Chapter 4:

I am the Sword

The powerful grayness that had taken the room had disappeared. Everything was clear now. Everyone; Shikamaru, Tenten, Shino, Choji, and Ino could see their savior. Standing next to a charred crater and a blackened one-armed skeleton, armed with an iron fan, was Temari. She flashed them all a warm smile. "Do I at least get a thank you?" Shikamaru began stammering, "Y-y-you s-saved us…" "Of course I did." She added. "I had just finished a job in the Sand Village. It was a big peace talk. Things are getting worse and worse over there. At the rate the animosity is growing there… well Suna peace diplomats like me have a lot on our plates. I thought I'd celebrate completing it by going to Konoha and meeting up with you guys." They didn't stop staring at Temari. "Man are we lucky…" murmured Tenten, "just our luck a wind style user stopped by to eliminate a fire style user's justu." "Hmm… The Self-Immolation technique…" began Temari, "… a very powerful technique. If I hadn't blown it away with my Wind Scythe this place would have been firewood minutes ago…" Choji got a hold of himself and looked at Temari. "It may not be firewood, but that section of my store is! How am I going to pay for it?" Choji panicked. Temari lifted a small, red pouch from one of holsters. She tossed it to Choji. When he caught it, it made *clink* sound. "Is this…. No…" said an astonished Choji. "That's what I made off of the peace talk today. I think it'll be enough for the expenses." Temari said sweetly. "But don't you nee-"Temari cut Choji off, "I can go without eating anything besides cheap microwave ramen for a month. It's okay. And anyway, look at what the explosion did to you eatery! You really need that money."

Shikamaru, Shino, and Tenten paid Choji for the meal. After that, they all added that it was wonderful to see them, and that they'd like to see them again. After they said their goodbyes, Temari joined Shikamaru, Shino, and Tenten for a walk. "Temari, thank you so much for coming over!" exclaimed Shikamru whole-heartedly. "It's okay. Don't worry about it." Temari responded calmly. Tenten nudged Shikamaru. "I think it's time we got started on our case." she said impatiently. "Ah, yes of course." Shikamaru answered. "Hey Temari, can you help us with this? I've just come up with a strategy, and it needs four people." "Sure," Temari answered, "I don't have to return to the Sand Village for another week. I told Gaara-sama that I was taking a vacation, and that I'd return next Monday." "Great!" continued Shikamaru, "Now we're going to split into duos. Tenten, go to the Mori family's headquarters at the Red Deer with me. The entire family organizes there tomorrow. We'll use stealth to gather information on who out of the family might organize the missions and operations. Then, we'll interrogate said individual! Got it?" "Affirmative!" Tenten declared confidently. "What do me and Temari do?" asked Shino. "Simple. Shino, you're bugs have already picked up the ingredients of the poison on the shuriken. Try to find where said ingredients can be bought. You and Temari's goal is to find the supplier of this poison, or its ingredients. Got it?" "My brother is an expert with poisons," Temari added, "I can definitely help you Shino." "I'm ready for this" Shino said confidently. "Heh Heh Heh" a laugh emanated from behind the group. Along with it came the smell of tobacco and blood. The sight of gleaming white teeth. The sound of sadism and arrogance. And the feel of cold steel. "Kiba… what do you want?" Shino asked solemnly, as a bright katana rested on his shoulder.

"Heh Heh Heh" chuckled Kiba. "What are you ready for? You're not going anywhere. Hokage's orders." "What do you mean Hokage's orders?" Temari exclaimed violently. "I work with the Kazekage. When he hears about this…" "He won't." Kiba interrupted her menacingly. "Listen, little bitches," Kiba began rudely, "Naruto has already found the assassin of Sasuke Uchiha. Now that he's done that he doesn't want you snot-nosed punks interfering. You're no longer allowed to investigate this. If you dare try to continue this case, I have all right to kill every one of you. And as for you Temari…" Temari, confused and wrathful, stared at Kiba. "…well dear, here's the deal. The killer Naruto found, he turned out to be your queer-ass brother, Kankuro." Kiba's unnecessary insensitivity, homophobia, and the impudence to have accused her own brother was just too much for Temari. She reached for her fan, but was stopped as a raging white beast zoomed at her legs and bit her kneecap. She screamed in agony as Akamaru began barbarically gnawing her knee. In horror, she dropped her fan. "Stay down. Good girl." Kiba said threateningly. Shikamaru and Tenten were overcome with rage, though they knew they had to act calm in order to survive this evening. Shino feared for his life as sweat poured down his brow. "Now, about your fag brother…" continued Kiba, "… yeah Kankuro's the one. And since you're his sister, well, Hokage don't trust ya. We're gonna lock you up in the worst prison we can find." Kiba began salivating and leering. "And when we do, we're going to torture the shit out of you!" The ANBU started laughing maniacally. "Stop." Kiba paused. He was actually afraid after he heard the solemn voice. Something had broken through his mask of confidence and had ripped its way straight into his insecurities. The only other time Kiba felt like this was when Hinata turned him down. "Who fucking said that?!" he screamed. Kiba was shocked to find his arm was crawling with a thick layer of insects. He started whimpering when he realized there were bugs pouring out of the hilt of his blade. "No…no…no…" he stammered. "Not you…"

Shino swiftly gave Kiba a roundhouse kick. Kiba collapsed on the ground as more insects covered his body. He wouldn't stop whimpering. Akamaru, angered, lept up to bite Shino. Suddenly, he literally stopped in mid-air. "Thank you, Shikamaru…" Shino said softly. Akamaru was suspended in mid-air by Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu. He had advanced it so much that it could now levitate beings. Shikamaru slowly helped Temari up as his shadow held Akamaru in place. Tenten walked up to the angry shinobi-dog. She gave him a crane-kick to the gut. It sent the hound wailing as it flew a couple feet away. When Akamaru hit the ground, he was unconscious. "No… please… don't hurt me…" cried an exhausted Kiba, having his chakra eaten up by insects. Then, black figures swiftly appeared around the area. "Thank…god…" said Kiba, recognizing that Black Ops back up had come to save him. "Hmmm… an entire platoon…" said an angered Temari, knee still stinging. She grabbed her fan. "Winf Release: Cast Net!" she roared. With a violent wave of her fan, a massive air current emerged. The ANBU were but mere twigs to it. They all were thrown miles off of the ground and into the air. With violent screams and bloody wounds, the disappeared into the sky. Kiba stammered once more. "Who-who-who are you?..."

Temari smiled a calm smile. "Me? I am the sword. I will cut and I will tear. I will kill, rape, and burn anything in my way, or the ways of my comrades or family. Do you understand?"

Kiba was stunned.

Temari laughed. "Very well… Great Sickle Technique!"

The Sand Kunoichi laughed some more as the razor sharp winds flew closer and closer to Kiba.

"Welcome to war, boy!" she exclaimed, as a spray of blood hit the air.

To Be Continued in Chapter 5