Editing the night before this time. No more forgetting about updating til' 11 o'clock!
Without further ado and all that ja - wait, I've done that one before!
Chapter 75: Buying Time
His sword passing through Tobi's body without doing a thing for the umpteenth time left Sasuke with only a pool of dread in his stomach, one that wouldn't soon be going away. As Haku and Hinata both blitzed at the man as well, and their strikes, too, proved ineffectual, he was starting to get a pretty good idea for how this battle would be playing out.
Namely, that they wouldn't be winning it.
Things had started off decently enough. He'd drawn his sword and activated his Sharingan, Sakura had taken on her evolved state, Hinata had activated her Byakugan, and Haku had run ice up the back of his Executioner's blade. He would've felt a bit more confident about their odds back then had Tobi's first action not immediately been to laugh at them.
"Is this all he sent?" He'd stepped forward, nonplussed. "All Kakashi sent to hold me… were four children?"
Things had gone fairly predictably from there.
He shouted for Sakura to dodge, which she did, barely scraping out of the way of a thrown piece of what looked to be bark, which, when it impacted against the tree behind them, exploded into a massive, spiny structure. Had it hit Sakura, it was likely it would've gutted her on the spot.
He shivered slightly, even if he knew he still couldn't be overly concerned about her. That would be a weakness in their formation, one which they really, really couldn't afford. Hell, if he distracted Sakura, that alone could get her killed. Besides, If he started focusing on his girlfriend, then Hinata and Haku were easier targets.
And… he hated to say it, but it was far more the former than the latter, there. Hinata was good, surely, but she was a Chuunin through and through. She wasn't ready to be fighting S-ranked opponents like Tobi.
Neither were they, to be fair, but they'd had to do it so terribly often that at that point, Sasuke was pretty much used to the life-or-death stakes.
Well, he claimed so, anyways.
Hinata was not. Her body shivered every time she was forced to come into close contact with Tobi, which was often, given that she was a close-ranged fighter. The only thing keeping her from being entirely defeated was her Byakugan, which gave her a full 360-degree range of vision, allowing her to keep track of Tobi's movements even behind her.
That meant that even after they failed to hit him, him passing through them and behind them, she could still watch his movements and respond accordingly, an advantage none of the rest of them possessed. Luckily, she was making use of it, because if she hadn't been…
Well, they'd be down a member already.
They went for another pass, juking just out of Tobi's range before he could hit them on the return, and Sasuke smirked as he realized the man was underestimating them, playing with his food.
That was about the only chance they'd have, so he'd take what he could get.
He flipped his sword into his off hand, holding it in a reverse grip as he sent the others a silent signal. Just as he channeled some lightning chakra into his blade, Sakura placed a hand in front of her mouth.
A Water Style Jutsu poured out of her a second later, quickly covering the floor in a layer of liquid just as the others all took to the walls, using their chakra control to hover there. Kegon and Yoro did the same, the former holding Fu in his arms, to a steady stream of complaints from the girl herself.
He stabbed down in the next moment, balanced atop his sword so that no part of him touched the ground.
It was just barely fast enough to catch Tobi off-guard. His body jolted as the shock flowed through him, and he clearly felt the blow, for he had to take a few moments to recover himself before he could melt back into the floor, disappearing entirely from view.
He turned towards Sakura and gave another signal. The girl sent a nod back his way, and quickly placed her hands upon the ground beneath her.
The nice thing about being in a giant tree for someone who controlled the Wood Style, Sasuke couldn't help but think, was that they had quite the powerful amount of control over their surroundings.
The ground beneath him pulsed as Sakura did… whatever it was she was doing. Sasuke wasn't sure what it was, exactly, but instead of looking self-assured, or confident, Sakura's expression sunk somewhat.
"What's wrong?" He asked cautiously, returning his sword to his dominant hand.
"He's not there." Sakura said quietly.
"What?" Haku looked to her. "But we just watched him disappear into the floor."
"I know, but…" Sakura tensed somewhat. "His chakra isn't present at all. There's a residual aura of it right over where he sunk in," Sakura pointed to that particular spot. "But even that's just from when he was standing over it… It's like… he disappeared from the world entirely."
With that cryptic piece of information, Sasuke turned, using his Sharingan to scan their surroundings. He found nothing through a quick cursory scan (which, to be fair, with he Sharingan active was the equivalent of a multi-hour search by the naked eye) and had to bite the inside of his cheek as the worry began building in his chest.
"So…" He muttered. "Question now is…"
"Just what the hell is this guy's power?"
/-/
Naruto yelled as he cut across the chest of another white assailant, the spined man crying out as he hit the floor below and going silent as the light faded from his gaze. Unfortunately, another one of him, perhaps the fifteenth or so he'd fought so far, was quick on the uptake, taking advantage of Naruto's brief lapse in attention to cut into his side.
He swore as the entire right side of his outfit was cut across, the orange and black cloth giving way to his flesh without much resistance. The pain wasn't exactly excruciating, but, well… he'd be lying if he'd said it was a nice feeling, either.
He'd gotten used to wounds of that size, but it wasn't like he could fight at full efficiency with one either. He'd need to be more careful.
The problem, really, was that he couldn't exactly afford to do that, on account of the eight civilians cowering behind him, who, if he were to try and rest, would rather easily be slaughtered.
Tenten let out a rasping scream as she unleashed a massive volley of weapons into the crowd of what he was calling flytrap-men, taking down a few of them, but ultimately really only slowing down the horde, for they didn't seem to care much for their bodies.
Suigetsu and Shino, meanwhile, were doing their best to help control the crowd, so to speak. The former was cutting across in wide swaths, forcing multiple flytraps to back up at once, and occasionally striking a hit on an unsuspecting one. Shino, for his part, was swarming individual members, enveloping them in chakra-sucking beetles and sapping their energy entirely, killing them outright.
It seemed a bad way to go, but at the same time, if these things were, as Naruto suspected, affiliated with the Akatsuki…
Well, then they'd made their beds.
Even still, they were getting nowhere. These things, whatever they were, just kept coming, which meant that unless they stemmed the flow, they weren't going to be getting the civilians to safety.
And right now, past his selfish desire to avenge the people of this village, that was his only priority.
The room they were in only had one exit, and it was the entrance they'd gotten in from, as well as the hole through which the majority of the flytraps were sneaking in through, the remainder dropping down from the ceiling above. They leered over at the civilians, licking their lips and just in general terrifying the poor people. He heard little Hinata let out a scream of terror, and felt his rage, which he'd buried in the heat of the fight, return in full force.
Anger take over his motions as he summoned another two shadow clones to his side and had them begin charging up a Rasengan in his right hand. One, when its work had finished, charged into the oncoming crowd, using its body as a medium to carry the paper bomb in its hands.
It went off with a boom, blasting back a good ten or so of the flytraps, and giving them a small lane to work with.
"Suigetsu!" He shouted. "Prepare to move the civilians! We're going!"
The boy looked to him, and, without even a second of hesitation, nodded back. He took up a position in front of the remaining eight and slung the man with a missing foot onto his back.
"Shino, I'll need you to spread your bugs more evenly!" Naruto communicated, turning to the bespectacled boy. "See if you can get a few hundred on each of them!"
"Right!"
He prepared to execute his plan, but before he could, Tenten had called out to him.
"W-what about me!?" Tenten asked, sounding horribly concerned.
Naruto felt a pang of guilt shoot up his chest, but he otherwise ignored it.
"Focus on crowd control!" He advised. "Help Shino out, and prevent them from closing in on the sides." Now, he addressed all three. "I'm going to blow them away for right now, but you'll have to be ready!"
There was a chorus of acknowledgement, and then, he set to work unwinding his Rasengan.
The Jutsu was, in essence, a ball of rapidly spinning chakra. He assumed, through its ability to carve through things like hardened bark and even stone structures with ease, that it was wildly dense and powerful. Which meant, if he were to unleash that power, puncture a hole in one side, for instance…
He sent one clone in front of the Rasengan, had the clone help him aim at the remaining flytraps…
And had it stab the spinning ball with a kunai.
Chakra exploded forward like a cannon, utterly annihilating the clone who'd unleashed it. Luckily, thanks to it dissipating almost instantly, the traveling wind retained more than enough force to careen into the army of flytraps as well.
It carved them up not unlike Temari's wind scythe, though on a far smaller scale. It lasted barely a moment, and then, as if reaching the end of its life cycle, the Rasengan died not with a whimper, but with a bang.
The room exploded outwards, and multiple stone bricks that'd been used to create the building were among the things flung away. Hell, multiple flytraps, and even he himself, were launched away from the explosions radius. He fell hard on the stone, though luckily avoided hitting his head. He'd just have to add the back pain he now had to an ever-growing list of problems.
Even still, they had a window, one he was going to capitalize on.
"Go!"
Suigetsu did so, leading the civilians out behind Tenten and Shino, who charged out into the Village with their weapons drawn. He heard the sound of multiple flytraps being silenced, likely Tenten's weapons having their immediate effect.
The rest were culled down by Shino, but he didn't dare hope that would be the end of them. As Suigetsu charged out of the building, the civilians in tow and him holding up the rear, he couldn't help scanning the building above them, searching for any signs of flytraps descending from the ceiling.
None came, and so he regrouped with the other's outside. It would've been nice if that was the last of them…
But he knew his luck, or lack thereof, by now.
"Alright…" He panted, still exhausted from the veritable siege they'd just undergone. "Anyone got any ideas on where we're going next? Preferably not buildings filled with people trying to kill us?"
Tenten flinched, and he bit down on his bottom lip as he realized what he'd said. Too late to do anything about it, unfortunately, and apologizing would just draw the others attention to it.
It hurt, but it was best to just try and move on.
The civilians were silent, and he felt another pained pang in his chest as he looked at their expressions. The trauma within them had only deepened at seeing three of their own killed right in front of them, and once again, there was nothing he could about that at present.
If that were the case… then he couldn't be showing the powerlessness he felt, couldn't be showing his own worthlessness. He needed to come up with a plan that would succeed, and he needed to do so fast.
"Right. Our mission still hasn't changed." He interjected into the mood, clapping his hands twice to get everyone's attention on him. He'd already had Tenten's (for all the wrong reasons), but now he had the other ten people's as well. "We're to find a way out of the city." He thought for a moment and came to a small realization. "Actually, our original reason for hiding has sort of dissipated now. We can probably traverse the above-ground without worrying about being bombarded from above."
"You sure that's the best idea?" Suigetsu asked him. "If we run into any Akatsuki up here, there's nowhere to hide."
He'd considered that; weighed the risks of it, but he was unsure of how to go about deciding one or the other.
"Right now, what we need is a plan, and to act on it. If you want, we can put whether we keep to the sewers, or risk the above-ground to a vote." He held his hand up. "All in a favor of the above ground, raise a hand."
Only Shino raised his hand among the entire group, and he swore as not a single civilian followed his lead. He watched as tiny Hinata, growing uncertain, began to raise hers, but was stopped by her mother Emi, who shot him a worried look.
"Alright." He shook his head. "We'll do that, then. Where can we find another entrance, though?"
Emi looked away from him.
"I don't know. I've only ever lived on the streets back there, I don't know this part of the Village nearly as well."
He held back the sigh that threatened to explode out of him, and instead turned to Shino.
"I'll unleash my Shadow Clones, could you use your bugs to scout out as well?"
"I've already been scouting for entrances into the sewers since we agreed we'd be taking them." The bug-user revealed. "My apologies for not bringing it up. The beetles have yet to locate one, but I imagine it is only a matter of time."
He nodded, letting out a horrid sigh as he turned around, and then around again, and then felt like he wanted to vomit, because he'd been sitting here for three minutes, and all he'd done was talk like he knew what they should be doing without accomplishing a damned thing.
His sole contribution to the day had been fighting off Deidara, and he had to focus on that, because it was irrefutable proof that he was needed here. None of the rest of his band, despite how much he respected them, could've hoped to have done that. But… even then, he hadn't been able to capture or kill Deidara, only chase the man off. He'd held the entire village hostage, and Naruto had let him go with a demolished jaw, and little else.
He just felt so–
"Naruto?"
He snapped out of his little pity party and looked up at Suigetsu, who was pointing towards Shino with her thumb. "Bug-guy says he found an entrance. Should we head towards it?"
He felt so useless… and yet…
They still relied on him, didn't they?
He shook his head, standing up and getting himself battle-ready once more. He could afford to feel worthless, useless, later. Right now, he needed to be a leader.
"Alright… we'll make our way over there." He looked to their resident bug-user. "Shino…"
"Lead the way."
/-/
Kakashi, along with the rest of his unit, found himself perched a good fifteen feet in the air, tightly locked into a nook in the ceiling which hid him from view to those passing by underneath. They lied in wait for those they knew would come.
His Sharingan blazed in his left eye as he surveyed the ground beneath them, and nodded to Anko, having her reach out with a snake or two to see what they were dealing with.
Whatever signal she'd sent came back positive, and she turned and gave him a quick signal that the three would be coming beneath them any moment. He tensed, as did the other two members of their attack squad, and prepared to strike.
The three who passed beneath them were exactly who they'd expected. Kisame, Itachi…
And Kabuto.
He gave the three one last signal and pulled his arms out from their holds. As he was falling, he drew a kunai into his hands, and tried to bring it down upon Itachi's neck.
Naturally, as he'd expected, the three dodged away more than fast enough to avoid their opening attack, and even the trap they'd set up to catch them as they dodged away was avoided rather deftly, Kisame shoving his sword into the wall just as the paper bomb was about to go off, and sapping the explosive of its chakra before it could.
"Yo." The blue-skinned man nodded towards him, the cocky expression on his face matched in intensity only be the apathetic look of his partner. "Whatcha' up to, copycat?"
He didn't dignify the man's words with a response, instead coursing electricity through his right hand, until Raikiri had formed within it. He held the blade of lightning aloft, using it as a silent threat.
None looked terribly threatened, though, at the very least, he'd gotten a reaction out of Kabuto.
And wasn't that something. Kabuto had become a ring-bearer. From his information, he'd been nothing more than a simple medic, keeping the other members in fighting shape.
But at the same time, they'd lost Hidan to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura when they'd been defending Fu, and it was possible that whatever their number of members was for, it was an important number to upkeep.
Well, it was also possible that none of what he'd just thought had any relevance at all. Honestly, it was probably far more likely that Kabuto had simply proven himself worth something, and the man had taken the first chance he could find to make himself as indispensable as possible.
It didn't particularly matter either way, though, for at the end of the day, he was now just another enemy in their path. One Kakashi would be showing no mercy towards.
"What, not talking?" Kisame sighed. "How boring. Fine, whatever, I guess we can skip straight to the part where I kill all of you."
That was fine with Kakashi. It wasn't like he had anything to say to these members of the Akatsuki. If Sasuke were here, or Haku, even, he might've supported them in saying what they needed to say…
But neither of them were.
Which meant it was time to fight.
Even still… he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something wasn't right about this. None of the three in front of them looked overly concerned. In fact, he'd have half a mind to say they looked almost bored, despite supposedly being on a hyper important mission to kidnap the Seven-Tails. It was possibly, hell, likely that Obi– Tobi was up above, fighting his students at that very moment, though there was nothing he could do to help them now.
Then… shouldn't the ones here be more eager to assist him? Shouldn't they want to make it to him as soon as possible, or, if he wasn't here, shouldn't they be just as primed if not more so?
Those thoughts weighed heavily on him as he focused his gaze on Itachi's midsection, careful not to look the man in the eyes, and charged inwards.
He'd just have to have faith in them.
/-/
The waiting was the hardest part, Sasuke couldn't help thinking.
He stood back to back with Haku, the boy's blade outstretched towards the back wall of the room they stood in, whereas he faced the front. His sword was held in a straight grip, utilizing a rather basic stance that Yugao had taught him to take up a defensive posture. It would allow him to deflect most blows, whether aimed at him from the front, or the sides. Meanwhile, Haku would cover his back, and vice versa.
Hinata stood at the center of the room, her Byakugan activated as she stood upon two branches which Sakura had raised up a foot or so, so that she wouldn't be standing directly on the ground where, presumably, Tobi could emerge from out of it, and grab her by the leg, as he'd done to Naruto back during their escape from the Sound three years prior.
Meanwhile, Fu stood just to the girl's right, effectively allowing Hinata to protect her should the need arise. It wouldn't, given that Kegon and Yoro were just beside her, acting as bodyguards on their own, but even still, separating herself from Hinata would mean that, potentially, she could be caught by Tobi before any of the rest of them could act.
Then, just a way's away from them was Sakura, effectively on the opposite side of the room to himself and Sasuke. Her hands were to the bark below her, though she stood, as Hinata did, slightly off of the ground, trying to read for Tobi's emergence from the floor below them.
It'd been around ten minutes since the man had disappeared, and they hadn't been able to relax at all since then. Sasuke himself couldn't help but use his Sharingan to investigate every single sound in the entire room, despite knowing that Hinata had the entire area on lockdown with the Byakugan's sight.
Well… that was what he wanted to think, at least. He had no idea what Tobi was truly capable of. What if he could melt into shadows and become almost invisible? What if he could traverse through the ground at high speeds, allowing him to ambush them all effectively at once. What if his ability allowed him to fire off Jutsu from within the walls around them, effectively rendering all of them vulnerable?
…Except there was no point in thinking like that. If the man had such abilities, he'd have likely used them already.
Another five minutes passed in absolute creeping silence, and though the dread building in his core hadn't stopped, he did, at least, take the time to breathe deeply for a moment. He needed to keep his heartrate steady, lest he lose himself to the fear of facing off against someone truly strong.
Idly, he looked towards Hinata, and noticed that the look on her face was strained, as if she was stressing about something, but also like she was struggling. Her head oscillated back and forth, though he wasn't sure what the point of such a thing would be with the Byakugan to rely upon.
And yet, in that moment, as if from nowhere, a black rod drilled through the space headed just towards her, and Sasuke let out a scream that, ever so barely, managed to get Hinata to dodge to the left, preventing it from piercing the girl's heart.
Unfortunately, it still impacted itself rather deeply in the girl's right shoulder.
She screamed as she fell, and it was in that chaos that the next minute seemed to play out almost in slow motion.
Tobi emerged from the wall around where the rod had been fired off, and it was rather easy to put two-and-two together and realize the man had launched it himself. Sasuke found a fire in his breast as he took a step forward, and his Sharingan seemed to ache as he made eye-contact with the single-eyed assailant.
The world pulsed, a sign of a fairly rudimentary Genjutsu being casted upon him. Normally, it would've had no effect at all, and yet Sasuke found that his next step was off by a hair, causing him to plummet to the floor below, having effectively been tripped. It felt like something had lodged itself in the back of his brain at that, but he couldn't afford to worry about it. It took him what felt like years to stand, but when he did, he saw what he feared.
Tobi was entirely ignoring the guards on the other side of the room. He passed right through Sakura rather lackadaisically, and Kegon and Yoro's swings might as well have been held. Truthfully, Sasuke got the idea that he was really only after one thing here.
He was after Fu, and as his hand wrapped around her left arm, Sasuke realized he'd won.
…Or he would've, had a set of icicles not flown through his exact position at that moment, forcing him to stay intangible and pass right through the green haired Jinchuuriki. Sasuke thanked Haku mentally as he pushed off of the ground and began to spin to build some momentum for his next swing.
Even with both he and Haku primed to swing at him, however, the latter having drawn his sword up and threatened to bring it down pretty much the moment his icicles had finished passing through Tobi, the masked man didn't hesitate to take a hold of Fu once more.
This time, however, he didn't dematerialize. He held Fu in front of him, and, silently, dared them to swing.
Both he and Haku adjusted their blows. Haku's struck just to the man's left, sending bits and pieces of the floor into the air, whereas Sasuke's had enough control left to still be aborted mid-flight.
Thus, the entire room stood in a standstill. Tobi looked towards all six of them, Sakura, Sasuke, Haku, Kegon, Yoro, and Hinata, with the eyes of a calculated hunter. He did not show fear, Sasuke could see into the singular eye-hole in the man's mask.
There was only a raw sort of confidence, one which betrayed nothing other than his thoughts of victory.
Fu, to her credit, wasn't making it easy. She was biting and kicking at the man's grips, and though he didn't release his hold on her, Sasuke could tell she was grating on him, preventing him from focusing. It honestly might've been the only thing preventing him from having already escaped.
He looked to where Hinata laid on the ground, groaning quietly as she pulled the black rod embedded in her shoulder out. It clattered to the ground with a metallic clang, and the girl stood, taking a few steps away from the center of the room. A question came to him as he saw that, and he asked without really thinking.
"Hinata… how'd you miss that?"
The girl looked to him, only the vaguest sense of paying attention on her face. Sasuke got the idea that she cared very little for what he had to say, which he felt was fair, given she'd been impaled.
"You mean the rod?" Hinata hissed out, and Sasuke realized that, for likely the first time he'd ever seen, the Hyuga actually seemed genuinely angered. "The Byakugan has a blind spot. Brother Neji told me about it, but I'd never experienced someone actually utilizing that to attack me before."
"And you didn't tell us that?"
"No, I didn't." Hinata shook her head, a pained look on her face. "I had forgotten about it until it was relevant here, and then… well, I tried to compensate for it, but I wasn't sure if he knew about it, and I didn't want to say it aloud if he didn't know, and tell him about it for free."
Tobi gave a quiet laugh.
"Well, rest assured, you had nothing to be concerned about. I've known about the Hyuga blind spot a long time. When you've fought the Hyuga enough times, such a thing becomes rather repetitive I find." Tobi shrugged. "The perfect 359-degree vision of your clan, in all its glory."
Hinata clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, and again, Sasuke found himself surprised at how angry the girl seemed. It wasn't as if it was entirely foreign to her, because honestly, even if the girl was demure and quiet normally, everyone got mad sometimes, but seeing it personally was another thing.
Past their meaningless conversation, however, Sakura, Kegon, and Yoro had not been standing idle. It had been subtle, but chakra had begun to gather in his girlfriend's hands, and she was beginning to split it into earth and water, to begin utilizing the Wood Style she'd rapidly grown accustomed to.
"Surrender, Tobi." Sasuke decided to buy them some more time, stepping forward and brandishing his blade towards the man. "Give up the Jinchuuriki, and we'll allow you to walk free."
"Oh?" The man honestly looked amused. "I'm honored that the great Leaf Village would do such a thing for little old me, but if you don't mind me asking, I have a question."
Well, it wasn't like he could say no, since he had no actual control here.
"What do you think a sneak attack from the likes of them," Tobi inclined his head as a branch went sailing straight through it, and he bit down on a curse as Kegon and Yoro's simultaneous strike, and attempt to grab Fu, failed as well. "Can do to the likes of me?"
"So what?" Haku spoke this time, the look on his face almost challenging. "It's not like you can go anywhere. We have you surrounded, six on one."
"Oh?" Tobi's voice rose to indicate amusement, and he brought a kunai into his hand, holding it to Fu's throat. "And if I threatened the Jinchuuriki?"
"You wouldn't." Haku spoke with all the calm of a fresh winter day, even past the rest of the group's worry. "You need the Tailed Beast inside, if she were to die, it would go with her. Zabuza told me long ago it would take years, at best, to reform. At worst, it could take upwards of a decade. That's not a risk you're willing to take, not when the entire world will be gunning for you after your little stunt here. You don't have that kind of time."
Sasuke was almost awed with the deductive reasoning Haku showed, and he realized, idly, that the man beside him had been at Jonin strength for the majority of his life. He'd been taught to analyze the world differently from them, and this was the result.
Tobi, seemingly, felt the same. The kunai dropped from Fu's neck with a laugh, and he held up a single finger towards Haku, as if to say 'touché'.
"That's a great theory, and you're right in all parts but the first."
"What?" Haku looked confused.
"You said it's not like I can go anywhere." The tone of Tobi's voice took on an almost menacing edge now. "But no. I could leave any moment I want."
Sasuke's expression clouded. He had no idea what the man before him was getting at, even as he took his sword into a reverse grip and began inching closer to him slowly.
"What do you mean?"
To his dismay, Tobi laughed. It wasn't a subtle one, either, but the laughter of someone who both knew something you didn't and held the upper hand in a way that was irrecoverable.
"Seriously? You still haven't realized?" Tobi's expression grew almost disbelieving. "Even when I took ten minutes to emerge and fire off that rod, you weren't the least bit suspicious? Surely, it could've been for the sole purpose of unnerving you, but I knew the seven of you were made of sterner stuff than that."
He wasn;t the only one with the question, and so he decided to ask it.
"Then… what are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Tobi's amused expression was obvious, even through the single exposed eye through his mask.
"I'm stalling."
/-/
Their battle against the three members of the Akatsuki was at a complete standstill, which, honestly, was not how Kakashi had expected this, nor wanted this, to go.
They were supposed to be an Anti-Akatsuki force, which implied that they'd be able to defeat them should the need arise. Now, faced with only three members, their squad of handpicked Jonin, albeit smaller than he would've liked, was going even.
He wanted to be madder about that, but he couldn't afford to, thanks, in large part, to the crowd of hooded figures that'd arrived around them.
A good six in all had gathered, and it was all he could do to keep his unit steady as they took up formation around Kisame, Itachi, and the slightly injured Kabuto, who'd taken the brunt of the damage their unit had done.
Luckily, none of them had been injured too badly either. Anko sported a nasty cut underneath her eye that might scar, and Tenzo might've lost his hand had he not barely managed to raise an earth wall in time, but both wounds were more than fine to continue on with. Guy had gone positive in their exchanges, managing to land a solid kick to Kabuto's nose that'd likely broken it.
Now, though… things would be getting interesting.
Or… they would've… if not for the fact that his Sharingan was picking up the faces beneath the hoods of those in front of him… and all he could do was gasp quietly.
"Yo, Kakashi?" Anko turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"They're…"
"Hm?" Kisame looked to his left, unfurling one of the figures hoods, even as both Kabuto and Itachi looked oddly confused. "Oh, really? Can't say they told us about that."
Anko, Tenzo, and Guy realized what was happening as well, even as Itachi and Kabuto feigned know-how. Kakashi's Sharingan could see through their expressions, however.
The two were horrendously confused. That… and concerned.
Something was up with them.
More importantly however… He noted mentally as he keyed back into the approaching figures.
The six identical figures stepped forward, their teeth exposed as they smiled widely, their beady yellow eyes affixed on he, Anko, and Tenzo.
"They're… Zetsu?" Anko spoke. "His ability is to make copies of himself!?"
"Yes, but… that's not the problem." Kakashi cursed as he bit down on his lip.
"What? Then what is?"
"If these Zetsu aren't the remaining Akatsuki, like we thought…"
Tenzo keyed into his realization, his eyes going frighteningly wide.
"Then just where are the rest of the Akatsuki?"
End Chapter 75
Where indeed, Kakashi?
Anyways, here's a quick update on schedule for this fic.
For probably a month (maybe two) this fic will be moving to a bi-weekly uploading schedule. I'm doing this to have time to finish working on other projects while still getting this out on occasion. It will eventually move back to weekly... I'm just not sure when.
Sorry about that!
Anyways, see you in two weeks!
