Any tracks they might have left in the ground had been washed away by the tides of explosions or carried away on the harsh breeze. Yet they knew where they were going. Before them, the jungle loomed lush and vibrant, thick and forbidding. It was gigantic, an almost impenetrable wall of vegetation, except for a wide swath carved through it. Someone or something of massive size and strength had torn that path through the trees and undergrowth. Already the jungle was trying to reclaim it. Moss and roots grew thick across the ground, and a vast network of creeping vines and branches wound their way over the surface. But it was clear enough for them to follow.

Hidden eyes were watching them from the jungle: even without their sensory perception they would have felt their gaze studying them, evaluating them, following their every move in an effort to determine if this newcomer to the ecosystem was hunter or prey. To help clarify their role, they drew out their blades and ignited them with chakra, then began to jog slowly down the path. As they ran, they probed the surrounding terrain. Most of the creatures they sensed posed little threat. Still, they were wary. Something had blazed the trail they were following. Something huge.

Almost seventy kilometers in, they'd been jogging for nearly an two hours, they finally encountered their first beast. The trail took a sharp turn, and as they wound around the corner the creature burst from the surrounding trees, snarling and howling. Himari wasn't surprised in the least by the ambush. She'd sensed the monster's presence from several hundred meters away, just as it had surely caught her scent and stalked her from some great distance. She met the creature's charge with calm, ruthless efficiency.

Ducking under the first swiping claw, she carved a deep gash along the beast's thigh. When it reared back to bellow in pain, she sliced another deep groove across its underbelly. The monster didn't fall right away. It was far too massive to be taken down by a pair of wounds from a blade. Instead the pain drove it into a berserk rage. It flailed about with its teeth and long limbs, spinning, snapping, and slashing at everything around it. Usagi twisted and dodged, leaping over one attack, then dropping to the ground to glide beneath another.

She moved so fast she would have been nothing but a blur had the monster not been blinded by rage. And with each evasion they struck another blow, whittling away at the mountain of muscle and flesh like a master artisan. The monster floundered, lumbering and stumbling as if it were performing some drunken dance.

In contrast, they were quick and precise. With each passing second their foe slowed, its strength ebbing away.

At last, with a roar, the beast toppled forward and lay motionless. Leaving the beast where it had collapsed, they pressed on with urgency to their pace. The battle, short and bloody as it had proved, was the first time they'd been tested in a true life-or-death struggle against a monster, since they'd crossed into their territory.

Yuko was pleased to see that her skills had not been diminished by the long layoff. She had a feeling she was going to need those skills again before the day was through.

"Straight ahead!" Himari yelled as the monster came at her, its huge claws snapping in the air.

She went right, then left, then lunged forward at the beast, between the mighty arms and snapping claws, coming around and over with her blade stabbing straight ahead, cleaving a hole in the creature's chest. The monster dived forward, trying to crush him under its bulk, and she leapt straight up as it connected.

She came down on its back, stabbing repeatedly, before leaping away once more.

"Straight ahead!" Tsugi yelled again as the enraged beast charged, its mouth snapping viciously.

Usagi noted the claw coming at her from the side at the very last second, and turned her blade up and over, slashing deep into the claw and lunged for the monster's face. The creature didn't slow in the slightest, and they all had to throw themselves to the ground to dodge the swiping, snapping claws. Shin rolled out to the side, to avoid a stomping leg, and managed to slash out again, cutting a deep gash.

The monster howled and came on, and more snapping claws came at them. Their blades worked quickly, with great agility, slashing one claw after another right into the charging beast, finally slowing it and stunning it. They rushed in, stabbing repeatedly, right in the armored face. Himari caught her foot on the creature's shoulder and ran right past it. She heard it fall behind her, thrashing in its pain and rage, but she knew that battle was done and went back to work on the pack hunters.

The larger fight seemed far from won, and far from winnable. Tsugi had finished with the monster by then, and to the other side, Shin, Usagi, Yuko, Souji, and Himari continued their perfect teamwork behind the overturned trees. They slashed all claws and maws aimed at them them, and Yuko cut down monster after pack hunter after monster.

Syrus was sitting cross legged on the stone floor of the central meditation chamber on the tree's uppermost branches. He was meditating on those who came before him as he had often done between the life and death battles he had faced daily. Now that he was out of the Shadow Lands, it was even more important to contemplate what he had learned about the nature of shinobi and chakra, and the path it would lead him down.

By their very nature, the shinobi invited rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the shinobi. It culls the weak. The constant battling of the shinobi since the beginning of recorded history served a necessary purpose. It kept the power of chakra concentrated in a few powerful individuals.

The amalgamation had changed all that.

There were now hundreds of thousands following them, and a lot of them were civilians who joined wanting to be warriors. Their numbers were greater than they had ever been, yet they were still battling against the Water damiyo. The power of chakra cannot be dispersed among the masses. It must be concentrated in the masses who are worthy of the honor. The strength of numbers could be a trap. One that had snared all the great shinobi and samurai who had come before. Indra and Ashura. Each had been powerful. Each had drawn disciples in, teaching them the ways of chakra. Each had assembled an army of followers and unleashed them against each other.

Yet in each and every case the shinobi as a collective had prevailed.

The amalgamation would always remain united in their cause.

The shinobi would always be brought low by infighting and betrayals. The very traits that drove them to individual greatness and glory, the unrelenting ambition, the insatiable hunger for power, would ultimately doom them as a whole. This was the inescapable paradox of the shinobi. Hashirama had tried to solve the problem by making everyone equal with cooperation in the village system he was establishing.

But his solution was flawed.

It showed no understanding of the real problem.

No understanding of the true nature of the shinobi. The shinobi must be ruled by a single leader. The very embodiment of the strength and power they were always chasing. Yet whoever rose from the swollen and bloated ranks of the shinobi villages to claim the mantle of Kage, would never be able to truly hold it. In time the shinobi who are rogue will unite their strength and overthrow the Kage. It was inevitable.

But there was another solution. A way to break the endless cycle dragging the shinobi down. Syrus understood that now. At first he had thought the answer might be to change the system, then it became replacing the creed of the shinobi with a single, all powerful ruler. No other Kage. No lower levels. Just one vessel to contain all the knowledge and power of chakra.

But he had quickly dismissed that idea as well. Eventually even an all powerful ruler would wither and die. All the knowledge of chakra would be lost. If the leader grows weak, another must rise to seize the mantle.

One alone would never work.

But with the amalgamation. Minions and servants that would be possible enemies, could be drawn in to the service of them by the temptation of being powerful. Being a warrior regardless of sex, creed, class, or anything else. They'd join them without hesitation. There had to be those that embodied power, and those who craved it. This was the knowledge that would lead them into a new age.

A revelation that would bring an end to the infighting that had defined everyone for a thousand generations.

They would be reborn, the old ways would be swept away completely, and they would be the ones to do it. But first they would have to neutralize the shinobi. Hashirama, Tobirama, all who had stood against him, all the shinobi on the mainland, had to be put in their place, until only Kage alone remained. Syrus-sama. The title was his by right. There were few strong enough to challenge him.

The only question that remained was who was worthy of being his apprentice.

And how he would eliminate the others who posed a threat to his new budding ideal.

"Syrus." Haji's voice cut off his thoughts midstream. "I come with an invitation."

Syrus stood to his feet, enraged at being disturbed on the cusp of enlightenment. He glared at Haji, as angry at himself for being too engrossed in his own thoughts to sense his younger brother's presence as he was at the interruption.

"Are you coherent?"

"How did you find me?" Syrus asked, casting out with his senses to see who else might have invaded the temple and its inner sanctum. He felt a mixture of relief and disappointment when he realized Haji was alone. He had been hoping for one more.

She must have chosen not to come.

"Jime told me you had come here for solitude. Once I entered the temple, I simply followed the beacon of your chakra." Haji replied. "How Jime knew you would be here I can't say."

Syrus suspected Shizuku must have told him, but he didn't bother telling that to his younger brother. "Did Jime send you here to convince me?"

Haji shook his head.. "If you will not take the lead in what we are doing then we will have no choice but to move without you. As we have been."

"Move without?" Syrus echoed, observing. "How can you say that? Chakra is strong here. Far stronger than it ever was in the desert region or Fire country. This is where we will find the power to destroy the Water damiyo's armada, and all of our enemies."

"It is chakra that was once a place of great power, too." Haji countered. "Over the centuries thousands of shinobi and samurai have explored its secrets, and none of them discovered any great strategy to defeat their enemy."

Syrus grunted.

Haji uncrossed his arms before continuing. "The old ways have failed. The greater organism defeated those who followed them. The Fiend, Indra. they all lost... We have to find a new philosophy. We have to find a new ideal...If we want to defeat them for good."

For a brief moment Syrus felt the faint flicker of excitement. Haji's words echoed his own thoughts. Was it possible the he was thinking along the same lines as he and trying to a find an apprentice? His next words brought Syrus's hopes up. "I think we understand this. That is why we created the amalgamation as they're calling us. We are the future. We've surpassed the shinobi by seeing the folly of the creed."

Syrus nodded his head. Haji was extremely perceptive. "I will lead the amalgamation."

Haji smiled. "Then it truly begins here." You're sure about this?"

"I love this new ideal and I want to see it become reality."