Caught off guard by just how fast their target was able to approach Tokuma let out a loud grunt of frustration as Ibaraki flickered between himself and Kisa, forcing both shinobi to swiftly raise their kunai up to stop his blades as they neared their necks, showering them with sparks and again giving them a brief second to observe the man's appearance before attempting to make a move of their own.
"Now!" Tokuma screamed, prompting Kisa to push back on the man's weapons at the same time as Tokuma to break Ibaraki's guard and give them a chance to counter, though just as they did so he jumped up into the air to escape from between the two of them, formed hand signs and took a deep breath; a universal sign that a fire attack was about to occur.
Spotting his intent, Kisa quickly inhaled and formed her own hand signs before exhaling a large amount of water to counter the attack, slowing the fire's descent and allowing Tokuma to dive up through to weakened fireball towards Ibaraki, lashing out with him with his Byakugan in the process to try and cripple his chakra flow.
Aware of Touma's kekkei genkai however, Ibaraki dodged the man's attack and planted his foot to his chest, pushing him back towards the ground and allowing himself to be sent back away from the two in order to create distance between them. Sliding to a stop on one knee, he then quickly formed hand signs and placed them to the ground, causing a large ridgeline of spikes to spew from the grounds as it dashed towards the two, forcing them to separate from one another and again launch a joint offensive.
Running towards the man as she sidestepped to avoid a large rock spike that pierced out of the ground in front of her, Kisa formed a handful of ice senbon and threw them towards their target to occupy him long enough for Tokuma to strike with his Byakugan yet again. Slamming his open palm to Ibaraki's chest Tokuma unleashed a blast of energy to send him flying, but just as he did so their foe disappeared into a puff of smoke, indicating he was a shadow clone.
Grunting in annoyance, Tokuma quickly began to look around for any sign of the real man as Kisa slid to a stop by his side, though before the could verify that this Ibaraki was the fake and alert the others his presence again became known as he rapidly approached the two from below.
"Lookout below!" Kisa exclaimed as she detected the man's approach milliseconds before his appearance, allowing both herself and Tokuma to avoid his clutches as his hands broke through the ground below towards their ankles to ensnare them in his trap and setting the stage for the girl herself to respond.
Forming a large ice spike in her hands, Kisa quickly jabbed it into the ground below to try and spear the man's arms, only to again let out a small gasp of surprise as a violent electric current shot up through the ice; the sharp electric forcing her to let out a sharp cry of pain as her hand involuntarily tightened.
"G-Guah!" She yelped for a second until Tokuma could free her from the current, at which point both shinobi had little choice but to scatter as the ground below erupted into an explosion, tossing dirt and debris across the area and allowing Ibaraki to resurface completely; his blades now glowing with chakra as electricity arced around them.
"I told you to run." He exclaimed as his bright eyes stared the two down, causing Kisa to huff as she gingerly rubbed her burned hand and quickly healed it back to a tolerable level. What was that supposed to mean? Was he just toying with them in an attempt to scare them off? Why would someone who was wanted for the murder of dozens hold back against those who sought his capture?
"We already told you that we weren't leaving here without you. After what you did in Ame, all those people you killed, you will be coming back to Konoha one way or another." The girl shot back in a short, sharp outburst, causing the man to narrow his eyes on her.
"The people in Ame… you don't know what they've done." He replied painfully as Kisa growled under her breath.
"Whatever they did probably wasn't deserving of death!" She exclaimed as she lifted her both hands up towards the man, again causing a cascade of spikes to rip through the ground towards him, though much like her first attempt to do so Ibaraki simply fell to a knee, placed both palms to the dirt and raised stone out of the ground to defeat the attack.
Hidden from sight the masked man then sank into the ground and traveled beneath the rock wall he had just summoned to attack the two, popping forth from below just short of the Hyuga in a spinning blade attack, forcing Tokuma to block with his kunai as well as grab the man's other hand, preventing him from swinging it downward.
Locked up, Ibaraki lurched his head back and then immediately forward, striking Tokuma in a rough headbutt that caused him to stagger backwards and forced Kisa to step in to prevent the masked man from killing her partner with the blades in his hand.
"I don't think so!" She exclaimed as she parried his weapon to the side and uppercut him in the jaw, causing him to replace himself with a clone before reappearing behind the girl, striking her in the stomach with his knee as she turned to face him.
Grunting from the sudden attack and reacting quickly, Kisa swiftly grabbed ahold of the man's knee to prevent it from causing significant damage and pushed him back, just in time to allow a recovered Tokuma to plant a hand the man's chest, this time successfully sending the man flying backwards from the two of them into the field with a powerful Vacuum Palm.
"Don't let up!" He ordered as the two rushed towards Ibaraki, who slid to a stop and immediately began to fire several fireballs their way. Dodging and weaving in and out of the incoming fire Kisa retrieved and then tossed a handful of true metal senbon through one of Ibaraki's attacks, forcing him to parry them away with his sword before slamming his hand to the dirt and summoning a large stone pillar to knock the woman off course followed by a slew of stone spikes to force her even further back.
Watching the woman somersault away from his dangerous traps, Ibaraki averted his glowing gaze to his right as Tokuma flickered into existence and attempted to trap and barrage him with his own version of the Hyuga's chakra sealing technique, though after the first strike Ibaraki grabbed ahold of his swinging arms and twisted it back, halting his attempt to hinder him.
"You won't get me with that trick, Hyuga!" Ibaraki snarled as he stared Tokuma down before spotting the man's partner rapidly approaching, prompting him to flip over Tokuma's arm to engage the approaching kunoichi.
Knocking a handful of her senbon of course with his sword the masked man kicked the girl's stomach to knock her back before slamming Tokuma to the ground and lifting his leg to crush his skull, only to be blown high into the air by another of the Hyuga's gentle fist releases.
However, much to their surprise Ibaraki again exploded into a large puff of smoke that released a massive barrage of kunai and senbon down onto the two, forcing Kisa to raise an ice dome overtop of them to protect them from the steel raining down from the sky.
Watching as the weapons stuck into the outside of Kisa's dome, Tokuma looked to his partner to double check her condition before looking back out at Ibaraki as he reappeared on a knee in the distance; his hand placement and body language suggestion that he was both in pain as well as attempting to forcibly open the single chakra point he had been able to close.
"He's obviously injured and seems to be struggling. If we keep the pressure on, we may be able to force him to slip up, allowing us to bring him down." He stated before looking back to Kisa. He could tell something was wrong though it did not seem to be any injury that he could see.
"Are you alright?" He question as Kisa nodded, bringing Tokuma to once again return his eyes to their foe.
"Alright, then if that is the case, prepare yourself. While his reaction time and speed are impressive his attacks and ninjutsu techniques are all very basic if not mastered in execution. Based on what we've heard about the incident in Ame I don't think he's showing us anywhere near a fraction what he is capable of, so we need to be careful." Tokuma added as Kisa dropped her ice dome to the ground and allowed them to again rush their foe.
However, even she had told Tokuma moments before that nothing was bothering her, there was indeed something that was weighing heavily on her mind. Their fight against Ibaraki had only just begun but she was already finding herself analyzing his movements and techniques, and even though every part of her being was trying not to she found herself comparing his moves and attacks against those of someone she knew well; Akito.
From his stance to the way he moved and even how he was able to utilize some basic techniques without hand signs, she could easily see Akito in this man, and even though his kekkei genkai and kinjutsu were absent there was no denying how strange this felt. Was it possible that this man was from Iwagakure as well? That would explain why the fighting style felt so familiar, but could it really be so close to Akito's that it would feel identical?
Closing in on the man as he stood back up on to his feet, Tokuma again attempted to utilize his Vacuum Palm since it had proven effective at least twice now, though Ibaraki quickly summoned a rock wall to block the sonic wave coming towards him and then turned his attention towards Kisa as she flanked to the left of the wall.
Kicking off of the large stone, the girl unleashed two heavy handfuls of both ice and steel senbon onto the man, forcing him to dash towards her in a zig-zag formation to both avoid the attacks and close the distance between him, at which point he readied both of his blades. Letting out a sharp, angry cry, Ibaraki swung both of his swords down on top of her, forcing her to quickly form her own blades out of Ice to keep herself from being injured; taking care to flush her weapon with chakra to keep Ibaraki from cutting through or burning her with electricity.
Although formidable it was clear to her that kenjutsu was not this man's specialty, allowing her to easily parry his weapons to the side and simultaneously strike at his mask to try and reveal his face, though by pure luck alone he again blocked her attack with his weapons. This in itself seemed to be a bit of false victory as well as although he was pressing everything he had into holding her back the girl's blades were gradually inching their way towards his neck, resulting in the two of them standing face to face and allowing her the chance to look into his glowing eyes up close.
From what she could see it did not appear that the mask was causing the glow nor did it seem to be naturally occuring, and instead seemed to be more akin to some kind of chakra flowing through his iris, causing it to glow a vibrant orange, but why? What would cause something like this to occur and what was its purpose?
"You are outnumbered two-to-one and clearly wounded; just give up already!" She stated in an attempt to get him to stand down as the man narrowed his eyes on her and grunted, a clear testament to the struggle he was experiencing holding her back, though instead of surrendering the man used all of his strength to parry the woman's weapons away from his neck, only to have her slash him across his mask instead.
Letting out a short gasp at the strike Ibaraki lifted his hand up to parry her blade away before it could dig into his flesh, only to catch sight of Tokuma as he flickered towards him to again attempt to disable his chakra pathway system, forcing him to act quickly to remain in the fight. Snarling under his breath, the masked man tossed his right blade in the air and turned his hand into a fist before swinging it down into the ground at his feet.
"Enough!" He exclaimed as his punch made contact with the dirt, instantly setting off a large yet controlled explosion that caused the ground to buckle and the two Konoha shinobi to be sent off away from him as Kisa watched on in complete shock as Ibaraki seized the opportunity to attack, grabbed his still-floating tanto from midair and charged directly at her.
Correcting her flight and sliding to a stop on a knee with a loud grunt, Kisa quickly reformed prepared her blades to defend herself from the incoming man's attack, but before she could do so Tokuma appeared in front of her and held both of his hands out before him to unleash a might Vacuum Wall Palm; a larger form of the Vacuum Palm attack that despite Ibaraki's best attempt to dodge he could not, sending him flying violently across the muddied field.
Watching Ibaraki slide to an emergency stop a good distance away from them, Tokuma turned back towards Kisa for a moment to again check on her condition before returning his Byakugan to their foe.
"That attack was-" He began to explain, though Kisa cut him off almost instantly.
"Explosive Release, I know, but it… it can't be." She stated as her eyes fixated on the man in the distance; her mind in overdrive.
How could this be? How could this person posses the explosive release kekkei genkai? From what Lady Tsunade had told her Akito and his cousin were the only two left who possessed explosive release, and from what she could tell this man did not meet the latter's description nor his style of combat. Could this truly be him? Could this be Akito?
No, it couldn't be. Aside from the obvious differences in his eyes and the use of both kenjutsu as well as electric-style nature release, both of which she had never seen Akito utilize, he could never do the things Ibaraki was accused of, let alone attack her like this. Even if he was confused by her new hairstyle and appearance he would have known by now who she was… this wasn't Akito.
"It has to be something else." She added aloud as Tokuma looked to her and huffed, unsure how she knew what he was going to say but speaking out against her belief that it couldn't have been explosive release anyway.
"There's no denying it. I've never encountered one of it's wielders in person but he matches what I've been told, and with my Byakugan activated I can see he has a large amount of chakra flowing to his hands when he attacks." He stated as his eyes narrowed in on their target as he stood up and reached into his back pocket for something, though from this distance he was not entirely sure what it could be.
"What's even stranger is his hands seem to have an extra chakra point on his palms; something I've never seen before and that is not indicative of explosive release." Tokuma added, furthering Kisa's dismay as she looked back to him in shock. Extra chakra points on his hands? Did that have something to do with his kinjutsu? No… no it couldn't be, this had to be someone else. Deidara, a distant relative; anyone but Akito.
Tracking the man as he began to charge towards them, Tokuma readied himself in his fighting form and took a deep breath.
"You seem to already know this, but explosive release is extremely dangerous in close quarters combat. We need to end this right now." He stated, looking over to the girl as she stood up, looked at him and nodded. She knew what he was asking of her and no matter how hesitant she was growing amidst the mounting doubt in her mind she couldn't disobey Tokuma's orders, nor could she risk getting them both killed because of their fears, especially if it was indeed Deidara.
Taking a meditative-like pose and placing her hands together as she closed her eyes, Kisa took a deep breath as well and slowly exhaled, allowing the curse mark on her neck to slowly spread; her hair growing long as both her eyes and skin darkened to the dark grey shade she hated so much yet had little choice but to use.
"Ready?" Tokuma questioned as the girl pulled down her hood to allow the excess hair to escape and adjusted her beanie so that the crystalline ridges atop her head would not be visible before centering her attention on the approaching attacker.
"Ready." She replied as Ibaraki came into strike distance and raised his fist back, forcing her to generate a large amount of ice at her feet that she then raised up into a thick, blast proof wall, defeating what Kisa knew as a landmine fist before jumping up atop her fortification and forming hand signs. Targeting the man below, the girl took a deep breath and exhaled a large wave of water from her mouth down atop him, causing it to freeze upon contact, though it came as no surprise to the girl when the Ibaraki before her disappeared into a puff of smoke.
Prepared for this, Kisa shifted her attention over to Tokuma as he used his Byakugan to peer into the ground, pointing to the spot at which he believed Ibaraki was about to surface and allowed her to freeze the ground over to prevent him from doing so. Watching the man below disappear as well, Tokuma looked up in time to watch the real Ibaraki flicker directly up to him, catching him off guard.
"I've had enough of these games!" He snarled as he swung towards Tokuma's head, only to have the man parry his strike away with the back of his open palm. Acting in his opening, Tokuma attempted to strike at Ibaraki's chest with his Gentle Palm, but just as he was about to do so Ibaraki swung his hand around, placed his own open palm to the Hyuga's chest and blew him back with an Exploding Palm.
Jumping down on top of him to use the opening created by his attack on Tokuma, Kisa reached up and froze some of the pouring rain into sharp daggers of ice that rained down on top of him from above, forcing him to dodge and allowing her the chance to close the gap between them.
Dashing forward through her own falling ice the girl quickly closed in on the man as he did a flip backwards to avoid her, resulting in her reaching out and swiping his hands out from beneath him as he did so.
Recovering quickly, the man forced himself back on to his feet and reared his fist back to strike the girl, though she again blocked his attack using her ice wall before reaching through her ice like one of her Demonic Ice Mirrors and pulling him through, only to toss him back out into a large dome of ice a few seconds later.
Having him where she wanted Kisa quickly entered her ice dome and appeared all around the man as he looked around with only the slightest hint of distress before picking one image of the girl to focus on letting out a small laugh; his glowing eyes tracing over her noticeably long hair and darker skin with a small grunt.
"So that's it; that's how you have the Ice Release kekkei genkai. You're one of… O-Orochimaru's experiments." He stated with a painful stagger as the girl stopped preparing a barrage of crippling senbon and stared at him, curious as to what he meant.
"How do you know about Orochimaru's experiments? Are you working with him?" She questioned as Tokuma came up to the ice dome and peered inside, listening intently as he watched Ibaraki stare up at the girl, although at her question he simply laughed under his mask.
"Don't even use him in t-the same sentence as me... I wouldn't work for that man even if I had n-no choice. He seeks out those with unique kekkei genkai and talents and experiments on them, all the goal of taking them for himself." He replied as his eyes narrowed on the girl and his fists tightened, despite the blood that now ran out of his side onto the ice at his feet, signaling Kisa that he was about to attack.
"I don't know how you got the ice release from him, b-but I do know that it doesn't belong to you... and I'm going to make sure you don't keep it!" He exclaimed as he formed multiple hand signs and inhaled a large amount of air before exhaling a tremendous amount of bright, high intensity fire, filling the dome around him completely with a swirling vortex of flame and causing her dome to weaken a bit, much to her surprise.
Usually this technique was infallible on its own, so being that her cursed seal had allowed her to overcharge it with chakra it should be all but indestructible, but yet even now as she attempted to reinforce the dome with more ice it seemed as if she could not maintain its structure. What was allowing him to create such a continuous fire technique like this?
"Tokuma!" She exclaimed as she struggled to maintain her barrier, prompting the man to ready himself as he looked into the dome. Ibaraki was more than likely attempting to weaken the dome's structure in order to blow it to pieces with his kekkei genkai, leaving them little choice but to attempt a maneuver they had only practiced twice over the past few days they had known each other.
Waiting for the ice panel in front of him to weaken, Tokuma dove headlong into the dome just as Kisa unleashed a barrage of steel senbon on the man, forcing him to cease fire attack to defend himself and allowing Tokuma a safe, direct approach towards him. This needed to end now, and if that was going to be the case, he had to utilize one of the Hyuga's strongest attacks.
Flickering up to Ibaraki through the fire and deflecting the man's attempt to blow him back, Tokuma planted his feet down to the ice below and reared his hand back to immediately start chipping away at his chakra points, disabling chakra flow through his left arm just above the elbow as well as several across both legs before he could appropriately react. Snarling in anger at the damage being dealt, Ibaraki grabbed ahold of Tokuma's striking hand with his right and used his to now chakra-devoid left to strike him in the face as hard as he could.
Staggering him back, Ibaraki then used his remaining chakra-active hand to form the signs required to created multiple shadow clones before joining them in swarming the Hyuga who, in conjunction with Kisa's assistance from her mirrors, lashed out at each individual Ibaraki to thin their ranks and discover the real one; Tokuma doing so a moment later and quickly dashing towards him.
Desperate to finish the fight, the Hyuga raised his right hand back and dashed towards the now senbon-peppered shinobi as he prepared to deal a possibly crippling Vacuum Palm to the man's chest, but just as he was about to do so the ground beneath the ice dome suddenly erupted, shattering the floor and allowing the massive rock fist of a stone golem to come flying in.
Spotting the attack below but unable to stop it or redirect his course, Tokuma could only grunt as the monster's punch collided with his whole body, sending him flying up through the roof of the weakened ice dome, through the air and then back down into the field; the force of his exit shattering what remained of the dome and causing Kisa to fly backwards out of it to the ground.
Grabbing her head as she realized what had happened, the girl's watched as Tokuma's limp body spin around and slammed into the muddied ground with a loud thud, causing her to gasp in horror.
"Tokuma!" She screamed as she stood back up to her feet and prepared to dash to his side, only to spot Ibaraki doing the same from the corner of her eye; his tantos once again in each hand, though only the right remained flushed with chakra due to the disrupted flow in his left arm.
Knowing that Ibaraki intended to kill Tokuma if he had survived the fall, Kisa charged forward without delay toward the two, quickly closed in on their aggressor and lifted her hand to strike him with her fist, though as she did so Ibaraki quickly spin into her and pierced her through the stomach with one of his blades, causing her to gasp in pain before her body disintegrated into water.
Spinning around just as the real girl emerged from a rapidly produced ice mirror behind him, Ibaraki attempted to move to avoid her impending attack but was too slow to do so due to both his injuries and his disrupted chakra flow, resulting in the girl closing the distance between them within an instant. This was her chance to inflict some major damage and she could think of no better attack than one of the special techniques she had learned during her time at the Hokage's side.
"GET AWAY!" She cried as her fist slammed full speed into the left side of Ibaraki's face and unleashed a large amount of chakra to amplify the strike, instantly shattering his mask and sending him flying off into the field in a death spin; crashing into the ground and tumbling violently up into the air several times before eventually sliding to a motionless stop in the mud.
Landing on her feet as she completely exited her mirror, Kisa watched Ibaraki come to a halt in disbelief that her plan had worked before quickly made her way to her fallen comrade's side. For his body to have shattered her ice would mean that he would have endured quite the blow, causing her to fear that he may have been killed as she slid to a stop by his side.
"Tokuma! Tokuma!" She exclaimed as she rolled him on his back and checked his pulse, letting out a short, thankful sigh as she did so. He was unconscious but alive and despite the extremely rough hit he did not appear to have any obvious life threatening injuries, though whether or not he had sustained any internal damage she was unsure.
Clapping her hands together to create a healing aurora, Kisa held it over Tokuma's head in the hope that he would wake up, though as she did so the man laying not far from her let out a pained gasp as he began to stir awake from his own trauma, causing the girl to growl under her breath.
Ceasing her attempt to awaken her teammate, the girl turned around to face their foe as he began to pull himself out of the mud. She could see he was now far more injured than before both by the sound of his breathing as well as the fact that he could barely stop shaking long enough to lift himself up, but this was exactly where she wanted him. With Tokuma down she needed the upper hand and it seemed that was indeed the case.
Holding her right hand out to the side as she formed an ice blade in her palm, Kisa walked until she was within twenty five feet of the man before stopping just as Ibaraki managed to bring himself to his knees; blood dripping down from the exposed face she could not yet see.
"That's enough. You've lost, and it's time you-" She began to order as Ibaraki violently coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked up at her in both pain and anger; the sight of the man's face causing her breath to quiver and her eyes to open wide in disbelief as there in front of her, covered in his own blood and struggling to stand, was the boy he had been searching for all along.
Choking down whatever garbled words came to her tongue, Kisa found herself thrown into her memories as images of the boys smile and whispers of his words flooded her mind, ranging from the first time they spoke until the last time she saw him; his voice so real that she swore it was coming from the boy right in front of her directly to her ears.
"I'm not going to leave you alone. Not like this… not ever." The voice called as their eyes connected, causing her heart to beat faster and her stomach to twist into a knot. How could this be? How could he be here? She had hoped all along that she may run into him out here somewhere looking for Ibaraki, but never, ever in her wildest dreams or nightmares would she have thought this man could have actually been him!
"W-What…" She let out after a few seconds of staring at the boy in the hope that she was wrong, that she had misidentified him, but as she did reality began to set in, leaving her even more speechless as she became more certain by the second. Though his skin beneath the veil of caked blood and dirt was much darker in color than ever before and his eyes continued to glow, there was no doubt anymore; this was Akito.
But what had happened to him? If she was to judge based on his appearance alone, the skin and his hair, it seemed as if he had been cursed. This explained why he was able to do the things he did, such as create such an intense, steady fire while he was trapped inside of her dome, but how could this have happened? How did he become cursed?
"A-Akito?" The girl managed to finally formulate as she lowered her sword to her side and allowed it to return to water, instantly bringing the boy before her to shift his eyes to her own, though much to her surprise his face did not soften and instead turned to a scowl. Gripping his hands to the dirt, the boy slowly attempted to lift himself up from the dirt with a painful grunt.
"My name…" He groaned as he nearly faltered back to where he began before stopping himself; his eyes continuously fixed on Kisa's. On top of the injury to his side and the likely multiple internal injuries that had been dealt to him by both herself and Tokuma, she could see that beneath his left eye's darkened sclera blood was pooling, likely a result of the strike that broke his mask. Why was he acting like this? Was he suffering from shock or closed head trauma, likely because of her, or was it something else?
Balancing himself on his left arm with yet another agonizing groan, Akito used his right arm to reach underneath himself to his bloodied left side and dig into his armor, pulling out a large wad of clay that was then followed by a large rush of blood on the ground below, causing Kisa to gasp at the sight. There was quite a bit, some of which appeared to be clotted; did he just remove the clay medical ninjutsu he developed from his injured side? Why would he do that? If he continued to bleed like that he would die!
Watching as the hand holding the clay slowly devoured it as he held it beneath himself, Kisa's eyes grew wide as the boy ground his teeth and snarled.
"I-I don't know how you know my name, b-but now I can't let you leave this place!" He cried as he forced every bit of strength he had left into his feet and dashed forward towards the girl, causing her to gasp as she jumped back through the air to avoid his swing.
"Akito, wait! Stop!" She exclaimed as she again dodged his left hook followed by his even more dangerous right and forcing her to raise an ice wall up in front of her as he exhaled fire onto her. He didn't know who she was, but she knew him, making her a threat; if they escaped knowing her was Ibaraki it would put Iwa in a horrible situation they couldn't afford to be in, directly violating his mission.
"It's me, Kisa!" She added, though instead of yielding the man's eyes only grew brighter as his furious scowl only grew.
"Liar!" He snarled as he dashed forward towards her and kneed her in the stomach with what strength he had pulled out of his battered form, only to be knocked back as she pressed her open hand to his chest with her modified strength.
This wasn't working; he wasn't recognizing her and the longer this continued the more desperate he was going to become, risking both of their lives in the process. Why?! Sure, she looked different now as opposed to the last time she saw him, but couldn't he see past that?
"Akito, please!" She pleaded as she again dodged his swing and raised her leg to kick him back, but as she does so accidentally strikes him in his wounded side, causing him to cry out in pain as he stumbled back and eyed her up with murderous intent.
Unable to continue but needing to end this now, the boy staggered to a stop and placed his hands together after dropping the wad of clay his right hand had ingested to the ground while remaining connected to mouth on his right palm by a thin line.
"Y-You should have ran! I-I gave y-you a chance… b-but now you're going to find out why they called me Ibaraki; the thorn tree!" He exclaimed as he formed hand signs and caused the clay to dissipate into the mud, only to reappear moments later as multiple explosive clay spikes that pierced out of the ground in all directions like a vine bush and rushed towards her, leaving the girl with one last option to try and stop this. She wasn't going to hurt him again, not after everything she had already done, so if this didn't work she didn't know what she would do.
Planting her feet in the mud and taking a deep breath, the girl reached into the neck opening on her cloak, into her shirt and grabbed ahold of the sacred golden necklace that she had become inseparable from before quickly pulling up over her head to hold it out infront of her, instantly causing Akito's eyes to grow wide and a small gasp to leave his lips; the clay spikes coming from his hand abruptly ceasing their movement as he did so.
"T-That necklace… h-how… how did you…" He began to stutter as he stared at his clan's crest in her hands and then up to the face of the girl who held it; the deep fog that had been trapped in his mind since days prior lifting as he slowly came back to face reality and, for the first time in what felt like forever, his friend.
"K-K…" The boy stuttered as the memory of Kisa he knew flashed before him, clarifying his vision as the clay vines around him slowly melted down into a puddle and disappeared.
"K-Kisa… is… i-is that really you?" He questioned in shock, bringing Kisa to slowly nod as a sheepish yet uncontrollable smile formed across her lips; their eyes remaining locked to one another's. Could this really be happening?
"Yes, it's me. I'm here A-" She began to reply as she took a step towards the boy, only to recoil a bit in concern as he immediately ground his teeth together and clenched his fists.
"W-What are you doing out here, i-it's dangerous! I… I…" He snapped as he looked around them at the damage their fight had caused, including the unconscious Hyuga a short distance away from them, all while fighting the urge to throw up. How could this have happened; how could he have allowed himself to attack her!
"I-I could have killed you!" The boy continued as Kisa braved another step or two towards him despite his frustration. She had been so caught up in his realization of who she was that it only now dawned on her just how badly injured he was, as up close she could see that it appeared to be some kind of open injury similar to a stab wound that was causing him to bleed so profusely, likely from a sword or some other sharp, edged weapon.
"Akito, your injuries…" She tried to reason with him, bringing him to look into her eyes again for a moment before looking away in shame.
"I'm fine; you have to go! The men that I fought back Ame, if they f-find y-you here with me…" He said as he began to walk away, though as he did so Kisa quickly walked up to him and took his hand in hers to stop his retreat and gently cupped his cheek with the other before slowly turning him back towards her; their hearts simultaneously racing out of control as their eyes locked to one another's. She could see that he was in excruciating pain and that he was ashamed to have been found like this; both as Ibaraki, as well as cursed.
Content that the fight was over and now unable to focus on anything besides the boy at her fingertips, Kisa slowly allowed her curse mark to retract, returning her skin, hair and eyes to normal, leaving Akito to watch in continued disbelief. She looked so much different than when he last saw her, but that didn't seem to chase away the flutter he felt in his heart while looking at her.
"How did this happen? Was it him? Was it Orochimaru?" She questioned softly as she took a deep breath to combat the effects of the curse's closure and shook her head, causing the boy's eyes to lower once more in disgrace.
"N-No, it… it wasn't him." He began to reply as he looked away only to stop and let out a loud grunt of pain as his seal too began to retract, albeit involuntarily, starting with his hair and skin, the latter of which broke from its solid grey color down into crack-like patterns that slowly crept back away from his skin towards the back of his neck until his genuine completion returned.
Unlike her own, Akito's transformation back to norm didn't go smoothly, resulting in him collapsing down to his knees in exhaustion as Kisa let out a short gasp and knelt before him, making sure to keep hold of his shoulders so that he wouldn't fall forward.
"I've got you." The girl said as Akito placed a hand on her right shoulder to further stabilize himself, causing her to grow concerned over just how badly he was injured and how much blood he had lost. Slowly but carefully she pulled him a bit closer to allow him to lean against her body and placed a hand to his wounded to begin healing his side before biting the inside of her lip.
Even if she was overjoyed to find Akito it didn't change the fact that he, or more specifically his alias, was a wanted man and although she had not heard from the other group since the beginning of their fight she knew that it was only a matter of time before they showed up, and there was no telling just how they would react, especially after seeing what had happened to Tokuma.
"Akito… we were sent here to find Ibaraki. The others are going to be here soon, and I… I have to know what happened in Ame, to your side… why you are Ibaraki... all of it." She stated, causing the boy's now dimming eyes to look towards hers in hesitant silence before looking away as the girl formed a small frown. Whatever it was that he was doing out here it appeared to be top secret to the point that he was going to kill her for knowing his name before he knew hers, so she could tell he was still struggling with whether or not he made the right choice by allowing himself to yield, even after his mind had and cleared.
"Please." She repeated in an effort to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, leading him to look at her and subtle nod in agreement.
"I… I was on a mission to track the movement of the Akatsuki a-and their suspected allies around the Land of Earth and n-neighboring lands." He began as he swallowed what was left in his dry mouth and closed his eyes with a painful wince from her healing attempt.
"O-One of my targets headed into the L-Land of Rain and eventually made their way to Amegakure, so I followed… but when I got there I was ambushed by several dozen Ame ninja. I tried to fight them off so that I could escape but… but when I did one of the Akatsuki appeared and he…"
"H-He was too strong and used techniques and weapons I-I'd never seen before… h-he… he had these strange eyes and was able to control gravity. I tried to fight him but he somehow pulled me to him and s-stabbed me with this blade that he created in his hands, lodging it in my side." The boy continued, only to stop and grabbed Kisa's healing hand as a strong blast of pain pierced through him as if talking about the man in question caused it to hurt worse.
"I managed to break free and run, b-but when I tried to pull the blade out of my side I couldn't. No matter w-what I tried it was stuck, and on top of that I could feel him... trying to control me; like he was constantly pulling me down, trying to force me to stop. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept running until I couldn't take it anymore and I... I used my kekkei g-genkai to force it out."
Hearing him say he had used his explosive release to remove the blade, Kisa grew more concerned about the severity of his wound, prompting her to sit back a bit from the boy and look down at his side.
"I've never heard of someone being able to do anything like that." She stated as she looked into his eyes to silently ask if she could take a look before doing so at his consent. Gently reaching down to his side, the girl carefully tore away the tattered pieces of both his vest and the green coat beneath it to expose the wound, the sight of which made her cringe.
She knew that he had likely been pierced by something sharp, but it seemed that whatever it was that did left a large tear that pierced through his side and out the back, leaving a large wound surrounded by a burn mark she believed was caused by his attempt to dislodge the blade with his Exploding Palm. While it appeared he hadn't damaged his intestines and that attack seemed to have missed most of his vital organs, it did seem that the majority of the bleeding came from what could be a knick in his left kidney or another organ close to it; wounds that should have killed him by now.
"God, Akito… this is really bad. How long ago did this happen?" She asked as she slid her hand beneath his clothing to his bare skin and ramped up her efforts to close the wound, causing the boy to wince in pain as she did so.
"I-I don't know, a few days... I lost track."
"How did you keep going? This wound, it… it should have killed you." She stated with a deep hint of concern as their eyes returned to one another, leading him to look down at her hand on his skin.
"The same clay technique I used t-to save you after Raigetsu attacked. It worked at first, b-but the bleeding just continued." The boy replied as he tried to catch his breath, bringing the girl to frown as she recalled how he removed what she now assumed was the clay he had used as his final attack from his side, likely because he had run out of fresh clay.
"Taking out the clay made it worse. You should have just used different techniques… idiot." She joked as she often did to try to hide her concern, causing him to form a small grin that faded quickly from his exhaustion.
"I w-would have, but after what happened in Ame I've barely been able to recover my chakra. I-I don't know if it has something to do with that man but I-I can still feel his control, and I've been stuck w-with my curse mark activated ever since then just to survive." He stated as the girl again grew more concerned, but at his mention of his curse mark her eyes widened and turned to his neck.
"Curse mark." She stated aloud in thought as she subconsciously reached up for his neck with her free hand and paused, waiting for him to again give her permission to come closer before reaching up to his neck.
It was surprising to her that even after everything that had happened, their time away from one another and her nearly killing him, that he still trusted her; going from a bloody thirsty maniac to her best friend all over again in a matter of a second, or so it seemed. It was still too early to see just what damage her vicious attempt of his life months prior had caused, but right now she didn't have time to try and figure it out.
Kneeling up straight as she carefully she placed her fingertips beneath his cloak, the girl cautiously pulled his tattered shirt back enough to catch a glimpse of the glowing symbol on his back.
Unlike her own symbol which was a symbol, Akito's seal appeared to be a simple circle divided down the middle but there was something else, something she remembered from her years by Jun's side; a kill seal intended to kill the bearer should they deviate from the control of those who place it.
"This curse… if it didn't come from Orochimaru, then who?" She questioned as Akito again looked into her eyes and began to nod, only to freeze in place; his eyes widening as a grunt of pain escaped his lips.
"Akito?" She asked in a bit of panic before looking down and spotting a black shadow on the ground around his body that stretched from where they knelt to the treeline across the field, though before she could warn him of the other's approach the group of three shinobi flickered to their side; their clothes just as tattered and muddied as her own.
"Gotcha!" Koji exclaimed as he planted his feet to the ground and took over where his shadow clone had started in the distance, allowing him to look at Ibaraki up close before switching his eyes to Tokuma in the distance and then onto Kisa at the realization that she healing him, not restraining him.
"Wait, what are you doing? Are you healing when Tokuma is down?!" He questioned frantically with a hint of anger, causing the girl to swallow nervously.
"I already checked on Tokuma. He's unconscious and a little banged up but he's going to be okay. Akito, on the other hand, is not. He's critically injured and needs help or he could die." She added calmly to show that her decision was logical rather than emotional as Takao's eyes widened.
"Akito?" He questioned as he tried to get a better look at the boy before being interrupted by Koji's scoff, having not seen things the way Kisa was describing them.
"Who cares, he's the enemy; the one who we've been looking for because of what he did in Ame!" He exclaimed as he shifted his shadow up Akito's neck and grabbed him by the throat, causing him to grunt and shift his eyes towards the man holding him down as they once again began to glow. Seeing what was happening and knowing full well what someone with a cursed seal was capable of when they were trapped and desperate, Kisa quickly pull Akito's head into a rushed hug at her chest to try and keep him calm and prevent him from lashing out and putting his life, as well as Koji's, at risk
"Koji, stop! You're making this worse!" She warned as she held her hand out towards him, just as Tamiko, who had made her way to Tokuma's side upon their arrival at the scene of their fight, knelt down by their squad leader's side. Holding her hand flat she formed a small aurora of light and placed her palm to the man's forehead, slowly bringing him back to them as her work finished what Kisa had started a short time prior.
Opening his eyes, the Hyuga looked up to Tamiko through the pouring rain and blinked; his head pounding as a million questions immediately flooded into his mind.
"Tamiko, you're here... what happened?" He asked as he sat himself up and immediately looked over to the three other members of his team as well as the man they had been hunting; his head pulled into a tight hug against Kisa's chest as she pleaded with Koji to stop doing whatever ninjutsu his hands indicated he was utilizing.
"Turns out Ibraki is someone that Kisa and Takao know, and big idiot Koji over there is currently strangling him despite the fact that he is clearly defeated." She stated as lifted himself up to his feet completely to his feet with her assistance, just as Takao stepped forward towards Koji to try and reason with him.
"Hold up, Koji. This isn't really necessary. Akito isn't going to attack us; there's just no way." He stated as the shadow-wielder ground his teeth in frustration.
"Not going to attack us, were you even in the same fight as us back there? This guy, this freak, almost killed us, and that was only a clone! We were lucky to have made it out of there with only scrapes and bruises! Besides, if he's your friend, why did he attack us in the first place?!" He stated as Takao rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well to be honest I'm not sure, but there has to be an explanation." He replied as Koji again scoffed and turned his attention back to Kisa.
"Exactly; now get away from him so that I can knock him out! You can heal him when he's bound and no longer a threat!" He ordered, though before Kisa could reply Tokuma spoke up to interrupt the fight before it could escalate any further.
"That's enough!" He exclaimed, instantly causing all three of his team members to turn to him to him as both he and Tamiko returned to the fold; the Hyuga's eyes shifting from Koji to Takao before landing on both Kisa and Ibaraki who, much to his surprise, did appear to be the one he knew from pacing glances in the streets of Konoha. He was Ibaraki?
"Is it true that Akito Himaku is Ibaraki?" He asked as he looked to his partner as she continued to hold the boy close, to which she nodded nervously in reply despite not knowing what Tokuma planned to do to him.
"Yes." She replied, causing Tokuma's eyes to shift to the boy's. He could see the slight glow in his eyes and somewhat angered scowl across his face, though it seemed as if it was fading or atleast paused for the moment, as well as his tattered, trembling body.
"Do you think he is a threat to us anymore?" The man asked as Koji gasped.
"Wha-" He attempted to interrupt, only to be stopped by Tokuma as he raised his hand to let Kisa speak as her eyes tracked from Tokuma's motion to Koji and then back to Akito in her arms; his own eyes looking up to hers in a concerned way that caused her heart to ache. She knew he was afraid and that she was his protector in all of this, leading her to swallow nervously as she nodded.
"No. Akito isn't going to hurt us." She stated as Tokuma looked down to the two for a minute longer before letting out a deep breath and turning to Koji.
"Let him go." He ordered as the Nara beside him grew increasingly frustrated.
"Are you kidding me?!" Koji immediately questioned, though after a second or two of staring into Tokuma's unwavering glare he simply did as he was instructed, releasing the boy and allowing him to once again have control of his own body that, after being forced to remain perfectly still in his condition as he was choked, collapsed into Kisa, prompting her to again grab ahold of him to keep him from falling.
"It's okay, I've got you." She again whispered as she helped steady his sway while Takao quickly approached their side and knelt down; a wide grin across his face as he pulled his hood down to fully reveal his face.
"Heh, I thought that was you; fucky, smartmouthed clay clones and all. When did you pick up swordsmanship? Your form is trash, but I'm impressed nonetheless." He stated with a chuckle as the exhausted boy shook his head and looked up to him.
"I-I'll tell you about it another day." He stated with a miniscule smile before returning his attention back to Tokuma as he stood over the three with his arms crossed; not entirely sure exactly what to think of the whole situation at hand.
"I'm sure you understand that regardless of your standing with Iwa as well as Konoha you will need to come back with us for questioning after what happened both here and in Ame, correct?" He asked, prompting the boy to nod as Tokuma lowered his arms to his side and looked over him once more while taking note of his injured side.
"Alright. In that case we will allow you to remain conscious, but as a precaution I will you to remain bound for the remainder of our trip back to the Hidden Leaf." He stated as he tossed a pair of cuffs into Takao's hands before turning back to Kisa, who he could already see was growing concerned about her friend.
"Continue to heal him. He's you friend… he doesn't deserve to die because of neglect." He stated before turning to walk towards Koji to receive report of what they had encountered on their part of this mission, only to stop as Kisa spoke up.
"Wait, Tokuma." She called out to him as he turned around and looked at them over his shoulder silently.
"Thank you."
Hearing her thanks, Tokuma simply formed a small smile and nodded before continuing on his walk, allowing Kisa to return her attention to Akito as their eyes once again met in a lasting stare, allowing her to watch the glow disappear before moving to stop the bleeding in his side; her mind still in complete disbelief. Akito was here, and despite what trouble may lie ahead because of whatever had happened, he was safe… and that was all she could ask for.