Chapter 45: New Foes

"If I was a Rain nin, where would I be waiting to get the Lady Sage once she's transported to me?"

Gaara and Temari turned to look at their brother, who had a thoughtful look on his face as the three continued to run through the snowy landscape of the Land of Iron.

"Who knows Kankuro? They can be anywhere." said Temari as she narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Right now we should be focusing on finding them before they can even leave the country."

"Where could Ryu be?" asked Kankuro as he turned to his sister. "Do you think she found them yet?"

"I hope so . . ." muttered Temari as she turned forward. Gaara continued to remain silent as the three Ran through the snow, but once they heard a lid roar, they all looked up to see Ryu flying toward them, her face showed how serious she currently was as she landed before the Sand Siblings.

"Did you find her?" asked Gaara as the Sand Siblings stopped running as soon as they reached the Sand Siblings.

"Lady Mei did . . . Come on . . . I'll tell you the rest on our way there." said Ryu as she looked up at the sky. The Sand Siblings nodded their heads and jumped onto Ryu's back. Once everyone was settled, Ryu leapt into the sky and flew south, which was the direction Lady Mei and her guards went off to.

"Okay Ryu . . . what were you able to find out." said Temari as she readied her fan for battle.

"I arrived on the scene just as Lord Onoki and his guards did. There were at least fifty Rain nin surrounding Izuka when I got there. Most of them looked like low level ninjas, but there were at least three of four of them that could cause real trouble. I left just as the fighting began," said Ryu as she continued to fly just above the trees and just in the distance, a large beam of light shot into the sky about two miles before them. ". . . And I see that it's still going."

"That was Lord Onoki's Dust Release . . ." muttered Kankuro as he looked on in amazement. ". . . Hurry up Ryu!"

"Hurrying!" exclaimed the dragon as she began to pick up speed. The two miles went by in a flash and the Sand Siblings looked down to see the battle unfolding right before their eyes. Dead Rain nin were strewn all around the snowy ground as Lord Onoki, Lady Mei, and their bodyguards continued to fight with the remaining nin. Four nin that were not dressed in the standard Rain attire were standing away from the battlefield next to a wooden, life sized cocoon like object with the kanji for chamber stamped onto the front.

"What is that thing?" exclaimed Kankuro as he pointed to the cocoon the non-fighting nin were standing by.

"I don't know . . . but something tells me that's where we'll find Izuka." muttered Temari as she jumped from the dragon. Gaara and Kankuro soon followed suit and jumped off Ryu's back and onto the snowy ground.

"Ryu, go find Lord A, Mifune, and Lady Tsunade quickly and bring them here!" ordered Gaara as he turned to the still hovering dragon.

"On it!" exclaimed Ryu as she flew from the scene and headed west. Gaara turned toward the battlefield to see that his siblings had already enjoyed the fight. He commanded some Sand to come out from his gourd and commanded it to grab some of the remaining Rain nin. His sand covered the nin whole before he used his technique, the Sand Coffin, to bury them in chambers of sand, killing them in an instant.

"Nice Lord Gaara . . ." Gaara turned to see Lady Mei walking over toward him as the other ninjas finished up their opponents. "Those were the last of the pawns. The real players are those four nin over there near that wooden contraption."

They both turned around to see the four nin staring at them, still in their positions by the side of the weird wooden cocoon. The four nin comprised of two men and two women. One man was heavily armored and had a large hatchet like weapon strapped to his back. The women on either side of him were identical twins; both had pale red hair and were both dressed in white billowing kimono tops and tights that stretched to mid-thigh, the rest of their legs covered in mesh. The second man's body was covered in a long black coat that even covered his feet. His dark blue hair was tied up in a ponytail as his equally dark gray eyes stared at them with disinterest as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Hmpfh . . . I knew all those fools would go down in less than twenty minutes," said the heavily armored man as he turned to the women on either side of him. "You girls each owe me fifty yen."

"We'll give you your money soon Hakodo . . ." said the first twin as her dark brown eyes looked up at him; him easily a foot taller than her.

" . . . But first, we have more pressing matter to deal with." said the second twin, finished her sisters sentence as she crossed her arms.

"Kiya and Karaya are right," said the blue haired man as he snuck a look at his comrades. "We have more pressing issues to get to."

"Mind explaining to us what you Rain nin are doing here in the Land of Iron?" asked Onoki as he flew over to his fellow Kages' side.

"Well . . . we're just out here taking a stroll that's all." said the blue haired man as he gestured to the trees around them.

"Oh . . . so you're not here with a platoon of ninjas to try to kill us Kages while making your getaway with the Sage of the Sixth Paths?" asked Mei as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Okay . . . so that excuse didn't work out." mumbled Hakodo as he let out a breath. "What now Sakuya?"

"What now?" the blue haired man asked as he put a hand under his chin. "Why don't you ask your friends to find out?"

And just like that, hordes of Rain nin appeared, surrounding the Kages and their bodyguards, as well as the four Rain nin and the wooden cocoon. All were poised and ready to strike. Just give them the signal and they will pounce.

"Great . . . we're surrounded." muttered Kankuro as he readied his puppets. "What now?"

"I guess we only have one option . . ." muttered Gaara as his sand began to swirl around him. "We're going to have to fight."

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