Chapter 27: A Small Victory

"Kazuya!"

With a steady hand Shoryu guided Kyoh down to the canyon floor and landed him right in front of the samurai, blocking his path. As the commander unbuckled and swung off the dragon Kazuya placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Come on Kazuya, we need to get back to the camp," said Shoryu.

"Are you serious? That's my wife they took, and they went south, so I'm going. Move Shoryu."

"Kazuya, the whole ninja world is south of us. You really think you'll find them? You saw how fast they moved, they could be a thousand miles away by now!" In his head Shoryu knew he was right; they were gone, and any odds of finding the same clone fleet had vanished the moment that strange jutsu spirited them away. He also knew the obstinacy of samurai. Talking Kazuya out of this wouldn't be easy.

"Maybe so, but I have to try," said Kazuya, "The longer I wait the more danger she's in."

"She's alive. If they wanted her dead then why not just kill her at the camp?" Shoryu pointed out. "No – everyone they took, they took alive. That means they need her for something; hostages maybe."

"You know the Cloud's policy on hostages Shoryu."

"True," reflected the boy. Any personnel taken hostage were labelled as killed in action, no questions asked. "But that doesn't mean we can't do something about it. Reizo will understand, and besides, they took too many ninja for us just to forget about them. Think about it Kazuya: you could spend years searching south and come up with nothing, but if you stay with us we might be able to get a location. Any information and I'll make damn sure it goes straight to you."

Kazuya stopped for a moment and released his sword. Four years ago he would've gone regardless, yet the logic and wisdom he'd acquired since becoming a ninja forced him to stay. There was no sense in ploughing south – the odds of him stumbling across the clone base where Fujiko was being kept were a million to one.

"I know what you must be thinking – that marching in the other direction is just the same as abandoning her, but it isn't." Once he was sure it was safe to approach Shoryu stepped forward and clasped a hand on Kazuya's shoulder. "Look behind you."

Kazuya did as he was told. Orange flames licked at the air as if a dragon ten times the size of Kyoh had laid waste to Division Two. Most of the men he'd served alongside for four years were dead; at a guess, perhaps a fifth remained of the thousand-strong platoon of trained ninja remained. The camp he'd once called home had become a funeral pyre.

"You can't abandon them either," Shoryu went on. "Once we finish the fight we'll make a plan from there. But listen to me Kazuya, I can't guarantee you anything, but I know that the best chance you have of finding her – at least before she gives birth – is if you come with me. I swear I'll do everything in my power to help you get her back."

One zipped about the field with all the speed of a mayfly, the other stationary with a translucent vortex of colour encasing her. From the maelstrom of primary and secondary shades Ayako plucked out individual reds and made a rapid-fire cluster of flares. Without the need to clap she could shoot them faster than ever before, but even that wasn't enough to keep up with Kamiko Honami.

The Taijutsu-specialist's movements were a blur. Their speed gave Ayako a headache, straining her eyes to keep up with the constant pace. Every attack she fired exploded a pace behind her back heel; even when Ayako opted to throw blues and purples into the equation Kamiko evaded them all.

After disappearing behind a downed tent Kamiko used the distraction to double back on herself. Once the opening was clear she launched herself into the air, coming down hard on the rainbow whirlwind.

Another yellow was pulled from the mist, this one strong enough to negate the impact of the clone leader's kick. With the opportunity in play Ayako bolstered her green claws and arm-razors to lash out twice into the colour cloud, severing nothing but a scrap of cloth and a lock of hair. Before she could continue her attack Kamiko vanished back into her circling, dizzying routine.

"You? Twelfth Raikage? Don't make me laugh!" said the puppeteer. Again and again Kamiko came back with kicks and punches that slowly began to exhaust the hurricane's supply of yellow and orange.

From every different angle she struck, one second after the other. First from above, from the side and then behind, and once she was within an inch of Ayako's neck a barrier was formed to shield her from the attack. Kamiko even tried bringing her fists together on the Cloud ninja's temples to crush Ayako's skull like a grape. Two barriers shot up just in time.

"You should know you stand no chance. It's those who are born strong who prosper in life," added Kamiko, deftly sidestepping a blue spear from the storm.

Ayako didn't normally like talking in battle – it ruined her concentration, but something about what the puppeteer said annoyed her to no end. "I'll bet that's what you tell yourself every day, that you're better than everyone else just because you were born a freak who can jack people's minds. I don't have Kekkei Genkai or anything like that, but how about I prove myself right now by beating Kamiko?"

"That would be a sight. Kamiko is a natural fighter; she was bred for this. No normal ninja could ever prove a match for her."

"Heh." Ayako smirked. "You should tell that to my commander, he hates all that crap."

As Kamiko swooped in again Ayako suddenly remembered why she hated talking in the middle of a fight. For a moment the ex-Sand ninja punched straight through her barriers and came only a measure of luck away from breaking her nose. To repel her attacker Ayako threw another purple beam, forcing Kamiko to retreat once again.

"Oh you mean Shoryu Aizawa? The failure?" said the puppeteer.

Ayako seized her chance; here was another opportunity to learn something – to fill in a piece of this whole jigsaw of a conspiracy. "He's caught up in all this isn't he?" she said. "You and your little organisation. We know Kazuya is connected by his Jikogan, but Shoryu. . ."

"Oooh." Kamiko stopped dead in her tracks. From a hazy afterimage she suddenly faded back into reality. "And when did you come to that conclusion?"

"A while ago. There's that mark on Kiyoshi Uchiha's shoulder – and Kamiko here – the same one that's on his dad's jacket. Not to mention the striking resemblance Kamiko has to him. It's actually a bit distracting."

"And have you voiced your concerns to him?"

Ayako shook her head as she went on. "No. . ." She considered for a moment, then added, "There wouldn't be any point. If I figured it out a while ago then he figured it out long before that, which just means he decided to fight you anyway."

"So you're close to him then then?"

Ayako said nothing as Kamiko began to slowly inch forward. Her movements were subtle as a stalking jaguar; a lesser ninja wouldn't have even been able to see her moving, but Ayako merely watched as her foe crept towards her. Her feet meandered slowly out of reach of the firelight and into ankle-deep grass.

"I'll take your silence as a yes," said Kamiko, "good. Maybe once I've got hold of you I'll wait until he arrives, just so he can watch when I snap your pretty little neck."

Come on, keep going. Closer. . .Ayako urged. She blocked out all sound, waiting for the right moment when Kamiko fell right at the centre of her well-laid trap. She was a higher-up – definitely not a clone and therefore different to any others they'd captured. If they got her alive, she might not take her own life in an instant like the clones did; maybe they could finally get some answers out of her.

". . . Or perhaps I'll break every bone in your body. I'll leave you in an irreparable condition so that when he gets here he can witness the last seconds of your miserable l-"

"-Shading Jutsu: Eternal Dome!"

Even the unmatched swiftness of the unbound Kamiko couldn't escape in time for Ayako's clap. In an instant the space around her glowed with a blinding yellow light, and before the clone commander could act Ayako's prison closed in around her. Whilst normally being used for self-defence, the Cloud Chunin had recently discovered that her most powerful shield could also be used as a container.

A translucent half-sphere thicker than any steel enclosed Kamiko. It took every last morsel of Ayako's yellow arsenal to create and every ounce of concentration to keep it up, but with this in place she hoped to secure her foe until backup arrived. A few punches and kicks made little more than a dent until Kamiko chuckled and resigned herself to the cell.

Whether Kamiko was giving it everything she had was another story. Ayako narrowed her eyebrows in suspicion when she gave up so easily; she'd smashed her barriers before – they weren't quite as strong as the Eternal Dome, but the victory still felt too easy for her liking.

"Hoshi! Hey Hoshi!"

Once he saw the reliable kunoichi slaying away Shoryu had to cut through another six clones to reach her. He lost her amidst the chaos momentarily, but another glimpse of her chestnut hair allowed him to grab Hoshi and pull her from the riot. As Kazuya watched their flanks Shoryu kept his conversation brief – every moment he wasted talking another Cloud ninja died.

"Give me good news Hoshi. How many of us are still left?"

"Less than two hundred; all the rest are either dead or kidnapped. But the clones seem to have started their retreat, so we might just live through this," said Hoshi.

"Damn it! We face greater numbers than these every week on the battlefield and come out with only a handful of casualties. This wasn't a normal clone attack Hoshi; they were organised – they hit us when we were at our most vulnerable and demolished us with whatever tactics they used," said Shoryu. Behind him the roar of Kyoh decimating clone forces made a break in the conversation.

"Tell me something I don't know – watch out!" Hoshi reacted just in time to throw her commander away from a wayward trio of shuriken. After recovering in a flash she replied with a fistful of her own, silencing the clone attacker.

"I owe you one," muttered Shoryu, dusting off his shirt. As he did so the boy grazed over the great burn on his arm. He'd tend to it later. "Have you heard from the others? I lost my radio."

"Jinga is being rushed off his feet in the medical stations and Yuudai is there with him – the idiot got knocked out by a blow to the head."

"And Ayako?"

"Haven't heard from her," said Hoshi, "but last I saw she was fighting over near the western outpost where you guys took off. I don't know if she's still-"

"-She's alive," Shoryu insisted. Ayako was as tough as any of them; the very idea that she'd succumbed to clone forces was unthinkable – or maybe Shoryu just didn't want to think about it. Either way, the western outpost needed securing. After thanking Hoshi he ordered her to gather up any survivors, and then called back Kazuya and Kyoh to accompany him.

As he set off west Shoryu couldn't help but feel that the portion of the camp he headed toward looked the most brutalised of them all. More than half of the tents – even two medical stations – were ablaze in tattered rags and black smoke. The stench of death pervaded the entire cliff basin that Division Two was stationed under, and in the wake of so much loss Shoryu felt a bad feeling welling up in his stomach. Where was Ayako?

"Impressive," said the puppeteer, giving a knock on the yellow cage that rang a clear hum across the field. "You coloured the ground right where the firelight ends just so I wouldn't see the trap. Clever girl. I take back what I said; you're not just a pretty face after all."

"I'm full of surprises," snapped Ayako. The incessant chiding of Kamiko's faux voice began to ruin her concentration, as did the surrounding rainbow swirl of the Spontaneous Absorption jutsu. Even with all the colour she'd pulled from the surrounding environment Ayako was beginning to run low.

Moving to get in range of more colour would break her focus; with no yellow left, reinforcing the dome was impossible, and all the green she had to split was already solidified around her hands and feet. The only thing left to do was shut her eyes and try to block out all external stimuli.

Easier said than done – fires still blazed around her, ninja still screamed, her jutsu still howled like a storm and Kamiko kept talking and talking at the will of her controller.

"So am I girl. It's a shame, you might have even made a great Raikage someday, but my patience grows thin. I'll be sure to send along Shoryu Aizawa to meet you soon enough."

Once Kamiko had finished her speech the girl acted. Gone were the weak strikes she'd used before; instead, Kamiko's kick against the Eternal Dome was so strong that a great crack split one side like a thunderbolt.

"One," she began.

Panicking, Ayako decided to use everything she had left. With Kamiko occupied with the dome she could use the time to gather up all her remaining colour into one sizeable blast. Ayako cupped back one hand as all the purple from the surrounding vortex flowed to a sphere in her palm.

Kamiko kicked again, this time spreading veins over almost the entirety of the bowl. Like fragile china the dome began to flake away; it wouldn't survive another kick.

"Two."

With the other hand Ayako picked out reds and blues from the tornado and mixed them, forming more purple to join her attack. Once she'd eliminated any trace of the darker colours she controlled the swirling mass with both hands, pressing down in an attempt to prime the blast.

Kamiko's third kick shattered the Eternal dome into a majestic spectacle of microscopic fragments, right as Ayako solidified her most powerful attack.

"Three!"

"Violet!"

In the pose following her last kick Kamiko was left vulnerable – unable to dodge as the kunoichi's beam of unrivalled lilac careered across open ground. The recoil was so intense that Ayako almost fell over, but after steadying herself she stayed on both feet just in time to watch her technique fail.

The movement was hard to follow, but it appeared as if for a short bust of time Kamiko's fist was shrouded in visible chakra. No doubt a result of her opening six inner gates, the wreathe of green fire augmented her punch to inhuman levels; so much so that when it connected, Ayako's purple beam went spinning meekly into the night.

From there it was simply a question of Kamiko crossing the space between them in a single bound. Ayako watched her disappear and then reappear at a much closer distance, falling through the air and arching herself into a lethal flying kick.

Everything happened as a blur; realising that the attack would probably kill her Ayako searched for yellow. Having used it all on the Eternal Dome however, meant that the typhoon of colour was completely scarce. Although, there was one area she never stripped of its colour. It was for emergency use – emergencies like this.

For the second time in the battle Ayako's hair colour changed. First it had gone from dyed violet to its natural blonde, and now that same colour of liquid summer vanished in an instant, replaced only by a harsh tone of jet black. Whatever the image crisis, her immediate life was saved.

The shield from her golden hair shattered on impact with Kamiko's kick, though it slowed her down enough to divert its course. Ayako's shoulder was struck instead of her face. The force of it still knocked Ayako onto her back, and in just a few short moments Kamiko loomed right over, feet either side of her waist as she towered.

"That was fun, girl. In fact for that little display I think I might just finish you off with the very pinnacle of this body's strength."

Ayako stirred as blood matted her darkened hair. Dizzied and confused, the idea that she was about to die didn't hit her until Kamiko continued.

"Tell me Ayako Tsuji, have you ever seen anyone open the seventh gate?"

Before the Cloud's kunoichi could react Kamiko assumed a fighting stance. With knees and elbows bent the young woman began a low growl, slowly building in volume and pitch. Green chakra swam about her like some ethereal force; only as Ayako quickly noticed, the substance never seemed to get any more potent.

"What's happening?" Kamiko suddenly spat. "Why isn't it working? I should be able to access it!"

A single moment of distraction ended the battle. Once her senses returned Ayako brought up her right leg with all the force she had remaining, still fully augmented with a tri-pronged emerald claw of her own creation.

She watched in satisfaction as all three blades suddenly sprouted from the gut of Kamiko Honami. A smattering of blood splashed across the face of the ninja from the Land of Lightning, and in thinking her victory at hand she released the tension building up in her knee. As the blades retracted though, Ayako remembered one crucial detail about the puppeteer: he didn't feel pain.

As Kamiko grabbed the scruff of Ayako's collar and pulled her up she gave a wicked sneer. The real Kamiko was surely long gone – whatever consciousness remained was simply this embodiment of evil taking residence in her form. Such a sweet-looking, guiltless young woman wearing this horrendous expression only confirmed that to Ayako.

No matter the cost, I've got to exercise him.

"What's the matter? Is that all you've got?" jeered Kamiko.

Here came Ayako's turn to smirk, as an idea suddenly hit her that she'd only ever heard from family stories.

With her hand dangling limply by her side she began to extract colour. Scarlet flowed to her fingertips as she shaded red from the wound left in Kamiko's side – the same wound from her prior violet blast of hair colour. A full five seconds elapsed before the puppeteer realised what exactly she hoped to achieve, and by then it was already too late.

"Why you – what are you d-?"

Colour faded from the dimpled cheeks of the once-attractive Kamiko Honami. In a matter of seconds her entire body morphed to a ghostly shade of opal, and in a last ditch effort to finish off Ayako the puppeteer made her raise an arm for a last burst of strength. Momentum faded rapidly; Kamiko's movements were slow and sluggish; by the time her punch was thrown it became a lumbering sack of meat travelling at a sloth's pace.

Kamiko fell before the strike even came close, allowing Ayako to descend back to the ground. It seemed clear already that her foe was dead, but just to be safe Ayako clapped her hands to dispel the crimson flare. A bang and a flash marked the hit, and as she crashed to the ground the Cloud Chunin fell joyfully into a well-earned state of unconsciousness, satisfied her work was done.

Ayako dreamt of dimly-lit caverns and countless voices, each conveying a different message of the utmost urgency. Some were distraught; grown men were brought to wailing tears as though something precious had been taken from them. The ground glided beneath her, though she made little effort to move.

For a time she could make out nothing of any real sense. So many voices crossed across one another that picking out individual sentences became impossible. As she began to focus though, familiar tones became clearer. She distinctly heard Jinga, followed closely by Shoryu, sounding more terrified than she'd ever heard throughout four years of knowing him.

Jinga then mentioned something about painkillers, after which she fell into total oblivion. For what felt like weeks Ayako drifted through space, contentedly placid as she hovered about nostalgic places from her youth. After a time a voice could be heard on the wind, one that grew louder and louder until finally she snapped awake.

In a single eureka moment Ayako realised that the dimly-lit caverns had actually been the same tan, leather sheets of every tent in Division Two, with the scarce candlelight playing off the walls. The ground moving underneath her was explained by the hospital bed she sat on, fully equipped with a set of four wheels.

"Looks like you're finally awake."

Ayako turned: of course, Shoryu had been the voice she heard. Just one look told her he hadn't slept.

"You know, the black hair kinda suits you," he said. "Going for a new punk edge or something? Is this the first we see of a rebellious, brooding Ayako with an identity crisis and maybe even a love of multiple unsafe se-"

With a gasp Ayako suddenly became incredibly self-conscious. She shaded green from the bed sheets to coat the colourless mess of hair she wore. Its natural blonde would return in time; the colour black was all but useless to a spectrum ninja.

"I guess not." Shoryu sounded disappointed.

Ayako smiled as she turned to him; the young commander had a rather strange way of showing he cared. If she'd really been subconsciously aware of her surroundings through dreams, then Shoryu had definitely been far more worried about her than he was letting on. "I'm glad you're okay too," she said at last. "How long have I been out?"

"Not long. It's one in the afternoon, the day after – well, you know. . ."

Ayako nodded and bit her lip as the events of the previous day came flooding back to her. How many had they lost? Did their friends survive? What would become of Division Two? All these questions she felt suddenly compelled to ask, although Shoryu beat her to the punch.

"There really wasn't much left of that woman you fought, but that tattoo on her arm; was it-"

"-Kamiko Honami? Yeah." Ayako watched as Shoryu nodded in understanding, showing not a trace of readable emotion. "She was under the control of the puppeteer. I'm sorry Shoryu – I know you thought she might've been-"

"-It's alright. As long as you're safe that's all that matters," he cut in. A smile of reassurance told her he meant it before he continued, "What did you do to her anyway? Must've been a hell of a battle if you had to resort to something like that."

Ayako sat up in the bed, realising suddenly she was in Shoryu's tent upon noticing the geometry map in the corner. She stretched out her stiff muscles, yawned and then rotated her wrist. Luckily it was sprained and nothing more, though the bruises she received still ached dreadfully. There was only so much Jinga could do.

"The puppeteer doesn't feel pain when he controls someone right?" she explained. "So when I blasted Kamiko earlier on in the fight he didn't take much notice. Most enemies you fight take care to cover up their wounds, but he didn't. After that I'm not sure – something happened – he couldn't access her full power for some reason. I used that to try and take her out again, and then when that didn't work I used the Shading Jutsu on that older wound. I took all the red out of it, and what makes blood red?"

"Iron – ahh." Shoryu suddenly filled in the blanks. Ayako had essentially drained Kamiko's red blood cells of their colour, deoxygenating her entire body by stripping it of all iron. Even genjutsu as powerful as the puppeteer's couldn't make a body with no useable blood do his bidding. "Smart move," Shoryu added.

"Enough about me anyway; what the hell happened to your arm?" Ayako asked.

"Oh that?" Shoryu looked over the ugly burn coursing down his right arm, already scabbing over. "Kyoh's fireball meets a wind tech whilst I'm unarmoured on the back of him – you get the idea. Jinga says I should be fully healed in a few weeks. I guess I could've ended up worse going after them like that."

"Did you get her back? Fujiko I mean."

Shoryu breathed a sigh as he was reminded of his failures. Shaking his head, he got to his feet and peered out of the tent. The camp still bustled with the survivors scurrying around waving stretchers. Some aided with the healing, others carried supplies, and a handful more Shoryu had charged with burying the dead. They greatly outnumbered the living, so any chance of carrying their remains back was lost.

"What about Kazuya?" said Ayako.

"Collapsed a few hours ago. He lost more blood and spent more chakra than I did, as usual. He'll be fine, you know how he is," answered Shoryu, slumping back into the seat. He took a swig of a half-finished sake bottle before adding, "I managed to convince him to stay with us instead of marching off by himself."

"That's good," Ayako mumbled. With a slight measure of effort she rolled out of bed to her feet, and then snatched the drink from Shoryu's hands for a natural painkiller. The first gulp almost made her sick, as she remembered with a start that Jinga's drugs still hadn't worked their way out of her system. Sedatives and alcohol never made a good cocktail. Wincing, she handed it back.

"So what are my orders, commander?" she went on.

Shoryu shook his head. "I'm not a commander anymore. Division Two is gone."

"You can't blame yourself for this. What happened wasn't your fault – any division in the Cloud's army would've been massacred by that strike force."

"I should've been better prepared; maybe if I'd posted more sentries on the southern guard we could've made a stand."

"Shoryu, it was completely unforeseeable and you know that! The clones just throw their units into battle like they're disposable; no one could've predicted they'd launch an organised assault. We don't even know what they're doing – I mean, why kidnap us? What's the endgame, interrogation? They should know Chunin and Genin aren't privy to war-changing information shouldn't they? What else would they need them for?"

"I don't know, but one way or another I'll find out." Shoryu vowed.

"Then what's the first step? Surely you've thought of a plan."

"Yeah," said the commander. "For starters we're going back to the Cloud."

Ayako's eyes widened, her jaw dropping at the notion of seeing home again as she rounded on Shoryu. Neither of them had been for over three years, so the sudden twist caught her off guard. For a moment she thought it too good to be true – that she'd simply imagined Shoryu's revelation. "Seriously?" she squeaked.

"There's nothing else for it. If we're attacked with so few of us we won't be able to hold out for long, and we've suffered too many casualties for reinforcements to do much good. It's just protocol in these situations," he explained. "Besides, back at the Village we'll have all the intelligence we need; if we're going to find out where they're keeping Fujiko and the others then our best bet is to wait there for information. Reizo-sensei will understand. He'll give us everything we need once he hears about Kazuya."

"Do you really think you'll find them? I mean they escaped by air - they didn't leave tracks or anything."

"No," Shoryu admitted. From the bitter tang to his first word, Ayako got the feeling he hadn't told Kazuya the slim chances. He tipped up his bottle again and continued, "But I know that if information does come, we'll find it there. If Kazuya trekked off south by himself then – if he's lucky – he'd get lost and probably starve. If not, he'd run into Sand, Stone, Clone or Mist armies that'd tear him apart. Kazuya's strong but he can't take on a whole legion by himself."

Once the bottle was empty Shoryu tossed it into his wicker bin and geared up. With his jacket concealing the burn and his swords reequipped he prepared to head out, though as he threw back the tarp Ayako started again.

"Shoryu," she began. "Don't let this beat you up, okay? Just be grateful we're still alive. No offense but you really don't suit the whole sulky, feeling sorry for yourself type. We need you at your best."

At this the boy released the first laugh he'd had since the prior night. His usual sense of humour had been robbed along with the lives of over eight hundred of his men. Today he'd clearly buried ninja who reported to him on a daily basis, but Ayako knew that to let it crush his weird sense of quirky, cynical determination would be a mistake.

When at his best, Ayako could proudly say that Shoryu probably fell within the ten most powerful ninja she'd ever come across, but that was only at his best. Tipsy and moping, this new version certainly wasn't it. Fortunately Shoryu seemed to recognise this; the boy gave a glib half-smile and winked on his way out.

"Get some more rest if you need it. We leave at first light tomorrow," he called back.

"I'm good!" With the drugs still making her wobble Ayako pursued Shoryu out into the open.

Black smoke still fizzled from the scene of countless crumpled heaps of tan leather as men dashed to and fro. The scent of incense and burning jasmine wafted about the camp, presumably to hide the stench of death and keep away the flies that were likely to feast on them.

As they walked Shoryu and Ayako passed by a memorial service; Shoryu had already hosted three before dinner, leaving him with little appetite. In the rising light of the sun's zenith the damage wrought upon Division Two's camp was made all the more noticeable. The entire place was a ruin; nine out of every ten tents had been slashed, burnt or unpegged, and of all five outposts only the central one remained standing.

After walking for a while the pair came to it at last. Its second awning was slanted on one side and the opening had a broad diamond shape carved into it. Shoryu and Ayako stepped through.

The fire boiled a pot of broth over a spit as medical ninja tended to the wounded on the benches. The two weaved their way through the mob, giving nods of respect as they went whilst a few eager ninja stood to attention for Shoryu. After meandering through, the pair finally came upon to the first empty room – a negotiating chamber, similar to the kind Kazuya had met his clansmen in.

Around a table sat Hoshi, Jinga, a sick looking Yuudai and – to Shoryu's amazement – Kazuya himself. Ayako and the commander assumed the two seats remaining.

"How do you always get up so fast!" demanded Shoryu, trying to earn at least a grin from the samurai. "Seriously, is there something you've got which I don't that just lets you shrug off near-fatal wounds?"

"Yeah," confessed Kazuya. "Balls."

"Oh snap! You want some cream for that burn Shoryu?" said Yuudai. A cough midsentence however, made his delivery a little sketchy.

"Good one. Anyway I didn't call you guys here just for banter. We're heading back to the Cloud, and when we get some information on that clone band's whereabouts Kazuya and I are going after them, with or without the Raikage's permission."

Shoryu allowed his words to sink in before he continued. The idea that each of them could be killed or stripped of their rank was evident on the faces of the four who hadn't confirmed their presence. It became all too clear that Shoryu had invited them here not as a commander, but as a friend – this was a request rather than an order.

"I'll understand if you decline, but Kazuya and I are going. It might be our only chance to recover the ninja stolen from us, so I thought it only fair to invite you guys along for the ride."

"You're serious aren't you?" Ever the blunt one, Hoshi voiced her scepticism. "You know that kind of a mission could be suicide, right?"

"I'm aware," said Shoryu.

"Well I'm in. I've got some buddies who weren't amongst the dead," offered Yuudai.

Ayako smiled and nodded once the commander met her eyes. "Do you even have to ask?"

"Far be it from me to tell you this is crazy, but you've led us to victory enough times already. Plus, Yuudai wouldn't survive two seconds without me covering his back," said Hoshi. Her remark earned a brief 'hey!' from the pale water user, before his sudden outburst sparked another wave of coughs and splutters from him.

"Well, I don't wanna be the only one left behind. . ." lamented Jinga.

"You don't have to come if you don't want; you've saved us enough times to make sure you don't exactly owe us anything."

The young medic shook his head. "No, I want to go. Something tells me those ninja we find won't be in the best condition."

With all five of his friends on board Shoryu couldn't help but smile. Last night's disaster was made all the more bearable in knowing that next time, they'd bring their whole strength to the enemy's doorstep.

"One last thing," said Kazuya. "I know ninja have certain procedures regarding important personnel, but I'm afraid I won't be able to comply with them this time. If we do this, and if Madoka Oyama is there, I need to know you won't restrain me from what has to be done. I want her to watch as we destroy whatever scheme she has going on, and then I'll kill her myself."

Shoryu pretended to consider for a moment as Ayako shot him a look of worry. It was true that rules and regulations wouldn't allow it, but Kazuya needed revenge more than anything – there was no decision to be made.

"Done."

.

Author's Notes: Hey guys! Big reveal coming up next time so stay tuned. And it's nothing minor either, it's a whole what-the-f&%!-omg-type thing as we skip on back to the Cloud.

So it looks like we're entering another story arc. Division Two got decimated and the clone attack left Shoryu's army in ruins. So where do we go from here? I'll tell you where: some new characters, new places and a crap load of new twists. Starting next chapter, this is the beginning of where shit gets real. There really isn't much else I can tease at without giving away spoilers. Until then, sayonara!