Naruto World, new Land

Sora ran toward the trees and climbed up one as the moved north. He wanted to get to a higher position that way if the enemy attacked he could see them coming, or if they were ambushed they at least wouldn’t be easy targets like a herd of cattle or something. Sora yawned a bit, he was kind of disappointed they had seen no action yet, they couldn’t win if they didn’t get the enemies scroll so Sora wanted to fight. Sora jumped from tree to tree watching over Roku and Touma. Sora then heard something rustling in the trees. Sora made a few quick hand signs and his hands were covered in water chakra, he used his Lion roar Jutsu and shot a lion head made of water into the leaves. A bird flew out and Sora stared, he couldn’t tell if it was the bird or something else that was rustling in the tree, but he decided it was best to keep going. Sora jumps to the next tree and keeps heading north with Roku and Touma.

Roku leapt up into the trees, keeping pace with Sora. "Careful with the jutsu - we're crossing over the borders between the Summer and Spring areas, and I doubt this area will be as barren as the Summer area - in both green and foes." That said, he would have preferred the Winter Zone, but most teams would have likely left in a hurry to get out of the cold - just as they got out of the heat, he thought.

"Also, keep an eye out - I think that might have been the same thing i smashed back at the hot spring, and if there's one here, too, then it's not native - kill any you see from now on, they might be scouting for one of the other groups - a summoning jutsu, or maybe a rather freaky Kekkei Genki." said Roku as he leapt from branch to branch. He signaled to Touma and he jumped up. No need for any ground groups to spot a lone Touma and think to look up and find the rest of the group. Better that they stick together for the time being."

Kenji's eyes shot open. "We got visitors.." he said as the metal wires on his fingers gave a light pull. He had set that up earlier so they would be able to tell if anyone was close. Miyuki opened her eyes with a sigh. "So much for a break." she mumbled before gently nudging Shiro. "Get up we got to move." she said with a stretch. "Raiton Kage Bunshin." *Poof* 3 clones were made, each one looking just like Shiro, Kenji and Miyuki. "The clones can hold them up for a while if they are looking for a fight. We can loose to waste our energy right now." Miyuki said grabbing her stuff. Kenji nodded. They all sprinted off, jumping form tree to tree.

"Wher we going now?" Shiro asked. "Well, the sun's going to set soon so the winter area is not the best place to be in since it's cold. How about the summer area?" Kenji asked looking over at them. Miyuki nodded, "Alright lets head to the summer area." she said changing her direction. Shiro and Kenji followed. Kenji cut off the metal wire, leaving it hanging somewhere near the cave. The clones stayed inside the cage, closely listening and waiting to see of anyone was coming.

Miyuki stopped. "What wrong?" Kenji asked stopping as well. "Ah no nothing my clones just met a few other ninjas." she said and moved on.

------Back where the Clones are--------

Miyuki looked over at the ninjas, "I'm from the hidden village of the unknown.." she answered eyeing them carefully. Kenji and Shiro didnt answer. Shiro glared over at them, "What do you want?" he asked rudely. Kenji gave him a look telling him to chill out. "Are you here looking for a fight?" Kenji asked in a rather calm tone as he observed the ninjas before them. Miyuki caught the sight of the bear behind them... and usually the team was a group of three, but there was only two of them here. That means they split up... or the other one is hiding somewhere close to make a move... she thought to herself. She gave Kenji and Shiro a look and they gave a small nod knowingly.

------------------------------------------

"I dont think they realize we're a clone... but even if they find out it's ok. We're pretty far away from there." Miyuki explained as they picked up their speed. Kenji nodded, "Good." he said looking around the surroundings as they moved. We're almost near the summer area... If we're lucky we'll be able to steal someone's Earth scroll during the night."

Kiyoko almost sighed. "Garasu Toku." she said, and her shield, and 6 shuriken hit it. "But at least she's gone. All she did was use Genjutsu anyway." She looked back over to the fight she was watching earlier. She thought she recognized one of them...

"Sho?" she asked herself, but she wasn't sure. If it was Sho, she defiantly didn't want to get involved. This was her friend's battle, not her's. Her shield was still there, noticeable, and easy to identify if you knew what it was. So, Kiyoko retracted it, went back up in her tree, and tried to see if it was Sho or not.

"Choose: Her life or your scroll".
Mijaro was too astonished to rightly answer, but after a few seconds he reasumed his natural confident stance and placed his right hand at his hip poach. All than happened too quickly. In a blink of an eye he was near the Doton user, with the right hand in the ground, the left hand holding a metal wire and the left foot at the chest of his foe. In the following second the masked man found himself tied by metal wires, with his back against Umiko's back. "Kill my sister and your little friend here shall kick the bucket too".

The orange haired boy than, staring at the Doton user, called him by his name with a sweet voice "Noku", suddently he rolled his eyes in a psychotical motion and his facial expression turned into pure madness "You are dead meat! Katon: Housenka no Jutsu" he expelled a single fireball towards Umiko and Noku. She closed her eyes, and a lone tear fell in the ground. The tiny fireball was powerful enought to ignite a single explosive tag, which activated all others simultaneously.
KaBoOom...

Mijaro's eyes were now petrified, reflecting the flames that still burned his sister. The orange haired boy had a psycotic smile of evil pleasure, but he was not laughting. The tall, weapons summoner genin was still calm as if nothing ever happened. He had his eyes closed and was nodding to his partner "No Gira, no..." than he opened his eyes with a bit of anger and continued "Dead meat is redundancy, meat is already assumed to be dead".

At this point Mijaro had his face completely covered with tears and his eyes were totaly red. Red and seeking vengeance. It was Gira that killed Umiko, but Mijaro saw the tall genin first, so his eyes locked him as the target. Mijaro than Began a chain of handsigns with raging speed, he was using all his chakra at that move, but he didnt cared about it, he only wanted to see that genin dead. "Nomuro's Ultimate Hyperspeed"

"The boy is fast, but it doesnt matter. He is predictable" The tall genin thought, having his eyes closed. He already knew how long Mijaro would take to perform his jutsu, as he already saw Umiko performing it. He also knew where his foe would attack: He had nothing to see. "Bristleback" he shouted. A big weapons summoning scroll was attached to his back, but it was hidden by his jacket. This scroll now fired eleven spears and thousands of senbons. Each of them pierced Mijaro's chest, nailing him at a nearby tree, where he would die, slowly.

The weapons user genin than jumped to a branch near Mijaro and took his Scroll. Gira was admiring Mijaro's death, but he soon got bored. After inhaling some air, he expelled a powerful steam of fire against Mijaro. Gira's eyes sparkled with evil. The tall genin, without even looking back, jumped from the branch, just in time to avoid getting fried. He asked, calmly "What are you doing Gira?" and he answered "Just killing the corpse, man". The tall gennin's eyes glanced at him with rage "You are pissing me off, Gira. Shut your mouth and lets get out of here. Spare me of your redundancies".

-=-=-
Hiato only met Mijaro and Umiko four days ago, but he was apprehensive, fearing losing them. The Nomuro brothers were usually hotheaded and stupid, but they were also kind-hearted. They only didnt liked showing it off: It seemed that they assumed that kindness was a sign of weakness or something like that. Being a really attentive person, Hiato perceive many of their good deeds, which were usually made hidden from everyone. Mijaro only started treating Hiato rudely after he realized that Hiato saw him treating the wounds of stray dog. This somehow shook Mijaro's pride and than he needed to show that he was not weak, he needed to show that he was a leader. Like he did at the gates.

At this point Hiato heard the sound of an explosion...

Roku and his team watched the battle at the Spring Lake from the sidelines with interest. "Not bad for genin." said Roku.

"Once one team is down, we'll swoop in and snatch their scroll, then it's off to the tower." said Roku. "Not that this battle will have much of an ending if the Water-nin win - just clones."

"How can you tell?" asked Touma.

Roku tapped the side of his head. "Electricity - i can have a rough guess at the amount of electricity of a normal ninja, and while those water-nin have normal levels, it's moving strangely. Too solid to be a Genjutsu. Clones, either Water or Shadow." said Roku, keeping his eyes on the battle. His armor and speed could deal with most of those attacks, though that poison was best avoided. The giant scorpion, though....Roku grinned. It would be much more fun to smash that one than the tiny one back in the Summer Oasis.

Sora used his Fire Hands Jutsu and his hands were set ablaze by his chakra, he watched the battle and said “ Alright, I think there could be a better way, when the fight ends, we take both scrolls, that way we have three, cause we don’t know if the other team will have the earth scroll we need. Plus by taking both that is one less scroll another team will have, so there is a possibility to eliminate a team we would have to face later.” Sora grinned at his devious plan, other teams had probably thought of this plan before, but he didn’t care this plan would work for his team and he knew exactly how. Sora then leaned in close to Roku and Touma, he then said “ ok this is the plan, when one team wins we wait for them to take the other teams scroll, then we surprise attack them. They wont see it coming and even if they do, they will be weakened from already having to fight, while we will be ready.” Sora then leaned back on the tree trunk and said “ now we can just relax and let the two teams do our job for us.”

With poison coming at them from above, and Mitsuru running very quickly towards them. "Sho, move!" Kiyoko yelled, and used her shield for the second time that day. "Garasu Toku!" The shield went above them, in front of them, like a 360. Kiyoko just hoped it held long enough.

"Sho, you have to be quicker than that! What if I hadn't been here?" Kiyoko turned and noticed something about her shield. "I don't know if it'll hold against the poison, although it doesn't matter if I had gotten poisoned or not. I don't know ifv my infection would fight it off or not..."

Kiyoko looked back at Sho, and sighed. "You were just lucky that you are my friend and that I was here."

...The orange haired boy than, staring at the Doton user, called him by his name with a sweet voice "Noku", suddently he rolled his eyes in a psychotical motion and his facial expression turned into pure madness "You are dead meat! Katon: Housenka no Juts..."

"One's Reality" Hiato shouted from a branch 15 yards from the place Umiko was. Gira was the target of the genjutsu, he closed his eyes and fell in the branch he was standing. Hiato was panting, with a hand leaning at the tree. Luckily he reached the place just in time to prevent a possible catastrophe. All those the events, from Umiko's explosion to Mijaro's death were now being crafted by the psychotical unconscious of Gira, at the genjutsu reality.

Umiko and Mijaro were completely surprised and both, with a wide grin of relieve, shouted Hiato's name. Hiato was staring at the tall, weapons user gennin. He was still a menace as he could explode Umiko at any moment. Hiato than said to him, with a calm voice "We are Konoha's team 12 and we got the the Heaven Scroll". As Mijaro heard that, he picked the scroll from his pocket and showed it to the genin.

The tall genin listened calmy Hiato's words and took some time before placing his hand at his hip pocket and taking a Heaven scroll from it "We also have a Heaven scroll. Its not worthy loosing two partners to get your scroll" than with a handsign all explosive tags around Umiko burned completely, as if they were simple pieces of paper, and not explosive tags. "Release Noku and Gira now" the genin said.

And so was done. Moments later the two teams were together again. Hiato had Mijaro at his left and Umiko at his right. The tall genin was 4 yards in front of Hiato, and he had Gira at his right and Noku at his left. "We will meet again in the future, wait me... Hiato" Gira said with a voice charged with rage. He was the only one that didnt agreeded with that 'peace treaty'. Hiato didnt replied.

Gira's team than left, heading towards the summer area. Umiko than hugged Hiato cheerfully "Thank you for saving me, Hiato-kun". This caused him to blush completely. Only after Umiko released him he said, shily "Well, you should be more careful next time. This place is dangerous". Mijaro was laughting with joy when he took the scroll and threw it towards Hiato "Well, you should carry the scroll from now on"

It was stange seeing Kiyoko again in this setting, and one look at her arm set Sho's head swimming. The sight of blood was always something that got to him, moreso when Kiyoko drew it...such times were often self-inflicted wounds used for her more advanced techniques. Still sickening, in his opinion. He barely had time to mutter a greeting when the enemy shinobi somehow went on the offensive once more. He raised a hastily drawn kunai and made a quick turn seeking to parry Mitsuru's clawed hands, but a wave of venom came splashing down first. Before Sho could curse in panic though, Kiyoko erected a shield of some sort To protect them. He sighed in relief and began a simple jutsu. It was only a few handsigns in that he realized his newfound ally was speaking.

"You were just lucky that you are my friend and that I was here." she said with a meloncholy tone. Sho couldn't help but smile at her.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Yoko-chan...I take it you're going to help then?" his jutsu completed, beyond the shield six water clones materialized and charged to surround Mitsuru. Three drew shuriken and pelted the armored shinobi while the foremost trio bullrushed him with drawn kunai. Taro lay completely still several feet away, the poisonous spray having knocked the Ame-nin out cold. Mifune was nowhere to be seen. "Well Kiyoko, you might wanna reconsider that...this guy is nowhere near genin level, far beyond in fact. He summoned a beast king...hell, even i'm thinking of running. But something tells me he isn't going to let up that easily. Well, let's rock!"

Sho burst forth from the shield in an arcing jump over Mifune, coming down in a slide on the venom-slicked ground. He set his own kunai in a defensive backhand position and sprinted at the enemy. Jumping a couple feet into the air Sho lashed out with a vicious kick to the temple, aiming to follow the assault up with a slash at Mitsuru's groin.

Damnit! Sho ground his teeth at force of his own attack sending jolts of pain up his leg. The armor coating the venom shinobi's head was alot harder than he'd anticipated, and his attack was halted when the counter sent him flying past Mitsuru. The genin skidded on the damp leaf-strewn earth for a few feet before finally stopping. His leg ached and an annoying throb persisted throughout, but other than that Sho hadn't been hurt too badly. Taro's body was missing, he noticed, probably Mifune's handiwork. For the most part though, that meant Sho was on his own. Well, maybe not considering Kiyoko's appearance. With three quick handsigns the Ame-nin focused his chakra into another attack.

He listened as Kiyoko and the assailant exchanged some words about some reknown shinobi and the fact that whoever they were, they were monitoring the entire fight. He was suddenly glad that the only thing he'd revealed was a few water jutsu and some basic techniques. Suddenly seemingly out of nowhere the enemy threw some kunai towards the treeline and a moment later fell flat on his back. This is it! his expression grew determined and his pulse raced as Sho had his water clones leap back from Mitsuru.

Water Release! Mizurrapa!A wickedly high-pressure stream of water erupted from Amegame's mouth aimed dead center at the armored combatant's chest. The jutsu was charged with enough chakra that it's destructive force would crack into a boulder, so there was no doubt that it would do some serious damage to Mitsuru's dingy little breastplate. Sho kept up a continuous stream of crushing water and swiveled his head to keep the hose trained on Mitruru and following his movements. He wasn't going to give the bastard an inch. After about fifteen seconds, the deluge came to an end. He was breathing a little heavier now, although another smile had found it's way onto his lips. "Yoko-chan...you look a bit out of it. But don't worry," he flashed the girl a winning smile and a thumbs up, "your knight in shinin' armor is here!" while he spoke, his clones backed away further to surround Mituru in a wide circle...just in case.

Kiyoko blushed as she got...touched...by Sho. Doing as he said and staying still, she tried not to slap him. "This is really awkward. Like, a lot." she said. Once the poison was out, however, she grinned at him.

Once he put his hand under her shirt, and although she knew he was only trying to help, she couldn't help but flinching a little. It's not like she had a hand under her shirt everyday. It felt really weird. Especially coming from Sho. It was over soon, though.

"Did you have fun, Sho?" Kiyoko laughed, and hugged him as thanks. "As long as I can move, let's go to the Winter area. Unless, you don't want me to move so much that you'd carry me. But, I don't think you could go that far, so let's go." She smiled at her friend, and started walking north, almost losing her balance a couple of times.

Did i have fun? What kind of question is that?! Probably... his face lit up with understanding. A trick! She doesn't want me to tell her that it was the softest thing i've ever felt! Wait...does she? No, no, girls are wierd like that, they hate compliments like that...or was it the opposite? Oba-san! Help! Please! it was at that point that he realized he'd been staring at Kiyoko with a full on blush going for a short while. Thankfully though, it seemed she'd dismissed the question and was already stumbling towards the Winter area. Sho arose from the ground and swept the debri from his clothing, coughing to regain some of his dignity.

The shinobi hurried after Kiyoko and made it with little problem, since she was still wobbling uncertainly from the bloodloss. Sho ducked under her and propped her arm across his back, wrapping his own across her shoulders to keep the smaller Ame-nin steady. In his free hand he gathered the dripping water left over on his clothes from the water clones in his palm using chakra. Refusing any complaints she may have had, Sho pressed the cool liquid to Kiyoko's lips and urged her to drink. She would pass out soon regardless if she didn't replace the blood.

With that, the pair headed off into the Winter area. To search for more teams or simply relax, they could not say. Sho took one last glance back at the lake holding Taro and Mifune within before entering the forest. After a few minutes of silent walking he couldn't help but say it. "Yup." without further comment or explanation, he continued onward with a slight blush across his cheeks.

The leaf genins than took their enemies` scrolls, which were 2 Heaven and 1 Earth, and went back to the place they were meant to meet Umiko. There they waited her return.

As Mijaro saw his sister, he waved her his canteen, while singing like a little child "Loser,loser,loser". This did not bothered her this time "So you got some water, brother?" She said with a confident smile "Now look what I got" she ended, while throwing all her newly found scrolls at his feet. Hiato and Mijaro were astonished, now they counted 8 scrolls: 6 Heaven and 2 Earth.

Umiko explained all about how she found the scrolls and the dead genins. This shocked the other two and they decided head directly to the tower, now more cautious then ever. After a couple of hours they made it, they reached the tower and entered in a small dark room, where they soon found themselves trapped.

After realizing that there was no way out, Hiato decided to open one pair of scrolls. Those scrolls summoned the Konoha`s academy teacher, who came a bit surprized, as if it was the first time that he was teleported somewhere. But when he saw the three kids, his face revealed a kind smile. "Sensei!" Umiko and Mijaro shouted happily as they saw him. Hiato only saw this man once before, but he was also happy. The teacher`s sincere smile revealed much about him and his love to his students.

"Listen kids. It should be yours sensei to be here, but he was just assigned to an important mission and could not come" the teacher said this trying to hide his smile, but his eyes still revealed his kind feelings. He knew that the situation required a wise sensei, and not a school teacher, but he could not help.

"Please pay attention to my words, I can say them only once:

From January to December, take only the half.
Place in one and give them a path.
From one, many went.
Now I ask, what did he meant?"

"Balance" Hiato rightly answered, causing surprise to the others "The riddle tells about the Sage of the Six Pathes who, by dividing the ten-tailed demon into many tailed beasts, meant to bring balance to the nations".

'And I thought he wasnt even listening' the teacher thought during his suprize, while he saw Hiato carving the symbol of balance in the panel.

A door surged in the wall, and they entered it.

Shibotsu had gotten into his stance, knees bent slightly, his sword drawn partly from it's sheath to make it taking it out quicker, when the genjutsu hit him. It was like a wave, almost, waching him away into his own mind. All around him the shadows began to creep out, towards him, reaching for him. This was normal though, his kekkei genkai called forth the shadows all the time. Outside and in the illusion he drew his sword, but for some reason it was slower than it should have been, which felt odd. Then he felt something, like a tickle, and shivered.

Suddenly his chakra began to over flow, causing a black aura to engulf his body, like black flames. This aura began moving slightly in the direction of Hiato, trying to draw in his chakra, like light to a black hole. If he got close enough for the flames to touch then they would begin to devour his chakra.The darkness was a curse that only Shibotsu could control, and just barely at that. If he were to sleep for too long, or be trapped in this illusion for long, it might escape him.
-=-

"What the hell is that?" Jin asked, gripping the railing.

The black aura was, off putting, to say the least. He felt colder now, but on the inside, and there was somethng like a tug on his chakra networks. Stepping back, he had to fight himself to keep from leaping down and killing this Shibotsu while he was trapped in the genjutsu. However, he wasn't even sure he could kill that thing.

As the clones began to move closer to Hiato they raised their swords to attack. In all honesty Shibotsu had no idea that this tactic would work, this is why, as they moved in as a distraction, he began making a few hand seals. After this he drew his own sword, slowly, and as the blade was revealed it was covered in the same black chakra as his body had been coated in earlier.

"Kagekiri." Shibotsu said simply, smiling again. "Like I said, Hatatsukuru is hungry. He wants to taste your chakra, and I doubt I can control him much longer, so I hope we can finish this quickly..."

By now Shibotsu was visibly shaking, but at a closer glance it could be seen that the sword was actually shaking, which was causing him to move so. It was as if the sword were trying to escape his grasp. But he kept in the same place, watching as his clones began to either burst into shadow without affecting Hiato, or were simply forced back by what seemed like a pulse of chakra that eminated from his staff.

Suddenly he began to move at high speeds. Running up behind the clone closest to him he used it as a step and leaped into the air from it's shoulders, so that he began to come down right atop Hiato, sword at the trady to split him down the middle.

(edited, sorry about that)

Why Hiato was so calm and peaceful even when facing such a powerful enemy as Shibotsu? No, Hiato was not a priest and his strength didnt came from any god. No, it was not the certainty that good always prevails. No, Hiato was not specialized against dark nature forces.

All that darkness scared him at the beginng, but not anymore. Hiato's strength was based in a very simple truth, yet it seemed that he was the only one there that realized it, a truth not even Shibotsu understoond: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Lightning, Darkness... all were just the same in essence, all were energy, all were chakra...

That was not a battle of Light and Darkness, that was still a battle of chakras. And manipulating chakras was the very strength of Hiato's style.

The dispelling pulse of energy was still traveling in the air even after dispelling the clones. Yes, that shockwave pulse was trully powerful. But powerful only because it was charged by all that dark chakras few moments ago. All The darkness that once Hiato absorbed with his staff were nothing but pure chakra after all. This chakras were still in his staff transformed into powerful dispelling energies when he released the dispelling pulse. The wave was the power of Shibotsu's dark chakra combined with Hiato's ability of chakra manipulation. A wave powerfull enought to dispell four clones and much more...
...
...
...

Now this last actions of his enemy really surprized Hiato: It was something completely stupid what Shibotsu was doing. First because, instead of trying to get farther from the epicenter of the shockwave, we was comming TOWARDS Hiato. As he was not yet hit by the shockwave, sooner or later he would be. The nearer he was from Hiato, the stronger he would feel the impact. By the way, this was the motive of why Hiato added his own chakra to boost the wave with the 'knocking power'. He wanted to knock the true Shibotsu, as knocking soon-to-be-dispelled clones is something clearly useless

Not only that was dumb, but also he was placing more chakra OUT of his body (and sword) to be dispelled by the wave. If he simply kept that chakra inside his body it would not be lost...


Hiato still had his mind in peace and perfect control of judgement, he would still perform the Three Bell's Genjutsu when his enemy got knocked. This capacity of judgement he could clearly say that his foe lost long ago. That man was obsessed by his own evil, from all at the room, he was the most blinded by his own darkness.

Roku grinned and walked down the path, descending the stairs by sliding down the railing on his feet, then leaping at the end, somersaulting once in the air and landing nimbly on his feet across from Jari. He was ready. He dusted off his clothes briefly with his hands before giving a brief two finger salute to Jari. "Hi there! Hope we can have a good fight! Though admittedly this is the first time ive seen someone fight alongside a bear."

Touma watched from the upper balcony with the other ninja. He's always polite, that Roku, he thought, but once the fight starts...less room for it.