Review Responses:

LadyMidnightBat - Awww, thank you so much for your kind words! And as for the Yondaime/Godaime thing, it's a hard decision. I think I managed to avoid actively revealing which one is used, but I think I've discussed it somewhere before. If you still want to hear my thoughts, comment about it again and I'll go searching for them! Thank you so much for your amazing comments by the way, they honestly make my day!

nagi92 - Not gonna lie, initially I had plans that involved a bit less death. However, someone mentioned how realistically not everyone would survive the final showdown and not everyone is a good guy whilst I was writing that bit, and it stuck with me. So, I killed a few characters off and Deidara was one of the interesting ones to do because a lot of people don't paint him as the bad guy which is fair. That said, Deidara did kill civilians/innocents for no reason and I think I wanted to focus on that point especially coming from Naruto and Sasuke who grew up with Toru. And lol yeah, the titles, I am Aware. You get a few more synonyms before I'm done. I'm glad the multi POVs are working too! One POV is very limiting and can also get boring quickly.

Kirkegaard - I'm glad to hear that. Thanks for your comment!

Wingi - Mood though! I feel the days are flying and yet - still so long to go! Yet not long enough either. Also I never expected this many chapters either! They came out of nowhere, there was no planning for it. It was as surprising for me as it is for you, trust me. I thought my max. chapter count would be like 36 including epilogue and it ended up being forty because everything kept pushing itself further.
As for the OC thing... Well, one of my fantastic readers wrote something for this series. I'm not sure what I was referring to and I'm too tired to check. But basically this fic stars Temari's will-be girlfriend growing up as someone good and strong in a village where being such a thing is dangerous. It's a beautiful fic and I love it.
Ahaha, I promise they come back! You will see more Konoha-nins shortly. And I love long comments, never fear. Enjoy this next chapter!

TigrezzTail - Gonna respond to all your comments in the one go.
You were absolutely right! The Akatsuki are taking the opportunity and I'm glad the jumbled emotions worked out well! None of them really knew how to feel and it was a lot for them. And also for me - writing emotions is sooooo hard.
Hidan was fun to figure out and I have fun writing Shika because he's such an interesting character, not going to lie!
Konan's an interesting character as well, now that I've gotten to know her a bit better through writing her characterisation. I think she's not entirely behind the Akatsuki and it's more because it's Nagato behind it then any real strong desire to have peace this way. And you're so right! One of the major factors on Naruto's side is the fact he doesn't look like he could hurt anyone and he's not well known either.

Quick reminder that Uncharted Waters is out now on this website. Additionally, there's some fanart over on tumblr under silent-silver-slip done by some awesome people. We might be seeing more soon! If you're interested in joining us on discord, drop me a message and I'll share the link!

Sora thinks that having their team plus Rōshi might be overkill. Just a little bit. That said, Toru had probably had the right thought in teaming up with jinchūriki. After all, Sasori is well known for his use of specialised poisons and Uzushio doesn't know the antidotes for many, if any, of them. There's a chance that Rōshi will burn through them quicker with his bijū's chakra.

Then, of course, their team offers the reprieve that Rōshi may need and will be able to help without being completely overwhelmed. It's… strange to see how her team measures up in comparison to an S-ranked ninja because they've never really fought, all out. Or not properly—not with Toru leading them and using seals. Previously, they've been concentrating too much on hiding where they're from and avoiding detection.

Now, though, now there's no reason to hide at all. Instead, they go all out from the start.

Yes, Sasori is dangerous and deadly but… well Rōshi takes some poisoned blows, quickly deals with the poison, and then Toru lays down a seal while they distract Sasori.

"How did he even get to be an S-ranked ninja?" Souma asks with a scrunched expression. "That was… a quick fight."

(A quick fight, perhaps, but not one without fatalities. One ninja fell to Sasori before they'd gotten there, and another had tried to help them out in the early on in the fight, but had fallen quickly to Sasori's poison and there hadn't been an antidote.)

(All across Uzushio, their ninjas fight. Death is unavoidable but by their blood and by their will and by their strength—Uzushio will not fall.)

"It was," Sora agrees. She glances sideways to where Toru is crouched by the dying poisoned ninja, then to Rōshi who watches the battle fiercely. A yell grabs her attention and a flare of bijū chakra rises nearby, only noticeable because of its proximity, (strange, to think how quick Sora has acclimatised to bijū chakra).

Dai's staring in the direction of the chakra flare. "That was Fū," she says. "Toru?"

It doesn't take Toru long to stand, but Sora knows him well enough to imagine the effort it takes to step away from his dying ninja. If given the opportunity, she's sure he would wait until their death to leave. But this is a fight and there's only so much time they have.

"We move. Rōshi-san, you with us?"

"Always," Rōshi answers with a sharp nod. "Lead on."

Toru gestures at his team and they easily fall into position around him. The formation is slightly different with the addition of Rōshi, but the jinchūriki settles easily into the back position.

Around them, others are clashing with their own opponents, but the battles are somewhat easy to slip around. Not that they really do so. Rather, they come in from behind and sideways and slit throats and do their best to win the battle, (they can't save everyone, but they try—they always try).

They see the fight before they reach it. Largely because Fū is up in the sky, wings bold and strong and big. However, even from a distance, it's clear that there are injuries peppering her skin. With her are the Konoha-nins too, though Sora can't name them from memory. She recognises their clans, however. They're injured as well, one standing further back to cover another.

Against them stands Kakuzu. He's not someone Sora thinks she's see her nightmares, (that's a position frequently held by another old man with bandages and hidden Sharingan), but he's a grotesque creature nonetheless.

Black stitches crawl up and down his arms, gnarly and badly done. The skin doesn't look like it's healed beneath them, all black and green edges. It's like something without any medical knowledge attempted to stich a person back together and somehow managed it. It's horrific, but there are monsters on this battlefield and Sora has her doubts that Kakuzu truly is one.

(There are beings made of chakra who walk the battlefield today. They are monsters well and truly, in strength, but only in strength.)

There's no pausing for orders, they simply launch straight into the battle. Dai, hands glowing green, goes for the closest injured ninja whilst Sora and Souma immediately go to support the Konoha-nins. Meanwhile, Rōshi and Toru both go to attack Kakuzu to provide the others reprieve.

In the face of back up, Kakuzu simply grins, especially at Rōshi. "At last," he says, "the escaped prey returns."

"Fuck you," Rōshi returns, somehow making it sound pleasant. "I wasn't prey and I didn't escape. You're the one who retreated. You and your partner both. Are you prepared to stand up against us?"

"I think I've been doing quite well so far," Kakuzu says. "Not even you or your pet ninjas can stop me."

It is, of course, at that moment that Sora sends a fireball speeding towards Kakuzu. After all, why would they wait around for the other to monologue? Better to set up a series of attacks in the meantime. Let Kakuzu underestimate them and then pay for doing so.

Kakuzu moves, edges of him blurring with the speed. It makes Sora pauses in surprise because it's been a long, long time since she's struggled to see someone clearly even when they moved quickly. Then Toru is in front of her, feet firmly planted, and spitting out drilling air bullets at Kakuzu, forcing him to stop his charge.

Instead, Kakuzu heads towards one of the Konoha-nins who'd been hovering uncertainly on the edges of the battlefield. It's the Aburame one, if Sora remembers correctly, and their clan isn't famed for frontline fighters, (though those who are famed for such are feared for their abilities).

Then Toru is there, teeth bared and katana out and slashed through the air. Kakuzu recoils, but there's an opened cut on his arm now, bleeding sluggishly. Seeing it, Sora's relieved to know that he can bleed. It's clear he can survive most injuries, even those he arguably shouldn't, but he bleeds and that's enough.

(It has to be enough.)

Rōshi comes from behind, lava slamming into Kakuzu's back. The other doesn't make a noise, but he does spin, moving away from the Aburame. Sora watches as Fū swoops down from above, grasping the Aburame and lifting him away, dropping him a fair distance from the battle. Clearly, she's operating as the person responsible for evacuating those in need of medical attention, or just those who can't remain in the fight without presenting a danger to those they're fighting with.

It means that Sora can stop thinking about protecting bystanders, instead she dives forward, rolling beneath a jutsu that tries to take off her head. She blurs through hand seals and then a twister of water forms in her hand, condensed and powerful enough that it moves her hand beneath its force. Charing forward, she slams into Kakuzu, who either has to deal with Souma taking his head off or her jutsu.

Kakuzu stumbles under the blow and the fabric of his Akatsuki cloak rips with it. Flipping backward, Kakuzu leaves the cloak behind and Sora glances at him. The Akatsuki cloak had already had its sleeves torn off of it, from the fight with the Konoha-nins she's assuming, but now it leaves the other in a simple shirt which is already ripped—from Sora's attack too.

Reaching up, Kakuzu tears it easily and drops the fabric on the ground. It's rather… dramatic and Sora isn't entirely sure what to make of it. Then she's distracted as Rōshi presses on another attack, forcing Kakuzu to show her his back and-

And Sora's never seen anything like it. Stitched into his back are four masks. They look like ANBU masks except they're not, warped things. They look wrong though she can't quite put her finger on why.

Then the fight kicks up a notch and suddenly Sora is leaping away out of instinct as something thick and grey comes shooting towards her. There's a pause as everyone takes in this new… thing. The grey projections are coming from Kakuzu's body and there are multiple—eight at first count—and they're all slightly different. They're thick and grey and remind Sora of grey goo or something, but they're clearly hard if the crater left behind indicates anything. They seem to operate individually too and work to keep everyone at bay.

"I don't remember this being listed in the Bingo Book," Dai mutters as she retreats to stand beside Sora. "Any ideas?"

"Not sure," Sora says, eyes flickering over to where Toru stands on the other side of Kakuzu with Souma and Rōshi. "They're clearly capable of doing damage and operating individually, but I have the awful feeling that they'll give beneath you and then deal damage rather than being damaged."

"So avoid the weird grey things then," Dai says, "and figure out where the hell we go from here."

Sora smiles, grim. "Just like every other day," she says. A grey arm comes hurtling towards them and they split without another word. Rather than going directly for the attack, Sora reconvenes with the rest of her team and Rōshi.

It seems that Kakuzu is willing to let them briefly gather which Sora thinks is an awful decision on his behalf. Then again, if he's willing to underestimate them, that's his problem and they'll soon prove him wrong.

"The masks are important," Toru says softly, quickly. "We need to destroy them as quickly as possible. The stitches everywhere indicate that going for a simple debilitating injury isn't the best plan of attack. Aim for the heart or completely take off the head. Avoid the arms. It looks like they'll be capable of breaking into smaller strands and causing real problems if you get close. However, they do look like they might be our speed or slightly slower so we might be able to avoid them. Rōshi, lava might be your best way to avoid them."

"Got it Taichō," Sora says. "Any other ideas or seals that might be able to help?"

Toru shakes his head. "Unless I get close, I doubt any of my main seals will work and Kakuzu's abilities make me worried as well. If he's been around as long as his Bingo Book entry suggests then he'll have faced seals before and might be able to counter them. And I'd prefer not to get blown up by my own seals. Seems a stupid way to go for an Uzushio-nin."

Rōshi laughs. "Guess we'll just be fighting like good ol' ninjas. You sure you can still manage that?"

There's a snatch of laughter on the wind and then they're moving once again. Dai heads off with Souma, splitting left, whilst Toru and Sora break right. Rōshi, on the other hand, charges forward molten rock forming around his skin burning brightly. The heat of the lava can be felt from a distance and Sora slips around Toru so she's closer to Kakuzu than him, letting him watch what happens and figure out a plan of attack.

She sends a wave of water towards Kakuzu, flanking him, but Kakuzu simply drops his shoulder and sends Rōshi flying over his back and then sends a wall of fire to turn the water into steam.

However, Rōshi simply lands, rolls, and turns, lashing out with a chakra-powered fist that sends out a shockwave that leads to Sora slipping back slightly, even as she tries to set her feet into the ground properly.

When she next looks, Kakuzu's grey arms are waving around, dangerous and deadly, but what really gets her attention is the shattered pieces of a mask on the ground. Then, beside it, a bleeding, dying heart.

Kakuzu snarls. "I'll take your heart for that!" And… he stands, still. A heart on the ground is dead and dying and not beating and Kakuzu keeps breathing and standing and fighting. Sora swallows, reminded of the stories of Danzō's final fight and the way he'd seemed almost undying, (but they'd beaten him then—Toru had beaten him then, and so they will win here too; Kakuzu will fall).

"Come get it then," Rōshi taunts and Kakuzu speeds forward, except then Souma and Dai are there with a combined ninjutsu of fire and wind. It forces Kakuzu to hide behind his grey arms. The fire hits the defence and dies out like it's hit an earth wall.

And Sora knows that they won't be able to use the same tactic again, but it feels good to have landed a blow, even if it didn't necessarily kill Kakuzu. Now they know where to aim too—at those masks. If each mask hides a heart, then there's three hearts left to go; unless Kakuzu has a normal heart too.

Sora's strongest when using taijutsu and genjutsu, but against Kakuzu she's left to fight from a distance unless she manages to bypass his defences. Even then, she doesn't want to get too close to the grey arms, wary of their abilities. Souma's similar in abilities too, with his preference being taijutsu in a fight if he can't come from the shadows like a ninja on an assassination mission. Dai, at least, is somewhat a good position for this fight since she is their long-range support usually, but that depends on whether she can get past Kakuzu's defence.

Then, of course, there is Toru who uses a mix ninjutsu, taijutsu, and fūinjutsu, and also prefers to get close up when he can, though he's willing to drop back a little bit as well. So long as they don't go against genjutsu specialists, Toru is usually the one front-lining if the others need a break or a second to prepare an attack.

With Rōshi here, Toru's taken a step back, but that's not what Sora's thinking about. Rather, she's considering the grey arms and how they'd reacted like earth to the fire ninjutsu. Against her senses, Kakuzu's chakra feels like a bunch of conflicting signatures shoved and tangled together, though that could also just be everyone flinging jutsus around as well.

Even though Sora has a feeling it won't work, she blurs through her hand seals and lays down a genjutsu on Kakuzu. Like normal, she goes for one that makes everything seem a little bit off—the ground a bit more even, everyone a little bit more to the left, everything a little less dangerous.

However, Kakuzu flares his chakra and the genjutsu breaks immediately, before it even had a chance to settle properly. Kakuzu turns to face her, a grin on his face. "You'll have to do better than that," he says. "I've worked alongside Itachi Uchiha and you do not measure up to him at all."

If that was meant to be an insult, Sora's not aware of it. Of course she's not as good as an Uchiha, one whose genetics and training is aimed to make them specialise as genjutsu experts. Souma, on the other hand, has only her training. She's good, but not Uchiha-good. It'd be like saying that a water ninjutsu specialist in Kaze no Kuni is as good as one in Mizu no Kuni; it's not impossible but it's very, very unlikely.

Sora needs to get to the other side of fight, to Dai who might be able to help her figure something out. What that is, exactly, Sora isn't entirely sure yet. Toru catches her gaze and Sora signs a quick, "Switch," at him.

"Acknowledged," Toru signs back. "Rōshi, with me!"

Once again, Rōshi charges forward, this time with Toru flanking him. The jinchūriki stomps his foot and sends a wave of molten lava towards Kakuzu. Behind it, Toru follows, before he leaps into the air and sends a fire tornado at it. Sora doesn't pay any attention to this, rather she takes the chance to dart around Kakuzu and grab Dai's attention.

"What can you tell me about Kakuzu's chakra signatures?" Sora asks, eyes flicking to the fight as Souma joins in to keep Kakuzu's attention off of them.

Dai blinks, before narrowing her eyes. "Conflicted chakra senses that all seem to come from Kakuzu. As far as I can tell, there are… four, but I think there was five earlier. Each one has a distinct chakra nature."

"And one originates from the grey arms, right?"

For a second, Dai pauses, but then she nods. "Yeah, it's focussed there but it's also the one most… available, I guess? It feels more earth-based than anything else. The others lean towards water, lightning, and wind individually."

"The masks," Sora guesses. "Okay so we now know that their weakness is tied into chakra natures. That might give us the edge."

She thinks about it for a second. In their team alone, they can probably target specific points. The grey arms are linked to earth which means lightning is strong against it, so that's Dai.

"I got it," Dai says, clearly guessing where Sora's thoughts are going. Chakra spiking, sparks skittering across her skin, Dai begins to go through hand seals. Sora backs away, feeling the hair on her skin rise. Whatever Dai's about to do, it's clearly going to be powerful. "Lightning Release Bullet: Powerful Breath!"

Lightning streaks across the fight, slamming into Kakuzu's grey arms and then through them. The noise blasts Sora's ears and her head rings. She pushes forward regardless, changing directions away from Toru and the others, and towards Kakuzu. The grey arms are twitching, appearing out of control, and Sora speeds through her own set of hand seals. "Water Release: Water Dragon Technique!"

Her chakra is sucked into the jutsu, and in front of her, water condenses out of the atmosphere. Thankfully, being by the sea means that it's easy to do so and takes less chakra. A dragon forms, fanged and frilled, it roars and lunges forward, slamming down on top of Kakuzu. He defends himself, a barrier of earth forming, but the earth is shattered beneath the dragon which disperses upon contact, leaving puddles of water everywhere.

Sora flips backwards, gaining space, just as Souma slams his hands down on the ground and electrifies the puddles. The lightning jumps and courses through the grey arms, and this time Kakuzu shouts in pain, body shaking with the surge.

The Uzushio-nins don't waste any time, lunging forward, and Rōshi and Toru take down a mask each. Then, whilst Kakuzu is still trying to recover, Sora slams forward and occupies him with taijutsu. Close and deadly, she does her best to layer down genjutsu after genjutsu while avoiding death blows. The only genjutsus she places are basic ones, but they make Kakuzu slip up, his attention torn between her and the genjutsu and the rest of the Uzushio-nins.

Caught between all of them with only two hearts left, Kakuzu bares his teeth and lashes out. This time the grey arms move, and Sora tries to get away, leaping backward. However, she's not quite quick enough to make it and it wraps around her ankle, jerking her forward. It feels like a chain and it seems to be tightening and her ankle screams in pain. Gritting her teeth, Sora sends lightning chakra surging through her foot. It's enough that she's dropped onto the ground.

Her back hits the ground, hard, and for a second she can't breathe. Then there's arms around her body and she's being lifted and moved away from the fight. She gasps, heart pounding, and finally, finally, catches her breathe; no longer winded.

"Go," Sora says, gripping Souma's arm. "I'll be back in a minute."

Souma considers her for a split-second, then nods, placing her down on the ground and returning to the fight now that she's not in danger of being killed. Glancing down at her ankle, Sora hisses as she pokes the already purpling-bruise. Slowly, she gets to her feet. It kills like nobody's business, but it's not broken and she'll be right to re-join the fight if it's needed.

The fight, though, doesn't look like it needs her. Instead, with Toru and Rōshi tag-teaming to keep Kakuzu's attention, the others are able to close the gap and rip off that last mask, sending a fourth heart onto the ground and destroying it.

Fittingly, it's Rōshi who lands the last blow, a hand tipped with molten lava claws caves in Kakuzu's chest and pulls out his heart.

Sora watches as Kakuzu stares at it, eyes blinking slowly, and then he collapses backwards like they're in one of Souma's bad dramas. It seems that, in the end, Kakuzu is still just a man.

"You alright?" Dai says, appearing next to her in a blur of speed, hands glowing green. "I'll heal the worst of this but it'll be tender."

"Do what you have to but save as much of your chakra as possible," Sora says. "We're going to need it."

Dai nods and doesn't respond. A few seconds later, Sora is back up on her feet. Her ankle's sore but she can stand on it and has her full range of movement, which is better than what it was. She turns to look at Toru, who nods at her, then glances around, clearly trying to determine what's happening nearby and where they may be needed.

"What's the plan Taichō?" Souma asks.

Toru breathes in then breathes out. His heart is steady and so is his breathing, (though he feels like it shouldn't be steady, feels like it should be uneven and hard; but beyond his own panic, he hadn't even reacted when Sora had gone down and not gotten up in the same second). "Rōshi, can you join the battlefield? Not any direct targets, but see if you can push the tides back a little."

"You got it, Toru-sama," Rōshi says and then he's gone, barrelling into the thick of the fighting with lava spewing from him. It's easy to track his bath with the burnt trail of won battles he leaves behind him.

Looking around, Toru searches for anyone in direct need of help, then—a flash of pink to his right. It's a bit further away from the majority of the fighting, but still away from the majority of Uzushio's buildings and a good distance from the hospital and various triages set up. He notices all of this and the notices that it's Sakura and Kakashi fighting against one ninja.

The ninja wears an Akatsuki cloak and has a mask and…

Beneath Toru's feet, Uzushio's chakra swells and it feels like a flood. It wraps around him and for a second Toru sees the seals that decorate his village, the ones tattooed onto his people, the one engraved on someone's heart. Then his vision goes back to normal and he feels wrong-footed. He doesn't understand what happened only that Uzushio did something, (Uzushio is sentient, and he doesn't know if that's always been true or if the blood of his people led to Uzushio gaining some form of sentience).

"There," Toru says, "where Sakura and Kakashi fight."

His team pause, looking at him, and Toru wonders how they know that he's not saying something. "Their enemy has a seal on their heart. The only seals you place down there are… ones with nefarious purposes. If we can get that off, we might be able to shift things in our favour and avoid killing him. But he's our enemy, so don't hesitate doing what you need to do."

(In the end, it always comes down to how Toru believes in mercy. Maybe he shouldn't. Maybe he should advise his team to go for the kill first and foremost, rather than cautioning them that something more is at play here. But Toru has to believe that people can be good and can be better and be more. Otherwise, what does that make him?)

Toru leads his team forward, curving behind the back of the line of Uzushio-nins which is still holding for the most part. They're trying to keep everyone away from the main part of the village, limiting damage and making it easier to see who needs immediate aid.

In under a minute, they're joining Kakashi and Sakura's fight. As Toru charges forward, katana outstretched, he notices Sakura's bleeding left stump, and how she fights on, (he does not think for one second her injury is his fault, he knows better, but he wishes it could be otherwise). His katana slides through their opponent and Toru stumbles after it, eyes wide. Still, without pausing, he twists, and just manages to get his katana up in time to block a kunai from slicing his throat open.

He drops back, lets Souma jump in, and speeds through hand seals. "Water Pillar Thrust!" Rather than the normal technique where the water comes from the ground, Toru manipulates the jutsu so that the water slams down from above. With narrowed eyes, he watches as the water appears to go through the Akatsuki member.

"Got the Sharingan," Sakura says, dropping back for a few moments. "Able to teleport it seems and also become intangible. Obsessed with Kakashi-sensei."

"There's a weird seal on him or something," Toru says. "If we can drop him briefly, I can remove it might turn this away from a fight for the death to something else."

"I've got some poisons that might paralyse him for a few minutes, but I have to land a hit on him first," Sakura says. "Maximum intangibility appears to be near the five-minute mark, and he can't teleport and be intangible."

Toru smiles. "We can keep hitting for five minutes," he says. "We'll try to give Kakashi a break too. If you have a second, try to stop that blood loss. You're needed in this battle."

Without waiting for an answer, he lunges forward, chakra flaring at his team through their seal. It's the best message he can pass along at the time, and he knows they'll follow his lead no matter what he does. So if he attacks and keeps on attacking, they'll do the same.

Rather than using ninjutsu, he goes for a direct attack, lashing out with a quick and following up with a punch. This time he doesn't stumble when he goes through the Akatsuki member, just spinning on one foot and flipping away from an attack that tries to cave in his ribs.

Sora ducks in at that moment, coming from the other side with a blade of water extending her reach. It keeps them both occupied for a second, just as Souma sends lightning striking out and forcing the masked man back into intangibility once again. A brace of kunai flicker past Toru's shoulders as he darts back in, Dai backing him up from behind.

Together, his team do everything they can to keep the Akatsuki member dancing between them. They stick close, harrying, and guarding each other as best they can. Just before the five-minute mark is up, Toru flares his chakra and drops back, his team dropping back with him, and flicks through a set of hand seals.

His own jutsu roars into existence; wind forming into a roaring hurricane that swallows fire and scorches the ground, leaving black singe marks that they'll have to scrub out later. For a second, the ninja attempts to escape the jutsu before realising that it follows him and only seems to increase its speed. Then, they turn, facing it head-on, body fading slightly as it becomes intangible.

This time it's clear that something is wrong as when the Akatsuki member drops the intangibility, their very body seems to stumble, swaying slightly. Their chakra lashes out for a moment, fluctuating between hidden and almost-exhausted, before it's hidden once again.

Sakura and Kakashi launch forward this time, while Toru's team covers their back and prepare to leap into the fight should it be needed. However, the pair handle themselves easily, Kakashi taking the brunt of the fight as Sakura slides around back and neatly places three senbon into the Akasuki's shoulder, ankle, and hand. One is easily shaken off, the cloak too thick, but the other two sink in and their opponent stumbles immediately, the poison already effecting them.

Toru reaches them between one second and the next, dropping down to one knee and his team forms up defensively around him, ready for anything. He's not entirely sure how to remove the seal, but he tears open the Akatsuki cloak and the top and reveals the skin beneath.

There are scars across the ninja's torso, deep ones and lighter ones, but Toru pays no attention to them, (after all, they're ninjas; almost all of them have scars), instead focussing on the seal that's been chakra-seared into the ninja's skin. He's not entirely sure how to break the seal, but he doesn't necessarily have to do that.

He just has to stop it activating and also not explode it in anyone's faces. Rather than tattooing the seal and permanently placing it down, Toru unseals blood-based ink from his storage seal and gets to work. It takes only a minute to quickly sketch out the Five Elements Seal. He activates it with a surge of chakra, just as the ninja begins to shift, clearly fighting the poison.

The seal crackles and flares as it activates, but remains stationary and Toru breathes out silently as he shifts back, standing. He'd added an extra part to the seal so it could only be removed by him or someone who could deconstruct the entire thing—an Uzushio seal master, in other words.

"What did you do?" The ninja shouts, clearly trying to call upon their chakra and failing. Honestly, Toru's impressed by the fact they can still stand and are willing to fight; most people would be unconscious or just not able to fight.

The ninja throws themself forward, not at Toru or Sakura, but at Kakashi who'd stood by and not done anything to take the ninja down. Toru frowns at it because it's strange for Kakashi to be attacked, especially when one considers the fact that this is Uzushio under attack, not Konoha. Technically, Kakashi shouldn't even be here.

With only taijutsu to use, it's clear that Kakashi has the upper hand since he still has all his skills open to him. It doesn't take long for the ninja to get knocked out. It's almost an anticlimactic ending.

Toru glances over his team. Dai is checking over Sakura while Sora and Souma are keeping an eye out for any enemies coming their way. They could slit the Akatsuki member's throat and be done with it, kill him and move on. But they'd removed a seal and there's something strange here even if Toru doesn't know what it is. "Sora, grab the nearest ANBU team and bring them here. Instructions are to keep this enemy sealed and chakra-drained. Strongest prison procedures. We'll deal with him after the battle."

Sora doesn't question him, just nods, and disappears in a blur of speed. Souma drops to stick beside Toru, clearly taking up a better guard position. "Where to next Taichō?" He asks, once again, ready to follow Toru wherever he may lead.

A half-smile on his face, Toru doesn't even think before replying, "To whichever battle needs us the most."

(Fight by fight, they'll win the battle; even if they have to do it in a team of four against an army.)

Kakuzu is killed and the Akatsuki loses two of their members. Still, the battle continues and there is no time to pause.

I want you to know that I looked over Kakuzu's skills went 'what the fuck' and kind of decided to do whatever I wanted with his skills. Which is also why you have the mask = hidden heart kind of thing. With the world-building I have, Kakuzu's mask letting him use other chakra affinities doesn't make sense? Especially as we see others use chakra natures other than their own easily. Maybe it's slightly weaker, but that's not what my worldbuilding was built around so it doesn't quite work here. Thus, I'm kind of doing my own thing and we'll see where it goes from here.

Not gonna lie, I've been considering how easier these chapters would be if I got to change characters completely (i.e. Obito) to make them easier to deal with.

Not much of a note for this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.