Hello everyone! I thought I was doing well, but life has been finding ways to kick my ass all over again, and leaving me less time to write!

On top of that, I'm trying to get over a major car crash I was in (we were both fine, my car wasn't).

Still, I managed to get this out. I hope it is enough for now!

Kakashi threw shuriken at Ringo who easily deflected the projectiles with her swords. As she moved to make a stabbing motion, Kakashi veered to the left. Even though it was a complete miss on Ameyaru's part, Kakashi still felt a small shock like static electricity. Quickly, he pulled up his hiate to reveal his sharingan. Ringo once more went on the attack; though she was more aggressive, Kakashi still managed to avoid them all. "So this is the power of the sharingan! Impressive!" She made a lunge…and impaled Kakashi in the stomach. Kakashi keeled over in shock. "What?!" Ringo shouted in disappointment. "That's it?!" She leaned into his face, almost flirtatiously. "I had such high hopes for you, Hatake-san. But just like all the other pretty faces, all you've proven yourself to be was another disappointment!"

Suddenly, he disappeared in a poof of smoke. "A bushin!?" The real Kakashi suddenly burst through the roof with an uppercut directly aimed at Ringo. She fell back, remaining passive. Then she felt a drop of blood. She brought her fist up to her nose, confirming the bleed. It was slight, but had she been a second slower, her nose would have been caved in. "Why, to hit a woman like that-!" Her angry face contorted into a psychotic smile. "I think I like you after all; there may be hope for you yet!"

Kakashi could only cringe under his mask. "Why do the cute ones have to be psychos?"

Asuma was having his own troubles as well. Jinpachi brought down Shibiki, leaving a nicely sized crack in the roof. Thank goodness the infrastructure of Kiri allowed the buildings to take such punishment with minimal damage. "Heard you were always the slow one, Mushima-kun!"

Jinpachi growled. "I hate it when an outsider tries to get formal with me!" He swung again for Asuma to lean over, only his unlit cigarette being cut. Jinpachi then felt something sharp stab his leg, and he rushed back before it could sever his femoral artery. Looking down, he saw his leg was indeed bleeding. But where was the blade that did this?! All Asuma was armed with was that weird knuckle-blade of his. But it was too short! No way Asuma could have reached so close without him knowing. "So, what's your trick, Sarutobi?"

"Haven't you heard the saying? Good ninjas are like good magicians." He smirked.

Jinpachi growled. "Fair enough." The explosive swordsman renewed his attack, Asuma taking care to dodge. He wasn't foolish enough to try to block the massive zanbato with his tiny blades. But they were still the key to that near fatal misstep. For now, Jinpachi prioritized keeping him far away, and fortunately for him, his own sword gave him options on how to accomplish that. He swung down on the ground again, missing Asuma entirely. A huge miss.

Or at least, that's what Asuma believed.

An orange trail of energy, almost like a vein, crawled towards him. "Shit!" Asuma jumped back, but the force of the resulting explosion still caught him, making him tumble back like a rag doll. Asuma pushed himself up on his back, seeing Jinpachi walk towards him. As his vision cleared, he could see Jinpachi was talking. But he couldn't hear what he was saying. "Most people think the worst part of an explosion is a fire." Jinpachi said. "But there is so much more to it. Mainly the sudden sound, strong enough to blow your eardrums." Seeing blood leak from Asuma's ear, he smirked. "Oh, you can't hear me? It's an interesting sensation, isn't it? Deafness. Which means…"

He disappeared from Asuma's sight like a mirage. Asuma looked around, and didn't see Jinpachi reappear right behind him. The swordsman lifted his blade and brought it down.

From a distance, an explosion could be seen. Anyone caught in it surely would have died almost instantly.

Yagura slammed the scrolls down on the floor from their respective slots. "Perhaps you have a jutsu powerful enough to break the barrier?" Mei asked.

"Maybe I do, but it would be an insufficient use of my power!" Yagura said. "Whoever trapped us has a good idea of my power, and its limits. They must be VERY confident with whom they are dealing with!" Looking through them, he tossed Mei a random scroll. "Help me look through all the known barrier jutsus! Maybe we can find a solution!"

Mei nodded, unrolling hers while Yagura skimmed through another…

"Damn it, teme!" Naruto shouted. "Do it!"

Sasuke growled. "Damn it!"

Sasuke pushed his weapon hand back, Shikamaru following the same motion as if he was there. At that moment, he dug his kunai deep into Naruto's leg! "AHHH!"

"WHA-? SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura cried in horror, having tied up Chouji's scarf into a fence. Ino's body charged at her, but Sakura tripped her with a leg sweep.

Shikamaru also suffered a cut in the same place as the blond boy. Naruto squinted his eyes in pain as he endured it. "Quick, dig it in deep!" Sasuke did so, looking enraged and turning Naruto's pants a deep red. He wasn't mad at Naruto, no, it was the situation itself that pissed him off! Shikamaru finally stumbled and released the jutsu. Sasuke caught Naruto, Sakura running over to them with Ino on her shoulder.

And then, she did something unexpected. She smacked Sasuke up the head! "Ah!"

"Sasuke, how could you?!"

"It's okay, Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved her off. "It was the only way!"

"He's right!" Ino exclaimed. "The Kage Mane forces the victim to copy the caster, like a marionette! But if either one takes any damage, the other will suffer the same way!"

"I see!" Sakura exclaimed. "By taking out Naruto, we take out Shikamaru!"

"I noticed that when Sasuke punched me during the mock battle, I was able to stop. Looking back, it must have hurt him too! That's why he released me back then!"

"Yes!" Ino agreed. "There's just one problem…" Though Shikamaru was down on one knee and bleeding profusely, he still made his signs, opting to attack with Shadow Tendrils. Sasuke carried Naruto on his shoulder as the two jumped away. "Whatever's infected us has our bodies good! Shikamaru would have given up a long time ago from something like that! Plus, he's bleeding to death!"

Sakura gasped. They couldn't leave them to die! "First, let's retreat!" Sakura reached into her pouch and threw down a smoke bomb.

To the naked eye, they disappeared. Ino and Chouji's bodies stared blankly.

"Shit." The dark one said.

"What's wrong?" The pale one asked.

"They took one of them out. Badly, too. Even if he can't feel pain, we can't overcome the fact his tendons are torn. He'll probably bleed out soon."

"Tauya, ignore the shadow boy. Concentrate on the other two." The pale one ordered.

"They're in the park." The dark one told her. "Follow them there."

Tauya continued to play on her flute.

The crawler made its way out of Shikamaru's ear. As it did so, Shikamaru blinked, and his pupils went back to their normal size. He took in a sharp breath, and gasped. "Ah!"

In a panic, he tried to stand but fell over in sharp pain. Looking down on his leg, he saw the blood seep into the ground. "Shit! This is beyond troublesome…"

His eyes almost rolled up as he struggled to stop himself from passing out.

"Normally, I would say this park won't hide us for long…" Ino began.

"It won't." Sasuke finished. "Even if your friends are not themselves, someone is watching them. Which means they're probably watching us too."

"Well, so much for that optimism…" Ino said in a tone that was for once annoyed with Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, set Naruto down." Sakura said.

Sasuke did so. "Damn it, Teme! We can't stop, they'll be on us any-"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura yelled. Naruto was about to talk back to her, but saw she was on the verge of tears. "You idiot! You couldn't have found a better way to break free!?"

Naruto softened a bit. "Really, Sakura-chan. It's not a big deal…"

"Big deal my ass!" Sakura hissed. "You made Sasuke-kun dig deep into your leg! It will be a miracle if your artery isn't severed!" She pulled out a wet towel and immediately pulled the tear in his pant leg further apart.

"H-hey!" Naruto protested.

Sakura ignored him but stopped upon seeing the wound. It was almost completely closed, nothing more than a long scab! "T-that's impossible! I was worried Sasuke nearly killed him!" She turned to Sasuke, who noticed the same thing. "Sasuke-kun! Did you-?" Sasuke nodded negative; this clearly surprised him just as much as her. "Naruto, can you move?"

Confused, Naruto stood, and nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He rose, noting no pain in his leg. He looked at his teammates, staring at him in wonderment. Naruto's focus shifted to the trees around him. "They're here."

Chouji and Ino's body dropped from the canopy, prepared for another attack. Ino's body drew a kunai on Sakura, only to be punched back by Naruto. "Careful!" Ino panicked. "What is it with you hitting me!?"

"Sorry!" Naruto cried as he began to dodge the girl's body stabbing at him. He may have gotten lucky with the wound Sasuke inflicted upon him, but he was in no mood to test its limits. After push kicking her away, Chouji came up from behind him and got him in a bear hug. "Crap!" Chouji got to work crushing him like a soda can, and Naruto gasped as the air was expelled out of his lungs. He tried kicking him in the inner thighs; a basic taijutsu technique that was normally effective but depended on the attacker sensing pain. And these guys weren't.

Ino's body attacked both Sasuke and Sakura, at a speed that surprised both of them. The both of them were on the defensive, unable to currently fight back. Perhaps whatever was controlling them was making them surpass their normal physical limits? It was then that Sasuke noticed that Ino's skin was turning red, and when the body managed to get a good one in, the fist felt hot, like she was running a fever. "We've got to get them back to normal before they kill themselves!" Sasuke shouted.

"Shit!" Ino thought.

The Four were not the only watchers; Kisame also got an even closer view from the rooftops nearby. Looking towards the Mizukage headquarters, he saw the barrier was still there. Thank goodness for small favors, he thought. Still, getting the genin to kill each other was taking longer than he expected. Kisame had no issue with killing, in fact he preferred to do it himself. But then all evidence would lead to him. Still… "I better get a closer look. Just in case."

He dove off the building and seemed to literally swim into the ground as if it were water…

Kakashi pulled out a kunai in an attempt to stab Ringo, but her charged swords cut through it like butter. If Kakashi leaned in further, he would have lost all of his fingers. "Raiton!" She cried. "Denki Unagi no Jutsu!"

The hooked tips touched the roof, and somehow, defying physical law, a current of electricity traveled towards Kakashi. "Whoa!" He jumped out of the way, but in the air he was now vulnerable. Ringo retaliated with a bullet of electricity, hitting Kakashi instantly. Or so she thought. As soon as the projectile made contact, Kakashi's body turned into a large boulder.

Not missing a beat, Ringo spun around to deflect shuriken coming at her side, swinging her swords in a windmill pattern. Though it was the riskiest approach, Kakashi then engaged her in Taijutsu. Despite the huge disadvantage, he managed to avoid getting cut, and landed quite a few good kicks on her, keeping her away. The last kick hit her right in the sternum, knocking her breath out and sending her skidding back. Digging her swords into the roof, she slowed her skid to a crawl, just short of falling off the building. She looked up, and smirked.

Kakashi could only cringe under his mask.

There were a number of ways he could easily end this; but the problem was political. Was she betraying the Mizukage of her own will, or was something else at play here? If he killed her, he would never know. And either way, Kiri would not rest until they had his head and those of his team on spikes.

Jinpachi swung his sword, too far away to touch Asuma with the edge. But the paper tags flew out like darts, ready to explode upon contact. Asuma ran to the side, twirling his knuckle blades. The tags went off in front of him, but they never reached him. At first, Jinpachi was once again perplexed, but he saw several cuts on the roof as well. Those weren't made by him or Ringo.

That was when it hit him. "You're a wind user."

Asuma gritted his teeth, holding his blades parallel to one another. Upon closer inspection, Jinpachi could see the linear distortion in the air surrounding the blades. "That's how you almost got me." He noted. "You supercharged the air around your blades, extending them." He palmed his own as if it were a club, somehow not managing to cut his hand. For Asuma, this was bad; in ninjutsu, wind was long considered the element of assassination, and therefore, surprise. It was nearly invisible to the untrained eye, and often underestimated. The ignorant assumed all it was good for was blowing things over. "It was very clever of you, earning our trust and yet still concealing your true affinities." Jinpachi noted.

"You should feel ashamed." Asuma said. "When I use my true element, you can be certain you will die with just cause."

"If I didn't figure it out, I'd be in trouble." Jinpachi sneered. "But, as I always say: knowing is half the fight to the death!" He swung upwards, the paper floating in the air as if all he did was litter. "Senko Hanabi no Jutsu!" Several flares of fire rained down on Asuma. This wasn't a passive action; these bits of fire flew off like rockets. They were not as powerful as the fire techniques of his home village, but Asuma knew even a tiny flame could cause severe damage at such speed. He weaved between them, sliding on the roof and throwing a kunai at Jinpachi, who blocked it with ease.

But as usual, throwing weapons were not meant to be killing weapons. No, they were distractions, if only for a second. Hopefully it would be all Asuma needed. He inhaled so deep, his chest expanded. As he breathed out, Jinpachi was quickly surrounded in smog. "Cheap tricks!" Jinpachi yelled. "I should have known a Sarutobi, yet alone any Konoha nin, was too weak to join our ranks!" The tags on his sword ignited like fuses, and he swung at the smog. "I'll blow you-"

Suddenly the dust devil came alit in flame, going off like a massive firecracker. Asuma lowered his arms, smirking. "This is going to be a problem." He was going to have an uphill battle explaining this to Yagura and the council. But he had been in their good graces before even officially joining them; he was confident everything would be okay. When the smoldering smoke cleared, there was no body. Most would have been in shock; the explosion was not nearly enough to disintegrate an entire human body. However, Asuma only sighed. "If you're going to try and trick me, don't use the village's signature move." Out of a small puddle, Jinpachi jumped put with his blade raised. Asuma turned and blocked with his own blades. Before the force made him fall back, Asuma jumped and kicked in him in the sternum, causing Jinpachi to fall over instead.

Instead of looking stunned or angry, the swordsman only smirked. "Okay then. I won't." Asuma smelled something smoldering, and gawked at his shoulder. An explosive tag was snuck on there by Jinpachi! Quickly Asuma brushed it off, but the tag went off and sent him flying back. Asuma's right sleeve was obliterated at the shoulder, his skin showing severe burns. "Ahh..." he hissed.

Kakashi was attacking more aggressively, still cognizant of Ringo's blades. He got a few minor scrapes in with his fingers, but Ringo ignored them and countered with deadly slashes. Kakashi jumped back and made his signs, the snake, the dog, and finally the rabbit. "Raiton! Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu!" At first, it seemed he was making his famous Raikiri. However, instead of charging, he threw it. The electricity began to take the form of a dog, with two front legs as if it were running in the air. Ringo tried to block, but it hit her dead on. She screamed upon impact.

Before Kakashi could relish in his victory, she expanded and exploded in a shower of electrified water. Kakashi made a quick ram sign and placed both hands on the roof. "Doton! Doryuheki no Jutsu!" The roof transmuted up and transformed into a wall with three vicious-looking dog heads adorning the front, separating them. Unfortunately, some of the drops got through before the wall could rise, electrifying him. The base of the material was weak; he would have been better off using the actual earth to fortify his barrier. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to be fatal, the wall stopping most of it. But it still caused Kakashi to collapse on all fours.

After breathing for a moment, he realized that Ringo had substituted a water clone for herself. When it made contact with his jutsu, it became supercharged and sent the electricity right back at him. Which meant she was preparing to strike right about-

Kakashi's line of thought was interrupted by the sound of flesh being rendered. His instincts saved him, forcing him to veer right; had he been an instant slower, Ringo's sword would have gone right through his body instead of slicing his left side. As he lay there wincing at the pain, Ringo stood over him. "Fast, but stupid."

Ringo grabbed him by the back of his collar and tossed him back, her slim frame hiding a great strength as she threw Kakashi as if he were nothing but a ball. Kakashi was sprawled right next to Asuma, as their opponents overlooked them like a cat choosing to play with its prey. "Overall, not bad." Ringo said as she slung her swords over her shoulder. "I liked the techniques, very versatile. But I feel they were not as sufficient as they should have been. You?"

"Meh." Jinpachi shrugged. "Overrated. Sarutobi had a few interesting techniques, but didn't think they were effective. I've fought harder."

Ringo nodded. "Well then, shall we get on with their execution?"

"By all means."

Ringo walked to them swinging her swords across the roof.

Naruto took a deep breath, and jerked his head back right into Chouji's chin. Though the large boy still felt no pain, his somatic reflexes were still in place, forcing him to let go. Naruto wasted no time in scurrying away from him.

Sakura and Sasuke stayed on the defensive with Ino's body, parrying her attacks, but wearing them down. Before it could come to that, Naruto jumped in from the side and kicked the living doll in the head, causing it to stumble. It didn't last, as the soulless body got back on its feet.

"What's the plan, Ino?" Sakura asked.

"I-I don't know!" She confessed. "I can tell you what to avoid, but I don't know how you can stop us without crippling us!"

Naruto's eyes went wide for a moment before relaxing. Sasuke took notice of this. "You know what we have to do?" Naruto nodded; it was clear he didn't want to do this. But it was the only way, and necessary.

"W-what?" Sakura asked nervously. "What are you planning?!"

Sasuke turned to give Sakura a dangerous look. "It's as Ino said. The only way to stop them…is to cripple them."

"What?!" Sakura ducked before their shuriken could skewer them. "T-There has to be another way!"

"Relax. We're not going to kill them." Sasuke's assurance sounded like he was addressing a small child going to the dentist.

"I don't like it either, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, tightening his hiate. "But whatever's got them is absolute. Until we figure out how to drive it out of them, we have to stop their bodies!"

Ino trembled in the squirrel body. She wanted to scream at both boys and smack them upside the heads (even her new found crush had a limit)…but she couldn't come up with a better idea. "I-If you must, please just try to dislocate our limbs. Please don't destroy our joints!"

"I promise." Naruto acknowledged. Sasuke muttered. "What was that?!" Naruto shouted at his teammate.

"Nothing, dobe!" Before their argument could escalate, Sasuke made note of something coming their way fast. "Let's do this!" Sasuke and Naruto charged for Chouji. "Sakura, you handle Ino!"

"Right!"

Chouji rushed to punch Naruto with his right, but Sasuke grabbed his other arm. Chouji moved to attack him, but Naruto then took the opportunity to grab his right. Though he was much stronger than them both, Naruto and Sasuke together had the advantage, pushing him back and then throwing him through a rotten tree headfirst. "Go for his legs!" Sasuke shouted. "His arms are too massive to hold!"

Naruto nodded and rushed for a foot. He wasn't too good at the joint manipulations Kakashi taught them, but he had to make do. Naruto lunged for Chouji's heel, but the big genin kicked him in the head with his other leg. Despite how short his legs were, they were still powerful.

Sasuke reached for the other leg, getting some control, but Chouji still managed to drag him across the ground a little bit. "Twist as hard as you can! Either direction! You ready?" Naruto growled but nodded. "One two three, now!" Both genin twisted Chouji's ankles until they heard some snaps. They backed off, waiting to see what he would do.

At first, it seemed they failed, as Chouji stood like he wasn't in any pain. But Sasuke caught a glimpse of how his legs sunk into his ankles; within a second Chouji collapsed face first. "We did it!" Naruto exclaimed with his fist.

The Dark one looked on. "Shit." He said.

"What now?" The Large one exclaimed.

"They took another one out!"

"Get on my head! And don't you dare shit on me this time!" Sakura told the real Ino.

Ino did so and gripped her pink hair tightly as she saw her own body attack them swiftly. "I can only promise you I won't do so deliberately!" Sakura ducked and weaved under the body's strikes. Which was proving rather difficult, as it was getting faster and wilder! "I would have been feeling exhausted right now! That really is a puppet!"

Sakura tried grabbing her, but Ino's body was quick, hopping back and hitting her with a kick to the stomach. "Oof!"

"Oh for-! You know what? Just do whatever you have to!"

Sakura put up her arms to block. "Easier said than done!" Ino's body cocked her arm back…

"Aim for the armpit, and pull!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she focused on the punch coming. Quickly, she grabbed hold, and hit under the armpit with a middle-knuckle fist. She quickly followed through and pulled. She winced upon hearing the socket pop.

"That's going to hurt when this ordeal concludes." Ino thought.

"Shit! The last one's done; popped her arm right out!" The Dark one panicked.

"If all that's wrong is a dislocated arm, we still have a chance! Keep her going!" The pale one demanded.

The girl rolled her eyes and played a different tune.

It's over…" Sakura sighed. Then suddenly Ino's body slapped her across the face with the other arm. "What the-!?" Sakura then had to defend against the body again, in spite of having one less functional arm.

"This is madness!" Ino screamed in her head.

"Well…" Sakura mused as she blocked. "If it insists…" Sakura did the same move on the other arm.

"What the-YOU ENJOYED THAT!" Ino shouted on the link.

"Trust me, I would have enjoyed that much more if you were in your real body…" Sakura brought the back of her hand to her face to stifle her laughter. While she initially did this for their sake…she did feel immense satisfaction in beating up the body. "Well, we better see how the-"

Sakura stumbled as something from behind threw her off balance. "What the-?!" Sakura looked up to see Ino's body STILL coming after her, arms hanging limply while she attacked with nothing but kicks. "Oh come on, whoever you are!" Sakura shouted aimlessly. "I won!"

The body landed some sharp kicks to her shins, but even then Sakura didn't really react. "Um, maybe you could just let this slide? It can't do anything deadly! Right?"

Ino's body kicked at Sakura again, who yelped. "Sorry! No dice!" Sakura went at her, grabbed the next kick and into a rolling knee bar. Quickly, she popped the leg out of its socket.

"I am going to go through hell when I get back in."

Sakura stood, hunching over. "Okay. It's over…" She grunted when something hit her forehead. Ino's body rose again, hopping on one leg. "Okay, what's the point!?" Sakura yelled. "What is this, chicken style?!" The body continued its feeble attacks, bobbing its head back and forth.

"Oh for the love of kami, please…" Ino begged.

"Annnd, she dislocated the last leg." The Dark One sighed. "I suppose you could order her to crawl on her belly and bite her…"

"It works for the master…" the pale one said, seriously considering that.

"Oh, screw this!" The girl threw her flute on the ground. "It's over! Time to fall back!"

"Fine, fine…" the pale one sighed. "The brainwigs are at their limit anyways…"

Sakura leaned against a tree and panted. "Sorry, but it had to be done." Ino's body lay twitching with its limbs stretched beyond their intended limit.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto and Sasuke ran over to her. "Are you alright?"

"As right as I can be, given the circumstances." She sighed. "Hey, Chouji didn't get back up, did he?"

"No." Naruto said.

"But he did crawl towards us." Sasuke added. Looking behind him, Chouji was collapsed face first in the ground, closer than Sakura remembered.

Then, he began to twitch.

Naruto noticed Ino's body also doing the same. "What's happening to them?!" A purple smoke seemed to emanate from their ears. The two ceased their twitching as what seemed to be some sort of bugs crawled out of those same ears, only to evaporate. Naruto blinked. "Were those-?"

"Yeah, probably." Sasuke agreed. "I don't know how, but those bugs were probably what was controlling them to come after us."

"But why us?" Sakura asked. "We're just genin; if anyone of us would be targeted- "

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. The other two looked to him. "Whatever the circumstances, Kakashi-sensei would be a prime target around here!"

"It would be foolish of Mizu to act out in such a way!" Sasuke argued.

"But this wasn't Kiri." Sakura said. "Ino herself said so!"

"That's right!" Ino, still in the squirrel chirped.

"Then someone is trying to make it look like Kiri…" Sasuke pondered.

"And Kakashi was probably targeted as well!" Naruto finished. "He should have been here by now! And I don't think some boring political talk or customs is keeping him!"

"Asuma-sensei too." Ino agreed.

"Shouldn't you get back in your body?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"Do you know the pain of having all four of your limbs dislocated?"

"Uh…"

"Neither do I. And I would very much like to put that realization off as far into the future as possible, thank you very much!"

"They're going to be fine; we better go find Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said.

"How about I take you to him instead?"

The three froze at the familiar voice. "Is that…Kisame-san?" Sakura wondered. Though she found Kisame dashingly handsome, even more so than Sasuke, something about him gave her the creeps. Now he sounded even creepier, if that were possible. As they looked around, Sakura caught Kisame through her peripherals right behind Naruto. She called out, but no one could have hoped to have warned him by then. "NARUTO!"

Naruto turned just as Kisame's mighty sword was brought down. And blood flew in the air.

Until next time! For a sneak preview of what's next, you should be getting a look at a more traditional Kisame and another certain someone who got no action in the original steps up!