Author's Note: Welcome back, everyone! As this is my first story I welcome constructive criticisms, flaming and trolling will be ignored.

Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha belong to their respective owners.

Dialogue Legend:

"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue

'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being telepathically through a seal

"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name; Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone directly.

'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone telepathically or through a seal

Chapter 31 – Tayuya of the North, Sakon of the West

Konoha – Tenten's Shop

"Tenten-chan, I've come to pick up the order placed by Shikaku-san!" Ino shouted as she entered the store.

"The order's ready, the crate to your left has all of it." Tenten yawned as she emerged from the forge in the back of the shop to the storefront. Ino looked at the crate in question and saw that it was filled with storage scrolls.

"Ten thousand kunai, twenty-thousand shuriken, eight thousand paper bombs, and twelve-thousand bomb kunai." Tenten recited. "If my parents weren't working themselves to the bone at our family's mines making sure I had a constant influx of raw materials, I would've run out less than a third of the way through that order!"

Ino grabbed the crate and decided to ask Tenten something that she'd been curious about for years but never had the opportunity to get the answer for. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you never used your family name? I've never heard anyone say your last name, plus your shop has no name either. What's up with that?"

Tenten sighed. "I was wondering when someone from my friend group would ask those questions. The answer to both is convenience. My family's been renowned for its craftsmanship for centuries, if not millennia. By the time Konoha was founded, we had married into or across so many clans that it took over a minute to say the full family name. When we were invited to join Konoha, the family head at the time used the move as an excuse to drop all the clan names we'd picked up over the generations. The original family surname can only be shared with our spouses, if we choose to keep it at all. Hashirama-sama approved, and the rest is history.

The same goes for the shop's name, or lack thereof. At the start, this was the only weapon store in Konoha. Eventually, other clans and even some civilians opened their own weapon or ninja tool shops, but by then the quality of wares was so well-known in the village that my grandparents never felt the need to give this shop a name. My parents feel the same way; don't try to fix what isn't broken."

"I see," Ino's smile threatened to tear her face in half, "so are you going to keep your family name when you marry Naruto-kun?"

Tenten's face turned redder than a tomato. "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Ino wisely chose to leave the store before Tenten could grab any weapons to throw at her.

Tsunade's Office

"Thank you, Baki-san, for coming on such short notice. I've never been more grateful for the existence of warp seals!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"It is our pleasure, Tsunade-sama." Baki bowed his head. "After the debacle that occurred during the Chuunin Exams, Suna's council is eager not only to renew our alliance with Konoha, but to see Orochimaru and his ambitions utterly destroyed! Aiding you in Sasuke-san's recovery achieves both goals."

"Excellent! Orochimaru's agents encountered two members of my elite guard. They were severely injured, but Shizune found them soon after the fight and brought them back to Konoha for treatment immediately." Tsunade handed Baki a scroll containing the location of her bodyguards' fight with the Sound Four and their estimated path of retreat given the direction they were traveling in just before the fight.

Baki turned to his two students and tossed the scroll to Temari. "Temari-chan, Gaara-kun, move out!"

"Yes, Sensei!" Temari acknowledged the order and left the office, trailed closely by Gaara.

Tsunade's brow furrowed. "You're not going with them?"

"I have faith in my team, Tsunade-sama." Baki returned the Slug Sannin's harsh gaze. "Gaara-kun is a Jinchuriki, and both he and Temari-chan hail from a powerful bloodline."

"And what of their brother, Kankuro-kun, was it?" Tsunade recalled the name of Rasa's eldest son from the Chuunin Exam logs.

"He offended the progenitor of the Kazekage Clan, and has been punished for his transgressions. The boy still lives, but he is in no condition to aid his siblings at this time." Baki explained.

"I see." Tsunade let the matter drop. After his team passed the Second Exam, Naruto told Jiraiya of his encounter with Sesshomaru's spirit. The Toad Sage informed Tsunade of the intervention shortly after she became Hokage. After hearing what Sesshomaru did to aid Naruto, Baki's explanation was good enough in her books.

"Rather than assist my team, I would prefer to use this opportunity to beg Konoha's permission to stay out of the impending war with Iwa." Baki pleaded. "We lost many soldiers during the invasion of Konoha, and, due to the summon Otogakure used, most of our soldiers that survived have been traumatized. I realize that this request is a violation of the treaty Suna has with Konoha, but we are in no condition for another war so soon!"

"Permission granted." Tsunade said without a second thought. "Konoha already has support from Kumo and Kiri. It should be possible for me to send a regiment to reinforce Suna's borders. Kaze no Kuni is located just to the south of Tsuchi no Kuni, and I can't discount the possibility that Ounoki-san may invade Suna out of petty spite!"

Baki's jaw hit the floor. "T-Thank you so much for your generosity, Tsunade-sama!"

"Think nothing of it. After all," Tsunade's gaze became harder than granite, "Kazekage Rasa is far from the first victim of Orochimaru's madness! It's a pity Hiruzen-sensei didn't kill him when he had the chance. Helping Suna now is the least I can do as an apology."

Baki gave a final bow of gratitude and left Tsunade's office. Once he returned to the ambassadorial suite set aside for Suna delegates, the Suna Jonin immediately began writing a message for the Suna council containing the good news.

Konoha Forest

"Fucking shit! What were those idiots Jirobo and Kidomaru doing?!" Tayuya swore. Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru had caught up to what was left of the Sound Four. Without Kidomaru, Tayuya and Sakon could no longer benefit from his threads.

Naruto gave a fox-like grin. "They fell, as will all of Konoha's enemies!"

"You wish! I'll kill all three of you in seconds!" Sakon leaped at the three Konoha Shinobi.

Naruto threw a bomb kunai at his head, but Sakon evaded it by shifting his body slightly out of place. The Namikaze Lord gave his adversary a fox-like smile as formed a hand seal and remotely detonated the bomb kunai.

"Urrrgh!" Thanks to the hellish training Orochimaru had put him through, Sakon's body was sturdy enough to withstand the explosion with negligible injuries, but he was still stunned by it and fell onto the tree branch Naruto had just leaped away from.

"Daitoppa!" Naruto stuck to the trunk of Sakon's branch and fired a sustained blast of wind at the Oto ninja. As Naruto was positioned almost directly above Sakon, the wind blast prevented him from standing up and locked him in place.

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba and Akamaru launched themselves at Tayuya, who currently had Sasuke's coffin on her back.

"Get real, idiots!" Tayuya tried to leap out of the way, but was shocked to find herself unable to move!

"Kagemane no Jutsu, success!" Shikamaru smiled. Out of the corner of her eye, Tayuya could see the Nara Heir's shadow stretched across the branch she was standing on.

"Target acquired!" Kiba canceled her Jutsu and grabbed Sasuke's coffin.

"Fuuton: Fuurou no Jutsu!" Naruto created three Kage Bushin, and they trapped Sakon in a sphere of wind while he joined his teammates. Their goal accomplished, the Sasuke Retrieval Team began retreating to Konoha.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" Sakon vowed as thick, curved lines and blotches spread over his body. After fully entering the First Stage of his Cursed Seal, he flared his Chakra against the wind prison and destroyed it. He then flashed through a series of hand seals.

"Tarenken!" (Multiple Connected Fists) Sakon moved to punch the Kage Bushin with his right arm, and two extra arms sprouted from it. His Cursed Seal amplified his speed, and the Kage Bushin, while durable enough not to disperse after one hit, were unable to block the flurry of blows and were destroyed after three seconds.

While Naruto and Shikamaru ran ahead, Kiba and Akamaru quickly laid paper bombs on the branches their teammates had just run across.

"If the traps are set, then let's get out of here!" Kiba shouted.

"Woof!" Akamaru barked in affirmation as he finished placing a paper bomb on a branch.

"DON'T 'WOOF' ME, YOU BITCH!" Sakon glared at Akamaru. The Inuzuka hound was terrified and kicked off of the tree branch with too much force, pulling a muscle in the process. The pain prevented Akamaru from landing as far away as he intended; he fell onto a smaller branch of the same tree and was still inside the paper bomb's blast radius!

"Akamaru, no!" Kiba rushed toward her partner as Sakon moved in for the kill. Kiba arrived first and scooped Akamaru into her hands then leaped away just as the paper bomb exploded!

"SHIT!" Sakon and Kiba cried in unison as the explosion blasted them out of the tree and into a nearby ravine.

"Get back here, fuckwads!" Tayuya stormed through the forest toward Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Troublesome! Naruto-kun, take Sasuke-kun and get out of here! I'll hold this foul-mouthed girl off!"

Before Naruto could reply, he felt an astronomical amount of killing intent just behind him! "DUCK!" Naruto grabbed Shikamaru's head and pushed it as far down as he could manage in that instant. His efforts were rewarded when he felt a rush of air pass through the space where his and Shikamaru's necks had been half a second before. In their current position, the pair could do nothing to prevent this new assailant from grabbing the coffin.

"Sorry, Naruto, I miscalculated." Shikamaru grimaced as he raised his head. The new arrival was now on a nearby tree branch. With one hand, he held Sasuke's coffin. In the other, he grasped a sword made of bone.

"Why are you here?" Tayuya gasped.

"My illness has been cured. Orochimaru-sama predicted your incompetence and dispatched me to ensure the safe delivery of his vessel." Kimimaro sneered. "Where are the other three?"

"Jirobo and Kidomaru are MIA, presumed dead." Tatsuya answered meekly. "Sakon just got blasted into that ravine along with one of the enemy Shinobi. Current status: unknown."

"Pathetic. All four of you are an embarrassment to Orochimaru-sama. However, I am sure our master will reward you and Sakon with your lives if you eradicate this trash!" Kimimaro gestured at Naruto and Shikamaru before fleeing with Sasuke's coffin.

"Like hell you're getting away! Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" The two clones conjured by Naruto threw him at Kimimaro. Tayuya tried to intercept but had to leap away when Shikamaru's shadow moved toward her again. With his path clear, Naruto ran after Kimimaro.

"Heh, figures you wouldn't be caught by the same technique again so easily. Ah, well, guess I'll have to be satisfied that Naruto-kun is free to continue the pursuit." Shikamaru sighed.

"And what do you think you can achieve with just that idiotic Jutsu?" Tayuya smirked. "Not only that, but you've sacrificed a teammate each time you caught up to us. Are you all gay for Sasuke or what?"

"Now, that's uncalled for. After all, half of my teammates for this mission are girls." Shikamaru corrected. "I'll let you in on a secret: this is my first mission as a team leader. If I was running the show all by myself, I'd be second-guessing every call I made by now. But, Naruto-kun is a co-leader for this mission, and he'd never forgive any of us if we backed out just because the going got tough. For that matter, I wouldn't forgive any of them either. I'm a lazy bum who loves cloud gazing and not much else, so this troublesome mission is really cutting into my free time."

Shikamaru glared into Tayuya's eyes and formed a hand seal. "So the sooner I kill you, the faster I can get back to something I actually enjoy doing. My friends aren't sacrifices, and they're sure as Hell not dead. Especially not if your first two teammates underestimated them as much as you're underestimating me."

"Don't forget about us!" Naruto's two Kage Bushin stood just behind Shikamaru.

Tayuya licked her lips. "Three against one, huh? Hardly seems fair. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Tayuya summoned three large creatures reminiscent of ogres. Each demon has a purple, rope belt tied in an inverted bow around its waist, similar to Tayuya, and all their eyes and ears are covered and their mouths were sewn shut.

One wore a dark green full-body suit and its hair covered its entire head and face. It wielded a giant studded metal club.

Another was shirtless and wore dark pants and a blindfold. It was bald and had scars on its head. It had claw-like weapons tied to each arm.

The third monster's upper body was completely covered in bandages. It wore brown pants and stood backward with its head constantly tilted to the sky. Several needles protruded from its head.

"You got it backwards, dumb-ass! It's you who shouldn't underestimate us! I'll play a melody of death for you!" Tayuya pulled her flute out of her pocket. As she started to play, straight lines started spreading over her body in zigzag patterns. Her summons also gained the patterns, and a horrific aura began surging out of them.

'Not good, her Cursed Seal extends to her summons!' Shikamaru barely had time to finish that thought before the ogres rushed at him to the melody of Tayuya's flute.

"Daitoppa!" Naruto's Kage Bushin fired a wind blast at the ogres, delaying their attack just long enough for them and Shikamaru to jump out of the way.

"Those summons are a royal pain in the ass; there's no way you can get to the red-headed bitch while they're here." One of the Kage Bushin swore as the trio started to run away from the ogres.

"You're right," Shikamaru growled, "and, even if I could get them all with my Kagemane no Jutsu, I don't know if I could hold them. The Chakra leaking out of them now is monstrous. I've never felt anything like it!" The Nara Heir took a few moments to collect his thoughts. "All right guys, even taking into account that Naruto-kun pretended to be a complete idiot for most of his life, I'm confident that I'm smarter than he is. That said, he's much better at coming up with plans on the fly, and that's what we need right now. How much of his Chakra are you two packing?"

Before the Kage Bushin could answer, the ogres surrounded them and Shikamaru. A smoke bomb from Shikamaru saw the trio safely out of harm's way.

"The boss used thirty percent of his Chakra to create us, so we have fifteen percent each and we haven't used most of it." The Kage Bushin Shikamaru chose to call "A", for the rest of its existence answered.

Shikamaru's jaw hit the floor. "Thirty percent? Why use that much?"

"He figured you needed it here more than he'd need it against the other guy." The other Kage Bushin, now dubbed "B" by Shikamaru, replied. "By now, the Youki Boss used to bust that earth prison has been replenished, plus he has the other source of power he can draw from."

"Right, that." Shikamaru was still wrapping his head around the fact that Naruto was Konoha's Jinchuriki. Tsunade had abolished the law forbidding the disclosure of that particular bit of information and trusted Naruto to tell his friends on a need-to-know basis. He knew he would need to use Kurama's power on this mission, so Naruto had told Shikamaru that he was a Jinchuriki before they started to gather the other members of the team.

The trees in the distance shuddered violently. For now, the ogres were nowhere close to their position, but Shikamaru knew that wouldn't last. "Does Naruto-kun know any Nature Transformations other than Fuuton?"

"He's getting pretty good with Suiton." Kage Bushin A replied.

"If you're familiar with Minato Namikaze's Rasengan, Jiraiya-san taught him that too." Kage Bushin B added.

"Figures he'd know one of his dad's most iconic Jutsu" Shikamaru rummaged through his Shinobi pouch as the booming of the ogres' weapons came slightly closer. "I still have most of my kunai and shuriken, but they won't much help against the summons and their freakish Chakra. Same goes for my paper bombs and bomb kunai. On the other hand, I've got two flash bombs, two Chakra-suppressing seals, and these." Shikamaru pulled out three golf ball-sized rocks shaped like cylinders. Each one had a ribbon tied around it that was covered in writing indicative of Fuinjutsu.

"A gift to the Nara Clan from the Uzumaki Clan; I had to beg my dad to use them for this mission since, aside from these three, we only have a few left. If Naruto-kun's use of the Uzumaki name for all these years isn't just for show, then you know what these are."

The Kage Bushin both gulped. "Yeah, we know. Boss is big on studying clan history." Kage Bushin B stared in awe at the seals tied around the rocks.

"Okay, with what we've talked about, here's what I've got in mind!" Kage Bushin A started detailing his strategy. As the ogres came steadily closer to the trio's position, Shikamaru pointed out a few flaws in the plan and listed some alternatives. Roughly a minute before the ogres were upon them, Shikamaru and the clones agreed on a game plan.

"You sewer rats led me on a merry chase, but it's over!" Tayuya smiled as her ogres surrounded Shikamaru and the clones on the forest floor. "You're not getting away this time! I've got a read on your Chakra signatures now and my demons can chase the signatures faster than you can run! Shuukyoku Daikyuusetsu: Makyou no Ran!" (Finale, Ninth Movement: Revolt of the Demon World)

Tayuya played an especially haunting melody, and each of her ogres vomited a spectral worm at her prey. Normally, these worms would constantly harass Tayuya's enemies until they were completely drained of Chakra, but the amount of Chakra they drained with each bite was rather low. But while her ogres were enhanced by her Cursed Seal, the worms could drain a much larger portion of the target's Chakra per bite. The only downside was that they vanished after one successful bite, but Tayuya didn't care about that. After all, she could always create more worms.

"Holy Hell!" Kage Bushin A and B screamed just before getting bitten by the worms. Shikamaru's worm bit him a split second later. He lost over a third of his Chakra from that bite alone, and the Kage Bushin were dispersed after getting bitten.

"Awe, is the wittle Nara brat all alone?" Tayuya cooed.

Shikamaru smiled. "Nope!"

"Suiton: Teppoudama!" From the trees above the ogres, Kage Bushin A and B spit a barrage of water balls at all three ogres. In seconds, they were completely drenched.

"We figured you were a sensor-type, so we used these to throw you off!" Kage Bushin A waved a Chakra-suppressing seal in front of him.

"Betcha never heard of a Kage Bushin making his own Kage Bushin, but that's what you get when you kidnap Boss's best friend!" Kage Bushin B threw Shikamaru's three small rocks at the ogres.

"With this, I call check. Reduction Seals: Release!" Shikamaru flashed through a series of hand seals, and the seals wrapped around the rocks burned away. The rocks immediately expanded to their original size; they all had a circumference of eight feet and were as tall as a small house. The ogres were crushed beneath them.

"Nice try, bastard," Tayuya growled, "but if you think my Cursed Seal-enhanced demons can be taken down by some measly rocks, you're dead wrong!" The cylindrical rocks were shaking as the ogres began to push them off.

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" Shikamaru weaved a series of hand seals. "I called check; no self-respecting Shogi player calls check unless they're sure the opponent can't get out of it. Doton: Ryuusuna no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Quicksand Technique)

The massive boulders disintegrated into loose soil, which was quickly forced into water covering the ogres.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Release: Wild Water Wave) Kage Bushin A and B renewed their aquatic assault. This time, a deluge fell from their mouths and seeped into the ground around and beneath the ogres, giving Shikamaru's Jutsu even more fluid to work with. In less than ten seconds, all three ogres were buried up to their necks in quicksand. With their prey immobilized, the two clones invested almost all of their remaining Chakra into their next attack.

"Rasengan!" Each clone targeted an ogre's head. Kage Bushin A went after the club-wielding one, and Kage Bushin B streaked toward the one with claw-weapons on his arms.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Tayuya resumed her playing and the untargeted ogre fired two spectral worms at the Kage Bushin.

"Kagemane no Jutsu!" Shikamaru's shadow stopped both worms in their tracks. They were spiritual constructs, but anything that casts a shadow is vulnerable to the Nara Clan's signature Jutsu. With nothing else standing between them and their targets, Kage Bushin A and B ran across the surface of the quicksand pits and smashed their Rasengans into the ogres' heads. Both of the two ogres, and each Kage Bushin, vanished in a huge plume of smoke.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKING SHIT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE ME TO RECOPY THE CURSED SEAL ONTO MY DEMONS?!" Tayuya's skin became dark brown, her sclera turned black, her irises turned yellow, and two vertical black markings appeared under her eyes. Her red hair grew to her thighs and turned link pink, and several horns grew out from the top of her head in different directions, almost resembling a crown. Her last remaining ogre exploded out of the quicksand pit. Before, it was facing backward. Now it faced forward, and the bandages covering its arms were shredded, revealing bulging muscles beyond even what the other ogres had. Its head now looked squarely in Shikamaru's direction, and the needles embedded in it had shifted in color from iron-gray to blood-red.

"I'll make you wish you never forced me, Tayuya of the North Gate, into my Second State, you bastard!" Tayuya swore. "The precious Kage Bushin the other shithead left you are gone. It's two against one now, meaning that you're dead meat!"

Shikamaru signed in frustration. "How many times do I have to say that I've called check? This game is now a two-on-two match, and my partner is far more troublesome than yours."

A gust equal in power to the Daitoppa that immobilized Sakon blasted Tayuya hundreds of feet away. Dozens of wind blades within the gust ravaged her body; it was a miracle that her flute wasn't destroyed by the attack. Her ogre did nothing to stop the attack because it had no will of its own; without the flute to command it, it stood motionless.

"And here I was hoping to make a dramatic entrance saying that Suna, ally to Konoha, has arrived." Temari grumbled as she jumped down from the tree she'd been standing on. "How long have you known I was here?"

"I first sensed your Chakra about halfway through my strategy session with Naruto-kun's Kage Bushin. It faded from my perception when we were done; guess I'm not the only one who brought Chakra-suppressing tags for the mission." Shikamaru gave the Suna princess a smile. "Great minds, am I right?"

"I suppose you are, at that." Temari grinned. "Gotta admit though, Naruto-san must be a mad genius if his Kage Bushin can come up with a perfect way to fool sensor-types. Even if it means you can't use Chakra at all. Damn tags hurt when they're pulled off." Temari rubbed the spot where a Chakra-sealing tag had adorned her neck just moments earlier.

"There are other ways to get around sensor-types. Shinobi proficient in Yin Release or Yang Release can learn Jutsu that suppress their Chakra output, making it hard for sensor-types to get a read on them unless they have something like the Byakugan." Shikamaru advised. "That category of Jutsu is quite troublesome to master and, if you screw up, it's like setting off a flare with your Chakra, but the people who could do it turned out to be game changers in all three Shinobi World Wars."

A slow flush spread across Temari's face. "I've read about those techniques, but I'm not good with either Yin or Yang Release. I know that mastering them isn't nearly as hard as learning an elemental nature you're not born with the affinity for, but, maybe, you could be my teacher?"

Shikamaru blushed as he read between the lines of Temari's request. "I'm not opposed to it, but I have to ask: why me?"

"I'm attracted to smart men, always have been. And you peaked my interest during the fight with Arashi-san. That was beautiful work, so were the finishing touches you put on the plan to deal with those summons."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that I won't be able to worm my way out of this." Shikamaru smiled.

"You really are as smart as I thought." Temari beamed back.

"ARE YOU FUCKERS DONE FLIRTING? THEN YOU CAN FUCK EACH OTHER ALL YOU WANT IN HELL!" Tayuya had returned and was now playing her flute again. The next thing Temari or Shikamaru knew, they were trapped in a Genjutsu that showed them being bound with white ropes while their flesh slowly melted away.

"Hah! Caught like rats in my Mateki: Mugen Onsa!" (Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains) Tayuya smirked before playing the melody used to command her ogres one more time. The last ogre punched down with titanic force, leaving a fifty-foot-deep crater in the spot where Shikamaru and Temari stood. Just as Tayuya was about to start howling in victory, her movements were sealed by Shikamaru's shadow again! Unlike before the shadow formed solid hands that creeped up her body and started strangling her neck.

"Even with some field medic training under my belt, resetting a broken finger is still troublesome." Shikamaru made Tayuya throw her flute away before massaging the finger he broke to force himself out of the Genjutsu.

"I'm glad you didn't have to be as forceful with me, thanks for the Chakra injection!" Temari smiled at Shikamaru before glaring at Tayuya.

"Don't mention it, I owe you more for the ride on your fan, that thing is fast." Shikamaru was planning on using the Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape the ogre's fist, but Temari's fan was a much less expected, and therefore more preferable, means of travel.

"Sad to say, I've been half-assing my training for most of my Shinobi career. I've made great strides in the past few months, but my Chakra reserves still aren't where they should be and I'm running on empty at the moment. I don't suppose you have a Jutsu that can end this now?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Temari stood in front of Shikamaru, bit her thumb, and smeared blood on her fan. "This is checkmate! Kushiyose: Kirikiri Mai!" (Summoning: Quick Decapitating Dance) Temari swung her fan, and a giant, white-furred weasel with a dark green eye patch covering his left eye appeared. He carried a large sickle that was almost as long as himself and three smaller sickles floated around him.

"Get 'em!" The weasel ordered before jumping forward, and a whirlwind powerful enough to be mistaken for a localized hurricane barreled straight for Tayuya! The sole female member of the Sound Four couldn't even yell out in rage before the cleaving winds shredded her body into pieces. The entire section of the forest they were fighting in was decimated.

"How's that?" Temari turned at Shikamaru and smiled again.

"You literally cleared the board. I have no complaints." Shikamaru grinned back.

"Glad to hear it." Temari turned to address her summon. "Thanks for your work, Kamatari-san. You can go now."

"Hmm." The sickle-weasel grunted softly before vanishing back to its home realm.

"Great job with the Ryuusuna no Jutsu, by the way." Temari let the tension drain out of her face. "Due to our proximity to Iwa, quite a few Jonin back home know that one, but it hardly ever sees any action since there's not much ambient water in or around Suna."

"Thanks, the Nara Clan borrowed it from Iwa during the Third Shinobi World War. Most Nara have Doton as either a primary or secondary affinity, so we can make real good use of it if one of our teammates can use Suiton." Shikamaru sat against a nearby tree and started falling asleep.

"You really weren't kidding about almost being out of Chakra." Temari rushed over to Shikamaru.

"I wouldn't joke about something this serious." Shikamaru managed to say before losing consciousness.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru-kun. You're safe with me." Temari doubted her comrade was in any danger now that Tayuya was dead, but she had been sent to back up the Sasuke Retrieval Team and had no intention of failing her mission now.

"Damn it! Why aren't my attacks working?!" Kiba yelled after clashing with Sakon for the fourth time. She felt her hits land, but Sakon wasn't taking any damage. Even while using Juujin Bushin, Akamaru couldn't seem to harm Sakon either.

"You're both too weak to put a scratch on me!" Sakon jeered. "So roll over and die like the pathetic dogs that you are!"

Kiba smirked. "I think we'll slice you to ribbons instead. Gatsuuga!" Akamaru attacked Sakon from the front, and Kiba struck him from behind. The Inuzuka Heiress half-expected Akamaru to be blocked, but she was completely shocked when another body emerged from Sakon's back to block her.

"Two on two is just fine for us, isn't it Sakon?" The new body asked after throwing Kiba back over a dozen feet.

"It's absolutely perfect, Ukon!" Sakon threw Akamaru aside and turned to face Kiba. Ukon sunk back into Sakon's body as Sakon rushed Kiba. Kiba was hard-pressed just blocking Sakon's right fist, and her desperate defense was overwhelmed when Ukon began manifesting both of his arms out of Sakon's arm to triple the speed and strength of the assault. She barely dodged a punch that shattered the rock formation just behind her.

"Twin brothers that can merge their bodies, is that it?" Kiba wiped some blood off her lower lip with the back of her right hand.

"You're not as stupid as most of the fleabags in your clan, I'll give you that." Sakon acknowledged. "Yes, my brother and I have quite the unique Kekkei Genkai. Ukon usually stays inside me during battle and lends his helping hands whenever, and wherever, needed." Sakon and Ukon entered their Cursed Seal's First Stage. Or his legs! Tarenkyaku!" (Multiple Connected Feet) Two feet grew out of the sides of Sakon's left calf just before he launched a vicious kick at Kiba!

"Doton: Iwahifu!" Kiba barely finished the hand seals for her Jutsu in time to harden her skin before Sakon and Ukon's attack landed. Even with her defense in place, she still felt tremendous pain.

"You took that well," Sakon admitted, "I might have actually cracked a bone there."

"Enough, brother!" Ukon's head appeared next to Sakon in their Cursed Seal's Second Stage. "This farce has gone on long enough. Activate Level Two!"

"Always so hasty, brother, but I agree that we've dallied too long." Sakon also entered his Second Stage. They now resembled Oni: their skin was red, their irises yellow, their sclera black, and black curved markings snaked upward from the corners of their eyes. Their fingernails lengthened and sharpened, their lips turned black, and their mouths were torn from ear to ear revealing canine teeth. Their hair grew to their waste and turned ash-white, their chins elongated into a triangular shape, and a single long horn grew on each brother's forehead. Ukon's was on the right side of his head; Sakon's horn adorned the left side of his head.

"A pair of faces only a mother could love, if even that!" Kiba grimaced as Akamaru, now back in his normal form ran to his master and started barking.

"Yeah, I know partner. We were outmatched before their Chakra skyrocketed ten-fold. The only choice left is to use that!" Kiba began molding the Chakra for her newest Jutsu, and Akamaru jumped onto her back. Sakon-Ukon began running toward her, but they were too late to stop the pair from completing the Jutsu. A smoke plume covered them, and was soon dispersed by a ferocious battle cry.

"Jinjuu Konbi Henge: Soutourou!" (Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf) Kiba and Akamaru roared in unison. Their saliva covered Sakon-Ukon.

"That's quite a loud bark from a pair of drooling dogs." Sakon was unimpressed.

"EAT THIS! GAROUGA!" (Fang Wolf Fang) The dual-head wolf soared through the air. In their combined state, Kiba and Akamaru's collaboration Jutsu held power incomparable to the Gatsuuga. Sakon-Ukon tried to dodge, but the saliva covering them acted like glue and halted their movements!

Kiba-Akamaru drilled into them for several seconds before they were sent flying. After their attack was complete, Kiba-Akamaru landed over a hundred feet away from Sakon-Ukon and turned to face them.

"How's that, you freaks?" Kiba howled. "Garouga is a spin so powerful that it blinds us, but we can track you by your horrendous stench! Even if you dodge us, the shockwaves still carve you up. You got hit head-on, so there's no way you survived."

"As much as I hate to praise a worthless mutt, you have a point." Ukon, now completely separated from his brother, stood up. "If that Jutsu had hit us directly, we'd be too injured to move, let alone fight."

"Unfortunately for you, we started separating just before your attack landed. Most of the damage passed right through us!" Sakon stood beside his brother. Now that he was fully separated from Ukon, the skin on the right half of Sakon's body had hardened into black scales, looking like spiky armor on his arms and legs. The same held true for the skin on Ukon's left half.

Akamaru trembled. He was exhausted, and half the body he currently shared with Kiba showed it.

'I know, partner,' Kiba mentally spoke to her life-long companion, 'we can only use one more Jutsu before this form wears off. So we'll make it count!'

Kiba-Akamaru faced the Onified brothers and launched into the air once more. "GAROUGA!"

Sakon and Ukon scattered and hid behind two large rock formations.

"THERE'S NO USE HIDING! I TOLD YOU, WE'RE TRACKING YOU BY SCENT!" Kiba-Akamaru drilled straight through the rocks Sakon and Ukon were hiding behind. The two leaped to a spot far away from Kiba-Akamaru's current position.

"Tsk! Alpha!" Ukon bit his left thumb.

"Beta!" Sakon bit his right thumb

"YOU'RE WOLF FOOD!" Kiba-Akamaru homed in on the pair.

"Kuchiyose: Rashoumon!" (Summoning: Rashoumon) Sakon and Ukon slammed their bloodied hands on the ground, and a gigantic iron gate whose doors were shaped and painted to resemble a demon's face appeared between them and Kiba-Akamaru. The two-headed wolf made a huge dent in the gate before falling to the ground.

"Very impressive; to think those two mongrels could inflict such damage to Orochimaru-sama's ultimate defense." Ukon praised.

"Maybe so, but this is the end!" Sakon shouted as he and his brother leaped to attack Kiba-Akamaru as they continued to fall. The Inuzuka pair's impact with the gate had stunned them; they could neither guard nor evade Sakon and Ukon's strike. Just before the brothers reached the falling wolf, Akamaru recovered enough to cancel the transformation. As Kiba was heavier than Akamaru in her human form, she now fell faster than Akamaru. Ukon's attack missed the Inuzuka pair completely, but Sakon managed to hit Akamaru.

The ninja hound yelped in pain but managed to urinate in Sakon's eyes before crashing to the ground. Akamaru was still breathing, but he was in far too much pain to move.

"AAARRRGGHHH!" Sakon shrieked. "That fucking dog! His piss must have Chakra infused into it; it burns like acid!"

'Thank you, Akamaru, you took that blow for me.' Kiba struggled to stand.

"Relax, brother." Ukon's voice seemed to echo all around Kiba. "Wash off the mutt's piss in the river. I'll finish his bitch of a master off!"

"Where's the other one?" Kiba looked all around, but she couldn't even smell Ukon, let alone see him.

"Looking for me, dog-girl?" Ukon's head grew from Kiba's right shoulder!

"WHAT THE?!" Kiba threw a left hook at Ukon, but he grew an arm from Kiba's chest to grab her wrist.

"Our Cursed Seal offers minor benefits to our strength and speed, but the bulk of the Chakra we receive from it is directed straight into our Kekkei Genkai." Ukon smirked. "In our Second Stage, we're no longer limited to bonding with ourselves; we can fuse with our enemies as well! My cells have permeated your organs. I can move freely through your body and tear it apart like a river carves through a canyon!"

Kiba screamed in pain as Ukon did exactly that. It took everything she had to keep standing.

"For what you and your poodle have done to us, I won't kill you quickly. Savor the assassination technique that only Sakon and Ukon of the West Gate can use!"

"I had you two figured as sadistic bastards." Kiba said through gritted teeth. "But I'm no masochist, so I'll have to cut this torture-fest short!" With her free hand, Kiba drew Tessaiga and impaled herself in the stomach!

"AACKKK!" Ukon was in so much shock that the pain didn't immediately register. When it did, he was in far too much agony to move through Kiba.

"S-Suicide?!" Ukon's terror was in his eyes.

"If your cells are mixed with mine, then you took at least as much damage as I did just now." Kiba gave Ukon a shit-eating grin. "From what my folks tell me, disembowelment is a horrible way to go. But, you know what they say: seeing is believing. Let's find out together just how right they are!" Kiba tightened her grip on Tessaiga and prepared to drag it across her stomach.

"DAMN YOU!" Ukon undid his fusion just before Kiba's hand started moving. The Inuzuka Heiress stopped herself just in time and yanked Tessaiga's blood-drenched blade out of her gut.

"Time to die, pissant!" Sakon had finished washing his eyes out and was standing above Akamaru.

"Tsuuga!" Kiba used most of her remaining Chakra to blindside Sakon. He blocked the blow, but the impact forced him back. Seizing the moment, Kiba dropped Tessaiga, grabbed Akamaru with both hands, and bled every last ounce of spare Chakra she had left to repeat her Jutsu and retreat as far away as she could. Her desperate escape attempt faltered not even fifty feet away from Sakon, and she crashed halfway between him and Ukon. With that final Jutsu, Kiba's Chakra reserves were drained completely. If she tried to mold any more Chakra today, she would die.

"Fool!" Ukon growled as he limped toward his brother. "You could have lived at least a few minutes longer if you abandoned the mutt!"

"Brother, what happened to you!" Sakon gasped as he beheld Ukon's pitiful state.

"The bitch impaled herself on that sword and nearly offed us both!" Ukon pointed at Tessaiga. "As much I'd love to see you kill her precious dog right in front of her before sending her to Hell, I need to heal. Kill both of them for me, Sakon!" The critically wounded Ukon deactivated his Cursed Seal and merged completely into his brother.

Sakon glared at Kiba with murder in his eyes and picked up Tessaiga. "I'm going to chop your dog's paws off one by one, slash his eyes out, and shove his dick down his tiny, fucking throat before I off you!" The strongest member of the Sound Four stomped toward Kiba. "Before I'm done, you'll be begging me to stop like the weak, pathetic bitch you really AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Before Sakon could finish his threat, he was assaulted by pain far beyond anything Orochimaru had subjected him to. Too late, he noticed what seemed to be golden lightning surging out of Tessaiga. It took all his willpower to move his fingers through the pain and drop the Youkai blade.

"AH, Ah-AAAAHHHHH!" Sakon's gasp was born from both agony and horror; he looked at the hand that once held the sword and saw that his skin had been burned almost completely off. The muscles beneath the charred flesh had not been spared, nor had the nerves. What was left of his hand was twitching reflexively, but Sakon knew that he'd never be able to voluntarily move it again unless he received immediate treatment.

"That sword is a gift to the Inuzuka Clan from our founder. Only a clansman completely dedicated to our mantra can wield its power." Kiba struggled to stand. "Do you know what that mantra is? The Inuzuka Clan exists to protect those who can't defend themselves. To be their fangs against oppression! People like you and your brother, who willingly serve a monster like Orochimaru, aren't worthy to hold Tessaiga for a single second! The only reason you were able to even pick him up off the ground was because it took Tessaiga a few moments to realize he was being held by complete and utter scum!"

"Protect the weak? I can't believe I'm hearing such pathetic drivel!" Sakon snarled. "The weak exist solely to feed and serve the strong. Those are the words of Orochimaru-sama! And who can you possibly protect in your miserable state? Forget fighting, you can't even stand! All you can do now is die a dog's death!"

Kiba chuckled hoarsely as she managed to get on her feet. Akamaru was behind her. "Maybe, maybe not, but if I manage to delay Akamaru's death by even one second, to give him just one more instant to wake up and run away from here as fast as he can, then I'll have succeeded in upholding The Inuzuka's creed."

With a herculean effort, Kiba dragged herself to her full height on trembling legs and drew a kunai. "So come at me, bastard! I am Kiba Inuzuka, and you won't touch a single inch of Akamaru's fur while I draw breath!"

The instant Kiba finished her declaration, a pulse of Youki emanated from Tessaiga's sheathe. In the next instant, an identical pulse radiated from Tessaiga. The Youkai blade consumed every last drop of blood covering it, rendering it a flawless silver once more. Another instant passed, and Tessaiga flew into Kiba's hand. She did not realize that she had caught the blade until the sword's foreign weight nearly dragged her to the ground.

Golden Youki streaked from Tessaiga's hilt once more. Kiba wasn't much of a sensor-type but even she could feel the foreign energy streak through her Chakra Network. It surged through it with an urgency unlike anything Kiba had ever known. It located its goal in less than a second, and Kiba felt the Youki seep out of her Chakra Network into something deeper.

Silver Youki erupted from Kiba's body in a fiery aura. Her fingernails, typically as short as any other human's when she wasn't using her clan's Jutsu, lengthened into claws. The hood of her coat was shredded as her hair exploded in length to reach almost down to her waist. Her hair retained its dark-brown color, but it was imbued with an unearthly sheen. The supernatural color looked like someone had managed to dye a diamond a deep brown while retaining its flawless luster. Her irises had transformed from black near-slits to golden circles, and her ears had grown small tufts of fur at the top.

Kiba now held a fully transformed Tessaiga in her left hand and was shocked when she saw her new appearance reflected in its blade.

"So you became even more bitch-like in appearance and your sword became a meat cleaver instead of a katana. Am I supposed to be impressed?" Sakon stormed toward Kiba with his fist glowing with Chakra.

"No, you're supposed to be dead!" Kiba's transformation had not mended her wounds, nor had it replenished her Chakra. She had Tessaiga, but her body was too injured to even attempt using the Kenjutsu form Tsume had beaten into her. Trusting her instincts, Kiba raised Tessaiga above her head with both hands. The action was rewarded with the resurgence of an ancestral memory: the name of Tessaiga's signature attack.

"Kaze no Kizu!" (Wind Scar) Kiba slammed Tessaiga against the ground, and five titanic golden Youki blades erupted from the point of impact. Like the claws of a Titan, the demonic energy blades cut deeply into the earth and destroyed everything in their path. Sakon didn't even get the chance to scream before he and his brother were annihilated. The cutting wind persisted for over a mile before dissipating and spared nothing in its wake.

'Kami, please let there not have been anyone in the way of that who didn't have it coming.' Kiba thought as her world turned black.

When Kiba awoke, she stood on a mountaintop that overlooked a vast ocean. There were no other landmasses for as far as the eye could see. The mountain peak was just beneath the clouds, but Kiba felt as warm as she would at sea level. The peak was filled with various flowers that Kiba couldn't identify, making her wish that Ino was here. To her right, a small stone hut stood near the edge of the peak. She panicked after standing up; Tessaiga was gone!

"Don't ya even think about moving from that spot, Kiba. Ya've moved and jumped around quite enough for one day, even for a ninja!" A strong, firm voice echoed from the hut, and a red blur flashed out of it toward Kiba's spot in the center of the peak.

When it stopped moving, Kiba needed all her willpower to prevent fainting from a combination of shock and joy. A male dog Hanyou with silver hair and golden eyes wearing a red kimono stood before her.

"I-Inuyasha-sama!" Kiba gasped.

"In the flesh, kinda, but drop the '-sama'. Never cared for formalities if I could avoid them." Inuyasha requested. "Congratulations on getting Tessaiga's approval. He's a stubborn old sword, and he misses me a little too much for the Inuzuka Clan's good."

"What is this place? How did I get here? And what did Tessaiga do to me just now?" Kiba wondered.

"Put simply, this is a tiny piece of the Afterlife splintered off from the rest by a ritual Kagome invented after over fifty years of combing through every shrine, temple, and monastery she could find. We had all the faith in the world that our kids and grandkids would stick to the family mantra like glue, but we also knew that they'd face tough times down the road and would need guidance to keep from straying off the path. So our spirits are preserved here for eternity. If we have to, we can manifest in the mortal plane to help the Inuzuka Clan, but that takes a lot of power, so we can't pull it off that often, or for very long." Inuyasha paused for a few moments to allow Kiba to absorb the answer to her first question.

"As for how you got here, every Inuzuka is born with a seal on them that astral-projects their soul to this plane if they're acknowledged by Tessaiga. Kagome spent almost as long perfecting that as she did working on isolating this piece of the Afterlife. Good thing she's quite the multitasker when she's motivated." Inuyasha paused for another few seconds before moving on.

"Tessaiga did nothing to you that wasn't already there. Over the generations, the Inuzuka Clan has evolved a perfect copy of the Chakra Network that holds their Youki. This Youki Network is normally locked tighter than the Clan Vault, but Tessaiga's Youki doubles as the key. Only a grandkid of mine possessing both a complete dedication to the Inuzuka mantra and a dire need of Tessaiga's power can have their Youki Network unlocked. Even then, Tessaiga may not acknowledge someone he doesn't like. As I said, he's a stubborn old sword."

The sound of clapping hands resonated from the hut as a miko with black hair and brown eyes ran toward her husband. "I'm impressed; you actually made it through all three answers without missing anything important!"

"Give me some credit, Kagome! After all, I was Clan Head for nearly eighty years." Inuyasha yelled.

"You were, but how many times did Miroku, Sango, or I have to stop you from making a complete fool of yourself in front of this dignitary or that noble?" Kagome smirked.

Inuyasha sighed in response, conceding the point, and Kagome addressed her granddaughter. "Kiba, now that your Youki has been unlocked, your Chakra may develop additional properties as well. More than a few of my granddaughters have inherited my spiritual powers over the eons. I can sense that the spark is within you, but only time can tell if anything will come of it. Nearly everyone who inherited my power manifested it around their fifteenth birthday. If you don't show any signs of it by the time you're sixteen, then it's safe to say that the spark will remain exactly that."

"Also, be careful fighting on nights with a New Moon." Inuyasha warned. "During those nights, your Youki Network becomes dormant, as does Tessaiga. You won't lose your Chakra, since it runs on a completely separate Network, but all the benefits you gain from my blood go out the window until the sun rises the next day. Not to mention, the transformation from Hanyou to human, and back again, hurts like hell."

"Really?" Kagome's eyes narrowed. "It never seemed to bother you that much."

Inuyasha huffed and gazed sharply at Kagome. "I was two hundred years –"

"One-hundred-fifty years; the fifty years you were sealed by Kikyou for don't count." Kagome corrected.

Inuyasha growled at the interruption. "Fine, I was a hundred and fifty years old when we first met. After a while, my body adapted to the transformations." Inuyasha now turned to Kiba. "You didn't feel the pain of your first Hanyou transformation because the unlocking of your Youki Network masked it."

Before Inuyasha could say anything else, Kiba's soul flickered out of sight for just a second. "Guess you're waking up. One last thing about Tessaiga: it's got way more tricks up its sleeve than the Kaze no Kizu. Ask your mom about them when you get the chance, but keep in mind that not everyone acknowledged by Tessaiga gets access to all his powers, especially not Meidou Zangetsuha. Tessaiga's incredibly picky about who he lets have that one. Everyone acknowledged by him gets the powers he started with. The criteria for unlocking the powers I poured into him during my adventuring days are the same as what's needed to get acknowledged by him in the first place: dedication to the family creed and necessity."

The demi-plane containing her clan's progenitors faded from view shortly before Kiba regained consciousness. As she sat up, she saw Temari, Shikamaru, Choji, and Tetsuisshi, sitting or lying down around her. Akamaru had received field treatment for his injuries and was resting by her side. Hinata was keeping watch and alerted everyone that Kiba was awake.

Kiba winced as she touched the spot where she'd stabbed herself with Tessaiga. That injury had been treated too; she wasn't too worried about it leaving a scar. Inuyasha's accelerated healing was a legend in the family.

"Hey guys, have I got a story to tell you!" Kiba smiled as her friends, plus Temari, gathered around her.

Chapter End

And then there was one! It's implied in canon that Shikamaru didn't take his Shinobi training seriously until after he became a Chuunin. Since I tweaked Tayuya's summons to have copies of her Cursed Seal, there's no way canon-Shikamaru could have bested them without help and Temari didn't arrive until quite a bit after they were dealt with in canon. That necessitated backup of a different kind, which took the form of Naruto's Kage Bushin.

In canon, Naruto didn't gain the ability to put so much Chakra into his clones that they could make clones of their own until the War Arc, but this story's Naruto has been training with Yang Release, among other things, since Ceto found him trembling in her library when he was five years old. One of the few things Jiraiya taught canon-Naruto during the time skip was to be more proficient with his Kage Bushin, and that proficiency was amplified several-fold when he started developing the Rasenshuriken.

Naruto is fifteen years old at the start of Part 2 and the Fourth Shinobi World War ended on his seventeenth birthday. He could spam the Kage Bushin no Jutsu in Part 1, but had no real skill with it. He's thirteen years old at the end of Part 1, so if it only takes him a little under four years to go from having next to zero skill with Kage Bushin to surpassing Tobirama's skill with it then having the level of proficiency with them he showed in this chapter is actually a lowball of what he should be capable of at this point.

Since it's been a hundred thousand years since the events of Inuyasha, any number of our favorite Hanyou's descendants could have altered Tessaiga's barrier to reject anyone who tried using it in a way that violates the Inuzuka Clan mantra. The barrier is a spell cast on Tessaiga by Toga, not an intrinsic property of the sword, and is therefore subject to manipulation, or even removal, if someone highly proficient in Youkai spellcraft has enough time to study it. If any of Inuyasha's descendants inherited Toga's affinity for Youkai spells, then they'd stand a good chance of reworking Tessaiga's barrier.

Naruto and Gaara vs. Kimimaro is next! Thank you for reading!

Doton: Ryuusuna no Jutsu: Earth Release: Quicksand Technique (C to B-Rank) A Jutsu the Nara Clan stole from Iwa during the Third Shinobi World War to teach anyone in their clan with a Doton affinity. The user moves preexisting soil into nearby water to make quicksand. If the user is highly skilled with the Jutsu, they can break down rocks or other large earthen constructs into soil to make quicksand with as well; being able to do this makes the Jutsu a B-Rank technique.