Caved in Cavern

(Naruto Shippuden OST 1 Track 9 - Anger)

Sasuke. Itachi blocked a high kick, arm trembling against the pale-man's strength. The sannin smiled as two snakes slithered out of his clothes and coiled swiftly towards the boy, fangs gleaming in the low light. The raven quickly backed out of reach just as their jaws came within an inch of his arm, retreating his arm inside his sleeve.

He skid across the floor, rising to move again but the attacks were relentless as more and more snakes slithered his way. Several walls caved in, dust and debris blasting into the small halls of the hideout as if something large had barrelled through. He felt his arms go numb, overwhelmed by the impact and his ribs begin to stress under the pressure.

The dust cleared, revealing a tattered and beaten Uchiha amongst the rubble. Itachi sat there for a moment in his bed of cement, breathing timid sighs as the pain in his chest restricted his lungs. He expected Orochimaru to be strong, but not anything he couldn't deal with on his own. In his own right, Itachi knew was very strong, and found himself to be competent among the Akatsuki ranks, or so he thought. Never had he imagined that he'd struggle so much, that he'd find such a threat. Itachi never felt like the kind of person to need help. He helped others on the team, not the other way around. When he battled alongside his new partner, his sudden rookie status was completely foreign grounds. Now he was the one stumbling around, unable to swim in a sea of sharks and whatever else swam those waters. However, he was here, and he needed to do this, even if he died trying.

An image of his younger brother flashed in his mind, his adorable smile created a warm feeling that blurred out the pain in his chest. A figure loomed over Itachi, slowly closing in as the Uchiha found the strength to move, hands twitching, then legs slowly pushing the rocks away.

"At last..." Orochimaru's voice rose. He lifted his arm as four snakes shot out of his sleeve, wrapping tightly around the boy and restricting him. Fangs dug deep into the raven's flesh, injecting a paralysis inducing venom. Itachi nearly yelped out but seemed to refrain from it, eyes going wide as he struggled. Eventually, the squirming stopped as the thirteen-year old was rendered still.

Orochimaru made a smirk of triumph and leaned back, the snakes hauling Itachi out of the rubble. Itachi struggled to twitch his arms and keep his lids open, the venom slowly circulating around his body. With one final squirm, the thirteen-year old went slack like a sack of rice. Orochimaru approached his prey, allowing the snakes to remove their fangs from his body. The venom wasn't fatal, but it would do well with more troublesome bodies.

He extended a hand to touch the young Uchiha, finger lightly brushing his cloak collar before the body dispersed into a flurry of screeching crows. The sannin snapped out of his excitement, watching the birds fill the room and Itachi disappear from sight.

Orochimaru turned on his heel fast enough to catch a blade aimed for his heart, Itachi moved before him, gleaming kunai in hand. Before the cold metal could pierce his chest, the snake dodged the attack and charged his hand with a sharp wind of chakra to strike at the boy's stomach. The chakra scalpel ripped at the younger's abdomen, slicing to the side where more crows spilled out of the wound, screeching loudly and noisily as that body also dispersed into nothing.

Another body appeared, torn to shreds while another lost an eye but dispersed into more screeching crows. Orochimaru fended off the clones in frustration. Even as he tried to break the genjutsu, it was too strong. The sannin beheaded another one, the crows dispersing again while the whole flock spun about the room. Out of the tornado of birds, four figures appeared, each one presenting the same Itachi Uchiha. Unable to react, Orochimaru felt the cold steel pierce his flesh, ice-cold spears searing against his stomach. He froze and hacked, muscles going tense at the pain. His legs began to give out, the pain increasing at a rate it never should. Itachi was making this pain, but it wasn't real. Dammit...beaten by some child's genjutsu...

Pathetic!

A snake wriggled out of his arm, slithering quickly to his wrist as it brandished its fangs. Its jaws clamped tightly onto Orochimaru's arm, adding to the pain. Soon enough, the clones began to fade, crumbling into crows that dispersed into black feathers.

A sudden awareness came over him, the sight of the younger aiming the kunai blade at his heart, hoping to end it all quickly. Orochimaru swiftly clamped his hand around the boy's neck and squeezed hard, causing the Uchiha to flinch and drop the kunai. Itachi's feet floated off the floor, neck held in a death grip that raised him into the air. Itachi felt his throat contract and suffocate, mind going blurry at the lack of air.

Suddenly, a white creature erupted from the floor, coiling tightly against the Sannin's ankle. Several snakes latched onto the white centipede, their bites doing nothing to stop it as it made its way up to his knee before resting.

"Katsu!"

BOOM

The next thing Itachi knew, his neck was released as a pained cry rang in his ears. He barely registered the explosion as something hard but slightly squishy broke his fall. The surface bounced and something else clamped around his body, a darkness flooding his sight even when he opened his eyes.

He pressed his hands to the case around him, the rubbery surface barely budging against his arm. The space around him bumped and jittered, as if whatever was holding him was moving around erratically.

Suddenly, a large wobble and thud was heard, Itachi bumped backwards and his shoulder collided onto his left. Two horizontal seams parted and light began to flood in as the case was opened. Itachi was thrown upside down and something at the back of it shoved him out, throwing the raven onto the floor outside roughly.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

The words barely registered in his mind, more concerned with the dent in his neck and an aching bum from the fall. Itachi coughed a few times and turned to face the young blond, now knelt on the floor before him. Deidara made a sour look and continued to rant. "Sasori no danna already warned us not to go near Orochimaru! If you were gonna disobey him, at least don't go alone! You need someone to help you!"

"No, I was-" Itachi replied slowly but was quickly cut off as a tremor shook the floor. Deidara stumbled slightly, giving the thirteen-year old a moment to take in his surroundings.

A large bird-like sculpture stood nearby, a clay tongue stuck out lazily against its bottom bill. Elsewhere in the room, Kisame was holding off Orochimaru, keeping him at a safe distance from the children.

Deidara stood up hastily, glaring at the floor. "We gotta go!"

In one swift motion, Itachi was scooped into the giant bird's mouth, trapped again in the confines of its bill. Two snakes struck where he had been, now uselessly biting at clay of the sculpture and bounded away. Deidara jumped on and quickly lifted off, flying the bird down the hall. The blond ignored the ticked thuds and muffled monotonous demands. Regardless of why Itachi was here, they needed to leave. Not only for Itachi, but simply due to the fact that Deidara had plans to live tomorrow, not get shred to pieces or swallowed up by some mutant snake.

The bird emerged from the entrance, narrowly escaping the giant explosions that wreaked the land. Mounds of dirt flew into the air, indicating the scale of the battle. Deidara rose his sculpture into the air, keeping a safe distance in the sky. Kisame was strong, he should be able to handle this. Even if Orochimaru couldn't be beaten, he trusted that the Akatsuki lived up to his title and survived with few injuries.

As the dust cleared, the maze revealed itself, now bare and naked of the earth that it hid it. The halls were caved in, some rooms completely destroyed and indistinguishable from the rubble. Kisame jumped away from the area but continued to taunt Orochimaru, not quite down with retreat.

Deidara watched in awe as more dirt and trees were jetted into the air, the once beautiful land now torn and beaten. It had only taken a few seconds, but the clashes between the tailless beast and the sannin had quickly transformed the scape. Deidara snapped out of his awe and scowled at the noisy Uchiha to snap, "Hey! Don't destroy my bird! I worked hard on it!"

The warning came on deaf ears, as Itachi continued to try and pry the thing open. Deidara blinked and tried again. "We're forty meters in the air! You want to fall?"

"Deidara, let me out."

The child had to strain his ears to hear the low request, muffled by the thick walls of the bird's bill. The blond scoffed and sat back, crossing his arms defiantly. "No."

A silver tip erupted from the nose of the bird, a clear kunai blade stabbed into the roof of the case. He blinked and panicked, leaning forward to yell again at the other. "Forty-meters Itachi!"

Silence came from the Uchiha, the kunai blade remaining still. Deidara watched as the battle advanced closer to the lake, eventually clashing right on top of it which cause the water to fountain around the two. A snake shot into the air, striking directly for the bird but missing narrowly as the boy rose the sculpture higher into sky.

"I have to do this."

"Do what?" Deidara kept a trained eye as he listened, making sure to keep their newest member just out of reach. In training, this would be unfair and ruled against, but in real battle, there was no limit to how high you could fly. "I'd be happy to see you die, but I'll get in trouble with danna and leader if I let it happen now!"

Itachi sat inside the dark space, a stream of low light leaked through the hole in the ceiling, kunai gripped in his hand. He stared at the spot where the light ended. "...For my little brother."

"Eh?"

"You probably don't understand." Both hands gripped the kunai, trembling slightly. His voice was a raised whisper, weighing his words crudely. It was probably a better choice not to spew out any of this, but he needed to let it out somehow. He had no expectations for the blond to pity him at all. "I have to kill Orochimaru for his sake."

Deidara sneered. "Isn't he dead?"

"He's not."

The bird's flight faltered for a moment, tumbling in the air for a few seconds before Deidara could properly steer out of the turbulent wind. "Wait, so you left your little brother alive?"

"Deidara. You have Sasori, I have him." Itachi attempted to sympathize. It was hard to speak like this, especially when he could only tell the other child's emotions and reaction from his voice. "Orochimaru is a threat to him. I want to get rid of that threat. His eyes..."

The bomber sat there for a moment, dumbfounded by what he just heard. Itachi was soft? An Akatsuki member was soft? Well, in a sense, that would apply to his master as well but the eleven-year old didn't like to think that way of him. In sense, he did understand. If it came to it, the boy would definitely come to his master's aid, and if his brother was something like Sasori was to him...

Deidara shook his head furiously. No, no, no! He couldn't do that! Risk Itachi die from this height and potentially, Orochimaru possessing the sharingan or stay within the safe zone where neither would get killed unless some other shinobi could also fly. Danna would certainly scold him if let the newest member die like this, a truly stupid move.

But then again, he was a stupid kid wasn't he? With a stupid soft mentor and a stupid Uchiha who couldn't leave things to fate.

Itachi didn't hear a reply. The boy must have decided against it, silence being gold in this kind of situation. Fitting of an Akatsuki, perhaps it was better off if he didn't come here. Regardless, even if Kisame was fighting the snake, he couldn't be sure if he was enough to handle him. If Sasori were strong enough, he wouldn't have made the warning in the first place, confident that he'd deal with whatever comes to the table. However, the warning was a little more than that, and the tenseness that radiated off the puppeteer, Itachi couldn't be sure that the two weren't simply evenly matched. Two people of the same strength either fought often or completely avoided each other. Nothing came in between.

Suddenly, he felt his blood rise to his brain, gravity itself was weaker for the a few moments. Itachi pressed his hands to the walls for stability, his stomach dropping as gravity took its hold again. For a moment, nothing happened, but the familiar feeling of the clay tongue forcing him out of the confines of the bird dropped him onto the dirt floor.

"One-time offer!" Deidara barked angrily. "If you get killed, it's not my fault. I'm only doing this so you don't destroy my bird! You're the idiot who wants to do everything on your own!"

Itachi found himself smiling, undeterred by the boy's feigned reluctance. He turned to thank the other but only caught a glimpse of the child rocketing into the air with the clay sculpture. A circle of dust swirled where he had previously been, smart to leave the area as soon as possible. If Itachi planned on dying, then Deidara had no plans on going with him.

Tch! The blond clenched his teeth. I may not need his help but he certainly needs ours. Why go alone? Idiot...

Not only that but. Those shakes...they're not from the battle. They're from underground. Deidara glanced at the lake, now safely high up in the sky.

"Shinra Tensei!"

DOOM

Sasori flipped mid-air and gripped at the water, hopelessly trying to slow his descent. A trail of splashes followed after him, fingers and shoes digging deeper into the glowing pool. The speed didn't let up and the puppeteer was forced past the pool onto the shore, knocked back as he barrelled into the wall at he very back of the cavern. A massive dent exploded where he impacted the wall, another heavy tremble shaking the cave. A second tremble caused the water's surface to ripple and fluctuate violently, the Kazekage puppet now beaten against the same wall.

Pein held his hand out, having had enough of the Akatsuki's insolence. His ringed eyes narrowed, taking his time to saunter over to his underling. "If you refuse to comply then I will kill you."

"Like hell you are." The redhead spoke through grit teeth, moving to his knees from the slumped position on the floor. His body stiffened, wooden joints buckling against his will. Sasori froze as a white sheet flitted past is vision, landing on his shoulder to join the other papers forming a white cast on his body. His limbs creaked, metal parts jammed. Even the cord in his stomach refused to move, the pivot unable to spin as it normally could. Shit. Can't...move...

Konan rose into the air, cloak breaking away into stacks of paper. "I thought you said you'd kill me this time. In the end, you still lose." He's stronger now, more perceptive...She kept the puppeteer's face clear of sheets, letting him gaze upon their god. An enraged flare danced in the redhead's eyes, menacing to anyone else. No, it's not that. It's simply anger, hatred. He hasn't grown that way.

"I'm not dying here. I'm not gonna leave him alone!" Not like I used to be...Sasori roared, body still straining to break through the binds.

Pein didn't react, continuing to saunter towards the puppeteer menacingly, his gaze further amplified as the green glow of the water illuminated his face. "I will tell you something before you die. We've all experienced it, struggle, regret, pain. It is how we mature into adults; but true pain, that is what really forces us to grow up."

Shing

A black pike pointed inches away from the puppeteer's nose, then moved down to his chest. Sasori's heart sped up, beating harshly against his wooden body. Pein kept a relatively calm face, eyes however glaring at the other. "Your death with Deidara's first pain. It will be a milestone for him, unless you plan on halting his growth. Even if you aren't the one who attacked Itachi, you will pay the price for defying what god has willed. It's a shame. You were one of my most loyal members."

Pein, isn't this too...Konan's stoic expression fell, but she kept a good grip on Sasori's body.

Sasori wriggled in his cocoon, set on defying his 'god'. His arms were held tight and his legs were forced to the floor. His chakra strings refused to budge, and even if he did reach the Kazekage, his fingers wouldn't be able to move.

Drip...

Water? Sasori blinked and gauged the others expressions. Neither seemed to notice, and at first, he took it as nothing more than cave water. He gazed to the centre of the cavern ceiling, a steady stream of water leaking down. Surrounding droplets quickened their pace until they also streamed with liquid.

Pein and Konan were probably used to it, surrounded by water falling from the sky nearly every day, but Sasori had not been raised the same. In the desert, keeping a keen eye out for materials to survive was a must, and water was the most important of all. It kept the body hydrated and cooled a person down. In Sunagakure, an eye for water was favoured most amongst survivors.

Sasori had it too. Water wasn't abundant in the Land of Wind, but now, he could tell when there more water then there should have been. Where is this cavern even located?

A sudden tremble caused the cavern to shake, Pein raised his head, now coming to attention. Konan also began to notice, eyes directed towards the ceiling as cracks and crumbling echoed and more rocks plunged into the glowing pool. All fell silent, no one noticed the trembles before, simply passing it off as a result of their fight; but now that the fight had come to its end, there was no reason for the trembling to continue. As it seemed, something was happening above ground.

The tiny leaks exploded into full-blown falls, bucket-loads of water fell into the pool below, the ceiling began to curve inwards, threatening creaks and rumbling signalled the end of the rope for the weakened structure.

Without time to escape, the ceiling finally gave out, water rushing down in a heavy pour into the cavern. Sasori was quickly blown away by the current, thrown back against the wall and wherever else the tide pulled him.

Deidara watched from above, eyes wide at the sight as the land suddenly caved in on itself, the trees and earth falling into a massive hole underground. Kisame, Itachi, and Orochimaru were out of sight, presumably swallowed up by the hole. The lake water also poured into the earth, not dispersing deeper into the land. He hovered over the destruction before beginning to fly circles, looking for any signs of life.

"Itachi!"

The water swirled into a calm pool, some rocks rising to the surface. Deidara dared to fly closer, now only a few meters above the edge of what used to be the lake. Moonlight reflected off of the water, bits of strange green glowing pieces drifted all over. No reply came.

"Kisame no danna!"

...

A heavy silence flooded the area. Deidara began to contemplate the idea of them all dying, or knocked out from the force of the water. The thought made him panic slightly. What was he to do? Go find leader? Konan? Sasori? Kisame could deal with water well, so why wasn't he surfacing and reassuring him that he was fine?

Dread pulled the boy off of his bird, jumping down the short distance and landing onto the edge of the rocky wall. His weight pushed against the crumbling corner, causing it to give out. Deidara was unprepared as he fell, plunging into the water below. Again, his ears filled with the sounds of rushing liquid, voice silenced by the murky depths. Some bubbles rose from his mouth as he tried to scream out, arms flailing helplessly. His limbs felt weak, reaching out for anything.

No one was here to save him now. They were all dead if they weren't resurfacing.

I can't swim...