Itachi: Ah, I finally get some story time.
Deidara: I've been absent most of the past 2 chapters, yeah? Time for my return!
Hidan: Fuck both of you! I should be the star of this story!
Itachi: Instead, you occasionally appear bothering Sasori and/or Kasumi.
Deidara: One day, you're gonna cross the line.
Hidan: Well that's what I do, I'm a habitual line-stepper bitches! I say and do whatever the fuck comes to my mind.
Sasori: And I'm a habitual killer. Don't try me.
Hidan: Pft.
Itachi and Deidara: Oooooooohhhhhhh... Owned.
Hidan: -_-
Rico: Someone do the disclaimer. Someone who hasn't before.
Itachi: Rico does not own Naruto, only Kasumi and Ayumi.
Rico: Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Bleeding Fists
Sasori spent the next few days preparing for the mission. For one day, he trained in the field, working on his speed, and shortening the delay of moving his fingers for his puppet to react. Sasori managed to find a way to get the puppet to react faster, to the point that the puppet would react as he was moving his fingers. Kasumi and Deidara even helped him test the effectiveness of his new ability in battle, and Sasori was proud of how well it worked. When Sasori was not training, he would be in the mansion with Kasumi and they would be relaxing, trying to enjoy their time before the mission. You never know what mission might be your last after all.
The morning of the mission, Sasori, Deidara, Kasumi, and Itachi met at the river on the outskirts of the village.
" Well, Leader has put me in charge, since I know most of the information on our enemies. The Star Village is east of here. It is closer than even the Hidden Leaf, so we should get there by nightfall," Sasori explained. The others nodded in understanding, and with that they set off. They travelled by way of the trees, stopping every hour or so for short breaks to catch their breath. As they got closer to the village, they could feel the air getting heavier and dense. Despite the fact it was a rather cloudy night, they could still see stars clearly in the sky.
"We must be getting close," Itachi determined. The others nodded. They came to a cliff which overlooked the entire Hidden Star Village. It was a relatively large village, and despite the time the streets were bustling.
"The village is alot more busy than we expected, hm? This is gonna be rough if we're caught," Deidara said, crossing his arms.
"If the people try to interfere, I will already have my barrier set up," Kasumi said.
"Well still, we have to escape is what I am trying to say," Deidara explained. Kasumi hadn't considered that.
"Deidara, that's where you come in," Sasori started. Deidara looked at him curiously. "We need you to plant 2, no 3 of your C3 level bombs around the village. In the event that the assassination does not go as smoothly as it should, we have to be able to kill them all quickly. We also need you to take out the guards posted around the village. Once you do that, we will infiltrate and assassinate Takayuki in his sleep. That's the plan anyway, these things always seem to go wrong."
"Wow, I never thought of that, hm." Deidara replied.
"What else is new?" Kasumi said, teasing. Deidara rolled his eyes, and she giggled. Itachi and Sasori only smirked.
"We still need to get a way to infiltrate the village, and get to Takayuki's Tower," Sasori said.
"We can use my crows for that. Who seriously notices crows?" Itachi said.
"Idiots who have no life," Kasumi said, smiling. Itachi smirked and shook his head.
"Well, let's get down to it. Deidara, you know your role, get to it. Let us know through your radio when you have done this and we will begin our infiltration. Afterwards, you need to stay back and be ready to detonate your bombs in the event something goes wrong, which they always do..." Sasori said, with a sigh towards the end.
"Stop thinking so negative Sasori, we'll be fine," Kasumi assured, rubbing his back, and getting close to him. Sasori smiled down at her, and pecked her.
"Alright love birds, let's get this underway," Itachi said, interrupting their love scene. Sasori and Kasumi nodded, and they all began heading down towards the village. Deidara went off to plant his exploding clay beneath the ground, and the others hid themselves in the trees, while they waited for Deidara to finish his task.
Deidara made his way around the village, planting his Ohaku bombs underground. One was more than capable than destroying a great portion of the village, three would blow the village straight to hell! Oh well, whatever gets this mission completed. After he had completed that, Deidara made a large hawk and climbed onto it. He flew high above the village, and put his scope on his left eye to find all the village guards. They were all stationed in 4 adjacent towers, which overlooked the village. Deidara dropped a few clay spiders which fell at the base of each tower. The spiders climbed the towers, and latched onto the guards faces. Deidara quickly activated his exploding clay spiders, before the guards could panic and cause a scene. 'That never gets old," Deidara though, smirking.
"Phase One of Village Infiltration, complete, yeah. Get to it marines, hm," Deidara said, into his radio.
"Copy Major Doofus,yeah?" Kasumi replied.
"We're now moving in Major Doofus, hm?" Deidara heard Sasori's voice respond.
"Phase Two of Village Infiltraion, now underway, yeah." Itachi said.
"Screw all of you, hm." Deidara responded, irritably, causing Kasumi to laugh, and the others to chuckle. "I'm going to my post now, yeah? Stay on your toes!"
"Roger that." Sasori responded. With that, they all put away their radios. Itachi made a handsign, and they all transformed into crows. They flew over The Hidden Star Village, attempting to spot Takayuki's mansion. Itachi spotted it first, a large, almost haunted looking castle at the northern end of the village. The 3 of them flew into an open window, and Itachi dispelled the jutsu.
"Let's split up, and try to find Takayuki's room. We will meet back here in 15 minutes, so keep your radio to a level you can hear. Only kill someone if you are spotted, understood?" Sasori instructed. Kasumi and Itachi nodded, and they all drew a kunai and headed off in 3 different directions. Sasori found himself creeping through the darkness, checking every room only to find them occupied by someone else, or empty. Kasumi quickly found herself lost in the mansion, and could not determine which rooms she had checked and which she hadn't. Itachi found himself in one of the main halls, one of the few rooms that still had lights on.
Upon hearing footsteps approaching, Itachi quickly hid himself behind one of the nearby pillars. There were two guards, who seemed to just be doing their rounds. He was quickly joined by a more frantic guard, who came running.
" Eri! Where is Lord Tayayuki? He is not in his room!" the frantic guard shouted. Eri and his partner remained calm.
"He headed to the field to train, Genji. Calm down, he's fine," Eri replied.
"Oh, why didn't I know that?" Genji asked, scratching his head.
"Because you never pay attention when he speaks," the other guard said.
"Got a point there Hideaki," Eri said, smiling sheepishly.
Itachi reached into his cloak's pocket, and took out his radio. "Sasori, Kasumi. Meet me in the main hallway, we're gonna take these guys as disguises." Itachi whispered into his radio.
"Hai," Itachi heard Sasori respond. "Understood," Kasumi responded right after.
Itachi waited for them to show, while the guards were occupied in conversation. Sasori appeared in one of the doorways, and he creeped along the wall, avoiding being noticed by the guards. He spotted Itachi, and then waited for Kasumi to show so they could strike. Kasumi appeared in the doorway opposite the one Sasori had entered, crouching as she walked. As she spotted Itachi and Sasori, she nodded at both of them signaling she was ready. The 3 each approached the guards from different angles, and on Sasori's signal, they struck. The three assassins plunged their kunai into the backs of the guards, covering their mouths so their death gurgles would not carry, and then gently let their bodies fall to the ground.
"Worst guards ever, what idiots stop their duties to talk? I mean seriously," Sasori said, shaking his head.
"Hey, don't complain. Let there be more idiots, easier work for us," Kasumi reasoned.
"Yeah, whatever makes this mission easier. I've already heard Takayumi is not to be taken lightly," Itachi said, crossing his arms.
"Good point. Well, did either of you find anything?" Sasori asked, getting serious again. Kasumi shook her head.
"I did. According to the morons we just killed, Takayuki is in the training field." Itachi explained.
"Really? At this hour? That guy is dedicated, isn't he? I'd hate to see him meet Rock Lee and Might Guy, ugh," Sasori said, shivering at the thought. Three fools dedicated to training and challenges couldn't be good all being in one place.
"That wouldn't end well, for us anyway," Itachi said, shaking his head. Kasumi was confused.
"What ARE you guys talking about?" she said, her hands on her hips.
"Tell you some other time, love. For now, let's get to the field and get this mission over with. I don't know about you guys, but I wanna go HOME! First, let's take these guys' bodies." Sasori exclaimed. Kasumi and Itachi nodded. They were both ready to leave the weird atmosphere of the Star Village too.
The three assassins took the guise of their victims, and left the Takayuki's castle without question or really regard. They headed towards the field, which was slightly outside of the village. As Itachi heard, Takayuki was there, and he was practicing a powerful lightning jutsu.
"Lord Takayuki," Eri (Sasori) said, kneeling. Takayuki stopped and his tracks and half turned. Takayuki was rather tall, had stern, dark brown eyes, had brown hair, and seemed to be in his forties.
"What do all of you want, I'm in the middle of something!" Takayuki demanded, visably annoyed.
" Forgive us, Lord Takayuki. There is a matter of utmost importance that needs to be taken care of, my lord," Genji (Kasumi) said.
Takayuki did not respond, he only turned to fully face his "guards". Wordlessly, he did a few hand signs to the surprise of his three "guards." Lightning Style: False Darkness! Takayuki unleashed a large black lightning bolt from his entire body, which split into 3 seperate spears. The three guards quickly dodged, and the bolts split the ground. Knowing their cover was blowned, Sasori, Kasumi and Itachi abandoned their disguises. Takayuki quickly took notice of their robes.
"You're Akatsuki, are you not? That means you're here for one reason," Takayuki declared. Sasori, Kasumi and Itachi remained silent. Takayuki quickly did a few hand signs, sending a distress message to the Star Ninja.
"GODDAMMIT! What did I say? Something always goes wrong! It NEVER FAILS!" Sasori yelled, angrily.
"Kasumi, quickly! Activate a barrier!" Itachi shouted.
Kasumi obediently did a few quick handsigns in compliance. Secret Art: Metallic Frozen Prison! Silver metallic ice almost like steel began forming a cubed wall covering the entire field, and high over the heads of them all. The large barrier could be seen for miles away. Just as Takayuki's forces began arriving at the field, Kasumi's barrier had fully formed.
"Lord Takayuki is in there! We must free him before he is killed!" the head of the villages forces shouted.
The Star Ninja in vain tried their most powerful fire techniques on Kasumi's barrier. Kasumi smirked. "You would have to bring a fire more intense than the sun to destroy this barrier!" she taunted from inside, causing the ninja to get angry. However, all they could do was watch from the outside, and hope for the best.
Takayuki grew angry. 'Odds are now againest me, I more than likely won't make it out of this alive.' He thought.
"We need to get this over with. Sasori, let's go." Itachi said, slowly blinking and activating his Sharingan. Sasori nodded, and summoned one of his human puppets.
"Let's get this party started then!" Takayuki said, getting into a battle stance. Itachi and Sasori stared for a moment.
"Oh wow... Let's get this party started? Really?", Itachi said, facepalming.
"Hideous..." Sasori said, shaking his head.
"You should kill yourself, we shouldn't even have to do anything for that horrible phrase," Kasumi said, mentally herself, since she had to hold still into keep the barrier up.
Takayuki frowned. "All of you go to hell!" he said, flicking them off.
"You know what, I'm tired of waiting," Sasori sighed. Sasori then made the first move, sending his puppet flying towards Takayuki. Takayuki quickly countered by dodging the puppet, even though he could barely keep up with the puppet's unorthadox offense. Sasori's movements were now unpredictable since it was impossible to determine when and where he would move his puppets, since now his puppet was more in conjuction with his mind. Itachi also joined in on the attack, and proved to be more than Takayuki could handle at once. Although he had managed to dodge all of Sasori's attacks, Itachi managed to level him with a powerful kick to the chin. Takayuki landed several yards away, but he quickly got back to his feet.
"This is going to be even more trouble than I expected," Takayuki said to himself.
"Well duh, do you not know who we are?" Sasori said, taunting. Takayuki frowned.
Wordlessly, he bit his thumb before doing a lot of hand signs. Summoning Jutsu! Takayuki drove his hand onto the earth, and he elevated high into the air, although still under the barrier, with a lot of smoke beneath him. Sasori and Itachi had to shield their faces from the wind the creature's roar caused, and Kasumi almost fell over. The smoke cleared to reveal a large silver colored gorilla, armed with golden dual swords.
"Oh, this is great..." Sasori said, facepalming.
"I don't remember King Kong being mentioned as an enemy in the mission description..." Itachi said, frowning.
"Now that I have Mana to fight with me, let's start this forreal," Takayuki said, smirking. Sasori quickly summoned 9 more puppets, but Itachi decided to hold out on his trump card for awhile. Itachi instead did a few quick handsigns and breathed in deeply. Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu! Itachi exhaled a continuous stream of fire in the image of a dragon towards the face of the gorilla, which connected effectively. The gorilla roared in agony, before quickly shielding the fire stream with one of its enormous swords, and then raising the other to attack Sasori and Itachi.
Sasori and Itachi quickly evaded the sluggish swing of the giant ape, which effectively shook the earth, almost knocking Kasumi over. She however managed to keep herself balanced, knowing that if she were to let the barrier down, she and the others would be immediately killed. Sasori quickly swarmed the ape with his puppets, managed to deal several minor cuts to the ape. Sasori's poison, however, seemed to have no effect. Itachi continued to spew streams of fire at the beast, although over time they weakened and became much less effective.
"That beast should down by now... Even though I expect as much from a summoning," Sasori said, panting.
"No matter what we throw at it, it doesn't fall," Itachi said, panting as well. Kasumi was growing worried at the look of the situation. As much as she wished to help, she knew that she was of much more assistance keeping the barrier up, and if she interfered, there was still that great risk of losing her secret. Kasumi sighed, and continued to watch the fight.
"You'll never be able to take Mana down by human means, it is impossible!" Takayuki taunted, laughing to himself.
"Hmph, looks like I'll need to use some chakra," Sasori said. Sasori's puppets settled in front of him, and they all replicated the handsigns Sasori was doing. Takayuki's eyes widened. 'This can't be good,' he thought.
Forbidden Jutsu: Pathway To Hell! The earth beneath Takayuki and Mana began crumbling. Mana managed to grab onto a ledge, and could feel a great heat from beneath him. Takayuki looked down, holding on to Mana for dear life, and saw a pit of lava beneath him and what seemed like suffering souls. Takayuki's eyes widened.
"Mana, get us out of here, NOW!" Takayuki yelled, desperately. Mana began climbing back out of the ledge, but Sasori had other plans.
"You won't escape..." Sasori said to himself, moving his hands together, and the puppets replicated this action. The gap between the 2 ledges began slowly closing, with Mana roaring in anger and frantically trying to climb out. Just as he got to the top, the gap had fully closed. On the surface, Sasori and Itachi were catching their breath. The Star Ninja outside of the barrier were boiling in rage and some were overcome with sorrow and broke down crying at the death of their leader.
"Now that this is over, we need to get out of here," Itachi said, looking at the ninja ready to destroy them on the other side of the barrier.
"Easier said than done, but I think we can outrun them," Sasori said, chuckling a bit while looking at them as well. Sasori withdrew his puppets, knowing that keeping them out would make running harder.
"Well done guys! Now we just have to survive the onslaugth of ninja ready to rip out our guts!" Kasumi said, teasing. Sasori and Itachi shook their heads.
"It's amusing how lightly you take these things," Sasori said. Kasumi smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.
Just as she was about to let down the barrier so they could run, there was a pounding from beneath the Earth, and a loud albeit muffled roar, one that the three assassins recognized as Mana's. Sasori and Itachi looked to the ground where Mana and Takayuki had been buried with wide eyes.
"I-Impossible! How can anyone survive a LITERAL ride to hell? Oh fuck me!" Sasori said in absolute disbelief and frustration.
"This... this can't be!" Itachi said, slightly backing up.
"Yup... we're screwed. This is great..." Kasumi said sarcastically, also frustrated at the situation.
The beatings and roars from beneath the Earth continued, and the Star Ninja cheered in realization their Leader was still alive. Things were beginning to look up again for Takayuki. Suddenly, one of Mana's arms shot up from the ground, followed by the other arm and Mana's head, which looked at Itachi, Sasori and Kasumi with intense, glowing red eyes. Mana's entire body soon emerged, with Takayuki on its back. Both of them were severely burned on various parts of their bodies, and Takayuki was panting heavily.
"Still here...fools..." Takayuki taunted, even though he was in no shape to be taunting anyway. Mana roared with a new intensity, and raised one of his swords above his head. He then began charging the sword with lightning.
"Zis... is ZA POWERRRRRRRR!" Takayuki shouted.
"What is this, He-Man?" Sasori said, looking with an unamused look. Kasumi giggled, but Itachi remained serious.
"No, this is him losing his mind..." Kasumi said, getting a nod from Sasori and Itachi.
"I really HATE doing this...But at this point I have no choice," Itachi sighed. He slowly blinked and blood began leaking from his left eye. Amaterasu! Itachi's left eye snapped open, and it was incredibly strained and blood-shot. A black flame formed on Mana's arm, causing the ape to roar in agony, and subsequently drop his giant sword. The flame slowly spread over the ape, causing Takayuki to have to jump off, and only be able to watch as the ape burned. Mana rampaged in an attempt to rid himself of the fire plaguing him, swinging his swords wildly. Itachi closed his left eye, which was still bleeding, as the black flames of Amaterasu continued to burn.
With the Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye, Itachi summoned his Susanoo, which quickly formed around him. Sasori joined him inside so he would not become a target.
"Vanish," Itachi said, as Susanoo pierced Mana with the Sword of Totsuka. Takayuki could only watch in horror as his trump card was sucked into Susanoo's sake jar. Takayuki punched the ground in fury, trying to think of options. Takayuki punched the ground until his fists bled. Itachi and Sasori only stayed silent, before Itachi began approaching him with Susanoo. Takayuki gritted his teeth and looked up at them with hatred and anger in his eyes. Takayuki hopped to his feet, made the tiger hand sign and began charging chakra, yelling loudly. The earth beneath him began to crumble and rise, the clouds began moving much faster, and lightning began striking at a slightly fast pace. A yellow barrier of energy began forming around Takayuki.
"This guy... must think he's Goku," Sasori said, looking at Takayuki slightly amused.
"Sasori, seriously, this is no time for jokes," Itachi said, correcting his partner.
"Yeah, no kidding," Sasori said, shrugging.
Takayuki looked at them and smiled menacingly. "Time for us to say goodbye!" he shouted. Forbidden Jutsu: Star-powered Meteor!
Itachi readied Susanoo, bracing for Takayuki's attack. Takayuki smiled even wider, and pointed up. Itachi and Sasori looked up to see a humongous meteor coming down slowly straight towards them. Sasori, Itachi and Kasumi looked up at the large rock with fear in their eyes. The Star Ninja watching the battle from the outside began evacuating the area.
'That attack has more than enough power to bore straight through my barrier, and even Itachi's Susanoo!' Kasumi thought, sweatdropping.
'We're in trouble...' Itachi thought.
'What can we do?' Sasori thought, unable to find any options in his mind.
"Be gone, with the passing of the star!" Takayuki shouted, almost psychotically. Just then, the meteor made contact with Kasumi's ice barrier, and the ice began cracking and went crashing down. The meteor made contact with the ground, and caused a massive explosion which could be seen for miles. From afar, Deidara observed the explosion.
"That can't be good, hm." He said to himself, observing the mushroom-shaped explosion cloud.
Well that's it for this chapter. I'm not really good with battles, but I think I did ok for this one. Did Sasori, Itachi and Kasumi survive? What will Deidara do if they were killed? Why am I asking you? Lol, read and review please. J
Next Time! Chapter 5: Shocking Revelations!