23

Lee – Yosh! We're finally back!

Kisame – Itachi, why his he still here?

Itachi – I convinced Phoenixsun to leave Lee with us for the rest of the arc.

Kisame – What? Why would you do that?

Itachi – Honestly, I enjoy his company. I find it refreshing after been force to hang around you for so long.

Lee – I'm happy to be here! Kisame-san, please teach me to be as youthful as you!

Kisame – What? I'm not youth-whatever!

Lee – But you are! Even Gai-sensei acknowledges it!

Kisame – No, I'm not!

Itachi – While those two fight it out, I would like to take a moment to thank all you readers on behalf of Phoenixsun for enduring this fic until now. We know that is not the best writing, especially in the past when was almost unbearable, that sometimes the story comes off a bit too cliché, and that the update rate is the stuff nightmare are made of. So, once again, to all of you who have read all 22 chapters until now, thank you.

Lee – That was so… Youthful!

Kisame – Please stop crying…

Itachi – (Sigh) Here's PHD's chapter 23…

Light Breaking Through the Leaves

The raven haired boy remained unnerved at the sight of the gigantic lump of earth. "I left my teammates because I was weak…" The Uchiha muttered. "I wanted to become stronger before this hatred that is dwelling inside of me consumed me." The young man's hand started on a set of already familiar hand seals. "And if I am ever to return to my friends, I cannot lose to the likes of you!" The Leaf nin stated as lighting sparked in his palm and covered most of his arm. "For my sake, for Team Seven's sake, I will defeat you!" A third coma appeared on each of Sasuke's Sharingan eyes.

Jirobo gritted his teeth at the Uchiha's glare. "Those eyes…" He muttered angrily. "It is only because of those blasted eyes that Orochimaru-sama has invested so deeply in you!" The Sound shinobi roared and tightened his grip so much that a crack appeared on the giant boulder. "I will squash your body and rip those damn eyes off, then I simply present that to Orochimaru-sama!" He declared before heaving the colossal rock toward the Leaf genin.

The determination in the eyes of the raven haired boy did not wavered as the boulder came crashing down on him.

"Damn it Jirobo!" Sakon screamed. "What are we going to do now? Orochimaru-sama is going to kill us! Don't you ever think?" The blue haired man angrily exclaimed.

The largest of the Sound team simply shrugged his leader's outburst off. "Don't worry, Sakon, we just need to find his corpse and take the bastard's eyes out, then we…" The transformed man's sentence was cut short as a chirping sound spread through the forest. "What the hell is that?"

Four pairs of Oto shinobi eyes directed their gazes to the giant boulder as a cracking noise joined the chirping.

Jirobo's face became a mix of shock and anger. "No… There is no way…!" He exclaimed.

Suddenly, the chirping was replaced by a thunderous roar as a streak of lighting broke through the boulder and shot into the sky.

The Sound nins looked up as the electricity started to mold into the shape of a dragon and proceed to dive toward the largest shinobi.

Shaking his bewilderment off, Jirobo was barely able to jump out of the electric dragon's way and was left once again dumbfound gazing at the cloud of destruction that followed the deafening blast that went off right were he had been standing. After the dust settled, the monstrous man jumped back in a bout of fear as he was met by the piercing glare of the lightning dragon.

"Let me say it one more time…" Sasuke's vice was heard behind the electric behemoth. "I will not lose to you." The boy affirmed as the dragon disappeared with a final roar, leaving the Uchiha and the Sound nin to glare at each other once more.

Jirobo's transformed body started to shake as anger overtook him. "You cocky bastard…" He muttered. "Next time I'm going to break every single limp in your body!" The orange haired monsters roared.

Kidomaru scratched his head as he let out a sigh of relief. "For a second there I thought were done for…" The black haired man admitted. "Good thing that Uchiha is made up of some tough stuff and had a couple of extra lives stashed away, uh?" He commented as he turned to look at his teammates.

Gritting her teeth, Tayuya glared at the two combatant nins. "That fat bastard! He could have gotten us killed by Orochimaru-sama by pulling off stunts like that!" The kunoichi shouted.

Sakon narrowed his eyes as he watched the mixture of frustration and anger that occupied Jirobo's face. "Kidomaru…" The Sound leaders called out. "Make sure that the Uchiha is not killed no matter what… Even if you have to take Jirobo out…"

The archer gazed at his blue haired teammate before smirking and shaking his head. "Acknowledged." He responded.

"Grrargh!" Jirobo suddenly roared before lunging towards the Leaf nin. "Die already, you little bastard!"

Sasuke stood his ground and watched as the Oto shinobi drew his fist back in mid-fly. At the last possible second, the Sharingan user simply moved his body to the side, successfully evading the incoming punch completely.

Frowning in frustration, the orange haired man swept his left leg in the attempt of driving a devastating kick into the Uchiha's side. The monstrous shinobi anger and annoyance grew when his young opponent not only was able to easily jump out of the kick's way, but was able to land one of his own, sending the larger man tumbling back.

The raven haired boy was amazed by his own prowess. "Somehow… It seems like he has gotten slower… Or at least I can track his movements better…" He reasoned. "I can even predict what he's going to do next… Could it be that my Sharingan has matured?" The genin realized as he looked around to find that even the leaves appeared to be falling in slow motion.

"You bastard! Don't look away from me!" Jirobo raged before charging towards the smaller shinobi once again. Still, no matter how much the large man strained his Cursed Seal Level Two body, the young Sharingan user seemed to be able to dodge all of his attacks with ease, almost as if the raven haired boy knew exactly what his opponent was going to do.

Deciding to go in the offensive, Sasuke blocked one more kick from the Oto nin and took the opening to drive his elbow into the transformed man's stomach, effectively stunning the larger shinobi and leaving his defenseless of for the Leaf genin to uppercut him and proceeded to kick his airborne body violently and sent the orange haired man flying away.

Jirobo fell as the bark of a tree was nothing but paper when it effortlessly gave up as his back made contact with it, going through it with tremendous force. "Damn it…" The monstrous shinobi grunted as he pushed himself up using what remained of the tree's trunk as support. "He hasn't gotten any fasters… Yet, none of my attacks are landing! It must be because of that damn Sharingan…!" The Sound shinobi complained in frustration, making the mistake of taking his eyes off his opponent for a few seconds.

"Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke called out before releasing a giant fireball towards the irritated Oto nin.

The transformed man failed to act quickly enough and was caught by the full blast of the Katon jutsu, sending him flying back.

The young Uchiha panted where he stood as the witnessed his handiwork. "Have I… Become stronger…?" He whispered to himself just in time before the monstrous shinobi broke through the cloud of smoke created by his jutsu, lunging towards him.

'Blind Rage' was the only suitable term that could be use to describe Jirobo as he made a mad dash towards his target. The large man thrust his hands forward again and again, but to no avail as the Leaf genin simple sidestepped, ducked, and jumped away from his grabs. Suddenly, the orange head man felt something hindering his movement, immediately he realized that his body was wraped in metal wire once again. To add to the man's horror, the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled his ears once again.

Taking advantage of the moment, Sasuke dashed forward with a Chidori charging in his left hand.

Without thinking twice, the Sound nin quickly formed the necessary hand seals to raise a wall of rock between him and the raven haired boy.

The stone barrier easily crumble at the power of the Chidori, but it was able to cut off the Sharingan's line of sight and slow the Raiton jutsu enough for Jirobo to catch it with his hand.

The Oto shinobi flinched as the lighting chakra seared the skin on his hand, but the pain soon subsided as the Chakra Kyuuin Jutsu started to take effect. The man's mouth formed a smirk at the look of bewilderment in the Leaf genin's face after his attack was successfully stopped. Closing his hand into a fist, the transformed man punched the raven haired boy right in his face, sending him flying back.

Not wasting any time, Sasuke jumped back to his feet the moment his back touched the dirt. "Good, I thought this was getting a little too one-sided…" The genin taunted his opponent while his Sharingan sent deadly glares at the larger man's direction. "But I promise you, you will not catch the next one!" The Uchiha exclaimed as he swiftly produced another Chidori and dashed forward.

Jirobo stood calmly unaffected by the younger shinobi's declaration and, instead, his hands were busy going through a set of hand seals. "Dorou Doumu!" He called out.

Instantly, the ground around the Sharingan user burst upwards, encasing the genin into a dome made up of rock and dirt.

"Heh… I don't need to catch it." The Sound nin commented as he walked towards the newly formed stone prison. Standing before his creation, Jirobo was about to place both of his palms on the dome to use the Chakra Kyuuin technique when an already familiar sound was heard.

By the sound of chirping birds, the Chidori broke through the rock as the dome started to crumbled. "You should keep in mind that Earth techniques are weak against Raiton jutsus." Sasuke commented as he directed his electrically charged hand towards the larger nin.

Suddenly, just as the Lightning jutsu was only a hair away from the target, it stopped.

Sasuke's scream filled the forest as an unbearable pain shot through his body, originating from the left side of his neck.

The Oto shinobi watched with smug satisfaction as the genin crumbled in front of him. "Hah…! I was wondering went it would kick in." Jirobo casually said.

Sharingan eyes filled with anger, surprise, and increasing fear looked up at the monstrous man before gazing at the left side of the Leaf nin's body. Shock and dread grew inside of Sasuke at the side of a dark flame pattern already covering his left shoulder.

"It seems that you have been letting Orochimaru-sama's gift go to waste…" The Sound nin pointed out. "And for not embracing what was so graciously offered to you, you are going to lose!" He proclaimed before kicking the downed boy in the stomach and sending him flying away in an arc.

The Uchiha landed back on the dirt with a thud that barely registered, just like the kick itself had been nothing but an afterthought as both cases failed in comparison to the pain that he felt emanate from his blasted Cursed Seal.

Parts of Sasuke's body were already starting to go numb due to the pain. The young man was faintly aware of the larger shinobi approaching as the pain continued to overwhelm him and his mind slowly wandered back to the village. "Naruto… Sakura… I'm sorry…" He thought. "I'm so weak… I can't even face you again…" The sound of breaking twigs announced that the transformed man was now right in front of him. "Sakura… I…"

Sakura sighed as her hands played with a pair of chopsticks and her eyes gazed vacantly at the wall of Naruto's apartment.

She was not sure how long she had been in that room. Whether it had been four hours or five, or if it was a day or two, it seemed that time had started to blend together for her and become distorted to her perception.

A cold, half eaten cup of instant ramen stood just a short distance away from her head that rested on the table. In the back of the pink haired girl's mind she wondered how angry Naruto might be when he found out she had taken some of his precious ramen without permission. That is, if blond ever came back.

To prevent her hands from shaking, the kunoichi gripped the chopsticks tighter. What had started as a passing thought had become a real and terrible fear. What if Naruto decided to leave her too? She could not help but dread silently as she stayed behind on a mission that would decide Team Seven's fate.

The worse part was that passing thought turned to terror led to an even grater one. What if Naruto and Sasuke fought and killed each other?

"Sasuke…" The girl had tried her best not to think of that name, but now that her mind had found its way back to the raven haired boy, the kunoichi could feel new tears forming in her emerald eyes.

Images from her teammate's goodbye kept replaying in her head. Maybe, if she had not allowed herself to be taken in by the moment, she would have not been so easily knocked out and she could have prevented all of this. Maybe, if she had not been so infatuated with the Uchiha, she could have seen the terrible turmoil inside the raven haired boy and done something to prevent all of this. Maybe, if she would have acted on her fears for Team Seven's future, she could have gotten Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei to sit down and talk things out, and none of this would have happened.

Tears were already falling freely on the table.

Suddenly, a knock on the door snapped the kunoichi out of her thoughts.

Standing up, Sakura rushed towards the door and quickly opened. She was slightly disappointed to find Tenten on the other side of the threshold.

"Sakura-chan! I've been looking everywhere for you. Ino-chan told me you might be here." The older girl greeted warmly.

The pink haired girl tried her best to smile at her fellow genin. "Oh… Hi, Tenten…" She answered back. "What did you need me for?"

Tenten scratched the side of her cheek awkwardly. "Well… Lee made me promise that I would find you and let you know that he is about to undergo surgery…" She revealed.

Sakura's face brightened slightly. "Ah yes, I stopped by from time to time to check on him in the hospital while visiting…" She stopped for a moment. "I asked Lee to keep me inform on his condition." The girl said as she tried to give the older kunoichi a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thank God…!" Tenten let out a sigh of relief. "For a while there I thought it was one of Lee's fantas…" The brown haired girl cut herself off, shook her head and proceeded to take a moment to compose herself before continuing. "Anyways, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in Naruto's home all by yourself? I don't hear him anywhere." She questioned.

The younger girl bit her bottom lip for a second. "He… He's out… On a mission…"

At those words, Tenten crossed her arms. "Him too, uh?" The weapons expert commented, earning a questioning look from the other kunoichi. "Well, I met with Hinata-chan before coming here, and she told me that both Neji and Kiba are out too." She explained. "It seems that they are all out on a Boys Only mission." The brown haired girl added with an indignant look.

Guilt crept up on Sakura as her gaze found its way to the apartment's floor.

"Though Hinata-chan did say that Neji had a very serious look on his face, I mean, more serious than usual, and that Kiba was acting uncharacteristically solemn." The older genin continued. "And Naruto has been pretty much all seriousness since I've known him… So I guess this must be a pretty important missi…" Tenten could not finish her statement as she caught sight of the pink haired girl.

The reality of how much Team Seven's situation was affecting others had started to dawn on Sakura, and if something happened to any of their friends and comrades that were currently on the other side of the village's wall, the pink haired kunoichi would not be able to forgive herself.

Tenten had gathered enough to infer the gist of the situation. Walking towards her shaking comrade, she placed one of her hands over the younger girl's shoulder. "But then again, they are our boys. Whatever it is that they are doing, they can take care of themselves and will soon come back to us." She offered a reassuring smile. "We just need to have faith in them." She added.

Sakura looked into Tenten's eyes before closing her own and silently praying. "I do have faith in you… Naruto… Sasuke-kun…"

Jirobo's foot hovered barely two feet above Sasuke's head, its heel ready to crush the genin's head.

While aware of his dire predicament, the Uchiha hah no control of his body, his limbs felt like lead, and his chest had trouble breathing. "Am I going to lose here…?" He wondered through the pain as he felt the Cursed Seal's pattern sear even more of his skin. "I won't even… Have a chance to keep the promise…!"

Amongst all the turmoil, a certain memory found its way into the raven haired boy's mind. It felt almost like a lifetime ago, when the young man carried his teammate's unconscious body and placed her carefully on a park bench. Somewhere in the present, Jirobo's leg twitched right when it was about to come down, but all that Sasuke could think about was the words he had spoken as he wipe away the single tear that had escaped Sakura's eye. "I promise… Someday, I will come back…" The Sound nin's heel was a hair away from crushing the genin's head. "To you…"

Jirobo's heel came down with thunderous force, but all it caused was a new crater in the ground as the Leaf shinobi managed push his body away in the last second. "What?" The large man exclaimed as he felt the ground crack beneath the sole of his foot.

Several feet away, Sasuke stood glaring at his opponent with a defiant Sharingan blazing in his eyes.

Every member of the Sound team watched dumbstruck as the young genin from Konoha willed the flame-like pattern that had spread through most of the left side of is body to recede back to his neck. "Impossible…" Was all that Kidomaru managed to say.

Anger grew inside of Jirobo. "Did you see that, Sakon?" He called out. "He completely rejected the Cursed Seal! He is useless to Orochimaru-sama already!" The monstrous shinobi added as he got into a fighting stance.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself…?" Sasuke said in a low, yet clear, voice. "I will not lose to you… I will defeat you!" The Sharingan user proclaimed as he reached into his already battered bag and pulled out a fuma shuriken. "Now, behold my power…!" The young man shouted as he held the shuriken open and the weapon started to glow. "The power of the Uchiha…! No! The power of Team Seven!" He called out before sending the metal instrument flying towards the enemy.

The Oto nin stood strong, completely unfazed by the incoming weapon. "This is nothing!" He stated as he sidestepped the sharpened blades and let the shuriken fly pass him.

Immediately, the large man felt something was wrong.

Despite Jirobo's certainty of having fully evaded the fuma shuriken, a cut had appear on the side of his body, but, as the orange haired shinobi soon found out, that was not the real problem. "What… What is going on…?" The Sound nin grunted as he felt jolts of electricity running up and down his spine, paralyzing his transformed body. "This… This is… Lightning chakra…?" The sound of branches being torn apart alerted Jirobo that the shuriken was still in midflight. Managing to turn his head around, the monstrous man could see as the metal instrument arced upwards, pass the trees, until it stood right on above of him, he could now see a small wire tied to the weapon that led all the way down to its owner.

"It's not done yet!" The Uchiha said in a menacing voice as his hands formed seals and the fuma shuriken dived downward. "Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke called out before sending a streak of flames upwards along the metal wire.

To the Sound shinboi's horror, the moment the fire reached the shuriken, the four blades of the weapons came apart and the flames that covered each of them took the shape of dragons.

In a monstrous explosion, the four dragons rained down on the transformed man, consuming him in a massive fireball and drowning out his screams.

Sasuke was left panting before the cloud of smoke and dust that had risen. Most of the Sharingan user's body still ached in pain, so the young man knew that he needed to get a hold of himself as soon as possible, especially since he knew that there were three other Sound nins about to attack him at any given moment.

Suddenly, and with a mad roar, a crazed Jirobo burst out of the dust and lunge towards the genin.

The Uchiha had enough time to see his opponent's gravely wounded body, with an arm missing and one of the shuriken's blade impaled on the upper part of one of his legs, before the Sound nin's remaining hand closed around the raven haired boy's neck and slammed his back against a tree.

"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!" All reason seemed to have abandoned the transformed man. "I'm going to kill you!"

Attempts to lessen the hold on his neck were futile for Konoha shinobi as his opponent's strength seemed to increase the further he drifted into madness.

A wicked and distorted smile formed in Jirobo's face at the expression of helplessness that his target showed. "I'm going to kill you!" He repeated and his grip strengthened.

"Damn it…!" Sakon cursed at the situation. "Kidomaru!" He called out and turned to look at his teammate.

The tanned man already had the arrow in his bow trained on his transformed Oto nin. "So long, Jirobo… Game over…" The black haired man said as he pulled the arrow back along the string.

Unaware of his teammates' actions, Jirobo glared into the Uchiha's eyes, gleefully savoring every second that transpired as more and more breaths escaped the young man, driving the monstrous man to strengthen his hold on the genin's neck even more, until…

Snap

The boy's handsome body went limp in Jirobo's hold. His hands dropped lifelessly to his side as his head fell back.

A grin invaded the Sound shinobi's face. "I did it!" He let the genin's body fall carelessly to the ground and turned to look at his comrades. "Guys, I did it! Killed the bastard!" The transformed man cheered gleefully.

Tayuya glared at his teammate. "You dumbass!" The kunoichi screamed. "It's a damn genjutsu! Turn around!" She shouted.

"Uh?" Jirobo gave the redhead a confused look before obeying. The last thing that the Sound nin saw was a pair jaws made up of electricity closing down on him.

The Raikiri Ryu completely consumed its victim and raced through the forest, tearing up trees and boulder like they nothing but paper, finally slamming what was left of the transformed body from Oto into the side of a small hill.

A chair flew pass Okina. A clattering sound later informed the seasoned shinobi that the object had shattered on the wall all the way at the end of the hall.

"Damn that bastard!" A roar was heard from the darkest part of the room.

Okina sighed. "Calm down…" The bearded man said halfheartedly. "Nothing can be done about it now."

A growl from the other person in the room was the first response he got. "First that bullshit with Akatsuki and now this!" The angry voice complained.

The graying shinobi nodded, sure that his younger comrade could see it despite all the darkness. "Yes, but you have to understand, with both of them outside the village, we could not waste this opportunity." Okina tried his best to explain. "And now that Orochimaru made his move, we have to act before Akatsuki does so as well." The former Waterfall shinobi pointed out.

It sounded as if a fist went up against a wall and the wall lost. "I know already!" The second party roared. "But goddamnit, I should have been the one assigned to this mission!"

Another sigh escaped aged shinobi. "Like I said, you cannot do anything about it now." The bearded man repeated himself. "The mission was assigned to them, and they already set off to carry it out." Okina knew that his reminder would do nothing to appease his comrade. "But you do not have to worry. I am sure that if it is them, this mission will be successful. After all, they are…" The sound of more pieces of the wall crumbling down cut the former Taki nin off.

"Don't even start with that again, Old Man…" The voice growled once more.

All that could be heard in the large dark room were the sounds of footsteps walking way. For a moment, Okina could have swore that he saw the glint of a sword been sheathed in the darkness, and it left the seasoned shinobi wondering that maybe his young teammate was angrier than he had predicted.

Sasuke stood panting with his left arm extended and his Sharingan fading from his eyes, his body suffering the backlash of unleashing two Raikiri Ryuu, on top of everything else that had happened on that day. Pushing his body to the limit, the Uchiha forced himself to start moving forward.

"Well, well, well, fatso did bite the dust after all." Kidomaru commented as he and his teammates landed in front of the exhausted genin. "Congratulations, Sasuke-chan, now you get to level up." The tanned man teased as two of his hands formed a seal. "Kumo Shibari!" He called out.

A pair of onyx eyes watched helplessly as a large spider web burst out the strange man's mouth, extending and threatening to cover him. Sasuke try to move his body, but all the managed to accomplish was to fall down to his knees as the white fabric moved closer and closer.

"Housekan no Jutsu!"

Suddenly, several small fireballs flew pass the tired Uchiha, intercepting the spider web and reducing it to ash. Immediately, four figures jumped between the raven haired boy and the remainders of the Sound Team. "Naruto…" Sasuke whispered.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Kiba, the latter with Akamaru lying on top of his head, stood imposingly in front of the wayward Leaf nin. "You sure are troublesome, Sasuke…" The Nara commented, looking back at his former classmate and smirking.

"Yeah…" Kiba exclaimed energetically, though there were some signs of fatigue in his voice. "And Shikamaru is a slave driver, we've been running nonstop for kami knows how long to catch up with your sorry ass" The Inuzuka complained, earning a smack on the backside of his head by Neji for his troubles.

The blond in the group remained quite for a couple of seconds more before breaking his silence. "You left Sakura crying…" Was the only thing that the spiky haired boy said, all without looking back at his teammate, instead his eyes remained trained on the Oto nins.

Tayuya gritted her teeth. "Great, now we have to take care of these brats! This is all that dead fatso's fault!" She angrily cursed.

A grin graced Kidomaru's face. "I'm not complaining… This just makes the game more interesting for me!" The man gleefully proclaimed.

"Do not forget our mission." Sakon intervened, his sight moving pass the newcomers and settling on his target. "We have to take the Uchiha to Orochimaru-sama."

Kiba took a step forward right away. "Like hell you are!" The brown haired boy said. "Sasuke might be an idiot, an asshole, and a jerk, but he's still one of our comrades and we will never let you have him!" The hooded boy's declaration was accentuated by a bark from Akamaru at the end.

"Also, Sasuke leaving the village all of the sudden pissed off a lot of people…" Shikamaru commented. "So we'll be dragging him back with us and let Ino and the other village girls inflect their punishment on him." The Nara casually stated.

"So, if you want him…" Neji finally spoke. "You will have to go through us." The Byakugan user firmly declared.

A light snicker escaped Sakon's lips. "We do not need to." The blue haired man nonchalantly turned his head to look at his female teammate. "Tayuya… Bind them…" He commanded.

Smirking, the kunoichi brought her flute to her mouth. "Mateki: Mugen Onsa!" She called out before starting to emit sound from her instrument.

Kiba and Akamaru were the first ones to feel the effects of the attack. "Gyargh! My body!" The Inuzuka screamed as the small white dog yelp in pain.

Before the others could react to their friend's predicament, the remaining Leaf nins found themselves with their limbs bound by an unseen force as pain ran rampant through their bodies.

Out of sheer force of will, Naruto managed to bring his hands up to his ears in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out the sound. "Hahah, that's useless, you retard!" Somehow, the blond could hear the redhead's voice through the melody. "My genjutsu travels in vibrations directly through the skin! Blocking your ears will do you no go, you poor bastard!" She gleefully and mockingly exclaimed.

"A wonderful melody." Sakon praised as he smirk wickedly at the struggling Konoha shinobi. "Now, Kidomaru, if you please."

The tanned man sighed. "I don't like this kind of tactics… It feels like a cheat code, but I guess a guy has to do what a guy has to do." He said before forming hand seals and taking air in. "Kumo Shibari!" Kidomaru shot another spider web towards the Uchiha.

Before the net could approach its target, it was caught by sudden powerful gust of wind that tore it apart. "I told you… That you would have to go through us to get to Sasuke…" Neji said with a low but firm voice as he stood up, apparently no longer affected by the sound based jutsu.

There was a small hiccup on the melody. "What? How is it not affecting him?" Tayuya's voice shouted through the music. The Kunoichi increased the tempo of her genjutsu and concentrated it on the insolent genin.

Still, the Hyuuga remained standing, staring down the three Oto nins and seemingly unhindered by the genjutsu. "Your sound…" Neji said as his body started to glow. "I can't hear it."

Chakra Kyuuin Jutsu – Chakra Absorption Jutsu

Dorou Doumu – Earth Prison Dome

Kumo Shibari – Spider Bind

Mateki: Mugen Onsa – Demon Flute: Phantom Chains

Lee – Aww… I wish I was there!

Itachi – Calm down, Lee.

Kisame – Finally we have another chapter focusing on action rather than sappy character development!

Itachi – Why are you so tactless?

Kisame – I was raised by the movie Jaws.

Itachi – That explains… Not nearly enough… Anyways, as all should know by now, the following chapters will focus on match ups between the Leaf and Sound teams.

Lee – So, please join us next time when Neji shows us his youthful side in PHD's chapter 24: Let the Caged Bird Sing!