Chapter XLIX - An Unspoken Duty

Probability didn't seem to be rooting for Akazo, not in this twisted world Gyatsō fully intended on creating. Come to think of it, none of his peers or allies had an even miniscule stroke of good luck or fortune either. In fact, one of them was sprawled motionless on the floor for all to see. Kurenai's bloodshot yet calm eyes and pale face were void of the slightest indication of life, the blood that quickly spurted from her chest wound forming a large crimson puddle beneath her corpse.

Well, maybe he was lucky, in regard to the fact that things could easily be so much worse. For all he knew an hour ago, every single last one of them could've been lined up and executed swiftly. At least now supposedly half of these dispirited people could fight for their lives at the expense of one of their comrade's.

Half of them excluding Akazo himself. He knew damn well that the son of wannabe Yuo Nimiah couldn't hold a candle to the amazingly gifted child of Fugaku Uchiha, who was so confident in his own abilities that he was willing to engage in a war against the entire village, against Hiruzen Sarutobi, against Minato Namikaze. Sasuke was close to doing the same thing in his quest for vengeance barely five years ago, and his friendship with Akazo was one of the reasons why he decided to protect the village to begin with.

Is he really going to put me down? Akazo couldn't help thinking with dread. Just like Kurenai, though, he didn't ignore the fact that the powerful young man with Sharingan - and recently, Mangekyou Sharingan - would fare much better in an uprising than the person who couldn't even defeat Kimimaro in a one-on-one bout. While Sasuke had the Chidori and its many subsequent variations that allowed him to make an immediate kill or to paralyse the body, Akazo only had a few amateur genjutsu techniques and a limited set of fire and water style ninjutsu. His taijutsu compared to Sasuke's was nothing short of laughable. He even learned firsthand how much stamina Sasuke had earlier, when he fought a small army and didn't break a sweat.

Yes, perhaps it was finally time to give in and realise that there are shinobi simply better at things than him. For that young woman he saw earlier - Sakura, he recalls her name now - it was medical ninjutsu. For Kurenai, it definitely would have been genjutsu. Even though hers was undoubtedly less powerful than Itachi's, she was viewed as one of the village's best genjutsu users. For Sasuke, it would be.. everything he could think of.

A smile, arguably disturbing for a time like this, formed across Akazo's dry lips. He was relieved that this despair-ridden prison didn't seem to change that peculiar sense of humour of his. Oh, who cared that his ultimate demise was about to take place here? It was either a life in Gyatsō's self-proclaimed "world of peace" or a gruesome death in front of his comrades anyway. What better alternatives could there possibly be?

"Hey, you!" he heard Ryotaro angrily bark in his direction. Akazo slowly turned his head to look into the warden's light emerald eyes and was immediately repulsed once again. Ryotaro could have at least wipe away the glob of saliva that stuck to his aftershave during his hostile rants at Sasuke. Akazo wasn't particularly paying attention to him, though, so he only began to walk toward Sasuke when he heard something along the lines of, "Go to the middle," "Piece of shit," and "Have fun, cunt."

Just as with Sasuke and Kurenai's "skirmish," a five minute timer appeared underneath their respective mugshots on the large screen and began counting down. Akazo downright refused to look his friend-soon-to-be-executor in the eyes. He looked far off in the distance to make out a figure standing on a metal foundation near the ceiling. It was the same masked guard who handcuffed Ketsueki earlier. When Akazo squinted a little to get a better look, he could've sworn he saw some faint red light emitting from the guard's eye holes. Before he could be sure, the guard suddenly vanished from thin air. Akazo wondered if anyone else saw him.

"...You don't have to make this even more uncomfortable than it already is," Sasuke told him quietly. Akazo hesitantly looked at him and subtly nodded his head. What exact words could he say to even attempt to dissuade Sasuke from killing him, to revolt here and now and hopefully flee the village? Was it even worth it? Maybe he actually could try to kill Sasuke...

Good goddamn luck with that, Akazo, Jesus Christ! I don't know why I'm so scared to just.. die. I was faced with death due to Gyatsō twice already. So why?! he demanded himself. He then looked into Sasuke's dark nonchalant eyes and let out a small chuckle. Just like his daring smile, how could the mere thought of laughter cross his mind?

Oh yeah, that's why. My best friend's murdering me.

"If you don't want to personally talk Akazo, I completely understand. But.. is there.. a message you'd like me to relay to your family or loved ones?" Sasuke asked, peering into his friend's now widened eyes.

So he really is going through with this. Can't say I blame him.

Akazo let out a calm sigh and shook his head, still indecisively pondering on what the hell kind of speech he was about to give for all to behold. Since he was about to die in less than four minutes and forty-two seconds now, he considered first verbally assaulting Gyatsō and the Hidden Dark Nation, then inspiring his comrades to fight back, no matter the losses. He then noticed Tsurugi's cold expression that demanded him to think of something else. Nothing came to mind.

"You two little shits better start fighting in five seconds or I'll execute you both!" Ryotaro berated. Both Sasuke and Akazo immediately assumed a defencive stance, studying each other closely to see who would make the first move.

Akazo was watching Sasuke's hands in case he was readying a ninjutsu technique, and only slowly looked up to his lips when he realised they were mouthing two words that even he could easily read.

"I'm sorry."

Sasuke appeared at Akazo's right side, throwing his left leg toward the young man's hip. Akazo was extremely surprised to find that he blocked this initial strike with his forearm. Now normally, his shoulder would've been easily dislocated from the force of the Uchiha's blow, but he found no pain to be coming his way. He promptly looked up at Sasuke, who was smiling at him.

No way... is he...

Before he could put two and two together, Sasuke spun on his right foot to reposition himself behind Akazo, his extended leg flying toward his back. Akazo quickly turned around and brought his own leg up to slam it against Sasuke's, then used his other to sweep away Sasuke's free foot, sending him tumbling to the ground.

He really is performing like we're training, Akazo realised. Except he's restraining himself heavily.

The dark-haired ANBU member turned his head to look at the timer. 4:27... 4:26... 4:25... Would Sasuke end the façade as soon as the time reached four minutes? This new fear prevented Akazo from blocking the right hook that knocked him to the ground. He looked up at Sasuke and once again easily read his expression.

"What the hell, Akazo? I'm giving you a lot of room to work with. Don't take it for granted."

"Yeah, yeah," Akazo muttered as he got back up on his feet. Tsurugi took a step forward and rose an eyebrow in suspicion. At that moment, Akazo lowered his head and wished his friend would just kill him then and there. The last thing he wanted was Tsurugi on Sasuke's case had he noticed he wasn't fighting with intent to kill.

"Chidori: Stream!" Sasuke yelled a bit too loud. The signal was crystal clear for Akazo, though. Even more so when he saw that the electricity emitting from Sasuke's body started off as weak little spurts, rather than the powerful currents that could quickly electrocute everyone in the room. Akazo jumped high out of its effective half-foot radius and began to perform several hand signs. Sasuke instantly knew what jutsu was about to be launched his way and simply performed the horse hand sign. Regardless of how weak he can make himself appear physically, it's almost instinctive for him to have superior battle knowledge.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Caterwaul!" Akazo yelled. He expelled multiple dragon-headed fireballs from his mouth to cover the frontal, left and right side of his supposed assailant. As the dragon-heads quickly moved in an erratic manner, it made the technique much more difficult to avoid. Luckily for Sasuke, he had no such reason to dodge the somewhat advanced technique.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

One of the most notorious of Uchiha fire style jutsus, a fair amount of chakra kneaded inside his body was converted into fire, and then expelled from his mouth into a literal sea of flames. The technique covered a wide area far enough to be able to both smash against each of Akazo's fireballs and absorb them. This was no restrained jutsu, it would be more than enough to incinerate any person caught in it. Just now realising this, Sasuke dialed the jutsu down significantly to allow Akazo to dispel the fire with a similar water style jutsu. On contact, a large amount of smoke quickly engulfed the room. Akazo had barely made out the 4:12 on the screen when it was covered by the hovering black clouds.

The two shinobi clearly knew that even though they were effectively shielded by the heavy smoke, they were still being monitored by at least one guard with good enough eyes. Akazo turned around to see two small red circles through the smoke quickly approaching him.

"There's that Sharingan," Akazo said to himself. He easily dodged the various kicks and punches Sasuke sloppily tossed at him before directing a blow of his own to Sasuke's cheek. However, Sasuke tightly held onto his wrist, preventing Akazo from bounding back. The smoke around them slowly dissipated, with both of them staring at the screen in the back.

4:00... 3:59... 3:58...

The new stipulation that the fight must first exceed exactly 60 seconds or else the victor will fight again had no effect whatsoever now. From this point on, everyone present in the room understood that whatever happens, happens. Even Akazo. So why did he find it surprising that Sasuke flipped him over his shoulders to send him crashing against the ground with devastating impact? Why did he view it as shocking to see his best friend above him, charging a piercing Chidori in his palm?

This is it, Akazo thought. He stared up into those bright ceiling lights, silently waiting for death to embrace him whole. He assumed that the massive amounts of blood coating those lights and the walls were his, but he didn't relatively feel anything close to pain again. Actually, he felt quite fine except for the discomfort in his back. Is this what dying felt like? No, that back pain was from Sasuke's hip throw... so what about the blood? It had to be his. When he looked at Sasuke, surely he'd find his best friend's Chidori to be digging into his chest. No, instead, Sasuke's electrified hand was still at his side, but his head was turned to the group of prisoners. What caught his attention?

Akazo decided to look over there, too, for what little meaning it had. He saw a horned beast of some sort with thin, long crimson hair roaring at the top of its lungs, yanking its sharp, blood covered claws from the chest of a Hidden Sound guard. It then moved onto the next few guards that were closing in on it with swords drawn. What was happening at a time like this? What was that strange creature? It took a few moments for him to realise that that was no creature, but a man... Ketsueki!

The survivor of the Kuraiya clan massacre was tearing through the guards in his unsealed Red form! But why now, when Sasuke was about to cruelly murder his friend? Akazo was still struggling to make sense of it all, to differentiate between life and death, between reality and illusion. But this sensation... the smell of blood, those undeniable cries of agony and woe and death - this was real.

Ketsueki's earlier words echoed through Akazo's ringing head. This is a time where we must be patient and cautious. Even if you were to break out of here, what would you do then? Do you truly think the two of you could rebel against potentially thousands and thousands of enemy shinobi? You have to think more clearly, Akazo.

He realised how absurd it was for those words to hold up, considering the very man who spoke them was now brutally slaughtering prison guards left and right. How was that being "patient" and "cautious?" Why would one man be enough to rebel instead of two? Then Akazo immediately understood why Ketsueki was doing this. This alarming distraction caused Sasuke to halt his progress in killing him. This was no coincidence. Ketsueki just saved his life.

Did Ketsueki want the both of them to fight back with him? Maybe the swordsman saw the two of them as viable companions during their battle against Gyatsō and Zuko earlier. Akazo began to slowly rise up in hopes of helping Ketsueki, but the redhead shot him a menacing glare that stopped him in his tracks. Another message... maybe those words did hold value to him.

The blood-coated screen was at just three minutes and forty-five seconds when Ketsueki threw himself into the metal wall, breaking through it to expose the room to the soothing orange light of dusk. A new large group of prison guards chased after him. The rest of them quickly apprehended the prisoners in order to prevent them from escaping as well.

Ryotaro, having hidden himself behind another metal foundation, revealed himself and spoke into his headpiece, possibly to his own higher-ups. He wiped away blood that landed on his face and slowly composed himself. It was obvious he feared the raging Ketsueki would find and obliterate him until only smithereens remained.

"Take them back to their cells. The games are canceled," he told the guards bitterly. Akazo only thought about two things during their return to his cell: would Ketsueki actually be able to successfully escape the village, and would his friendship with Sasuke change? Only the two of them would be present in the cell, now that Kurenai was dead and Ketsueki was wandering the village with very well over a hundred shinobi closely after him.

The harsh sound of metal banging against metal once again pulled Akazo out of his deep thoughts. He pressed his back against the wall and slowly slid down into a crouch, then fell onto his side. He wondered what would become of them all, if they'd be forced to fight under the same circumstances again. With today's sequence of events, that didn't seem as strong a possibility.

He then weakly moved his head so he could look at his ANBU partner, staring blankly outside of the cell - which was equivalent to about absolutely nothing.

His friendship with Sasuke Uchiha... retaining that didn't seem to be a strong possibility either..