And here I am, with Halloween over, brining you another chapter of my "Naruto: Next Generation" fic. Hope you find the paste of updating satisfying, especially considering the fact that with the among of things collage dropped on me it's hardly possible for me to update more often.

As always I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed the previous chapter. It really means a lot and I'm happy to know that you enjoyed it. All your questions for last time will basically be answered with this chapter, so all you have to do is read it.

I suppose there's nothing left for me to do then to get on with the show:

Chapter #55: Puppet Master

Title Page: Hari is performing a puppet theater on which Kai's look-alike puppet is fighting Takaru's

"This match is over…" announced Hari calmly as she got back to her feet, still holding out her hand. "Thanks for falling into my trap…" and as she said so, Kai began throwing his head left to right: "What the hell happened? Did I miss something?"

"That Sand chick…" began Kusari with a single drop of sweat running down his face. "The senbon… all of that was just a way to reach this point… she's not a weapon mistress…" and the moment he stated that, the blonde looked at him even more confused. The chain master noticed that, but didn't turn towards his teammate. He only continued, without taking his eyes off the arena: "She's a puppeteer…"

"But even if what you're saying is true, how does this relate to the fact that this Waterfall dude didn't finish her off when he had a chance?" asked Hanamaru, still not catching up. "Puppeteers use dolls in a fight and yet I don't see any puppets around…"

"It's worse then you think…" Hitomi, who still had her bloodline limit activated, cut in. "She doesn't use dolls. If you concentrate good enough, you should be able to see that the senbon she threw weren't just wooden needles… each had a chakra string attached to it… including those that sunk into that Bakufu guy's body…"

"Meaning…" Kogane's eyes widen at the realization. The white-eyed girl only nodded: "She's basically using a puppet this very moment… and that Waterfall guy is it…"

"You little b…" began Kasui as he tried to move, but his body didn't listen to him at all. "What the hell did you do?" he demanded, but Hari only picked out a senbon with her free hand and pointed it at his head, announcing: "You're not capable of moving at the moment, so there's no way you can dodge this… I suggest surrendering, if you don't want to die…"

Kasui merely clenched his teeth. He won't allow himself to get defeated by a girl: "Go to hell!" he shouted back angry, yet still couldn't move any part of his body from his neck down. The blonde kunoichi only let out a sigh as she threw the needle at the boy's neck and then released her jutsu, allowing the waterfall-nin to fall to the floor.

Instantly Lee found himself near the Bakufu shinobi and made a quick examination: "With such a precision… it's rare to see someone her age being able to perform something like this… to put a guy in the clinical death state…" and with that he threw the kunoichi a quick glance, before announcing out loud: "Winner: Hari!" and in a flash the medics appeared, taking the boy for treatment, while the blonde girl calmly walk back to the platform.

"Now that was scary…" stated Kai as he shivered slightly. "Without even blinking she just killed that guy!" but Ibuki only narrowed her eyes and without looking at her teammate, she calmed him down: "You're overreacting… most likely she just placed him in a clinical death state, considering she aimed at the neck in stead of a heart or the head… if the medics will treat him right, he should be able to survive and kicking in a week or so…"

Takai merely threw a quick glance at the blonde kunoichi, who just returned to her teammates. He could feel excitement building up in himself. A tiny smirk appeared on his face, which made Aoru a bit nervous the moment she noticed it: "Not again…"

"Kasui lost to a girl…" Shita, who was still sitting on Tetsu's shoulder, barely managed to held back his laughter. "What a disgrace…" but the Waterfall team leader didn't reply. He only set his eyes on the Sand kunoichi for a moment and then got back to watching the screen.

"I suppose you're happy, Kankuro…" noticed Temari as she smiled to her brother. "After all, your daughter made it through…" and at hearing that Naruto's eyes almost went out of orbits: "That girl's your daughter, make-up guy?!"

"It's Kankuro, dammit!" the older puppeteer yelled back with a vein pulsing on his forehead. "Can't you remember a simple name like that, idiot?!" but after a while he calmed down and then answered the blonde's question: "But yes, she is my child…"

"I guess that explains some things…" announced the whisker-marks with a smirk and winked to the Sand jounin, making him smile back. Meanwhile Kai stood nearby, depressed once more: "A puppeteer who can use people's bodies as dolls, a guy who controls water and ice, a dude that can steal his brother's chakra and some sort of a werewolf… it's one weirdo after another…"

"Like you're the one to talk…" noticed Takaru with a sweat drop. The blonde only threw him a death glare. Then he realized what he just said and turned towards Galu, who was standing behind him a moment ago, yet the green-haired boy seemed unmoved by Kai's statement as he only propped himself against the wall and crossed his arms.

Toku didn't seem to be interested in the conversation at all. He just glanced at the blonde kunoichi from the Hidden Sand Village, who just won her fight and narrowed his eyes. He then looked over his shoulder at the umbrella that he carried before his gaze went to the ceiling.

"Let get down to another, elimination fight!" purposed Lee loudly, gaining most people's attention and with that announcement everyone's eyes turned towards the screen once more.

---That time, elsewhere---

"You're late… Tategamaru..." announced the hooded man as another, mysterious figure appeared before him on the rooftop somewhere in Hidden Leaf Village. "I thought we agreed on the meeting date and you were suppose to leave the eliminations several minutes ago…"

"I did…" replied the other, hooded man. "But therrrre was some otherrrrr, imporrrrrtant business that had to be taken carrrre of beforrrre anything else…" and as he said so, the other man seemed to shiver slightly.

"I never thought you'd actually do it…" stated the first, hooded man. "I always knew you were cold-hearted, but this… even I wouldn't be able to do something like this so freely… I mean, killing Fuma just coz he lost…" and at that he froze for a moment, thinking if what he was about to say wouldn't be pushing it. "Your own son…"

"He lost and became useless…" responded Tategamaru calmly with no emotions in his voice. "That's all therrrre is to it… besides, we didn't came herrrre to discuss my parrrrenthood. Did Saiken handed you the rrrreport?" at that the hooded man merely nodded. "Good… then I expect that the plan has not changed…"

"It hadn't…" replied the other man while taking of his hood and thus revealing that he was a man in his late forties. He had long, black hair and blue eyes and wore a hitae-ate with the slashed leaf symbol.

"You shouldn't take that off…" advised Tategamaru, who kept his hood on. "Afterrrr all, someone might still rrrememberrrrr you… getting caught when we'rrrrre so close to completing ourrrrr mission is unacceptable, Kumoshi…"

"I'm not like you…" the man named Kumoshi announced calmly. "I at least trust my partners to an extend… basically you're the only one who trusts only himself and cares about himself only…" but as he said so no change could be observed in Tategamaru's posture. It seemed like his partner's words didn't move him at all: "Anyway, a little more preparations must be made… he started working a bit more sooner then expected, so we'll have it a little bit more difficult as well…"

"Doesn't matterrrr…" assured Tategamaru. "Eitherrrr way… we'll get that scrrroll…"

---Back to the eliminations---

"Fifth match: Raina from Kumori against Tenka from Tsuki!" announced Lee loudly as Fuma's female teammate stood before the redhead, Moon kunoichi. "BEGIN!" ordered the green beast as he immediately jumped out of the way, which turned out to be a wise decision as Raina instantly charged forward, aiming the claws of her metal glove at her opponent's head.

And in the next second a flash of light blinded most of the people in the room. Mikka covered her eyes as they started burning slightly, while Hizoku narrowed his as black spots began to appear before him, limiting his view. Basically the only people who weren't effected by the flash were Rei, as she was still sleeping, Akira, who this whole time kept his eyes closed, Senkou, who managed to shut his eyes in time, Reiji, for unknown reason, all the moon-nins and jounins.

As their vision became clear once more, Kumiko's eyes widen at the sight bellow: Tenka was standing like nothing happened, holding her right hand, from which small charges of electricity shoot here and there, out front and holding Raina few inches above the floor with it. But what was even scarier was the fact that the shadow-nin's body was burnt in several places, her hair got messed up and her body seemed limb: "Wha…" began the Leaf kunoichi, completely shocked. "What in the world just happened?!"

"That Moon girl…" began Kokoro as a single drop of sweat run down his face. "She used her technique and that metal-gloved kunoichi… the way she looks now… that's how it effected her…"

"Huh?" Kitsune turned towards the blue-eyed blonde. "So what in the world is the thing that she used to mess up that shadow girl so badly?" but Kokoro only shook his head as the answer.

"Interesting…" stated Horamaru as he licked his lips once again. At that time Kusari swallowed his saliva loudly as he took a quick glance at the moon-nins: "So this is the real strength of your cell, Teela-san?" he asked himself as his gaze stopped at the blue-haired girl, the leader of the Tsuki team. "Truly terrifying…"

Lee observed the redhead Moon kunoichi for a while longer, shocked a little of what he just saw, before he announced: "Winner: Tenka!"

---terrifying strength and overwhelming power… the eliminations are only beginning---

And so this chapter ends! Hope you had a good time reading it and that you'll bless me with a review. It'd really mean a lot.

With that said, I believe the only thing left for me to do is to wrap this up. Thanks for reading.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.