Chapter One
It's quiet out. I walk through the dark woods in the cold, windy night. My silky, black, layered hair shines in the moon light with a glint of blue. The breeze causes my hair to brush against my light skin. I hear the clinking of my katana in its strap case that's over my shoulder. I kick a small pebble in my path some feet in front of me. A leaf flutters in the cool breeze in front of me as I stop in my tracks. A dark figure is standing some ten feet in front of me, facing my direction. I examine the tall, dark figure and see that it is a man. His black cloak with red cloud designs covers nearly his entire body and a large bandaged sword is settled on his back. Only his head is revealed: his dark blue hair is styled into messy, spiky hair with a headband of the Hidden Mist Village - a scratch across the symbol on the metal plate. His light blue skin fascinates me, along with his gill-like markings on his face. With his small circular eyes, he gazes at me with a devilish smirk.
"You're part of the Akatsuki, are you not?" I ask.
"Yes, I happen to be," the man answers with his slight smirk. "You've encountered a few of us before, am I right?"
"I have, multiple times, but I haven't encountered you nor your friend before."
The man smirks widely. A plant-like figure begins to emerge out of a tree that's a few feet away from the blue skinned man. The plant-like figure morphs into a green-haired man in an Akatsuki cloak. He appears to be inside a large plant; the left side of his face is white while the other is black. He walks up next to the blue skinned man in a slow pace.
"She seems to have sensed your presence," the blue skinned man says to the other.
"She was aware of our presence before we even stopped her," the plant-like man says. "After all, she is a skillful Uchiha."
The blue skinned man turns to me with an interested grin.
"Ah, yes. Denizu Uchiha," he says.
"What do you want from me?" I ask.
"As you know, we're from the Akatsuki," the blue skinned man answers. "My name is Kisame Hoshigaki, and this is my partner Zetsu. We've come to you with an offer to join the Akatsuki."
'Kisame Hoshigaki,' I think to myself. 'S-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He means business...'
I eye him sternly.
"Your other colleagues have come to me with that same offer multiple times before," I reply in anger. "If I refused those first times, what makes you think I want to accept now?"
"The past times, you met with two of my other colleagues with just the offer," Kisame says. "This time, because you've refused..." he says as he puts his hand inside his cloak. "We're going to have to take you by force."
Suddenly, two halves of Zetsu appear on my left and my right and are emerging from the ground, holding me down firmly. Kisame then pulls his hand out of his cloak and throws multiple small black pellets at me, and they explode. A cloud of grey smoke covers the spot where Zetsu's halves and I were standing. Kisame watches with a smirk as the smoke begins to clear.
"Sleeping gas will only work if you actually hold me down," I mutter into Kisame's right ear.
He is surprised and quickly attempts to elbow me in the face. I quickly evade it, block his punch, and aim to kick him in his chest. He is able to barely block it with his forearms, and jumps back a few feet where Zetsu is standing.
"She's very fast...It was a replacement jutsu... " Kisame says. "Leader never said she was going to be easy to capture, did he?"
"She's from the Uchiha clan; what did you expect?" Zetsu says.
I activate my Sharingan and perform a few hand signs and hold a closed hand in front of my mouth. Many fire balls shoot out toward Zetsu and Kisame. They are alarmed and quickly begin to dodge them. Kisame reaches into his pouch and takes out a few shuriken. He flings them at me at high speeds. I bend backward into a backflip, dodging all of them. I then sense many of Zetsu's white halves appearing from the ground and attempting to get a hold of me. I quickly dodge their grasps and begin to punch and kick many of them. More and more begin to appear, so I take my katana out from its strap case and begin to swipe them. One comes at me from behind, so I turn to slice through it with my katana. Another comes at me from my left, but I quickly slice through that one. I begin to notice that more and more keep appearing the more I fight. Thinking quickly, I put my katana away, jump high in the air, perform some hand signs, hold my right hand to my mouth, and breathe out a huge stream of fire. All of the Zetsu clones are consumed in fire and melt away. I land on my feet and look up. Sensing something from behind, I jump up high in the air again. Flipping my body around, I see that Kisame has attempted to tackle me from behind.
'He's pretty fast,' I think to myself. 'I'm going to have to be careful; I shouldn't underestimate them.'
I land on my feet again and quickly sprint toward Kisame. He is surprised at my swiftness as I reach him in a blink of an eye. He attempts to throw a punch at me, but I block it. I quickly knee him hard in the stomach, causing him to flinch back. I grab him by the collar of his cloak and pull him forward into my balled up fist, punching him straight in the face. He falls on to his back, rolling on his sides a few times. I take a large paper bomb from one of my pouches, tie it around the handle of a kunai, and impale it in the ground a few feet in front of him. I quickly jump away and land on a tree branch and watch as the paper bomb explodes, causing a large cloud of smoke to surround the area Kisame is in. I then turn around, sensing a presence, and see Zetsu standing on the ground nearby. I give him a glare and take a hold of my katana's handle.
"I'm not going to fight you," Zetsu says. "I'm only going to elaborate on my leader's offer."
I keep my grasp on my katana's handle and watch him carefully.
"My leader obviously thinks your skills are powerful and quite impressive," Zetsu says. "You can be an excellent addition to the Akatsuki. We know that you are from the Konoha - the village that had your clan slaughtered."
I continue to sternly gaze down at him, not quite understanding what he means.
"We can help you take vengeance," Zetsu continues. "The Akatsuki plans on invading Konoha soon. My leader wishes you to be a part of it. Join the Akatsuki, and you will find justice for your clan."
I sense Kisame's presence and quickly turn to his direction, pulling out my katana. He is about to charge at me from a tree branch some ten feet away.
"Kisame, that's enough," Zetsu commands.
Kisame stops on a tree branch with a confused and irritated face and gazes down at Zetsu.
"What's the deal? Why aren't you letting me finish with her?" Kisame asks in anger.
"I have left Denizu with the proposal and a reason to consider it. We shall leave now and prevent any more damage from being done."
Zetsu turns to me and I gaze down at him.
"We hope you accept the offer. We'll find you some other time," Zetsu says. "Kisame, let's leave."
Zetsu begins to merge into the ground slowly. I turn my attention to Kisame and see that he's giving me a smirk.
"Maybe we'll continue some other time," he says as he holds up a hand sign.
He disappears in a puff of smoke. I stand on the tree branch, holding my katana in my hand. I stare at the ground in contemplation.
'What did he mean? My clan slaughtered by the village?' I think to myself. 'Itachi had done it, so I don't know what he means... But I do know I have to get to Konoha as soon as possible...'