Myrmidon (Naruto/Hunter x Hunter)

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 11

Royal Fury: Part 3​

In the four seconds it took Shino to reach Hinata Hyuuga, the Royal Guard attacked thirty seven times.

All of the attacks were defined by their vicious speed and singular purpose: the Ant turned itself into a living projectile, constantly leaping from the ground or nearby trees to attack from what seemed like multiple angles at once, each strike aimed for a vital organ. There was no attempt at subtly, elegance, or deception. The creature didn't try to block Hinata's counterstrikes. All that existed inside it was raw strength, speed, and hatred.

It aimed for her vital organs: her head, neck, and chest. Every attack was a potentially deadly one; the only exception were the strikes aimed for Hinata's wounded thigh, intended to capitalize on her leg's reduced mobility. Hinata didn't have the strength to directly block any of the Ant's attacks, and she didn't have the speed to entirely avoid them, so she was left with an unfavorable compromise: diverting them enough that she wouldn't take fatal damage. Her Shadow Clones helping Kiba, which left her with less chakra to work with, only worsened the situation.

The unfortunate and inevitable reality was, then, that every pass the Ant made resulted in more of Hinata's blood spilling to the ground.

The thirty-seventh attack was the most dramatic, perhaps because the Ant realized it was about to have two opponents instead of one. Flinging itself from the base of a nearby tree it had slammed into after its last leap, it soared directly at Hinata's heart, both hands clasped before it, extending its entire body into a spear.

It had taken thirty-six attacks and four seconds for Hinata to get a comprehensive enough read on her opponent's wild style, which left no room for hesitation or retreat. So despite bleeding from about thirty small wounds all over her body, she met the spear head-on. Her left foot dropped back, sliding along the ground that was slowly becoming muddier and muddier thanks to both the light rain and her own blood, and her right arm shot forward.

She tapped the Ant's hands aside, sending them to the outside of her guard, and for the first time in a fight that had been quite short but seemed like an eternity, the Royal Guard showed something like surprise. The paired hands slid by Hinata's side, opening up yet another long cut that ran the length of her forearm, skipped past her bicep, and took off a small slice of her right shoulder.

Hinata counterattacked. Her left hand came from below, a spear of its own. The Guard twisted, and instead of burying her fingers in its eyes, Hinata instead slammed her palm into its throat.

No tenketsu to seal there. Hinata focused instead on pushing the Guard back. The force of the palm strike wasn't enough on its own. She fired a Vacuum Palm from point blank range instead, the surge of chakra burning in her back and arm. The Ant was launched backwards as quickly as it had charged, slamming into and upending the tree it had fired itself from.

Shino arrived as the Guard spun back to its feet, apparently unharmed. It paused, watching the both of them. Not cautiously: an animal surveying new prey. Evaluating the situation. Hinata stumbled backwards, every inch of her body stinging and burning.

"Hinata." Shino sounded too calm for the situation. He circled, keeping both her and the Ant in sight. They formed a rough triangle. The Ant shifted, and he tensed. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Hinata coughed. She wasn't so sure of that. She was losing more blood than she'd like. But the Ant hadn't done any critical damage. Despite the pain, she was still fully combat capable. That was something, at least. She settled into a loose Gentle Fist stance, ready for anything. The Guard continued to watch them, waiting for something. For them to drop their guard? Grow curious? Hinata didn't-

The Ant charged once more, using the tree's toppled trunk as a springboard. This time, Shino was its target, not Hinata. Its muscles tensing was all the warning it gave, but to Hinata's relief, it was just enough for her teammate. He sprung back, gaining distance as the Ant came directly for him, and Kikaichu flowed in a great wave of squirming black out of his sleeve. The Ant crashed through the insects, tumbling across the ground and scything at Shino's legs, but he leapt over the attack, barely clearing it. But in the air, he couldn't dodge the Ant's follow-up: it rolled forward, its legs coming up behind it with just as much articulation as its arms. The muscles in its thighs grotesquely swelled.

Both the Ant's feet slammed into Shino's arms, which he'd crossed to block the backwards-looking kick. The Aburame grunted and was thrown backwards: even off balance, the Ant's attack had tremendous force behind it. But before the Guard could roll to its feet, Hinata arrived at a full sprint. She dove into a slide across the muddy ground, slamming one foot into the monster's side and kicking it up into the air.

No leverage up there, Hinata thought, coming to her feet. She had a narrow window to attack where it couldn't leap away. Inside the nest, one of her clones popped, familiar memories and chakra rushing back to her.

She breathed out.

Eight Trigrams.

Her hands came up, and the Guard's vermillion eyes went wide; Hinata was sure it somehow understood what was coming. Was it reading her that well, with just her movement? Or was it some application of Nen?

Sixty-Four Palms.

Hinata launched all sixty-four attacks in less than a second. The Ant managed to block the first four, deflect the next seven, but then its arm was slammed aside, hand falling limp, and the last fifty-three strikes hit their mark. Hinata finished the technique with a pained grunt, adding an unorthodox move that her husband had inspired: she slammed her leg into the Ant's side with a classic and powerful roundhouse.

The kick should have sent the Ant skittering sideways, easily set up for a final attack.

That wasn't what happened.

Instead, to Hinata's horror, the Ant latched onto her leg, powerful thigh muscles curling around it, the pressure outright painful. Was it trying to shatter her leg? One of its hands came up, ready to remove her leg entirely, and the other lanced forward, aimed for the Hyuuga's face.

Somehow, it was still able to move after being struck by the Eight Trigrams.

Hinata's focus on the fight narrowed her vision. The world receded. Kiba sprinting through the nest, Netero destroying every Ant in range, Morel ambushes, Knov's infiltration, Mari's artillery, it all shrunk away, reality condensing down into a simple one-hundred meter circle. Shino, herself, and the Ant were all that existed.

She understood now that she wasn't trying to process everything at once. The Guard had deployed a thick screen of Nen over each of Hinata's targets. The premier technique of the Hyuuga Clan had been nullified by the equivalent of ablative armor, a shield of aura that was damaged by the Gentle Fist's hostile chakra instead of the Ant's tenketsu.

The Hunters did something like this in battle, focusing their Nen in certain places depending on whether they were attacking or defending, but this was above and beyond. The precision and strength of the aura, coupled with the speed needed to use it to counter the Eight Trigrams sixty-four unique attacks, was beyond belief. Hinata's mouth was dry.

The Royal Guard was a combat genius.

Hinata didn't have much time to worry about it. Two attacks to counter: one meant for her leg, the other her face. Her right hand lashed out, a Lion's Fist sparking into existence around it, and punched the Guard's left arm off course. Her left hand came up, trying to grab the strike meant for her face.

The Guard twisted its arm, throwing off Hinata's grip. She gasped, leaning back, and the Ant's hand rocketed past her face, chopping her bangs clean off. The claw opened, descended. She couldn't dodge from this angle. In a heartbeat, the Ant would tear her face off.

A dark blue beetle the size of a large dog landed on top of the Guard's hand, huge wings straining to lift it. The Guard was unable to complete the attack. The Ant looked at the giant insect without comprehension, emitting a soft noise just like that of a curious cat.

When five of its fellows landed on the Royal Guard's shoulders and back and began eating the aura shield reflexively raised at their presence, the Ant realized the danger. It lashed out, destroying three in a single swipe, their dark blood staining its clothes. But in its moment of distraction, Hinata pulled herself back up, both hands burning with angry purple chakra. The Lion Fist grew enormous, each emitted head the size of her torso, driven by the ancient chakra welling up inside her. She hopped, lowered the leg the Ant was still wrapped around, squeezing with increasing force, and settled into a boxer's pose.

In the nest, two of her clones died in the midst of a fight with another Royal Guard.

The Ant snarled, dismembering the last two of Shino's giant insects as more Kikaichu poured in from all sides, covering every inch of its skin. It lashed out at Hinata, and she struck back with just as much fury and force, crushing one of the Ant's hands with a Lion Fist. It fell back, some of the fingers bent in odd ways, and the Ant's defenses opened for an instant.

Hinata surged into the gap.

She threw punch after punch. Much like the Guard, she had abandoned finesse, simply trying to do as much damage as possible. The Ant did its best to block and counterattack, but Hinata's rage was overwhelming. The Lion's Fist smashed through the Guard's aura shields, both crushing and draining them of their energy. The stolen energy rushed into Hinata, cold and invigorating, and so as her efforts grew stronger, the Ant's defenses grew weaker. One of the punches finally broke through, smashing into the Ant's slender chest, and the thing wheezed, all the air driven out of its lungs.

Her last clone died, impaled from behind by a prehensile tail.

Hinata snarled, bringing one of her arms up for a hammer blow that would break the Ant's face, and it snarled back, a burst of murderous intent exploding out of it. Hinata's heart skipped a beat, and in that infinitesimal silence, the Ant's legs flexed, its monstrous muscles rippling with the effort.

Hinata's tibia fractured. She felt the bone break, a messy pop that made her sick to her stomach, and a moment later the pain surged up out of her leg, into her gut, running through her chest, and finally paused in her throat, gagging her and begging to be released. The Ant continued tightening its legs, grinding Hinata's broken bones against one another.

The pain escaped.

Hinata screamed, slamming both of her hands into the Ant's chest. The Lion Fist flared, transforming into an inhuman Vacuum Palm, a detonation of purple energy as big as a house. The Ant was blown backwards, off of Hinata's broken leg, tumbling without control along the ground. All of the Kikaichu attached to it instantly died, and the jutsu blew a ten meter wide hole in the forest, extending back beyond the range of Hinata's narrowed sight. Her leg was partially caught in the blast, but it was a small price to pay for escaping the Ant's grapple.

As Hinata stumbled backwards, hissing in agony as the pain of the dozens of small lacerations the Guard had inflicted on her faded in comparison to her shattered leg, Shino blew past her, surrounded by an impenetrable cloud of insects.

The Royal Guard had just managed to get back to its feet when Shino caught up with it. As Hinata limped forward, Shino leveled a kick at the Ant's face, thousands of his insects coming in from all sides to encase the monster. The Guard refused to retreat, trying to slice Shino's foot off with a swipe of its hand, but the Aburame was once more quick enough on his feet to dodge the attack, leaping into the air and kicking from the other side. His attack slammed into the Guard's face, sending it skipping over a small rock and off a nearby tree.

With less of her focus taken by the pain over time, Hinata realized the Ant was getting slower. Her flurry of Juken strikes hadn't seemed very damaging at first, but now it was obvious the Royal Guard had taken some serious internal damage. Its muscles were shredded; its heart labored. Even its bizarre internal biology and effective shields of Nen hadn't completely saved it from the most dangerous part of her attacks.

It was possible Shino would even be able to finish it off on its own. It couldn't move fast enough now to escape his swarms of destructive insects, and he was just as strong as her physically. Despite the Guard's incredible physical strength and ridiculous control of its Nen, the shinobi's greater experience and teamwork had carried the fight in their favor.

Shino drew back, leaving the Ant to his insects. It flailed about, killing hundreds with every motion, but the destructive creatures were seemingly limitless and hundreds more piled onto the Guard with every passing second. The Guard sprinted up the tree Shino had tossed it into, but the Kikaichu below it devoured the whole thing with impossible speed. The tree collapsed, writhing with black, and the Guard leapt to the next one, looking around; it had lost sight of Shino in the sea of insects, which had spread to cover a huge chunk of forest. The next tree it landed on was devoured just as surely as the last, and the one after that; over a dozen trees were entirely consumed by Shino's insects, the forest steadily growing more barren as the Guard ran out of places to orient itself or launch from.

The insects were weighing the thing down, along with the massive amount of energy they were draining from it. Shino advanced, with Hinata close behind. Even with her terrible limp, she had still caught up to the action. The Ant was fading. Like they had many of its peers, the Kikaichu were steadily working towards eating it alive.

Another tree fell, and the Ant tumbled to the ground, one of its legs giving out from under it. The creature was practically invisible under Shino's insects. It glanced up, noting that Hinata and Shino were close together, only twenty meters away. Its hand scrabbled in the dirt, seizing a small round stone and nearly crushing it. All that was visible under the Kikaichu were its glowing eyes.

Hinata's instincts screamed. That, along with the surge of Nen from deep within the creature, was the only warning. Beside her, Shino flinched.

A crimson ghost rose up out of the Ant's body, passing without care through the insects covering it. It loomed over the barren field, ten meters tall, strings of Nen wriggling down into the monster's limbs.

The Royal Guard leapt forward, as though it were entirely uninjured. No, Hinata realized as she instinctively jumped back, her leg protesting. It was worse than that. It was even faster than before. Shino's insects chewed at it to no avail: they were finally stripping away skin instead of Nen, but the Ant didn't slow down.

The Ant's hand came back, a perfect pitcher's pose.

The Nen construct was puppeting it. Hinata's eyes went wide. It was puppeting its own body. Too drained by the Kikaichu, its muscles shredded by the Gentle Fist, it had resorted to manipulating its own body with literal strings of Nen.

The Ant hurled the small stone it had plucked from the ground, and then tossed itself after it, its legs trailing lifelessly, one arm suspended before it. The projectile let out a sonic boom, far exceeding the speed of sound as it headed right for Hinata's face. Behind it, the Ant had transformed itself into a remorseless weapon.

She slid her leg back, preparing for a Kaiten. Chilling foreign chakra, a gift from a long dead ancestor, rushed up and inundated her entire body. She had to deflect both the stone and the Ant that followed so closely behind it. The first would merely be painful, but the second would be death.

The radio in her ear suddenly screamed, the sound almost deafening; it sounded like something being crushed. Her fractured leg buckled. Hinata wobbled, her concentration broken. More blood rushed from her many wounds; she felt lightheaded.

The stone struck her in the temple, and half the world went dark from the blow. The chakra directed to her left eye had been disrupted. She rocked backwards, losing her balance, death apparent in her peripheral vision.

'No.'

The Ant smiled, mouth full of knives, adjusting the angle of its attack.

'Please no.'

Shino came in from her blind spot.

She could see his eyes, warm and black, under the visor. He was looking at her, not their opponent.

Without hesitation, he pushed her aside.

There were times Hinata wished her eyes weren't quite so acute.

This was one of them.

The Royal Guard shredded through Shino's screen of insects without slowing down. Its first attack, which would have torn Hinata in half, cut through Shino's right knee like paper mache. As the Aburame started to fall, his dismembered foot tossed away by the force of the Ant's attack, the creature sliced upwards, aiming to take his head off.

Shino silently shifted his weight, and instead of decapitating him, the Ant's scything hand went through his right arm at the bicep, almost cleanly severing it. Only a thin string of bloody muscle and shattered bone kept it connected to Shino's body.

Until the Ant, not quite finished, grabbed the mostly severed arm and yanked it away, snapping the connecting muscle and bone with its impossible strength.

Hinata started screaming, Shino's blood landing on her cheek, hot and thick. Her teammate, however, was silent. He fell back, his eyes closing behind his visor, and thousands upon thousands of insects poured out of his dismembered limbs. They swarmed across the Royal Guard, which backed away in apparent surprise, their assault even fiercer than it had been before. They even began to devour the Nen construct animating the Ant itself, chewing on the strings linking it to the Guard.

The Guard opened its mouth to say something, and Shino's insects poured down its throat, crawled up its nose, bit at its eyes. It was encased in writhing black creatures, a ball of suicidal fury three times its size expanding around it, intent on eating it alive.

Shino's shorn limbs weren't even bleeding anymore: they'd been completely stuffed with his insects, their massed bodies forming impromptu tourniquets.

The Guard flailed in a panic, its composure lost, nearly blinded. It had dismembered one of its opponents, and that had only made it take more damage. Hinata saw it come to the conclusion as surely as she did Shino hitting the ground, landing on his back, his face contorted in agony. She shouted and rushed the Ant, desperate to keep it off her teammate, and almost tripped over her own broken leg. It still held Shino's arm; its Nen construct was fading, seeming more and more like the misty rain than a solid thing.

It looked at her, only its vibrant, hateful eyes visible under the carpet of insects. "You'll pay for this, Watcher," it gagged, somehow speaking even with its throat filled with Kikaichu. "The King will eat you alive."

Then it turned and ran, staggered, and finally jumped, its Nen puppet picking it up into the air and hurling it towards the nest before disappearing. Insects fell off of it in a rain of chittering black, looking around in confusion for another target. Hinata's perception expanded, following the Ant's arc. Two seconds later, it slammed into the side of the nest, flopping to the base of the structure and convulsing as it hacked up insects. It rolled across the ground lethargically, like something dying of thirst, trying to crush the insects covering its body. The whole time, it retained a deathly grip on Shino's lost arm.

An Ant that looked like a squat penguin, standing watch over one of the entrances, saw the Guard's struggle. It rushed over without hesitation and began batting the Kikaichu off of it. They attacked the new Chimera with just as much viciousness as they had the Guard, but with their attention split, both Ants were able to kill enough that the insects were merely dangerous instead of deadly. A couple seconds later, another joined it, and the Kikaichu's attention was split once more.

Despite Shino's best effort, Hinata realized, the Guard would probably survive.

She mirrored the penguin-like Ant, rushing to her friend's side.

"Shino!" she yelled. His heart was slowing down, going into shock. She laid her hand on his cheek and sent a jolt of chakra into his system. The Aburame's eyes shot open, and his heart beat with renewed energy, shock staved off.

"Stay awake!" Hinata shouted. She reached up, realized her headset had been destroyed by the rock the Guard had hurled.

She was alive. She was alive. The relief sunk into her chest, viciously at odds with her horror at Shino's injuries. She reached down and yanked the Aburame's own headset off, holding it up to her mouth. Her hand was covered in blood. Hers or Shino's, she couldn't tell. Her finger slipped off the receiver.

"Knov!" she shouted. Lightheaded. Foggy. She'd lost too much blood. She pressed down on the button. "Knov, we need help!" The man turned around in surprise, five kilometers away.

Hinata collapsed to her knees and one hand, the bloody mud below her imprinting itself on her pants and palm.

"Now."

###

For fifteen long seconds, Isaac Netero weighed the odds.

His heart was beating. Somewhat quickly. Sixty-four beats a minute. It hadn't gotten up there in decades. He savored the feeling, knowing it would be some time before he reached it again.

Every one of the shinobi was either heavily injured or, in the case of the mysterious new arrival Mari Kansai, retreating. Hounded by Ants, she would not have time to reestablish her technique. Kiba Inuzuka was in the very hands of his 100-Type Bodhisattva, and from the sound of it, both Hinata and Shino were in just as shameful a condition. Their force was halved, no, more than halved, because it was undeniable that Morel or Knov would not have survived a direct confrontation with the Royal Guard he had spied upon first laying eyes on the Chimaera's nest.

And yet despite those losses, Netero's warrior spirit pushed for him to continue the attack. With Morel and Knov, who had avoided the brunt of the Ant's hostilities, it was possible they could force their way in, murder the Queen, and end this.

Possible, but not likely.

Netero had not grown old by listening to the folly of his hungry heart: no matter how he loathed the necessity of this fight ending, it was the responsible thing to do. Attacking now would be an unforgivable risk.

Still, in the petty way only a senior could, he begrudged the shinobi for forcing him to. Perhaps if they'd been a bit hardier, a bit older, it wouldn't have gone this way.

"Chairman." Knov crackled over his headset. "I have the shinobi. They need medical care, immediately."

Command fell to him, it seemed. In situations like this people always seemed afraid to follow their own instincts, even Hunters. Even him.

He smiled. It was a shame that actions had consequences, but an unavoidable one.

"Fall back, then," he said. The 100-Type faded away, and with it his ardor. He suddenly felt his age once more. Kiba fell out of the sky, landing in his arms with a soft thud. He made his way north, towards a prepared point. "We'll finish this another day."

It was time to stay low and regroup, he thought. They still had a little more than a month before the earliest estimates of the King's birth, and they had dealt the Ants a heavy blow today. A portal opened up below him, and Isaac Netero fell into a smaller world, Kiba still hefted over his shoulder.

Though they had destroyed a satisfying number of Ants, the assault had failed.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 12

Laid Low​

Shino was sure he had never been in this much pain.

In many ways, he'd led a blessed life for a shinobi. He'd never suffered worse than a broken bone; the battles he'd lost had left him exhausted and beaten, but whole of body and unconquered in spirit. He was all too aware that many of his comrades didn't share the same fortune, and every day, he gave thanks for that in his own quiet way.

That fortune, it seemed, had finally come to an end. His whole body was numb; Hinata's crying face, splattered with thick red, blue, and black blood, was firmly imprinted in his mind's eye. She'd kept him from passing out with a painful shock of that cold chakra that hid deep inside her; it had probably kept him alive, now that he thought about it. Falling unconscious in such a condition could be fatal.

Falling… he'd fallen. Lost his balance. Was that what had happened?

Where was he? Lying down, somewhere, in a plain of white. His heart jumped. Had he died after all? The Royal Guard hadn't hit him that hard, had it? He was sure he remembered it retreating. There was a bright light shining directly in his face. Shino tried to raise his hand to block out the piercing light, but nothing happened. He felt his limb move, but nothing appeared to save him from the light. He couldn't understand. Wasn't his hand right there?

A familiar face slipped into view above him, obscuring the light. Matted white hair, a wide nose that had been broken many times, small opaque glasses.

Morel. One of the Hunters. Not a teammate, but an ally. Shino relaxed, dropping the hand that he couldn't see, which couldn't block out the light. Where was his team?

He dimly wondered where he was within Knov's hatsu. The dimensional space. The light fit. Or was it just a place that looked like it. He could smell fresh air. The space never smelled like that. Was this simply a hospital? Morel looked pained. Was he that bad to look at?

"Shino?" The man sounded like he was underwater. Or Shino was underwater. Inside him, insects rustled at the noise; the sound almost drowned the man's voice. "Can you hear me?"

Shino tried to nod. His neck didn't respond. He tried to speak: his lips were frozen. All that emerged was a faint gasp.

Morel nodded. "You were pretty badly injured by the Guard. Don't try to speak." He looked up at someone else. "I'm going to give you some painkillers. It should help."

Painkillers? Why would he need painkillers? He wasn't in pain.

Wait.

Shino frowned.

The agony across his body was so omnipresent that for a second he'd stopped recognizing it as pain. That couldn't be a good sign. Four fractured ribs, a twisted ankle, all of his limbs screaming. All of them? That didn't seem right.

He did his best to tell the insects inside him that whatever Morel would be injecting into him was safe, that it didn't need to be purged. He wasn't sure they understood completely: his inner hive was furious, buzzing with increasing intensity. He was sure the sound could be heard outside his body. The Kikaichu had taken horrible casualties, and their home had been savaged. It was an incredible mental effort for Shino, weakened as he was, just to keep them from attacking Morel.

Like they'd attacked…

Shino sucked in a breath, the feeling deep and blessedly calming.

"Morel," he asked, "where's Hinata?"

The man looked up at him, a mixed expression on his face: a frown, a smile, some pity carried in both. "She's alright. A little cut up, but she'll be fine." The look shifted more towards a frown. "She said you saved her."

Had he? That was right. He'd pushed her aside. Hadn't even thought about it. It was the natural thing to do, even in the face of that Ant's inhuman killing intent. She had children, and he didn't. One of them couldn't afford to not return.

"Good," he grunted. Talking hurt too. "Kiba?"

"Relax," Morel said, shuffling over. There was a syrette in his hand, sloshing with clear yellow liquid. Shino had never liked needles, and his insects reacted before he could calm them, chittering with renewed anger. He shut them down with a jab of his will, but Morel had clearly noticed the noise. It was obviously unsettling.

The man approached more slowly than before. "He's pretty banged up, but nothing too serious." Raised the needle. "Now hold still. This should help you out a little."

Shino did his best to shut his insects up, to make them understand that he was receiving medicine, not poison. In times like this, it could be challenging to combat their instincts, no matter how linked they were. He only had a few surgical bugs, especially after the fight with the Guard, but if wasn't careful they'd inhibit the painkillers.

The needle slid into the bicep of his right arm. It was cold, as was the liquid inside it.

"How long?" Shino asked. Morel understood what he was asking.

"It's pretty strong: should be less than a minute," Morel said. "I won't lie, this is some powerful stuff. You might feel a little odd."

"I'll be… fine…" Shino said, the pain in his arm momentarily doubling.

It had been over a minute since he'd woken up, and he still couldn't figure out how he was feeling pain from an arm that was no longer there.

"Where's my leg?" he asked, and Morel blinked.

"The Ant…" he started to say. Shino managed to shake his head.

"I know. It's gone. Where is it?" Don't think about it.

"We retrieved it. I'm not sure where it is right now though. Your comrades probably have it." Morel cocked his head. "Why?"

"I need it back." Shino's head was swimming. He couldn't focus his eyes. His visor had been removed. He realized this was probably the first time Morel had ever seen his eyes. "My arm?"

Morel shook his head. "The Ant took it. I'm sorry."

Shino sighed. Morel's words jogged his memory. His arm was gone, and he couldn't detect the insects that had hidden themselves inside it, a hopefully lethal trap. They must have been destroyed. It could have been worse. At least he had his leg to work with.

"If you're trying to patch me, don't do anything to my leg," he warned. "I need it. Where's Hinata?"

Morel looked confused. "If you say so. She and Kiba are in another room. Don't worry, they're fine."

"Where's my leg?"

Morel's face drooped, his glasses swelling. "With them. We can go get it in a bit."

"Okay." Shino lay back, scratching his nose with his right hand. "That's okay."

He fell asleep, without his consciousness falling away. He was still in the bright room. Morel was gone. His pipe was still there, though. No, he hadn't had it in the first place. But where Morel once stood, his pipe was propped, glasses fixed crookedly on the head. Shino giggled.

"Something funny?" the pipe asked, and Shino's giggle intensified.

"I need my leg," he laughed. "I have to put it back on." The room swirled, brown and grey and green and black commingling in his vision.

"Oh? How are you going to manage that."

It was probably the first time he'd been had asked such an outright question since leaving home. "Question." Had he said that out 'loud?'

With my insects, obviously. The pipe sure was stupid if it couldn't figure that out. Shino laughed again. Then again, you are a pipe, you don't even have a brain. Of course you're stupid. It's really not your own fault. I shouldn't be so judgemental. I'm sometimes afraid I scare my students. Since they can't see my eyes, they can't know what I'm thinking. That can be frightening, especially to a child.

Poor Himawari, waking up one morning to find that her mother had been replaced by a stranger. Himawari? Hinata's daughter, of course. That was obvious. She'd been so shocked by the lunar chakra, she hadn't stopped screaming all day. He was glad that he didn't have kids, really. Teaching them was easy, raising them was impossibly difficult. Shino had never thought he would end up a teacher, but it had become as natural to him as breathing, he'd inevitably ended up in that position like someone sucked into a vacuum, not so much moving as being moved by the needs of the village. It didn't bother him; passing on the Will of Fire was an excellent honor, and Shino enjoyed his job.

The Will of Fire, where are you really from, Shino? The Village Hidden in the Leaves, of course. Without that, he'd be nothing. His whole life, only after coming heer has the absurdity of it hit him, he'd been inside the system of villages, inundated by the Will of Fire, his entire life. Even if it were incorrect or even evil, he'd never know. Where was that? In the middle of the Five Nations, a position that held both a lot of advantages and disadvantages. At the center of every war, every conflict, but with enough resources and people to weather them. So much death, it boggled the mind to consider himself the inheritor of so much suffering. It certainly seemed crazy to have nearly a century defined by conflict on that one continent, but that's what had happened. He didn't know much about the history of this land, but the conflict between the two Gorteau's had reminded him of it, though Gorteau had never resolved the debt of blood as they had. Where were the Five Nations? Shino laughed again. Well, that was a very stupid question. Was it place without victory? He supposed it had been, but they'd won, they'd won, they'd won the war, destroyed the system, established the Union, created a peace that Shino's ancestors could never have dreamed of. An impossible dream, but they'd achieved it anyway, wasn't that incredible. Where were the Five Nations, he didn't really know himself now that he thought about it. Somewhere else, far from here, across space and time, in another world, another place, completely different from here. Plenty of giant bugs there, though. Shino supposed they weren't that different after all. No Hunters though. Just lots of shinobi. It bothered Shino sometimes how very many shinobi there were, with nothing to fight, the only battle one of definition and reconstruction, much more complicated than the breaking that had preceded them. He didn't fear Naruto at all, there wasn't a single atom in his body that feared the Hokage no, he loved the man like a brother, he was eternally grateful to him for having saved the village, what, two, three times, let alone his efforts in the Fourth War, but the Hokage was terrifying, the idea that if he wanted to he could surely kill everyone, on shameful nights it kept Shino away from his bed as he pondered how the new paradigm was just as fragile as the last one, he was still just as much a weapon as a person in some ways despite his warm smile and true heart their legacy seemed destined to be built on the power of human sacrifice no matter what.

The pipe was shuddering. It looked cold. Are you cold? Let me help. Shino's insects sluggishly responded to his altruism, slipping out of his body in gradual great waves and covering the pipe. It stopped shivering, and Shino smiled. There, not cold anymore, are you? Snug as a bug. He laughed again. People didn't like being covered in insects generally, but the pipe didn't even have a brain, so it probably was just grateful for being kept warm. Kikaichu were pretty warm, compared to their peers especially. What, destruction bugs? Of course he grew them in his own body, where else would he? It would take a while to replenish his hive after the losses he'd incurred against the Royal Guard, but with enough food he'd be able to manage it easily. He was lucky to have such willing allies, always grateful for how much they were willing to do for him. Without them, he never would have survived as long as he had. The Guard would have killed him instead of just maiming him. Though it wasn't that bad. At least he could get his leg back. The thing had stolen his arm. What a bitch. It did kinda look like a woman, didn't it. Despite it's inhumanity, there had been something feminine about his face, the shape of its body. Technically Chimera Ants didn't have a gender, or identify as one sex or another, but that didn't mean they were beyond it necessarily, especially after having taken so much humanity in, that nest stuffed with blood and bones, the line between human and ants could be becoming uncomfortably thin, 'why do you have a name'-

Was he human? Of course he was. That was perhaps the stupidest floating sentence of them all. Just because he had chakra, didn't mean he wasn't human. He was just as human as any of his fellows, or the Hunters, regardless of how many insects were inside his body. Shino had never doubted that, though he knew some other people from Konohagakure inevitably did. The Aburame had always intimidated people. But if an entire clan of people with eyes like the Byakugan or the Sharingan could be called human without compunction, why not those filled with insects? He was so thirsty. One part honey, one part caramel, some tea would help soothe his throat for sure. Green, ocha~ it was his favorite color after all.

An entire clan, of course there was an entire clan of people like Hinata. She was the mightiest among them, no doubt, Shino was so proud of her for having overcome her fear, insecurity, to become the most powerful Hyuuga in the clan. It was beyond his best hopes. No more Sharingan though. Imagine if Hinata had ended up like Sasuke, he just couldn't picture it. Shino giggled again. Vengeance, in a squeaky tone, eyes tucked away. Nope, impossible. He was so tired. Especially for already being asleep. That was just making him more tired, these damn Ants putting him in this state maybe it was time to forget the consequences and simply contact naruto shinobi weren't supposed to do that except in the cases of a most dire emergency and surely that was one of these cases east gorteau could be overrun if they weren't careful naruto would have been able to settle this on the first day wipe out the nest without effort who cared about getting a sample of the queen he'd already paid for that ambition with an arm at this point was it really worth continuing the struggle might best end it in a flash of light

Without compunction, Shino passed out.

###

Hinata peeled the bandage off her forearm, the long strip of gauze coming away sticky with crusty dried blood. The slice that ran horizontally along almost the entire length of her arm was the consequence of her parrying the Royal Guard's thirty-seventh attack; all things considered, she'd gotten off lightly, especially considering the intent of the strike. The wound was one of the shallowest she'd sustained, but for some reason it irritated her the most.

She was going to have at least four new scars after the encounter. Small, but visible. That was far more than she could say for Shino.

Guilt, hot and rancid, surged up from her gut and she did her best to suppress it, glancing over at Mari. She, the Representative, and Kiba were all sequestered in a hospital somewhere in the Republic of Rokario, near the border of the NGL. They'd come there from one of Knov's dimensional apartments, filled with cots and medical supplies. Technically, the room was Kiba's. He'd been checked in with incredible speed, likely thanks to the Hunter's Association. The Inuzuka was asleep on one of the beds; Hinata had taped an ice pack to his nose and set his arm in a splint before setting about seeing to herself, long before they'd arrived at the hospital. Making sure her teammate's sense of smell went undamaged was paramount.

It had been nearly five hours since the assault had ended, and Mari hadn't said anything that whole time. Not since she'd seen Shino taken away by Morel and Knov, escorted to the building they were now sitting in. Hinata wondered if she should have gone with him, but after a moment, brushed the thought off. She trusted the Hunters, and staying behind to see to Kiba had been the right thing to do.

She didn't acknowledge to herself that it had been almost too painful to see Shino with two of his limbs removed. The feeling was far worse than the pain of her fractured leg, which sat securely in a splint, or the dozens of cuts, large and small, that covered her body. That in a way, handing him off to someone else had been a relief.

"Mari?" she asked, and the younger shinobi jerked. How old was she? Early twenties? Hinata had never asked.

"Yeah?" Mari blinked. "I'm alright, Hyuuga-sama." She looked over to Hinata, her teal eyes sliding over the bandages covering her body. "What…"

"You're sure?" Hinata continued. She patted at one of the bandages on her thigh, soaking up some excess blood. She'd had more water and calorie bars than she'd cared to count. After losing so much blood, eating was more important than ever. "You said, before, that you'd never been in a large scale battle before."

Mari shook her head, brushing some of her short brown bangs away. Her lip quivered. "I'm fine."

It was obvious Mari knew Hinata knew she was lying, but the Hyuuga didn't know how to bridge the gap. The younger woman seemed ready to break down.

"You did well," Hinata said. It was the truth. "That jutsu of yours really is amazing-"

The girl from the Thunder Corp started silently crying. Her whole body shuddered.

"Sorry…" she said quietly, the words broken up. "Sorry… I really couldn't do anything."

Hinata limped over to the girl and sat down next to her, the bed creaking under them. She was sure she'd stained the sheets, but at the moment, she hardly cared.

"You killed quite a few Ants," she said, smiling. Over twenty, unless her count had been off. "You retreated without getting injured. The Union still has its Representative in Gorteau." She gently put her hand down on Mari's shaking shoulder. It stung: she'd been cut on that palm as well. "You did everything right."

"I didn't think it would be like this," Mari gasped, trying to control her tears. She wiped at her nose. "I'm not even hurt…"

She really was young. Young and inexperienced. Hinata kept up the grip on her shoulder. "It was your first battle. Trust me, it happens. Don't be concerned about it."

Mari glanced at her with desperate and shameful eyes. "Did it happen to you?"

Hinata looked away, up at the bright ceiling, to Kiba, sleeping peacefully, then back to Mari. Her other hand curled into a fist. "My first real battle… well, I suppose it was the assault on my village before the Fourth War, by the leader of the Akatsuki," she admitted. "During it, I was terrified, and afterwards…" she leaned forward, frowning. "I didn't have time to process what had happened. I didn't really have time for any of that until after the War, and that was weeks later."

Mari coughed. "Hyuuga-sama, you have to understand…" she trailed off, seemingly afraid to put her thoughts to words. "You and your team, you're heroes. You're the Hokage's wife. Seeing you all come back from this, especially Shino, so badly injured, while I don't even have a scratch on me-"

Hinata nodded as Mari sniffed, her nose clogged. "It just doesn't seem real, you know? I must have let you guys down, if someone like Shino can be hurt so bad while I'm totally fine."

The Hyuuga almost smiled. Mari made sense, but it was a childish thing to say. She leaned in, as if to tell the girl a secret, and unconsciously, Mari did the same.

"That's how this sort of thing works," she said, and the girl cocked her head. "When shinobi go into battle, they risk their lives, but everyone has their role to play. As the wife of the Hokage, I know that better than most people." She leaned back. "I'm sure your teacher told you this was how it's going to be. Since you were in the Thunder Corp, you were never going to be in direct danger unless things went terribly wrong."

Mari frowned as Hinata continued. "It sounds awful, but that's the way it is. Even with the Union established, that's how shinobi have lived for as long as my clan's been around. Until we come up with something better, it's inevitable." She smiled. "And just because you consider us heroes, doesn't mean we're any better than you." She pointed to Kiba. "Kiba and I, and Shino, we were just lucky enough to survive the War. It had nothing to do with how great we were. Over fifty-thousand people died in just two days, and we could have been among them. We were just in the right place at the right time."

Her smile softened. "And of course, without my husband, it would have been far more than that."

"I… I don't understand," Mari muttered. Hinata's smile faded.

They hadn't taken the proper precautions, and now this girl was feeling guilt that she didn't deserve.

"I'm trying to tell you not to feel guilty," she said, and Mari stiffened. "It's obvious, and you shouldn't. We made a mistake. I made a mistake: I should never have assumed my Byakugan couldn't be beaten. You're not responsible for that; it was us who came up with the plan to attack the nest, not you. Don't think that you didn't do well."

"Bullshit." Both the women's heads swivelled towards Kiba, who slowly pulled himself up, propping himself on one trembling arm. Somehow, he's woken up in time to join the conversation. Hinata's eyes narrowed. Had he been feigning sleep? "You didn't do a damn thing wrong." He looked down, at the catheter protruding from under the sheets. "Oh hell. Why'd you let them put this in?"

He was talking to her, not Mari. Hinata couldn't help but smile at her teammate's stubbornness. "You know as well as me that's not true, Kiba. I made a mistake-" a hiccup, "-and Shino paid for it."

"Don't give me that crap," Kiba groaned, trying and failing to pull himself off the bed. "Maybe once we've fucked these Ants, you can start saying stuff like that. How the hell could we have known one of them could dodge your eyes?" His beard was crusted with blue and red blood.

"It's like you said a couple days ago," Hinata pointed out. "We're not the experts on this place. Assuming the Ants couldn't develop a Hatsu to avoid my eyes was arrogant."

"The Hunters did the same damn thing, and they are experts. It was their fuckup, not yours," Kiba shot back. He was angry, clearly looking to blame someone. Hinata pursed her lips. He was right, but the arrogance that had led to the failed assault had been shared. The Hunters had asked her if anything could hide from her eyes, and she'd told them the truth. That Royal Guard had achieved the impossible, but she hadn't dared to assume that in another world, with different truths, that could be the case.

It was her fault they were in this room with these injuries. But she couldn't say that out loud. That would be even more painful, and Kiba would be angry.

"Stop swearing, please," she asked quietly, and Kiba growled.

"Shit, my ribs," he grumbled, giving up on standing up. "That last Royal Guard is way too strong."

"They all are," Hinata said. "When Shino and I were fighting that cat one, it was obvious to the both of us that it could kill either of us with a lucky hit. They're ridiculous creatures."

"Why'd you keep fighting, then?" Kiba asked. "You can't afford to die here, Hinata."

"We couldn't retreat," Hinata said, "and it was our best chance to destroy it. It didn't have any backup, that far from the nest. It was frightening, but I thought the ideal decision was to finish it off." She looked down at her leg. "I still do," she said, the image of a hundred thousand cracked open bones inside the nest overlapping over her own broken one.

"I never thought you'd say something like that," Kiba said. He looked disappointed. "You both could have died."

"We didn't," Hinata said. She almost said it out of spite. Her head was swimming. Was Kiba right? Had she become so obsessed with making the Ants pay for their crimes that she'd put herself in too much danger?

It was an incredibly disturbing thought.

Mari watched the quiet argument, her tears drying.

"You're not worried about Shino?" she asked, breaking into the momentary silence. Hinata glanced at her.

"No. I'm terribly worried," she said, her whole body shaking once, violently. She pushed down her ancestor's urges, catching sight of a bright bird flying past the room's single narrow window. "But he's not going to die. He's in good hands, and his insects will keep alive even in the worst situation." She sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I wouldn't be as nearly well off as him if the Royal Guard had managed to strike me instead."

Kiba looked her up and down, taking in the dozen of bandages and the thick splint around her leg. "It seems like it got you pretty good." Hinata shook her head.

"Just scratches. And a broken leg. I'll be fine." She closed her eyes. "Shino lost his arm. And a leg."

"Holy shit," Kiba jerked, wincing and laying one arm on his gut. "Like, gone, or…?"

"We retrieved his leg," Hinata said. "Morel came to collect it about an hour ago: he was convinced that the doctors he's got working with Shino could reattach it. But the Royal Guard took his arm. We'll have to have a synthetic one made when we return to Konoha."

"Jeez." Kiba lay back. "Why aren't you with him?"

Hinata blinked. "I decided to stay with you. I went to visit him earlier, after Knov brought us here, but he was completely out of it." She flared her Byakugan to make her point. "I've been keeping an eye on him, don't worry."

"Where are we, anyway?" Kiba asked, looking around. He strained, looking at the unfamiliar city outside the window.

"Somewhere in The Republic of Rokario," Mari said suddenly. "Most likely Dory. That's the nearest city to NGL." She looked back down, as though embarrassed to have spoken up without warning.

Hinata nodded; she remembered the information from when Mari had first explained it on their journey to the NGL, but it was good the girl was speaking up. "Well, the location doesn't really matter. Shino will be unconscious for at least a day. They gave him something to help him heal, apparently. His insects were making a fuss."

"Man," Kiba said with a painful laugh. "That must have freaked the doctors out."

"It did. I did my best to make sure they weren't concerned, though I don't think it did much coming from me. The Hunters will definitely have questions about that," Hinata agreed. "But it's unavoidable."

"Who cares," Kiba asked. "Let them ask whatever the fuck they want. I'm sick of it." Hinata almost chuckled at how Kiba's opinion had intensified in just a couple days. Her teammate sighed. "I think at this point we should think about more reinforcements."

Hinata blinked. "What? More shinobi, you mean?"

Kiba nodded, wincing. "Those Royal Guard are fucked up. If the King's going to be even stronger than them, we really can't let him be born. I'm pretty sure Netero is the only of the Hunters who could take on any of the Guards, so the King would probably be beyond him." He looked to Mari. "And he's the Chairman of the Association, so he's probably one of the most powerful, even with his age." The Representative nodded in agreement. "So, if we want to make sure no one else ends up like Shino… might be worth considering bringing in some more people. To protect West Gorteau, at the very least."

Hinata chewed her lip. "That's risky, Kiba. It would be nice to settle this more safely, but…"

"It's pointless to consider right now," Mari spoke up, her eyes finally dry. Kiba raised an eyebrow. "The portal is still recharging thanks to all three of you coming through: it won't be finished for at least another three weeks, maybe even more. Right now, the only thing that can be sent here from the Union, or back to it, are faxes."

"Faxes?" Kiba blinked. "Seriously?"

Mari shrugged. "They've done a lot of experiments, apparently: they're the only kind of data that can make it through without too much corruption. I'm not sure how it works, to be honest."

"Hmm." Kiba scratched his nose, and then at his broken arm. "Well, shit. Forget what I said then. If that's the case, we'll have to finish this on our own." He coughed, spitting out a granule of dried blood. "I don't suppose you know any medical jutsu? I know Hinata hasn't practiced hers in a while."

"Sorry, no." Mari practically looked ready to cry again; it almost made Hinata laugh. Kiba was right. At best, she'd be able to mend their broken bones over the course of a week or two, but they wouldn't be even close to fully healed. She wasn't a hundredth as talented as Sakura, so there wasn't a question that for the rest of their time in the Mitene Union, their injured limbs would be weak points.

She felt too light. Shino had just lost a limb, hadn't he? She had no right to feel like this, especially with a shattered leg of her own. It was probably the blood loss. It was always like this after a hard fight, blood loss or not. The paradoxical feeling of relief and joy at having survived, and the guilt of others being less lucky. It reminded her of when Neji had died, such fierce sorrow and joy and anger all painfully juxtaposed, making her feel like a bug being rattled around inside a jar.

It was exhausting. The optimism she'd felt about attacking the nest just hours ago seemed like a dream.

She forced her mouth open, trying to drain the conflict inside her. "The King isn't due to be born for at least another five weeks," she said. "If we really can't find a solution to dealing with the Guards by then, we'll still probably have time to seek reinforcements." She smiled, sure there was some blood on her teeth. "But Shino and I nearly killed that Guard on our own. It almost killed us as well, but with just one more person backing us up, I think we could have taken it. Even if we're all injured, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out a way to finish the Ants safely before that point."

Kiba's mouth twisted. "It's back in your system now, I can tell. You're going to be using more of that lunar chakra, aren't you?" He leaned back with a small grimace. "It's making you a little reckless, Hinata."

"Lunar chakra?" Mari asked, cocking her head. Hinata glanced at her, then down at her trembling leg. It wasn't a conscious movement, just the twitching of pained nerves. She willed it to sit still, and it did… for a couple seconds, before it resumed its shaking.

She frowned.

"It's not common knowledge," she told Mari, who only looked more curious, "but it's not exactly a secret either." She focused, the muscles in her back and core tensing, and drew out some of her ancestor's chakra, the ferocious purple energy burning off her arms and shoulders. Mari rocked back in shock, and Hinata relaxed, the unusual chakra fading. "You were probably pretty young at the time, but I'm sure you remember the moon falling."

Mari nodded, her wariness melting away to be replaced by more curiosity. "Duh," she said. The the first time in five hours, she almost laughed. "I was ten at the time: I didn't really understand what was happening, but I thought for sure the world was ending. The sky was catching fire…" She trailed off. "And we were getting sent into shelters. But the Hokage, didn't he stop whoever was causing it?"

Hinata nodded. "My husband and I traveled to the moon along with some of our comrades and stopped the man who was making it fall." She grinned at the ridiculous truth of it. "While we were there, I came into contact with some ancient chakra, from the very first head of the Hyuuga Clan: Hamura. He was long dead, but his spirit, I guess you could say, passed it on to me to help destroy the jutsu that was causing the moon's fall." Kiba snorted, and Hinata shot him a half-hearted glare. "Since then, Hamura's chakra has been a part of me."

"But you don't usually use it?" Mari asked. "Why not? It sounds incredible." Hinata could swear there were little stars behind the girl's eyes.

"Well, you just saw it," Hinata said, her face growing serious. "It's a little scary." She shrugged. "And it's powerful: once its in my chakra system, it can take months to work all of it out and replace it with just my own. It's not a concern for me, or my husband-"

"Or me!" Kiba interjected, and Hinata managed a small, dry laugh.

"Right. But both of my children have the Byakugan, though only my daughter has managed to activate it." Comprehension dawned on Mari's face. "The first time she saw it, felt it," Hinata said, growing quiet. It was a painful memory that Mari had accidentally dragged back up to compete with Shino's lost limbs. "She was terrified. I'm sure she thought someone had taken over me. She wouldn't look at me for the rest of the day, and she didn't let me hold her until I'd managed to get it all out of my system."

"Oh." Mari sobered. "I'm sorry."

Hinata shrugged. "It's not your fault. But now that it's out, there's little reason to stop using it. We're in a bad situation. It's a shame, but I'll try to make my daughter understand."

'When I get back.'

"So, what now then?" Mari asked.

"You get back to West Gorteau, do your job," Kiba groaned. "Inform the Union on what's up. Don't let the Hokage know we got his wife beat up, he'll be pissed."

"Kiba!" Hinata protested, and he shot her a bloody grin. She sighed. "Don't listen to him. Well, you should return to your job, but the rest, ignore that."

"And you, Hinata," Kiba said, not finished. "You're done."

Hinata blinked, the bit of cheer she'd gained slammed against the verbal brick wall Kiba had just thrown at her.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Kiba tried to cross his arms and failed. "After this, there's no way I'm letting you fight again. Not like you have been."

That was unusually patronizing. Hinata looked him up and down, clearly eyeing his cast, bandages, and the catheter. "How would you stop me?"

"I'm not kidding around," Kiba said, spitting out some more blood. It landed on his cast. "Looking at that nest day and night, it's done something to you. I don't know if you see it or not, but it's obvious to me. Shino too, though he's probably too polite to say it. You're way too fixated on the Ants. Even more so than Shino, and he practically drools over the damn things." His eyes narrowed. "We're going to finish this. Those Ants are too dangerous to ignore, and I don't trust the Hunters to not fuck it up. But when we get out of this place, back to the nest, you're done. You're going to stay back and help the Hunters out, nothing more. If you have to, you'll play up your leg."

"That's not your decision to make," Hinata said, her voice low.

"That's true," Kiba said, not budging. "But it's not your right to make me explain to Boruto and Himawari why their mom came back twenty pounds lighter." Mari gasped.

That was a low blow. Hinata felt like Kiba had physically punched her in the gut.

She almost wanted to strike back. That's what shinobi did when they were hurt. Even though Kiba was one of her oldest friends, the urge to hurt him as he'd just hurt her was overwhelming.

But she was sure there was nothing she could say that would be as hurtful.

Or as true.

She opened her mouth, but she had nothing to say. She hesitated. One second, two, three. The silence stretched. Her throat was dry. Kiba's lips were drawn in a harsh line.

After five seconds, she conceded with a single, shallow nod. Her eyes were hot, but she refused to show any more weakness.

Hinata frowned, trying to crush her shame, and turned to Mari. "We'll stay here for two days, maybe three. Enough time to heal our bones for fieldwork. But after that, we've got to return. It's a critical time: we've got to capitalize on the Ant's losses. It'll be the same for Shino, though he might take longer." Shino would be just as dangerous without his right arm. Perhaps even more so, now that he had lost something to the Ants.

She breathed out, her breath shaky. "We'll be fine." Hinata told Mari with a false smile.

"Do your job. Don't worry about us."

###

Knov took a sip of his tea, his eyes wandering over the nest in the distance. Though it had only been three days since the assault, the scars left by Isaac Netero and the shinobi Mari Kansai were already fading, the Ants industriously repairing and reinforcing the dents and holes their combined effort had put in the nest with the enthusiasm and speed of…

Well, he acknowledged with a minute grin, ants.

That, combined with the reestablishment of the Royal Guard's monstrous En about fifteen hours after the battle had ended, made it seem like the only legacy of the assault were several devastated patches of forest. The Chairman had used dozens of trees as ammunition, and Shino's insects had devoured a sizeable number as well. That had been somewhat alarming, he thought, the tea soothing his throat. He never would have guessed the shinobi had command over quite that many creatures, or that they were capable of stripping life from an area so thoroughly.

When he had arrived at Hinata's location, drawn by her call, the only thing that had surprised him more than the damage to the forest was that it had not been enough to stop the Royal Guard. Shino Aburame had still been down two limbs, his stumps clogged with insects desperate to stop the bleeding. That had resolved a longstanding question Knov had had about the Aburame's abilities: whether the insects were a conjuration or an emission.

The answer had turned out to be both simple and obvious, which he appreciated. They were neither. The man obviously somehow hosted the insects, real creatures, inside his body, and commanded them through some sort of symbiosis. It was disgusting, but also somewhat mundane compared to the other possibilities.

However, despite appearances, the assault had resulted in far more that some dead trees. Nearly two hundred Chimera had perished, bringing their total numbers down to somewhere around six-hundred. The forest was stained with their blue blood; it was a far cry from when the Hunters had arrived to find over two-thousand of the insects infesting the area. The Royal Guard that had so badly injured Hinata and Shino had nearly been killed in kind, and it would doubtlessly take time to recover: Knov was almost eager for the Hyuuga to return, so her eyes could inform the Hunters as to the health of that Guard in particular.

Most critically, the chaos of the assault had allowed Knov to accomplish his primary objective. Though he'd had to withdraw sooner than he'd liked thanks to Hinata's call for aid, he'd still managed to penetrate somewhat into the nest, making his way several hundred feet up and into it, and leave behind an exit portal for Hide and Seek. That portal was the lynchpin of any further attacks against the Chimera. The next time they were distracted, assassinating the Queen would be much simpler.

"When did you have time to grab this, Knov?" Morel asked, taking a gulp of his own tea. Knov had given the man a kettle instead of a cup; he had more of an appetite. "It's terrible."

Knov shrugged. "It's from the hospital," he said without care. "I just wanted something to drink. And I didn't have time to get anything better before the Chairman called us here."

'Here' was a rocky bluff situated on the edge of a short cliff about eight kilometers away from the nest. It was an ideal observational post: the Hyuuga had spent much of her time here. Knov and Morel had seated themselves on some choice stones, waiting for the Chairman to address them. He'd been silent since they'd arrived about five minutes ago, content to stand and stare at the nest. Knov had produced the tea after the first minute, sure that when the Chairman was ready, he'd break the silence.

"You don't have something better squirreled away?" Morel asked, cocking an eyebrow. Knov shrugged.

"Of course," he admitted, "but I wouldn't bring it out for this."

"How cruel," Morel grumbled, taking another gulp of tea. "Twenty-eight days, and you still won't treat me."

"It only extends two kilometers now," Netero suddenly said, and Morel coughed, some tea caught in his throat. "That's what that attack gained us. One kilometer." The man's lips pulled back in a sneer. "How barbaric. Like the wars of old."

"Pardon, Chairman?" Knov asked, setting his tea down on the rock beside him. Netero crossed his arms. At some point after the assault, he had cut his topknot short, but not his beard. Knov wondered what had prompted the change.

"The En of that Royal Guard," he said. "It's reduced. Likely due to her injuries."

Her? The Ants didn't have genders, though Knov supposed that that cat-like Guard could look a little female. He didn't bother trying to correct the Chairman; the man would doubtlessly destroy him with sophistries if he tried. After nearly a month, he'd grown used to the little games Netero played to keep himself amused.

"Well, that's something then," Knov said. "Next time we'll finish her off."

"Mmm." The Chairman grunted, turning around. "Do you know why I've called you here?" Both Knov and Morel shook their heads, sharing a glance. The old man smiled. "Well, rejoice. You are here to have your curiosity satisfied." His teeth shone under his mustache. "And also to get you into the loop, Knov."

"Excuse me?" Knov asked. Morel frowned, and he looked to the larger Hunter. "You know what he's talking about?" The shinobi had informed them they would be returning by the end of the day, likely in several hours; it had been odd that the Chairman had called this impromptu meeting before they returned.

"It's been a hectic couple days," Morel said, running a hand through his long hair. He was clearly unhappy, though Knov had no idea why. "So you have my apologies for waiting to share some information with you."

"What did you find out, Morel?" Knov asked. There was genuine curiosity bubbling up inside him now. The man cupped his square chin in one of his huge hands, scratching at his jaw. Knov had never seen his fellow Hunter looking uncertain.

"After Shino was injured, in the hospital," he said, gesturing to Netero, "the Chairman suggested that there was opportunity for information gathering: potentially our only safe one." Netero wiggled his eyebrows, and Knov blinked at the childish expression. "There was a period where Kiba was unconscious, and Hinata was busy inside of Hide and Seek: about half an hour." Morel cracked one of his knuckles. "So I took that time to inject Shino with pentium solin, along with some midazolam."

Knov had a moment of realization. "That's why you had me fetch some?" he asked Netero, and the old man shrugged. In the days leading up to the assault, Netero had given Knov a list of things to stockpile in Hide and Seek: most had been simple and understandable, but pentium solin had been anything but. It was a rare compound synthesized from a particular kind of echinoderm that only lived deep inside the Yalu Jungles, discovered by the Hunter Ging. The land-bound starfish, limbs as large as trees, used it as a paralytic agent to ensnare prey the size of elephants. But in extremely small doses, it instead functioned as a truth serum.

Of course, real truth serums didn't exist: pentium solin just made people extremely suggestible. Combined with Shino's state, and he probably would have answered any questions Morel leveled at him.

"That's dangerous. His fellows... not to mention it interacting with the painkillers they had him on," Knov said idly, pointing to Morel. "Doesn't sound like you."

Morel grinned, a flat expression that was all teeth and no happiness. "I consulted with the hospital staff: they assured me that combination of drugs was perfectly safe. Three days later, and he hasn't shown any complications. They even managed to reattach his leg with the help of those insects, after all."

"Still," Knov said, "it must sting that it probably only worked thanks to his trust of you."

Morel flinched, and Knov regretted pressing so harshly. That hadn't been necessary.

"Without a doubt," the large man growled. "But… I do think it was worth it."

"So," Knov asked, trying to be conciliatory. "Did he say anything interesting?"

Morel produced a paper pad from his back pocket. "It was difficult to parse through it all: I actually had to take some notes afterwards. He wouldn't stop talking." He sighed. "I guess I'll just tell you what I told the Chairman."

"No, feel free," Netero said. "We have time. And I am curious as well, about what else he may have said."

"Fine," Morel grumbled. Knov could see the man was hanging between regret and satisfaction. Out of all the shinobi, Morel had had the best relationship with Shino. They'd worked well together on a few occasions, clouds of smoke and insects leaving Ants with no escape. Still, getting more information about the shinobi was probably worth a bruised friendship, especially considering that Shino wouldn't remember the 'conversation.'

"Most important stuff first, I think," Morel said, flipping through the notebook. "He claimed that they were from somewhere else, 'across space and time,' in his words. Kinda loopy, so I put that down to the painkillers. Most likely, wherever Konohagakure is, it's just far away from here. Especially since the Association still hasn't been able to locate any Hidden Villages with that name." He flipped to the next page. "He said it was a 'place without victory…'" he said, glancing at Netero, who might as well have been a statue, "until they won."

Knov cocked his head. "A lot of what he said was pretty disjointed, but he made it sound like there had been some kind of major upheaval: maybe politically, militarily, whatever. There was a huge paradigm shift at some point recently wherever Konohagakure is. I'd guess that now it's a much more peaceful place."

Odd, but not too far out of the ordinary. Upheaval was hardly uncommon in the world. Knov quietly nodded, and Morel continued.

"He mentioned his Hokage, the Fire Shadow Hinata talked about, at length," Morel said, scratching the back of his head. "From what I could figure out, his name is 'Naruto,' no last name given. Shino has a lot of personal affection for him; I wouldn't be surprised if they had been peers, the way he talked about him. The phrase 'The Will of Fire' came up once or twice, and from context, I assume it's his fancy way of talking about the Hokage's wishes." His eyes narrowed a little. "He claimed, and again, this was all while he was heavily influenced by painkillers, so don't take it as gospel, that if Naruto were here, he could destroy all of the Chimera Ants without any trouble." Knov's eyebrow twitched as Morel continued. "He also implied that if he wanted to, the Hokage could wipe out all of Konoha, maybe even all life in the area. He wasn't very clear."

Knov hummed, leaning back and uncrossing his legs. "That's a strong claim."

"Very," Morel agreed. "But it's what Shino honestly believed. Near the end, before he passed out for good, he was rambling about 'calling Naruto.'" He looked down at the notepad for the exact words. "To 'End it in a flash of light.' That was the last thing he said. The way he said it, calling Naruto is some sort of taboo, or at least discouraged. He clearly thinks very highly of his Hokage's capabilities." Morel looked back up, his face grim. "Whatever the truth is, it's obvious we have to be wary of this guy. There's no doubt he's a threat; maybe even a bigger threat than the Ants, if Shino wasn't exaggerating."

"I'm sure he was," Knov said, not so sure if he believed himself. "He was barely conscious, after all. Perhaps Konohagakure is in possession of weapons like the Poor Man's Rose?"

"Maybe," Morel acknowledged, shifting his weight forward. The way his fingers tightened around the pad told Knov he was trying to convince himself, along with the man's bitter expression. "At any rate…" He moved on to his next page.

"This next one, I found the most troubling." Knov sat up a little. Netero had remained as animated as grass throughout the conversation. He was as quiet as his Nen: as ever, Knov found him impossible to read.

"Shino claimed that their civilization," Morel said, "and by this I don't know if he meant the village Konohagakure, or something greater it's part of, was built on 'Jinchuriki.' An archaic term for 'Human Sacrifice.'" He leaned back with a frown. "I have no idea how literally he meant that to be taken. The shinobi certainly don't seem very religious, so I doubt they actually sacrifice people to something, but nonetheless, it's an alarming thing to hear."

"Maybe he meant their martial culture," Knov offered, adjusting his glasses. "It could be a metaphor."

Morel nodded. "I suspect if its literal, it could be the explanation for their hatsu; something like the Byakugan could be created by a proper human sacrifice. And Shino's own body is quite the sacrifice, considering he's completely full of insects." He shrugged. "However, other things Shino said seemed to point away from that."

"Such as?"

"A couple things," Morel said. "Hinata has a daughter, named Himawari." He tapped the notebook. "At some point in the past, she was shocked by something Hinata possessed that Shino called 'lunar chakra.' No idea what that is, obviously: chakra is likely some sort of energy or power, given the etymology. So some sort of power from the moon. Whatever it was, it made her think her mother was a stranger."

Netero made his first motion in the conversation. He slowly blinked, one foot sliding forward an inch. Morel continued. "In addition, Himawari, and the rest of Hinata's family aside, also possess the Byakugan. That allowed her to see it, apparently. That opens up several possibilities: they could be genetic, or to be a Hyuuga you have to make a Contract that bestows the Byakugan. Whichever it is, Hinata is the strongest among them. It's that mention of her daughter that made me think the 'sacrifice' wasn't completely literal." Morel paused for a moment of thought. "Shino is also some sort of teacher, apparently. By all indications he has a real love for it," he finished with a sniff. "I'd say that was everything relevant."

"Interesting." Knov leaned back. It really was quite interesting. A little of the shinobi's mystique had been peeled away. The information about the Hokage was particularly enticing to him; if this 'Naruto' was even slightly as powerful and influential as Shino made him seem, it was a miracle he wasn't a bigger player on the world's stage. The mystery of the supposed lunar chakra that apparently inhabited Hinata also drifted around his mind, unresolved, along with the word 'Jinchuriki.' He'd never seen the Hyuuga exhibit any power he'd call 'frightening.' Perhaps her daughter was just fragile?

"She has a son as well," Netero spoke up, his words slow. "The way she looked at Killua, back when we first met, it was obvious. At least two children, then. That's a shame."

"A shame?" Knov asked. Morel seemed content to stay silent after his long explanation.

"The two of you," Netero said, ignoring Knov's question, "will be receiving some information today that is only privy to myself and two of the Zodiacs. I don't care how you treat it, but I trust you'll have the appropriate judgement of its value."

Two of the Zodiacs? Any information so exclusive to the higher echelons of the Association must be secret indeed. Knov immediately started paying more attention. Today, the old man wasn't just messing around with them.

"The shinobi are likely from the Dark Continent," Netero said.

Knov almost fell off his rock. Across from him, Morel choked on his tea once again.

The Dark Continent. The enormous forbidden land that surrounded the known world, that the Chairman himself had deemed to dangerous to explore for any civilization, or the Hunter Association itself, after two disastrous personal expeditions? The shinobi might call that place their home?

It seemed completely impossible that any humans could survive, let alone live, in a place so horrifying that even Isaac Netero had been unwilling to return to it. Knov's mind went into overdrive at the implications as he felt a cold sweat form on the back of his neck. Hinata's eyes, Shino's insect-ridden body, Kiba's canine features, were they more than just particular expressions of Nen and genetic abnormalities? Were those the norm for those who survived beyond the invisible barrier that kept humanity separated from what would surely destroy them, erected after centuries of mistakes and millions of lost lives?

When humans had to constantly compete with the likes of the Chimera Ants, another creature from the Dark Continent, were incredible abilities like Hinata's all-seeing eyes the bare minimum required for their survival? Was that the sacrifice that Shino had been talking about?

After a moment of almost panicked thought, Knov calmed, and realized that Netero's second sentence had not followed the first. 'Likely' did not denote valuable information, only suspicion. He was sure Morel had come to the same realization already, but the larger man gave nothing away.

"The Dark Continent?" he asked, trying and failing to seem at ease. "Surely, that's impossible, Chairman. No humans live in the Dark Continent."

Netero nodded. "So far as we know," he said. "No one has traveled there for nearly half a century, since I prohibited such expeditions. Perhaps things have changed." He smiled. "Or we missed something."

He sat down, his legs curling under him. "You've seen my wariness of the shinobi they arrived, but I'm sure you didn't understand why. It was far out of proportion for new, helpful allies." Netero sounded cheerful, but there was an edge in his words. He dug into one of his ears in search of wax. "To understand that paranoia, you must understand some of what I encountered in the Dark Continent."

"I mentioned it to you some time ago, when my suspicions were still forming: a place without victory. I called it that not only because humanity could never triumph there; nothing truly could. The entire land, larger many times over than the known world, is filled with terrible things. The Five Calamities are barely representative of the dangers there. It is not just simple beasts like the Chimera Ants, but diseases incomprehensible to man, creatures that inhabit a spectrum of existence beyond our comprehension, words that can kill without being spoken, and far worse besides."

Both Knov and Morel listened with almost reverent focus, aware of the import of what the Chairman was telling them. It was when the Chairman spoke like this, with such gravity, that Knov found it easier to believe the man had once been known as the strongest Nen user in the world, that he had actually accrued wisdom over the course of a life four times longer than Knov's own, instead of just a ceaseless skill at irritation and obfuscation.

"But of the uncountable dangers there, one of the least odd is actually well known. The World Tree."

The World Tree. An enormous tree, nearly two kilometers tall, that grew in the northern country of Ygtal. Knov had heard of it. It was an enormously popular tourist attraction. That monstrous tree was from the Dark Continent?

"The one here is merely a sapling, unable to draw enough nutrients from the earth to grow to its full height and bloom. The Hunters Association saw to that long ago. With its growth stunted, it's harmless. But its fellows in the Dark Continent have had no such impediment, aside from one another. There, they grow to their full height, stretching beyond even the atmosphere. They have a peculiar lifestyle. There are several different species of them, but they all share the same means of spreading their influence and supplying themselves with more nutrients."

Netero closed his eyes. His aura rippled around him, an invisible stream of energy that sent pinpricks up and down Knov's spine.

"Once they are fully grown, a large fruit sprouts at the top. It ripens and plummets to earth, and creatures around the tree inevitably eat its remains. Once they have, they become tools of the World Tree."

Knov frowned. "The Trees are conscious?"

Netero's grin was outright unsettling. "Unmistakably. They possess great malice as well. The creatures they take control of through their fruit are twisted into weapons of terrible destruction. They rampage, searching for more nutrients for the Tree. All too often, they come into conflict with each other, an endless war that is continuously fought with mutated proxies." He licked his finger and rubbed a spot of dirt off his knee. "The mutation is the result of an unnatural melding of the creature's physical and spiritual energy. That much was obvious to us, when we witnessed these futile wars."

"Did a human ever consume the remains of the fruits?" Morel asked. Knov realized the potential connection at once.

"Once," Netero said, "an exceptionally foolish companion of mine, on my second expedition, dared to." His unsettling grin expanded. "He exploded. His body became an unstable weapon, and his Nen was the fuel." He poked at his side. "I still have a scar here, where one of his fingers buried itself inside me."

"But you think the shinobi are humans who have been successfully controlled by the World Trees," Morel said, Knov nodding along with him. It was obvious that's what the Chairman was pushing at.

Netero shrugged. "It is only one of many possibilities, but it has been foremost in my mind, yes. Especially since our assault on the nest." He leaned forward. "Whatever power they use in their hatsu, it reminds me very much of the World Trees. I could not be sure until I saw that girl Mari's techniques up close, but now, I have no doubt. It is nearly the same kind of energy."

"So, what?" Morel said. "We've stumbled into a conflict between two creatures from the Dark Continent?"

"They're not creatures; they are certainly human," Netero chided. "I find the most likely explanation is that the Dark Continent has a heretofore undiscovered civilization, and these shinobi are some of its first attempts to make inroads into ours. They would have been noticed otherwise, by world governments or the Association. Their reinforcement showing up so quickly also confirms there may be more of them around, or they have some means of rapid transport. All of it does raise a fascinating question about their involvement with these Ants, though."

He raised one hand. "Are they acting out of altruism, as they are so desperate to seem, hoping to make allies?" He raised the other, curling it into a fist. His smile shone behind it. "Or are they simply removing the competition?"

If it was the latter, Knov thought, the shinobi would attempt to destroy both the Ants and the dormant World Tree, removing any other potential rivals from the Continent. That much was obvious to him. If it was the former… he had no idea what to think of that. The situation was simply too incredible.

He and Morel digested what they had been told in silence for almost a minute.

"Netero." Morel used the man's name, not his title. "What should we do with this information?"

"As I said, that's not my concern," Netero said. "But I believe the most intelligent course of action at the moment would be…"

He stuck out his tongue. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Knov asked. He couldn't tell if the Chairman was testing them or not.

Morel nodded. "As I thought," he admitted, turning to Knov. "This changes everything and nothing. No matter what, the shinobi are powerful allies. There's no reason to undermine them until the Chimera Ants have been dealt with."

Knov was forced to agree. Even if the shinobi had a menacing ulterior motive, their power couldn't be questioned. With their assistance, the Hunters had brought the Ants to their knees in far less time than should have been possible. Despite the injuries the shinobi had suffered in the assault, their position was stronger than ever.

"We have five weeks until the earliest possible date for the King's birth," he said, speaking to himself as much as he was to his fellow Hunters." "And in just two days, reinforcements will be arriving. This matter will be finished soon. Then," he said, looking to Netero, "we will worry about the shinobi?"

The old man gave an infuriating shrug, and Knov resisted the urge to grind his teeth. "Perhaps I'll win our bet," he said, giving Morel a meaningful look. The big man laughed. Knov hoped that all of the other Hunters would arrive for reasons besides his bet. Perhaps if Palm had been a part of the assault, able to track the Royal Guard who had evaded the Byakugan, things would have gone differently. It was a shame they had been too impatient.

"All five of them showing up?" he said with a grin. "Yes, that would be nice, wouldn't it? I'd hand you that one-million jenny with a smile on my face." He stood up off his rock, grabbing his pipe and swinging it over his shoulder. Morel looked out to the nest, and Knov could tell from the way his nose twisted he was calculating the odds.

"Well," he said. "Make it two, four, or five. No matter who shows up, we'll have plenty of time."

###

This update got some substantial edits and ballooned up a little beyond my expectations. Chapter 13 is coming along, but it might take a while: tricky stuff coming. But as always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 13

Bad Roll​

Fifty-two hours after Hinata resumed observing the Chimera Ant's nest, their King was born.

He ripped his way out of his mother, despite her pleading screams. A full month early; what could be troublesome for a human was only momentarily inconvenient for the King of the Chimera Ants. He had been overwhelmed by boredom, hunger, and insecurity. The pain of being watched, unable to locate the source of discomfort, had been nagging and unbearable. Its absence, and the delicious morsel of meat he'd been fed just five days before, had strengthened his resolve.

Though she would not die for another four hours, the King's impatience killed his mother as surely as the human's preying on the Nest would have.

Hinata Hyuuga did not witness the unexpected matricide that would tear apart the Chimera Ants. This was a mixed blessing. She had retired for the day to the safety of Hide and Seek, the injuries she had sustained fighting Neferpitou reducing her stamina. She, Morel Mackernasy, and Kiba Inuzuka were asleep in the early hours of the day that heralded the King's birth. Shino Aburame, who despite his dramatic injuries had recovered the fastest among the shinobi, and Knov, who had given up his family name several years ago, were patrolling the forest at the time.

It was only by pure luck that they did not witness the King departing with his Royal Guard in search of Shino himself, being several kilometers away on the other side of the Nest. Just an hour later, they would curse their apparent misfortunate.

If they had paused to rest thirty minutes earlier, or the King had departed fifteen minutes later, they almost certainly would have died. It was also extremely fortunate for them that the infant King grew bored within minutes, as most infants do, and departed with his Guards in search of something more immediately exciting.

In the end, the first sign for the extermination team that things had gone dramatically wrong was an Ant wandering the forest, calling out for death, clutching a crude white flag in its gnawed fingers.

###

"Wake up. The King's been born."

Hinata stirred.

She was sure she'd misheard.

###

Netero smiled.

"This early? That's impossible."

Knov couldn't imagine smiling at a time like this.

"We'll have to take necessary precautions, Chairman."

###

"There's too many." Kiba sank into a squat, wincing and clutching at his ribs. Even five days later, they were still paining him. For a shinobi, it was unusual. "Even with Shadow Clones, there's too damn many," he rasped. He was shaking.

Frustration, and exhaustion. Hinata was feeling the same thing.

She was forced to acknowledge that he was right. It had been about an hour and a half since the King had been born, based off the estimates given by the Chimera Ant that had approached Knov and Shino; in that time, the nest had steadily begun emptying itself as Ants poured out, individuals, squads, sometimes in what could only be called platoons that Hinata assumed were sticking together out of fear, or maybe even a herd instinct, since it was obvious that with the Queen's impending death, any sense of solidarity for the greater group had evaporated, the twisted creatures happy to stick with those that were familiar to them, but little more.

The King born, a whole month before the Hunters earliest estimates.

It was unbelievable. Worse, it was dangerous. Terribly dangerous.

The news had put Hinata in a horrible mood. Aside from getting her up early when she was desperately in need of rest, it had made a mockery of their efforts over the last month. The last three hours had been nothing but painful introspection.

Shino had lost an arm for nothing. They'd called off the assault on the nest too soon: with only a week left, they should have pushed as hard as they could at the opportunity, with one Royal Guard disabled and the Ants scrambling and disoriented, regardless of her and her teammates injuries. It was entirely hindsight, but that didn't make the reality of it any less painful. They'd unknowingly wasted their only chance to abort the abomination that the Ant's Queen had gestated, the sum of all the human misery in the NGL, thanks to the Hunters making yet another mistake in underestimating their constantly surprising opponents. In the face of that harsh realization, all Hinata could taste was regret.

Even then, the Ants scattering should have been a windfall, an opportunity to pick off the monsters without any hope of a counterattack, but their numbers were simply overwhelming. Even attacking individuals was dangerous with their injuries. Thankfully, the Ants seemed too focused on putting distance between themselves and the Nest to seek out the shinobi and Morel, who had remained with them. The sight of so many of the monsters streaming off into the world without comeuppance had made Hinata tremble. Kiba had noticed, and silently provided a solution, creating a clone to send out and hopefully pick off at least several of the Ants without too much risk.

But even with Hinata joining in with clones of her own, their shadows had only killed about a dozen Ants. It was an insignificant dent in the hundreds flooding the forest and fleeing the country.

Kiba had insisted she stay out of the fighting, but now, he'd seem to have forgotten that promise. Maybe it was the scale of the disaster happening all around them.

The sun was peeking over the low mountains surrounding the nest. It was around seven in the morning.

"It's something," Morel said. He leaned against a tree, his pipe next to him. "At this point, any damage is welcome. With the King born and the Ants spreading, the Association will definitely have to bring in more Hunters." He eyed Shino: for some reason, he'd been uncomfortable around the Aburame since the assault, though Hinata was sure she'd only noticed thanks to the acuity of her eyes. It was probably thanks to Shino's insects. Hinata was sure it had been an incredible shock to the Hunters to find the living hive inside of her teammate, despite the fact that they had studiously avoided the topic for the last five days.

"More Hunters?" Kiba asked rhetorically. He huffed. Hinata was sure he was missing Akamaru more than ever. Even with arthritis, even one more ally would make a difference here. "More than a few, I hope. This is a disaster for the Union."

"I'd imagine it'll be quite a bit more than a few," Morel said somberly. "The reinforcements we're getting today will just be the first of many." He looked downcast; the gravity of the situation was weighing on him just as heavily as it was on Hinata. He didn't look as tired as she felt, though. Everything was so turgid.

"You mentioned them, about a week ago," Shino said, and Hinata shook her head, trying to focus on the moment. Despite his grievous injuries, the Aburame had seemed to recover the quickest among the shinobi. Perhaps it had been because he had the least internal damage, but it still amazed Hinata to see her teammate standing so steady, as though he hadn't lost his leg just five days before. With the help of his insects and some surprisingly advanced surgery, the hospital staff in Dory had managed to reattach the limb with impossible ease. It had been a spot of relief in a difficult week.

His arm was still gone though. There was no doubt of that. The Ants had certainly destroyed or devoured it. Shino carried its loss well, but the absence disturbed Hinata, and she could tell even her normally unflappable teammate was unsettled by his injury. He still stood a little off-balance, not used to the change in his body's weight and center of gravity.

It reminded her of Sasuke Uchiha, who'd forgone a prosthetic, even as they'd grown more and more advanced. Maybe as some form of penance. Hinata had never asked, and she doubted she ever would. The Uchiha was taciturn at best, despite his relationship with Naruto, and his mind was his own. If he wanted her to understand his reasoning, he would tell her in his own time. Maybe Shino could ask him for advice on dealing with the missing limb, once the mission was over.

Hinata frowned as her teammate finished his thought, dispelling her worthless musing. "But you didn't tell us much about them. Is there anything we should know?"

Morel grunted. "There's five that may show up, but it will most likely only be two. The Chairman laid out some pretty stringent requirements for entering the NGL." He frowned. "That will probably go doubly now that the King has been born…"

"Killua and Gon are two of them, I'm sure," Hinata said offhand. She was considering deactivating her Byakugan. There wasn't much left to observe in the nest: barely a hundred Ants remained, and that number was steadily decreasing. The Queen was slowly dying, her body torn apart by whatever the King had done. Watching it filled Hinata with a cold satisfaction, but she couldn't deny the curdled discomfort creeping up into her gut at the sight. Nothing deserved to be savaged by its own child like that.

The veins around her eyes faded as Morel idly spun his pipe from one shoulder to the other, his huge hand rotating the handle. She wondered if it was a nervous tic; more likely, and consistent with what she'd seen, that the man just liked to keep his hands busy.

"That's right," he said. "They impressed the Chairman a couple years ago, when they competed in the Hunters Exam. He told us that much: I doubt he would have invited them otherwise. They're young, and relatively inexperienced."

"But strong," Kiba said, his voice thick and nasally. HIs nose still wasn't fully healed, along with everything else. "They must be, to impress a guy like that, right?"

"Maybe," Morel shrugged. "I don't know much about them. Killua's from the Zoldyck family: world-famous assassins." He chuckled. "Kinda a contrast there."

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked, and the bigger man cocked his head.

"Contract killers being that famous. Their compound is a tourist attraction in their country, even. You don't find that a little funny?" Morel asked. Kiba shrugged, and Hinata sympathized. After all, where they came from that sort of thing wasn't exactly uncommon

"Well, anyway," Morel continued. "Killua's got some infamous relatives, but Gon's more of a mystery. His father is a notable Hunter by the name of Ging: I've never met him, but he's the kind of guy who seems like they've been everywhere and done everything from the stories you hear. I have no idea what kind of relationship they have, but anyone who can pass the Hunter Exam on their first try when they're only twelve is worth noticing, at least."

"Not to mention..." Hinata said half to herself, "he did attack that Royal Guard. Killua had to knock him out, remember." Only a month ago. Had it really been that long already? The days had passed in a flash. Hours of boredom punctuated by flitting minutes of excitement, humor, or fear.

"Heh." Morel finally brought his pipe to a stop on his left shoulder. "That's true. That brat's either insane or stupid. Either way, if he manages to beat my students, he deserves to help us out."

Hinata was reminded of her husband, decades ago. 'Insane or stupid.' Hadn't someone used those words about him? The half-memory made her grin. She decided to give Gon a closer look, if he did end up arriving.

"Your students?" Shino asked, finally taking a more active interest in the conversation. He scratched at his stump: according to him his right arm was always itching. "Are those the others, then?"

Morel nodded. It brought a little warmth to Hinata's heart to see the unabashed pride in his face. "Two of mine: Knuckle and Shoot. They're accomplished Hunters, I'm happy to say." He grinned. "Knuckle is far too soft, and Shoot is rather shy, but no one can be perfect, unfortunately."

"Just as well," Shino said with a soft smile. "There's no worth in teaching if your students have nothing to improve." The Aburame was really a marvel, speaking so warmly when he'd lost so much to this worthless mission.

"Ha. I suppose you have a point," Morel easily granted, his expression remaining cheerful. "You sound like a teacher yourself, Shino."

Hinata was surprised; Morel very rarely blatantly fished for information like that. It wasn't an outright question at least.

"I am," Shino said. "I took a break from my duties to conduct this mission. The Academy was on break for the next two months anyway: I was planning on putting together my syllabus once I returned." He glanced at his missing arm. "That may be more difficult now. I'm used to writing with my right, unfortunately."

"Academy?" Morel asked. He was genuinely interested more; Hinata was sure he'd moved beyond simply asking out of duty to the Hunter's Association. "Sounds high-class."

Shino glanced at Kiba, who shrugged. They'd all agreed to answer questions honestly in the wake of the failed assault, after all. With the King born, it might become inevitable that the Shinobi Union would get more involved with the fiasco anyway. A distant possibility, but one that existed nonetheless.

"In our village, if you want to be recognized as an official shinobi, you have to graduate from the Academy," Shino explained. "Nowadays, it's not quite as popular, but it's still somewhat prestigious. We all attended it as children."

Hinata couldn't bring herself to contribute, her bitterness choking her, but Kiba spoke up in a nasally rasp.

"You might have seen this, Morel," he said, and the bigger man cocked his head. "You're a perceptive guy. But we were all assigned to each other as a team when we were pretty young: twenty years ago, I guess." Kiba blinked. "Jeez. We got old. At any rate, we were pretty used to working together."

"Were?" Morel asked. "You still have pretty amazing teamwork, by my reckoning." He grinned, shifting back against the tree. "Knov and I supposed you'd been working together for a long time: I appreciate you confirming it."

"Well, maybe," Kiba conceded. "But you know how it is. Things change over time. Hinata got married, Shino went to the Academy, I ended up in the police force…"

"You're a policeman?" Morel blinked. "A ninja policeman?"

Kiba grinned. Was one of his teeth chipped? If she hadn't noticed it before with her Byakugan, it was probably just a trick of the shadows cast by the canopy. "Who else is gonna catch ninja crooks? They're more common than you'd think." He tapped his face. "The nose comes in handy, you know."

"If you say so," Morel said with a bemused look. "Well, I understand you and Shino having responsibilities keeping you out of..." he continued, hesitating on the final word. Hinata couldn't help but mentally substitute phrases. These kind of disasters? Pointless exercises? Hopeless wastes? "This kind of thing," he finished. shifting his gaze to Hinata. "But what about you, Hinata?"

She wasn't sure she wanted to answer, but she also didn't want to be rude. Hinata glanced at Kiba, seeing if he'd pick up the slack for her.

Thankfully, he caught her signal. "She focused on her kids," he said. It was the truth, part of it at least. "Naruto's a great dad, but he always had a lot on his plate."

Morel sucked in a breath. Hinata looked up sharply at the sudden noise. The man had turned slightly, looking over his shoulder, and readied his pipe, but after a second, he relaxed.

"Sorry," he said with a little laugh. Kiba cocked an eyebrow. "Guess I'm jumpy. I thought I heard something."

'Can't blame him,' Hinata thought. She was surprised the King had left without attacking them. It didn't really make sense to her. She half expected him to pull the same trick his Royal Guard had, and appear from seemingly nowhere without warning.

"So that's her husband's name? Naruto?" Morel was poking at something, Hinata realized, but she wasn't sure what.

"Yes," Shino said slowly. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable, and Hinata felt the same way. The reminder of her husband had inserted some melancholy into her already morbid emotions. "You mentioned five reinforcements, but only named four. Who's the fifth, then?"

"Palm Sibera," Morel answered, adjusting to the change in topic with ease and scratching his chin. "She's Knov's… disciple, I suppose. She's a little…" He shrugged with one arm, palm facing up in a gesture of quiet futility. "Strange. Odd, but not unpleasant. She was forbidden to come at first. Not the best in a combat situation; her strengths lie elsewhere. But now, the situations changed. I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up alongside the others."

"When are they arriving?" Hinata asked, her voice quiet. Morel looked to her, adjusting his glasses as they slid down his nose.

"About half an hour, supposedly. The Chairman was still negotiating with the Ant that approached us when I left, but it was agreed they'd be here before eight," he said. "I'll admit, I never thought one of the Chimera would come to us. I knew they were a bit like humans, but can you imagine ants surrendering?"

He was right about that. Though Hinata understood that the Chimera Ants had stolen some traits from humanity, one of them having enough individualism to approach the people that had been so remorselessly destroying them for the last month in hope of aid was still astonishing. Hinata had learned with a sense of unwelcome fate that the Ant that had staggered through the forest in the early morning with a white flag made from a tattered white shirt had been named Colt; it had been the Squadron Leader of the patrol she and her teammates had killed all those weeks ago, when they'd first arrived.

She'd wondered, once or twice, if they had killed 'Colt' without knowing it and reduced the dying Hawk-Ants promise to nothing, but now she had proof that wasn't the case.

Colt himself had done that, by begging aid from Knov and Shino, the only humans who'd been on active watch that early in the morning. Hinata, Kiba, and Morel had been asleep, getting some very necessary rest; Netero had been doing whatever he did in lieu of rest. Morel had been overstretching himself with the shinobi gone, filling the forest with his smoke hatsu 'Deep Purple' to confuse and ambush the few Ants that wandered out in the wake of the failed assault.

Hinata wasn't sure what the Chairman would do with the rogue Ant. Netero was an unpredictable man, but also a pragmatic one. Perhaps he'd leave it alive in hopes it would inspire other Ants to surrender.

She sat down, shifting her stiff leg awkwardly out from under her body, and closed her eyes. Gradually, Hinata settled into a state of semi-consciousness. She hadn't gotten a full nights sleep, and just like her teammates, her injuries still plagued her. A half-hearted nap wasn't out of the question.

"No," she said, answering Morel's question before drifting off. "I really can't."

###

Hinata got forty-two minutes of rest before she was forced into wakefulness. It was Kiba that alerted her with a soft tap on the shoulder, snapping her out of the quiet darkness she'd shrouded her mind in. She'd been comfortable there, with her absent husband and his warm smile.

It was childish, but Hinata felt like she needed a hug.

One of Knov's portals had appeared in the middle of the forest clearing they'd been waiting in. It was a bit larger than a normal one. Hinata slowly pulled herself to her feet, taking Kiba's hand as he helped her up, and shook the last of sleep from her head. The day was unmistakably underway now. She couldn't afford to be groggy anymore.

What followed seemed like something of a setup to a bad joke, or a carol. Less than five seconds after the portal opened, fifteen people and one creature poured out of it, one after the other.

Knov was the first, looking unusually ruffled. His suit had clearly been slept in, and his hair was untidy. Nine medical staff followed him, all carrying clearly expensive surgical tools and bulkier equipment; it was practically a mobile hospital.

A Chimera Ant came close behind them, its too-human face twisted in clear worry. It was obviously Colt: the creature was a product of some kind of hawk or falcon and humanity, and it was a much more elegant fusion than its subordinate had been. It looked like a muscular man with grey skin and natural carapace armor. If it weren't for its beak-like mouth, talons and huge white wings flowing down from its back, it would almost be able to pass as an odd looking man. Its right hand was covered in teeth marks, one set crusted with dried blue blood. It looked like an Ant had been chewing on it.

Hinata examined its expression with more interest than she'd imagined herself giving such a thing. It was surprising to see such genuine worry and… compassion in an Ant. She'd only ever seen them express hunger, fear, hatred, and greed before. Colt, on the other hand, was clearly mad with fear, but it was a selfless terror. She hadn't realized they were capable of it.

Her mind wandered back to the first Ants she had killed. Subordinates of this creature standing before her. Then, she'd been unable to ignore that the Ants had acted like children, murderous teenagers, but that thought had been discarded without consideration by the horrific excesses of cruelty and misery in the nest. Now, the unsettling implications of that observation were creeping back into existence in her consciousness.

The last five arrivals through the portal mercifully drew her attention from Colt.

The first two, she didn't know. One was a tall man with a face made for smirking and a strong chin, his thick black hair styled up in a heavy pompadour. He wore a long white jacket with golden clasps running down the front, and matching pants. The man shadowing him was his opposite in several ways. His posture was more subdued, and his features were thin, even reedy. His hair looked somewhat greasy, pulled up in a long spiked ponytail, and he had dark, nervous eyes. He was wearing a purple robe, one sleeve long and huge, completely obscuring his left arm, and the other short, leaving most of his right arm exposed. That, combined with his right collar being high and sharp, created an unsettling vision of asymmetry.

If Hinata had to guess, she would have said that the first man to come through was Knuckle, and the second Shoot. The man in white bled confidence and joviality, but the one behind him was clearly timid. It matched up with what little Morel had told them.

The two following after them were familiar to her. Killua and Gon, looking out of place amongst all the new arrivals thanks to their obvious youth. They were both wearing similar outfits to what Hinata had met them in, though they were modern, not built in line with the NGL's all-organic restrictions. Gon was in mostly green, with a comfortable jacket and shorts, and Killua wore a blue tee-shirt and long black pants.

Of all the new arrivals, they seem the most relaxed. Killua made eye contact with Hinata for a moment and then looked away, walking off to the side; Gon followed him with a curious look. The boy looked innocent, but there was a steel edge in his eyes.

The last person to step through was a woman with long and lustrous auburn hair, hazel eyes, and sharp features. She was undeniably beautiful, like someone out of a magazine, and the impression was only enhanced by her teal dress, and the knives strapped to her chest. Next to Hinata, Morel twitched, some minute and unintentional flinch. Hinata glanced at him. The last woman was probably Palm Siberia, and by Morel's reaction, there was something surprising about her.

The portal closed, and Hinata suddenly felt overwhelmed by all the new arrivals. She could tell she wasn't the only one; her teammates were similarly uncertain. It was the most people they'd been with at once since crossing through the portal. Especially after a month of near isolation in the NGL, the sudden influx was a little shocking.

"Come. We've got to hurry." It was the Chimera Ant, Colt, of all the arrivals that started moving first. He glanced at the medical team. "We must reach the Queen immediately."

The group nodded, trudging after the Chimera Ant as it began moving towards the nest. Hinata wondered where Isaac Netero was. He hadn't arrived with everyone else.

"He's right," Knov told them. He walked over, glancing at Hinata's stiff leg. "Hinata, is it safe to enter the nest?"

She blinked, activating her Byakugan for just a second or so with an internal surge of cold energy.

"Including the Queen, there are a dozen Chimera Ants remaining in the nest," she told him. "I assume that... " she looked to the Chimera Ant that had started all this, and it glanced back, its fearful look narrowing as it noticed her unusual eyes, "Colt has assured you the remaining ones won't attack?"

"As best I can," the Ant said, not slowing down. The whole group was on the move now, jogging through the forest. It was less than a kilometer to the nest. "I can't guarantee my comrades intentions, but anyone that's stayed behind has done so out of loyalty to the Queen. They won't risk her safety, even if that means letting humans into the Nest."

The creature sounded so polite, and so desperate. It sent chills down Hinata's spine.

"Good enough," the man in white grunted. He was right behind the Ant, but slowly dropped back to be level with Hinata. He glanced at her leg; even at the mild pace, her limp was obvious and painful. Hinata glanced at him, keeping her expression neutral. Somehow, in just a minute she'd ended up seperate from Shino and Kiba in the little convoy. Looking around, she saw Shino and Morel in quiet conversation. Kiba was alone, on the edge of the group, but Gon was giving him an odd look.

"So, you're Hinata?" he asked. She nodded, and he grinned, all teeth, and leveled a thumb at himself. "I'm Knuckle; that quiet guy behind us in Shoot." Hinata's assumption had been right after all: Shoot trailed the group with a taciturn expression. "Our master mentioned you. You've been helping out, huh?"

"Something like that," Hinata grunted, her hip flaring in pain. "He only told us about you earlier today."

"Ah, he's a hard guy like that," Knuckle said, maintaining his smile. "Always keeps things close to his chest." His smile shrunk a little. "I'm sorry about your injuries. It's a shame we weren't here earlier."

Hinata gave him a look: it was an odd thing to say. "They were my fault," she said. "No reason for you to be sorry." Was it because she was a woman? Knuckle shrugged.

"You're not what I imagined, I'll admit," he said. "The way my master and Killua talked about you, I thought you'd be a little..." he frowned, realising there wasn't a polite way to end that sentence. Hinata giggled, her chest feeling a little lighter.

"Taller?" she suggested, and the man laughed back. He had about ten inches on her, after all.

"Something like that," he admitted. "Master's told me you and your comrades were indispensible in dealing with the Ants as quickly as you all have. You've got all our thanks for that."

Hinata smiled and nodded, glancing to her left, where Gon and Killua ran. They were nearly at the nest: the group as a whole broke out of the forest. Some of the doctors were sweating, but they moved without complaint. Hinata wondered why Knov hadn't transported them through Hide and Seek, to the portal he'd managed to place within the nest; perhaps they'd decided to stay with the group for safety, just in case.

Killua had been talking about her, Knuckle had said. Hinata wondered what exactly that meant. They traveled in silence for another minute or so, drawing closer to the nest.

"Alright," Knov announced as the group slowed down in front of one of the nest's main entrances. The hole in the structure yawed like a dark mouth, foul smells emanating from the dim interior. "Straight to the Queen."

"Hold up." It was Killua who spoke up, Gon close at his side. "You don't mind if we don't go up with the rest, right?"

"Ah." Morel glanced at Gon, and the small teen stared back at him. Hinata couldn't define his expression. It was something between beaming and a cold stare, determination and cheer combined into something bizarre and powerful. "Kite?"

"Right," Gon said as medical personal shuffled past him. "We've got to find him. It's already been too long."

Kite. One of the odd mysteries of the nest. The first time Hinata had seen him frozen in a block of ice, covered in horrible scars from head to toe, she'd been absolutely sure the man was dead. It had been to her substantial shock the next day that he'd been up and unmistakably alive, though still clearly injured. The man resided in one of the nest's deeper chambers, serving as a kind of training dummy for the Ants.

A training dummy that usually won its fights. Hinata wasn't sure what had prompted the man's apparent resurrection, or how exactly the malevolent puppet created by the cat-like Royal Guard kept him docile, but after having her Byakugan defeated by the same Guard, she was unwilling to underestimate anything about the strange and terrifying powers of Nen.

Killua, Gon, and Kite had been traveling together. It was obvious Gon felt some connection to the man if he was that focused on him.

"Yeah, you're right," Morel said. He looked back, pointing at Knuckle. "Hey, go with Killua and Gon. Find Kite. We'll handle the Queen." The man nodded, his face growing serious.

Hinata looked to her team for their opinion. Kiba came over, greeting Knuckle with a nod.

"We'll bring them to him," he said. "Shino'll go up with the medical team." He grinned. "Guess he'll finally get his hands on the Queen after all."

The group quietly dissolved, breaking up into two rough groups. Shino, Morel, Knov, Palm, Shoot, the medical team, and Colt rushed into the nest, intent on ascending it and reaching the Queen high above. Knuckle, Killua, and Gon stayed behind with Hinata and Kiba.

"Hey," Gon said cheerfully, sticking out his hand. "I'm Gon. Gon Freecss."

Hinata took it with a smile, disarmed by the show of good faith. "I'm Hinata. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gon."

"Yeah," he said, speaking quickly. "Killua told me about your eyes. They sound really incredible! You should be able to lead us right to Kite, right?"

Monofocused. Hinata actually sort of liked that. Still shaking his hand, she flared her eyes once more, tracking Kite.

He was waiting deep in the nest, standing alone and still in a dark and empty chamber. There was only one Ant between them and him; it looked like a somber koala in a small suit. Hinata wondered where on earth the Ant had acquired it, especially given the NGL's ban on synthetic fabric.

"I've got him," she said, releasing both Gon's hand and her Byakugan. "Don't worry, we'll go right to him."

"Thanks." Hinata started walking, and the group followed her. Gon stayed alongside her, growing a little more somber. "Morel told us you got injured fighting that Royal Guard. Neferpitou."

"Neferpitou?" Hinata asked, and Killua drew up on her either side. She noticed with amusement she'd been sandwiched by the teens. They were both clearly interested in her, almost certainly due to her introduction to Killua.

"That Ant that surrendered, Colt," Killua said, his voice softer than Gon's. "He told us that was that thing's name. All the Royal Guards have long names like that. Most of the Ants apparently just shortened them to the bit at the end, so they called that one Pitou."

Neferpitou. Pitou. Hinata considered that as they walked deeper into the nest, its shadows swallowing them. After a month of attacks and occasional starvation, the nest was cleaner than ever. Even the bones that had haunted her had been consumed by the Ants' hunger. Everything edible had been stripped away before the exodus caused by the Queen's injury.

She was glad the younger boys hadn't had a chance to see the nest at its worst.

The Royal Guard's name sounded delicate but dangerous. Maybe it was only because of Hinata's experience with it. Hinata wondered if she would meet it face to face once more. Almost certainly.

"I was," she said, responding to Gon's words almost six seconds after he'd said them. "I got lucky. It could have been worse."

"Lucky or not, if you could fight that thing, you must be pretty strong," Killua said. Hinata glanced at him cockeyed. The knowledge that he was from a family of world famous assassins made her readjust her assumptions about him. A innocent look was now recast as him blatantly sizing her up.

"I suppose," she said, deciding to try and engage the quieter boy with a soft smile. "That needle of yours is gone. Did you have it removed?"

"He did it himself!" Gon said, sticking his tongue out. "Dug it right out, and didn't even warn me. I thought he'd gone crazy, sticking his hand in his head like that." Behind them, Kiba and Knuckle chatted. "Still, we gotta thank you for seeing that thing."

"Oh?" Hinata asked as Killua shushed Gon.

"Well, I did want to thank you actually," the teen admitted awkwardly. "Who knows how long it would have been before I noticed it if you hadn't for me. So… you know, thank you, for that."

Killua Zoldyck clearly rarely handed out thanks, so Hinata decided to appreciate it.

"Of course," she told him, trying to make him understand she wasn't owed anything. She got the impression that was how Killua operated, under a system of grudges and debts. Hinata wasn't sure what had created the assumption, couldn't have explicated it if asked, but it was there nonetheless. "I just hope you were careful about that."

"As much as I could be," Killua said. They'd nearly reached Kite's chamber, and she raised her hand, bringing the group to a stop.

"Kite's in there," she said, gesturing to a wide door to the left. Beyond it was the huge chamber that Kite hadn't left in a month. "From what I've seen," she said, looking at Gon, "he's alive, but something is definitely wrong with him." The teen frowned, the deep shadows of the nest erasing his eyes. "He's attacked anything that's approached him from what I've seen, but those were all Ants. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll recognize us. If not, we'll have to disable him."

"I'll go first," Gon said, striding through the doorway without a second thought. "If he'll recognize anyone, it'll be me."

Hinata hoped that would be the case. It would be a relief to salvage even one life from the bloodsoaked nest.

They entered with Gon in the lead. Kite was apparent almost immediately; though cloaked in the darkness of the room, with the only light being several lanterns set near the corners, his shadowy form was obvious to the heightened senses of both the Hunters and Shinobi. The man stood completely still, his posture hunched, his heart beating only once every two seconds. Kite stood like a dead man, despite his struggling heart. His limbs twisted in an inhuman stance that nonetheless kept him on his feet, and his right eye refused to stay open, while his left was painfully wide, the eyelid seemingly drawn far back in his head.

Hinata's own heart sped up. She'd seen it through the Byakugan, but in person, the static violence that bristled in every fiber of Kite's body was shocking. Everyone with her had the same reaction, shifting themselves into a cautious guard.

Except for Gon. He just approached the man, hands at his sides, palms out, the picture of pacifism. Kiba shot Hinata a worried look, and she suddenly had a moment of strange clarity. This reminded her of something, from decades ago. She tried not to let the sense of deja vu distract her.

"Gon," Knuckles called after him, and Gon stopped about four meters from Kite. The man didn't make a move. "Be careful. Something's wrong." Killua may have been a professional assassin, but to Hinata he sounded like any other concerned teenager.

"I know." Gon's voice was flat. The contrast to his previous cheerful self was startling. "The Ants did something to him. But it's still Kite."

He grew a little louder, brighter. "Can you hear me, Kite?" He took another step forward. "We're here. Killua and me."

Gon choked, a little hiccup. His shoulders shook for a second before he steadied himself. "We're sorry for leaving you behind, but we're here now." Another step. "You'll be okay. Promise. We just gotta get you out of here."

A third step. "I'm-"

For the first time, Kite moved. It was a measured mechanical reaction, like a piston firing, but it was undertaken with vicious speed. Without hesitation, the man slammed a right-handed jab directly into Gon's face.

Gon tumbled backwards with a grunt of pain, and Hinata jumped, surprised by the sudden violence. Even under her eyes, Kite hadn't had an obvious tell, not for the initial strike. Gon rolled to his feet, rubbing his lip with his right hand. He'd only partially managed to raise the shields of Nen Hunter's used in a fight, and his cheek was bruised by consequence. His guard had been completely down.

"Jeez," Kiba said, circling around to the man's left. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Gon muttered, shaking his head. "I probably deserved that."

"Gon." Killua frowned. "The way he moved…"

Gon grit his teeth. "Yeah. Not like Kite at all. He surprised me."

He approached once more, more guarded this time. Once again, when he came within arms length of Kite, the man lashed out: this time, Gon took the blow on his arm, stumbling backwards with the force but remaining unharmed.

Hinata examined the scarred man, who seemed happy to remain still so long as no-one got too close. At the moment he'd attacked, there'd been a flash of purple in her chakra-enhanced sight, a color she knew no one else would be able to see.

"His body is filled with Neferpitou's Nen," she said, drawing Knuckle's attention. "It's possible it's controlling him."

Killua remained quiet, circling to Kite's right, and Knuckle followed him. Gradually, the group came to surround Kite in a rough circle.

"So what do we do?" Killua asked. Knuckles clenched his fist.

"A.P.R. would be safest," he said, the term unfamiliar to Hinata. Gon nodded. "Especially if we don't want to hurt him too badly." Dealing with people under the control of others was always such a pain, Hinata thought. It was a pity they didn't have a Yamanaka with them.

"A.P.R.?" Kiba asked.

"Knuckle's Hatsu," Gon explained as Knuckle carefully approached Kite. "It's pretty amazing: he almost totally beat me with it,"

"He let us win that fight," Killua said. Knuckle looked offended, but didn't contradict him. "If he'd been trying, you'd be in Zetsu for the next month."

"That's what it does?" Kiba asked, and Killua nodded.

"Oi!" Knuckle shouted. Kite remained still. "Don't go explaining my technique without permission! Besides, you'll probably get it wrong."

He darted in in a boxer's stance. Hinata was impressed by his speed; the man moved with the practiced grace of someone who'd been in far too many fights. Kite threw another punch, predictable compared to his first; he seemed to be drawing from the same moveset. Knuckle easily knocked the familiar blow aside and landed one of his own, a solid punch slamming into Kite's lower ribs and pushing him back an inch.

The man didn't react to the strike as Knuckle leapt back, gaining distance. So far as Hinata could tell, the punch had done no damage.

"Done," Knuckle said with a frown. "Now we just have to wait."

As Hinata watched, a little blue and white creature appeared on Kite's shoulder, a clear product of Nen. It looked like the child of a cherub and a calculator: there was a pad on its forehead showing the number four-hundred.

"That's the Hatsu?" Kiba asked. Gon nodded.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "If it sits there long enough-"

"Don't go straining yourself," Knuckle cut in with a grin. Gon grew quiet, looking away and watching Kite with intense eyes. Next to him, Killua was doing the same. Hinata was sure she had no idea what they were going through; whatever had happened in the NGL before she had arrived, it had left a heavy mark on Killua and Gon. "The concept is simple enough," Knuckle started saying, for her benefit. Both she and Kiba did their best to pay attention. "I lend the enemy a little of my aura, but with interest. So long as A.P.R. is active, I can't hurt them, and they can't hurt me. Additional attacks lend more aura, while attacks against me give it back. However…"

He paused, holding up one hand. Hinata cocked her head. The man waited one second.

"It's time," the Nen construct said, its voice high pitched and bubbly. "Adding interest!"

It swelled slightly, growing larger. The number on its head loudly flipped from four-hundred to four-hundred and forty.

"Every ten seconds," Knuckle continued, his rough voice undeniably proud, "A.P.R. adds interest to the pool of aura from my own Nen. I drive a hard bargain, so it's ten percent. Once the aura its borrowed from me exceeds the targets total capacity of Nen…" He grinned, and A.P.R. spoke once again, growing larger. This time, the number on its head became four-hundred and eighty-four. "They go bankrupt."

"Which means?" Kiba asked.

"No more Nen," Knuckle said. "A.P.R. becomes I.R.S. and cuts off all the opponent's aura pores, forcing them into Zetsu." He gestured to Kite. "Once he's gone bankrupt, subduing him without hurting him will be easy."

"So what?" Kiba said with a crooked grin. "We just wait?"

"Basically," Knuckle acknowledged. He plopped down into a crosslegged position. "It'll take a while for the interest to add up, but he seems happy to sit their while it does, so there's no need to take any risks."

It was an ingenious and incredibly dangerous technique that could function on both offense and defense. Hinata couldn't help but be impressed. She sank down as well, happy to be off of her bad leg. It was hard to believe Knuckle had just given everything away like that: perhaps he was still holding some information back, or Morel had convinced him the shinobi could be trusted without reservation. Whatever the reason, Hinata appreciated it.

"How long will it take?" she asked, and Knuckle shrugged.

"Anywhere between five to seven minutes," he said. "Kite's a dangerous guy, so he'll have a lot of aura, but I have no idea how much exactly."

How many increments of interest was that? The math was simple, but Hinata was so tired the numbers just swam through her head. Six times a minute, five minutes, thirty loans. Who knew how much aura that was in the end. The final number was entirely beyond her foggy brain.

"We've got some time then," Killua said with a glance at Kiba. "Maybe you guys can catch us up on what happened while we were gone."

Kiba met his glance and shrugged, stretching his arms. He kept his eyes on Kite, still wary about him attacking despite the man's apparent reactionary nature. "What's there to say." He coughed. "We killed a lot of Ants."

"How many?" Gon asked. The difference between him and Killua really was night and day; where Killua's question had been vaguely cynical, Gon's was painfully earnest. However, the steel was still there behind his eyes; it was obvious he wouldn't be able to relax until Kite was out of danger.

"There were around two-thousand when we got started," Kiba said. "We brought that down to like, four-hundred." He grimaced. "Still way too many."

"Jeez," Killua said. "You guys were busy." Kite watched them, his stretched eye observing them without seeing them. Hinata closed her eyes, not wanting to meet the man's gaze.

But the darkness in their unnerved her. She activated her Byakugan instead. Better to see everything instead of nothing.

"Netero did most of the work," Kiba said. Hinata watched Gon and Killua, doing her best to weigh their minute movements. Knuckle was watching her with open curiosity; he had the least experience with the Byakugan, so that was only natural. Hinata realized she hadn't opened her eyes. He was probably wondering if she could still see. "That old man's really something."

"He's a scary guy," Gon said with a nod. "Killua and I met him when we took the Hunter Exam; he was super cool."

Hinata listened to the conversation in the background as she observed an unfolding drama nearly a hundred meters above them. The medical team had reached the Queen, and the Hunters and Shino were gathered around the dying monster, along with Colt.

The Chimera Ant was crying. Hinata never thought she'd have seen something like that. The medical team was performing an ad-hoc surgery on the Queen, hooking her up to several artificial organs and poking at her terrible injuries with caution. Hinata doubted it would be enough: the Ant's entire abdomen had been shredded, along with most of her organs. Shino was observing the whole process with an intense focus she'd only seen from him once or twice before. The Queen was one-of-a-kind, after all, so his interest was more than reasonable.

There were other Ants aside from Colt; they hung behind the Hunters and Shino, clearly concerned for the Queen but hesitant to get too close. A giant blue Bull-Ant, one that looked like a Penguin, a giant turtle with ancient features, another with the body of a man and the head of an octopus with a tentacle beard. It was a freakish collection.

But for the first time, Hinata didn't feel disgust or fear at the creatures' appearances. The Byakugan revealed every inch of their own terror and uncertainty. They clustered like frightened children, not sure of what they should do.

The thought came back, impossible to avoid, as Hinata looked between the Ants and Gon and Killua, seated nearby.

How long ago had they been born? Several months at the absolute most. They really were children, no matter how developed their bodies or minds, even more so children then the teens sitting next to her.

Killua could tell she was looking at him; no doubt some instincts he'd picked up as an assassin. It was no wonder he'd realized she was tracking him when they'd first 'met.' He gave her a curious look, and Hinata shifted, intentionally confirming his suspicions.

Children. Children watching their mother slowly die. For the first time, Hinata felt a twinge of sympathy for the Chimera. No matter how terrible their crimes, no one should be forced to watch their parent die.

"The Queen's dying," she said, interrupting Kiba as he explained to Killua how he had baited nearly a hundred Ants into Knov's Hide and Seek traps and Netero's grasp. "The medical team can't save her."

"Damn, no chance?" Knuckle said. "That's a shame. It might have been nice to take her alive."

"Shino will be disappointed, that's for sure," Kiba said. He chuckled weakly. "Though he probably won't admit it."

He was right: after losing an arm, Shino probably deserved a living queen to take back to the Aburame. The NGL wasn't a place of fairness.

"Shino?" Gon asked.

"Our other teammate," Kiba said. "He's the whole reason we came here: we heard about the Chimera Ants, and his clan is super into bugs, so we decided to come with him to look for them."

Killua cocked an eyebrow. "How did you hear about the Ants? Kite's team was the one following them, and they didn't tell many people."

Kiba shrugged. "Dunno. I wasn't curious how he found out. You can ask him if you want."

Hinata doubted Killua would. Silently, she watched the Queen die as though she were standing alongside Shino. It was a quiet passing; one of the Ants was saying something to the group, but the Queen herself just lay there, her mandibles gradually clicking together.

Hinata realized that she'd missed something. The notion was a shock, but also seemed fitting. One of the Queen's organs wasn't an organ at all; she'd looked it over, another assumption blinding her to what her eyes were actually seeing. It was a tiny creature, something that looked just like a human fetus. Colt withdrew it from the Queen's dying body, tears running down his cheeks, and the impossibly small thing started screaming; the plaintiff wailing of a newborn.

It didn't look at all like an Ant: its features were entirely human. Hinata didn't understand how that was possible. Behind Colt, Morel began crying too, his huge body shuddering. Hinata didn't understand why. She must have missed something. She focused on the man's lips as he spoke to Colt.

"If you promise to never devour a human," he said to a shocked Colt, "I swear, you'll be under my protection."

Hinata sucked in a breath, eliciting a questioning look from everyone present. Morel had the same sort of kind naivete shining through him as her husband. Seeing it here, far from home, in a man who until then had been calculating and somewhat cold, choked her.

As did seeing it applied to the Ants.

She looked down, deactivating her Byakugan.

Children.

Murderous children.

Her hands curled into fists.

"Something wrong?" Kiba asked. Hinata shook her head.

"The Queen's gone," she said. Took a shuddering breath. "Which reminds me." She looked to Killua. "Where is Netero? Why isn't he with you?"

"The Chairman had to take care of something else, apparently. No idea what," Knuckle answered. He huffed. "Dunno what could be more important than this, but he's got the big job for a reason."

Something more important that the death of the Chimera Queen? Hinata tried not to let her creeping paranoia influence her.

"Y'know," Gon said, "I gotta ask something." Killua shot him a look, which the other boy ignored. "Hinata?"

She couldn't ignore him. "Yes, Gon?"

The teen's face screwed up. "How the heck did you manage to fight Neferpitou? I could only manage it…" His gaze wandered over to Kite, pale and ragged, and his mouth hardened into a harsh line. "She'd hurt Kite, and I was so mad I stopped thinking. If Killua hadn't knocked me out, I definitely would've died."

"Implying you were thinking before, idiot," Killua prodded goodnaturedly, and Gon laughed. He seemed just a bit lighter than before. Something had happened while Hinata was focused on the Queen, she was sure.

"Well, you know what I mean!" he jabbed back, refocusing on Hinata. "That aura of hers, it was way too intense. When I woke up, I couldn't believe I'd pushed through it. So, I'm wondering…" he frowned. "Can you tell me how you did it? I've got to get stronger; I was almost too weak to come here, to save Kite. If it weren't for Killua…"

"Give yourself some credit, Gon!" Knuckle said. "It was your Jajanken that took me down!" The boy smiled, but Hinata could see the uncertainty that was drowning him.

She'd seen what Netero had said to Killua a month ago: it was obvious from what he'd said and what Morel had told them that Gon and Killua had competed with Knuckle and Shoot for the duty of entering the NGL. The Hunters hadn't wanted anyone unworthy arriving.

But despite arriving with the other Hunters, Gon didn't feel like he deserved to be here. She understood that now.

"There's no secret to it," she told him after a moment of thought. "You seem like a smart kid: I'm sure you understand there's nothing like a switch you flip."

"If you want to be strong," Gon said. Strong enough to protect what was important to you, Hinata heard underneath his words. He understood that critical principle, despite his age. Hinata was glad: she'd seen too many young ninja in the new generation who thought strength was all their was to growing. "I know. I've been a Hunter for almost two years now, and that whole time, I've been training all the time, with Killua too." He frowned. "But it's still not enough."

"It takes time," Hinata said softly. "Time, experience, bravery, luck." Knuckle nodded. "You're young: don't worry that you needed help to save Kite this time." She did her best to smile. "Hopefully he won't need saving again, but the next time something like this happens, you have to remember that your whole life you'll be working towards something you can't see. Sometimes you just have to have faith you'll get there."

Gon tilted his head. "So that's how you fought Neferpitou?"

It was so refreshing to talk to children again. Hinata felt light, warmth, releasing inside her. Something she'd suppressed as she'd clinically directed the slaughter of the Ants, that her ancestor's chakra had pushed away.

"Well, in a way," she said. "But I didn't think about it like that. It ambushed me." She gestured to the hundreds of scabs, large and small, covering her arms, legs, and face, her hand settling on her stiff leg. "There wasn't any time to think about how scared I was. I just had to live."

"So you were scared," Gon said quietly. "That's good. Why'd you have to live?"

Hinata blinked. It was a bizarre question. KIllua, Kiba, and Knuckle seemed to agree, given their various reactions. Even Kite contributed to the oddness, despite not moving at all. She was surrounded by incredulous K's. That, combined with the surreal query, made her giggle a little.

"Why'd I have to live?" she said, and Gon nodded.

"I'm not an idiot," he said. "People don't wanna die. But you don't seem like someone who'd fight just to stay alive. I never do."

Hinata tilted her head. She couldn't tell if the boy was truly an idiot, or much sharper than he let on. There was some serious, if sophomoric, philosophy buried in the observation. It took her about ten seconds to decide if she wanted to answer the question honestly. A.P.R.'s quiet announcement of incrementing interest stretched the silence.

"I have two children," she said. "Boruto, my son, and Himawari, my daughter. Boruto's only a couple years younger than you." She felt her eyes narrowing, and Killua stiffened, almost scooting back. She'd accidentally released a hint of Hamura's chakra. "If Neferpitou had killed me, they'd have lost their mother. I couldn't let that happen."

"Makes sense," Gon said with a grin. "Thanks for telling me." He looked back to Kite, who sightlessly gazed back. "I'm glad we met you. Who knows if we'd have been able to reach Kite so quick otherwise."

Kiba chuckled. "You're too good with kids, Hinata."

She didn't know what to say to either of them, so she stayed silent. The quiet persisted for another twenty or so seconds. At that point, Knuckle blinked, rising from his squat into a ready position.

"Hey," he said. "Looks like it's time." Hinata looked to him, and then A.P.R.

"It's time!" the little thing said, its voice warping and dropping an octave. It had steadily grown as time had passed: while it had started out the size of Hinata's head, it was now almost as big as her. "Looks like you're bankrupt! Too bad!" It cackled, and suddenly turned inside out: its cute spherical head withdrew into its body and emerged out its bottom looking like a vicious and bedraggled cat with unrealistically sharp teeth. Its whole body followed, inverting itself and becoming thinner, meaner, and darker. The thing flipped over, still cackling. It was now about the same size as A.P.R. had been when it had first appeared.

'This must be I.R.S.' Hinata flared her Byakugan; Kite's energy had been forced back inside his body. He looked like a dead tree, cold and static

"Alright," Knuckle said, walking forward. "He should be safe to approach now."

There was no opportunity for Hinata to give a warning. A monstrous figure sprung up behind Kite: a huge floating torso with a wide sharp grin and pinprick yellow eyes, its hands greedily stretched out over the injured Hunter. A string of Nen wormed down from each of its fingers. Kite sprang forward with incredible fluid speed; his movement and initiative was nothing like it had been before.

Knuckle had the reflexes to see the attack coming, but not the speed to avoid it. He barely had time for a strangled "What?!" before Kite hammered a roundhouse into his side, sending him flying into the wall of the cavern.

Hinata jumped back, along with everyone else. Kite's whole body pulsed with menacing purple light. There was no doubt now that somehow, Neferpitou was controlling him.

"Okay, uh-" Kiba started to say. But unlike before, Kite was no longer happy to stand around at wait for his opponents to make a move. Now, as the gigantic Nen construct hovering over him grinning madly, he rushed forward with lethal intent. Killua was his first target.

The pale boy saw him coming, and dodged his first vicious punch by darting to the side, under the blow. Kite kicked out, and Killua leapt over the strike, but Kite was far faster than before; before Killua had even reached the apex of his jump, he reversed his kick, slamming it into the teen's gut and sending him backwards and up. Killua gagged, and Kite leaped after him, trying to capitalize on his empty lungs.

Kiba intercepted him, knocking the maddened Hunter out of the air. They tumbled across the ground, Kiba trying to pull the taller man into a submission hold, until Kite slammed his forehead into Kiba's nose. The Inuzuka howled in pain, and Kite took the opportunity to box both his ears, rolling on top of him and trying to crush his throat with an elbow.

Hinata reached him before the blow could land, slamming her palm into Kite's chest. The man tumbled backwards, head over heels, before coming to his feet and launching off as though he hadn't felt the blow. He didn't directly attack Hinata: instead, he hurtled all around the chamber like a human pinball, never stopping in one place for more than a heartbeat. Hinata activated her Byakugan, tracking his movement.

"Forget it!" Knuckle called, coming to his feet.

Kite launched at Hinata from behind, and she ducked, sinking to her good knee and pivoting her hip to smash the back of her hand into the man's ribs. Purple chakra flared, and Kite was sent crashing sideways, a vivid bruise on his side.

"We gotta hit him for real!" Knuckle said, launching himself into the fight. He sprinted right into Kite's face before the man could recover, launching into a flurry of punches that the puppeteered Hunter deflected without apparent effort. "Sorry Gon!"

"Kite!" Gon shouted. He came in from the side, and Knuckle trapped one of Kite's punches in an armhold. The gangly man twisted, catching Gon's full-body punch with his other hand, and was left pinned between the two Hunters. Gon glared at him from behind his trembling fist. "You taught me that sometimes, you just gotta knock some sense into people!" He dropped, flipped, and pushed off the ground. One foot kicked out and knocked Kite's guard aside, and the other shot forward into the man's chin: an impressively quick reverse double-kick. "So snap out of it!"

Hinata stayed back, her leg protesting, as Knuckle and Gon pushed the Hunter back with a relentless combo of punches and kicks. Kite gave ground without care, deflecting the vast majority of the attacks and sending both his opponents staggering with powerful punches aimed at their chest and neck; Kiba and Killua circled, waiting for an opportunity. The fight was impressive, but it wasn't what Hinata was focused on.

Her attention was dominated by the puppeteer looming over Kite, and the play of Nen coursing between it and Kite. It was a beautiful technique, and as Hinata observed, she came to comprehend it more fully. It was something similar to, but far more developed than, the puppet jutsu used by the Hidden Sand. An autonomous puppet-master that manipulated its target with strings, but unlike the obvious string-use of Sunagakure, these strings filled the entire target with the Nen of the puppet's creator.

It was a comprehensive and terrifying domination technique, very much like what had animated the puppets that had cared for Toneri in his lunar palace. Hinata felt even more sympathy for Kite; long ago, she'd been in his position.

The strings were composed of Nen, and the method by which it was transmitted into Kite's body. They looked similar to the Hatsu the Royal Guard had manipulated itself with. The one Shino's insects had eaten away at.

Hinata rose to her feet, a simple plan forming.

"Keep him occupied," she said, making her voice heard over the constant low sounds of the intense fight. "I'm going to try and cut those strings."

"You're an exorcist?!" Knuckle shouted, before Kite punched him full in the face. Killua rushed into his place as the man stumbled back hissing in pain, sending Kite dancing sideways with a series of kicks intent on crushing the man's ankles and knees. Hinata had no idea what the term referred to.

Then again, Kite did seem to be possessed by a sort of ghost. Maybe if this worked she would be a sort of exorcist.

She focused, channeling a thin scalpel of chakra into her right fist. It was the same principle as the Lions Fist, just sharper. A projected chakra blade like this wouldn't be much use in an actual fight: not powerful enough to cut physical objects, and not precise enough to disrupt tenketsu or break up most jutsu. But here, it would be more than enough to cut some string made of spiritual energy.

Hinata waited until Kite was on the backfoot, Killua burying a sparking fist in his kidney, before she launched herself. She sliced lengthwise, hoping to severe most of the strings in one go, but Kite reacted to her with impressive awareness, despite still being occupied by three opponents. He slipped down and away, kicking back Gon to give himself the space, and the puppeteer went with him. Hinata's impromptu blade only cut three of the ten strings.

Kite sagged, scrambling away like an injured animal, and made a keening noise. Killua didn't follow up on the successful attack; instead, he dropped back, clearly startled by the change in character and shocking scream. Gon did the same, his eyes going wide. Kiba let out a short bark of a laugh and charged in, along with Knuckle; they drove Kite across the chamber as Hinata circled, looking another opportunity, like lions leading prey into an ambush.

The opportunity came three seconds laters, and Hinata took it without hesitation, throwing herself into another leaping strike. Kite launched a sluggish counterattack, and Hinata twisted around the sloppy punch, cutting four more of the strings: only three were left on one of the puppeteer's hands.

The Hunter stumbled backwards, spasming. His limbs twitched, along with his head; the shiver traveled down until his whole body was trembling violently. Kite sagged to the right, his foot dragging, barely able to stay on his feet. His eyes rapidly blinked. He looked like a man having a deadly stroke.

"Um," Gon said. "Is he-?"

Hinata charged; the man didn't offer an resistance.

She cut the last three strings in a single pass.

Kite fell over.

Hinata realized her mistake in the span of time between Kite's breathing stopping and his heart doing the same, a moment so short it essentially didn't exist.

There was no inertia, no struggle for survival. In an instant, all of the man's organs shut down. He went from stiff and alive to limp and dead before he hit the ground.

Hinata's mistake was both subtle and total. She'd made yet another fatal assumption. Not fatal to her, but fatal nonetheless. She'd seen the chakra strings and come to think what was controlling Kite was a puppeteer jutsu.

She'd been right, but her experience with chakra techniques had deceived her.

When Kite hit the ground, the Hyuuga realized the technique she'd just cut off had more in common with the Edo Tensei than Sunagakure's puppets. She'd been right, a month ago. Kite had been quite dead. The Royal Guard Neferpitou had simply animated his body with its Nen; imparted it with artificial life for reasons beyond Hinata's comprehension. Made its heart beat to keep its muscles healthy, its brain active to glean a hint of the man's impressive combat reflexes.

Saving Kite had never been a possibility. There was nothing in the nest to salvage.

All of this came to Hinata in a second as she watched the unintentional consequences of her actions crumple to the floor. Neferpitou's Hatsu evaporated in a cloud of chuckling malice.

There was a pregnant silence as left-over air slipped from from Kite's lungs, like a long, final sigh.

"Hey." Gon took a step forward. "Kite?"

"You alright?"

Hinata was frozen in place as Gon moved closer to the body. She understood that he didn't yet comprehend what had happened. It only took a second for her to know that both Knuckle and Killua, along with Kiba, had come to the same conclusion as her by now.

Gon was the only one who hadn't immediately understood Kite's passing. Almost certainly because he had the least experience with death.

"Kite?" Gon bent down to one knee, placing his hand on Kite's own, splayed out before him. "What's…"

He froze as soon as he touched Kite's hand, not even breathing. Hinata held her own breath as well. The boy became a statue, just as still as Kite.

Silently, something inside Gon broke. Hinata saw it as clearly as anything the Byakugan could have showed her.

Killua slowly approached, laying his hand on his friend's shoulder. He reminded Hinata of her father in a flash of deja vu: severe, calm, and sad all at once. It was almost disturbing to see a face like that on a fourteen year old.

"Gon," he said. "He's gone."

Gon sank to both knees. His hands curled into fists as his face fell into a sharp and ugly expression.

"He can't be gone," he whispered. "He was just alive. Kite wouldn't die." He started shaking.

"Pitou killed him," Killua said. He said it without thinking, and then paused to collect himself. "The night she attacked us. She killed him and then brought him back like this." He tightened his hold on Gon's shoulder, looking up at Hinata. "Right? You must have seen it."

Hinata nodded. "Only after I cut the strings," she admitted. "I misunderstood the technique." She released the breath she'd been holding. "The puppet was keeping his heart beating, but he was already dead."

"Pitou killed him?" Gon muttered, staring with blank eyes at the body. He wasn't seeing Kite's corpse; Hinata wasn't sure he was seeing anything. "Pitou killed him? That night?"

He looked back up over his shoulder at Killua. "Really?"

'It's not true, right?'

The plea broke Hinata's heart. Killua's grave nod didn't help.

Gon looked back at the body, seeing it, really looking at it, for the first time. Behind him, Knuckle watched the proceedings with a somber face: all the good cheer had gone out of him. Kiba had a similar look, his newly broken nose twitching. His grimace was only enhanced by the blood covering his mouth.

Gon bared his teeth, his fists curling so tight his nails cut into his palms.

He slammed them into the floor in front of Kite's corpse, cratering the stone-like material. The sickening thud of flesh twisted Hinata's stomach. Gon struck again, and again: he remorselessly crushed his fists into the ground, ripping skin off his knuckles and shattering the floor further.

"DAMN IT!" he screamed, tears starting to flow. Whereas before he'd been speaking so quietly Hinata had strained to hear him, now his voice was monstrous. Hinata saw Shino and Morel flinch and turn around near the top of the nest, alerted by the scream.

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!" With every scream, Gon grew louder, and he struck at the ground with more and more rage. Orange energy flowed out of his body, twisting around him like a vortex, putting Hinata's hair on end. It warped, black streaks flowing from Gon's shoulders and hair, some of the blood from his torn knuckles being sucked up into the raging aura as well. His tears were lifted up into it as well, mixing with the blood. The raw manifestation of Gon's desperation and despair pushed against Hinata like a solid wall.

But no matter how it intensified, Killua maintained a steady hold on Gon's shoulder, a rock in the middle of a violent black storm.

"I'll kill you." Gon's voice like a knife. Killua winced, the aura intensifying. Hinata could feel it even at this distance, see it just as easily; Gon's Nen pricked at her like thousands of black needles, sending goosebumps racing along her body and raising a cold sweat in the small of her back. Standing right next to him, Killua must have felt like someone was running blades up and down his body. "I'll kill you!"

Killua tightened his grip, his face stricken, and Gon let out one final scream, even louder than his previous shouts. His whole body stretched, as though he was trying to push himself into the sky without leaving the ground, and his aura stretched with it, smashing into the ceiling and exploding out across the room. Hinata actually felt herself rock back on her feet from the force of it.

Gon didn't stop screaming when he ran out of air. Instead, he remained there with an open mouth, trembling in a rictus of loss. He didn't need to speak for his Nen to send the same message his words had been.

Finally, he slumped, gasping for air. His Nen whipped away, drawing back into his body, slowly lightening back to its initial orange. His fists uncurled, bruised and bleeding.

For ten seconds, the room was silent and still as everyone did their best to cope with the sudden absence of both Kite and Gon's buffeting hatred. Kiba shot Hinata a glance she couldn't read, while Knuckle moved towards the younger Hunters.

"I'm sorry, Kite," Gon eventually said, his voice shuddering but coherent. He dragged himself to his feet, away from the body. Killua uncertainly supported him. "I'll be stronger next time."

He looked down at the corpse of the man who had obviously been so dear to him. "Promise."

The other Hunters and Shino were coming, drawn by the explosion of Nen and shouting. They'd arrive within the minute. Hinata had no idea what to do: she'd never dreamed Gon's reaction would have been so violent.

Her instincts as a mother implored her to provide the teen with some comfort. Her experience as a shinobi told her that everyone reacted to grief differently, and that he might not appreciate any open affection. She paralyzed by indecision.

'How many children did you kill in the last month?'

Hinata stepped forward.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 14

Obligations​

Certainty. The setting sun. Hinata watched it with tired eyes, a month's worth of stress piling up inside her body, making her feel thick and heavy. The sun would always set, no matter where they were. That much was sure.

Uncertainty. Everything else.

The shinobi had retreated to seclusion at the top of the nest; there was a small platform there, an observation point the Ants had used. It had been a long day, beginning with the King's birth and rushed along by the Ant's surrender, Gon's outburst, and the messy business of determining the remaining Chimera's fates. It had gone by too fast, but in bursts of impossible slowness. Looking back, Hinata felt as though she'd only been awake for four or five hours, but that each of those hours had been a day unto their own.

Kiba sighed, leaning back. "Fuck," he groaned. "What now?"

Good question, Hinata tried to say, her throat sealed up by weariness. She settled for a nod, sure Kiba would understand her.

"We've accomplished the mission," Shino said. He was the only one of them who was standing, his back to Hinata. His profile against the setting sun took Hinata's breath away: not because of the natural beauty of the amber and gold light creeping around his figure, but because of the absence it highlighted on his right side. "The Queen is dead, but I have more than enough of her corpse, including a portion of her primary parthogenisis organ. That's what we came for."

Hinata frowned, taking a deep breath. "But it's not why we stayed."

"Definitely not," Kiba said, leaning forward. "But I don't think any of us thought we were going to get this messed up."

"It was always a risk," Shino said. "And a necessary one."

"And now?" Kiba said. "Now that you got your Ant-dick or whatever; what now?"

Hinata couldn't keep a grunt of amusement from escaping her, but Kiba's question was what they were all thinking. He hadn't made it explicit, but there was really only one choice to make. Stay or go.

This wasn't their home; from a purely rational perspective, with their mission fulfilled, they had no reason to stick around. The troubles of the Mitene Union, and the world beyond it, weren't their own. At most, they were a situational concern of a Shinobi Union trade partner, which was none of their business.

But being a shinobi was never about making purely rational decisions. It hadn't been for some time. Hinata and her teammates had forged a hard-earned connection with the Hunters assailing the Ants; they'd bled alongside them. And now even beyond that, the Hunter Association and every human on the continent had a deadlier enemy than ever.

Morel had told them that in the days to come, more Hunters would be flooding the Union, responding to the Chairman's call for assistance now that the situation had escalated. It didn't take a genius to figure out that was the inevitable result of their mission to kill the Queen failing. It also didn't take much to assume the worst about the capabilities of the King; as the culmination of the Ant's genetic optimization, it was possibly as far beyond its own Royal Guard as the Guard were the normal Ants.

An absolutely horrifying prospect.

Meruem. That was what the Queen had named him, according to Morel. Useless information, since the creature would never learn it. But despite the pointlessness of the name, a dying mother taking time to name the child that had murdered it had chilled Hinata to the core.

"What was it that Colt said?" Kiba piped up. They'd passed nearly a minute in silence. "The King was hungry?"

"'His hunger was overwhelming,'" Shino answered, quoting the Ant. "It was likely an issue of genetic loyalty; the Ants felt the King's hunger, and were determined to fix it as quickly as possible." He shifted, turning to glance at Hinata and Kiba. "Hence, the autocannibalism. They are extremely fortunate the King did not decide to eat any of them before the Royal Guard arrived."

"So he's probably already eaten a bunch of people, wherever he went," Kiba said. The revelation that the bite marks on Colt's hand had been self-inflicted had been one of the drawn out hours, after Gon's breakdown at Kite's death. The King's hunger driving his servants to going after their own limbs in sympathetic starvation was beyond anything Hinata had seen out of the Ants before. Monsters eating humans was expected; eating themselves was a different story.

"Certainly," Shino said. "And he'll consume many more, if he's not stopped. Perhaps everyone on the continent."

KIba squinted, the setting sun painting his black hair with streaks of dull red. "Implying something, Shino?"

"Stating the obvious," Shino said. He nodded at Hinata. "Hinata knows. You know. We all know. That Chimera King, Meruem, he's a walking threat of extinction for mankind in this world. We've seen nothing in their capabilities that would allow the Hunters to safely destroy him; if they had some great weapon, they would have used it on the nest. That we are in this situation denotes its absence."

He turned back around, facing the vanishing sun. "I was the one who set us on this mission. If you'll forgive a bit of hubris, I'm going to expand the parameters."

Kiba scoffed, but Hinata saw the ghost of a smile. He glanced at her, and she closed her eyes.
Uncertainty. Bubbling hate, fear, rage, love, homesickness.

But above all that, ringing in her head and drowning out the emotions stirred up by her children, her husband, the Ants, the Hunters, the sunset…

'Right place. Right time.'

'You cannot turn away.'

Was it the cold passion of her ancestor, or her own hatred of suffering that provided that clarity? Hinata didn't know, but she was thankful for it all the same.

"So that's it?" she asked, as much to herself as her team. "We stay? Do what good we can?"

"Unless a better option presents itself," Shino affirmed. "Kiba?"

The Inuzuka tapped the ground. "What the hell. I gotta pay back that thing for breaking my nose anyway," he grunted.

The quiet enormity of their decision pushed them down, but Hinata felt lighter. Making any decision, even a dangerous one, had cleared her head. Her chest ached, the vision of her children receding.

The decision hurt, but at the same time, it almost made her glad. She wasn't so selfish, she thought, that she'd put seeing her children sooner ahead of hundreds, thousands, of other lives. Lives that she could save, in the right place, at the right time. When they were older, they would understand.

She was sure of that.

"Would we have done this twenty years ago?" Kiba wondered. Hinata let out a soft laugh.

"Naruto did," she said, the thought of her husband bringing a smile to her face. Kiba groaned, mumbling 'Naruto' in a simpering tone with a good-natured smile of his own.

"I've taught that in the Academy, you know," Shino said, turning his back on the nearly disappeared sun and sitting with them. "That mission to Wave."

"Of course you have," Kiba said. "It's a good example for the kids. Being a shinobi's about more than being paid.

"That," Shino said, "and that sometimes clients lie. And that no matter what, you will face unexpected challenges."

"So it's become a story." Hinata was used to that. Somehow, without them noticing, so much of her and her classmate's life had become a story for the next generation. "What do you tell them the moral is?"

"It's a good story," Shino said with a small smile of his own. They were all smiling now, seated above a monument to human misery, united in their trust and camaraderie. "An underdog story; they're always popular, even if most children can't picture the Hokage as ever being in a position of weakness."

"And the moral?" Kiba asked, leaning forward like a student himself.

"Trust your team," Shino said gravely, "and take all challenges head on, with everything you have." He leaned back. "And maybe you'll get a bridge named after you."

"Pfft," Kiba slapped his knee once, lightly. "Maybe we'll get a country with our names slapped on it at this rate, going above and beyond." He scratched his beard. "Could charge an extermination rate by now, I bet."

"Shinobi as high-priced exterminators," Shino said dourly.

"Not the strangest thing I've heard," Hinata admitted. It wasn't unusual for shinobi to take very un-ninja jobs nowadays, after all.

"Maybe," Kiba muttered. He cocked his head south. "We gonna do anything about him?" he subvocalized, the words an inaudible murmur.

"No point," Hinata said, not bothering to muffle her words. "It's not a problem."

She stood up, her feet steady under her. "We should head down. Check with the others. There's definitely some planning to do." Her team rose with her.

Their eavesdropper scuttled away as the sun gave up, finally sinking behind the mountains. Hinata was sure it was the last they would see in the NGL.

###

Killua realized that the shinobi knew he was listening in about a minute before their conversation ended. The realization sent a chill up his spine; not because it was sudden, but because of its creeping, gradual nature. They had detected him, and he hadn't realized it. How long ago had it been? One minute? Two? Since the beginning?

He'd considered approaching them then. It would have been honest, but changed nothing. They knew that he knew and he knew that they knew; all that revealing himself would accomplish was some embarrassment, a child emerging for an admonishment. He wasn't in the mood for that.

So when the conversation ended, he left. They were all headed the same way. There was no point in going together.

Killua chastised himself, his nails digging into his palm. Gon had distracted him; he'd been shaky since his only friend's breakdown, haunted by the chilling sharpness that had washed over him. Gon's despair and rage had hurt Killua worse than any injury.

`Thanks.' The doubt that had dragged Killua down after their first foray into the NGL had returned, nipping at his heels. Gon had thanked him for knocking him out a month ago. 'I would have gotten in Kite's way.'

'He wouldn't ever let that thing beat him.'

Gon had said it with such unbelievable conviction, such unbreakable certainty, that Killua had had no choice but to believe him. He's always respected and admired his first friend, but there, in that room with the light streaming in from the window and Gon's face devoid of fear or blame, his soul filled with nothing but faith and a promise, Killua had seen something more. He'd felt something akin to a spiritual lightening, like he was in the presence of something both pure and anathema to people.

People like him, or people in general? Killua had struggled with that question. He couldn't figure out where Gon's faith came from, or why it had made his heart jump.

Now, the cynicism his family had filled his bones with since he was old enough to speak had an answer.

Denial.

It wasn't an answer he agreed with–there was more to Gon than naivety–but it haunted him nonetheless. The outpouring of emotion Gon had nearly cut him with, down in the depths of the nest, had been born at least partly by that denial shattering. The reality of Kite's death had done more damage to Gon than anyone else ever had; it had been his first true defeat.

Killua's hands slipped into his pockets, his pace slowing as he strode through the nest. He'd gained a little distance.

An unexpected thought came from the other side of him, the one that had been awakened, awestruck, by Gon's light.

Maybe it's better this way, Killua thought.

It was a callous idea, and it surprised him coming from what he considered his better half, the side of him that Gon's trust and friendship had brought out. The apparent callousness of it was what let him truly consider it; it baited his cynical heart in and brutally brought it to the ground.

Gon's painful and hate-filled outpouring had been the product of a month of expectations brought to a sudden, crushing demise. He'd had no time to adjust; Kite's corpse had been shoved right in his face, and his world had flipped in a moment. Killua's pace slowed yet more as he sunk deeper into thought, the smells and sights of the abandoned nest falling into the background.

Maybe it was better this way. What if the Ants had brought Kite's corpse with them, or the King had been born and abandoned the nest another month from now, 'on schedule?' Would Gon's outburst have been the same, or twice as bad, another thirty days of feeling like a failure, of surety that Kite was just waiting to be rescued?

Twice as bad? Three times? Four? Emotions were unpredictable, and so was Gon. What would more time under pressure have produced when he came to the inevitable revelation?

Killua shivered, remembering the cold Nen. He tried to picture Gon in a state beyond that murderous despair, and could not. It was like trying to visualize the a new, unique color, or a sun without light. Impossible.

Maybe it was better to face a harsh reality, Killua thought, the two minds he carried with him everywhere–Gon's friend, and the Zoldyck killer–speaking as one. Better to face a harsh reality than hold onto a deceptive dream.

Gon would recover. He always did. He'd carry the scar Neferpitou had given for the rest of his life, but he was strong. He would bounce back.

He had to.

Pitou was the lynchpin, Killua realized. Whether Gon would come back from this, and how whole and unmarred he would be when he did, revolved around the Ant that had taken Kite from him.

If Gon was to recover, Pitou had to die. The simple solution of a killer, Killua thought with a grimacing grin.

He couldn't take Pitou. That was self-evident. Neither could Gon. The Royal Guard had defeated Kite on its own, and Kite had been easily beyond both of them.

The only person he knew who had managed to injure Neferpitou, he realized, was Hinata Hyuuga. She'd had help, and come away covered in cuts and broken bones, but she'd accomplished what Kite had not.

Hinata Hyuuga, who a month ago had followed him all the way out of the NGL out of nothing more than concern. Hinata Hyuuga, who had consoled Gon aside Kite's cooling body without a moment's hesitation. Hinata Hyuuga, who had children of her own, and could see with perfect acuity for fourteen miles in any direction.

If he and Gon stuck themselves to Hinata Hyuuga, who had just decided to remain with her comrades and do 'what good they could,' they would have the best chance of destroying Neferpitou and avenging Kite. It was simple and obvious.

The phone in Killua's pocket buzzed, and he mindlessly withdrew it and answered without checking the number.

"We're having a meeting." Knov sounded as tired as Killua felt. "Near the entrance. Get there as soon as you can."

Killua flipped the phone closed without a word, altering his path to head for the nest's entrance. His opportunity may have arrived sooner than he'd thought.

###

"We've got no idea where the King's gone," Morel said, leaning on his pipe and slouching in his seat. The semi-formal meeting was being conducted at the base of the nest in a loose circle; Knov had produced some folding chairs from Hide and Seek, and everyone present had seated themselves with the exception of Knuckle, who restlessly paced on the outside of the circle, to Morel's left. "It's a problem, but we've got other concerns right now."

"The other Ants?" Shoot asked, and Morel nodded.

"Of course," he confirmed. "Hundreds of Ants have already left the NGL, and are scattering across the continent. We've already got reports of them wandering into cities and wreaking havoc. Until we can locate the King, our main priority has to be hunting down the surviving Ants."

"So what's the plan, then?" Knuckle asked, kicking a tuft of dirt out of his way as he continued pacing. "We just chase them down one by one?"

"If I may interrupt?"

The Hunters and shinobi weren't the only ones present at the meeting. Two of the Chimera Ants had stayed behind with them; Colt, and the penguin-looking Squadron Leader who went by Peggy. It had only been a short time, but Morel had been won over by Colt's earnestness, and the humility and love he had shown the Queen and the quarter-sized offspring she'd birthed in her death throes. The kindness of the Ant clashed with its murderous acts over the last month, but Morel knew that things were not always so black and white; the Ants had considered them livestock, and Colt hadn't been driven by malice like some of the other Ants Morel had encountered. He'd simply been serving his Queen.

It was a different kind of evil, he thought, but one he could understand, and work with. Maybe even admire, if he was honest with himself.

It was Peggy who had spoken up, his croaky voice slipping past Knuckle's rough one. Knov, who was seated across from Morel, nodded to him, and the penguin straightened up. It's left arm came to an abrupt end: it had gnawed off the end of it after the King's birth.

"With the Queen's death," he said, his voice wavering, "our former comrades will all shift their focus to becoming Kings and Queens of their own."

"Meaning?" Palm asked. Morel couldn't get over how healthy she looked compared to the last time he'd seen her: like a barren tree covering itself in blossoms in the spring.

"Meaning they will seek out population centers, with a preference for humans," Peggy said. "Some will have already left the island, but not many. They will attempt to create nests of their own. If they're met with too much resistance or fail to find a fruitful hunting ground, they'll slink away to a more successful group, and abase themselves before the most powerful Ant there." It sighed. "It's pathetic, but it's our instinct."

Colt followed up, supporting his fellow Ant. "There are about four hundred and fifty survivors, give or take. In this manner, they will initially scatter but rapidly consolidate, and become much more dangerous." He looked every human in the eye, ending with Morel, and carefully articulated his next words. "The first week will be the most critical."

Morel did his best to return the Ants confidence. He was telling them how best to kill his peers, after all. "The Hunter Association is sending reinforcements as we speak: dozens of Hunters will be entering the Union in the coming days." He fiddled with his pipe, rotating it against his palm. "We'll have more than enough manpower to hunt down the various Ant groups."

'After all, the Association can't afford to lose any face here.' It was a grim thought, but an honest one. The governments of the Mitene Union had hired the Hunters to deal with the Ant threat: if they failed to uphold that contract, there'd be hell to pay.

"Combined with our informants, we should be able to keep track of various Ants across the island without too much trouble," he continued. "We'll rapidly deploy to take care of problems as they arise."

"As one team?" Killua asked. He was seated between Gon and Kiba. Both the younger Hunter and the shinobi had remained mostly silent since they'd arrived. "It would be more efficient if we split into groups of our own."

"Of course," Morel said. "We were already considering that." The air was growing colder with the sun having set; more than that, he wanted to get started as soon as possible. "Smaller teams, but each will have to be powerful enough to take on several Ants at a time."

"That would be ideal," Colt murmured.

"So what would be the best division?" Knov asked, and Morel turned to him.

"Knuckle and I would be one," he said. "We're confident the two of us would be handle anything, and our abilities work well together." He glanced at Palm. The woman was staring at Gon, who didn't return the look. The boy, who had been silent since discovering Kite's body that morning, stared resolutely ahead at something only he could see.

"I would suggest you and Palm would be another team, Knov. You'd be an ideal support group for other Hunters," Morel said quietly. Palm looked torn, but only for a moment. She nodded, along with Knov.

"Which leaves," Knov said, with a glance at Killua, "Gon, Killua, and Shoot."

"And us," Kiba said. "We're staying till this is finished."

Knov blinked. Morel was less surprised than him, but he didn't let it show. He'd had a feeling, somehow, that this had been coming.

"Really?" Knov asked. "You got what you came for."

"We did," Shino said. "But we all thought it would be irresponsible to leave now, when the situations become even more dangerous. We're staying alongside you until the situation is resolved." He raised an eyebrow behind his visor. "If you'll permit us."

Morel wondered if it was as cut and dried as that. If the shinobi really were competitors with the Ants, visitors from the Dark Continent, then it would only make sense for them to continue to "assist" the Hunters until their mutual enemy was wiped out.

"Gladly," Knov said. Morel knew it was the truth. Even if it was a ploy, wiping out the Ants took priority. "So you three, then-"

"Actually," Killua cut in. Knov shot him a look. "I've been thinking; Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are all still injured." He was right: Hinata was still covered in injuries from her brief battle with Pitou, along with her barely healed leg, while Kiba was battered. Shino's injury went without saying. "It may be better to split them up amongst us."

Morel cocked his head; it was a good plan in several ways, maybe without Killua even knowing why. If the shinobi were eventual enemies, keeping them seperate was a smart decision: if they agreed to it, it would mark them as either genuine in their intentions, or overconfident.

"If they agree, of course," Killua appended with a glance at Hinata. It was obvious she was the one he was focused on. His normal cool had been disrupted by his friend's silence, and with it his obfuscative ability. Morel was reasonably sure of the reason behind his focus. The Hyuuga was the only person to walk away after facing Neferpitou, after all.

"What were you thinking, Killua?" she asked. Morel felt she already knew the answer.

"You and Kiba both have tracking capabilities far outside any of our own," Killua said. He wasn't absolutely correct, though he didn't know it: Knuckle's Hatsu could technically track a single target farther than Hinata's Byakugan or Kiba's nose ever could. "In addition, Kiba and Shino are less injured than yourself. I'd propose the two of them teaming up with Shoot, and you going with Gon and myself. That way, they'll be an even spread of combat and recon capability across the teams."

The shinobi looked at each other, silently communicating. Kiba rolled his eyes. Shino shrugged. Hinata's lips pursed, and she looked back to Killua.

"It sounds fine to us," she said, inclining her head. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Killua, Gon."

It was ideal beyond the pragmatic parameters Killua had set out, Morel thought. He sent his own approving look to Shoot, who'd become a color somewhere between a cloudy sky and a bank of fresh snow. Working with total strangers was a necessary step in tackling Shoot's timidness; that Shino was a teacher himself was an additional unexpected boon. He was a calm and patient man, the perfect pairing for Shoot, especially when Kiba would be there pushing him far out of his comfort zone. Morel might have proposed it himself if Killua hadn't gotten there first.

Behind him, Knuckle chuckled under his breath. He was clearly thinking the same thing. Morel felt a grin tug at his mouth.

"That's settled then," he said, standing up and hefting his pipe. "We'll get started tomorrow: the Association will keep us updated on where the Ants have the most presence, but we'll likely be doing some hunting without their help. Everyone should be ready by then." The others followed him to his feet.

"And the King?" Knuckle asked. "What're we gonna do about him?"

"When he appears, we'll know," Knov said. "He's hardly a subtle creature."

Morel nodded, but below his confident facade, he wasn't so sure of the truth behind Knov's words. He just hoped his friend was right.

The longer the King remained out of sight, the worse it would be.

###

I'd definitely call this a weaker transition chapter, but I'm in no mood to sit on it for weeks to try and make it stronger. Myrmidon has reached its unofficial halfway point here: hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 15

Small Mercies
​

If Hinata had to describe the city of Yunda in a single word, she would have chosen 'dense.'

Located on the northern coast of the Republic of Rokario, Yunda sprawled tens of kilometers in every direction out from its center. The city's core had no doubt once been beautiful and sensible, but time and expansion had transformed it into a twisted tangle of mismatched buildings, overlapping bridges, and overcrowded walkways. The same unfortunate fate had befallen the rest of the city as well; it had not aged gracefully, with building after building stacked upon one another as time passed, creating a schizophrenic and confusing medley of architecture, brick and concrete married with modern steel and glass constructions.

It was confusing and clumsy, but Hinata had to admit that had an appeal all its own. Perhaps it would not have been quite as charming if Yunda were not a city of waterways. Dominated by hundreds of canals that wound throughout it without an obvious rhyme or reason, the city wasn't exactly friendly to vehicles: if you wanted to get somewhere, you often had to walk or take a small boat. That suited Hinata just fine. It pleasantly reminded her of home.

After nearly 50 days away from Konoha, even a small reminder brought an ache to her heart.

The city's streets were perpetually crowded, perhaps thanks to their narrow winding nature. Even now, when it was on the verge of martial law. Hinata felt pressed in by all the people around her. She was sure her companions felt the same.

"Man, it's loud," Gon groaned, shielding his eyes from the rising sun. "Did we have to get up so early?" He was on Hinata's left, staying just a little behind her. Killua was somewhere above them; he'd decided to travel across the city's roofs instead of its streets.

"If we want to resolve this quickly," Hinata said with a smile. "Which I'm sure you do, Gon."

"Of course!" he said indignantly. "I guess I should have just gone to bed earlier…"

"It's cause you stayed up watching that stupid show, Gon." Killua's voice was a little tinny over the radio earpieces the Hunter Association had provided them with; the improved communication had proven invaluable over the last two and some weeks. Gon's face turned red.

"It's not stupid!" he insisted. "It's a lot of fun! You're just jealous cause you never got to watch TV, Killua!"

Killua scoffed over the radio, but Hinata laughed to herself; by the sound of it, Gon had hit closer to home than Killua would have liked.

Gon had been like this since they'd begun their joint mission to hunt down the scattered Ants seventeen days ago. The silence that he'd maintained after his emotional outburst at Kite's death had broken with startling speed only the next day. Outwardly, he'd returned to the cheerful and inquisitive, if occasionally strangely insightful, teenager that Hinata had met.

Only, he laughed harder than he should. Smiled wider, walked faster. Hinata had learned a lot about both Gon and Killua since they'd begun working together, but she wouldn't have noticed anything out of ordinary if it weren't for Killua's own subtle discomfort. Gon had plastered over his despair at Kite's death with a carefree attitude and a deep enthusiasm for hunting Ants; it wasn't unhealthy, but it was also disconcerting. Hinata didn't know how long he would be able to hold the facade, and she wasn't sure what lay underneath it.

But if she had to guess, it was probably more of that black-blade Nen.

In that way, Gon was both difficult and easy to read. Hinata liked to think she understood him. Killua was similar. It was no wonder they were friends.

Even after their time together, Killua still didn't trust her, Hinata thought as she maneuvered past a group of laughing women. He was a professional assassin, so that was to be expected. He'd shown her more of himself than he'd probably intended to, though. He was devoted to Gon, almost worryingly so. By both their admission, Gon had been his first real friend, so that was no great mystery, but it was still occasionally amusing to see just how closely Killua stuck to Gon despite their obvious differences.

Less amusing was Killua's obvious concern for his friend. Just as Gon hid his pain behind a smile, Killua hid his concern behind brusqueness and offhand 'idiots.' He acted with calculated carelessness; two boys determined to act like nothing had changed.

It was so very much the attitude of teenage boys. Hinata laughed quietly to herself, waving off Gon's questioning look at the sound. They were almost at their destination, a hotel near the city's seaside ports and industrial district. Huge and opulent, the hotel had no doubt once been a premier destination for visitors, but today it was swarming with men in black and grey, many wearing armor and carrying large firearms. They contrasted sharply against the hotel's soft corners and gold trimming.

The building had been transformed into the center of the military and police activity in Yunda. As Hinata looked it over, Killua leapt down from the rooftops he'd been following them from.

"I don't get it," he grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Do we even need to be here? This should be plenty."

"Knov wouldn't have asked us to go if it weren't important," Gon said, scanning the various policemen and soldiers. "That is a lot of guys, though."

They made their way as a single group towards the hotel; about twenty feet from the front door, they were intercepted by several grim looking men, one of which was wearing a charcoal suit. There weren't any words exchanged. Instead, Killua just withdrew and held up a small red card from his pocket: his invaluable Hunter's License. The man in the suit studied it before silently pointing over his shoulder, into the hotel's lobby. He went on his way, taking his heavily armed entourage with him, and the Hunters strode into the building.

It was just as chaotic inside as it was out front. Dozens of people bustling about, typing furiously on mobile computers, having intense conversations on various phones, one group of ten in the corner watching a small presentation of what seemed to be the technical specifications of a large vehicle. Hinata took in the controlled pandemonium in a single scan of the lobby, her gaze lingering on the luxurious furniture that had been shoved to the corners of the room to make space for various equipment. There was a nice looking armchair there, an earthy green color; she wondered if there was space for it in her home.

"What a waste," Killua said, unimpressed by the bustle. A woman walking by glanced at him in confusion. "They've gone to all this effort for a couple Ants? They'll just have to pack up by the end of the day."

He was right, but it was a little mean-spirited. Gon scratched his lower back.

"So where's the guy we're meeting?" he asked. Knov had told them there was another Hunter already in the city, working with the authorities to contain the Ants, but not much more than that.

"Most likely her," Hinata said. She pointed out a woman on the other side of the room standing next to the screen showing vehicle blueprints. The woman made eye contact with Hinata before looking away, back to the soldiers watching the presentation. Out of everyone in the room, she was the only one who'd taken notice of them as soon as they'd entered the hotel.

The other Hunter was about an inch taller than Hinata, with a slim build and long pale blonde hair, almost to her waist. Her eyes were a dull gold, but that was less noticeable than the huge dark bags under them. The woman's complexion made it look like she hadn't slept in days, but her eyes were sharp, and her clothes, a flowing black cloak with ragged hems and a pulled down hood, were freshly cleaned.

"Her?" Gon asked. The other Hunter glanced at them again, and Gon shrugged. "Alright, let's go see what's going on."

They wandered over to the other side of the room, the woman watching them with her unerring gold eyes the entire time.

"So, you're the reinforcements the Association sent?" she asked as they drew close. A soldier looked up at her, then back to the presentation as another woman in a sharp blue suit droned on about the vehicle. "I'm Clara Megallane." She eyed Hinata, the bruise-like darkness below her eyes accentuating their gold. "You're that shinobi, aren't you?"

Hinata felt like Clara was trying to drive a shovel into her forehead to dig up whatever was behind it. It was a shocking sensation; she'd never seen a Hunter stare at her so intently, aside from Netero on that one day many weeks ago. It wasn't anything Nen-related, so far as she could tell: the woman was just focusing 100% of her disquieting attention on her, despite all the distractions of the crowded lobby.

"That's her," Killua said, and the woman's focus shifted. Hinata felt herself breathing a little easier. Her leg ached, the disconcerting feeling reminding her that she was still not fully healed. "What's going on? What's with all the guns?" He tilted his head. "It's not going to do any good against Ants."

Clara's mouth pressed into a thin line. "This situation is under control. Frankly, you don't need to be here. You should go find something more important to do."

"What?" Gon asked, his shock childish and obvious. "But there're Ants here!"

"Yes, and they're perfectly contained," Clara said, her voice condescending. Gon bristled. "We have them penned up in a warehouse in the industrial district; it'll only be a matter of time till they're dead."

"Really?" Hinata asked. "'Penned up?' They're not trying to leave?"

"Why would they?" Clara shrugged. "If they make a move, they're just asking to get shot up."

"And yet, Knov asked us to show up here," Killua said coldly. "He said you were taking too long."

"Too long?" Clara raised an eyebrow. "It's only been three days."

"Three days?" Hinata blinked. "How many people have they eaten?" There was no way the Ants could have suppressed their hunger for that long. If the woman really had been sitting here with the Republic's army for that long while the Ants rampaged, it was no wonder that Knov had asked them to intervene.

"None," Clara said, sounding a little self-satisfied. "There've only been a couple deaths since they arrived, and they didn't manage to keep any of the bodies. The main complication now is their sniper." She glanced at Hinata. "If you are that shinobi I've been told about, you should be able to figure this all out on your own, right?"

"I can't see everything," Hinata said softly, and the Hunter smirked. Something about her continued to prick at Hinata's well-honed instincts.

"Should be more than enough," she said. "How about you tell them what the situation looks like," she continued, lazily gesturing at Gon and Killua, "and I'll fill in whatever you miss. Maybe then you guys will realize you don't need to be here."

Hinata frowned; she felt like she was being manipulated into something. But with the lack of better options, playing the woman's game wasn't a bad choice. She hadn't activated her Byakugan since stepping foot in Yunda, after all.

She focused chakra to her eyes, the familiar tickling heat working its way up from her core and around her temples, and the world opened up, the city unfolding in her mind's eye like a malformed flower.

It only took two seconds to locate the warehouse Clara had mentioned. It was a flat, ugly building, about thirty feet tall and set in the middle of a loading dock alongside one of the city's many canals, rust-red with an anachronistic green metal roof. It had clearly seen better days; if Hianta had to guess, she would have said it hadn't seen genuine cargo in years. Discarded cigarettes and other rubbish filled and surrounded it, the refuse of thousands of idle hands. There was no way to reach the building by road.

The warehouse was surrounded by the military; men and women in official uniforms kept a substantial area around it clear, and more wielding heavy weapons watched it from a variety of concealed positions. There were even several huge vehicles, including one that seemed to have a bridge curled up onto its back, ready to be folded down at any moment.

The Ants inside didn't seem to care. There were seven of them inside the building, two below it, and another outside it, nearly two kilometers away at the top of what looked like a church that had been repurposed into a factory: one of the tallest buildings in the city.

The Ants happy to sit in the warehouse were a diverse bunch, as they almost always were. A shark with insect legs and human arms, with its ill-fitting back fin submerged in the solid concrete, a crocodile that walked like a man, an enormous bipedal crawfish with guns growing out of its Gon-sized claws, two fish-men, one unfortunate creature that looked like a sea-slug with spider-like legs and a human face, and one oddly ordinary Ant that could have passed for a green woman if it weren't for her flat, toeless feet and strangely wide legs.

The shark's fin was resonating with Nen. Hinata wondered what sort of technique it was using, and also how on earth the crawfish had managed to grow guns out of its body.

The last three Ants were more interesting. The two below the warehouse had taken up residence in what looked like a sewer, but the room they were in could not have been built by Yunda. A modern looking bar had been plopped down in the middle of the sewer system, completely at odds with its surroundings. Even Yunda's schizophrenic urban development couldn't have led to that; the bar was clearly a Nen construct. Within it, two Ants that resembled humans with vestigial fins and gills played a slow game of darts, giggling at some private joke. The third and final Ant was the only one to turn Hinata's stomach.

There was a man seated at the top of the church-turned-factory, wearing a purple jacket. His right arm looked like it had been sheathed in some sort of rifle, and an empty sac extended over his shoulder, connected to the gun.

But that was just the outward, deceptive appearance. In truth, the man was long dead, and his right arm was missing entirely. There was an Ant squished inside his body, staring out his eyes; a huge, rotund octopus with bright red skin. It had stuck one of its tentacles out the hole where the man's right arm should have been and transformed it into the rifle, connecting it to the sack on the man's shoulder… which was in truth another one of the creature's tentacles.

The disguise was too seamless and perfect to be natural, and the Nen boiling off the creature confirmed Hinata's suspicion that she was witnessing an impressive and disgusting Nen technique. Hiding inside a corpse wasn't unthinkable, but she'd never seen something quite as invasive.

Hinata blinked, considering the Ant's position. Every one of the creatures was some sort of fusion with an aquatic creature, and they were right besides a canal that led into the ocean. As soon as the warehouse was stormed, the things would be able to flee into the ocean if they didn't have the inclination to stay and fight, regardless of how much firepower was arrayed to stop them from pressing further into the city.

Despite what Clara had said, it was obvious to Hinata that the situation could become disastrous without warning; the Ants escaping into the open ocean would be devastating. Was the other Hunter just inexperienced, not understanding the actual weight of the situation?

Or was it something else, responsible for the uncertainty gnawing away at the back of her mind?

She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed her chakra to slip away, the world receding to her ordinary limited vision. The first thing she was when she opened them was Gon's curious face.

"It's a disaster," she said frankly, and Clara frowned. Hinata spoke solely to Killua and Gon. "There are ten Ants: seven in the warehouse, two below it, and another nearby, at the top of a building. They're all aquatic, and there's a canal leading to the ocean less than fifty meters away." Now, she glanced at Clara. "The moment the military pushes in, if they don't fight back-" Big if there, "-they'll be in the sea before anyone can react."

Killua grimaced, shooting Clara a disgusted look. "You didn't think of that?" he asked quietly, a dangerous tenor.

The other Hunter smiled back. "If they're in the sea, they're out of the city, aren't they? Yunda will be safe."

"But then they'll just go somewhere else!" Gon said a little too loudly, getting a couple questioning looks from around the room. He ignored them. "Eat more people! We have to kill them, not chase them off!"

Clara shrugged. "You're welcome to try. Just don't expect our help; we've judged this the best approach to the situation, and we can't afford to risk it."

She turned to leave, but before she could move a step, Hinata gingerly reached out, taking her by the upper arm. She squeezed, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to let the Hunter know she wasn't going to release her immediately. Clara twitched, glancing back at her out of the corner of her eye.

Hinata didn't need her Byakugan to be active to see the Hunter tense up, violence vibrating up through her core.

"Let go," the woman softly demanded.

"Who's 'we?'" Hinata asked, relaxing her grip just a fraction.

"Myself," Clara said flatly. "Commissioner Keagen, who's in charge of the Yunda Police Force, and Commander Rotan, who's leading the International Guard detachment here. This wasn't a decision made lightly. Now," she jerked, and Hinata loosened her grip further, "let go."

"We're going to go kill those Ants," Hinata told her as she released her arm. "You're welcome to assist us, if you'd like. If not, stay out our way, and please tell the soldiers to do the same." She smiled humorlessly. "We'd hate for anyone to get hurt."

Clara narrowed her eyes. "Just the three of you?"

"We'll be fine," Gon told her, his cheerful voice at odds with the hardness in his eyes. Hinata was sure he didn't look kindly on anyone who considered letting Chimera escape to plague another city. "We've all had lots of practice." He blinked, snapping his fingers. "But hey before we go, you said something about a sniper?"

Hinata considered telling him she already had the sniper well in sight, and had already considered how to safely approach it, but she was curious how Clara would take the question, and so said nothing. The other Hunter hesitated, taken off guard by Gon's earnesty.

"The sniper," she eventually said, "is definitely an issue. We can't pin down where it's firing from, and it uses self-guided bullets. Ticks of some kind."

"It's using ticks as bullets?" Killua said, and Clara frowned.

"They can steer themselves to a degree, and they hit just as hard as normal bullet," she explained. "And they bite once they land, with some sort of anticoagulant. No one the sniper's shot has died so far, but they certainly would have if they hadn't been moved to a hospital. Just wouldn't stop bleeding."

"Huh," Gon grunted. "Well, thanks! We'll look out for that!"

He turned swiftly, a bounce in his step. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go get them."

Killua turned to leave with him, but Hinata remained, examining Clara one last time. The Hunter glared at her, the bags under her eyes magnifying the look. The sensation was there again, like the woman was trying to dig into her brain. It was more than ordinary curiosity, but Hinata couldn't pin it down, or begin to fathom why someone she'd never met before would look at her like that.

"What is it you want?" Hinata asked suddenly, and the woman twitched. "Maybe I can give it to you." Killua looked back at them with an expressionless face.

Clara sneered. "You have no idea what I want."

"Obviously," Hinata said, trying to be patient. "That's why I'm asking."

The Hunter laughed; it was a high and delicate sound, like a fancy glass cleanly breaking. "I've heard a lot about you, but no one ever told me you sounded like an idiot." The insult rolled over Hinata, completely toothless; it was obvious the woman was dissembling.

"No need to be rude," she chided. She almost felt like she was bullying the younger woman, backing her into a corner, but now her curiosity was growing into an irresistible force.

Clara's flinched, an aborted impulse to reach for something, a weapon, maybe Hinata herself. Instead, the Hunter pinned her with another penetrating look. Her lips curled up into a smile that was all teeth and no joy.

"You know what?" she asked. "It's your…" she shuddered. "Your smell, your taste, your feel." She shuddered. "I thought, when I first heard about you, but you being here now, it just makes me more sure…"

Hinata took a step back, the hair on the back of her neck rising. "...what."

"You…" Clara was struggling, drowning in the open air. "You should go."

Hinata didn't need to be told twice. She backed off, turning and catching up with Gon and Killua in an instant. Killua glanced at her, and then back at Clara once more. Hinata was positive the woman was still staring at her.

"Freak," Killua muttered, and Gon nodded. They left the building, and didn't look back.

###

Going into combat alongside Gon and Killua was always nostalgic for Hinata, transporting her back to a time when she was there age, approaching daunting odds with more experienced shinobi at her side. It never failed to amuse her that now, she was the experienced shinobi in that equation, but the strength of the boy's teamwork and their natural ability still astounded her. In a way, it made her happy; she looked at them, and she saw what her own son and daughter might become someday.

Though she was sure it would be a long time before Boruto could approach anything, including fighting, with the same precision and purity that Killua and Gon did. They'd hunted a dozen Ants since the King's birth over two weeks ago, and the teen's focus had always impressed Hinata. The fact they trusted a women they'd just met to watch their back so guilelessly, even more so. But there had been a connection there, between a mother and two children who weren't her own.

Which was why when Hinata stopped Gon and Killua did too, as if they'd timed the moment a hundred times before. They'd been approaching the warehouse, making their way through the circuitous and unplanned streets of Yunda.

"What's up?" Gon asked as Hinata help up her hand in a shushing motion. They were still three miles from the canal, twenty meters wide, that separated the warehouse from the city proper.

"The Ants are on the move," she said with a frown.

"They're leaving?" Killua asked, and Hinata shook her head.

"Not leaving, repositioning." She watched as the various Ants in the warehouse stumbled about it, taking up positions at the windows and entrances. "They know we're coming," she realized. She couldn't observe the Ants' telepathy, which Colt had informed her about weeks ago, but that was clearly what was happening.

"They saw us?" Gon asked, looking at Hinata and clearly thinking what she was: had one of the Ants actually spotted them, through hundreds of buildings and several miles of distractions? She scanned the building, looking for an explanation.

Her gaze lingered on the shark-ant, lying with its fin buried in the concrete, burning with Nen. Could he be using some sort of sensor technique? She focused on the Nen, trying to see if it was spreading beyond the fin.

So far as she could tell, it wasn't. Hinata's frown intensified as she looked at the other Ants; none of them seemed to be a sensor, and if they were, it was beyond her vision. But they were all indisputably aware of their presence; to cinch that conclusion, even the sniper was staring at their location from five miles away as it lowered himself into a comfortable seated position, its arm-rifle rising up, making minute adjustments. It wasn't exact aim, but it was close: the next time they entered one of Yunda's wide open plazas or crossed a canal, the octopus would have a clean shot.

"The sniper has us," she said, and Killua groaned. "This could get tricky."

"We'll have to split up," Killua muttered. "I'll get the sniper, while you and Gon keep heading for the warehouse. We can't let that thing have free reign."

"Yeah," Gon agreed, "but you're going with Hinata."

"Eh?" Killua cocked an eyebrow. Gon held up his hands placatingly.

"C'mon, it makes more sense. You're quicker than me Killua; it'll be easier for you to fight multiple Ants," Gon grinned. "I'm perfect for taking out one guy, and your perfect backup for Hinata, 'specially since she's still a little hurt." He tapped his earpiece. "Besides, she can guide me right to the sniper, right? It'll be fine."

Killua glanced at Hinata, and she gave Gon a smile. "Thought that through, Gon?"

"I think so!" he said. "Did I miss something?"

"No, I don't think so," Hinata said. "Let's get started then. The sniper is…" she raised her finger, pointing. "There. It looks like a man, but it's actually an octopus." Gon blinked, sticking out his tongue. "Be careful."

"You got it," Gon grinned. He slapped Killua on the shoulder. "Be right back, promise. Be careful."

"Be careful yourself, idiot," KIllua shot back. "You're the one without backup!"

"Huh, yeah," Gon realized. "Well, see you soon." He took off down a nearby alley, heading the direction of Hinata's finger.

Killua watched him go. "He'll be fine," he said, more to himself than Hinata.

"Of course," she confirmed. "Now let's go, quickly. We can't give the Ants time to escape if they get cold feet."

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 16

The Coward​

Gon made it about two miles before the first bullet struck him. It happened due to a simple slip-up; Hinata had warned him just a second ago over the radio that he'd be passing into the sniper's sightline, but he'd thought that by keeping a building between him and the octopus, he'd be okay.

The tick struck him in the right hip, just barely nicking him; he'd been alerted by the sound of shattering glass. It only took him a heartbeat to understand what had happened, and to berate himself for it. The sniper had fired through one of the buildings, its bug-bullets guiding themselves through two windows.

Stupid, Gon, stupid. He wasn't in the moment; without an opponent right in front of him, he was thinking too much.

"Gon, you alright?" Hinata's voice was always kind, and always had that undercurrent of concern. It was what made Gon trust her, that sincerity she carried with her everyone. But the concern was also sometimes annoying. He wasn't fragile, and she knew it. She just couldn't help herself, he was sure.

"Fine," he said, his sprint uninterrupted by the bullet. His hip stung. His pants were getting a little wet. Little wounds always bled too much. "Has he moved?"

"No, but it's taking aim again." The woman's voice was soft and measured. "I'd say you have about six seconds before it fires."

Gon stopped talking and focused on running, closing his eyes tight to reference the mini-map he'd built up in his head on the sniper's location. He turned, coming onto a main road, and put on a burst of speed as he opened his eyes. There were people everywhere, watching him with astonishment; why wasn't the Ant shooting them? It didn't really make sense: he'd never seen a Chimera that wouldn't have taken advantage of so many people out in the open.

The pounding of his feet on the cobblestone calmed him. This made sense; he was under the gun, on a time-limit, fighting for his life and others. He was where Kite would want him, helping these people, avenging his death. His heart sped up, and he smiled.

"Get ready," Hinata buzzed in his ear. The street was coming to an end, and three miles beyond it, his target was dead ahead; the church-like building the sniper was perched atop. Gon couldn't see the Ant, but he was sure it could see him.

"Jump!" Gon obeyed without hesitation, and he felt something wiz past his left foot. Hinata must have spoken just before the Ant fired, but even with that warning, he'd still almost been hit. His leap carried him over the canal that truncated the street, soaring into the air; the cold air rushing past his cheeks extended his grin. He was flying.

He landed on a rooftop on the other side of the canal, wondering why it was there in the first place. Was it for cargo?

Wandering again, when the Ant was right there! Gon narrowed his eyes, speeding across the roof at close to his top speed. Less than two miles now. The Ant would only have time to fire twice more, he was sure, unless it packed up early.

"Straight ahead," Hinata said. "Three seconds: dodge left." Terse, commanding; her concern had vanished. It made Gon feel lighter than air. This must have been what she was like when she was hunting the Ants with the Chairman. It was that voice that made him feel like maybe things were going to turn out alright.

Hinata could speak with the confidence of a woman who saw everything, and though he'd only heard that particular tone four times in his life, it always made Gon feel that same confidence.

One, two, three. Gon covered one hundred meters with ease. On the cue, he rocketed to the left to bounce off a water-tower, his instincts tingling, blood singing. He looked down, saw something skip small and fast off the concrete roof.

In that moment, his rhythm was destroyed as a bug-bullet slammed into his gut.

The impact sent him tumbling backwards and knocked all his breath from him, his stomach aching. But the moment Gon's feet touched the ground once more, he hurled himself forward, not hesitating. He reached down, feeling around his stomach and found the bullet chewing on the skin next to his belly button. He crushed it between his thumb and middle finger without looking, feeling his own free-flowing blood stain his hand.

"Ricochet," Hinata barked over the radio. "Gon-"

"I've got it," he said, voice steady. The pain had finally centered him; his legs moved of their own accord, arms pumping. He leapt over an alley, his whole body striving to become a bullet of its own. "I see him."

And he could. The Ant was a distant tiny figure seated at the top of the tower ahead, but it was only a mile now. Gon was sure the Chimera could tell he'd laid eyes on it. He watched as a huge sack inflated behind the figure.

The sniper was using an air-gun? That was interesting, but it made sense, considering its ammunition was alive. Gon kept his head up; now that he could see the thing being fired, he was confident he could dodge it. His pants and the lower part of his shirt were soaked, but he still had plenty of blood left to lose.

The sniper fired, the sack instantly contracting; Gon imagined it was a tiny sound despite the violent motion, like a 'pff.' He focused, trying to follow the path of the bullet.

It was the same trick again: a shot aimed at the ground to let the tick bounce directly up into him. Smart, cause it would be able to take any direction no matter which way he jumped.

Gon came to a dead stop, all of his momentum vanishing instantly. The jarring stop sent him tipping forward, overbalancing–

The bug-bullet struck the ground about ten feet in front of him; all Gon saw was a flicker of movement, but it was enough to let him know. He gave up on balancing, and pushed, flipping off the ground, going head-over-heels in an awkward front-flip.

It almost, almost worked. The bullet struck him on the top of his right foot as it came up behind him, and the extra force spun him out of control, nearly smashing his head into the roof. He caught himself with a single hand, rolling forward with a curse, and then ran on, ignoring his damp shoe and the pain in his foot.

"Crap," he muttered under his breath. Only four hundred meters now: he was almost there. The sniper stood up; Gon could see he looked worried.

"Hey!" he shouted. Three hundred meters. "I'm going to kick your ass!" The Ant probably couldn't hear him, but it felt good to shout. It turned around, starting to run.

"Get back here!" Gon jumped, finally reaching the building the tower jutted out of. He sprinted across the roof, tearing up the tile under him with every step, sending it cascading down the sloping sides. A lot of them were marked with his bloody footprint. The Ant was almost out of sight, slipping down the other side of the tower.

Gon didn't bother scrambling up the tower: instead he went around it, trying to catch the Ant on its way down. He cornered hard, his fingers digging divots into the brickwork, and came to a stop as he looked upward for his target.

"Little to the right," Hinata chimed in over the radio, and Gon shifted his gaze. He spotted the sniper immediately: the Ant had leapt clean off the tower, throwing away stealth for speed. It was falling towards the city, probably headed for water. In about a second, it would be level with him.

He did what was only natural: jumping after it.

The Ant twisted in midair and spotted him coming, its eyes going wide in shock. Gon did his best not to give it any more time to respond, leveling a kick at the thing's face.

The man's torso squirmed, and Gon blinked. An instant later, his kick connected, cleanly snapping the man's neck. With all of Gon's upward momentum slamming into the Ant, there was a moment they both hung in the air a hundred feet above the city, a second that was stretched by Gon's confusion.

"Jeez, that's just rude," the Ant said, its head rolling. It's limp lips didn't match the words. "If I were a human you'd have killed me!"

"You shot me!" Gon pointed out. They were in a free-fall now, the streets of the city approaching rapidly. It looked as though they were falling into a market of some sort. Some of his blood was falling with them, dark droplets suspended by nothing. "Did you think I wouldn't hit you?"

They hit the cobbled streets of the marketplace, sending up a chorus of screams and shouts as people scrambled away from the impact site. Gon rolled with the landing, coming to his feet without a bruise but leaving a small trail of red on the stone behind him; the Ant just landed like a sack of bricks, breaking more of the man's bones.

Something wriggled out of the body as Gon watched, and the people all around starting screaming more. The sound was a little annoying, but Gon couldn't blame them; they probably weren't used to seeing a bright red octopus the size of a teenager push its way out of somebody's corpse.

The Ant made eye contact with him. A wide, curious look.

Gon took a step forward, and the Ant ran. It slithered across the ground with impressive speed, darting deeper into the market and through throngs of people. The people it passed screamed and tried to get some distance, but the crowd that had gathered around the body made that difficult. Nonetheless, the octopus didn't attack the bystanders. It seemed focused on escaping.

Gon took off after it, bowling through the crowd with much less grace than the Ant. He knocked people aside as carefully as he could, single-mindedly chasing the creature, making a wave through the crowd. The Ant hurled itself down a set of stairs and Gon leapt down just as fast, surfing on the railing with one hand damp with his own blood.

The stairs descended into an open courtyard filled with carts and people. With the Ant making a direct line for the other side of it, Gon launched himself forward as soon as his feet made contact with the ground. His leap carried him past the Ant, which glanced at him in apparent confusion.

But the Ant hadn't been his direct target with that jump. Gon slammed into the side of a building, landing right next to a shuttered window, and then leapt again, using the wall as a springboard to come at the Ant from an unexpected direction. The brick cracked under his feet, and he drew his fist back for a decisive blow.

Gon realized his mistake in an instant. With his focus reserved for the Ant, he hadn't accounted for the moving crowds that both he and the Chimera had been rushing through without care. There was too much to take in; food, colorful cloth, dozens of people. His direction of attack, which had been clear when he'd jumped, now had a young woman in the way; a tall women in a crimson dress.

The woman was between him and the octopus. As Gon's fist finished drawing back, he considered the two possible outcomes in the moment of frozen embarrassment. One: the Ant would seize the woman and use her as a shield, and Gon would have to abort his attack, leaving himself open for a counter. Two: the Ant would stay on the move, in which case Gon would probably land his hit, but bowl over the woman in the process, probably injuring her.

Maybe badly.

The Ant was watching him in that stilled time with its too-human eyes. Two of its arms reached out, the others keeping it moving. Gon was sure it would use the woman as a shield. With its many limbs, that was the most reasonable option. No matter what, she was going to get hurt.

The Ant's tentacles made contact with the woman's back. She started. Gon was only three meters away. Less than a tenth of a second from impact.

The octopus pushed the woman out of the way.

Gon blinked, and thanks to it actually missed the moment of impact. He smashed into the octopus at full speed, his fist not ready thanks to his assumption, and went tumbling painfully across the courtyard, leaving more of his blood smeared on the stone. The Ant wrapped its limbs around him, painfully restricting his limbs, but before they'd even come to a stop Gon viciously snapped out with his teeth, tearing out a mouth-sized chunk of the Ant's flesh without hesitation.

The Ant shouted in pain and tried to scramble away once more, but it didn't make it a foot before Gon was back on his feet. He stomped down on one of the octopus's limbs, pinning it. His hands came together, gathering Nen, and his fist began vibrating with excess energy.

Just over a second after crashing into it, and Gon had the Ant pinned and dead to rights.

But something stopped him from launching his Jajanken and splattering the thing. The courtyard has gone silent with the exception of distant seabirds and people murmuring; the woman the Ant had pushed had crashed to the ground and had yet to rise, but she looked back with wide, fearful eyes.

Another second passed, and neither Gon or the Ant moved. They just stared at each other. Gon cocked his head, and took the moment to spit out the rubbery chunk of Ant flesh. He could feel its blood, thick and blue, on his teeth.

"Gon?" Hinata asked over the radio. He could feel her watching. "Something wrong?"

The Ant heard the voice, shifting a little, but didn't move more than that. Its eyes remained fixed on Gon's fist; Gon knew it understood that at this range, it wouldn't be able to escape a Rock's speed or power. The hatsu would kill it in an instant.

Why had the Ant just pushed that woman? It didn't make sense: it had been the absolute worst move to make. Even just ignoring her would have been better. It would have been able to get out of the way in time, and the chase would have continued. Taking her hostage would have given it some leverage, maybe a way out. Why give that up?

To keep her from being hurt?

'No one the sniper's shot has died so far, but they certainly would have if they hadn't been moved to a hospital.'

Gon pursed his lips. That's what Clara had said, when he'd asked her about the Ant's capabilities. He'd put it down to luck, but now, having been in the Ant's sights, he realized that was ridiculous. Its rate of fire and accuracy would have made it trivial to kill an ordinary human, especially with its bug-bullets. No one had died? That was absurd; even if it wasn't trying, at least one person would have bled out, right?

He looked back at the woman, who was now rising from the ground, and applied more pressure to the tentacle under his foot.

Why would an Ant shoot to injure and not kill? Why would an Ant push away an easy human shield?

To warn people away?

"What are you waiting for?" the octopus finally asked, and there was a ripple of gasps and muttered exclamations from the crowd. Mostly stuff along the lines of 'it talked?'. Gon ignored them.

"Why'd you push her out of the way?" Gon asked, nodding his head at the woman. The octopus grew even redder, swelling up with indignation.

"So I'd have a better shot at strangling you!" it shouted, staring at Gon's fist. "Why else?"

"You have eight arms: you could have used her as a shield and strangled me at the same time," Gon pointed out, and the octopus huffed. "Rock," he added, almost as an afterthought, and a faint orange glow sprung up around his hand.

"Well, I didn't consider it!" the octopus said.

"Yes, you did," Gon said, a little confused. "I saw it. Paper." The orange glow around his hand grew brighter; he knew only the Ant could see it.

"Well, I-!" the Ant sputtered, glancing between Gon and the woman. She'd stumbled off into the crowd, helped by friendly hands, people asking her if she was alright. "I…"

"I was gonna hit her," Gon said, and the octopus deflated a little. "Probably would have hurt her pretty badly." He shifted his weight, drawing back a little but keeping his foot on the Ant's limb. "What's your name?"

He wondered what Hinata was thinking right now; was she hoping he'd stop talking and finish the Ant off?

"...Ikalgo," the octopus said after a long pause. "I was worried you might kill her."

"Why?" Gon asked. The answer was alien to him, even though it made sense. "I've never met an Ant that didn't like killing. Or watching people get killed."

"Why should she die? She didn't do anything wrong." The Ant spoke quietly, but with passion. "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who would I be, to take advantage of that?"

Gon shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around what the Ant was saying. Kite's final exhausted breath echoed in the back of his brain, before being swept away by the octopus's wide, bitter eyes.

"Are the others with you the same?" he asked. He heard Killua breathing on the other end of the radio. He and Hinata were definitely listening in on everything; they were probably close to the warehouse now.

The Ant sighed, looking away.

"They're not cowards. They're not like me," he admitted. The bitterness slipped away, replaced by shame. "That's why I stayed up in that tower. I figured, if I shot anyone that got close, they wouldn't have an excuse to go crazy. But it's been three days now… I don't know if it was the right decision."

The picture was starting to make a little more sense, but Gon was happy to leave the mystery of why the Ants weren't rampaging to Killua and Hinata. He was more preoccupied with the immediate meaning of Ikalgo's words.

"If you're not like you, we'll have to kill them," he told the Ant. It gaped, stricken, but didn't protest beyond downcast eyes.

"If you feel you must," it muttered. "But please, if you can… at least give them a chance to surrender. Not all of them want to be here."

"Are you giving up?" Gon asked, easing up a little more on the Ant's limb.

Ikalgo snorted; it sounded bizarre coming from a creature without a nose. "It's not like I have a choice," he said. "If it's between that and you killing me, I'll take surrender every day."

Gon looked the Ant over. He was just a head and eight limbs. How did you restrain something like that? Couldn't octopus's slip through really small spaces anyway? Could he knock him out? Would he be unconscious for long enough?

"You have any suggestions for tying you up?" he asked after a moment, and Ikalgo blinked. "If you're surrendering, I can't exactly just leave you here. You could just run off."

"Unless you cut off all my limbs-" Ikalgo started to say. Gon considered it, and the Ant noticed: it rapidly backtracked. "Not that you'll need to! I promise, I'll stay right here!" It looked around at the crowd, some of which looked ready to lynch it. "Maybe not right here, but I won't run away."

Even to Gon, that sounded like a bad idea. "I'm not-" he started to say, before Hinata cut in over the radio.

"It's fine," she said, and Gon relaxed a little. "It's telling the truth, and it won't be able to get out of my range before we're finished here if it does decide to run. Leave it; we're nearly at the warehouse."

Gon nodded, knowing the woman would see him, and turned to go. The Nen around his hand faded, and he released Ikalgo's limb. The Ant sighed in relief.

"If you run, we'll know," Gon said. He put as much severity into the words as possible, and the Ant twitched.

"How?" Ikalgo asked. It almost sounded sarcastic, but it was delivered with sincerity. Gon looked back with an inquisitive look as the Ant continued. "Is the Watcher with you?"

"Watcher?" Gon asked, hesitating. The word was delivered with an undercurrent of genuine terror, like a curse.

"The… Watcher," Ikalgo said, with a hint of self-consciousness. "There was a woman, at the Nest, before the King was born. She was watching us, all the time, with these blank white eyes. She helped the humans kill many Ants." He shivered. "I never laid eyes on her, but I had a comrade who did. He said she couldn't have been human, not with those eyes, or that body. And now, in this city… we've all had that same feeling, as back at the Nest."

Gon blinked. Body? There was no doubt the Ant was referring to Hinata, and she had a rather normal body, as far as he could tell. Maybe a little smaller than most people her age.

"Interesting," he heard Killua mutter over the radio.

"She's here," he confirmed, and Ikalgo began trembling, sweat gleaming on his wide head. Several fleas slipped out of its skin, somehow concealed beneath it and unearthed by the sweat. Gon smiled, feeling a hint of mischief. The Ant had shot him, after all; the wounds were still sluggishly leaking blood. "And she's watching."

"I won't move," the Ant frantically promised. "I won't move an inch." It slowly raised one of its tentacles, removing a damp cloth from some unseen pocket. "I have an antidote, for the fleas. You should take it before you lose too much more blood." Gon narrowed his eyes. "It will work, I promise."

"Thanks!" Gon cheerfully snatched the cloth, dabbing it against the wound in his stomach. "Remember: don't move! She's watching!" He took off in the other direction, towards the warehouse. It was time to join back up with the rest of his ad-hoc team.

One down, nine to go.

###

It was obvious the Ants weren't a unified front, and that had weakened them. While Gon had hunted down the sniper, Killua and Hinata had made their way towards the industrial island housing the warehouse. Two of them, the fish-like Ants, had cut and run. Fortunately for Yunda, the Ants had been complete idiots; whether out of greed, ignorance or suicidal overconfidence, they'd swum through the city canal's directly in Hinata and Killua's path.

One of them had revealed itself as a flying fish hybrid. Killua had torn out its lungs and decapitated it for good measure dozens of meters in the air and left its body to fall back into the canal. The other had tried to flee after seeing what had happened to its fellow. Hinata had stopped its heart with a single strike.

Now, as they stared at the warehouse across the canal separating it from the rest of the city, there were only seven Ants left.

"Have they moved?" Killua asked, and Hinata shook her head. The Ants were watching them, waiting for them to come forward; the two below, ensconced in their artificial bar in the sewers, seemed entirely obvious to the situation. Even while the other Ants had somehow reacted to the Hunter's and Hinata's presence, those two had been happy to sit around and continue playing darts. After what their fellows had done, Hinata was willing to consider they were just that stupid, but they couldn't afford to drop their guard.

"The two underground haven't moved, but the rest are ready for us," she told Killua. "We'll get them once we're done with the ones on the surface." Killua nodded; he'd probably already come up with the same plan. Three on five wasn't bad odds, but splitting Hinata's chakra would make the situation more tenuous, and Gon had been slightly injured by the sniper, Ikalgo. Concentrating all their strength on the larger group of Ants was the obvious choice.

If only the local military and Clara would actually move in and take advantage, Hinata thought ruefully. But their ostensible allies seemed entirely content to sit back and let them do the work.

Politics, no doubt, though Hinata couldn't make more than a guess at the specifics. It was the only explanation for the soldiers holding back for so long, along with the peculiar Hunter.

Gon caught up just four or five seconds later, landing next to them with a soft thud as they gazed over the canal. His shirt and pants, along with one of his shoes, was stained through with blood, but he didn't seem to notice. The cloth Ikalgo had provided seemed to have stopped the bleeding as advertised; in addition, the Ant had barely moved from its position, as it had sworn to Gon.

It amused Hinata, in an irresponsible way, to be such an image of terror to the Ants. She wondered if her teammates knew; she hadn't spoken to them in a couple days, and they hadn't mentioned anything then. Kiba would definitely heckle her about it if he found out.

Still, terror could be useful. It might help them resolve this situation.

"You good?" Killua asked Gon, glancing at his shirt. "Think you bled enough?"

Gon stuck his tongue out at him. "It just looks bad: barely hurt. I'm fine." He looked at Hinata. "So, 'Watcher?' Pretty spooky."

"Pretty spooky," Hinata agreed. The Royal Guard, Neferpitou, had called her that at the end of their short fight; the Ant must have spread that name throughout the Nest before the Queen had died. Hinata had almost forgotten about that peculiar moment. She'd been much more focused on Shino in the wake of the brawl. "I guess I don't think about it much."

"About what?" Gon asked. Killua rolled his eyes.

"About how terrifying her eyes are," he said, and Hinata laughed. "Let's go, before those things change their mind."

He jumped, and Hinata and Gon followed him, leaping to the other side of the vast waterway in a single bound. They landed without a sound and carefully made their way towards the warehouse; a casual stride that was prepared for anything.

Clara Megallane was watching them, Hinata noticed. The Hunter was perched on a building about a kilometer away, with binoculars raised to her sleep-ringed eyes. Maybe she would join the fight after all, depending on how it went.

The front door to the warehouse was wide, red, thick iron rimmed in grey steel. It probably weighed at least half a ton. When they got within fifty meters of the building, the alligator-Ant kicked it down.

The Ants walked over the busted door as a unit, openly confident. It was a stark contrast to their former passivity. Hinata could tell they were spoiling for a fight. It was all five of them in a rough wedge: the alligator led the way, flanked by the lobster and the ant that looked like a sea-slug with spider legs and a human face. The shark-man and the green Ant-woman were at the rear. At its full height, the shark-ant was easily the largest, nearly ten feet tall and twice as wide as Hinata.

Underground, the Ants in the bar began laughing. Hinata couldn't imagine why.

"Normally we wouldn't give you this opportunity," Killua started to yell at the top of his voice, "but today, by special request, you get one chance to surrender." He glanced back at Hinata. "The Watcher is here, and she's not in a good mood."

Hinata frowned at him, and Killua shot her a little bastardly grin. She resisted the urge to smile back. There was a fight for their life ahead of them, after all.

"The Watcher?" the alligator asked, its voice faint over the distance. It glared at Hinata. "You killed quite a few of my squad." Its mouth peeled back in a horrible smile, showing every inch of its dozens of hand-sized teeth. "I've been wanting to thank you personally! Without you, I'd never have had so much food to myself!" It laughed uproariously, one of its clawed hands on its stomach. "You really did us a service you know, weeding out the weaklings like that!"

Hinata didn't respond, and after a moment the Ant stopped laughing. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we're not surrendering!" it shouted. "We've only been holed up here hoping some special humans like you lot would eventually wander in!"

"Indeed." The green woman spoke up. "Why gorge yourself on garbage, when with some patience you can have a smaller but more filling meal?" It glanced at the alligator, which scoffed back.

"You'll just be the first of the rest!" the alligator grinned. "We'll eat you punks, and then have the city for dessert! Hell, maybe the continent as a five-courser!"

Ants never tired of hearing themselves talk, Hinata thought. She started walking forward, taking note of the opposition. Like most Ants, their opponents were happy to fight with just their bodies, with one exception. The green woman was carrying some sort of pin behind her back, like the kind you would tuck into a jacket. It was small and red, with the words "Bar Double Bull" scrawled on it. It was probably related to her hatsu.

"Watch out for that one," she noted to the boys. "She's carrying something: don't get stuck with it."

"What, you're rushing towards your death that quickly?" the shark-ant asked. Before Hinata could come up with a reply, before she was even sure if she'd make one, the lobster raised both its hands, claws opening up, gun barrels extending.

"Fine by me!" it screeched, and then all sound was replaced by the unbelievable cacophony of its guns.

The Ant sprayed a ludicrous amount of high caliber bullets, all Nen projections, from its claws, effortlessly tearing up the huge stretch of concrete between it and Hinata. She went on the offensive, trusting Killua and Gon to look after themselves. The slugs were huge and destructive, but they weren't especially fast, at least for bullets. Hinata danced forward, her stiff leg protesting but up to the challenge, zipping through the exploding concrete and spinning past bullet after bullet. The tide of projectiles seemed endless, but nonetheless she pushed closer and closer, eating up the ground between her and the Ants without issue.

The lobster's eyes grew wide, and it switched targets, realizing when there were about ten meters left that Hinata wasn't the immediate threat. By then, it was too late: Gon and Killua had flanked in on her right and left, taking advantage of the Ants' monofocus. Killua charged the alligator, which fell back in a shock as electricity sprang from the teen's skin, burning the ground around him. Gon leapt towards the shark.

To Hinata's shock, the shark-ant dove straight down into the ground, slipping through it as though it were water. Gon landed where it had been with a confused look, before turning and charging after the closest enemy.

The Ants at the rear rushed forward to support the frontliners: it was a mistake. Hinata took the half-second of respite from the lobster's bombardment to focus and fire off a Vacuum Palm as she leapt up and over the shocked Ant's head: the swirling, vicious air slammed into the spider-slug and tore all but one of its legs off. It wailed, its human face contorting in agony, before Hinata landed beside it and slammed her flat palm into the thing's face. Chakra sharpened by the Gentle Fist stabbed deep into its brain, and the Ant screamed even louder and fell, limblessly thrashing and bleeding from the mouth and eyes.

The shark, swimming through the concrete below as easily as it would water, set its eyes on Killua. It dove down, deep, almost thirty meters, and then turned, swimming, thrashing, at monstrous speed directly for the 'surface.' The moment Hinata's first victim crashed to the ground, she shouted a warning.

"Jump!"

She didn't have time to specify. Both Gon and Killua leapt fifteen feet straight up without hesitation just as the shark breached, hurling itself into the air after Killua. It snapped hungrily, but Killua was just out of reach, and the teen delivered a brutal kick directly to the shark's nose, sending it hurtling back down to the earth in a stream of bright blue blood. It crashed to the ground with a tremendous thud, before promptly sinking back below the concrete.

Interesting technique, Hinata noted. Terrifying, too; without her Byakugan, it would be incredibly difficult to counter. The shark could be their primary concern.

Four Ants left: shark, alligator, green woman, lobster. The lobster snapped its claws up, trying to shoot Killua out of the air, but the teen twisted through the hail of bullets as he spiralled back to earth. One nicked his shoulder and drew a spurt of blood, but a moment later in an arc of bright lightning he slammed into the Ant, sending one of its limbs flying. The gun-claw skittered away, the point of separation cauterized.

Gon was targeted by the shark, circling below, and the green woman; she tried to pluck him out of the air with a harpoon that materialized out of nowhere, covered in brine and blood. Gon slapped the Nen-weapon aside with a yell, and the moment he landed was charging the woman, forcing her back with a series of brutal punches and kicks. The shark, with its target too close to an ally, continued circling.

The alligator targeted Hinata with a toothy grin. He stayed at a distance, but leveled a finger at her.

"You're all finished," it boasted. "My Belphegor won't let you escape!" Its mouth opened, growing wide and wider, far beyond what was physically possible. The alligator's jaw should have shattered, but instead it grew yet wider, until Hinata couldn't see the rest of its head at all, just the pitch black maw it contained.

"I'm the King of Gluttony!" the thing said, somehow. Its mouth didn't move: the voice issued from somewhere deep within its stomach. "There's not a thing on this planet I can't eat!"

It breathed in, and the simple action produced hurricane winds. Everything around Hinata was drawn in, vanishing down the Chimera's gullet without a sound. She felt herself being dragged forward and anchored herself to the ground with stubborn chakra, digging herself into the concrete.

But the Ant didn't stop breathing. It drew more and more air in, the cone of wind growing wider and more vicious with every passing second. The darkness within its mouth was absolute, an event horizon that greedily drew in everything within range. Even anchored as she was, Hinata felt herself being dragged forward, drawn towards the bottomless mouth.

She dismissed a series of solutions in less than a second. She knew several fire jutsu, but they'd be useless against a mouth that ate concrete without hesitation. Her Vacuum Palm would probably be the same, along with any kunai. Projectiles in general were out of the question. She'd eventually be drawn in, so she couldn't rely on Killua or Gon to come to her rescue in the next couple seconds. They were busy with their own problems; Killua was systematically dismantling the lobster, and Gon had the green woman on the ropes. The shark seemed confused over which of them to go after.

She closed her eyes: two solutions seemed the most likely to work. She went with the less drastic one first, digging down deep into her chakra system and dragging out the cold chakra of her ancestor. Bracing herself as best she could, she threw forward both her hands, gleaming with ancient purple energy.

The Double Vacuum Palm exploded out of her hands with an insatiable energy, as set on eating the alligator as it was on her. But to Hinata's shock, the vast majority of the blast spiralled down the Ant's throat without protest. The edges of the technique slammed into the Ant's peripheral, driving it to one knee, but its mouth remained impossibly open. A deep booming laugh echoed out of it.

"Delicious!" it roared. "Give me more!"

Hinata gritted her teeth and put her hands together in a cross that her husband had taught her.

There was a puff of smoke, and a shadow clone popped into existence, indistinguishable from her. Not secured to the ground, it hurtled forward into the alligator's mouth.

But like most shadow clones, its purpose was to die. The moment it reached the Ant's mouth, it spun into a Kaiten, a sphere of glittering purple and blue energy scouring the creature's teeth and burning the edges of its mouth. The Ant howled and shut its mouth in one impossibly fast motion, biting the clone cleanly in half. The phantom sensation returned to Hinata a heartbeat later, but she ignored the false pain, hurling herself forward before the Ant could re-establish its technique.

Hinata hit the Ant in the face with an abrupt Lion Fist, and at the same moment Killua rocketed into its side, leading with his foot. The Ant twisted both ways, its face set in agony, before tumbling away from Killua's kick and leaving behind several teeth.

At the same moment, Gon finished off his opponent. With a primal shout of "Rock!" he slammed his fist clean through the green women, reducing her chest to a slurry of crushed bone and organs. She slumped backwards, eyes fluttering.

Chimera Ants, however, had an incredible will to live, and the biology to back it up. Despite missing its chest cavity, the Ant spent its last erg of energy lurching forward, snapping at Gon's neck with its long, hollow teeth. Gon danced back and nearly broke the creature's neck with his elbow, but before it collapsed it lashed out again. Its last attack was also the most pathetic; it stabbed at Gon with the pin it had concealed since the beginning of the fight and missed, only managing to stick the front of his sodden shirt.

The Chimera collapsed, and suddenly there were only three left. The shark, still circling, its heart speaking panic to Hinata; the alligator, whimpering on the floor; and the lobster, deprived of both its arms, covered in electrical burns, and stuck on its back, staring blankly at the sky.

"Everyone alright?" Hinata asked, already knowing the answer, and both Killua and Gon nodded. They circled the alligator, which looked up at them with wild fearful eyes. With some of its teeth missing, it looked almost comical.

Its glare darted between them, before settling on Gon. To Hinata's trepidation, the alligator relaxed, letting out a weak chuckle.

"Alright," it said, pulling itself to its feet. "Okay. I guess you are all that, Watcher."

"Any last words?" Killua asked, extending his fingernails.

"I thought we could surrender?" the alligator asked, acting shocked.

"One chance, remember?" Killua chided. "Not my fault you idiots are hard of hearing." He took a step forward, and the alligator grinned.

"Hurt me, and your friend dies," it said, pointing at Gon. Gon blinked, glancing over his shoulder, and then pointed at himself.

"Me?" he asked, and the alligator coughed in disbelief.

"Why don't you try taking off that stupid pin?" it asked with a shake of its head. Gon glanced at Killua and then did just that, trying to tear the pin off his shirt.

It didn't budge. The boy frowned, reaching around and trying to instead just rip the material. Despite his strength, the shirt remained whole.

"Don't… don't bother trying to lose your shirt," the Ant said as Gon started to do just that. The hem of his shirt bizarrely refused to budge, anchored to his side. "It's impossible; once that pin's on you, it's not coming off without permission."

Hinata felt her stomach sink. They'd overlooked something. Despite overcoming the Ants in a straight fight, they'd still missed something critical. Now, Gon was in danger.

"What is it?" Killua asked in a low voice. "What did you do?"

"I haven't done anything, you stupid morsel," the alligator said. "It's what my friends will do that you should be worried about." He pointed down, beneath their feet, and Hinata realized in an instant what they'd missed. "There's two Ants down there, call themselves the Ortho Twins. They were born out of the same egg and everything; they share this technique. Sister makes the pin, and Brother plays the game."

"Game?" Killua asked. Hinata knew he was a bad breeze away from ripping the alligator's head off. Gon was quiet.

"Darts," she said, and the alligator shot her a smug look. "Those two Ants down there in the sewer, playing darts. We should have gone after them first."

"You couldn't have," the alligator said smugly. "Unless they're in the middle of a game, they can move that bar of theirs wherever they want."

"Darts, huh?" Gon asked. "So what, that's it?"

"Yeah, that's it kid," the Ant said. "'Cept you're the dartboard, is all."

Twisted, deadly, childish. Everything about the Ants distilled down to a simple game. Hinata felt a chill run up her spine at the realization.

"Once their game starts, it won't end until one of two conditions is met," the alligator continued. "Either Brother misses, or he wins. And Brother never misses."

'Winning' meant Gon dying. There was no doubt of that. In the distance, she spotted something unexpected, cutting off her thoughts for just a moment. Clara Megallane was on the move, lowering herself with some hesitation into a manhole. There was a tube slung over her back with a narrow head; some kind of gun, no doubt.

'Going into the sewers?' Hinata thought. The woman began racing through the filth and murky water; it only took Hinata a second to be sure of her destination.

Clara was heading directly for the bar beneath the streets. She was a couple minutes away, by Hinata's estimation.

"So, what do you want then?" Gon asked, fingering the tag idly. The alligator snorted.

"Simple. You walk away and leave me and poor Bloster alone," he said, looking at the disarmed lobster. "Let us get out of here, don't try to stop any of us leaving, and Brother will just miss his first shot. Nice and simple, no consequences. It'll piss him off having to miss, but the game will end on the first move, and no one will end up hurt." He glanced back over at the dead Ants, his gaze lingering on the one Hinata had killed. "Well, 'cept for Thyreus, but no one liked him anyway."

"Hmm," Gon grunted, examining the tag. He looked to Killua, and then nodded to Hinata. She didn't understand why he seemed unconcerned.

To Hinata, it wasn't even a question. They'd killed half the Ants present, and one of the survivors was basically crippled. Gon's life wasn't worth four Ants, even if they would escape. There was little chance they'd be able to reach the Twins before they did fatal damage to Gon with their hatsu. They were buried deep beneath the earth, far beyond the reach of any digging jutsu, and the closest route to them was nearly three miles long. On her absolute best day, Hinata could cover that distance in eighty seconds or so, maybe a little more thanks to all the turns, but today, with her leg half healed, that wasn't happening. And though Clara seemed to be heading towards the bar herself, there was no guarantee–

"Hey, alligator-dude," Gon suddenly asked. "Do you like Ikalgo?"

"Why?" the Ant sneered. "Did you already kill him?"

"Nah," Gon said with a grin. "He surrendered, and he asked us to take you alive if we could." Perfect, Hinata thought. Keep him busy. More time to think up a solution.

The alligator laughed. "He always was a coward," he said. "Always terrifying of embracing his genetic destiny. We Ants, we're the true rulers of you cattle. Someone like him…" The Ant narrowed his eyes.

"He could never be a King."

Gon's face hardened, and Hinata's heart skipped a beat as she realized what he was about to do.

"Hey Killua," he said, his voice harsh. Hinata started to speak, but it was too late. "I bet that guy sucks at darts anyway."

Killua moved just as Hinata managed to say 'Wait,' burying his hand in the alligator's eye and crushing the Ant's brain before it could react. The Ant collapsed, and Killua flicked its blood off his hand.

"Gon!" Hinata yelled, turning. "What're you thinking?!"

Gon blinked at her. He still didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You better move quick."

"I can't make it to them before they finish their game!" Hinata yelled. Did Gon not get that? The Ant the alligator had called 'Brother' was standing up, taking aim with a dart and a gleeful expression.

"So?" Killua asked. "You're an exorcist."

Hinata twitched, her understanding of the situation flipping on its head. She'd only heard that word once before; Knuckle had mentioned it before she'd destroyed the puppet manipulating Kite.

The pin was Nen, she belatedly realized. It couldn't be removed, but it could be destroyed. She surged forward, towards Gon.

Far below, Brother threw its dart, and Hinata was suddenly in a race. But she was faster than sound; the dart was not. Before it reached the board in the Chimera's bar, she seized the pin along with the front of Gon's shirt, running burning cold chakra through her hand. With a grunt, she squeezed, filling the pin with her chakra and then shattering it.

The dart slammed into the board, quivering.

Nothing happened to Gon.

The boy stared at her. "You forgot?" he giggled, as Hinata stood back up with a huff. The giggle was slowly transforming into a full blown laugh. "You forgot?!"

Killua started chuckling too as Hinata's face went red. "I forgot!" she shouted, poking Gon in the chest and sending him back a step. "You really scared me!" Killua snorted, trying to control himself.

"You thought I was in a lot of trouble there!" Gon laughed, doubling over with his hands on his knees, his whole body shaking; Hinata was sure there was some excess adrenaline there from the fight, rushing out with the laughter. "I'm sorry," he said, his laughter petering out. "I thought you were just going to hit it right away!"

"And I thought you were going to give us a minute to plan something!" Hinata shot back. "What if I couldn't have destroyed the pin?"

Gon shrugged. "I woulda been fine. Probably. You guys would have figured something out, right?" He glanced at Killua, who shrugged back.

"Maybe not," Killua said with a smile. "You could have just died."

"Bleh." Gon waved him off. Below, Brother was still playing darts, apparently oblivious to the destruction of the pin. "So what do we do with him?" he asked, pointing at the lobster-Ant, Bloster.

The Ant glanced at him. "I surrender," it said flatly.

"You sure?" Killua asked. "You did try to shoot us."

Bloster looked at the stumps where its arms had been as it slowly sat up, then to the disconnected arms themselves, and then at the body of the alligator. "Fat chance of that happening again," it grunted. "What am I gonna do, bite you guys? I have no interest in dying so stupidly."

Hinata kept an eye on the shark, still circling below. The Ant seemed confused about what to do. Even with the alligator dead, it didn't attack, staying out of their reach. It was probably smart enough to understand that without distractions, its attack would be dodged, and it would be vulnerable. If Hinata were in its situation, she wouldn't make a move either.

That was three Ants that were out of reach, then. The Twins, and that shark.

Beyond the shark, deeper in the earth, Clara was still on the move. The immediate danger to Gon had passed, but if she'd been aware of it in the first place, she certainly wasn't now. Hinata wondered what had convinced her to involve herself, now that most of the Ants were dead. Now that she was a little more focused, she could tell the tube on the Hunter's back was some sort of firearm, packed with complicated mechanisms meant to launch the explosive that was resting inside it.

Clara was now within two hundred meters of the bar; Brother was nearly finished with his dart game. If Hinata hadn't been able to destroy the pin, she was sure Gon would at least have been badly injured.

"What's happening?" Killua asked. Hinata realized she'd been staring apparently vacantly at something they couldn't see.

"Clara Megallane's heading for the two Ants down below," she said, starting to move. Gon made a surprised sound, and the shark kept pace with her beneath the ground, still refusing to attack.

Abruptly it stopped, turning and facing down, towards the sewers. From Hinata's perspective, it was staring blindly, directly at Clara. Slowly, it began to move, gradually picking up speed. Hinata broke into a sprint.

"Stay with the prisoner!" she shouted. "I'll be right back!"

As Clara continued through the sewer, drawing closer and closer to the bar, the shark-Ant drew closer to her. Two hundred meters, one hundred, fifty. Hinata leapt the canal, making a beeline for the nearest manhole. The shark stalked Clara through solid earth and brick, circling the tunnel the Hunter was carefully making her way down.

Hinata could already tell she wasn't going to make it as she dropped into the filthy water running below the city, the chakra under her feet keeping her aloft on the surface of the murky tide. It would take her at least a minute to make her way to Clara's position, and the shark was just moments away from striking.

All she could do was watch, and hope the woman didn't die before she arrived.

The shark's first attack would have been fatal, if it weren't for Clara's impressive instincts. The moment the Ant breached from the side of the tunnel, the woman dove down without seeing it, slamming herself to the stonework of the platforms on either side of the river of garbage. The shark missed her by less than a foot, its hand-sized teeth catching the hem of her cloak and tearing a section off. It vanished seamlessly into the wall just as Clara looked up, powering through the brick and coming around in a wide turn for another attack.

Hinata sped up: the shark wouldn't miss a second time, she was sure. She was about thirty seconds away. Clara came to one knee, and held both hands out in front of her.

A small tool materialized in her hands; a tablet, with a blank screen. There were two cables dangling from either end of it, like small auxiliary jacks. To Hinata's shock, Clara took one of the pairs of cables and jammed them into her wrist. There wasn't a hint of blood; the electronic just slid into her skin.

Hinata realized this was probably Clara's Hatsu, some kind of Nen Conjuration. It didn't seem likely that a small tablet would be much help against a shark Chimera that was over ten feet tall, though. But Clara hadn't struck her as a fool. She wouldn't have deployed her Hatsu when she knew Hinata would be able to see her unless she intended to use it.

Twenty-five seconds away.

The shark charged, this time from above. If it had its way, it would fall from above on the Hunter like a bomb with teeth, swallowing her whole. Hinata resisted the urge to yell out. It wouldn't accomplish anything. Clara's life was in her own hands.

The Hunter looked up less than a second before the shark breached through the brickwork.

She dove to the left, hitting the ground roughly and nearly rolling into the water. The shark snapped at her, and once more took a chunk from her outfit. This time, it was her sleeve, but one of the teeth scored the woman's arm as well, leaving a small divot in her flesh. Clara gritted her teeth as the shark completed its pass, seamlessly slipping back into the ground.

But before it could vanish, the other pair of jacks on the Hunter's tablet jabbed out. Half of the shark's body was below the ground, everything above its core; the jacks stabbed into the shark's rear.

Hinata stopped, fascinated by the surge of Nen that shot down both pairs of jacks. Clara's energy entered the shark, carried by the tablet, and an equivalent amount left the shark, taking up residence in the conjuration.

The Ant died.

Clara withdrew, the jacks slipping out of both her wrist and the shark. Hinata paused, looking harder. It took her a whole second to understand what had happened.

The shark's Hatsu, which had let it slip through solid ground like water, had stopped functioning. The whole creature's upper body and head had merged with the stone and bricks of the sewer, crushing every one of its major organs at once. All that was left was its bottom half, sticking out of the ground like a bizarre and grotesque piece of art.

Clara dusted herself off and continued on her way, only fifty meters or so from the bar. Hinata remained where she was. She was rooted by two questions.

The first was how on earth Clara had killed the shark. Did her tablet deactivate Nen abilities? If so, that was monstrously dangerous. The second was a general sense of curiosity. Now that the shark was dead, Hinata was almost eager to see how Clara would handle the Twins.

Brother was nearly done with his dart game. Hinata advanced slowly, coming to within one turn of the door, and then held her position, watching Clara approach the door. It looked bizarre, sitting in the middle of the sewer's wall with no respect for its surroundings. Would the Hunter try to creep in? It was two on one odds, and her Hatsu didn't seem ideal for fighting multiple opponents.

As Clara approached the door, she unslung the tube she'd been carrying on her back since entering the sewer. She checked the head, making sure everything was in its proper place, and then took a deep breath.

In one smooth and impressive motion, she kicked the bar's door off its hinges and fell to one knee, leveling the tube. As the two Ants inside turned, their eyes widening in shock, the Hunter depressed the trigger on the handle.

There was a tremendous bang and a flash of fire, and a small long bomb leapt out of the tube, propelled at impressive speed by the blast. The Ants barely had time to react; the smaller, feminine one rolled behind the bar, while Brother staggered to the side. The rocket-propelled grenade slammed directly into its precious dartboard.

Hinata had enough time to note with some amusement that Clara had almost scored a bullseye before the bomb detonated. The explosion engulfed Brother, flinging him across the room and destroying most of his head; for an Ant, he wasn't very durable. Hinata could see he hadn't managed to erect any Nen defenses either.

The blast rippled across the bar, rupturing wood, flipping tables, and shattering all the glass in the room. Sister, hiding behind the counter, was sent skittering backwards, a shard of wood embedded in her shoulder. It seemed she shared her twin's fragility.

While the explosion was still echoing through the sewer, Clara was on the move. She let the weapon fall from her shoulder, leaving it on the ground, and confidently entered the bar with a hurried but careful stride. She spotted Sister immediately. The Ant was still reeling from the blast, bleeding from the mouth and trying to make its way to its feet. Before it could even register the Hunter's presence, Clara was at its side, her tablet materializing once more.

Hinata began to move. As Sister turned in a daze, the tablet's jacks entered its forehead.

It took Hinata about twenty seconds to reach the bar. She was watching Clara's Hatsu the whole time, engrossed in the play of Nen between the Hunter and the Ant. The stream of energy between the two was perfectly balanced, only barely contained by the Nen conjuration. The precision and delicacy of Clara's control was truly impressive: Hinata didn't understand quite what the Hatsu did, but to her surprise whatever its function it was a reciprocal technique.

Sister's Nen was being forced into Clara, and Clara was returning an equivalent amount of her own. Hinata wondered what the purpose of it was. Could the Hunter be stealing the Ant's Hatsu? That could explain how she had killed the shark, but it wouldn't account for the Hunter's own energy entering the Ant. There was something she was missing.

When she came upon the final turn she considered making some noise intentionally, to warn the Hunter she'd arrived. But curiosity held her back. The flow of Nen from Clara's conjuration was ebbing. Her Hatsu was coming to an end.

Hinata reached the door to the bar. The Hunter inside was still unaware of her. As she ran her hand along the door's frame, testing if it felt like real wood, Clara withdrew her jacks from the Ant's head and her own wrist. She sagged, breathing heavily. Obviously using the Hatsu twice in quick succession had been tiring for her.

Tired and secluded. It was the perfect time to settle her suspicions.

Hinata stepped through the door, allowing her footsteps to thud on the slatted floor. Clara froze, jerking her head and glaring back at Hinata over her shoulder. She had a peculiar reaction when she realized who Hinata was; an initial relaxation, her muscles loosening as she realized there wasn't a threat behind her, and then a jump. Even though the danger had passed, the Hunter's heart sped up even more.

Clara gradually dragged herself to her feet, the bags under her eyes even more pronounced. Her cloak was stained with refuse from the sewer, while Hinata was still spotless.

"Why are you here?" Hinata asked after a moment. She didn't bother with politeness, since it wouldn't be returned. "You were content to contain the Ants."

The Hunter glared at her, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. Five seconds passed. Ten. Sister was apparently comatose behind Clara, barely breathing. Hinata took a step forward.

"I saw the pin," Clara rasped, and Hinata stopped. Her hand came away from her nose with a tiny smear of already drying blood. "I had to step in then. I didn't want another Hunter to die." She wiped the blood off on her cloak. "Is Gon alright?"

Interesting. The woman wasn't heartless, just calculated. For her, there was a line between letting the Ants escape and letting them directly kill someone right in front of her.

"I'm an exorcist," Hinata said, and Clara stiffened, her heart beating even faster. Hinata couldn't understand how just her presence was exciting the woman so much. "I destroyed the pin before the dart game could begin." She cocked her head. "But how could you possibly have known how to get here? Or what the pin did? You didn't tell us about it before we left."

"I knew about the game beforehand," Clara started to say. "When you said there were Ants below the warehouse-"

"Stop." Hinata took another step forward, and Clara shut up, her face twisting in frustration. The Hunter's lips twitched, words trying to escape. "You're not going to fool me. We both know it."

The conjuration still hadn't disappeared, Hinata noted. The jacks jerked, a movement so minute Hinata wouldn't have detected it without the Byakugan. She was sure Clara wanted to use them, consciously or not.

"The Ants here are dead, or captured," Hinata said, studying the woman's face and body. Anxiety, tension, yearning.

Yearning. That was the final piece that hadn't quite made sense, that had muffled her reading of the Hunter. Hinata blinked, starting to turn.

"If you won't tell me, I'm happy for it to remain a mystery," she said, and Clara twitched. "I'm going to leave. I'll tell Gon what you did; I'm sure he'll be thankful for the thought."

She hadn't gone two steps before Clara cried out. "Wait!"

Hinata turned midstep, glancing back at the Hunter. Clara licked her lips, her right hand clenching without purpose. The Hunter struggled, opened her mouth, closed it. She was on the edge of something, but wasn't able to let it out.

"If…" The woman gagged, almost hyperventilating. The Hunter's behavior put Hinata more and more on edge, but she stayed where she was, more curious by the minute. She couldn't walk away now; the woman might just keel over.

"If you want to know, you have to tell me something too," Clara managed to bite out, looking as though the words terrified her. Yet when Hinata didn't react beyond crossing her arms, the Hunter kept speaking. "Information exchange," she said with the ghost of a smile, the dark bags under her eyes accentuating the whiteness of her teeth.

"Which is?" Hinata asked. Clara took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Okay," she said to herself.

"Tell me everything you know about the Shinju."

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 17

Last Grasp​

"Tell me everything you know about the Shinju."

The words dried out Hinata's mouth, rendering her speechless. She stared at the Hunter, taking in her pale face, the dark bags under her gleaming golden eyes, her stance, the breathless anticipation resonating throughout Clara's body.

She would never have guessed that she would have heard that word here, of all places. It was the farthest thing from her mind now. But now, this Hunter from another world, a woman she'd only met less than an hour ago, had managed to drag the God Tree and the war fought for it back to the front of her brain.

Clara smiled. "You do know about it," she said, taking a step closer. The Chimera Ant, Sister, stirred, and the Hunter stomped on its head, knocking it out once more. "I was right. I can see it in your face."

The Otsutsuki must have been on this world, just like she'd suspected. The mystery of the similar language did have a logical answer; just one she didn't like. Hinata took a breath, trying to get her balance back. The woman could be a threat. There could be so much more at stake than some murderous insects. She needed to focus.

She did her best to become a knife, the kind of shinobi she and her husband had been trying to make vanish. It was all she could think to do, to default to her childhood lessons.

"How," she asked, her voice sharp, "do you know that word?"

Clara smiled. To Hinata's surprise, it was the farthest look from sinister or conniving. Instead, the woman was full of pure, unadulterated joy. It erased the worn look in her eyes, her cheeks; the smile lit up her complexion. Her heart slowed down, her muscles relaxed. For the first time since they'd met, Clara Megallane didn't look exhausted.

Simply happy. Giddy, even. Completely and totally relieved. Hinata's question had lifted years of stress and worry from the woman's shoulders without even trying, and she had no idea why.

"I was right," the Hunter said again; it sounded like she couldn't believe it. "You do…"

"Listen to me," Hinata said in a harsh tone, and Clara slightly sobered up. "I'm happy to walk away without knowing how you knew to come here, or how you knew about the Ant's Hatsu." The admission seemed to terrify Clara. "But you have to tell me how you know that word."

"If you're going to be honest, I will be too," Clara shot back. She drew closer, more of the familiar stress falling across her. "Please! You have to tell me!"

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "The Shinju is… a tree," she decided. She had to see how far this could go. Clara could be her only source of information about something far more important than the Ants. "An enormous tree, taller than any mountain." Clara nodded frantically, her smile not slipping.

It really had been too big to understand. Whenever Hinata remembered it, she was sure her mind was exaggerating its size. Something that big just couldn't exist; a tree that towered over even the clouds was too absurd to stand under its own weight. And yet, she knew that her memories weren't a lie. The Shinju had killed her cousin, and its monumental roots alone had blocked out the horizon.

"I know that," she said, tripping over her words. "I know about that, and the fruit at the top. But you have to tell me, please…" She hesitated, trying to figure out what to say. "I need to find a living one," she eventually said, and Hinata felt a chill run all the way from the top of her head to the base of her spine. "So you need to tell me why you have its energy. Did you come from the Shinju?"

Hinata couldn't help but think that of all the places to have an impossible conversation like this, a bar in the sewers of a city in another world was perhaps one of the most absurd.

"You said this was going to be an information exchange," she said after thinking it over for a couple seconds, and Clara leaned in. She'd drawn closer and closer. Now, there was barely a meter between her and Hinata. "If you tell me how you know about the Shinju, I'll give you an answer."

Clara took a shaky breath. "That's fair," she admitted, sitting down at the bar. She glanced at the drinks behind it: so far as Hinata could tell, they were real. Would they vanish if Sister died? She didn't know, and it didn't matter. "But I'm holding you to it." She still held her conjured tablet in her left hand, and as she spoke, its jacks twitched. Hinata watched it carefully.

"This thing," Clara said, holding up the tablet and letting Hinata get a good look at its blank screen, " is my Conjuration. I call it Give and Take." She looked back at Sister. "You saw me use it on that Ant, and that shark one, so maybe you already have an idea of what it does, depending on how good those eyes of yours are."

Hinata uncrossed her arms and took a seat as well, two stools down from Clara. She didn't want to be within easy reach of the woman. "All I could see," she said, "was that it transferred Nen between you and whoever it connects to."

"That's pretty much it," Clara admitted. She'd calmed down immensely, acting like they were two old friends. "Give and Take forms a connection between my Nen and whoever I jack into. But it doesn't just transfer energy." Her eyes flitted down, to Hinata wrist, and Hinata drew it back and inch or two. "I created it to transfer memories."

"Memories?" Hinata asked. She blinked, sudden understanding breaking over her. "So that Ant…?"

Clara nodded. "You're clever," she grinned. "Yeah, I made him forget his Hatsu. I had to give up the taste of food." She smirked. "Pretty good trade, in my opinion."

The Hunter had made that Ant forget how to move through solid objects while it was inside one. Hinata had to admit it was impressive, though the nature of the Hatsu also alarmed her. She absolutely could not be touched by those jacks.

"Do you mean all food?" Hinata said, a little shocked, and Clara nodded. "So it's an equal trade of information?" she asked, realizing the irony in an instant.

"Exactly," Clara said. "It's a pain to always lose all the little stuff, but its effective."

"So that's how you learned about the Shinju?" Hinata asked, and Clara's smile vanished. "You 'jacked in' to someone who knew about it?"

"Not exactly," Clara said, leaning back. She grabbed one of the bottles, idly examining its contents. "Have you ever seen the World Tree?"

Hinata tilted her head. "I have no idea what that is," she said, and Clara blinked, clearly surprised.

"It's a big tree," she said sardonically. "On the northern edge of the Yorbian continent. A tourist attraction."

Hinata felt her stomach sinking as Clara took a swig from the bottle she'd picked up. The woman stuck out her tongue in disgust, tossing the drink away. "Bleh. Guess I don't like alcohol," she muttered.

"How big?" Hinata asked, and Clara winked, reaching for a different bottle.

"Probably as big as you're imagining," she grinned, but the smile quickly slipped away. "Beyond the clouds, for sure. I visited it ten years ago, on my eighteenth birthday." Clara was still looking at Hinata, but it was clear she wasn't seeing her. She was back with the World Tree.

Back with the Shinju that was on this world, by the sounds of it. Hinata wondered how anyone could live where it stood.

"Everything alive has memories," Clara continued. "Give and Take is most useful when it comes to people, but it can work with most things. Animals, and even plants." She twitched, the bags under her eyes looking darker than usual. "Something like a tree usually just carries impressions of its past, but for older ones, even those impressions can be fascinating. I didn't expect to get anything really interesting: it was practically a joke, even." She grew quieter and quieter as she spoke, drawing further into herself. Hinata was reminded of her younger self, a spectre completely at odds with the sharp and direct Clara.

The Hunter had just been curious. As Hinata started to understand what the woman was saying, she was filled with a gnawing dread.

She also couldn't deny her blossoming curiosity.

"It was supposedly the oldest thing in the world," Clara said, closing her eyes. "I had to at least take a look."

"You used your Hatsu on the tree?" Hinata asked, and Clara nodded.

"It wasn't like any tree I'd ever jacked into," she said, her eyes still closed. Hinata watched her heart speed up. "It had a consciousness. Definite memories." Clara opened her eyes, seeing nothing. "And it was hungry. I couldn't even… it was like an ocean of teeth that ran under the whole world. Or empty space, just a vacuum of starvation." Her fingers drummed on her conjured tablet. "I almost died, right there, in that hunger. Even though it was in a coma, or something like it, it almost ate me."

Had the woman inadvertently subjected herself to the same stresses as a Jinchuriki, Hinata wondered. What a nightmarish thought. She stayed silent, rapt, as Clara continued.

"But I didn't die: I went deeper. I saw its home; a place where dozens of its siblings were in constant conflict, where nothing was like here." Clara ran her fingers over the head of one of Give and Take's jacks. "I had to give up everything except this Hatsu; all eighteen years. But it was worth it. I came back with almost everything I'd seen…" She looked up, staring into Hinata's Byakugan. "Including the memory of that energy inside you."

Hinata was having trouble keeping up, tripping past 'dozens of siblings' face-first into 'energy.' So that was what had piqued the woman's interest when they'd first met. Her chakra, the same kind of energy generated by the Shinju; an energy similar to but completely different from Nen. But that was the least of her worries. One Shinju was unbelievably dangerous, a potential apocalypse. Multiple ones were unthinkable, especially the mention of them being in conflict.

It also opened up a huge amount of questions, none of which could be reasonably answered. Could this world be more important to the Otsutsuki than her own had been, if there really were multiple Shinju on it? Had Clara seen another world entirely in the World Tree's memories? Certainly there was no way this civilization and the Hunter's Association could survive multiple trees, perhaps multiple Juubi even. It was beyond Hinata's imagination.

Behind all that, there was more horror, and sympathy. Clara had been forced to sacrifice her whole life to walk away from the tree. Had that included her name? She didn't want to ask.

"My energy?" she asked without really thinking about it, internally turning over a dozen more pressing questions.

"It's like Nen, but not. Do you have a name for it?"

Hinata decided that a little honesty wouldn't go too far astray here, not when the woman possibly had more to tell her.

"Chakra," she said, and Clara grinned widely at the admission. "That's the energy created by the tree: it's called chakra."

"How did you get it?" Clara asked, pressing further.

HInata considered. "Long ago, an ancestor of mine ate the fruit that grows at the top of the Shinju." It wasn't a perfect truth, but it was close enough to work. "They were driven mad by it, probably like you almost were, but it was passed down over a hundred generations, and now it's just a part of me, like your Nen is you."

Unless, she internally amended, the chakra that Clara had sensed was Hamura's and not hers. Her ancestor's chakra probably far more closely resembled the primal energy of the Shinju than her own did. But Clara didn't need to know that; the details would only confuse her.

"Then..." Clara gasped, throwing away yet another bottle; orange juice this time. It seemed she hadn't found something to her taste yet. "Humans do live on the Dark Continent? That's where you came from?"

"The Dark Continent?" Hinata asked, and Clara's expression grew a shade warier. She leaned back with an askance look.

"The world beyond this one," she said, and Hinata's heart jumped. "Outside of this little lake that we call civilization."

Was she being literal or figurative? Did Clara understand that her world was only one of many, or was the Yorbian continent, the Mitene Union, and the other civilizations in this world literally placed in a large lake? Hinata was worried betraying her ignorance would have unforeseen consequences.

"I'm not familiar with that term," Hinata said, carefully couching her words, and Clara relaxed, just slightly.

"Figures," she said. "Even if you are from there, you wouldn't know it yourself. Not after what Netero's done."

"The Chairman?" Hinata asked, and Clara's face grew ugly. She idly twisted the head of one of her Conjuration's jacks.

"Don't call him that. He's not worthy of it," the woman growled. "That old idiot's terrified of the Dark Continent. He led two expeditions there. He should know better than anyone what we could retrieve from it." She twisted the jack more violently, her lips curling. "But in his cowardice and selfishness he completely locked it off; made any further expeditions illegal, worked to make the knowledge that had been gained from it restricted to the highest tiers of the world's governments." She stood up and began to pace. "To even get the nothing I know about it, do you have any idea how much I had to do? The people I had to hunt down? Even with my Association Membership…!"

Clara took a heavy breath, her fist clenching around her tablet. "I need to get there, to those other Shinju. I need…" She seemed unsure herself of what to say.

The realization snuck up on Hinata so quietly that she didn't realize it until it was already halfway out her mouth. "Is that why you were going to let the Ants escape?" she asked, and the woman jerked towards her. "The Chairman's put his life and career on the line dealing with the Chimera Ants showing up in the NGL; if they managed to get away, he'd be the one blamed for it."

The Hunter sneered, pacing faster. "Like I said, you are clever." She sighed. "I didn't want innocents getting hurt, but it was the perfect opportunity. But now, it's just as well I did: if I hadn't, you wouldn't have come here, and I never would have met you." She smiled, all teeth. "I've learned more in the last five minutes than I have in ten years. And the Ants are dead, or captured. Win-Win."

"That's irresponsible," Hinata said quietly, and the woman snorted. Gon and Killua were starting to look bored; she'd been keeping an eye on them throughout the conversation. Neither of them were worried for her, that much was obvious. Gon was chatting with the Lobster-Ant Killua had disarmed.

"I wouldn't think someone from the Dark Continent could say something like that," Clara shot back.

"How are you so sure I am?" Hinata asked, and Clara asked.

"It's the only place in the world with multiple living Shinju," she said, and Hinata's heart jumped. "If you have that chakra of theirs, where else could you be from?"

Hinata wasn't sure what to say to that, but as she tried to formulate a reasonable response, a distraction appeared at the edge of her vision.

Another Ant had entered Yunda. The creature was a simply designed one, unlike many of its messier compatriots: a clean fusion of a man and a cheetah. It was tall and lanky, with articulated limbs like those of a grasshopper, and its long legs pushed it forward into the city at incredible speed. Hinata frowned, ignoring Clara and focusing on the new Ant.

The thing was fast, befitting its heritage. It had entered her vision just a second ago, and it was already covered nearly a kilometer, speeding past all distractions and leaving confusion and minor injuries in its wake as it bowled over anyone in its path. As Hinata tracked its progress over the following three seconds, its destination became obvious to her.

It was heading towards the warehouse.

Hinata turned on her heels and headed towards the exit. Clara surged to her feet, knocking her stool over.

"Where are you going?" the Hunter demanded. Hinata glanced back at her, not stopping.

"There's another Ant headed towards Gon and Killua," she said. The cheetah was only a couple seconds away. It would pass through the military perimeter without anyone being able to notice its passage. "They may need help."

"You can't leave!" Clara said, her voice harsh. She started moving towards Hinata. "You haven't answered me!"

"There's no time," Hinata said. She didn't look back. "Maybe later."

Clara's face twisted up; she bared her teeth, like an angry dog. Hinata realized what was coming.

She sighed.

As Hinata passed through the bar's threshold, Clara leapt after her, one hand clutching a bottle of white wine and the other swinging her Conjuration. The tablet's jack darted forward, aiming for the nape of Hinata's neck.

There was a moment of stolen time where Hinata considered killing the Hunter. The woman was attacking her from behind, without justification. Sending a spear of chakra into her heart would be effortless and instantly fatal. But the thought was disproportionate, insane. Clara wasn't a threat, at least not to Hinata. She was certainly a threat to herself, but that wasn't Hinata's problem. Someone needed to stay behind to apprehend the surviving Ant anyway. Was the murderous impulse Hinata's, or Hamura's? She wasn't sure. She'd been relying too much on her ancestor's chakra to ignore her injuries.

The attack was an ambush, but against the Byakugan, against Hinata, it was futile. Far too slow, and far too predictable. Hinata didn't bother to turn to meet attack from behind. She simply reached back over her shoulder, her hand boiling with the cold purple chakra of her ancestor, and snipped the head of the jack off between her index and middle finger. Clara continued forward, not having time to realize her Conjuration had been damaged, and Hinata halfheartedly kicked backwards, knocking the wind out of the woman and sending her stumbling back a step.

The detached jack bounced off her neck. As she left the bar, Hinata spared one look back at Clara. The Hunter looked like she was going to start weeping, clutching her maimed Conjuration to her chest, unable to rise as she gasped for breath.

"Please-!" the woman wheezed. Hinata pursed her lips.

"Don't seek the Shinju," she said, knowing it was pointless. "There's nothing worth finding."

Then she was gone.

###

Killua saw the Ant arrive, but only by a margin that he was entirely unsatisfied with.

The thing was some sort of cheetah-man, and it was ungodly fast. It slowed down a little as it approached the warehouse, becoming visible to unaugmented human senses, but even then Killua could see in its loping stride the potential for impossible speed. He and Gon had been waiting for Hinata to return for about four minutes. They weren't concerned for her safety: the woman could handle herself, probably better than either of them. Whether she'd managed to save Clara Megallane was a little more interesting, but it wasn't a question Killua cared about much.

The woman had been a creep. This Ant was much more interesting. As it drew closer, sniffing around with a curious look, he and Gon drew abreast, presenting a united front. Gon glanced at him, and Killua nodded.

He had superior speed, but still less than this Ant. If it attacked, he'd do his best to pin it so Gon could use his Jajanken and deliver a mortal blow. It was a tactic they'd instinctively come into in the weeks of hunting Ants with HInata, though they'd only had to use it once.

But to Killua's confusion, the Ant continued to ignore them even as it came closer. It wandered past him and Gon, poking around the bodies of the other Ants, crouching beside them and giggling to itself. The lobster, Bloster, was the last one. The cheetah-Ant stood over the disarmed crustacean with a disgusted look, staring back and forth between it and Gon.

It scratched its chin with a hand that was missing two fingers; only the thumb and pinky were left.

"Man, I was too late, huh?" it grumbled. "I was trying, too. And you! You're a pathetic sight!" It laughed over Bloster, who shifted, unable or unwilling to rise. "You were so proud of those arms of yours? Looks like they didn't help you much." It scratched its head and yawned as Killa and Gon shifted, happy to watch and wait. "I can't believe you weakling were ever worth an invitation to serve the King."

Killua stiffened, and beside him Gon blinked. Was that why these Ants had been happy to sit around? Had they been commanded to do just that, waiting for an emissary from the King? It seemed likely: who better to deliver messages than an Ant that could move with such speed?

But why come all the way to the warehouse, when Ants could communicate over kilometers with telepathy? Killua didn't have an answer for that.

Unless the cheetah had wanted to examine the Ants' bodies itself. That was the most logical reason.

That was all busywork though, idle thoughts his mind occupied itself with as his body listened to his assassination training. The Ant glanced at him and grinned, its hungry eyes playing over his tightening muscles. Killua was never comfortable with how obvious it was the Ants regarded him as food; at least people were just trying to kill you.

"The King?" Gon asked, and the Ant giggled. Before Killua or Gon could react, the thing moved, sprinting in with a fist cocked back. Anyone else would have rocked backwards in surprise: Gon leaned into the hit, taking two blows to the forehead and cheek before the Ant leapt back with a chortle as Killua's friend swung at empty air. The punches had been light, unable to damage Gon's Ken, but the attack was still shocking.

"Don't you worry about that: I'm sure he'd love to meet a twig like you, but he's got bigger things on his plate." The Ant looked them both over, blatantly sizing them up, deciding whether they were an easy meal or not. Killua knew they weren't. It was just up to the Ant being smart enough to realize the same thing.

Evidently it was, despite its big mouth. The cheetah sneered. "I could use a snack right now," it drawled, "but I've got more important errands to run." It laughed, sounding more like a hyena, and narrowed its eyes. "Shaiapouf will skin me if I fall behind schedule. But hey: take one for the road!"

The thing moved again, and again without any detectable physical tell. But it was predictable; this time, it was going for Killua, he was sure, and with the same kind of attack it had made on Gon. Killau ducked, lashing out.

The first punch caught him on the chin and knocked his head back, but he'd guessed correctly. He hand slipped past the Ant's own, trying to close around the thing's fingers to electrocute and then shatter them. But before Killua's fingers could finish closing, the Ant withdrew its hand as though it had already been shocked. He was left grasping at air, just like Gon had.

The Ant backed up with a frown, opening and closing its maimed hand.

"You're no fun," he muttered, and then just as fast as he'd arrived he sped away, leaping the canal into the city in a single bound.

Gon and Killua were left staring at each other: Killua was sure his friend was just as confused by the brief encounter as he was.

"You alright?" Gon asked after a moment, and Killua nodded.

"Weak hits," he said, running his hand over his chin. "He might be fast, but if that's all the power he has, it's no wonder they use him as a messenger."

"You almost had him too!" Gon said, his face shining. He looked around, back to the city. "Well, at least we got all the Ants. I hope he doesn't run into Ikalgo…"

Hinata Hyuuga landed next to them, and Killua almost stumbled back in a flash of deja vu, remembering their first meeting. The woman had arrived silently, leaping from somewhere unseen to perfectly alight alongside them. Gon wasn't nearly as surprised; Killua was positive he hadn't known the woman was coming either, but he just greeted the Hyuuga with a wide grin.

Every day, Killua wondered how the woman had so quickly worked her way into Gon's trust, and Gon into her's.

"Clara's alright," Hinata said, acting as though she'd been there the whole time. With her eyes, she might as well have been. Killua wondered where the other Hunter was now; Hinata looked ruffled. "It looks like that cheetah is on his way out of the city; that means all the Ants in Yunda are taken care of." She looked to Killua, and he couldn't identify the look in her blank eyes. "He say anything interesting?"

She had spied on his heart, he was sure. It must have jumped when the Ant had mentioned the King.

"We need to have him followed," Killua said without preamble, and Hinata tilted her head. She smelled terrible; where had she been? "He was sent by a Royal Guard."

"Which means..." Gon said, crossing his arms and nodding. "You're smart, Killua. He'll probably head back to him. That guy's our best chance of finding the King."

The mystery of the vanished Ant King had been the most pressing mystery to the Hunters in the Mitene Union for the last couple weeks; that this Ant had idiotically given them the best lead in all that time with a couple errant words almost made Killua laugh.

But he couldn't laugh, because he was looking at Gon's face. His friend was growing harsher and harsher, his features compressed into cruel lines. Hinata could see it too, and Killua shared a grim look with her, one the woman returned.

After all, where the King went his Royal Guard followed.

The hunt for the King might soon draw to a close, but Gon's pursuit of Neferpitou was about to begin.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 18

Consolidation​

Hinata hadn't had time for more than a single meal before she and her teammates had left the Republic of West Gorteau for the NGL, almost two months ago. She'd picked up a curry from a small diner, eager for a new experience in an unfamiliar world, and found that no matter which dimension you were in, curry was curry… even if West Gorteau's had been a little underspiced for her taste. Her impression hadn't been changed by a second meal; this time, she'd selected some kind of potato stuffed with meat and cheese, along with some vegetables. It had been hearty and delicious, but Hinata had been too distracted by her circumstances to enjoy it.

It was appropriate that they'd come back to where they'd started as things were coming to an end; it was pleasantly cyclical. It helped her distance herself from the gradual dread the situation was inspiring in her, dread that swelled every day.

She'd arrived in West Gorteau the day before, saying goodbye to Gon and Killua with a hesitation that had surprised her. After nearly a month in their company, separation was somewhat bitter, more melancholy than painful. She'd see them again. Shino and Kiba had shown up in the capital city of Ceol just a couple hours after her, dragging a bruised but cheerful Shoot. The armless man had been in deep conversation with Shino when Hinata had approached them, overjoyed to see her fellow shinobi; she'd wondered if they'd been swapping amputee tips.

Kiba and Shino had said their goodbyes to the Hunter, and then followed Hinata, drawn by her dark look. That had brought them to where they sat now, clustered in a shaded alley that sheltered them from West Gorteau's relentless sun. Dozens of people walked by them, but only a couple bothered to give them a glance; people in alleys rarely drew long looks.

"You can't be serious." Kiba was the only one not sitting. He relentlessly paced, kicking at the ground. He alone among them was unmarred; his nose had healed cleanly. Hinata still walked with a limp, and Shino's injury was impossible to miss. "We're fucked."

"Not necessarily," Shino said. Hinata wondered how he could act like he wasn't missing an arm. Maybe after several weeks he'd gotten used to it. She wasn't sure she would have been as brave as him. "Multiple Shinju certainly sounds dangerous, but look around." He did just that, glancing at Hinata with a smile. How could he smile? "A country like this, let alone the rest of this world, couldn't exist with even one Shinju like the one we knew, let alone multiple ones. Perhaps the trees here are weaker, or a different breed." He paused, looking past Hinata. "Perhaps we should ask the Hunters."

"What could they tell us that we don't know?" Hinata asked. Shino shrugged.

"You said Clara told you Netero was the one who barred passage to the Dark Continent," he pointed out, calm as always. "If anyone could tell us more, it would be the Chairman."

"So what, we just ask him about something so secret the girl with the brain-sucker couldn't even find out much?" Kiba interjected with a frown. He waved dismissively. "I'm sure that would go over well. Netero's been happy to fight with us, but he's never trusted us. If we start throwing around super-secret stuff like that, I doubt he'd be happy to answer. Might even start punching and ask questions later."

Hinata didn't know what to say to that, and Shino clearly didn't either. They both stayed silent, Hinata shifting on her sore leg.

The Ants seemed like a distant, worthless threat with the knowledge of the Shinju hanging over them, but nonetheless, that was why they were still in the fight in the first place. Hinata did her best to refocus on the clear and present danger.

"Listen," she said, and Kiba perked up. "The Hunters have set a meeting, about an hour from now. Some local restaurant. Everyone should be there." She sighed. "I've been thinking about this since I encountered Clara, and the way I see things, we have two options."

She stood up, extending her index finger. "One: we figure out how the hunt for the King is going, and act from there. If it looks like we're not needed, we leave, and inform the Villages about what we've found here. It's a problem that's beyond us." Kiba huffed, but nodded nonetheless, while Shino watched her with a curious look behind his visor.

Hinata's middle finger joined her index. "Two: the Hunters still need our help with the King. That's probably going to be the case, unless something's happened outside of our knowledge. In that case, according to Mari the portal will be recharged within the next five days."

"That's such bullshit," Kiba cut in, and Hinata giggled despite herself. "What'd they say, two weeks for each of us?" Shino nodded, and Kiba growled. "We've been here fucking…" he glanced up, closing one eye and apparently struggling through the days. Hinata couldn't blame him; many of them had seemed like two or three. "Seven!" he announced triumphantly. "Seven exactly! Forty-nine days since we pranced through that damn thing, and it's still a couple days out? That's eight weeks!"

"It was my fault," Hinata admitted, and Kiba snapped his head towards her. "The portal's engineers didn't know about the lunar chakra. It increased the drain on it." Mari had explained it to her when she'd met with her late last night.

"Oh," Kiba muttered. "Well, uh…" He scratched the back of his head. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Hinata said. "You didn't know either." Her husband had, but he'd clearly been too distracted to realize it; the thought made Hinata laugh a little, brought a warm glow to her chest. Naruto's absent-mindedness was occasionally frustrating, but it was impossible not to cut him some slack when he was so buried under the new responsibilities he'd undertaken as Hokage.

She hoped Boruto was behaving himself. Naruto had said they'd be fine, but he'd been counting on six weeks, not eight. She wasn't worried about Himawari, but Boruto was a stickler for time with his parents; no doubt once she got back he'd be heckling her about the mistaken timeline for weeks.

Hinata shook her head, rushing back to the present. Shino was giving her a funny look.

"You were saying?" he asked. Hinata smiled.

"The portal will be recharged in eight days," she continued. "If we can't take care of the King within that time, then we call for reinforcements. Letting it live is probably more dangerous than telling the Hunters the truth, after all. With multiple shinobi, even the Chimera Ants won't stand much of a chance."

"Fair," Kiba said. "Sounds good to me." Shino nodded in silent agreement.

"But regardless of how the Ants are resolved," he said, "the Shinju must be addressed."

"Of course," Hinata agreed, "but that will have to wait until we've taken care of what's right in front of us."

Kiba snorted. "It's those kids, isn't it?"

Hinata crossed her arms. "They're adorable," she said frankly, and Kiba laughs. "And they remind me of our generation. I don't want them to die to something as meaningless as the Ants. Besides, you're one to talk; I saw how you and Shoot were getting along." She grinned. "Was that you or Shino who brought him out of his shell?"

"He's still way too in there," Kiba said. "But Shino helped out a lot. He's a good guy, he's just got a lot of self-confidence issues." He grinned, showing fangs. "I was more there for egging him on; Shino's the one who could engage with him. Crazy Hatsu too."

"You'll have to tell me about it," Hinata said. She looked over her shoulder at the street, watching the angle of the shadows. "We've got a little time before the meeting. After that, who knows what will happen."

###

The meeting at the restaurant turned out to be a subdued event, one Hinata barely participated in. The Cheetah-Ant had been easy to follow despite its speed, and it had eventually betrayed its ruler's position. The Ant King had taken up residence in East Gorteau, replacing the country's dictator without anyone apparently being the wiser. Hinata, along with her team, had lurked at the rear of the table the Hunters had commandeered, eating silently and carefully observing.

There had been two primary takeaways from the meeting. The first was that Morel was still certain the shinobi would be remaining to help deal with the King: Hinata had been happy to play along with that, coaxed by Gon's trusting smile. The second was that a calamity was fast approaching the insular nation she and her team were currently infiltrating.

They'd crossed the border nearly an hour ago, moving in total silence as each of them considered the import of the meeting in their own way. The quiet camaraderie had been welcome, but now as the night deepened and the half-moon shone down, Shino finally spoke up.

"Do you think it's a coincidence," he asked, "that it reminds me of the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

Kiba glanced over at him; the man had picked up a large fallen tree branch and had been idly whirling it around for the last several minutes as an ad-hoc staff, spinning it from one hand to the other as they silently tramped through the thick forests of tall, broad trees that lay beyond the river that divided East and West Gorteau.

"The King's plan?" he asked, and Shino nodded. They slid down a muddy bank in unison, chakra-muffled feet not leaving an imprint in the liquid dirt. As they soundlessly walked over the lazy river, the Aburame carefully responded.

"Killing so many, for a few soldiers of worth," he said, and Hinata started to realize what he meant. The King had called for every citizen of East Gorteau to unite in Peijing, the capital of the dismal country; it was their destination as well, for very different reasons. Morel had told them that the various Ants they'd captured, Colt chief among them, had all agreed the gathering could only be for a single purpose; the Ants intended to awaken the Nen of a fraction of the human population, and transform those who survived into powerful soldiers for the King.

That Nen needed to be 'awakened' had been an interesting tidbit that none of the shinobi had been aware of. It was another marked difference from chakra, which passively existed in everything and everyone back in the Five Nations; even infants could use chakra in small, usually accidental spurts without much trouble. Hinata wondered how Gon and Killua had managed to attain their Nen at such a young age. She'd known they were talented, but hadn't realized that their capabilities in Nen were so rare. From the way the Hunters had talked about it, awakening Nen was an incredibly traumatic process, at least for the unprepared. Ninety-nine percent of those who were forced into it would die.

Those who died would be eaten. It is what the captive Ants would have done, if they were Kings.

"You're talking about the Zetsu?" Hinata asked, and Shino nodded again. Hinata remembered the dream she'd been thrust into, that Madara Uchiha had thrust them all into many years ago. How strange it had been to learn the dream had been an anesthetic to prevent her from noticing her humanity being stripped away.

Most people didn't talk about the dreams they'd suffered under the Infinite Tsukuyomi: shallow, beautiful dreams. It was an experience shared by the whole world, and a peculiar one at that, but for many people, the memory was a painful one. A half-remembered dream that only reminded them of what they didn't have. Hinata knew she was a rare one whose dream had come true, for the most part. She'd never asked her teammates about theirs, but she was certain that they had been less fortunate.

"It's just a strange coincidence, is all," Shino said, staring up at the night sky. Out here, away from any city, the stars were numberless and bright. Not so much as in the NGL, but the sight took Hinata's breath away nonetheless.

In Konoha, the steadily expanding light pollution sometimes made it seem like the stars were going out. It was one change in the village that Hinata wasn't fond of.

"Maybe it's more than a coincidence," Hinata said, almost to herself. Kiba shot her an incredulous look.

"Don't get crazy," he said with a grin. "All bad guys want more soldiers." He scratched his beard. "Good guys too, for that matter. I wouldn't worry myself over it."

Hinata laughed, a soft and clear sound in the silent night. "You're right, but it is strange, don't you think?" she asked. "We come to another world, with another Shinju, and we find something that wishes to slaughter ordinary people and transform them into warriors. Just like Kaguya." It felt odd to say the name out loud. The mad goddess wasn't common knowledge, and Hinata and her team were part of the small cohort that knew her name and story.

"Maybe." Kiba wasn't even close to convinced. "I'm not going to worry about it. If there's some karmic weight or some such shit that makes crazy monsters determined to turn folks into weapons, that's a problem way beyond me." He took a deep sniff, his mouth twisting into a frown. "All we can deal with is what's right in front of us."

"You smell something?" Shino asked.

"Blood," Kiba grunted. He pointed north-east. "I'd imagine about ten kilometers that way. I picked it up a while ago, but I wasn't sure it was human until we got closer."

Hinata didn't need much more prompting: she activated her Byakugan, opening the world up like a dropped fruit. Kiba had been right. A little more than ten kilometers beyond his outstretched finger sat a small town, simple and isolated, like a hundred others across both this country and the Five Nations back home. Wood buildings, a well, struggling farmland: it was a lonely and self-sustaining community.

At least, it had been. It only took Hinata a moment to find the inhabitants.

About twenty-seven bodies had been dumped in a shallow mass grave; some with small, precise wounds to the temple, others torn apart. The bodies clogged the earth; it bulged, barely able to contain them. Scavengers would likely dig up the corpses soon, unearthing the horror to less discerning eyes.

Hinata could see tracks where others had been dragged away from the death-pit. Only most of the village had been executed; others had been kidnapped.

She wondered if this had been the work of humans or Ants.

"What do you see?" Kiba asked, and Hinata deactivated her Byakugan with a sigh.

"Bodies," she said. "A mass grave. The nearest town has been emptied out. But some people were carried away instead of killed."

Kiba cursed under his breath, and Shino frowned. "They must have already started then," he said, and Hinata nodded. It made a mad kind of sense. Going town by town would surely be faster than processing all five million citizens of East Gorteau at once. The Ants wouldn't get everyone that way, she was sure, but the death-toll would still be atrocious.

The massacre was already underway, and as far as Hinata could tell there was nothing they could do about it.

"Five million people," Kiba said, giving voice to what Hinata was already starting to think. "Ten days. That's half a million a day."

"They won't be able to process all of them," Shino said softly. "Not nearly. The majority will be for the Selection Day."

"Sure," Kiba grunted, kicking a branch out of his way. It broke cleanly in half, both halves fragmenting from the force of his frustration. "But if its even a tenth of that, it's still unacceptable." He took a shaky breath. "How many people died in the Fourth War? A hundred-thousand?" He bared his teeth. "The Ants will outstrip that in two days."

When he put it that way, Hinata found herself unable to wrap her head around the horror of the situation. Trading lives was inevitable in any conflict, but the Hunters didn't plan to take on the King until the actual Selection Day. Before this was over, millions of people would be dead. It was a number beyond her ability to comprehend; she could feel dread, but not terror. At that point, that many people, it became impossible.

"Hinata?" It was Shino. She only realized as he spoke that she'd stopped walking. Her throat was dry.

"I'm okay," she said. "I just can't…"

"We didn't know it would be like this," Shino said, and Hinata nodded. "But even if we had, we couldn't have been prepared. No one could have."

He was right, but their helplessness stung nonetheless. What could they do, after all? Storm up to the King, kill it and its Royal Guard? Even one Guard had been too much for Hinata, and the King was apparently as far beyond them as they were beyond ordinary Ants. There was no way out but forward, with the Hunter's passive plan.

She felt sick, and desperately searched for a way out from under the crushing feeling. She scanned through possible questions, anything to move away from the topic, like a man running his hands along the walls of his cell looking for a weak point.

"Shoot seemed happy," she finally decided as they returned to their normal pace, moving deeper into the dark country. She tried to push the memory of the mass grave away. It wasn't useful right now; when the Ants were in front of her, she'd bring it back out. "I was worried about him."

That was a half-lie. She hadn't really spared a thought for the Hunter when she'd been out in the field with Killua and Gon. It was only once she'd returned to West Gorteau that she'd considered sticking an introvert with Kiba might have produced tension.

"It was rough at first," Kiba said, unwittingly answering Hinata's half-hearted question. "He was a quiet guy, and it took me a while to figure out it wasn't cause he was an ass." He shot an accusing glance at Shino. "Pretty sure Shino figured it out immediately, but he didn't tell me. Jerk."

"It was important that you approach him on your own terms," Shino shrugged, and Kiba snorted.

"Get that academy shit out of here," he said with a grin. "You just wanted to see what would happen if I pushed him."

"That too," Shino agreed, and Kiba's smile grew bigger.

"We were pretty pissed at each other for the first week, till we tracked down our first Ant. This, uh," he waved his hands around. "Spider thing. It was dumb as a box of bricks, but pretty tough. Unbreakable webs, that sort of thing." His smile soured a little. "It had been stringing people up in this city, hanging them between skyscrapers. Piece of shit."

"What'd you do?" Hinata asked. Kiba smirked.

"Shoot took care of the webs; shoved them into his Hatsu," he said. "He called it 'Hotel Rafflesia.' Super cool, and super weird. He has a little cage-"

"I've seen it," Hinata noted, and Kiba nodded and continued.

"He can shrink things down, make them vanish even, and shove them in the cage," he said, and Hinata raised an eyebrow. "With just a touch. Can't destroy them, but its still super useful. And on top of that, he's got two-" he shook his head, correcting himself. "Three extra hands, four total. They just kinda… float around."

It sounded both gruesome and amusing, and Hinata allowed herself a chuckle at the image of disembodied hands following the reserved Shoot around.

"Anyway, Shoot took care of the webs, and Shino tracked down the Ant. I ended up killing it; it was tough, but not enough to take a Gatsuga head on." Kiba shrugged. "Messy stuff, but after that, having worked together I think, Shoot came out of his shell a little. He's a fascinating guy. Morel's a Sea Hunter, and Shoot kinda followed in his footsteps; an 'Unidentified Beast' Hunter. Basically he tracks down new creatures that haven't been documented before. Ends up working with Morel a lot because there's always dangerous and weird stuff in the ocean."

"Being around people he didn't know helped him open up more," Shino said. "He didn't have to make a commitment." He cocked his head. "Maybe you had a similar experience with Gon and Killua."

Hinata hadn't considered that, but when Shino said it so plainly, she couldn't help but think he was right. After this mission, she'd likely never see either of them again, after all. That mix of urgency and carelessness had probably accelerated their relationship, the same way danger could.

It was almost uncomfortable to think about, but only in a vague artificial way. She wondered if this was how Shino always considered relationships, and if that was why he defaulted to silence.

"I did," she said. "We worked well together. When this is over, I think I'll miss them." The admission's existence made it true.

"You could always visit them," Shino said. For some reason, Hinata felt he'd kept back an 'If they survive.' That was unlike him. Perhaps losing his arm had actually affected him, despite his brave face. "Though it would be expensive."

"Very," Hinata agreed. She didn't want to think about it. That was far in a tremulous future. Anything more than eight days from now seemed a distant, uncertain future.

They subsided into silence, making their way through the forest without a whisper. Hinata felt sure the silence would crush her the same way the inevitable death toll had, but to her surprise, she felt her resolve grow with every step. It swelled gradually, oh so carefully but still unstoppable, in her chest.

People were going to die, and there was nothing she could do to stop that. But the people she'd met in this world, the friends she'd made, the Hunters, her team, she could keep them safe. She felt the incredible power of her ancestor thumping through every inch of her body in tune with her pulse, like she was a lightning rod in a storm. It pushed away the darkness of the pitch black forest, and Hinata realized to her shock she was faintly glowing with purple energy, her determination pushing out into the world. Kiba glanced back with a questioning look, and she gave him a full, clean smile.

The future was like the night, dark and full of potential horrors, but Hinata could keep those closest to her safe. She was sure of it. Right now, that would have to be enough.

###

AN: Sorry this one took a little longer than I intended. I recently moved, turns out that takes up a lotta time. On the upside, this is probably my second favorite chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Chapter 19

Another World​

They reached Peijing shortly after noon the next day, slipping into the city as the sun did its best to penetrate a blanket of dark grey clouds. The shinobi had traveled all through the night, not stopping to rest; they hadn't encountered any Ants along the way, though Hinata had clapped eyes on another emptied town. The Chimera were in the country but out of sight, moving swiftly and silently.

The capital of East Gorteau was a city of contrasts. It had clearly been built with modernity in mind, but the city was organized haphazardly, its streets too big, buildings too tall: like something built by a child trying to imitate a modern city. Where it was colorful, it was searing, and everywhere else it was drab, gray, and dirty. Soldiers patrolled the streets, firearms perpetually at the ready. Its citizens were almost without fail frightened, hungry, and desperate, but they all did their best to smile at all times. It almost would have been inspiring, if not for the clear signs of coercion. The soldiers, the surveillance cameras, the ubiquitous portraits set in every room of the corpulent Supreme Leader, Ming Jol-Ik.

Peijing was a city kept hostage by its own leaders. It made Hinata sick to her stomach. Only a government that didn't understand the difference between fear and respect would have built something like this. She'd seen this all within moments of entering the capital, along with something slightly less disquieting.

Knov had arrived before them: he'd already taken up residence in one of the capital's most opulent hotels, a place clearly built for foreigners. Hinata wondered why he'd chosen something so conspicuous. If the Ants had subverted the countries government, they'd surely know of a foreigner entering the city.

She also wondered why he bothered to rent out a hotel room when he had Hide and Seek, but that was none of her business. If Knov wanted to be conspicuous, that was up to him.

When Hinata was finished scanning the city, searching for ambushes, insects, and allies, she extended her attention beyond it. Peijing was set in the center of a very wide and very shallow valley. Beyond the city limits, nothing substantial grew; there were no buildings, trees, not even significant geography like a river or hill. A shrub-dotted flatland of dirt, grass, and dust extended out in every direction beyond the capital, except in one direction.

A paved path led out of the city to a distant building, about ten kilometers away. The path was wide and well-maintained, large enough for several vehicles to drive abreast on, and the building it led to was equally impressive. Hinata couldn't give it a name besides a palace. There was no doubt in her mind it was the seat of the country's power.

Any doubt would have been obliterated by the Nen that surrounded it anyway. Like a malignant flower, the En of Neferpitou slithered out of the palace, covering the surrounding two miles. Hinata's lip twisted in disgust at the sight of it. She would have been more than happy to never see the Royal Guard's En again.

But the En was as much a betrayal as it was a safeguard. Where the Royal Guards were, so too would inevitably be the Chimera's King.

Hinata probed deeper into the building, committing it and its inhabitants to faultless memory. Nearly 200 Ants crowded the palace's enormous halls. Dozens of bodies of humans, torn apart, lay where they'd fallen, the Ants apparently too lazy to clean them up. There was an equally large underground complex hidden beneath the building, filled with security checkpoints, automated weapons, and for some reason a faux-neighborhood, large suburban houses set in a mockery of a cul-de-sac.

The courtyard that dominated the front of the building, nearly a kilometer from one end to the other, was filled to the brim with people of every age; Hinata saw children that couldn't be more than six or seven and seniors who looked ready to fall apart where they stood. Every single one of them stared vacantly up into the cloudy sky, barely breathing, as if receiving a message from on high. Their bodies were filled with the energy of one of the Royal Guard; it almost looked like a genjutsu.

There were a few living humans in the palace, as well. Maybe a dozen: one free, typing furiously on a computer, the others under watchful eyes. None of them had the same energy filling them as the ones in the courtyard. Hinata wondered what purpose they served to the Ants.

There were the Royal Guards, of course: Neferpitou, Menthuthuyoupi, and Shaiapouf. Neferpitou was perched at the summit of the palace, on a pillar extending high above the rest of the building. As Hinata's active gaze fell on her, she repeated the unerringly instinctive action that had made the Hyuuga take a step back two months ago, tilting her head a fraction to make eye contact with Hinata over the vast distance.

Pitou smiled.

Hinata didn't care whether the Ant understood why it was looking in her direction or not. She stayed firm, glaring down the creature that had stolen her friend's arm. She wouldn't be fooled by the Guard again.

The next to fall under her gaze was Shaiapouf. The butterfly guard was perched on a stool in the corner of the palace's central room, his body in repose. He was reading a small green book. She skimmed the title in a moment of whimsy: The Cleanest Race. The Royal Guard didn't seem very engaged by the book, but it flicked through the pages with unnatural speed.

It jerked as Hinata's attention bore into it, looking over its shoulder. Whatever sixth sense informed the Royal Guards they were being watched, it was reliable to the point of paranoia.

Its comrade Menthuthuyoupi didn't have the same twitch. It was a hulking red creature, like an oversized man with goat-hooves, but when Hinata peered inside it the only reaction she garnered was an unconcerned itch, as though as insect had bitten its shoulder. The Royal Guard was bored, and apparently less sensitive to Hinata's attention than the others. It plopped itself down at the foot of the stairs leading into the central chamber, cracking the marble under it, and closed its eyes.

And the last, at the center of the room, the center of the center of the palace, the creature worth the protection of hundreds of Ants and three Royal Guards. The King.

Almost against her will, Hinata took in a sharp breath. The mundane action of breathing was suddenly obvious and startling when pressed up against what she was seeing.

The King wasn't like the other Ants.

Hinata felt herself drawing away, trying to find distance, to catch her breath. There was a clarity and purpose to the King's form that the other Ants lacked. Every Ant had oddities: vestigial limbs, weak joints, oddly placed organs. They were marvels of genetic engineering, but they had clear flaws where the incredible phagogenesis of their queen had run up against impassable physical barriers.

The King wasn't like that. Its body was compact, its organs efficiently organized and protected. Its muscles were like nothing Hinata had ever seen, not even a shinobi's; they were structured like an exotic mineral, compressed and hardened until they didn't resemble tissue at all. It was both disturbing and incredible; Hinata was very aware she was looking at a creature that had been purposefully designed to survive almost anything.

The King was short, a little shorter than her. It looked more human than any other Ant Hinata had seen; it was marked out by its light purple chitinous body, a protective crown of thick bone that made its head seem disproportionately large, almost like a baby…

It was a baby, Hinata realized. The King was barely a month old.

And a tail. The tail couldn't be missed; long, thick, corded with muscles, and with a syringe-like stinger as long as a human hand at the end. The King didn't look anything like Hinata had expected. Even the other Ants hadn't prepared her for something so clearly childish and yet obviously monstrous.

But none of that really mattered. The meticulously designed body, the intimidating tail, the infantile head, Hinata barely saw any of it. She was too busy examining the Ant's fully developed chakra system.

Hinata realized she was sweating. The King was sitting in the middle of the room, playing a board game. Chess, by the looks of it. His opponent was a nebbish man with brown hair and crooked glasses. She wasn't an expert on games, especially chess, but she didn't have to be to see that the man was losing. Horribly.

The King had a fully developed chakra system.

Hinata took a breath, trying to focus, to slow down her heart's instinctive speed. She swallowed, her throat thick. Shino stopped, stared at her. He and Kiba had instantly picked up on her fear.

The King moved a rook, fingers that could crush stone delicately maneuvering the pewter piece. The energy boiling inside the thing's body was undeniably chakra. It was constantly leaking out of the King, as if even its incredible body couldn't hold it. An unbelievable amount, as much as a Tailed Beast, maybe more. The chakra, raw and untameable, invisibly suffused the room. It wormed its way inside every one of the occupants, Royal Guards and human alike.

But it found nothing there, nothing to latch onto or mingle with. The man, whose shirt was sodden with sweat, was simply filled up like an empty vessel. He didn't seem to notice. The Nen of the Royal Guard actively pushed back against the King's chakra. Most still made it inside them, but once it did it sat their passively, incompatible with their biology. To the Byakugan, it almost looked like the Ants were filled with tumors, stagnant energy with nowhere to go and nothing to do but attempt to expand.

The more Hinata looked, the more she grew both confused and frightened.

She could read the King through his chakra; it was violently pushing his emotions out into the world. It was impossible that the Royal Guards couldn't feel that, even if they lacked the same kind of energy. Ennui, frustration, hunger. He was an open book.

He, Hinata realized, not it. For the first time, she didn't feel any uncertainty about calling an Ant 'He.'

"The King?" Kiba asked, and Hinata nodded. The Ants, and especially the Royal Guard, had all been geniuses with Nen. According to the Gon and Killua, they'd figured out what would take most humans decades in just weeks.

When it came to chakra, why would the King be any different? And with that much raw energy–

"Hinata." She realized Shino's hand was on her arm. That she had forgotten to take another breath.

Hinata forced air into her lungs, unable to look away. The King spoke, his lips perfectly articulating the word. "Checkmate."

"It's the King," she confirmed. Focus. She'd seen worse. They'd stopped in the middle of the street, drawing some stares, but caring about that was entirely beyond her at the moment.

The man the King had been playing staggered away from the table. There was a dark stain on his pants. Hinata was shocked at her lack of surprise.

"You cheated," the man said, his glasses fogging up from his own sweat. His teeth chattered. "You must-"

The King's tail flickered out, so quickly that Hinata was only aware of its movement when the man's head disintegrated, everything up his jaw vanishing as though it were chalk wiped off a board. The body collapsed, and Menthuthuyoupi rose with a chuckle, wandering over to the body and picking it up by the collar.

"It's the King," Hinata repeated, as the creature spoke once more.

"Next."

"That bad?" Kiba asked, and Hinata clenched her jaw, willing herself to move.

"He's got a chakra system," she said, and Kiba rocked back. Shino froze completely, his hand locking around her arm. Hinata remembered Pitou smacking into the side of the nest like a discarded rag, on the edge of death. "It must have been from Shino's arm," she said, turning to look at her teammate. The man still didn't move. His eyes were closed beneath his visor.

"That… the thing was almost born!" Kiba said. More stares. A child whispered to her mother. They had to leave the streets before they attracted soldiers. "How could just that arm-?!"

"We underestimated them," Shino said. He sounded impossibly calm. "Again. I assumed even the Queen's phagogenesis wouldn't act quickly enough to incorporate by arm's biology into the King, though we never got confirmation she'd consumed it." He spoke faster as he went on, his hand growing tighter and tighter on Hinata's arm. "But that is clearly not the case."

"How much chakra?" Kiba asked, beginning to pace. Hinata forced herself to move, forced herself to walk down the street. Her teammates followed her.

A little girl, maybe fourteen at most, entered the King's chamber. She was blind, walking with a cane; she stepped past the beheaded body being dragged by the Guard without understanding it was there, wrinkling her snot-ridden nose. She was the 'next.' The next challenger, Hinata was sure. The King was bored, playing games as he waited for the Selection Day.

Hinata deactivated her Byakugan. She'd seen everything she'd needed to. She didn't need to watch this child die as well.

"Too much," she answered Kiba. "As much as a Bijuu. It's everywhere, all throughout the palace. Like he's leaking."

"Shit," her friend muttered. He kicked the ground, cracking the concrete. "Shit."

It was beyond words. Hinata realized it was distinctly possible they'd accidentally consigned this world's humanity to extinction. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

But there was a way out. They'd seen worse.

"We need to find Knov," Hinata said. "Right now. The Hunters have to know about this." She swallowed, watching the future narrow down. It was both relieving and terrifying. "They don't stand a chance against the King."

'We don't stand a chance against the King.'

"We need help." It was a relief to say it out loud. They were finally, truly in over their head.

"What're we gonna tell them?" Kiba asked. Shino shook his head.

"Everything," he said, falling in step alongside Hinata. "Everything." His fingers brushed over the stump of his elbow. "We cannot afford to hold anything back now."

###

Knov was surprised to find out that the hotel roof had a pool.

He'd always thought of East Gorteau as a poor country, and in his mind, poor countries didn't have pools, let alone ones on top of fancy hotels. It was an irrational judgement, come to without any evidence and only sticking around thanks to inertia. Of course East Gorteau was poor as a nation… because its ruling class centered all the wealth in themselves, and in the capital. Of course a hotel built to show off that wealth to foreigners would have fanciful amenities like a rooftop pool; thinking otherwise had been moronic.

Still, he'd been surprised by it. He stared into his own reflection, backed by a purple sunset, as he patiently waited and contemplated his ignorant surprise.

He wondered why he was here. Not on the roof of the hotel: he'd walked up there to enjoy the sunset. Knov was curious why Hinata Hyuuga had contacted him a hour or so earlier. He'd never heard the shinobi sound so urgent, not even after their failed assault on the Chimera nest.

She'd asked, as close to demanded as Hinata ever sounded, for a meeting with him and the rest of the Hunters whenever they arrived in Peijing. Morel had arrived a mere thirty minutes after that call. Killua and Gon had come in an hour after that; Knov was surprised they hadn't split up at some point. He'd pegged them for too impulsive to stay together the whole time.

Palm had arrived with him; that meant the only ones who hadn't reached the capital yet were Shoot and Knuckle. He was sure they would arrive soon. The last time Morel had checked in with them, they had only been a hundred or so miles away.

"Knov." He started, jerking forward and almost falling into the pool. A negative space opened up between his hands, a colorless hole in the world, before he recognized the voice. The hole faded, and he turned.

Hinata had soundlessly arrived, along with her compatriots. He hadn't heard a door open; Knov was suddenly sure they'd simply walked up the side of the building. The Hyuuga walked forward, extending her hand. She was still walking with a slight limp, and had procured a short brown jacket somewhere. It made her seem compact and powerful, more so than before.

"Hinata," he said, taking her handshake. Iron grip, as always. "What's this about?"

"Is everyone here?" Hinata asked, releasing his hand and taking a seat near the pool. She stared into the water: Knov could see he could see it reflected in her blank eyes. Why was she bothering to ask? She'd know better than he ever could with those eyes of hers.

"Not yet. Shoot and Knuckle haven't arrived yet; Gon, Killua, and Morel are on their way."

"Hmm." Kiba scratched his nose, taking a seat near Hinata. Knov kept an eye on him; the dog-like man had always been the shinobi he'd been most leary of. He'd never really trusted any Enhancer. They were too impulsive to rely on. "We don't need Shoot or Knuckle; they can wait. What about Netero?"

"We can't get in contact with him," Knov admitted with a grimace. The Chairman being out of contact was the part of the plan that most rankled with him; if anything changed, the man wouldn't know about it. Netero still had his cellphone, but he'd refused to pick it up the five times Knov had called him over the last couple hours. Whether the phone was out of power or the Chairman possessed a surplus of stubbornness, Knov didn't know. He hoped the ancient Hunter was simply busy meditating.

Kiba's grimace matched his own. "That sucks," the man stated plainly. "If you can, keep trying to contact him. This is important."

"What is 'this?'" Knov asked, and Kiba shrugged.

"Hinata's checked out the palace; she's located the King," he said, and Knov stood a bit straighter, crossing his arms. The Byakugan had only failed them once before, and he doubted it would again. "That's part of it. She'll brief you on that," he continued, glancing at Hinata and receiving an approving nod, "and then we've got a little more to talk about."

Shino had remained silent, as he often did, but for some reason Kiba's final words got a slight snort out of him. Knov gave him an inquisitive look, and the quiet shinobi subsided, leaning back with a sigh.

As Shino's sigh faded, and the sun set further, Hinata started talking. As always, Knov was impressed by her sight. At first, it had frightened him, one woman being almost omniscient in a fourteen kilometer radius, but as he'd worked with her, grown to know her, it had concerned him less and less.

Even Netero's warning that the shinobi were likely from the Dark Continent hadn't dulled his trust. Much. While Hinata was an ally, her eyes were invaluable.

She described to him the layout of the palace; methods of infiltrating it, lines of sight, the number of guards, the humans and Ants who were calling it home. The secret entrances, the hidden underground fortress, how many people sat hypnotized in the courtyard, potential collateral in their offensive. She was unbelievable in her diligence, and astonishing in her efficiency.

The one thing she did not mention was the King.

Gon and Killua arrived only minutes before Morel. They wandered through the rooftop access door, chatting amicably as it banged against its wall. Gon called out a cheery greeting, which Hinata returned with a smile and Kiba with a wave. Shino appeared to have fallen asleep, and Knov only gave them a nod.

Gon had a bruise on his upper arm, and Killua a scratch on his face. They'd clearly gotten into some trouble on the way to the capital, but didn't seem any worse for wear.

Morel came up soon after them, and seated himself next to Knov. Unlike the younger Hunters he wasn't marked, but there was a spot of dry blue blood on his pipe: the proof of an unfortunate Ant.

He clapped a hand on Knov's shoulder, almost knocking him over. Morel's hand was almost the size of his head.

"So!" Morel asked. "What're we doing up here?"

"Just a second," Knov said. Hinata had stopped talking about forty seconds before, finally finished explaining the palace to him. He pulled his phone from his breast-pocket. The sun had almost finished setting.

He tapped the redial key as Morel looked on curiously. The larger Hunter set his pipe down beside him, glancing at Gon.

"So you made it alright?" he asked as Knov's phone rang. Knov stared at it, willing the man on the other end to answer. This was their last chance.

"We were fine," Killua said. "Ran into a couple Ants, but they weren't any problem. Most of them seemed more focused on getting away than fighting us." He scratched at the scab on his cheek.

Three rings. Four. Did the Chairman even still have his phone?

"Well, Knov's busy being mysterious," Morel said, looking to Hinata. Seven rings. It would go to messages in a moment, Knov was sure. "What's-"

"Knov." Netero's gravelly voice issued over the phone, and for the second time in ten minutes Knov almost jumped. "This had better be important."

Knov looked around, setting the phone down and pressing the 'speaker' button. Netero's last word was loud enough to be heard by everyone present.

"Chairman," he said as respectfully as possible. "The shinobi have gathered us for a meeting, and they insisted you be present, even if you're not here in person."

"We're on a roof, away from prying eyes and ears," Morel chuckled, and Hinata smiled at him. "I expect this to be good."

"Oh?" Netero muttered. "How intriguing." He grew a bit louder, tinny over the phone. "What is it you have to share, shinobi?"

It was delivered like a challenge; Knov wondered, for what seemed like the hundredth time, if the Chairman knew something they didn't, even after he'd confided his suspicions in them.

"It's complicated," Hinata said, scooting forward. She leaned back, placing both her hands on the concrete: presenting herself as harmless, Knov realized.

"Not that complicated," Kiba said with a grin. He quickly sobered up, his face going from cheerful to grave in seconds. The sun had nearly set, and the city was lit up from below. "We've finally been forced to be honest."

Honest? Knov sat up, and beside him he felt Morel do the same. What kind of honest?

"Meaning?" Killua said, crossing his arms. He was clearly eager for them to get to the point.

"Kiba's right, it's simple. We've been hiding something from you. I'm sure you know that already," Hinata said. It was refreshing, as always, for her to so readily put her cards on the table. Gon leaned forward, openly curious. Shino remained silent; Knov was sure he was watching them behind his visor, carefully gauging their reaction. He wondered if they were about to receive information that Morel's surreptitious interrogation of Shino had already given them.

"The truth is, we're from another world."

Hinata's admission was met with silence. The woman shrugged, briefly rubbing her injured leg as each of the Hunters turned the statement over in their head. Knov only felt shock for a second or so, a sensation he dismissed with finger-tap on the cold tile beneath him. It made sense: with the King out in the open, the shinobi were finally showing their hand in an attempt to buy a couple days more of cooperation. The other world was doubtlessly the Dark Continent, a land beyond comprehension. Netero's suspicious had been entirely correct, and the pieces had all come together here, on this sun-streaked rooftop.

It was a relief. A real relief, not a fleeting one, to be moving forward without any deception.

Knov smiled. "We had guessed as much," he said. Killua's head snapped in his direction; the boy had been staring off into nothing, struggling with the bizarre confession.

"We did?" he asked.

"You guys're aliens?!" Gon blurted out, seemingly finally catching up. Hinata laughed as the boy's eyes went wide with wonder.

"Not quite," she told him, and Gon sagged. With relief, and maybe a little bit of disappointment. Behind her, Shino was watching Knov, his gaze unreadable behind his visor.

"You guessed?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head. "That seems unlikely."

"They're not from another planet," Morel spoke up, his booming voice drawing Gon's attention. "Just another part of this world." He sighed. "Gon, there's some things-"

"We're not from the Dark Continent," Kiba laughed. Knov felt a shiver grow up his spine as the sensible scenario he'd constructed in his head shattered without warning under the man's cheerful words.

Morel stiffened and leaned forward, his massive form tensing. "Pardon?" Tendons like steel cables were raised all along his neck and arms. Kiba's admission, well meant, had shaken him just as much as it had Knov.

Netero was strangely silent. Knov could swear he could feel disquiet radiating from the dead air the phone emitted.

"Chill," Kiba said, raising his hands in a pantomime of surrender. "I know, it's a big secret and shit. Hinata ran into a talky Hunter." He glanced at Killua and Gon. "Clara?"

Gon nodded. "She was weird," he said, sticking his tongue out. Kiba laughed.

"Yeah, weird and obsessed," he said, looking back to Morel. The man hadn't relaxed an inch. "She was sure Hinata was from the Dark Continent; that's how we learned about it." He grinned. "But if you guys were on the same track as her, you were just as wrong."

Clara? Knov didn't know a Hunter by that name, but the Association was large. It was more than possible there was another Hunter privy to the Dark Continent he hadn't met personally. Why had they divulged the secret to Hinata in the first place? Had they been willing?

"So." Netero's voice crackled over the phone. If he was alarmed, his voice didn't betray it. "You're not from the Continent."

"We're sorry we deceived you, Chairman," Hinata said softly.

"To be fair, they never asked," Kiba chuckled.

"Ummmmm…" Gon blinked, looking to Killua. His friend just shrugged. "I'm kinda lost."

"Okay," Morel said, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. "Okay."

"Okay?" Gon asked.

"Gon, the Dark Continent is an enormous world beyond our own." Morel tore the bandaid off, and Killua perked up at the ridiculous idea. "What we call 'civilization,' what is shown on maps of the world, is only a fraction of the actual world. Anything beyond the borders of what humanity has managed to conquer, we call 'The Dark Continent.'" He leaned forward again, clasping his hands with a grim expression. "This information is restricted to the highest tiers of the Association and major world governments. Do you understand?"

Gon looked between Morel and Hinata, and then to the horizon. "So.. we're in the middle of a big lake?" he eventually said.

Morel coughed, a small grin spreading on his face. "Close enough," he confirmed. "Killua?"

"That's interesting," Killua said, not looking away from Hinata. "But it doesn't really explain anything right now." He stood up, looking down on the woman. His hands slid into his pockets. "If you're not from the Dark Continent... then where?"

Hinata smiled up at him. "Like I said," she reiterated. "Another world. We traveled across time and space, through an artificial portal, to enter this one."

"A portal?"

"A technological refinement of a time-space traversal technique," Shino cut in with a teacher's voice. "Essentially, a trans-dimensional slingshot."

"You're saying," Knov said, lingering on each word, "that you three traveled here from another dimension?" He thought he was handling the world as he understood it being peeled away rather well.

"Precisely," Shino said. He scratched at his stump, obviously picking his next words with care. "A world very unlike this one, in almost all ways. Where we come from, there is no Nen." Killua blinked.

"Impossible," Morel grunted. "Nen is life. Humans couldn't survive without it." He leaned back and crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. "And besides, your abilities…"

"Do not come from Nen. Before we came here, we'd never heard the term, never seen it before." Kiba scooted forward. "We are human, just like you, but we're different too. Hinata's the only one who can see it, but I'm sure we've all felt it, one way or another."

"Morel," Hinata said, picking up Kiba's intent. The man shifted his gaze to her, his face stony. "Thousands of years ago, in the Five Nations…" she paused. "That's our home. There's more than five, of course, but they're the primary powers on the planet. Thousands of years before our time, a visitor from another dimension arrived."

"Like you?" Gon asked, and Hinata let out a single brief laugh. Knov watched her carefully, trying to take in everything calmly: analyze the information, collate it, come to a conclusion. He was doing his best to not let the absurdity of the situation affect his judgement. In the corner of his vision, he could see Killua doing the same thing.

"Technically, yes," Hinata told Gon. "But that's not important. This traveler carried with her a seed, and when she planted it it sprung up into a great tree. It grew, fed by human suffering and the natural energy of the world, until it pierced the atmosphere." Knov felt goosebumps on the back of his neck as the Hyuuga's blank eyes met his. "Sound familiar?"

'Stretching even beyond the atmosphere.'

"So." Netero spoke once more, the voice through the phone not able to carry even a tenth of his intensity. "I was right in my suspicious. You and your comrades are related to those ugly trees."

"I'm not surprised you managed to reach that conclusion, Chairman," Shino said. "With the information you had, at least."

"Did you eat the fruit?" Knov asked, recalling what Netero had told them after the failed assault nearly a month ago. Did this mean that the Shinju in the Dark Continent were also the product of dimensional visitors? Or were they the originals, and someone had carried them from there to the 'Five Nations?' A seemingly endless amount of questions was stretching out before him. "Or… no, that couldn't be it."

Once more, Killua was lost, but Gon was happy to follow along in his ignorance.

"Smart," Kiba grinned. "We didn't eat the fruit, no."

"But that visitor did." Morel was catching on, his incredible analytical mind, the thing that had brought Knov to respect him so soon after their first meeting, clearly working overtime. Knov was sure they were on the same track. "That visitor did, and they survived, a slave to the tree."

Hinata smiled as well. "It's slightly more complicated than that, but essentially, yes. But the visitor had children, and those children were free of the Shinju's hunger. They inherited their mother's power, and passed it along to the rest of humanity in a kind of… experiment." She gestured to herself, and to her comrades. "We call that power 'chakra.' It's what gives us our power, my eyes."

"How is it different from Nen?" Killua cut in. "You feel the same, act the same…" His eyes narrowed. "Most of the time."

"We think," Shino said, "that Nen and chakra come from the same source. The human vitality, physical and spiritual. That's what makes up the core of both Nen and chakra." He pressed his remaining hand to his chest. "But they act differently, and are channeled through the body differently. We have a secondary nervous system which controls the flow of chakra inside us; your lack of it was the first thing Hinata noticed when we came here." Gon blinked, and Knov agreed with the boy's clear surprise; it seemed as though the shinobi really were, in a way, aliens. "Nen manifests through your tenketsu, the nodes of aura all across your body; those are important for the function of chakra as well, but our internal system is more, well, complicated."

That matched up with what the Chairman had said about the effects of the World Trees: twisting the internal energy of their victims into something else. An entire secondary organ dedicated to regulating chakra? That certainly was twisted; the shinobi were practically artificial beings, in addition to essentially being aliens.

Killua mulled the answer over, and Shino shrugged. "I'm a teacher, but few people have deeply studied the biology behind chakra; Hinata knows more than most, thanks to her eyes. We can only make educated guesses in this area, really." He tapped his chest again. "The most critical differences are in application. We cannot use our energy as a shield or weapon, like you Hunters can; our strength is all internal. To us, that basic ability of yours is amazing."

That gave Knov yet another thing to feel vague dread over. The shinobi were fighting the Ants hand to hand without any application of Ken or Ko? That meant their bodies were tough in a way beyond what most Hunters were capable of. Peculiar.

"And of course, we don't have any Hatsu," Shino finished. Killua whistled.

"No Hatsu?" he asked. "What the heck are those techniques, then?"

"Jutsu," Kiba said, sounding bored. He clearly wasn't an interested in the theoretical aspect of the conversation as Shino. "They're not unique, like your techniques. Most jutsu can be learned by anyone, if they have the talent and time." He picked at something in his teeth with a long fingernail. "It would take forever to learn them all, but we're all taught the basics in the Academy." His smile, as always, was sharp.

Shared Hatsu, that could be taught to anyone? It seemed chakra was endlessly frightening in its versatility. Only a specific Hatsu meant to steal others could give someone the ability to use another Nen user's techniques; if the 'Jutsu' of the shinobi really could be shared freely, so long as someone had the talent to learn them, that meant…

It meant so many things that Knov found himself unable to wrap his head around the enormity of the idea. He felt he was reaching his limit in this conversation, despite barely speaking.

"Wow!" Gon met each new revelation with more excitement. "That's incredible!"

"It can be," Hinata said. "It also ensured that in the past the moment you were developed enough to learn jutsu, you were a soldier." She sighed. "We're past that now."

The Chairman grunted over the phone. "You had a momentous event in your life," he said. "One that flipped the status quo." How he could so calmly deliver that analysis, Knov didn't know. He was silent, turning everything over in his head again and again.

"You've seen many of those?" Kiba asked, and Netero chuckled.

"Of course. But if yours delivered you from a time when children were soldiers…" he paused, the dead air of the phone tangibly contemplative. "Then I must congratulate you. It must not have been easy."

Hinata started to smile, but the Chairman kept speaking.

"However," he said, "we must know. Why are you telling us this now?"

Knov had the same question: what had inspired the sudden change of heart? He realized he already knew. It was obvious.

"The King," he said, and Hinata frowned. For once, he'd spoken up before Morel, and the larger man sighed as he realized what Knov meant. "You saw him, in the palace. He has chakra too, doesn't he?" He glanced at Shino. "From your arm?"

Shino nodded. "It's the only possibility. That Royal Guard, Neferpitou: when she stole my arm, we never managed to confirm whether the Queen consumed it or not." He looked to his teammates. "We had hoped..." He paused, shaking his head. "We never should have done that, after the assault. We assumed that since the King was so fully developed, far beyond the fetal stage, that the Queen's Phagogenesis wouldn't assimilate my arm. And that even if it did, just the chakra system of my arm wouldn't be enough."

"But that piece of shit," Kiba said, sounding a little defensive, "grew an entire new organ in like a week. What a bastard."

"They are Chimera Ants," Morel said. "Their existence is an unpleasant surprise."

"Can't deny that," Kiba said, a bit quieter than before.

"So, the King has chakra." Killua didn't sound impressed. "What's that mean? Does it even make a difference?"

"We have no idea what the King would have been like if he hadn't assimilated my arm," Shino said. The sun had entirely slipped away by now, leaving nothing by shadows on the roof; they rendered the shinobi's expression completely unreadable. "But as he is now, none of us stand a chance."

"That was already the impression we got from Colt," Morel said, leaning forward and steepling his hands under his chin. "So again, what's the difference?"

"Why are you scared?" Gon asked, and Hinata jolted. Knov realized the boy had cut right to the heart of the issue. Either he didn't care to dance around it, or he hadn't even realized the others were.

"The King…" Hinata said, looking for words. "I'll put this simply. The King has an unbelievable amount of chakra. More than all of us put together. A large chakra capacity isn't dangerous in of itself, but all Chimera are unbelievably fast learners, so we expect the King to be… even more so. There are…" She struggled with the word, for reasons beyond Knov's understanding. "Creatures, in the Five Nations, with chakra at the same level of the King's. We call them the Bijuu; thanks to the strength of their energy, they can level mountains, whole cities, with ease."

Magical Beasts with the capabilities of humanity's greatest weapons? Knov grew to understand the shinobi just a bit more. With things like that roaming the land, it would have been suicide not to develop 'jutsu' like theirs.

"And you don't know if just because the King has a bunch of chakra, he'll be capable of the same kind of thing," Gon said with a nod, completely understanding. "That's definitely scary."

"Exactly," Shino said. "Even more so than before, without more information, the risk of making any moves against the King is far too great." He spoke a bit louder. "Which is why we have to learn as much as possible before the Day of Selection if we want anyone in this country to survive."

Pointing out the obvious. It was a nice bit of grounding in the midst of an unbelievable discussion.

"We were already intending to infiltrate the Palace," Knov said. "Palm will be-"

"If she goes, she'll die." Shino cut him off. "No matter how well she's disguised. The King has filled the entire palace with his chakra: he will detect any Hunter entering in an instant."

"We've already accounted for Pitou's En," Morel pointed out. "Palm is more than capable of hiding herself from extrasensory perception."

"I don't doubt her," Shino said. "But even a hint of risk is too great. We," he continued, gesturing to his comrades, "and I mean no disrespect, understand the dangers of the King more than anyone else on this planet at the moment. We also have the means to provide reconnaissance of the Palace without any personal risk."

Ah. Knov hadn't wanted to rely on the shinobi's abilities when planning their infiltration of the Palace, especially their shadow clones, which seemed both so useful and so dangerous. But now, with the offer on the table… he couldn't help but feel relieved that Palm wouldn't have to draw so close to a creature like the King.

But it couldn't be so simple. Handing over the job of infiltrating the Ant's new home to the shinobi would be a welcome chance to focus on other preparations, but it was also placing even more power in the ninja's hands. They'd already spent nearly two months lying to Knov and his comrades: who was to say they'd been completely honest now? A glance at Morel was enough to assure Knov the other man was having the same doubts. His whole body was tense, his face hard.

More than just doubts, Knov realized with a start. Morel was feeling guilt; that was the source of some of that extra tension. Why?

His nascent question was cut off my Netero's knifelike voice before it could fully form.

"Hmm." Knov could picture the man stroking his beard. "A generous offer, for which we must thank you. But… do you have a plan to deal with the King, beyond poking at its home?"

The shinobi glanced at each other, and Knov tilted his head. It was the first time a question had inspired discomfort in them.

"We believe," Shino said, "that the chance of failure in a direct assault on the King would be unacceptably high." Hinata nodded with a frown. "The current plan to separate him from his Guards with a multi-pronged assault is a good one, Chairman. If it weren't for my mistake, it might even have worked; having seen your Hatsu in action, I doubt any single Ant could stand against you, even the King."

"Ah," Netero said. Knov could almost hear the man's grin. "But now you're sure it would kill me."

"Quite sure," Shino said apologetically. "You would put up a tremendous fight and die all the same. It may be arrogant of us to so blatantly estimate you…"

"But it'd be even more arrogant to assume you'd have this in the bag and let you run off and die," Kiba cut his friend off, leaning forward. "You're kinda a creep, in my opinion, but none of us want you to get killed for no reason."

Knov stiffened, but the Chairman laughed, cutting the tension off at the knees. "How kind. What's your alternative then?"

"The portal we traveled through is located in West Gorteau," Hinata said. "They contacted our government several years ago, I do not know how many precisely, and constructed it with our instructions."

"They contacted you? How?" Knov asked. He hadn't considered how the portal had been built in the first place, too busy with all the other revelations.

Kiba glanced at Hinata, who shrugged. He returned the gesture. "There's only one shinobi alive who can travel between worlds under his own power," he explained. "He's the one who makes first contact with places, and sets them up with a line back to the Union." He spoke up as he saw another question rise out of Knov. "The Shinobi Union: an alliance of the Five Nations," he continued. "No individual nation handles any extra-dimensional relations.They all go through the Union. Uh," he glanced to Hinata for confirmation, "I'm pretty sure, at least."

"You got it," Hinata smiled.

"Fascinating, but irrelevant," Morel grumbled. "So, the portal is nearby. If that's the case, you must intend to bring reinforcements through."

"Precisely," Shino admitted. "The King is beyond us, but not our allies. To put it crudely, our plan is to call for help."

"Why didn't you earlier?" Gon asked. "When you were attacking the Nest?"

"The portal is delicate," Hinata said. "It required time to recharge with each passage. Sending us three through put it out of commission for some time. Eight weeks, to be precise. It should be fully charged sometime within the next two days. Once it is, we intend to call for reinforcements."

"A shinobi powerful enough to kill the King? Or several?" Morel asked. Knov agreed with his unspoken suspicion. Such a person would solve their problems immediately, if Hinata were telling the truth, and simultaneously create a whole host of more numerous and far more troublesome ones. The amount of unknowns in this situation was ridiculously dangerous.

"We'd try to limit it to one." Kiba scratched his beard. "The more chakra that goes through, the longer the portal has to recharge: we don't wanna be stuck here another two months."

"You have a specific person in mind?" Morel asked. Knov immediately realized what he was pushing at. The shinobi shared looks; a private, silent debate.

"Not yet," Shino decided. "But there aren't many options." He sighed. "We understand this puts you in a difficult position."

"Indeed," Netero rumbled. "This changes things. I will be returning to Peijing in the near future."

The Chairman was just going along with the plan? Such a passive approach didn't fit him at all. Knov couldn't believe the man would just cede responsibility for the King to the shinobi, not with the reputation of the Association on the line. Then again, if that were the plan, who was to say the Association just couldn't take credit for the Ant's destruction regardless of the facts?

"You'll keep us updated, I hope," Knov said. Hinata nodded.

"Of course," she said. "We wouldn't dream otherwise." She smiled. "Admitting we were from another world, and then continuing to hide things, wouldn't that be too foolish?"

A heavy silence followed the question. Knov felt himself withdrawing a little, doing his best to take all the new information and create a workable solution out of it.

Was she mocking them? In the low-light, her pale eyes shone like dim moons. There was a certain kind of paranoia in him now as he struggled to reconstruct his expectations. They were dealing with aliens. Aliens that appeared and acted human, but another species nonetheless. Whenever competitive species met, conflict of some kind always ensued. Just like the Chairman had posited, the shinobi really were just more benign Ants.

And they were offering to bring in another, someone who would be just as dangerous as the King, or more so? What madness. No matter how well intentioned, going along with this could be suicide; no matter the context, dealing with forces beyond your control, that you couldn't understand, was dangerous.

But Knov didn't say any of that. He just nodded.

"Certainly," he said. "And you've never struck me as foolish." It was the truth, but it didn't feel truthful.

"Anything else?" Morel asked, and Hinata shrugged.

"Maybe in the future," she said. "For now, I think we've covered everything important. We'll begin probing the Palace tomorrow, and see what our recon reveals."

"In that case," Netero said, "I will see you all soon." The phone hung up with an abrupt click, and the Chairman's heavy presence evaporated in the dark.

"We'll find a place to stay," Shino said to Knov. "Probably in this hotel, if we can manage it. Unless you think Hide and Seek would be better?"

"Here? There's no need," Morel answered. "The Ants already know your here: might as well avail yourself of some luxuries. We'll provide you with the funds."

Shino smiled. "We appreciate it." He inclined his head. "In that case, we should all get some rest. We have a challenging week ahead of us."

"And if any of you have more questions," Hinata said, "please, just ask. We'll answer them to the best of our ability." It was her constant fallback: radiating sincerity. The strategy had barely changed since their very first meeting, but now Knov saw it in a different light. Insecurity instead of curiosity.

Gon and Killua glanced at each other. It was obvious they intended to capitalize on that offer. But Knov just felt cold. He had to wrap his head around everything else before dreaming of asking more of the shinobi. This wasn't a combat situation, where new information had to be quickly acted upon; these revelations required infinitely more thought.

Morel and the Chairman were surely thinking the same thing. With the Chairman returning to Peijing, things were already flying off course.

They would have to navigate these new unknown waters carefully.

###

That took an unfortunate amount of time: between moving, getting a new job, wedding plan, in-law obligations, and a disgusting amount of revisions this chapter took a lot longer than I intended it to. I'm sorry for the wait, but I do hope you enjoyed it.

Now, we move into endgame. Good times ahead. Thanks for sticking with me, and Myrmidon, long enough to get here.

 

[Ser_Serendipity]

Obsessions​

"It's kinda annoying," Killua said. Gon glanced back at him, watching his friend rock back and forth on his heels. At the moment he didn't look like an elite assassin, just a bored teenager. He fit in with the hotel hallway, blending in more than anyone else his age could have, his unobtrusive black shirt and pose exuding casual wealth: perfect for the over-decorated luxury they were surrounded by.

Gon didn't really know how to look like you belonged like that. When he'd put on a tuxedo in Yorknew City, he'd felt stiff and confined. It had made being confronted by the Phantom Troupe even more intimidating. He'd probably never be at home in a place like this, especially in a country like East Gorteau.

"What?" he asked, examining one of the hallway plants. It was too green to be real, but it didn't smell of plastic. Weird. "Hinata?"

"It's useful," Killua said. "But she's impossible to surprise."

"That's a good thing, right?" Gon responded. He grinned. "Or are you just grumpy you can't sneak up on her, Killua?"

His friend grunted, and Gon giggled. Killua enjoyed little things in life: startling people by silently approaching them was one of them. With Hinata, that was basically impossible, unless she'd completely dropped her guard.

It was weird to think the woman they'd traveled with for nearly a month had been an alien. She acted totally like a human; laughed, ate, fought, talked just like anyone else would. The revelation of her origin had inspired more curiosity than worry after he'd thought about it; Gon had met plenty of humans way more alien than Hinata.

He wondered where Hisoka was. He wasn't in a hurry to see the man again. Never would be ideal, really. Even after helping them on Greed Island, Hisoka had always reeked of being a predator, just waiting for his opportunity to eat Gon alive.

Maybe Hinata knew people like that back home. Creepy pale guys, at least. He doubted lunatics dressed as clowns were any more common in the Five Nations than they were here. Hopefully, at least. What if there was a clown infestation over there? Just people everywhere with makeup and cards, running around, doing weird jutsu? Hinata came from the 'Hyuuga' Clan… what if there was a Clown Clan?

"What the hell are you thinking about?" Killua asked. Gon realized his face had screwed up in disgust and horror. He straightened it out with a grin.

"Just questions to ask!" he lied. He knew Killua knew it before he was even finished talking. "I've got a bunch! What about you?"

"Haven't we all got a bunch?" Killua asked. Gon was pretty sure it was rhetorical, but he nodded anyway. "They're from another planet!" He drew a little closer. "They've got an extra organ, mutated Nen! They're technically not even the same species."

"Yeah, it's pretty neat," Gon agreed. "So, we going up?" He indicated the staircase they were loitering next to. The room the Association had rented out for the shinobi was just above them, but Killua had stopped her to gather his thoughts.

"Whatever," Killua said. 'I need another minute,' was what Gon heard. He shrugged.

"Well, I'm going up," he said, tromping onto the stairs. "You can come if you want."

"Hey, wait!" Killua said with a huff, chasing after him. "I don't want you asking anything without me there!"

Gon stuck his tongue out as they turned the corner, nearly bumping into a hotel staff member. The man skittered to the side of the hall, bowing deeply. "Then you better keep up," he said. In truth, he didn't have many questions prepared; he just intended to talk to Hinata like he always did. He was sure he'd learn whatever he needed to that way. The shinobi's room was the fifth door down the hall from the stairs: 710. It had a nice door. Oak, maybe? Did they have that in East Gorteau? There was a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging from the handle.

He rung the doorbell as Killua caught up to him. It was 6:50 in the morning, and like a child on Christmas far too anxious about gifts to sleep well, Gon had leapt out of bed at an ungodly hour and then paced until he deemed it late enough to go to the shinobi. Killua had pretended to stay asleep, but only out of a sense of stubborness, Gon was sure. He was definitely feeling the same way.

They waited. Nothing happened.

Gon rung the bell again. The staff member, still lingering in the hall, awkwardly glanced at them. Once more, nothing happened. Killua groaned, rapping on the door four times.

The door flew open, almost knocking Killua on his butt. Kiba poked his head out with a snarl, his face covered in shaving cream. Gon snickered.

"What the fu-" Kiba looked right, finding nothing, and then left, at the cowering hotel worker. He glanced down, spotting the reeling Killua and a cheerful Gon.

"Hi!" Gon chirped. The man growled, cream dripping of his half shaved face. More than a month in the wilderness had turned what was probably once a well groomed beard into a mass of wiry black hair, some still clumped with ugly blue splotches.

"Goddamn kids," the man grumbled. One of his eyes was bloodshot. "Why are you always in such a hurry? It's not even seven."

"You can't be that old," Killua said, regaining his footing. "Since when is seven early?"

"Since we crossed the whole damn country without sleeping," Kiba grunted, but he opened the door wider regardless. "What's up? I doubt you're here to see me," he said with a small laugh. Gon felt a little bad for him. The shinobi was right, but only because Gon didn't really know him. Hinata was a known prospect. Her teammates weren't.

"We're here to see Hinata," Killua said. "She awake?"

Kiba fully opened the door. "Yeah, she was the first one up. Never needed a lot of sleep." Neither of the boys moved, and he gestured. "Well, c'mon in. What're you waiting for?" He glanced down the hallway to the frozen hotel worker. "Hey, could we get some breakfast? Something big, whatever you got."

The man nodded stiffly, and Killua strode into the room. Gon followed after him, smiling at Kiba as the man closed the door behind them. The shinobi had been given a multi-room suite; the entrance led right into a grand living room filled with couches, a huge tv, a table with several chairs, an attached kitchen, and several large windows with a great view of the city. It was a bit more impressive than their room for sure; Gon wondered how much it had cost the Association.

Hinata was sitting in front of the TV, which was playing some international news program. Gon didn't pay it much attention. The woman was dressed differently than he was used to. When they were hunting Ants he'd rarely seen her without her distinctive vest, her 'flak-jacket,' and long black combat pants. Now, she was wearing something more befitting a civilian, a long light purple jacket with a beige shirt and brown skirt under it. The only real similarity was the skirt, but it made her look a little like Mito.

Gon shook his head, dispelling the image of his aunt. Hinata was far more dangerous than her. Even looking like this, he couldn't miss that edge of readiness.

"Hi!" he said, plopping down on the couch next to her. Hinata looked up at him and smiled; she'd been writing something on a short piece of embroidered paper, something the hotel had left out. She set her pen aside, turning to face him.

"Morning Gon," she said. As always, her voice was both gentle and firm. "I didn't expect you up so early."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Killua asked, ambling over and slinking down into an armchair to the side of the couch, glancing at the paper as he passed. He propped his feet up on the table between the couch and the TV, sighing. "You gave us a lot to think about."

Gon gave the paper a second of his time as well. It looked like a list of names.

"I'm sure I did," Hinata said, sitting back. "We are sorry for not telling you the truth earlier." She shrugged. "It was just a little unbelievable. We weren't sure how you'd react."

"I mean, even if you're aliens, you're still people. It's not that big a deal, right?" Gon asked. Hinata laughed, but Killua frowned.

"It's understandable," he said. "Your chakra is pretty weird. We would have been suspicious." He reached back and pulled his own piece of paper from his back pocket. "Maybe still are, a little. So I brought a list of questions."

"Oh?" Hinata asked, quirking an eyebrow. "That should be interesting."

Gon chuckled as Killua flourished his list. His friend hadn't told him what he was putting together; he was just as interested to see what it was as Hinata.

"First off," Killua started. "Have you been to other worlds, or is this your first?"

"Just jumping right in then?" Killua shrugged, and the Hyuuga smiled. "My first," she confirmed. "Our first. The portal isn't brand new, but I'd never needed to use it before. Our mission to recover some Chimera Ants was my first opportunity to travel to another world." She considered. "But I have been to the moon. Maybe that counts."

"The moon?!" Gon asked, rocking forward. "Really? Why?" What could possible be up on the moon in the shinobi's world? Was it like their own?

"I was captured by an enemy," Hinata said simply. "He lived in a hollow artificial space on the moon. It's less exciting than it sounds."

Gon didn't believe her, but the topic clearly made her a little uncomfortable: the first time he'd seen Hinata seem awkward about something. He wondered why, but didn't press.

"Interesting." Killua scribbled something. Gon wondered what he could have been writing. 'Been to the moon?' That wouldn't be very useful.

"Alright, second question," Killua said. "I've got seven, by the way. I figured that'd be enough for me, and not get into stupid ones."

"If you say so," Hinata said, taking the the Zoldyck's awkwardness in stride. Killua scooted forward a little.

"How common is stuff like your eyes, among shinobi?" he asked. Gon sat up a little straighter. This question wasn't entirely polite, but it was really important. "And connected to that: for a shinobi, are you exceptional?"

"Killua!" Gon protested. Hinata laughed.

"Don't worry, Gon; I doubt you two could ask something that'd offend me at this point," she said, and Gon subsided with a sheepish grin. "As for my eyes, Killua, the Byakugan is a genetic ability, a Bloodline. They're not entirely common among shinobi, but they're not rare either. Dojutsu like the Byakugan, however, are." She touched two fingers to her temple. "There are slightly less than three hundred Hyuuga, though only about half of them are active ninja now. All of them have the Byakugan, though their ability with it varies. I have one of the largest ranges in my clan, but there are others who are far more perceptive than me; they would be able to see your brain chemistry, your electrical signals, even the twitches of your muscles, and practically read your mind." Her smile faded a little, softening into something melancholy, but she didn't elaborate.

"So… you're exceptional, then?" Killua poked. Kiba stuck his head into the room; he'd ambled into one of the neighboring bathrooms. His face was mostly clean of shaving cream, his beard nearly under control.

"Bad question," he chuckled. "Hinata's too humble to give you an honest answer. If you lined up every shinobi in the world and asked everyone who was the biggest badass, Hinata would be like…" He scratched his chin. "Twenty? Something like that."

"What about you?" Gon asked. The man's face went a little red.

"Twenty-one!" he grunted, pulling back into the bathroom. Hinata giggled.

"He's a little sensitive," she muttered to Gon. "Don't worry about it; just something that happened a long time ago."

"You beat him up?" Gon asked slyly. Hinata shook her head, equally surreptitious.

"No, but my husband did," she laughed, once more not elaborating.

"Exceptional, then," Killua muttered, writing more. "That leads right into the next one!" He sounded a bit excited, shaking off some of his sleep, or lack of. "This one, and the next, they're kinda longshots. But… what are all your abilities? Your 'jutsu?' I'm positive we didn't see all of them while we were hunting Ants."

He was right. Hinata was an impressive fighter, but she'd never shown off anything while with them that would have allowed her to survive Neferpitou's assault without any major injuries. Gon's mind sharpened a little. This was the question most directly tied to their goal.

"All my jutsu, huh?" Hinata asked, thinking it over. "You've already seen the majority of them. Most of my techniques are based off the Gentle Fist: a martial art practiced by my clan. The Lion's Fist and Vacuum Palm, you've seen all those in action. Since the Gentle Fist lets me manifest chakra as a weapon outside my body, I can also destroy Nen constructs, which apparently makes me an 'exorcist.' I imagine that's extraordinarily useful."

"Very," Killua confirmed. "Exorcists are rare, so any Nen curses are really frightening. But… I guess you could just punch them off."

"Awesome," Gon grinned. Hinata leaned forward with a frown.

"As for other techniques… I know some healing jutsu. Just enough to set a broken bone if I needed to, but I'm not an expert. My chakra…" She stopped. "Killua, you'll enjoy this." The boy perked up. "Somewhat like Nen, different people have different chakra natures. But chakra natures don't break up into divisions like Enhancement or Manipulation like Nen; instead, they are along elemental lines." Gon wondered where Hinata had picked up on the different Nen natures: he knew he and Killua had never bothered to explain them. "I have a dual nature, which is somewhat uncommon: Fire and Lightning. I can use my lightning-natured chakra to increase my reflexes, but only a little. There are chakra techniques dedicated to that sort of enhancement, but I can't come even close to them."

Techniques that used lightning to increase the user's reflexes? Gon glanced at Killua, who had a thoughtful expression. He wondered if they were thinking the same thing. Killua had never tried to use electricity like that. Nen and chakra were pretty different, but maybe there'd be a similarity there? It would definitely be a crazy use of his transmutation abilities.

"As for Fire, I never put much effort into learning its jutsu, but I do know one: the Hosenka. I don't use it in combat much because the Gentle Fist is a lot more efficient." She brought her hand up to her mouth, cupping it. "It just lets me spit several balls of fire."

She'd fought Pitou with just that? Stuff they'd already seen? That couldn't be right.

"There's two more things," Hinata continued, and Gon almost sighed in relief. There was something more, some secret weapon. "The pinnacle of the Gentle Fist: I've never had the need to use it while we traveled together. It's called the Eight Trigrams. Using my eyes, I can pinpoint aura nodes on the body and close them with a touch. The most advanced version of the technique strikes sixty-four such nodes, which completely closes off the passage of chakra in the body." She shrugged. "It has a very similar effect on Ants, and so I presume it would on you as well."

Killua leaned back, mouthing something in astonishment. Gon was just as impressed. Forcing someone into zetsu by closing their aura nodes? It was just like Knuckle's APR, but a bit more hands on. If Hinata had something like that, it was no wonder she'd been able to fight Pitou; she'd probably closed the Royal Guard's Nen off and forced it to rely just on its body. Still terrifying, but without that killing intent that had driven Gon mad, it would have been manageable.

Gon saw a potential future, and he was sure Killua saw it too. If Hinata managed to close off Neferpitou's Nen, the three of them would be able to kill the Ant without a doubt. It would only take one Jajanken to shatter the thing's head. That was their way of paying it back for Kite, for sure.

"As for the other, like the Hosenka, I've never used it in a fight," Hinata said. Gon was sure she'd noticed their quiet thoughts, but was polite enough not to acknowledge their split focus. "My husband passed it to me." She smiled, huge and warm, and Gon realized Hinata cared more about whoever she was married to than he'd ever have guessed. "A birthday present, kinda."

She held her hand up, palm out, and focused, her brow scrunching. Killua got up and paced over, staring down into Hinata's palm with open curiosity. Gon just leaned in, activating Gyo around his eyes. He was positive that whatever was going to happen would look twice as cool with Nen-enhanced vision.

He was right. As Hinata concentrated a ball of swirling purple energy, chakra, formed in her palm and gradually expanded. It started out the size of a grape and swelled, eventually becoming about the size of Gon's head. Then it stopped, suspended in Hinata's palm and giving off a soft high pitched whir. Killua leaned in, eyes wide.

Looking closer, the mechanics of the jutsu were beautifully simple. It was definitely the prettiest technique, Nen or otherwise, that Gon had laid his eyes on. The sphere was comprised of rapidly rotating chakra, bound together by something like centrifugal force, compressed tighter and tighter until it seemed ready to explode from the tension. Hinata manipulating her energy outside her body like that must have taken enormous focus and practice; it was similar to his Jajanken, but far more controlled.

"The Rasengan," Hinata explained. "I find it pretty tricky to use in a fight; it takes a lot of concentration to maintain, so it's easier to just use the Gentle Fist. But it's incredibly destructive." Killua jerked his face back; he'd been right over the jutsu. "If I let it go without controlling it, it could wreck this whole room."

"Sounds dangerous," Killua muttered. "Why haven't you trained to use it?" He was suspicious, Gon was sure, that Hinata wasn't telling the whole truth there. He wouldn't call his own curiosity suspicion, but it did seem weird to have such a cool, not to mention obviously powerful, technique and not bother to use it.

Hinata closed her hand, and the Rasengan faded away with a low-pitched sigh, the energy harmlessly drifting off in every direction. "By the time I learned it, the days where I fought often were long gone." She shrugged. "For me, it's not a weapon. It's a gift."

Gon got it. Killua didn't, but he'd figured that'd happen. As his friend opened his mouth again, Gon shook his head. Killua gave him a weird look, but stayed quiet, tracking back to his armchair and question-filled paper.

"Thanks for showing us that," he said, and Hinata nodded. The Zoldyck moved on with merciless efficiency. "So, three more. Do you think you could use Nen with training?"

"No," Hinata said bluntly. "Or at least, I doubt it. Our biology is just too different."

"That's what I thought," Killua said, scratching something out. "Next one's a little personal, sorry. What's your position, back in the Shinobi Union? Are you an elite or something, or did you just get on this mission because of Shino?"

"Kinda connected to that," Gon spoke up, "do you have a family? You are married, so..."

"Hmm." Hinata sat back. "I suppose you could call me an elite shinobi. I do have a family: my Clan, of course, and my husband Naruto, along with two children. And I did just go along on this mission because of Shino. We're old teammates, so it seemed like it'd be a good time." She laughed, a little weakly. "We didn't realize it would be this dangerous. We were treating it more like a vacation."

"Who's Naruto?" Gon asked. "I mean, besides your husband. He's a ninja too?" He kept himself from slapping himself a second later as he realized what a stupid question that was. Naruto had taught her the Rasengan; he was definitely a ninja.

It was a simple question in addition to being a stupid one, but Hinata took some time to think about it. Eventually, she reached an invisible decision just as Kiba wandered back into the room, finally finished shaving.

"He's the Hokage," she said. "The leader of The Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Cool! Hinata was the wife of a shinobi bigwig? That definitely made sense to Gon. She seemed like the kind of person who was close to power. Looking over, he could tell Killua was having a similar reaction.

"Just up and tell them, huh?" Kiba asked, and Hinata nodded.

"Done hiding stuff, remember? It was your idea," she noted, and Kiba chuckled.

"Got me there," he admitted, and wandered into the next room. Killua watched him go with pursed lips.

"So you're the wife of the leader of Konoha," he said. "How important is Konoha back on your world?"

Hinata smiled. "Pretty important. It's the second largest military in the world, and the largest economy."

"Jeeeeez." Killua stuck his hands in his pockets. "Good thing you're still in one piece. Wouldn't want to piss off someone in charge of that."

Hinata just smiled demurely. "I'm sure it wouldn't be your concern if something happened to me. I wouldn't worry about it: Naruto knows I can take care of myself."

That was out of the question. Gon liked Hinata way too much to let something happen to her. She'd kept Kite from being controlled by Pitou for too long, and saved his life at least twice. She was his ticket to honoring his promise to Kite's body, too. She was super important.

Keeping her safe was a top priority, even if she was more equipped to do that than he was.

"Okay." Killua was still gathering himself. "Okay. Super important to know. Last question, then." He tapped his pencil on his paper. "Who're you planning to bring through the Portal as reinforcements, and why?"

"For that," Hinata said, picking up the piece of paper she'd left on the table, "we have our own list."

There was a knock at the door. Kiba shot out of his room, half dressed.

"I'll get it," he grunted in passing. Was that the room service? Must have been, who else would be knocking? Gon refocused on the piece of paper. There were eleven names on it. Kakashi, Lee, Shikamaru, Gaara, Hachibi, Kabuto, Sakura, Korutsuchi, Naruto, Sasuke, Onoki. Only one of the names meant anything to Gon, and that was Naruto: it was placed at the top. 'Sasuke' had a question mark next to it.

"So, Naruto's pretty strong then?" Killua asked. "He's right at the top."

"If my husband were here, the Ants would all be dead within the hour," Hinata said. She didn't sound proud or frightened. It was just a statement of fact. "He's entirely beyond me."

That was scary. Gon wondered what the other Hunters would think of that. He trusted Hinata, and so naturally trusted her husband, but the idea of a guy who could wipe out all the Ants in an hour was scary, even for him. The other Hunters were more paranoid; they wouldn't like a guy like that at all.

"How?" Killua asked. "Speed? Destructive power?" He glanced at Hinata's palm. "A giant Rasengan?"

For some reason, that got a laugh out of her. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said with a grin. "Just trust me when I say it wouldn't be a problem."

Did she mean that, or was she just being coy? Gon couldn't tell. If 'Naruto' really was out of their understanding, what put him there? Maybe he'd made some sort of contract that made him barely human, if people with chakra could make contracts. But Hinata didn't seem like the person who'd marry someone like that.

"Okay, so why haven't we already called him in?" Killua asked. Gon backed him up.

"Yeah, if it would be that easy, why isn't he here already?"

"Because it's not that simple." Hinata drew a circle around her husband's name. "The Hokage's job is to defend the village. Naruto's okay with leaving it alone for some period of time; he's far more proficient with Shadow Clones than anyone else alive, so he's never truly gone. But passing through the Portal deactivates it for a certain amount of time, depending on how much chakra the person passing through has."

Shadow Clones, huh? Gon hummed as he considered that. Maybe that was how the Hokage could wipe out such dangerous Ants so quickly. Just bury them in a wave of himself? Hinata had never made more than five such clones at once, but maybe her husband could make dozens, or hundreds. That'd definitely be terrifying, and kinda unbelievable. He'd be a one-man army. Shadow Clones were pretty fragile, but would that matter if there were too many of them to fight back against?

Gon realized he wasn't asking many of his questions out loud, and he wasn't entirely sure why. The idea shocked him a little; he was still a little scared of being completely open with Hinata. Apparently her being an alien was still getting to him.

He was sure his disappointment in himself was showing on his face, but Hinata was nice enough not to mention it as she continued explaining.

"When I passed through the portal, I deactivated it for four weeks," she said. "More than was estimated. Naruto has far, far more chakra than me. If he went through, it's possible we'd be trapped in this world for months, or even years. It could even be faster to just build a new portal, though I don't know how long that'd take."

"Ah," Gon said. That long? That was ridiculous. "So you'd definitely take out the Ants, but then you wouldn't be able to get home, and he wouldn't be able to do his job." He frowned. "That sucks."

Kiba came back into the main room, pushing a cart covered in food in front of him. Eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, several salad, slices of ham, piles of butter, some sort of local vegetable that Gon didn't recognize: the cart was a ridiculous pile of breakfast items. It seemed like the staff had taken 'Whatever you've got' a little too literally.

"Sweet," Kiba mumbled. He looked up. "Explained the Naruto problem?"

Hinata nodded. "The other safest option," she continued, "would be Sasuke." She tapped the name with her pen, leaving a splotch above the second 's'. "But there's no guarantee we'd be able to get in contact with him: he's the shinobi who can travel to other worlds under his own power, and he's usually off doing just that. It would take some serious luck for him to be back in the village when we needed him."

"Why him?" Killua asked.

"He's the only one who could match my husband," she said with a frown. There was a history there, Gon could tell. Hinata didn't really approve of Sasuke. He wondered why. Did he and her husband not get along? "I mentioned that dojutsu like mine are rare. Sasuke is the last of his clan, the Uchiha. They possessed eyes just as useful as mine: the Sharingan."

"What do they do?" Gon asked. What could be just as useful as the Byakugan's incredible range and sensory ability? Maybe he could make people explode or something.

"Depends on the Uchiha," Hinata said. "Sasuke's mastered them, and he's… unusual, even for an Uchiha. His eyes are what let him travel between dimensions, in addition to giving him unmatched acuity. He can't see through things or as far as I can, but what he can see he would perceive more deeply than even me."

"So wait," Gon asked, thinking of a friend he hadn't seen in nearly a year. "Does he travel with his eyes, or do they just let him use another technique that does it for him?"

"The latter, I believe," Hinata said. Gon glanced to Killua for confirmation that 'latter' mean the second thing, and got confirmation through an eyeroll. That was a lot like Kurapika then. Interesting; it was just another way Nen and Chakra weren't so different.

"So, he would be the better choice then," Killua said. "If he could match the King, and he could travel under his own power…"

"Precisely. We're hoping the Union will be able to contact him, but it's no certainty." Hinata moved farther down the list. "Everyone else is a secondary choice, but I believe they'd all be able to take down the King, under the right circumstances, especially if several of them came through."

"And I agree," Kiba said, wandering over with a plate full of meat. "Except for Onoki. He's old. Someone else with his jutsu would work, but he's too creaky, I'd bet." He took a thoughtful bite out of some bacon. "And we should see if we could toss Knov through the portal. If he got through, maybe Naruto could just come over with Hide and Seek."

"You think he'd go along with that?" Hinata asked. Kiba shrugged.

"Why wouldn't he? Worst thing that happens, he just…" he paused. "Well, I guess he could get vaporized or like, lost in between dimensions or something... that's up there. But hey, don't know till you try."

"Why not just bring through all of them, if Naruto and Sasuke aren't available?" Killua asked. Kiba tch'd.

"You're smarter than that," he said, and Killua bristled. "If we brought everyone through, we might have a better chance head-on with the King, sure. But that'd shut the portal down for long damn time-" he took another bite, this time of ham, "and even worse, what if the King managed to take one of them down? The Ants are going to be making more Queens after the big day, according to Morel, and giving them another body with chakra would mean the entire next generation would have it."

Killua settled down a little at that point, but Gon could still tell he was irritated at the man's attitude. "Even worse, what if the King ran away, faced with a bunch of strong opponents? How long would it take to find him again?" The dog-like man finished chewing, reaching for another cut of meat. "One guy will be better, especially a guy like Naruto; the King won't hide from one dude, and there's no chance he'd survive if he didn't." He scratched at his newly shaved chin. "That said, if it's looking bad, yeah, we'll probably just shove a bunch of people through and get stuck here for a bit. Better than dying, or getting others into a bad situation."

"O...kay," Gon said. "Think I get it." He glanced at Hinata. "And there's no way you guys could take down the King?"

"If he were asleep, with his guard down, and there were no other Ants in the palace, and his biology is less durable than it looks…" Hinata shrugged. "I might be able to kill him. But that's not happening. If we want to take him out without casualties, we need more than what we have."

"Alright, fair." Gon snatched an apple off the food cart, considering its shiny surface. 'Without casualties.' Hinata really didn't want anyone to die; she'd said this was supposed to be a vacation, not a job. The shinobi weren't supposed to be here, but they were putting their lives on the line anyway, giving away secrets to keep their allies out of danger. Would the Hunters have done the same, if the situation were reversed?

Gon didn't know. He decided to ask a more important question instead.

"What's he up to now?"

Hinata flared her Byakugan for a moment, concentrating on a distant place. She'd winced when she done it, as though expecting pain, but as Gon watched, her tension slipped away and was replaced by confusion.

"What?" he asked. Killua, still smarting from Kiba's dismissal, looked up. "He's there, right?"

"He's… exactly where he was last night," Hinata said, tilting her head. "Playing a board game."

"A board game? With an Ant?" Killua asked. That was a funny picture, Gon thought. Hinata shook her head.

"With a little girl. Well, about your age, so not so little. She entered the room last night… I was sure she would be killed shortly after. The King had killed the last human who he beat in a game: chess." Hinata frowned. "I didn't want to watch it happen. But that's not chess, and she's still alive…"

"Maybe she beat him?" Gon suggested as Hinata focused. She was silent for a good ten seconds; Gon began to fidget.

"She must have," Hinata said. "She just did it again. He's conceded." She squinted a little. "And is starting another game."

Playing a board game for twelve hours straight, over and over, against the same opponent, and constantly losing? The King must have been super patient, or super bored. For that matter, his opponent must have been amazing; she must have understood that her life was on the line. Gon didn't really like chess or other games like that, but if he had to win or die he'd definitely put his all into it.

That the Ant hadn't killed his opponent was a little unnerving to Gon. If that were the case, it meant the King was confident enough in eventually winning that it wasn't letting its defeats get to it. He wondered why it would be so focused on a board game.

Maybe there was nothing else to do.

Still, that girl would probably be dead soon. Gon's heart felt a little heavy at that, but it was easy to brush off. He didn't like how easy it was to brush off. So many people had already been killed by the Ants, and she was another that they couldn't possibly save. It was garbage, but just like Kite, it was reality.

He tried to get his mind off the topic.

"You think the Chairman is doing the same thing?" he asked Killua after a moment. His friend titled his head, not understanding the question at first, before he realized Gon meant seeking reinforcements. He thought about it, and then shrugged.

"He'd be stupid not to," he said, eyes falling on a plate of scrambled eggs. "The Association's big: there's gotta be a Hunter or two out there he'd like to have here now that the situation's gotten even worse." He reached over, picking up the plate.

"Who knows who, though."

###

Isaac Netero hated cell phones.

He'd been seventy-six years old when he'd first used one. At the time, he'd thought it a novelty, a huge clunky thing that would probably catch on eventually, but would never be of much interest to him. The ease of communicating long distances, something that had previously been restricted to landlines and esoteric Nen abilities, was certainly a draw, but the detached humanity of it niggled at him. In a conversation, which was a peculiar kind of battle in its own right and thus something Netero took great pleasure in, there was never a moment of silence, even when no one was talking. Humans were predictable and loud in their quiet moments; the Chairman had known how to read people by their body language and breathing alone for decades before he picked up his first phone, and it had been one of his only skills that age hadn't cruelly depleted.

But on a cell phone, you couldn't read your opponent's body language. You could listen to their breathing, but only if they didn't understand how much information it carried. You couldn't look someone in the eyes. All you had to work off of was their voice, what they actually said. It was like a boxing match with both fighters handcuffed. Still technically a fight, and certainly amusing in a morbid way, but absolutely unsatisfying compared to the real thing.

Netero had been forced to make dozens of calls in the last fifteen hours; more than he usually bothered with in a year. It was infuriating, and in an odd way exciting. Something had finally pushed him out of his comfort zone, even if it was as pedestrian as a series of phone calls.

And the shinobi, of course. That was entirely outside of his frame of reference, and so inherently exciting. Netero wasn't blind, of course: the chakra-users, and the world they represented, were entirely more dangerous than the Chimera Ants that cavorted about in East Gorteau's capital. Though their methods were entirely dissimilar, they both were more than capable of replacing humanity; at least, the humanity that Netero was a part of.

The danger stemmed from appearances, as hollow as that felt to admit. The Ants were monsters. Anyone in their right mind would instinctively oppose them to their last breath. No matter how many humans they ate, they would never be able to pass as one.

But the shinobi were human, in every way but their twisted energy. Twisted souls as well, perhaps, though Netero had no way of ascertaining that. Surely the production of chakra, no matter how soothingly scientific Shino had explained it as, had not left the shinobi's spirits unharmed. No matter the addition of an extra, invisible organ, the shinobi appeared human, and so countries like West Gorteau, in existential competition with their neighbor, were all too happy to consort with them, despite the natural suspicion raised by alien visitors with odd accents.

Intended or not, the cultural contamination would inevitably spread. Were it that alone, Netero would have no concerns. People were entirely too wrapped up in their identities, wearing flags and languages in a pathetic attempt to seek solidarity with people they had no true connection with, too afraid to stand on their own and admit the gulf between them and the people they claimed were their fellows.

Netero didn't have those delusions, but he also didn't entertain the idea that his way of doing things was any healthier. But when it came to the shinobi, isolation was certainly the only path that guaranteed survival. It was gaudy and a little disappointing. He could already hear the same elements of the Association that chafed at the restrictions on the Dark Continent going up in arms at the decision to be cut off from an entire other world, full of strange new people and challenges. Perhaps they would finally amass the resources to vote him out. That, at least, would be interesting.

He was fully aware that in a way, he was being paranoid. Overcautious. His age was showing, and it galled him. Yet, the truth was equally obvious; the shinobi, and the world they hailed from, could not be trusted. Their individual virtue, which he held in high regard, their martial ability, which thrilled him, none of that mattered. Letting a foreign species that could produce specimen that dwarfed the Ant King access his world without safeguards would be tantamount to suicide. Worse, it could spark a war beyond either side's understanding.

He felt the weight in his chest, heavier than usual. How much did the shinobi understand, when they so freely offered up knowledge of their portal? Would they have been so trusting if they'd known it would only take one man with a suitcase striding through to reduce their cities to radioactive sludge? The Poor Man's Rose, and technology like it, seemed beyond their comprehension, so sure were they that the King could only be defeated in a straight competition of strength.

Of course, they'd understand when he returned to Peijing. Hinata would spot the bomb nestled beneath his heart in an instant, and then the shinobi would surely understand the scale of their mistake; that they'd opened their home to dangers beyond their comprehension, just as Netero and his fellow Hunters had by taking their offer of assistance.

Cooperation had been necessary, but coexistence would be impossible.

Netero had been on hold for about twenty-seven minutes as he considered the unfortunate reality of the shinobi problem. His next conversant had been outstandingly difficult to get ahold of, to a degree that had surpassed amusing and become irritating. One short call had led to him being passed off to another, which had led to yet another, who was now in the midst of an extremely challenging hike. The sound of the man's breath, frail and ragged, echoed through the phone; he must have been at altitude. Netero recognized the desperate sound of powerful lungs struggling in low oxygen.

He did not mind the chance for introspection, but he was eager to finish the call. To tell the truth, Isaac Netero was not sure he was making the right decision. Not about the shinobi, and not about the call.

"Boar," he heard the man on the other end of the line gasp. "Gotta call for you." He had a rough voice, made worse by his panting. Netero heard the phone passing from one sweaty hand to a clean one.

"Yo."

Netero smiled at the man's tone. "You expected this call."

"I wasn't sure, Chairman," 'Boar' said. It had given Netero a distinct amount of pleasure to assign that callsign to the least boorish of the Zodiacs; a quiet joke that he was sure the other man appreciated as well. "After all, if I didn't get it two months ago, I wouldn't expect to receive it now. But I did give it a fifty-fifty, just in case."

Netero laughed. "You sound hurt," he chided.

"Just curious, as always. I'm especially curious why you've bothered now."

"Even if I had called, you would have refused." Netero stretched out, his right calf straining. "A B-Class threat?"

"You're right, I would have told you that was well within your capabilities." Netero could feel the man's petulance, and it made him grin.

"Well, what if I asked you now?" he said, suddenly in good cheer. The sun was about finished rising in the dull winter sky. The journey back to Peijing would be beautiful.

"Chimera Ants, Chairman?" His opponent was grinning just as much as him, it was obvious. "That's a simple B-Class threat; I'm sure it's well within your capabilities, let alone anyone you'd invite along."

Netero chuckled. "Of course," he said. "In fact, if it weren't for the intercession of others, this matter would be nearly finished."

"Others? The shinobi?" Now he had Boar's attention. The man could feel them circling something, and the Chairman's coyness excited him. "That Byakugan certainly sounded interesting, but I didn't find them too shocking."

"The very same," Netero confirmed. "I believe you'll find them worth meeting."

"Ninja?" The man was skeptical. "They're always busy hiding the obvious. Way too theatrical for me." There was a distant crash on the other end of the line; a tree falling? "What are you playing at, Netero?"

"These shinobi are from another world."

His opponent was too canny to back down; he charged right into the words.

"Did they follow the Ants? The Dark Continent?"

"So I had assumed," Netero admitted. "But no. They traveled here from another world entirely, through a dimensional tear of their own making. And more importantly, they lack Nen: instead, they possess the energy of the Shinju… tamed for their own use."

He wasn't sure if that last line was entirely true, but it wasn't a lie, and it made excellent bait. Netero leaned forward, feeling the conversation straining, about to break in his favor.

"Now that…" He had him. "That would be of more interest to you than an ordinary B-Class threat, wouldn't it Ging."

Boar, Ging Freecss, stayed silent, breathing calmly, for a satisfying three seconds.

"Much more interesting." He shamelessly gave in. "No Nen, huh? That's certainly bizarre."

"Without question," Netero said. "Worse, they've passed their energy onto the King. Its mother devoured one of their arms before its birth."

"Wow, tricky stuff." The Chairman could easily picture Ging's nod, his dawning excitement as something that was both connected to the forbidden Continent and another world entirely was laid out in front of him. The other man was surely aware of how easily he was being played, but didn't care. "Tricky stuff. So what, you're worried the King is too strong now or something?"

'Why tell me?'

"The shinobi," Netero explained, "are planning to bring through another of their companions: someone they claim will be able to destroy the King with minimal casualties. They don't seem to have knowledge of weapons like the Rose. They're wholly convinced we need saving, on the surface at least."

"Ah, ah…" Ging lapsed into thought. "How frightening. Then you want me there as a safeguard, so if the shinobi turn out to be less than honest, we'll die together."

"I wouldn't put it that way," Netero chuckled. "But yes."

"Even with their energy, I've little interest in the King," Ging noted. "I've seen enough Ants by now… though none that are the product of humans. I suppose that would be a little odd."

"When you arrive, perhaps you'll find it more than your imagination wagered," Netero said. He grew a little more serious. "And you will arrive. I went to some trouble to contact you, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I've always hated cell phones. Feels so impersonal," Ging snorted. Netero's eye twitched. "Give me two days. Then we'll see if these shinobi are really as interesting as you're making them out to be."

Netero shrugged. "If an old man could fool you, you deserved to be fooled. I'll see you in thirty-six hours. Peijing."

Then he hung up, before Ging could ask anything more. Netero savored the dead air, grinning at the thought of how mentally constipated the Zodiac would become at the abrupt ending. He wouldn't be able to take his mind off the Chairman's sparse words; soon, curiosity would drive Ging right into East Gorteau, as inexorable as age or gravity.

The man simply could not resist a good mystery.

Bringing in the lazy but brilliant Hunter was an undeniable risk though. If it weren't for the contingencies of the other Hunters, the contracted Zoldycks, and the bomb so comfortably nestled in his own chest, Netero would never have dreamed of it. Ging was a valuable asset, but also a wild and unpredictable one. He was as likely to make peace with the Ants as kill them, and there was no margin for error in the efforts in East Gorteau.

The reputation of the Association, and the safety of the human race, were now balanced on Netero's vision. He could only hope it was as clear as it had once been.

###

The day following the shinobi's revelation was a busy one for Morel. He'd had a lot to get done in a short amount of time. Clearing the area around the hotel of soldiers to ensure a lack of interference was at the top of the list. He'd started with several dozen smoke clones, but the situation had escalated, and before he knew it he'd ended up turning seven or eight blocks around the place into a no-go zone with a barrage of thrown rocks and haunting shadow-play.

It was a little embarrassing, but also welcome. By the Day of Selection, Peijing would be clear of both soldiers and people, since they were all meant to make their way to the Palace anyway; speeding up that process to give the Hunters a zone of exclusion and some breathing room hardly hurt.

His other tasks had been minor, but somewhere on the list there'd been something more personal. It was getting close to two o'clock when he started seeking out Shino Aburame. He wasn't sure what he intended to say to the man when he did find him; only a maddeningly vague sense that there had to be a talk and a reckoning, some kind of reckoning, between them drove him throughout the city.

The shinobi wasn't particularly difficult to find, especially after consulting Knov. Morel eventually tracked him down in a church, of all places. Organized religion was frowned upon in East Gorteau, but allowed so long as its practitioners publically testified that the Supreme Leader was the earthly manifestation or avatar of their deity (or deities), depending on the faith. It dissuaded most of the population, but not all of them. By the age of the rather large building, the church was an artifact of a time when the Gorteau's had been one country. Why it hadn't been knocked down after the civil war and the designation of Peijing as the capital, Morel could not know.

He made his way in through a side entrance, a door so small he had to stoop to enter, and came up short as he made it through a small dark hallway into the church proper. The building seemed even bigger on the inside, a huge dome stretching up to a ceiling nearly a hundred feet above. It had once been festooned with gold and other precious metals, elaborate works of art covering every surface, but much of that had been stripped away; empty rivets gleamed, and most of the art had been crudely painted over or stolen.

It was the warping and humiliation of East Gorteau in miniature. Morel acknowledged the thought with a snort, focusing on the ground instead of the ceiling. Shino was easy to find: the shinobi was sitting in one of the pews at the center of the room, below a raised bias. Leaning back with his arm loosely crossed over his chest, the man looked like he might be taking a nap. But as Morel approached, it became clear that wasn't the case; at the sound of his footsteps Shino raised his head slightly, and then leaned back with a lazy nod.

"Morel," he said, sounding a little lethargic. "What brings you here?"

"Looking for you, actually." Morel drew closer, lowering his pipe into a neutral pose. "What's that you're up to?"

Shino shifted into a more comfortable position. "Hinata spotted a huge network of tunnels under the city," he explained. "A lot of them meet up at this building; she thinks it's a temple of some kind, or was. I'm exploring them with my insects."

A temple? Morel wondered if Shino's world even had churches. He'd been amused at the sheer number of small things about the shinobi that had made sense after the revelation: their sometimes odd vocabulary, their lack of knowledge about simple Nen principles like Gyo, and the occasional confusion in idioms.

"Why bother?" he asked, taking a seat farther down from the man. "If Hinata can see the tunnels, that is. Don't you already have a good idea of their layout then?"

"It's not about learning the layout," Shino said, before pausing. "Well, it is, partially," he admitted. "Knowing the tunnels personally is a lot better than just being told what they look like. I'm sure that makes sense to you."

"So you can feel what your insects feel then?" Morel asked. The creatures that had poured out of Shino after his maiming, and during his questioning of the man, had startled him; he'd never dreamed they would be physical beings living inside the man. It was a disturbing truth about Shino's biology, even more so than his extra organ. Morel didn't understand where they all fit.

"In a way," Shino said, tapping his chest. "The ordinary kikaichu, among others, communicate with the main hive, located behind my heart. It's essentially telepathy, similar to the Chimera, really. The main hive, including several breeders, then transmits the message directly to my nervous system. Essentially, we share a conscience, but the communication process isn't perfect."

Creepy. The man was just as much insect as he was human. Morel knew some people gave up a lot in exchange for their hatsu. One of his own students had, even. But filling your body with insects, living in harmony with them? That was a step above.

"So, they're exploring the tunnels for you?" he tried to confirm. Shino nodded.

"And setting traps." He grinned softly at Morel's curious look. "Insect clones. Essentially, small nests. Hinata thinks that if the Ants attack Peijing, it's likely they'll end up moving through these tunnels to flank us. I'm having small groups of breeders set up at critical junctions and create miniature nests." He waved off Morel's incoming question. "They won't need food, not much at least; just my chakra. I've already portioned off most of it for them; that's why I'm resting."

"So if any Ants wander into those nests, they'll get swarmed?"

Remote traps? Morel realized Shino had probably used this tactic in the forest, but he'd never had it explained to him; he'd just assumed the shinobi had extremely wide-range control over his insects. That was still apparently true, but the execution was less flexible than he'd imagined.

"Essentially. The nest will generate a copy of me, a shell created out of kikaichu, as a distraction, and the rest will focus on devouring the intruders. They'll still need my permission, though: wouldn't want to attack a human on accident."

"That's… brilliant." Morel grinned. "I hope I've mentioned, it's been a pleasure working with you, Shino." His smile faded. "Regardless of your home."

"I'm sure it's a bit of a shock," the shinobi said. "I hope we can get past our deception." He leaned his head a little towards Morel; the man was exhausted, but didn't show any concern at the Hunter's proximity. After months of working together, he clearly trusted him. "If it's any consolation, we weren't actively trying to hide anything."

"I know," Morel admitted, looking down. "I don't blame you." He was resting his pipe on both his legs, feeling the gentle pressure of it on his thighs. He didn't know how to say what he was thinking.

The next minute passed in comfortable silence, Shino quietly recovering from his exertion, and Morel thinking deeply. The emptiness of the church swallowed up any tiny sounds they made, but the void felt more peaceful than ominous. It was like the deep sea. Dark, quiet, with an immense invisible pressure.

Morel sighed.

"Shino," he muttered, trying not to disturb the balance of the silence. "I think I've got something to tell you as well."

"Oh?" The man shifted, scratching at his stump. It was probably still itching with phantom sensations: Morel knew a woman who insisted her ankle ached more than a decade after a quid had yanked it off. "Something important, by the sound of it."

"After the assault on the nest," Morel said, rolling his pipe over in his hand, feeling every familiar groove and scratch. "When you were in the hospital. We spoke."

"I remember." Shino looked at him, his eyes invisible behind his visor. "You drugged me, didn't you?"

Morel stiffened.

"You knew?"

Shino rolled his head back, staring up. "In a way. I was in too much pain to understand what was happening, and after you gave me those painkillers, I passed out immediately. But several of my surgical insects kept stock of the medicine you gave me; they didn't inhibit it, but they did analyze it." He rubbed the back of his neck, which was chafing against the wooden pew. "I'm not a surgeon. I don't specialize it, and so it's difficult for me to accurately interpret the information they send me. But it was obvious to me that there was something other than painkillers in that concoction."

Morel mulled over the Aburame's admission for several seconds, gathering his thoughts. He rolled his pipe faster and faster. With every rotation, he grew to regret his impromptu interrogation more and more. In the end, it had all been outstripped by the shinobi's own honesty; he'd betrayed Shino's trust for nothing.

"To steal a phrase," Shino eventually said. "I don't blame you."

"Did you tell your comrades?"

"No. It wasn't their concern." Shino gradually sat forward, like his whole body was aching. "But I am curious what it was."

Morel leaned forward as well, placing his pipe head-down on the ground. He kept it in his hand, still rotating. "A truth serum," he said bluntly. "Or as close to one as we could get. With all of you injured and Hinata in Hide and Seek, we figured it would be the only opportunity to get any information out of you."

"And did you?" Shino asked. "How much of what we told you yesterday did you already know?"

Morel tried to grin, but it came out an unfortunate grimace. "None of it. You talked, but little of what you said made sense. Without context, it was just nonsense."

"Such as?" Shino asked. Morel shrugged.

"You talked about your village," he said. "The Will of Fire, Hinata's husband, the system of shinobi. Something called Lunar Chakra, and 'Jinchuuriki.' Human sacrifice. It wasn't very coherent, but it was enough to cement the Chairman's suspicions that you were from the Dark Continent." He chuckled. "Boy, he must be irritated at being wrong."

"I suppose that was what was on my mind," Shino said. He seemed to be taking the admission that Morel had taken advantage of his injury extremely well. Perhaps it was for the best he'd caught him when he was exhausted; the man seemed happy to take his suspicions confirmation in stride. "I don't suppose you're interested in learning more about any of those."

Morel glanced at him. "Really?" he asked. "Just like that?"

Shino turned to stare back at him. "Right now," he said, somewhat cold for the first time, "trusting one another is more important than ever. If we don't, there's a good chance we'll all end up dead." He leaned forward. "So if there's anything you heard that you're not sure about. Now is the time to ask for clarification. Right now."

Morel was taken aback by the shinobi's intensity, but just as quickly as the shock appeared it was replaced by admiration. He smiled at the man's earnest steel, finally feeling a grin that was teeth instead of embarrassment.

"Two things, then," he said, feeling his chest open up a little. Shino's implicit forgiveness had driven away his lingering guilt, at least for now. "The Hokage, and Jinchuuriki."

Shino laughed dryly. "They're one and the same," he chuckled, slipping off the pew to slowly pace in front of it.

"The Hokage's a human sacrifice?" Morel asked, and Shino paused for a moment.

"Interesting," he said with a teacher's voice before he continued pacing. "There's a translation issue there; seems our languages do have some differences beyond pronunciation." He straightened up a little. "'Jinchuuriki' doesn't mean 'human sacrifice.' It means 'The Power of Human Sacrifice.'"

A small difference in content, a huge difference in context. Morel cocked his head. "And Naruto, Hinata's wife, he's the product of human sacrifice? Do you mean some sort of ritual, or is it just a fancy way of saying he's experienced in battle?"

"Hmmm." Shino rubbed his stump once more. "Long ago, telling you about this was a heavy crime, but things have changed." He turned, standing still and staring Morel in the eyes. "We told you about the Bijuu; creatures that could destroy cities with their chakra."

"Of course," Morel said. "We have similar magical beasts here, though very few of them are that openly destructive." He'd never met a Magical Beast, or a creature of Nen, who was capable of quite that much firepower, but the world was large and he'd only seen a fraction of it.

"Good. Maybe this will be easier to understand then." Shino sunk deep into thought, carefully considering his next words. "When I was very young, less than a year old, one of the Bijuu attacked Konohagakure. An enormous fox, with the power to wipe away mountains with its anger."

Morel tried to picture a creature like that, and couldn't. How big a fox was Shino talking? The size of a hill? A building? A city block?

"Konoha fought it off, but not without casualties. Much of the village was destroyed, and many shinobi died. But even for all their effort, the Kyuubi," he paused. "That was the fox's name, after its nine tails. The Kyuubi could not be killed, even by the village's most experienced shinobi. So they took the only option available to them; instead of destroying it, they imprisoned it."

"How the hell-?"

"One moment. They imprisoned it, but no physical cell could hold something as powerful as the Kyuubi. So instead, the current Hokage placed it inside the body of his own son, who had been born that very same day. His son's body held the fox in a nearly unbreakable seal, his chakra network transformed into a powerful prison, but the effort killed the current Hokage; Konoha's Fourth."

Morel realized what Shino was talking about. "And that infant…?"

The shinobi nodded. "Was Naruto. He was the Kyuubi's jailor; a Jinchuuriki. Holding the Kyuubi gave him access to some of its power, but also put him in terrible danger, both from his prisoner and those who would try to take it. When I was seventeen, the five major villages banded together to keep him safe from a man who was trying to capture all of the Bijuu to create a terrible weapon." Shino looked down. "It was a short but vicious war. Because of that power, that importance… that's why Naruto is a human sacrifice of sorts."

"That's… interesting." Interesting was an understatement. If what Shino was saying was accurate, the leader of his village was practically a living weapon. Morel wondered if anyone in his world had ever suffered the same fate; certainly there a Nen somewhere out there capable of imprisoning creatures within a person. Shoot's Hatsu was similar, though it didn't grant him any of its prisoner's power. "What will happen, when he dies?" Morel asked, and Shino snorted, as if he'd said something funny.

"Sorry," he said, his quiet laugh transforming into a cough. "Well, we're not sure. Naruto managed what no Jinchuuriki managed before him and created a, well, workable relationship with the Kyuubi. I'd say he'd even call it his friend. When he passes, he'll probably demand it be let free." Shino paused, amending. "If he passes, if that doesn't sound too crazy. And he's done too much, is too respected, for anyone to seriously consider going against his wishes on that matter."

"... interesting." Morel turned the situation over in his head as steadily as he had his pipe. He wondered what Shino by 'if.' No one could be immortal, not even someone holding a powerful beast. "Do you still want him to come?"

"Did I say that?" Shino said, and Morel nodded. The shinobi laughed, a little healthier sounding than the first time. "Well, I guess that was how I felt at the time. We are considering bringing him through the portal, but there'd be a lot of complications, political and otherwise." He shrugged. "It would solve the Ant problem though, there's no doubt of that. Compared to you or me, Naruto is essentially invincible."

Invincible… and so just as much a threat as the Ants, maybe even more-so if he could defeat them. The thought sent a chill down Morel's spine. He trusted Shino, and Shino trusted Naruto, but that was no guarantee of virtue. It seemed that no matter what, dealing with the Ants would be unspeakably dangerous.

Why had the shinobi not cut and run? Their only stake here was trade with a single, small country. They had the Queen's organs; they had their goal. Why would they stay? Morel had asked that question a month ago, and now, as Shino boasted of his ruler's power, the question surged back to the fore of his mind, twice as insistent.

"No one's invincible," he said after a moment, dredging up some of inner contrarian. Shino smiled.

"You're right, of course," he said. He began heading for the church's exit, and Morel rose to follow him. The shinobi had recovered his stamina. As Morel fell in besides him, Shino briefly looked over at him. He grinned again. This time, there were some more teeth.

"But Naruto's as close as you can come."

###

At the end of his one-hundred and seventeenth game of Gungi, the King of the Chimera Ants realized it was possible he would have to change his tactics.

The first game, he had written off as luck; he'd had briefly felt a familiar sensation, the feeling of eyes surrounding him and burrowing into the back of his head, and it had distracted him from the game at hand. He had been indecisive and withdrawn as the frail, blind human he was playing against babbled about the honor of meeting her Supreme Leader, and it had quickly cost him the match. Despite the honors the girl had wreathed him in, she'd been merciless, and dispatched him quickly.

It had impressed him, that something so pathetic that it had passed out when he'd demanded its silence to study the rules of the complex game could have defeated him in any measure, even when he was not engaged with the competition, but he hadn't been able to believe it was anything but good fortune. The Watcher, as his guards called the human who had slain so many of his weaker subjects, had intervened at the perfect time, knowingly or not, to spare the young human's life.

At least for a time.

That is what the King had thought. He'd continued to delude himself for the next two games. After that, his thoughts had shifted to confusion. How did this human, who could not even see, could barely breathe through her phlegm-filled nose, continue to defeat him? He invented rationalization after rationalization as his Guards watched, just as perplexed as he was. He was letting her win to see how far she would go to defeat him. He was interested in feeling the sensation of losing, since all he would understand for the rest of his existence was victory. He was taking pity on a human that was barely worth defeating, let alone eating. He was being magnanimous and humoring a lower life form, like a man content to let a fly buzz about his face.

After ten games, his mood had shifted to anger. He'd become quietly furious, determined to defeat the human at the game that had defined her life. It would be the ultimate humiliation, precisely what she deserved after having dared to defeat him so many times. His energy had become dark and violent, surging throughout the Palace and driving the weaker Ants into paroxysms of anger and self-harm. He'd been vaguely aware of their suffering, but hadn't paid it any mind; if they were weak enough for their King's anger to overwhelm them, they were not worthy subjects.

His energy had affected the girl as well, though not to the same degree as the Ants. Her will was not as weak as those of the subjects who'd crawled back to him to survive the world of humans. Instead of turning it on herself, she channeled the anger of her opponent directly into the game. The King's losses became faster and faster as his frustration clouded his judgement, and the human became less merciful.

Thirty such games passed in that shameful manner before the King finally broke through his emotions and understood that if he was to win, to become master of this crude but brilliant game of Gungi, the world-master of which sat before him, he could not rely on the strength of his anger. It was important lesson, and he was filled with gratitude that he had been taught it in a controlled setting like a child's game in a palace, instead of in a conflict that actually mattered.

That gratitude had carried in forward, and stabilized his play as he analyzed both the rules of the game and his opponent, whose name he had not bothered to learn. The games had stretched out, five minutes becoming ten, ten becoming fifteen, and fifteen even stretching to twenty once they'd finished their one-hundred and twelfth game. The King was tireless, and while it seemed impossible for such a human, the girl had not shown any signs of fatigue either.

But it was the hundred and seventeenth game that decided the matter for him. His tactic had been simple and invisible; a commander, left in the rear until the perfect time, would surge forward and deprive the girl of all but three of her liberties, the crucial empty spaces on the board necessary for counteraction, at once with a chain of unforeseeable captures. The King had created the tactic three games before, but had refrained from deploying it, instead unveiling a string of feints and false starts that would lead into it. His opponent had countered each of those feints masterfully… but they had never moved in precisely the manner they would need to counter the rear commander.

But when the time came, when the King prepared to make his move, the girl slapped it aside without a second thought. Her entire front changed in a moment, transformed into a mouth into which the King's own liberties poured, and he realized that the entire time, the entire time, before he had even come up with the tactic, the girl before him had anticipated it and placed her pieces accordingly to deal him a mortal blow.

The game would end in fifteen turns, but no matter how he struggled for them, the King would lose. Instead, he conceded. It was that concession that opened his eyes. As the pieces were shuffled off the board once more, he considered his approach.

Gungi was not like chess, or shogi, or the laughably simple checkers. It shared some similarities with Go, but not enough for the same strategies to apply. The amount of possible combinations for the pieces was extraordinary, an order of magnitudes greater than any of the other games the King had so quickly conquered. Although the rules were not horribly more extensive than the game's peers, the ways they could be applied were. In the past, he'd simply been able to rely on his intellect, a mind perfectly honed by the powerful gene manipulation of his mother, to brute-force the solutions to each game in short order. But against the massive maze of strategy that Gungi allowed for, his primitive tactic had come up short.

He could no longer simply rush through the game until it had been solved; he would have to become a better player than the girl on his own merit.

The idea made him smile; he was sure that if she were not blind, his opponent would have backed away at the sight of it. It was nothing like a human smile except in the movement of the lips.

Thinking of his mother made him realize the similarity between her and his opponent. The comparison was obvious once the connection had been made; they were both frail specimen, all too easy to tear apart with his invincible body. But despite their weakness, they were both capable of acts far outstripping their bodies obvious incapabilities. This woman had trained enough to defeat him more than ten dozen times in the competition of Gungi, and his mother had created him, the strongest being in existence. Physical limits meant little, it seemed. If he were to be the King he was destined to be, he would have to train his mind as well as his body, and the strange energy that filled it.

As he reset the board, mind whirling through possible tactics, knowing he would have to lose at least four more games to find his new footing, he considered the problem of his aura. His Royal Guards had called the delicious energy that filled certain humans, Ants, and themselves "Nen," an application of the body's natural life energy and spirit made manifest. The King had tasted it several times in the womb, and each had been sweeter than the last. But shortly before his birth, he'd been introduced to a new taste. It hadn't been much, just a couple pounds of meat. It had been like the prior taste of Nen… but also different, like the taste of marrow against muscle. Even stranger, the taste had wrought changes in him; a secondary nervous system had quickly developed alongside his ordinary one.

He made his first move, and the girl made hers. His energy, curling inside her, found nothing but confidence.

It was strange, this energy. He'd hadn't been surprised when he'd emerged to find that his Royal Guard and the inconsequential Ants below them had a different kind flowing through them, the ordinary Nen. After all, he was a King, and they were subjects. But his energy, so far as he could tell, was not superior, merely different.

Worse, it was difficult to control, spilling out without regard for his intent. The King felt at all times like an open wound, bleeding his aura out into the world and carrying his emotions with it. It was not frightening, but it was irritating; compared to the razor tight control of his Guard, his massive aura roamed ceaselessly, filling up every vessel it could find, and subtly warring against the aura of his subjects. When he had been born, its sudden presence had even driven some of them to autocannibalism. He was sure there was some purpose behind it, but with less than a month since his birth, he had yet to divine it.

Twenty moves in, and the match seemed a stalemate. The King was sure that was not the case; his opponent had not yet tired despite her fragility, and it was rare that he intuited the cause of his defeat more than ten or so moves ahead of time.

As he considered the mystery of his aura, the oncoming day of selection, the oddness of his Guards, the fragility of the girl before him, the amusing attempts by the enemies who had moved into Peijing, including the Watcher, to oppose his inevitable victory, and the question of the Watcher himself, whose presence had been a constant in his conscious life, the King continued to mull over how he could change his tactics to best his opponent, beyond the simple answer of "improve." Improving was the obvious solution, that even a base creature could come up with. If one was losing a race, they improved their speed, unable to lift something, improved their strength, unable to solve a problem, improved their mind to see more solutions. That was the instinct of those barely above beasts.

Naturally, as a monarch, it would be more fitting for his triumph not to come from something any being was capable of, but something more fundamental to himself.

Thirty-six moves in. This game was lasting longer than ordinary. As the girl moved one of her spies into a forward position, the King considered the board, and realized that unless his opponent made a blatant error, he would surely be defeated within the next eight turns. The pincer maneuver had formed like an invisible drain at the bottom of a body of water, drawing away his knights and liberties in preparation for the final fatal moves.

There was no way he could improve himself to turn this almost inevitable loss into a victory. Despite the realization stinging, it also brought another grin to his face. He'd been right; his powers of self-analysis were growing. To turn this game around, he would have to use his monarch's prerogative.

It was a simple idea, and executing it was equally simple. As his opponent reached towards the board, the King flexed his will, the spilled aura that had taken up residence inside her flaring. The girl's hand jittered, and then changed course. Her face changed. The calm confidence that she always exuded while playing turned to concern and confusion as she picked up one of her commanders and moved it to her flank: a substandard move that instantly destroyed her existing strategy.

The King relaxed, his aura calming, and cocked his head as he stared at his opponent, wondering what she would do. Perhaps she would confront him, ask what had happened? But no. The girl kept her mouth clamped shut, hands shaking.

"7-8-2, Major General," she muttered after a moment, before clamming up once more.

Denied any reaction, the King moved on, surging into the gap created by the girl's unintentional retreat. But his opponent fought back, twice as decisive as she'd been before. Ten moves, twenty; the game stretched on longer than any had before. She stopped announcing her moves, aware that he would be able to see them; the King continued announcing his, aware that it would not be a true game otherwise.

In the seventy-seventh move, she backed the King into a corner once more.

He considered flaring his aura again. It would be childsplay to force the girl into another poor move. But instead, he conceded. There would be other opportunities, future games, with which to test that tactic, and he found the promise of continued play exciting.

As his pieces slipped off the board, his opponent sat in silent contemplation. Eventually, she looked up at him with blind eyes. For the first time since they'd met, she looked unhappy.

"Did you do that?" she asked. It was a blunt question, and it took the King aback. He'd never expected to be spoken to that way by this girl of all people; she'd always been completely deferential, if foolish and loud. Perhaps more than a day of playing without rest or food had finally affected her judgement.

"Do what?" he asked, flexing his tail behind him. The destructive power of his body, ready to effortlessly knock the insolent human's head off, silently flickered back and forth in the air.

"My thirty-seventh turn," she said with a frown. "I couldn't control my body. It forced me to make a poor move. Was that you?"

The King smiled. The girl seemed stupid, but in matters of Gungi she was a genius, and that intelligence could clearly be applied to more than just the board game. "It was," he admitted. "I was testing a theory."

"A theory?"
"That I could defeat you in this game while still being less skilled than you." The King leaned forward, resetting his end of the board. "I proved that I could. That is all."

The girl's eyes welled up, her lower lip quivering. As usual, she was letting her emotions get the best of her. She sniffed, reaching forward and mirroring the King's actions, preparing for yet another game.

"If you want to defeat me outside of Gungi," she muttered, tears distorting her voice. "Why not just kill me? Shoot me, or stab me, or strangle me? It would be easy for you." This girl, who had professed neither desire nor fear since arriving, shook with the question, and the King wondered why his tampering with her body had so upset her.

"Kill you?" the King asked as he finished setting his board. He felt a little cruel; it was a satisfying warmth. "Would you die if I defeated you normally?"

"Of course!" the girl declared, and the King rocked back. The only Guard present in the room, Shaiapouf, who had been quietly reading in the corner, glanced up with a hint of concern, the kind of paternal reaction that the King so despised in his subordinates. "On every game, I bet my life. I'm of no use to my family, no use to my country, and no use to the Supreme Leader if I am not the master of Gungi. If I lose a game, I'll be worthless; there will be no reason to keep living!"

The King considered the girl's proclamation. He truly wasn't sure what to say. "If that is the case," he eventually decided, "I will defeat you in Gungi, by myself. You will die knowing your death was earned." He locked eyes with her, though he knew she could not see him. "I will not use your body against you again."

The girl sobbed, blubbering thanks and about to burst into tears once more, and the King abruptly stood. "We're taking a break," he announced. "Rest, eat. We will resume tomorrow."

As the girl stammered and spewed fluids, Shaiapouf split in two; one copy came to her side and gently took her arm, guiding her to her feet, and the other went to the King, staying respectfully behind him as he strode out of the room.

"You will win soon, my King," the Guard said as they left the room. "No human could hope to match you. Her victories so far have been a fluke."

"Do not be a fool," the King said, not looking back. "She is a brilliant opponent. I will defeat her, but it will take time. Until I have, I cannot be a true king."

"My King?" Shaiapouf sounded alarmed. "You are already-"

"I am king of an empty palace, of a legion of idiots, of a nation of lies," the King grunted, climbing the stairs to his throne room. "I am the strongest being in existence, but surely there is more to ruling than simple strength?" He glanced back. "These humans allowed idiots, weaklings, and cowards to rule them, but if that fat moron we have placating the humans were strong, had exercised his body everyday, he would still be a moron, and had he exercised his mind, he would still be a coward." He stared at nothing, thinking of the blind girl back before the Gungi board. "No one can change their nature, but if I am to rule, I must be superior in all aspects, not just in strength. Otherwise, I will be no more a king than a human trodding on a worm."

Shaiapouf stayed silent; either because he was too stupid to understand what his King was saying, or because he was too smart to contradict him. Either possibility made the King grin as he opened the door to his throne room.

"You've felt the Watcher," the King said, flicking his tail back in forth in anticipation as he approached his throne. It comfortably dwarfed his compact form. "She must be in the capital."

"Yes, my King," Shaiapouf said, his voice edged in hatred. The display of emotion pleased the King; his Guards could be odd, but they were devoted, and their absolute detest of the one enemy who could observe them without fail was a virtue. "Peijing has been disrupted by several humans moving in to oppose us. The Watcher is one of them."

"The Day of Selection is still eight days away," the King mused. "In that time, it is possible they could do something to disrupt us, however minor." He turned back to Shaiapouf, observing the Guard's joy at his attention with amusement. "Send Menthuthuyoupi, and some soldiers with him, to the city. Accompany him with some of yourself."

"My King?!" Shaiapouf's eyes went wide. "We cannot leave your side! To do so-!"

"Quiet," the King said, and his Guard instantly fell silent. "To sit here, with the eyes of the Watcher on us, would simply invite attack." He thought of Gungi, with its thousands of counterplays, and smiled. "We cannot allow the humans to observe us with impunity. They will attack eventually, and though it will fail, it would be more effective than otherwise with the information the Watcher will have given them."

He turned away once more, his aura feeling Shaiapouf deflate behind him. "Leave at dawn. Not today's, the one after. Go to Peijing, kill any special humans you encounter, and bring them, and the Watcher, to me. Neferpitou will stay behind, in case the enemy decides to counterattack. The two of us will surely handle any human foolish enough to breach the Palace."

"... I must obey, my King," Shaiapouf eventually said. He turned stiffly, leaving the room as though he were about to burst into tears just as pathetic as the Gungi girl's. The sensation of observation increased; the Watcher was present, focused upon him and his Guard. The King was more sure of his decision than ever. His opponent, one of a grander scope than a board game, was pouring all their attention into him. He had them worried.

"Yes," the King said, watching the pitiable figure go. He turned towards Peijing, focusing upon the watchful sensation. It felt like a line of electricity, between him and a distant figure, a connection beyond physical. His aura flexed, and with a start he realized it was reacting to a kind of… kinship.

"You must."