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After passing the Chuunin exams this time around by a stroke of luck, Grimace decided to head back home and visit her family. "Mom, I'm a Chuunin now. It took me so many tries but I finally made it. I have a long way to go before I can become strong enough... I'll work hard to reach my goal of becoming the village Kage. I hope you'll work hard to take care of little sis and big bro too. I'm counting on you." Grimace crouches down and looks at the tombstone in front of her. She smiles as she strokes the name engraved on the headstone. She places the final bouquet of flowers she'd brought onto the dirt pile and stand up. "I'll visit again soon guys. I have to go now so that I can train some more." She stands up and turns from the small graves and begins walking away. Each grave is close together and are located in the forest. A few years back, after a monster attacked Konoha, her family was killed. In this forest, outside of the cave that she shared with her dying family members, their graves remain. She continues along the rugged path leading away from the area until feeling hot hands grab her arms. Grimace raises her head to look at the boy grabbing her. "Hikai?"

"It's dangerous here," he warns. He takes her hand in his, releasing her arms, and begins towing Grimace towards the thicker areas of the forest. "I came here to bring you back to SCM, but then a ton of things happened. Haven't you been tuning into the news?" Grimace shakes her head. She stares at Hikai's back, the pair crouched in a straight line behind a wide tree. "Some kages were killed... and Hidden Leaf is supposedly the ones responsible for them. There was this big council meeting and it seems like a war is going to break out. I didn't get all of the details, but I can definitely sense that this village is in danger." Grimace squeezes Hikai's hand which makes the Uchiha glance back at her. This reminded her of the last time. The last time the village was attacked, Hikai towed her to safety just like this. She hated this kind of deja vu. He looks away from her and begins to focus on the forest around them.

"We shouldn't hide like this. We should fight this time. I don't want anymore regrets."

"Neither of us are strong enough. We need to get a few more techniques learned before--."

"No!" He looks at Grimace and begins to speak only to sense someone's presence. He snarls which makes a faint voice cry out low in fear. "Tama?" Hikai releases Grimace and flickers to his feet. Grimace stands and watches as Hikai dashes through the flowers and startles Tama a few leagues away. Grimace rushes through the thick brush until meeting up with the three individuals.

"Hikai-kun, you scared me. I came here to escort Grimace-chan back to the base where it's safe--." Tama starts with a faint blush hidden beneath his all white mask that only had slits for his sickly yellow eyes to show.

"What happened at the meeting? Is the world really at war? Did Hidden Leaf kill those Kages?" Hikai asks quickly as Melissa steps over to stand beside Grimace. Tama quickly explains all that happened in the meeting and doesn't skip any details.

"Doku... he said that? That's surprising. And Akou actually was against a war? I'd think since he's so close to Naomi that he'd be all for it. I guess they don't share that same desire." Grimace murmurs as Hikai just growls. Tama stands in a way to show he is friendly, more than likely intimidated by Hikai's growling. "So Federation isn't allied with anyone and has no enemies?" Tama looks at Grimace and sort of nods but sort of shakes his head at the same time.

"It's complicated. Federation is acting as if it is individual nations right now. It's hard to say that Federation as a whole is neutral. Especially with the whole Joker thing. That clown ninja seems to be bent on taking over Federation, and not all of that compilation of villages is onboard." He ponders a bit before speaking again. "We really should get out of here before it's too late. I doubt anyone will try anything so soon after the meeting is through. We should quickly build up our abilities."

"I don't agree," Hikai hisses under his breath. "I have a bad feeling and it only came about when I came into this village. I don't think we should leave." The group look at one another before coming to a decision. They would stay in the village for now and train. Once they gain enough power, they would leave unless the village really did get attacked.

Moji continues to push onward, pushing her small body to its limits. She had to protect the dome until Akki told her to let him out. She couldn't be defeated here. The soldiers had more of a consciousness than she had once assumed. Maybe it was her mistake and Akki's for not studying the horrific beings before getting into such a terrible situation. The young Terra, or young looking, winds up having to use the hand she'd summoned to defend herself. She would also push her naturally weak body to generate yet another hand to accompany the one that she'd brought into existence earlier. Together they would try to swat soldiers away or smash them between either hand. Instead of using the hands to defend herself, she would focus solely on offense. It was a tendency of hers to go all defensive so she had to go all out to prevent that. She couldn't hide and be defended anymore. She had to protect Akki like he protects her. The tomb begins to crack as the sounds inside of the dome get louder. Some of the soldiers had become more violent than before, even rushing to attack Akki and Sunaarashi. Inside the dome, the sand and earth dragons fight to survive.

Whenever the soldiers would draw too near then Sunaarashi would blow them back and attempt to blow them apart in the process. Akki seems to begin chowing down on the hard earth beneath their feet, ultimately gaining back a good amount of strength that he'd lost but not very much. He had to go on the offensive too. But he didn't have anything at all to fight with. All of his blades had broken and his hands weren't in much better shape. But he could tell the Mami before him was also getting fatigued and there wasn't an element of her kind around for her to use as fuel. He also couldn't let the spicy female show him up either. He would take a shot... He would try to take a weapon from the enemy. For a moment things are very loud. People outside of the dome are screaming and running away. The sounds of battle echo around. But then everything suddenly goes eerily quiet. Or maybe it was that calm just before something horrible happens? Either way, the acquaintances and friends could feel it. Sunaarashi shivers a little before her body grows limp and she collapses. What had happened? Somewhere off in a hidden place within the village, Sunaarashi's innards had been destroyed.

The rampaging of the soldiers must have caused her animal jars to be shattered and the contents crushed. Akki goes to grab her just as a sharp head flies towards him. He quickly dodges that strike only for it to have been a ploy. Behind him he would motion out of the way of the attack only to be impaled by the weapon of another soldier that had crept up behind him sometime when Akki was focused on taking an opponents weapon. The blood drains from the wounds in his chest, him coughing up a little blood. The soldier tosses him to the side, far from Sunaarashi's location. "Moji..." Akki coughs, still alive. Within moments Sunaarashi and Akki are in the hands of Moji's Six Feet Under hands. She drags them out of the tomb just as the soldiers within begin to take control again. They were probably about to break free with the Terra and Mami out of the tomb. Soldiers begin closing off Moji's routes to escape but she ignores them closing in. That was Akki's signal to run. She makes a dash for a small open and hops atop her hands. Weapons tear into her body as she forces her way through and cause her to fly off of the cupped hands.

The hands crumble and fling Sunaarashi and Akki from within them. The three tumble along the ground a while before coming to rest. This was it, there was no saving them now. No one would be able to keep the soldiers from totally mangling them. In a blur, the three are swept up from their location and on top of the roof of a nearby building. "That's enough!" Tama, the timid and more or less least competent of the group currently in Hidden Leaf, seems to stand tall atop that building. His head is covered by a pale pink bunny hood that seems attached to the mask on his face. The mask that he wears over his face is split down the middle to show that they are two different masks entirely. On one side of his face is the fabled Majora's Mask, while on the other side he dawns the Mask of the Spotted One. It was only natural to assume he was using some sort of magic to grant him the use of three masks at a time. "Melissa, deal with these soldiers the best you can. I will return shortly to get you and the others. This is war," the Majora says coldly as he uses his boost of chakra, speed, and reflexes to make an escape.

Any soldier fool enough to attack him would get a heaving kick to the chest from him and run the risk of, put plainly, being cut through the middle from him using top speed and full strength as he rushes out of the village. Melissa, having watched Tama the best she could from the wall where he was just a few seconds ago, leans forward. Her small frame begins plummeting down to the ground from high above, her bodies form changing beneath the black cloak she wears to conceal her. She lands on the ground with a loud crash, sending debris flying on impact. She would begin her approach amidst the cover of dirt drifting through the area she'd fallen in. Was she alive after that? Maybe she used a technique to survive? Yeah, probably. People continue running through the streets crying out, but Melissa wasn't concerned about them. Tama had instructed her to complete a task without a please and without a honorific to go with her name, but instead with him telling her to do her best. It wasn't his usual request, it was a command. And as the being created from a mask, she had to obey him. As Melissa walks, the sound of low popping is heard, like faint explosions.

The being was more than likely using the Blast Mask form, not the mask, but the form. Things were about to get a little more destructive.


At that same time, Hikai and Grimace continue to do battle in their location away from the others. A quarter way across town, the duo perform a rare combo together. Normally they'd mind their own affairs, however, they couldn't resist interfering with one another. Hikai notices the soldier that he had initially aimed to attack hadn't been pulled away. Well this really pushed Hikai's plan to start focusing on saving villagers back a few pegs. The being gets close enough to Hikai for his heated body to affect it. The Uchiha wondered if it was right for him to think of these beings as being of limited thought and ones to focus solely on their task. But when he realizes that the soldier plans to use its heated body against him, his mind reverts and he considers the rock structures to be the same as he had initially thought. Was it their fault though? They didn't know, right? Hikai was the one that set the beings temperature off. It wasn't some sort of barrier around his body or external ability, his body was literally hot enough to heat rock. If his body could withstand the extreme heat causing him to emit such heat, it was only natural that he wouldn't be affected by the soldier.

But he wouldn't spoil the details, he would dodge the being all the same. As soon as the golem makes motions with its arms to grab him, and action he can easily weigh and assess with his eyes, he would appear to use a body flicker to move his body back and out of the grip of the golem. But body flicker is just a fast movement, so he shouldn't be able to move straight back. True since he used a special technique that he created himself to disappear and then reappear in that location. That action may have been over the top, but it gave the Hyuuga fighting nearby the chance to strike without having to worry about any sudden movements from Hikai. Two Chakra Koto Strings would lash out from the golden bells Grimace holds between all of her finger and thumb, to attempt to impale the golems feet. These strings, to a stone soldier, would be invisible and it wouldn't really have the sight to see the strings made of chakra coming. So it would be a nice surprise attack. Once Hikai would appear in the spot he designated, he would have the time to gather the heat from his body and the soldier enough to unleash a two part attack.

In almost an instant, it would seem, the Salamander Blade would go from resting lazily in Hikai's hand to a battle stance position out in front of the Uchiha and to the side. Flames would seem to spontaneously engulf the stone being before it would fall to pieces. A lot of fuss over one of two hundred stone soldiers, but it seemed like it deserved a good thrashing by the pair. After all, it seemed to have more of a consciousness than they thought. They couldn't risk playing coy. Grimace's strings retract, the ends cut off and incinerated, as her fingers begin to glow. Chakra Claws cover her fingers in a thick chakra, as well as the golden bells between them. During all of this, Grimace would seem to be completely open to an attack. Was that a good thing for her, or a bad thing? At any rate, Hikai would tend to his initial plan with the assistance of Grimace should they successfully down their opponent. Grimace would use her claws to cut away the limbs of the golems before cutting off their fingers and toes quickly, for she was a bit paranoid about not completely destroying being like these. While Hikai would again begin gathering heat into his sword for a much larger scale attack.

"As a manipulator of fire and the Salamander dragon of Dragon Coven, a large scale fire attack would be harmless to the villagers. But I have to choose wisely something that will destroy them with one hit from the attack instead of heating them up like the last one," Hikai mutters to himself as he continues on.