Moonlit Field

Midnight of the Blade Clan was returning from a month long solo mission from the Land of Iron, a neutral country right above the Land of Snow. It was a simple convoy mission which involved aiding a retired samurai who was visiting Konoha to check up on his son who was successful merchant in the Land of Fire. The mission, however, turned quite tedious when some Homeless Shinobi, very powerful ones, plundered them. Midnight had a hard time dealing with them, but he was able to take the plunderers out and the target remained safe. The old man, being a samurai, wanted to repay Midnight and agreed to teach him a special technique he had developed in his old days serving the army. It was a simple chakra technique, or Ki as Samurai called it. It involved circulating the chakra rapidly throughout the body to strengthen it, have your cells absorb that chakra in excess carefully and then cultivate it. After the cultivation, you had to simply release the excess chakra with a burst and leaving the remaining chakra to continue to circulate the body. The main purpose of this technique was to simply act a boost that would push the body to the limits, but it had its risks and it would require the body to undergo a long cooldown. Midnight spent a few weeks with the old man to perfect the technique, but he refused to use it in battle unless he put his own unique twist to it. He, of course, thanked the retired Samurai and was heading back to Konoha. He was really exhausted and he was so ready to cash in on those vacation days he had put out in case of an emergency. With the Village Gates of Konoha in his sights, Midnight muttered softly with a smile, “I’m home”.

Hokage Tower

Midnight immediately made his way to the Hokage Tower to give a detailed report to Tsunade-sama. When he entered the Hokage Office, he was utterly confused at the extremely somber atmosphere in the room. His friends and squad, the Five Elements, was also present there with stressed out faces. Midnight became a bit anxious and said, “Hokage-sama, Midnight from the Blade Clan is reporting from mission no. 3857”, to his surprise, Tsunade’s face lit up almost instantly and she said excitedly, “O, Blade, we’ve been waiting for you….I have important news for you, I have assigned your squad an SS Rank mission that only you 5 can complete. There is absolutely no room for failure, since the pride and reputation of the Village Hidden in the Leaves is on the line”. A SS ranked mission?!! SS means this is a mission concerning the entire NATION, just what happened while I was gone?!, Midnight thought. “Um, Hokage-sama, did I hear correctly? SS rank? Just what exactly is going on? Please don’t tell me it involves the abduction of a Jinchuriki, assassination of Daimyo or maybe….Did something happen to Naruto?”. Suddenly a voice perked up from behind him, “Nothing happened to me, ‘ttebyo. It’s just another one of Baa-Chan’s antics that led to this”, Midnight relaxed and said, “Well, that settles one of my worries, also...Tsunade-sama did something again?” Tsunade shouted, “What do you mean “again” , you brat? It’s that Raikage’s fault for messing with Konoha, I’ll show that * what it means to challenge my Shinobi!”. Azure-chan, being the rational one, said, “Let’s calm down, Tsunade-sensei… you see, Midnight, the Raikage challenged Tsunade-sama in a drunken rampage. He wants to prove his Shinobi are better and more powerful, and unfortunately...Tsunade-sama not only accepted the challenge, she also bet the First Hokage’s legendary armor as a prize for the winning team”. Midnight finally understood the situation and the gravity of it, he exclaimed, “Nani!? She challenged Kumo to a war over a drunken bet? What is wrong with this * old hag” while pointing towards Tsunade, but he immediately regretted his words as he saw the Hokage’s face forming into her dangerously angry demeanor.

Midnight Blade was officially dead.

Tsunade softly whispered, “* old hag, you said? Now tell me... How do you want me to kill, you brat? By Ripping you a new one or crushing your spine in half? Choose...before I do”, she smiled innocently. Seeing the situation turning sour, Scarlet tried to change the subject by saying, “Well, it’s not like she declared war or anything, it’s something more simple actually”, Midnight realizing his chance to change the subject swiftly said, “Simple?”. Breeze replied cheerfully, “Yep, it’s just a simple Soccer match”, “And you’re the captain, Blade-kun! Don’t you dare disappoint me” Tsunade added. “Me! Why me? I don’t even play sports, it’s impossible… Please let Crimson be the captain, he can do so much better than me, can’t you now buff boy?” Crimson turned his face away and said, “Um, Nope.”. Tsunade said without emotion, “Oh you don’t have a choice, brat. You back off or lose the match and I’ll have you commit seppuku.”, Breeze added nervously, “I thought it was only taking our vacation days away?”, “I could but….I Refuse!” Tsunade huffed, “At least for gloomy boy here” she pointed at Midnight.

With nowhere to run, Midnight Blade accepted reality and pronounced himself dead.

At Midnight’s House

“You really drove yourself into a corner with this one, Midnight!”, Scarlet laughed.

“Don’t forget you’re in this with me, Trap-Chan”, Midnight rolled his eyes, “What am I supposed to do, I don’t even know how to play soccer”, Midnight slammed his head into his pillow. “Don’t worry Midnight…I’ll can help you out with the game, but you’ll need to come up a plan by yourself, Tsunade-sama ordered me so…” Crimson said enthusiastically, “Stop it, you traitor, I was supposed to come home and rest but I got stuck with this!” Midnight exclaimed. Breeze laughed, “The game is easy, didn’t you play the game in the Academy?” Midnight softly sighed, “No…” he said while remembering the old Academy days, when he was isolated for being an “outsider” and he didn’t have any friends to actually play together with during lunch, it was those days that made him realize the importance of friends. Midnight looked up from his pillow and looked his only friends, his best friends, his comrades, the people he would die for without batting an eye and the light that saved him. His friends. Midnight smiled and said, “Can’t do anything about it now, let’s just try our best and win. I don’t know about Kumo, but there’s no way the best Lightning master is going to lose some nobodies”. Everybody smiled in relieve, Breeze said, “Never mind that, the game isn’t something to worry about. What we really need to worry about is what we’re going to wear to the game. There’s no way I am going to wear something that was quarantined in the the 20th century. Hey ‘Zure chan! Let’s go shopping!!” Azure replied cheerfully, “Yeah, Let’s go...but Bree’chan… please don’t pick out something too provocative”, “You’ll be surprised!” Breeze retorted deviously. “Well, that’s all good and all, but did you read over the rules ‘Night?” Crimson asked. Midnight replied by shaking his head, “Well, the rules are pretty similar to traditional Ninpo Soccer, but apparently the limit is set to 3 jutsu per game. Also, sharp objects and weapons are forbidden. Also, it’s a knockout system, if you get hit by the ball you are automatically disqualified”. Midnight didn’t know how to feel about this...on one hand he was extremely relieved about his ability to use ninjutsu but most of his powerful techniques were Kenjutsu based, which was a huge handicap for him. Midnight shrugged his worries off and stated, “Got it. I bet I can come up with something, but for now let’s start practice Crimson, we don’t have time”. And therefore, they began preparing for the game. Midnight didn’t want to admit it but he was actually really happy to play a game with his friends for the first time, it was always something he was always envious of, but now he wanted to enjoy the feeling of being on the field with his squad and represent his nation.

Midnight Blade, for the first time in his life, was hyped for a game.

Night before the game

“It’s ready guys!!!” Azure and Breeze shouted in excitement while waving around five white shopping bags. A weak “What’s ready?” came from the exhausted boys who were training and practicing for the game tomorrow. “Our outfits for the game, they’re super special. They’re apparently embedded with chakra strings therefore they give extra defense and resistance to us. Tsunade-sama was extra generous this time wasn’t she!” said an enthusiastic Breeze. “She even let us pick out the design, so ta-da!” Azure happily exclaimed as she took out a pair of black shirt and shorts with Golden stripes on them. It was just like how Midnight would’ve liked it, he really liked the design. “It’s really nice”, Midnight replied, followed by a thumbs up from Crimson and Scarlet. “I wanted to make this special for you, since you’re the captain and all, so I made the outfits were your favorite colors: black and gold” Breeze said shyly. Midnight and the others smiled at this. Scarlet added, “Yeh, you deserve this, captain~! Look Breeze even made an extra effort for you, you better give it your all tomorrow~ ^^”,

“Ofcourse I will, trap-chan” Midnight said with a tint of red of his cheeks, “I told you to stop calling me that, Darkness my old friend” Scarlet whined. Everybody shared a heartfelt laugh after that.

A few hours later

Midnight couldn’t sleep. He was just way too excited and worried for tomorrow. He knew that the punishment set by Tsunade-sama was just a joke, but still, he was a little scared. Midnight made his way outside to his lawn to catch some fresh air. While gazing at the stars, he couldn’t help but think of what he had lost. As a fresh genin, after Midnight was exposed to the ugly world of Shinobi, he often questioned his loyalty to Konoha. He would always think after what was he fighting for, what did he have to protect, barely scavenging for any reasoning to love Konoha…

But he couldn’t. Due to the darkness and loneliness in his heart, the final survivor of the Blade Clan lost his way. Midnight wanted to escape this darkness, he wanted to run free from loyalty and live for himself. Even if being a rogue was his fate, he was willing to accept it. However, just before he was beyond redemption, he was saved by group of four people. People just like him, people who took him in and accepted him. Midnight was lost in his thoughts when he heard Breeze walk up to him from behind and sit down next to him. She asked, “can’t sleep?”. Blade nodded, “You must be excited for tomorrow”, The white haired boy nodded again. “So, What’s wrong ‘Night?” Midnight looked down and said softly, “I’m worried...I don’t want to fail as a Captain”, Breeze slowly leaned onto Midnights shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, we believe in you. You’ve been working really hard, we’ll win for sure. Even if we lose, we can look back to this day and still be proud” Midnight blushed and slowly looked at Breeze. She really was beautiful, in the soft moonlight, her flowing yellow locks and reflecting eyes...Breeze was the most beautiful girl Midnight had ever seen. Embarrassed, he looked away, and said, “Thanks a lot, Breeze. I mean it. Thank you. I promise I will never ever let you guys down”. Breeze smiled, “I know. Get some rest, ‘Night Night” she stood up and went back to her and Azure’s room. Midnight was left alone in his thoughts, with a red face, a t* heart and a calm mind.

Day of the Match

Today was the day and the squad was assembled with them facing against the opponent team, five Shinobi from Kumogakure. The opponent team consisted of Killer Bee, Darui, Samui, Omoi and Karui. All of them were at least Jonin level. With Bee being the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi.

“The Raikage didn’t hesitate in bringing out his best”, Scarlet said nervously. “Don’t worry about it guys, let’s just have fun, we’ll win this for sure” Midnight said. “Today we’re here to play the game for fame, it’s supposed to be 5v5 but it’s 6v5, Hachan and Yours truly is the true duo, Fool ya fool” Bee said in his usual way. Midnight smiled, “It’s nice to see you again Bee, I see you haven’t gave up on rapping yet”, he remarked. “Of course he hasn’t”, Karui declared. “Unfortunately”, Omoi added, “Why are we here again”, Darui followed and Samui finished with, “You guys need to be cool about this” calming Karui down. Shortly after, the Raikage entered the audience, anyone could see him glaring daggers at Tsunade and Tsunade being overly confident about the situation. Midnight sighed as the referees, Hatake Kakashi and Cee, stated the rules and the game began.

The Game Begins

The game began with Team Konoha getting the ball, and Team Kumo on the defense. Team Konoha had organized themselves as Crimson as the goalie, Breeze and Azure were the support and defending members of the team, and lastly, Midnight and Scarlet were handling the offensive.

“Our team’s alignment is really strong, and perfectly plays on to each members strengths”, Shikaku, Tsunade’s aid and advisor, contemplated loudly.

“Looks like they’re really serious about this… Remember this Raikage, the squad you see here is the best functioning squad in Konoha, when they’re working together, nothing can take them down” Tsunade said proudly. Ay just grunted loudly and responded, “let me see them take down my Shinobi, especially when they’re facing against Bee. Tsunade let me tell you this: Bee’s someone I myself trained and he can perfectly control his Bijuu, there is absolutely no chance for your naive brats”. Tsunade smiled, “How about we raise the bet then Raikage? If we win, you’ll have to buy me drinks for a whole year”. Ay grinned in response, “Accepted. However, if we win, I’ll have you do the same for me”. Thus, it was decided.

The referee signaled the game to began and Midnight swiftly handled the ball towards the opponent team. He marched a considerable distance when he was halted by Kumo’s sole defense, Omoi. Kumo had placed their members into the format of having 3 offensive players, 1 defense and 1 goalie. “Yo, Midnight. We’re in quite a pinch aren’t we? We both are sword users and yet we can’t use weapons. What are we gonna do…. With this handicap we won’t be of any use and our Kages will punish us” Omoi said with a shiver. “Useless, you said? You, maybe, but me? Not in your dreams!” He exclaimed as he shifted the ball to his right and passed Omoi swiftly. Suddenly he was pushed back by a brutal force, but he used his right leg to push the ball upwards as he fell back to avoid an unknown enemy attack. He immediately stood back up, gathered the ball back, only to see Omoi in front of him with a blue chakra blade. “Swordless sword style: Front slash”, Omoi chanted, “Same for me, Midnight. I won’t let you pass my defense!”. “Heh, using shadow clones huh?” Midnight grunted, as Omoi used to cross hand seal to bring out 5 more clones to surround him. Midnight realizing his predicament, passed the ball to Scarlet who was lagging a few feet behind him. Scarlet received the ball, but was immediately countered by Darui who was already weaving hand seals for a powerful Jutsu. “Like I’ll let you! Water Style: Water Wall” , Darui said as a huge wave of water crashed upon Scarlet. Scarlet shirked upon contact and Darui *ed the flying ball. “Hmph”, he said. As he made his way towards the goal, suddenly the ball disappeared. Surprise everyone turned their heads back to see Scarlet rearing for the goal with the ball. “Hehehe, Genjutsu: Mirroring Vision”. “Go, Scarlet!”, cheered Tsunade. Suddenly a spark of lightning swiped past Scarlet, with a blunt hint of brown. Instantly, Scarlet fell on the ground, with the ball nowhere near him. “Yo!”, a white clothed figure covered with brown tentacles shouted. Immediately everyone realized what had happened. Bee had *ed the ball away and Scarlet was out of the game. Bee said with a cold glare at the surprised players, “Brother said if I didn’t take this seriously I’ll be banned from performing my raps for the next year. I cannot afford that to happen, Fool ya fool”. The referees, Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan and Cee of the Cloud, declared with a shared nod, “Scarlet of the Blaze Clan is disqualified for being hit by the prime target”. After a pause, Kakashi spoke up once more with a hint of nervousness in his voice, “In order to clarify the rules, using Bijuu forms does count as Ninjutsu, thus Killer Bee has used 2 out of 3 of his chances”.

“Oh…..no…” Bee said nervously and turned back to see a furious Ay. “Bee, you idiot. The ace isn’t supposed to use 2 of his chance instantly!”. “Sorry Brother…..It will only take one more chance to take them out” Bee said with a cold, confident tone. For Midnight, this was a tough situation. Bee was just way too powerful, and they had lost one of their offensive players. Bee was rushing with the ball and he was heading towards Team Konoha’s defense. Azure was on guard, running through Breeze’s defense layout once more. “I need to stop Bee-san’s movements right now!”, Azure thought frantically as she saw Bee rushing towards her. Honestly, Azure was quite happy that she was facing Bee right now, she could extract revenge for her dear Scarlet. She ran through the hand seals, puffed her chest and let out a huge purple fog that continued to spread the field, “Poison Mist!”, she cried. This sent a huge shock towards the enemy team, this was really bad. Darui said, “The mist will obstruct our vision and if we get too close it will knock us out, stay away... Bee, Karui!”. “But won’t they be affected too? Bee can make it!”, Karui responded as she jumped back from the approaching fog. “Most likely not. They are a team, they must already have an immunity to the poison”, Darui speculated. Bee withdrew a bit, and for a while he blankly stared at the fog. Suddenly he smiled, and began rushing towards the fog once again. Midnight knew what that meant, he screamed into the fog, “Watch out Azure!”. But there was no reply except a loud thud on the field wall with a bloody Azure grasping on to her abdomen in pain. Bee had gotten to her! “Azure!”, Team Konoha exclaimed with worry. Consequently there was an referee announcement, Azure of the Fang Clan was disqualified from the match. The remaining members were angry...this was no longer a match to see who was better, no...no...this meant war.

The Lightning had ignited flames within the leaves.

Breeze was furious, she was having no longer of this, her best friend had gotten hurt. Breeze bought her hands together and a huge ball of Blue appeared among them. She rushed towards Bee in amazing speeds and destroyed the ground in front of his feet. “Giant Rasengan!”, she shouted. A huge cloud of dust and debris flew off. Bee was pushed away from the recoil pressure. Breeze had the ball now. She immediately contracted back and with a determined glare said, “This ends now! Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!”. Hundreds of copies of Breeze appeared onto the field, all having a copy of their own ball. “Ora!!!!!” She cried as hundreds and hundreds of * were kicked towards the Kumo Team. Omoi, Karui and Darui were violently hit by them successfully. Samui, surprised said, “This is clearly against the rules! Fake copies of the ball don't count towards disqualification”. Kakashi said with a smile, “if only that was the case… my sharingan saw it, Breeze circulated the ball among her clones, therefore all three of them were hit by the ball at least once. Omoi, Karui, and Darui of the Lightning are all disqualified”. Midnight smiled proudly, “Breeze....”. But he turned around to see a exhausted breeze on the ground gasping for breath with the original barely within her feet. “Here Midnight!” She cried as she kicked the ball towards Midnight. Midnight received it and said, “I’ll definitely win this!” Only to be alarmed by another referee announcement. But he knew what it meant, we only charged forward with a determined demeanor. “Cover me, bronze boy”, he said, asking Crimson to protect him from Bee. The goalie was a special player in Ninja Football as the disqualification rule did not apply to him. However, the goalie could still be disqualified if he was physically hit by the opponent team. Therefore, Crimson, who was great at defensive skills was perfect for the job. But now the tables had turned Bee was going to disqualify the goalie next. However, Bee was just standing there. Quietly, but Midnight knew he was quite displeased at the fact his teammates had been disqualified. He said, “Samui, retreat. I’m ending this game right now…..”. Samui nodded and drew back off the field. Showing that she was no longer in the game. Midnight and Crimson were shocked, confused and utterly terrified right now.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”, Bee shouted as he transformed into a brown being growing in size to become a giant Octopus. Bee had transformed into his perfect Bijuu Mode. Midnight looked up and just said exhaustively, “Yare yare daze...can this game turn even more ridiculous?”. Bee punched his humongous tentacles towards Crimson and Midnight. Crimson exclaimed, “Earth Style: Great Earth Wall” as he shielded them with a huge block of mud rising from the ground. “I can restrain him for a while, Midnight hurry up and goal. Wood Style: Universe!”. Suddenly vines of solid wood started wrapping around Bee. “Don’t underestimate me! Fool ya fool”. Bee started moving in a twister and blew all of the vines away. With that twister Crimson was also hit by Bees tentacle and was disqualified. “Everything’s up to you now, Midnight!”, Crimson stated in pain as he was teleported out of the field. “Thanks Crimson, Thanks everyone. I’ll be sure to win. I have enough chakra now!Lightning Style: Ultimate Lightning Armor”, he whispered as a blue aura enshrouded him. A deep lightning blue with crackling sounds of flowing electric chakra. “It’s over now, Bee. You can’t catch up to me now.”, he said before instantly disappearing. There was a heavy silence, until there was a slight sound of the ball hitting the goal net and Midnight with his blue chakra cloak standing before it. The referee called out the goal, and Bee, with everyone else, was left in surprise . “What happened?!” He exclaimed as he turned back to his humanoid form. “The Jutsu you saw just now was something a humble samurai taught me, but I added my lightning chakra to it. It’s a lot like the Raikage’s Jutsu but it’s a bit different”. After the shock settled everyone in The Five Elements rushed towards Midnight with a victory cry. They had won.

For the first time in his life, Midnight Blade had won a game with his friends.

THE END