A.N.: Here comes another chapter. It was a real pain to write, but it's finally finished. The next one is barely started, so I can't tell when I'll be updating next. Read and enjoy.

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Izumo managed to get a grip on one of the wagons. By some miracle, it didn't fall on top of him, he managed to stay on top when it overturned. The currents had pulled his bandanna off his head, but he barely paid notice to it. He'd worry about his untamable hair later. He had more pressing concerns now, namely the fate of his friend.

"Kotetsu!" he shouted. He didn't get an answer, well, not counting the kunai somebody threw at his back. He flattened himself against the surface and the projectile narrowly missed him. He threw a shuriken at the enemy, which was promptly blocked. Izumo quickly rolled to the other side of the cart, landing on the road. He never liked being a stationary target.

"Kotetsu!" he cried again and again he received no answer. He was beginning to worry. He could see only water everywhere and the occasional upturned wagons. Oh, and a couple of his peers fighting the attackers. But still no Kotetsu.

His musings were cut short when a Rain ninja suddenly sprung from the water in front of him. Izumo instinctively punched him in the face, but hit only his respirator. He hissed in pain. He nearly broke his fingers on the metal construction. The Ame nin didn't even flinch. He thrust with his kunai, trying to pierce a hole into Izumo's stomach. The Konoha chuunin twisted a bit and the blade slid on his flak jacket. He kicked with his right leg, trying to unbalance his opponent, but ended up loosing his own footing on the slippery ground. He fell to his knees. The enemy was quick to capitalize on it, kneeing him in the face. Izumo crashed into the cart. He would be lucky if he didn't lose any teeth here. As the Rain ninja lifted his leg to stomp on him, he had to correct his initial assessment. He would be lucky if he got out of here alive.

Luck seemed to favor him that day. Jus when the Ame shinobi's foot was about to connect, something cut into it from a side. The Rain ninja screamed in pain. Izumo's eyes were fixed on the weapon that had just saved him. It was a very familiar giant, slightly curved kunai.

"Kotetsu!" he exclaimed relieved. Never in his life he had been so happy to see his teammate.

"Sorry I took so long," his friend smiled back. The water had ripped the bandage from his face. "I got a bit tangled in something."

"Doesn't matter as long as you're here," Izumo answered sincerely.

"No time for talking," Kotetsu interrupted handing him the second giant kunai. "We still have work here." It was true. The wounded Ame ninja had gone over the shock of the wound and was currently running through handseals. Kotetsu had no intention of letting him finish. He rushed at him, weapon poised to strike. Izumo was only a step behind him.

They were both too slow. The Rain ninja finished his seals and the water rose between them, forming a wall. The wall then toppled, threatening to swipe them into the mud again. Izumo escaped via a Kawarimi with a crate fallen out of one of the carts, appearing behind the enemy's back. Kotetsu was too slow. The wave sent him floating into the rice field.

Izumo jumped at the Rain ninja. He managed to catch him unawares. The man had registered movement out of the corner of his eye, but he was too slow to get out of the way. He managed to deflect the jab with his forearm guard, but the tip of the kunai sunk into his flak jacket, causing a shallow wound. Unfortunately the weapon got stuck there. The wounded man was quick to capitalize on it. His uninjured arm shot out, catching Izumo in the face. Again. The Konoha chuunin absently thought he would have to do something about this pattern.

The Ame ninja scrambled to his feet, gripping a kunai in his hand, intent on finishing Izumo off. Before he could slash his weapon down, there was a flicker of movement and then the masked man collapsed to the ground, revealing the figure of Kotetsu, still holding the bloody giant kunai.

"Why so down?" he snickered, cocking his head sideways.

"Not really," Izumo replied with a smile. "Just laying back and admiring the scenery."

"And you'd leave me to do everything by myself?" Kotetsu mock-scolded.

"Let's go," Izumo said standing up. "The others are still fighting."

"Of course," his teammate smirked. "What would they do without us?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Underwater~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana was completely disoriented. She knew she had to go up, but she couldn't tell which way it was. The wave had knocked her around so many times, that she completely lost her sense of direction. She tried to let out some bubbles and follow their ascent, but she couldn't see them in the muddy water. She kicked and trashed around wildly. She could feel the panic threatening to overwhelm her.

'Calm down,' she told herself. 'You're a chuunin now. You can't afford to lose your cool now.' But her self-discipline was running out along with her oxygen reserves.

Then something slammed into her side. If she had any air left, she would have screamed. Now she only swiped her arm at the offending… something, forgetting that there were only regular nails on her fingers now. Whatever was digging into her side remained unyielding.

Suddenly she broke through the surface. She drew in a breath with the greedy desire of somebody who thought she wouldn't be doing it ever again. She shook the water from her eyes, much like her dogs would do. She took a brief look around. She realized that the thing that had pushed her upwards was a small tree.

"Thanks," she coughed up to Tenzo-sensei. She swiftly disentangled herself from the branches and jumped onto the solid ground. Then something hit her. She couldn't see her dogs anywhere.

"Haimaru!" she shouted. Only one bark responded. Where were the other two? She whistled. The same dog that barked earlier answered with a pitiful whine. It didn't bode well. What had happened to her precious little Haimaru? She rushed to find out.

"Hana!" Tenzo shouted a warning. She flung herself at the ground. A volley of shuriken flew over her head. That was close. Crap, she had to concentrate. She wouldn't be able to help anybody if she got herself stupidly killed. But it was so hard to stay calm when her partners were in danger.

She spotted a handy crate and exchanged herself with it. It brought her closer to her sole responding dog. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran to him. She found him behind an overturned crate, nudging the body of his brother with his nose. Hana wasted no time in removing the crate from the unlucky animal. One glance revealed to her that he was merely knocked out. She sighed in relief. But where was the third one?

A sharp bark roused her from her musings. She instinctively rolled on the ground, avoiding the Water Spear aimed at her midsection. She immediately spotted her attacker. It wasn't hard, he wasn't even hiding. She reached into her pocket and took out one thoroughly soaked Soldier Pill. She threw it to her conscious dog.

"Let's go," she commanded and activated her Shikyaku no Jutsu. Her fangs lengthened and her nails grew into claws. The dog turned into a perfect imitation of her. "Gatsuuga!"

The Rain ninja reacted quickly. Hana's furry tornado tore only through a crate he exchanged himself with. The Inuzuka stopped spinning, looking around for where her opponent was hiding. Usually her nose was enough to determine this, but now everything was drowned out by the stench of mud.

Her copy gave a sharp bark. So there! She turned around, her fingers already flashing through seals. 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu.' Try dodging this. The Ame ninja jumped into the water, escaping the deadly flames. Before Hana could swear, another spear of water rose against her, trying to impale her. She jumped sideways, but the spear pursued her. Her eyes darted left and right, searching for something to exchange herself with. Then her dog came to her assistance. He leapt at the spear from the side, disrupting the jutsu, but he was hit. He was flung sideways, his Henge dispelling.

"No!" Hana shouted. When she got her claws on the enemy, he was going to be so dead. Now how to find him underwater?

Her eyes caught a hint of movement. She flung two kunai at it. It had no visible effect. Then a hail of shuriken was sailing towards her. She quickly ducked behind a crate. Her situation wasn't good. Two of her dogs were down for the count, the third one was missing and she was fighting an enemy she couldn't see. Fortunately Tenzo's lectures covered this problem.

She reached into her pocket and carefully withdrew two Exploding Notes. They were dripping wet, but still in working condition. She wrapped them around two kunai handles, mindful of their fragile state. Once finished, she jumped out of her hiding place. Two kunai thrown her direction showed her where the enemy was hiding. She retaliated with her own, using her chakra to activate the Tags. The throwing knives disappeared beyond the surface. Not a second after there was a bang and a huge geyser shot to the skies. Once it died down, the unconscious body of an Ame shinobi floated up. Hana smirked. 'That will teach you to mess with my dogs.' Then her smile disappeared. She had yet to find the third one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fields~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hotaru found herself entangled in something furry. Said something was moving frantically, scratching her. She fought to disentangle herself from it. Her feet found the bottom and she managed to stand up. She caught up some dirty water. She noticed something moving nearby. She instinctively whipped out a kunai, but then she realized it was one of Hana's dogs, though he was hard to recognize being completely soaked. She quickly jumped to the surface of water and helped the dog up as well. The Haimaru could walk on water (once they had learned it), which was a source of amazement to the purple-haired kunoichi. Hana assured her that it was quite normal among Inuzuka dogs.

She took a quick look around. She found out that the wave had carried her far from the rest of their group. She couldn't see any enemy nearby. She decided it was a good thing. She also noticed her companions fighting, some of them being outnumbered. She realized she had to help them. She started running on the water surface, the dog keeping at her side

They covered barely a third of the distance, when the water in front of them suddenly surged, forming another wave and sending them underwater again.

'This is getting old,' thought Hotaru as she once again got entangled with the dog. She broke the surface to take a breath, but was immediately knocked back under by a foot to her head. Stars danced in front of her eyes and she inhaled a bit of water.

She broke the surface soon enough and started coughing. From the corner of her eye she noticed some movement. It was her attacker again, but he didn't get to strike her second time. Hana's dog bit his ankle. The man screamed and tried to kick the canine off, but the teeth were deeply embedded in his flesh. Finally the bitten man remembered he was a ninja and took out a kunai, intending to stab the animal. Fortunately by the time Hotaru could breathe again and joined the fight. The Ame nin was forced to block her vicious sword thrust. He managed it with little trouble and retaliated with a punch. The kunoichi tried to dodge, but it glanced her stomach anyway. She was forced to take a step back, desperately trying to catch her breath once again. Her opponent was extremely physically strong. It looked like she wouldn't be able to win with kenjutsu alone.

But kenjutsu battle was what she had to do now. The Rain ninja finally managed to free his leg from the dog's jaws and attacked her with vengeance. Her kodachi stopped his kunai, but his kick landed on her thigh and upset her footing. His punch headed straight for her face, but she managed to dodge by a hair's breadth. She jumped back to gain some distance. She couldn't hold her own for much longer this way and she knew it. She wanted to try a jutsu, but her opponent wouldn't let her. He was upon her in an instant and once again she was forced to defend against a number of dangerous attacks. Little cuts and bruises began to appear on her body with an alarming rate.

Just as she was about to give in to despair, a flurry of movement caught both hers and the opponent's eyes. The man leapt backwards and the furry tornado missed him by an inch. The Haimaru couldn't perform the Tsuuga to its full effect without the guidance of their mistress and without the aid of the Soldier Pills, but it had served its purpose. Hotaru gained the brief reprieve needed to cast a jutsu. Her hands clasped together in a sequence of seals. The Ame ninja was rushing at her again. She finished the last seal and thrust her arms forward. White lightning sprang forth from her fingers. She had to blink to protect her eyes from the bright white light. The shinobi jumped high to avoid it, but a couple of tendrils of the wide-range attack hit his legs anyway. The man hissed in pain. His legs refused to obey his command and he plunged straight into the water once he fell. Hotaru was waiting for it, another Lightning Blast prepared on her fingertips. She fired it just as the man was attempting to get out of the water.

Something slammed into her from behind. It made her lose control of her technique. The bolts of lightning went wide, only glancing her intended target. A painful yelp let her know that she had hit the dog instead. She looked over her shoulder. She spotted her opponent's form there, now dissolving into water. When did he have the time to create a clone without her knowing? It must have been when she had blinked earlier. Fortunately even the Ame ninja lost control of his jutsu after being electrocuted, otherwise she would have been dead now.

She quickly scrambled to her feet. Her enemy was doing the same and though his movements were a bit sluggish thanks to the hit, he was recovering quickly. The purple-haired kunoichi didn't dare to use another jutsu. The sight of Hana's dog struggling to remain afloat warned her of the danger of hitting her allies. She unsheathed her kodachi instead and charged the blade with her Lightning chakra. She rushed at the enemy.

The man was standing as well, reaching into his pocket for more kunai. She had no intention to let him draw them. She slashed at his arm and when he dodged it, she followed with a kick aimed at his midsection. He turned to soften the blow and punched her. She found herself off-balance, unable to evade completely. The hit sent her skidding across the water surface.

She landed on her feet. The Rain ninja was charging at her again. She sprang forward to meet him midway, but she lost her footing instead. The Ame shinobi had sent a chakra pulse into the water to disrupt her water-walking technique. She barely had the time to widen her eyes in surprise before he bore down on her. Her instincts took over. She somehow managed to dodge his kick and slashed with her kodachi, releasing the chakra stored in the blade. A lightning bolt shot forth, catching the man in the thigh. The leg gave under him. Hotaru quickly followed up with a stab just above his knee. Her blade was stopped by the bone. She smirked. He wouldn't be using the leg anytime soon again.

In the next moment she found out the hard way that the man still had three perfectly usable limbs. A vicious kick hit her head and sent her underwater. She nearly lost the grip on her weapon. Once again stars erupted in front of her eyes. She expected another attack to follow up immediately, but nothing of that sort happened. When she got out of the water, she understood why. Hana's dog shook of the earlier shock and was now holding onto the Ame ninja's left upper arm at such an angle, that the man couldn't hit him. Not that he wasn't trying.

The purple-haired kunoichi saw it as the perfect opportunity. Her opponent was clearly distracted. The blade of her kodachi once again crackled with Lightning chakra. The Rain ninja of course noticed that and turned towards her, but he couldn't do much with one of his legs injured and one arm restrained by a vicious canine. But even one arm was dangerous enough. The man extended it towards her, the sleeve slipping back, revealing that he had some sort of device concealed there. Hotaru couldn't tell what it was with just a glance, but she was sure she didn't want to find out. Last ditch attacks in general tended to be nasty. Her eyes quickly searched for something to exchange herself with, but the area was empty. There was only water around.

The device on the Rain ninja's wrist shot forward a hail of small needles. Judging from the tint at their tips, they were probably poisoned. The senbon embedded themselves in Hotaru's body, which promptly dissolved into water. The man had just enough time to look surprised when a sword tip entered his right shoulder. The Raiton chakra that discharged from the blade into his body didn't help any. The electricity paralyzed him in short order. The girl then withdrew her sword and slashed at his neck. One hit severed both his jugular and his windpipe. The fight was over.

Hotaru then picked the dog from where he was struggling in the water. Her latest attack had signed even him and he was obviously in pain.

"It is going to be all right," she tried to assure him petting his wet fur. The ninken whined. Her attention was upsetting the slight burn from the lightning attack, completely obscured from Hotaru's view by his thick fur. "Let's go find your mistress now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On the road~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anko was smiling. If there was something she truly enjoyed, it was a good battle. And good dango. Too bad she couldn't combine the two. Hmm, maybe she could try eating dango during a battle… and then stab her enemies with the sticks... She nimbly ducked the kunai sailing at her head and kicked the man trying to sneak up on her from behind in the stomach. Or maybe not. It could easily become her last dango and Anko wanted to eat many sticks of dango in her life. And fight many battles.

"What are you doing?" she shouted at Iwana, who was supposed to cover her back. The one-eyed man didn't answer. He was too busy blocking the kodachi of the man who had snuck up on him from his blind side. Anko threw a handful of kunai at him, forcing him to take a step back. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Thanks," the chuunin shouted.

"Don't thank me and fight," the tokubetsu jounin advised him. It was a good advice. For whatever reason, four of the Ame ninja targeted them. And neither of them was a slouch. The Snake Mistress was hard pressed to keep the upper hand in the fight.

She ducked low under a sword swipe and thrust her arm against the other enemy who was standing at distance, peppering her with kunai and shuriken.

"Senei Jashu!" A snake shot out from her sleeve, heading toward the man. He looked startled for an instant, but got over his surprise quickly. He jumped back, but was too slow to evade the serpent completely. The long fangs had bitten through his sleeve before a stab with a kunai dispersed the snake. But there was now blood seeping from the wound. Anko smirked. At least a little bit of the venom had gotten in. Now it was only a matter of time before the man was out of commission.

Then a yell of pain made her turn around. Iwana was kneeling on the ground, clutching at his belly. Blood was seeping between his fingers at an alarming rate. The Ame ninja holding a bloody kodachi swung his sword again. It cut between Akame's neck and shoulders. 'Crap,' thought Anko. She was now alone, surrounded by four high chuunin-level ninja. Her chances didn't look good. But she wasn't one to give into despair. Her eyes found a convenient crate and with a quick handseal she exchanged herself with it. One of the enemies guessed where she was going to appear and threw a kunai at her, but she evaded nimbly. Now that she didn't have anyone at her back, she could attack in earnest.

Her fingers raced through seals. 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu.' The Ame ninja quickly scattered. Only the one bitten by Anko's snake was too slow to react. The flames enveloped him. When they died down, his previously soaked clothes were on fire. Anko smirked.

"I love barbecue," she announced loudly. The shortest, and probably youngest, of her opponents was shocked by her proclamation. Perfect. Exactly what she wanted. She flung a handful of kunai at him. He shook of his distraction soon enough to get out of the way, but he didn't move far enough. The kunai slammed into an overturned wagon right behind him.

"Boom!" Anko yelled merrily and the Explosive Note wrapped around the kunai handle went off. The young Ame ninja was sent flying, his clothes scorched by the heat of the detonation.

"One down!" the kunoichi cheered. "Who wants to go next?"

"Me!" a voice shouted behind her. Her eyes widened. She didn't hear anybody sneaking behind her. She half turned, dodging the blow she could sense coming and ended right in the path of a vicious stab she didn't feel coming. The blade sliced through her trench coat and mesh bodysuit and stopped on her left shoulder-blade. As she fell to her knees, she wasn't too surprised to notice there was nobody where she had originally expected her enemy to be. 'He must have projected his voice in a different direction. And how did he get there? I thought I could see everybody.' Her question was answered when she noticed one of the Ame ninja dissolving into water. 'Fooled by a clone?' She mentally berated herself. 'I must be slipping.'

She kicked with her left leg. She hit the attacker in the knee. He hissed in pain and backed off. Anko quickly scrambled to her feet. She experimentally moved her left arm. She nearly blacked out with pain. It felt like her shoulder-blade was shattered. Even though it probably wasn't true, she wouldn't be using it anytime soon. It meant that she was in deep trouble. The shinobi she had kicked had already shaken the effects and the two others were charging at her too.

Then suddenly their feet stuck to the ground. The one on the left lost his balance and fell, his arms getting glued down as well. The other managed to remain upright.

"Sticky Capture Field: Success," Izumo's self-satisfied voice resounded. Kotetsu emerged from behind the wagon carrying a giant spiked mace. Izumo soon followed with a huge kunai. The two trapped shinobi tried to free themselves, but Izumo's jutsu held fast. The two Konoha chuunin made short work of them.

Anko meanwhile was busy defending against the one man who had gotten the drop on her. If he had thought that she would be an easy prey one-handed, he was forced to change his opinion soon. The kunoichi was fast in dodging and blocking. She couldn't get an attack in, but once Izumo and Kotetsu would join her, that would be easily remedied. The Rain ninja realized it as well. He redoubled his efforts to defeat her.

She barely dodged a vicious slash, her trench coat receiving a long tear. She retaliated with a savage kick, but the Ame ninja evaded and stepped close to her. He punched her while she was off-balance, sending her to the ground. Her injured shoulder-blade sent waves of sharp pain into her whole body.

The Rain ninja stood above her, ready to finish her. She had trouble moving through her pain. Izumo and Kotetsu were still too far. She was about to panic when the air was suddenly filled with sinister chakra.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On the fields~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto found himself in dire straits. His opponent was simply too good for him. He was barely blocking his attacks and his clothes sported many tears. Only his new flak jacket saved him from any serious harm, but that couldn't last for long. If he only could create a Wind Blade, he could turn the tides of the battle in his favor, but the Rain ninja didn't give him even the split second needed to concentrate. In Naruto's mind, Tenzo's voice was reminding him of the importance of being able to perform a technique even during the heat of the battle. The words were proving themselves true currently. The young chuunin had thought he was good enough, but it became painfully obvious that it wasn't the case. He was being outmatched in the terms of speed, physical strength, experience and favorable environment. All in all exactly the ingredients for a premature and gruesome death. The blond wanted to avoid it no matter what. But what could he do? Since the beginning of the fight, he didn't get a chance to attack. The first lucky hit he got in only because his enemy had underestimated him, but there was no chance of it happening again.

His opponent got closer and Naruto tried to kick him, but once again the adult man was faster. The jinchuuriki received a foot to his stomach and was sent skidding backwards. He landed on the road. His opponent was next to him in an eyeblink, kicking him in the chest. Naruto was sent flying once more. He landed on the hard surface of the road, coughing up blood and gasping for air. The Ame nin obviously considered him down for the count and strolled to him at a leisure pace. Tenzo's voice resounded in Naruto's head once again, telling him how stupid that was. He could now simply charge his sword with the Wind chakra and slice him in half. Well, he could have done it if he hadn't lost the hold of his weapon when the Rain ninja had kicked him the last time. But what else could he do? If he tried to make handseals, the enemy would see. But what had the needed damage factor and didn't require handseals? Naruto's mind immediately went to his newest creation. It was still far from perfect, but it would have to do.

He charged Wind chakra into his hands and willed it to make blades. He didn't try to make them move. He still couldn't keep them that way for long, so he would do it just before he would strike. Then he realized that the Ame nin was already almost upon him. He launched himself from the ground with a roar and swung at the man's stomach. The ninja obviously underestimated the danger of Naruto's attack. He hit him on the head with his fist, causing Naruto to miss his belly, but the Wind Blades enveloped fist struck his thigh instead. The tiny moving knives of wind cut through the skin and peeled it off. Then they continued into the muscle. Naruto didn't manage to keep his concentration long enough to cut the bone, but it was enough. The man screamed through his breather and collapsed to the ground.

Naruto scrambled to his feet. His opponent was wounded, but not yet defeated. There was no time for dawdling. He had no intention of repeating the mistake that had cost the older man the fight. He drew a kunai from his pouch. He sent Wind chakra into it and threw. His opponent almost managed to dodge. The blade pierced the side of his flak jacket, but failed to inflict serious damage. Naruto kicked. His ability to create Wind Blades on his feet had increased since the Chuunin Exams, but once again they were too short to cause anything more than a flesh wound.

The Ame nin got over his pain and counterattacked. His uninjured leg shot out, catching Naruto in the knee, making him fall to the ground. The attack was shortly followed by three thrown kunai. At such short distance, Naruto had no way to dodge. His arms shot forward, deflecting two of the three kunai. The third embedded itself in his right forearm. Naruto hissed and pulled it out. Then he sent it back to its owner, enhanced with Wind chakra. The man made the fatal mistake of trying to deflect it. The sharpened blade cut through his forearm guard, slicing deep into the bone. Naruto smirked. The fight was finally turning in his favor.

He got to his feet. The wound on his forearm was bleeding, but he paid little heed to it. It was already slowly closing. He noticed absent-mindedly that his sleeves were torn, completely shredded by his newest attack. He would have to replace the shirt. Or maybe buy a short-sleeved or a sleeveless one, but that was a matter for later consideration. Now he had an enemy to kill.

He reached into his pouch for more kunai. The blood flowing along his arm reached the red mark on the back of his hand. The world suddenly turned red.

Next time: The conclusion of the battle.