"We're there." Yowai glanced at the pagoda near the beach.

The friends were hiding in the bushes right at the edge of the forest and were observing the high pagoda, the one Yowai was glancing at.

"So, that's it, huh?" Shikamaru frowned, "Akuno's hideout..."

"Yes, that is it," Yowai confirmed.

"What kind of hideout is that?" Shao chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "If a person wants to hide they'd better build some underground cave or even labyrinth, not such a high and visible red pagoda on the plain beach... It instantly catches everyone's eye."

"That's the whole point of it, to be easily spotted from the outside," Yowai replied. "The fact is that Akuno doesn't really want to remain hidden. It's quite the opposite, actually - he wants to get attention from others, for everyone to know that he minds serious business. What's more, that pagoda isn't as simple as it looks from the outside. From the inside, it's quite a heavy labyrinth indeed."

"Well, I still don't care," Lao cut in, "Now that I'm in a perfect shape, I will bring down Akuno along with his whole pagoda!"

Her eye flashed as she clenched her fist. Yowai glanced at her in fright, noticing her bloodthirsty gaze.

Yes, these guys are indeed demons... He thought.

"Well then, we will need to work out a plan," Shikamaru concluded, and turned to Yowai: "Can you tell us how each floor is guarded?"

"Sure." Yowai nodded.

He was about to start when Tao cut in:

"Wait! Why should we trust him, anyway?"

"Weren't you the one to suggest leaving him alive and using him for Intel in the first place?" Shao raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh..." Tao puckered in indignation and looked away. "Yes, I did, but I can't really trust him... He was Akuno's guy too, after all, and he wanted to kill us with his friends back then!"

Yowai watched them all dumbfounded. He couldn't understand this sudden burst of suspicion after all this time that he had guided them with honesty. It was odd... And it got him worried.

"Why are you suspicious, Tao?" Mao was no less surprised. "I think Yowai has shared very needful information to us during all this time... Why would he betray us so suddenly?"

"Yeah, Mao has a point," Shao said.

"Ugh, you both are so naive!" Tao angrily swung her cloak. "What if he was loyal to his master all along, and simply did what he bade him to do? You know very well that it's not that easy to free oneself from Akuno's dark hypnotic genjutsu! What if Yowai was leading us all the way here only because Akuno wanted so from the very start? So he could lure us to his territory and hideout, where all of his troops are mobilised, and there, capture us all, together?"

"So, you're suggesting that this might be a trap?" Shikamaru asked.

"Exactly!" Tao nodded.

The friends exchanged thoughtful glances.

"But... are you sure?" Hinata was doubtful.

"I don't know, Tao..." Sakura seemed confused as well. She turned to her comrade: "What do you think, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru was in his thoughts. Finally, he spoke:

"It might actually be true... But in order to defeat Akuno, we must get as much Intel about that pagoda as we can."

"I know!" Shao cried out, "Nao should turn invisible with his special Grey Spirit Jutsu and infiltrate the pagoda! Like that, he can survey it for us without getting caught!"

"Yes, like he did back there in Leaf Village!" Naruto brightened as well. "Brilliant idea, Shao!"

"Heh, I know." Shao grinned.

"Yeah, except for one problem..." they heard a calm, deep, strict voice.

Everyone looked at Nao Lin, who was leaning against a tree, with his eagle eyes flashing. Shao raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"What problem exactly?"

"You may have forgotten, my older brother, as you're often inattentive, but Akuno has sensory ninjas in his arsenal as well," Nao replied. "According to the fact that he sent one before to blow us up right on the way, we can freely assume that he has a lot more sensory types in his defensive unit. Everyone knows that sensory ninja work really well in defenses, as they can easily detect the approaching enemy. Akuno would surely use them to guard his hideout. And when there are strong sensory ninjas, I may fail in infiltration. Not to mention that Akuno's a strong sensory type himself."

Shao sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

"But then, how did you infiltrate the Leaf?" Naruto was surprised. "We have good sensory ninjas too!"

"There, it was different," Nao answered, "I observed the village with the help of my eagles."

"Then, why won't you send eagles in that pagoda too?" Naruto asked.

"It is unnatural for an eagle to fly inside a building." Nao frowned. "They would easily grow suspicious."

"Hmm, I guess you're right..." Naruto agreed.

"Then, what should we do?" Dao asked.

"You should try to reach the highest floor. Akuno dwells there," Yowai said. "On the other floors, there are guards everywhere, and each floor has a separated unit of sensory ninja and communication team in order to give news to Akuno at any time at a high speed."

"Hmm, that makes it all difficult..." Shikamaru fell in his thoughts.

"Well, there is an easier way," Yowai noted, "We, Akuno's ninja, often use secret tunnels throughout the pagoda to freely move in and out without being seen. I can lead you through there. Some of them lead straight into Akuno's chamber."

"Wow, that's brilliant!" Naruto brightened up. "Lead the way!"

Yowai smiled and nodded, and was about to move when Tao's voice stopped them:

"Wait!"

They all looked at the Green Ninja.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"I told you not to trust him!" Tao frowned. "We don't know if he's on our side or not! And I think him leading us through the secret tunnels of that pagoda is suspicious... How can we be certain that other ninjas of Akuno won't be in those tunnels to ambush us? Or what if all he's saying is just to lead us into a trap?"

Shao rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, come on, little sis! Why do you have to be so full of suspicions all the time? Let's follow him and, if it's a trap, we will slay all the ninjas inside with my powerful genjutsu. Deal?"

Tao puckered.

"It's no time to be jesting! I am filled with suspicions because it is natural! Yowai was an enemy ninja, after all. We cannot trust him so blindly."

"It was you who suggested to use him in the first place!" Shao cried, "Now you're against it! Just what do you want, anyway?!"

"I just want_"

"Cut it out, you two!" Lao ordered. "You're getting on everyone's nerves, including mine!"

"Yeah, big sister's right. Calm down, you two." Gao frowned. "Let's sort this out quietly."

"I think Tao's suggestion does make some sense." Lao looked at the others. "We must search for another way to pull this all off."

Yowai frowned and moved his fingers a bit, without anyone's noticing.

"Um, guys, now that I've thought, why don't we ask Hinata to look in?" Naruto scratched his head.

Everyone widened their eyes. Shikamaru palmed his face.

"Listening to all these heated arguments, we all completely went nuts," he said. "Naruto, sometimes you prove to be sharper than me..."

Naruto chuckled with timidity. Hinata smiled and glanced at the pagoda.

"Byakugan!" she cried, and her eyes sharpened, cutting through the walls of the building. She gasped. "Guys, the whole pagoda is empty!"

"What?!" They all got astonished.

Shikamaru puckered at Yowai.

"What does this all mean?" he asked. "You said Akuno would be here!"

Yowai grinned.

"The only one who truly had a sharp mind between you guys was the Green Ninja of yours. Now, enjoy my friends' company!"

They all widened their eyes and looked around, to see a huge army of black-masked ninjas - the black shadows of Akuno, and a lot of rogue ninjas with different powers.

"You bastard! You tricked us!" Shikamaru cried.

"Why wouldn't I?" Yowai chuckled. "You're just a bunch of idiots... You killed two of my comrades. Why on earth would I ever help you? If you weren't so foolish, you probably would have managed to save yourselves. You were arguing so intensely that you didn't even pay attention to me anymore. So, all I had to do was to wait for a proper moment and weave special signs with my fingers to call my friends."

"You'll pay for that!" Lao yelled.

"I think I'm done with my job here. I'll be going now. Greet your parents in the afterlife!"

Yowai laughed and ran off, burning the wood ropes of Tao with his fire, freeing himself.

"He could free himself all along! He was tricking us!" Sakura cried.

"Yeah, but we have no time to think of that now," Shikamaru said. "We have to deal with these guys." He turned to the army of Akuno's ninjas.

Lao glanced at the army and frowned.

"Akuno's not among them," she said. "We need to split up now. One group will stay and deal with these jerks, and the others, including me, will search for Akuno."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Shikamaru nodded. "It will buy us time. I also think that, in that case, you should take more of the tracking ninjas with you, like Hinata and your brother, Nao."

"You're right," Lao agreed. "Well, now, I'll form the groups. Shikamaru, I'll leave you in charge of the other group, the one that will deal with these ninjas. I think Tao should stay with you - she is a good wood style user. Gao, Dao, and Chao must stay as well, because with their help, Tao can pull off Tar Manipulation, and many other powerful combinations. I'll also leave Shao with you, as he's a really powerful genjutsu user and he will be able to control many enemy ninjas' minds and senses for your benefit. I don't think he can manage to put that whole army under a genjutsu, though, but in that case, he can also use up his Black Diyuma part to increase his chakra limit. As for my group, I'll take Hinata and Nao, as you've suggested, and Naruto as well, because he's essential to defeat Akuno. I want Sasuke to join me too, because his sharingan and rinnegan powers will help me a lot while battling that jerk. Mao will come with me as well, because she has a really powerful summoning jutsu we will definitely need. Since I'm leaving Chao and Dao with you, who, apart from being water controllers, are strong healing ninjas too, I'll be taking Sakura, as a medical back-up. And also, I'll take Gaara..."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you want Gaara? He's a powerful long range fighter and ultimate defense user. He would help us more out here, with this ninja army."

Gaara looked at Lao. This latter blushed.

"The thing is... I need Gaara with me."

Gaara widened his eyes, his cheeks turning red. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.

"Well, I mean..." Lao looked down. "Gaara... I... As Diyuma's current inheritor, I chose him as my guardian."

Shikamaru got even more confused. Now, Gaara and Naruto got surprised as well.

"What does that mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean by 'your guardian'?" Naruto was no less curious.

Lao sighed, blushing even more.

"Diyuma spirit is the essence of light energy of the world. I suppose you already know about Ten Tails, and the Divine Tree, and all those legends. The thing is, that Divine Tree, later turned into the Ten Tails, is the essence of nature energy, the material energy. Diyuma, on the other hand, is the light energy, the spiritual energy. These two together create a harmonious world. That is why I need at least one tailed beast to cooperate with me, to add its power to Diyuma's, thus creating life energy, the most powerful of them all. It will help me to suppress Akuno's immense dark powers.

"But, in order for Diyuma to unleash its full potential, it was said that it needed a guardian to link with it, because, when it is locked in a human body, such as mine, it needs additional energy to fully unleash its power and become a solid physical body when it comes out. To fully regain its powers, Diyuma should link with a human soul, and since it consumes and kills the wielder's soul the day it's inherited, the human who would link their soul power with it had to be other person than the wielder. The rule that the Shin-Lin clan ancestors developed for this particular power was that the inheritor and wielder of the Diyuma spirit should have chosen another person to magnify their powers when Diyuma was unleashed. That other person was called a guardian. We, Diyuma wielders, should have chosen our guardians in agreement with Diyuma. Diyuma spirit lives in our body and shares our mind and heart, our soul being completely consumed by his. Thus, we can contact each other at any time, switch mind control, and cooperate.

"And, since Diyuma and we, the wielders, share our hearts, as I've said, when the wielder falls in love with someone and gets their love in return, forming a special bond, Diyuma's heart is automatically bonded with them as well. This bond of two hearts magnifies Diyuma's powers."

She heaved a sigh, her cheeks gaining scarlet tints. She felt shy to say out loud that she had feelings for Gaara. After all, that simple fact was what that whole speech of hers actually meant.

Naruto was still very confused, but Gaara and Shikamaru understood everything perfectly. Consequently, Gaara turned completely red, now indeed resembling a "cutie redhead", while on Shikamaru's face, a faint smile appeared.

"So, you're saying that the guardian of Diyuma is the one whom the wielder of Diyuma spirit falls in love with?" he summed up.

"Um..." Lao blushed even more, "Yeah..."

Naruto widened his eyes.

"I knew it! You are a couple, after all!"

"Um... Yeah, we... we are." Lao turned red like a tomato.

"That's cool! Congrats!" He grinned.

Gaara and Lao smiled.

"Thank you," Lao said.

Shikamaru chuckled.

"Then, I guess, we can't separate you... Well then, it's decided." He looked back at the enemy's army. "There's no more time to lose. You guys go. We will hold them off."

"Right!" Lao nodded. She turned to her siblings who were staying with Shikamaru: "Brothers, sisters, this is our time to shine! Give this battle your all! And remember, while you're in that group, Shikamaru's your leader, so listen to him! When our group finds Akuno, Nao will send his eagle to you and give you our location, so you could find us. Meanwhile, try to defeat this army as quickly as you can and catch up with us."

"Don't worry, Lao, we will not disappoint you!" Shao grinned and took a fighting position.

"Yeah, you can count on us!" Tao smiled.

"I believe in you guys. Good luck!" Lao then turned to her group: "You follow me!"

She darted off. Sasuke, Nao, and Mao followed her.

"Good luck, Shikamaru!" Sakura waved her hand at their friend and went after her group mates.

"Show them what our genius of the Leaf can do, Shikamaru!" Naruto clenched his fist with a proud grin, and went off with the others. Hinata followed him.

Gaara looked at Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, my sister has chosen you as her guardian. Prove me you're worthy to have her hand! Do not disappoint us. We believe in you. Temari believes in you."

He also went off, catching up with his group mates. The ninja army, on its part, gave a battle cry and attacked. Shikamaru smirked.

"Don't worry, you guys, Temari never makes wrong choices." He wove shadow jutsu signs and shouted: "Well, let's show them how the true shinobi fight!"

"Yeah!!!" they all cried.