"Get down!" Kakashi shouted from behind us.
The three of us ducked and two kunai flew over our heads, hitting the two shinobi directly in the chests, who fell to the ground and didn't move.
Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of us, stance ready, kunai in hand. "You all let your guards down," he said. "Stay ready. There are more."
I grabbed a kunai, holding it in one hand, and no sooner had I taken hold of it than I heard more rustling behind us. Behind the Priestess.
We whirled around just as shurriken went flying towards Katsumi. But Kakashi was quick. Creating hand signs faster than I could read, he slammed his hands into the ground and a wall of earth rose out of the ground before the Priestess, stopping the shurriken.
"Naruto, Sakura!" he commanded.
"Right!" they both called back, and jumped into action, engaging two of the three shinobi.
"Ayume," Kakashi said to me. "Stays here and protect the Priestess, all right?"
Without waiting for an answer he leapt across the wall to join the other two in battle. Watching them fight…waiting to fight…this was all so familiar…
However, they weren't fighting long before a new voice said from behind me, "Ah, Priestess…it's been a long time since I've seen your beautiful face."
Abruptly, the fighting all stopped. The two shinobi that the others had been fighting leapt away and I whirled around, facing the new ninja, along with the others that had just joined him. This new ninja was a tall man with long hair that was white as paper, his skin almost whiter. In contrast he wore all black, and one side of his face was heavily bandaged. I gripped my kunai, sensing menacing, dangerous chakra from him.
Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura joined me. The man's eyes looked over all of us, lingering on me for a moment. A shiver swept through me.
Then he looked at Kakashi, and smiled slightly. "Ah…Kakashi Hatake. Son of the White Fang. It's good to see you again."
"It's been a long time… Jirou." Kakashi responded coldly. "But this isn't time to reminisce. You're going to have to let us through to the Land of Air."
"Yeah, so you'd better move away or we'll beat you into the ground!" Naruto said.
He smirked. "Overconfident. No, I don't think you'll be going through." He looked at the other ninja. "Haru, Matsuda…"
"Yes, master," they said in unison, a female voice and a male voice. They removed their masks and drew swords, and Kakashi caught his breath beside me. "Damn it," he muttered. "All three of them…" He sighed and raised his hand to his headband, pushing it up off his eyes. What—his eye…?
His left eye had a scar going down it, and for a moment I wondered if that was why he kept it covered. But then he opened it, and I gasped. His eye was red, with black dots in a circle within it…what the hell—?
"Ah yes, the Sharingan," Jirou said. "An Uchiha hand-me-down, isn't it? Interesting…"
"Sharingan?" I whispered. Then I gasped. I remembered—the elite Uchiha clan! But how had Kakashi gotten hold of a Sharingan eye?
"Ready, you three?" Kakashi muttered. He glared at the enemy. The look of abrupt determination in his eyes was almost frightening. If I were facing him I would have run in fear.
"Yeah," Naruto said, grinning eagerly. He put two fingers together in a cross shape. "Let's do it. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A dozen Naruto replicas came into existence around him. How was he able to make so many that easily?
The enemy made the first move, running at us, and that was when my battle reflexes finally kicked in.
I pushed off the ground, jumping into the air, and met the blade of one of the enemy shinobi—Matsuda, I think his name was. He grinned at me, attacking with his sword, but I saw every move he made and stopped them all with ease.
Meanwhile, I could see the Priestess standing below us, gazing up as we fought, her expression indifferent. Didn't she care that we were fighting for her survival?
Forget about that. I landed on the ground and launched myself at the shinobi, trying to hit him square in the chest with my knife. He blocked my attacks, and I blocked his, and for a moment we seemed at a standoff, until I lunged and my knife embedded in his stomach.
For a split second I thought I'd defeated him, but then with a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Damn it—a shadow clone!
"You're mine!"
I whirled around, and the real Matsuda was running toward me, brandishing his sword.
"Rasengan!"
A figure collided with Matsuda's side. Naruto had launched himself at the enemy, a blue swirling ball of light in his one hand that hit Matsuda in the side, sending him crashing into the ground. There was a blast of light.
Naruto stood up, breathing heavily but looking pleased. "How about that?" he said.
"Impressive," I said. I looked over as Sakura landed beside us. "Haru?"
"Unconscious," Sakura said. "Badly hurt. He'll recover, but he's out of our hair for now."
Which meant there was only one enemy left, and at the moment he was at a standoff with Kakashi, the two of their blades pressed together, both of them trying to get past the other's defenses.
"Kakashi-Sensei—" Naruto said.
"The three of you stay back for now," his voice calm but authoritative. "I'll handle this one. You protect the Priestess."
Obediently the three of us stepped to stand in front of the Priestess, kunai ready.
"You really think you can defeat me?" Jirou said with a sneer. "Do not forget the last time we met."
The two of them jumped backwards simultaneously and faced each other, gripping their weapons. "I haven't forgotten," Kakashi said. "Believe me. And I haven't forgotten your weakness, either."
He made several hand signs, then gripped his wrist, and within his hand chakra started to build, until he was holding what looked like lightning, arching away from his palm.
He ran at Jirou, raising his arm to strike, but Jirou dodged and whirled around, striking Kakashi in the back. I gasped and took a step forward, but Sakura held out her arm. "Just watch."
Kakashi's figure exploded into smoke. "A shadow clone?" I said. "But when did he…?"
In an instant, Kakashi appeared behind Jirou, wielding the Chidori once again—he was fast.
He swung at Jirou, but Jirou managed to jump out of the way, his hands coming up and making hand signs to create a jutsu.
Kakashi didn't seem to miss a thing—was it the sharingan? He turned and faced Jirou, jumping backwards, his hands immediately copying the exact signs that Jirou was making.
"Water style—water dragon jutsu!" they both said at the same time.
Water rose out of the river and I took a step back, my eyes widening. Their jutsus—huge, swirling forms made out of water—collided in midair, and the liquid sprayed everywhere. I raised my arms, trying to shield my head from the rain coming down.
The commotion died down, and I made out Jirou standing on the river, not moving. He took a deep breath, visibly, and took a step forward.
Then he froze. Instantly Kakashi appeared behind him, his arm grabbing him in a headlock, and his kunai embedded itself in his back. Jirou's eyes widened, the shock and pain breaking through his calm exterior.
"You've lost your touch, Jirou," Kakashi said. "You seem to have forgotten that I can read your every move before you make it."
"The one who used that justu…" Jirou said. "A shadow clone…Hm. I see you haven't lost your touch, eh, Kakashi?"
I blinked. "Amazing. I didn't even see him…" This man…he was good.
"Naruto!" Kakashi called. "Finish him off!"
I looked over and noticed that Naruto was already gone, and Sakura and I were the only ones guarding the Priestess.
"I'm on it!" Naruto suddenly appeared in the air, flying down towards Jirou, rasengan in hand. But the rasengan was huge. Naruto needed two shadow clones just to hold onto it.
"Super rasengan!" he shouted.
Just before the rasengan connected, I saw Jirou smirk. "You think it will be that easy?"
His figure dissolved into water. A water clone. Naruto's rasengan hit the river, and there was a huge explosion. "Incredible. That power—where does he get that power?" I gasped as more water flew everywhere.
Sakura looked over at me. "Uh…"
Jirou was gone. Where was he?
His figure then appeared, but not before Naruto and Kakashi. He was facing the Priestess, and not long after he appeared several more versions of him appeared, creating a wall blocking us.
All of the Jirou figures raised their hands. "Fire style—searing migrane!"
"No!" I heard Kakashi shout, but he and Naruto were too far away to help. I had to do something—but what?
As I watched the fire coming toward us, something inside me snapped. I jumped to stand directly in front of the Princess, then raised my hands, my body acting on its own. Somehow I knew what I had to do.
The fire hit my hands, but the moment it touched my palms, the flames vanished, and the jutsu began to change. The fire, when I touched it, turned to ice, crackling and hardening and creeping up the rest of the flames toward the figures of Jirou.
I squeezed my hands into fists, and the ice began to break, changing into slivers that were deadly sharp. I waved my hands and the ice shards flew towards Jirou, the fire gone, and the ice hitting Jirou like knives.
The figures that were shadow clones vanished on the spot, and then there was only one Jirou left, the real one. He stared at me in disbelief. "You…you're…"
I raised my hands, creating hand signs that just seemed to come to me. Jirou's eyes widened further, apparently seeing what jutsu I was about to use. "Lightning style—flashing wave!" The lightning came from my hands and arced across the water on the ground, straight towards Jirou, but when it hit him, the last figure disappeared into water. Another water clone.
I stood still, breathing heavily. Those last jutsu's had taken a lot of energy out of me, and…and…
Who was I?
My legs failed me. Kakashi's figure blurred and he appeared in front of me, catching me on his back as my eyes closed and I lost consciousness.