Title: A Demon's Tale
Author: swiftstar85
Genre: Drama/Friendship/Romance
Rating: T for some strong language, violence, suggestive material, and crude humor.

~Chapter Seventeen~

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I wouldn't mind if I did.

It was very quiet now. The battle was over.

It had been a very strange fight, in deed. No one had realized that this...this would be the outcome of the fight. None of the Leaf Ninja, other than Lee, could believe that they would be standing in front of a new Jinchuriki, who had her hands folded behind her back, looking almost shy after they had found out her secret. She was standing directly beside Lee, waiting for the explosion from Neji or even Tenten. She knew they had two Jinchuriki friends, but she wasn't like them; Gaara and Naruto. She was from a village that theirs did not get along with at all.

But more or less, she was still waiting for them to say something.

It was the outcome of the battle that had startled Neji, Tenten and even Gai from saying anything. They were still trying to register what they had seen while fighting the Samurai and the Chakra Brothers.

Not more than a half an hour ago, the other three members of Team Gai had watched the tight rope expert turn into a giant fiery cat and fight beside Rock Lee, taking on Jiro, Jirai and Waraji. It had not even been hard for them to do.

It wasn't even hard to even knock Waraji out for Nekomata. She only lashed out her tail at him, knocking him hard into a tree and causing it to collapse right on top of him. He was out before the fight even started with him. So that just left Jirai and Jiro for Rock Lee and the Two Tailed Cat to face.

Even though they didn't know what they were exactly up against, the two Chakra Brothers charged to attack them with water and air swirling around them. They weren't even expecting Lee to somersault right over their heads before kicking them hard in the backs, knocking them forward so that Nekomata could puff up its chest as a loud rumble started to come right out of its chest.

"Lee! Get out of the way!"The fire cat hissed before it shot its head forward and fire exploded out of its mouth, swarming the two Chakra Brothers.

Lee had managed to leap to the side before he could become engulfed in flames, spinning quickly on his heels just to watch as Jiro and Jirai were being trapped in the flames. He felt some remorse when they both started yelling out in pain as they were being burned alive. He felt bad for them for having to be killed this way. It was not the way he would have ended them, but he knew it had to be done.

So all he could do was watch as the two Chakra Brothers fell into flaming black lumps to the ground.

"Gai-sensei!" Tenten suddenly shrieked, making all of them turn sharply around to see that Jirati had finally gotten a hold of the Leaf Jounin and was sucking out all of his Chakra.

Gai was on his knees, trapped in a head lock by the oldest Chakra Brother and doing as much as he could of trying to get him off but the sting of Jirati's Chakra drain was rendering him helpless. He could barely move now as his Chakra was being ripped from him.

Jirati was glaring towards the giant fire cat for killing his brothers. He knew this had just turned into a very sticky situation. So it was time to up his plan. He would need as much Chakra as he could and because of the Leaf Jounin having enough, he would take it. He would need it if he was going to take on a Tailed Beast. "So, you're one of the Legendary Nine Tailed Beasts, the Two Tailed Cat." He simply said before threw a weakened Gai against a tree and puffing up a little with his head down low. "I know a few people who would be very interested in your whereabouts. I should just run off and find those interesting people but you just killed my brothers! I will not let their deaths go in vain for this!" He twirled his arms for a moment, forming a deadly looking stance as a icy blue aura began to swirl all around him. "As you may have heard, I was once a experimental subject of the Legendary Sanin, Orochimaru. If not for him, I would not be alive today. But even so, he did give me more than the bones in my body to live. He gave me so much more than that." He then reached up and grabbed the lining of his shirt before ripping it open to reveal his large belly and chest. He took only a moment to rip it off and toss it to side, revealing markings all over his torso. "Now, fire cat, you will feel my sting!"

And just as he said that, his body began to shake viciously before several lumps in his sides began to form, startling the three Leaf and the Two Tailed Cat.

"What the hell is he doing? What are those?" Tenten gasped as she watched beside Neji.

No one said a word as they watched the lumps in his sides grow bigger before his skin seemed to rip open, shocking all of them. Several long but thin tenticles began to pour out of his sides, pressing against the ground and pushing him up into the air.

"I see."Nekomata hissed as she lowered her head and raised her tails high. She was watching the Chakra Brother carefully, hissing in alarm. "Those things seemed to be Chakra made tenticles! He's becoming what he's known as. A giant Jelly fish. This is going to be a be problem. Even Jirati's Chakra Drain can effect me. With those Chakra tenticles, if I get caught in them, it would be the end of me." She looked down at Neji and Tenten, who frowning up at her in suspicion. "I have a plan but I would need your help to do it. I know you do not like Yugito for being a Cloud Ninja, Hyuga. But her keeping me a secret was very nessessary. We have been hiding from Akatsuki for obvious reasons. Surely you can guess why. We will explain later but will you help us?"

Neji frowned up at her, eyeing her carefully. He didn't like the idea of helping a Cloud Ninja. They had been responsible for the nearly abduction of his younger cousin, Hinata, to steal the secrets of the Byakugan and the death of his father. He held a strong grudge against the Hidden Cloud Village for what they had done. But...now seeing what Alea truly was, and knowing that she was being hunted by the Akatsuki, even he had to admit it. They did have a common enemy. It would be in his best interest, as everyone else in the entire Shinobi Nations to protect the Two Tailed Cat. She, in her own fortune, was a very powerful ally that he knew that he would need to make if they were going to take on the Akatsuki.

So he jerked his head forward and snapped into the Hyuga stance, eying the giant jelly fish man before them. "What is your plan, Nekomata?" He asked calmly.

Nekomata's eyes softened a little before flickering over to Tenten to see what her reply was. The young Leaf Kunoichi still looked a little un-nerved but she immediately nodded and grabbed her huge weapons scroll. "What do you need me to do?" She asked, firmly.

So the fire cat silently told them, trying not to let Jirati over hear him. Although, he was still busy pouring his Chakra tenticles out of his sides, growing a good fifteen feet high because of them.

Once Nekomata told the Leaf Ninja her plan, they immediately jumped into action. Both Lee and Neji rushed in opposite directions on either side of the Jelly fish like Ninja and positioned their selves there. Tenten stayed right beside the large fire cat, throwing open her weapons scroll and preparing to use the weapons that came out of them. She snatched her many kunai and shruiken out of the air and held them in her hands, under her arms and even in her teeth, waiting for the signal.

"All right! If we're going to take him down, we need to do it fast! Avoid those tenticles as much as possible, Lee and Neji! Don't let them touch you!" Nekomata called over to them as she stretched out her tails behind her and crouched low to the ground. She merely glanced over at Tenten, meeting her eyes. "Are you ready, Tenten?"

Due to the weapons in her mouth, all Tenten could do was nod before she shifted herself into a stance, ready to start lauching her weapons out at Jirati, who was now watching them very carefull and letting some of his many tenticles wave around him as if he was in water. He was getting ready to strike at any moment.

Nodding back, Nekomata flickered her flaming blue eyes over to where Neji was standing, seeing his nod and then she looked to Lee, who was pulling off weights from under his orange leg warmers. He gave her a thumbs up, letting her know that he was ready.

"Good! Tenten, let them launch!" Nekomata hissed before puffing up her chest again, getting ready to blow fire.

Tenten nodded sharply before she began flinging all of her weapons as hard as she could, one after the other. She had to spin many times just so that they could go faster and harder. She didn't stop for any moment as she threw all of her kunai and shruiken as hard as she could at Jirati. She even threw her throwing stars as hard as she could until she nearly didn't have any weapons left in her hands.

Fire exploded out of the fire cat's mouth right after the weapons, hitting them hard and sending them moving faster at Jirati. They nearly became glowing red bullets as they shot off right at the Jelly fish like Ninja. Only one large Shruiken managed to escape from the flames and was nearly left behind by the others.

Jirati started for a moment before he began yelling in pain as the hot projectiles struck into his tenticles and even sliced through his sides. Some of the sharp and hot blades severed a few of his tenticles, letting them drop uselessly to the ground. He snarled angrily before lashing out several of his tenticles at the fire cat and the Weapons Specialist, ready to sting them with them.

But that's when Neji and Lee quickly turned into nearly white and green blurs, grabbing tree branches and throwing them into the flying tenticles. Many of the tenticles ended up just wrapping around the branchs or slamming them into others, getting them tangled up in each other. The Hyuuga Prodigy, however, was quick to spinning around in a full circle, snatching the remaining large shruiken right out of the air and began slicing through the tenticles as he jumped tree branch to tree branch and leaping across the way to slice through some more.

Jirati snarled in rage as he sent several tenticles chasing after him. They almost hit him too if not for Lee leaping high into the air with a large tree trunk he had smashed to bits and used it to shield his team mate. He had to use the trunk to kick himself away from the tenticles as they ended up wrapping around his shield to avoid getting touched by one of them.

Lee, however, did not see one of the tenticles that chased after him and caught him around ankle. "Argh!" He yelped in pain as the stinging began.

Neji spun quickly around as he caught himself on a high tree branch and jerked his head in Lee's direction, seeing him nearly dangling from the stinging tenticle. "Lee!" He called out before launching himself off the tree to get to his team mate. He drew in a sharp breath as Jirati sent several tenticles flying at him, getting ready to strike him.

Suddenly, a silver flash sliced through the tenticles before they could even hit him and he barely had time to stop himself in mid air before flipping back down to the ground. Neji made a quick glance over his shoulder to see that Tenten had opened another weapons scroll and was now flinging large shruikens after one another. Her hands were moving as fast as she could get them to go, sending her sharp weapons into the tenticles.

As for Lee, he winced as he curled up a little and grabbed a hold of the tenticle wrapped around his ankle. He was feeling the sharp sting now coursing through his entire body, making it very much harder for him to move.

Just then, there was a cat like snarl before Nekomata's flames came flying at Jirati's tenticles, burning through the tenticle that trapped him.

Once the tenticle nearly melted away, Lee found himself falling towards the ground, head first. He was finding it very hard to even be able to twist himself around so that he could land on his feet. He could barely move because of Jirati's sting.

Before he hit the ground, he felt something charging at him and he didn't even have to look over his shoulder as he felt the intensive heat of Nekomata's body as she leaped upward and caught him by the back of his Chunin vest before they landed heavily to the ground. He glanced up to see that the fire cat had caught his vest in between her teeth before he was let down.

"Lee, are you all right?" Nekomata asked quickly before she wrapped one of her tails around his extremely numb leg.

Lee just nodded as he felt the soothing heat starting to trail from the flaming tail into his leg. It felt tingly but pleasant. It almost like a healing factor, working against Jirati's poisonous stings. "I will be fine. Thank you, Nekomata." He told her as he reached down and began rubbing his leg to help it move faster. "I am surprised that you are not burning me with your flames." He admitted.

The fire cat merely smirked at him before turning her glaring blue eyes back onto Jirati, watching as Neji and Tenten were using large shruikens to sever more and more of his tenticles. "I am in full control of my own flames, Rock Lee. I will choose what to burn and what not to burn. As you know, most of the Tailed Bijuu are in control of certain elements of the world. Mine, as you already know, is fire. But..." She narrowed her eyes dangerously as she watched Jirati nearly struck out at Tenten only to have Neji become a spinning blur, using his Shruiken to shield her and himself. "There is one other element that I can control. I have been forbidden to ever use it because it's known as an abomination ability. But seeing that this is becoming very difficult with Jirati's Chakra Tenticles, I think it be best if I did use it. Do not think poorly of me when you see what I do next, Lee."

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, finally standing up and watching her carefully.

Nekomata shook her head as she rose it higher without even looking at Lee. "Out of all Nine Tailed Beasts, I am like a living ghost and the only one with necromancer abilities." She didn't even have to see the look on Lee's face to know that he had no idea what that was. She just scruffed up the fiery fur on her neck before she lashed out her tails, sending them striking against the over looking cliff not more than twenty feet away. The tails sliced into the earthy cliff, allowing several clumps drop right into the ocean. "I have the power to manipulate the dead. And seeing that the dead doesn't really have Chakra any more, they are the perfect weapon to deal with this monstrocity that Jirati has become."

Lee's eyes only flashed in surprise as he stared up at her before he heard a low rumble from somewhere near the cliffs. He quickly looked over at the overlook, watching as the ground seemed to vibrate and shake. Something was happening up there. Only he and Nekomata were watching while Neji and Tenten were still quite occupied with fighting Jirati.

They didn't even realize that the fight was starting to bring an shocked audience to the clearing. Both villagers and the renegades had heard the explosions and roars and came running to find out what was going on. But none of them could believe what they were seeing.

A giant fire cat and a giant jelly fish.

But what soon joined them, none of them would ever forget it. No one would ever imagine that what the fire cat just did was even possible until two blurs came leaping off the cliff sides and slamming onto the ground right before them. All the villagers and the renegades could do was gasp and freeze every inch of their bodies.

Hearing something very heavy hitting the ground, Lee spun around, raising a hand and preparing to fight whoever was interferring before he, too, froze in alarm. He couldn't believe his eyes and neither could Gai when he finally managed to catch his breath and sit up to see what was going on. His entire frame froze as he watched a giant of a man stand up, holding a very long and massive looking sword, while a shorter person lashed out his arms, and catching several senbon between his fingers.

Both of them were so ragged and covered in dirt and old mud that it almost caked on them. And it didn't help that they both looked like they were the living dead.

But that was because...they were.

"Well, well, well. Something tells me that we're missing quite the party here." A very gruff and deep voice escaped from the corpse of Zabuza Momochi before he turned his nearly rotted eyes towards the large fire cat that was watching them with a smirk. "I'm taking it that it was you that brought us back. Ain't that right?"

"You are correct, Zabuza Momochi. Forgive me for yanking your spirit out of the Otherworld but I am in need of yours and Haku's help. As you can see, we're in a serious bind." Nekomata clearly stated as she waved her tails behind her, ignoring the shocked looks that were staring at either her or the two undead Mist Ninja. "As soon as you have assisted me and my companions with this monstrocity, I will send your spirit back to where it belongs."

The Dead Zabuza grunted before swinging his giant sword onto his back and holding it there as he eyed the fire cat. "And pray, tell me why we should assist you, Two Tail? I don't see what is in it for us." He growled at her. "As far as I could tell, I'm just going to go back to Hell and enjoy myself tearing the limbs off of that punk ass bastard, Gatou for eternity."

"Hmm. Maybe you are correct, Momochi." Nekomata hissed with amusement before she flickered her eyes over Zabuza and Haku's shoulders, nodding to the audience there. "But take a good look around. Those are the people you tried to hurt and kill and you were killed for it." She watched as Zabuza and Haku both turned and looked at the Villagers, who drew back in fear and alarm. And both of them spotted a rather shocked Tazuna standing in the front with Inari clutching onto his side with his daughter. They could not believe their eyes. "Those are the people that Gatou tried to have you hurt by killing the old man, Tazuna. And it is Gatou's people who are causing them trouble again."

The two undead Mist Ninja turned the other direction and spotted Zori hiding behind a tree, staring at them with very wide and frightened eyes. He also could not believe what he was seeing.

"If you allow them to continue ravaging this Land, you will never rest in peace, Momochi. After all, one very good deed like this might just win you the ticket that you need to go where Haku has been all of this time." Nekomata said, sounding rather smug. She seemed to know exactly what she needed to say to get Zabuza's cooperation.

"Hmm." The undead Zabuza grunted before looked down at Haku, who looked rather horrible with a gaping hole in his chest but he had a rather soft look on his ragged, not so adorable face as he looked back up at his former mentor. "Well, Haku. Your call this time."

The small undead Mist Ninja hummed softly before he snapped into a stance, holding up his fist with senbon sticking out from between his fingers. "Maybe, Zabuza-senpai, we should take the time to do something right. It maybe what we need to atone for what we have done here." He spoke softly.

"Heh. Such a soft heart you've always had, Haku." Undead Zabuza barked with laughter before he swung his giant sword over head and held it tightly in his hands as he shifted him into an endurance stance. "Fine! We'll do it your way this time! Move aside, runts!" He roared before launching himself forward and past Lee and Nekomata. He was quickly followed by

Boy, did Neji and Tenten get the shock of their lives when two very dirty and quite dead looking Ninja raced past them and began slicing through the many tenticles of Jirati. They both almost fell over in shock when they saw the two. "What the...?" The Weapons Specialist gasped as she stared saucer eyed as a nearly skeletonized giant began swinging a huge ass sword and cutting many tenticles without worrying about being touched.

Even Neji had to stare with wide eyes as the shorter Mist Ninja began spinning in swift circles and flinging several senbon at Jirati. He had never seen anything like this before. "What are those?" He found himself ask in alarm.

"They are the undead spirits of Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku. I believe I am fault for their ressurection." Nekomata stated as she and Lee hurried over to stand and watch as the two quite dead Ninja attacked a rather alarmed looking Jirati. Even he was stunned by what he was seeing as many of his Chakra tenticles were getting cut to shreds and lying all around his hovering body. "Jirati was becoming quite the handful and seeing that the dead has no Chakra left, I decided to bring Zabuza and Haku back to the land of the living to deal with him."

Both Neji and Tenten looked wide eyed up at Nekomata, not believing what she had just said. They had had no idea that she had that kind of power. It was almost frightening to imagine that she was able to do something like that. "You did this? But...how?" Neji asked, still very alarmed.

Nekomata looked down into his pearl colored eyes before shaking her head as she sat down on her hind quarters, watching as Zabuza and Haku both cut nearly all of the tenticles off of Jirati and were still working on the others. "I am the Nekomata. A ghost fire cat with the ability of a necromancer. Necromancers are beings with the ability of manipulating the dead. It takes up a lot of my Chakra and I am draining fast by keeping Zabuza and Haku here. It will be very soon before I must fade away back inside of Yugito and rest myself. But as soon as I depart, I will need you to watch over her. She will be very weak and easy to attack. So I must implore you, Neji Hyuuga, do not attack her. I know you have great hate for her and the Hidden Cloud Village. But you must understand something. She was never apart of that village during the time of your father's sacrifice. And yet, she plans to return to the Cloud Village and demand the remains of your father to return them to you and your Clan. If was anyone else but her, she would be killed for it. But she is very close to the Raikage. He will do as she asks and he will return your father's remains to you. Please trust her, and help her as she hides from the Akatsuki. It won't be long before they catch scent of my power. They will chase after her after we are done here. I care much for my kitten host. Please, help us as you have helped Shukaku and are helping Kyuubi. And please, find Haichi and let him know that we are alive. Please protect him and the rest of the Jinchuriki. There are only five of us left." She then hissed as she began to flicker and grow shorter.

"Nekomata!" Lee said worriedly, reaching out and touching her shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

"No, Lee. Just growing weak. The necromancer ability is starting to wear me down. It won't be long now. But I must fight myself to stay strong. If I don't release Zabuza and Haku before I do, they will be cursed to walk this world as the undead until I gain my strength again. I don't want to even think what will happen if I cannot release them."

Everyone turned to watch as Undead Zabuza and Undead Haku were cutting Jirati down even harder than before. They seemed to be sensing the urgency of them finishing up and were cutting the tenticles down faster.

It was not long before Jirati hit the ground, rather bloody and worn out from getting sliced to pieces by the two undead Mist Ninja, who were standing over him. He couldn't even find enough strength to push himself to sitting up. He just laid against the ground, panting and bleeding.

"So, fatboy." Zabuza growled as he stabbed his giant blade into the ground, merely a few feet away from Jirati. "Are you done? Or do you want to go Round 2 with us?"

Jirati panted as he pushed himself to his knees and looked past the blood trailing down the side of his face at the Undead Zabuza before him. He shook his head as he rest his hands onto his lap, still panting hard. "No. I am finished. I will cease my attacks here." He told him.

Sharply nodding, Zabuza and Haku both turned their backs onto Jirati and began walking towards Nekomata, ignoring all of the shocked stares they were getting.

That is until Tenten gasp, as did a lot of the observers and there was a loud thunk smacked against Zabuza's head, not even throwing him off balance. He just growled in high annoyance before turning around, letting everyone else in front of him see the throwing star that was stuck into the back of his head. Quite a few people who couldn't handle sights like that dropped back into faints. "Okay, now that just pissed me off!" The gruff Undead Mist Ninja growled before he swung his giant sword over shoulder and brought it down heavily. "I'm already dead, you idiot!"

Several people flinched as they watched the demise of Jirati. And quite a few people had quickly covered their faces and their children's faces before they could see the such of act of violence against someone who had just been living only a few seconds ago.

Until now.

Still growling, Zabuza yanked his large sword out of the bloody ground before turning and shouldering it as he gave Nekomata a very dark look. "Well? What now, fire cat?" He growled still quite irritated.

Smirking and letting her tails twitch around her feet and Rock Lee, she turned her ears off to the side before tilting it off towards the side where a large group of renegades were still standing with a stunned Zori and Waraji, who had finally woken up in time to see the death of the last Chakra Brother.

Growling, Zabuza turned and took several large steps towards the renegades, along with Haku, who was branishing his senbon needles in his fists. They both gave the large group of criminals dangerous looks as they approached. They even ignored the fact that all of them were cringing away, murmuring fearfully.

"Are you done here, Samurai? Or do you want to continue this conversation?" Zabuza snarled. "Because I am so looking forward to finishing you two bastards off for working with that jackass, Gatou."

Cringing away, Zori shook his head as he grabbed a hold of Waraji. "We are done here, Zabuza Momochi. I think it'd be wise if we ceased our revenge on this city." He simply said.

Narrowing his eyes, Zabuza reached up behind his head and yanked the throwing star out before holding it up for the Samurai to see. He looked almost too dangerous by doing such a thing. "Are you sure? You plan on throwing something at me when I turn my back onto you?" He growled savagely. "Any of you?"

For a long moment, all of the renegades just stared at him and Haku before glancing over at Zori and Waraji to see what their orders were. But, the two had already spun around and began running as fast as they could, yelping as they tried to get out of there fast.

A second later, all two hundred renegades turned and bolted, leaving only a large cloud of dust and leaves as they took off like something was chasing them.

Zabuza grunted before he tossed the throwing star down on the ground and made his way back towards Nekomata and the four Leaf Ninja. He merely glanced at the villagers as they slowly took careful steps into the clearing to get a better look at what just happened. He met the eyes of Tazuna, who hesitated for a moment before finding his courage and walking straight up to him. "Hm. Old Man, it's been a while. Where's Red and Loud mouth? Or that blasted Hatake?" The Undead Mist Ninja grunted.

Tazuna merely shrugged. "Not here. Apparently they were too busy on another mission to come save our village. And apparently, Gaara became Kazekage, Naruto's chasing off after Sasuke, who I guess betrayed his village and became a Rogue Ninja. Kakashi...I don't know about. I believe Master Ninja Gai," He motioned to a still staring wide eyed Gai right next to him. "He has said that he got into a fight with someone called the Akatsuki and got hurt. And apparently, the pretty girl, Sakura, is now in relationship with Gaara. That's about it." He simply explained.

Zabuza snorted before shaking his head. "The Uchiha brat betrayed his village?" He shook his head again as he clipped his sword to his Undead back. "What a dipshit. And I always knew that little Sand brat would do something pretty big. But becoming the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village? Well, that's really something." He looked back at Nekomata and nodding. "Now if you don't mind, let us go back to sleep. But when you do, I'd rather not let anyone do this again. So burn our bodies to ashes." He said, glancing at Haku, who nodded in agreement.

"Very well." Nekomata purred before she closed her eyes and let her two tails flick at Zabuza and Haku.

As soon as she did that, both of them went up into large flames, startling the Leaf Ninja and the villagers. It wasn't even long before the flames went out and the giant sword dropped heavily to the ground with a loud thud. The remaining ashes, however, caught into the wind and drifted off towards the ocean. Almost a wave of peace fell over everyone in the clearing as they watched them fly free as the sea breeze.

"Well that was interesting." Gai said, chuckling.

Nekomata suddenly hissed as she curled up into a ball before she burst into flames and Alea appeared right where the large fire cat had been standing. She was panting as if she had run several miles as fast as she could before she stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Lee was quick to catching her before she hit the ground and was very surprised to see Neji quickly catch her other arm and help him stand Alea back up onto her feet. He had to smile though as he saw genuine concern from his fellow Shinobi for the girl that they were holding up.

"Well," Gai added, still staring at Alea, very astonished as did many of the villagers. He, like them, could not believe what they just saw. He had just watched the Nekomata transform back into its human host, Yugito Nii. "This just got even more interesting.