For as long as time has been recorded the existence of mankind has been a difficult one, filled with stories of power, greed, love and hatred, and the world of the Shinobi was no different.
Dating back to before the time of the Warring States Period, the Shinobi World had long been plagued with conflict that swept across all the land and resulted in the rise and fall of nations, clans and their people, leading to a world where few grew old, and even fewer without shame.
It was not until a few brave clans sought an end to the violence that the first real semblance of peace formed. What started as the first Shinobi village, Konohagakure, located in the Land of Fire, became a bright beacon for all those in the dark, and from it came the other great shinobi villages of the world.
During this time ancient rivalries across the world were put aside in the hope that with cooperation and unity would come prosperity and growth, and that from the ashes of the old world would come a brighter future for all.
But even with the hope of peace fresh after only a short sixteen years, war once again returned to the world in the form of the First Shinobi World War; an even that would display the power of unified shinobi nations for the first time, as well as the horrid realities of war that followed in this new era.
Ending in an armistice, the events of the First Shinobi World War would set the stage for thirty five more years of war hashed out over the course of both the second and third shinobi world wars, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands shinobi and civilians alike until the signing of an armistice and led the world into what would become yet another uneasy peace.
This peace, although uneasy at first, became rather long standing. Wars were fought, albeit as almost entirely local border disputes and proxy wars through the lesser shinobi villages, but as a whole the shinobi world remained stagnant; unable to move forward due to past difference and unwilling to go back to war.
But now, sixteen years after the end of the third war that had so relentlessly decimated their world, the nations of the world sit on the edge of war once again as an atmosphere of distrust and uneasy peace grows amidst the actions of a mysterious terrorist group known only as the Akatsuki.
With the recent Akatsuki attack on Sunagakure and the knowledge that rogue Iwagakure ninja Deidara had not only joined the terrorist organization but had taken part in the assault as well, Onoki, the Kage of Iwa, calls for Deidara's immediate capture and return to face justice, and in places the task in the hands of Deidara's only surviving cosin, Akito Himaku.
Having been searching for Deidara for the greater part of four years in his own time, the last member of Iwagakure's Explosive Corps accepted the task from his mentor and effectively adoptive grandfather, though it did not come without an immense burden; Deidara was responsible for the death of the Kazekage, and now more than ever he needed to be brought back home.
Setting out immediately to the last known location of his cousin generously provided by Konoha agents, it didn't take long for Akito to pick up on his rogue cousin's trail, and within a week and a half the two were standing face to face; something that they had not done in nearly six years.
Standing in the middle of the road in a small outpost town deep in the heart of the Land of Grass, the two stared at one another in disbelief as several travellers move around the frozen men.
"I don't believe it." Deidara said aloud with a small grin from beneath the brown, featureless cloak he wore to assist him in lying low, watching as the man before him stood still; his cold, determined eyes remaining locked to him beneath the long brown hair that partially covered his face as the Iwa forehead protector tied loosely around his neck gleamed in the sun.
Over the past week or so he had encountered several bounty hunters looking to claim the large sum placed on his head, including several from Iwagakure, but none of them bore the striped markings of their clan on the sleeves and pants of their clothing, nor did they wear the flak jackets specifically designed for them.
"Akito?" He question regardless of his suspicion as he tried to provoke his kin to say something, to which Akito only tightened his fists and clenched his teeth.
"What have you done?" The boy growled through his teeth angrily as his cousin scoffed.
"Oh, you are here to talk business. And here I was thinking this was going to be some grand family reunion, hmm?" Deidara replied with a hint of sarcasm laced jest, though once again Akito did not react as he had hoped.
"That time has passed. I searched for you for four years, Deidara. Four… fucking years. All with the hope of convincing you to come back home." Akito began, clenching his fists tighter as he went on.
"But now you've done something… horrid. You attacked Sunagakure, almost killed the Kazekage and risked dragging Iwagakure into a war. What is wrong with you, what were you thinking?!" He scolded, taking a step towards Deidara in anger while the Akatsuki member narrowed his visible eye on him before scoping out those around him, all of whom now watched on and began to distance themselves.
Listening intently while analyzing the situation developing at hand, Deidara grinned. "Well, you know, there is the matter of me being a missing-nin after all. Did you expect me to behave?" He questioned, centering his focus back to his cousin as the ninja drew a weapon from his kunai pouch and darted forward, locking blades with his old sparring opponent for the first time since they were children.
"Is this some sort of joke to you?! Don't you get it?! Missing ninja or not you still bear the mark of our village." Akito scolded as he reached out to strike Deidara's face, only to miss and in turn be forced to dodge one of the Akatsuki's own swings while sliding backwards and attacking again. "I've always known you were selfish, but this has gone to far! You've put Iwa a risk; everything and everyone you've ever cared for, and you are coming back with me to face your fate, right now!"
Exchanging swipes and parries back and forth amongst the now scattering crowd Deidara once again laughed under his breath. "Are you asking me if I care? If so, I don't. That place never cared about me, so why should I care about it?" He questioned as he grabbed Akito's foot as approached his face, causing him to grunt in pain at the strain placed on his newly reattached arms.
Hearing this, Akito kicked off of his foe's hand and immediately attempted to grab Deidara's arm to attempt to subdue him, though the man withdrew his extremities away from him as quickly as he could to avoid Akito's snare.
"Quite frankly I'm surprised you haven't run off yet ethier. Surely you have to be tired of being the villages pawn." Deidara snapped as he attempted to punch Akito in the stomach, only to be elbowed in the face as the boy parried, irritating him greatly.
By now the street around them had cleared and those who walked it had either fled from the waystation or into the nearest building to watch the two as they continued to engage one another in a fierce bout taijutsu. "Iwa's pawn? Your nothing but a coward… you betrayed your home, Deidara. Your family!" Akito responded in a harsh tone as he jabbed his knife towards his cousin's chest. "All for what, some stupid clay sculptures and this terrorist organization you've landed yourself in?!"
At his insult to his precious art, Deidara scowled and grabbed his cousin's forearm, lifted him rapidly over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground behind him. "Do NOT mock my art!" He exclaimed as, in one motion, he then drew a handful of kunai from his own pouch and darted them into Akito's body which then exploded into a smoke cloud to reveal a chunk of a log, followed by the boy's hands as they pierced up through the ground below Deidara's feet, grabbed his ankles and dragged him down below the surface of the road.
Almost immediately Akito then tossed Deidara back out into the street, slamming him into a nearby stone wall of a small business with enough force to cause the previously injured man to groan in pain once again.
"Ngh!" He cried as from the ground came his cousin who, in a sign of escalating force, slammed his fist into the wall of the store as Deidara side stepped and for the first time in this fight activated his kekkei genkai and used his Landmine Fist technique, blowing the wall into pieces and filling the air with debris and dust.
Sliding to a stop back in the street, Deidara immediately plunged both of his hands into the clay pouches at his side beneath his cloak; his eyes twitching in pain as an amused grin came across his lips. "Still thinking inside the box with our kekkei genkai, hmm?" He asked aloud as the dust cleared to reveal his cousin charging forward at him, just as from his pouches he pulled a handful of small clay fleas.
"Let me show you what we are really capable of!" He added as he too began to sprint forward towards Akito down the street, whipping the small explosives at the boy and detonating them as they approached, though this only managed to impede his approach slightly.
"It's no use!" He exclaimed as he once again main contact with Deidara and began to fight back and forth, tearing the right sleeve of Deidara's cloak from the main body to reveal before flipping backwards away from Deidara to avoid him detonating an explosive at nearly point blank range.
Sliding backwards and pinning another of his opponent's clay flea balls to brick wall across the road with a kunai, Akito's eyes narrowed on Deidara, specifically his right arm. A large portion of his flesh, mostly around the elbow to his mid forearm and upper arm respectively, had been sewn back together with what looked to be synthetically created flesh. He had read in Konoha's report that both of Deidara's arms had been injured, but was this a sign that the right had been completely torn off?
Coming to a halt himself and noticing Akito's state, Deidara huffed. "Your friends from Konohagakure did this to me. Killed my partner too, hmm." He complained, running his left hand over the still fresh stitches connecting his arm pieces together. "I've got an idea. Instead of this, why don't you come back with me? We are a man down and could sure use the help."
"What?" The boy scowled in annoyance, watching as Deidara tore what remained of his sleeve off to prevent it from hindering his movement.
"Think about it. We could be partners, just like when we were kids. Me and you; the last of the Explosive Corps. Kind of poetic really, even if you don't appreciate my art." He added with a grin, widening his eyes as Akito darted forward and once again tried to grab any part of his arms in an effort to subdue him.
Recoiling from the sudden strike of Deidara's knee to his chin, Akito slashed his blade across his cousin's remaining concealed arm slammed his fist to the ground, activating his kekkei genkai once again and tossing Deidara up into the air to force him on the defensive.
"Join you?!" He snarled as he mercilessly darted back and forth after Deidara across the little way station town's main street. "Unlike you I'm not a traitor, and I won't betray my people!" Akito replied once more, destroying more of Deidara's small clay creations as they flew towards him, allowing them to fall to the ground to detonate on the empty streets below.
"Traitor? You really don't get it, do you Akito?" The Akatsuki replied as he made his way to the rooftops, somersaulting to avoid a barrage of shuriken and kunai while also preparing a mouthful of clay in each hand. "My father, your father, all of our clan; do you really want to suffer the same fate as them? They spent their whole lives serving Iwagakure. War after war, battle after battle; no matter who or what or when, they dropped their lives to the dirt and ran off in Iwa's defense. And for what? To be killed in the night; their dreams and ambitions snuffed out in the blink of an eye."
With his clay compiled he pressed his hands together to form a small bird, preparing for form one of his signature techniques to make his escape. "What about your brother, Akihiro, hmm? How old was he when Iwa demanded his sacrifice?" He questioned in an effort to distract his hounding shadow, causing the man to snarl under his breath.
"Don't you dare talk about Akihiro!" Akito growled as Deidara threw the bird out into the open air above the streets below, causing him to grunt. He knew what he was about to do, and he couldn't allow him to escape!
Jumping from the rooftop towards the bird and raising his hand to form the signs necessary to activate it, Deidara's eyes widened as from behind a fuma shuriken whipped by and bisected the sculpture, detonating it in the air and blowing out every window in the small town from the sudden shockwave as its owner to fell towards the ground.
Rolling to a safe stop below, Deidara spun around to throw his own handful of weaponry at his rapidly approaching cousin, but as he swung his healing arm falter and caused his aim to miss, allowing Akito to close the distance, latch onto him and once again drag him down into the ground.
This time, however, Akito and Deidara surfaced a short distance from town as the former tossed the later out of the ground and immediately towards a large tree, though Deidara recovered before striking it. "Alright Akito, I've had enough!" He exclaimed as he once again gathered clay into his hands, watching as Akito emerged from the ground nearly unscathed.
In his weakened state he couldn't risk toying with his cousin, and no matter how much he wished to avoid causing him harm based on their bloodline alone, it seemed that it had come to that.
"I told you you were coming with me, Deidara. One way or another." Akito replied as he continued to cautiously watch Deidara's moves.
"I don't think so, my man. Time for you to see what you've been missing out on all these years." The blonde shinobi replied, holding his hands out in front of him as the mouths on his palms vomited forward a large amount of clay that pooled into two piles on the ground while remaining tethered to him, drawing Akito to narrow his eyes in both anticipation and intrigue.
Seeing that he had caught Akito's eye, Deidara grinned. "You may have heard of my work, but the last time you saw my art it was nothing more than primitive. Like the times I have changed; for the better, if you ask me, hmm." He stated as the two blobs began to take shape into two hideously disfigured humanoid forms that slowly began to creep forward towards him.
Huffing in disappointment at the outlandish tactics employed by his cousin, Akito stepped forward and gained speed towards him. "This is the art you left Iwa for?" He questioned as he drew two kunai from his pouch and lashed out against the closest clay monstrocity, being careful to slash the monster and not to stab it to avoid having his weapon absorbed into what he knew was a rather adhesive substance.
Bisecting the beast before whipping the other, now bomb-tagged kunai into the second, which he then detonated and caused the clay monster to splatter across the terrain. Turning back towards Deidara to again advance on him, Akito was shocked to discover not only two more clay forms stumbling towards him at high speed from the pile at Deidara's feet, but that the bisected form how now become two separate monsters and that the pieces of the exploded doll now began to crawl independently.
Laughing, Deidara watched as Akito began to struggle to fend off the growing army of monsters, slashing and hacking his way through some while blowing other up with his kekkei genkai; all in vain, as they continued to replicate and multiple. Some began to form blades for hands while others became large, stumbling spiked balls, causing Akito to remain on his toes as he continued to fend them off.
"It wasn't just about art, Akito. Well… it was mostly about the art, but this was also about choosing my own path." He said in confidence as one of the monsters lashed Akito's left arm to distract him, allowing another to jump onto Akito's left leg and latch on, bogging him down to the ground as more began to cling to him.
"I live and die for myself now, not for anyone else. My freedom, my art… I am the master of my own fate." Deidara added as the last of the monsters locked into Akito, forming a solid blob around him that prevented him from moving, despite his frantic efforts to break free.
Feeling victorious, Deidara walked towards his struggling cousin and lowered his arms down to his sides, laughing at Akito's frustrated grunts. "Well Akito, it has been great to see you again. Maybe when this is all said and done I will come find you, and we can play this game all over again." Deidara laughed, forcing Akito to scoff.
"It's not over yet!" He exclaimed as Deidara snickered.
"Not over? Face it Akito, you've lost. If I recall right, back when we used to spar, I was always the one-" He began to gloat, only to pause as Akito's face began to droop and his skin turned pale white.
Identifying this for what it was almost immediately, Deidara dashed backwards away from Akito as fast as he could, but not fast enough to avoid the large explosion that engulfed the area, forcing him to cover his face with his arms to avoid burns across his skin.
"A clay clone?! But that means..." He exclaimed as he pressed his feet to a tree and redirected himself up onto a branch, looking frantically around the area for Akito. There was only one way he would be able to create a lifelike clay clone of himself like that, and if it was true, this situation had suddenly become far more interesting and significantly more dangerous.
Spotting his cousin immediately as he emerged from the ground below him, Deidara grinned. "So you've got the kinjutsu now as well, hmm? I never took you for the type to steal." He yelled down to him as Akito stood tall, dirtied by hastily traveling in the ground like a mole while across his face a few small cuts began to bleed.
"I didn't steal it. Onoki gave it to me to help hunt you down, as well as what he believed was your clay substance as well. I wouldn't ever stoop to your level and steal a kinjutsu." Akito replied as he stretched his fingers, allowing the mouths on his palms to extend their tongues through the previously zipped gloves he was wearing to conceal the kinjutsu in question from the public, bringing Deidara to huff.
"Onoki, huh? That old bat still the Tsuchikage?" He question as once more Akito charged after him. Onoki had taken Deidara on as his pupil at a young age, choosing him over all of the other genin in the village, and hearing him badmouth him now was rather irritating.
"I've heard enough of your mouth!" He yelled as he threw another volley of weaponry at Deidara, this time using clay-formed senbon that he then detonated as they neared their target, creating a large cloud of flak that forced his cousin to evade and begin to distance himself from Akito.
"Weapons? I should have known you wouldn't use this gift right!" He exclaimed as the rogue shinobi unleashed more of his clay dolls, though Akito made every attempt to contact with them this time around to avoid being trapped again.
He could feel that Deidara was becoming more desperate by the minute, likely due to the injuries he was recovering from, and that would once more attempt to escape the second he had the opportunity, making it imperative that he not allow Deidara to leave his sight. The trail of clay coming from his hands was easy enough to follow, but with his ever increasing army of clay minions bearing down on him, it would be difficult to gain a clear shot towards him.
Reaching what he believed to be a safe distance away, Deidara turned to watch as once more Akito began to become overwhelmed by his creations. Akito had never lost the brutally effective use of his kekkei genkai taught to him by his father nor had he forgotten the teachings of his mother, which were made evident by both his hand-signless use of the Hiding Like A Mole technique as well as the use of a large ball of fire exhaled from his mouth; a technique more common in the land of fire than in their homeland.
Sliding across the ground to avoid the swing of a monster's blade while blowing another's legs out from beneath it with his left fist, Akito slammed into the ground with his right, activating his abilities to create a large explosion that filled the area with dust and debris that caused Deidara's monsters to stagger. This was only temporary however, and as the monsters regained their foothold the now nearly thirty clay dolls converged towards the smoke after Akito in an attempt to once again subdue him.
However, instead of Akito, from the lingering smoke suddenly emerged a large stone that, upon coming a stop at a height of nearly twenty five feet, broke into the shape of a large golem and began to smash at the clay monsters, causing Deidara to grin. "That golem is one of Onoki's signature moves, hmm. I should have known Akito would become his student after my departure." He stated to himself, as he began to form more clay to commit to the fight, only to stop as from the smoke multiple Akitos began to pour forth.
"Hmm?" He questioned as the clones ran forward and engaged the dolls, becoming tangled in their forms first before detonating each one to prevent it from reforming or multiplying. This combination was something he hadn't expected and while he was rather impressed by the amount of clay shadow clones Akito was able to create at once, the question still remained of where the original had gone.
Scanning each of the remaining clones as the approached their target, Deidara grimaced. "Where are you, Akito?" He groaned in annoyance before suddenly grunting in surprise as the golem, which had been continuing to smash through his clay arm, suddenly reared his arm back and threw one of Akito's clones straight towards him at lightning speed, crying out in anger.
Knowing that this was more than likely the real Akito rather than a clone Deidara scoffed, annoyed that Akito would result to such a straightforward and brazen attack. "Did you really think that through?!" He questioned as Akito unleashed another volley of ranged weapons as he flew towards him while using a small clay flea he had placed on the tree beside him to form a long, sharp spike that flew out to meet Akito, piercing him through the chest.
"Idiot!" He exclaimed as he side stepped Akito's attacks and focused on his body as it recoiled back towards the ground. How could he have been so stupid?! He didn't want this fight to occur nor did he want to have to hurt the last strand of his blood on this earth, but he was left with no choice.
Grinding his teeth together in anger and preparing another insult as Akito fell, Deidara's eyes widened in shock as the kunai passing by suddenly transformed into his cousin who, upon getting his footing on the tree behind him, grabbed ahold of Deidara's neck with his left arm and forcefully pierced into Deidara's back with a kunai in his right.
"W-What?" Deidara choked as he looked over his shoulder at Akito; his piercing eyes staring right into his soul as Akito dug the blade deeper into his flesh.
"I promised the Tsuchikage I would put an end to this madness, even if that meant killing you." The boy replied with gnashing teeth, feeling a strong pain forming his in his chest. He had hoped it hadn't come to this; he had always been told that family was everything unless it came above the village's needs, but even this felt hard to swallow, despite all of the resentment he had formed for his cousin over the last few years. "I gave you a choice, and you didn't listen to me! You made me do this!" He added, shifting his eyes away from his cousin back down to the ground in shame.
Hearing Akito's convicted yet shaky voice Deidara's look of horror slowly shifted and from his mouth came not a gasp of pain, but a small laugh. "I knew you cared about me." He stated as Akito once again returned his vision to him in confusion, realizing too late that Deidara's body had absorbed the blade and had begun to spread to his hands, holding him in place.
"It's been real, but I'm not ready to come home. Not yet." Deidara continued as Akito now began struggling to break free. How could he have fallen for this? Was his reaction time really so fast that he was able to effectively counter his own deceptive trick?
"I'm sure you can find it in your heart to understand. Please forgive me." He added as his body now began to change colors, turning pale and beginning to disfigure. "See you around."
Growling through his teeth, Akito managed to pull his hand from Deidara's trap and immediately spun around to distance himself from the large bomb at hand, but before he could jump to safety Deidara's clone ignitied, blasting the boy back against the large, thick trunk of the tree violently.
Screaming in pain as his head impacted the wood and his world turned dark, the boy began a harsh decent to the ground nearly seven stories below, striking every group of branches on the way down and breaking not only pieces from the tree, but part of his left forearm as well as ribs in both sides of his chest.
Unable to wake up from the state he was in even after snapping bones Akito continued to fall until finally landing what was a small stream at the base of the tree with a loud splash. The current wasn't heavy, but was still enough to carry the boy's body further downstream until finally washing up on the shore amongst other pieces of debris stripped from the tree by Deidara's explosion.
Luckily out of the stream's water far enough to avoid drowning, Akito lay quietly on his side in a semi-comatose state, completely at the mercy of the both the elements and anyone who should wish to do him harm.
Stirring awake sometime later Akito was immediately stricken with the overbearing pain felt across his cold, damp body, driving him with an overbearing urge to cry out in pain; an urge suppressed instantly by the dangerous environment he found himself in.
Laying on his back and unable to move his arms, which seemed to be bound behind him at the wrists, he could hear the voices of three people he had never heard before, causing him to open his eyes cautiously.
Almost immediately the sunlight above him caused him to silently wince in pain. He must have blacked out following Deidara's explosion, which likely gave him some sort of concussion, and a massive migraine along with it.
Pushing through the pain the boy focused on the source of the voice through his heavy eyes and quickly found what appeared to be three shinobi; two men and a woman. With his vision blurry and distorted it was hard to make out the insignias on their forehead protectors, but from the way they dressed it appeared that they were from Kirigakure.
This greatly complicated things as the members of Kiri and Iwa had a tendency to be hostile towards one another given the great amount of animosity held towards one another's villages, often leaving to violence and even armed disputes. If Kirigakure shinobi were the ones who were presumably holding him hostage, his fate was uncertain. He had to get away.
Moving his hands as carefully as he could to resist screaming in pain from his numerous broken bones, Akito began to slowly chew at the bindings holdings his hands in place, all while listening to the group as they argued amongst one another.
He first voice he could distinguish above the group was that of the kunoichi, who seemed as irritated with the situation as he was. "This was stupid Jun. How are we going to complete our mission dragging this guy around on our backs?" She questioned as the man she was talking to, who he assumed was the one named Jun, scoffed.
"Come on, don't you know who this is? Do you know what he is worth?" Jun questioned with a hint of sarcasm, triggering the third man to speak up as the girl growled objected angrily under her breath.
"Jun is kind of right, Kisa. For the money I think we could make do. If he is right and this is Deidara, we will be set for a long time. If not, well… we'll let him go." The third man added as Jun once again spoke up, clapping his hands together in a sense that the discussion was over.
"Hell yeah we could make do! The whole world is looking for this guy right now. Come on Kisara, think about it! If not for the money, then for how impressed the Mizukage will be when she hears that we were the one who brought Deidara of the Akatsuki to justice!" Jun added, though almost immediately Kisa objected.
"First off, do not call me Kisara. Second, I don't care how much he is worth, I don't want to have be taking care of some bloodied Iwa scumbag while also trying to make a positive impression on this client we are meeting. You know how much we need this mission, Jun. So do you Takao. You don't even know if this actually is Deidara. Are you willing to risk a sure thing in the hopes that this guy pans out to be the motherload?" She scolded as she crossed her arms, shifting her vision from Takao to Jun as she did so.
All of the trio's bickering was creating quite the diversion, allowing Akito to hasten his attempt to escape. With how much noise their argument was creating he was able to allow his palms to chew at the bindings faster, and soon he would be free.
With Kisa's continued objection Jun grew impatient and crossed his arms as well as took a step towards her. "He has to be the Deidara. How many other Iwa shinobi have you seen around here, especially with those hideous mouths on his hands?" He questioned, bringing Kisa to silence as he did so.
As much as she hated to let Jun think he was right she couldn't stand arguing with someone who was never wrong, causing her to sigh under her breath as she looked away. "Whatever, but I'm not carrying him. That will be your jobs."
Painful as it was, she couldn't help but feel as if Jun was indeed right. Recently life had become a struggle to get by. Jobs were less frequent in Kiri, and if they wanted to work they were forced to travel further away from home, often into lands serviced primarily by other shinobi villages, making their assignments even more stressful. To have an Akatsuki member's bounty in their accounts, even after being divided three ways, would often them quite the buffer between eating or not.
Now sure of his victory, Jun grinned from ear to ear. "See, I knew you would get it. That's why I'm in charge you know." He stated before placing his hands on his hips and taking a deep breath. "Alright, let's get moving. Takao, if you wouldn't mind taking our prisoner first, I would greatly-" Jun began to instruct as he looked over at their bounty who, at that exact second, broke his bindings, opened his eyes wide to take a good look at his captors and then sunk into the ground to disappear.
"What?!" Jun exclaimed as all three ran to the fresh disruption in the ground where their prisoner once lay, frantically looking all around, to no avail.
"Great! This is why I suggested sealing his hands, but no Jun, you know best, don't you?!" Kisa immediately began to argue as Takao snickered in amusement, though Jun simply shook his hand for her to be quite.
"Wait, shut up! Shut up!" He argued as he closed his eyes and formed a single hand sign, tapping into his abilities. Opening his eyes again revealed a whole new world around him, grey in color and showing the chakra flows of those around him, including their escaping prisoner who, much to his surprise, was surfacing rapidly not far from where he had disappeared.
Shocked, Jun immediately drew a kunai from his pouch and prepared for what he believed would be some sort of counter assault. "He's coming back up, get ready!" He exclaimed as his two teammates readied themselves, but all three soon found themselves confused.
Instead of an attack, their prisoner emerged from the ground in a hurry, propelling himself out of the ground with enough force to launch a few feet in the air before slamming into the ground and crying out in pain. Rolling to a stop he quickly brought himself to his knees and placed his head to the ground, once more writhing in agony as he cradled his injured arm under himself. As injured as he was unable to keep himself unground long, let alone use his arms to navigate, forcing him to reemerge unexpectedly.
Panting heavily as a cold sweat ran over his face and dripped onto the ground below, Akito's eyes shifted to the trio of shinobi staring at him, grinding his teeth in both annoyance and stress. They appeared ready to strike despite their somewhat confused and surprised expressions, almost as if he appeared weak.
If that were the case, he didn't blame them. He was in rough shape, the roughest he'd been in a while; all courtesy of his cousin.
Still, no matter how badly beaten he felt he had to keep going. He couldn't lose track of Deidara, if he hadn't already, and it didn't seem these three were going to let him just walk away. He had spent too much time looking for him to lose him now; he needed to escape.
This did allow him time to identify his attackers, confirming that they were from Kirigakure and making out their features for the first time. He was unsure which man was which, but one appeared to be of average build with orange, slicked back hair while the other was a tall, menacing man with blonde hair bound behind his forehead protector and two swords stored across his back; a normal wakizashi style blade and what appeared to be a large broadsword seemingly too big for the average person to handle.
The kunoichi amongst them was a bit below average height, standing as the shortest of their group, while her shoulder length, frost colored hair that draped over her forehead protector in the form loose bangs immediately set her apart from any Kirigakure shinobi he had ever seen. Even more distinguishing however was her piercing blue eyes that remained locked to him, angered by his escape.
"You there, Deidara of the Akatsuki, don't move! We have you surrounded and given your injuries there is no way you can take us all on!" Jun ordered, causing Akito's eyes to focus on him as his injured arm's grip tightened in an effort to both prepare him for what would likely be a very, very painful run as well as to vent his anger.
Did these people really believe he was Deidara? Why, just because he had the same kinjutsu? Sure, it was a rare thing to see, but given the fact that he did not match the rest of Deidara's description, how could they be so blind?
Remaining still and silent, Akito waited for the three to make their firsts moves towards him before instantly standing and darting away from them in the opposite direction; grinding his teeth the whole time. Each step, each bump, was pure agony as the bones in both his arm and his ribs rubbed together, but he couldn't stop.
"Don't let him get away!" Jun ordered immediately as all three Kiri shinobi scrambled after the boy, jump tree to tree right behind him as he desperately tried to gain some kind of leeway between them.
Using his free hand, Akito reached back into his clay pouch and took a handful of the substance in, creating small explosive balls that he immediately spun around and threw towards his foes before detonating, though the three of them dodged the attack with ease.
In retaliation Kisa drew from her own pouch a handful of senbon and unleashed them at the boy while Jun pulled from his scroll holding pouch a long scroll, unrolled it and summoned what appeared to be a long, ornate rope that began to glow as he gripped with his hands; all of this while Takao pulled both of his swords from their sheaths, ready to strike.
"Let's go, same plan as always!" Jun ordered as his two friends agreed and upon landing on his next branch and securing his foothold, sprung into action, throwing the end of the rope in the air and using his chakra flow to propel it towards Akito.
Acting in unison with their leader both Kisa and Takao advanced further towards their target with the latter providing support as the large sword wielding shinobi came face to face with Akito, slamming both of his swords into the bark of the tree the boy stood on as he ducked to avoid his swing.
Tracing the blades with his eyes, Akito grunted in pain as his good hand drew a kunai from his pouch and parried one of Takao's follow up swings, locking both of his blades to his successfully albeit it with great difficulty.
"Impressive." Takao muttered with a grin as the boy in front of him stared him down with a blank yet pained expression before kicking him in the stomach, knocking the towering man away from him. Moving to counter attack Akito instead was forced to shift backwards as Kisa unleashed a fearsome volley of both senbon and kunai, striking the branch he stood on over and over until he had no choice but to jump to another tree.
However, having not spotted Jun's rope as it approached due to Takao and Kisa's effective distraction, Akito suddenly found himself tethered around the ankle, causing him to gasp and Jun to grin.
"Got him!" The team leader exclaimed as he immediately yanked the rope, dragging Akito backwards towards them at high speed, slamming him forcefully into the tree before he exploded, sending debris and pieces of the tree everywhere.
Seeing his explosive substitution Jun immediately cursed under his breath and activated his sensory ability to began to searching for the real boy, looking all around while Kisa stopped and took a knee beside Takao.
"I didn't even see him make a single hand sign." The man stated as Kisa reached down and picked up a small burning shard of the tree. "He's not going to fall for that trick. We will have to subdue him." She replied as Jun keyed up his radio and called to the two of them.
"I don't see him anywhere. Where could he have gone? Do you see anything at all?" He questioned, though before he could receive a reply he suddenly felt the tree he stood on shake violently before beginning to fall backwards; its roots uprooted from the ground by a disturbance in the ground below.
Not wanting to be crushed in the large tree's collapse Jun took immediate evasive action and jumped from the tree down to the ground where almost instantly he was engaged by Akito as the boy emerged from the ground.
Drawing a kunai the boy immediately pressed into Jun, matching his blade to the Kiri ninja's over and over again, even slashing through his chakra rope as he did so. "So you figured out it was me, didn't you? That I was the one tracking you?" Jun questioned as the two locked their blades together, though Akito remained silent.
He had suspected that was the case but had not yet to come to a certain conclusion, leading him to attack him specifically. With Jun able to track him he would have an extremely hard time escaping them, making the man his primary target.
Parrying Akito's blade to the side Jun went on the offensive, striking out at him several times as the weakened boy stumbled backwards, blocking each attack as it came and filling the air with sparks at their colliding steel.
"Make it easy on yourself and just surrender!" The man taunted as Akito continued to duck and weave his away from his attacker's weapons before countering, striking Jun in the jaw with his fist and then again in the stomach.
In retaliation Jun kicked into Akito's chest, striking one of his injured ribs and causing him to scream out in pain as he staggered backwards before forming the hand signs necessary to facilitate a Water Bullet technique.
"Take this!" He exclaimed, launching a large amount of water from his mouth at high velocity towards Akito who dropped to a knee and summoned a rock wall to protected himself.
This was not Jun's only attack, and as the last of the water left his mouth he summoned two large chains, one in each hand, and swung them in a crossing fashion towards Akito with the intent of wrapping around the boy and slamming him into his own wall.
The attack failed however and as the chains closed in on Akito he jumped up and over the wall towards Jun, rolled to a stop in front of him and placed both of his hands to his chest, regardless of the pain it caused him to move his left arm.
"Ngg!" He groaned through his teeth as both of his hands activated his kekkei genkai's Exploding Palms technique, sending the man flying backwards through the air into the forest at a high rate of speed with a whistle.
Succeeding in his plan to separate and disorient the enemy squad's sensory-nin, Akito immediately spun around to enter the ground and make his escape but found himself once again locking blades with the squad's behemoth, forcing him to duck to avoid his second weapon's swing or risk being cleaved in two.
Once more grunting in pain and in a prime location to unleash a similar strike on Takao that he had done to Jun, Akito reached forward to place his palms on Takao's chest, but instantly came under fire from the group's third who, enraged by the boy's attack against their leader, charged into the boy and began to relentlessly attack him.
"You bastard!" She cursed as she clashed against him over and over again, keeping him on the defensive as he desperately tried to gain a second to escape. While the others were difficult to deal with she quickly had become his biggest threat, unleashing strikes so quick that they were difficult to evade and that resulted in a large cut across his right cheek from a close call with one of her senbon needles.
Just like Akito, Kisa was equally impressed by her opponents skill. Severely outnumbered, babying a wounded limb and likely fighting off a concussion she never thought this boy would be able to put up such a fight, let alone be able to ward off all three of them at once. This was an astonishing feat, even if he was nothing more than a lowly Iwa dog.
Tossing his kunai in the air and catching it with his own mouth while drawing another with his good arm, a clear sign of his desperation, Akito blocked both of the girl's weapons and pressed his right foot to her stomach, forcing her back far enough to again try and make a run for freedom, but once again he was nearly mutilated by Takao's blade and forced to react.
Replacing himself with a clay clone that the man cleaved in two and used the back end of his sword to rid himself of the remnant before it could explode, Akito reappeared and charged the man, dodging another handful of Kisa's senbon in the process.
"Takao, watch out!" She yelled as Jun swung both blades horizontally towards the boy in an effort to stop his advance, but as he did so Akito jumped onto the blades and gained the distance needed to reach forward and used his palms to send Takao harshly to the ground and across the open area they were in.
Infuriated by her inability to stop the boy's attack from once more sending one of her friends flying and growing tired of this game, Kisa growled, waiting for Akito to touch the ground before suddenly forming hand signs.
"Enough!" She yelled in anger as from the ground a wave of ice suddenly shot, forming a large crystal dome overtop of the exhausted boy who stared in shock. Ice? This woman could control ice? He had heard of this before; an Ice Release kekkei genkai from the Land of Water long believed to have been extinct. Could it be possible that she was one of the members of that bloodline?
Grunting in annoyance Akito dropped the blade he had been holding in his mouth to the ground and wiped the blood running from the wound on his face. Was her plan really to hold him in place? Did she think that would work?
With a deep breath Akito charged towards the nearest part of the ice dome, reared his good fist back and slammed it into the wall, activating his kekkei genkai and shattering the glass before him with a loud smash. With a small huff he then immediately attempted to make a break for the treeline, but before he could clear the breach the dome instantly sealed, trapping him inside once again.
"What?" He asked himself aloud as once jagged and randomly shaped corners of the crystalline structure began to straighten and form a symmetrical dome of ice mirrors. "It's no use, you can't escape." Kisa's voice called as her imaged appeared across all of the mirrors at once. "You are trapped. Now give up!" She demanded, further angering the boy inside her maze.
Once again Akito charged forward at the ice dome and slammed his fist into the wall, blowing yet another piece off of the dome, though once again it recovered almost instantly, and unlike last time Kisa didn't simply just watch his attack.
Emerging from the top of the dome the girl dropped to the floor and dashed towards the Iwa ninja, throwing volley after volley of ice needles at him, forcing him to retaliate. But as he neared the center of the dome where she was the girl suddenly disappeared back into the mirrors and laughed.
"That was a mistake, Iwa!" She exclaimed as from above rained a massed volley of ice down on him, forcing him to summon a piece of earth up from the ground to protect himself.
Almost consecutively another volley of needles flew from his left leading him to try and form another rock wall, but this time as the wall came forth from the ground Kisa's ice caught it and prevented it from raising up from the ground.
Caught off guard Akito manually attempted to avoid the attack although in his condition the task was much harder than he anticipated, leading him to be struck several times by her attack across various parts of his body, including his already injured arm.
"Guah!" The boy cried in pain as he fell to a knee in the center of the dome, watching as the ice slowly pulled both of his attempts at stone cover back down into the earth, leaving him fully exposed and at her mercy.
"Why are you fighting this? There is no way you can win." Kisa again reassured the boy who now struggled to hold himself up as his blood dripped onto the icy ground below him. His body was battered and his chakra was low; was she right? Was there really no way out of this?
Panting heavily as he used his teeth to pull the senbon from his wounded arm Akito shook his head and slowly stood back up to his feet in an act of defiance. He was really going to make her knock him out, wasn't he? Was he insane?
As she presumed Akito ran towards the dome with his fist prepared to strike, forcing her to attack again. He managed to avoid the first few, but with the third handful he was struck several times, including once in his neck, causing him stagger and collapse to his hands and knees once again.
Assuming that this was his final straw, Kisa stepped forward from the icy dome in front of him with her hand on her right hip, watching as the boy yet again placed his forehead to the ground and groaned in pain. He was determined, she would give him that, even if that determination seemed to lead unnecessarily towards more pain.
"Had enough?" She questioned as the boy coughed and groaned in pain. The world was spinning faster and faster as the seconds went by and it was clear that he was rapidly losing strength. Was he going to pass out again?
If that were the case, what then? They truly believed he was Deidara. When that was disproven, if it was disproven, then what would they do with him? Would they let him go, or would they kill him to avoid repercussion? Was this the end?
Barely able to form words from the combination of pain and exhaustion he was experiencing, Akito instead slowly used his good arm to push himself up to sit on his knees and with bruised and broken eyes, sought out and found the bright blue orbs harbored behind her long hair.
Seeing this, Kisa's eyes widened. She hadn't really had the opportunity to look at the boy's face, but beneath the dirt and mud was a boy roughly their age; his dark eyes locking to hers beneath his long, brown hair as his body swayed uneasily back and forth.
With everything that Iwagakure had done to her family and their people she often found it hard to look upon one of their shinobi with anything other than hatred, but with the way this boy was looking at her now she felt almost… sorry.
Before she could even contemplate asking the boy for his surrender again he was suddenly struck in the face from the side; the blow knocking him out cold and causing him to blackout and collapse onto the ground.
Surprised, Kisa looked to her side and saw Jun, who stood rubbing his fist from the rough hit to the boy's cheek. "Well, we got him." He stated with a grin as Kisa continued to stare at him, retracting her ice dome as she did so, revealing Takao as he stood watching her duel with the boy with his arms crossed in amusement.
She had taught them both how to force their way inside of one of her ice shields should she ever need help while inside of them, but at this moment she regretted that decision. She was on the verge of making him surrender, and if she would have been able to do so neither he nor Takao would be forced to carry him.
"I had it handled, Jun." She contested as Jun walked over to the boy and forcefully rolled him onto his stomach and a rough manner before binding his hands with his ornate, chakra infused rope, as well as wrapping his hands in a sealing scroll to temporarily restrain his kinjutsu.
"I mean, if staring at him counts as 'having it handled', I guess you did." He protested in an almost demeaning way before standing up straight and placing his hands on his lower back with a wince of pain. The boy's attack knocked him into a tree hard enough to cause him to black out temporarily, as will as tweak something in his spine. "But don't worry, I'm fine."
"What about you big guy, you alright?" He questioned Takao who adjusted the sheaths on his back and nodded. "Yeah I'm fine, just some bruises and scrapes. Kisa?" Takao questioned in return as the girl crossed her arms and looked away, trying not to show her anger.
"I'm fine." She retorted as Jun grinned wider and clapped his hands. "Alright, good work team!" He exclaimed before slicking his hair back and looking back to Akito, who he promptly kicked in the stomach as hard as he could. He was a lot more work than he believed he was going to be, and his bounty had better be worth it in the end.
"Well, let's get moving. Our client will be expecting us in two days, and with this one on our backs, we will need all of the time we have to make it there on time." He stated as he went to pick up Akito to carry him on his back before feeling a sharp pain in his back and immediately standing back up.
"Err, Takao. You still good to carry him for now?" He questioned, bringing Takao to shake his head and laugh as he picked the now bound boy up and flung him over his shoulder, facing back away from him.
In silence the group began to head on their way, carefully navigating their path out of the forest as Kisa's eyes continued to wander over to the boy on Takao's back. She could be wrong, but from what she had seen over the course of their engagement he seemed to almost be restraining himself, only attacking to distract and delay them, not to kill them. Why would an S-Rank missing ninja who had just attempted to assassinate a Kage be so gentle on his captors? Was this really Deidara of the Akatsuki?
