So, I'd call this the "throw away" chapter. Because to be honest, I didn't like writing it. And I don't really like how it turned out.

I'm just posting it to finish off a story arc.

So, what did I learn from this?

I learned...That I'm not going to write action sequences anymore. I don't enjoy them and I don't feel like I can write them well.

If you do decide to read this chapter, thank you for giving it a chance. But I personally don't like it.

I'll be back again with another "episode" soon.

I'm sorry if this rushed ending didn't live up to the build up I tried to make for it. but I just can't write it correctly.

CHAPTER RATING: T

Episode 5: Silencing of the Siren

The crackling fire resounded loudly in Sakura's mind. In her dream she heard loud steps and saw a figure walking away from her.

"Hey…Naruto, do you really feel comfortable about this mission?" Sakura asked. But no reply came.

"…Naruto?" Sakura turned to find that no one was there to answer her call. The fire was still burning strongly, but he was nowhere to be found. Sakura immediately stood up in a panic.

"Neji! Lee! Wake up!" She shouted. In shock, the two shot up and burst through their sleeping bags. "Naruto's gone!"

"What? What happened?!" Neji asked.

"I-I don't know! I just woke up and now he's gone." Sakura answered

"Wait!" Lee interrupted "There are his footsteps!" Lee said as he pointed to the ruffled vegetation that lead towards the lake. "That must have been him!" The trio stood and ran, following the crumpled vegetation.

A few minutes passed before the trail ended at the lake shore. In the bright moonlight, they could make out two figures in the lake

"Naruto?!" Sakura cried out. But there was no answer to her call.

"That's Naruto, but there's someone else with him, it looks like a woman." With a splash, they saw Naruto's silhouette fall backwards into the lake, and disappear into its depths. The other figure floated above the water, lifted her arms, and forcefully brought them down.

As she brought her arms down a tidal wave formed before her feet, and came crashing down on the shore before them. Naruto's body harshly washed up onto the shore. Sakura rushed to him and dropped down onto her knees.

"Lee, keep an eye on her." Neji commanded, pointing at the figure still on the lake.

"Naruto! Naruto, can you hear me?! Please, Naruto, say something!" She cried. His eyes were closed as he started coughing; water gushed from his throat and flowed down his cheeks to the ground.

"Sakura-chan…quick…g-get away…" he desperately whispered

"What? What are you saying?" Sakura questioned.

Naruto's hand shot up and grabbed her by the throat; his hand tightened around her windpipe.

"N-na…ru…t~" She struggled to speak before Neji advanced and landed a swift kick to Naruto's midsection, sending him flying up the shore. Naruto slowly stood. His stance was different; his head was hanging, hiding his face; his shoulders, slacking, as if his arms were too heavy to lift.

"Sakura? Are you alright?!" Neji shouted. Sakura coughed, letting in harsh heaves of air as she replied.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"This must be one of the people we were looking for, there's a good chance that she's controlling him." Neji said. "Lee! Go now!"

"Alright!" Lee screamed as he began to run across the water, with great speed he jumped into the air and shouted "KONOHA SENPUU!" His attack was immediately blocked by a thrust of water.

"A water shield?!" he shouted, before he could make a second move, his leg was pulled into a torrent of water and his body was tossed to the other side of the lake. He crashed deep in the forest as a giant dust cloud rose from the impact.

"This has got to be it, the person on the lake is one of the 'twin sirens' we're looking fore. Be prepared." Neji stated

"Yeah, I know." Sakura replied.

Naruto charged towards Sakura and Neji with reckless intent. The punches he tried to deliver were countered, as he was struck down again. This time, as he stood up, blood started to pour from his mouth.

"We can't just keep attacking him." Neji noted. "What can we do?"

Sakura's face lit up with an idea. She pulled out a syringe from her pocket.

"Let me try something, cover me!" She shouted while charging towards Naruto. He also rushed towards her and raised his arm high. Sakura ducked below his fist and quickly jabbed the syringe into his neck.

Naruto's footing gave way as he staggered and crashed into the ground. His body was now motionless.

"You paralyzed him?" Neji asked

"That's right, now we can try to take her down." Sakura replied. She handed him a syringe that she had filled with the flowers from earlier.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a natural anesthetic, if we inject her with this, we'll be able to take her back to Konoha with us. But we better be quick, it only lasts for around ten minutes."

"Okay, so here's what we'll do, I'll~" Neji's eyes blinked with realization as he started to spin at an incredible speed. "Hakkeshō Kaiten!" As he spun, shards of ice broke around them.

"She's firing icicles at us! Get to cover!" Sakura ran towards Naruto and picked him up. Together, Neji and Sakura ran deeper into the forest to find cover.

While running, they heard a splash from the lake, as they turned they saw Rock Lee ascending towards the moon.

"PRIMARY LOTUS!" The velocity of his movement created a vortex of air that pushed away from him in a spiral pattern; as he plummeted towards the water, it moved away until the bottom of the lake was exposed.

Neji and Sakura then heard a crash, and saw the vacuum of air release, bringing the water that had been misplaced back in, to fill the void. Then they saw two bodies floating on the surface of the water.

They retrieved the bodies and brought them back to the shore.

"Lee will be fine; we just need to let him rest. On the other hand, this woman is dead."

"White hair, blue eyes…This was one of the siblings that Orochimaru experimented on, I'm not sure where the other one is, but…" Neji scanned the forest. "…She's not here."

Naruto's body started to move as his eyes opened.

"What's going on?" he asked. Sakura sat next to him.

"You were under a trance caused by her." She pointed to the lady with white hair. "You'll be fine now, just lay your head down and rest."

"What about the mission?" Naruto asked.

"It's too late now, we'll have to abort. One of our objectives is dead, and two of our teammates are out of action. We can't manage to finish it as we are now. As soon as you've rested up, we'll head back to Konoha. Someone else will have to take over for us." Neji replied

"Oh, I see." Naruto said back, with more than a hint of happiness on his face. He looked at Sakura as his face shone with happiness.

"We've failed a mission, but at least we get to go home."