Even though their training schedule had been thrown off by a variety of reasons, the Ninjetti Warriors were still given their days off. From the end of that Friday, until the next Wednesday. An entire five day weekend for them to do whatever they wanted, free from training. The four Warriors had decided beforehand to spend much of it together. So they were all out doing various activities throughout the cities. But even though they had a temporary break from having to train, that didn't mean that their duties as Ninjetti Warriors were suspended. If something happened like a monster attack, or a Tenga raid, they still had to be ready to go at a moments' notice. So even though they were having fun, they still had to keep an eye out for the village and keep their ear to the ground for danger.

But for now, they weren't ninja in training. They weren't specially armed warriors of justice. Right now, they were just three pre-teens (barely teen in Kiba's book). Sadly, even though Team 8 got a reprieve from their Shinobi duties, Lee didn't. When Gai was initially approached about this idea, he was about to agree, but then he remembered about Lee's fight against Neji before Rito attacked. While they had both already (half-assed) apologized to each other about it, Gai didn't want to let Lee off that easily. Especially when he found out that Lee had removed his weights during the battle. Gai originally told Lee to only remove them when he was protecting something precious to him, but Lee disagreed with that notion. Since he had been training under Ryūseirei, Lee no longer saw the point of fighting without your full abilities available to you. So he started to show a lot less hesitation in taking them off. Because of that difference of opinion, Lee was forced to still train while the rest of the team was taking a break.

Even though their bodies were out having fun, their minds were with Lee, hoping that he was still happy. Which was why they were weirded out when, on Monday, they teleported themselves to a remote island in Water Country to go to the beach and found Lee waiting for them. Naruto said "Lee? How are you here? I thought Gai-sensei didn't give you a break?"

Lee said "Let's just say that I'm starting to love my Step-In Dummy."

Kiba said "You used a life-sized, fully automated double of yourself to go to a punishment for you? Why didn't I think of that?"

The others just laughed and got ready for their day on the beach. As they laid everything out and got ready to relax, they heard Ryūseirei's voice in their heads say "Sorry to cut the break short guys, but there's trouble. Iwagakure is being invaded by Tengas."

Naruto said "Iwa? That's weird. They're usually never attacked."

Ryū said "I don't know why they're attacking, but it can't be good. Guys, get over there and help them."

They quickly packed up everything they had and took it home. From there, they transformed and teleported themselves to the front gates of Iwa. As they arrived, Falcon switched to his Ninja Form and flew into the sky. While up there, he used his Eagle Vision to see if there were any Tenga around. While he was doing that, the others had to get themselves together. For one thing, Iwa and Konoha might say that everything is forgiven after the Third Shinobi War, but there was still a lot of resentment, especially from the family of those who were dead. Lee and Hinata may not have known anyone who died in the war, but Iwa was still considered anathema in Konoha, so they had to force themselves to see these people as "citizens" instead of "Iwa citizens".

Kiba's dad was killed during the fight against Iwagakure no Sato, so he was taking the longest to get over his issues. As Falcon landed, Akamaru said "Aibou, it's time to fight."

Kiba nodded and composed himself. Falcon said "Guys, they're at the west entrance. Let's go."

As they said that, the team all started to move, running across the village's roofs. As they were going, Hitori focused on his hearing and heard screaming. He said "Aibou, I think we better move faster. Some woman just screamed."

Wolf relayed the message to the others, and Falcon said "Dragon, catch a ride on Hitori. Guys, let's move."

Everyone nodded and at the next jump between roofs, Hinata changed into her Ninja Form and took off flying, with Naruto beside her. Wolf hopped to the roads and used his Hyper Sprint ability to shoot off. Dragon quickly hopped on Hitori's back, but Hitori bucked and growled. Dragon quickly hopped off, thinking that Hitori's feral side was about to pop up again. Hitori barked a couple times in sequence, but Dragon didn't understand him. Hitori let out a small bark, which Dragon could've sworn sounded like "Damnit."

Hitori pointed one finger to Dragon's Dragon Shield. Dragon thought 'It must be too heavy.'

Dragon switched to Ninja Form and hopped on Hitori, who barked happily. Then, Hitori disappeared, easily catching up to Kiba. In a matter of minutes, Wolf, Hitori and Dragon arrived to see that a woman was being cornered by six Tenga. Hitori shot off like a rocked towards them with Dragon on his back. Timing it right, Dragon hopped off of Hitori (who took the left two Tenga), transformed to Ranger Form in midair, and landed on top of the Tenga to the farthest right. As Dragon landed, he kicked the Tenga on the second right back, then drew the Dragon Dagger and plunged it into the head of the Tenga he landed on. As he took his Dagger out, he saw that the second Tenga was about to shoot a fireball at him. Dragon thrusted his chest out to meet the fireball, causing a small explosion which did nothing to him. Dragon ran at the Tenga, hopped into the air, and hit the Tenga with a Dragon Blast in the neck, breaking it like a twig.

Hitori used his speed to spear one Tenga right in the chest. As the other came for him, Hitori swung his head and the Tenga on his horn went flying into the second Tenga, knocking him down. Hitori quickly jumped on top of the second Tenga and used his claws to tear it apart.

The last two living Tenga were caught between a small-horse-sized wolf-dog hybrid, and a dagger wielding neck breaking machine. Before they could try to fly away, they felt the wind shift, and no more. Imbedded in their chests were the two halves of the Wolf Lance, both crackling with electricity. Both of the halves let the electricity in them go, causing an explosion that took the Tenga out. Wolf walked up and took both of the halves and reconnected them. As that was done, the two men and dog turned to the woman, expecting to see a look of relief on her face.

To their surprise, she was terrified. She screamed "Demons! The Demons are in the village!"

The woman quickly turned around and ran away, screaming about demons at the top of her lungs. After she left, Crane and Falcon landed. Falcon said "What did we miss?"

Wolf said "Well, that lady took one look at us and took off running."

Falcon quizzically said "That's weird. Why would she?"

Hearing another explosion, Dragon said "It can wait. For now, we have to fight."

The others nodded, and followed the sound of the explosion to the main battle. Falcon said "Crane-"

Crane said "Get to the nearest buildingtop and start shooting" and took to the nearest roof to start shooting the Tenga.

Falcon said "Wolf, Hitori-"

Wolf interrupted him and said "Take out the group of Tenga coming in as backup." Then he hopped on Hitori and disappeared.

Falcon said "Dragon-"

Dragon said "Uuh, I don't know."

Falcon chuckled a bit. Since Falcon, Crane, and Wolf had been doing this so long, they knew where he would've wanted them before he even spoke. Dragon still had some ways to go. Falcon said "Dragon, you're with me. We're gonna provide backup to that group of ninja surrounded by Tenga."

Dragon said "Oh, okay."

Falcon said "Let's move."

Falcon and Dragon took off, but before they could get too far, Ryūseirei said over the link "Boys, try this fight in Ninja Form."

That request threw not only Dragon and Falcon into confusion, but Takaseirei also. Takaseirei said "Why do that? That would only weaken them."

Ryū replied "Taka, think about it. In their untransformed state and their Ranger Forms, they have weapons to help them fight. This will give them good hand-to-hand experience. You never know when it'll pay off down the road."

Takaseirei thought it over, and said "Okay then, let's-"

Takaseirei was interrupted by Ryūseirei muttering "Maybe if he had a little more experience, he wouldn't have gotten his ass handed to him by Kiba."

That caused Takaseirei and Naruto to both yell out "What the hell?"

Ryūseirei, who realized what he said over the link, said "Nothing."

Dragon transformed into Ninja Form to join Falcon who was already in Ninja Form. They both ran through the crowd of Iwa ninja and Tenga and saw a ring of Ninja being attacked by Tenga. The ninja were holding their own well, but it looked like it was inevitable that they would fall. The two of them wouldn't let that happen.

They charged the circle with Dragon in front. Dragon quickly jumped in the air and yelled out "Dragon Wind!"

The attack knocked down three Tenga, giving Falcon time to jump over them and hit one Tenga with a dropkick. They didn't give the Tenga time to regroup as the Tenga standing nearest to Dragon got a left hook to the beak and a right jab to the stomach, sending the Tenga folding over in pain. It's face then became the target of an uppercut by Dragon, sending the Tenga to stumble back in pain, barely keeping itself from blacking out. It's efforts were in vain as Dragon quickly twisted and bashed his heel into its face.

Dragon turned around and blocked a claw strike by a Tenga. Then he blocked a strike from the Tenga's other hand. Dragon looked into the Tenga's eyes, but saw a faint orange light coming from its mouth. Thinking quickly, Dragon ducked and kicked the Tenga in the chin, yelling "Dragon Launch!"

The Tenga's gaze turned skyward, and so did the fireball that it shot out of its mouth. Dragon stood up, only to see the light once again coming from the Tenga's mouth. Dragon backhanded the Tenga and, as it turned a different direction, it shot out a fireball that hit one of its friends. Dragon quickly punched out with his left hand towards the Tenga's face and narrowly missed. As he did, he reached his hand around the back of the Tenga's head and grabbed its beak from the Tenga's left. With his other hand, he grabbed the Tenga's head from the other side and twisted as hard as he could, causing a sickening *SNAP* to sound through the battleground.

Dragon backed up from the now dead Tenga to see that its friends had surrounded him. Dragon put one hand behind his back and with the other, made a 'come here' motion. The Tenga obliged and charged him. Dragon ducked and yelled out "Dragon Gale!"

Dragon's attack knocked all of them to the ground just as he wanted it to. As they hit the ground, he jumped up, flipped in the air into an axe kick, hitting one Tenga in the head. A few seconds later, the other Tenga got back up, but that one didn't. The remaining Tenga charged Dragon, but he was ready. A year of fighting against Maito Gai and Neji Hyūga had accustomed him to blocking attacks from every direction. Dragon was dancing around the Tenga, moving past all of their attacks like the seasoned fighter he was. As he was blocking and dodging though, his mind was running at a mile a minute. He was analyzing every attack that the Tenga were sending his way, waiting until he found-'An opening!'

Maybe it was the fact that the Tenga hadn't been landing any hits on him. Maybe it was that they were giving up, or tired. Or maybe it was pure coincidence. But at that moment, the Tengas had a pause in their seemingly endless assault at the same time that Dragon had dodged the strike of the only attacking Tenga. Utilizing that advantage, Dragon quickly punched the Tenga in the face twice, kneed it in the gut, grabbed it by the feathers on the back of its head and the bottom of its vest, and threw it headfirst into the gut of a second Tenga. Dragon ducked low, twisted in a circle, and performed the Dragon Gale, knocking another Tenga to the ground. Still turning, Dragon stood up to his full height, jumped in the air, and performed the Dragon Wind, sending another Tenga flying back. As he landed, Dragon landed facing the last remaining Tenga surrounding him. Dragon dodged the claw strike from the Tenga, then grabbed its arm. With its arm in his grip, Dragon held it with one hand, and with the other, put his hand on the elbow. He quickly broke the elbow and bent the arm back, causing the Tenga to scream in pain. As it was screaming, Dragon pulled on the arm, causing the Tenga to stumble towards him. As the Tenga was stumbling forward, he kneed it in the gut, causing it to black out.

While Dragon was mutilating the Tenga, Falcon was holding his own. Falcon dodged the claw strike from a Tenga, but then was hit in his back as a Tenga fired a fireball at him. Falcon was about to turn around, but the orange light from the Tenga in front of him signaled it was about to fire. Seeing this, Falcon hopped six inches off the ground, and used his power of flight to quickly shoot to the right. As he landed, he quickly ducked under a punch from a Tenga, then kicked the Tenga in its beak. He followed that up with a punch to the face and a fast kick to the knee. The Tenga dropped to one knee from the pain, which let Falcon kick it in the temple, sending it down from the count. As another Tenga charged him, Falcon quickly grabbed its' arm and flew into the air. As he flew in the air, he turned towards the ground and slammed the Tenga headfirst into the ground. Then, Falcon went flying towards the other Tenga, using the one in his arms as a battering ram. Using that Tenga, he took out two more, leaving him only two to fight. Falcon threw the Tenga in his arms away and landed. As he landed, he was being attacked by the last two Tenga, desperately trying to hit him. Try as they might, they didn't land a single hit on him. When one made a mistake to try and kick him, Falcon caught the kick, then levitated in the air, twisted, then slammed the Tenga into the ground, hitting the back of his head. As the last one tried to run away, Falcon thought 'Hmm…I wonder how tough that vest they all wear is?'

Falcon took flight, flew in a giant circle to build up speed, then sped at the Tenga with his full speed. As he was going, he pulled his fist back, and at the right time, punched the Tenga in it's back. As he did, he heard a scream, and heard and felt the Tenga's vertebrae break under his hand. As Falcon landed, he thought 'I said it once, and I'll say it again. These powers are awesome!'

After clearing out the Tenga around them, Dragon and Falcon went up to meet with the ninja they had saved. Falcon said "Are you all alright?"

The leader of them, a Jōnin by the look of him, said "We're fine, thanks. But how did you-"

They were unable to continue their speech as they saw a purple flash, signaling more backup had come. And come it did. In the form of-

As Dragon saw their new competition, he said with excitement "Two Cyber-Tengas."

Falcon, always looking for a good fight, was almost giddy when he said "One for each of us."

Dragon said "But to take them on, we're gonna need a bit more power. So, shall we?"

Falcon said "Do it."

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

While Wolf and Hitori were tearing through the backup Tenga, they were getting looks of hate from the Iwagakure ninja, specifically the Jōnin. Wolf had half a mind to confront them about it, but he decided that defeating the Tenga came first. With Hitori on his side, the Tenga were just small fry and easily defeated. The last thing Wolf expected was to be hit with a sword slash. Wolf let out an exclamation of pain and dropped to one knee as he wasn't expecting the pain. He heard the screams of a man and quickly turned around to see that Hitori had tackled one of the Iwagakure nin and was growling at him. Being at the mercy of a small-horse-sized wolf-dog hybrid should've scared the shit out of the man, but his expression was stony as he said "Ninja of this village! Defend your home from these demons! Let them regret the day they ever crossed Iwagakure no Sato!"

The other ninja of Iwa then quickly started to move towards Wolf and Hitori, but Crane's arrows shot at their feet stopped them from getting too close. Through their mental link, Crane said "Kiba, get out of there!"

Wolf quickly hopped on Hitori, who used his powerful legs to jump over all of the Iwa ninja and retreat to safety.

As this happened, Wolf said over their link "What the hell happened over there?"

Crane said "I don't know, but for some reason, you seem to be hated by them. Maybe they ran into you last week?"

Wolf groaned and replied "Your sense of humor is getting as lame as your boyfriends', Hinata. But why would they have attacked me?"

Ōkamiseirei decided to jump in on their conversation. He sarcastically said "I don't know. Maybe because you're someone they've never seen before, who just suddenly appeared in their village around the same time as a Tenga attack, and started displaying abilities that even the best of ninja would be hard-pressed to match."

Wolf muttered "You don't have to be a dick about it. I was just asking a question."

Ōkamiseirei said "Well, someone had to say it. If it wasn't for the fact that the Hokage probably told them to treat you guys nicely, even Konohagakure would've killed you guys on sight. You can't just go into a foreign village and expect to be treated like honored guests. But for now, just keep doing what you were told to by Falcon. But keep on the move. They can't hit what they can't catch."

Wolf nodded and hopped off Hitori. They both split up, thinking that they could do more apart than together, and started tearing through the Tenga. They never stayed at one spot too long so that the Ninja wouldn't get the opportunity to challenge them.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

As Dragon and Falcon crossed their arms across their chests, they both simultaneously yelled,

"Ninjetti! Falcon Spirit, Ranger Form!"

"Ninjetti! Dragon Spirit, Ranger Form!"

As they spoke the phrases, they were both transformed into their Ranger Forms, where Falcon quickly materialized his wings in cape form. As they did, they heard gasps from the Ninja around them. They paid it no mind though, as they both ran towards the Cyber-Tenga. Falcon shot a pencil thin Judgment Cut at the Cyber-Tenga, who easily took flight and went over it. As the Tenga were in the sky, they started to shoot fireballs at the two Rangers. Falcon quickly formed his wings to block the ones aimed for him, whereas Dragon took all the shots to the Dragon Shield, causing him to barely feel anything. As the onslaught kept coming, Falcon spread his wings wide and took off, flying towards the Cyber-Tengas. The Tengas kept firing their fireball shots, but with his wings out, Falcon was able to dodge every one of them. As Falcon got closer, he swung his sword, shooting out a pencil thin Judgment Cut again. Only, because of their mechanical eye, the Cyber-Tenga were able to move out of the way. Falcon thought 'Those damn eyes are getting on my last nerve.'

Falcon flew at the nearest Tenga, but it just used it's jetpack to fly away. As Falcon chased it he shot another Judgment Cut at it, but the damn thing just used the jets on its side to dodge. 'Those jets are annoying too.'

The Tenga kept flying away, and Falcon flapped his wings harder. As soon as Falcon got within distance to hit it with his sword, he saw the other Cyber-Tenga appear underneath him and shoot him in the chest. Falcon let out a grunt of pain and pulled away before it could hit him again.

As this was going on, Dragon was stuck on the ground, forced to watch and do nothing. Dragon looked around for anything that could be helpful. He saw kunai on the ground, but thought 'No good. The metal it's covered up in is too strong for a kunai to pierce through. What can I throw up there?'

Dragon looked to his hip and saw his Dragon Dagger. 'Hmm…I could launch this. But if I miss, I'm defenseless. ..I have to try.'

Dragon then spoke over their mental connection. "Naruto-sempai. Try to hold one still."

"Just what do you think I've been trying to do?!"

"I need your help on this. Just hold one still, and I'll take care of it."

"How?"

"No time to explain. Please, do it."

"…Ok."

Falcon flew in a loop, dodging another fireball, then went for a headfirst dive into one of the Cyber-Tenga. Falcon dodged out of the way of all of the fireballs his target shot at him. The other one started shooting at him too, but Falcon just grunted and took the shots. Falcon was about to hit his target, but he saw something weird. On the right side of its torso, the nodes were moving and slightly glowing. Thinking quickly, Falcon charged up a Judgment Cut in his sword and kept flying forward. At the last second, the Cyber-Tenga activated the nodes on its right side, sending it flying to its left, just as Falcon expected it to. By the time the jets kicked in, Falcon's sword was already in motion, swinging to the Cyber-Tenga's eventual position and shooting out the Judgment Cut. The Judgment Cut hit its' target dead center as it crashed into the nodes and destroyed them. Falcon quickly flipped in the air, then took off for that Tenga, being able to get a grip on it. "Lee, whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"

"Hai, sempai" came the reply as Dragon already had his dagger in his hand. Using his telekinesis, Dragon shot the dagger out of his hand as fast as he possibly could. The dagger lodged itself in the back of the Cyber-Tenga, causing it to scream, and it's jet to malfunction. Falcon let the Cyber-Tenga go as it crashed into the ground, leaving it to Dragon's mercies.

Dragon was itching for a fight. As soon as he saw the Cyber-Tenga falling out of the ground, he was racing towards it. The Cyber-Tenga was unconsciously flipping through the air so it had no idea which way was up, and wasn't able to save itself. As soon as he got close to it, Dragon hopped in the air, spun around, and yelled "Dragon Wind!"

The kick was so powerful, the Cyber-Tenga rocketed towards one of the buildings around them and crashed through the wall. As it went in there, it finally got it's bearings and stood up, amazed at the size of the dent in its' torso armor. But it also heard screams as it looked to see a woman, and two small kids crouched in a corner. As it turned their way, their screams increased. The Cyber-Tenga moved towards them and grabbed one of the children. The Tenga thought 'This could make a good shield.'

Whether it was right or not was about to be tested as Dragon raced through the hole the Tenga made, only to see what happened. He saw the woman screaming and clutching her other child as close as she could. As she saw him, she said "Please! Please save my baby!"

Dragon thought 'Easier said than done.'

Dragon looked around the entire room, looking for something he could use to help. He eventually saw a knife on the floor. Thinking quickly, Dragon put his hands out and said "I surrender. Please, let the boy go."

As Dragon had his hands out, he used one to guide the knife to eye level. Dragon said "There's no reason to hurt the-WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT'S THAT?!"

Dragon pointed exactly to where the knife was. The Cyber-Tenga turned its head in that direction, only for the knife to make a beeline for its organic eye. As it dug itself deep in there, the Cyber-Tenga screamed in pain, giving Dragon the time he needed. Dragon shot forward and kicked the Cyber-Tenga in its arm, causing it to drop the boy. Dragon then punched the Cyber-Tenga in its mechanical eye, causing it to break. As the Cyber-Tenga was now blind, it started swinging around wildly. Dragon ducked and rolled behind it and retrieved his weapon, causing a torrent of purple blood to spill out of the Tenga's back. The Tenga didn't have to worry about that though as Dragon lodged the Dragon Dagger in the back of the Tenga's neck. As soon as it hit the ground, he turned to the family to see if they were alright. Luckily they were fine. Dragon then turned around to leave, but before he could, he heard a voice say "I don't know who you are, but thank you."

As he turned to face the woman who spoke, he said "Anytime, ma'am."

Dragon then jumped out of the hole in the wall and raced away.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

Now that one of the Cyber-Tenga was taken out, it made taking the second one out easier. Falcon held his sword up vertically and muttered "It's been a while since I've done this."

He spoke up and said "Slice them to ribbons, Takaseirei!"

Falcon's sword then glowed white while the bladed edge glowed golden. Then sword then shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, all of which flew towards the Cyber-Tenga. The Cyber-Tenga tried to run away, but before it could, it was surrounded below and on all sides by the sword shards. The Tenga looked up, and tried to move for the top of the enclosing dome, only to be met by a charging Falcon who tackled it back into the dome. As Falcon kept an iron grip on the Tenga, the blade shards moved closer and closer. But before the Tenga could be impaled, it took off skyward with Falcon in tow. As Falcon's grip started to slip, he thought 'What I wouldn't give for super strength right now.'

As his grip got weaker and weaker, Falcon mentally commanded the blade shards to regroup to the hilt held in his hand. As the blades got closer, Falcon's grip got weaker and weaker. Eventually, the worst happened and Falcon accidentally let go. As he was falling, he fell into the cloud of his blade shards, which quickly reformed the Falcon Sword. Not wasting a second, Falcon shot a pencil-thin Judgment Cut that raced forward and bisected the Cyber-Tenga. Falcon quickly turned upside down, activated his wings, and flew towards the ground. He landed, meeting Dragon where they took off from. As he landed, he said "You took out the other one, right?"

Dragon mock-glared behind his helmet and said "I'm appalled that you have to ask. Of course I did."

Falcon chuckled a bit and said "Good job, Dragon. Now, let's try to-"

Before Falcon could finish his thought, Dragon pushed him to the side. As Falcon landed on the ground, he looked back to see what was wrong, only to see Dragon taking a torrent of small, but fast moving rocks to the chest. Looking where it came from, Falcon thought 'Those ungrateful bastards!'

The Doton Jutsu was originating from an Iwa Jōnin that they had just saved. Falcon said "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?! We just saved your life!"

The man said "As if we'd let you leave here alive. Not after what you did to our village."

As the other Iwa nin were listening in on what was going down, they started to move closer to Falcon and Dragon. Before they could get too close though, they heard a roar and Hitori and Wolf stopped by, with Crane in tow. As the team assembled, Crane shot an arrow at the Jōnin's chest, forcing him to cancel the Jutsu and jump away. The Ninjetti Warriors stood in a circle, facing outward, all in defensive positions. Falcon said "What do you mean? We've never been to this village before in our lives."

Another man said "After what your red friend did to our Jōnin force? Don't play dumb you bastards!"

Crane said "The Red Ranger?"

Dragon groaned and said "Him again?"

Wolf said "Why does that guy have to ruin our rep? We do that enough to ourselves."

Falcon muttered "Speak for yourself."

Falcon then spoke up and said "The Red Ranger isn't part of our group at all. As a matter of fact, we're directly opposing him. Whatever he did, we're sorry for, but we had no part of it."

Another Jōnin said "As if we'll believe it from you. You'll say anything to cover your asses."

An unknown voice above them said "Y'know, you should listen to them."

As everyone turned to the voice, they were greeted to seeing the Red Ranger in Ninja Form dropping to the ground and landing in front of Falcon and between the Iwa nin. He pointed to the Ninjetti Warriors and said "As if I'd ever join up with these weak pieces of trash."

Falcon said "You! Just what do you want anyway?"

Siemon chuckled a bit behind his suit and said "I just wanted to fuck with you guys a bit."

Dragon said "And the attack on Iwa?"

Siemon shrugged and said "Rito and I were bored."

Crane said, with clear anger in her voice "So you staged an attack on this village and tried to massacre it's people all because you were bored? What kind of a monster are you?"

Siemon waved his hands in front of him and said "Hey, don't blame me. It was Orochimaru's idea. I just went with it. And another thing. You have a lot of anger in your voice. You let stuff get to you so much. You're horrible at hiding your emotions. How the hell did you ever make it as a Shinobi?"

Crane narrowed her eyes behind her helmet and balled her fists up. Hearing him say all those things had brought up everything that she thought she got past. People talking behind her back. Them saying that she was too nice, or too caring to ever make it in the Shinobi World. The worst thing was that her family members were some of the main perpetrators. Her father almost gave up on her before she graduated, causing her low confidence to become almost nonexistent. At one point, she even overheard him basically saying to Kurenai-sensei 'She's your problem now.' Luckily, with her extra training, she was starting to turn that opinion around, but her father was still VERY far from winning Father of the Year. And Neji, that bastard.

She heard Kijuukiseirei's voice in her head say "Calm down, young one. He's just trying to rile you up. Don't let him win."

Siemon smirked behind his and thought 'It looks like I'm getting to her. Good. I wanna see Pinky lose her cool again.'

Siemon continued. "Are you even a Shinobi? Or did Bird Boy here just pick you up off the street because he thought you were eye candy?"

Crane gritted her teeth as everything came up to the front of her mind. She yelled "Shut the hell up!"

THAT made everyone, even the Red Ranger, do a double take. Their thoughts were the same 'Did she just curse?'

Falcon, the first to get over it, said "I'm gonna enjoy kicking your ass today."

Siemon was about to ready another witty retort, but he heard a loud growling and looked at the direction it came from. Siemon muttered "Shit. The Tsuchikage."

He turned to the others and said "Well, I guess the 'Fuck with the Losers' section of my day is over with. See ya!"

Siemon turned towards the gate of the village and took off towards it, knocking down any ninja in his way. As he was going, Crane took off chasing him, leaving the others behind. Naruto mentally said "Hinata, wait. We need to take him on as a-"

She cut him off and said "Forget that! I'm taking him down NOW!"

She cut the connection before he could say anything else. The others were about to give chase, but someone launched a Jutsu at them. That started a full blown attack against them, with the Iwa Jōnin all attacking them. They weren't able to help Crane. She was alone.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

As Siemon started hopping through one of the many valleys that hid Iwagakure no Sato, he heard something whistling through the air, then blow up half a foot away from his head. He turned around and saw that he was being chased by Crane in her Ranger Form. She started firing off more and more arrows, each of them narrowly missing him. He thought 'Those arrows are getting closer. And faster too. If she keeps this up, she's gonna become a big pain in the ass. …But she is about the only long-range support they have. Without her, they're screwed royally.'

As a plan started to form in Siemon's mind, he took off faster, causing Crane to speed up to catch him. 'I won't let him talk down to me like that anymore!' Crane had had it with people trying to talk down to her like she was less than them. It was time for some well-deserved payback. She started to increase the amount of arrows she was firing, forcing Siemon to move out of the way. After chasing him for about a mile, she saw him jump to the wall of the valley and move up it. She quickly followed, being led a hundred feet up. As she reached there, she saw him in his Ranger Form waiting for her with his sword out. She ran towards him and started shooting arrows, but he blocked them all. He said "I see that you've decided to come out without the others to protect you. That was probably the dumbest decision you could ever make. The weakling damsel in distress trying to take on the bad guy by herself? (Snorts)Yeah, that always ends well."

Crane screamed in frustration and started shooting more. Siemon saw that her aim was getting worse, and thought 'Jackpot.'

As he saw her start sending elemental arrows, Siemon said "Rule the Frozen Lands, Goriraseirei!"

His sword gained an icy blue aura as he blocked every shot of hers and sent an icy crescent of energy towards her. Crane ducked under the attack. But as she came up, Siemon was right in her face. He grabbed her arms so that she couldn't shoot off any arrows, then drove his knee into her gut. As she dropped to her knees, she also dropped her bow. Siemon grabbed her bow and said "This is what you use to fight? You are so stupid, it's pitiful. This might work on long range, but when the enemy gets this close, what will you do? 'Oh, that'll never happen because I'm a long range fighter.' That's probably what you were thinking. But look at what just happened! I just tore through your long range offense, which sucks in my honest opinion, and got up close. You couldn't even take a fighting stance before I left you on the ground, a half second away from throwing up your lunch."

Siemon snapped her bow with his hands, threw them to his side, and said "It's because of thinking like that that you are now the weakest link in the Ninjetti Warriors. That's all you'll ever be, you ignorant pink bitch. All you will ever be is a ball and chain, holding everyone back."

Crane yelled "That's not true! I'm not holding everyone back!"

Siemon laughed and said "It is true! And it always will be, until you can at least land a hit on me."

Siemon turned his back on her and started walking away. As he was walking, he said "Boy am I glad you're not my teammate. I'd have killed myself a long time ago having to cover you."

All the while that Siemon was talking, Crane's mind started to play tricks on her. At this point, it wasn't even Siemon's voice that she was hearing. It was combination of everyone that had ever made her feel bad in her life. It was like she was surrounded by them all, with all of them saying horrible things about her at once. She could hear her father saying she was weak. She could her Neji saying she was worthless. She could hear everyone making fun of her because of her feelings for Naruto. It got to be too much, to the point that Crane screamed out loud.

She got up on her feet and charged Siemon, still yelling. She jumped in the air and led with a kick that hit nothing but air. As she landed, she felt Siemon drive his elbow into her side, then punch her in her stomach. After that, she felt herself go airborne as he picked her up and slammed her so hard she thought she broke a bone. Siemon said "Like I said before. Weak."

Siemon then teleported away, leaving Crane on the ground. She stayed that way, not thinking, not speaking, not even moving. As if she was a statue.

It was ten minutes later that Hitori found her like that and lifted her to his back. He then teleported away with her to their base so she could be healed. As she was laid on a bed in the medical room and being healed by Kijuuki, she still didn't say a word.

Naruto, who was outside the medical room, said "I think what that bastard said really got to her."

Kiba, who was standing beside Naruto, scoffed and said "No way. Hinata's as tough as iron now that she's part of the Ninjetti Warriors. You've seen that she's gotten better at handling Neji."

Lee shook his head and said "It's not that easy, Kiba-san. Just because she got him to stop giving her new mental scars doesn't mean that the old ones have healed."

Naruto gave Lee a quizzical look. He said "But what could she be hurting about? I mean, our relationship is fine. Her father is finally letting up on her. Neji isn't even bothering her. From what she tells me, she has no problems."

Lee looked to Naruto and said "And you believed her?"

"What does that mean?"

"Naruto, you keep everything that's troubling you bottled up because you don't like burdening others with your problems. What makes you think Hinata-chan isn't the same way?"

"Hmm…I guess I never thought about that."

Anything else they were about to say was interrupted as the door to the medical room opened. Hinata walked out of the room and walked right past them all. Naruto quickly caught up to her and walked beside her. He said "Uuh, Hinata-chan, how are you feeling?"

Hinata looked in the opposite direction from him as she said "I feel fine."

Naruto quickly moved to her other side so she could see him, and said "Well, do you wanna go get something to eat with me?"

Hinata turned her gaze towards the ground as she said "No, I'm not feeling hungry."

Naruto said "Well, how about we go take a-"

Hinata cut him off "Naruto, I just wanna be alone right now, okay?"

Before Naruto could retort, she teleported away, leaving him standing in the hall alone.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

After teleporting away, Hinata quickly went home. When she got there, she decided to go to her room. She cut through the garden of the Hyūga Compound to get there faster, only to run into her father and sister practicing Jyūken. She ignored them as she walked past, not meeting their gaze at all. As she left the garden and went into the hall, she heard a voice say "So the spoiled Hyūga princess thinks that she's too good to even look at the other family members?"

Hinata instantly went from sad to pissed. She turned around, faced the culprit(Neji), and punched him in his nose. As he was reeling from the hit, she kneed him in the gut, grabbed him by his shirt, and pinned him to the wall. She said "Unless you want me to test out that Caged Bird Seal of yours, I'd suggest you shut your damn mouth, Neji!"

Hinata then tossed him aside and walked away, still mad. What she didn't know was that she had the undivided attention of everyone in the hallway, and word about what she just did would spread throughout the village within the hour. But she didn't care. At that point, Hinata didn't care about anything. She just wanted to be alone.

As she got to her room, she closed the curtains and lay in her bed. She just sat there in the darkness for the rest of the day. After what she did to Neji, no one knocked on her door. 'Am I really as worthless as he said? Do I really bring them all down? …When we were fighting the Cyber-Tenga, I was the only one that Naruto-kun felt he needed to help. Even though Lee hadn't been one of the Ninjetti Warriors for even a month, Naruto felt that I needed more help than him. I had my bow broken a lot of times, whereas the others keep their weapons in perfect condition. I was completely beaten by the Red Ranger, twice at least. The last time we fought him, I couldn't even land a hit on him, even though the others have already done more than that at least.'

While she was thinking this, she was reliving all the moments. She was remembering how much Naruto wanted to help her in the Virtual Reality room.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

Crane stood up on her legs, but couldn't dodge the fireball that was shot at her. She was hit and she heard Naruto yell out through their mental connection "Hinata-chan!"

Naruto yelled out "Takaseirei, put me in there. I need to help her."

Takaseirei said "Naruto, this is training. She has to go through this. It is the only way she will be ready for the real thing."

Naruto retorted "Are you crazy? She's about to die out-"

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

She also remembered the first time she fought against the Red Ranger.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

The Red Ranger took off for Hinata. He ran forward, blocking or dodging many of her arrows. Eventually, he got too close for her to shoot. He started swinging his sword at Crane, forcing her to dodge. He brought his sword up and slashed at Crane's Bow, breaking it completely. Crane could only look at the two halves of her weapon before she was slashed across the chest.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

Even when she tried to take him by surprise, she could never hit him.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

Naruto and the others snuck out of the clearing. Less than a minute later, the Ninjetti Warriors appeared in a flash of light. When they appeared, Siemon turned to them and said "What? No Green? White and Blue show up with Pinkie here, but not Green? Just how stupid are you three, to bring the little GIRL to the fight and not the only one of you who can match me in a fair battle? This has got to be the most disappointing day of my-WHOA!"

Siemon was cut off as he had to dodge two arrows shot at him from Crane's Bow.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

Hinata thought 'I just have to face it. I'm worthless. All this time, I've dragged everyone down. Everyone's been covering me and I've just been comfortable letting them do all the hard work. How can I even call myself their teammate after that? How can I even call myself Naruto's girlfriend after that? I'm just his deadweight.'

At that time, Hinata did something she promised herself she'd never do again because of someone else's words. She cried her eyes out. She cried and cried until it was dark out.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(Enemy's unknown lair)

Unknown to the Ninjetti Warriors, their battle today was watched in the enemy's lair. Not just anywhere, though. The battle watched in a special room of theirs that Siemon had nicknamed the War Room. According to Rito, when they built the base, they planned this room to be the place where they planned all their attacks. Siemon, who was one of the rooms' occupants, thought 'If only we cleaned these damn cobwebs out of here.'

The War Room was rectangular, with the only exit/entrance on one of the longer walls. The wall opposite the door was completely, as was the wall with the door. The only thing in the room was a rectangular desk. At one head of the table sat Rito. There were also seats all along the side of the table, one of which, Siemon was in, but not at the other end of the table. The wall behind that end had gigantic screens on it. Of those screens, only one of them was on. On the screen was a recording of Crane's actions in the Iwa battle. As they were watching it, Rito said "Taking advantage of their best long-range support? Forcing her to doubt herself? That was a pretty good idea, Simon."

Siemon said, through gritted teeth, "It's Siemon. Not Simon. And I know it's a good idea. I came up with it after all. But I have to say that this entire day was a win for us. Sending the Tenga down so that we can watch their fights and get a feel for their techniques. Genius."

Sitting opposite Rito was a man that gave Siemon the creeps. Every time the man looked at him, Siemon just wanted to use the Ape Sword to freeze him like an ice pop. The man, Orochimaru, said "This was hardly 'Genius' as you call it. Sacrifice a few pawns to learn the abilities of your enemies. Simple tactics."

Siemon said "Well, at least we have something on those good-for-nothing brats."

Orochimaru said "Yes, that is true. I just wish we could've forced the Blue one to use that 'Surging Hunter' technique. I would love to study that technique. If only I had access to this 'Morphin' Grid' that powers them, I could replicate it."

A new voice scoffed and said "Like that'll ever happen."

They turned to the voice to see that it was a man. The man was 6'2", well built, and had shaggy black hair. He was wearing black shoes with a red check on the side and red shoelaces. He wore red pants, a red T-shirt, and a thin black vest over it. The man seemed to have impressive upper body strength, based on the fact that his biceps were huge. He also wore black fingerless gloves to hide the scars he had. His eyes were red, and he had a thin red ring around the outside of his eyes. Around his neck was a mechanical collar to match the bracelets on his wrists and the ones on his ankles. What set this man apart was that his clothes looked really different than what everyone else they had ever seen before wore.

The man continued speaking, saying "If I had to guess, the only Ninjetti Spirit that would accept you as an acolyte would be the Cobra Spirit, and we got rid of his scaly, backstabbing ass years ago."

Orochimaru said "That's too bad. I'm sure the two of us could've learned so much from each other."

The man said "Yeah, like how to get your asses kicked by the Ninjetti. And by the way, your stupid plan of trying to discourage the Crane acolyte won't work."

Siemon said "Oh really? How do you know?"

Siemon thought 'If he knows anything about their real identities, he might let it slip now.'

The man continued "I know Kijuukiseirei. Her acolytes might seem like petite, easy-to-hurt women, but they always have more to them than that. Kijuuki has a special eye for this type of person. The type that have an inner strength so great that everyone underestimates it. The type of person who can fall down, but when they get up, they become stronger than they ever were before. I don't exactly know who Kijuuki's acolyte is, but I can guaran-damn-tee you that what Siemon did to her will do nothing but build her up stronger than she ever was before. You guys screwed yourselves royally when you tried to mess with her."

After the man said that, the replay of the battle in Iwa played where Crane screamed and cussed out Siemon. Siemon, who saw it, chuckled and said "Does that look like someone who will be able to overcome themselves?"

The man smiled and said "It may not seem like it now, but trust me. What you did will only make her stronger."

Siemon said "Let's test that. Rito, are Cyclops and Oculous ready?"

Rito said "Yep, they just got here. You gonna take them down to have some fun?"

Siemon smirked and said "You know that's right."

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(20 minutes later)

Twenty minutes after Siemon's and Rito's conversation ended, Hinata heard Kijuukiseirei say "Hinata, there's an attack in Wave Country. Rito and two unknown monsters are causing havoc."

Hinata stayed on her bed, acting as if she didn't even hear her. Kijuuki said "Hinata, I know that the Red Ranger's words might have hurt, but you can't let that get in the way of you helping people."

Hinata still stayed on the bed, not moving a muscle. She thought 'If I go, what's the point anyway? The only thing I'll do is drag the team down. Maybe it's better if I don't help them out here.'

Kijuuki said "Hinata, please. You can't let them-"

Kijuuki was cut off as Hinata closed their mental connection.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(In Wave Country)

As Siemon and his two buddies marched down the street of a very familiar town in Wave, the people were giving them a wide berth. That was, until Siemon felt a rock hit him in the side of the head. As he turned to where the rock came from, it was a little boy who threw it. The kid picked up another one and tossed it at him, but Siemon easily dodged it. He said "Oh, so this kid thinks that he has guts? We'll see about that. Tengas!"

At Siemon's command, thirty Tenga and two Cyber-Tenga appeared in the street, causing mass hysteria. The people quickly raced into their houses, leaving the boy alone in the street. Siemon said "Kid, you might as well run. You have no chance of stopping me."

The kid said "That's what you think. You're nothing but some loser trying to play bully. Well, guess what, you wannabe Ninjetti Warrior, we're not taking it anymore. Wave Country has already bowed down to one tyrant, and hell will freeze over before we bow down to another!"

Siemon looked around to see if the kid had any backup. He didn't. Siemon chuckled a bit and said "Well, it looks like you're alone in your defense, kid. Everyone else ran like dogs with their tails inbetween their legs as soon as we came around."

Siemon was expecting to see the kid sweat, to see him stutter and not look him in the eye(well, visor, but you get the point). Instead, the kid was looking directly into his visor, eyes filled with hope, determination, and an unbelievable level of confidence. The kid smirked at Siemon and said "Are you sure they ran? Or did they just have me distract you while they did THIS!"

At the boys' yell, the roofs of the buildings surrounding them were filled to the brim with people, all of them strapped with armor and crossbows. The alleys inbetween their houses had people pouring out of them with swords, knives, gardening scythes, pitchforks, and all other kinds of weapons. Siemon and his group didn't have time to marvel at this display as, a split second after the roof people appeared, they were being bombarded with arrows. Before any of them could even get airborne, four Tenga were hit with headshots from the crossbows. Another two were killed from the sheer number of arrows shot in them.

As the people were fighting, two flashes of blue, one of white, and one of green deposited the Ninjetti Warriors at the fight. As he saw them, Siemon said "Oh, so it's just you three now? So you guys also realized that Pinky was deadweight and dropped her, huh?"

Falcon said "You crossed the line there, monkey boy. I'm taking you down!"

Falcon materialized his wings and took off towards Siemon, leaving Dragon and Wolf to look around. As they were looking around, they saw that there were two Cyber-Tenga along with two robotic beings just taking in the scenery. Wolf said "Dragon, we're gonna be spread a bit thin until Crane gets here. So I'll take the two Cyber-Tenga and cover the villagers. You think you can take those two monsters alone?"

Dragon said "I'll have to."

Wolf nodded. He said "Hitori, let's go!"

Hitori roared in anticipation, sending a shiver of pain down the backs of the Tenga, while it oddly gave the villagers more courage and hope. Both Wolf and Hitori disappeared from their positions. As they did, the Cyber-Tenga simultaneously went airborne, causing Wolf and Hitori to swipe nothing but air. That didn't stop them as they tracked them on the ground, though. That left Dragon alone with the two unknown people. Dragon said "May I ask the names of who I'm fighting?"

The robotic beings looked fairly humanoid in appearance. One had white armor with black armor making up his joints, while the other had black armor with white armor forming the joints. They had a glowing gem on their chests that had four dashes on it like a rifle scope. They each only had one eye(which was also a gem), with the armor of their heads forming over it to look like a rifle scope. If not for the color swap, they could've passed as twins. They both had one red eye gem and one green chest gem. (Once again, I think I did a terrible job describing this guy. Go to my profile and click on the link at the bottom. From there, type the name 'Hades God Cyclops' into the search bar and there you go. For Oculous, he's just a black version of Cyclops.)

The one with the white armor said "I am the best precision shot this side of the Andromeda Galaxy. My name is Cyclops."

The black-armored one said "I am Oculous, the Army-Killer."

Together the two looked imposing. But their looks weren't the most alarming thing about them to Dragon. What was most alarming were the items they were carrying in their hands. Dragon mentally said "Just what are those?"

Ryūseirei said "Oh man. This is NOT good. Those are guns."

Dragon said "And just what are guns?"

"They're items that the universe has adopted as the main weapons of battle. The guy on the right is carrying what's called a machine gun. The machine gun might not have that much power behind it compared to other guns, but it's main power is it's speed. The ones from Earth could shoot almost five hundred bullets in a matter of seconds, and this one looks even more advanced than those.

"The one on the left is carrying what's called a sniper rifle. That blade on the front of it is called a bayonet. The sniper rifle is incredibly powerful. It might not be able to get through your Ranger Suit, but the sheer force of it hitting might still cause you some damage, especially since his looks much more advanced than the ones from Earth. That bayonet looks like it's also made of Culbrimant so you need to watch it. Also, the sniper rifle has incredible range. Some of the ones from earth could hit someone from 500 yards away. I'd say that the guy on the left is way more dangerous, but you can't take your eye of the right guy either."

"Wasn't planning to."

Dragon said "So, shall we begin?"

Cyclops chuckled a bit and said "I thought you'd never ask."

Oculous suddenly raised his machine gun, causing Ryūseirei to say "Lee, move!"

Dragon dived to the left, barely avoiding a hail of gunfire. Dragon kept moving, eventually breaking Oculous' line of sight by hiding behind a house. As he peeked over the edge, he saw Oculolus standing there alone, with the gun pointed directly at his head! Dragon quickly ducked back into cover, barely avoiding another bullet. Before he could exhale, Ryūseirei said "Those rounds are strong enough to go through stone, Lee. You need to get out of there."

Dragon took off running as the house he was hiding behind started to have bullet holes put in the wall. As he was moving, Dragon said "I didn't see Cyclops there anymore. Where could he have gone?"

Ryū said "He's a sniper. Snipers usually have to get to high up places far away so that they can shoot their targets without any repercussions. He's probably off to find a good spot. Give me a second…Okay. Ōkamiseirei said he'll look up what kind of gun Cyclops had. From there, I can determine his possible locations. But the longer this goes on, the bigger the chance that Oculous might hit an innocent bystander."

Dragon said "I'll stop him."

The Green Ranger looked ahead of him and saw a wooden fence. He quickly broke it and took one of the planks. He raced into the open, and before Oculous could pull the trigger, threw the plank as hard as he could. The plank hit Oculous in the hand, causing him to drop his gun. Before he could bend down to pick it up, he heard a voice yell "Dragon Blast!"

Oculous felt the material of the Green Ranger's foot hit him directly in the face and was sent flying back. As he got back up, he blocked two punches from Dragon, but didn't block the kick to the face Dragon hit him with. As Oculous backed up, he saw that Dragon was relentless, not giving him any breathing room whatsoever. As this was going on, Ryū said to Dragon "Lee, Ōkami's done. I know the specs of their weapons. I'll work on analyzing the possible locations next."

"Understood."

As Dragon went for a back kick to Oculous' chest, Oculous jumped over him and made a mad dive for his gun. Dragon turned and caught his foot before he could reach it, but Oculous started to dig into the dirt, using anything he could for leverage to pull himself towards the gun. Dragon wasn't having it though, and kept tight. That was, until he heard a faint 'pop' and felt himself take a few steps back. He looked to his chest to see that a small part of the Dragon Shield was smoking and that there was what looked like a crushed cone on the ground. Dragon thought 'Huh?' before he paid for his absent-mindedness. As he was hit on the Dragon Shield, it gave Oculous the opening he needed. He jumped forward, grabbed his gun, turned around, and fired a stream of bullets at Dragon's chest. At first Dragon took a few steps back from the sheer force of them, but then he started to resist the force, standing still. Oculous kept the trigger held down until he ran out of bullets in that clip. He said "Just what the hell is this? Why are the bullets having no effect?"

Dragon looked at the Dragon Shield and tapped it. He said "This is too strong for your pathetic bullets to get past."

Oculous stood up, and as he was putting a fresh clip into his gun, said "Well, let's see if your helmet is the same."

The so-called Army Killer leveled his gun at Dragon, only for Dragon to disappear. He heard Dragon's voice below him say "How about we not? Dragon Launch!"

Oculous was sent into the air. As Oculous was sent skyward, he saw a flash of green appear in front of him, then felt himself get hit with a seemingly endless barrage of melee attacks. As they reached the maximum height of Oculous' flight through the air, Dragon performed a series of super quick flips through the air, building up momentum. Right before Oculous started to fall back down to Earth(or Gwinnet, but you know what I mean), Dragon extended his foot during the flip and hit Oculous with his heel, yelling out "Dragon Hammer!"

Oculous rocketed towards the ground and cratered it upon landing.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(With Falcon)

As Falcon followed Siemon through the village, they came upon a deserted spot. Siemon stopped running and turned around, ready to fight Falcon. Falcon kept flying towards Siemon and let out a Judgment Cut. Siemon summoned the Ape Sword, focused energy through it, and used it to cut through the Judgment Cut. Then, he swung the sword in reverse, letting his own icy crescent of energy fly towards Falcon. Falcon flew higher to dodge the attack, then shot a pencil thin Judgment Cut at Siemon. Siemon blocked it with the flat edge of his sword, but as the attack dissipated, Siemon(and Falcon) saw that the attack had actually cut a small groove into Siemon's sword. Instead of being mad, Siemon smiled. He said "Wow, looks like Bird Brain here learned some new moves."

Falcon didn't say a word. Instead, he flew towards Siemon and tried to slash him, only for his sword to be blocked. Siemon laughed and said "Do you remember what happened last time we did this?"

Falcon didn't have to be reminded as he could feel his fingers going numb from the cold of the Ape Sword's aura. Falcon flew up a tiny bit, enough to spin and kick Siemon in the chest, knocking him back. Falcon landed and charged him again, crossing blades once again. Instead of holding him back this time, Falcon pulled his sword back, and ducked under the horizontal swing from Siemon while spinning. As he faced front again, he let out another Judgment Cut that hit Siemon in the stomach. Siemon was blasted back and hit his back on the ground, with Falcon flying after him. Falcon said "Slice him to ribbons, Takaseirei!"

His sword dissolved into a thousand white blade shards that charged after Siemon. They surrounded Siemon in a tornado, cutting him an innumerable amount of times. Falcon flew skyward while his blades were doing the damage to Siemon. As he reached a certain height, he took off for Siemon's position as fast as he could. He recalled the blade shards to reform his sword, charging it with energy while it was reforming. As Falcon got close enough, he yelled out "White Break!"

With his sword glowing white and gold, and with a speed faster than he had ever flown before, Falcon landed a direct hit on Siemon with the White Break. As Siemon got hit, he was sent flying back into a tree. As he hit the ground, Falcon said "You messed with the wrong person, monkey boy."

"And you messed with the wrong Ranger, Bird Brain!"

As Falcon looked at Siemon, he saw him standing up. When Wolf was hit with that attack, he could barely move without having pain shoot up his back, yet Siemon was moving just fine. Siemon's suit was torn, but it was stitching itself back together. But the worst part about it was the red aura surrounding him. Siemon let out a roar of rage as the aura took the form of a giant ape. Siemon, who was floating in the middle of all that energy, said "You remember this form? It's great to put out new singles, but sometimes you just wanna return to the classics."

Falcon narrowed his eyes behind his helmet and said "Bring it."

Siemon disappeared from where he was, only for Falcon to hear behind him "Fire Style: Flame Stream!"

Siemon let out a giant torrent of flame from his mouth. Falcon barely had time to move his wings in the way to block it. As the attack ended, he felt Siemon come forth and start pounding on his wings, giving them a beating. Falcon let off a Judgment Cut point blank at Siemon, giving him some breathing room. Falcon jumped back, only to see a red arm of energy following him. Falcon sent a Judgment Cut at it, which blew the arm off. But as soon as the chakra dissipated, another arm came from Siemon. Falcon easily cut that one down too. As two came at the same time, Falcon flew away, dodging them in the sky. But the arms kept following him like guided missiles. As Falcon was flying around, he heard a roar and saw that Siemon had jumped up at him!

Before he could do anything, he was tackled to the ground and slammed into it. Falcon mentally said "How am I supposed to fight him in this state? He wiped the floor with us in this state before!"

Takaseirei said "You have to do it Naruto. He won't let you go unless he's called away, and that doesn't look to be happening soon."

Falcon, getting aggravated at the situation, said "It's just so freaking unfair. How come he gets to use his Bijū's chakra and I can't?"

A third voice in Naruto's head said "Who says you can't?"

Takaseirei said "What? What do you mean by that?"

The third voice, Kyūbi, said "Whoever said that he couldn't use my chakra? The pure hatred and negative emotions in it might be damaging to his body, but he can still use it."

Takaseirei was momentarily stunned speechless at the Kyūbi's statement. Then, he screamed "And you chose just now to say something about it?"

Kyūbi said, in a tone that told them he was secretly laughing at them, said "You chose just now to task about it."

Before Takaseirei could retort, Naruto said "Kyūbi, give it to me."

Kyūbi blasted Falcon with a dose of his chakra as Siemon tried to punch him in the face. But as his fist neared the White Ranger, it felt like he hit a brick wall, yet he didn't make contact. Falcon said "You want power? Get a load of this!"

Falcon sent out a pulse of chakra from his body, which knocked Siemon back. As Siemon landed on the ground and got back up, he saw that Falcon was back to his feet. Falcon was hunched over a bit more than usual, but that wasn't the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was the reddish-orange aura surrounding his body. Also, his sword was glowing, but instead of the usual white and gold, it was glowing bright orange. Siemon narrowed his eyes and said "So, you're a Jinchūriki like me, huh? Let's see if you can use your Bijū's chakra as well as I can."

Siemon disappeared, but Falcon could still follow him. Falcon turned around and blocked Siemon's chakra-covered punch. Siemon tried a flurry of punches that Falcon all blocked. Falcon jumped in the air, turned, and back-kicked Siemon, sending him back twenty feet. Falcon rushed forward to fight, but Siemon's chakra arms grabbed him and stopped his advancement. They picked him up and slammed him to the ground, but it did nothing to him. Falcon summoned his sword and used the power to cut through them.

Siemon glared and charged forward. Falcon held his sword over his shoulder and raced forward too. As he got close enough, Falcon let out a concentrated blast of chakra from his feet, propelling himself forward while charging the Falcon Sword up with the Kyūbi's chakra. Falcon yelled out "EX STREAK!

The attack was so strong that it cut through Siemon's chakra coating and hit him physically. As Siemon dropped to his knees, his Bijuu chakra gave away, leaving him on the ground, clutching his bleeding stomach. Falcon turned to see the Red Ranger on his knees and rushed forward to seize the opportunity. As he got three feet away, the reddish-orange aura around him suddenly disappeared. Falcon could only think 'Huh?' before reddish-orange bolts of electricity started to surround his body. Falcon let out a grunt of pain and dropped to one knee. Falcon said, through gritted teeth "What is this?"

Siemon, who turned to face Falcon, chuckled a bit. He said "Let me guess, first time using it's chakra? The pain is horrible at first, but you get used to it. Well, I did. You won't get the chance."

Siemon focused more chakra through his body and stood up to full height. He lifted his Ape Sword with one hand and focused his energy through it. But this time, instead of the Ape Sword gaining an icy blue aura, it gained a deep red aura. Siemon said "By the way, thanks for showing me we can focus demonic chakra through our weapons. You just gave me another advantage."

Siemon swung his sword down, but Falcon wasn't out of the game yet. Before Siemon could move his sword even an inch, Falcon stood back up to his feet, forcing himself to ignore the pain he was feeling. Falcon focused his regular energy through his sword, causing it to glow its' original white and gold. He yelled out "EX Shuffle!"

As Siemon's sword got close, Falcon took a step back, allowing the attack to pass harmlessly. Falcon then took a step forward, and swung his sword with all the power that he could. The attack sent Siemon flying back. Siemon hit the ground at the same time that Falcon fell to one knee again, not being able to stand up. Before he could do anything though, he heard a scream pierce the air. A split second after the scream stopped, Falcon was forcibly teleported somewhere in a flash of white light.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(With Lee)

As Oculous hit the ground and made a crater, Dragon landed beside him. Dragon walked towards Oculous and pulled out his Dragon Dagger. As he got ready to stab him, he felt something hit him in the back of his Dragon Shield. Dragon turned around to see if there was something there, but saw nothing. As he turned back, he saw Oculous moaning in pain, but rolling over to where he dropped his gun. Oculous reached his hand out to it, but Dragon got it first. Dragon tossed it into the air, then used the Dragon Dagger to cut it to pieces. Oculous screamed "No, my gun!"

Oculous let out a yell of rage and raced at Dragon. Dragon sheathed his dagger, bent his knees and waited for Oculous. When Oculous got close, Dragon lifted him and slammed him in the ground. Dragon quickly re-drew his Dagger and got ready to stab Oculous in the head, but he heard Ryūseirei in his head say "Lee, I finished the analysis. Cyclops is-"

Ryū didn't have time to deliver the rest of his message as Cyclops, from his hiding spot muttered "Jackpot" and shot Dragon in the back of the hand.

As the round impacted against his hand, Dragon let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain. He dropped to the ground, cradling his hand. He was also moaning in pain and wasn't able to stop the tears from the hit fall out of his eyes. Dragon, a warrior who was no stranger to pain, who punched through brick as if it was paper, and always carried around a well over one hundred pound shield, was moaning and crying in pain over what had just happened to him.

Oculous, with some effort stood up, as Wolf and Falcon both were teleported next to Dragon. Falcon said "Dragon, what happened?"

Dragon didn't seem to hear him as he was muttering "My hand. My hand."

Through their mental link, Ryū informed them "Cyclops shot him in the hand."

Falcon said back "Shot him? What does that mean?"

"No time! His hand is in bad shape. We gotta get him out of there."

Wolf replied "What do you mean? His hand is fine." And Wolf was right, from a certain perspective. On the outside, Dragon's gloved hand had no damage at all. Hell, there wasn't even a mark.

"The bullet didn't do any outside damage. The Ranger Suits are too tough for that. But they did a lot of inside damage. Every bone in his palm is shattered, and his fingers aren't much better."

Before they could question Ryū more, Cyclops himself appeared. He walked over to Oculous and pointed his sniper rifle right at the Rangers. Before he could get a shot off though, Siemon appeared, huffing and puffing, and said "Cyclops, stand down. We're leaving."

Cyclops said "But Sie-"

Siemon roared "DON'T SAY MY NAME!"

Cyclops said "But sir, we can take them. They aren't that tough and one of them is already out of commission."

Siemon glared at Cyclops behind his visor. While his eyes weren't able to be seen, his voice showed the rage he was feeling. Siemon said "Do you see the condition we're in now? Your brother's weapon is destroyed and I'm hurt. We might have been able to still defeat them, but a certain someone decided to leave his vantage point. And with how much damage you've done to Green with one bullet, they won't let you out of their sight now. Our only option is retreat."

Cyclops realized that the reason that his brother's gun was destroyed was because he didn't take the shot quick enough. Also, since he acted without thinking, he had just lost this battle for him and his brother. Realizing all this, Cyclops screamed in rage, the red eye of his flashing. After a few seconds, Cyclops stroked his chin, calming himself down and managing his anger. He said "Rangers, mark this moment. This is the only time that you will get a freebie from me. Next time, your lives are forfeit."

Cyclops, Oculous, and Siemon were all teleported away in a flash of purple light. Wolf said "Whew! We won!"

Falcon said "Don't get ahead of yourself, Wolf. We lost today. The only reason we're not dead is because the enemy messed up."

Wolf lowered his head a bit and said "True. By the way, just where the hell is Crane anyway? Why didn't she come?"

Falcon said "The only reason I can think of is that what happened earlier today is still affecting her."

Falcon and the others all teleported to Gamma IV and took Dragon to the medical room. As he was in there, Kijuuki, in human form, said "This isn't good. I can heal it, but he won't be able to hold anything with his right hand for a day or two. It's going to be practically useless."

Lee, who demorphed, said "That can't be. I will heal from this in twelve hours. And if I can't do that, I'll learn to hold the Dragon Dagger with my left hand. And if I can't do that, I'll-"

Kijuuki smacked him in the head and said "You're not doing any of that." She pushed him back onto the bed and continued to heal his hand.

As she was doing that, Naruto walked over to her and said "Kijuuki, have you heard from Hinata-chan lately?"

Kijuuki sighed and said "I tried to get in contact with her before the battle started, but she shut me out. I've been trying since, but she has closed the mental connection on her side."

Wolf said "Are you sure that it's not the same as what was happening with me a few days ago?"

Kijuuki said "No, it's not. With you, there was nothing that could be heard. It was as if your mind couldn't be reached at all. But with Hinata, we can reach her mind, but we can't say anything."

(AN: Think of it like a phone. With Kiba, it was like his phone was disconnected. With Hinata, it's like she's sending them straight to voicemail.)

Falcon said "I'm going to talk to her tomorrow."

Kijuuki said "I don't think that's best. Maybe you should just leave her and let her solve this herself."

Falcon sighed and reluctantly said "Ok, then."

Kijuuki said "Now, both of you two get home. It's getting late, and you need to be ready tomorrow in case they try to settle the score."

Both Falcon and Wolf nodded, and left for home.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(The Next Day)

After crying herself to sleep, Hinata was able to retreat into the world of dreams, where things like Siemon's words didn't affect her. Sadly, like all good things, her dreams had to end. But instead of waking up blissfully, she was shaken awake with someone saying "Hinata-chan, Hinata-chan, Hinata-chan wake up!"

As Hinata shot up in bed, she accidentally headbutted her boyfriend. Hinata was so shocked to see Naruto in her room that she blushed bright red. Seeing this, Naruto chuckled a bit and said "It's been a while since you turned that red, Hinata-chan."

Hinata turned her head away, but Naruto wouldn't let her. He grabbed her by her chin and forced her to look at him. He said "None of that, Hinata-chan. The guys said that I should just sit back and let you find your own way through this, but I can't stand back and see you like this. Now, get dressed."

Hinata said "Huh?"

Naruto repeated "Get…dressed. I'm taking you out on a date, right now. We're gonna go to your favorite places in the village. We're gonna spend this entire day together. That'll get your spirits up."

Hinata said "N-n-Naruto-kun, I don't t-think-"

Naruto interrupted her and said "No, no, no. I said 'I'm taking you out' and I meant it. You don't get to say 'no thanks.' Now get dressed because we're about to go."

Hinata said "N-n-Naruto-kun, I don't w-w-want to."

Naruto said "Hinata-chan, this is happening one of two ways. With you cooperating or with me dragging you out of here. Now, are you going to get dressed or do I have to dress you myself?"

Naruto and Hinata both had a small moment of silence pass between them, and then Hinata went beet red yet again at the mental image of Naruto dressing her. Naruto himself blushed a bit as he realized what he actually said. Naruto said "Sorry about that Hinata-chan. I didn't mean it that way. But still, we're going out so get dressed. And hurry up will ya? I think your dad might see me if I stay any longer."

Hinata huffed and said "Fine."

Hinata then got out of bed and went to her closet. As she grabbed her clothes, she turned around to see that Naruto was still looking at her. She said "Naruto-kun, I'm about to change my clothes."

Naruto said "So?"

Hinata said "So… that means that I'll have to change out of these clothes."

Naruto, once again, said "So?"

Hinata chuckled a bit at Naruto, surprising herself. For a second, she had actually forgotten about how bad she was feeling. Naruto had an uncanny ability to make someone forget about their problems as they were laughing with him. It was one of the reasons that she loved hi-'Wait a minute. Love? Do I really love him? I mean, I know that I have a crush on him so big that 'giant' doesn't even begin to describe it, but love? Isn't it too soon for me to be thinking things like that?' Hinata took another look at Naruto, and thought 'Maybe not.'

Hinata said "Will you please get out of here? I don't want you to see me changing clothes." 'Not yet at least.'

Naruto whined "Augh, why not?"

Hinata let out a big laugh at that as she was pushing Naruto to her window that was already open, indicating that's how Naruto got in. As Naruto sat on the windowsill, Hinata grabbed her clean clothes and went into the bathroom. As she went in, Naruto said "Hinata-chan, I'll be waiting for you out-"

Naruto didn't get any farther as the door to the bathroom started to close. But before it completely closed, Hinata decided to play a prank on her boyfriend. She had her back to him and started to slowly lift her shirt up. She didn't even have it past her belly button before she heard a perverted giggle, followed by a scream as Naruto fell backwards out the window. After she heard a thump, she closed the door completely and got ready.

After humiliating her perverted boyfriend, Hinata and Naruto both left her house and started walking around the city. The first thing they decided to do was go sightseeing throughout the Elemental Countries. Sometimes being a Ninjetti Warrior had its' perks, especially when they could see some of the most beautiful sights airborne because of their flight ability. After sightseeing for a few hours, they decided to go see a movie. They touched down in the Land of Snow and went into a movie theater. As they went in, they perused the selection of movies. As Hinata looked, she saw one she liked. But before she suggested it, Naruto said "Nice! The new Spandex Warrior movie is out. Can we go see that, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata said "Okay, Naruto-kun."

Naruto was about to say 'thanks', but something about Hinata's tone told him that she was sad. Naruto thought 'You baka. This day is for HER, not you.'

Naruto said "Hinata-chan, is there a movie you would like to see?"

Hinata looked down, but Naruto was too quick for her. He grabbed her chin and made her look at him. He said "Hinata-chan, answer me. Is there a movie you would rather see?"

Hinata said "Yes."

Naruto let her go and said "Then we're seeing that."

Hinata stammered "But Naruto-kun-"

Naruto said "But nothing. This day is about you, not me. We'll go see Spandex Warrior another time. Right now, we're going to see what you want to see."

Hinata smiled and said "Thanks, Naruto-kun."

So, after that, they decided to go see a romantic comedy. It wasn't exactly the type of movie that Naruto liked, but since Hinata liked it, he fought through it. After seeing it, Naruto said "So, Hinata-chan, did you like it?"

Hinata, who was still smiling from the movie, said "I loved it. Thanks, Naruto-kun."

Naruto said "Anything for you. But I'm kinda hungry. Where do you wanna eat?"

"Well, there is this little restaurant in Konoha called Sakyua's that I like. Can we go there?"

"Sure!"

With that, the two teleported back to Konoha. When they arrived, they walked to the restaurant. When they arrived, they were greeted with "Welcome to-what are you doing in here?"

Hinata said "What?"

Naruto sighed and said "Listen, I'm trying to show my girlfriend a good time. Can we not do this today?"

The man who greeted them said "You're not allowed in here, you troublemaker. Get out, now."

Naruto said "We're paying customers just like everyone in here. All we want is to eat."

The man walked over to them and stood in front of Naruto. The man's muscles were more defined, and he was taller than Naruto, and he tried to intimidate Naruto because of it. He said "We have a 'No unloved, orphan, demon monsters allowed' policy."

Hinata thought 'He's done it now.'

In the blink of an eye, Naruto snapped. His posture suddenly changed, his fists were clenched, his teeth were gritted, and the look in his eye changed. Naruto looked the man right in the eye as the man tried to flex his muscles, hoping to make Naruto back up. Naruto stood his ground, glared at him, and said "If you're trying to intimidate me, it won't work. You're just some restaurant greeter who probably lifts weights every other day. I'm a ninja, a silent killer and a soldier. I've faced down people who would make you piss your pants. The difference between us is that for you, the word badass describes how you think of yourself. For me, it's my job title."

The man smirked and said "Let's test that out, shall we?"

He pulled his fist back and tried to punch Naruto, but Naruto ducked under the fist, which moved in slow motion to him. Naruto quickly swept the man's feet out from under him, causing him to hit the ground on the back of his head. Naruto stood back up and said "Sorry Hinata-chan, but if it's alright with you, can we eat somewhere else?"

Hinata could only nod at what she had just seen. They left the restaurant and walked in silence. While they were walking, she saw how everyone else was glaring at Naruto. Hinata thought 'I forgot how much the people in this village mistreat Naruto.'

She then looked at Naruto, who had calmed down somewhat from what happened. He had a glaring anger in his eyes, but underneath it, she saw… 'Sadness? He's sad at the reactions he's getting. He's so happy and energetic though.'

Hinata said "Naruto-ku"

Hinata was interrupted by a call of "Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooossssssssssssssssssss sss!"

Turning around to where the call came from, she saw a kid with dark, spiky hair rush towards them. The kid had on a yellow shirt with a spiral on it and grey pants. The grey pants had darker gray patches on the knees. The kid was also wearing blue sandals. As the kid was running up, she turned to Naruto and saw his mood do a complete turn-around. Naruto said "Konohamaru!"

The kid, Konohamaru, said "Boss, can you help me with something?"

Naruto said "Sure, what is it Konohamaru?"

Konohamaru said "Remember that Jutsu you showed me last week?"

Naruto said "Yeah."

Hinata said "Naruto-kun, I really hope the 'Jutsu' he's talking about isn't that 'Sexy Jutsu' of yours?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and said "No, no, of course not. I promised you that I wouldn't use that again, didn't I?"

The first time that Naruto used that Jutsu in front of Hinata, needless to say she didn't like it. She threatened to use him as her human dummy for her arrow training as Crane if she ever heard of him using it again.

Naruto said "The Jutsu he's talking about is an academy Jutsu."

Konohamaru said "Hey boss, is she your girlfriend?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and Hinata said "Yes, I am. And you are?"

Konohamaru smiled and said "I'm Sarutobi Konohamaru. Ninja trainee and future Genin. But get used to calling me Konohamaru-sama, cuz I'm gonna be the next Hokage."

Naruto bopped Konohamaru on the head and said "You, the next Hokage? Like that'll ever happen. I already told you that you'd have to beat me for that title. And that's never happening shrimp."

Hinata said "Naruto-kun, are you sure that you have room to talk about someone being short? You're only 4'10"."

As Hinata said this, she and Konohamaru had a laugh at Naruto's expense. Naruto glared at both of them and said "How can I be short? I'm taller than both of you."

After they stopped laughing at Naruto, they went to a clearing. As they got there, Konohamaru said "Well, the main part of the Jutsu that I don't get is how to do the ending part."

Naruto said "Well, do it now, and maybe I can show you where you're messing up at."

Konohamaru did the handseals and said "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Two puffs of smoke appeared beside Konohamaru. As the smoke blew away, two dead versions of Konohamaru appeared on his sides. Naruto said "Well…I got nothing. I couldn't get that damn Jutsu down either."

Hinata said "Naruto-kun, may I help?"

Luckily for Konohamaru, Hinata was adept with the Bunshin no Jutsu. Thanks to her, she was able to improve his use of the Jutsu to where he could create one perfectly. Any more though, and he still had a lot of trouble with it. As they were going on, Hinata was monitoring Konohamaru's chakra level and saw that it was getting dangerously low. She said "Konohamaru, maybe we should stop this. Your chakra level is getting really low. We can continue this later."

Konohamaru said "What are you talking about? I can still go on."

Hinata said "Konohamaru, if you keep going, you will run out of chakra. You could hurt yourself."

Konohamaru said "But I-"

Naruto said "Konohamaru, you heard Hinata-chan. Stop. We'll start again later."

Konohamaru huffed and said "Fine then."

Hinata said "How about we have something to eat in the park?"

After the other two nodded, Hinata told them to go to the park while she went to get them some food. As she came back with the food, she saw that a blanket was already lying out in the shade with Konohamaru and Naruto sitting down on it. Hinata laid down the food and they all started chowing down. Twenty minutes later, all that was left of their food were empty containers. Konohamaru said "That was great, Hinata-san. Whenever the boss buys me food, it's usually just ramen. This is much better."

Naruto glared at Konohamaru and said "How dare you! Ramen is awesome!"

Hinata chuckled a bit and said "So, Konohamaru, how about we try the Bunshin no Jutsu again?"

Konohamaru jumped up and was about to mold his chakra before he heard someone say "Like you could ever get it right."

The three turned to where the voice came from, only to see a brown haired boy standing there. Naruto narrowed his eyes and said "And just who the hell are you?"

Hinata said "Naruto-kun, you know him. It's Makito-san. He was one of our old classmates."

Naruto, who was still pissed at what Makito said about Konohamaru, said "You mean he was one of those cowards who ran when the Tenga attacked? I heard that you guys were forbidden from joining the Shinobi Corps too. Is that true?"

Makito's face turned red, either from anger or embarrassment was unknown. He said "Shut the hell up, ninja dropout. As if you and this weak tramp here could ever teach this kid. You couldn't even get the Bunshin no Jutsu down. What makes you think that this kid could? He looks about as talentless as you. This kid is gonna wind up just as pathetic and weak as you, you ninja dropout."

Konohamaru yelled out "Shut the hell up!"

The shout was so loud and so out of place, that everyone in the park listening stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He gave Makito a death glare as he said "Who are you to say those things to me? You don't know who I am. You don't know anything about me or my life, so why should what you say mean anything to me at all? It doesn't matter what you say, what you think, or what you believe. To me, it's worth less than dirt! I may not be perfect, but I know for a FACT that I'm better than you think I am. And just to prove it to you. Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Konohamaru did the handseals, applied chakra, and four puffs of smoke went up, two on each side of him. As the smoke blew away with the wind, there were five Konohamaru's standing there instead of one. The 'Honorable Grandsons' said in unison "See? It doesn't matter at all what you think or say about me. No matter what you do to try and get in my way, you will never stop me from reaching my dreams. I'll walk my own path in life and show you just how pointless, baseless, and pathetic your opinion of me really is. My name is Konohamaru Sarutobi, and I refuse to take that kind of crap from anyone! No matter what you say, or what you do, in a few years you will be bowing down to me and calling me Lord Hokage. I swear it!"

Konohamaru glared at the man as Naruto was grinning from ear to ear at Konohamaru showing his determination. While Naruto was smiling, Hinata was thinking. 'Konohamaru…He's just a child, yet he could ignore what that man said. Instead of letting it get him down, he used it to push himself forward. Why can't I be like that? How come I let the words of others hurt me instead of proving them wrong? What's stopping me from being like that? …Is there anything stopping me? Konohamaru has Naruto-kun here to help him, but I don't…I do! I have Naruto-kun here to help push me forward. I have Kiba-kun, Lee-kun, Takaseirei, Kijuukiseirei, everyone! All they ever do is push me forward, and I just keep acting like I have no one. I have all of them to push me forward. But what about the Red Ranger's words? Are they true?'

Hinata turned to Naruto to see him high-fiving Konohamaru. Hinata pulled Naruto off and took him to the woods to speak privately. Naruto said "Hinata-cha, what are you doi-"

Hinata cut him off. She said "Naruto. Do you remember when Takaseirei and the others had us all face Cyber-Tengas?"

Naruto said "Yeah, where is this going?"

Hinata said "When everyone else faced theirs, you were okay with it. But as soon as I went down there, you kept trying to stop the battle. Why?"

Naruto got a quizzical look on his face and said "What?"

Hinata said "Lee was the newest of us. He was the least experienced with his powers, yet you let him fight without any word. How come when it got to my turn, you thought I couldn't do it? Why, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said "Hinata-chan, you're my girlfriend. When you were in there, I wasn't thinking straight. Mentally, I knew you could handle that Cyber-Tenga. I knew that you wouldn't have any problems. But when I saw you in there alone, my brain stopped. I could only think about the fact that you were in there alone. You didn't have anyone in there to fight with you, you were…you were away from me. I couldn't be there to protect you if you needed it. Even if you wouldn't need it at all, the fact that I wasn't there beside you was unbearable for me. If I hurt you because of that Hinata-chan, I'm sorry. It's just…I don't think rationally when comes to you."

Hinata thought 'Naruto-kun thought I could do it. He was just being him. I really do have him to push me forward.'

Hinata said "Naruto-kun, do you think I drag the team down?"

Naruto instantly dropped the apologetic look and took on a serious one. He was easily able to figure out where that kind of talk came from. He said "Hinata, whatever the Red Ranger said was a lie. You don't hold us back. Heck, without you, we're nothing. Did you forget that I would've died in Kumo if you hadn't helped me in our first fight against the Cyber-Tenga? Hell, you've saved my butt a bunch of times since we became Ninjetti Warriors. Hinata-chan, you're much stronger than you think you are. You can freeze people, shock them, and burn them to a crisp in less than five seconds. You can fly. You're unbeatable with your bow. You can hold your own without it. That is seriously the only thing about you that drives me crazy. How can you be so freaking awesome but not see it?"

Hinata thought 'Naruto-kun, you know exactly how to make me feel better….I'll try. For you, I'll try and put people's insults behind me instead of just letting them hurt me.'

Before they could continue with their talk, they heard a voice mentally say "There's trouble at Wave Country again. Siemon, Oculous, and Cyclops have appeared again."

Naruto mentally said "Gotcha, Takaseirei. I'll be right there. But how will we handle them shooting at us like that again?"

Naruto turned to Hinata and said "Hinata-chan, I know you must be feeling bad, but please. I need you there with me. The others do too. We can't do this without you."

Hinata nodded and said "Let's go."

Together, they both deployed their Step-In Dummies and left for Naruto's house.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(In Wave Country)

The villagers' same tactic from last time didn't work. This time, Cyclops and Oculous, with a new gun, teleported down with their guns out. The three put all of the villagers on their knees and threatened to kill them if they moved. As they were standing there, Siemon walked over to the boy from yesterday. He said "Well, well, well, if it isn't the little boy from yesterday? It seemed like your plan failed this time."

The boy looked Siemon right in the eye and his gaze didn't waver at all. The boy said "Enjoy it. This is the closest you'll ever come to taking Wave Country."

Siemon said "And who's gonna stop me? The Ninjetti Warriors?"

The boy smirked and said "Exactly. They've stopped you before. In case you've forgotten, this is your third time trying to take over Wave Country. Both times before, you failed! What makes you think today is gonna be any different?"

Siemon seemed mad, but chuckled a bit and said "You have a lot of guts, kid."

The boy said "And I can't wait to see yours spill on the ground."

Siemon pulled out his sword and held it an inch from the boys' neck. He was miffed that the boy still didn't seem scared at all. He said "Anyone ever tell you that you have a smart mouth kid?"

The boy replied "Anyone ever tell you that you have a hard head? You know, they say that a hard head makes for a soft ass. One that the Ninjetti Warriors are gonna kick all over this Country!"

Siemon gritted his teeth, but before he could do anything, he heard Cyclops and Oculous grunt. Siemon turned around, only to see Wolf and Hitori inbetween Oculous and Cyclops, staring them both down. Falcon was looking right at Siemon. Siemon said "So, you guys are ready for your beat down, huh? So, Bird Brain, still mad about how I hurt Pinkie yesterday? Gonna 'avenge her honor?'"

Falcon snorted and said "I think I'll leave that to her." Falcon pointed to the roof beside them. As Siemon turned there, he saw that the roof was empty, only to feel someone kick him from the opposite side. He fell down and Crane landed in front of the boy he was talking to. Crane saw the boy and said "Good job distracting him Inari. We'll handle these three. Get all these people to safety."

Inari nodded, and with him, the rest of the people fled the scene. Siemon got back up and said "So Pinkie, you're ready for another beatdown?"

Crane said "If you mean 'ready to give out' one, then yes. I am."

Siemon drew his sword again, but before he could get there, he heard a voice from the side say "Dragon Blast!" and he got kicked again. Siemon turned to see Dragon there, holding his right hand behind his back. Siemon got back to his feet and yelled at them "Stop kicking me! That's seriously pissing me off."

Dragon said "If you don't like people kicking you, you won't like what I have for you today."

Falcon said "Dragon, didn't they say you couldn't fight?"

Dragon said "Wrong, Falcon-sempai. They said I couldn't use my right hand. They said nothing about fighting."

Dragon charged Siemon as Falcon and Crane went to fight the gun-weilding duo. Both of the gun wielding duo were running. As the main three Ninjetti Warriors gave chase, Oculous jumped into a nearby alley and started spraying them with bullets. The three fighters all took cover behind another building. When they stuck their head out from behind the building, they saw that Cyclops was gone. Before they could try to figure out where he went, they were being fired upon again. They all took off moving, leaving more holes in walls as they were running. Falcon didn't want to risk someone overhearing them, so he mentally said "Guys, we need to fight back."

Wolf said "Do you remember the damage Cyclops' sniper did to Lee yesterday? If we go out there, we could get hit. And unlike Lee, we don't have the Dragon Shield protecting us from their bullets. If we go out there, we're dead."

Crane said "How about we try to find Cyclops instead? After that, we can take out Oculous."

Wolf said "How would we find him? We don't know anything about this city's layout."

Ryū said "But I do. I can guide one of you. But if more than one of you goes to search for Cyclops, Oculous might chase you. The other two need to keep his attention."

Crane said "I'll do it. With my bow, I can shoot the sniper rifle out of his hands before he can use it on me. When the time comes, I just need one of you guys to go out there and try to draw his attention."

Wolf said "Akamaru and I are on it. With our Hyper Sprint, he won't be able to hit us."

Falcon said "I'll see if I can get a lucky hit on Oculous. I'll give you an opening to slip away. Hinata-chan, be careful."

Hinata gave Falcon's hand a quick squeeze before Falcon sprouted his wings and took off to the sky. He flew towards Oculous' hiding spot and shot a Judgment Cut at it, right before he was grazed by a bullet. Falcon quickly flew down into cover. In a second, Wolf and Hitori joined him, with Crane gone.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(With Crane)

With Crane, as soon as Falcon took off, she was gone like a bullet. She heard Ryū in her mind say "Hinata, watch Falcon. I think he's about to be hit. Through your eyes, I'll see the direction it came from and I can track the trajectory."

Just like Ryū said, Falcon got hit. Luckily, it only grazed him. Ryū said "Hinata, go west. I know it came from that general direction."

Crane took a quick look at the sky to see where the son was, and determined the direction to go from there. She ran west, going in that general direction for a few minutes. As she looked around, she also made sure that she stayed in some kind of cover. It would suck if he saw her coming because of a lucky peek. Crane was scanning the tops of the buildings, but didn't see anything. She thought 'Maybe I should be ready in case I run into him.'

Crane summoned her bow again, and almost let out a yelp of surprise.

Crane's bow was completely different. While it was the same solid pink color, the head was smaller, with the beak of the crane coming to a sharp point. Underneath the crane's head, there was a small opening where her fingers went through. Before, the bow was thicker, but now it was completely flat. Crane ran her finger down the outside of the bow, and then let out a small yelp of pain as she felt the bow cut into her finger. As she looked, she saw that the bow was sharp as a razor on the outside. The piece of string attaching the ends seemed extremely taut, guaranteeing the fastest shots possible. Crane thought 'What happened to my bow?'

Ryū said "Did I forget to tell you that Kijuuki asked me to make some modifications to your bow? Now, you have a weapon to fight with when you're in close quarters. Also, the bow is much sturdier than your old one. This one can shoot up to five non-elemental arrows at once, and three elemental arrows at once. Also, the elemental ones can be any combination you want of them."

Crane paid Ryū almost no attention as she was still looking over her bow. Ryū said "So, how do you like it?"

Crane said "I love it. Thank you, Ryū-sensei."

Ryū said "Anytime. Be sure to tell me how it handles."

Crane said "If you keep looking, you'll see for yourself. Have you found Cyclops yet?"

Ryū went silent for a few moments, then said "Found him. He's at the top of the church about 150 feet west of you."

Crane said "Okay."

Crane then opened the mental connection to the rest of the group and said "Guys, we know where Cyclops is."

Falcon said "Gotcha. One distraction, coming up!"

Immediately after, Crane heard the rapport of gunfire and took off for the church, still staying in cover. As she got there, she raced around to the west side of the building, putting the chuch in between her and the others. She walked up the wall until she got to a small opening in the top. She looked in to see the giant church bell, and underneath it, laying on the floor, was Cyclops. Crane pulled back the string on her bow and shot a Freeze Arrow at Cyclops' hand right as he was about to press the trigger of his gun. Cyclops looked at his hand and said "What the-" before Crane shot him in the back with a Blaze Arrow.

The arrow hit Cyclops in his back, which caused him to start rolling around in pain. Crane dropped down and charged him, but Cyclops was able to get up and swung his sniper, which had a bayonet on the end of it, at Crane. Crane swung her bow at it and knocked the bayonet away. Crane then decided to test the strength of her new bow by slashing Cyclops with it. As Cyclops backed up from the pain, Crane shot off five arrows at once, which all hit Cyclops. Cyclops was hit so hard that he fell off the top of the church. As he was falling, Crane jumped down with him, shooting all the way. It seemed that Cyclops had finally gotten his bearings back as he pulled his gun around to try and shoot her also.

Crane would've continued shooting while falling, but a bullet that whizzed past her cheek told her to reconsider. Crane shot off an Electric Arrow that she purposely detonated right in front of Cyclops. It wouldn't hurt him at all, but the wide, bright blast would temporarily blind him, which it did. Crane transformed into Ninja Form and flew away, landing on a nearby rooftop. As Cyclops got up, he looked around and saw where he was. He was surrounded by tall buildings, little to no cover at all, his opponent was an imitation sniper, and he had lost sight of her. Cyclops screamed to the heavens in anger at his situation, before he calmed himself down by stroking his chin. Cyclops kept looking around for Crane.

Crane, in Ranger Form, was on top of one of the tallest buildings, which she figured would be the best spot. Crane pulled her bow back and shot at him. While the arrow was flying, she thought that it would be a direct hit. What she didn't expect was for Cyclops to turn around and shoot directly at her arrow. He then looked directly at her and said "Pretty good position. Couldn't have picked a better one myself."

Cyclops then jumped to the top of the building beside Crane's. Crane tried to shoot him, but he was too fast. He shot at her, with his bullet grazing her hand and sending her bow skidding on the rooftop. Crane ran towards her bow, picked it up, turned and got ready to shoot an arrow. As she did, she saw that Cyclops was right in her face, the barrel of his gun pointed directly at her. Cyclops said "So, it appears we're at an impasse."

Crane said "That's what you think."

Crane dived to the left as she let loose an Electric Arrow. The Electric Arrow detonated right next to Cyclops' gun, causing his shot to go wide and to momentarily blind him. As his vision came back, Cyclops swung his gun around to get his sights on his target, only to get hit in the chest gem with a Blaze, a Freeze, and a Lightning Arrow. The gem in his chest broke apart, and Cyclops' hands shot to it, dropping his gun. As she was holding his chest, trying to stop the flow of black ooze, he saw Crane standing there with her bow pointed directly at him.

Crane shot him in the eye, but this time, put in more power. As she shot him, Cyclops roared in pain, and the eye gem of his shattered completely. His gem socket let out a geyser of black ooze, then stopped. Cyclops was dead.

Crane didn't waste any time. She changed to her Ninja Form and flew towards where the others were.

As she got there, she saw that things weren't good. Wolf was hiding behind a building with Hitori. But it looked like Hitori was in pain. Wolf was trying to keep him on the ground, but Hitori kept trying to stand up. When he did get to all fours, he dropped back to the ground and started writhing in pain. Also, Falcon was with them, but he was favoring his right leg. Crane flew towards them, but before she could get there, she saw Oculous to her side pointing his gun at her. Crane quickly dropped out of the sky and broke his gaze. She jumped to the top of the nearest building and saw him walking. He was getting near the others. Even worse, he would reach them before her if she didn't do something. Crane switched to Ranger Form and shot at Oculous, causing him to look towards her. Crane said "If you want to fight, I'm right here."

Oculous started shooting at her, but Crane raced over the rooftops and shot at his feet, causing him to jump back. Crane laughed mockingly and said "If that is the best you have, you'll end up like Cyclops soon."

Oculous said "What do you mean?"

Crane tilted her head to the side a bit, grabbed her chin as if she was thinking, and said "Isn't it weird that he hasn't taken a shot in a while. It's almost like he can't. And we all know that death can really put a limit on what you can and can't do."

Oculous said "You killed Cyclops?"

Crane shrugged and said "Yeah, I kinda did."

Oculous screamed in rage and started shooting at her. Crane dodged all of the bullets and jumped to a new building where Oculous couldn't see her.

Crane looked at where her injured teammates were, and thought 'I'm the only one on the team who knows healing Jutsu. If I was over there, we could be up in a second and we could take this creep. But if I don't keep Oculous' attention, he'll get there first. If only I could heal them from here.'

A voice said "Well try it out, kiddo."

Crane said "Kijuuki? What do you mean?"

"Try to heal them from far away. Use your bow. You never know what'll happen."

Crane pulled her bow out, and concentrated on using healing chakra. As she did, the ends of her bow were connected by a green thread. Crane pulled the thread back, thought 'Here goes nothing.' And shot.

The shot arced through the sky and hit Hitori right in the side. As the arrow hit, Hitori let out a growl, then stood up, but he was still wobbly. Crane shot Hitori with two more, and it seemed to have the right effect as he was able to stand on his feet. Crane then let off more shots, hitting all three of her comrades. After a small hail of healing arrows, they were aching, but still in fighting condition. Crane came out of her hiding spot to see that Oculous was making his way towards the team, and she said "Guys, Oculous is making his way towards you. Be ready."

Falcon said "We are. Thanks, Hinata-chan."

Crane saw her team take cover, and she ran to help. As Oculous appeared, she shot five arrows at his feet, causing him to cover his face as a reflex. Hitori used his Hyper Sprint to get in front of Oculous and knock his gun out of his hand. As that was done, Hitori took off. But Oculous wasn't alone as Wolf appeared and threw the two electrified ends of his lances at Oculous. They both let their electrical charges loose and shocked him immensely. As the charge died out, Oculous thought the worst was over. He was dead wrong. On opposite sides of him appeared both Crane and Falcon. Falcon let loose a pencil thin Judgment Cut while Crane let loose a Blaze, Freeze, then a Lightning Arrow. The Blaze arrow, when it hit, superheated the metallic outside of Oculous' body. The Freeze arrow cooled it to subzero temperatures, making it child's play for the Lightning Arrow to drill through his body. It was met with Falcon's Judgment Cut, and on contact, both exploded, taking Oculous with them.

Crane said "That's two down."

Falcon said "Now let's get to Dragon's position and help before-"

Falcon was cut off as a loud roar from a far distance distracted him. Wolf said "That doesn't sound good."

Falcon said "Wolf, Hitori, get there and help Dragon. Me and Crane will get there eventually."

Wolf nodded and he and Hitori disappeared. Falcon grabbed Crane around the waist, called forth his wings, and took off. As they arrived, they saw that the fight between the Red Ranger and Dragon had done a lot of damage. The fight already had two houses collapsed, a third needing a new wall, and the road had A LOT of new potholes in the shape of their helmets or Dragon's foot. Falcon muttered "Damn. I would've paid money to see this fight."

Crane muttered "You're not the only one. If we could sell tickets to these things, we'd probably make a fortune."

Before they could come up with a system for that very thing, they reached their destination. When they arrived, they saw that the Red Ranger was surrounded by his Bijū chakra cloak. Inside, he was carrying his sword, with a giant version of it being held in the chakra constructs' hand. As Hitori, Dragon, and Wolf were surrounding Siemon, he twisted in a circle, causing a red crescent to shoot off the chakra constructs' sword. The growing ring of chakra almost reached the three, but Hitori ducked under it, while Wolf and Dragon both jumped over it. The ring died out soon, but not before it hit a tree. When it hit the tree, the tree caught on fire. Falcon said "It looks like someone learned a few new tricks-"

"That you taught him."

"Can it, fluffy!"

As the three got up to rush him. Siemon reappeared, sweeping his arm in an arc that made the chakra arm knock down all three Warriors. Siemon rushed at them, but before he could get there, Crane let loose a barrage of arrows in front of him to halt his movement. Siemon looked in the sky to see Crane and Falcon, and he shot a fiery crescent of energy at them. Crane charged up a Freeze Arrow and let it go. It stopped the fire crescent dead on, allowing the rest of the arrows Crane started shooting to continue after Siemon. Siemon held the chakra arm in front of him, allowing it to take the hits. Falcon flew closer to the ground to let Crane land safely. As she landed, she shot a Freeze Arrow at Siemon, who sent a chakra arm towards Falcon. Falcon saw the arm coming for him, but before he could do anything, the unthinkable happened.

Crane's Freeze Arrow turned in midair and shot towards the arm. As the arm hit the Freeze Arrow, Ryū said over the team's mental link "Did I forget to mention that Hinata could control her arrows mentally now?"

The Freeze Arrow hit the arm, destroying it before it could get close to Falcon. Falcon and Siemon didn't have much time to think about it as Crane let loose a barrage of arrows. Siemon blocked with his arm again, allowing it to take the shots. What he didn't know was that while his arm was in front of his eyes, the vertical center of his body was getting hit with all the arrows. Also, Crane was purposely having a few of the arrows miss, so she could redirect them when they were out of his line of sight, circle around, and hit the top of the chakra constructs' head. Doing this, it eventually caused the concentration of Bijū chakra in those locations to get thinner. Also, all the arrows were causing Siemon to cover his eyes, allowing him to miss the fact that Falcon was no longer on the ground.

Falcon was in the air, flying at Siemon as fast as he possibly could. He coated his sword in as much chakra as he possibly could, causing the intensity of the glow to almost rival that of the sun. As he got near his target, Falcon pushed even more power into his sword, unknowingly causing the sword's glow to be replaced with a magnificent fire. The base of the fire was pure gold, whereas the rest of it was white. Just like Takaseirei's Falcon Sword. Falcon held his sword over his head and yelled "White Break!"

Falcon slashed down with his sword as hard as he possibly could, causing Siemon to let out a scream of pure pain. Not only that, but it also severely weakened Siemon's Bijū cloak. Crane focused a great portion of her power into her bow, and shot an Electric, Fire, and Frost Arrow at Siemon's chakra cloak, causing widespread damage and forcing a big portion of it to be weakened considerably. But that wasn't the end of it as Crane and Falcon dropped flat on the ground, allowing a gigantic, 10 foot wolf to jump over them. As the wolf crashed into Siemon, Hitori roared loudly and Wolf yelled "Surging Hunter!"

As the attack crashed into Siemon, it tore through the last of his chakra cloak, leaving him floating in the air from the attack. Siemon screamed in pain as the electric geyser fried his body.

But it wasn't over yet.

After the attack died down, Siemon was still floating in the air. He didn't know why until he looked at Dragon, who was telekinetically lifting him. Dragon quickly rose him higher, caused him to start spinning at breakneck speeds, then yelled "Dragon Driver!"

Dragon moved both his hands down, causing Siemon to shoot at the ground and kick up a large cloud of dust upon impact. As he landed, the other Warriors gathered together. Wolf said "Do you think that stopped him?"

Falcon said "He's a Jinchūriki. I'd be surprised if it did."

As the dust cleared, Siemon was laying on the ground, taking shallow breaths. Dragon said "I'm ending this right now!"

Dragon charged forward, jumped and yelled "Dragon Blast!"

As his foot was nearing the Red Ranger, Siemon let loose a pulse of energy that knocked Dragon backwards. As Dragon landed, Siemon dialed back the amount of the Yonbi's chakra throughout his body. 'I'm already damn near done right now. No need to add more to that.'

The power that was flowing through his veins was enough for Siemon to numb the pain so he could fight again. He stood up, and all those thoughts about the pain being completely numbed seemed to go away. 'Damn! It still hurts this much even though I have that howler monkey's power in my body. This isn't good at all. I have to get out of here.'

Siemon summoned the Ape Sword, and using both hands, lifted it. But his shaking arms showed how much he was actually hurt. Siemon fought through the pain to fill the sword with energy and yell "Rule the Frozen Lands, Goriraseirei!"

Siemon's sword was coated with icy blue energy, but before he could do anything with it, his hands were shot with an arrow, causing him to drop his sword. As he grabbed his hands in pain, Wolf muttered "Shoot his hands so he can't hold his sword. …WHY THE HELL HAVE WE NOT THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE?!"

The others ignored Wolf's yell as Crane charged forward. Siemon tried to kick her, but Crane ducked under the attack, Bow still in her hand. Siemon pulled his hand back, trying to punch her, but before he could, Crane used the crane-head-shaped point on her Bow to punch Siemon in the stomach. Siemon's hands shot for his stomach as Crane stood up, jumped, spun and hit his hands with a back kick. Siemon screamed in pain as he was knocked back. Crane swiped at him with her bow, but he ducked under the attack. Crane turned around and tried to hit him with a back kick, but Siemon jumped back. Crane ran at him, but Siemon waited until she was too close to dodge. Siemon dropped into a dropkick and hit her front leg in the shin. The pain caused Crane to drop to one knee as Siemon rolled backwards to get back on his feet. What he didn't expect was a Blaze Arrow to the helmet as soon as he stood up.

As Siemon was laying on the ground with a (well, more dented) helmet, Crane walked up to him, limping on her leg. She readied her Bow to shoot him, but before she could, she was hit by a fireball. Crane went flying and hit the ground. As the others came to help her up, a Cyber-Tenga appeared in front of Siemon. Both Siemon and the Cyber-Tenga disappeared in a flash of purple light. Crane muttered "Darn it. I almost had him."

Falcon couldn't stop himself. He grabbed Crane around the waist and lifted her up. He said "Crane, that was freaking awesome!"

Crane was laughing at her boyfriend's actions. As he let her down, Wolf said "I must admit. That was good, Crane."

Hitori barked happily as Dragon said "She's come closer to stopping him than any of us."

Crane said "Thanks, guys. Now, let's go home."

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(After the fight)

That day, Hinata went home to the Hyūga compound. As she got there, she saw that everyone seemed to be staring at her. She thought 'It must be because of how I was acting yesterday.'

Hinata paid it no mind, though. She knew that eventually everyone would forget about it. Well, almost everyone. The person who just turned the corner and walked into her sight probably never would. Hinata kept walking forward, as if that person wasn't there. When they passed each other, Hinata said "Neji-nii-san, we have to talk."

Neji turned around and gave Hinata a terrible glare. He said, with a mocking tone and with barely restrained rage, "About what, Hinata-sama?"

Hinata said "Neji-nii-san, I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. Yesterday, I was feeling bad and I snapped at you. I'm sorry about threatening to use the Caged Bird Seal on you. That was probably the worst thing I could ever threaten you with. You have my word that I would never even think about actually using that horrible thing on you. But I also want to clear the table and make one thing straight. This is the last time I will apologize for letting you treat me like dirt."

Neji was shocked at what Hinata said. His look of anger was replaced by one of confusion. "What?"

Hinata looked Neji in the eye and said "Neji, I know about what happened to my aunt and uncle. I was kidnapped at three years old and your father sacrificed himself so my dad wouldn't have to die. The depression of that happening caused your mother and your sister to die during childbirth. I know that you're an orphan, and I know that you feel like you need to blame someone for it. And I want you to realize that I'm the wrong person to blame for it. The man who kidnapped me was the Head Jōnin of Kumogakure no Sato. What could a three year old girl possibly do against him? Ever since that day, I've been blaming myself for what happened. Ever since then, I've let you get away with treating me horribly and saying terrible things about me because I believed that I was to blame for everything that happened to you in your life.

"But I'm tired of it. I'm tired of taking the blame for something that I had no way to stop. Neji, I love you like the brother I never had. And ever since that day I've tried to be a little sister to you, and all you've done is treat me like, I'm sorry to have to say this, but shit. I won't take it any longer. You've been dealt a horrible hand in life, and I'm sorry about that, but I will no longer make excuses for you acting like a jackass! Next time you treat me horribly, or say something bad about me behind my back, I'll kick your ass myself. And that's a promise!"

Hinata turned around and walked away, leaving Neji in the hallway, confused at what happened. As Hinata kept walking, she ran into her father also. Hinata thought 'Should I? Will it really profit me to even confront him? …No. A man like that isn't worth my time at all. At least Neji had an excuse for being horrible towards me. He had none.'

Hinata turned the corner before they came face to face and left for her room. As she got in there, she went right to her bed and went to sleep, emotionally spent from the day. She fought the Red Ranger, killed two enemies, got a new bow, and confronted Neji. She needed a big rest, and now there was nothing on her mind to keep her from getting it. Hinata fell asleep that night, happy that she had solved many of her problems.

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(With Siemon)

After Siemon was healed up from what happened that day, he was confined to his room by their medic, who was Orochimaru's right hand man, Kabuto. Siemon thought 'Well, this sucks.'

Siemon's body glowed red for a second before the same man from before reappeared. He said "Well, I hate to say 'I told you so' but, … Oh, who am I kidding? I love to. I told you so, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so! Haha!"

Siemon was in no mood. He said "Shut the hell up, Goriraseirei."

Goriraseirei said "Now why would I do that? I didn't come to 'Shut up', I came to mock. I told you that Kijuuki's acolytes always have an inner strength, and she seemed to tap into hers today. It just sucks that her punching bag was you and your friends. Tell me, how are they doing? Oh right, they're dead."

Siemon thought 'I knew we shouldn't have allowed you more freedom. We did it in the first place to get more information from you. All it seems to do is cause the opposite.'

Siemon said "Anyone ever tell you that you're a jackass?"

Gorira said "Anyone ever tell you that you're a piss poor excuse for a Power Ranger?"

Siemon said "Why are you even here? No one wants you here anyway."

Gorira said "On the contrary. You want me here. Who else would've kept you from dying when the Rangers hit you with a nonstop marathon of their finishing moves? No one else, that's who."

Siemon said "You're a real jackass."

Gorira said "Says the guy who murdered his mother and brother in cold blood."

Siemon instantly became pissed and said "They deserved it!"

Gorira couldn't say anything at that because, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, he thought they deserved it too. Gorira said "Touché."

Siemon grumbled "At least we agree on something."

Siemon got up and was about to leave the room before Gorira spoke up. He said "Siemon, you're still too good of a person to be here."

Siemon groaned. Once again, Gorira would try to 'save his soul' or some nonsense like that. Siemon said "What do you mean 'I'm too good of a person'? Right here is where I belong."

Gorira said "You don't and you know it."

Siemon said "Would a good person have murdered his brother and mother?"

Gorira said "I never said you were a pure soul. I said you were a good person. You're not above getting revenge for those who wronged you, and that's perfectly fine. But you're not the type to hurt innocent people."

Siemon snorted and said "Really?"

Gorira said "Yes. Case in point, today. That kid clowned you in front of his entire town. You had the chance to freeze him solid, burn him to a crisp, beat him black and blue, whatever you wanted. That kid was at your mercy. But you didn't so much as lay a finger on him. Why?"

Siemon couldn't say. 'Why didn't I kill that little brat when I had the chance?'

Siemon replied "You think I'm a good soul, Goriraseirei? Tell me, then. Would a good soul have murdered part of an entire district of a city in a vain attempt to kill his brother?"

Siemon walked out of the room, leaving Goriraseirei alone. As he was walking, he turned the corner and saw someone. This someone was wearing a yellow headband with a white diamond in the center of their forehead. They were wearing a baggy, thin, yellow gi that went down to their waist and was tightened by a white belt. Since it was tightened, the gi wouldn't get in the way of a fight, but it wouldn't restrict movement either. And since the gi was tightened by the belt, it allowed certain parts of this person's anatomy to stand out, showing that the mysterious person was female.

Along with the gi, the woman had on gloves that went up to mid-forearm that had the sleeves of the gi tucked into it. In the center of each forearm was a giant diamond, with a smaller one above and below it. She had a facemask on that seemed to be part of her gi. Also, her gi had a hood attached, which was currently up, hiding her hair from view. Her pants were yellow, ankle length, and were tucked into her yellow, mid-shin length boots that had the same pattern on the neck as her gloves did. Over her pants she had a skirt that went to mid-thigh. Over her gi, she swore a padded vest that had padding that extended to cover her shoulders. But over the center of her chest, she had a gold plated emblem sewn into the vest. The emblem was of a bear facing forward and roaring. Just looking at the bear caused a small shiver to go through Siemon before he got it under control.

As he saw her, he smirked and said "So they finally got the Bear spirit under control? Took them long enough."

The woman walked up to him and said "It did take them a long time, didn't it? I mean, I was recruited a week ago. But at least you finally have some backup. And if the beating you got today was anything to go by, you need my help how."

Siemon muttered "Smart ass."

She said "My 'ass' is not smart, it's perfect. Get your adjectives right."

Siemon blushed red a bit at what she said. She laughed at him blushing, and continued to her destination. As she walked, Siemon turned around to face her and thought 'Why does the new Ninjetti Warrior have to tease me so much? …But she is right about one thing. Her ass is perfect.'

忍び 戦隊 ニンジェッチ

(End)

Aren't I an asshole? The brainwashed Akatsuki, Siemon who can focus his Bijū chakra into his weapons, a new Ninjetti Warrior on Rito's side. It looks like the odds against the Rangers are starting to pile up. But does that mean that they'll give up? Maybe they need…a new teammate? Maybe not? Who knows? Oh, that's right, I do! But enough of me teasing you guys. Here's a preview of next chapter.

Wolf's new powers, Crane's new bow, Falcon's wings, Dragon's immense abilities, they will all be tested to the limit in this next chapter. What starts off as a regular fight between the Rangers and Siemon turns into a horrible nightmare as they're all teleported to a distant planet. As they arrive, they're forcibly split into groups with Falcon being forced to go alone! Worse, Lee and Siemon are tied up together, forcing them to form a truce for the sake of their lives. Can these two hotheaded teenagers put aside their hatred for each other for the sake of their lives? And just who is behind this entire mystery? The answer to these questions will be revealed in the next chapter of Ninjetti Warriors.