AN: finally got this one done! Sure took me awhile. It's odd, but did you notice that in predator movies and AVPR, the plasmacaster made a distinct "whip-crack" sound while in AVP, it sounded more like "Wah-thoom"? Anyways enjoy! And please review, the more reviews I get the more motivated I am to write this!

AN2: I've made some changes after receiving a bit of a flame, so I'm only going to say this once: Positive, thoughtful reviews encourage me to continue the story and work on the next update. Obscene, threatening, and insulting messages (in my option, anonymous flames) form readers angry at me because I don't update faster or have a level of quality that they want or plain just don't like the story will have the opposite effect. When you are paying my salary, you have the right to impose deadlines and levels of work quality… and since I do this entirely not-for-profit-or-pay; well, I'll just let you fill in the blanks. I am as of right now starting to write ch 3, so please be patient. And thank you to those of you who gave thoughtful reviews.

Honored Predator

Chapter 2: Ninja vs. Predator! Part 1: Invisible Demon

His target has here, unaware the one it was watching was aware of its presence. It was close, but not close enough. 'Just a little closer, just a little closer…THERE!' Quickly his hand shot out and grabbed the nearest heavy object, a silver leaf style paperweight, and hurled it at the intruder. The impromptu projectile flew straight and true, striking its throwers intended target with a loud 'BONG!' A 'Gah!' was heard a moment later as the target lost his footing, unceremoniously landing on his ass, subsequently dispelling the transparency jutsu he was using to conceal his movements. When the jutsu dropped, it reveled non-other than Sarutobi, the Sandaime, or third, lord Hokage sitting flat on his ass, decked out in his full battle outfit; the forehead protector on his helmet sporting a new dent courtesy of the thrown paper weight. Sarutobi just sat there, with a stunned expression on his face, as his brain tried to catch up with what had happened. Slowly, his look of shock morph into a humorous smile, and before long, he erupted into a full blown belly shaking laughter.

Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime, forth Hokage, couldn't help but give a long, exasperated sigh. Of all the times Sarutobi chose to drop in, why now? He had just finished up, and was about to go home and spent some well deserved alone time with his sweet and beautiful Kushina-chan, and most possibly in a way that only a husband and wife should do. Kushina had made it very clear that he absolutely had to be in bed tonight so they could start their little 'nocturnal workout.' Minato felt a cold shiver run down his spine, what Kushina wanted that had to do with 'bedtime activities,' she always got. Unless there was a raving mad man slicing a path of carnage through downtown Konoha, he doubted she be able to forgive him for being late. As Sarutobi finally started to calm down, Minato decided to deal with the 'monkey man' before his problem turned from a curious ex-hokage into a pissed off wife, but the Sandaime beat him to it.

"Hahaha, trust you to be the one to out do another Hokage in the game of stealth, Minato!"

"Sarutobi, despite the fact that you trained my sensei, you seem to forget the fact that when Hiashi, Kanami, and I wanted to train, nine times out of ten we had to drag that perv away from the hot springs and from peeking in on the ladies. Most of the time he was using that Tōton no Jutsu(1) of his, so we had to learn to detect him quickly, and efficiently, in order to have the greatest possible training time, and that means without Hiashi using his Byakugan." At this point Sarutobi broke out in to another fit of laughter. Minato waited once again for Sarutobi to calm down again.

"Sarutobi, what do you want? Can it wait until tomorrow? I just got done with all the paperwork and Kushina really wants me home tonight, you remember what happened last time I wasn't home in time, don't you?" Sarutobi's laughter stopped abruptly as his expression turned into that of absolute fear as he gave a full body shiver, besides paperwork, the Hokages greatest enemy was none other than their own wives, his included. As he pulled him self off the ground, Sarutobi took note of something that seemed off. 'Wait a second, he said he was done with the paperwork, but his desk says otherwise. Is he just trying to get rid of me?'

"Oh really, Minato-kun, is that a fact? I'd say by the sheer volume of papers on your desk here that you were far from done."

The shit-eating grin that had graced Sarutobi's features immediately drop when he saw Minato put his feet up on the desk, lean back, put his hands behind his head, and grin. It wasn't his 'oh you are so busted' grin or his infamous 'I'm going to play a trick on you' grin, it was Minato's secret weapon against any kunoichi, or any female for that matter, and it was also the grin he wore when he was particularly mischievious. It was his patented lady killer grin, the one that with one flash could cause half the population of Konoha to swoon (the female half that is). Seeing that Sarutobi had started to look a bit scared for his well being, Minato decided to end the suspense that was hanging in the air. Taking his hands out from behind his head and forming the 'ram' hand sign he muttered a simple "Kai (2)" which caused his desktop to explode into a large cloud of smoke. A few moments later, after the smoke had cleared, Minato exploded into laughter at the sight of old Sarutobi's face. The old Hokages mouth was hanging open, giving a very good imitation of a fish out of water. Why you may ask? Because the desk of Minato (and every other Hokage to date) was completely free of paperwork, if there was any paperwork left on the desk it was all in the out box, waiting for the secretary to remove it. The desk was so clear that not only did it now really look like a desk for once, but the mahogany that was jutsu grown, cut, polished, and put together by the first lord hokage himself was visible.

"In all my years, I have never… How did… but… impossible…"

"(Snicker) I bet you're just dieing to know how to defeat that (snort…Hehehe) invincible enemy known as paperwork, don't cha', Sarutobi?"

Sarutobi could only nod his head vigorously, in all his years he had never been able to truly defeat the paperwork nightmare to the degree that Minato had demonstrated. Too bad Minato decided that the old Hokage wasn't done suffering yet.

"Sorry Sarutobi can't say, trade secret!" Minato replied as he once again exploded into side-holding laughter. It was around this time that the Sandaime thought that wringing the neck of a certain laughing blond sounded like a very good idea. Both hokages, young and old, though, had to stop what they were doing (that being laughing his ass off and the plotting the murder of the other respectively) when a rather haggard looking chunin burst through the doors.

"Hokage-sama!...West wall…dead!...phantom…Uchiha district…murdered…town square..." with that the poor haggard chunin collapsed onto his hands and knees. In an instant Minato was at the young ninja's side, helping him get into a sitting position.

"Wow-wow-wow, slow down there, take a deep breath and tell me what happened from the beginning."

As the young Chunin took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Minato noticed the state of his vest. The once pristine green flak jacket that was awarded to ninja who achieved the rank of Chunin was no longer pristine. Two massive slash marks ran parallel to each other from the nin's left shoulder to right hip. Whatever had made those marks had been designed more for ripping and tearing than cutting as it had only damaged the surface layers of the jacket. His thoughts abruptly stopped as the Chunin began to speak.

"We were assigned to patrol the west wall, me, Hana Hyuuga, and two others. We had just turned around when, something happened."

"Describe what you mean by something" Minato said as his mind raced. 'Hana Hyuuga? That's Hiashi's wife! Dear Kami, if something bad happened to her Hiashi would never let me let me forget about it.'

"They just died. I had just turned around and started to walk back when the guy leading the group was just lifted about a foot into the air with two talon-like blades sticking out of his back. I couldn't see the blades themselves, it was like they were invisible, but I could see the blood coating them and their general shape before they were pulled out and the body was tossed on to a nearby roof. Then the dead guys partner goes flying off in the other direction with his neck bending at a very unnatural angle, he was dead before he hit the trees. What ever attacked them came out of no-where, we couldn't even see it. The next thing I know Hana's yelling at me to 'look out' as she dodged to the left, I jumped back it time just to get these." He recounted, fingering the two massive slash marks on his vest, letting a cold shiver rundown his spine. "That's when I saw it sir, what ever it was, it was huge, easily a good foot or so taller than me, If I had to guess it was seven feet tall at the most. I couldn't see its body sir, just the out line and the blood on its blades, it was like a chameleon or a shinobi using Ninpou: Meisai Gakure no Jutsu (3), but it was much more effective."

"What do you me it was much more effective?" Sarutobi asked, for in his mind when it came down to concealing one's self, there was no jutsu more effective than Meisai Gakure no Jutsu, unless of course you had to move while staying hidden, in which case it was Jiraiya's Tōton no Jutsu that was the best.

"Whatever it was using, sir, Hana could barely see it, and that was with her Byakugan active. When it stopped moving Hana muttered the word 'phantom' and I saw it's eyes flash red for a moment before it leapt off the wall and into the Uchiha district. The next thing I know Hana's chasing after it yelling at me to find Kakashi. I was about half-way to the ANBU headquarters when I ran into him; apparently that thing wasn't done killing people and raised the alarm when it killed an Uchiha in front of his buddy. Kakashi-sama told me to head here and tell you that he was going to try and drive what ever it was into the town square where most of the Jonin are waiting for an ambush."

As the poor Chunin collapsed for the last time that day, both Sarutobi and Minato's eyes met. In that moment, they shared a single thought, 'What ever that thing is, it needs to be stopped.'

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!!"

Rei'dak sighed as he leaned back, watching the green clad Jonin with massive eyebrows and an absolutely horrendous hair cut go flying past him and crash into a fruit stand, sending the produce flying every which way, and crushing a good deal of it as well. What was it, the third time he's tried that? 'No,' Rei'dak thought, 'it is the FOURTH time that shinobi tried that, the first time he missed me he went through a window, the second time he yelled "Dynamic Action" before landing in one of the canals. The third time? Yes, I remember, when he missed he hit his grey-haired, dog-mask-wearing ally in the face. I will give him points for persistence.' Pulling himself back into an up right position, he noticed two more shinobi running straight at him. Well, not straight at him, more like in his general vicinity. Had they been regular humans, that might be forgiven, but these shinobi were supposed to be better, much better than normal humans. So far he had been only experiencing disappointment, only when he came across the odd looking ones did they fulfill his expectations. The first was the female on the wall with the white eyes, the trick to beating her would be to simply keep moving, as she seemed to be only barley able to see him as he moved, but could spot him pretty easily when he stood still. Fortunately for her he had lost interest when he came across the shinobi with color changing eyes. At first their eyes appeared black, but when enraged, their eyes would turn red with one, two, or three odd marking surrounding their pupil. Beating them used the opposite strategy than for the white eyed ones as these shinobi's eyes seemed more geared towards detecting motion.

The flash of a drawn weapon drew Rei'dak from his musings. Dropping to one knee and leaning forward until his back was nearly parallel with the ground, he whipped out his staff, extending it to full length as well as extending the blades. Twirling it over his back, taking extra care not to whack or cut his plasma caster (or its power unit for that manner), he quickly knocked the two armature shinobi aside with minimal fuss, they weren't hurt, just a bit stunned by the speed and precision of his blows. They would be up and about again in a few minuets, but by then he would be out of their sight. Collapsing and slotting his staff back onto his belt, he continued down the street, the buildings around him burning, the fire casting harsh light and dark shadows. The red-eyed shinobi, what were they called again, Uchiha? Yes, that's right, Uchiha, were a little too liberal with their fire breathing ability, causing the collateral damage. Even an experienced shinobi would be hard-pressed to locate Rei'dak as he made his way around a corner into an open street. The smoke and wavering light from the fires combined with the fact that it was early in the night made seeing Rei'dak next to impossible, add in the fact that he was moving under cloak made him nothing more than a phantoms shadow. At least he learned about the shinobi ranks, and how to tell them apart from his observations. The Genin were the lowest rank, similar to the unblooded youngsters of the clan, and were marked with a simple metal plate decorated with a stylistic leaf symbol placed somewhere on their body, usually the forehead. The next rank was the Chunin, like the Young Blood class, they were a little more experienced and their appearance included a green flack-jacket, the rank after that was Jonin, once again like the Blooded class, they were identical in appearance to the Chunin, the only difference being that they were much more experienced and stronger. The ANBU came after the Jonin, and they all looked the same. Black pants and sleeve-less shirt, shin and forearm protectors, a grey armor vest, and a mask painted in a unique way to each warrior. He loved Anbu; they were the most challenging to hunt, for they were not only swift and powerful, but smart. And if his observations were correct, then there was a rank above Anbu, the Kage, his skull would no doubt make a fine trophy!

A cry of "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"(4) broke Rei'dak from his musings, prompting him to roll forward to avoid the large fire ball cast by an inexperienced Uchiha. It caused Rei'dak to take note of something that he hadn't before; all the shinobi's special abilities required them to use "hand-signs" to activate. His musings were cut short yet again as he suddenly found himself unable to move. Looking about he spotted a scraggly looking man with a goatee and high pineapple like ponytail, the odd thing about this guy wasn't his appearance; rather that his shadow was too long, and it seemed darker, and to top it all off it was touching his own. Shikaku Nara just gave his newfound captive a grin.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu (5), success! Alright, Chouza, Grab him! Inoichi, once Chouza's got a grip on our slippery little friend, disrupt his control. Hiashi will perform the takedown." Shikaku was extremely thankful that the Ino-Shika-Chou trio had run into Kakashi, as the ANBU captain had assigned them the Hyuuga clan head to help them locate the invisible fiend. Shikaku hoped that their little group would be enough to stop this thing before Kakashi had to pull out the bigger guns. The plan was simple, yet effective, using an Uchiha Chunin and Hiashi, the two would pinpoint the monster. Once found, the Uchiha would heard him close to the group using fire jutsu, occasionally pointing him out when the monster moved, while Hiashi would locate him when he tried to stand still. Once the monster was close enough, he would trap him with his Kage Mane no Jutsu while Chouza would immobilize the targets limbs, then Inoichi would disrupt the monsters control of his body with his Shinranshin no Jutsu (6), once fully disabled and held completely still, Hiashi would perform the take down using his clan's 'gentle fist' or Jyuuken to the heart to hopefully end the threat once and for all.

With a shout of "Bubun Baika no Jutsu(7)" Chouza increased the size of his arms and wrapped them around the invisible hunter's arms and legs, leaving his chest exposed for Hiashi's take-down strike. But before Inoichi could form the hand seals for his Shinranshin no Jutsu their target barked out a "Ell-osed' pauk!(8)" before a shimmering sphere of bluish white plasma-based energy was sent in Shikaku's way with a loud 'Wah-Thoom!' Hiashi and Shikaku did what came naturally to any shinobi, and that was to dodge. This did have the unfortunate side affect of canceling the Kage Mane no Jutsu and leaving poor Chouza to the fury of the hunter's fists.

On the building behind their quarry, Kakashi scowled. He had been so sure that the Ino-Shika-Chou could take that monster down! All the reports had indicated that the creature exclusively utilized melee combat but now that it had shown ranged attack abilities, it looked like he had no other choice but to cause some massive damage with 'Plan B.' He wouldn't let the Jonin and Chunin just swarm him like last time. Some how, about seven or so newly promoted Jonin and chunin got it in their heads that the intruder was an Iwa nin out for revenge and that this was their chance for glory. When the two Uchiha of the group had spotted the warrior, they spammed their fire jutsus, and all hell broke loose. Even without the invisibility jutsu that the monster used (at least he assumed it was a jutsu) it was well trained in the art of stealth. The creature used the smoke to cover its approach then attacked with ruthless abandon. One of the Uchiha had caught the monster's movement in time to prevent his head from being removed from his shoulders, but not to completely dodge the attack. The monsters blades had ran across the Uchiha's face, cutting across his eyes (and taking out a good portion of his nose as well), the poor man would have never been able to see again, had his attacker not followed through with numerous blade and staff weapon based attacks. The others didn't fair any better, arms hacked off, one man's skull crushed, and numerous other wounds ranging from impalement to slicing gashes; it was a wonder that two of the seven managed to survive. Signaling Fugaku on the other side of the street to make ready, the shinobi positioned along the buildings lining the street all prepared to fire off a massive volley of Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (9) to herd the monster into an evacuated building where five Uchiha with full chakra capacities would each fire off a double charged Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (10) along wires attached to the walls and roof of the building. The resulting impact from the Jutsu would not only set the building ablaze, but collapse the building on top of the invisible warrior. Once the building collapsed, Kakashi himself would launch a Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (11) to put out the fire and to hopefully crush the monster if it survived.

As his Sharingan detected movement in the street below and he determined that the now black and blue Chouza was far enough away, he gave the signal, tapping the nearest ninja on the shoulder to give them permission to release their jutsu. As he did so he started to run along the building tops, taping the shinobi as he went, with Fugaku mirroring him on the other side of the building. A quick glance back to the street proved that the plan was working, while he couldn't see the invisible killer, he detect the monsters movement and could see that their target was heading towards the building to take cover. Just as planed, the target smashed its way through the front doors of the building, which was all the five Uchiha needed to fire off their jutsu. A chorus of five "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!!" were heard before the five powerful fire jutsu slammed into the buildings walls and roof, the resulting explosion was enough to partially collapse the building, not to mention knock a few shinobi who had wandered too close off their feet. When the roof collapsed, Kakashi jumped off the build top down to the canal that the currently burning building sat adjacent to. Flashing through the thirty-two hand signs as quickly as possible without making a mistake, Kakashi watched as the canal water started to churn, until he formed the final hand sign. With a cry of "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" that seemed to echo through-out the village, the waters of the canal were suddenly launched skyward in the form of large sinuous dragon with yellow glowing eyes. With a triumphant roar, the dragon made a sharp turn downwards and plummeted straight into the burning building. The tremendous mass of chakra powered water put out the fire and caused the now unstable structure to fully collapse. Kakashi let his hands fall to his side, at the last moment he decided to over charge the water dragon, this had the effect of not only completely smashing the building, but exhausting Kakashi in exchange.

Making his way over to the group standing by the covered foot bridge (while pulling his forehead protector down to cover his Sharingan), Kakashi saw Hiashi and Fugaku, who were scanning the debris with their respective doujutsus, a young chunin named Hayate Gekko, Might Guy, who apparently forgot to clean himself up due to the fact that he was wearing half a watermelon over his 'stylish' bowl cut, Kanami, the Weapons mistress (and his sensei's team mate), and finally, Rin, who was currently healing those who had minor injuries. He was pulled from his observations by the loud, boisterous voice of local taijutsu manic.

"YOSH! IT APPEARS THAT THE INVISIBLE DEMON IS FINALLY DEFEATED BY THE SPRINGTIME OF OUR YOUTH, RIGHT MY ETERNAL RIVAL?!" Kakashi was now leaning at a forty-five degree angle, thanks in part to Guy for yelling when he was only three inches away. Kakashi decided to answer Guy in his usual, long, drawn-out method.

"Hmm, you say something Guy?" This of course caused Guy to go off on a rant about 'rivals' and 'hip attitudes,' which left Kakashi to go talk with the clan heads.

"Hiashi, Fugaku" he said, nodding to each one in turn, "any news on the target?"

"Not that I can see, then again, the Sharingan can't see through things like the Byakugan can so I really can't say for certain that the killer's dead," Fugaku shook his head, letting his Sharingan fade. Chen Uchiha was the one who had been killed in front of everybody, himself, and his son Itachi included. The memory of the two claw like blades bursting out of Chen's chest was hard to shake. Hiashi, who was still scanning the wreckage, suddenly froze as the blood drained from his face.

"Don't count that monster out just yet Fugaku, I think this was just round one." As he spoke, a low rumble was heard from the debris pile, before the very top of the pile exploded outward as a large ball of plasma was sent skywards.

To say that Rei'dak was pissed was an understatement, he was furious. Not at the Shinobi, no that last attack had completely redeemed them. No, the one he was furious at was himself. A hunter had to keep constant vigilance, be completely aware of his surroundings so as to not be outsmarted by his prey, and here he had fallen right into a trap! When he had placed under the restraining technique that the scar-faced human had on him, he had panicked for a moment, until he realized that he could still move his head some-what and, more importantly, work the chin controls of his mask so that he could activate and fire his plasma-caster. Once the technique had been lifted, instead of falling back and observing his prey like a good hunter should, he instead let his anger and frustration get ahold of him and took it out on the fat red-haired shinobi with the body-altering techniques. But the falling into a trap and letting his emotions take ahold of him were nothing compared to his second and near fatal mistake, overcharging his plasma caster.

The Talon clan was known for many unique pieces of equipment, whether it be the massive arm blades, the arm-computer mounted net launcher, or the extra long wristblades, the equipment was not only unique but effective. And the most effective and unique of their equipment was their plasmacasters, mounts and generators. The Talon clans' extra-large caliber plasmacaster, heavily armored three pieced caster aiming/arm mount, and fusion-cell power pack combined made even the Dark Blade clans' 'shockwave' type plasma caster look like a unblood's practice gun. The caster's extra large size lend to its superior accuracy, shot speed, and firepower; with one blast being enough to punch a hole in a Man'daca clan ship's hull. The heavily armored generator and arm/aiming unit offered not only the greatest firing arc, but the greatest protection of the most delicate of the hunters arsenal. In fact, the only way to truly disable a Talon caster and generator was to literally rip it off the hunter. This led to its flaw, despite the protection it offered, the armor prevented the caster from successfully being overcharge and fired, which is what he did. Making his way down the pile of rubble, he punched out the command on his gauntlet to deactivate the cannon while knocking pieces of debris out of his way.

As the cannon whirred back into its rest position, he heard a hiss as his now wet dreadlocks brushed up against it, which also caused his cloaking field to spark and sputter. He thanked what ever gods were watching over him that the caster didn't explode; otherwise he would be a head shorter, and it would be a couple of minuets before the caster had cooled enough to fire again. While he was at it, he also thanked the gods for him not getting crushed when that building collapsed. The moment he blew through the doors into the empty building he realized that it was a deathtrap, and when he heard the shinobi announce their jutsus his instincts took hold. He had taken shelter in a doorway set into an interior wall, the most structurally sound place to be in a building during an earthquake (or jutsu attack). He had breathed a sigh of relief when the fire jutsus died down only to have the house fully collapse on him when the water jutsu hit, it was fortunate that the majority of the wood had been greatly weakened when the fire jutsu hit otherwise he would have been crushed. That didn't mean he got out unscathed, while his armor protected his vitals and he received no mortal wounds, his lower back and legs still got cut up pretty bad. Making his way toward the small group of shinobi, he came to a decision. If these Shinobi wanted a fight, he would give them one. By successfully springing a trap on him and with near deadly force, they had proven themselves worthy. He would fight them without his cloak, and he would honor them with battle. Tapping out a sequence on his gauntlet, he disabled his cloak and prepared to battle.

Ready? Fight!

1 Tōton no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Transparency Escape technique: the jutsu used by J when he was a young ninja to do his 'research'

2 Kai – Japanese/jutsu – release: commonly used to dispel a Genjutsu or henge

3 Ninpou: Meisai Gakure no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Ninja art: camouflage concealment technique

4 Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Fire Release/style/element: Great Fireball Technique: after performing the needed hand signs, the user exhales a large fireball from their mouth, to be able to perform this jutsu is considered a right of passage by the Uchiha

5 Kage Mane no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique: jutsu used by Nara clan to immobilize opponents

6 Shinranshin no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Mind Derangement Technique: technique used by the Yamanaka clan to make allies fight among themselves

7 Bubun Baika no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Partial Multi-Size Technique: Grappling technique used by the Akimichi clan

8 Ell-osed' pauk – Predator language – a curse, literally "Fuck you"

9 Katon: Housenka no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique: technique that fires off a large number of small fireballs, meant more for distraction than actual attack

10 Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

11 Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu – Japanese/jutsu – Water Release: Water Dragon technique