Quill Rogers leap into the air and flipped over the charging shifter. He landed in a crunch and twisted around on the balls of his feet. He watched as Madam Luna skidded to a halt and faced him. He rolled his shoulders back. He didn’t dare take his attention off Madam Luna. She was the most dangerous enemy within the barrier. He had to trust the rest of the teams nearby to figure out where the Barrier Holder was hiding and kill them before his students and himself ended up dead by the shifters’ hands. He had to trust his students as well to help Team 17 fend off the shifters. He had taught his students the best he could at their level. He took a deep breath and push thoughts away. He had focus on the here and now, just like his own teacher had often stressed when he tried to look ahead at the future.

Quill reached over his right shoulder and pulled out his sword. It escaped with a hiss of metal scraping against the leather. He positioned the sword at angle in front of his chest. It was the best way to ensure a defensive and attacking stance. He waited, thinking. Usually, the seasonal clean up missions was one of the safest missions to bring new students on because the Luna Shifter Tribe took care of the Trouble makers before they had arrive. This time, it was different. He didn’t think Madam Luna would attack anyone. In the past, she had tried to avoid that, citing her pack wasn’t strong enough or had the numbers to do a successfully attack on the Hidden Bark Village, even though some of the younger shifters thought otherwise.

Madam Luna growled. Her amber eyes flashed. She turned and walked around in a circle. Quill followed her, keeping her in front of him. It would be dangerous if she managed to get behind him. They walked in a circle until they were back in their original positions. The pile remains of the rack cage he had made sat in the middle between the two. Quill had thought Madam Luna would have stopped her attack if she was locked away. He wasn’t surprised that she had managed to break out. Earth Jutsus wasn’t his strong suit. However, the way she was acting, it was like she was under some sort of Jutsu or spell. His eyes widened with that realization. He knew what he had to do.

Quill brought his sword up by his right shoulder and leap forward two feet, closing the distance between himself and Madam Luna. The Alpha snapped her jaw at him, but didn’t fall for his faint. Her eyes darted between himself, the sword, and the fights breaking out behind him. He jumped forward, this time closing the distance. He pulled his left hand away from the sword hilt and preform a serious of hand signs, one handed before he slapped his hand back onto the sword hilt. A mini cyclone wrapped his sword blade and he swung it at Madam Luna, sending a series of wind blades.

Madam Luna tried to leap backwards, but she couldn’t move fast enough as the wind blades from the mini cyclone cut through the air and sliced in her fur. One of the wind blades cut home on her hind leg, sending blood through the air and spattering against the ground.

Quill watched Madam Luna’s eyes as they flashed between to the lovely shade of green summer grass and amber. Luna shook her head and she looked at him with angry amber eyes. She charged at him. His mind race. He had to figure out a way to stop her. He bit back a curse as he realize the option he had. he brought his blade in a defensive position between himself and Luna, but he held back on his speed.

She bit down on his left forearm. He cursed as pain rippled up his arm. His left hand let go of the sword, concealing the wind jutsu. His right hand allowed the sword to slip from his gasp. The sword fell point first into the ground. One of Luna’s forepaws landed on his chest, trying to push him onto the ground. He grabbed it with his left hand and held tightly. She looked surprise as her eyes darted up at him. He grinned and said, “Sorry for this.” He punched her hard in the side of her head, once. Her jaw tightened on his arm as her eyes become unfocused for a moment then refocused. He tried it again, bit harder. He achieved the same result. He punched the side of her head for a third time and watched with some grim satisfaction as her eyes rolled up in her head and her jaw loosen. He lowered her to the ground. He ignored the blood running down his arm as he formed the two hand sign for release, summon the correct amount of spiritual power then he pushed it away from him and Madam Luna.

Quill heard a gasp from Madam Luna as her eyes snapped open to reveal they had returned to the summer green grass. She looked up at him for a moment then she shaky stood on her legs and shifted back to her humanoid form. Quill glanced down at her and felt heat rush to his face. He reached up and tugged off his jacket before he offered it to her.

She chuckled, “I forgot how prude you non-shifters were.”

“Not all of us enjoy running around in the nude, Madam Luna,” Quill shoot back, “However, I need you to stop your tribe from running amok in the village.”

“That could be somewhat difficult,” Madam Luna admitted as she wrapped herself up in Quill’s jacket. “The asshole who put me under his jutsu also put the rest of the pack under their own jutsus.”

Quill hummed, thinking about that. That was impressive feat when he thought about it. It required a huge amount of spiritual power to keep one under their control for a certain amount of time, but an entire pack. “How long have you been under the jutsu?”

“Since late last night,” Madam Luna stood up. Quill’s jacket rested on her upper thighs. “He took us by surprise. He managed to catch myself and my Beta in the jutsu first and had us order the rest of the pack into submission before he cast his spell.”

“Any clue on where he could be at, now,” Quill asked. That give him some insight on who the culprit could be.

“Nope,” Luna growled, “He didn’t share his plans with us, just the fact when the Ninja teams arrived to preform the seasonal clean up, we were to attack them.”

“Damn,” he muttered. He looked at the various fights. Padme and Lilian had been able to defeat Yukina, but he spotted a large fissure spreading across the battle field. Ben was talking softly to Enzo as their opponent lay on the ground with a pool of blood spreading out. Ralph and Anakin were still fighting their opponent. “It would appear you already lost of your pack.”

“Yes,” Madam Luna sighed, “I will lose more before the day’s end if we don’t hurry.” The two hurried over to Ralph and Anakin.

Unaware of what was going on with the Seasonal Clean up, Raizen sat at the kitchen table, looking over the Hidden Bark Newspaper when there was a sharp rapid pounding on Raizen’s front door. He frowned as he looked up, glancing at the clock. It was nearly lunch time. His wife, Keiko, half turned away from the stove, giving him a curious look.

“I didn’t think your students show up until dinner time,” she stated.

“They’re not suppose to,” he explained, “It must be something else.” He stood up from the kitchen chair and winced as he pulled on his wound. He still couldn’t believe he was caught off guard by that one armed man and his mysterious weapon. He was lucky that the village was able to provide a short term paid leave so he could heal up, but it still might his students was taking missions. He mentally winced at that. He needed to be their teacher, not be at home sitting on his ass, healing up, but he knew if he didn’t take the time to heal up, now, he would regret it later. Besides, he had promise his wife he would be a lot more careful on his various missions so he could be around to help raise their children.

Raizen opened the door and saw one of the Ninja messengers standing on the welcome mat. A quick, analyzing glance over the messenger informed him whatever news was brought was not good. The Messenger panted hard with sweat trailing down from his hairline. His eyes were wide and wild, looking as he glanced over his shoulder. Raizen heard a howl in the distant. He frowned. Wasn’t that the Luna Shift tribe? He knew Madam Luna had given the Hidden Bark Village permission to clean up the Gray Distinct a part of their treaty requirements. There was another howl. It sounded much closer this time then the previous sound. The Messenger glanced over his shoulder and Raizen spoke as he sensed his wife walking behind him and peered over his shoulder, “What is the matter?”

“The Luna Shifter Tribe has attacked the Village,” the Messenger informed Raizen, “They are moving toward the Government Tower.” The Messenger panted, “Right now, we do not know their motives, but Lord Jackson has required everyone who is able to stand and fight to do so. The civilians are ordered to Shelter in Place until the order for all clear is given. The Retired Ninja are ordered to stand guard on the rooftops and be ready to defend the Civilian areas with their lives, including the nearby Hospitals. The expecting females and females with young children are ordered to report to the closest Hospital where they will be protected by the Police Force and three Teams of Black Hands.”

“Shit,” Keiko whispered. They both knew it was a serious matter. The last time, a such call went out was several years ago when the Village was attacked by a rival village. At the time, Raizen and his wife didn’t have to worry about a possible miscarriage and they both had to be on the front lines, but now, it was different. He wouldn’t be able to watch his wife’s back.

“We acknowledge the orders,” Raizen replying not only for himself, but for his wife as well. The sound of pounding feet alerted them to the enemy. Raizen looked up as the Messenger turned. A large black wolf the size of a small black bear flew up the dirt covered street toward Raizen’s house. “Inside now!” Raizen barked, stepping aside. Keiko stepped back as the Messenger stumbled inside the house. Raizen slammed the door, locking it. He walked past Keiko, heading to the front closet where he kept some of his ninja weapons and other supplies. He slipped on his vest before he slammed his feet into his boots. He laced them as fast as he could. He glanced up at his wife.

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Keiko bit her thumb and placed it in a small rune circle. The rune glowed purple and spread, going up and down around the door frame, activating the series of protection runes Keiko had been putting in place there since she had left active service. Raizen had agreed to it since Keiko had made enemies throughout her time as a Black Hand. Anything to protect her and their future children.

There was a shift in the air as the protection runes took hold. There was a loud and large thump on their front door as the couple assumed the big wolf slammed against it. They watched the door, wondering if it would hold. There was another thump and loud, echoing growl from the other side of the door. The door held with the help of the protection runes. They glanced at each other.

Raizen stood up and asked, “How long are those supposed to last?” the wolf slammed against the front door again and again. The runes glowed brightly for several seconds.

“Supposed to be five minutes,” Keiko admitted, “But that is depending on the strength of the enemy.” She watched the runes’ brightness slowly dimmed. “This flea bag has to be one of the strongest of the Luna Pack.”

“I don’t think we should stick around to find out,” the Messenger advised.

“Yeah,” Raizen agreed and Keiko nodded. They fled to the second floor and escaped through an window to the next building over, via rooftop.

Keiko glanced up and down the side streets. She could have took the rooftops. It would have been faster, but the three civilians with young children she had found wouldn’t have been able to follow. She sidestepped out of the alley and waved them across as she kept alert, glancing up and down the street before she direction her gaze up and down the alleyway. She knew something had been following them for a several streets. Whoever it was, they had been suppressing their spiritual powers to the point it could be easily be missed as a rat or mouse in the alley way.

A young red headed mother carrying a baby in her arms hurried across the street, trying to keep the baby from crying. She stopped just inside the alleyway, peering back. She was quickly joined by another young mother holding two of her children in her arms with a couple pre-teens following behind. The five of them looked paled as their eyes darted around.

The last of the civilians mothers struggled with one of her youngest who bawling his eyes, reaching behind them. Keiko barely made out what the kid was trying to say, but it sounded like he wanted its kitty. She wanted to snap at the mother to get the kid to shut up, but she knew it would come too harsh for a simple civilian to handle, especially in this high stress situation. She didn’t need to take the chance of the mother bursting out into tears as well. It would just draw more attention from whatever was stalking them.

Keiko sighed as she turned her gaze up and down the street, waiting for the random attack to happen. The kid wasn’t doing them any favors. She was half tempted to use a sleeping jutsu, but she knew it was not going to be appreciated by his mother. She glanced behind the mother and screaming kid and saw the dark shadow in the alleyway. It was much closer then it was a few minutes ago.

She muttered a curse. She couldn’t use her favorite clone jutsu to check the path ahead to see if it was clear or not. This situation only enforced the idea of Civilian basic training so they can better defend themselves then rely on Trained Ninja and the Police Force for protection. She glanced over her shoulder as she tried to keep the strange dark shadow at a distance. However, she knew if she cause enough noise through her jutsus, several of the retired ninja would come and check it out. Until then, Keiko was on her own and the only thing she could do was forced the civilian mothers and their children onward.

***

Back over in the Gray District, Enzo took a deep breath and turned his attention onto the other fights. Lilian and Padme appeared to be holding their own, despite the fact they had stopped fighting for the time being. Lilian had a shocked expression over her face as she gapped at the large fissures spraying the battlefield. When he turned his attention onto Ralph and Anakin, they appeared to be having trouble. Ralph favored his sides, but Enzo didn’t know why. Anakin was being tossed around the battlefield like a rag doll by his opponent. Enzo would have thought Anakin would have handle Nas by now or at least, Ralph would have. Ralph had some excellent fighting grades back in basic training and had been rated to be one of the top fighters of the class.

“Do you think we should help them out,” he asked Ben.

Ben looked up from Douglas to Enzo then over at Anakin and Ralph fighting Nas. He frowned as thoughtful expression crossed his face. He studied the fight before he spoke, “Anakin shouldn’t be having trouble.” He paused. He crossed his arms over his chest and stroke his chin, “In fact, with Ralph’s help, Anakin should have already made minced meat out of him. The fact he hasn’t gotten me worried.”

They watched as Anakin went after Nas, but Nas spun on his heel and landed a hard punch into Anakin’s midsection, tossing him back a few feet. Nas returned his attention onto Ralph as he got up from the ground.

***

Ralph walked, settling a glare onto Nas. He was often picked on when he was younger for being an orphan. Many of the bullies he had faced tauted him for having no family and being unwanted. He considered Nas lucky for having a pack to turn to when things went south. Ralph thought back to all of the times he got beaten up in the random alleys by random bullies who hated his guts for some reason. Nas reminded him of those bullies. The feeling in his gut grew stronger. It was Rage.

Ralph was getting ticked off about getting beat up and stomped on by Nas. It was a worst feeling then getting looked down upon for having no family to call his own. He remembered what happened the last time he had lost control of his temper. It was the only one time he had ended up in the Police Force custody for the night.

Ralph shifted his training bag up higher on his shoulder. He didn’t bother looking where he was going. He knew the path well enough to walk it blindfolded. It was the same path he had took since he had enter Basic Training at the Academy. He did look up when he noticed a pair of shoes enter the top edge of his vision. It was Draco Clover, a follow ninja two years up from Ralph. This was not the first time Draco had approached Ralph. The gray haired ninja in training knew it wouldn’t be the last time either. However, some time during the fight, the Police Force had shown up and took both of the teens into custody. The Police Force kept them for the night to cool off, despite how much the Clover Family had demand Draco to be released. Nobody came for Ralph and demand his released from jail.

Ralph blinked as he felt the ground shake under his feet. Lilian’s voice reached him and he turned to her to see the ground cracking and falling apart, creating a large fissure, splitting the battlefield into large chucks. Ralph struggled to keep on his feet as he tried ignored the pain in his midsection. He knew he will have a series of colorful bruises by morning. He winced as he fought to stay on his feet. If he fell into one of the fissures, he would have to spend some time in the hospital, healing. With that thought in mind, he hoped he didn’t have to visit the hospital from this fight. He kept an eye on the ground as he moved away from the fissure and waited until the ground stopped shaking.

It took a couple minutes, but the ground stopped shaking. Ralph reached down to his weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. He slipped a finger into the ring at the end of the kunai and twirled it around his finger before he grabbed the hilt tightly. He turned his attention to Nas who swiped at Anakin, again, but the older ninja just bounced backwards, staying out of Nas’ reach.

Ralph took a deep breath and a sharp pain rippled through his chest. He winced as he steeled his mind against the pain. He darted forward and came up on Nas’ blindside before he knelt and swiped his leg toward Nas’ knee.

Nas growled loudly as his knee gave out. He half turned, a clawed hand extending out to Ralph. However, Ralph already moved out of his reach, bouncing back a few extra feet. Nas stomped toward Ralph and recovered, stalking toward the gray haired young ninja.

Ralph narrowed in his eyes, glaring at Nas as the familiar bubble of rage spread through his body. He darted forward. He threw the kunai at Nas. The shifter lend to the right, allowing the kunai to sail past him. Ralph noticed Anakin grabbed the kunai as he stood straight before it hit him. He brought his attention back to Nas and sucked in a breath, trying to angle his face downward as Nas delivered a right hook onto Ralph’s nose.

Ralph saw stars as he felt the bridge of his nose crack. It wasn’t the first time he had dealt with a broken nose and it hurt just as bad as the first time he had broke it. It just meant he knew how to deal with it. He took several steps back as breathing through his nose became hard and he felt the warm blood flowing down his lips and chin. He parted his lips. He reached and wiped his mouth and chin with the back of his left hand before he wiped it against his pants. He blinked away the stars and saw Nas raising his left fist. Feeling the rage spread through his body like a burst of energy, Ralph lashed out, raising his right leg up and slamming his shin against Nas’ expose rib cage. He ignored the sting of pain in his shin as he brought his leg down and heard Nas grunt of pain. The strong rage feeling drained from him. At least,he didn’t black out this time, he mused.

“Ralph, right behind you,” Enzo’s voice rang out and he leaped over Ralph’s head before he delivered a strong kick to the top of Nas’ shoulder. Nas lend sideways. Enzo touched the ground before he bounced back to stand beside Ralph. “Nice busted nose.”

“On your left,” Ben called out and he slid past Ralph, his arm stretched across his body. Once he was close enough, he drove it into the side of Nas’ thigh. He rolled forward over his shoulder and onto his feet. He hurried over to Anakin.

“Thanks,” Ralph replied back to Enzo, “Anakin and I got this, you know.”

“Sure,” Enzo said, nodding, “Your busted nose says differently.” They watched as Nas fell to the side and Anakin jumped forward, spinning the kunai Ralph had thrown and slammed it into the back Nas’ head. The four young men watched as Nas slumped to the ground.

“I had it, Ben,” Anakin turned to Ben.

“Of course, you did,” Ben agreed, “but how many times did you have to get hit before you did?”

Anakin’s hand went up, fingers curled into a fist, exception for one finger. Enzo snorted. Ralph grinned, trying not wince as any movement in his head caused pain to ripple out from his busted nose. Ben grinned and said, “When and where?”

Anakin bleached at that answered. Ralph and Enzo glanced at each other then glared around, trying not to laugh.

“Anyway, how are the girls doing,” Enzo changed the subject. The four of them turned to watched the fight between the girls.

“They are doing fine,” Master Quill spoke up. Ralph turned his head to look at the other teacher. He straightened up as he noticed Madam Luna was standing next to Master Quill. The rest of the group also noticed her. Master Quill raised his hand when Anakin’s voice rang out then died, “I will explain in a moment.” He turned to Madam Luna, “Madam, if you could please ask your shifter to stand down.”

“With pleasure,” Madam Luna stepped over Nas and walked over to Yukina.