air in her lungs and throwing her scroll into thin air as far as her restrained body allowed it.
The scroll unwrapped itself, pouring everything it contains to where the essence of the shadow clan leader should be. The scream of agony echoed around them only indicated that Tenten had hit her target. Leo let another wave of blue flame bursted out, severing the dark tentacles to free himself and his brothers.
"It moved..." - Neji panted, his chest felt like it weight a ton, but the veins popping around his Byakugan never subsided - "...right below us. 30 degree to Leonardo-san's left."
Tenten relayed her friend's direction, since all four turtles had transformed, their shell cells were lost, but all four dragons whipped their head toward the core of the assassin leader in a heartbeat and simultaneously shot their flame.
- AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHH! NO, NO, NO! HOW DID YOU FIND OUT WHERE I AM?
To the dark being's horror as he fled, Neji once more located him with even more accuracy. Don let out a roar and a wall of ice swiftly encased around the core, imprisoning and freezing him at the same time.
The pitch black veil suddenly lifted, revealing them floating high in the sky. Light from the stars and moon reflected on their armored skin, and to their relief, the assassin leader had reverted back to his original form, his face marred with terror. Around them, bodies of the assassins fell and evaporated to thin air even before they touched the ground. The moment they breathed out in relief was also the moment the four turtles shrunk back to their original forms. Gently glided down before their mystic avatar disappeared, all four landed safely with an injured Neji, his teammates and their friends from the multiverses:
- That was cutting a little too close, dontcha think? - Raph patted the dirt off of him.
- If it wasn't for Neji, we might never cut it at all - Don contemplated, walking over to check on the white boy's wound.
- Now that we got their leader in an icicle, can we go home now? I'm tiiiired!
All of them couldn't agree more with Mikey suggestion. Looking back, they had fought the entire shadow clan for god knows how long, and if their eyes didn't deceive them, the faint light of dawn had started to show from the horizon. Leo eased himself in to support one side of Neji, leaving Ue to take care of the War Staff:
- Thank you Neji. We couldn't have done it without you.
- Don't be too humble, Leonardo-san. Your dragon form is what saved us all. Let's heed Michelangelo-san's word and go home together.
Everyone nodded and set to a slow stroll toward the Daimyo's castle, Lee and Don taking care of pushing the block of ice containing the assassin leader back, feeling relief that the whole crisis was over...
... Until Neji suddenly shoved Leo away:
- LEONARDO-SAN! LOOK OUT!
That was all the Hyuuga genius could remember as a beam of light piercing him from behind, followed by a searing pain and the scream of his friends. After that, everything went black…
A/N: A tribute for Neji Hyuuga's noble sacrifice in the original manga... Rest in peace, my hero...