Chapter Fifty: Too Late
"Roushi's chakra's fading. I'm beginning to not be able to sense him anymore," Gouta informed the others as they ran. Shuuko bit her lip before turning towards Killer Bee. "What does the Hachibi say?" And Killer Bee frowned a bit. "You mean Hachibi-sama?" Shuuko and Gouta exchanged irritated glances before turning back to Killer Bee. "Same thing."
The Kumo-nin huffed. "Not even close to being--" "Will you just tell us what the hell 'Hachibi-sama' says. Please?" Ritsuki interrupted, growled a bit as he rolled his eyes. For that, he got a glare from Killer Bee, but his sunglasses prevented Ritsuki for getting the full brunt of the non-verbal threat. With a cross of his arms, Killer Bee airily grounded out that Roushi was probably dying as they spoke.
"What?!"
"Yeah, he's probably keeling over right now. It's probably about time for him to kick the bucket now, isn't it?"
Shuuko could have slapped him.
"How can you say such a thing?! Roushi will be fine... if we can find him."
"Maybe Naruto found him," Gouta suggested, trying and failing to ease everyone's frazzled and frayed nerves. It didn't work; all and sundry was pitifully caught up in the epinephrine rush. "No, Naruto's chakra is coming from behind us, Roushi's is somewhere ahead," Killer Bee stated, jotting a few words in his journal as he ran.
Everyone soon heard a raucous guffaw, only about a kilometer ahead-- no, just half a kilometer ahead. "That sounded like Kisame..." Everything lapsed into silence, various thoughts racing through their minds as that began to wonder why Kisame would be laughing. "Well, when I first saw him, he did seem a bit too cheerful for his own good." Killer Bee placed a hand on his chin to muse further.
"Roushi's the only one who's really had millions upon millions of run-ins with this Kisame guy. One when we first met him, two in the sewer, and again right now. I've only seen him in the Bingo Book," the celadon-haired girl reported, biting her lip. She remembered what Kisame looked like: he was a giant, plain and simple. Then, he had those teeth (fangs) and that petrifying sword. To top it all off, he was an Akatsuki member, and that fact in itself usually sent shinobi of all ranks and statuses falling to their knees. Except for maybe a Kage...
He was a member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure, and a former resident of the village itself. He had been held accountable for several assassinations and his attempt to overthrow the government. So he was most likely on Kiri's most wanted.
Okay, now she was scared. And hadn't Roushi written something about Uchiha Itachi being there as well? She didn't know Itachi very well. Hell, she barely even know much about the entire Uchiha clan.
But from what Naruto's numerous tales about his life, he was Sasuke Uchiha's brother. Even so, she still didn't know much about Sasuke, despite how many times Naruto seemed to mention him.
What she did know, though, was that the Uchiha clan's prized kekkei genkai was a doujutsu called the Sharingan. They were masters of genjutsu, and it was said that the Sharingan could see through chakra. Said doujutsu had been birthed from another Konoha clan's kekkei genkai, named the Byakugan. Members of the Hyuuga clan possessed those special eyes.
As Shuuko continued going over all the information she had so far, the other four were chatting amongst themselves.
"Roushi's dying. He's not going to make it," Gouta announced half-sorrowful, half-solemnly, letting his sentences sink in. Shuuko snapped away from her thoughts, jerking her head towards Gouta and ending up with one of her long bangs in her mouth.
"Then we need to pick up the pace and save him!" With that little 'parting gift' Shuuko sped up, dashing faster and almost becoming out of sight to her friends who were still behind her.
Each step, though, her wishes were slowly dying away, and excitement and hope were slowly and surely ebbing out of her system.
Her rushed footsteps slowed down drastically, and the already-fleeting water ripples began disappearing, just a tad bit slower as the kunoichi lingered. She felt her heart stop for just a moment as she watched the fabric of three Akatsuki coats swish and flap in the wind.
Crimson eyes eased upwards to see Roushi surmounting Samehada. His eyes were closed, he looked rumpled, and he was bleeding, but not heavily. And he was just laying there like a trophy.
That's when fear and sudden realization (with a tad of shinobi instinct) set in. Her footsteps picked up drastically as she hurried to catch up and stop the men who were taking Roushi.
But it was too late to do anything of worth. What would she do, anyway? Fight three-on-one for a half-dead body? No! Roushi wasn't dead. She refused to believe what Killer Bee and Gouta had told her.
She knew they were right.
It was too late. Running at breakneck speed, Shuuko opened her mouth to scream. "H--"
The Sanbi, shrouded in the mist erupted behind her, breaking the entire wall of trees down before it.
After letting her eyes widen, she slowly turned, her eyes drinking up the sight of Naruto atop a humongous toad, blood dribbling from the right side of his mouth.
Not too far away from the blonde was another, she just barely recognized. He was standing on one of his clay birds, fluttering sedately up and down as he stared expressionlessly ahead, his collar covering his mouth.
The lone kunoichi's mouth gently fell open a bit, her eyes widened in amazement at the sight of either another Akatsuki-nin, the toad, the Sanbi, or a mix of the three.
Breaking the silence completely --and also breaking Shuuko out of her silent shock-- the Sanbi roared.
At that moment, Ritsuki, Killer Bee, and Gouta decided to appear.
So, it was going to be a four-on-four battle.
