Chapter 25: Fun in the Sun

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other references mentioned in this fanfic.

A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back. So personal stuff came up, nothing serious, but still important so I've been unable to update lately.

Anywyas I want to thank everyone that asked me if I was okay.

Fmwave

Wassup

Thanks again.

Now no more stalling, here's the new chapter.

Chapter 25

The striking of a hammer sounded through the empty workshop, a hunched figure with a face mask standing over an anvil.

"Kenji-kun, you can't keep doing this. It's been 3 days already, a meeting is being held later today," the Third Hokage pleaded from the doorway as he saw the small boy busy at work.

"Not listening~ I'm ignoring you~" came the singsong reply.

Hiruzen gave a sigh at the boy's childness.

The Kazekage had declared a village wide lockdown on the first day of the mysterious light, causing the Leaf shinobi to stay inside the village.

Kenji hadn't said a single word as he marched to the nearest blacksmith and forcefully took over the shop, kicking everyone out in the process.

Stepping inside of the blazing room he looked to the table of newly created equipment, some of which looked familiar while other were totally alien to him.

Kenji tempered a piece of cherry red metal into a vat of oil causing flames to spout out.

Hiruzen picked up a staff from the table. It was 6 feet long, the wooden shaft was painted a nice sky blue with engravings of snowflakes, a blue crystal with a green center was placed at one end of the staff, and despite the sweltering surroundings, it was cool to the touch.

Placing it back on the table he saw what looked like a bracer with some sort of launching mechanism built in.

Next were stacks of different talismans, though their exact purpose were unknown to him, he was sure it would be something surprising. Neither him or Jiraiya could figure out exactly how they worked or even said, as the symbols used were something foreign to both of them.

Moving to the end, he spotted the smallest thing on the table, a domino-sized piece of polished jade with the same strange lettering that the talismans had.

"There, all done!" Kenji exclaimed as he held up his latest masterpiece over his head.

Dragon Cannon

Quality: Mid-Human

Attack: 1200

Chakra Points Needed to Upgrade: 100

It was a red cylindrical metal tube about 5 feet in length and 1 foot in diameter with one end sealed off. It had two handles to hold it with, one at the unopened end and another in the middle which had a built-in trigger. There were two small slit going through the side of the tube at the very end with a handle meant to hold a scroll. The open end had a mouth piece of a bronze dragon head looking like it was in mid-roar.

Walking by, the Third gave it a once over, "Oh, that looks mighty impressive, Kenji-kun."

Kenji smiled as he stared at his latest creation in pride.

As the name said, it was a cannon that he had created. Sure, there was already something similar in the world, but what he had created was miles ahead of anything so far. Unlike the primitive cannons used in this time period, that still relied on gunpowder, his cannon used a mixture of seals and talismans to launch projectiles out of the end at blinding speeds. It was also capable of sending a burst of chakra if the situation called for it.

Taking a cleaning cloth, he polished the dragon head, bringing it to a shine, "I guess there isn't any point in delaying it any longer. What time is the meeting sir?"

"In two hours from now," Hiruzen informed the small shinobi.

Placing his newly made equipment in a storage ring he rewrapped his bandages around his eyes and summoned a talisman-clone of Master Shu, "Then we better get to it."

(Council Meeting)

It was worse than they expected.

Both Kenji and the Third exchanged looks from their seats against the wall, serving only as temporary advisors.

The tension in the room was almost palpable as one of the shinobi councilmen reported their latest investigation into the strange city.

Finally, after much debating one of the councilmen chose to direct attention to the chief of all things weird, Kenji in other words. "Perhaps, we should ask the thoughts of someone that is more versed in such matters? What are your thoughts Yamamoto-sama?"

Everyone turned to see what he would say.

Frowning Kenji chose his words carefully, "None of this makes much sense. So far, all of the scout sent to explore the city have disappeared without a trace or were grievously injured by the chakra beasts that have migrated there. However, what really concerns me is that pyramid at the center. Even from this distance I can feel its energy in the air, meaning that whatever is inside must be powerful at the very least."

Standing up the small boy walked over to the table that contained the samples they had retrieved on their expedition. He picked up pictures showing the entrance of a temple covered in hieroglyphs.

"These symbols on the wall, appear to be a form of written language, a fairly old one at that. But what I would like to point out is this drawing," he pulled up one of the pictures and handed it to a councilman.

It was a wall painting that showed a man dressed in gold being lowered into a coffin surrounded by riches around him and a blue glowing diamond.

As the councilman passed it around Kenji continued, "This picture leads me to believe that the large structure in the center isn't just some temple like we initially believed, rather it seems to be the burial place of some long-forgotten Daimyo."

"Hmm, that is an interesting theory. Do you have anything to back this up though?"

Kenji shrugged his shoulders, "This is all pure speculation of course, but there is something that caught my eye?"

Walking back to the table Kenji grabbed what looked to be a stone brick that had been worn down by the passage of time.

He then slammed it on the ground with enough force to break it into small pieces.

Everyone looked confused to why he had done it before Kenji shocked them even more as he looked through the scattered pieces for something, and once he did, he held it up for all too see.

"Oh my kami!"

"I-is that-"

"GOLD!"

Kenji made a bitter smile as he held the domino sized piece of gold in his hand, "Apparently whoever this past Daimyo was, he was wealthy enough to have gold pieces placed into every brick of his tomb, and if this is just on the outside, I can only imagine what sort of treasures the inside holds. It's actually making me angry just thinking about it."

Handing the gold piece to one of the councilmen Kenji took back his seat.

The councilmen were busy discussing this latest information among themselves, both Kenji and the Third completely forgotten in the background.

Hiruzen glanced at the boy who looked to be shaking in rage, "Calm yourself Kenji-kun."

"It's just so maddening to find that there was a whole city of gold buried under the sand and the Sand Village is just going to claim it like that."

The Third facepalmed at the reason for the boy's anger, even if he did feel equally as bitter. Konoha was on the way to recovery but it was still far from fully healed.

"How did you know gold was inside the brick?"

Tapping his nose, Kenji explained, "My sense of money is so strong that I could practically smell a profit a mile away?"

Apparently, the thought of buried treasure was enough to make some forget about the hidden dangers of the Tomb in favor of riches. The Kazekage was unsurprisingly the most vocal of these people.

From the emotions that Kenji was reading, he could guess who was the person that had summoned the ruin in the first place.

Kenji might have had a hand in constructing the dungeons, but that didn't mean that he knew everything about them. Kaguya had just made him design some of the traps and weapons, but much of the interior was still a mystery to him, so even he wasn't sure what they would find.

The talking lasted for most of the day, at which both Kenji and the Third were left tired and weary. The Suna council on the other hand looked to be filled with vigor as they discussed plan after plan. Hope of saving their village had filled their spirits with new found energy.

At a little past midnight, the meeting had ended, and Kenji was free to leave which he did gladly.

The next day the meeting continued in full force, and it was decided that the Kazekage would lead the next expedition, with a squad of elite shinobi. A foolish idea in Kenji's opinion, but it wasn't his business if they wanted to risk the life of their Kage.

"I'm really starting to hate this damn place," Kenji said as he laid on his hotel bed.

'You think you have it bad, try it with a thick fur coat and see how it feels,' Akame told him from her spot under the bed trying to escape the desert heat.

"It does seem that this place is out to get you doesn't it," the Third injected, "First those Needle Teeth, then the swarm of scorpions, and now this tomb."

"If I had known that it would be this troublesome, I would have run away the second we finished signing the contract."

"Well hindsight is 20/20."

(Desert)

Kenji grumbled as he followed the exploration team. As he expected, the Suna council had chosen now of all times to bring up the clause in their newly formed contract, that said the CBA would offer aid in case of a nationwide emergency concerning chakra beasts.

With the emergence of the ruin, many of the chakra beasts in the area had drifted around it, which officially classified as a national disaster. They got him on a technicality, so he joined the expedition.

There was nothing he could do about that, but that didn't mean he would leave empty handed. After a fierce debate a new deal was struck. It was decided that 25% of the treasure found on this trip was going to the Leaf with another 5% going to Kenji himself for acting as their chakra beast expert.

This exploration team consisted of a total of 9 shinobi including Rasa and Kenji. Kenji was allowed to take two Leaf shinobi as his guards, he ended up choosing Anko and his shadow clone disguised as Master Shu. While he was tempted to pick the Third, even he knew that it would be a bad decision to bring the leader of your village to a potentially death trap.

Rasa had chosen 5 of his village's top trackers and trap experts to come along. They all looked like veteran soldiers that had fought many death and life battles. Compared to them, Kenji and his team were rather lacking.

He was armed with his newest equipment on top of Drago, causing the temperamental velociraptor to grumble about being used as a pack mule. Akame had retreated into his shadow and had refusing to leave ever since. Beside him was his clone that sported his usual umbrella sword and bow. Anko was on his other side, wearing her new alchemist robe in place of her heavy trench coat, though that did very little as she was still sweating bullets in the desert heat. Two children, an exhibitionist, an overgrown lizard and a rabbit were the make up of the Leaf team.

"It's so hot~" complained Anko as she opened her robe letting all see that she was only wearing a chainmesh underneath. Looking at the young boy she asked, "Why aren't you sweating like the rest of us?"

Indeed, Kenji was perfectly fine with the heat despite having multiple layers of clothes himself. "Oh, that. Don't worry about it."

Truth was that he had invented a new pill that helped regulate internal heat to a comfortable temperature no matter what the weather was outside. Unfortunately, he had only made a very limited supply and he wasn't in the mood to share.

"If you're that hot, you can hold onto my staff if you want?" he said as he took the ice artifact that was giving a cold air.

"…Was that supposed to be an innuendo? Did you finally hit puberty!? Ack!"

Anko rubbed her head after being hit with the staff, feeling a layer of frost forming on top of her hair.

Kenji didn't say anything as he picked up the pace leaving her behind.

"Hehe, you deserve that," the clone said with a fox like grin as he looked toward the snake mistress using his bamboo umbrella to shield him from the sun.

(Scene change)

"Well?" Rasa asked his scout.

The man wearing a turban shook his head as he cancelled the sand eye jutsu, "Nothing sir. It's a complete ghost town."

"How, is it possible that these creatures can just disappear without a trace? It doesn't make sense," the leader of the Sand village muttered to himself.

Kenji also thought it was weird. He was expecting the ancient city to be overrun with chakra beasts, but they had yet to even spot one.

"No choice, we'll have to proceed forward."

At that command the recon team disappeared in a swirl of dust before appearing at the entrance of the ruined city.

Two large stone pillars thirty feet in height stood partially intact, acting as a gate.

"Wait a moment," Kenji said as he inspected the pillars.

Dusting some of the sand off he saw that there were hieroglyphs carved all around it. Tracing some of the symbols he had to smile at Kaguya's creativity as well as attention to detail.

"I don't suppose any of you are well versed in Sand Script?" Kenji asked without looking back.

There was a shaking of heads before Rasa walked to the pillar, "What have you found."

"You'll have to excuse me if my translation isn't exactly the best, I was only able to memorize the basics, but this appears to be a warning of some sort."

The red-head was starting to regret not brushing up on the ancient languages, "What exactly does it say?"

"Let's see- hmm, 'something something dying sunset- something guardian- false speaker- something something painful death- and key barer' I guess we need to find a key or something."

"Any idea what this key looks like?"

Kenji pointed to a picture of what looked like two bird headed people holding what looked like a cube.

"It might be in the city; we'll have to search for it."

Kenji gave a deadpan expression behind his bandages but decided to play along.

As one, they entered the city, an ominous wind was felt by everyone.

They split into groups of three and each chose a section of the city to search.

Kenji was paired up with two Sand Shinobi and his chakra beasts, they would meet back before sundown.

Entering one of the abandoned houses Kenji was looking for anything that looked out of place. Once again, he praised Kaguya for her attention to detail, as he noticed everything looked very authentic from the rotten wood down to the worn-down walls.

After finding nothing he went to the next house.

This time however, he did find something as he bent down.

"A bone?"

"Akame," he called out.

Akame jumped out of one of the shadows inside of the house.

Showing her the thin needle-like piece of bone he asked, "What can you tell me about this?"

Giving it a sniff, the small white rabbit gained a thoughtful expression, 'Smells like dirt and death.'

"Can you be more specific?"

'Bone has no smell. Was in contact with something that smells like dirt and death. The entire city does.'

"I see, you can go back?"

She didn't need another excuse as she jumped into another shadow.

"Drago, you're on lookout. Tell me if you notice anything strange. Until then keep hidden?" Kenji told his other companion as he unstrapped his belonging.

A deep rumbling voice echoed in the back of Kenji's mind, 'Aaasss yyouu wwish Maaaster."

No sooner had he said that did Drago turn himself invisible before jumping onto a roof to have a better vantage point.

Drago was definitely the most disciplined out of Kenji's chakra beasts. His powers were also top rate, which suited a top predator like him, which was surprising when considering he used to be a gecko not that long ago.

They regrouped just as the last rays of sun were snuffed out. They lit some torches and made a temporary camp.

"Did any of you find the key?" Kenji asked once they were all together.

Rasa reached into his bag and took the key that started everything, "I did."

'Jerk, I knew you had it all along.' "Great, I'm sure that will come in handy later."

Rasa looked as stoic as always as he looked at everyone, "Did anyone else find something?"

They all emptied their bags showing useless junk they thought was curious. Just as they were beginning to lose hope, Anko smiled a shit eating grin as she reached into her bag.

"Read it and weep boys," the snake mistress announced as she showed what she was holding.

It was a scarab beetle made entirely out of gold with a ruby embedded on its back.

"Where did you find this?" one of the sand shinobi asked excitedly, as they all crowded to get a better look.

"Wait, it gets better," she said as she turned her bag upside down letting more golden beetles fall out onto the sand, "Can you believe they were just embedded to a wall inside one of the temples?"

Kenji frowned, something didn't feel right to him, almost as if he was forgetting something.

Rasa noticed the younger boy's expression and was immediately weary. He might not have known the boy all that well, but from what he was able to gather, the boy should be currently jumping for joy considering his greedy nature.

Then it hit him like lightning. Shifting into sage mode, he confirmed his worst fears.

"Everyone! Throw them away!" He warned them as he moved toward Anko and slapped the scarab beetle out of her hand.

They were immediately put on guard except for one that wasn't fast enough.

The beetle stayed stuck to his hand confusing the shinobi, before that turned into horror as the golden beetle began to burrow under the man's skin.

"Arggg!"

The beetle soon began to travel up the man's arm at an alarming rate.

Kenji's clone was the first to react as he took out a kunai and stabbed it into the bulge on the man's skin. Then he sliced the man's skin to dig out the beetle, which even now refused to die.

Everyone backed away as the blood-soaked insect landed on the ground.

"W-what the hell? What the fuck was that?!" a horrified sand kunoichi cursed, not that anyone could blame her.

The others however managed to hold in their shock to stab the surrounding beetles with their kunai.

Picking one of the skewered beetles Kenji visibly frowned, "Flesh burrowing scarab beetles, that's just horrifying. Master Shu, I leave healing him to you."

He received a thumbs up from his clone that was already weaving the hand signs.

Turning to Anko, Kenji began to speak again, "Anko were did you say you found-"

Kenji didn't get to finish that sentence as he took out his ice staff and slammed it on the ground, turning the surround sand into ice. "Shu! Shield!"

His clone stopped healing the injured shinobi long enough to grab his bamboo umbrella and activate its special ability. A transparent blue dome large enough to cover everyone was created in an instant.

Everyone huddled together taking out their respective weapons.

"What do you sense Yamamoto?" Rasa asked scanning the area, golden sand swirling around him.

"…we're surrounded."

"How bad is it?"

The surround sand began to shake uncontrollably as dozens, then hundreds, and finally thousands of those golden beetles found their way to the surface.

"…Pretty bad."

One of the panicking shinobi was looking around franticly, "How did they sneak up on us? We didn't sense anything."

'This is bad,' Kenji thought grimly.

"We need to head towards the pyramid, the stone ground will give us a better position than staying out in the open like this," the Kazekage suggested as the number of beetles had yet to stop growing.

"I'll drop the barrier at the count of five so get ready," Master Shu exclaimed as he took hold of the umbrella.

Everyone began to go through different hand seals for their respective jutsu.

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Now!"

The transparent barrier disappeared.

The beetles took to the sky as they unfurled their wings forming a mass of golden bodies.

They all launched their attacks together. Anko launched a small volley of fire balls that momentarily scattered them before reforming again. The others used wind blades and gusts of air to push them back. Rasa summoned a miniature tornado around them to protect everyone. A sea of golden talismans exploded out of Kenji's sleeves before flying in all directions forming lasers that twisted and curved in the air, hitting multiple beetles at the same time.

Hundreds of beetles fell out of the air dead, yet things didn't look better.

Using Rasa's wind barrier, they ran to the pyramid in the distance.

They needed to use the rooftops as the entire ground had turned into a sea of gold.

Just as it looked like they would all make it, one of the sand ninjas slipped off the roof plunging to the infested ground below, getting consumed by the beetles in seconds.

No one could do anything but move forward even as the horrifying scream trailed behind them.

"Drago!" Kenji called out for his companion, a kick up of dust next to him was the only indication that he was there, "Clear the way for us!"

As soon as the command was given all of the beetles in front of them were destroyed in a flash.

Drago second ability was instant acceleration. He could go from 0 to 240 mph instantly, turn corners on a dime, and stop instantly. He was almost as fast most Jonin using the body flicker technique.

They were able to make it in a few seconds thanks to him.

Kenji threw out warding talisman as they entered the entrance to the pyramid, an invisible barrier springing behind them. The beetles who couldn't see it were turned to ashes as soon as they came in contact with it.

They all gave a sigh of relief once they saw they weren't being followed.

It was a good thing that the entire area was considered scared land, otherwise those warding talismans wouldn't have worked.

"Well at least now we know where all of the chakra beasts disappeared to," Master Shu said jokingly as he dusted himself off, "You could almost say they were, gone by dinner time. Eh?"

The sand shinobi were still reeling in from having lost one of their own to pay him much attention.

"Sheesh, what a tough crowd," his clone said as it joined them.

After a moment of silence for the fallen shinobi Rasa spoke again, "We need to keep going."

Everyone was still shaken up but pulled themselves together. They still had a mission to complete.

They walked further in, cautious of anymore dangers, until they reached the center of the chamber, torches on the wall lighting up all around them causing them to huddle together with their backs to each other.

Now that they could see more clearly, they noticed that the entire room was filled with wall paintings and hieroglyphs from top to bottom. They also saw that they had come from the only entrance, meaning that it was a dead-end.

"Yamamoto, think you can translate?"

"Again, my translation is mediocre at best, but I suppose there's no harm in trying."

Everyone took this chance to rest, occasionally watching as Kenji would run around the room tracing over certain pictures.

Kenji on the other hand was busy trying to find another entrance.

He was looking over an ancient looking drawing of an Egyptian queen with a horned hairpiece being fed some sort of fruit by a jackal headed person. Then he moved on to what looked like the same queen standing in front of a large tree. Next it showed the queen holding what looked like a ball sized sun and a crescent moon in her hands.

'Looks like she adapted parts of her myth to fit the theme,' the small boy thought as he looked around the room finding more things that told of her past.

Slowly, he was beginning to piece together the puzzle left for him.

He looked to the center of the room where a large zodiac calendar was etched into the ground.

Entering sage mode, he could see additional symbols placed around the room, meant only for his eyes.

"The faithful dog shows the path to the moon. The jackal holds the key."

Looking at the calendar he saw that the dog symbol was facing the entrance not the moon. In fact, the only moon in the entire room was the one in the painting.

"Wait a minute," Kenji said out loud as he inspected the picture again. He touched the fruit in the picture and pushed, a clicking sound greeted his ears before the sound of stone grinding against stone rang through the chamber.

The calendar sprouted stone pillars all around the edge.

He recognized the mechanize immediately as he was the one to design it in the first place.

"What's happening?" Anko asked confused at the rumbling.

Grabbing one of the pillars, Kenji explained, "I figured out the puzzle. We have to make the dog on the calendar face the moon on the painting."

Taking his word, everyone grabbed a pillar and began to push clockwise, the large stone tablet slowly turning until they managed to get the dog to face the moon.

Once they did, another click was heard as it rumbled before turning into a spiraling stairway going down.

"I'll be damned," Anko whistling in surprise, "So who's going first."

Immediately they all looked to each other.

(Time skip)

After a quick game rock-paper-scissors, a sand shinobi was given point as everyone trailed behind them carrying a torch from the above chamber.

"Hold on, stop here," the shinobi said as they took out a kunai and sliced a wire trap, causing darts to shoot out of the wall only inches away from where they would have been.

The entire place was boobytrapped from false steps to pressure sensitive walls and other manner of nasty surprises.

Ten minutes after descending they were finally able to reach the bottom which led to a much larger open chamber.

Two sphinx statues stood on the opposite side of the room guarding the only pathway.

"I'm sensing life from those two statues," Kenji alerted the others.

They all nodded, showing that they had heard him as they got into formation.

Once they had all entered the room the pathway behind them disappeared, "Well no choice but forward?"

They didn't make it two steps before the stone statues exploded showing the chakra beasts hidden inside.

"Ye who enter take heed~"

"For a sharp mind is what you will need~"

"Richs and glory await those who pass our test~"

"Decide, if you succeed or fail like the rest~"

"I am Truth"

"-and I am Lie."

"Together we shall decided!"

The sphinxs looked exactly as how Kenji imagined them looking like with lion lower bodies and the upper bodies of human females.

This was his first time meeting intelligent chakra beasts

Anko leaned over and whispered to the smaller boy, "Kenji? Now might be a good time to spread some of that chakra beast wisdom around?"

"…I'm thinking."

The two lion/human hybrid continued their little act as they jumped down from their pedestal.

The sphinx on the right who introduced itself as truth spoke, again.

"Answer correctly and you may pass~"

"I am-"

"Attack them while they're distracted," Kenji suddenly said as he took out a dragon talisman and shot out a large fireball at the duo.

The other shinobi followed his lead as they began to launch their weapons and justus at the pair from a distance.

The sphinx roared in anger even with most of the attacks slidding off their pelt like water on a duck back.

They lunged at the shinobi, crossing the room in a single leap.

Kenji and the others scattered.

Rasa was already spreading his gold dust around the room, a thin tendril wrapping around the feline's paw before slamming it against the wall. The other's launched vacuum blades at it, aiming at its vulnerable points like its eyes or the inside of its mouth.

Master Shu faced the other sphinx, his umbrella blade being the only weapon strong enough to slash the beast's thick skin. Anko tried to wrap her snakes around it but they were destroyed as soon as they were in its range.

"Make sure not to get bitten!" Kenji said as he noticed the snakes that the sphinx had bitten turn into sand.

(Scene change)

It was past 2 in the morning, as a squad of Root shinobi stalked the premises of the shop, Moon Artifacts.

They had been assigned a mission of upmost importance, where failure was not an option.

They were to infiltrate the shop and investigate what secrets it held while Yamamoto was out of the village.

Danzo had already acquired a minor supply of chakra artifacts, either through coercing their previous owners to readily hand them over or taking them by force. Yet despite this, he knew that what he held was only the leftover scraps and that the truly powerful artifacts where kept inside the building safely hidden away from all.

It had taken him weeks of planning to orchestrate a situation where Kenji Yamamoto would be forced to leave the village for some time, making the shop vulnerable for infiltration. He had lost a number of operatives in an effort to lead chakra beasts into highly populated towns, just so that the Sand would ask the Leaf for help, but he considered it a small price to pay.

The group of four Root members were some of the best in the entire organization, each specialized in infiltration missions. They had studied every square inch of the barrier for days, looking for possible weak points they could use.

One of the shinobi took out a brush and chose a section of the wall where he began to draw a seal. Once he was done, he signaled everyone to get ready as he activated the seal. A crack appeared in the air above the wall, as if someone had shattered a mirror.

The seal wouldn't hold long however, 7 minutes at maximum.

They all jumped through the rift in the barrier, landing on the wall safely.

Giving each other cautious looks, one of the members summoned a clone and made it jump down into the yard.

As soon as the clone touched the grass it was promptly dispelled.

On closer inspection the squadron saw that the grass where the clone had been was standing rigid looking more like a sea of green senbon needles blades of grass. It stayed like that for a couple more seconds almost as if looking for more intruders before going back to resemble normal grass.

The leader of group gave a series of hand signs, causing everyone to throw kunai connected to long pieces of rope toward the building.

Once everyone had secured their line to the wall, they jumped on their make shift tightrope with unnatural grace.

They steady made their way across the courtyard undetected, however a nearby splash made them all stop mid-track.

Looking to the side, they saw something glittering in the pond. A quick glance was all needed to see that it was only a giant koi fish with glittering rainbow scales. They paid it no mind, and continued forward, unaware that it had disappeared the second it was no longer being watched.

It wasn't until they were two thirds of the way that they noticed movement up ahead.

Four small marshmallow beings emerged from a secret compartment built into the second story floor.

However, the most concerning part were the daggers each carried in their stubby hands.

One of the intruders summed up their collective thought in one simple word, "Oh."

The shikigami cut the ropes suspending the Root shinobi off the ground as one.

With barely any time to react, they were able to unsheathe their tantos and stab them on the ground below, to act as a foothold, preventing them from being impaled by the needle grass.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't the time to relax yet as the trees around them shook with activity. Giant hornet nest shook loose, falling momentarily, before flying in the air to surround them.

"Mission had become compromised. Fall back," the leader said as he took out an explosive tag strapped to a kunai.

He didn't get a chance to throw it however as the nests gave off a mechanical click. They then began to spin around momentarily before suddenly sending a barrage of senbon needles in all directions.

The root members tried their best to block the hundreds of needles with their kunai, but many still made it past their guard. The upgraded armor that Danzo had prepared for them did its intended job of protecting them, proving once more how powerful chakra artifacts could be.

It was too bad for them, as they should have been paying more attention to the ground rather than the air, as root like vines emerged from the grass, coiling themselves around their tantos before wrapping around their ankles.

In the next second, vines shot out from underneath one of the unsuspecting Root operatives. The poor man didn't even get a chance to warn the others as he was wrapped in a vine cocoon. His muffled screams didn't last long as the vines grew 6-inch thorns impaling him from every direction, before dragging him of his foothold and into the ground below.

Another Root shinobi took notice of his comrade's disappearance, but that moment cost him, as one of the senbon was able to enter an opening in his armor. He said nothing as he pulled out the needle and saw that it was covered in strange purple substance. The next second, he felt his vision cloud as his body began to grow heavy. The last thing he saw was some type of insect monster fly straight at his face before feeling weightless.

Seeing another of their comrades be taken out, this time by what looked like a giant butterfly, the two remaining Root ninjas decided to throw caution to the wind. The mission had turned into a failure the moment they were caught, the most they could do now was escape so that they could inform Danzo of everything they had learned for future reference.

Throwing explosive kunai at the nests, they were able to take out 11 of the 24.

They slashed at the roots holding them in place and jumped on the grass, refusing to utter a single sound even as the sole of their feet were impaled by the grass.

Channeling chakra to their legs, they managed to leap onto the stone pathway, placing them near the koi pond.

This however was unwise on their part as a moment later, a tendril of water pierced the nearest shinobi before dragging them into the pond. The water churned for a second before turning red and going still.

The last of the shinobi used the body flicker technique to move toward the opening in the barrier, but despite going at near untraceable speeds, something crashed into him from the side sending him skidding across the yard and into one of the walls.

The bones on his left side were completely shattered from the attack, the only reason why he had survived at all was due to the armor that was now barely intact.

From the darkness came out a red and gold beast, its emerald eyes looking at the wounded man with barely controlled hunger. It opened its mouth to speak, a feminine voice came out as it stalked forward, "Leaving so soon?"

"Me and my siblings were just getting hungry, so you can imagine our surprise when four tasty morsels decided to just wander into our home," Lin-Lin said with sadistic glee as she was joined by the rest of Kenji's chakra beast. Stumpy the rhinoceros beetle with the tree growing on its horn emerged from the ground. Dewdrop the giant colorful butterfly flapped its wings, trailing just a step behind Lin-Lin. Finally, Silvy the rainbow-colored koi fish flew out of the pond in a sphere made out entirely out of water to join the rest of her family.

"We normally don't like uninvited guest, but for you I'll make an exception," the large guardian lion said all the while licking her lips, "It's been some time since we've been able to enjoy the taste of humans after all."

The eyes of the gathered chakra beast were giving off a sinister glow in the moonlight. The entire fight, if you call it that, had only lasted 4 minutes in total.

(Scene change)

With a final crushing motion from his hand, Rasa was able to make the golden dust inside of the Sphinx crush her organs from the inside.

The large chakra beast gave one final whimper before it fell, its eyes, ears, nose and mouth all leaking blood with gold mixed in.

"Pant. Pant. Dear Kami, I thought that was never going to end," the tired Kazekage muttered as he glanced around the room that looked like thousands of explosive tags had gone off all at once, icicles hanging off the ceiling.

A few feet away, laid a pile of sand that used to be one of his best men, until the beast had bitten him.

The other sphinx was just about finished as well as the fat boy managed to cut off its head some time ago, yet the beast proved resilient as it continued to attack for several seconds before finally collapsing.

"Haa haa haa, w-well that was easy," Kenji said offhandedly as he slid down an ice coated wall, "Wonder what's in store for us next."

A/N: It great to be back.

Hope this makes up for it, I know some of you have been wanting to know what Danzo has been doing all this time.

I also decided to mention Kenji's chakra beasts for those of you who forgot about them. Again, they are chakra beasts no matter how much Kenji trains them, and it is in their nature to consume large sources of chakra, mainly shinobi though. Also, if it wasn't clear already, the koi fish is a water bender.

Originally, I was going to make the chapter longer, but decided to shorten it so that I wouldn't overwhelm you with too much information after such a long break. I know that's happened to me and I'm always left scratching my head.

As for the needle grass, well I remember seeing a movie a few years back, I think the name is Aeon Flex or something, and I always thought that was the dopest shit ever. The scarab beetles are also from the Mummy, if you didn't get that.

Well until next time.