Monkey: And here it is! The start of the Kokuyo Land Arc!

Tsuna: Does this mean tht I have to start fighting?

Monkey: Oh, yeah. And another thing, I am so very sorry, but I suck at making fights. I mean I'll still make them, it's just that they'll either be short or just plain suck.

A. I-Pin: You're still making them, so that's good.

Monkey: I'm sorry to you too, I-Pin.

A. I-Pin: Why?

Monkey: You'll find out later. Now if you two would be so kind as to do the disclaimer.

T&I: Monkey Pie225 doesn't own KHR.

Monkey: Thanks. Now let's start the Kokuyo Land Arc! Woooo!

Song of the chapter: Answer Is Near

By: One Ok Rock

Yo - Regular talking

Yo- Attack

Chapter 9: Threat

"Well, well, well. The perfects aren't that scary after all!" A guy said, standing over a disciplinary committe member, he was beaten up and bloody. "We're boy from the nest town, here for our away game, or something." The guy said.

"Quit fooling around. Finish it quickly, Ken." The guy standing behind him said.

"How many for this guy?" Ken asked, getting our pliers. "Lemme take a little looksee!" He proceeded to grab the guy by the hair. "Don't blame me for this~~~ It's an order from the top~~"

"UYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"There was another assault case, wasn't there?" Nana asked.

"Last weekend, eight perfects from Namimori jr. high were found with serious injuries." Reborn explained. "The victims, for some reason, had their teeth extracted. There were even some who had all their teeth extracted."

"For real!? Wh-why would anyone do something like that?" Tsuna asked.

"No idea."

"Hey, Tsu-kun. Maybe you should learn some hand-to-hand fighting skill for self-defense." Nana said. Tsuna just asked why he should. "Because I'm worried! You should learn to protect yourself! Besides, a man needs to be strong, right?" She added with Reborn agreeing with her.

"I already said this has nothing to do with me!" Tsuna yelled as he walked to school with diffrent flyers in hand. "When did Mom get all these anyway? You were hired from a flyer too, weren't you?" He asked, looking at Reborn.

"If Futa was here, he could come up with a list of the best fighting style for you." Tsuna just objected, say he wouldn't want that kind of list. "Or maybe it would be a good idea to join Ryohei's boxing club."

"Don't joke around! His spartan ways will kill me!" As they turned the corner to get to the school, they saw that the disciplinary committe was all around the school. "This really is a gang fight..."

"You're wrong." They turned around and saw Hibari standing there. "This is mischief with no meaning." He got a dark look of his face. "But of course, these sparks that have ignited must be severed from their origin."

"Hibari-san is really scary." Tsuna said. He then heard the Namimori anthem and saw Hibari pull out his phone. "It's Hibari-san's ring tone!?" He turned to leave and said bye.

"He's an acquaintance of yours, isn't he?" Hibari said. "Sasagawa Ryohei...was attacked." Tsuna was shocked.

"Onii-san! Are you alright!?" Tsuna yelled as he ran into the room.

"Ahh, Sawada. You're quick. I look really pathetic like this." Ryohei said with a cast over his left arm, bandages around his head and an oxygen mask over his mouth. Tsuna was freaking out while Reborn just asked about his injuries. "Six bones broken, seven cracked...and..." He opened his mouth to show that some of his teeth were missing. "Look. I lost eight of my teeth. Though havering said that, I've broken more bones and teeth during boxing. But, the guy that came looking for a fight...Although he appears careless, he probably is a really stong guy." Tsuna asked if he saw what the attacker looked like. "Yeah. He even knew my name. He wore the Kokuyo jr. high uniform, from the next town...Sawada, you be careful too."

"You're saying that too! This has nothing to do with me!" Tsuna yelled.

"But...I really want a punch like that in my club!" Ryohei yelled. "Change of subject; don't tell Kyoko the truth about this. She'll worry for sure. That's why I've covered my mouth."

"Nii-chan! Why did you go climb the chimney in the bathhouse for?" Kyoko exclaimed as she entered the room. "Is it really just a sprain...?" Reborn answered for him. The brother and sister just had a little back-and-forth. Tsuna and Reborn decided to just leave the room.

"Why did Ryohei get beaten up!? What on earth is going on!" Tsuna yelled. He looked at the main room and saw a lot of Nami middle students there and talking. One of the kids walked up to him and started telling him that more people were attacked and that none of them were part of the disciplinary committe. Just then, the second of command of the perfects walked by and started saying that Hibari probably went to take down the attackers. This in turn led to Tsuna and the kid to start exclaiming how Hibari would take them down.

In the ruins of Kokuyo Land, we can find Hibari walking into a building with bloody, unconscious people behind him. As he walked inside, some guy came out and tried to get him with an axe, but just ended up getting smashed through glass from a tonfa to the guy.

"You finally came."

"It took a while to find you. Are you the ringleader behind this mischief?" Hibari asked, looking to a guy who was sitting on a couch.

"Kufufu. Something like that." He said with a smirk. "Next, we'll bring a new order to your town."

"You must be thick. Namimori does not require two orders." Hibari said.

"Indeed. I agree wholeheartedly. Since I'm taking over, we don't need you." The guy said. Hibari pressed something on his tonfas and spikes came out from them.

"Right here, right now. I'll bite you to death." Hibari said with a dark aura and smirk. "Do you wish to die in your seat?" He said as he walked closer.

"Kufufufufu. What interesting things you say. I am sitting down because there is no need for me to stand." Hibari just got a frown and made a threat to that. "It's just that, if you don't talk now, you may never get the chance to do so again." Hibari started to sweat and go a little pale. "Come on, now. Pull yourself together." Hibari started to feel weaker. "Hello, I'm over here." This shocked Hibari. The whole time he thought that his opponent was in front of him. The guy then pressed a button and continued to talk. "I had to import these from overseas. Kufufufufu. You really area weak to them, aren't you? To Sakura." The next thing Hibari knew, there were Sakura trees all around him.

"Is...Is he alright!?" Tsuna asked as he watched Leon change into different and random stuff.

"Once his tail comes off, he can't manage his shape changing ability." Reborn explained. That's when the paramedics came in with the assistant head perfect, Kusakube. Reborn jumped onto the gurney and looked inside his mouth to see that seven teeth were missing. "There can be no doubt about it." All Tsuna did was ask about what he was doing. "The cause of all this fighting...is you, Tsuna."

"Oya. You face is saying, 'How did he know about my weakness to Sakura?'" The guy said, holding up Hibari's head by his hair. "I wonder why, Hm?" Hibari just glared at him while he continued to talk. "Oh? Are you thinking that if there were no Sakura around, you'd be fine? If so, then you're dead wrong. I have seen many equal to your level in skill, and every time, I've buried them. In a place much like hell." He said as we get to see that he was wearing a Kokuyo Middle uniform, had a pineapple hair style and had weird eyes; one was regular and the other was red with the kanji for 6 (六) in the middle of it. "Come. Let's continue."

"What do you the cause of all the fight is me!?" Tsuna yelled.

"Do you remember how many teeth all the victims have lost?" Reborn asked.

"Kusakabe-san, who was just beaten to, lost 7, you said... Didn't onii-san lose 8? Before that..."

"Before Ryohei, a student named Moriyama was beaten up, and he lost 9." Reborn finished. "Before that was Oshikiri with 10. Before that was Yokomine with 11. The guy before that was 12. Before that was 13." Tsuna go what Reborn meant. "The first person who got beaten up lost all 24 teeth. Since then, each successive victim has lost one more tooth than the previous one." The baby explained. "The perpetrators are counting down with teeth. Once I realized there was a count down, I found a correlation." He handed Tsuna a piece of paper.

"Namimori junior high's fighting strength rankings? What about it?" Tsuna asked, looking at the paper.

"You really are slow. The order of victims match the ranking list exactly." Reborn said. "It's Futa's ranking list. We, mafia, have a code, the Omertá. It's a code that says under no circumstances should a person reveal the secrets of his organization. Futa's ranking lists are the entire industry's top secret. There's no way an ordinary person could have access to it. In other words, to get access to this ranking list means..."

"Since the seventh-ranked was Kusakabe-san was beaten...Then, the sixth-ranked person would be targeted next!" Tsuna yelled as he read who was next. "No way!? Wh-what should we do, Reborn!?"

"Things are getting worse and worse." Reborn said. He then turned to Tsuna. "You go deal with it. I'm going to check out something that's bothering me."

'Whats going on? There're too many absentees. The boss ain't here either.' Gokudera thought while looking at his phone. "How boring- ah. I got cut off." He got up and started to head for the door. "My cell ran out of battery. I'm out of here."

"Look here, Gokudera! Damn it, you were late this morning! You just got here!" The teacher said.

'What's going on? First nii-chan tells me that Ryohei isn't at school, then almost everyone is absent. I have a bad feeling about this.' Mei said as she looked to Shobu, who looked just as worried. "Sensei! May I leave as well? I haven't been feeling well, I would like to go to the infirmary." She said as she raised her hand. The teacher just sighed and told her to go.

'I have to warn him right away! This is bad. This is really bad!' Tsuna thought as he ran through the streets. Suddenly, a net came out of nowhere and ensnared Tsuna. 'I've been caught!'

"We gotcha! We did it!" He turned and saw Haru, Lambo and I-Pin standing there. He proceed to yell at them, asking what they were doing. "I heard a lot of students in Tsuna-san's school got targeted and it's getting dangerous. I thought that if we attacked Tsuna-san before the villains got to you. You wouldn't be caught." Haru explained.

"That makes no sense! Now's not the time to be playing games!" He yelled again.

"Mukuro-sa~~~~~n. So what'd you do with him? The Nami boss. What was it? Sparrow? Duck?" Ken asked as he continued to bowl.

"I took his out. We'll leave him unconscious until we've gotten all the teeth." The guy from before, Mukuro, said.

"He's still alive? That guy."

"Where's Chikusa?"

"Kakipii's gone after the sixth-ranked prey. It's getting more and more tedious, so he didn't know about his chances, he said." The blond answered.

"I understand that feeling. It's taking way to long to find the one we want, hm?"

"Anyway, I think I'll grab something to eat." Gokudera said as he pulled out all the money he had. "65 yen...!"

"Oi! Baka bomber!" He turned around to see Mei running up to him. "What the heck do you think you're doing!?"

"Why the hell are you here!?" He yelled back.

"Because idiot! People are getting attacked left and right, I don't want the idiots I know to get hurt!" She yelled.

"Why the hell would you care!?"

"Urg! I try and help and this is what I get!?" Mei yelled. She put her hands on her hips and sighed. "Look, no matter how you put it, we're friends whether you like it or not. I just want to help you."

"Why aren't you with that baseball idiot then? I can take care of myself." He said with a frown.

"Because, unlike you, he's still in school with nii-chan and Shobu there." She said.

"Namimori junior high, class 2-A, Gokudera Hayato and Arashi Mei." They both turned around to see a guy in a Kokuyo Land uniform with a beanie and glasses on. He also had a barcode on his cheek. "Let's get this over with quickly. I don't like to...sweat."

"What do ya want?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Kokuyo junior high, 2nd year, Kakimoto Chikusa. I came here to break you." He said, looking at Gokudera. "But you are also my prey." He said, looking at Mei.

'There's something no right with this guy. He has a deadly aura around him. Is one of the people that's been attacking Nami middle students? We better be careful.' Mei thought as she went for her Bo Staff. 'Damn. Gokudera and I aren't use to fighting together. We have completely diffrent fighting styles...Damn it.'

"Huh? Sheesh. What's going on these days? Why do we keep getting involved with gangsters from other schools?" Gokudera sighed. "And here I was, hoping for an ordinary life... All right, since you asked. My principle is never to refuse a fight when invited." That's when two guys, walking by, saw that they were about to fight.

"This is not a show." Chikusa said as he threw something. The next thing they knew, the guys had a lot of needles sticking from their forehead.

'What the hell did he do!?' Mei thought in amazement. 'I-I hardly saw him do anything! How did those needles get there!?' She tensed up a little. 'That smell...it's posion. We better be really careful. Damn it all! I don't think I can open them up without messing my staff up.'

"Y-you bastard! What the hell did you do that for!?" Gokudera yelled.

"Let's hurry...This is troublesome." Chikusa threw something again and the two noticed at Gokudera ended up getting a cut.

'That idiot! We better run for the moment. I need to tell him our opponents weapon.' They both looked at each other and ran away. As Chikusa followed, he turned a corner and saw a lot of dynamite in the air. He threw two yo-yo's and that destroyed the bombs. The yo-yo's didn't stop there, the went past where the two were hiding and let out a large amount of needles. 'Crap!' They both had to move quickly and barely jumped out of the way.

'This guy... He's no ordinary junior high schooler. Whether it's his killing instincts, or his fighting style... He's a professional Hitman!' Gokudera thought.

"Crap." He turned and saw Mei on the ground with her foot twisted. "I twisted my ankle." Gokudera just moved in front of her and looked at the guy.

"Kokuyo junior high? I've gone senile for a minute, but... Which Family is that again?" He asked.

"It's not a Family, Gokudera. It's a school from the town over." Mei said, using her staff to stand up. "I know you've noticed, but his yo-yo's have needles hidden inside them. We have to be careful, they're also covered in poison."

"Finally... We got the right one." Chikusa said as he readied another attack. "Who are the members in your Family, and who is your boss? Spill it all out." He said as he threw a yo-yo.

"You're not the only one to use needles, buddy boy." Mei said, Bo Staff in front of her. She started to twirl it and multiple needles came out of it. "Senbon Blizzard!" The needles hit all of his and there were some that continued on to try and attack him, he quickly dodged.

'I don't think so!' Gokudera thought as he lit his dynamite. "Double Bomb!" As he threw the bombs in the air, Chikusa just threw his yo-yo's, cutting the dynamite. The yo-yo's then let out multiple needles.

'I'm trapped between the two! My speed's not enough to dodge that! I don't want to use this trick.' He then remembered about Mei.

"Go! I'll be fine, I'm not some hussy that can't take care of herself!" She yelled, getting he staff ready. He nodded and threw some mini bombs behind him. He ran faster towards the beanie wearing teen in an atempt to punch him, but ended up missing.

"Too slow!"

"I'm not done yet! Double Bomb!" He yelled as he threw even more bombs.

"What an artless guy..." He said as he was about to throw his yo-yo's.

"He's not your only opponent! Senbon Shower!" He turned around and moved to the left, but still got hit on his right arm by the needles. He then got a direct hit by the bombs that blew up his whole back. "Don't underestimate the Vongola. The end." He was attacked again by the front and back by bombs and needles coming his way.

"That was quite dangerous, after all." Gokudera said as he was just smoking on the floor.

"Damn it. It did break it a little for those attacks." Mei said as she sat cross legged on the ground, looking at her staff.

"Gokudera-kun! Mei-san!"

"10th! Why are you here?" Gokudera exclaimed.

"Hey, Tsuna." Mei said, still looking at her staff.

"Ah, no... I mean... I just thought what if and stuff." Tsuna said as he walked closer to the two. "Some rumor said... Gokudera-kun was targeted by the Kokuyo middle guys..." He just got an apology from Gokudera. Mei then stopped at looked over at where the other guy was suppose to be and stood up. "But...Wow. That's some turning on your attacker...huh?"

"Guys...we have a problem." Mei said, looking at the smoke. "The guy's missing!"

"You saved me a lot of time." The turned to see him all burned and had needles sticking out of his body.

"Be careful, Tsuna! He uses yo-yo's as his weapon!" Mei said as she and Gokudera got ready to dodge.

"Even if you say that, I'm...Too scared...To move..." Tsuna said as he froze up.

"What!?" As the needles were sent their way, Mei pushed Tsuna to the ground and Gokudera got in front of the them and took the attack.

"Gokudera-kun!"

"Gokudera!"

"He's broken. Now come with me." Chikusa said.

"He may have been rude, dumb and like a little pup for Tsuna, but...he is still my friend! You bastard!" Mei said as she pressed a button and the Bo Staff spilt into four sections with a chain connecting them. She charged at him, forgetting about her ankle. Chikusa just calmly threw one of his yo-yo's and let out some needles. As they were about to hit the two, they were pushed into the ground. He then had to jump out of the way from an attack. The two just opened their eyes and saw who had saved them. "Shobu...Nii-chan...Yamamoto..."

"Are you okay, nee-san?" Shobu asked, bringing her towards the others.

"Yeah. Thanks." They all felt a dark aura and turned to see Jinsei standing there, they could see that his grip on his Fire and Wind wheels was getting harder.

"Yamamoto." Jinsei said as the boy got up.

"Yeah."

"You're in my way." Chikusa said as he threw both his yo-yo's. The two just got ready and sliced the both of the weapons.

"They cut the stings! But, since when did Yamamoto have his bat at the ready!?" Tsuna yelled.

"I see... Namimori junior high 2-A and 3-A. You're Yamamoto Takeshi and Arashi Jinsei."

'That's right. Jinsei-san is ranked third and Yamamoto's ranked fifth on Nami middle's fighting strength list...' Tsuna thought.

"Yeah? So what?" Jinsei said.

"You're both Ken's prey... It'll be trouble if I intervened..." And with that, he left.

"Why is Hayato here, instead of the hospital?" Bianchi asked with a basket of poisonous food in hand.

"Bianchi-cha~n!" Shamal exclaimed as he tried to kiss her. He got a kick to the face. "Aww, come on. The hospital is dangerous, Reborn said, so he brought him to the health room. I don't treat guys, but leaning a bed's okay with me. It's okay, isn't it? Come stay with the good doctor." He got a super punch from Bianchi this time.

"I will attend to Hayato's recuperation! If you're going to get in my way, step outside!" Bianchi yelled.

"Fine. I'll help Mei-cha~n then." Shamal said as he went to the other girl, but got a foot to his face.

"If you think of touching my sister, then I'll personally cut off your ball, you perverted doctor." Jinsei said, leaning on the wall. He then turned to Mei. "So what happened to you?"

"I sprained my ankle." She said, looking away from him.

"That doesn't matter. We both know that you could still have kicked that guy's ass, even if you broke your leg." He said with a serious face.

"I don't know, okay!" She yelled back.

"Just calm down, Mei." Yamamoto said, trying his best to get her to settle down.

"I know the answer to that." They turned and looked at Shobu. "I went to one of the science rooms to see what kind of poison this was."

"But you know that I'm pretty much immune to most poisons." Mei said, looking confused.

"I know. The posion is not what did it. I looked at your Bo Staff and saw something on it." He the looked at her with a blank stare. "What was the last thing you used it for?"

"Huh? I used it for the hitting that giant snowball that Dino was inside of." She answered back.

"Did you do anything to it at all after that?"

"Hm... I was trying to fix it." She said, looking to be in thought.

"You can be dumb sometimes, nee-san." Shobu said with a sigh. "You had some peanut butter on it." The other two siblings just froze, then Mei sighed and Jinsei just faced palmed.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, not getting what's going on.

"Nee-san is allergic to anything having to do with peanuts. It's nothing bad, but it slows her senses down a little. So when she was fighting, she couldn't react as fast." Shobu explained. Everyone else just sweat-dropped at thinking that that's what stopped her from winning.

"You don't have to call me dumb." She mumbled.

"Come on, now. It's okay that you didn't notice." Yamamoto said. The two just had a little back and forth. Tsuna just tuned them out and walked outside.

'It's my fault that Gokudera-kun and Mei-san are here...' Tsuna just slid down the door and belittled himself. He felt something falling from the ceiling and saw Reborn on the ceiling thanks to Leon. "What the heck is that!?"

"Leon's finally settled down and entered a cocoon state." All Tsuna did was yell at him for not being anywhere to help out. "I was investigating a jailbreak inccedent that happened in Italy."

"Huh? A jailbreak?"

"Yes. Two weeks ago, there was a jailbreak at the high security prison reserved only for the most terrible of mafia criminals who have committed the most heinous of crimes. The escaped convicts killed several of the wardens and other prisoners." Reborn explained. "After that, the mafia's information network tracked down the ringleaders behind the jailbreak. They were two subordinates under a young man named Rokudo, and they were headed for Japan. Following that, three students from abroad transferred into Kokuyo junior high. Not long after, a gang of hooligans was formed. That was 10 days ago. The gang leader's name is Rokudo Mukuro." Reborn finished.

"Could it be, this Mukuro is...! Could to be the same person!?" Tsuna yelled. "Why's someone so frightening targeting Nami middle! If that's the case, our opponents are also in the mafia!?"

"The opposite. These people have been exiled from the mafia." Reborn said.

"Things have gotten very, very bad! What should I do!?" Tsuna exclaimed, freaking out.

"What should you do? You have no choice but to take down Mukuro and his gang." All Tsuna did was object to doing such a thing. "Even if you can't do it, you have no choice but to do it now. This is the first time the 9th boss has written a letter to you." Reborn said, pulling out the paper. "Dear Vongola 10th Boss, I have heard of your development from your home tutor there. Well, you are a successor of the boss, after all. The time has come for you to take the next step. As the highest ranking member of the Vongola Family, I'm giving you an order. Within the next twelve hours, you are to capture Rokudo Mukuro and his gang of escaped convicts. You are also to rescue the hostage at the same time. Best of luck, 9th Boss."

"Wait, what the heck is this!"

"PS. If you are successful, I will send 100 years worth of tomatoes at daybreak."

"I don't need tomatoes!"

"By the way, if you refuse your mission, you'll be a traitor, and you will have to die..."

"I didn't hear that! I didn't hear anything!" Tsuna yelled.

"Geez. Nothing good come out of being near that Reborn. I feel better out here." Tsuna said as he continued to walk down the road. He heard some women talking about how the school was closed because of the attacks and started to freak out again.

"There's no place left to feel secure." Reborn said, popping out of nowhere. "Not to mention, the guy that got Gokudera and Mei knows that you're the boss, they're going to come after you directly next." Tsuna just continued to freak out and ask what he should do. "You already know what you should do. Don't forget what those guys have already done in order to find you. If you keep escaping from this, the victims will only increase."

"E-even so... Even so, to me, I think what those guys are doing is really strange. Why get everyone in trouble... That Mukuro guy pisses me off!" Tsuna exclaimed. "But, even Hibari-san hasn't come back... There's no way that I, No-Good Tsuna, can go against a guy like that... It's impossible..."

"But, that's not what the other think." Reborn said.

"Oh! There you are. Let me go with you too!" They turned and saw Gokudera standing there. "This time, I'm gonna kill that spectacles freak!"

"But, what about your injuries?"

"What, those little scratches!?" Gokudera said, looking like he was about to fall.

"I'm going too, Tsuna! The little guy's told me all about the matter with Kokuyo." He turned and saw Yamamoto. "It's an inter-school mafia role-play, isn't it?"

"I'm going too!" It was Bianchi. "I'm worried about Hayato." She said, making him fall down.

"Um...Can I go too?" They saw that this time it was Shobu standing there.

"Shobu-kun, too!?"

"Right! We'll all go to the enemy grounds together then." Reborn said. "We're going to divert our attack for protection. Due to the new highway, the old highway has become secluded, so they're located their hideout in a corner of the area. The hostage should also be there as well. The hostage is someone you all know well. Get ready, we're leaving in a little bit."

"Right!"

END CHAPTER

Monkey: Finally done with this chapter!

Reborn: So we finally get to see some fighting?

Monkey: Yeah. I'm debating whether to put one or two fights in the next chapter.

Reborn: Put them all in.

Monkey: No.

Rebron: *clicks gun* What?

Monkey: No.

Reborn: *smirks* Okay.

Monkey: PHEW! Anyways, please remember to leave a review and have a nice life.

Reborn: Ciao ciao.