Tamaka pushed Sute back with a shout, jumping several feet back. Sute slid on the charred stone ground, but remained on her feet with her staff in a defensive position.

Tamaka shouted several words in an unfamiliar language, and the Mearisu suddenly retreated behind her, jumping away from their opponents mid-battle. Senri and Raikou were at Sute's side in speed that had rendered them to a blur. 

"Koe."

Koe snapped to attention at the sound of his name. Sute still had her back to him, and she bent down to pick up his wakizashi. She only slightly turned, keeping her eyes on the Mearisu as she threw it to him. The blade sank into the ground before him.

"Find Nariko and Kiiro, and make sure all of you get behind me. Now."

Koe nodded, picking himself off the ground and sheathing his red-stained wakizashi. "Y-Yes, Sensei."

Then he turned and ran.

Kiiro was on the ground several feet away, clutching his face. Koe winced when he saw that Kiiro's left arm had turned purple from some kind of poison. He helped Kiiro to his feet and supported him as they walked to where their teacher was.

"I can still fight." Kiiro said stubbornly in a hoarse voice.

Koe merely bowed his head. "I know."

"Nariko's wing is broken."

". . . I'll f-find her."

"We're not giving up, right?"

"No. W-We're not." Koe shook his head. "N-n-not now."

He set Kiiro down in a seating position behind Sute. Nariko was already there, despite the fact that her wing was snapped at an angle, and her feathers were soaked in blood. Her exposed arm was cut and bruised, and a line of blood ran from her mouth to her chin. Her other, sleeved arm was also bloody, and it soaked through the yellow fabric and turned it into a darkened orange. The sight made Koe want to scream, and his hands shook with anger. No, he was not giving up the fight against the Mearisu.

"Nariko. Kiiro. Koe." Sute said, and they turned to her. She still faced the Mearisu, but spoke to the three of them. "I taught you three not on a whim, but for a reason. You three have what it takes to become great shinobi. I promised you that I would live to see the day it would happen."

She paused, then finally turned to face her students.

"Koe, I want you to use your Medical Ninjutsu to heal Nariko and Kiiro. Store up Chakra. The enemy is preparing for a second wave. I want you to stay out of this. Keep behind me. Don't worry, you will get your chance to fight."

"But when, Sensei?" Asked Kiiro, clutching his eye.

Sute gave them a rare smile. "You will know. Your Nindō will guide you. Until then, watch closely. This will be your final test; to know when your Ninja Way calls you to battle, and to respond as only a shinobi would."

She turned back around.

"It's almost time." Growled Senri.

The ranks of the Hidden Mountain and the Branch Rebellion assembled around them, all standing opposite the Mearisu. The three Squad-mates stood on a large boulder overseeing the battlefield, standing side by side.

"Snakey-sensei's team! They're them!" Nariko suddenly exclaimed before wincing and clutching her wing.

"N-Nariko!" Koe knelt down next to her and stretched out a green-glowing hand to heal it.

"What do you mean, 'they're them'?" Asked Kiiro.

"They be famous." Nariko gasped between grunts of pain. "Dinnae know their names before, but they're them. The Hitokiri Four."

"H-Hitokiri Four?"

"That's what they call themselves. Rumor says that they started out in the Land of the Sea, but they get around." Explained Kiiro.

"Four?" Koe asked again, looking up at his sensei's squad.

But there are only three of them.

--

Sute studied the scores of Mearisu. There were a lot of them, but the combined forces of the Mountain and Branch outnumbered them three to one, even after the first wave. The Mearisu were strategic in the times they pulled back. One-to-one battles were their specialty, and one-to-five were just as easy for them. Their weakness was their inability to cooperate with each other. Often times they hit their own side with their own attacks, both unintentionally and not. So they retreated whenever the Allied Forces threatened to herd them too close together.

A tube of bamboo flew from the side of the enemy right at Sute's face, and she caught it. She knew just from being near it that there were no hidden weapons inside. The Mearisu always hated Metal Style Users, because all of them simply had to have metal appliances. The tube had a cap on one side, and she opened it and took out a note.

"I suppose they want the commanders to meet?" Senri asked without even looking at it.

Sute nodded, slipping the note in the pocket of her Jonin vest.

"It certainly seems so."

"They do realize that you're not the leader here, right?" Raiko asked, her one eye sliding over to meet her teammate's.

Sute shrugged. "They seem to think I am. We can use this to our advantage, in any case. Thinking that by killing me, our forces lose their fortitude, they will focus their attention on a lesser figure. Commander Yūgao will face less of a risk of being targeted."

"Speaking of war leaders, I'm surprised they pulled Mifune out of the mothballs, in any case--ouch!"

Senri had clouted Raiko soundly on the head.

"Show some respect." She said to Raiko curtly as she lowered her arm.

"'Show some respect'." Raiko mimicked in a low, mocking voice while making a face.

Senri sighed, scratching the back of her head under her bandanna hitai-ate. "Some things just never change."

Sute nodded soundlessly. Sensing a dip in her mood, Senri gave her a side glance. Sute was easy to read because she never hid anything. Foolish Sute, who would sooner die for her honor than survive as a traitor to her empty ideals. What sort of shinobi abandoned the shadows to face their enemy with respect? None other than the Iron Snake herself. And, blast it all, none other than she or Raiko as well. All three of them, infected by the good nature of their adopted village. 

And there she was, stepping off the stone and walking to the other side to meet with the enemy general, in the guise of the commander of the Sixth Division. That would take some explaining to Commander Yūgao. 

That fool, she thought as she watched Sute, though she was inwardly proud of her teammates and how far they all had come. Her entire squad, once Sound traitors, shinobi again for the right reasons. That loyal, earnest fool.

And she was at peace, knowing that she would die a fool as well, as she watched Sute approach the leader of the Mearisu.

"Well, are you ready to surrender before we crush you?" Tamaka asked the Iron Snake.

She blinked, completely unimpressed. "Is that all you wanted to ask? If you're so certain of your own victory, then why pull back at the crucial moment?"

Tamaka's eye twitched. The damned snake didn't miss anything. Would it kill her to simply underestimate them once in a while?

Oh, right. It would.

"Commander Sute Tsuchinoko," She said as if explaining the matter to a small child, "We have a fighting force that will cut your own in half in a matter of minutes. We have more power, more Kekkei Genkai that's been harvested for decades, and we have the Akatsuki. We can't possibly lose. We simply wanted to give you the chance to back down." She added.

Sute still appeared unimpressed. She adjusted her round glasses in a motion that reminded Tamaka of Kabuto Yakushi. The four-eyed scumbag.

"You may be one of many," Sute began, "But we, many, are one."

Tamaka pushed her.

And for a split second, both of them were what they truly were inside; two teenage girls facing off on opposing sides and equally strong convictions. A zealous, blue-eyed beauty waiting and ready to slap and hit and pull hair. A quiet but bold girl in glasses, falling back almost in slow motion.

Then it was gone, and they remembered who they were now.

Sute's back never hit the ground, and a single falling leaf took her place. Tamaka turned to her army.

"Attack without mercy. Leave no survivors, take no captives." She snarled. "And no one. Touches. The snake ninja. She is mine alone."

"We follow the others into battle at Yūgao's command." Sute told her squad. "And we strike Tamaka together."

"It won't be easy." Senri warned. "Remember when we fought Sheiri?"

The other two nodded solemnly. A shadow fell over Sute's face, and Senri gave her another side glance. That Sute never could hide things forever. 

"You consulted the Kurea?" Senri asked in a low voice.

Sute hesitated, then nodded.

"And?"

The snake ninja offered no response, and merely lowered her head. Senri nodded as if she'd expected this. Then she looked up, facing the enemy with a look of utter indifference.

"So it's true, then."

". . . Yes." Sute finally said.

As if their minds were connected, the three of them clasped hands in unison. 

"We're going to die," Senri said firmly, "But we'll do it with honor."

Raikou nodded, squeezing her hand and giving a wide grin, "At least we were able to live for a while. We had a pretty good run, eh?"

Sute looked up. She blinked back tears--not the shinobi way--and she returned Raikou's smile, "In the next life, we shall be sisters."

Raikou nodded, her gaze dropping. Her glimpse fell on Nariko, then on Kiiro, and finally on Koe. None of them were unscathed, but all three of them had fire in their eyes that told her that they were ready to fight, even when they were wounded. Don't outshine us too soon, kiddies, Raikou thought before turning away and facing the enemy again. 

Koe met the white-haired ninja's one yellow eye without looking away. A few months ago, he would have cringed, and perhaps shuddered and moved away in haste. But he was too preoccupied right now, with the war being waged around him. He looked away, but not because he was afraid. He had to worry about Nariko's wing, and after that came Kiiro's arm.

Nariko stopped making noise after a few minutes into the healing process. It was definitely healing, to Koe's relief, but the area around it was tender, and the bone he was mending was brittle. It was his first time healing on the battlefield, but he had no time for jitters. His friends were dying.

Nariko's head lifted when the two opposing sides attacked, and her wings twitched as if she were itching to fly.

"N-Nariko." Koe said firmly, "S-S-Sensei said to wait. And y-y-you're still hurt badly. S-Save it f-f-for when it's our t-turn."

Nariko nodded wordlessly, her face tight.

"We need to conserve Chakra and wait for our moment, Nariko." Kiiro said more convincingly. "Sute-sensei said that this was a test. If there's a time and place when we prove that we are capable of being ninja--"

The ground shuddered, and a dagger seemed to cut through the earth, making a deep, jagged scar about fifty feet away. The screams of ninjas pierced the air as small figures fell into it, fading into a death-song decrescendo.

"--Then it's right here, right now." Kiiro finished quietly.

Nariko's wing folded and expanded. Koe had finished healing it, and began to move to Kiiro. The poison was a different problem altogether. Nariko's wing bones were hollow and light, relatively simple to heal even if it took a while. But Sute hadn't spent a lot of time with Koe in regards to curing poison.

It didn't matter. Under no circumstances was Koe going to let Kiiro die.

"Th-th-this m-might hurt." Koe warned as he carefully slit a small opening into Kiiro's arm with his wakizashi.

"Ow! That hurt!" Yelped Kiiro.

Koe ignored Kiiro's complaints, steeling himself for what he was about to do. Back at Imin, snakebites were relatively common, and there was always a way to prevent it from killing the victim. Koe had never done it himself, but he'd watched squeamishly as it was done to others.

Koe put his mouth to the cut he'd made, and sucked the poison out or Kiiro's arm. Then he pulled away and spit the vile stuff out. He repeated the process as long as he could, his palms glowing as he held the arm to his mouth. He healed and extracted at the same time, ignoring the exhausting draw on his Chakra.

"This is weird." Said Kiiro.

"Sh-sh-shut up." Answered Koe between extractions.

"Ye both be idiots." Scoffed Nariko, who had crossed her legs and began storing Chakra and Nature Energy.

"D-d-don't m-make me spit this on you." He threatened half-heartedly, spewing the violet venom on the ground beside him.

"Ew, second-hand poison. No thanks."

Koe's smile split his lip, and it bled through the middle. Kiiro was the first to laugh, even though Koe saw that the corners of his eyes were teary from pain rather than mirth. Nariko laughed too, but it sounded hollow.

It didn't last long, and they were silent again after a few seconds. Koe kept extracting poison, Nariko kept storing Chakra, and Kiiro kept struggling for life. They were all tired, and none of them were really at full capacity. Koe hadn't even started on any of the gashes that were cut into his teammates.

"Koe, am I going to die?" Kiiro asked suddenly.

"N-No."

"Don't lie to me. I can handle the truth."

"Y-Y-You're n-not gonna die if you k-k-keep still and stop interrupting." Koe snapped. It was hard enough trying to extract poison without swallowing it; how could Kiiro expect him to talk at the same time?

"None o' us are dying." Nariko said flatly from her lotus position.

But how can any one of us promise that, said a traitor voice in Koe's head, when the worst war in shinobi history is right here, right now? He looked over to where his teacher and her squad were facing the Mearisu leader, Tamaka. They stood there with their backs to him, but he could see in the stiffness of their arms, sense the metal of the weapons hidden in their sleeves--Oh, Kami! Please--don't let us die!

Don't let any of us die!

"Are you ready to die?" Tamaka asked them, drawing her katana.

"If you were a true shinobi, then you would know the answer." Senri replied. "And if you were, truly, a shinobi, then you would know something crucial about the way we do things in our world."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"We attack from the shadows."

Luminous, entrancing green eyes appeared on Tamaka's shadow, and she turned around just in time for Senri to finish forming hand signs. She pointed two shadow-black fingers right at Tamaka's chest.

"Lightning Style: Electric Needle Spark."

Tamaka screamed when it hit her, and somehow shook the lightning off, sending sparks of light scattering into the air. She smirked, already recovering from the attack. She swung her katana at her shadow, but it stopped short. Sute's hands were dancing with the signs of dragon, rat, rat, dog, horse, snake, snake. 

"Metal Style: Silver Seppuku."

The blade spun in Tamaka's hands and pointed straight at her before plunging into her chest. The sword broke when it touched her skin, and she growled in frustration before turning around to face Sute, the one responsible for disarming her. She was right in front of her in the blink of an eye, a fist aimed like a bullet at Sute's temple. 

It went right through her, and the false Sute raised an eyebrow. 

"Clones!" Tamaka spat as the three forms of the Hitokiri Kunoichi dissipated in puffs of marshmallow smoke.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Shouted three voices behind her.

She whirled around to find the three of them facing her with determined looks on their faces. Drat, she thought. It had been a ploy to distract her this entire time. She'd been tricked by the vividness of the illusions they cast, long enough for them to assemble for another one of their accursed Hitokiri Combos. So they've decided to play dirty after all.

The smoke cleared to reveal the ninjas' summons. Onigiri the Reanimation Snake was wrapped around Sute's body, his forked tongue flickering in a low hiss. Kondoru the Ostrich King wore three Allied Forces hitai-ate on his long neck, standing next to Raiko with narrowed eyes. Tantō the Nekomata Ninneko was standing at a full height of five feet, his paw on the short sword that hung around the waist of his kimono. The kanji for truth, makoto, was scribed on his forehead.

Tamaka was outnumbered six to one.

The odds were in her favor at last.

"This is how you expect to best me?" She laughed. "With pets?"

The three kunoichi gave quick jerks of their heads in perfect unison. As one, the Summons ran right at Tamaka. She dodged the fangs of the Reanimation Snake, and another puff of smoke revealed it to be Sute herself. She batted Sute away only to have her arm held back by the snake, who'd used his Camouflage Jutsu. Tantō the cat swung his short sword, and Senri's hand grasped Tamaka's ankle from the depths of his shadow.

Tamaka had attempted to form hand signs.

The combo had lasted two seconds, tops.

She was too slow.

Tamaka strained to free herself. The kunoichi's teamwork was, she hated to admit, simply perfect. Her sword was gone, broken by Sute's doing. Her sensor was fried from Senri's lightning. And now they had her in her grasp, and she struggled to free her arm and ankle as she was stabbed by the ninja cat. But where was the third one?

"Lightning Shadow Snake Formation." Said the white-haired, one-eyed bastard behind her. When Tamaka got ahold of her, she would wring the smug kunoichi's neck.

"Tooth and Claw Combo!"

Raiko was suddenly above her, white wings made of Chakra propelling her into the air as she drew two sets of shuko claws in her right hand, forming one-handed hand signs with her left. A blast of wind sent her flying at top speed, right at Tamaka.

"Wind Style: White Crane Bullet!"

From below, Tamaka felt the vibrations of shifting earth, and Kondoru burst from the earth, talons outstretched.

"Earth Style: Winged Talon Drill!"

Tamaka was hit full force. Raiko's 'claws' sank into her chest and out of her back, while Kondoru's talons pierced her back and came out of her stomach. One step left, she somehow knew before Sute's hands began to dance again.

"Metal Style: Needle Enclosure."

The metal of Raiko's shuko claws turned into needles that impaled Tamaka from the inside. Lightning spread from Senri's fingers up Tamaka's body, electrocuting her just to be safe.

Tooth and Claw Formation: Complete

For several seconds, there was silence as blood dribbled from her lip.

Then she began to laugh.

--

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