Happy Valentine's day everyone. I, and the fic, is still alive. One of the reasons this chapter is this late is because I have been working on another fic, which unfortunately is not *cough* appropriate for this site. Also, I had to start working more since I was getting low on the money here. Although, this chapter was ready to be uploaded on New year.

To answer some reviews,

SnakethZero - I understand the MANGA very well, don't worry about that. What you need to understand is Naruto in my fic is absolutely different than original. If this was the original Naruto, then yes you are correct, a team with him, Kiba and Sakura would not work. But as I said, not only is my Naruto different so is Sakura. You say I hate Sakura, true I definitely do. However, I don't think I have acted upon that hate in the main story. Omake, yes. Not the story. I actually started her Training as a med-nin earlier so she can be more useful. However since Namiko, even Naruto is basically a med-nin, her importance is a bit diminished. I believe you were pointing to that fact. And that's true too. So a spoiler alert, Sasuke and Sakura are not going to play an important role in this story.

Unaymus77 - Don't you hate it when someone calls you something that you are not? But I get your point and will definitely think about it. However, thank you for pointing out that I was at least able to convey how the Naruto in my story is supposed to be. *Looks at the reply above*

Kingkong101 - Obviously. I wonder if you use a different door to get out of your house every day? Or do you end up in the same place, or end up taking the same path just because you use the same door in and out of your house every time? It is used, but I didn't like HOW it was used. So I changed it.

godofshinobi - Ich danke dir, dass du dir die Zeit zum genommen hast, es zu lesen. And I will do my best to start the ass-kicking chapters soon.

That comment from SnakethZero, however, gave me an idea for a series of other stories. A What-if kind of series of stories where one important or even minor character is missing from the Naruto verse and its implications.

The review from KingKong101 also pointed out the flaw in my fic, where the first chapters are unnecessarily separated.

That, however, is for another time. Let's get on with the very late updated chapter.

These four months have not allowed me to earn enough money to buy the Naruto franchise. So no, still not mine.

Chapter 21: Curry on!

Curry of Life shop with Team 3

After the return of Team Guy to the shop along with Karashi and Ranmaru, Karashi had to go through a punishment that was devised by his mother herself, a 300% spicy curry. Naturally, even though they were not in for any punishments, Guy and Lee ordered the same curry as well. Neji and Tenten, however, ordered the mildest one she could make, for them as well as for Ranmaru.

After dinner, it was time to answer the biggest question: 'What to do with Ranmaru?' The team's original mission, 'Take out the Kurosuki gang' was accomplished. Their self-allotted mission, 'Rescue Karashi' was accomplished as well. Ranmaru was not in their missions list at all.

Though that would be a lie. Ranmaru was an accomplice to Raiga and hence was also a member of the Kurosuki gang. The protocol would suggest bringing him back to the Leaf Village for custody. But they decided to put it off till the next day.

Next Day

The team, only Neji and Tenten that is, was helping Grandma Sanshou with her shop. Karashi was also supposed to but Lee, sticking to his word, gave the green signal to his training early in the morning. So, he, along with his Sensei who could not sit idle after the word 'Training' was uttered, dragged Karashi off for training.

So here Lee and Guy were doing their regular morning run, with an exhausted Karashi trudging behind them.

"P…please Lee, wait! I'm…gonna…die…" Karashi laboured out, gasping for breath.

Karashi sighed in relief when he heard Guy say, "Okay Lee we will take a short break now". His relief didn't last long however as Guy continued, "So we can do 300 Push-ups!" He immediately dropped to the ground followed by his clone leaving Karashi gaping. To his credit though, he did try to follow

Guy, however, stopped on noticing the darkness that covered the sky.

In preparation against the imminent storm that was brewing up, Team 3 realised that the Curry of Life shop may need some strengthening. They decided it would be helpful to barrier the shop using some logs.

Lee breathed a sigh after cutting the last log down, "Yosh! This will protect the shop even if a huge storm blows in."

"Thank you all. You really didn't have to." Grandma Sanshou thanked.

"Not at all, Sanshou-san. We owe it to your curry." Guy waved her off.

"Oh my! Compared to you, my Karashi is so idle." She commented.

Neji, who was left out of the grunt-work-turned-into-training along with Tenten, whispered to her, "Hey Tenten, I'm worried about Karashi and Ranmaru being alone back at the shop. We are fine here, why don't you go and check on them?"

Neji's worry turned out to be true though when Tenten didn't find anyone in the shop.

Somewhere on the Mountains

"Do you mean the Boss is still alive?" Karashi asked Ranmaru, who was on his back. They were walking towards the place where Raiga's apparently not-so-dead body was.

"He is. That Neji person didn't seem to sense it back there, but I could pick up signs of life." Ranmaru replied.

When they finally reached the place, they were shell-shocked to see Raiga's condition. Or at least as much as they could see of him. His whole body was buried under rocks leaving only his arms visible, which were sticking out of the rubble holding his sword straight up.

Ranmaru used to his unique Kekkei Genkai to make sure that Raiga was still alive. However, even using that much of his body caused him to go weak and lose his grip on Karashi's shoulders and fall back on the ground.

Before Karashi could pick him back however, he started to drag himself towards Raiga.

"Raiga, you meant everything to me. I was just waiting to die, but you told me we could survive. Together." He spoke while dragging himself up to one of Raiga's arms. Grabbing the arm he started giving him his chakra, "For me, Raiga, being together with you, was the only time I lived. Don't be gone. No matter what, I can't hold a funeral for you. I won't let you perish like this, even if I have to give you my life." He said trying his best to revive Raiga.

Soon though he ran out of chakra to give and fell unconscious alarming Karashi, who hurriedly moved over to check on him. He tried to wake Ranmaru up but a movement from Raiga startled him. He cradled Ranmaru and rolled back just in time to avoid the bolt of lightning that came raging down on their previous position.

Tenten, not having found Karashi and Ranmaru back at the shop, had gone in search for them. She already had a hunch where both could have gone, however.

And her hunch ended up being spot on, as she saw both Karashi and Ranmaru at the spot where Raiga had ended up after the fight with her team. She wondered why they were both lying on the ground but a lightning bolt that was a bit too close to her made her fall back.

Down in the valley, the lightning bolt finished the job that Ranmaru started. Using his swords, Raiga channelled the energy contained in the lightning to restart his chakra network before bursting out of the rubble.

Karashi couldn't believe his eyes. The supposedly dead Raiga was standing on his feet again. But he didn't feel relieved or happy. He was just scared, especially now when it seemed that Ranmaru may have exchanged his own life for Raiga's.

Raiga didn't pay much attention to Karashi, however. His eyes were affixed on the unmoving form of Ranmaru, "No! It… can't be." He muttered in shock. He kneeled to cradle Ranmaru, "Ranmaru, quit joking around. It's not funny." He said in disbelief. Only then did he look around. He glared at the first person he could find, Karashi being the only unfortunate one.

"Tell me." He demanded, "Tell me what you did to Ranmaru."

Karashi now even more afraid didn't hesitate to answer, "Nothing! I swear. It was you." He accused, pointing at Raiga, "Ranmaru. He laid his hands on you, boss. And…you came back. And then…he…" Karashi trailed off.

Raiga looked at his hands that were still smoking after taking in that much energy from the lightning. He covered one of Ranmaru's hands in his to warm it up but was met with no response.

That was the scene Tenten witnessed after she came to again. Naturally, she too was surprised to see Raiga alive. Unlike Karashi though she wasn't afraid, "Raiga? But how? Never mind, I can't let him escape."

Taking out one of her scrolls, she unleashed a rain of kunais on Raiga. Unfortunately, the former member of seven ninja swordsmen of mist wasn't to be taken lightly. Laying Ranmaru down again, he deflected all of Tenten's kunais using only his swords, shielding himself as well as Ranmaru.

That didn't deter Tenten. Running down the steep wall of the cliff, she took out another scroll and unsealed a long battle chain. She threw the heavy end of the chain off to a side, letting it sink into the ground and continued running around Raiga, forming loops of the chain around him. A tug on the chain and Raiga was effectively bound from head to toe. Tugging on the chain once more, she tripped him and using her open scroll again, launched another volley of kunais at him.

To her disappointment, even after going through all that trouble to immobilize him, Raiga was able to draw lightning from the clouds and deflect the projectiles by conducting the electricity through the chains.

"Pure lighting? But how?" Tenten exclaimed in surprise. Realizing that the chain she was holding could very well be used to hurt her as well, she let it go.

Sadly, Raiga had already realized that possibility, "Too slow!" He exclaimed before using the lightning to break out of the chains. He reeled the broken chain with his sword and released another blast of electricity through it to Tenten. Tenten couldn't get far enough from the electrocuted chain in time and instantly got zapped. She let out a small cry before slumping down on the broad side of a boulder.

Raiga walked forward, shrugging off the remaining pieces of the broken chain, "It's you. You are that weird guy's genin." His casual pace gave Tenten some time to think of a counter-strategy.

Once he reached her, Raiga held both his swords up in a reverse grip and channelled lightning through them, prepared to skewer Tenten with it. Acting quickly, Tenten drew another scroll and unrolled it just before Raiga's swords sunk through the now empty scroll and into the boulder beneath it, narrowly missing Tenten.

The leaf kunoichi had rolled away just in time and was ready with a new weapon, a Bo staff from the sacrificed scroll. 'This wooden staff would do, but I still cannot hold it too high.' She thought, glancing at the sky.

Raiga turned around with a snarl. Being an experienced sword-master, he didn't need the dust to settle to know that his blades didn't pierce any skin. His experience, however, made him underestimate his Genin opponent. He casually stepped forward again, but Tenten used her staff skilfully and hit his foot, stopping his advance. He yowled in unexpected pain, and Tenten seized the opening, jabbing his throat and abdomen in rapid succession. She didn't stop there however and continued to press forward. Backing off a little, she drew her staff back and dragged it through the ground and kicked up some dirt directly in Raiga's eyes, blinding him. Instead of taking advantage of that, she backed off again, twirling her staff over her head before advancing again. Raiga tried to stop her by stabbing his sword but Tenten was expecting it. She brought the twirling staff before her, trapping the sword in it, spinning it out of Raiga's hand and threw it back over her shoulder.

Karashi, who trying to climb himself away from the fight, fell on his butt when the stray Fang blade almost took out his fingers.

Tenten next went for the other sword, but soon realised that the same trick would not work on someone of Raiga's calibre when he jammed his sword on the tip of Tenten's staff and discharged another lightning bolt, ripping the staff into shreds and blowing the bun haired kunoichi off her feet.

Not bothering to check what became of his opponent, Raiga turned around and walked up to Karashi, who was still shaking in fear. Raiga lifted his hands making Karashi cover his head with his hands in fear, but a blow never came. Turns out, Raiga was just getting his sword back.

"You know," Raiga started, "I'm not a real smart person." He said before picking up Karashi by his collar, "He's dead and I don't know how it happened. I don't have the slightest idea. So, who killed him? Was it you?" He asked again.

"NO!" Karashi vehemently refused, "It wasn't me…I swear. Maybe…those guys from the leaf village." He lied.

Raiga didn't lie when he said he was not smart and instantly believed Karashi, "You are right. If those guys wouldn't have come, then I could've had Ranmaru with me forever." He said in realisation. He lifted Karashi even higher and demanded, "Where are they hiding? C'mon, you better know where, cause if you don't, you're dead!"

"Yeah, I know…maybe," Karashi wheezed.

His answer received, Raiga dropped Karashi, who cowered away as soon as he touched the ground. Raiga, however, didn't want to dally any longer. "Get up you worm and take me to them. GET UP!" He roared glaring down menacingly at Karashi making him shriek and start moving up the slope.

Raiga stopped and turned around to look at Ranmaru's unmoving form, "Don't go yet Ranmaru. I haven't still given you a funeral. I swear, I'll lay their corpses at your feet." He declared before following Karashi.

Tenten stirred before sitting up from where she had ended up after being blown away. Looking around she realised she was completely alone, there was no sign of Raiga or even Karashi. She hobbled to her feet, exhausted, that's when she spotted Ranmaru, still lying in the same spot that he had been when her fight began. How could a child sacrifice himself to save someone like Raiga, was the only thing she could think of as she walked up to him.

Her thoughts changed however when Ranmaru flinched and mumbled Raiga's name.

"Ranmaru? You are alive?" Tenten exclaimed before kneeling and holding Ranmaru up. Not getting anything more out of him, she picked him up on her back, determined to not let him die.

Back at the curry shop, the rest of the team had just finished reinforcing the shop using the logs they had cut when they saw Karashi running towards them. He stopped before his mother and grabbed her by shoulders, "You will never believe what happened. Oh! It was horrible." He cried.

Sanshou obviously didn't know what was going on, "Horrible? What are you talking about Karashi?" She asked.

"It's Tenten, she…" Karashi began in a worried tone making the rest of Team 3 and Sanshou tense.

"What…What happened to her?" Lee asked worriedly.

"She fell off a cliff," Karashi replied.

"What? What are you talking about?" Lee asked again urging Karashi to elaborate.

"We were both running. Lee was still busy, so she told me I could train with her. But then, when we got to lightning pass, a bolt of lightning hit a tree and knocked it towards us. And Tenten…she fell off the cliff all the way to the bottom." Karashi did so.

His words horrified his mother, "How awful! We have to help the poor girl."

Lee was just behind her, "We have to go. Tenten needs our help."

"You are right Lee. And we will help her." Guy didn't hesitate either and agreed.

Neji, however, looked on suspiciously at Karashi. His penetrating gaze making Karashi a bit nervous. "I…will go grab the first aid kit. You guys go ahead. I'll be right behind you I promise." Karashi assured trying to appease the Byakugan-wielder.

Still not fully convinced, Neji had to anyway follow his overzealous teammate as well as sensei, who had already leapt off. 'In hindsight, even if Karashi was lying, Tenten may still be in danger.' Neji thought.

At the shop, Karashi pulled his mother inside as soon as the team was out of sight.

"Karashi…What are you…" His mother tried to ask but Karashi cut her off, "I am going to run away and so are you, mom."

"What are you talking about, child?" Sanshou demanded.

"I'll explain it all later, grab your stuff and let's go." He said putting off the explanation.

However, his mother was not convinced. "Mom, we got to go. I'm begging you." He pushed on.

"No!" Sanshou cried getting out of his hold, "I'm not budging until everyone else comes back."

"You don't get it…" Karashi continued to try to convince her to leave.

With the rest of the team, Neji was voicing his concerns, "Would lightning and some tree really be enough to send Tenten over a cliff?"

Lee gave his friend a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Perhaps Karashi's training didn't stick." Neji replied.

"That is my fault," Lee admitted sadly.

"Don't feel down, Lee. We failed to change him. Or someone may be threatening him." Their sensei laid out more possibilities.

"But we already beat the Kurosuki family," Lee argued.

"Maybe my eyes were clouded," Neji muttered.

Guy's face immediately took on a more serious visage.

Tenten had managed to carry Ranmaru to the same shack that they had used to hold him earlier to shelter both of them from the storm. She was currently trying to keep Ranmaru's fever down.

At last, Ranmaru did open his eyes, though his first words after coming to didn't amuse Tenten, "Is Raiga…still down?" He asked weakly.

Although angry that he decided to ask a question like that, Tenten nonetheless obliged, "Raiga got up. But it's about you right now."

"It's alright," Ranmaru said rolling over onto his side facing away from Tenten, "I'm going to be dead soon anyway."

That riled up Tenten even more, "I won't let that happen. You are not getting off that easy. No way! The people whom you and Raiga killed, they all wanted to live, but you didn't leave them that choice. You decided for them." She snapped at him, making him shrink in himself.

Tenten, however, continued, "Well you don't get to decide this time, okay. You are gonna live and you are going to take some responsibility for all those people whose lives you cut short."

Ranmaru knew she was right. But all he could think of was how, even during those dark times, he and Raiga were together. This caused him to stay silent against Tenten's rant. However, a coughing fit broke that silence as well as Tenten's rant and changed it to concern. Her concern however soon shifted from Ranmaru to the shack they were in when it creaked heavily under the storm.

'I'll take him to grandma's place.' She decided.

The rest of the team reached Lightning Pass only to have their assumptions proved true. Raiga was already waiting for them, swords poised ready.

"He is alive, you were right," Lee stated the obvious.

"You two wait here. There is no need for you to fight him.", Guy ordered them.

"But Guy-sensei…", Lee tried to argue but his sensei didn't allow him to and rushed in.

"Sensei wait…", Neji too tried to stop his sensei but for a different reason.

That reason presented itself as a bolt of lightning that came roaring down at Guy. He was able to avoid getting zapped though, probably thanks to his aforementioned training to beat his rival.

Admitting his mistake, the bowl haired Jounin turned to his keen-eyed student for the assessment of their predicament, "What is going on Neji?"

Using his Byakugan, Neji observed the sphere of influence of Raiga's attacks.

"He is using real lightning from nature itself to not only boost his own lightning attacks but also cast a net around himself filled with charged molecules so that he can use those bolts on any moving target any time instantly. We would have to dodge his attacks just before it hits us to get close to him." He explained.

Guy nodded, "Leave that to me!"

He charged in again, however, this time decided to circle around Raiga, entering the 'net' tangentially. Just as his student had said, a bolt of lightning came thundering down at his exact location. And as advised, he dodged just before it hit him. A feat that was probably not possible for many.

His dodge was not random either. He used it to reduce the distance between him and Raiga before resuming his circling.

Raiga was obviously not happy with it. "You…! Why don't you just die?" He cursed. It failed to get any answer from Guy, who continued to inch closer.

It was slow, but Guy had closed a lot of distance. Believing it to be his chance to engage Raiga in Close Range Combat, he went for his signature Leaf Hurricane technique. That, however, forced him to move in a straight line, making it easy for Raiga to guess his trajectory.

Not willing to miss that chance, Raiga called down another one of his lightning bolts right in Guy's path, who because of being in mid-air was forced to eat the hundreds of volts of electricity. Again, only his training against lightning type opponents probably allowed him to stay conscious after that. His muscles though refused to budge anymore.

However, that was not all of their plans. Exploiting the distraction provided by his sensei, Neji snuck up Raiga's back with a chakra charged Juken ready. Sadly, Raiga showed that Byakugan wielders were not the only ones who could sense an attack from their back when Neji was hit by a lightning bolt just like his sensei. Unlike his sensei, however, Neji didn't have a tolerance high enough to stay standing and was blown back and down to a lower part of the cliff unconscious.

Raiga was quite pleased with his feat. He laughed at his fallen adversaries, "Hahaha! You gave me a scare there when you managed to avoid all of my lightning. But you messed up at the end. You really are dumb."

"Stop it! How dare you disrespect Guy-sensei like that." Lee who had not joined in on the plan yelled.

Raiga turned his attention to the last one standing, "You. I remember you. You were the brat who was fighting in his sleep. On second thought, no funeral for you! I'll just kill you." He said with a smirk.

If Lee was intimidated, he didn't show it. Instead, he bent down and grabbed something inside his leg warmers. Straightening back up, he pulled out what seemed to be leg weights. The dent they made when they hit the ground as he let them go confirmed the fact.

With a burlap shielding Ranmaru on her back from the rain, Tenten trudged towards Sanshou's curry shop. She was however surprised to witness Karashi pulling his mother out of the shop when it came into view.

"Karashi, what are you doing?" Sancho cried, trying to pry her wrists from her son's hand.

"I'll explain later, please just come with me!" Karashi tried to reason with her wanting to leave as fast as he could before Raiga could make his appearance. "We have to go now!"

"I'm staying put and that's that!" Sanshou protested before spotting Tenten walking towards them, "Oh! Tenten."

Sanshou wasted no time in bringing Tenten and Ranmaru inside the shop. And Karashi knew he couldn't stop her now either. Especially after Tenten told Sanshou of what actually happened.

"This stupid son of mine did what now!?" She cried bopping Karashi on the head with her spatula.

"Ouch! It…it's not like I had a choice. If the boss would have stayed dead, I wouldn't have done it." Karashi tried to justify, "Look, he's gonna kill us if we stay here, we have to run away!" He followed up trying to save himself and his mother again.

"Go if you want, grandma Sanshou." Tenten said while tending to Ranmaru, "But I'm not running away. I'm not giving up. I will save this child." She told them. She had already taken Ranmaru's wet clothes off and was trying to warm him up.

Sanshou walked up to her and observed the boy.

"Well then, I'll stay and feed the curry of life to this boy." She declared after a slight pause, making Tenten look at her gratefully, "It certainly did the trick with Lee." The shop owner added instilling some confidence in Tenten.

After getting a thankful smile back from Tenten, Sanshou promptly went into her kitchen and started working on the curry.

Karashi gave both a frustrated look. "Well don't blame me if it gets worse.", He told them before running up to his room. He paced back and forth, terrified of what would happen in case the others fail to stop Raiga again. He glanced out of his windows, staring at the clouds afar still raining down lighting, contemplating at everything so far. He could still remember Lee running his marathon in his sleep. He turned around when he got the whiff of his mother's curry and curiosity made him wander downstairs again.

He saw his mother hand a plate of rice and curry to Tenten, who tried to feed it to Ranmaru. However, the boy just turned his face, refusing to eat. Taking another whiff of the curry, he figured out what the problem was.

"You messed up on the blend of spices." He stated before starting to fix the curry, ignoring his mother's surprised gaze.

"I did what? Son, are you honestly telling me you memorised it? My recipe for the Curry of Life?" Sanshou asked in astonishment.

Karashi ignored the question and continued fixing the curry.

Once he was finished, he readied another plate and gave it to Tenten, "Here it is. One genuine order of our signature Curry of Life."

Taking a spoonful of the curry-rice mix, Tenten offered it to Ranmaru again. And again, he turned it down.

Frowning at the stubborn kid, Tenten asked, "Are you so dependent on Raiga, you can't even eat when you are not with him?"

"Why?" Ranmaru asked faintly instead of answering, "Why are you helping me?"

"Do I need a reason to not let you die?" Tenten asked pointedly, "Grandma Sanshou and Karashi put their heart and soul into making this curry. They did it to save you. Don't you feel anything from seeing them trying their best for you like that? Because if you don't feel something, then you are just a horrible human being." She snapped.

Getting herself back together, Tenten continued, "People help each other, whether it's saving a life or just lending a hand. If someone needs help, don't you naturally just step in?"

Ranmaru rolled on his back under his blanket and looked from Tenten to Karashi, who smiled awkwardly, "Well, why don't you go ahead and try it? Just one bite."

Ranmaru looked back at Tenten, finally appearing compliant. He accepted the bite of curry from Tenten. Maybe because he liked it or he was starving, but he hastily sat up, took the plate from Tenten and started gulping the curry-rice down. Tenten herself looked astounded when he did so. She had almost given up on making him eat, voluntarily that is. She was anyway going to force-feed him.

Tenten was surprised even more when Ranmaru finally set the plate down. Having first-hand experience of that ungodly spicy curry, she didn't think he would be able to take more than two bites before desperately looking for water.

She nevertheless took the plate from him and asked, "So was it good?" A small nod from Ranmaru made her continue, "What you are feeling, that's what it feels like to live." She explained leaving Ranmaru wide-eyed, which were shortly filled with tears.

"Raiga…" He stared, "I want him to eat this curry too."

Tenten didn't exactly like that notion, but after what she lectured about helping whoever needed help, she couldn't deny him. In some sense, Raiga also needed help in learning what life was about. So, she stood up and smiled down at Ranmaru, "Let's go then."

Lightning Pass

Lee had put a good fight against Raiga while his sensei was still recovering from the effects of getting electrocuted. But this time it hadn't gone as well as he had hoped and at the end got zapped just like his sensei.

However, it didn't bring him down.

"Why? Why do you go so far?" Raiga asked him, intrigued.

Standing up weakly, Lee answered with a laboured smile, "I will become so strong, that Guy-sensei can smile at me with pride. Because that is my ninja way."

"I see." Raiga responded, "That explains it. Your whole life is devoted to that sensei of yours." He said looking at the prone form of the said sensei. "Well, then you can be the person to give him a funeral."

Holding his swords together high in the air, he summoned another lightning bolt. But he didn't fire it off right away. He coated himself in lightning and started spinning.

"Ninja Art:", He started while amassing even more lightning as well as wind, "Thunder Dragon Tornado." The wind and lightning continued merging together eventually forming in the shape of a dragon.

Lee had to shield himself from the debris that was being blown at him by the storm dragon. It growled at him, but he was not the target. Instead, it headed straight towards the incapacitated Jounin.

Guy was ready to move by then. He had almost recovered. But storm dragon was, unlike Raiga's other attacks, not very fast. That may have been also why Lee, even though exhausted, overtook the attack which surprised his sensei.

"Lee! Get away!" Guy requested his student. Unfortunately, Lee didn't know that his sensei was ready to counter the attack and really thought that his sensei might die. So he ignored him and pushed him away and took Raiga's attack instead.

"LEE!" Guy yelled.

Inside the storm, Lee was electrocuted multiple times before being blasted off the cliff.

"NO, LEE!" His sensei's voice fell on deaf ears.

"Hustle now! Hustle!", Sanshou encouraged her son, who was lugging the pot filled with their special curry. They, with Tenten in the front who was carrying Ranmaru, were climbing towards where they guessed others were fighting.

"Come on mom, don't push me, I can't run so fast, this thing is too heavy," Karashi complained.

"That's enough of that. I said, hustle." His mother pressed on.

The bright lights coming from the cliff alarmed Ranmaru, "Please hurry, we don't have much time!"

Tenten wholeheartedly agreed, "Right! You guys, we are gonna go on ahead." She informed the mother-son duo and jumped forward.

She didn't get much far before she crossed a particular shade of green sizzling amid the rubble. Putting Ranmaru down, she plucked Lee out of the rubble and tried to shake him awake, with no avail.

Because of her small head start, Karashi and Grandma Sanshou promptly caught up.

"Grandma Sanshou, please the curry of life!", Tenten requested.

The shop owner didn't waste any time and prepared two plates of rice-curry in a jiffy.

"Nice and hot. Now, get going, we can look after Lee for now. You just worry about getting the curry to Neji and your sensei." Sanshou said while handing both plates to Tenten.

Letting Lee go, Tenten took one of the plates and stood up, "Ranmaru, wait here, okay." She told Ranmaru, who nodded.

"I'm gonna go on ahead and find sensei, take care of everyone." She stated before jumping off.

Once she was out of sight, Sanshou turned to her son, who had flopped down on the ground as soon as they had stopped, and bopped him on the head. Handing him the other plate, she ordered, "You're helping too. Now get your butt over to Neji."

"Sure thing mom, no problem.", Karashi complied immediately by taking the plate and running ahead.

"Now then, I need you to hold Lee's mouth open," Sanshou told the only other conscious person remaining.

Ranmaru looked at her weirdly but didn't complain. Rolling Lee onto his back, Ranmaru used both of his hands to force Lee's mouth open, while Sanshou poured a ladle full of curry into it.

A while passed without any response from Lee which concerned the old woman, "Even the curry of life couldn't help the poor boy." She muttered sadly.

Right at that moment, Lee sprung onto his feet, swept the ladle from her hands and dug right into the pot full of hot curry.

Sanshou, who was knocked down in surprise, watched Lee eat his favourite food with fascination. Ranmaru, who still was new to all this, did the same.

In another part on the mountain, Karashi had found the unconscious Neji, laying on the ground almost like a dead body.

He tried to shake him awake, which did seem to work.

"Oh good, you are awake," Karashi breathed in relief. He took the plate of rice-curry that was entrusted to him and took a spoonful of it, "Here have some of the Curry of Life, you'll feel better." He spoon-fed the fallen Hyuuga. He was unaware of Neji's weakness against anything spicy, so was surprised when instead of making him feel better, it ended up knocking Neji out again.

"Neji? NEJI!" Karashi's confused scream was not heard by anyone.

When she reached her sensei, she didn't exactly expect him to stand there, glaring at Raiga while covered in a blue aura, who was glaring back also covered in a blue aura, however, Tenten knew that was lightning.

'Guy-sensei is okay', Tenten thought in relief anyway, 'But what is that blue aura around him?'.

"Guy-sensei," Tenten called out, ending the glaring contest and bringing respite to Guy's face.

"Tenten, you are alright. I thought you really fell off a cliff." Guy said.

Tenten sweat-dropped, "No…yeah that was a trap. Anyway, I brought you some curry of life, but clearly, it doesn't seem like you'll need it."

Guy's demeanour immediately became serious again and he turned back to Raiga, "Tenten. Find Lee. He…took an attack for me and I don't know what happened to him."

Before Tenten could answer him that Lee was alright, Raiga interrupted her, "I know what happened to him. He got vapourised. Too bad you won't have a body to bury at his funeral. But I'll send you after him right away, so don't shed a tear just yet."

Tenten tried to refute his statement but was again interrupted. But she needn't have bothered anyway because this time it was Lee himself. Or in appearance it was Lee. It didn't exactly look like he was being himself.

Swinging left to right as if a harsh wind, which was already blowing, would blow him away, Lee took a sloppy fighting pose with half-lidded eyes, "H…*hic*…hey there…*hic* how's it…going…." He slurred all the while between hiccups.

Stopping whatever it was that was causing that blue aura around him, Guy turned to Lee, relieved to see another one of his students alive, "Lee!" He exclaimed.

Lee turned slowly towards the voice, not completely recognizing who called out to him. He squinted his already half-lidded eyes before smiling wide like a kid, "Oohhhh! Guy-senseiiiii…you are…*hic*…here too?"

Before Guy could ask what was wrong with him, Raiga lost his patience, "You little pest. How many times do I have to strike you down?" He snarled and raised his swords to prepare for another attack.

Guy again turned his attention on Raiga set on not letting him hurt his students anymore. However, he needn't have bothered, as following the trend of interrupting people, a new voice came from behind Lee that stopped Raiga.

"Raiga, please stop." Ranmaru's voice rang.

The effect was instant. Raiga stopped gathering chakra and immediately started looking around, "Ranmaru? Where are you? Are you alive?"

"I'm here Raiga," Ranmaru replied coming out from behind the rock behind Lee.

This time it was Raiga's turn to be relieved. "Ranmaru, you are alive." He breathed.

"Yes, please Raiga you have to stop this," Ranmaru requested while coming forward and standing between Raiga and Lee.

His words confused Raiga, "What are you saying Ranmaru?"

"I…brought you the curry of life. I want you to try it." Ranmaru explained though it didn't help Raiga who answered with a confused 'what?'.

"If you do, you'll understand you are not alone. Its spices all blend together, like the feelings of all mankind.", Ranmaru explained further.

"What are you saying?", It really didn't make much sense to Raiga.

"Please, we have to stop." Ranmaru pleaded.

Raiga was baffled by what he was hearing. "No!" He cried while covering his ears, "That's enough. You have always been my eyes and ears. If you don't stop spouting this selfish non-sense, we can no longer be as one."

Ranmaru gave him a sad smile, "Strike me with your lightning then. If I die, the might Raiga falls as well. For we will always be as one." He said making Raiga go wide-eyed.

"Ranmaru, I won't be able to remember you the way you were anymore," Raiga said. Raising his swords high again, he yelled, "I'LL HAVE TO GIVE YOU A FUNERAL!"

Lightning again raced down at Raiga, who used his swords to re-direct it towards Ranmaru and Lee. However, just before it hit Ranmaru, a blue blur passed and carried both him and Lee away.

Before Raiga could understand what had happened, he was already in the air, courtesy of a kick to the chin by Guy.

"Not this again!" He growled and crossed his swords around his chest so that Guy couldn't grab him.

However, Guy never intended to do that. Instead, he jumped even higher than Raiga. Reaching at the end of his rise, he started spinning at such speed, that only the aura around him was visible, which made him look like a top. Allowing gravity to do its work, he came down at Raiga at great speeds and kicked him right in the stomach with all the force that gravity, as well as the spinning action, gave him.

All of this happened so fast that Raiga's pain receptors caught onto the state of his body after it impacted, hard, with the ground, this time burying his whole body.

"Raiga…!" Ranmaru yelled in concern and ran towards him, however his recently obtained ability to walk was still not at a level that he could run and ended up falling face-first onto the ground.

"Ra…n…maru…", Raiga laboured out.

"Raiga please," Ranmaru continued to plead, "Let's stop this. There is so much to do in life, other than giving suffering to others. Come with me."

Raiga's eyes filled with tears, "Ran…maru. I see you have cha…changed. You…have people…who…care for you now." He managed to get out.

Ranmaru nodded even though Raiga couldn't see from his position, "Yes. And you can have people like them too. Please Raiga, I beg you."

"Ha…!" Raiga gave a laboured laugh, "All…my life…I... have only…known to make…oth…others suffer. I cannot…cannot do anything else. Except for one thing." He tried to lift his head up to look at Ranmaru but failed, "Ranmaru, you are finally free now." He said.

Ranmaru's eyes went wide. He could not do anything but watch when lightning came racing down again at Raiga's commands, "COME LIGHTNING, GIVE ME A FUNERAL WORTH REMEMBERING."

A huge explosion followed the lightning hit on Raiga kicking up a huge dust cloud followed by loud rumbling noises, suppressing Ranmaru's anguished cry.

Guy, who had landed behind Ranmaru and besides the now unconscious Lee, looked on and waited for the dust to settle. When it did, however, it only proved Raiga's words. There was no sign of Raiga along with a huge chunk of earth, which probably was the cause of rumbling. Guy could only pick Ranmaru up and let him cry his sorrow.

It took longer to finish and certainly was more difficult than its rank suggested, but the mission was finally over. After Raiga's grand self-funeral, everyone returned to the curry shop. Neji and Lee had to be hauled there. Turns out there was a misshape when Karashi was preparing the pot of curry to be transported and a bottle of sake had fallen into the curry. Lee, who had basically inhaled most of the curry and was also a big lightweight when it came to alcohol, got immediately drunk which made him act as he did.

Neji's case, however, was more embarrassing. Tenten, after seeing that Guy-sensei didn't need her help, had gone ahead to find out what was taking Karashi so long to find Neji. When she found them, she tried to wake Neji up using the curry before Karashi could stop her and ended up knocking Neji out again.

When it was time to decide Ranmaru's fate, it was decided to leave him with Grandma Sanshou and Karashi. So now he was learning to make the signature curry of life.

"Come on! Let me hear you! You can't make the one and only curry of life unless you put your all into it. Now stir like you mean it." Karashi barked from beside Ranmaru, who was stirring the pot of curry.

Karashi's barking was stopped by a ladle to his head, courtesy of his mother, "It's about a hundred years too soon for you to be preaching about the family curry. You and this child are on equal ground. You are starting your training from the beginning."

Karashi complained but they fell on deaf ears.

"Sanshou-san," Guy started getting the three curry makers' attention, "We must get going now. Thank you for everything you've done for us. Especially the youthful curry."

Lee gave her, his and his sensei's signature thumbs-up, "I know you'll take good care of Ranmaru."

"He is in good hands. His training will be merciless but before you know it, he will be cooking the curry of life." Sanshou claimed.

"But hold on a sec," Sanshou stopped them before they could leave, "The Leaf Village is more than just a hop, skip and jump away you know. I whipped you a special batch that'll give ten thousand times the energy you'll need for the journey." She said while pointing at the table with her ladle, "Now have a seat and get some food in your belly."

Tenten and Neji wished they hadn't turned around because the curry that met them on the table was so red that it almost burned Neji's eyes. Bubbling like hot lava, Tenten couldn't help but comment, "Uhh! That's the reddest curry I've ever seen in my life."

On the other hand, Lee was already drooling over it like an 8-year old kid in a chocolate factory. However, it turned even weirder when their sensei followed suite.

In the end, Tenten and Neji respectfully and politely excused themselves from the curry while they had to watch Lee and their sensei gobble it down.

AN:

That's that end of Team Guy's mission. Next up is probably the most awaited one (Hopefully), the Wave Mission.

Now for people who are still sticking around for some reason and are reading the Author's Notes. I have decided to merge chapter 1, 2 into one chapter and 3,4and/or 5 into another. So for people who suddenly find that the chapter numbers are decreasing, that would be the reason. Chapter 1 and 2 are already merged and are ready to be updated. That would be done in 24 hours after this chapter goes live. The other three will follow right after.

Till then, Bye Bye.