The Akatsuki were waiting for them, and wearing his usual orange spiral mask was Madara, next to him was Kisame and Zetsu; along with other ninja's from the Village of Rain and Mist; as well as Sasuke, Karin and Juugo.
"Heh," Madara said, casting his eye over them; "Have you come to defeat me?"
"Hell yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, glaring at the man; "And we'll beat your ass too!"
"I highly doubt that," The immortal Uchiha spoke confidently; "Just because you have got two trai…"
"They never mattered;" Sasuke interrupted, barely glancing at the former Mist Nin and the Seer; "They'll be the first to go,"
Suigetsu grinned; "Keep dreaming,"
"That brat," Kisame looked at the younger Mist Nin hungrily; "Is mine,"
Without another word, the older swordsman attacked; which was the signal for the battle to begin.
Karin and Juugo made a bee-line for Youki, who tensed up; certain that she could take out Karin; but Juugo was another matter all together. However when they came upon her, they never fought; instead Juugo just shook his head;
"Wait,"
Karin nodded, and quickly moved out of the other ninja's way of fighting.
"Sasuke won't go this far," Juugo told her.
"It's the finale battle, how is it…" Youki began.
"He wants revenge, not a massacre," Karin pointed out.
"And he did say we weren't part of Akatsuki, we're just using them," Juugo added.
"Sasuke is just using them… And his risk has come at a price," Youki told them; moving quickly to stab a Rain ninja with her kunai knife.
The three looked to see Sasuke fighting everyone; as was his way he knocked them out, but never killed them. Without warning he back flipped and began attacking Madara, along with Naruto and Sakura.
Youki moved away from them, focusing on fighting the Rain ninja's, and stopping them from interrupting the fight between the two swordsmen.
"Aw, how sweet," Kisame mocked the younger Mist Nin, as he looked at Youki fighting the Rain Ninja's who were trying to disrupt the fight; "Can't fight on your own any more? Is this what happened when Orochimaru kept you as his lab rat?"
Suigetsu said nothing, but made to strike him again; only for Kisame to parry his blow and push him back; then the blue skinned made to hit Youki instead. With Suigetsu moving quickly to shield her; however instead of his sword blocking it; he pushed her out of the way and became water. The Seer distracted Kisame as Suigetsu quickly solidified himself and took out a few of the Rain ninja's that disturbed the fight, again.
"She just happens to be better looking!" He snapped back, managing to cut into his arm.
Not that the silver haired ninja was uninjured, his leg was bleeding and he had many scraps across the side of his neck and arms.
The Seer tried to keep the fight as equal as possible for her friend; however there were some that always got pasted her; however either Suigetsu or Kisame would take them out. And the older Mist Nin had no qualms about whose side the ninja's were on either. There were times when she underestimated these ninja's; not even her ability to foresee the future could help her; things happened faster than she could foresee.
She was lucky that Sai was able to cover her, stopping any ninja's trying to stab her when her back was turned. The two Leaf ninja's were back to back, making sure that they didn't have a weak spot and they dealt with the other ninja's that were attacking.
"Aacchhh," Suigetsu cried out and his sword landed in-between Youki and another Mist Nin who was trying to punch her.
Using her enemy's hesitation she stabbed him in the stomach, and glanced over at the two swordsmen.
"Stupid brat," Kisame grunted at him, enjoying the fact that he had disarmed him opponent; "You think having Zazuba's sword would make you one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen…" There was blood dripping down the side of his face, his right arm had a deep cut and also his chest had a fairly big wound as well; "You'd never have made it as one!" Raising his sword he prepared to deal Suigetsu the fatal blow.
"Maybe I don't need a sword," Suigetsu smirked, his face partly covered in blood, sweat and dirt as he looked up at Kisame from the ground.
"Wha…" The elder Mist Nin looked confused; but before he could finish Suigetsu dissolved into water and wrapped his form around the larger Nin, going towards the neck before he partially solidified himself.
"This is what they used to do… You'd remember this!" Suigetsu snarled; his shark-like teeth prominent as he went for the jugular of Kisame's neck; tearing through the artery like it was just over cooked meat.
Youki looked on, entrance by what was happening. She'd never seen anyone do that; although it was a survival instinct, she never fully appreciated that was what those teeth could be used for.
Kisame fell to the ground, eyes wide open in shock, his mouth moving but unable to make a noise aside from the gurgle of blood, as Suigetsu spat out the meat that he had managed to tear out. He grabbed his flask and rinsed his mouth out, spitting it over the dying swordsman.
"Impressive," Sai commented, having watched sections of the battle unfold as he fought the other ninjas.
The dark haired Seer remained silent though, although she too was impressed by it, it also shocked her. But right now they were in the middle of a battle, she had to focus on that; and deal with what happened just then later. If she had a later or if any of them did.
Suigetsu picked up his sword and began slicing the Rain ninjas through like they were butter. She was fighting off one ninja, when a Mist came from behind and stabbed her with his short sword, smirking sadistically at her as he moved the blade up her thigh when his head was cut cleanly off.
Suigetsu, blood spattered from the killing he had caused; had already moved onto the next ninja who got in his way; while the Hyuga Princess had managed to get through all the fights to help heal her.
"It's deep…" Hinata commented, looking slightly worried as she started to heal it; "It's not…"
Youki gingerly put her weight on the leg, wincing slightly, but she knew it was bearable.
"We need to win this," She told the raven haired girl, and moved out of sight to help Sai with a few Rain ninja's.
Throughout the battle, the most prominent one hard barely begun, since it was one of the most powerful ninja's that was being faced.
"You'd betray your own family, eh?" Madara asked, as he was pushed back from killing off Rock Lee.
"You betrayed them…. By not listening!" Sasuke yelled at him.
"You're back?" Naruto looked at his old friend, who smirked at the blonde and nodded.
"Let's finish this bastard off,"
The remained Rain and Mist ninjas managed to create a barrier, so that the other outsiders could interrupt the finale battle.
"Youki!" Juugo cried out, and she turned to see him fighting off Rain and Mist nin to get to her; "You're…"
"It's been healed… I can still fight," She calmed him, punching one ninja and kicking another.
"Karin was taken by the medics," Juugo told her, looking worried.
The Seer said nothing, just remembering the times that Suigetsu said that the red haired girl couldn't fight.
"Is…"
He shook his head, stabbing another Rain Nin, as Youki used a fire jutsu on some others.
"I didn't see, all I know is that she was taken away by the Leaf ninja's,"
Youki looked at him; "She'll be all right, its Karin…" She shrugged, and once more used some fire jutsu on another ninja, as Sai sliced another and Juugo punched a Mist Nin.
The three of them split up, Youki finding herself being drawn towards Suigetsu, more by accident than anything else; which was good, since they did know how the other fought and could easily balance each other's weaker points. She noticed that he had gained more wounds, but she wasn't concerned with them; with his gift, he could easily recover from them.
They didn't talk, covering each other's backs as they fought, until finally the last ninja was on the ground.
They remained tense, looking around just in case; but Suigetsu pointed to where the most important battle was.
Youki saw the orange spiral mask on the ground, caked in blood, the Akatsuki cloaked body lay on the ground beside it, dead.
Sasuke was looking around, carefully scanning the area; Youki noticed that his eyes appeared to have changed… Though she couldn't say exactly why, and then he looked right at her and she saw the extent of how badly injured he was. His right hand was gripped on his left elbow… Where the Uchiha's lower arm had been ripped off during the battle.
Suigetsu gasped at seeing Sasuke that badly wounded. He never thought that the Uchiha would be mauled like that… with all the confidence and finesse that Sasuke had fought with when they were part of Team Snake and Hawk…. To see him as he was right there looking like that was… Scary.
Youki's attention was turned to the pink haired girl; Sakura, who was limping, and had both her hands on her stomach to stem the bleeding. The she saw the blonde haired Kyuubi, who was on the ground, with blood coming out of his mouth and his side.
The medics moved quickly, a small number crowding around each of the three ninja's. All of them were taken by stretcher to be examined and get something done right away to stem all the blood flow.
The swordsman touched her shoulder; "We'd better get out of here… We'll get in the way,"
Nodding, they moved away from the battle; although they had to carefully avoid all the dead bodies around them. The dark haired boy came up to them, Youki examined him carefully; or as much as she could when she was tired from all that fighting.
"Sai?" She noticed that her leg was also beginning to ache.
"Naruto…." He began.
"At the rate those medics…" Suigetsu began to mutter.
"The medics are already dealing with him. Come with us, we're heading out of here… We'll be getting in the way," She looked at the white haired Mist Nin, who just shrugged and lead the way.
Neither of them had noticed that although Sai appeared to have minor injuries, he had a big wound on his back, which was dripping down his leg; all they were focused on was resting.
A woman with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes was the first one to notice Sai's injury. She managed to navigate him to going towards one of the medics to have it checked out; all the while sending glares at the two displaced ninja's.
Suigetsu sat down, out of the way and drank both flasks of water, and the spare one's that they had been given; not focusing on what was going on around him. The fact that the dead were all being piled up; although into different piles for each village.
Youki limped towards him, having gotten her leg looked at, now it was complete with stitches and a bandage; and getting her other injures seen to.
"Hey,"
Looking up he saw her and smiled, having managed to find a stream near by to fill up his flasks; luckily the battle hadn't contaminated the water and he could drink as much as he needed, and wash his face.
"How's the leg?"
"It will heal fine. Just need to keep it clean," She informed him as he stood up and stretched; "Have you seen Karin?"
"The bitch got injured?"
"Juugo told me during the fight," She told him, her grey eyes scanning the area, trying to see if she could pick the red haired girl out; instead she found Juugo, being attended by Hinata.
The two moved towards the blonde haired man, and saw his chest wound. Suigetsu glanced at it, but he knew it wasn't looking good. The wound wasn't just deep, there appeared to be a lot of tissue taken out of it as well.
"He need to rest," The raven haired girl told them, and the two nodded.
"Karin? Sasuke?" Juugo said drowsily, as he laid on the make shift futon.
The white haired swordsman looked at Youki who spoke; "We haven't seen them yet, rest, and we'll see you later,"
With her saying that, Juugo closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"Hinata?" Youki questioned the girl quietly.
The raven haired girl gestured for them to move away from the sleeping Juugo.
"Sasuke should be fine,"
"Should?" Suigetsu raised an eyebrow.
"He'll not be as he was… We couldn't fix his arm…" Hinata winced at the memory.
"And Karin?" Youki asked gently.
"She… Wasn't so lucky,"
"What?" Suigetsu looked at her, unable to believe exactly what this girl was telling them.
"She was injured… And she let some of our wounded ninjas take her chakra to heal… It was too much for her own body to cope with,"
"Why didn't…"
"Juugo needs to heal," Youki interrupted him, knowing that Hinata was just as tired as the rest of them, only she had to keep going.
"We won't know the full extent of the… Wounded, until later," Hinata informed them and added; "If you're able to, it would be best to go back to the village,"
The Seer nodded, and the two left the raven haired Hyuga Princess to tend to the other's.
"We can let you rest," Suigetsu offered as they moved through the forest.
"Let's just go. We'll be in the way… And it will be easier to rest back home," She told him, not noticing what she said.
Suigetsu on the other hand picked up on it. Home? He thought to himself; I guess it is for her.
They noticed the medic Nin's moving between the two villages, with supplies in the arms.
It wasn't long after they left that they had to stop. The battle had taken a lot out of Suigetsu, although he was also stopping because of Youki; but she didn't need to know that.
"I never thought she'd die," He said to her softly, leaning against a rock.
"Really?" The Seer raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"Heh, I never thought she'd be in an actual battle like this,"
"But we're here… Alive," Youki said thoughtfully.
"Humm,"
"And you defeated Kisame,"
He grinned; "Had a bit of help,"
She shook her head; "I thought…"
"I would lose?" He guessed, still a smirk on his face, but she never replied.
"You defeated him without your sword,"
The smirk was off, he forgot about everyone else being around him. In that fight there was just him and Kisame. Fighting to the death; he would have used anything he had to defeat that shark.
"The people from the Mist use what ever they can," He gestured to his sharp teeth; "Including these's. We're not born with them, some people get them, and some don't,"
"It was smart," She told him; "And you'd do it again it you needed to,"
"Tch, I've never actually done it before," He rubbed his neck, and she looked at him surprised; "I had no need to, Being able to turn to water worked pretty well, I never really had to fight against any other Mist ninja's,"
"You're alive, that's all that matters," Youki said, and smiled; "And you have his sword,"
"Yea, so, let's go. Bet we can get there soon,"
The two continued to walk, at a slower pace than before, given that he was more aware of her wounded leg now and that there wasn't a rush to get there.
Over time, Youki felt an ache coming to her leg; but she choose to ignore it; with the village insight, she didn't want to stop. However, she wound up limping, and Suigetsu noticed.
"You know we can rest,"
"I'm all right," She told him, but her wound had begun to throb, and every time she thought of sitting down and resting, it made the sensation worse.
Rolling his eyes he slipped his arm under her arm, so he was holding her; "You don't have to put so much weight on it. Should help it ease off a bit,"
"It's not that far…" She began, but he forced her forward.
"Exactly, and you don't want to damage you're leg any more than it has been," He pointed out, causing her to become quiet.
Once they entered the village, a few of the villagers came forward to see the two. No questions were asked, the people were just curious rather than nosey, they were old enough to know how the medics work, but the two could plainly see the worry in their eyes.
As they reached there flat, Suigetsu opened the door, and once the two entered it they sat down on the sofa, closed their eyes; and drifted into a peaceful slumber.
