Two days ago, they left Hawks Town for Fire's Edge, the nearest village to where the bearded man supposedly encountered the three-tails.
But Rin is sceptical of such intel.
Intuitively speaking, she knew he had other questionable motives. No idiot would effortlessly give out such secretive information, no matter how desperate.
Rin has all pragmatic reasons to rightfully reject those erroneous explanations, but unfortunately, Deidara does not quite agree with her presentiment and had insisted they go ahead with the information.
"Controversial information is still information, hm," he said stubbornly.
Normally, she would object to such a nonsensical way of thinking but she figured arguing against a grumpy Deidara was not the best thing.
Fire's Edge, famous for its three 'swinging' giant towers and its peculiar location amongst a secluded desert, is fifty meters away from their reach. But they are ambushed before they can assimilate the scenery.
"Dammit! Again?" Deidara groans.
And he dodges a spinning kunai as six ninjas come charging at them in every direction.
"Be careful everyone this is the Akatsuki!" one sand ninja shouts.
"This one is for the Kazekage you piece of shit!" another cries.
The underground explosive almost catches him off guard but he latches onto his sculpture at the last minute, watching as the view below distances itself further and further away from him.
"He's getting away! Peace will be ours!" a third sand ninja cries as he and his two sand comrades give chase.
"Heh! Save that for your dying wish! Rin, Tobi, take the ground. I'll go by air, hm!"
x
One leaf ninja races forward, halting in his tracks with such incredible suddenness he almost falls from the force.
"Sana, what's the matter?" his leaf comrade asks.
"Wait she's not wearing the Akatsuki attire, she might not be an enemy," the third leaf ninja says.
"We can't be sure of that. She was conversing with the Akatsuki member before," the second leaf ninja replies. "Sana, what should we do?"
The first leaf ninja, known as Sana, is still scrutinising her from a distance.
"Wait…aren't you…I thought you were…" he starts in bewilderment.
Then his hands clenches in agonising fury, watching her with increasing animosity as he seemingly recognises her familiarity.
"To think that you could betray us like this," he says bitterly, forming a shaky seal.
Backing in guarded vigilance, Rin watches as they cautiously approach, their expression lined with impending menace with not an ounce of mercy or regret in their gaze.
"Earth crusher!" Sana shouts, and he releases a powerful energy that makes the ground crack and crumble beneath her.
With incredible deftness, Rin times his chakra's movement through the earth's surface with exact precision, removing herself from the crumbling ground and narrowly evading a mass of kunais seconds later.
Then she is behind the third ninja, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and throwing him at the still spinning mass of kunais, watching as he disintegrates before his own attack.
"Takaru! Shit! Shuu be careful she is stronger than I thought," Sana cries, and he stands protectively by his last comrade.
"We need to trap her," Shuu says, pulling long sinister-like black strings from his pocket, "Speaking of which, where is the third one? I swear there was another Akatsuki member," he adds.
Shuu stares around carefully, his frantic expression simmering ever so close to the surface of his composure.
"I don't see him around. Just keep your guard up," Sana replies.
The two comrades exchange glances with each other before releasing their jutsus.
"My entrapment technique is unsurpassable," Shuu says, allowing the string to snake around him before it disappears.
Unbeknownst to him, Rin can see straight through his jutsu.
And her speed is an expedient strategy in all cases of battling. With such ability, she can evade the most treacherous of attacks.
"She's fast," Sana says in astonishment as Rin vanishes from her position.
She reappears behind Shuu with dizzying speed before landing a blow to his head. Shuu falls to the ground, unconscious.
"H-How did you see through Shuu's attacks?" Sana says waveringly.
His fists clenches angrily beside him.
"I can sense chakra. How it moves, when it is about to move, where it is. Your comrade, he attached his chakra to those strings didn't he? That is how the invisibility works. I can sense all that. You cannot hide anything from me," Rin answers discordantly.
She continues to survey Sana's perplexed expression. Feelings and emotions can give away a ninja's next move.
"Hmph, why didn't you just kill him then?" he says, glancing down at his comrade's comatose body.
"There is no need to when he cannot do anything. He is just as much of a threat to me as if he were dead," she replies offhandedly.
"Hmph, that doesn't mean I'll let you off, you traitor!" he shouts, "Earth crusher!"
Traitor?
"This again?" she utters.
Surprisingly she does not anticipate the blistering sound of a thousand kunais being ejected from the earth. Her evasive speed saves her but not before a kunai takes the opportunity to slash her ankle.
"How…" she mutters in agony.
The blood drips in prolific successions.
"We set this trap up long before you arrived. You may be able to sense our chakras but you cannot sense inanimate objects that have already been implanted earlier. I waited for you to step into our trap, then used the opportunity to release it on you," Sana answers triumphantly.
"By the way didn't I tell you? Those kunais are laced with an odourless poison," he continues, and his gaze averts to her now very swollen ankle.
"Shit."
She collapses to the ground, her vision blurring and her world spinning.
"Time to finish you off, traitor!" Sana shrieks from somewhere to her left.
She hears the sound of a hurling kunai, the metallic weapon slicing through the air with remarkable speed before approaching her with every ounce of ill-intent.
In one agonising move, Rin involuntarily jerks to the side, narrowly avoiding an untimely death.
Before she can register the action, the kunai explodes. The immense force sends her flying back about a hundred meters, heading towards a large jagged rock.
At this rate she will die if she hits it.
Forcibly she tries to move her body to the right but the poison in her system has locked her muscles in place.
Then she shuts her eyes and braces herself.
But instead of anticipating the rock's hard surface, she feels a strong pair of arms wrap around her from behind.
They both skid to a halt, inches away from the rock's sharp surface. When she turns, it is Tobi's orange swirly mask looking back at her.
"T-thanks," she says weakly.
It may be her gratitude or the way that she is giving him such an amicable look, but he abruptly lets go, carelessly watching as she drops to the ground in pain.
"I saved you because you can heal my sempai," he replies gratingly.
She averts her eyes. Tobi has always been an onerous character to decipher, but considering his obnoxious attitude that is reserved only for her, she is genuinely surprised by his sudden act to rescue her.
Grudgingly she sits there and begins the painful process of removing poison from her injured ankle.
"Heh! You're one sneaky bastard aren't you, hm?" Deidara says, and he is kicking Sana's lifeless body.
"Sempai! You're alive!" Tobi calls as he attempts to place a reassuring arm around Deidara.
"Dammit Tobi! Get off me!" Deidara yells.
He shoves his partner to the side before fixating his gaze on Rin from a curious distance.
"What happened to you?" Deidara asks, eyeing her swollen ankle.
"Nothing big. Just a small cut that's all," she answers airily.
"Well better get up then. We need to go, hm," and with that he turns to leave.
Despite extracting all the poison from her system, her ankle is objecting. It has now taken on an angry purplish colour, expanding to cover a large surface area as it increases in size. As much as her legs disapprove, her heart is obstinately protesting.
She makes a feeble attempt to stand, swallowing back the throbbing pain that is pulsating from all different angles.
"I can-" she starts, but suppresses a cry when the pain multiplies by a factor of ten.
Then her knees give way and she collapses back onto the cold, hard ground.
From a metre away, Tobi is still standing in the exact same spot, watching her attentively. But then he suddenly turns and trudges after Deidara.
"You two go ahead first, I'll come after once I've reduced the swelling in my ankle," she calls to the backs of her teammates.
Unexpectedly Deidara turns his head, groaning in nuisance at the probable inconvenience.
"Tobi, go help her out," he sighs.
"What?" Tobi yelps stupidly.
"I said go help her out. She can't walk in that condition. She'll only slow us down, and I am not waiting for her to come after us, hm," he replies impatiently.
"That's her problem I don't want to do it," Tobi groans.
"For someone who does nothing in battle, you ought to make yourself useful, hm," Deidara answers coldly as Tobi makes a funny noise to indicate his resignation.
"If sempai says so," he sighs exasperatedly.
On the other side, Rin is watching the engrossing conversation between her teammates, keeping her facial expression as neutral as possible.
So when Tobi approaches she can sense the apprehension in his demeanour, the disgusted look on his face and the irritability of having to deal with the situation.
"Put your left arm around me," he grumbles reluctantly.
"Thanks," she replies softly.
"I'm not doing this for you," he mutters offhandedly, and he slides his right arm around her waist.
He lifts her onto her feet easily and together they walk towards Deidara, who is already charging up ahead.
