Chap. 26: Raiga Returns

"That storms gonna be here soon." Naruto said aloud, looking towards the blackened sky as lightning danced in the distance, the three boys were still working on getting the logs in place around the shop. Lee calling for them to hurry, carrying a log as he ran back to the shop. 'That lightning… came from over the Katabami gold mine, near where Raiga is.' Neji thought as he lifted his log, walking back to the curry shop deep in thought.

Dust rose from the ravine where Raiga stood, a byproduct of the lightning sent towards him, bringing him back to life. Karashi sitting on the ground, looking forwards in fear as he backed away from him. His hand scraped against the rocks on the ground, looking towards Raiga who looked towards the boy a moment, he looked disinterested in him, though he could easily kill Karashi if he wanted to, and the boy knew that.

"B-boss, but how?" Karashi said in return, looking towards the man, who didn't answer, looking towards the ground where Ranmaru lay, growing enraged as he tried waking the boy to no avail. Telling him to stop joking around, but it was no use, he thought Ranmaru was dead. Turning towards Karashi with anger and hate in his eyes, holding Ranmaru gently, 

"Tell me what you did to Ranmaru!" He demanded, looking towards Karashi who looked at him, putting his hand up towards Raiga

"Nothing. I swear! It was you." Karashi said pointing towards Raiga who looked shocked

"What?" He questioned looking at the boy in his arms 

"When Ranmaru laid his hands on you, sir. And you came back, and then he…" Karashi began as Raiga looked towards his hands, emitting a faint green glow, and placing them on Ranmaru's own, though the boy still did not open his eyes. On the cliffside, Hinami came back to. Standing from the ground she looked at the group below. 'Raiga! This isn't good!' She thought, taking a note from her kunai pouch, writing a message on it in blood, before stabbing the note with a kunai holding her flying raijin formula, and sending it to the curry shop, having left a marking on one of the logs, she threw it as she stepped back from the cliff, the Kunai disappearing as she used flying raijin on it. Before running down the cliffside, 'he can't be allowed to escape.' She thought as she ran forwards, Raiga turning after placing Ranmaru down, blocking Hinami's onslaught of wood shuriken and kunai using his twin blades. The girl ran down the cliffside, bringing vines from underneath Raiga's feet, she wrapped him in their rope like tendrils maintaining constant movement as she wrapped him tightly, pulling him towards her as she prepared gentle fist, Raiga using his sword to call a large amount of lightning to his body. 'How is he doing that! First order is figuring that out.' Hinami thought as she looked towards the man, hardening her expression as he fell back, free from the vines. 

"You're too slow!" Raiga yelled towards Hinami as he stood breaking the vines apart, sending lightning towards Hinami who jumped to the side, before being hit with another round of lightning that was waiting for her. The girl fell back before flipping to her feet, sliding against the rock. Standing from the attack, 

"It's you… you're that brats teammate." Raiga commented looking at the girl, coming closer towards her, in order to take her life, 

"I see, you're serious now, are you? Then I guess it's time to stop holding back." Hinami said, leaving her jacket as she jumped aside, as Raiga came down with his swords, standing across from him with her hands clapped together. Raiga stabbing through the material of her jacket, Hinami left standing in her maroon-purple sleeveless cropped top zipped up to her neck Wearing her black hair in two braids with light blue ribbons at the base, a yellow strand going through the braid on the right side with a lilac purple strand going through the braid on the left side. Wearing her headband around her left thigh, her bangs falling over her face wearing black arm protectors on her forearms, wearing shinguards on her shins going over her black sandals, each torn slightly… The girl gathered chakra as she stood with her feet shoulder width apart, 'grandfather.. Please lend me strength' Hinami thought as she yelled over towards Raiga

"Woodstyle hidden jutsu! Deep forest emergence!" She said, sending trees and vines towards him as Karashi ran away, whimpering as he did so. 'The wood is a safe bet, but using Kunai or anything metal is out, since he's had an apparent power boost.' Hinami thought, sending wood towards Raiga who yelled enraged, the two yelling towards eachother as Raiga cut through Hinami's wood, that was sent forwards, sending lightning through, Hinami hitting his foot, chest, and arms with her woodstyle, sending him back and knocking one of the swords from his hands, the weapon lodging itself in the wall just above Karashi's head. 

"My, what an annoying gnat you are. Buzz off already!" Raiga said, looking towards Hinami who glared in return

"No way! I won't let you hurt those people anymore!" Hinami said Raiga gathering a massive amount of Lightning from the sky, sending it towards Hinami, the lightning tore through her trees and vines, hitting Hinami square in her chest. The girl yelling before she was sent flying back into the cave wall, leaving a small crater as she fell. Karashi looking towards him in fear, Raiga lifting him up by his collar, asking who killed Ranmaru. With Karashi blaming the ninja who'd come to help the village. Raiga agreed with the boy, Karashi whimpering as he was told to lead Raiga to the ninja. Hinami lay still in a crater, before opening her eyes slowly, moving slowly as she crawled towards Ranmaru. 

"I can sense your life… You're still alive. Right?" Hinami said weakly She used a shadowclone jutsu and moved the boy to her back, using a vine to secure him in place, as she made her way back to the curry shop, hopefully, her note made it, it wasn't much merely saying 'Ranmaru, Karashi… Raiga. More lightning.' but hopefully it was enough. The girl nearly slipping from the cliffs edge as she walked forwards slowly. 'I've got to… warn them about his power boost… come on…' Hinami thought looking forwards, nearly collapsing as she walked forwards. It was a gamble, but she'd heard Raiga telling Karashi to get the others to lightning pass. Her clone headed there. 

The rain fell around them as Naruto hammered one of the logs into place before yelling in shock as a Kunai with a paper landed right in front of his face, right after Naruto commented on the rain reaching them finally. The group becoming soaked as they stood outside ready to finish the preparations for the storm and head inside. 

"Hey! What's the big idea! Who threw that!" Naruto said as he nearly fell from where he sat, Neji looked over, raising an eyebrow to the commotion that Naruto was making, noting the kunai knife in the middle of the wood in front of Naruto

"It's one of Hinami's blades, she went to locate Ranmaru and Karashi." Neji said in return, grabbing the note, reading it, 'names? No… a code. Ranmaru and Karashi… but Raiga is dead, I didn't see any signs of life…' Neji thought before gasping 'unless they used jutsu to bring him back, like a reanimation of some sort.' He continued, 

"What's it say anyway?" Naruto questioned, 

"Our mission isn't over yet." Neji said in return, the three walking back over towards Grandma Sansho, who thanked them before Karashi ran over. Yelling for them to hurry to the canyon. 

"You'll never believe what happened!" He said placing his hands on Sansho's shoulders as the woman looked at him 

"It was horrible mom! I mean Hinami… She…" Karashi started

"What happened to her?" Lee asked in question, 

"She… She fell off a cliff." Karashi said in response the thre ninja looking towards him, Naruto asking what he meant with Karashi telling them that she told him he could train with her instead, the girl falling from the cliff after being hit by the trunk of a tree. 

"Where was this." Neji said, knowing what the boy said was a lie, the only person Hinami would train was Ikumi, and that was after he begged her to. The girl, unlike Naruto and Lee, didn't enjoy training random people and was socially awkward, so training strangers wasn't something that she would do. Listening to Karashi, alarm bells rang loudly in Neji's head, he glared forwards, but there wasn't time to fully question the boy as Hinami could be in danger.

"I-it happened at lightning pass." Karashi said, stating he'd be behind them with a med kit, Neji heading off with Naruto and Lee, Karashi pulling Sansho into the shop and telling her that they were going to run away from the town. Sansho looking completely confused and refusing to leave, not wanting to abandon the shop and the kind ninja

"Hinami was over this way looking for Karashi and Ranmaru. And this note she left, I think something else is at play here." Neji said as they ran towards the lightning pass, he was in front of the group, wearing wearing his black hair behind his head with a loose ponytail behind his head, wearing a shortsleeve hoodless tan hyuga jacket, paired with brown shorts, his shuriken holster on his right thigh with his kunai pouch on his back waist, wearing wrappings around his right arm and leg. His headband tied around his forehead. 

"Hey yeah! And Hinami's always super careful around cliffs and stuff. Ya know, besides if a log was coming towards her, she could move it out of the way with her forest release." Naruto said on one side of him wearing a blue-orange ninja outfit with his headband around his forehead, his violet eyes looking forwards. Wearing a chunin flak jacket over his clothing, wearing his shuriken holster on his right thigh, his kunai pouch on his back waist.

"Why would Karashi lie?" Lee said in return, his black hair sat in a bowl cut over his head, wearing a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers on his shins, wearing his protector around his waist. Wearing his shuriken holster on his right thigh and a kunai pouch on his back waist.

"I don't know… perhaps his training didn't stick. Neji said in return, looking forwards as they ran through the rain, heading towards the cliffside where Hinami had been fighting.

"That would be my fault." Lee said in return, 

"What now?" Naruto asked

"I think it may be a trap." Neji said in return

"Or maybe someone is threatening him." Lee said, the three realizing Raiga was still alive, thats what Hinami's note was about. Raiga was back and he had gotten a power boost. Before they noted the cracking coming form Hinami's trees, paired with blue lightning, that danced in the sky breaking apart some rocks, 'Hinami!' Neji thought, pushing himself to go faster, as did the other two. 

Hinami made it to the cabin where they sent Ranmaru to, using her medical ninjutsu on the boy, who'd grown a fever. She patched herself up, the storm fell around the cabin, hitting the walls and roof. Ranmaru opened his eyes 

"Is he still gone?" He questioned weakly and Hinami hummed, looking over towards the boy, 

"You mean Raiga?" Hinami questioned as she used medical ninjutsu on the boy, 

"Yeah…" He said and Hinami hummed

"He woke up, but we've gotta worry about you right now, okay? You've got a small cold." Hinami said in return, 

"Don't bother… I'm dead soon anyway." Ranmaru said and Hinami shook her head,

"No, you'll be fine. I'll make sure of it." Hinami said in response, Ranmaru coughing under the blankets as he turned his head to the side, 'We can't stay here for long. He's healed enough to travel, I'll head to Grandma Sansho's place and hopefully stop Raiga. My clone is fighting Raiga so I have to hurry.' Hinami thought, assured.

Raiga was waiting for the ninja on the cliffs edge, his swords in his hands as he glared forwards. Hinami coated in lightning before being sent flying back, Neji catching the girl, 

"You were right, Neji! He is alive." Lee said as they jumped forwards, 

"Yes, let's end this!" Naruto said as he jumped forwards with the other two, Raiga yelling in response, 

"He's… using lightning from the sky…" Hinami said where she was held by Neji who looked towards her in shock, 

"What?" He said in shock before she poofed from existence, having only been a shadowclone, Neji looking over towards Raiga who was gathering lightning from the sky, coating his body in blue lightning, Naruto's kunai reacting as he jumped forwards, Neji looking towards Lee who jumped forwards knocking Naruto out of the way. The kunai knocked from his hands, before he could ask what Lee was doing, lightning struck the kunai, creating a crater in the rock beneath it. Naruto looked over in shock, his violet eyes taking in the scene that just unfolded before his eyes.

"His lightning's way stronger now, but how is that?" Naruto said looking over

"He was using sheer chakra before, so there was a limit to what he could wield. But he's using real lightning as the source." Neji answered Naruto's inquiry

"If he can harness the power of nature… there's no stopping him." Neji continued as Raiga called more lighting to his body, sending a blast towards the group of ninja, Neji telling them to get down before it hit, 'Hinami's not here…' He thought as they ducked out of the way of the blast that destroyed everything it touched, cracking the rock and leaving a trail of dust. Neji dodged to the side, activating his byakugan, coming up with a battle plan, Naruto being one step ahead of him as he jumped up from the ground, moving inbetween the lightning strikes and sending clones forwards towards Raiga to take the fight to him. The clones were constantly destroyed by the lightning around him. That Raiga sent forwards, until he was right next to the guy, Neji going for gentle fist before being hit with Lightning, falling to the ground. Raiga hitting Naruto with the lightning as well. Raiga turning his sights to Lee who removed his weights. 

"Do not disrespect an opponent who fought you with all he had!" Lee declared as he looked forwards towards Raiga. 

Hinami walked towards the curry shop with Ranmaru on her back, using waterstyle to keep the droplets at bay. She ran forwards, noting that Karashi was trying to get Sansho to leave, the woman looking delighted to see her as she ran forwards with Ranmaru on her back. 

"Hinami! You're okay." Sansho said the girl looking forwards as she ran, pausing the rain droplets around herself, the girls black hair flew behind her head as she was missing her jacket, having come from a fight. The girl moving her palm quickly, readjusting Ranmaru for a moment, 

"Gentle fist!" she said hitting Karashi right in the abdomen and sending him to the ground. The boy wheezing on the ground as he coughed

"You little weasel! Sansho, Ranmaru is ill, can he rest here? I'll explain what happened. Where are the others?" She questioned as Karashi groaned on the ground, 

"Yes, yes of course, what happened?" Sansho asked, allowing them in, Hinami laying Ranmaru gently on the mat, 

"Raiga's back and he's drawing his power from the storm. Your son and Ranmaru are to blame for this." Hinami said, as she set Ranmaru up in the shop using medical ninjutsu on his injuries, 

"This stupid son of mine did what now?" Sansho said in response, hitting Karashi over the head with her ladle, the boy rubbing his head as he yelled out in protest, looking towards Sansho as he tried to plead his case.

"He'll kill us if we stay here, we have to run." Karashi said, and Sansho scoffed looking at her son whom she could not believe he sold out the people trying to help them, in order to save his own skin,

"Run if you want, Grandma Sansho, but I'm staying. I have to help my friends, and this child. I was trained by the best medical nin, Tsunade, I know I can save him." Hinami said in response, the two turning to her in shock a moment. Before Sansho nodded in return, looking towards Hinami a moment tapping her silver ladle in her hand a few times 

"I'll stay and feed the curry of life to the child." Sansho said solidifying her decision, heading to her kitchen to do just that, and Hinami nodded before looking towards Karashi briefly, the boy having not moved from where he was still standing against one of the posts in the shop. Looking towards the two 

"Alright, Karashi. Get some cool water, and a rag, this illness is a combination of whatever he did to revive Raiga, and the weather. So my medical ninjutsu can only do so much on it's own." Hinami said as she looked towards Ranmaru, he had a small fever and Hinami was worried Sansho stating her curry helped Lee so it had to help again. Karashi scoffed looking towards the girl, raising an eyebrow as he did so

"Why should I?" He said towards her, 

"Because if you don't I will hit all of your chakra points and leave on the floor paralyzed for an hour. I don't get mad as easily as other people. Like my cousin, Naruto, or my friend Lee. But I've been told I am a hell of a lot scarier than those two when I am. Nothing makes me angrier than a coward switching sides like a game." Hinami said in response to his question, not looking up from Ranmaru, and the boy paled a moment before stomping off to do so. Agreeing rapidly after realizing Hinami was 100% serious.

Lee running up towards Raiga, his fist outstretched, landing hits on him, as he jumped around, avoiding Raiga's lightning with practiced ease, the lightning destroying the rocks around them. In the curry shop, Sansho was working double time to make the curry of life, while Karashi paced back and forth upstairs. Remembering when he met Lee. On the cliffside, Lee continued to evade Raiga's lightning attacks, before he stretched the lightning forwards, hitting Lee full force. Hinami tried feeding Ranmaru the curry of life, the boy refusing such, Karashi telling the woman she messed up on the blend of spices, proceeding to fix the curry of life. 

"Please eat." Hinami said calmly, 

"Why?" Ranmaru asked in question, 

"Why are you helping me?" He clarified and Hinami hummed, 

"I have a little brother, he's a little younger than you. He's not very strong, but he's getting there. You remind me a lot of him, you're both strong individuals who will definitely take the world by storm, if you're brave enough to give it a try. Besides that, I swore an oath as a medical shinobi, if there's someone I can help, I will. Besides, I think your someone I'd like to get to know." Hinami said in return, looking towards Ranmaru who had his back turned, 

"Grandma Sansho and Karashi put their heart and soul into making this for you, to save you. If you don't feel anything seeing them trying their best for you? Not feeling anything in that regard, would make you a horrible person. You see, people help eachother everyday, saving lives or just lending a hand. When someone needs help, don't you naturally step in?" Hinami continued as Karashi looked shocked at the girl as she spoke, before turning his head to the side. Karashi asking Ranmaru to try one bite. Ranmaru finishing the plate.

"That feeling you have right now, that's what it's like to live." Hinami said as she looked at Ranmaru. Who looked down at the plate.

"Raiga… I want him to eat this curry too." Ranmaru said and Hinami nodded, ready to go

"We should hurry, I had a clone fighting him, but it's been dispersed. He's had a major power boost since we fought previously." Hinami explained looking over and the group nodded