Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

Author's Note: I'm back.

From Rain to Rust

Chapter Nine

Day Four: "Hollow Tune"

"He did what?"

"But that's not possi-"

"Yeah yeah, alright. Keep everyone away from there, you got it?"

"Kami's sake…" Temari whispered as her teal eyes were swallowed by the sheer massiveness of what she was looking at. "H-How…" Temari was struggling to come up with words to fit the situation, to at least try and keep her composure.

"We don't know exactly." Darui replied, he had the advantage of having been at the scene for a while before Temari, the initial shock he himself endured was mostly gone by now. "We know for a fact it was him—and how 'it' worked—but we're having a hard time wrapping our minds around this."

'And how couldn't they?' Temari thought as her eyes tried to see the end of the 'ocean' before her.

She thought they were messing with her when the distress signal reached the tower; she couldn't possibly have eyes on all of the cameras—they didn't even have enough screens to do so—and right now that'd be impossible…

It was outright impossible that any of the cameras had survived this; the Forest of Death was a massive piece of land, large enough to be comparable with small Villages around, but even then Suna's warrior's mind was having trouble imagining how could One-Single-Man do this!

Chojuro had swallowed up acres of land with nothing but water, where there once were trees hundreds of feet tall, trees with trunks so thick and hard that even Shinobi struggled to take down, now was only sea.

"What have you found?" Temari asked Darui and two Anbu agents from intelligence that were called upon for this particular pask.

"Initially we considered this to be some form of Nature Transformation that allowed the user to call upon the available water on the environment; but even then such technique would require power and control beyond imagination to reach this size."

"The two main reasons we dismissed the idea was One: there isn't enough water in the Forest of Death or the adjacent civilian sites to replenish a body of water such as this." The second Anbu agent continued.

"And the second reason?" Darui asked the pair, having just arrived before Temari he didn't know the specifics of any of this yet.

"It's all salt water." The ANBU with a Hare's mask replied.

"Salt water this deep into the Land of Fire?!" The Sunagakure Kunoichi exclaimed. "This far away from the ocean?!"

Both the Anbu nodded. "We already gathered some samples, but we're a hundred percent sure that's the case."

"Do we know if there were any casualties from this?" Darui asked right after their response.

Both the ANBU, turned their 'eyes' to the other beneath the masks.

"Who?" Temari questioned.

"We found the body of one Yugao Uzuki by the east 'coast' of the body of water." The Fox masked agent replied. "Her body showed early signs of crush syndrome, though it's likely she passed before such symptoms could take place."

"She had a large gash crossing the middle of her face and multiple broken bones and internal bleeding, probably caused by the impact the water had on her once summoned." The other completed. "We found her body hours after what we believe is her time of death, we'll begin the necropsy as soon as we get back to the HQ, but considering the state of the corpse we doubt any questions will be answered after it."

Another body, another promising elite agent getting killed before their time. Another death they could've avoided with one or two extra cautionary measures, another corpse of a comrade that hung over Darui's shoulders.

"Do we know where Team Mist is or if any other Teams got hit by the Jutsu?" Temari questioned further, keeping the event professional and objective.

"We don't at the moment, for neither of the questions; but we calculate the water swallowed close to a quarter of the Forest—if not more—so if any teams were close at the moment of the attack then it's very likely they already ran into each other or will any time soon..."

"What even was that?!" Kaori asked her teammates as the three of them stood on the shore of the newfound sea.

"I'm not sure we want to stick around any longer and find out." Runa replied as she watched over the still, clear water that extended beyond their sight. They had been far enough to not get hit by the effects of Chojuro's Jutsu; but considering how the ground shook and the air carried the gargantuan sound of a sea literally coming to life in an instant, they decided to investigate if what had happened was a real-life threat or an act by the Exam's Proctors.

Yoa walked over to the water and dipped a finger before tasting the liquid and frowning. "It's salt water…" he said as he spit to the side to relieve his already dry mouth from the salty taste.

Runa sighed. "Then it's really no use we stay here if we won't be able to get something out of it."

Yoa glanced back at Runa and nodded. "Roger."

The tension had died down… only a little, yes; but it had been enough for the team hierarchy and mechanic to work out again, Yoa was back to acknowledging both of them and Kaori didn't cower every time either of her teammates looked her way. Everyone knew things weren't 'okay', but they also knew this was far from the place or time to mull over it.

"How did a literal ocean of salt water get here in the first place?" Kaori questioned out loud as she skipped a stone over the surface of the water.

Runa locked eyes with Yoa and then glanced back at Kaori. "Again; I don't think we want to be here to find out..."

Watching the tape wasn't easy.

It was his duty; he could have (of course) delegated this particular task to someone less qualified for it; but had he gone down that way then each task that came his way would have undoubtedly become easier and easier to hand over and away with…

But right now Shikamaru wished for either of two things: First and foremost, he wished he'd chosen the easy way and handed this task over to another Jonin or even a Chunin, he wished he didn't have to see how one of his best friends got toyed with and literally broken by a man that didn't seem to have the least regard for anyone else's suffering.

Shikamaru's teeth grinded as the replay of Ino lying on the ground, desperately trying to heal her Achilles flashed on the screen before him, he knew his old teammate perfectly well—better than most—he knew how bad Ino wanted to get up and help Omoi, how even at her most vulnerable point she still had the safety of others on the forefront of her mind…
Shikamaru could feel Ino's bone crack as if it were his own ankle that was getting smashed and triturated by a foreigner with a chip on his shoulder.

"You called for me, Shikamaru?"

"Uh?" The Nara looked over his shoulder only to see Kankuro standing a couple of feet away from the door to one of Konoha's control room. "Kankuro, yes. Uhm, I'm sorry to take you away from your duties as Gaara's guard." Shikamaru briefly considered a bow just for appearances' sake, but he quickly decided against it the moment Kankuro reacted to his words.

"Hah—" Kankuro grinned widely as he walked over to Shikamaru. "—well, it's not like he needs it that much, right?" Kankuro offered amicably as he waved off Shikamaru's more professional aura. "Worst case scenario one fangirl or two make their way over to him… and I think he could use that."

Shikamaru let out a light huff of amusement. Kankuro was… Crude… Yeah, that would be a nice way to put it; but if anything his demeanor proved refreshing, especially considering how little he got of it when he was spending all his days between filling formal reports, to conducting more formal meetings, to monitoring an even more formal generational, and politically crucial event…

Plus, being on the good side of one of Temari's brothers was always a MAJOR plus.

"So, what do we have he—" Kankuro's demeanor shifted for a second as his eyes followed the silhouettes on the screen. "That's that team from Ame, right?"

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow. "Has word really spread about it?"

"It has." The Sunagakure Jonin replied. "Not so much about it. But about them."

The screen rewinded once, the distinct sound of Ino's cry of pain followed by the crack of a bone resounding through the room. Even Kankuro recoiled for a second at the sight of a familiar face being injured like that; especially when that familiar face battled side-by-side with you in the war.

"Okay. Run it back, please." Shikamaru signed to a Chunin in the room as he rubbed his eyelids tiredly.

"When's the last time you took a break, Shikamaru?" Kankuro questioned with some actual concern behind his words; yeah, the brat was quite clearly after his sister… but he was a good brat, a capable brat, a brat that they all needed to be in ideal shape for the betterment of the Union.

"Not recently enough." Shikamaru muttered as the screen paused right where they needed it.

Kankuro's eyes remained on Shikamaru justo for a couple of seconds longer, as much as Shikamaru's general appearance screamed for help Kankuro knew he wasn't the man for the job, nor was that the reason he was called upon. "What am I looking at?"

"Well, for this first clip I doubt you'll be able to see anything to begin with." Shikamaru explained as the video played and a clip of Omoi standing idly turned to static shortly after a shattering impact erased Omoi's image from the video, and broke the camera itself. Kankuro blinked his eyes for a second as he watched the replay.

"Was it a projectile?"

"No."

"Space-Time Jutsu?"

"Not that we know of…" Please don't let it be so.

"Then?"

"Just speed it would seem." Shikamaru nodded to the Chunin controlling the screen so another clip played. The angle was noticeably different from the previous one, one could see the figures from a broader and greater distance, all the way from Omoi being thrown, to Ino getting attacked, to Shino coming to Ino's defense.

Kankuro got by now that he was here literally as a consultant, so he tried and analyzed the video as best as his eyes and the frames from the CC let him do, he watched the clip about a dozen times, then he had to take special attention when Shino's duel with Yoa came to an end… then Shikamaru turned to him.

Kankuro sighed deeply, trying to relax his face from the pensive frown it was locked in.

"Who's your biggest concern out of the three of them?" Kankuro asked in a way more serious tone.

Shikamaru noticed the shift in the air around them and scrunched his eyebrows. "This is merely a consult, Kankuro. We're not discussing any acti-"

"Cut it, Shikamaru." Kankuro replied quickly, though not bitingly enough for it to be seen as challenging. "You and I know perfectly well why everyone is only whispering about this particular team out of the lot."

The Nara looked to the side to the screen beside them and signaled for the Chunin to leave the room.

Once there was only the two of them in the room Kankuro spoke up again.

"There's a reason why no one is fussing about Kurotsuchi crippling people left and right, Chojuro cutting members of whole teams down like grass, or even Hinata destroying the chakra networks of everyone that gets her one-on-one." Kankuro had of course seen as much of the Exams as possible, he knew that even in a time of peace knowing the skills and capabilities of allies and 'rivals' alike was a positive in any worst-case-scenario. "No one in the Union is about to sit happily on their hands while a team of rag-tag foreigners goes around not only maiming their ninja, but also executing them."

"Who are we trying to trick here?" Kankuro questioned. "It's no secret that when we sent the invitations to the small villages around we didn't expect any to participate, much less to send out an actually capable team out. This wasn't on our plans."

"But now it's in front of us, and we have to find a way to deal with it without alarming anyone inside or outside of the Union." Shikamaru replied firmly. "Or what do you suggest we do?" He challenged lightly.

It was a nice change of pace to see Shikamaru have this 'bark' inside of him, and Kankuro was impressed; but he was also knowledgeable enough to know this was merely a discussion.

"I suggest we do what we're all thinking about. We either pull the plug on the team from Ame or we pull the plug on the Exams."

"I'm not about to discuss an assasination attempt on-!"

"I am not talking about anyone's assasination."

"Then?" Shikamaru asked.

"We find a way to take them out the Exams. Who's gonna complain about it? The Union? Hardly. The people? Maybe, but I doubt it. Their Village? It's a flaming mess down there, no one even knows they exist. What backlash could we have?" Kankuro tried to reason with Shikamaru, so much so that an actual silence fell upon the room like an avalanche.

Shikamaru knew Kankuro was right, he called Kankuro specifically for a reason, because he knew he'd hear exactly what he'd just heard.

"Why are you suggesting this?" Shikamaru broke the silence. "Why the sudden need from everyone to put and end to this, to them?"

Kankuro knew his words weren't right, that they shouldn't be… Only they were.

"Because they're not us. They're different from us, you know where they come from. Wha-"

"If we followed that logic then there'd be no Union, Suna and Konoha would still be at each other's throats if we kept judging every son from their father. You and I wouldn't be talking right here and now." Shikamaru argued, argued like he'd argued with Kakashi behind closed doors, with other dignitaries, with a couple of daimyos, with friends and family. 'How could they hope and work for a better world when their world only encompassed Five Nations?'

Kankuro sighed and shook his head… there was little he could say against that, little that would make sense. Little that would excuse the hundreds or thousands dying outside of the well erected walls of the Union, people that weren't to blame for being born outside a border or inside another.

"Do you think any of us has forgotten Shikamaru?" Kankuro looked right at the Konoha Jonin. Waiting for Shikamaru to take the bait. "Have you?"

Shikamaru knew he wouldn't like what would come next if he answered; but he also knew he needed to listen to everything and everyone right now.

"Forgotten about what?"

"About what happens whenever Shinobi from Amegakure come out of nowhere and start causing trouble. When Shinobi that aren't supposed to be this strong start taking notice of what they can do…" Kankuro kept going, even when he noticed Shikamaru wanted to interject.

"Have you forgotten? How we started regarding people as legends just for getting their lives pitied and pardoned, for making it out alive after glancing at one Ame Shinobi? How it took the other one an hour to erase Konoha from existence? You think you want another Hanzo running around who we can't trust? Another Pain without the will to forgive and give back the lives of thousands for a whim?"

Shikamaru had no answer for that. And Kankuro used a weapon he knew would hammer the point home.

"If it was Temari out there on the forest. Would you pull the plug?"

And that was the second thing Shikamaru wished; he wished he could be the one in the forest to pull their plug himself.

Runa looked to her right then to her left as her and her team traveled across the forest. The sudden appearance of this… Ocean aggressively reduced the groundspace; which meant any and all of the remaining teams' chances of running into each other had just increased wildly. And Nin Team K agreed that movement would be better suited for them and their style of fight than just sitting idly and waiting for anyone to attack them at any moment's notice.

Kaori closed her eyes and took a deep whiff of the air around them, so much so that the sound of it made both of her teammates look back at her.

"Huh? U-Uh…" Kaori muttered once the team stopped on their tracks to face Kaori.

"So? Did you sense something? Should we fall into formation or-?" Runa questioned the girl with Yoa on her side.

Kaori looked over from Runa to Yoa, somewhat happy with herself and them to be able to look the other in the eyes with no repercussions whatsoever.

"No…" Kaori replied. "Not at all, actually."

"Then?" Yoa asked Kaori quite casually, which made Kaori's head snap in his direction and even offer the slightest hint of a smile to herself for the fact that he seemed to have forgotten the previous conflict.

Kaori sighed and waved them closer, taking another deep breath with a smile, almost timid in her words after it.

"I just realized…" Kaori chuckled at herself. "I just realized this is the first time we've ever smelled the ocean… Or the sea… Or whatever the hell this is…" Kaori felt sheepish after it, even childish to have her mind on such a thing, at such a time.

WHIFFFFF!

"Oh right." Yoa uttered.

"I hadn't thought about it." Runa followed.

The three of them exchanged a glance.

WHIFFFFFFFFFF!

Shortly after their antics, the three of them shared a much needed moment of continuous laughter, cracking in unison as if releasing their shoulders of some thickly veiled tension.

"This is just so sad…" Yoa mentioned mid laughter.

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" Runa and Kaori asked respectively as they shared the remnants of their laughter.

"We're the three poor kids who haven't seen the ocean and the closest we got was a gigantic pool in the middle of a death forest where our bodies will probably be found floating around once we- OW WHAT THE-"

"Shut up!"

"You ruined the moment!" Runa an Kaori chastised Yoa as they threw rocks and pebbles at the young man, who merely half turned around and covered his face from the incoming attacks.

"I'm just saying!" Yoa called as he turned his other side to the incoming projectiles. "It's sad that we actually fell for it."

"Well, excuse us for living in Rust-Town Population: 20000 assholes." Runa replied as she threw one last rock aimed at Yoa's head.

"Kaori? What's wrong?" Yoa asked as he dusted himself and walked over to his teammate.

"Nothing…" Kaori smiled as she looked down at her feet, and then at those of her teammates once they came in close. "It's one silly thing."

"Well, that's not exactly new." Yoa began when Runa play-punched him.

"What is?" Runa asked.

"I was just thinking this particular asshole right here is right." Kaori stated as she pushed Yoa. "We can't settle for this. I'm sure the actual Ocean smells different. Better different. Maybe one day after we finish this… I'm not saying we go off-duty… But we could take a mission that lets us see the sea." Kaori offer with a smile. "I mean, we're here just to find jobs, we might as well get one that lets us enjoy stuff. We can still help the Village that way, can't we?"

Runa and Yoa exchanged a glance and smiled softly. Then they smiled at Kaori.

"I think we can make that happen." Runa replied.

Kaori jumped in victory and fist-pumped.

"ONE DAY… One far away day when we can stop worrying about people dying just because we didn't give an apple to the right person." Runa followed up.

"Yeah, what she said." Yoa agreed, though he still somewhat smiled. "When people just don't drop dead."

"Ugh. That could be ages, y'know?" Kaori's mood died down. "People have to die, it's the natural flow of-"

Kaori saw the looks her teammates aimed at her sour joke and then stepped back. "One far away day, yes!" She nodded and gave them a thumbs-up.

Runa rolled her eyes but smirked. 'Maybe we're not so lost after all…'

"Are you clear?"

"Yes I am."

"You sure no one caught you?"

"I am, the guy is too out of himself to catch anything but a stroke."

"Hey! Watch your mouth… We don't wanna attract any more attention to this."

"Roger." One of the figures standing nodded as it handed a CD to the other. "Every tape from those Ame kids is there."

"Perfect." The other figure's smirk could be heard even through the Hare mask they donned, after a brief inspection the CD was swiftly pocketed away. "Return to your spot and await further instructions. You've done well."

Temari was beyond mentally exhausted at this point, she finally got to know what the stress of the 'big-leagues' was. Her neck hurt as if she'd been handed the meanest right hook in the world, her guts churned as if she'd been on the run mid-enemies'-lines for weeks, and her jaw was locked as if she'd been sleeping in a war-camp for months…

The least she needed right now was someone calling her line on the screen.

"Oh… for CRYING OUT LOUD, what now?!" Temari growled furiously at the incomer.

"Uh…- ah…- I-I mean, I had some free-" Shikamaru Nara's smile was completely wiped from his face just one second in… He'd been hoping to relieve his own neck, guts, and jaw with a call to his—to Temari—and now he felt like he'd intruded right into a bad moment… 'Kami, I suck at this… She's too busy to handle your own crap, Shikamaru… really you deserved that one… What with calling out of nowhere and…'

"SHIKA-, I mean- Shikamaru!" Temari's eyes almost popped out of her face when the familiar voice of her legendary laze reached her ears. The furious blush on her face wasn't going to go anywhere right now. 'That's seriously what you're gonna do now? He calls you the single moment he could and you turn into a sordid furious mess of a woman? He's… TRYING! He reached out and you're just gonna-'

"You seem busy so I can just-"

"No! I was just in the middle of something you don't have to-"

"Well, that's what I meant by 'busy', so-"

"No! But I didn't mean it like that-!"

"Really you don't have to be nice about it, you have a lot on your plate and I know that-"

"But you have a lot on your plate too and you called!"

"But that's different becau-"

"Why because I'm a woman?"

"Wait, what? No-!"

"Because that's how it sounded like."

"What? How could it possi-?"

"For your information I happen to have everything under control over here."

"I didn't even say anything! You keep interrupting m-"

"Oh so now 'I'm' importunating you? You were the one who called, Nara."

"See? I'm importunating you, that's what I was trying to say!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me, you lazy ass!"

"Don't raise yours at me, you troublesome woman!"

"Hey, Temari. Could you sign these papers for a-" Darui asked as he stepped inside the control room.

"GET OUT!" Both Shikamaru and Temari yelled immediately as accusing eyes stabbed the intruder from Kumo.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Darui left as slowly and casually as he came in after being yelled at.

Temari's eyes bore right back at those on Shikamaru's screen, the vein on her forehead popping and pumping furiously… Until the brow of the man on the screen trembled for a second, Temari's own shortly doing the same… Soon enough Temari's lips twitched and Shikamaru's after hers; before they knew it some badly needed laughter filled both rooms across the screen.

"He-, hey… We need to apologize to him." Shikamaru uttered with a soft grin.

"Oh, he's Darui. He won't even care…" Temari chuckled as she wiped the tears of laughter from her face.

Shikamaru could only gaze at her, blush filling her face, eyes twinkling and tingling from the freshly shed tears, and the corners of her lips pulling at the sides tightly…

'Oh… damn this woman…' Shikamaru thought with a soft smile as he watched her silently.

Temari noticed this and playfully tilted her head over, holding Shikamaru's gaze and smile with a pair of her own, not even feeling the least abashed by his inspecting gaze. "See anything you like?" She challenged him teasingly as she rested her hands on her hips.

Shikamaru chuckled momentarily at her quirks and rolled his eyes. "More than you think but certainly not enough as I'd prefer." Was his cutting response, pairing it with a disarming smirk of his own.

It was Temari's turn to roll her eyes as she bit her lip. Though once again she couldn't bring herself to care about the clear innuendos on his words. "I'm sorry, okay? I was having a bad day." The Suna Jonin apologized with a short sigh and a more natural smile.

Shikamaru didn't expect nor wanted an apology, so he just waved it off to the side and nodded at her. "I guess we all are, huh? The messes we got ourselves into…"

Temari's lips pulled at the corners once again, and she really, really wished they were face to face so she could tilt his chin down for a kiss. "Still… It was very sweet of you to call, Shika…"

Shikamaru's guts were churned a different way from before at the sight and sound of Temari's voice being so openly endearing to him. Deep down he swore he tried to not look like a complete idiot in any way. "I can't say I didn't need it myself."

Now Temari really wanted to be there with him… Teasing him for going soft on her, and for blushing on the cheeks, and for deliberately trying to say cheesy things to make her blush… Maybe even to kiss him for a while… Trying to distract both of them from the stress of their days… Maybe finish what they started that night on his place and-.

"Temari?" Darui called for her as he entered the room rushedly.

"Oh, yeah, Darui. We're sorry, Shikamaru and I were just…-" Temari started but got interrupted.

"Doesn't matter." Darui was quick to dismiss their worries. Business was first. "I believe you both will want to watch the live feed. Now."

'SNIFF-SNIFF'

"What's the matter?"

'SNIFF-SNIFF'

"W-We got c-company…"

"Pull them out." Darui muttered as his eyes were locked on the screen.

"We can't just pull them out!" Temari shouted, barely removing her eyes.

"Shikamaru—" Darui purposely spoke over Temari. "—pull them out we can't have more losses."

"What are you—" Temari stared daggers at Darui, who pointedly ignored her. She then turned over to Shikamaru. "—you can't intervene, Shikamaru! We have a system, we have orders, rules!"

Kankuro's previous words were completely swallowing out those of Darui and Temari.

'If it was Temari out there on the forest. Would you pull the plug?'

"Shikamaru." Darui tried once again. "They are your friends, Shikamaru."

Temari looked a mix of shocked and disgusted by Darui's words. "How dare you…!" Temari turned to Darui, that was beyond unprofessional from Darui… and she knew now that if she were to talk against him that'd mean she'd be disregarding Shikamaru's friends' lives…

"Shikamaru!" Temari called his name loudly once she noticed he wasn't responding.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, thinking, meditating, trying to silence his surrounding, to silence the voice inside him…

The voice that had already made the call.

"What are we gonna do?"

"You leave…"

"We're not doing that!" One of the people huddled sneered lowly. "Tell 'em we're not doing that!"

The third figure looked at the first for a good few seconds, communicating silently before giving a firm nod. "We're leaving."

"So… How's it look?" Runa whispered from above the trees.

"It seems to be good enough, though maybe too ideal." Kaori responded lowly.

Nin Team K's leader pursed her lips… Kaori was right, the view down below them—a 60 feet by 60 feet clearing of grass, surrounded and hidden almost beautifully amongst trees hundreds of feet tall like the one they were surveying from—seemed to be too good of a safe shelter to be true…

"Yoa."

The young man's eyes fell to those of his leader once his name was uttered. "On it."

Yoa was by no means a sensor, if their team lacked one thing then that'd be it. But they got away by a mixture of their talents and affinities; for example, Yoa had the best set of skills for someone to be ambushed by, he had the speed to evade an incoming attack, he had the reaction time to tip off his teammates if the situation got out of control, and even more importantly he had a Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to protect himself in case everything else went to hell and someone got the better of him.

He lurked around—barely above ground level—for a while, the trees he was hiding behind were tall enough to disappear a whole building behind them, and they were so close together at their bases that there was barely enough space for him to slip between them and reach the center of the clearing. Not to mention this place was far enough from that newfound ocean in the middle of the forest…

He stopped in his tracks when the scene hit him.

Blood is a very peculiar substance, it has an unmistakable smell, it has a very unique look and taste as well; Yoa fancied neither, but whenever there was blood—especially in quantity— around, his senses stirred… Not in a way he enjoyed, but the chilling presence of Iron in blood triggered his Kekkei Genkai in a way that few other things did.

Yoa flickered from his position behind the treeline, his senses pinpointed the source of the smell right at the core of a hollowed out tree, one that looked older than the rest, wood dry and lifeless unclaimed even by the green moss that covered the rest of the trunks in bright color.

Yoa might not fancy violence, he would've sure as hell chosen hundreds of other life paths had he been given the chance, he would've preferred to not know what is to claim a life, or to get that of a loved one claimed…

But fear was way behind him. He didn't feel the thing now, not a cell in his body feared what he may encounter inside of that blood soaked trunk. So Yoa merely landed a couple of feet away from the cave-like cocoon and walked to its entrance.

What lied inside there was unbeknownst to him…

Only for a second.

"What happe-" Yoa's words were interrupted when his body moved by pure reflex, turning 180 around to block an incoming hit with both forearms. A beautiful parry… Or it would have been had the attacker been one to play with.

"Reverse Lotus!"

"Yoa!" Runa yelled far too late to his teammate on ground level…

Only she didn't. She was too busy bleeding from the ears

Everyone in the vicinity including the attacker himself fell to their knees, ears ringing loudly from the aggressive wave of sound that exploded when the red-skinned taijutsu prodigy's leg slammed onto the Magnet Release user's defense.

Yoa's body was shot right back at bullet speed, his path stopping only when he got embedded into one of those gargantuan tree trunks that surrounded them, the impact ate away enough of the tree's body that one could easily worry about the hundred tons mammoth falling over.

'How?'

Rock Lee's mind grunted, having to ground himself with all four limbs on the soil, his skin blazed red hot and bright all throughout. He wasn't toying anymore, all types of reserve got thrown out of the window once he'd witnessed first hand what incompetence as leader could do to one of your friends… To one of those people you were supposed to protect.

The memory of such thing made him pull through for the millionth time in his life, he did his best to straighten up quickly—Rock Lee was by no means an intellectual genius, nor a tactically inclined Shinobi—but he was experienced enough to know how to measure and opponent; how to judge a foe's ability just by striking them…

How to know when your hits weren't hurting the enemy.

Yoa felt his body 'sing' just the same way cold steel beams sang when you hammered them into place. The ripples on his body had woken up something inside him that had been long asleep.

Matsuri was struggling to get up from the damage that her eardrums had received. Everything moved around her, her stomach felt like it was going to empty itself in any moment. 'C'mon Matsuri…! Get up!' Her mind yelled, as a certain red tinted kanji flashed hot on her imagination.

"Lord Godaime… Gaara…" The rope of blood trailing down both her ears poured down as she got up on one knee. "I got you, Lee-" Matsuri tried to stand up, but the second she tried to stand on both feet she wretched in pain, violently throwing up back down on all fours on the ground.

Lee was alone.

Up on the branches Runa's vision blurred wildly, she could not remember one single time when Yoa got sent flying by any kind of jutsu, let alone a 'simple' taijutsu. She yelled for the sitted Kaori who had her hands to her ears, to rendezvous back to her, only she couldn't hear herself yet, not even a whistle.

"Fuck!" Runa yelled loudly for no one to hear.

Yoa was alone.

"Good thing all those kiddie years of badly piled steel beams dropping and hammering steel on steel have long gone fucked those frecuencies for my ears." Yoa said as he dropped to the ground after pushing himself out of the trunk.

Lee could actually hear Yoa now, he didn't know if it was the Sixth Gate pushing chakra wildly around his body that made his hearing come back after getting closed up. But Lee was all standing now, body blazing hot and scorching the grass right under his feet.

"You are not hurting my team anymore." Lee muttered through gritted teeth, speaking to no one in particular and everyone at the same time.

"What are you-" Yoa was about to reply when his body turned 45 degrees to block a low kick.

The hit didn't come alone, Yoa could feel hot embers as if a fire sword was clashing against his skin. His brain could barely process the heat before his hands moved to his chest to successfully stop a rising knee that blew him 50 feet up in the air.

Lee jumped up higher in the air than Yoa to follow with a dropping heel to the back of the head. Only this time Yoa was ready, he snatched Lee's foot right out of the air, gripping it hard and letting metal spikes out of the length of his palm and digits embed themselves deep on Lee's flesh. Yoa pulled him down and released his grip enough so Lee's face was level with his own knee and hit, hard.

Lee literally caught the hit face on, using his forehead to stop Yoa's knee. The impact once again is hard enough to send waves pulsating around them in an aura.

Both Lee and Yoa recoiled back to opposite trunks on the 'clearing'. Barely a handful of seconds had passed all through the encounter.

It was time to think. Yoa knew this wasn´t a game anymore, it had been a long time since he'd felt that a wrong move, a wrong decision could cost him and his friends dearly.

Lee was sure the encounter should be over by now. The first hit itself would have been enough to mow down most Jonins, high level ones at that. He wasn´t prepared to be hurt… And that enraged him further, preparedness was something he had constructed his life around, physical readiness, he was learning right now that one needed to have a mind as strong as your body to be called a leader.

Lee glanced up to see Yoa let steel plates drop down to the floor from his arms and legs, the center of each plating red hot as if they had come fresh out of the forge. He could also see some tiny red marks on Yoa's members, no bigger than cigarette burns.

"That's a neat trick you have there." Yoa remarked, just barely succeeding in reigning in how actually heavy was his breath from the physical exertion both had exchanged.

'Mental game. The mental aspect is as if-not-more important than the physical and skilled aspect of being a ninja' was something that was driven onto the minds of Amegakure's shinobi. The mental edge could often turn the tide your way.

"The 7 doors or something like that right?" Yoa barked knowingly.

"Trick?!" Lee bit down a scream. 'HOW dare he call the technique that Guy sensei and his father had entrusted onto him to defend only the most dearest positions in his life?!'

Lee's trunk trembled hard enough that it rattled around and slammed onto the nearby trees, the brief but humbling show of power making its way over to the tree Yoa was standing on.

Yoa reigned in his breathing, keeping it perfectly in-tone and controlled even through the grin. One misstep could mean loss of the worse kind.

Both ninja held a stand-off about 30 feet up on opposite sides of the tree-studded circle.

'SWOOSH'

A black projectile was swung hard towards Lee's chest, only for the taijutsu master to kick it towards an adjacent tree, embedding it on the wood permanently.

"TRICKS!" Lee yelled loudly as he blasted over to Yoa, who met his roundhouse kick with an elbow of his own.

Lee twitched briefly once the soundwave from the hit pulsed. He remembered now… All those years back against the sound ninja, the genin exams. What with all the damage his body had to deal those months… His hearing, he'd been incapacitated before by damage to his eardrums, he had never met a foe who advertently or inadvertently targeted his hearing again, though.

Yoa summoned a defensive flat mace-like weapon with his kekkei genkai, doing his best to hit Lee with it after parrying with his elbow.

'Thunk'

Lee single handedly swatted the artifact away and directy towards another trunk.

"Fuck" Yoa muttered, the fraction of a second enough for the blazing hot aura of Lee's punches to scorch the flesh from his neck worringly.

Yoa tried to put some more distance from the impulse tha pain in his neck had put on him. Yoa summoned another mace on each hand and held them underhand to block every brutal hit that Lee shot his way.

Lee knew he was gaining space each hit he landed, no matter how the Ame ninja stopped them with the flat edged maces, he knew he could not handle the pressure for much longer.

And so Lee disguised a disarming punch towards Yoa's face and instead caught the magnet realease user wrist, twisting it just before breaking point until he released the mace, kicking the metal artifact away.

Yoa himself got rid of the other mace by throwing it away and mirrored Lee's grasp on his wrist by gripping the taijutsu master´s opposite wrist. He himself twisted it in place, both warriors looking more like awkward dancers stuck on a vice grip and trying to prevent the other from breaking a limb.

Only Yoa was on the losing side considering Lee's scorching hot aura burning his skin.

Only they weren't? The thermic bandages Yoa covered his hands and arms with was shielding long enough for him to spread his arms wide hard, forcing Lee's body towards his own, Yoa used the leverage from their joined arms to raise a double leg kick right on Lee's chest, without releasing his grip.

Lee felt his arms almost get torn apart from the sockets as the Ame nin pushed with the strength of his legs onto his chest, the pressure growing by the second from the massive strength of the braided man he was fighting. He had to let go of Yoa, and Yoa did not miss the opportunity to jump back and gain distance on the green beast of Konoha.

Both men were openly panting now, bruised, skin broken by the pressure of the hits, flesh opening much more nastily had it been by the clean cut of a blade.

They both knew that best case scenario the other would have to commit a terrible mistake in order to lose. And neither of them wanted their teammates caught up in the fight, nor giving another passing team a chance to take them on while distracted.

"Here goes nothing." Yoa whispered much more transparently now.

Lee barely had time to escape the barrage of flat pointed maces that Yoa was literally kicking his way, the ones he didn't evade, Lee kicked away with all his might, being careful not to get caught by an incoming projectile or by Yoa himself if he decided to jump in.

"OKAY, STOP!" Yoa yelled while panting.

Lee did stop. Wanting to take the opportunity to catch a breath himself.

"What do you want?" Lee replied.

"I think we have reached a tie. I'll leave and let your wounded friends alone if you don't chase us out."

Lee could start to feel the microfractures on his bones, the pulled muscles and damaged tendons that the 6th gate demanded of him. But he also could feel the disappointment in himself at the memory of his fellow comrades injured and endangered from the last fight he hadn't ended right away.

"Not. A. Chance" Lee roared loudly as he dropped to the center of the circle and drew in a deep breath, dropping into a stance that suggested him getting ready to attack.

"I thought so." Yoa strained visibly while summoning a perfect black sphere in both his hands. "Let's play then."

Before Lee could jump Yoa, he was targeted by the cannonball coming to destroy him, at a speed far superior than any other projectile he'd ever been targeted with. His only option was to duck awkwardly.

'RANG'

Lee's vison blurred.

'RANG RANG RANG RANG'

Lee's head started to buzz and pulsate loudly with waves of excruciating pain.

The black sphere Yoa had shot started to bounce at faster-than-sound-speed between all of the flat shiny-black metal surfaces the 'maces' provided now that they were embedded in the trees all around them. The horrifyingly cold sound of that cursed black steel on black steel tortured Lee's senses every fraction of a second.

Yoa finally breathed out, admittedly quite tired.

"The bounce will end in a minute or two, just let the inertia die off." Yoa couldn't possibly be heard even if he yelled a hundred times louder. He couldn't even hear himself over the song of the bouncing steel.

Runa was just collecting herself when a very familiar song buzzed alive immediately making the team leader recoil instinctively and try to plug her ears with her fingers…

"Yo', Runa. You okay?" A just-as-always spotless clean Kaori asked while standing above her, she extended her hand.

"It's over, we're well beyond the reach of the song." Kaori smiled widely, helping her leader up.

"What happened?" Runa asked.

"Yoa carried us away, I guess he forgot you are not particularly a fan of the technique." The shorter girl offered a sympathetic shrug. "It's only been about a couple of minutes, but since he really ran us away he's pretty much exhausted."

"Serves him right for pulling that shit." Runa sighed deeply and stretched her arms.

"Yeah, only I'm a little worried he had to play the song in the first place. Were we really in that position?" Kaori's tone was clearly serious. "It's not like it's our strongest move, but it certainly isn't simple a get away card either. Clearly."

Runa nodded. "I honestly didn't get a good look. How much did the encounter even last, really? A couple of minutes?"

"At most."

The encounter had literally not lasted enough time for either of them to even stand up straight after the first blow the Konoha Taijutsu specialist had landed.

"If Yoa saw the need to buzz the song in that short a time that means we were in danger. And I mean serious danger." Runa replied.

"Mhm." Kaori nodded. "I couldn't see anything." Kaori nodded again. "And I mean anything. I tried between bleeding ears and all, but it was no use. It's been a while, if ever, that I saw Yoa have to move like that." Kaori then glanced back at a sleeping Yoa, who had visible open gashes of skin from the contact of the blows that resembled more like some kind of creature had taken chunks of his meat off here and there, serious burn marks, dried up blood, clothing completely disheveled. "I'm not sure what would have happened if we didn't have something like the song to get away."

It wasn't that either of them were conceding defeat, but they certainly had met a reminder that defeat was possible, and at reach, afterall. "Well-" Runa looked back at her sleeping teammate as well. She knew that for either of the three to end up like that, it meant business. "-we'll have to ask him to tell us a report on the situation just in case we meet the same team again. But in the meantime we need to keep an eye on Yoa before we move on."

"I'll summon a salt seal." Kaori nodded. Runa nodded along and went over to Yoa, sitting close to him just as Kaori pulled a small hemp bag from her kimono's sleeve.

The bag was filled with salt, which she poured in a tight circle around the three of them. Then the kimono-cladded girl clutched her praying beads with one hand, performed handseals with the other, and sang a lowly prayer.

Before long, the trio, along with the salt line, seemed like they had vanished from existence altogether...

End of Day Four

.

To be continued...

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that any old-reader of this story still hung along for this new one. I'd like to hear from you and I will try to not take another 4 years for the next chapter. Though part of me is thinking of adapting this into other stuff and moving on, if anyone still has interest in it, let me know so I keep the fanfic alive. I like to think this chapter had a little bit of everything, including Kankuro passing by, planting the seeds for future stuff and so on. Although I'm not gonna lie, even though I of course intend to keep developing the canon characters in-character and with respect; the main reason I want to keep going is my dear and beloved Ame trio. See ya soon!