a/n: Okay so this chapter was supposed to be posted on Halloween. Sadly a midterm snuck up on me. But I do let my readers know about post dates via facebook. So if you wanna know when 27 is coming out or its status, add meh! Just check out my profile here & don't forget to vote on my poll if you haven't already :D
Also, I'd like to thank my readers & Ayla. Thanks Ay for always being a help!
"The scent of flowers & steel is overpowered by the pungent odor of fresh splattered blood."
A patch of forest goes for another hour perfectly still and silent until the flutter of dusty wings interrupted. From the clear blue sky a crow wearily swopped in to latch its scaly, scarred toes onto a thin branch that drooped beneath its slight weight. Sensing the unease of its perch, the crow wobbles further up the branch till a patch of leaves shades that dull black plumage from soaking in the sun. The crow is old with only one shiny, clever eye to spare while the other rests gray and useless in its perfectly round socket. There are feathers missing from his tail and wingspan and every other one he wears is infested by mites that make him scratch raw at odd intervals. Ten feet above ground the crow tilts its head to the side and with his one good eye searches the sky patiently. Without a single cloud or potentially dangerous silhouette anywhere to be seen, the crow's natural instinct to survive is satisfied so it hops down and begins to separate the tall blades of grass with a worn beak, in search of anything helpless and edible.
For a few minutes it seemed as if his efforts were for not and it would be wise to move onto somewhere possibly better. However one last leaf unturned revealed a grasshopper backing its way out of a burrow. The old crow's head twitches excitedly. Too feeble to fend off younger birds scavenging off of rotted kills, something as small as a grasshopper was very much appreciated. Noticing the bird's presence, the bug sprung on its hind legs only to be pursued. Following the grasshopper to the base of a tree he hadn't noticed before, the crow corners its prey unaware he too is being eyed. On the tree he hadn't noticed perched and surveyed a hawk he also hadn't noticed. Twice the size of the weary crow, it normally wouldn't size up another bird that could fight back but the crow's age proved to be beyond ripe for the picking. The hawk watched the crow hop and wobble, the scene reflecting in both its perfectly working eyes. Just as the old bird pinched the grasshopper, he heard a disturbance that made him turn.
The very last things the old crow saw before its departure from the world were open talons that seized his body and pierced to the bone. Death hit like a bullet, snapping the crow's neck in the process. Nerves shot off, shaking his lifeless limbs in a late struggle. Not a creature to waste a single moment, the hawk began to tear black feathers from the warm corpse. But before he could even taste flesh, a crashing was in the trees. Still to blend into the surroundings, the hawk turned to the canopy where shadows flew by unaware of his presence or the death.
Uzumaki Naruto stays close to Haruno Sakura's right side as they chase after Inzuka Kiba's nose that chases the scent of Uchiha Sasuke. For a few moments the entire squad consisting of two jounin, four chunin, one former member of the foundation, one hyper-active genin and a pack of dogs, thought they had lost their subject of pursuit when it was scattered to the wind. However thanks to one of Naruto's shadow clones, they were back on Sasuke's tail. Their friend gone astray was moving very quick with his brand new cell, apparently aware of pursuers. There was determination on every face but the dogs in the squadron had their noses to the wind's current.
"Oi, I'm picking up something," updated Pakkun who dashed loyally alongside Hatake Kakashi.
"Is Sasuke's scent scattering again?" called Naruto, worried but willing to send out a hundred more shadow clones if need be.
Sniff…sniff…sniff…
"No. I smell an odd combination. I've smelled it faintly for a while but I didn't think much of it till just now," the dog's tired eyes folded over in concentration. "It's like…flowers and steel. Not sure what sort of flowers, nothing I've ever encountered on any walks in Fire Country. As for steel, well the metallic scent I'm quite familiar with as you would know." The squad did not appear shaken up right away, instead they all looked a little puzzled and doubtful.
"We're in a forest, there are flowers everywhere and each one of us has at least the standard amount of shuriken and kunai," Sakura stared apologetically at Pakkun, not wanting to be deemed rude for having questioned his seasoned nose.
"True but this is different. The scents have been consistent with our movements, always at our flank miles out…at least until now. They've moved off and a lot quicker than any flower or kunai could on their own," Pakkun peered darkly up at Kakashi. "We were being tailed by two other shinobi."
Kakashi stared to Naruto who looked to Sakura. Those who remained of team seven understood when there were shinobi skulking in pairs, there was a good chance that they were Akatsuki. "We need to take a moment and discuss something," said Kakashi. "We'll stop here and do double-time once we've finished our discussion."
"What?" barked Naruto, "Kakashi-sensei, we can't just let Sasuke's trail go cold!"
"I know that. But if Akatsuki was following us we have to assume that we may encounter them further ahead, as far as we know they could be taking a vantage point right now or setting a trap. In a squad this big made to capture, we need to discuss a battle plan," the jounin's lone dark eye harbored kind understanding for his former student but he held a firm authority.
Naruto submitted, as did the rest of the squad. Their feet touched soil and they broke off into their first teams while Kakashi and Yamato privately conversed. Sakura found her way to Naruto and placed a gloved reassuring hand atop his shoulder. "We'll get him this time Naruto. I know it's hard to be patient when he's so close but we have to be careful. Kakashi-sensei would have pressed on if it were just you and I but…" she gestured with a nod towards Sai, Shino, Hinata, and Kiba atop Akamaru. "Our friends are here."
"Yeah, you're right," he agreed softly, watching the others.
A momentary silence fell between the remains of team seven. Sakura hated to see Naruto sulk, he put so much on his shoulders and yet she admired him for all that. "So, can I see what Kabuto gave you on the Akatsuki? Maybe we can figure out who was following us."
He gave a little nod before dislodging a thin leather bound book from his bag. Handing it over to Sakura, Naruto positioned himself so he could try to read over her shoulder. The young kunoichi's thin, callused fingers sifted through the pages to find no immediate order. The pages weren't numbered nor were the names alphabetized. "This is like a bingo book," she told him. "There aren't just pictures or names - there are birthdates, blood types, and detailed lists of what they're all wanted for."
"Look," Naruto reached around Sakura's arm to stall her from bypassing a single particular page. "It's him: Uchiha Itachi."
The photo did not look recent. Sasuke's older brother in it appeared around their current age. Sakura saw that the Uchiha brothers were very similar in facial features, more so than most other siblings she knew. "He's twenty-one now," she muttered. "Sasuke is going on sixteen…they're five years apart." Their situation made her sad. Even though Itachi had slaughtered his and Sasuke's clan, they were still brothers and only dragging on the death that plagued their blood. "They're so similar."
While Sakura's expression depicted sorrow, Naruto's brows pinched in the middle. Clearly all he felt for Itachi was contempt. How could a big brother hurt his little brother so much? Only pure evil was capable of that. "They're nothing alike," he strictly corrected. "Sasuke is in no way similar to him. That guy…he's…he's a monster!"
Kakashi and Yamato appeared to have drawn out a battle plan so signaled for the others to huddle close. Naruto left Sakura behind with Kabuto's book on the Akatsuki. She continued to flip through the pages, bypassing those members who she knew had been eliminated. Two pages had very limited information and even more limited photo evidence only showing dark silhouettes moving across some wall somewhere and written beneath them Rei and Haku. Not much help. But Sakura continued to the very last pages, ones that hadn't been printed but were made up with polaroids, tape, and Kabuto's scratchy handwriting. The last page read of a shinobi from Cloud with an A blood type who had been a former guard of the current Raikage. He was a weapon master and wanted not only for defection but for the murder of a head clansman and that man's direct family. Saeki Toshio was surprisingly handsome but nothing more than another villain.
Second to the last page uncovered a girl not much older than the pink-haired kunoichi. This girl was written to be Saeki Toshio's partner. A grass kunoichi wanted for a whole slew of crimes a few years back but most recently for the murder of the last Tsuchikage. To see a female shinobi in Akatsuki ranks brought upon Sakura mixed feelings, somewhere along the lines of female pride while also catty speculation. One woman in a league of malevolent men, wanted for all sorts of crimes including the murder of one of the Great Five Kage; Haru Kanna must have been a wicked, heartless, and ill-mannered kunoichi.
"Flora release…what sort of jutsu is that?" she said to herself. A jutsu that harnessed flowers didn't sound the least bit formidable.
"Sakura," Yamato had a hand on his hip as he called out to her. "Something the matter? Come get debriefed."
"Oh," taking her nose out of the book, Sakura hurried over to the group and immediately offered forward her hands where pages lay spread. "Kakashi-sensei, this book Kabuto gave with information on the Akatsuki – I think I know who was trailing us."
Kakashi's hidden features were unable to show his interest. "Really?"
"Yes, see these last pages? Kabuto must have written them in very recently because Akatsuki must have just added these two to their ranks," she smoothed out the tape that kept the polaroids in place. "This kunoichi is from The Village Hidden in the Grass and her ability is something called Flora Release. Also her partner here is from The Village Hidden in the Clouds and is a weapon master. Wouldn't that explain Pakkun smelling flowers and steel following us then abruptly changing course?"
"Wow Sakura-chan, you tied that all together just now?" Naruto again was impressed by his teammate and her obvious growth. Then again she had always been the smart one. He shouldn't have ever expected anything less.
Their sensei contemplated for a few moments and peered closer to the book. "Flowers and steel…but why would Akatsuki follow us then suddenly change their course? That's what we're wondering now."
"Safe to say Naruto could have been the reason they were following," offered Yamato.
"No," Kakashi's head shook before tilting back on his shoulders so he could gaze up at the sky in further thought. "They weren't after Naruto. Akatsuki is not made up of amateur even if these two recent members are merely teenagers. No, these guys wouldn't attack a squad this big. Something tells me we weren't their objective at all." Everyone's attention honed in on Kakashi as his voice grew lower, as his words hinted to a possible answer.
"Then what were they after, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto at the edge of his seat.
"Sasuke," he darkly answered. "They must know he's after Itachi and plan to intercept. They used us to track and lead them right to him."
Miles and miles away from where Konoha speculated, Uchiha Itachi sat alone unnoticed atop a tall, jagged rock formation. Hot sun beating down on his back, this point he specifically sought for it was the highest point in the vicinity and allowed him to see as far as his dulling eyes possibly could. However he had yet to turn to the spectacular view. This afternoon Itachi appeared particularly sullen. His usually elegant stare was tarnished by dark circles and heavy bags and the lines that once brought character to his handsome face had deepened to near wounds. Rather than the view, Itachi's troubled and weary stare solely focused on what was pinched between his fingers: a photo, a crinkled and very badly burnt photo that he hadn't the heart to part with even when it had drove him to rush back into a burning building.
The picture was a snapshot of much better times – innocent times. Yet now whenever he looked back on it, all Itachi could think about was the lies behind the smiles and the backdrop. Uchiha Fugaku was his father, a very stern man and an even sterner father. Itachi always wondered if things had gone the way things go with normal families, would he have turned out like his father? Would Itachi have had two sons, five years apart with a woman who was as fiercely loyal to him as his mother was to his father? Uchiha Mikoto had been a jounin rank kunoichi, one with a kind heart and an equally kind smile. As a housewife and a mother she was incredible and never once questioned her husband or raised a hand at the clan councils to speak against the betrayal to their village, even though the betrayal meant putting him and Sasuke through war's darkness. Why hadn't she thought like a mother then, worried about the effects all that violence would have on her children? These questions tainted even the fondest of memories.
Last but not least was Sasuke. So small in the photo, he barely made the shot. As his big brother, Itachi felt Sasuke deserved a lot more out of life, a lot more than the clan could have ever offered.
About to tuck the photo back into a pocket on the inside of his weathered Akatsuki cloak, Itachi's hand suddenly seized up on it, wading the photo as he was mercilessly heaved forward by a violent cough. Chest over knees the cough shook his entire body and its loudness echoed off the rocks. Desperately slapping a hand over his mouth to smother the sound and silence the foreboding echo, when it finally stopped he was left with watery eyes, a sore throat, and tremors that worked their way down his limbs. Itachi soon after removed his hand and slowly uncurled his fingers to reveal fresh splattered blood of the brightest red.
"There's not much time left…" he muttered to himself.
Without regret for his current state of health, Itachi carelessly wiped the blood onto his cloak and then at last turned to the view. Somewhere out there was his brother and his lover about to clash. He desperately hoped Kanna would take his advice and just run, drop the mission entirely to save her own skin, the very skin he could still feel himself pressing down and into. Her floral scent clung to his clothes. Itachi could smell her in every fold, every stitch, and every fiber. Infatuation did not have this sort of endurance. He thought if he could not touch Kanna, if both his arms were somehow severed, he would still be content just speaking to her and listening as she spoke fearlessly back. In all honesty Itachi felt their ridiculous squabbles sometimes were too real, as if they'd known each other much longer. Somewhere amongst all that was a window to what could have been if these things weren't in motion. If Itachi had not decided his death was vital to Sasuke's happiness, if he were not gravely ill…
Collecting some stones, he held them tightly till his hands ceased their trembling. No one knew of his current state, the fact he was on multiple medicines that could only individually treat his symptoms, and how their cumulative side effects had him feeling horrible in various other ways. Mangekyo's price was destroying him from the inside and he hid it from everyone, even Kanna. Someone like her wouldn't understand the slow deterioration of the body due to illness, after all her bloodline was the ultimate immunity.
He drew in the warm air, tasted it, and tasted blood. Itachi felt worn out, yet his mind was buzzing like a hornet's nest and every time he tried to rest his heavy lids, Sasuke and Kanna's faces were on the back of them.
Off in the distance there was an echo, a booming echo and the resonance of flared chakras.
"So, they found each other."
Konoha on Hebi's tail, there was no second to spare even if they were miles and miles ahead of their pursuers. Sasuke continued to lead his makeshift squad onward despite how Suigetsu heaved with thirst and Jugo with Karin fell behind. Those dark eyes were firmly set on the coming path and it was incredibly irritating when he sensed their sensor had stopped all together.
"Karin," dryly wheezed Suigetsu, "how come it is okay for you to stop whenever the hell you feel like but when I need a breather, you bray like a donkey in my ear?"
The kunoichi paid him no mind, not even bothering to punish him for his comparison of her to a jackass. Karin's full attention was directed back the way they had originally came so the others weren't able to witness the puzzled expression on her face. "Two chakras have broken away from the large Konoha unit and they're heading our way at an incredible rate. Sasuke, I don't think we'll be able to avoid them much longer."
Balanced on a few branches ahead of the others, the Uchiha's youthful expression hardened. "Broke away?" he repeated. For a moment he wondered if Naruto and Sakura were stupid enough to leave behind their squadron in order to intercept him by themselves with their foolish talk about bonds he severed long ago between them. Naruto was definitely capable of such an idiocy however Sakura was not, even if blinded by ridiculous infatuation that obviously and annoyingly transcended time.
"We'll just keep moving, but faster," he updated.
"What?" Suigetsu gawked. "We're already moving really fast. Let's just take a break, let them find us, cut them down and move at a more reasonable pace. That's so much easier."
"Quiet! I'm trying to concentrate!" barked Karin.
Hands together and fingers folded into the seal of the ram, she attempted to focus more closely on the two chakras. As one of her special abilities, chakra didn't just come in elements and colors to her. No they had a smell, a taste, and sent various sensations throughout her body. "One chakra is cold and unwavering much like steel. The other is…the other is," she paused as her brow furrowed, "is strangely familiar?"
"Like the shadow clone Sasuke destroyed?" inquired Jugo.
She shook her head stiffly, "no." The more Karin brought it into focus, the more she wished she hadn't. This chakra was far too familiar. Her heart began to race and chills puckered across her entire body, making the very hairs on the back of her neck stand. "It can't be…there's no way," she fearfully whispered to herself. "They're dead."
From where he stood Sasuke could see Karin twitching or was she shaking?
"What is it?" he impatiently pressed. "We don't have all day."
"I-I don't like how this second chakra feels…"
Though Karin was robbing them of valuable time, Sasuke put it to good use. He stood quiet and pensive now. Two chakras had broken away from the large squad following them, so if he were to say that they weren't Naruto and Sakura, the next guess would be Akatsuki. That he preferred since the one Akatsuki member called Deidara, hadn't given him any valuable information at all on Itachi's whereabouts. Perhaps these two would be a little more willing to accept defeat then divulge what they knew before offing themselves.
"Karin, were these chakras following Konoha closely this entire time?" he inquired calmly.
"N-no," she managed to utter despite being shaken up. "They had been keeping their distance. I don't think Konoha was aware."
The young Uchiha had gone from looking frustrated by their delay to oddly pleased. "Let them come then. I have no doubt that we'll face Akatsuki again before Konoha."
"Oh," Suigetsu chuckled as he took a long drink from his water bottle. "We're so very popular now thanks to you Sasuke. Maybe we don't have to look for your brother after all and I samehada. Perhaps they're on their way right now."
Across from him, the red-headed kunoichi shook her head. "No. I recognize one of the chakras. Also since Akatsuki doesn't mix and match their partners unless one dies, it's safe to assume this is an entirely different duo."
Suigetsu grimaced with a heavy sigh before following after Sasuke and Jugo, who touched down on the ground. "Thanks, Debbie Downer."
Hebi collected at the base of a tall red pine to go over a battle plan. The Uchiha as leader and reason behind this team gave them specific instructions knowing full well that it might just be useless. Suigetsu was nodding his head too much to really be listening, Jugo's eyes were on the surroundings, and Karin kept looking over her shoulder like a paranoid alley cat.
"They're coming at us head on and quickly, not at all bothering to mask their chakra anymore. That means they're aware we have a sensory type in our group, it also means they know we know they're coming," for someone who just faced an Akatsuki who nearly took his life, Sasuke was eerily put together. "We need to at least keep one of them alive long enough to interrogate them. So don't be so hasty to eliminate."
All three nodded their heads in agreement to Sasuke's terms but he had suspicion that at least one of them was going to go back on their word. Hebi turned to the woods behind them expectantly, yet there was no one or nothing to be seen beneath the hot sun.
"So, what did you mean by one of the chakras felt familiar?" Jugo turned to Karin who crept closer to Sasuke's left side, this time not out of her perverse infatuation.
"Yeah, what clearly has you so rattled up?" chimed in the former mist shinobi with his toothy grin.
"I'm not rattled up you idiot!" she immediately blurted out in defense. "Bad memories…that's all."
Before a full explanation could make it passed her lips, the two mysterious chakras came rocketing straight at them. Their forms blurred, the intense speed roared up forest debris making Hebi shield their eyes. As quickly as they blew in, they and their storm vanished taking all sound, all movement. Everything became eerily still now. In broad daylight where there should have been nowhere to hide, these two beings positioned themselves thoroughly like wily predators. Time had frozen in place, no more breezes, no more shaking leaves or buzzing insects.
"They're here," said Sasuke, squinting in sunlight. "Show yourselves, none of us have time for games."
His words had not immediately drawn them out. Akatsuki appeared on their own time and did so, stepping out from behind two unassuming trees. Like those first two who confronted Sasuke, this pair also bore the same black cloaks with red clouds and conical hates. However rather than rush into combat, they stood side-by-side quietly for a few extra moments.
"Well, here he is," a soft male tone at last came from easily the tallest of the pair. "The likeness is definite. But I believe Itachi's presence is much more intimidating than this kid's. What do you think?"
A question presented to his partner, from between her sugegasa's broad brim and broad collar, a pair of heavily lashed brown eyes narrowed in careful consideration. "I would have to agree with you, Toshio. But you know how I don't like the embarrassment of underestimating an opponent. So don't assume by presence alone."
"Oh I'm not underestimating him. I'm simply saying he doesn't instill immediate fear in me, like Itachi-san does," Toshio kindly cleared up.
Sasuke took the forefront of Hebi by stepping out and focusing his dark gaze on their opponents. "Clearly you both know something about Itachi. Tell me where he is," he flatly demanded.
Toshio chuckled a little, mocking Sasuke's boldness. "Are you asking me? Cause if you are, you're asking the wrong person. My partner is more likely than I or anyone else in Akatsuki, including our divine leader, to know where Itachi roosts."
Naturally the young Uchiha fearlessly turned to the other Akatsuki member, his gaze unable to penetrate since she smartly kept the brim of her hat down. "Well, got anything to say?"
"He's not here," she answered simply. "We're your opponents at this moment, not him."
"Well said," her partner congratulated before gesturing to those of Sasuke's squad. "Now this has to be your merry crew of misfits: Hozuki Suigetsu, Jugo of the scales, and Karin. Each one of you we've been informed are Orochimaru's escaped lab rats."
"Lab rats?" Suigetsu snickered. "Hardly. But I'm flattered you know my name. But who the hell are you two, besides Akatsuki scum?"
Toshio frowned, "though vermin don't deserve acknowledgment by those greater than them, I'll give you my name."
One after the other he plucked buttons apart from his cloak and shrugged out of it entirely. Cloak discarded, his sugegasa soon followed suit until the Akatsuki's entire lean, young self was revealed. "I am Saeki Toshio. Our god asked us to exterminate all four of you and I am quite thorough when it comes to dispatching vermin."
Suigetsu's right arm leant back to latch a deadly hand onto his guillotine blade. "By the armor on your left shoulder and the strange twin-bladed sword on your side," his smirk curled further up over his cheeks, "I'm going to assume you know a thing or two about weapons. This should be interesting."
Sasuke's gaze had yet to lift from Toshio's relatively quiet partner. "Like I told that suicidal lunatic comrade of yours before he blew himself up, tell me Itachi's whereabouts and I'll let you go."
Kanna's desire to see the face of Itachi's little brother was great, but she wouldn't make the mistake of eye contact and even though she like her partner preferred to fight without the cloak, against sharingan it would be a definite benefit. "My name is Kanna, I may or may have not been assigned this mission by a god, but I cannot allow you to go any further."
Akatsuki and their stubbornness were an incredible annoyance. Sasuke did not understand how these lowly criminal could almost seem to protect a comrade. All he desired were a few honest answers and here they were making things unnecessarily difficult. Seeing that this wasn't going to go anywhere without violent motivation, he slowly rotated his neck clockwise and then counter clockwise, limbering up his body that thanks to Orochimaru, had fully healed.
"Fine, we have no reservations about forcing the information out of you," Kusanagi was unlatched from its sheath at his side. "As far as I'm concerned, you're mere obstacles in way of my vengeance and like obstacles I'll move you to the waste side in pieces if need be." Left hand undoing the bandages wrapped about his head, as they fell away, sharingan ignited a most fiery red and pointed at their next victims.
"Listen to that confidence," Toshio insisted in a bitter amusement, "I wonder if he'll be as confident if I were to spoon out those eyes. Then Uchiha Sasuke, you would be no better than I."
A mere twenty feet between Hebi and Akatsuki, Sasuke closed quicker than a blink of an eye. Dirt took to the air and both Akatsuki saw sharingan's fire narrow into dangerous slits just before kusanagi did a wide sweep to catch their throats. However they leapt back in the nick of time to tumble mid-air and perch atop sturdy branches where they simultaneously checked their necks for any blood.
"I made him angry," observed Toshio.
"Oh, you think?" sarcastically volleyed Kanna. "Anger is a powerful thing, maybe if you didn't shoot your mouth off so often our jobs wouldn't be so difficult!"
"Where's the fun in that?" he asked straightening up. "Well, let's get this over with. I haven't missed a beast sealing in person yet."
Hebi watched Akatsuki shoot off in opposite directions. It was obvious they desired to split them up and Sasuke's team wasn't about to disappoint. "You two go after the one with the big mouth. The woman might have more answers so she's mine," Sasuke watched Suigetsu and Jugo follow after Toshio, leaving Karin to tug at his cloak.
"Sasuke, what should I –?"
"Stay out of my way," he ordered, shrugging her off and pushing passed.
Leaving Karin behind, Sasuke chased after the first kunoichi he had ever seen in Akatsuki ranks. She was able to stay a few feet ahead of him, moving erratically through the trees to keep that distance. But she was forced to an immediate halt when the road of trees stopped before a quick moving river. Rather than stand there waiting, her momentum sprung her back in his direction. Sasuke saw the glint of a kunai and quickly unsheathed kusanagi to block. Their steel met head on and both sharpened edges ground together, flaking sparks that tumbled thirty feet to the ground. A kunai versus a katana was hardly a match, but the Akatsuki managed to deflect and wriggle her way around his offense skillfully. When Sasuke foresaw an opportunity in her form to disarm, she sprang back and tumbled to the ground, leaving him to slash air rather than flesh.
A hawk in hot pursuit, Sasuke pinpointed Kanna on the ground and swooped down with a spray of shuriken. Her own shuriken canceled them out and before she could even wind up an accurate punch, the wind behind Sasuke's own fist sent her sugegasa flying off of her head as she ducked out of harm's way.
"He's really fast!" she anxiously thought, making a grab for his sword arm.
Kanna made contact and Sasuke pulled, allowing her to pivot her back into him and tug at his arm. About to pull it clean out of the socket, he went with her force, flipping over the kunoichi's shoulder to send her flying instead. Twisting in mid-air as she tumbled, her hands and feet fastened to the ground to bring her body to a skidding halt. His overwhelming speed hardly gave Kanna the time to formulate a proper and effective counterattack before he was all over her again.
Right arm sore, Sasuke calmly rubbed it out then continued his relentless attack. The two shinobi became a blur together, a blur of kicks, punches, holds and breaks. Kusanagi's blade glimmered in the frenzy until suddenly an opening was seen. Kanna's right footed push kick sent Sasuke rocketing. Like a well thrown stone his body skipped out over the river's surface till he clattered onto the opposite shore. Unfortunately for the Akatsuki, Sasuke had skills beyond his years.
Kanna heard a ruckus in the trees from behind and as she veered around, two large windmill shuriken tore through the canopy, their blades reflected in her wide stare. They rapidly spun, sawing through the air, buffeting in her direction. In order to avoid both demon shuriken that overlapped the other, Kanna launched herself into the air. At first she had successfully dodged them but they split up into fours, two other solid windmill shuriken in the shadow of the other pair. They threw her off course and right into Sasuke, who seemingly appeared out of thin air. Caught mid-flight, Kanna was unable to avoid kusanagi that slashed clean through her.
Rather than spray Sasuke with blood, vines erupted from both halves of Kanna's veggie clone and bound him tightly. Or at least that's what it first appeared like. A billow of smoke revealed a log that tumbled into the river and was swept out of sight by the rushing rapids.
"Huf…huf…"
Kanna had left the battlefield for a vantage point, hidden behind a boulder that hid itself amongst the overgrown natural grasses. Sweat crept down from her hairline then dripped onto the Akatsuki cloak. Itachi's little brother speed was incredible for someone his age. To match his speed was more than exhausting and she didn't have sharingan to keep tabs on every little movement made.
Knelt down on one knee, Kanna carefully scanned the area. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. "I can't keep up with him for long. Eventually I'll tire, so there has to be a way to lean things in my favor. There's already a field advantage but what good is that if I can't catch him? Also…those eyes, he was already tracking the pattern of my movements, I can only keep sharingan guessing for so long," she thought.
Quietly the young woman stood back up and turned around, this time not to face the open forest but to be skewered by kusanagi at last.
"AH!" wide-eyed, blood leapt from out of her speechless mouth.
Sasuke ran Kanna all the way through, nailing her to the boulder she had been hiding from him behind. Lightning-based chakra angrily crackled all along the blade, heating the steel, channeling electricity into her body until numbness inevitably overcame. For a moment or two he watched the kunoichi, those critical red eyes trying to capture her gaze. Kanna refused to look up however, instead she focused on getting her arms to move that laid limp at her sides. Demanding movement from her hands, her fingers twitched and somehow both hands managed to grasp the blade.
Sasuke arched a brow discouraged by her pitiful attempt. "No amount of strength can break this katana infused with my chakra. Though I'm surprised you're able to move, even as little as you did. But now that I have your attention –"
This katana had to go, as long as he was channeling electricity into her, she'd be trapped here between the boulder and Sasuke. Kanna's expression involuntarily twitched as she boldly squeezed the blade. Both edges sliced into her palms and the Uchiha watched on, thinking he'd let her struggle herself to exhaustion. That however wasn't going to be the case.
A bitter, tasteless fume began to rise. Kanna's hands enveloped in green hued acidic chakra and Sasuke was surprised to see it eat through his chakra and unbreakable blade. Unable to leap a safe distance between them quick enough, the kunoichi swiped a deadly hand at his head. The fumes from her chakra got into his eyes, making sharingan burn wildly in their sockets, sending the Uchiha stumbling back. Sasuke rubbed them furiously and before the kunoichi could take advantage of his current bad situation, he enveloped his entire self in an electrical discharge. Chidori's current was his most effective defense and it indeed kept Kanna at bay. The attack went so far as to channel through the ground, so as she flipped back onto the safety of the boulder, her left hand was caught by it.
"Damn it!" Sasuke hissed, still furiously rubbing his eyes. Both cheeks streamed with tears as he could hardly see, everything had become so painfully blurry.
Kanna watched from a safe distance atop the boulder he originally had pinned her too. "Impressive, that for someone so young you think so far ahead. No doubt that you're Itachi-san's little brother. But I'm sure you hear that a lot," Kanna now shook her hand out and began to think how exactly to get around Sasuke's defense while he was still in this vulnerable state.
"Clever that you would try to blind these eyes not even three minutes into our battle," he said, slowly regaining his posture. "Unfortunately for you, my ability to recover is also impressive."
Though watery and pink, sharingan's glare was resilient. They glowed like brilliant flames, contrasted by his pale skin and dark hair.
"So you've attained some of Orochimaru's abilities from absorbing him after all. Well," her scowl deepened remembering Orochimaru's involvement with the former Tsuchikage. "His ability to heal fails in comparison to mine."
Kanna tore the other half of kusanagi from her stomach without a flinch and then discarded its melted remains to the ground. Kindly she gestured with a finger to the gaping wound he was responsible for. Without a hand sign or even a thought, it healed and there wasn't even any trauma left for a blemish. "As if it never happened, right?"
"Tch," Sasuke grit his teeth though appeared to observe dispassionately. "Instantaneous healing, even Orochimaru wasn't capable of that without consequences."
Her stare continued to struggle against the natural reflex to meet an opponent eye-to-eye. "Could I possibly ask you something?"
Chidori's current now dispersed, leaving a few pulses of electricity to squirm & crackle around Sasuke's feet. "The only words I want out of your mouth are Itachi's whereabouts," he flatly answered.
Kanna was disappointed to hear that again. "Very well."
He observed her just standing but it soon became clear they were moving on from just Taijutsu. The ground beneath Sasuke's feet began to violently quake, so he leapt back extending an arm in hopes to seize Kanna with serpents that slithered out from his sleeves.
Unfortunately his aim was thrown off having to avoid a thick, thorny vine that erupted from the earth. With kusanagi in two corroded and very useless pieces, he sliced through the vine vertically with a hand enveloped by lightning chakra. But from one vine burst two and from two burst three. Like a hydra each vine that pursued him and he cut down, more came in its place. Now the battlefield crawled with Kanna's ninjutsu. As if dodging them wasn't difficult enough, she joined the fray with her dangerous touch.
Sasuke maneuvered to the best of his ability, sharingan having found a pattern in the vines serpent-like movements, though at first it appeared to be too erratic to properly follow. Kanna had come in swiping at him but wasn't able to land a direct hit. Every so often she'd pull back for a breather, letting her ninjutsu attempt to exhaust him. From afar the kunoichi safely weaved signs, making the earth groan and rumble. Beneath Sasuke's feet the ground cracked and the soils began to cave in as something massive and menacing emerged. A spiked tendril as thick as an anchor's rope uncoiled allowing a white, monstrous sized blossom to bloom its jaws.
"A flower?" Sasuke skid to an unimpressed halt, caught in the beast's massive shadow. "Humph, is this the extent of your jutsu, miserable weeds?"
Tilting on its roots, the flower pin-pointed Sasuke as a threat by his chakra and made its intent clear. Amidst the spray of a bitter scented hiss, pronged tendrils shot out across the grounds. The Uchiha sped off, trying to lose the tendrils in the trees but it was now clear he was at a disadvantage, outnumbered and on the run from these miserable weeds.
Just about to drop to the ground, Sasuke was nabbed by the throat, the plant's whippy tongue strung like a noose as the young shinobi hung over a branch. He struggled, even produced Chidori's current but it was ineffective. Kanna's ninjutsu yanked Sasuke and drug him across the ground fighting. Once brought into the air, the plant's massive serrated-toothed petals spread and the Uchiha was swallowed whole.
Kanna blinked in shock. "Did I…get him so soon?"
Chidori blew a hole straight out of the plant and through that window a tangle of serpents erupted. Unable to retreat quickly enough, they lassoed Kanna, wrapping her tight around her own creature as Sasuke dropped from the sky. Hand seals a blur, the last seal Kanna made out had her struggling like an animal caught in a snare.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive sphere of flames hurled from Sasuke's pursed lips towards Kanna and her ninjutsu. Both the kunoichi and her flower brilliantly ignited in a show of orange and red. The grand fireball overcame her entirely. Tall flames licked at the sky, from within Sasuke could make out the shadows still struggling in shrieks of agony. He hadn't truly intended to be so drastic but sometimes he could get carried away when it came to an obstacle in way of his vengeance.
Smelling and hearing the distinct destruction of flesh, he watched as thick, black smoke spewed into the atmosphere. What Sasuke hadn't meant to see was the kunoichi stumbling out. Kanna's feet drug as she broke through the smoke veil. Dryly coughing and holding her arms out to see the state of her body; charred from head to toe. Only left with one option to correct herself, she began to tear burnt flesh off in chunks.
"Ow…ow…" her burnt skin stretched as she pulled and lastly peeled the remains of her face off to reveal fresh flesh wrapped in unblemished skin. "OW!" Kanna huffed loud, struggling to keep composure now. "God, that stings so bad!"
Brows pinched in the middle, mouth a thin critical line, Uchiha Sasuke stood frustrated by this Akatsuki member's healing ability that even surpassed Orochimaru's. "What are you?" he demanded.
Kanna was trembling in her very own frustration. "What am I?" she panted. "What are you? I'm astonished that someone would be so hell bent on killing their own brother. What's that going to accomplish exactly - I'm confused. Are you so eager to know what it feels like to truly be the only one left of your clan?"
"I didn't come all the way out here to explain myself to the likes of you," confident and fearless he began to close the space between them. "Though your healing ability is impressive, you can obviously still feel pain. Pain is an effective way to extract information from anyone and I'm not playing your game."
In that moment still without even making eye contact, Kanna felt an eerie darkness about Itachi's little brother; something beyond chakra, something more than the entirety of an aura. Something about him just wasn't reasonable and as he continued to unhurriedly advance, she began to step back. However Kanna didn't go far, she soon came to a stop just as Sasuke found himself at an involuntary standstill.
"Wh-what is this?" he coldly demanded.
At first it started as numbness around his nose, lips, and inside his mouth. It quickly began to spread till his fingers and toes tingled. As soon as Sasuke sensed something was amiss, his entire body seized up and he clattered to his knees. There on his knees, alarmed by something uncalculated, all feeling was lost as he tumbled onto his side, inoperative and useless as a sack of vegetables.
Looking him over carefully from afar, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief because Sasuke was indeed unable to move as she had hoped.
"From the way you're glaring at me, I think you're wondering when and how. I'll start with when: the plant you so unkindly caught fire to, understandably felt threatened. Mammals, reptiles – all creatures have their own way of protecting themselves. Plants however aren't really gifted with free movement. They can't just get up and run away when they're afraid or hurt, so they compensate for their weakness…" from over her shoulder she paid a brief, sad glance to her wilted comrade.
"That brings me to how. That particular flower's defense is unique and obviously very effective. As soon as it comes out onto the battlefield and is engaged, it releases pollen that stuns all those who inhale it – except me of course, it has no effect. Thankfully that pollen has nothing to do with my own chakra or else I imagine you would have seen it in some sort of colorful cloud formation? Anyway, the pollen causes paralysis and usually the plant would then eat its original would-be attacker, but that's where I come in instead."
Sasuke couldn't feel his mouth or drool oozing from the corners of his twitching lips. "Pft, so what - are you going to eat me?"
Kanna frowned, "I hope that was meant to be a joke. But no, I'm not going to eat you. That's more Zetsu-san's style I hear. No I'm going to stop you from ever reaching Itachi."
At last their gaze met, only when she felt it was safe to. Sasuke's sharingan burned a far brighter red than his older brother's and though they were beautiful, she preferred Itachi's calm gaze to this angry set glaring at her right now.
"I had a family once – a clan," her right hand rose, enveloped again in acidic chakra. "Then one day someone who was supposed to love me took them all away. Revenge didn't bring a single one of my family back though, Sasuke. Revenge brings nothing good. All revenge brings is more pain and suffering onto others if not yourself."
Kanna's words trailed off as she now stood in front of Sasuke with her fingers curling tightly in and out of a fist for the moment of truth. However she quickly turned to deflect a spray of shuriken and kunai. "So you come out of hiding now?"
"Get away from him!" Karin snarled, thrusting a wound up fist towards the opposing kunoichi.
Easily swiping the fiery red-headed young woman's hand aside, Kanna wound up her own fist and popped Karin square on the nose. Her glasses flew off and she slapped both hands over her nose that now dribbled blood.
"I'd be ashamed if I were you," scolded Kanna, "hiding while your comrades fight. But from how you came at me, perhaps you were ordered to stay out of the way for good reason."
"Bitch, you broke it!" Karin cried, gingerly nursing her now crooked appendage.
"I'll break a whole lot more if you call me that again," she warned.
The level of threat back down to a minimal state, she turned around to look at Sasuke who still laid there unable to move. Eight vital spots but the quickest way would be to snap his neck or remove his heart. Yet she was hesitant, this felt wrong – very wrong. Maybe it was because Sasuke looked so like Itachi or maybe it was just because this was his little brother…whatever it was, she stood there unable to make a decision. If Kanna let him go, he'd continue to pursue Itachi and that fact alone should have been enough to stomp him out.
Everything had seemed okay, as if it she was on the verge of victory. But as she glared down towards the youngest Uchiha, there was a voice. It sounded far away but it was coming closer. When she finally heard it loud and clear, it was too late.
"KANNA! IT'S A GENJUTSU!" Toshio shouted.
"A-a genjutsu? B-but how? When?" she frightfully muttered.
The world around her was suddenly turned black and white as the image of Sasuke laying there at her feet broke in two like a sheet of glass and shattered instantaneously. From the broken remains he burst forth in curse seal form. His left hand conjured a dense amount of lightning-based chakra and he propelled himself at the kunoichi who was completely flabbergasted. With one slice of his hand, Sasuke removed Kanna's entire left arm, shoulder down and as it flew off in the opposite direction, exploded into bloody, unrecognizable pieces.
White hot pain surged throughout her entire body as nerves shot off with nowhere to go. Clutching the bleeding stump, Kanna tumbled back onto the ground.
Toshio watched in disappointment as his comrade fell. Arms were a shinobi's weak spot. Lop one off and their entire jutsu was thrown to the waste side. Unfortunately both of his hands were full trying to fight off Suigetsu while also defending himself from a raging Jugo. He couldn't get to Kanna even if he really wanted to. But seeing Sasuke's current state and what remained of Kanna's jutsu, well he fastened what looked like a black medical mask to the lower part of his face, just in case.
The guillotine blade swung through the forest, cutting trees clean in half, however Toshio's agility proved to be a real thorn in Suigetsu's side.
"Hold still would ya? I'm trying to make a clean cut!" he grinned.
"That poor sword, you swing it around as if it's a log," the Akatsuki member deflected the heavy blade. "But I'm impressed you can pick it up at all."
Suigetsu's sword arm abnormally swelled, despite this Toshio was holding his own. Again however, Jugo came barreling through the trees in attempts to tackle the considerably slighter shinobi. Toshio merely ducked out of the way and made a slash at the back of Jugo's neck, hoping to end it quick by severing his spinal cord. Suigetsu unfortunately saw that and intercepted Toshio's twin blade. They clashed yet again, their blades swiping and clanging together nonstop. Their strength was evenly matched but Toshio proved to be more skilled in form.
"All that fancy fighting must get tiring?"
"I don't know, you tell me? You're the one who is panting and always reaching for his water!" the Akatsuki's blade did a low swipe, cutting the thread that tied Suigetsu's water bottle to him. In a second swipe, he sliced the bottle in half and the water spilled across the thirsty ground.
The timing was unfortunate for Suigetsu, who heaved and was sullen with thirst chasing Toshio around the woods. Frantically he checked his other water bottles, forgetting about his opponent who needed to put space between them in the first place.
"Your friend is really getting on my nerves. I can't take his interruption so don't mind me if I dispose of him while you get a drink –"
Jugo was a mess of open wounds and blood from their three-way fight. It was utterly amazing that he was still able to rage on. Putting a fair distance between the very distracted Suigetsu and himself, Toshio stood out in the open to flush Jugo out for a one-on-one.
Naturally he took the bait right away.
Like a bull he barreled down on Toshio, who stood with his hands in a mysterious seal. Fingers laced yet spread out, they formed almost inward wings. "A rabid animal like you needs to be put out of its misery. So, allow me to put you down."
Altered by his bloodline, more beast than human, Jugo salivated as he reached out his arms to crush the Akatsuki member. However he was stalled by Toshio's jutsu, which appeared in multiple portals on the ground. The portals were a swirling red and a hint to the dimension they were tore into. Thick chains of another worldly metal shot forth and slung themselves around Jugo's ankles, wrists, and one about his throat. He was inches away from Toshio's face but unable to advance further.
Teeth bare, saliva dripping from his lips and veins throbbing, he was incredibly frustrated being held still and unable to rip the Akatsuki member limb from limb. Toshio grinned calmly in the crazed shinobi's face.
"Sayonara," he said. "Binding Technique: Chains of Yomi…"
With no slack, the metal links began to wind back into the five portals on the ground that circled Jugo. As if demons were cranking the levers just below, they grew tighter and tighter until the huge man with a gentle heart but ferocious blood was suspended a foot above the ground roaring in his frustration.
"Struggle all you like, no one can sever those chains. They could bind a god and you are no god. Just a lab rat," Toshio coldly chuckled one last time.
Calculating a safe distance, he stepped back just in time of course to watch his ninjutsu tear one of Team Hebi's members apart. Simultaneously his arms and legs along with his head were ripped from his torso. Blood sprayed in all directions, but Toshio managed to not get a drop on him.
Amidst Suigetsu's struggle for the last drop of water in the last water bottle he had, he looked up to bear witness to Jugo's gruesome demise. He wasn't exactly sure how to feel. There was the initial shock and then there was a sense of regret. Honestly, Suigetsu would have liked to have gone one more time with Jugo to see who could best the other. Unfortunately that wasn't ever going to happen.
The Akatsuki member turned his sights back on the former Mist shinobi, ready to continue what they started. But Toshio's pale eyes directed away from Suigetsu's stare, down to his feet where an odd creature crawled its way over his toes and latched itself to his ankle.
Still on the ground slowly trying to inch herself away with only one arm, Sasuke's shadow loomed over Haru Kanna.
"By the way you're glaring at me, I bet you're wondering when and how," he clearly mocked her words from before. "I'll start with when: from the moment we began our battle, I noticed you were hiding your hand seals and going to great lengths to avoid eye contact. Basic instruction when combating these eyes, but the second is not so easy when in the middle of a fight and yet you managed, up until the moment where you thought you won. As soon as you made eye contact with me, I caught you. Genjutsu is not your strong suite, is it?"
He was right, though Kanna was proficient with both Taijutsu and her clan's Ninjutsu, Genjutsu was one of her weaknesses. "I never really had the talent or patience for it," she confessed as Itachi's warning echoed in her mind. He had told her sharingan would overcome her and he was in fact right.
But even though Sasuke was able to capture her in a genjutsu and sever an arm, he was still struggling with the effects of her ninjutsu.
"How are you able to still stand?" Kanna bitterly questioned. "You're supposed to be paralyzed!"
Suddenly the Uchiha staggered, answering her question in a way. "I can still feel the effects of your ninjutsu, the only reason I'm standing is because of the curse seal." Sasuke was standing just by power alone.
His time was limited though, this he knew. So he needed to extract information from the woman as soon as possible. Obviously the quickest and most effective method would be the painful persuasion he figured from earlier.
"When you made eye contact and then hesitated, those were your mistakes," he staggered closer.
Still Kanna clutched to her arm, no longer did it bleed but the pain was incredible to the point her teeth were grinding. Something odd happened then. An unassuming, small, ghostly white creature plopped down from the overhanging branches, putting itself between Kanna and Sasuke. Instantly the Uchiha recognized the arsenal of his past opponent.
"KATSU!"
The blast wave of a C2 bomb blew Sasuke back in debris, giving Kanna the opportunity to stand and dash. A shadow followed alongside the kunoichi and she glanced up just as another explosion went off in Toshio's direction. There beside her soared a clay bird with Deidara piloting. He swooped low to reach a helpful hand out to her. Of course Kanna would have gladly given him her left, if it hadn't been cut off and destroyed.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Deidara shouted down to her over the blasts of multiple explosions.
"Wait, I need my ring!" along with something else.
Kanna found her ring buried in a little warm heap of what remained of her arm. Covered in blood, she stashed it in a pocket and then came to a skidding halt beside Karin, who had her hands cupped below her nose that still dripped blood. She gawked up at the other kunoichi and just as she was about to open her mouth to say something foul, Kanna punched her across the head, knocking her out cold.
Again the clay bird swooped low. "Why the hell did you do that, hmm?" Deidara asked, noticing Kanna only had one arm to which she used to drag Karin out of the trees. "And what happened to your arm?"
"I'll tell you later, just take her and we can go," she replied.
Deidara nodded his head as the clay bird he road in on, opened up its jowls and swallowed Karin down while Kanna hopped atop its back. They took to the air getting a look at the scene below. Apparently Deidara had planted multiple bombs throughout their battlefield and were going off at random times, making not only Sasuke and Suigetsu flee, but putting Toshio in danger.
"Thought you could leave me behind, hmm?" The clay master handsomely grinned over his shoulder at Kanna.
However she couldn't smile in return. "Deidara, now is not the time to get back at Sasuke –"
"I had no intentions of," he immediately corrected, a little irked she was accusing him of selfishness at this very heroic moment. "Well, not yet at least, hmm."
Another explosion spewed flames upward, to which the clay bird stealthily avoided. Kanna looked back down, searching the trees for her partner. "We need to get Toshio, he's still down there."
Deidara raised a thin brow, obviously having forgotten about Kanna's partner. "Ah, Toshio."
A few clicks of his scope and he was zooming in on their comrade atop a branch with a wounded leg, obviously a victim of friendly fire. The clay bird lowered altitude but will still out of range.
"Come closer, my leg is battered you idiot! I can't make that jump!" spat the former cloud shinobi. "Thanks to your damn clay bombs that aren't able to distinguish friend from foe!"
They still hovered out of range and it became obvious Deidara was going to make this difficult for Toshio. Kanna watched her partner grit his teeth to make the jump. He had managed to grab hold of the bird by its clay flesh, however Deidara stopped him right there.
"For your information my art is perfect," he told Toshio. "Maybe you just need a closer look, hmm?"
Cloak thrown open, Deidara thrust one of his mouthed hands into one of two bags fastened to his utility belt. His palm chewed for a few seconds before regurgitating a mound of saliva drenched clay, to which the former Rock shinobi crammed into Toshio's wide open mouth.
If Toshio were to let go to pull it out, he would have fallen. Instead he stared wide-eyed as Deidara removed Ao from his index finger.
"I believe this is mine," the clay master's mouth curled tight at the corners and once he had what he wanted, he jammed his sandaled foot in Toshio's face, kicking him loose.
Kanna watched her partner drop like a stone but before he could even hit the ground, Deidara formed his hand seal and Toshio exploded in a mess of flesh and fire. There wasn't anything she could really say, this sort of brutality was an everyday thing when in Akatsuki. All Kanna could do was hold tight to the clay bird with her outlook on Deidara a little shaken.
"HA! Brilliant, hmm!" he swept his blonde bangs aside to watch Sasuke and his remaining comrade shrink as he and Kanna rose to the clouds together.
a/n: Gawd, I forgot how difficult fight scenes are. I had high hopes for the Sasuke vs. Kanna fight but I don't think I was able to get it to where I really wanted it. Bleh!
Well this chapter was pretty long, the ones to follow will hopefully be just as long because I want chapter 30 to be the final chapter :D
Okay, so I'd like to hear what you guys think. Really & I mean Really! Cause I'm approaching the end & I not only want to be satisfied but I want my readers to be. Is Itachi still Itachi? Is the OC still okay with you? Do you think Kanna should have off'd Sasuke? Do you think there is a happy ending or a sad ending on the horizon? Did the fight scene just blow chunks? That sorta stuff, haha.
In closing for this chapter – thank you for reading & please review :D
-Connie