Chapter 5: Crossroads

The Black Market district was jovial, as many figures walked around with varying mask that covered their faces as fire works lit the nights sky. This was an area where many laws were broken, only the desperate, poor, or foolish would settle here. The Hokage only spent a small portion of the cities budget to policing the district, so it was quite common to see crime's , such as murder or theft run rampant. The only reason there was any civility at all, was because the locals lived by an honor code. Information, goods and other precious products ran through this district like blood ran through the veins of a person, they were currency. So it was imperative that some form of law and order be established.

Kenji and the crew stood above the district, looking down from a nearby rooftop, and fire works exploded in the air all around them.

"Welcome to the Black market district" said Tatsuke.

"Didn't know they celebrated the the day of the fox here as well" Kenji scratched underneath his mask.

"Criminals like to have fun too" mentioned Claire.

Sid walked over to the edge and looked down on the celebration.

"Look at them, their all dressed head to toe, and they all have on mask, this is perfect we will blend right in."

"Ok lets go" Tatsuke jumped down and led the way.

The Group of teens stuck together as they slowly traversed through the crowd of celebrating criminals, some danced while others performed tricks on the sidelines to a crowd of citizens who wandered into the district on the only time of the year it was safe to.

Kenji stuck to the tail of the group as Tatsuke led from the front. Everything was going smoothly until he accidentally bumped into a hooded woman, knocking her mask off.

"I'm so sorry" he said.

"Its ok young man, just watch yourself next time" her face was still covered by her hood.

"You need help with that?" Kenji reached down and tried to grab her mask, but she pushed his hand away.

"Its ok go enjoy the celebration kid."

"Ok thanks, uh... happy fox day" he ran away and caught back up to his group, then vanished into the crowd.

The woman picked up her mask and put it back on her face.

"Stupid kids" she muttered as her hands flailed knocking the dirt off the front of her mask. Then she readjusted her red and black eye patch.

The group made it to their destination, it was a large bug shop, the windows were painted black and the sound of buzzing could be heard from outside. They entered the shop and a young teenager sat at the front desk.

"Hello customers my name is Shido Aburame, instead of having fun outside I'm here servicing you, how may I help you today."

A rolled up newspaper flew across the room and struck the boy in the back of the head.

"Ouch, Gramps what the hell?."

Claire laughed underneath her mask.

An old man stepped out from behind the boy. "Excuse my grandson he is a bit of a fool but he does good work."

Tatsuke bowed before the old man. "We need your help."

"Go on."

"We are looking for a rare blue flower, and I heard a rumor you were the best at finding things thought to be lost to this world."

"I'm sorry young man but I can't do no such thing" the old man took a seat next to his grandson.

"Are you serious." Silas stepped forward.

"Let me finish, but my grandson here can, he is the person you are looking for."

The group looked at the kid still rubbing his bruised head. Shido jumped up and looked at the group.

"Follow me" he said.

They walked to the back of the shop and entered a room filled with many different types of insects all placed in different sized cages. It was the creepiest place Kenji had ever been. Shido kept walking until he stopped in front of a specific cage. He reached into the cage and grabbed a glowing red beetle.

"This is a Chrysomelidae beetle , it is known for its love of eating all types of flowers and leaves, fortunately for you guys I'm an expert at communicating with all types of insects."

He leaned over and whispered to the beetle, the beetle jumped from his hand and started flying directly in front of the group. It started to glow even more, seemingly imbued with chakra.

"Wow" Claire stared as she walked around the Beetle as it hovered in front of them.

"So, with this, the Beetle, is now yours , it will take you to your destination" Shido pointed outside.

"Wait how does this beetle know where to find the flower?" asked Silas.

"He doesn't know where it's at, he's relaying information from other Beetles in his family back to you to find its location. Insects communicate like a game of long range telephone, except they never lie to each other, they make excellent tools for gathering information, but they suck at tracking."

"That's pretty cool" responded Dresden.

"Don't worry we can discuss payment once you return."

"Alright lead the way Beetle." The bug flew towards the door, and the team followed.

Once outside, it would fly a great distance then stop, repeating this pattern over and over again as the group followed. After a long distance the beetle flew into the forest outside of the city, where the group was forced to run high on top of the tree branches to keep sight of it and catch up with its pace. Kenji and Tatsuke looked at each other as they traversed over the tree branches, one of them picked up his speed while the other attempted to match as a response, neither was sure who actually started the competition, but nonetheless it was going to end with a victor.

"unbelievable, look at those two Claire."

"They seem to be having fun at least, you can join them if you want Sid, were fine back here."

"Pfft, as if, I'm not one for competitions and certainly not one with those two monsters." he looked over to Silas then Dresden, as he jumped over to the next tree branch.

Tatsuke and Kenji darted through the forest with intense speed, the leaves brushed past their face as the wind cut through their hair. They were neck and neck as they got closer to the edge of the forest, a clear tint of blue could be seen in the distance as the light from the moon beamed between each opening atop of the trees. When they reached the edge, they both shot out of the forest, like it was spitting two bugs out of its mouth. They landed simultaneously next to a large body of water.

The beetle had led them to a waterfall, the nights sky began to settle as it illuminated the water and caste its luminosity over everything around them. The beetle stopped and landed on the other side of the waterfall, directly on top of a glowing blue flower, it was beautiful to look at. The center of the flower glowed with a soft yellow and the tips and veins of the flower glowed white.

Claire landed next to Kenji "Amazing, that's the flower, look at the glow, its beautiful."

The remainder of the group landed right behind her and Sid peaked over her head attempting to view the flower from her perspective.

"Yea that's it, that's the one you described right Kenji?"

Kenji looked at Sid "Yea."

"What the hell is that near the flower" Dresden pointed to the area above the flower.

A pair of massive red eyes lurked in the darkness, it observed the group as if they had just trespassed into it's territory. The shape of the creature was hard to make out, but based on what they could see, it stood as tall as one of the trees in the forest and its body was as wide as a car. It let out a massive roar in the direction of the group.

"RAWWWW."

The monster launched itself into the air and the group braced themselves for a fight. In one bound it jumped from its location, across the river, directly in front of the group, shaking the ground on its landing. Tatsuke and Kenji were amazed at the sheer size of the creature, it was enormous, but most importantly it was the perfect test subject to try out new jutsu, they both shared the same mind as they readied their fist. The group tossed their mask into a nearby bush, as they didn't want them getting damaged in the fight.

"Are we seriously gonna fight that thing" Silas was unsure of himself, as he readied his ninja tool.

"What choice do we have , its either this or..." The creatures massive hand swung through the air cutting the wind as it crashed directly into Sid before he could finish his sentence. Kenji jumped into the air and caught him from behind as they both rocketed towards the nearby tree, which snapped in half on impact. The group was left stunned, this thing was big and it was fast.

"Sid , Kenji !" Claire called out to them as leaves and small branches fell all around them. Tatsuke had already launched himself towards the beast and began firing jutsu at it.

[Fire Style, Fire Ball Jutsu]

Flames burst forth from his mouth and encased the creature's entire body in fire, blocking it's vision. Claire and Silas took this opportunity to go rescue Kenji and Sid, while Tatsuke and Dresden distracted the monster. The Debris around the area where they impacted, began to move as Claire and Silas ran towards them. Kenji appeared, and carried Sid around his shoulder, both were badly wounded, but Sid was unconscious in his arms.

Compared to him he was doing just fine. Silas helped Claire remove the debris from their path, as Kenji walked forward he placed Sid on the cleared space, Claire ran to his side and placed her hand over his heart making sure he was still alive, then her hands began to glow green.

"You weren't kidding, she is a medical ninja, you don't see that to often outside of the Haruno family" Kenji coughed up blood. "Don't worry Claire, tend to his wounds, he's in much worse condition than I am, besides I have a date with an overgrown monkey."

Silas and Kenji ran back to support Tatsuke, just as the beast deeply inhaled and blew away the screen of fire projecting on its body, the gust of wind lifted Tatsuke off of his feet and sent both him and Dresden flying towards Kenji and Silas. They landed on the ground next to them.

"This dam thing took the entire brunt of my jutsu, and wasn't damaged one bit" Tatsuke stood to his feet and dusted himself off.

"We may need to think of another strategy to take this thing down, were already down two people" Dresden wiped the blood from his nose.

"There is no way we can beat this thing, its breath alone was enough send you guys flying."

Tatsuke looked at Silas "Don't worry, me and Kenji can take him, what I need you guys to do is provide a cover for the both of us, we will approach this problem like we're robbing a hard to hit location."

The three boys all understood, the only one left out of the loop was Kenji.

"So what's the plan?"

The beast Readied itself and began charging on all fours, before Kenji could get an answer to his question. Dresden and Silas jumped backwards into the forest. Tatsuke yelled at Kenji "Get ready to fight and follow my lead." The sounds of two Ninja tools could be heard activating in the forest.

[Water style: Hidden Mist Jutsu]

[Water style: Hidden Mist Jutsu]

The entire Surrounding area became enveloped in a thick fog, causing the creature to stop his charging, as it was unable to see its target. Kenji and Tatsuke both stood next to each other.

Tatsuke Placed his hand next to his chest and began breathing heavily. He weaved an intricate hand sign and spoke the words.

"Lighting style - Body tempering Jutsu" a massive surge of chakra covered his body, the surface of his body was now covered in lighting and it danced across every part of him, even the tips of his hair jolted with electricity, and his breathing returned to normal.

"RAWW"

The beast's Roar shook the entire forest, but it still could not see its opponent, luckily for the two boys the beast massive size still caste a perfect silhouette in the mist, they couldn't see him perfectly but this was enough to give them the advantage they needed. Kenji and Tatsuke began the fight immediately, racing side by side, it reminded Kenji of their race through the forest, they both smiled. As one approached the beast, the other would attack from the opposite side. Kenji leaped from the mist and landed several blows on the face of the creature, the first few barely did anything to it, the beast responded by swiping with immense speed and precision in the direction of the boy, but it missed every time, the fog was too thick.

Each time Kenji would land a punch, his partner would come out of the mist as he retreated. The punches from Tatsuke sent several electrical charges down the creatures spine , causing it to enrage , fueled by its pain. It swiped in his direction and missed, just as before. Tatsuke darted back into the fog as Kenji entered from above the beast, punching it several more times, this time each punch was heavier than the last few punches. The creature began to physically move due to the weight of Kenji's punches, each one created a shock wave causing the creatures cheeks to distort into many forms.

"Incredible, I thought I was hallucinating in our last battle, but the longer he appears to be in combat the stronger and faster he appears to get, what is this?" said Tatsuke

Kenji landed his final attack on the beast before retreating back into the fog. The monster was now bleeding from it's head, and there were wounds all over it's face. Tatsuke took this opportunity to try and finish off the beast while it was clearly weakened. He jumped into the air and arced both of his arms towards the beast as if he was about to throw a football, a massive stream of electricity formed from his back arm and rushed towards his front hand, forming a javelin made of lighting.

Tatsuke yelled "Lightning bolt" he through the lighting directly towards the stomach of the beast, the bolt cut through the mist and made a terrifying sound that made the beast's roar seem small in comparison. When it reached the monster it pierced his belly and evaporated, covering its entire body, the creature screeched in pain as its fur turned black and its skin became filled with electricity. It hunched over, fell to both knees and slumped.

Kenji and Tatsuke rallied in front of the creature.

"You think its dead?"

"I'm not sure, usually when opponents get hit with that jutsu they fall over completely, its lethal in the size I just used it, but considering that thing is soo large , it's possible that it's still alive."

The beast groaned as it slumped it's head into the ground. They took a step back. Then suddenly the creature lifted it's head, it's eyes were now pitch black, and it's skin began to recover from the wounds it had received from the duo.

"It can heal!"

"We need to finish him now" Tatsuke rushed forward with another attack.

The creature stood straight up, and collapsed both hands together, the ensuing clap sent a massive gust of wind that completely dispersed the mist and cleared the air. The wind forced both of them back. This time the creature's posture was that of a human instead of a gorilla.

"Not bad" it spoke with a deep voice, sending shivers down Kenji's spine, they were frozen in fear at the sight of the monster. It's wounds completely healed and it's fur began to turn a dark red. It took a step forward and within an instant closed the distance between Kenji and Tatsuke. It sent a kick flying directly at them, Tatsuke eyes immediately dawned the pattern of the sharingan and dodged the creatures kick, Kenji was not so fortunate. The kick sent him crashing into the ground creating a massive crater that shook the surrounding area. Although Tatsuke dodged, the force of air surrounding the kick was enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

The creature stopped and looked around. Dresden and Silas both hid with their backs against a tree, eyes widened in fear with both hands covering their mouths.

Tatsuke slowly crawled to his feet, he held one of his arms which appeared to be broken from the fall.

"Kenji!" he yelled.

"Don't worry he is not dead" The monster turned to face the crater where Kenji was last seen. Up from the ground Kenji's blood soaked body walked from the smoke created by the crater, his body was badly damaged but his spirit was intact. He spit out blood as two shadow clones helped him along before vanishing.

"Not today!" He walked forward and tied his headband around one of his wounds revealing the Uzumaki house symbol. "You will not bury an Uzumaki today!"

The creature began to clap, each time his hands met each other the ground would slightly shake. "Not bad, not bad at all". Both boys now stood opposite of the creature. Tatsuke poured all of his chakra into one jutsu and summoned a sword made entirely out of lightning. They both looked at each other, and knew what had to be done. Tatsuke put his arm in his jacket and used it as a sling. Kenji widened his stance, blood still dripped from his body.

They launched themselves at the creature, moving so fast each boy left behind an afterimage as they approached, the creature obliged and matched their speed. The first to land a blow was Kenji, his punch was aimed directly at the monsters head, the creature saw the incoming punch and slightly underestimated his opponent, his eyes widened and he blocked the blow, the shock wave from the punch was enough to rival his own.

"Unbelievable" his voiced rung deep into their souls.

Tatsuke swung his blade between each opening Kenji created, but the creature opted to dodge the attack after seeing what Kenji was capable of, the blade pierced the nights sky and lightning danced for miles cutting everything in its path completely; trees, rocks, anything and everything was sliced to its core with every missed swing from the blade.

The creature began to sweat as it laughed in excitement. The two boys retreated backwards as they prepared for a final push against the monster. Kenji focused all of his chakra in one hand and formed a massive rasengan, with this they rushed forward interchanging their positions as to confuse the beast, but it could see them perfectly and merely prepared to receive the attack, it seemed confident in its durability. It met both boys head on receiving both the rasengan and an attack from the sword made of lightning. The combined attack created a massive explosion sending the creature spinning in the opposite direction, its eyes were now lifeless as it rocketed several miles through the forest. Both boys began to breathe heavily as they collapsed and passed out on the ground.

****

The monster landed into a massive boulder, it's eyes were white, but then it immediately woke up and began to heal, dusting off the pieces of rock that clung to it's body. It stood back up and looked toward the direction it flew in from, and began to walk back towards the fight, when suddenly he saw a small squirrel chewing on an acorn furiously. It sat on top of the boulder he crashed into. He looked at the squirrel, sighed, and turned into the opposite direction, then vanished into the darkness of the forest.

*****

Kenji and Tatsuke awoke to the sounds of Claire crying as she hugged the now healed Sid.

"Their awake" Silas pointed.

"Oh my god you guys were so badly wounded, I didn't know if my healing was enough" Claire walked over to them both and hugged each of them.

"You did great Claire" Tatsuke rubbed her head.

"Yea great job I feel as good as new" Kenji flexed before wincing from the pain still present in his ribs.

"What the hell was that monster?" Sid sat down.

"No clue but after that attack, I doubt its getting back up."

"Speaking of getting back up" Dresden pulled a Glowing flower from behind his back "We got the flower thanks to you two."

"Yup this is the one my dad described" Kenji gently rubbed the flower, now in his hands. He then handed it to Claire.

"Why thank you Mr. Fox" she accepted the flower while gesturing with a curtsy.

"Get a room you two" said Silas jokingly.

The whole group laughed. They immediately packed the flower away to hide its glow and headed back to the shop to thank the owner, they weren't worried about the pay, as they were pretty sure what they wanted in exchange.

It took very little time for the group to return as there was no need to stop every few minutes, and they made sure to run at top speed. They made their way back to the city and traversed the celebrating crowd once again. They entered the shop and approached the counter but no one was there. Kenji leaned over the counter and rang the bell.

Suddenly Shido ran out from a nearby room dressed in a bug mask and a celebration suit.

"Oh you guys are back, that was fast, did you guys get the flower?" as he said this, he held out his hand and the red beetle landed on his index finger.

"Yes, here it is" Claire reached into her bag and pulled out the flower, she then placed it on the counter, brought out her kunai and surgically sliced it in half, making sure not to cause any damage to the flower that would render it's properties useless. She then handed the other half to Shido.

"Thanks for the business folks."

"No, thank you, our friend will get better thanks to you" The group bowed as a sign of respect before taking their leave.

They wasted no time, but as they exited the shop a strange woman entered behind them.

*****

Rekka had finally found what she was looking for, it took her forever as her sense of direction was atrocious. She approached the counter and saw a young man with a bug mask on his face.

"Welcome how may I help you today."

Rekka walked closer to the boy and knocked his mask off.

"Your just a kid, where is the owner of this shop."

"uhh.. he is out enjoying the celebration, but if your looking for something or someone I'm your man" he pointed to himself while puffing his chest out.

"Fine, but if jasper set me up, I'm gonna go back there and break his legs but not before I break your nose."

Shido swallowed his spit. "No worries just tell me what your looking for."

"I cant tell you what I'm looking for, but I can give you something that belongs to it."

"That also works" said Shido.

"Here" Rekka handed him a thin sliver of red hair that looked like animal fur.

Shido walked away and came back with a brown beetle.He then fed the hair to the beetle.

"This is a tracking beetle, it devours material and searches the area for a similar scent, but because its sense of smell is so limited compared to animals, these beetles use a complex system of chakra networks that connect them to each other, this way they can share many senses among the same family type, all you need to do is follow this beetle as it sniffs out the corresponding chakra."

Rekka placed a bag of money on the counter, she didn't bother counting it as she was sure after looking at this dump that it was adequate payment.

"so I just need to follow it?"

"yes."

The beetle immediately jumped off the table and darted for the door.

"What the hell man?"

"Whoa I've never seen it do that before."

Rekka raced toward the beetle as it jumped out of the door and turned the corner , she rushed outside swinging the door open completely and scanned the area for the beetle. She fixated her gaze and enhanced her vision. What she saw was a tiny insect darting through the crowd, it jumped around and only stopped once it found it's target.

The beetle was now attached to the back of a boy who she ran into earlier. He was the young man who made her drop her face mask. She recalled he was wearing a fox mask and a tattered cape.

"Shit it's that kid I bumped into earlier."

Rekka raced between the crowd and began following the group of teenagers.

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Once Kenji and the gang reached Uchiha haven, they wasted no time and sprinted towards the the house where Shisu waited. Once inside Claire took the flower into the kitchen and began prepping it, while the boys waited in the living room all exhausted from today's adventure.

Claire raced upstairs and administered the medicine to Shisu. No longer than thirty minutes had passed, and the once bedridden Shisu woke up, next to him, Claire laid passed out in a chair by his side.

"Wake up sleepy girl" Shisu pinched her cheeks.

Claire woke up , and a big smile swept across her face. " your alive, your all better" she started crying. So he hugged her.

"Where is the rest of the gang?"

"Downstairs sleeping, lets go surprise them."

The two quietly made their way downstairs, and the image of five boys could be seen sprawled out over the furniture fast asleep , so tired they forgot to remove their mask.

"Who the hell is that in my fox mask?" he pointed in the direction of Kenji.

"Oh him he's just a friend , he is also the one who helped us cure you, without him we would be still scrambling to find a cure" she hugged him once more.

"Ok cool, lets just let them sleep , we can wake them in the morning."

Shisu and Claire walked to their separate rooms and went to bed after saying good night to each other.

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Rekka stood outside of the gang's home, hidden on top of a nearby tree branch. She lamented to herself. Then vanished into the night.