Rain's Truth Part II (Rain Part ) 13- Shooting Star
I pick up the picture of our team and sigh. I only just noticed that I was already almost as tall as Kakashi at that point, when we were twelve. Wow. That's pretty sad. I set down the picture and leave the room quietly. It's the middle of the night, but I have to practice with tapping into and using all of my chakra. And there's not much time left to save Sasuke from Orochimaru. It looks like Naruto's moved on to the second exercise already. I remember earlier, Naruto was complaining about not being able to use enough clones to do it, and I extended both the branch he was standing on and the waterfall to fit a hundred doppelgangers. And then Tenzo showed up to relieve me. I pause at the road and look up.
"A shooting star huh?" I sigh and close my eyes, to make a wish. I know what I want…my team back together…Sasuke…I open my eyes and clench my fist. "Here we go." I run to the training ground where I was training earlier and get to work. My goal is to do the same as Naruto, though I'm using my own way to train with what I have. Even Kakashi doesn't know that I can use lightning, as well as wind and fire. I'm honing those three natures and trying to add one of the five elements to Rasengan, if not all of them.
While Naruto might be able to create a wind based Rasengan, I may succeed in creating a fire, lighting, earth, and even a water based Rasengan. I've already mastered Chidori, a long time ago. I just have to do similar with Rasengan or create a completely new jutsu. I concentrate and create ten Wood Clones. Two work with each element. While I personally work on concentrating to tap into the chakra that I never use consciously. I sit down and close my eyes to concentrate. "Is something wrong, Ino-san?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was trying to concentrate, however you just broke my concentration." I stand up and face her.
"Oh, um, Tsunade-sama wants to see you." I nod and start walking to the office. I get there and notice that there's a monk in the office with Tsunade-sama. I knock on the door.
"Come in."
"You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sama?"
"Yes. Kiro, your tracking ability is pretty strong right?" I nod.
"Yes, Ma'am. Why?"
"The Fire Temple was attacked by Akatsuki. Chiriku, a monk there, as well as a former Shinobi twelve, fought and was killed."
"Do we know which Akatsuki?"
"No." I nod slightly.
"I'll see what I can dig up."
"I want you to go with Asuma and his new team. I'm sure you can be of assistance." I nod and bow. "All twenty of the newly formed cells are on the roof. Come with me." I nod and walk with Tsunade-sama and the monk to the roof. I spot Asuma, Shikamaru, Kotetsu, and Izumo in the same line and get behind Izumo.
"You're working with us, Kiro-kun?"
"Yep. Apparently, Tsunade-sama thinks my tracking skills will come in handy." And on top of that, I work well with these four. Tsunade-sama explains what happened and the mission for all twenty squads. She dismisses us and we head for the shrine.
"We'll start at the shrine and see if we can track them from there." We start running and I notice that Asuma isn't smoking.
"Something wrong, Asuma-kun?"
"What makes you think that?"
"You're not smoking. Did you kick the habit?" He shrugs and we get to the temple. It looks like a burial grounds.
"Where's Chiriku's body?"
"Actually, we have not been able to locate Chiriku-sama's remains."
"Uh, Asuma-taicho?"
"What is it, Izumo?"
"I hate to bring this up, but…Chiriku-sama's head commands a bounty of 30 million Ryo on the black market. Perhaps the Akatsuki…"
"Probably."
"Collection office, huh? Which mean the enemy is lugging around a body, right?"
"Izumo, where's that collection office?"
"Which one? There are five in this vicinity alone."
"Kiro, can you track them?" I nod slightly and spread out my awareness. I pick up the residual chakra of the two Akatsuki and follow the trail to…
"Found them. Let's go."
"Wait, Sarutobi Asuma-sama. Please allow us to pray for you…who are about to engage in battle." We nod and the priest prays.
"Thank you very much."
"That waistcloth…just like Chiriku, you also are a former Guardian Shinobi Twelve, with a bounty on your head. Please be careful."
"Oh, please don't worry about me. My head…is worth another 5 million Ryo more than Chiriku's. I'm not going down that easily."
"And besides, with the Black Dart on our team, we're not gonna lose." I laugh and rub my neck. The priest nods and we set out.
"Lead the way, Kiro." I nod and take the lead. I have a bad feeling about this. I nod when we get close to the collection office and we split up. Shikamaru goes to the roof, while Kotetsu and Izumo hide behind the side of the building. Asuma and I flank the entrance, armed and ready.
"Ugh, nasty! Just five minutes in that cesspool and the stench seeps into my clothes!" Asuma makes our presence known and the guy turns around. "Took you long enough, Kakuzu!" Asuma throws several Shuriken at him and I open my fan, sending the blades flying as well. The guy blocks them and nearly hits Asuma with a giant three bladed Scythe. I pull back the blades of my fan and smirk when I see the thin shadow connect with the Akatsuki's. Once he's immobilized, Kotetsu and Izumo hit him from either side with their oversized Kunai.
"One down."
"Yeesh, ow! Who are you people anyway?" Huh? How is he still alive?
"What the…? We both hit vital spots!"
"Quit driving the points in, will you? It hurts!"
"What is this guy, immortal?"
"Isn't it obvious? Now, again…who are you people?"
"Kiro?"
"I'm working on it, hold on."
"Oh. Terrific…looks like I'm going back into that stinky collection office…" Huh? The waistcloth that Asuma's wearing…and I'd bet that my head has a pretty high price too.
"We're Shinobi of Konoha. Our orders are to capture or kill you Akatsuki."
"We already know you usually operate in pairs. I was planning to take down one of you first, then capture the other…but I guess that's going to have to change…"
"You chose the wrong one to start with."
"So…where's your partner?" Behind Shikamaru! I jump up and block the attack against Shikamaru. It distracts Shikamaru and frees the other one.
"Kotetsu, Izumo! Retreat!" I open my fan and expand it, making it as big as Temari's fan, with the blades three times as large. Kotetsu and Izumo jump away from the one guy and land behind me with Shikamaru. Asuma joins us and I set my fan on the ground behind me.
"The two in front…for once you've struck gold, Hidan." So, the one guys name is Hidan, while the other is Kakuzu.
"Kakuzu, stay out of this. I want them for my ritual. You can have the money afterward." Ritual? I have to hurry and finish analyzing their chakra.
"Fine…just be careful, or you'll die."
"I keep tellin' ya…will you quit it already? I wish someone would kill me already! But it's just not possible…eh?!" He uses the blood to draw a sort of diagram on the ground. A triangle inside a circle. A transmutation circle from alchemic teachings? No one uses Alchemy.
"I'm going in…find a way to trap Mr. Immortal with your shadow stitching, Shikamaru…if for even an instant…that's all the time I need to slice his head off."
"The risk is too high. It's not like you…"
"I should go in with you, Asuma. Shikamaru's right about the risk."
"Yea and what'll happen if you go berserk on us?" I smirk.
"That won't happen. If I get hurt, I can fight with my eyes closed. And you know from seeing, I can withstand just about any sort of attack. And you're being rash. We should calm down, retreat, and formulate a proper plan. Knowing at least a small amount of the enemy's abilities."
"Kiro-san, you realize that there is a bounty of 40 million Ryo on your head?" I nod.
"I wasn't aware that it was that much, but I was aware of the bounty. And it's not like they could catch me anyways. Back up and give me ten minutes. If I haven't got them down in that time, Shikamaru, immobilize one, or both if you can, of them and come up with a plan from there." Oh! Perfect. One of my clones managed to get fire change in nature added to Rasengan perfectly. I swing my fan in front of me and create a wind that blows both Akatsuki about a hundred meters away from us.
"Long range?" I smirk and send the blades flying at the two of them, controlling the direction of them with chakra. Technically, I've died three times in the past few years. Since Sasuke left. I came close to death that day, and then was killed three times after that. That's the main purpose of my self induced death. To recover from that sort of stress on my body. I think I might have almost died in the fight against Sasori, but I'm not sure. I pull the blades back and run forward, closing the range of my fighting.
Time to move to mid-range style. I dodge Hidan's Scythe and swing my fan again, this time, pushing earth based chakra into it and creating a storm of stone that flies through the wind at him. There's a good reason for the high bounty on a 16 year old.
"To believe she's only 16, with that high a bounty…amazing." I smirk at the praise and jump behind Hidan.
"You're dead." I swing my fan around behind me and slice him in half. Now to move on to the other one.
"Damn! That hurts! You bitch!"
"You're still alive? Shut up." I attack the other one and take a different approach; he seems to be able to use all five elements, the same as me. He's using lightning. I switch from earth style to wind style and blow him away, sending the blades of my fan at him. He dodges and I wince when something cuts into my back, hitting a vital spot. Did Hidan pull himself back together somehow? Kakuzu is over there, stitching him up. I'm afraid to look at my back.
I turn around and watch them, trying to figure out their next move. I still have five minutes before the others make a move. I run forward and notice that Hidan has another weapon out. And his skin is a totally different color than before. Strange. I need to finish this quickly. He takes the second weapon and stabs his right leg, causing a stabbing pain in my right leg.
I smirk and keep moving. "That little bit of pain won't stop me." I jump up, swinging my fan to blow Hidan out of that diagram and get behind him when he stops moving. I slice his head off and flip back, wincing at the pain in my leg. I make sure I'm well away from my comrades before checking myself for wounds. My leg is bleeding in the exact place he stabbed his leg. So that circle…it is a transmutation circle. But I wonder how he linked himself to my body specifically. I turn my head and see the line of blood on my back. But, as long as he's out of that circle, I'm safe from getting hurt the same as him. Now to handle the second one, even though Hidan seems to still be alive. I run at Kakuzu, dropping my fan and pulling from the mark, quickly going into the second state and going for berserk mode. I pause at a pain.
What the? I glance at Hidan; he's back in the circle with that stave going straight through his heart. I cough and drop to the ground. Damn it. I hold myself up with my left hand and get the needle out of the back seam of my skirt. Luckily I filled it with the poison I created when I got home. I rip my left sleeve off and stick the needle in the vein. I gasp for air and go through several single handed signs. "Ninpou…Instant Death…" The poison acts immediately, spreading through my body and numbing. I lose feeling in my left arm first and collapse. The rest of it flows through quickly and I lose consciousness almost immediately after landing.