[A/N: Hope ya'll enjoy, sometimes I get too wordy when describing fight scenes. Also hope some of ya'll caught the sneak peek of this chapter though it was unannounced.]
The horrific beast stood taller than the sand monster that assaulted Kohona, a heavy plating natural armor protecting each of its six long legs and abdomen. Through the trees and rain Itachi could see it raise it's mighty head and let out a scream that shook the earth, it's lower jaw extending out into a V-shape, a river of saliva pouring between talon-like fangs. Two leathery tongues tasted the air, water from the sky pouring off of its head and back. It turned it's head around facing to the direction that Itachi and his unconscious ototo were hiding within the trees. Letting out another cry, it's long, whip-like tail came crashing through the forest, knocking over trees like toothpicks, coming right for the Uchihas. He made a shortjump to a nearby tree to use as a baseboard to launch them both over the oncoming massive tail. He easily cleared it, but immediately began to dodge giant trees falling to the ground as they were freshly knocked off of their bases. Cascades of water hit Itachi as he dodged the trees that were hitting the flashflood around him. Suddenly, his ninja skills failed him as he lost his footing on the slick bark of a freshly fallen tree, both he and his brother lost in the current.
The water carried them back, unfortunately right towards the demonic behemoth that had their scent, turning to meet them like a meal delivered on a silver platter. The elder Uchiha's body took a beating as the current slammed him against treetrunks on its way to delivering him to the Destroyer. The sides of the monster's massive skull pushed through the trees, it's mouth opening and both tongues reaching out to grab him. Itachi reached out to try and grab something, anything to hold them back from the gaping open jaws. His fingertips found the trunk of a tree, he used all of the chakra he could muster to cling with his fingertips, knowing that he risked ripping the flesh out of the tree itself but any few seconds he could spare he would. A wave came beneath him, almost knocking him off his steel tight grip on the tree, something was in the water, beneath the surface. He looked on to see something barely breaking the surface, moving quickly through the current towards the jowels of the beast.
The surface broke and none other than a frenzied Lady Shimizu leapt up, her sword drawn behind her. With one hand she brought the sword around, slapping the creature's nose with the flat side of the weapon, smashing the bones at the end of it's snout. Blood and cartilage flew for hundreds of yards away as the monster reared it's neck up, screaming in anger and pain. Lady Shimizu landed on top of the water and ran back to the tree Itachi clung to so helplessly. Snatching them up with her free hand she carried them up the side of the tree, setting them down on a high branch. Itachi coughed up water as he patted Sasuke's back to release any he had accidentally swallowed. "Find a safe place for your brother, open this when you're ready, it will save your lives." She dropped a small scroll into his lap, the wooden casing had artwork and lettering widdled into it that he didn't care to observe. Biting into her wrist, Shimizu spilled more of her own blood, the other wound having ceased to produce enough to be of use. She used her own life juice as ink to write something on the flat of the sword before jumping off of the limb, disappearing in the rain and mist. Itachi gasped for breath and leaned his head back against the tree, looking up to the sky. The world had gone mad. Why had he gone through all of this? Why hadn't he just allowed himself to die at Kohona? What would he possibly do even if he survived this madness? What was the point?
"A-aniki?" a quiet, weak voice called for him. Looking down, Sasuke's eyes were open and he looked up at him. "What's going on aniki? Where are we? Where's momma and father?" Itachi closed his eyes and pulled the child close to him. "You're safe Sasuke, I promise." Feeling a rush of adrenaline and renewed willpower, he stood up and held Sasuke close to his chest, the scroll tight in his hand as he leapt from the branch towards a nearby hilltop that hadn't fallen prey to the rising water. He would find a safe place for his brother and defeat all that stood in their way, even if he had to go straight to the underworld to do it. The goddess must have been smiling on him as atop the hill was a thick willow tree, perfect for stowing his little brother right away into. "Stay here ototo, I'll be back I promise. " He rest his forehead against Sasuke's, sharpening his mind as his thumb rubbed the wooden engraving on the scrollcase. In the distance the hellish monster roared, the sounds of a sharklady's battlecry singing along with it. Sasuke's eyes darted around in fear, but Itachi shushed and reassured him before turning to leave the safety of the tree's foliage. He stepped back out into the rain, removing his soaked shirt to lighten his load and broke the seal on the scroll, sliding it open. A shock of stored energy that had been encased within a blessing written on the scroll released through his arms, leaving burning heat within his chest as the chakra of a sharkfolk mixed with his own.
The hair on his arms and neck rose and his veins became visible through his skin, his reflexes and nerves heightened with the rush of pure energy and adrenaline. He launched himself into the air towards the arena of battle between the sharklady and the demon, dirt flying where his feet had stood from the sheer force of the launch.
X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X
Momiji experty dodged to the right then spun to the left as spikes of water tried to impale him under Kisame's command. He leapt backwards hoping to get away from the water levels only to find himself having to use a short-range teleportation jutsu to avoid being eaten by a gargantuan conjured snake. Why the hell were the Akatsuki doing here? Furthermore what had he done to provoke them into attacking him? This hunt for the Uchihas was proving to be barely worth the trouble, though he had never failed a mission and didn't intend to start now. He stood a chance of escape or minor victory if he could reach his summoned beast that was tearing through the nearby forest. Unfortunately he only made it a few branches away before a pale-skinned ninja used his own teleportation tricks to appear below him and suckerpunch him in the gut, sending him falling into the turbulent waters below, a sharkman and his sword awaiting him.
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Lady Shimizu stood before the enraged monster, her sword having tasted it's black blood, one of it's tongues bent around a tree stump, carelessly being tossed in the current. She formed a single handsign infront of her as she ran towards it, the inscription of blood glowing on the metal of the sword, a single word had been written in holy kanji, and that word was 'Exorcist.' The monster, sporting a shattered snout, several profusely bleeding gashes along its body, and the remnants of its tongue hanging out of its mouth, fueled by rage made a snap at the frenzied shark warrior. To the untrained eye it would have appeared that it had succeeded, but smoke poured from it's closed jaws as the decoy jutsu ended, leaving an unsavory scroll that held a curse of eruption in it. Lady Shimizu appeared behind it's lowered head, driving her blade into the unguarded flesh of it's lower jaw. The creature jerked upwards as the scroll activated and a small explosion ignited, raining chunks of flesh, bone, and blood upon Shimizu. Her blade sliced clean through the remainder of the monster's snout, tearing the lower jaw completely off. The demon raised its head up in agony, the sharklady grabbing a hold of its remaining tongue and hitching a ride up into the air, swinging as close to its body as she could. One hand held onto the leathery tongue, the other holding her sword as the tip tore through the plated skin of the beast like paper. Using momentum she flung herself up into the air and landed on the creature's massive horned head, grasping one of the horns as she caught her breath.
The monster flung itself around in agony, it's mouth more or less destroyed as the entire lower jaw laid on the ground far below it near it's disembodied tongue. Lady Shimizu used her chakra to glue herself to the horn to avoid being thrown off at this height, noticing something moving along the monster's back coming towards her. The Uchiha. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one that had noticed. The beast, despite its agony, noticed the small figure running up its tail and spine. Bringing it's head around as dark blood flowed like a waterfall out of its skull and body, it made as if to try and knock the puny human off, but found nothing but more burning pain as Itachi sent three fireballs into its face. The monster began to ram its head into its own body in a desperate attempt to get it's attacker off of its body, unsuccessfully. Shimizu knew this needed to end fast before the creature found assistance with its handler. One hand still on the horn and another on her hilt she readied her weapon to stab into the top of the skull, hopefully killing it, but something made the hair on the back of her neck rise on end. The Uchiha was getting closer to her and something was wrong, looking down in the direction that the brothel used to be she sensed what was about to happen and released her hold on the monster's horn to run towards the Uchiha she had befriended.
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Momiji had finally managed to break away from the attacking Akatsuki criminals by summoning a few of his more elite pets to at least keep them busy. The sky lit up with the fireworks that the Uchiha he pursued conjured, he couldn't believe his luck. He might be losing his most powerful pet but he had his chance to take home the corpse of the Uchiha and put this madness behind him. Drawing out a curse-laden arrow he fastened it to his bowstring and locked onto his target as it darted up the back of his great beast. Predicting his position by the time the arrow reached him he let the ammunition fly, watching eagerly to witness it pick off the teen and end his mission.
[A/N: Reviews please!]
