Warning! This may contain a technique I just invented, so don't wonder why you won't hear it from them!
……………………………………………………………………
CRACK!!!
The mirror broke.
"Way to go, Naruto…"
Sasuke thought to himself. The boy's body tumbled out of the mirror and landed on the ground.
"Now should we help?"
Sasori said, getting ready to go out of position if needed to.
"Stop, Sasori. Not just yet…"
Itatchi blocked him.
Sasori just grunted. He didn't like where this was going one bit.
"Ha! We've defeated you!"
The blonde ninja insulted the boy who was barely moving.
"Naruto, hold back the insults for a while, will you?"
Kakashi said to him. The tone of his voice was serious and they probably knew something bad was gonna happen.
Both boys turned back to the boy, who was no longer there, in his place was a puddle.
"What the-"
Before Sasuke can even continue his sentence, rain began to fall and soon, puddles were everywhere on the ground.
A deafening laughter was heard.
A Shadow appeared from the mist and turned out to be Sakura, her face sunk in the expression of fear.
"What is it, Sakura?"
Naruto asked.
"Well, I came down from the tree to guard the mistress and when it began to rain, hands from a puddle appeared and grabbed her!"
She exclaimed, going into a panic.
"What do we do know, sensei?"
All of them asked.
Kakashi was about to answer when…
"Don't tell me you haven't seen this technique before! It's called a thousand rain puddles technique*… One of these rain puddles is either me or your precious mistress. If you hit me, be glad. But if you hit the mistress, be sad… "
(*just invented…)
He cackled.
"Man, is he good!"
Kisame said.
Back on the battle field, the group was stuck on what to do now.
"Be careful on where you aim guys…"
Kakashi reminded.
The reflection of the mistress appeared on one puddle.
"There!"
Naruto said and charged for it.
The reflection disappeared as soon as he got there.
"Whe-Where'd she go?"
"Naruto! Behind you!!!"
Sakura cried out.
He looked back and got stabbed by Senbon Needles.
"Are you alright?!"
"Y-Yeah…"
Suddenly, a speedy gust of wind went by them, clearly, someone was running around in a circle.
Kakashi and Sasuke had the same idea in mind. They were trying to track him down by the wind, all they needed were speedy reflexes in order to shoot him before he passed by their spot.
"Sasuke, get your kunai ready… I can see he's starting to slow down. Maybe he's exhausted. It's no doubt his techniques use up quite a lot of chakra…"
As soon as he heard his sensei, he pulled out 3 kunais from the pouch tied to his thigh and got prepared to fire.
The Jounin followed him with his eyes and observed his movements very carefully until after a while, he finally saw him and his movements.
But the boy noticed this and took a pile of needles and fired it at them.
Luckily, no one got hit in any vital point since they all dodged it.
"Damn. Guess I'll just have to run faster to confuse them all…"
The boy thought.
He passed in front of Kakashi and Sasuke.
"Now, Sasuke!"
Sasuke fired his kunai.
Blood spewed up in the air as he stopped and it was clearly seen where the blood emerged from. From his waist, it was rather deep.
Everyone came out from their hiding spots. This was definitely the time to help their youngest member out.
The boy lay on the ground, the mist clearing up and the puddles were gone, so the threesome can see him very well. A puddle of blood flowed from his wound like a river. At this state, he appeared as if he was going to bleed to death.
Naruto took up the stage. He raised his kunai, but his hand wouldn't allow him to do what he wished to do.
Suddenly, a group of ninjas came in front of them. At the first sight of their long cloaks, they knew who they were.
"I don't think you'll be able to raise that kunai at one of our members ever again…"
Meanwhile, Sakura managed to find the mistress.
"Mistress! Are you injured?"
She asked.
"I'm fine. He didn't hurt me. I truly believe he only did that because he was told to…"
"I'm sure what you think isn't true…"
"But, Sakura…Where is he?"
"Who?"
"The boy… Where is he?"
"Oh, him? The others probably took care of him already…"
"What do you mean took care?"
"Killed him off or defeated him…"
"No!"
"What?"
"No! He can't die! He can't!!!"
"Why ma'am?!"
"I know now why he looks so familiar! He can't die! He can't!"
Sakura was shocked by the woman's confession.
Back with the others, everyone was fighting while Konan tended to the boy's wound. She managed to control the bleeding a bit by pressing a piece of cloth (made from her paper of course…) on it.
"How's he hanging on?"
Kisame asked as he sliced one of Naruto's shadow clones with his sword. Sasori also tripped one by moving his fingers and controlling him by the chakra string.
"He won't make it at this state…"
Konan declared.
Hearing this, they dropped their weapons and stayed back.
"We love to kill you all, but it's a waste of chakra and a threat to Kuro's life. So goodbye for now… We'll settle our fight some other time…"
They all jumped off, Kuro cradled in Konan's arms.
When Konan jumped to another branch, Sasuke threw at her a shuriken.
But the mistress flew up and blocked the attack, getting hurt instead. She dropped to the ground.
"Mistress!!!"
They all cried and rushed to her side.
"I'm willing to sacrifice everything for you…"
She said this while raising her hand, looking like she was reaching for Kuro.
"My… little… boy…"
Then she blacked out.
"Mistress!!!"