Thanks for all your support, guys! Why do I say that, you ask? I don't think I've thanked you all enough. Also, shout out to my beta Ikasury! I've been writing the previous chaps without a beta, so I'm probably going to rewrite the chaps slightly, so they flow better, and so Ikasury approves =). Without further ado, let's go back to the fight! As always, follow, fav, and above all, review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character associated with it, so don't sue me.
Nagato pulled Konan back behind the boulder they were hiding behind and put a hand over her mouth. The two enemy shinobi were too much for them, no questions asked. Konan kicked in his grasp, trying to loosen his grip, but Nagato had a firm grip on her, despite his frail frame.
"Konan, we don't have a chance against them," Nagato reasoned as the girl continued to writhe, "Jiraiya can get Yahiko out, but he can't save all of us," he looked at the girl in his arms, "You need to calm down."
When he told her to calm down, Konan became eerily still. Nagato, being the worrier that he was, leaned forward so he could see her face. Konan's expression had become blank, nothing moving but a solitary tear that was shed. Nagato deciphered the expression immediately; the feeling of uselessness that came with being overpowered. The redhead sighed; he was feeling the same thing.
Time seemed to slow as Jiraiya watched Yahiko jump towards the Tsuchikage and his subordinate. From the look on his face, Yahiko had no idea who he was going against. He had an arrogant smile on his face and was reaching for a kunai. Akio had drawn his swords and was charging at the Iwa-nin, targeting Muu.
"Yahiko! Don't!" Jiraiya knew he reacted too late as he reached his arm out to the air. There was no way he could catch him. The boulder Yahiko had jumped from was only slightly behind the Toad Sage's so Yahiko was already too far past him when Jiraiya had noticed him. Still, he had to try.
Jiraiya leapt from his hiding place, throwing two explosive kunai at the Iwa-nin.
Curiously, the mummified Kage and his short, warty-nosed companion hadn't moved.
Slowly, the Tsuchikage sighed, "Onoki, Take the brats, I'll take the jonin." Muu seemed to consider something, tilting his head and looking into the sky as if choosing a meal at a restaurant. "Don't kill them, though," he added, waving his left hand dismissively, "We want a war with Kirigakure, not Konoha," Muu ordered, moving his right hand up slightly to one of his swords.
"Got it," the short one, Onoki, replied. He turned to Yahiko, who was running towards him while making hand seals. Onoki suddenly ducked to the ground and picked up a pebble, throwing it in the air slightly, where it began floating around him. "Doton: Kajugan no Jutsu."
The man, who was wearing an all-black flak jacket with black pants and undershirt, pushed his hand outward towards the pebble, which took off at an astonishing speed towards Yahiko. The orange-haired boy either didn't see the pebble or didn't recognize the threat from something so small, so it hit him dead center.
When it struck him, Yahiko crumpled. It hit him on his chest with a force so great the orange-haired boy doubled over, coughing as the air was forced out of his lungs. The momentum carried him back until he hit the boulder he had been behind. There was an explosion as he hit, when the dust cleared it revealed Yahiko struggling as if he was being crushed underneath the tiny pebble.
This all happened before Jiraiya's kunai had reached the Iwa-nin. As the Tsuchikage moved to intercept Akio's charge, Onoki put his hand on the ground and shouted, "Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!"
A glove of rock formed around Onoki's right fist. The brown-haired man pulled his fist back and punched, hitting both kunai at once. They exploded, covering the area in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the stone fist was visible, but it was anchored to the ground by a stone pillar, with Onoki nowhere to be found.
"Yahiko!" Nagato cried. He had seen his friend take the blow from the pebble, and had dropped Konan to go help him. The orange-haired genin was far enough away from the real fight that Nagato hoped Jiraiya could cover them. When he reached the struggling boy, Nagato couldn't tell what was wrong. He seemed to be suffocating from nothing. It wasn't until Nagato noticed one of the pebbles on his shirt was dense with chakra that he realized what had happened.
Nagato grabbed the small stone, but winced as he realized he couldn't lift it. This puny stone was killing Yahiko! Nagato continued to pull but the pebble wouldn't budge. Under the rock, Yahiko was squirming and his facial expression was panicked. He didn't even seem to realize Nagato was there he was so intent on breathing again.
"Come on… Come on!" Nagato muttered as he tried to lift the pebble. "Damn it!" It wasn't moving, "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" The pebble was going to suffocate his best friend!
Nagato continued struggling against the pebble, even after Yahiko's squirming had become weaker. When Yahiko's panicky movements stopped, however, was when Nagato got mad. "No, Yahiko! You're not dying here! I won't allow it!" Suddenly, Nagato's hands sparked, and his eyes became sore, but the pebble was loose!
Yahiko began gasping as the crushing weight was removed from him, looking at Nagato in thanks.
Nagato locked eyes with his friend and smiled, then saw Yahiko's expression change to one of fear. The Uzumaki turned around to see Onoki breaking out from under the ground and aiming a stone fist at them. The man literally flew at them, and all the two boys could do was watch. Yahiko couldn't move, and Nagato wasn't leaving him.
"Paper Chakram!"
Onoki was knocked off his path when the giant hoop of paper hit him, a small amount of blood coming from the side that was hit. Konan landed next to Yahiko and Nagato, her gaze drilling into Onoki's soul.
"Get Yahiko somewhere safe, then come back to help. I can hold him off, Nagato," Konan stated, extending her arms outward as paper swarmed around her.
Nagato complied with a nod, supporting Yahiko as they made their way out of the fight.
Onoki, who was currently floating in the air with his arms crossed, smirked, "Trust me, girl, you'll need all the help you can get."
Jiraiya jumped into the cloud of smoke with his kunai drawn. His goal was simple: kill Onoki, and get away from Muu. Sadly, things never work that easily.
The sage's attack hit a detached fist of stone, with no Onoki in sight.
"Damn it," Jiraiya cursed, scanning the area. He looked back to see Nagato helping Yahiko, so they were fine for the moment, the Konoha jonin sighed with relief. He barely had time to react when he looked up and was met with one of Muu's blades inches from his face. How did he get there so quickly? Muu was at least ten meters away when Jiraiya had seen him last!
There was no way to get out of this situation. Muu had gotten close to him with a sword. Jiraiya knew that at that point, he wouldn't be able to defeat the Tsuchikage, only stall him, which was his original goal, but…
There was a flash of silver and the clang of steel meeting steel as Akio intervened.
"Damn it, Jiraiya! I can handle this guy; I don't need you messing me up!" the black-haired man yelled, his sharp teeth bared in annoyance. He had dashed between Jiraiya and Muu, catching the mummified man's sword between his blades. Akio subconsciously noted Muu hadn't drawn his second sword, which could be because he wasn't as good with two swords... but Akio knew that wasn't true. Muu was extremely skilled with dual wielding, as Akio had seen in their last battle. No, Muu was underestimating them.
Akio pushed Muu's blade back and kicked Jiraiya backwards so he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. "Jiraiya, find the Terumi girl! If we don't catch them now, they'll be able to get by us when we're distracted by the battle! Most likely, the carrier is a jonin, so you don't want him to flank us! GO!" Akio yelled, his face set in determination when he spoke.
Akio pushed backwards, facing the Tsuchikage with his shorter sword held over his head and the larger one held loosely near the ground. The Tsuchikage simply stood where he was, watching Akio with a bored and tired expression signified by his drooping eyelids. His body was tense, ready to move at a moment's notice.
Jiraiya was about to object before he realized the truth in the statement; if they let the carrier flank them, the battle would turn out drastically different. He jumped back and looked to the sparse tree line behind them, watching for movement. His gaze drifted to where his team was battling Onoki. At first, the white-haired man was going to help them fight the Iwa-nin, but then he saw Konan blast him with a barrage of paper, and he decided that they could hold out for a moment.
'Wait a minute,' Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw a flash of movement as a tall figure jumped out of the trees behind the fight, aiming straight for Nagato and his wounded teammate.
Jiraiya knew he was too far away to intervene directly… Thinking quickly, he bit his thumb on instinct and pressed his hands on the ground, yelling"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
As soon as he summoned him, the aquamarine toad stood to about Jiraiya's height, taking stock of the situation. However, once he saw the familiar faces of the Ame trio, the toad drew his dual blades and jumped forward with his powerful legs, stabbing the jonin behind Nagato and Yahiko through the chest.
"Gamahiro? What are you doing here?" Nagato asked, confused that one of his sensei's summons was out.
"It's obvious, isn't it? Jiraiya had to make sure I covered for your lack of observation and save you from that shinobi," the toad, Gamahiro, replied, squatting on his back legs. "The first thing you should have said was, 'Thank you for saving me, Gamahiro,' but no one does that anyways. Also, I made sure I missed the kid. She's all yours. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to Jiraiya. Good luck with that Onoki character."
"Oh, Akio… Are we really going to do this again?" Muu's head tilted downward slightly, the bandages where his eyebrows would be raised questioningly. "Last time you lived because of your teammate," the condescending tone in the man's voice became more prominent, and the bandages around his mouth stretched, as if he was grinning, "so I'm pretty sure that, no, you can't handle me," Muu twirled his solitary blade, standing straight and relaxed, making Akio even angrier.
"Don't taunt me, Muu," Akio could feel Muu stoking his anger, pushing it, but he didn't care, "or mention my teammate!" His dark eyes were laced with hatred as he started the Kage down, remembering how bravely his partner had fought that day, and how Muu was now dishonoring him… I-"
"Need to learn respect." Muu sliced at Akio's head, his eyes wide with sadistic excitement, "I am the Tsuchikage, and you're challenging me to a one-on-one kenjutsu battle!" The Kage's hidden grin grew wider, to the point that the bandages were pulled to their full extent, a crazed look in his eyes. "Also," the Tsuchikage lunged forward with his thin blade so quickly Akio barely deflected it, before jumping back again, "don't tell me what to do. I'll taunt you," another swipe barely missed, "I'll crush you," Muu retreated again, raising his hand and clenching it into a fist, "and then follow through when I obliterate your arrogance and leave your ego in pieces, just like I did to your precious friend!" Muu laughed sadistically, cackling that pounded against Akio's pride. Muu looked down from the sky, meeting Akio's gaze and pointing his single blade at him. "I'll rip you to shreds, you foolish shinobi!"
"Shut up!" Akio yelled, his killing intent flaring as he charged forward. He brought the larger blade down from above, while slicing across with the other one, but Muu blocked the slice at his gut and sidestepped the higher attack with ease. Akio flipped his shortblade and attacked his feet, but the Tsuchikage jumped over the blade and began bringing his sword down on the Momochi from the air. However Akio was expecting him to jump, and using his larger sword, which had been embedded in the ground, he jumped and kicked Muu in the chest, knocking him backwards.
Muu slid on the ground, but managed to keep his footing, only to be set upon. Akio's storm of blades pushed the Tsuchikage into an even more defensive position, but Akio seethed when he noticed Muu was still easily blocking his attacks.
"All right… Let's see how you handle this! Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Akio stopped momentarily in his flurry of strikes, making a one-handed sign. Mist seemed to leak from his body as he did so, before it covered the area they were fighting in. Akio faded into the mist, leaving Muu alone.
Muu looked around into the impenetrable mist with a bored expression under his bandages, "Is this it? The most overused technique in Kiri?" his annoyance at the loss of a kill made him angrier. "You don't think I've fought in this before?"
"It's not that I don't think you've fought in it…" Akio Momochi's voice echoed, coming from everywhere at once, "It's that I need to push every advantage I can get until I beat you!"
Akio flickered into existence behind the Kage, bringing both of his swords down vertically at Muu's back.
"Gotcha," Akio smirked.
"Not likely," Akio's face contorted in true fear as he saw another Muu coming out of the original's back, it's face-bandages stretched in a contorted grin, grabbing the leftover blade on Muu's back and blocking his attack. "I've fought your Mizukage before. This jutsu is nothing compared to his!"
"Damn it…" Akio cursed, falling back into the mist to observe.
"However… using my Fission Technique for a full fight would be giving you too much credit. You aren't even worthy to fight two of me!" The extra torso, still attached to the original, melded back into Muu, who cracked his neck and sighed. "Akio Momochi, you truly bore me." He flipped his blade and skillfully returned it to the scabbard. "You are just another shinobi from Kirigakure. Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!" Muu thrust his hands downward, and a transparent cube with a bright, circular center formed under them.
Akio' dark eyes widened and he jumped up and away, running from the Kage in fear, annoyed at himself for forgetting about the Tsuchikage's Jinton techniques.
A few seconds later, the world exploded around him. Akio was knocked into the air, the mist fading as his concentration slipped. His body landed just outside the large crater that had been created. When he tried to get up, the Momochi winced at the pain caused by the bleeding shrapnel wounds dotting his body, while continuing to curse his oversight. He looked up to see Muu walking, unscathed, towards him from the center of the crater, absent mindedly twirling his blade.
"I'll be fine, Nagato. I just needed to catch my breath!" Yahiko grumbled as Nagato set him down against the rock.
"Your lungs were being crushed, and the impact of the pebble-"
"Don't call it a pebble! It was a rock, and if anyone at Konoha asks, it was a boulder!"
"Fine. The impact of the small rock bruised your ribs," Nagato corrected himself, emphasizing small.
"You know what?" Yahiko challenged, standing up while keeping a strong façade through the pain, "You watch the kid, and I'll go fight!"
"That's not how it works. You're hurt, so you get to watch the kid," Nagato replied, glaring at his stubborn friend.
"Umm… I'm seven. I can watch myself!" chirped a female voice. A girl with dark orange hair, dressed in a fancy blue dress that went all the way down to her feet, poked Nagato in the stomach, making him wince. "I'm Mei Terumi, heir to the Terumi clan, users of the Yoton style, and am much more strong than all of you!"
"Shut up, kid," Yahiko yelled, poking her on the forehead.
"Yeah. Also, it's stronger, not more strong," Nagato corrected, pushing her to the side so he and Yahiko could continue arguing.
Suddenly, Jiraiya jumped over their cover, giving each one of them an appraising look, "You kids alright? I have Gamahiro helping Konan, and I'm going to go back too, but I needed to make sure you were alive, Yahiko. The kids at the Academy are really going to love the story of the great Yahiko being crushed by a pebble!"
"It was a rock! A ROCK!" Yahiko yelled, waving his fist at the man. Nagato seemed to be contemplating something before tapping Yahiko on the shoulder and whispering into his ear. Yahiko's rage-filled face was replaced with a sly smile as he looked at Jiraiya.
"Okay, Jiraiya-sensei. We're going to go rejoin the fight, good luck with the brat!" With that, both genin jumped over their sensei, leaving him alone with Mei.
Author's Notes: Wow. I actually was able to write a semi decent fight scene! Tell me what you thought of it, and if you guessed who the kidnapped child was! Thanks for your support, and as always, follow, favorite, and ABOVE ALL, REVIEW!
Nayod.
