They trekked downhill for hours, moving as swiftly as they could, finally coming upon a blue lagoon, where the river widened into a diamond-shaped valley nestled between a grouping of mountains. She sunk into the shadow of a rick near the bank. They crept forward through the mud, slowly leaning forward, and cupping their hands. They let the water fill them. They sipped. Clean, fresh water. They sighed softly, relieved.

She dipped into the water, coming back up, shaking her head as hard and fast as she could. She dressed her wounds, washing the blood, sweat, dirt, and muck off of her body. She relieved herself after looking around for a few seconds.

An impact punched through the earth. It smacked into her hands and knees, pulsing through her marrow. It shook her toes and almost brought her down to her knees. It sent massive ripples shimmering across the surface of the water. Water dripped onto her chest as she held still, ready and alert.

The hell can that be?

Another impact smacked, closer, and a shadow fell over her, blocking out the sun as effectively as any of the mountains here did. The surface of the water rippled, then slowly settled, Yuko seen what had to be a mountain standing behind her.

Monster!

Yuko's heart pounded. The ground shook again, like a drum. She turned her head, seeing a giant ape-like creature kneeling close to the bank. It was bigger than the last one she had seen, with black fur, and long arms that went to its knees. It had to be less than three hundred feet away from her.

If I don't move an inch. It won't notice me. It won't spot me. It shouldn't. As long as I stay where I am, it'll move along when it is done here.

Yuko breathed in, deep and slow, maintaining her composure.

The beast hadn't taken notice of them yet.

The large rock she was leaned up against hid the majority of her body. She had a chance. Fighting this beast now would accomplish nothing—she had to be silent, had to meet with Izuna again. She had to get back to the compound.

The ape creature scooped a handful of mud and water from the bank, and slammed it onto its shoulders. It slathered it on the wounds. It took another handful, repeating the process with its other arm, side, and chest. Yuko looked at her forearm, eyes on the wound that was in the process of healing on the ape's forearm. The ape creature stopped, and looked in her direction. Its eyes changed. There was a flash of fury. Its face contorted as it drew in breath, snorting. It extended its massive arms, mud dripping down its hands. Its hands skirted along the water, reaching towards her.

Yuko tensed, sword ready.

It plunged its hands into the water with a mighty splash, sinking right up to its shoulder, and let out a low, thunderous roar. Tidal waves crashed and splashed against the shore with horrible force. Yuko took the opening, and sped out of the water, taking cover behind a rock. She hugged herself against it. The beast yanked its arms out, with a roar, hands clasping a giant tentacled limb, ridged with muscle. Water erupted, exploding in every direction as hundreds of more tentacles lashed out from the water, wrapping around both of its arms, and torso.

The ape creature stood to its full height, pulling with all of its strength. It roared in defiance.

A horrible merging of worm and squid emerged from the water. It was a true giant, a good four thousand feet from tentacle to head. It was twice as massive as its length. Hundreds of tentacles stayed underwater, while more snapped out from beneath the surface ensnaring the furry beast. It tugged and wrestled to haul the monster out, but whatever remained under the surface, refused to budge the slightest. Water raged furiously as if they were in a typhoon, turning pitch black as sprays of ink or some toxic venom of sorts was ejected from the monster. It splattered down all over, it stunk, heavy and thick as tar, but had a mist of green coating it.

Tentacles lashed out across the rock and terrain she was hiding behind. Even the very tip was hundreds of times the size of her body. Another four struck with trembling force. The impact carried her away, a heavy wet thud sounded as she smashed into the ground. She cried out as she picked up speed, voice drowned out by the chaos. She heard a loud crunching sound, and she risked to take a look. A giant black octopus had joined the fray and was chewing down on one of the ridged tentacles, while it latched onto the ape's body.

Its tentacles were coiled around the giant ape creature and the other tentacles. The ape roared, claws ripping and tearing away at the duo as its hands kept scrapping away. The skin on the squid creature's head ruptured, head ripping open in a shower of gore as brain and other fluids spilled to the water. The monster beneath was getting impatient, and the giant ape stomped down into the water. Something ruptured. The monster beneath let out a pained shriek as more than three hundred tentacles were ripped open, gushing out fluids, but more came out and held fast.

Yuko cried out, voice lost to the fight between the two monsters. Then she heard a loud, snapping crunch, and risked to take a look around the rock, she saw the ape chewing down on the squid-worm's and octopuses's heads. Their skin ruptured, bodies splitting and tearing, spilling fluids everywhere, sticking to the ape's fur.

She could only watch and listen to the crashing sounds that echoed across the landscape. She was clenching her teeth, curled against the rock, just waiting for it to go away. She listened to the ape eat. The tentacles coiling around the ape went limp, then were jerked away as the ape continued to eat its two meals. Yuko could only listen to the chewing sounds echoing across the landscape. Blood, ink, and venom drifted across the surface, the scene became peaceful again, the monsters were gone, the battle was done, and it was like they were never there.

Yuko slowly relaxed when the water stopped pelting as much, and the sound of thunder dissipated as slowly as it had came. They were all gone, as if they had never even been there in the first place.

"Shit...Where the hell are we..." Yuko muttered to herself, shaking her head.

She looked up, spotting Himari on a branch.

"Are you okay!?"

She met Himari's gaze when she narrowed her eyes, to focus on her solely, and she didn't turn away from her eyes until a few seconds passed. "As okay as I'm going to be."

Yuko turned from left to right, searching for an area of dry land. She spotted one, a few meters away, but it'd take a minute to get there at the most. There also wasn't any clean water there either. It was just a cape of land, jutting high above the lagoon. She cursed silently, looking at her filthy arms and torso. The lagoon had gotten on every inch of her. Shin, Usagi, Souji, Himari, and Tsugi weren't faring any better.

She moved towards the patch of land, scaling up it. She glanced back every few seconds to make sure Himari was right behind her, or close enough to her. Being in this place she was starting to learn that she wanted to see her. Wanted her comrades right beside her. She wanted them to be within an arm's reach or closer. She wanted to be able to reach out and touch them.

She was the only light in this place, everything else was just darkness.

Once she got to the top of the cape of land, she rolled onto her back and let out a long sigh. Her body was shaking. Her insides were shaking. She had used so much chakra in her attacks before, that she hadn't recalled a time she ever expended so much. Even against Hashirama, Tobirama, Sasuke, Atsushi, Syrus, or any of her enemies...She never expended so much chakra against them. Never used so much that it left her feeling as weak as an infant. Everything beneath her skin was burning, or laced with so much fatigue she couldn't feel.

"How much further until we reach the compound?" Her question came out as a gasp.

Himari worked a cramp out of her thigh, moving her leg every few seconds as the ball of tension came back. After a full minute, she finally found a position where she could rest, without feeling the pain of that cramp.

"Once we get over this lagoon, we'll be heading into the compound's direction." Tsugi replied.

Yuko nodded, pleased to hear that. She wasn't sure if she was up for another free for all with monsters and beasts that kept coming from every which way and every angle. In the compound area-they didn't have to worry about such things. It wasn't like where they were now, or the places they had traveled through. She couldn't take a crap without something trying to rip her to shreds.

There was only one problem. All around them was lagoon and marshland. On one side was the jungle they had come out from, but beyond that was just marshland. She wasn't sure if this marshland was the path to the compound itself. If it was, she would like to think Tsugi would tell her that. He did, so she was inclined to think they had to trudge through all of this before they got to the compound.

"Yuko…"

"I'm fine..." She took a deep breath, letting it out. "We have to get through this."

Himari knew Yuko wanted to clean herself. She wanted to clean herself, so Yuko must have been feeling that but times a million. She didn't care too much about sweat, but this lagoon and marsh water were a different story. She felt like her skin was clogged, and her pores had been wrenched shut by the sheer filth. It was a horrible feeling, and she was getting tired of it.

"What about cleaning ourselves up?" Himari ventured.

"Sounds good to me." Tsugi replied, tone a little sharp.

"Better than being filthy right now." Souji replied.

They picked themselves up from the nasty debris, none the worse for wear. They glanced out over the valley. They saw in the distance towering trees, but it was difficult to judge how far they were. If they had to guess, it was roughly four hundred miles away. The sight heartened them. They had been heading in the right direction. They hesitated, wanting to keep trekking toward the massive trees in the distance. Those sounds in the jungle could be Izuna and the others. Yuko stood still, listening, tilting her head, Sharingan glowing.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and tremors began to pass through them.

The snapping of branches and weight of those steps concerned them.

They quickly ducked behind a thick tree and peered around the truck just in time to see a dinosaur stepping into the clearing ahead. It was smaller than the others they'd seen, only nine feet high, but the grace of its movement and the size of its jaw left no doubt it was a carnivore, and a hungry one at that. The dinosaur paused, as though it had sensed them. It twitched its nostrils, trying to catch a scent. Yuko peeked out from behind the tree, but then something shifted, a twig snapped, and she spun to see a second predator emerging from the trees just a few meters away.

They surged as adrenaline pulsed through them. The massive trees of the compounds were directly ahead. They ran right past the dinosaur in the clearing, crashing into the undergrowth. The two monsters pursued, jaws snapping as they dashed through the jungle. The clearing opened just ahead and a huge tree towered above them. At the base it opened into a root system that was above ground and exposed. Frantic, they ran for it. They struck the ground, rolling forward, and scrambled into a hollow under the huge tree.

The carnivores clawed at the tree, trying to get at them. Yuko lay beneath the roots, and pulled her limbs close to her, keeping herself covered as they dug and tore. She tried not to imagine what they'd do to her if they could reach her. All she could see from her spot was their legs, and bloody snouts as they rammed their jaws into the gap over and over. Then one of the legs of the pursuers lifted right off the ground, its clawed feet thrashing. The second carnivore ran into the jungle. Yuko watched the twitching legs of the first dinosaur shudder and flail. The sound of bone breaking, then the monster's legs went limp.

This was the nature of this land. No matter how vicious and brutal a predator was, behind the next tree, on in the next clearing was something far worse. Yuko laid completely still. She could hear breathing and a low rumbling, but she could see nothing of either of those things yet. It was just inches from her hiding spot. If she remained still, it might go away. The blood of the small monster it had killed might block her own scent.

There was a tickle close by, something was crawling around. Yuko twisted. She turned and peered into the hole behind and below her, at the base of the tree, inside the exposed roots. Long legs covered with coarse hair probed for something, slowly uncurling, finding a purchase inches away from her. It was impossible, but it was a spider. The legs were two feet long at least. Repulsed, Yuko scrambled away from the spider and sprinted out the other side of the tree. She was sprinting towards the thickest part of the jungle with the others, when she looked up, the spider was the least of her worries.

Towering above her with the dead monster hanging from its huge jaws was a gigantic dinosaur, nearly as large as that black ape that had been tangled up in that fight. Its mottled, leathery flesh dripped with the blood from its fresh kill. Tiny arms were useless, but its massive, muscular legs and thick tail were beyond fearsome. She had seen drawings like this in the compound. They called them tyrant monsters, behemoths, dinosaurs, and there were kings among these massive monsters.

With its huge head, rows of sword teeth, and huge killer jaws, this thing was something even worse than the drawings in the compound.

She sprinted full speed. The dead carnivore dropped to the ground, and the monster went crashing after her. It did not roar, it did not grunt, it simply sprinted full speed, silent and hungry. It was a killing and eating machine.

This is what caused that carnage they seen before!

They raced through the jungle, slashing through roots, leaping over branches, dodging trees, but they knew there was no escaping this monster. If they climbed a tree, it would tear down the branches, if they hid beneath something, the monster would only knock it down. The monster pounded in pursuit. Close, too close. Yuko had been in the presence of death before, had seen dead men and women, had lost comrades to its cold clutches, but her own death never felt so near.

Yuko could feel its hot, rotting breath blowing on the back of her neck. The huge jaws were open just inches from her head. Yuko's chest ached, her lungs burned, heart about to burst, but she knew she had to keep going, or she'd simply collapse and it would be upon her, those sword teeth tearing through her flesh. Yuko spotted a fallen tree that jutted out over a small cliff and scrambled onto it, clinging to the mossy log and crawling toward the end of it. The monstrosity couldn't follow her without falling over the edge of the cliff.

The monster nudged the tree with its massive head, making it lean. Yuko let out a hiss and clung to the branch as the huge, massive dinosaur pushed harder, knocking the branch sideways to the ground. Yuko leapt, twisting away from the log as she fell. She screamed as the monster positioned its head for its lunge, gaping jaws opening widely.

A familiar bellow thundered through the jungle.

From the trees, the ape from before came swinging.

From her spot in the air, Yuko rose, crying out. "Susano'o!"

Her pupils began to enlarge, expanding rapidly, and six straight bars stretched out from her enlarged pupils locking into place. Her eyes beamed, crimson bleeding out into the air as her Mangekyo began to whirl. Her Susano'o wreathed her in dark green fire, roaring as it ascended towards the sky, towering with more might than the two behemoths before her. Its skeleton formed, bursting with muscles and tendons as more fire began to come forth. Slowly, it became fully armored, and the armor split from its forehead down, revealing her Susanoo's eyes while obscuring the rest of its face. There were two katana on each of its sides, and two mighty arms to wield them. Its two mighty legs burst from the ground, and Yuko did a full leap backwards, sizing up her foes.

The monstrous carnivore turned and attacked, the three monstrosities colliding at full speed. Yuko swung a fist, the ape swung its own fist, pummeling the carnivore's head, knocking it to the ground. Savage with fury, the ape leaped onto the carnivore, gigantic fists rising and falling as it pounded the carnivore, struggling to break through Yuko's guard as she trudged herself up, withstanding the furious blows. She watched as the ape hammered the carnivore and the carnivore snapped its jaws. Then suddenly a second and third burst from the jungle into the clearing. They charged swiftly, in one motion jaws snapping down on Yuko and the ape.

Yuko roared, ripping her arm free just as a fourth carnivore sprinted into the clearing. The first carnivore scrambled back onto its feet, shaking its head, blood showering from its snout. Whether it was its own or its recent kills, Yuko couldn't guess. They lunged at once, all of them moving in on her and the ape. She and the ape were like battering rams, hammering at the carnivores as they tried to snap their jaws close. Yuko fought viciously, spinning, leaping, kicking, punching, swinging her blades breaking teeth off. Again and again she deflected and kept the maws from snapping close.

The ape wrapped an arm around one carnivore's neck, twisting hard and falling back, flipping it onto the ground. With a roar, eyes wide with fury, Yuko drove the second and third carnivore to the ground and then she was crushing her weight upon them. With a quick jerk, Yuko ripped a tree trunk out of the ground and rammed it into the mouth of the nearest carnivore, slamming it with so much force it flew back and smashed into the cliff like thunder.

The second carnivore fell upon her, the ape locked its arms around its neck and twisted, lifting it off of its feet, corkscrewing its body through the air. Yuko screamed as the ape suddenly changed its direction, breaking its back with a loud crunch. With a roar, Yuko grabbed the third carnivore's jaws in both hands, keeping them from smashing down. She forced it forward, slamming it down on its back, fingers prying at its mouth.

With a grunt, teeth clenched, Yuko forced the carnivore's jaws open, and then open further as it roared, finally ripping them apart with a loud crunch of bone and muscle. The carnivore spasmed on its back, finally laying limp. Yuko stood within her Susano'o, panting heavily. She had been bitten, clawed, cut, slashed, but she was alive and triumphant. Her Susano'o let out a loud, long bellow.

The ape raised its arm and let out its own long bellow and began to beat its chest triumphantly. It kept its eyes on her the whole time, as though she'd be the next predator to go after it. Then, to her amazement the giant ape turned and began to walk off. She hesitated, there might be another blood thirsty dinosaur or monster nearby. The ape moved slowly, glancing back every so often. Yuko remained rooted in her place, just listening to the thuds of its feet as it moved further away.

She looked left to right, sweeping her blade across the ground, kicking up waves of debris, measuring and ensuring there were no more threats. When several minutes passed by and she deemed there were no more threats, her Susano'o slowly began to dissipate, she got closer to the ground, her guardian slowly losing its gigantic form. It turned into a skeleton just before it turned to flames, and at last, the flames dissipated into the air.

She hit the ground with a thud, Mangekyo whirling back into the three tomoe. She slammed her hands on the ground and clenched her teeth. "Shit...Shit..."

"Are you okay?" Himari asked, running to her side. "Yuko, you were amazing back there!"

"Incredible...So that's what the Mangekyo can do. I've only seen Madara and Izuna use it in battle." Tsugi said, looking Yuko over carefully, with a new caution he hadn't before.

Yuko grunted as the older man grabbed her and put her on his back. "Thanks, Tsugi. I'm not sure if I can move right now."

"Yuko. We should be thanking you. You fought off those carnivores." Souji said, tone completely genuine.

"I'll make sure to tell Syrus and Haji about this." Tsugi said, looking towards Shin and Souji.

"They'll be pleased to hear this." Usagi seconded.

"As will we make our own report." Shin said, nodding just barely.

"You sure you're okay…" Himari looked at Yuko, eyes still wide with amazement.

"I'll be fine." Yuko took a deep breath, adjusting herself on Tsugi's back. "We have to get through this jungle so I can get the Fuinjutsu back to the compound."

Tsugi didn't care too much about sweat, but this filthy marsh water was a different story. He felt like his skin was clogged. It was a horrible feeling.

"What about cleaning ourselves up?" Tsugi ventured.

"Just to get dirty again?" Yuko questioned, tone a little soft. "There is nothing but jungle and marshland all around us."

Himari stared at her. "What are you trying to say?"

"I don't want to clean myself up. Just to get all dirty again."

Souji arched a brow. "You're serious?"

Yuko set her hand on her thighs. They were soggy and slick, she hated the feeling. She wanted to do nothing more than clean up and get all the filth off of her, but they had to go towards those towering trees in the distance. The only way was through the marshland, jungle, swamp, marsh, more marshland, and more jungle. She would have ignored Tsugi, but he knew the land a lot better than she did, and he always had one trick in mind.

The prospect of being clean was enough to make her sigh. She wanted to be clean and pristine right now. She didn't want to be anywhere near this jungle, marshland, or its filthy water, but she had an objective. They all had the same objective. She would fulfill her duties, like she always did to this point in time. She could be dirty for a few more hours, she could suck it up, and she'd do her best not to be a hindrance.

"Yuko."

"What?"

Shin shifted. "We're not going to be this filthy for hours."

Yuko looked at her dirty, bloodied skin, back at the marshland, and back at Shin. She continued switching her focus between the three, finally coming to a decision. "If you insist..."

Tsugi shifted, on guard. "We'll take turns guarding each other. Sound good?"

"Fine by me." Himari replied.

"Sounds good." Souji affirmed, wiping his forehead.