Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Bringing Down the House

The time of exams came and went with Yukari, Moka, and Naruto passing easily and Kurumu passing by the skin of her teeth. As the three girls celebrated the prospects of summer vacation, Naruto was dragged into his homeroom classroom by Botan to discuss the details of his next case.

"There's a city in the human world where people have been vanishing for unexplained reasons. We've pinpointed it down to a location for you and Kurama to investigate." informed Botan.

"That's it? Why can't Yusuke deal with this?" questioned Naruto.

Botan glared at him, "Because he has his own problems to deal with in his own city. This trouble is happening in Fujimi City."

"Yare, yare, this is just how I wanted to spend my summer vacation..." groaned Naruto.

"Yes, how sad." dryly replied Botan with a thin smile.

Nekonome-sensei pouted, "Aww, I wanted him to go with the rest of the newspaper club for our research trip to the human world! But, I guess real work comes first..."

"Actually, his mission is in the same area where you planned the camping trip. So he'll still be able to attend." reminded Botan.

"Yeah..." Naruto suddenly shot up out of his seat and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Wait a minute! When did you get here and how do know about my real job!"

Nekonome-sensei just patted him on the head and smiled, "It's sensei's job to know these things!"

He just turned and gave Botan a deadpan look, "You told her everything didn't you."

The blue haired shinigami just turned away from him and whistled innocently.

"Are you crazy? You are letting her send them to camp out in the exact location of my next case! Are you trying to blow my cover or what!" yelled Naruto. "Not mention how easily they will be dragged into what ever comes up. Hold on! You can't have this trip. Except for me, students aren't allowed to visit the human world until after graduation."

Nekonome-sensei patted him on the head again, "If your sensei approves, then everything is Okay."

Naruto was skeptical to say the least, "Right..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The day of departure arrived quickly for everyone. The girls were all prepared for the trip and waiting on Naruto's arrival at the bus stop. Back at the male dorms, when Naruto finished dressing himself in his mission gear, he took one last look in the mirror before he pulled up his face mask. A grin formed underneath his mask as he recalled the time spent trying to peel the mask of Kakashi's face, "You know what difference is between you and me, sensei? I make this look good."

Down at the bus stop the girls were starting to get a bit impatient. Kurumu kept shooting annoyed glances at Moka, jealous of the sun dress she'd picked out for the trip. Inwardly she cursed the girl, knowing there was no way Naruto wouldn't take notice of her looking as good as she did.

'Damn! I can't believe I missed out on a chance to show off in normal clothes!' thought Kurumu. 'I'll have to find a way to even the score...whoa!'

Her mind completely shutdown as she caught sight of Naruto wearing his battle gear. Normally in his black suit, he possessed a cool handsome appearance. But this look took him to a whole new level. Moka and Yukari fared no better than her, but they were all on the same wavelength.

'He normally looks good, but this outfit...' thought Moka.

'...he's some kind of epic smokin' hot badass!' thought Yukari and Kurumu.

"Is there something on my face?" muttered Naruto. Reaching up, he felt a bit foolish as he touched his face. When he got closer he finally saw the pink coloring of their cheeks and it dawned on him, 'Yep! I make this look real good!'

Adding a little strut to his gait, he discretely took a good luck and Moka in her dress and was glad he had the face mask to conceal his blush. Eventually the girls came back to their senses, which resulted in an three-way glomp and a lot of arguing. Most would find all the bickering annoying, but he didn't mind at all. He'd take girls plastering themselves all over his body and bickering with each other in place of constantly getting yelled at and getting his skull bashed in any day. Eventually the Bus Driver pulled up to the Bus Stop and opened the doors. They found both Botan and Nekonome-sensei already inside as they came aboard. As he settled into his seat, Naruto noticed the Bus Driver staring at him through his rear view mirror. Annoyed, the blond flipped him off.

The Bus Driver simply took a puff of his cigar and let out a chuckle before smiling his trademark creepy smile,"Hehehe...Buckle up! Once we leave this tunnel, it's goodbye to the supernatural world for a while!"

"This vacation is going to rock!" exclaimed Kurumu as she pumped her fist.

"Vacation for you girls, work for me." corrected Naruto.

"Yeah, what's the deal with Botan-sensei and this job of yours?" the succubus inquired.

Knowing she wouldn't buy it, he opted for a slightly vague variation of the truth, "I am a member of a organization the policies supernatural activity in the human world."

"Very funny." deadpanned Kurumu.

Now he opted for the lie that technically was not a lie, "I am a shinobi."

A look of understanding passed across her face, "You know, that makes a lot of sense."

Yukari nodded in agreement, "Yeah, shinobi do not have a lot of freedom. It must be tough working from the shadows as clans of professional ninjas. It's said that shinobi originating in both the Demon and Supernatural World have been passing down the mantle for many generations. They usually only work under the highest bid of the most extravagant individuals. No wonder you have leave all the time to do missions for your clan."

Moka kept her glance towards the window, 'He technically is a shinobi, just not the type you're thinking of.'

"Still, I don't really want to go to the stupid human world." muttered Yukari.

Kurumu rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Don't tell me you're wimping out now. I guess you are just a baby after all..."

"Someone with the mental capacity of a cow like you wouldn't understand!" yelled Yukari.

Kurumu poked her in the chest, "You don't see Moka freaking out!"

"Actually, I am a bit worried about going back there. My time in the human world up through middle school...hating humans because of all that time...I hope this won't bring up too many bad memories from back then." responded Moka before turning to Naruto. "But, I do have high hopes that this time will be different."

Naruto tried to dissuade her way of thinking, "You girls are much tougher than you think. The human world will be no trouble at all even if I wasn't with you. Have some confidence in yourselves!"

Yukari and Moka took a moment to let it sink in, but Kurumu spoiled the silence before they could really let Naruto's words sink in.

"Who cares about the stupid Human world anyway! I'm glad I get to spend time with my Naruto-kun!" squealed Kurumu as she reached over her seat and pulled Naruto's head into her chest.

Moka shoved her off of him, "What do you mean your Naruto-kun! He is not your property!"

"Yeah, at best he's on loan for a couple years until I come into my own!" added Yukari.

Both Moka and Kurumu turned their glares on the young witch, "You conniving little brat..."

Knowing where this was headed, Naruto discretely moved a few seat up the bus to where Botan was sitting and writing on some papers. Leaning in over the seat and over her shoulder to try and see what she was working on, "So...what's all this?"

Botan gave him an annoyed look before turning away from him, "Hmph!"

"What! Now that you're a sensei, you're too good to associate with me? Is that it? Fine! I see how it is! I don't need you! I can do just fine with me, myself and I!" The blond made a scene of walking to the back of the bus and summoning some shadow clones to join him in a set of seats that faced each other.

The clone to the left of Naruto pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling. The clone across from him whipped out a small notepad and flipped through it, "Alright last time was Egyptian war, this one's a coin flip for BS or Spades. Boss, you call in the air."

Watching out of the corner of her eye, the blue haired grim reaper had a hard time keeping a straight face at his antics.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After reaching the human world Botan and Nekonome-sensei exited the bus in the city. The bus continued on before dropping off the girls at the cabin serving as a rest point for them during the trip when doing research. It was at the base of some hills and mountains close to the site Naruto was supposed to be investigating as well. After helping them unload their gear from the bus, Naruto boarded to bus to catch a ride up the mountain. When he boarded the bus again, he found Kurama sitting up front, casually reading the newspaper as if he had been there all along.

"Have you been here the whole time?" asked Naruto.

"No, I was waiting for you here." replied Kurama as he turned the page of the paper. "I got on when you got off."

"Very sneaky sir." joked Naruto.

"He-he-heee!" creepily laughed the bus driver as he started up the bus. "All these people being spirited away, quite poetic don't you think? They even wrote about it in the paper."

"In the paper? What does it say?" inquired Naruto.

"They recently started construction on the site and that's when people started vanishing. There's a local legend about a witch once living on the hill in the area. From that rumors and speculation have spread of an old witches curse being the responsible for the disappearances of people. Nearly thirty people have vanished in the past two months." explained Kurama. "Which means that there probably is an actual witch around here somewhere that is either responsible or knows what is responsible."

Naruto shook his head at the absurdity of it all, "Let me guess, more people have started showing up try and solve the great mystery. It's a big tourist attraction now."

Kurama chuckled, "Yes, the scenery is supposed to be quite beautiful with a large sunflower field. People have been flocking to see the field before it's gone and because of interests in the occult."

"What kind of idiots would walk right into a dangerous area to sight see?" muttered Naruto.

"Woohoo! Witch Hill here we come!" shouted some girls in a car as they sped pass the bus.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at the cabin Kurumu was taking a look at the same newspaper while Yukari and Moka were still getting settled in.

"Hey! Take a look at this! There's a well known spot in the human world near here. Apparently it's a mysterious place where people have been spirited away!" exclaimed Kurumu.

Moka peered at the paper over her shoulder, "It's probably just a publicity stunt. That place looks like nothing more than a sunflower garden."

"Yeah, and they're starting construction there. They must be trying to get people to come and see the scenery before it is gone. You shouldn't believe everything you read in the newspaper Kurumu." chided Yukari.

"Of course you would say that. They say a witch is behind this." quipped Kurumu. "It is your kind that kidnaps humans and does weird stuff to them right?"

"And blow up dolls like you are so much better." retorted Yukari.

"Hey, you think Naruto's case has something to do with this?" suggested Moka.

Kurumu shrugged, "Nah, It's probably a hoax. But, let's go check it out anyway. I bet this is the investigation sensei wanted us to do for the club."

"No way! That's a stupid idea! This is the human world! All sorts of bad things can happen out there!" exclaimed Yukari. "Look! My tarot cards say this is an ill-fate trip."

"Ugh! Don't be such a baby! You've been whining ever since we left. Are you really that much of a scaredy cat?" taunted Kurumu.

Yukari was momentarily startled by her words, but this was quickly replaced by a sense of anger, "Yo-you..you stupid cow! I'm not afraid of anything! You'll see!"

Moka glared at Kurumu, "What did you do that for!"

Kurumu grinned, "It got her to come didn't it? If she's pist at me, then she's not caught up with being scared of everything."

Moka sighed, conceding her point, "You didn't have to be so mean about it though. Come on, she's running up the mountain!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Moka's not the only one with a troubled past with humans. I grew up seeing them as my enemies and I've hated a lot of the human world too." muttered Yukari as she kicked a stone along the ground.

She emerged from a densely wooded area to the edge of a sunflower field and moved to side down atop some fallen timber. However, before she could take a seat, she heard a female voice calling for help from the sunflower garden.

"Help me! Somebody help me! This garden! Help please!"

Running over to where she heard the voice, she froze in shock as discovered a dark haired human girl with pigtails in a baseball cap grabbing onto the hand of her friend.

"Who are you?" asked Yukari, a frown forming on her face.

The girl was startled by her appearance, "Why are you dressed so strangely? Oh my god! You're a witch, aren't you!"

Yukari scoffed and turned on her hells to march away, "Sorry, my mistake. I thought someone was actually in trouble. It's only some human stranger."

"Wait! Don't leave! Please help! My sempai is being eaten by the plants! Please help her!" pleaded the girl.

Yukari froze in her tracks as the girl continued, "It's not her fault, please help me save her. I only dared her to come here because she was afraid! If she hadn't come, she wouldn't have been attack by the sunflowers!"

Yukari turned and looked more closely at the girl she was trying to free. The other girl had short dark hair and her eyes had gone dull as several plants had attached to her skin like leeches. She was barely breathing.

'How can this be? A plant feeding on a human?' thought a puzzled Yukari. "It must be a magical plant. It's a plant monster that feeds on humans like a venus flytrap!"

Right on cue a massive squash like plant monster with a huge Venus flytrap shaped mouth rose from the ground with a roar baring it's massive fangs at Yukari and the two girls.

"A Garigarious? But that's impossible! It's only supposed to appear in the supernatural world!" exclaimed Yukari in shock.

"FOOD...EAT...EAT FOOD!" roared the plant monster as it set its sights on Yukari and darted down to eat her.

Yukari leaped back out of the way to avoid becoming it's lunch. The monster twirled its head around to try again, but this time Yukari was waiting for it.

"Try eating vegetarian!" she shouted will throwing some tarot cards at the plant beast. With the aid of her magic wand, the cards became just like blades and cut the monster to pieces. Unfortunately this was not the end of the battle as several more the same type of monster sprouted from the ground of the sunflower garden.

"FOOD...FOOD...FOOD...FOOD..."

Yukari couldn't believe it, "There's so many of them, the must be behind all the people vanishing. They're eating them..."

Yukari tried to escape from the carnivorous plants, but one managed to trip her up with its vines. Wrapping her up with the vines it yanked her towards it's mouth, only to be prevented from eating her due its brethren attacking it claim her as a meal.

'This is so stupid! I told them I had a bad premonition about the human world. I knew this trip was ill-fated and now I'm going to be eaten! I wish someone was here right now, anyone to help me!'

Hidden in the treetops of the neighboring woodlands were the crouched forms of Kurama and Naruto.

"It would be best to step in at this time." advised Kurama.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "I was hoping she'd come through on her own. I guess she needs a little spark."

Yukari had resigned herself to her fate, closing her eyes and waiting the inevitable feeling of being torn apart by the teeth of the Garigarious and eaten alive. When the sensation never came, she opened her eyes to find herself standing at the edge of the sunflower field and out of danger. Directly in front of her were the Garigarious plants, one of them in the process of eating Naruto.

"No! Naruto!" screamed Yukari as she reacted to her close friend now being in the midst of danger. Her eyes sharpened along with her resolve as she fearlessly charged right into the hoard of carnivorous plants with a defiant gleam in her eye.

"Witch-san! Look out!" called out the young girl in the cap, who managed to free her friend thanks to the plants being distracted by Naruto and Yukari.

Yukari paid her warning no mind as she concentrated on harnessing her magic, 'If I increase the attack force, I should be able to wipe them all out in one shot. I need the full magic of this spell.'

"I won't let you eat my friend! Leave him alone!" screamed the young witch as she unleashed massive tarot card blade attack. The cards all fluttered about, slicing and dicing the monsters to pieces. Yukari kept running towards the one plant that had trying to eat Naruto. As a tarot card ripped the plant beast in half, she saw the form of Naruto fall to the ground before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Turning around she found the real Naruto waving at her at the edge of the sunflower.

Realizing she'd been tricked, there was only one course of action, raise her wand and summon a massive log to nail Naruto in the back of the head, "YOU BAKA!"

The young girl charged him and tackled him afterwards, nearly toppling him over as she pounded her fists into his chest, "I really thought they were going to eat you!"

Naruto patted her back with his left hand while his right massaged the back of his head, "It's okay. I just didn't want you to be afraid anymore."

She stopped beating on his chest and wiped away the tears coming down her cheeks, "I know, it was just so hard...thank you."

With that said, the tired young witch passed out in his arms, completely spent from killing all the monsters. This was the sight that Moka and Kurumu arrived to.

"Yukari-chan! Is she okay?" exclaimed a concerned Moka as she rushed over.

"Yeah, she tired herself out from beating all these monsters." replied Naruto.

"Wow! I can't believe she just beat all these plant things!" exclaimed Moka as her eyes widened and she looked around. .

Kurumu smiled and patted Yukari on the head, "It's to be expected. She is a genius after all."

Handing Yukari over to Moka, Naruto felt a shadow clone dispel, alerting him that Kurama was moving away from the clearing. There had been a second reason they had initially held back from interfering in Yukari's battle, an unknown person had been observing the scene when they arrived. They wanted to wait for this person to reveal themselves. Kurama had moved to track the presence once they fled the area after the battle was over, but he lost who ever it was in the woodlands going further up the mountain. He doubled back to the sunflower seed field, intent on collecting some seeds from the field that had been used to grow the carnivorous plants.

'Perhaps we can track how the seeds for the Garigarious came to be in this area. They must have been smuggled from the demon world somehow...' pondered Kurama.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The spectator Kurama was unable to track through the woods, turned out to be a young dark haired girl in a tattered cloak. Aware of her pursuer, shee took the long way around the mountain before coming back to a small ranch that was not too far from the sun flower field. She entered the main house and stopped in the living room a short way behind an older woman in a rocking chair wearing a hooded cloak.

"Mistress Yukata, the plants we entrusted with acting as guardians over our sunflower field were destroyed...by a witch nonetheless." spoke the girl.

While initially upset at her plants being destroyed, the woman's mood shifted on hearing who had done the deed, "You're telling there is another witch here? On my hill?"

"Yes, although she is quite young, she possesses very strong magic." replied the dark haired girl.

"This is quite intriguing. It has been many years since we've encountered a real witch." muttered Yukata. "What an opportunity we've come across here! We shall bring her into the fold, we are of the same blood after all. Also, plant a few seeds close to the main tree. No need to chance it's safety when it is so close to bearing fruit now."

Her subordinate bowed, "As you wish, Yukata-sama."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back the sunflower field, Moka was tending to Yukari as Naruto and Kurumu moved about the field collecting her tarot cards used in the battle.

Kurumu let out a sigh as she picked up another card, "I don't understand that girl. If she has the power to defeat these monsters, than why is she so afraid of the human world?"

Moka shrugged, "I guess there are a lot of things we don't know about her. She's not like the rest of us being a hybrid of humans and youkai."

A look over understanding flashed across Naruto's face, "I suppose it would be tough. At school she get's harassed for not being a real monster, and her in the human world they've persecuted witches in the past too. Stuck in isolation, not truly fitting in with either crowd? It's a feeling not many people understand. I guess no matter where you go it's difficult for people to look past preconceived notions and try to understand each other."

Before they could begin to digest his words, the two human girls that Yukari had rescued made their presence known again.

"Is Yukari-chan doing okay? Is she awake yet?" asked the girl in the cap. "I want to thank her for saving sempai."

"She saved you too, Youko." replied her friend.

"Um, no not yet." nervously replied Moka.

The pink haired vampire hugged Yukari closer to her body as Youko came and sat down close to her, "Is Yukari-chan the witch that lives on this hill?"

"No, she's not. We're not from around here, only here to visit the area for a research trip." informed Naruto.

"Oh, I guess was wrong." she replied with a frown. "Since this place has the legend of the with that lives here, I was hoping to see her. They'll call this place Witch's Ranch or Witch's hill because of the legend of a with living here. After they decided to start construction up here on the factory is when the people started turning up missing. People have become scared, thinking they angered the witch and brought down her divine punishment on the land."

Yukari managed to regain consciousness right before her speech, as she wasn't happy, "You humans shouldn't go blaming witches for things you can't understand. You don't know anything about witches, so don't blame witches without any proof."

"Yukari-chan! You're okay!" exclaimed Moka.

"Thank god you're alright!" added Kurumu.

Remembering the succubus taunting her before she left the cabin, Yukari blew her off. Kurumu shrugged it off, expecting it.

"We probably shouldn't stick around in this place for too long if it's so dangerous. Let's head back into town where our motel is located. We can meet up with Botan-sensei and Nekonome-sensei to report the incident." suggested Moka.

Yukari nodded, "Sounds good to me."

"We can probably give you a ride, even though there are more than five of us, we are pretty close to town." offered the girl Yukari had inadvertently saved.

"Really? Thanks a lot! That will be such a great help to us." replied Moka with a grateful smile.

As the girls turned to head towards the vehicle, Kurumu noticed that Naruto wasn't following.

"You coming, Naruto?" asked Kurumu.

"Go on ahead, I've got more work to do. Waiting on my teammate for this assignment to return." replied Naruto. As soon as he said this, Kurama emerged from the trees. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Naruto introduced his partner in crime as he walked up, "Girls this is Kurama. Kurama, these are the girls."

"Hi, nice to meet you!" politely greeted the red haired boy with a wave.

All the girls except Kurumu replied kindly in turn, the blue haired girl narrowing her eyes at him, "You've been ditching us to hang out with another a girl?"

Naruto looked at the succubus as if she was insane, "What are you talking about? Kurama's a guy!"

"That's a boy?" Kurumu's mind suddenly took a strange turn, blood began to drip out her nose. "Boy's love?"

Naruto didn't know for sure, but he had a general idea of where her mind was going. He marched up to the blue haired girl and flicked the tip of her ear, bringing her back to the real world, "OWWW! That hurt!"

"Then don't go thinking such stupid thoughts!" shouted Naruto. "Freaking disgusting!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As the girls all crammed into the small car to head back into the city, their observer had returned to spy on them. Having discarded her cloak, she could now be clearly scene in her black sleeveless top, long flowing orange skirt, nylon stockings and black shoes. She also possess a decorated sash around her waste and thin nylon arm warmers that ran from her wrist to just below her shoulder. Her hair was styled with two white wraps that branched out two thick strands of her purplish brown hair to the sides of her head with two more long strands of hair running down the side of her face, framing it. Her most striking feature were her dark magenta eyes that shined with an intense ferocity as she looked down from her perch in the tree holding a sunflower and her wand.

"This is unforgivable master! Those humans ruined our gardens and simply left." she spoke aloud, her master able to communicate telepathically with her from the ranch.

'You're right Ruby, those retched humans do need to pay!' sneered Yukata. 'This is why we must bring our young tribe mate into the fold.'

"What about her companions?" asked Ruby.

'Most likely humans waiting to stab her in the back. Eliminate them if need be.' replied Yukata dismissively. 'It is important that we strengthen our numbers as much as we can before we take a stand against the humans. We must protect our lands and punish the humans who greedily want to take it away from us.'

"What about the two boys still here looking around?" questioned Ruby.

'I'll make sure the cultured humans and Ivynomos you just planted handle those two nosy fools snooping around where they don't belong.' replied Yukata. 'You follow the young witch into the city, separate her from her companion, and bring her back here to me. Can you do that for me, my beloved disciple?'

"I understand master." responded Ruby.

Using her wand, the young witch cast a transformation spell and turned into a crow. The sunflower and wand formerly in her hands were now in her beak as she took off across the skies, following the car towards the city.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto stood patiently as Kurama remained crouched over the ground with his hands in the soil of the sunflower field. There really wasn't much for the blond to do as the case was shaping up to be in Kurama's area of plant expertise. While patient for the moment, he still couldn't figure out why the redhead seemed to be simply messing around in the dirt for the past fifteen minutes.

As if sensing his question, Kurama provided an explanation, "I spread a few crescent seeds around the area earlier before we discovered the Gargarious plants. I could feel the unusual spirit energy from the sunflower field, and I'd thought the seeds would help pick up any spirit energy underground and help me detect if the missing people had been buried here underground."

Naruto tilted his head as he considered the facts, "The monster plants changed everything though."

Kurama nodded, "The Garigarious plants have not been eating the humans. Notice they only emerged when Yukari approached the field, they reacted to her yokai energy. That other human girl was getting pulled underground and something was trying to leech her spirit energy."

"So the big man eating plants were only serving as guard dogs. What ever is killing people is still around here somewhere." reasoned Naruto.

Kurama rose to his feet, dusting his hands off, "I fear it is much worse than that, but I can't say for sure yet. I've picked up the flow of the spirit engery underground, we can hopefully follow it back to the source."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

They'd found their two female sensei's at a tea shop that was right next to a sushi bar. Moka and Kurumu blended in just fine outside of the occasional group of leering pervs. Yukari was thoroughly annoyed by the amount of people bugging her and asking what type of cosplay her outfit was supposed to be. As Moka gave the details of what happened with Yukari up at the sunflower field, Shizuka ignored the fierce glare directed at her courtesy of Botan. She was furious that the teacher had set the focus of their research trip to be the exact same as the case Naruto was handling. The cat woman paid her no mind, happily munching away at the pile of sushi on the plate in front of her. Ruby stood on a rooftop across the street, keeping a close eye on Yukari and her demeanor.

She smirked as she saw Yukari angrily dismiss another pair of people interested in her supposed cosplay, "It's just what I thought would happen. Witches can't possible live together in the city with humans. It's a fools dream, soon you too will understand..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"There's nothing coming from there. The place is abandoned." informed Kurama as the pair looked upon Witch's Ranch from its outskirts.

Naruto shrugged, "It's such an obvious place that you might be able to hide in plan sight, but maybe it's too obvious even for that."

Kurama quirked an eyebrow at him, "That almost makes sense."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

The bypassed the small ranch on their way through a forested area before coming out at a green hilly area that over looked the ranch and the sunflower field a short ways down from the ranch. Kurama suddenly brought them to halt at the crest of a hill. In front of them hundreds of humanoid shaped figures sprouted from the ground. They were composed of soil and decomposed plant leaves and roots. Their faces were expressionless and they trudged around like zombies.

"Cultured humans again." muttered Naruto. "We ran into these things at Maze Castle."

"What ever is going on here is no accident. Whether it be a witch like the rumors say or a demon, someone is trying to siphon off human spirit energy. I suspect it is to nurture and feed a greater demonic plant." asserted Kurama.

"Then we'll worry about figuring out who is behind this later. We should focus on finding and destroying that plant." stated Naruto.

Kurama nodded in agreement as he pulled a rose out of his pocket, and created a rose whip. At the same time Naruto brought out a couple of fuuma shuriken and charged them up with some his electrical energy. Throwing the two large spinning weapons forward, he used the shadow shuriken technique in conjunction to multiply the two weapons into twelve. With Naruto mowing the creatures down with his guided blades and Kurama hacking away with his rose whip, they made quick work of the cultured humans in about ten minutes. The creatures put up little resistance, it was only their sheer number that proved to be a nuisance.

Kurama stuck his fist into the ground again, "I believe our target is the tree at the top of the hill to the left."

Picking up the pace the duo made their way up the hillside only to come to halt again as the ground rumbled and several snarling creatures emerged from underground. There were about a dozen four and a half foot tall beasts, whose body were composed tangled vines of of ivy. Their eyes where illuminated by a strange yellow glow.

Kurama recognized them, "These are plants are more along the vicious nature of the Garigarious, Ivynomos also known as Ivymen. Quick growing aggressive plant, who draw their power from solar energy. Be careful when eliminating them-"

The redhead was cut off when Naruto fired a kunai with an explosive tag at one the Ivymen. It it embedded in the creatures shoulder before exploding, triggering an explosion far larger than a normal explosion tag. The explosion caused the two Ivymen standing on each side of it, to blow up as well. The force and heat from the blasts knocked Kurama and Naruto back quite a ways where they landed on their asses.

Kurama shot him a deadpan look as he stood up, "-They tend to go out in quite the explosive manner."

Naruto scratched the back, "This just makes it more fun! Who doesn't like explosions?"

"Look out!" shouted Kurama, but it was too late. A Ivyman suddenly shot up out of the ground from behind Naruto and wrapped himself tightly around the blond. Naruto struggled and summoned his electrical aura to try and break free, but the hold of the creature was too great. The plant warrior suddenly glowed with energy as he absorbed sunlight and exploded. At the last second Naruto substituted himself with another Ivyman, triggering another super explosion from their combined explosive power.

Naruto laughed from across the hill as the smoke and debris cleared, "Now that, was impressive! Like I said before, who doesn't like big explosions? They are way too fun!"

The slightly smoldering Kurama raised his hand from where he'd been knocked on his ass again, "I'm not particularly fond of them."

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I plan on covering this arc in three installments. Kudos to anyone who gets the title reference. DMF out!