Chapter 43: Battle

Everyone stood in the darkened meeting room, all of them wondering who had that mysterious voice that spoke to them just now.

"I hate standing in the dark. Anyone here got a light?" asked Mei as she looked around with her eyes. In answer, a small fire began to flicker near her. The Mizukage turned to see Izuka holding the flame in her hands, the fire not even burning her hand. "Oh . . . thank you Lady Sage."

"You're welcome." answered Izuka as she held the flame out from her body.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" yelled A as he looked around the room. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"Let's just say I am only the messenger. Mind moving that flame closer to the ceiling Lady Sage?" asked the mysterious voice. Izuka looked at the Kages and their bodyguards before throwing the flame up into the air. The flame moved on its own and stopped a few feet from the center of the ceiling, hovering at its stop. Out from the shadows came a man dressed in typical Rain garb with his Rain headband tired around his neck. His white hair looked ghostly near the flame, yet his face looked like he was in his late twenties. His bright green eyes looked down at all the Kages as Izuka summoned another flame to her hands.

"Why are you here?" asked Onoki as he crossed his arms.

"Didn't you hear me just now Old Man?" asked the shinobi as he walked around the ceiling. "I'm here as a messenger."

"What's the message?" asked Tsunade as she raised an eyebrow at the Rain Nin.

"The message . . . is more like a warning. It is best if you all surrender to the great village of Amegakure before things get worse than they already are." said the man as he crossed his arms.

"Worse . . . all your village has done is attack various small towns and outposts around our villages." said Gaara as he crossed his arms.

"That is true . . . but that is just the beginning." said the Rain nin as he locked eyes with each person below him.

"Beginning?" asked Mei as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Indeed . . . our plan goes through various phases. And the next phase starts . . . now."

The building shook suddenly as loud explosions could be heard from nearby. Everyone looked around at each other before returning their attention to the man on the ceiling.

"It's best that I get going." said the Rain Nin as he began to run off the ceiling and onto the side wall near the exit.

"Not so fast," mumbled Izuka as she fired the flame in her hands at the Rain Nin. The enemy narrowly dodged the attack, but he jumped into the way of Gaara's sand. The sand grabbed him by the wrists and flung him into the wall, never letting go as the man made impact with the hard surface. Gaara then commanded his sand to bring the Rain Nin down to their level, just as another explosion rumbled throughout the building.

"This place is under attack!" said Tsunade as an agitated look in her eyes gained the others' attention.

"Well then let's greet the guests shall we?" asked A with a small smirk. He then ran toward the wall and punched it clean through, creating a hole for him to get through.

"Sorry!" called C as he apologized for his Kage as he followed him and Darui out the impromptu entryway.

"Is he going to do that every time we have a Kage Summit here?" asked Mei as she raised an incredulous eyebrow at the hole.

"Probably . . ." muttered Onoki as he ran through the new entryway with his bodyguards in tow. Mei just shrugged and nodded to her guards before the three ran through the hole themselves.

"Mind telling us why your friends are attacking us right now?" asked Tsunade as she crossed her arms as the Rain Nin was held down by Gaara's sand.

"A preemptive strike you could say." said the Rain Nin as he smiled at the Hokage, but all that gave him a knockout punch courtesy of Tsunade herself.

"Preemptive strike my ass." muttered Tsunade as she ran for the doorway, followed by Kakashi and Shikamaru.

"What should we do with him?" asked Tsunade as she pointed to the now knocked out Rain Nin at their feet.

"Allow me." muttered Izuka as she took a step forward. She placed a hand to the ground next to the enemy ninja and summoned slate colored chakra to her palm. The ground responded and rose up to wrap itself around the Nin. The ground was now a prison for the enemy ninja, cocooning him in its grasp.

"Now we can go." said Izuka as she stood up to her full height. The Sand Siblings nodded and ran through the hole with Izuka and the samurais right behind them. The group ran straight into the southern courtyard of the complex to see the kages, their bodyguards, and some samurais fighting the Rain Nin.

"There's so many of them." said Temari in surprise as she opened her fan. "More beatings to go around!"

"You said it sis!" said Kankuro as he launched kunai at some Rain Nin from Sasori's chest compartment.

"Shall we?" asked Gaara as he turned to Izuka who was already in mid transformation. The white chakra dissipated from her body to reveal Izuka in a mostly white version of her ninja outfit, her hair was now fell down her back in waves, and her eyes were now completely snow white, making it look like she didn't even have pupils in her eyes at all.

"Lead the way." said Izuka as she nodded her head at the battlefield. Gaara shook his head and used his sand to grab some Rain Nin by the legs and threw them into the nearby wall. Izuka took a white jewel from her chain whip and summoned her weapon from it, a white johyo with a large four pointed shuriken at its end. She whipped the weapon around, slashing a few Rain Nin in the chest with the weapon before leaping over to the top of the nearby wall to deal with a few other Nin.

"MAKE SURE THE ENEMIES' WEAPONS DON'T TOUCH YOU!" yelled Onoki as he used his Dust Release to obliterate some of the Nin.

"TELL TSUNADE AND A THAT!" yelled Mei as she threw some shuriken at a Nin.

"OH SHUT UP!" yelled the two as they teamed up to take out some Nin with their feet. The battle continued with both sides not giving an inch. More and more Rain Nin tried to climb over the wall, but Izuka used her control over snow to create a barrier preventing the nin from coming over.

BOOM!

"What the hell?" asked Izuka as she turned around to see a large plume of smoke emanating from the complex.

"They've gotten inside!" said Tsunade as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Lady Sage, I need your assistance on this one." called Mifune as he ran toward the building with two samurais in tow. Izuka nodded her head and jumped down from the wall, running after the leader and into the building.

"Let's get this thing over with!" called A as he used his Lightning Release to block some of his enemies' attacks. "The sooner we're through here, the sooner we can help out inside!"

"Right!" called the other Kages in agreement.

Inside

"Looks like the explosion came from the meeting room." said Izuka as she followed the samurais up the stairs.

"The messenger probably freed himself from your little trap." said Mifune as they turned a corner after reaching the top of the stairs. They ran down the hallway and reached the meeting room to see the large plume of smoke climbing up to the sky, going through a large hole in the roof.

"He used a lot of explosives in his escape . . . I'll give him that." muttered Izuka as she crossed her arms.

"Do you think he escaped?" asked one of the samurais as he continued to stare at the roof.

"Only one way to find out . . . You two go up there and look for him. We'll stay down here." said Mifune as he turned to his subordinates.

"Yes sir." said the two samurai as they nodded their heads. They ran to the walls and through the hole in the roof, leaving the Iron leader and the Lady Sage down in the room.

"Can you sense him?" asked Mifune as he turned to Izuka.

"His chakra is still retains a strong presence in here." said Izuka as she put a hand to her hips. "I wonder where he could be?"

"Right here!" exclaimed the messenger as he came out from the shadows with a blade in hand. Mifune met him halfway and the two matched moves blade for blade. Izuka summoned snow from the roof and commanded it to grab the messenger, but he moved out the way before the snow could touch him.

"Aren't you a wily one?" asked a sarcastic Izuka as she did a few hand signs. She blew out a breath of snow at the messenger, taking him by surprise and managing to get him off his feet. Mifune tried to stab him in his chest, but the messenger moved out the way and kicked Mifune away.

"You won't catch me that easily." said the messenger as he ran toward Izuka with a fist raised.

"We'll see about that." said Izuka as she narrowly dodged the fist. She did a leg sweep, knocking the messenger off balance, but the messenger caught himself before he face planted on to the ground.

"Impressive," mumbled Izuka as she jumped out the way before the messenger could land a punch to her gut. The enemy looked out the corner of his eye to see Mifune coming at him. He did a few hand signs and moved out the way, but Mifune appeared right behind him.

"I hoped you did that." mumbled the messenger as he turned around to deliver a gush of poison gas from his mouth. It hit Mifune dead on. The samurai moved out the way before any more noxious gas was blown at him, but as soon as he landed on his two feet, he collapsed.

"MIFUNE!" yelled Izuka in surprise as she watched Mifune's body lie motionless on the ground. She ran over to him, but she was stopped halfway by a mysterious force.

"What the hell?" asked Izuka in disbelief as she pushed against the invisible force holding her back. She looked down at the ground to see a large kanji seal under her.

"What the?" the Lady Sage asked in shock as the kanji glowed a bright light. The light enveloped her body and glowed throughout the room. It disappeared as fast as it appeared, revealing that the Lady Sage was nowhere to be seen.

"My job here is done." said the messenger with a smirk as he turned to the doorway. His ears perked up once he heard footsteps and he smirked as the Kages and their bodyguards ran into the room. Their eyes went to Mifune, who was still lying on the ground before turning to face the messenger.

"The messenger is here, Mifune is over there, but where is Izuka?" asked Tsunade as she looked around the room with her eyes.

"It's simple," said the messenger as he crossed his arms. "I killed her. Plain and simple."

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