Uh..I don't own Naruto or its characters. Just felt like patronizing the needless act.
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Shirasei wheezed painfully again, giving the semi-wet, hacking cough. The taller nin had numbly approached the two, looking at the still body of his once best friend, and the damaged body of his other good friend. The look on Shirasei's face was of extreme contempt. Almost disrespectfully, the older nin cleaned his sword on the back of Sasuke's gi jacket, then holding the sheath over his shoulder and behind his head, placed his sword back into its container. After he did so, he placed the rope strap over one of his shoulders again, returning it to its original position. Naruto stared blankly at the lifeless body infront of him.
"I..I was supposed to bring him..back.." He said without thinking.
"Things don't always work out the way you want them to. But," Shirasei knelt, slowly because of the pain of his wounds (in particular his chest). The older nin removed the dark blade, Kusanagi from the teenager's neck and cleaned it similiarly as he had his own, then put it in its sheath and removed the sword altogether from Sasuke. "As self centered and immature as this kid was, I'm sure he would've wanted you to have this." Shirasei stood up, grimacing in pain as he held out the blade to Naruto, sideways at his chest so he could see the entire thing. Naruto slowly took the heavy object in his two up turned palms. He couldn't really think, and his body just placed the sword over his shoulder like how Shirasei had placed his own.
The black and blue clad shinobi fell to a fit of coughs, staggering to one knee. Naruto woke up with a cold sweat and placed one of his longer, heavier arms across his friend's back, his shoulder underneath the smaller man's. "Aniki.." he said, not sure of what he was going to say to his friend.
"Thank you, Naruto." Shirasei had paled a bit, his face blanketted in cold sweat. The two began their slow pace back towards Konoha, Shirasei's breathing labored and slightly wet sounding inside of his thick neck. "heh.." He said without much humor. Naruto turned to him. "It's a good thing I read that poem of your's. When I was faced with.." Shirasei coughed violently, "..that chido-whatever..I didn't know what to do. Then I remembered your poem, 'how can I face this tear-filled visage? Draw two circles end to end..' and did it with my illusion. If my illusion wasn't as strange as it was, my bluff would've failed.." he admitted, smiling weakly at Naruto who only managed a small nod in return.
"I still can't believe he's..dead." Naruto numbly thought out loud after a long time.
"Death is a natural part of life that everyone experiences, Naruto. If you aren't ready for it, it leaps at you with blinding speed. That's why - .." the man wheezed painfully and coughed a couple of times, then spat sourly to the side. "..I tried to show you to enjoy life, not just think about being a strong nin like the boy who just died. I'm sure there are about a million regrets he has.." Shirasei coughed again in his throat, mouth closed and trembling. "..whereas you, I'm sure there'd be only a few, maybe none at all." He smiled weakly at his taller friend.
"I..I see. Thank you, a lot, aniki. Believe it." Naruto said soberly. His mind wandered to Sakura though. When he had spoken to her about Sasuke needing to make up his own mind to return, she had smiled painfully and cried, but admitted that it was true. That's a little different than the said person dying though.. They continued on their way in silence, only broken by the sound of Shirasei's dragging feet from incomplete steps, and his wheezing and coughing, punctuated occasionally by a spit. Naruto was walking as if in a dream, hardly aware of the weight on his shoulder, or the trembling body contacting his. Shirasei probably wasn't thinking much due to pain and exhaustion.
The trees above and behind the two travelers rustled noisily, but there was no wind. It continued on a path until it was above them, then ahead of them, then stopped as two figures dropped quickly from the foilage, stood and waited. They must've been in a hurry or not very talented to have not hidden their presence like that. Shirasei struggled to look up from the support of Naruto, who was already looking ahead. He stopped, heart racing.
"I can't believe you managed to kill my younger brother," Itachi's voice was similiar to the teenage boy who had just died, but more mature, a bit deeper, definately more emotionless.
"Huh, it's not a good thing to surprise Itachi, you know," remarked the far taller, broader Kisame. He glared down at the two from underneath his slashed headband, a couple dozen feet away. The two Akatsuki's dark cloaks tugged in a light breeze.
"I think it's time we collected one of our jinchuuriki(1) before he matures too much, Kisame." Itachi narrowed his eyes over his sharp cheekbones. Kisame blinked at his partner incredulously, but turned and faced the two infront of him without a second thought after the initial surprise. Kisame respected and trusted Itachi's judgement and poise.
"As you will. You want me to take off his arms and legs like I said I would last time?" Itachi stared at the two, and gave an noncommittal shrug. This only caused Kisame to grin a shark like look of evil, reaching over his shoulder to remove the giant, paddle like Samehade. The huge blade must've been two to two and a half feet in width, and five and a half to six feet in length. The tall shinobi had to carry it angled across his back when it was not in use.
"You really think I'm just some helpess kid, dattebayo.." Naruto gently removed his support from his friend, letting him kneel down lopsided on the road. Naruto said softly, "I won't let you die here, aniki," before straightening himself and glaring at the giant man.
"Yes, you're a helpless child," Itachi commented unexpectedly. "You may have slain Sasuke, which was a disappointment to me, but I could've done it myself without any effort at any given time." His eye-long bangs tugged in the gentle breeze.
"I hate people who are as full of themselves as you!" Naruto screamed, hunching over and growling from the depths of within him, his muscles burning and straining. His fingers became more enlongated, the nails sliding out an inch or two and pointing into claws. The whisker birthmarks on the teenage boy stretched slightly and widened, becoming more pronounced. Naruto's eyes shrunk in height, but lengthened in width to mirror an animal's more, as his pupils became slitlike and red. The bags underneath his eyes grew a natural black shading. He groaned, straining more, clenching his eyes shut. Around him grew a faint red glow, the top protruding twice, angled, like a small mammal's but proportional to the boy's size. At his tailbone, the light wavered then pushed out to furl at the end, near his head. The aura around the struggling boy flickered, then intensified a few levels in brightness. Again, the light pushed out next to the other protrusion at his lower back, and again the light brightened. The phenomenom occurred one more time before Naruto opened his primal eyes, trembling as he faced the two from rage and strength.
Naruto let loose a feral growl, hardly conceivable of a boy his age. He bent his knees more, readying to leap at the large, fish looking man.
"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" Shirasei managed to bark, a thin, dark red trail of liquid sliding out from the corner of his lips to his chin. The blonde nin blinked, then looked over startled at his friend.
"Are you suicidal? You need to use at least seven or eight tails!" His friend gripped the dirt beneath him in consternation, not believing the way Naruto was underestimating his opponent. "Akatsuki already has three jinchuuriki! That means best case scenario they're still capable of handling a three-tailed bijuu! Your over confidence is going to get yourself killed!"
Itachi turned his gaze to the wounded man, interested. Naruto isn't the type to hold back..Kisame scoffed. "You really think I'm as weak as Deidara or something? Let me teach you a lesson, kid." Naruto blinked, the man was towering about the semi-squatting teenager. Naruto gave a surprised start, readying himself but not sure of what to do. As the giant, white-wrapped blade came crashing down to him, both fighters started in shock. Bloodied teeth grinding, Shirasei stood stooped infront of Naruto, his left hand on the hilt of the closest sword - the long Oboenagi, his right behind him and bracing it over his back to catch the blow of the giant weapon across its sheathed blade. The smaller man groaned loudly in pain, managing to stop the strike. Kisame glared down at him with his sanpaku(2) eyes, using his strength and leverage to continue to grind down on the smaller man's back and on his shoulder, near his neck. Shirasei's face became more strained and desparate looking as he wavered under Kisame's might, pain moving like a heat wave through the area of his body that contacted the unwieldly looking Samehade. The much smaller man's knees wobbled, threatening to buckle and drop him to the dirt.
Naruto was at a loss for words. Three tails isn't enough..? With a look of grim determination, Shirasei began to slowly unsheath the longer of the two swords that he possessed. Kisame squinted his eyes, disbelievingly as the soft sliding of metal on metal issued from the wooden tube across the black and blue back.
"A suicide attack..? Are you insane?" The sword continued to slowly come out of its sheath inch by inch as he struggled under Kisame's strength, more sweat adding to the beads already present on his paled face. The larger man leapt back, barely in the air, stopping next to his smaller, stoic partner. Shirasei wobbled side to side slightly as the immense pressure was removed and coughed.
"I see the weight of this fight is on my shoulders, it's alright, kid. Just don't let yourself get caught.." he said softly, weakly, and gave a pained smile that the taller boy could see from behind his friend's shoulder. I..I let him down! He needed the strength of seven or eight tails..I don't even have half of that power! Naruto shook, his face disappointed in himself.
"Kisame," Itachi addressed his partner calmly. The larger man turned to the Uchiha. "He's the one who slew my brother. Don't underestimate him even in his weakened state." Kisame gave a gruff grunt and accompanying nod, turning his attention back to the trembling man infront of him.
"You must either be a lot stronger than you're letting yourself off to be, or a lot more cunning. Either way, I guess I'll need to tread lightly," Kisame acknowledged.
"Damn it..no coaching.." Shirasei managed to say softly, wheezing. Itachi removed his manicured hands from underneath his cloak in a brisk gesture, flicking his arms out. He stepped foreward, as if to join the battle.
"I'll get bored just standing here," he said without any emotion. Shirasei grimaced, smiling bitterly.
"Carry on then.." Itachi stepped back a couple of paces, giving his companion space to do battle. The two men who had clashed swords stared at each other, Kisame tall and broad, standing upright and calmly. Shirasei was panting, still hunched over a fair amount, in the same position as when he had deflected the strike from Naruto. He tightened his grip on the Oboenagi which still hung out of its sheath a handful of inches, its white blade glistening in the light. Some of the sweat trailed down Shirasei's whitened face from their stationary positions. The wind picked up a bit as the two stared at each other.
"Shirasei.." Naruto said apologetically.
"I can't win, Naruto. Be prepared to try to shoot past them if an opportunity arises.." Shirasei wheezed softly.
"What!" Naruto yelled at his friend. "You can, I know it!" Pained, the man shook his shock of wavey hair. He reached behind him and removed his bingo book from his back pocket with his right hand, dropped it in a half-hearted flick of the wrist towards the blonde nin, and returned his hand to the middle of his long sword's sheath.
Blinking, Naruto picked it up and flipped through to Shirasei. Ninjutsu: 4, Taijutsu: 5, Genjtsu: 3, Intelligence: 4, Force: 2, Speed: 4, Stamina: 2, Seal Knowledge: 3. Aren't these great stats? What does.. Naruto flipped through the pages. He found Kisame's outdated entry. Ninjutsu: Unknown, Taijutsu: Unknown, Intelligence: Presumeably 5, Force: 4, Speed: 4, Stamina: 5, Seal Knowledge: Unknown.
Naruto only felt worse about himself. Shirasei's stamina had not increased over the year and a half since he first had met him. Kisame's rivaled his own endless pain threshhold, and Shirasei was already mortally wounded. Kisame also had a lot more strength - one hit and it was going to end it for Shirasei probably. "Aniki.." he said, but didn't know how to follow it.
"Just pay attention and watch for it.." his friend warned.
"You can't fight!" Naruto pressed. "Let me -"
"No!" Shirasei sounded angry. "This isn't a life or death fight in your case. If they manage to grab a hold of you, it's over kid." His friend winced in pain.
Naruto looked down glumly. His bad luck plagued even his friends. "When it rains, it pours.." he said to himself.
"It can't rain every day," Shirasei wheezed. Naruto blinked up in surprise, to see the black and blue clad shinobi launch himself at the taller man finally.
Unlike the struggle between Sasuke and Shirasei, there were no impressive sparks whenever the two, large weapons crossed each other. There was no musical, mournful singing from the blades. There was a lot less conflict with each pass the two swordsmen made, being their weapons were larger and harder to effectively strike each other in rapid succession unless within confines of the finely small, proper distance. Naruto watched as his friend became weaker, and his opponent seemed to not lose any wind. The black and blue clad shinobi slid backwards to the helpless nin, stopping a few feet away.
"This is going to end now," Kisame stated bluntly. Shirasei only smiled half-heartedly as he breathed heavy, clutching his wound near his shoulder from Sasuke with his free hand.
"Yes.." He shot a glance at Naruto. "I'm sorry that I couldn't make an opening for you. Get ready, this is it kid.." he said softly, voice still struggling to not wheeze. Naruto gave a pained look, he wanted to stay and fight, and help. He couldn't abandon his friend. A shinobi can't fight every battle.. Jiraiya's masculine voice told him in his head, but he only shook it to himself, not wanting to go.
Jaw trembling, Shirasei readied himself for an attack from Kisame, who hoisted the large weapon he carried over one shoulder. "Che, I didn't even get to do any fancy jutsu. What a let down. But I guess it can't be helped that you were wounded the way you were in your last recent fight," he mused, arrogantly.
Shirasei only smiled weakly. He removed his sheath, confusing the tall Kisame for a moment. Shirasei sheathed his long Oboenagi, and held it in place at his right hip, popping it from the sheath with his thumb. Kisame grinned his shark like smile. "You're going to try a draw counter? Classic! I like you - it's a shame we met this way because you would've been a lot better than some of the other grunts in Akatsuki." Itachi glanced at Kisame but didn't say anything before he returned his attention to the wavering man across from his companion. Kisame chuckled a bit, his large shoulders shaking. After he calmed himself, he readied to close the distance, putting both hands on the long handle of Samehade.
You can't die here, aniki. Don't just fade away from me..! Naruto's vision blurred a little at the corners of his enlongated eyes, pain welling up inside of him. Why was he so weak?
Kisame shot like a bullet at Shirasei, spraying dust where his feet had been. In the few moments that it took for the large man to come upon him, the smaller man struggled to not cough, not now. Naruto didn't understand what happened next until the dust cleared a while later.
Samehada moved away from the awaiting Shirasei at the last moment, who had began to cough painfully, disabling him from drawing his own blade as he cringed in pain. A softly tanned moccassain beneath a matching softly tanned leather pant leg pushed its flat bottom against the wide side of Samehada, kicking it in an awkward arc from its desired target, causing it to make a strangely shaped trajectory and crash into the dirt a couple of feet next to the coughing Shirasei. Long cloak fluttering as it was attatched to a speeding, small but heavy body, Kisame's eyes widened a bit at the intruder who promptly sped a short, stocky but thick arm into the tall man's cheek. A heavy fist crashed against the surprised shinobi's head in a blur, and he was flung off to his side, just as fast as he had leapt at Shirasei. There was a crash, then a solid 'thunk,' as Kisame broke a thick tree in half, then proceeded to smash his back into another one ten or so feet away, bouncing to a halt and dropping lazily flat on his face. A body smaller than Naruto, smaller than Shirasei landed softly in a straight descent from where Kisame had been, the long, undone coat coming to a rest as he glared from underneath thick, unkempt eyebrows and a broad rimmed hat in the direction of the fallen foe with bright, yellow eyes. The pupils were slitted like an animal's.
Itachi's blurred face was a moment away from Naruto, but he halted, his image becoming clear. A small shuriken was embedded between the two - one more step and it would've been in Itachi's skull. Itachi tried to leap unpredictably in a sideways loop towards the blonde nin, but as he readied himself, a handful more black streaks flew into the ground in a trail that was going to be his path of movement, rapidly seeking the calm Uchiha. Itachi leapt off to the side, landing next to Kisame who was wincing as he struggled to get up, using Samehade to help him.
A shocking contrast to the small, compact body that had first appeared, a very large, blue blur came spinning in a sharp arc and stopped instantly as it reached the ground right infront of the blonde nin. Blunky's gangly, clumsy, tall, angular and long looking form was sprawled out in a manner that caught himself from flopping face and chest first into the ground. Itachi stood, his image pulsing in a way that shot a series of mirror images to his sides for a moment before disappearing.
Naruto turned, covered in a cold sweat as he saw a light purple manicured hand reaching for his face. It was slapped away a moment later, a moment before grabbing a hold of his head by a red manicured hand. The slightly smaller, definately more slender figure infront of Naruto had long, curley hair that reached its mid back. It gave an akward push immediately following the deflection of the attempted grab, making Itachi stumble back a couple of steps unevenly. In the short time, the figure hunched over the way Naruto had, groaning inhumanly in pain. The slender fingers on it enlongated like Naruto's, red nails becoming claws, some more muscle growing out of what had been just a while ago, small, smooth arms with little mass. In a hunched posture, the figure closed the small distance between itself and Uchiha, in an awkward leap that projected one side and arm foreward more than the other. This change in angle allowed Naruto to see the figure of a woman, front facing him, hair flying behind her. The next second she was clashing arms and claws with Itachi's arms and hands. They crossed strikes rapidly, maybe twenty times in a few seconds before the figure turned to avoid a quick, solid punch to the head, facing Naruto hunched over a fair deal as if to duck and roll. Jazlyn's face came to recognition to the young nin though it looked odd. Her eyes while still yellow and pupils still slitlike were glossed, as if a grey, transluscent membrane was held over them. She turned to look over her shoulder the next second and shot a foot out in the strange position, heel striking Itachi's crossed forearms and causing him be thrown back in a horizontal line, feet dragging a far distance and stirring up a lot of dust from the dirt road.
The energy of an explosion, not even ten feet away shook the blonde nin, as he turned to see the a sphere of dust rise. Kisame leapt out from behind it, towards his side, getting closer to Itachi. A small, handsized blur shot at Kisame's feet as he landed halfway, but the large man surprisingly managed to again jump out from behind the sphere of dust that furled up. The lanky form of Blunky mirrored his leap, twenty or so feet away with his long, slim arms out. Like a blur, he reached into the openings at his hip, elbows, and vest randomly and shot out a few blurs that looked like darts with something fluttering, attatched to the handles. In a couple of flashes of light like a camera, a handful more spheres arose where the two Akatsuki members had been standing. The giant Troll leapt back, landing in another strangely awkward looking, low to the ground position, placing his hands as well as his feet on the ground for balance. His body had sharp angles in the low posture. Staying almost sprawled out, he reached over and adjusted his monocle gingerly, trying to not get dirt smudged on it. His uncovered, beady eye was darting around for movement ahead of him.
Naruto looked at all the different shinobi, shocked. Hanshoumaru was inspecting a wincing Shirasei who panted painfully in a sitting position. He was also had the attention of a now normal looking Jazlyn who was crouching on one knee, her small hands on her lover's arm. Shirasei shook his head to answer something - apparently there had been an exchange of words in the chaos.
"Konoha's not so far away, we need to return Naruto to its safety," Shirasei struggled to let out, then coughed and spat some blood at his feet.
"Shirasei! Stop talking, you dummy!" Jazlyn squeezed her grip on his black and blue checkered arm. He only shook his head.
"Do it, I'll stay," he wheezed.
"You're coming too!" Naruto said angrily, stomping over to the older nin.
He only shook his head once, eyes clenched in pain. "I'd slow you down, I'm the one who has to stay behind. This is a race, stop arguing," he coughed painfully.
"If I may interject before we run (rrrrrrun) out of time, only you and the young man concerned about your safety have no defense against Sharingan. The Seiyas have that nifty third lid, and I can fight without vision thanks to my large and highly developed ears and nose. You can't stay and fight." Blunky deducted in a stern tone.
"I will because if I go, I'd slow down the group too much. Every time one of us is overcome, we lose time," he said quickly, straining not to cough. "Get going god damn it," Shirasei stood up with a strangled groan, placing his left hand on his sword hilt. He couldn't stand up straight.
"Shi-ra-sei..." Jazlyn began in an angry 'don't-you-dare-contradict-me-young-man' tone.
"Don't fight with me, woman!" Shirasei spat out instantly, making Jazlyn react as though struck. "I'm the Jounin here, do as I say, now!" Shirasei grimaced, then turning slightly so Naruto could see his sad face. "I'm sorry I couldn't teach you more, ototo.." his eyes were moist. As Naruto reached out for his hand, trying to say something, the black and blue clad shinobi rushed off into the disappating clouds of dust.
The young woman made to move to follow him, but a thick, leathery hand grabbed her wrist. She turned, angrily. "Let me stay with my husband, Baku!" Hus..husband! Naruto was frozen in place in shock. Hanshoumaru stared at the glaring, struggling woman for a moment, then his thick arm appeared buried in her soft stomach, as she gasped in surprise and pain. The slender woman, taller than the calm Hanshoumaru fainted, crumpling into his bulky arms.
Naruto took advantage of this moment to attempt to go to the clouds down the road himself, but a large, wirey, three-podded hand grabbed the scruff of his neck. "Don't be rude (rrrrrude) and disrespectful. We are departing, young man, on behalf of the wish of your friend," Blunky chided. Hanshoumaru gingerly picked up his taller but lighter sister, holding her so that her slumped form was halfway over his shoulder.
Struggling, crying, kicking and screaming, Naruto was carried under the iron like grip of the giant shinobi.
"Blinky," Hanshoumaru's gravly voice reached the enlongated ears of the Troll, who turned half way. Startled, he caught the small, light body that was incoming to him. With a desparate and surprised look, he tried to reach past it to the stocky, wide faced man who stared at him with his bright, yellow eyes from underneath his broad rimmed hat. Blunky had to grab the incoming body though to not crash, Hanshoumaru immediately stopped and grew in the distance, facing them. Blunky gave a startled, pained cry as he watched his friend turn and coat trailing behind him loosely, jump into the nearly disappated dust after Shirasei. The tall and long Troll shook, but turned back the way he had been going.
"Kinjutsu: Nigenteki Shinka(3) - Tengu(4)! Henge!" The two deep voices rang out in unison reaching Naruto as he was being carried away. He saw the stocky, heavy nin ontop of the shoulders of the smaller, both having their arms infront of them. They were holding their weapons infront of them, unsheathed as they performed one handed seals. In a puff of smoke, the startled Kisame and stoic Itachi faced a monstous form, rivaling Blunky's height should he stand up tall, maybe taller. The arms were extremely muscular and bare, but the rest of the body was coated in blue-black plumage, down to the thighs of massive, bandy, grey-black scaled legs that ended in the clawed feet of a five toed bird, three talons in the front, two in the back. A long, leathery tail furled out from the tailbone area of the creature, coiling at its feet, ending in a series of sharp protrusions that were angled halfway to point into a star manner. The head was hawk like, and the bright yellow eyes with cat like pupils glared down at the two Akatsuki members from behind its short, black beak, wielding what looked like a fusion of Hanshoumaru's bowie knife, a spear and scythe. The long blade of the Oboenagi was clearly seen at the very end of the bottom portion of the shaft. The image disappeared underneath blurred earth, as Naruto was carried past a hill.
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Author's Notes
(1) By this time in the series I'd estimate they had captured the jinchuuriki they do in the manga, minus Gaara.
(2) Sanpaku eyes are eyes wide and/or beady enough so there is white surrounding the pupil completely. And yes, the author finds it a very freaky feature. And yes..Rock Lee has sanpaku eyes.
(3) "Forbidden Skill: Dual Evolution - Tengu"
(4) A Tengu is a mischevious, mythological being, sometimes refered to as a goblin or even demon in Japanese lore. These creatures' appearances range wildly, though mixing both bird and human like characterstics are commonplace - tell tale long and large noses are a popular feature on the more human types. The most well known use of Tengu in lore is actually in history, when one of the most famous Samurai trained on a mountain. Supposedly he was struck by lightning and trained by Tengu, developing a wildly new style of kenjutsu. The author unfortunately does not remember the swordsman's name, but does remember he was known for practicing in the rain a lot. He died at the age of 26, when he was struck by lightning a second time.