Tossing a large piece of iron to the side in anger, Togusa continued to sift through the large pit of debris left over from the collapse of the sound fortress in search of what they had originally come there for. It had been three days since their plan to use the squad from the Hidden Mist to weaken Orochimaru's defenses and although it they had only been searching for little over five hours, their task was proving fruitless save for the chance to test the integrity of his newly reattached right arm.
"I don't know Saburo, I think whatever was here is long gone. Either that damn Stone brat destroyed it or Orochimaru took it with him when he bailed on out of here." The man called out as he looked back over towards his comrade across the pit from him as he angrily kicked a crushed metal bookshelf out of his way, causing Saburo to scoff.
"No, we need to keep looking. It took us years to catch this tip. We can't give up." He protested as he caught sight of a book laying a few feet away from him between two pieces of rubble, which he immediately rushed towards and drew from the debris only to discard the book to the side at the discovery that it was empty.
As much as he absolutely hated the thought that what they so desperately sought might no longer be in their grasp, it seemed that most of what had been contained inside the facility was either taken away prior to its destruction or incinerated in the resulting collapse and inferno.
"I feel your frustration brother, I really do. But you can't draw blood from a stone. If it's not here, it's not here." The larger of the two brothers replied before casting his gaze to their female compatriot sitting on the rock ledge above the debris pit alone; the bruises across her face from her disciplinary beating visible from this distance despite her attempt to hide her face with her long sleeves.
"Am I right Miyuki?" He questioned with a boisterous laugh that caused the girl to look away from him and then to Saburo, whose unbandaged eye focused on her in disgust, leading her to remain silent in fear of receiving yet another harsh pummeling.
Following her retreat from the battlefield when forced to fight the tall, blonde, sword wielding mist ninja she had attempted to once again make an escape away from her two traveling companions, though it lasted only a few hours before Saburo managed to catch up to her, instantly taking his revenge in the process.
Seeing her turn her head away Saburo grimaced and turned back towards the pit he was standing in, scanning the debris rapidly with his good eye in anger. That bastard kid from the Hidden Stone. Not only had he taken his eye by pure luck, he destroyed what had taken years to possibly locate; the final piece of their clan's immortality ritual mystery.
"It has to be here… it fucking has to be here!" He growled as he again began to scavenge through the debris, bringing Togusa to place his hand son his hips and sigh in the distance. He too knew they were in a bind, but losing his mind over what he couldn't change certainly wasn't going to help.
"Come on Saburo, this can't be the only place we can find it. What about that guy we ran into a few months ago? The one with the weird mask. What about him?" He questioned as Saburo scoffed.
"That is supposed to be our fall back incase this place fell through, but-" Saburo began to retort before shifting his vision rapidly to a small mound in the debris as it lifted up on it's own and revealed a battered Daiju; his clothing ripped to shreds and his body scared, though it appeared that most of his injuries had already healed during his two days underground.
Standing to his feet as Saburo turned to face him Daiju looked around, immediately spotting Togusa and Miyuki in the distance before focusing his eyes on Saburo a few feet away from him.
"You… you're the man who tried to strike a deal with Orochimaru a few weeks ago. Saburo." He immediately stated as Saburo placed the palm of his hand on the hilt of his blade and stared at the man who, in his time underground, had reverted back to his normal, unactivated state.
"And?" The irritated man replied as Daiju's eyes narrowed on him, bringing him to slowly move towards him over the debris.
"You orchestrated all of this, didn't you? Lord Orochimaru denied your request and instead of being grateful and leaving with your lives, you decided to take matters into your own hands." Daiju questioned as his seal slowly began to activate and spread across his body as the man became angered at Saburo's presence. He didn't even need to answer his question as he already knew the answer, forcing Saburo to sprint forward and draw his blade from its sheath, though as he neared in on Orochimaru's henchman Daiju formed a large claw and grabbed the blade.
"You insolent scum!" He exclaimed as he yanked the blade out of Saburo's hands and tossed it towards Togusa who reached out and caught in his hand with little concern. He knew Saburo was more than capable of handling himself against this cursed seal freak, even in his injured state.
Sliding backwards to avoid Daiju's follow up swing, Saburo grunted in annoyance at the loss of his favorite tool and held his hand out to the right side of his body to gather his chakra into his palm, creating a screeching, chirping ball of electric energy.
"I don't need that sword. You are a fool." He calmly replied as Daiju transmuted his left arm into a shield and his right into a lance, watching as the yellow chakra in his right hand arced to the surrounding debris.
"I've seen this before, on Lord Orochimaru's pet. I'm not afraid of this, nor am I of you!" He exclaimed as he charged forward towards the cocky samurai wannabe and reared his lance back, though as he closed in on Saburo he found himself coming to a sudden, irreversible stop as his foot touched the ground, holding him against his will.
"W-What?!" The man questioned as his eyes darted around rapidly until they landed on his foot, finding that wrapped around his ankle was a dark glowing purple hand that had emerged from the ground.
However, instead of simply restraining his leg's movement the hand was able to control his whole body save for his eyes causing it to tremble, bringing him to look to Tongusa and then to Miyuki, the later of which held a single hand sign up to her dissatisfied face as her eyes emitted a bright yellow glow.
"W-What is this?!" Daiju added angrily as Saburo's slowly formed a grin.
"Good girl, Miyuki. I guess you learned from your mistakes." He stated as Saburo's eye shifted back to Daiju, displaying a bloodthirsty look of satisfaction.
"We call it Soul Drag… developed by my grandmother during an era long ago, and only capable of being used by someone who posses both the Yin Release nature transformation traits and our special… understanding of the death god Jashin. Once it makes contact it freezes and disables the nervous system, trapping a victim and keeping them from moving, attacking… anything." He explained as Daiju struggled to break free of the attack.
All of his strife was in vain however as moments later Saburo dashed forward and penetrated his hand through Daiju's chest and through to the other side, completely negating his armored skin and causing the man to gasp for air as his lungs filled with blood.
"Y-You… you…" Daiju gargled while his seal slowly retracted, revealing his pale skin and dark hair once again as the life slowly drained from his body, bringing Miyuki to release her hold on the man and allow him to collapse to the ground.
Watching his body hit the dirt, Saburo's eyes immediately returned to the base's remains before taking a deep breath and closing his eye.
"We are done here." He stated as Togusa walked towards him and handed him back his blade before looking down at Daiju's corpse.
"I told you so. What now?" He questioned as Saburo looked back towards Miyuki as she stood up and looked away in shame of using her abilities to kill yet another victim, though this only caused Saburo to grin.
As much as Miyuki hated to admit it she was a valuable asset to their cause, one that has kept her alive despite all of her object and rebellion over the years. She was the first Yin Release user they had located in decades, or at least the first who they were able capture and successfully adapt to their seemingly barbaric rituals.
Neither he nor Togusa were capable of utilizing Yin Release, and with many of their clan's most powerful secret techniques requiring the nature transformation it was important that the girl remain loyal and compliant.
"Let's head back to the mountain. We will plan our next move from there." He replied as he took his sword from Togusa's hand and replaced it into its sheath before making his way towards Miyuki to exit the pit, disgusted with the outcome of their adventure as a whole.
Having been traveling for almost three whole days Takao, Kisa and Akito were beginning to come close to Konoha with their goal not far from reach. If they continued on their pace they would be within the village's walls by nightfall, but rather than fill them with ease this fact instead brought on a heightened state of anxiety.
They were still unsure whether or not Akito's plan was going to work. There had been no prior communication with Konoha about their intent to seek asylum or even about their impending arrival, with the whole success of the plan hinging in just how good of a relationship with the village Akito truly had.
Watching Akito as he walked and chatted with Takao ahead of her, Kisa once again found herself staring at the back of the boy's head, deep in thought.
The notion that their fate was in the hands of someone who they had only known for a few weeks was something completely alien to her given the previously independent nature of not only their group but herself as well, and while she was terrified to know what would happen if Konoha turned them away she also trusted his judgment. If he believed that this would work she needed to as well.
However, with Jun's death and the events leading up to it still fresh on her mind believing that anything could ever work out from this point forward was hard. The piece of the world his absence had created could be felt at every moment of the day; the weight of it's grief and agony hammering away at her weakest moments.
Several times over the past few days she found herself crying, forcing her to do whatever was necessary to prevent Akito and Takao from seeing though it wasn't always possible to do so, leaving both of her friends concerned and causing the former to frequently check on her; another notion that weeks ago would have proved to be an insufferable annoyance but now seemed to be welcomed and even sought.
What was it about Akito that was so easily breaking down the hard, independent demeanor she had spent years building up? On more than one instant she found herself being forced to fight opening up further to him, though she was unsure why, or why she was fighting it so hard.
Was this because of Jun? She had no doubt the trauma of his death must have had something to do with it, but yet this was occurring even before they lost him. Why?
Still watching the boy Kisa's eyes widened a bit as he turned his head to check on her, causing the two of them to lock their vision together for a few seconds before she nodded to say that she was okay, at which point Akito smiled a bit and returned his attention to Takao.
Waiting until he turned around to form her own small grin Kisa's eyes lowered to his clan jacket tucked across the straps of Jun's backpack on his back as it blew gently in the mid-afternoon breeze. The first day and a half their journey was rather damp, so given the warm weather and calm wind that graced the day the three took the chance to dry their outermost layers, once again exposing the wraps that stretched all the way from his wrists to under the sleeves of his undershirt.
Although his jacket likely kept the bandages from becoming soaked she thought that with how much rain they had received he would have wanted to give his arms some fresh air but it seemed that he still held a lingering uneasy feeling when it came to his arms. Did the fear of people taking notice to his scars really drive him to hide them from the world at all times?
She could understand not wanting to be stared at however, especially now more than ever. She was already concerned about sticking out amongst the crowds in Konoha because of her clothing, but as she thought about Orochimaru's mark on her neck that anxiety grew as her frost colored hair was likely to lead eyes directly to her.
She had been dying her hair that color for some time now as a homage to her mother, who she never had the chance to meet. She, like her father, had been born with dark brown, almost black hair that was the exact opposite of her mother's naturally bleach blonde locks, and in changing that she had hoped to be a little closer with her, as silly as it sounded.
But now it seemed that connection did little more but automatically draw one's eye to the wretched seal on her skin and the last thing she wanted was for the people of Konoha to fear and resent her should they choose to grant her asylum.
Despite this worry Kisa found herself simply grateful that the seal had yet to activate or do anything other than cause her the occasional bit of pain in her neck. For all they knew the seal could have been some sort of control or paralysis device designed to immobilize her long enough for the madman's goons to come take her, prompting a new level of worry to come over her.
She would rather die than be taken to live underground and experimented on, bringing her to attempt to ask Akito and Takao several times to ensure that she wasn't taken by any means necessary, including killing her, though each time she found herself unable to utter the words as she would never want to put either of them through that.
"How much further do you think, Akito?" She questioned in an attempt to shake the thoughts overwhelming her conscience from her head, bringing both Takao and Akito to look back to her before looking back at the trail in front of them. He could see the mountains that surrounded Konoha's position in the distance and although he had never approached the village from this direction he could guess that they were close now.
"Maybe another hour and a half, closer to two. It's out there past that mountain range." He pointed off into the distance as Takao held his hand up to his eyes to block out the bright sunlight.
"That's not far at all. There's still a few hours of sunlight left, so I'd bet we will be there before dark." He added as Akito nodded and turned back towards Kisa with a small hint of concern before dropping back to her side.
"You okay?" The boy asked as she looked down from the mountains in the distance to his face with a small nod and smile.
"I'm alright, I was just curious. Maybe a bit anxious as well." She replied, bring Akito to look back in the direction of the Hidden Leaf.
"So am I. It's been a little over a year since I was back here… though I'm sure not too much has changed." He replied as he again focused on her eyes.
"The people of Konoha are good people. They will help you and Takao. I know they will." He added, bringing Kisa to nod once with a small grin.
"I trust your judgement, I just… really hope that is the case. The sooner we can get home the better, but I think taking it slow until we can figure this all out is the best thing we can do." Kisa replied as Akito agreed and looked back towards the path ahead, only to stop as Kisa spoke up again.
"What will you do when we get there? If Konoha lets us stay, I mean." The girl asked as Akito's smile slowly faded to blank expression. Was she asking if he was going to stay with them? If he had to be honest that was what his heart was telling him he should do, but at the same time his heart was stepping in loud and clear with a voice of it's own, reminding him of his duty to his village.
"I will stay in town for a few days… long enough to make sure everything is going to be alright. But after that I will have to go back to Iwa." He stated as Kisa stared at him, secretly holding her breath in protest. They had been traveling together for weeks now and even if well over half of that time was spent holding him prisoner she couldn't help but feel like separating ways, especially at a time like this, was wrong.
"And if they don't?" She asked as a direct follow up, causing Akito to tilt his head a bit to the side. The way she spoke made it seem like she was concerned, though he was unsure if it was because of the possibility of Konoha's rejection or his departure.
"Then I… I will come with you back to Kirigakure." He replied with a bit of hesitation, causing Kisa's eyes to widen and Takao to turn and look at him with a grin.
"Really now? Pretty bold move given the friction between our villages." Takao stated as Akito looked to each of them before focusing down on the road in thought.
"I saw Saburo's trick. I could act as first-hand proof that you, Kisa and Jun did nothing wrong." He replied before turning back to Kisa, unsure if that was the only reason why. Kisa was concerned that they could be imprisoned or even killed for their crime before they have the opportunity to clear their name, and that was something he wasn't going to allow to happen. If he didn't stick around until the end of this and something happened to the two of them, how could he live with himself knowing he could have helped stop it?
Akito didn't need to say anything for Kisa to know that even he thought that idea was risky for his own health, driving her understanding that he was doing this entirely for them in an effort to maintain his promise of keeping them safe.
"You would really do that for us?" She questioned as the remained staring at one another, bringing him to nod.
"I would need to let the Tsuchikage know but… yes. I would." He replied as his eyes drifted off of her towards the ground with a hint of embarrassment at how long they were staring at one another. When he set out to bring Deidara home he never thought this would be the outcome, but he wasn't going to just leave them to deal with it on their own, even if he was sure they could handle it.
Swallowing nervously as she watched him look down, Kisa stepped forward towards him, conflicted by her thoughts and emotions yet again. As much as she was hoping Konoha would step in to act as a mediator in this issue the thought that Akito could possible be around longer if they were forced to head back home was strangely relieving, once more causing her to question why she seemed to feel connected to him.
Opening her mouth to speak Kisa's eyes grew wide as on the road in front of them a group of seven suddenly appeared and were almost immediately identified as Hidden Mist Anbu by their attire, causing them to take a step back as Kisa's breath trembled behind her teeth.
"Damnit." She groaned as the group remained still spread out across the road in front of them to prevent them from passing. This was exactly the type of thing she was afraid of; Kiri's attempt to silence the problem they had caused before it grew any worse.
"Takao Moshi. Kisara Hakaru. I was hoping the information was wrong, but yet here you are." A male member of the group stated as he stepped forward, bringing Takao, who had remained in a rather leisurely pose given the fact that they were from their own village, to tilt his head.
"I know that voice. Raigetsu Hozuki?" He replied with a small grin as the man laughed behind his mask, bringing him to pull the half green, half white mask from his face to reveal his medium length, spiky brown hair.
"You always were good with voices, Takao." Raigetsu stated as he held the mask to his side and placed a hand on his hip, casting a momentary glance towards Akito as the boy stepped towards Kisa in a defensive manner before turning to the girl herself, who sighed a bit in relief at the discovery of a friendly face.
"Where is Jun and what the hell happened? Tell me you guys didn't willingly attack, and destroy, a Hidden Sound facility in direct violation of the Mizukage's orders." Raigetsu stated as Kisa shook her head and looked to Takao.
"Of course not. That informant we were sent to meet, a man named Saburo Naito, he set us up! He claimed we were going to be dealing with bandits from Takigakure in some underground hideout, but it was an Otogakure fortress." She snapped in anger while refraining from mentioning their fight with the leader of Otogakure himself, bringing Raigetsu to shake his head in disbelief.
"And Jun? Where is he?" He question, immediately bringing Takao to look away as he clenched his fists in anger.
"Dead. Saburo fucking killed him after the facility was destroyed in an accident." The blonde man added, causing Akito to groan to himself in disgust. He had been quietly dealing with the fact that his destruction of the base likely led to their fight and Jun's death for the past two days, but hearing Takao say it didn't make it any easier, even if neither Takao nor Kisa seemed to blame him.
Hearing news of his friend's death, Raigetsu's features softened a bit to a small frown as he looked down at the Anbu mask in his hands.
"That's too bad. Jun was a good man and he would have made an excellent instructor at the academy." He stated before again looking to the group with a heavy sigh.
"Lady Mei has ordered that you be detained and brought back to Kirigakure to figure this out, and if need be, for trial. I'm sure that you all understand that this is a matter of the village's security." He added as Takao looked to Kisa and then to Akito as the boy stepped forward and spoke up, trying his best to recall the little bits of diplomatic relations he had picked up over the years as Onoki's student while also excluding those he knew were entirely the old man's anger.
"Trial? They did nothing wrong. The whole thing was a deceptive trap, just like Kisa said." He stated as he came closer to Raigetsu and instantly caught his eye in the process.
"I'm not sure who you are Iwa, but I assure you that it is not me they will have to prove that fact to. Mind your own business." Raigetsu replied with a tinge of annoyance as he returned his attention to his fellow shinobi.
"I am requesting that you and Kisa come peacefully, Takao. Lady Mei had authorized us to eliminate your team should the absolute need arise. Please don't make it." The man continued before once again returning his cold eyes to Akito.
"And you will go your separate way." He added, causing Akito's blood to boil as Kisa's hand raised up to her chest to try and hold back the racing heart inside.
Go back to Kirigakure to face trial? They were so close to Konoha they could almost see it on horizon, and Akito; would they really force them to part ways? What about his plan, his promise? He was their friend and their key to proving their innocence in this whole disaster. How could they just leave him?!
"Aki..." She began, but as her voice left her lips something inside of her suddenly caused her breath to quiver and her hands to tremble as her heart continued to beat faster and faster.
In a matter of days her whole world had been flipped upside down. Jun was gone, everything she and Takao had ever worked for was hanging by a thread and now she would be forced to undergo trial for a crime they were tricked into committing; a crime so severe that the Mizukage told Raigetsu and his team to kill them if they must!
"No… no, this…" She whispered to herself as she began to break down with her eyes locked to Akito, who remained oblivious to her rising mental distress as he shook his head and continued to dispute Raigetsu's demands.
"If they have to go back to Kiri I'm coming with them. I saw the whole thing, I can prove it wasn't them. That's why we were on our way to Konoha, so that this whole thing could be handled through a neutral, unbiased party." He protested although once again Raigetsu stared him down and slowly developed a scowl across his face.
"You are not welcome in Kiri and interference in our affairs by you or Konoha is not appreciated. I can assure you that none of the men and women on my team are above killing a wayfaring Stone ninja for what you've done to our people, so consider this a gift and step back." Raigetsu said in an obvious threat as the other six Anbu members stepped towards him, bringing Takao to intervene.
"Akito it was a good try, but there's nothing we can do about it now." He stated as he reached out and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, though in anger and unwilling to give up Akito knocked it off and stepped even closer to Raigetsu.
He had remained calm up until this point even following Raigetsu's threat against him, but he certainly wasn't going to let Takao and Kisa be punished for something they didn't do, especially when he could help prove their innocence! He wasn't going to just back down!
"What's going to happen to them if for some reason they are found guilty, huh? What if she doesn't believe them? Then what, your just going to punish them anyway just like the Mist always has?!" He questioned rapidly with a snarl as he came nearly face to face with the Kiri operative, angering him to the point of action with his insolence.
In one move Raigetsu drew a senbon from his pouch and slashed it across Akito's left cheek to physically threaten him, causing him to yelp in pain and stagger backwards as Kisa's eyes widened and focused on Akito with an audible gasp.
"A-Akito." She grunted as the strange feeling that came over her became almost unbearable, causing her to drop to her knees and grab her head as she began to cry out in pain; the seal on her neck glowing bright for a moment before beginning to spread across her skin in branches similar to it's original snowflake design as all eyes landed on her, including Akito as he reached up to hold pressure on his superficial wound.
"Kisa!" He immediately stated as he took a knee by her side, watching helplessly as the seal spread across her neck and down her arms before encircling around her face, causing Akito to grunt in frustration amidst her continued scream.
"Kisa what's happening?!" He questioned as a dark purple aurora began to emit from around the girl's body, spiking her chakra levels and bringing Raigetsu's eyes to widen in both surprise and distrust.
"Whatever you are doing you need to stop it right now Kisara. I will not tolerate aggression, regardless of how long I've known you two." He stated as he took a step towards the girl and their Stone traveling companion, bringing Takao to hold a hand out in front of him to stop him.
"Wait Raigetsu. Whatever this is it isn't her fault. The leader of Otogakure marked her with some sort of seal." He warned as Raigetsu grunted in surprise and looked back towards the girl who had since stopped screaming in surprise, both at the fact that they had encountered the man known as Orochimaru and at the danger now growing in front of him.
Unlike the others he was privy to the details in the reports coming in about Otogakure's experiments. People taken against their will to be experimented upon, mutated and mutilated beyond recognition as well as dabbling into what the man called curse marks; illegal research conducted in the ways of juinjutsu.
"She's been marked by Orochimaru's curse. That's not good." Raigetsu replied as his eyes remained locked to Kisa and the boy on his knees beside her, who out of desperation placed both of his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to snap her out of the trance she was in.
"Kisa, look. Look at me." He pleaded over and over before managing to peel the girl's vision away from the ground before her, causing her eyes to snap to his with a sudden, eerie motion that brought him to visibly recoil.
"A-Akito." She said softly as the boy shook his head with a sigh of relief that she was at least talking despite the seal that had now spread across her whole body, though before he could reply her eyes focused on the laceration on his face and the blood that ran down from it.
Without hesitation the wide-eyed girl reached up, cupped his cheek with her hand and used her thumb to close the wound, causing the boy to stare in surprise before watching her turn her eyes to the man who had inflicted harm upon her friend, filling her with anger; anger she had never quite felt before. This man was threatening everything they had ever known and had hurt her friend. He was the enemy, they all were, and they had to go!
Standing to her feet as she continued to stare Raigetsu down Kisa's teeth began to gnash tightly together, causing the man to place his mask back on his face and reach up for the sword slung over his right shoulder.
"Don't do it Kisa." He warned as Kisa's hands began to glow with chakra in the shape of dual scalpels, bringing Akito's eyes to widen with concern as he stood up as well and reached out to grab her arm, though before he could do so the girl charged forward past Takao towards Raigetsu at lightning speed.
Flickering in front of the group of Anbu, Kisa let out a loud cry of anger as she swung both of her chakra blades towards the man in a whirlwind fashion, forcing him to evade and prepare to strike her down with his sword, though as slashed forward a bolt of ice shot from the ground and pinned his arm in place, leaving him defenseless.
Letting out a grunt of frustration, Raigetsu watched as Kisa's right hand reared back and prepared to pierce his throat before the girl was violently kicked away by one of his subordinates as they rushed to his aid.
"Kisa!" Akito exclaimed, rushing forward to assist the girl as she struck a tree only to be stopped by two of the Anbu who flickered between him and Takao.
"Stop right there boy. This is your final chance to run." A man stated behind his blue mask while the other, a kunoichi hidden by a yellow mask of similar design, drew her sword.
"Anything other than that will result in your death!" She added as Akito grunted, watching as two other Anbu operatives moved in the encircle Takao while the remaining three engaged in combat against Kisa.
Hearing the kunoichi's words Takao immediately looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with Akito who, even though Takao had not said a single word, could tell he was being instructed to run, though that was so far out of the question it wasn't even in the same realm of existence. There was absolutely no way he was going to leave them like this, especially with Kisa in this manic state.
"I don't think so!" He replied as he dropped the backpack he was carrying onto the ground, bringing the yellow-masked Anbu to scoff and step forward to cleave him in two, forcing the boy to parry the blade away and strike rapidly at the kunoichi's stomach; punching her twice before kneeing her as hard as he could away from him to focus on the man in the blue mask charging towards him.
"Just another Stone ninja's head to add to my wall then!" He exclaimed while tossing a handful of shuriken at Akito who narrowly dodged the attack and formed hand signs to summon a rock wall between him and the sword wielding kunoichi as she recovered.
Watching Akito's defiance and his now escalating struggle against his village's Anbu, Takao sighed.
"Well. I told him to run." He stated as his right hand sank down into his kunai holster and calmly drew a blade from the pouch, putting the two Anbu circling around him, red and orange on guard.
"Are you going to fight as well Takao? Are you insane?! This isn't helping prove your innocence!" One of them said with a hint of concern as Takao shook his head.
"How can I not? Kisa is more than just my squad mate, she's my sister." He replied as he raised the kunai towards his mouth and laughed.
"And Akito? He's not bad." He added as the two Anbu immediately converged on him to try and catch the upper hand on the preparing shinobi, though the second the two made their move Takao tossed the knife into his teeth and drew Senso from it's sheath on his back, instantly locking it to the two Anbu as they swung.
"He's also not the only one who could fight tooth and blade!" He scoffed with a grin before performing a whirlwind attack to knock the two and go on the offensive while being careful not to kill those who were attacking him. Even if they were their enemy now they still were of the same blood and allegiance and no good could come from killing them. If they truly hoped to be free they needed to escape their grasp with as little violence as possible.
Hearing her sword strike the stone wall in his place Akito's eyes immediately shifted to the man wearing the blue mask as he inhaled air and expelled a large water dragon towards him, forcing Akito to disappear into the ground to avoid a possibly fatal crush from the swift moving water.
Snicker beneath the mask the man immediately then lifted his hand in the air, charged it with electricity and smashed it into the ground to rapidly conduct his high voltage attack into the boy. However as he did so Akito suddenly emerged beside him and slammed his fist into the man's face, activating a rather limited blast of energy that knocked him directly to the ground in a harsh manner and forced his yellow compatriot to step in to defend him.
"An Explosive Release user!? There aren't supposed to be any of them left!" She question in frustration as she jumped between the boy and her friend while swiping the blade down towards him and forcing him to jump backwards to avoid the strike. Sliding to a stop Akito grunted in displeasure at her knowledge of his family's fatally diminished numbers as the man on the ground lifted himself back up onto his feet and readjusted his cracked mask.
"Well there is going to be one less when we get done here. Maybe this will finally make his wretched clan extinct." He added with a laugh as Akito gnashed his teeth together harder than he already was. He needed to break free from these two and get to Kisa before something else happened!
Charging forward as fast as he possibly could towards the snickering man, Akito again raised his fist to strike as he prepared a wad of clay in his hands. Because of their battle a few days earlier he had very little explosive clay remaining in his reserve, so whatever bit of he had needed to be rationed and used sparingly.
"Shut your mouth!" He exclaimed as he neared the man and willingly allowed the woman at his side to cut his body in two in order to replace himself with a clone which, much to her dismay, split into two separate forms and began to attack her as it slowly became two whole Akitos.
"We'll show you extinct!" Both clones shouted at once as they individually targeted the two Anbu members who in ignorance attempted to bisect the two clones, only to have their blades stuck inside of their glutinous bodies and giving Akito a chance to make a break for Kisa's side.
Charging once again towards Raigetsu as she froze the ground beneath both the pink and purple operatives to cause them to slide, the girl let out a hellish scream of fury fueled by the lingering fury inside.
"You bastard, leave us alone!" She cried as she dispelled the scalpel in her left hand and instead replaced it with a handful of ice shards, now more rugged and misshapen looking than her usual due to the curse mark's taint, before tossing them towards the man who parried them with his blade and charged towards the girl.
"You know I can't do that, Kisa! What had gotten into you?!" Raigetsu questioned as he attempted to use a swift-strike kenjutsu in order to cut her in half, though Kisa quickly drew two kunai from her pouch and blocked his strike before angrily kicking him in the stomach, causing him to stagger backwards as multiple ice spikes rose rapidly from the ground around him.
Evading the spikes as quickly as he could, Raigetsu somersaulted backwards onto a pillar of earth that he hastily brought forth from the ground, formed hand signs and inhaled as much air as he could before exhaling a great amount of water towards her as quickly as possible, tearing the ground up in the process.
However, just as the water was about to strike the girl to deal a massive amount of physical force the giant bullet froze into a giant teardrop of ice that, much to his surprise, the girl dove into and used to almost instantly transport herself towards him.
"Huh?!" He grunted as Kisa emerged from the tip of the bullet closest to him with her fist reared back to strike him, allowing him a closer look at the curse mark that had spread across her body. In that instant he could tell that this was indeed the same affliction Orochimaru had been placing on certain members of community, though most of his surprise lay in the curse itself.
From everything they had heard the application and implementation of the curse mark had a near ninety percent fatality rate amongst its users, so the fact that she was not only alive but also capable of using it in combat was both intriguing and unfortunate.
Grabbing Kisa's hand as she attempted to punch him in his face, Raigetsu's eyes widened as from below the girl's other fist emerged holding a large spear of ice which suddenly elongated and pierced him through the chest, though only after a second his body liquified into a malleable form and backed away from the blade, freeing her up for both pink and purple to strike.
Seeing the two coming towards her from both sides with their weapons drawn Kisa snarled in anger and forced herself backwards from the pillar before forming a large ice mirror behind her and disappearing into it, only to reappear through another mirror seconds later behind the man with the pink mask.
"Guah!" He exclaimed as he spun around to smash the mirror though he was too slow, resulting in Kisa grabbing ahold of his arm and dragging him into the mirror with her before once again forming another mirror in the distance from which she expelled the Anbu back out; both of his arms now broken badly enough to show obvious deformity.
Listening as her comrade cried out in excruciating pain as he impacted the ground the purple masked kunoichi quickly spun around and smashed her own trap mirror as it appeared behind her to prevent suffering the same fate, although much to her dismay another mirror opened up in front of her.
Acting quickly the kunoichi jumped back away from the opened portal and peppered the ice with shuriken and senbon to prevent Kisa from exiting, though instead a trail of ice spewed forth and quickly navigated across the ground towards the woman, freezing her feet to the ground and holding her in place long enough for Kisa to reappear behind her.
With a gasp of shock the purple Anbu spun to face the girl as fast as she could though it was not fast enough to prevent Kisa from taking advantage of her frozen position to rapidly strike her in the side with her fist several times, breaking her ribs in the process.
Screaming from her breaking bones the operative drew a kunai from her pouch and slashed the girl across the back as she ducked, though in her altered stated she barely felt the attack and instead spin-kicked the Anbu so hard that it not only broke her free from the ice but sent her flying off into a tree with enough force to cause her to black out.
Seeing the girl fly past him into the tree, Raigetsu grimaced in disgust behind his mask and huffed in annoyance. Branding a kekkei genkai user of this power with his seal must have been Orochimaru's plan all along and, if the reports were correct, it wouldn't be long before he came to claim her as his prize. They needed to end this fast and make for Kiri immediately, even if that meant taking back a corpse.
Standing up straight as Kisa's bloodthirsty eyes focused on him the leader of the Anbu unit took a deep breath and held the blade of the sword to his nose to balance himself to strike. With her curse mark driven rage he knew that he would have to resort to some of his more advanced techniques, many of which could prove deadly though he knew he was left with little choice given the situation.
"I'm sorry Kisa." He stated as his blade began to glow with chakra and his eyes narrowed on the cursed girl before him, bringing him to focus as he again charged towards the woman, intending to end their struggle within moments.
Locking Senso to both of his opponents blades once again, Takao shifted the weight on his heel and shoved both of the Anbu back before spinning the blade once over his head and slamming the it down into the ground between them with enough force to cause the stone below to split and the blade to become lodged, allowing him to jump up onto it's pommel and balance himself.
"Come on, is that all you've got?!" He questioned from behind the handle of the kunai in his mouth as he drew Heiwa from its scabbard and stared down the two steadfast, emotionless masks in front of him.
"You Anbu are supposed to be the best of the best; the most highly skilled shinobi our village has to offer, and yet you haven't even landed a scratch on me!" Takao again taunted with a laugh as both the red and orange operatives steadied their blade.
"We were going easy on you because you are our fellow shinobi, Takao! But that ends now!" The red taunted as Takao snickered.
"Yeah, okay. Put your money where your-" He began to taunt once more as both shinobi rushed him at once, bringing him to grin at the success of his trap and waiting for the two to come close to inhale a short breath of air between his teeth, which he then used to propel the kunai in his mouth towards the orange Anbu at great speed.
As expected the man parried the weapon away but what he hadn't realized was that a bomb tag had been tethered to the end, causing an explosion that knocked him off course and separated him from his partner, opening the man up to Takao's follow up attack.
"Aha!" He exclaimed as he dashed forward and locked blades back and forth with his masked foe until Takao slid his weapon all the way down to the crossguard, at which time he snagged the weapon, tore it away from it's wielder and grabbed the man's head with his free hand before headbutting him as hard as he could, disorienting him and causing him to stumble backwards.
Wasting no time Takao immediately reached out and grabbed Senso with his free hand and in one motion drew the blade out of the ground, swung it around behind him and struck the ninja in the side of the head with the dull edge of the weapon, instantly knocking him out cold.
With a grin Takao watched the Anbu fall to the ground before redirecting his focus on the orange mask rushing towards, bringing him to holster Senso and once more rely on agility rather than brute force as he somersaulted backwards to avoid the man's swing.
"Takao you bastard, you're going to regret that!" The man threatened as Takao grinned, drew another kunai from his holster and swung it around his finger before using both weapons to clash against his foe while simultaniously trying his best to catch a glimpse of his friends out of worry, only to gasp as he witnessed Kisa and Raigetsu charging at one another.
"Kisa!" He called out to her in concern as the two closed the gap between themselves only to have a large rock wall appear between them to keep one another, causing both of them to slide to a stop. Grunting in annoyance as Akito came to a stop beside her, Kisa's eyes immediately shot to the boy who without hesitation stepped in front of her to try and stop her attack.
"Kisa, Kisa stop!" He warned as she gnashed her teeth together and shook her head, trying to make light of the brain fog in her mind.
"Get out of the way Akito!" She screamed in anger as Akito immediately declined, though before he could speak the wall behind him suddenly split into pieces and collapsed into a flowing landside of water and stone.
Gasping in surprise Akito grabbed ahold of the girl and stepped backwards into the ground to sink below the point of impact, only to be immediately torn back out from the ground as their opponent summoned his own rock wall.
Separating the two and throwing them up in the air above his water flow Raigetsu dashed forward towards the boy interfering with his kill and prepared his sword to strike him down.
"You should have left while you had the chance!" He exclaimed as he swung the blade, causing Kisa's eyes to widen and her hands to grab the stone pillar to propel herself towards Raigetsu.
"NO!" She screamed as she rammed into the Anbu, knocking him back away from Akito and to the ground before diving down onto of him in an attempt to pierce him through with a spear made of ice.
Spotting the attack as he recoiled off of the ground Raigetsu rolled himself to the side to avoid the blow and swiftly thrusted his sword up at the girl. Dodging the blade by merely an inch as it passed by her chest, Kisa reached out to grab his mask to freeze the water in his head before being kicked backwards into the air by both of the man's feet.
Taking advantage of the brief distance caused by his act, the Anbu leader instantaneously began to form hand signs to deal his crippling blow though once again Akito intervened, this time using a massive wave of fire exhaled from his mouth to drive Raigetsu back.
However, as much as he tried to keep Kisa away from Raigetsu she continued to charge after him, bringing the boy to grunt as he watched her somersault to a stop on her feet and dash right back towards him, as if she was being compelled to do so by some outside force.
"Kisa, no!" Akito yelled as he once more rushed forward after her, watching the two clash back and forth for a second before Kisa punched the Anbu in the chest and formed a large ice crystal formation in his chest that pierced through his body, but just as it seemed she had won the man's body he suddenly liquified and shifted behind her while from a pouch he drew a kunai.
In surprise Kisa gasped and immediately turned, grabbed ahold of his arm and froze the liquid he had turned into in an effort to stop his attack, though it was too late, leaving her unable to do anything but cry out in pain as the knife pierced through her armor beneath her right breast and into her ribs.
Freezing his right arm enough to break it off just above the wrist, Kisa immediately shattered her ice and backed away from the screaming Anbu while from their side Akito landed and reared his fist back to strike, forcing the now one-handed man to quickly reform and move away as a rock wall again emerged form the ground to try and separate him from the two.
Finishing his wall Akito turned around and watched as Kisa collapsed to her knees and grabbed at the blade in her side, holding onto it's handle for a moment before yanking it from between two of her ribs with a loud cry and tossing it to the ground.
"Kisa!" He gasped as he knelt by her side, looked at the wound and then to the girl who much to his surprise was staring at him rather than treating what could prove to be a fatal injury, bringing Akito to place his hand over the wound to try and keep her from losing blood. She was trembling and her breath was both rapid and shallow. Did the blade pierce her lung?
"Heal yourself, I will-" The boy began to instruct with the intent of buying her time, but half way through his words her eyes widened with pain as she doubled over and let out a sharp scream that caused Akito to jump in surprise. She hadn't been screaming like this up until now, leading him to fear that something else was now at work.
Looking down at the kunai at her side the boy reached forward with the hand that wasn't holding pressure on Kisa's wounds to pick it up, taking a few seconds to examine the blade before grunting in anger. He could see that there were fine grooves cut across the weapon's edges which aside from Kisa's blood he assumed also contained traces of poison; something not uncommon for both Anbu or Kiri shinobi to utilize.
Still whimpering in pain Kisa's eyes focused on the blade as well, bringing her to grunt as she tried to fight the intense burning in her side as unbeknown to her the curse seal across her body began to retract, bringing with it some of her cognitive thought.
"I-It's poison." She muttered through the pain as blood began to run down her lip, bringing Akito to toss the blade to the side with a snarl as he took her hand with his and held it over her wound in a sort of forceful act that caused her eyes to lock back to his, though she could see that it was worry that was causing him to do so.
"A-Akito." She stated as she slowly began to heal her wound for a second before suddenly stopping and grunting through her teeth as the boy's eyes widened. He could see now that the seal was retracting back to it's point of origin on her neck, though he wasn't entirely sure if that was good or bad at this point in time given the fact that she continued to bleed profusely from her wound.
"Kisa." He said softly in an attempt to calm her as he placed his other hand on her shoulder before looking up to Raigetsu as he as well as both the yellow and blue masked operators appeared in a circle around them.
"So you are an Explosive Release user, huh? I should have known by that symbol on your lapel and flak jacket. How very rare." The leader immediately said with a small tinge of pain as he wrapped a bandage around his now absent right hand, prompting Akito to grunt in anger.
"What did you do to her?!" He immediately retorted without acknowledging his statement as Raigetsu looked at the injured girl who he could see was in obvious distress.
"I haven't done anything. Atleast, anything to do with her current affliction. My poison is a slow acting nerve agent designed to slowly yet steadily impede her movements. But this… this is some kind of reaction or side affect of that curse mark on her neck." He stated as Akito grunted and looked back down at Kisa who now seemed to be having a hard time staying awake.
"Well stop the poison at least! If she wasn't being paralyzed maybe-" He began to protest as Raigetsu finished wrapping his stump and held up his good hand out to silence him in his tracks.
"No. This has to be done and if it results in her death… so be it." He stated, again angering the boy as Kisa's eyes closed and the girl fell onto her side as he watched her drift out of consciousness.
"Kisa. Kisa!" He called frantically as he tightened his grip on her hand and turned his attention to Raigetsu.
"Y-You fucking bastard! She's from your village, one of your own! This whole thing is a mistake, a horrible accident that's not her fault... and you are just going to let her die for it!" Akito screamed as both blue and yellow prepared their weapons in front of them.
"You don't understand what it is that Orochimaru has done to her, do you? That thing, that curse mark, is going to consume her. It will rot her mind and turn her into a monster; something more dangerous than you could ever imagine." Raigetsu stated as the Anbu kunoichi beside him spoke up as well.
"We've run into several of his creations over the years. Men turned into freaks with malleable flesh they used as weapons, creatures that were barely alive but that yet still breathed. Anything that man touches turns to something from a nightmare." She added, furthering Akito's anger as his eyes looked back to Kisa in thought despite his boiling blood.
From their description it sounded almost like they were speaking about the men they encountered in Orochimaru's fortress. Could this curse mark really turn her into one of them? Was she really doomed as Raigetsu believed?
Swallowing nervously Akito's heart raced as his eyes lingered on Kisa's pained face, contemplating his options. At this rate it seemed that Kisa would die if she didn't receive immediate care; a thought that twisted both his stomach and heart into an painful knot. There was only one option left; they needed to make it to Konoha and fast. But how?
"I've been called a monster before. A freak. People feared me… still do." He stated as he dispelled the stone wall, revealing Takao in the distance as he continued to spar against his opponent and creating a distraction for him to reach back into his clay pouch, pulling from the very bottom the only piece of clay that remained before placing it in his free hand to knead with chakra.
After a moment he then carefully pulled both of their hands away from Kisa's wound and placed his other against it in their stead, causing the hand to cautiously release the clay it had infused into her side. This was not something he had used outside of practice before, being a technique intended for himself should he ever be severely injured in the field alone, causing him to concentrate as hard as he could to ensure it worked as intended.
"What are you doing?!" The man in the blue mask questioned as Raigetsu's eyes turned back from Takao to the boy with a single brow raised in curiosity, motioning for him to be silent. He hadn't noticed before but it appeared that the boy also held Iwagakure's abled kinjutsu as well, but unlike the only other person known to have it he didn't seem to be using it as a bomb factory; at least right now.
Controlling the clay's formation through his chakra, Akito expanded and formed the wad into a semi-porous substance inside of the cavity left behind by the blade in an attempt to slow or completely stop any major bleeding before severing the small trail of clay and revealing the solid clay cast that had attached itself to her skin.
Spotting Takao as he broke off his engagement and ran towards him after seeing Kisa on the ground, Akito stood up on his feet and turned his gaze towards the men threatening his friends' lives; his face muddled with a mix of frustration, worry and anger.
"You might be scared of her, but I'm not. She wasn't afraid of me… I won't be afraid of her." He admitted in a soft, almost disheartened tone before swiftly forming hand signs and causing two twenty foot rock golems to raise from the ground on either side of him, causing the Anbu to gather around their leader to protect him as Akito looked down at his hands, both of which were covered in Kisa's blood.
Clenching his fists as a heavy gust of wind brushed through the valley around them, Akito's eyes darted up to Raigetsu through his wildly flowing hair as he gnashed his teeth in anger and without warning darted forward towards his enemy with murderous intent.
"And I'm sure as hell not going to sit here and watch her die because of you!" He exclaimed as he flickered towards them with his golems in tow, determined to break out from their clutches.