Before Kiba could react, the person who had entered through the gap in the wall in front of him multiplied from one to one hundred.

The Inu-nin smirked wryly. "I knew there was something up with you, you bastard..." the group of Ryo's all grinned menacingly, "Do you really think you can beat me with just those clones?"

"I never did get what a girl like Hotaru saw in you, Mutt." one of them launched forward with the katana that Ryo had unsheathed at the moment of the explosion, but Kiba managed to parry just in time with a kunai, as Akamaru lunged for several of the clones at a time, tearing through them with his great jaws. But there was something weird about these clones.

Unlike ordinary shadow clones, when they were struck, instead of poofing out of existance, a strange black substance oozed from the wounds, that smelled- and tasted- even worse than blood. It left a strange, dry sensation in Akamaru's mouth- strange because he could see that the substance was a liquid, and so should have made his mouth feel wetter, not drier than a desert... almost lifeless. It was if the liquid was a form of death... as if the liquid stole the life from whatever it touched.

Kiba glanced over at Akamaru as the dog gave a whine, sinking his teeth into more of the dead-tasting flesh. The human had picked up on it too- not in taste, but in smell. These clones weren't any ordinary clones... there was something very wrong with them.

"Kiba!" the dog-boy whirled to the call, and saw a familiar blonde running towards him. He growled.

"Back off, Naruto!" Kiba grunted as a Ryo clone charged him, swinging and kicking the blue haired male into a tree, only for another to rush at him. "This guy's mine!"

Naruto stared at Kiba for a moment, then nodded, running off in another direction, no doubt towards more of the enemies. Ryo grinned, "Bold words, Inuzuka. Foolish, but bold."

Then, the real Ryo- since Kiba and Akamaru had destroyed most of his clones- ran towards him, with such speed that Kiba had no time to block. But, before the blade of his katana could come into contact with his flesh, and white blur leapt in front, taking the blow.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, as the ill-looking dog fell, the dark 'blood' of the clones dripping from his jaws. Ryo chuckled.

"He's consumed too much of that stuff... even if I hadn't struck him, he'll be dead within the hour." Ryo tilted his head on one side, looking at Kiba with a mockingly sympathetic expression, "Dying to save his master... you should treat your dog with more respect."

Kiba growled, remembering the mission to Mori no Kuni- something Hotaru had told him while he had been under the influence of the princess. The dog boy glared at Ryo with all the hatred he could muster, "He's not my dog, he's my partner! And I do respect him, a hell of a lot!" Kiba ran for the blue haired man, swinging his fist back, "And I'll respect his wishes by not being killed by a bastard like you!" with that, Kiba's fist slammed into Ryo's cheek, sending him flying into the crumbled remains of the great wall of Konoha.

Ryo wiped the blood from his cheek as he sat up,and a strange noise reached Kiba's ears.

The noise grew into a low chuckle, then a laugh, and then, Ryo threw his head back in a demented roar of laughter. "Respect his wishes by not being killed, eh?!" Ryo's head finally lowered, and he wiped his eyes, laughter dying slowly. He opened his eyes, and Kiba gasped, "You talk big. But can you live up to your words?" he grinned menacingly, "If you'll pardon the pun."

He suddenly stood up, and was in front of Kiba in a flash; the Konoha shinobi barely had time to react before a foot slammed into his stomach, sending him skidding backwards. He coughed, blood trickling over his lip, and he didn't bother to wipe it away, as he forced himself to his feet and ran at his opponent again, letting loose a battle cry. They exchanged blows for a while, and Kiba seemed to be holding his own against the newly fully black eyed Ryo (even the white of his eye was black... creepy, ne?), but then got hit back, and slammed into a tree. The blue haired man grabbed the younger's throat and held him against it, a sickening grin still on his face.

"Looks like Hotaru's gonna lose her little boyfriend... pity." Ryo grinned, "But I guess I could help her get through it." he slammed his fist into Kiba's stomach, bringing forward more blood.

Kiba growled, failing to see that Ryo was just purposefully riling him up, "You bastard!" he spat blood on his opponent's face, and the grin finally faltered, turning to a glare. He twisted, and slammed Kiba by throat down onto the floor.

"Disgusting children need to learn some respect!" he yelled angrily, and Kiba just cried out in pain, choking on the blood in his throat. He had never thought that a day would come when his own blood turned against him.

Glaring up at the now furious Ryo, he ground out, "I'll never respect someone like you!" and, seeing an opportunity, he slammed his knee into the older male's stomach. Ryo's vile blood spattered on Kiba's face, making him grimace, but he used the opportunity to flip them over and slam the blue haired male into the ground, making him cry out.

"You preach about respect, but you need to respect others before they feel the same about you!" he slammed his fists over and over into Ryo's body, until a sudden yell made Kiba whirl around.

"KIBA!!" Kiba caught sight of a familiar redhead, just in time for new blood to spatter on the ground before him. His eyes widened, as the red-haired male fell to the floor in front of him, clutching a wound on his stomach, the hilt of a katana protruding from in between his fingers. Ryo grinned, looking quite proud of himself despite his face and body being bloodied and bruised. Kiba looked behind him to see the Ryo he had been pummelling turn into a black gloop-like substance and melt into the ground.

"Shit!" Kiba cursed, turning back to the scene before him with a panicked expression. He had been careless- that bastard Ryo must have used the Kawarimi. And now, Sasori was...

"Akasuna no Sasori... well now, this is a surprise! I thought you went rogue when I framed your little sister?" Kiba's eyes widened.

"It was you that planted the papaer bomb?!" Kiba snarled in shock, "You bastard!"

"Kiba--" Sasori panted, standing up, with much difficulty, "Leave it... it's not important at the moment." Sasori grunted as he slowly removed the katana from his body, clutching the open wound with his free hand. Kiba just cursed again- from the looks of that wound, Sasori didn't have long left before he bled out. "He has strange seals placed at various points in the village- something to do with poison. If we don't stop him..."

"The village's finished..." Ryo completed Sasori's sentence, smugness in his expression. "That poison will do to everyone in this village the same as what iis happening to your dog right now, mutt... it'll sap their chakra in a slow, painful process... until they're dead. Great, isn't it?"

"You... you bastard!" Kiba yelled, lunging for Ryo, and Sasori cursed and went to follow, only to be stopped as more of the strange Ryo clones sprang from the ground. Sasori ducked and kicked one of them, knocking it down, but it only got back up again. The redhead cussed, hindered by his wound, and the fact that he was without his puppets.

He skidded to dodge a kick to the face, and plunged his fist into another's stomach, but was struck by a different clone and sent flying. Into another redhead.

"Sasori?! What happened to you?!" Hotaru glanced at her surroundings in horror as she helped the man to his feet, then saw Ryo fighting Kiba and growled.

"So... the plan failed, did it?" she mumbled to herself, and Sasori glanced at her in confusion. "I need to speak to Tsunade-sama..."

She swung her foot round to kick away another clone, and tossed Sasori a kunai to fight with from her kunai pouch. She then pulled out a scroll, unrolling it and biting her thumb in a flourish, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke, and everyone stopped fighting momentarily to see the outcome of this jutsu.

A tiger, roughly the same size as Akamaru, appeared, growling, hackles risen. Both Hotaru and Sasori grinned, though it was weak on Sasori's part.

"Kainani-san... I'm going to need your help." she said, and the tiger nodded it's great head and bared it's teeth in a vicious grin.

"As long as it involves shredding this foul smelling prey, I'm in." she replied, and Hotaru nodded.

"Just don't consume any of the clones' blood. It's poison." the redhead told her, and the tiger laughed menacingly and launched at the clones surrounding Sasori.

Kainani tore at the clones with her sharp fangs and claws, ripping limbs and heads clean off, though each clone just reformed every time. Sasori stuck in two, slicing at clones with his kunai. Hotaru ran over to Kiba, launching a kick at Ryo's face before he could hit the Inuzuka in the chest.

Ryo stumbled back, then grinned. "Nice of you to join us, Hotaru."

Hotaru just grinned back in a menacing way, "Wouldn't miss the defeat of the bastard who set me up, now would I?"

Kibe glanced at her in shock, "You knew?!"

"I knew the whole time." Hotaru muttered, swinging her leg round and striking Ryo in the face.

Ryo skidded to a halt on the floor, then stood up and growled in annoyance. He was losing, and he knew it. Glancing about, he frowned. This was his last chance.

He charged, but not in the way any of them expected.

Hotaru's eyes widened, and she threw herself after the blue-haired male, "NO!"

But she wasn't quick enough. She reached them just in time to have the blood of her older brother splatter on her skin and clothes, and watch him fall.

"SASORI!!"

-  -  -

Damn I suck at writing fight scenes. Lol.

So yeah... this was going to be one heck of a long chapter, but I cut it off here so that I could make another chapter out of it ^^ hehe, nah, not really, this just seemed like a good place to cut it off.

Damn Ryo. He killed Sasori!!! >:O that bastard!!

So yeah. Fan vote, and especially comment.... and I might decide to let our poor, muppet-loving redhead survive...

Yesh I'm bribing you. What of it? >:3