You are my Star

Chapter 5 - A Well-oiled Machine

Hoshiko inhaled sharply. It can't be that bad, she thought. It's only two more people. We still outnumber them 4 to 3. But she still couldn't help feeling uneasy, staring at the sheer intelligence gleaming in their eyes. These weren't simple goons they could get rid of. These were two more complete enemies. 

"These men aren't our objectives," she said grimly. Her teammates nodded, acknowledging that they understood what they had to do. Elimination was the simplest and and fastest way to get to their real target: Asahi, who was standing between his two teammates, smirking, clearly much more confident with them around, which only served to worry Hoshiko more. She pushed everyone back a few meters, then said under her breath, "New plan. These people are unexpected visitors, so we'll need something new. Shikamaru, any ideas?"

Shikamaru nodded, albeit gravely. "It's a plan, but none of you will like it." 

Hoshiko inhaled slowly. "It's not like we have anything else to do, so let's hear it."

"Alright," he responded reluctantly. "First, we should retreat, then send in shadow clones to check out how they fight. Once the clones are defeated, we charge them while they're still surprised about the clones and make it up as we go along."

Neji stared at him blankly. "That's no plan, that's suicide!"

Shikamaru shrugged helplessly. "It's what I've got, and I told you you wouldn't like it. And once a single clone is gone, we all have to dissipate our clones and charge, because they're sure to know the trick if we don't." Hoshiko sighed, and motioned for them to follow through with the plan. They ducked behind some bushes and each successfully pulled up a shadow clone.

"What's wrong? Having second thoughts now that my friends are here?" It was Asahi, taunting them. Hoshiko noticed Kiba's hand curling into a fist and put an arm out. "Don't give them what they want, Kiba." Then she nodded to the shadow clones, and they leapt from the bushes synchronously, jumping the three men. Hoshiko noted that Neji took the man on the right, Kiba handled the one on the left, and Shikamaru worked with Hoshiko to take down Asahi. 

Some fifteen seconds later, Shikamaru's clone was taken by surprise and poofed into a cloud of smoke. The criminals stood there dumbfounded for a second, surprised. The other clones disappeared into white a second later, and their real counterparts replaced them. "Take the same person your shadow clone attacked," Hoshiko half-growled, rushing at Asahi. Her squad split into three, each heading for their own man. They just barely had the element of surprise. Neji landed a kick to the one on the right, and Akamaru scratched the arm of the one on the left, but the trio recovered quickly, swiftly taking the offensive. As soon as they did, Hoshiko lifted her arm. "Now!" 

A shadow creeped up behind their enemies, successfully catching the heels of the two men who Neji and Kiba were fighting, but Asahi managed to escape. The shadow played a game of cat and mouse with him for a few minutes. 

Hoshiko clenched her jaw. "Neji, Kiba, knock out the two Shikamaru caught. Shikamaru, leave it! Don't waste your energy." The shadow retreated, unwinding across the ground, leaving the two blacked out men as well, who fell to the ground. Hoshiko looked up at her teammates. "Shikamaru, make sure those two don't get up again." She kept the instructions vague so she didn't have to say "Kill them". "Neji, Kiba, we have to take care of this one," she finished, gesturing to Asahi, who was panting nearby, the confidence that had graced him momentarily gone again, replaced by grim fear. 

"What do you want with me," he said quietly.

"What?" Hoshiko said, the breeze blowing away his words.

"What. Do you want-with me?" He repeated more forcefully. 

"We're ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village, here to detain you and bring you back with us," replied Neji simply and proffesionally. "You are under arrest for crimes including but not limited to murder, arson, and thievery." 

The man snorted humorlessly. "I did what I had to do," he said. "To achieve my goals. The end justifies the means." He shrugged. "You people just don't understand."

"Yeah, maybe we don't know what crazy outcome you have in mind," Kiba snarled, slashing a hand through the air. "But nothing justifies mass murder, nothing justifies burning down people's homes, and nothing ever will."

"You'll thank me one day. One day, you'll realize I was just clearing the weak from this world, people whom we don't need to be alive. They are of no use to anyone."

"Well then maybe we should clear you from this world." 

Kiba leapt from his place beside Neji, but was grounded again by Hoshiko. 

"The man's disgusting, I'll give you that, but our mission is not to eliminate him, remember? We're to bring him back to the village. Don't do that again," she growled. Kiba huffed an angry sigh, then nodded darkly, still glaring daggers at the offender. 

Hoshiko lowered her arm slowly, then looked up at Asahi. "Now, stand still, dear," she purred, raising an arm. He tensed, but had only time to yelp before plummeting into a pit of darkness. A portal. Hoshiko's portal. 

"It goes to Lady Tsunade's office," she explained. "So we'd better hurry. Ready?"

Her teammates nodded, and she lifted her arm again. One after another, they dropped into swirling black masses of their own.