Drowning in Freedom
Chapter 4: Sparks of Red
A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I lost all motivation and I had some family wedding I went to last week. Essentially, real life came knocking at my door. In other news, I hope you all like this chapter I *gasp* actually edited this chapter... since... I was kinda... intoxicated when I wrote it... Granted, my editing is nothing to be desired so don't expect much. Anywhosies, I hope you like this new chapter and I hope to hear what you all think about it!
Flamecaster15: Haha I am sorry that you had to wait two weeks for this one! And the stress in this part is just going to keep increasing. Slowly but surly until you want to kill me.
Guest: Thank you and I am so happy that you like it! Thank you for the kind words, and yes I know that my editing can use work... BUT whose got time for that :P Anyway, I typically update Sunday evenings/Monday's however, life got in the way last week. Nevertheless, I hope you like this new chapter :)
moonlight46: Thank you! And actually, Amaya has Zabuza's blade, but like Kisame she has her hidden mist blade hidden with the same type of material. I decided to change it up a little, making it seem like she took after Kisame's style more than Zabuza's. I'm sorry for the confusion! By the same token, I think that you are really going to like the development of this chapter a lot... just saying. Plus, it is finally longer. Its just the start of the new part but I promise that the chapters will be longer as time goes on, just like with DWA.
Lumix1 (Julia): Thank you for the compliment! I really appreciate it! And I do plan on continuing this story, I typically update Sunday evenings/Monday's but life happened this past week and I wasn't able to update. Yeah, with Kakashi, I decided to take some author liberties and make him kinda depressed, and understandably so. He never really, completely that is, gave up in a way, since he still did his duties, he kinda just stopped taking care of himself. But I completely understand where you are coming from! I just was trying to do what happened with Rin and his PTSD from it, but twist it? Idk words are hard to use to explain this thought process of mine and this reply has gotten way to long, so I;m sorry about that :P ANYWAY, enough of that and I hope that you enjoy this next chapter and can't wait to hear what you think about it :)
PrismRootStarlight: Thank you! And I look forward to hearing what you think about this new chapter :)
jordanbillings8: Thank you and I am happy to hear that you liked it! *DUN DUN DUN* I guess for that answer you are just going have to wait and read to find out :P
Amaya watched as Deidara coaxed the clay bird into the forest for cover. The kunoichi figured that the other nin next to her thought that it would provide them with an advantage. Amaya knew that it would hinder them instead of helping them in the long run. Konoha was hidden in the forest, this landscape was something that the shinobi chasing them had vast experience with. All in all, the female knew that they were now playing into Konoha's favor.
Kakashi and Naruto kept pace with the clay bird, never gaining on their opponents nor falling behind. Amaya knew that they were trying to come up with a plan since it was obvious that Deidara could keep the distance up for longer than the two nins had stamina to pursue. Licking her lips, the kunoichi wanted the two to stop chasing her and the blond. She knew that that wouldn't happen, but she knew that if it came down to it, she would fight her old student and former lover to keep up appearances. Nevertheless, an itch started to ache at the back of her mind. She had a feeling that the end of this pursuit, something was going to happen—for better or for worse.
With Amaya's luck, it was going to be for worse. She had a sickening feeling that everything that she had been working for, these past years, would fall apart by the end of this fight. She knew deep down that something was going to happen, and she was going to be placed into a situation where she would have to either surrender or kill those who opposed her. Not trying to dwell on such things, Amaya, out of the corner of her eye, saw Naruto shift closer to Kakashi, as if he was instructed to do so.
Amaya's blond partner looked at her, the two sharing in a glance, even though Deidara couldn't see the kunoichi's eyes. The man with the ponytail gave Amaya a gross smile and he held up his hand as if he was trying to signal her. Cocking her head to the side, she shrugged her shoulders making Deidara roll his eyes at her. To try and emphasis his point without drawing attention to the matter, Deidara pointed to the bag filled with clay and that was when the kunoichi put two and two together. She figured that the other Akatsuki member was almost, if not already, out of clay or chakra to make his bombs with and the smile was about apologizing to her in his own weird way.
However, for Amaya, it was more of a way to state that everything from here on out would have to be dealt with by her. That she would have to be the one to put in the work if things got messy. Unconsciously, she placed her hand on the hilt of her blade, not wanting to get her hands dirty but knowing that it was probably going to be necessary. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't caught off guard by something. She knew that Naruto didn't have many mid-range or distance attacks, even though she knew that he grew in his years of training. She was more worried about what Kakashi had up his sleeve. The man looked tired, exhausted from fighting and from something else, but Amaya knew, deep in her heart, that no matter what the white haired nin was dealing with, he would never let himself stop improving.
Even after everything, if she changed as much as she did, she knew that Kakashi had as well. Again, Amaya watched the two nins below jump from branch to branch, but for some reason, it seemed like they were actively trying to put distance between their opponents. Naruto tried to launch forward again, but Kakashi pulled him backwards by the collar, almost as if Naruto would get in the way for whatever the white-haired nin was about to do. Amaya could see that with Naruto's head tilted to the side and the fabric over Kakashi's mouth moving ever so slightly, the two of them finally had a plan to go up against her and Deidara. Standing completely still, Amaya let the world around her fade as she focused on Kakashi.
She watched as he closed his eyes, drawing a breath in. With his next motion, he exhaled opening his eyes, along with pulling his fingers into a unique hand signal as if to steady his chakra. Almost as if this was a new jutsu he was still perfecting, one that hadn't been used in the field before. Amaya felt a shiver go down her spin as her sweat turned cold against her skin. She was right. She knew that she wasn't the only one who gained a few extra skills in this time apart. The kunoichi faintly saw Kakashi's sharingan twist to reveal his own version of the mangekyo sharingan.
The kunoichi, even after training with Itachi all this time, couldn't completely stop the power of the sharingan. Her kekkei genkai, she realized, allowed her to react more affectively against the user, being able to function in a genjutsu created by the eye. However, to stop the jutsu took a lot of chakra out of her, especially since she didn't know what Kakashi's mangekyo could do. Itachi's made the nightmare realm, but she didn't know what Kakashi could do with his. The possibilities were endless. She wanted to know what his new visual prowess was, but at the same time, she wanted to get as far away from here as possible.
With this fight, she didn't want to be forced to show all the new things she had learned as an enemy of Konoha. She had Zabuza's old blade, that much she couldn't hide. Even though she took a page out of Kisame's book by infusing chakra into a bandage like material to cover the blade from prying eyes, even still, it was easy to distinguish that she had a hidden mist blade now. Nevertheless, she didn't want to showcase the new jutsu's and summoning she had up her sleeve. Those were kept close to the chest, for real emergencies. Amaya was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a strange pull towards the Konoha nins below.
Her senses went on high alert, her kekkei genkai not allowing her to think as it moved Amaya's body for her. Deidara didn't know what was happening at first, so he didn't bother moving out of the way. Instead, he just watched Amaya move out of the distortion zone with a dumbfounded look on his face. The kunoichi crouched down and slid down the side of the clay bird's wing. It made it harder for the creature to move, but Amaya wasn't going to let herself get sucked into this weird black hole jutsu that Kakashi was conjuring from his eye. Stabbing her blade into the wing to keep herself sturdy, Deidara looked as if he wanted to yell at her for harming his creation, but that was when the younger nin started to feel himself being sucked into an invisible vortex.
Throwing her head to the side, Amaya caught a look on Kakashi's face. He was surprised that Amaya was able to judge his area of use for the jutsu so quickly, but at the same time he was pleased that he was able to catch at least one of the Akatsuki members in his trap. She knew that the look he was giving her was also one of a challenge. Almost as if he was daring her to try and stop his jutsu, just like she dealt with Itachi's nightmare realm when he was placed under that genjutsu all those years ago.
Moments passed as the intensity of the justu picked up, almost knocking Deidara off his feet. He was cursing about being caught up in such a strange jutsu, but there was nothing him nor Amaya could do to get him out of it. Amaya braced herself by hanging onto her sword and tried to make the clay bird be in the path of the vortex so the kunoichi's body was outside of it. However, shortly after Kakashi activated the justu, he winced, pain clearly written on his face as sweat started to appear on his temples and around his face. It was almost like he was over exerting himself, but Amaya couldn't contemplate anything more as her attention was drawn to Deidara as he started to scream out in pain.
His scream was almost childlike, the high pitch annoying her eardrums. Amaya watched, however, realizing why Deidara had let such a sound escape from his lips. His arm was teared off, disappearing in the invisible black hole that Kakashi had created. Deidara started to lose focus as he let pain flood his senses. Out of caution, Amaya gripped onto the hilt of her blade so tightly her knuckles turned white. The blond was the one who controlled the clay bird, and if he didn't start to think clearly, the two of them were going to crash into the forest below them. Deidara was bleeding heavily and panting trying to gain control of the situation.
However, a glare that the younger Akatsuki member sent towards Kakashi told Amaya everything about what was about to happen. Kakashi's justu was used as a distraction. A very effective one at that. The kunoichi noticed that Naruto was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared somewhere in the forest, waiting for the right moment to spring an attack of his own. Cursing herself for only focusing on the older Konoha nin, Amaya pushed herself up and climbed onto the back of the clay bird again. She was careful not to slip of the pool of blood that had accumulated on the clay from the blond's injury, and she noticed that the vortex that Kakashi had produced had now fizzled into nothingness. Almost as if it wasn't even there to begin with. Not wanting to be caught anymore off guard, Amaya pulled her executioner's blade from the wing of the bird.
Behind her, she felt the wind change direction, it was slight, but it was still there. The hair on the back of her neck, instead of being pressed against her skin fluttered away from her. That's when Amaya didn't hesitate to grip the hilt of her blade with two hands, turning around to block Naruto's rasengan, just as he extended his hand forward. Amaya knew that the justu was stronger than that of when he was a pre-teen. Not wanting to take any chances, Amaya pressed the blade down and used Naruto's downward momentum to deflect the teen towards the neck of the clay creature. The blue-haired woman was afraid that if she kept taking the full load of force of Naruto's attack, her blade would break.
Then, she would have no choice but to deal with the bloodthirst that would fill the air. She would have no control over the blade if it broke, it would only whisper to her to shed the blood of her enemies to avenge the metal for breaking in the first place. Over the past years, she had broken the sword twice before. The first time, she had no idea what had happened, but the second, Amaya, in her core, felt a strange sense of pleasure as her blade cut through the many beings who dared to get in her way. She refused to take that chance with Naruto and Kakashi around. That was the last thing that she needed right now.
So, making the executive decision, she decided to act. Spreading out her feet and pushing her weight to her front foot that was an inch in front of her other, she pressed into Naruto. This caused him to go off balance. In the split second before Naruto could correct for a readjustment, the kunoichi used her own strength and directed the teen's attack downward. Amaya watched as she took a step back to steady herself, since there was no counter weight on the other side anymore, to make sure that she didn't fall off the clay bird. However, with Amaya's quick thinking, Naruto's attack split through the bird's clay neck almost as if it was a hot blade through butter. As the head fell off, Naruto and the head of the bird containing Gaara descending quickly—with Amaya and Deidara only being able to stand there and watch.
Amaya and Deidara exchanged glances as the two glided in the air before starting to fall. Acting quickly, the kunoichi grabbed the blond next to her, who was now doubled over in pain. She wrapped her arm around him and jumped off the decapitated creature, knowing that when it made landfall it would most likely explode. And with Deidara in the situation that he was in, Amaya didn't want to take any chances that she would be encased in an explosion. As the two of them fell, Amaya changed her handling on the hilt of the blade as she stuck it out. She made contact with plenty of branches, ignoring the pain as they snapped harshly against her skin evidently leaving her broken, jagged cuts along her flesh.
Eventually, Amaya was able to slow their decent, her blade catching in the trunk of a tree, almost splitting it in two. The two hung there with Amaya pulling off the feat with one hand. It was a close call and the kunoichi knew that she was going to be feeling her arm and shoulder in the morning, but it had stopped the two from crashing and falling to their respective deaths. Stretching out her arm, Amaya let Deidara get his feet under him as he stood on the branch next to him. He was unusually quiet, and it placed Amaya on red alert. Deidara leaned up against the tree trunk and Amaya pulled herself up, standing on the hilt of her blade so she could see around her partner.
She found out why the blond was so quiet, he was watching Kakashi only a few clicks away. She saw that the white-haired man was about as rough of shape as Deidara, his new jutsu taking a hard toll on his body. Deidara was about to take a step forward, to jump down to Kakashi's level to deal his own version of pain to the Konoha nin. However, with a rough hand on his shoulder from Amaya, the blond didn't move forward. He threw a threatening look at the blue-haired woman and shrugged off her hand but headed her warning.
"Kakashi-sensei! Are you okay?" Naruto said, as he came to the aid of his teacher.
Amaya turned away from the exchange, her mind focusing on the slight pain in her shoulder, and the tiny cuts that littered her arms and legs. Therefore, she actively missed whatever Deidara's smart reply was to the teen's reaction with his superior.
"Instead of complaining about Naruto destroying your artwork, you really should be paying better attention to your surroundings," Kakashi's voice cut through the air.
Amaya didn't hesitate when she pulled Deidara's collar backwards, making him fall to the ground. Amaya fell back with him, but she pushed chakra into her feet. She hung upside down on the hilt of her blade and watched as the real Naruto, not a clone that was next to Kakashi, came charging at them. Amaya shook her head knowing that her partner really did owe her one. Since he was too busy complaining, she had to constantly save his ass. Taking in a deep breath, Amaya thanked Kisame silently. She would never tell the shark-skinned male her appreciation for the training to his face, but right now she was happy that he literally beat into her how to react to her surroundings.
The blond teen and Amaya made eye contact with each other as Naruto sailed through the air. As soon as Naruto landed on the branch, he tried to swing down to displace some of his rage. However, Amaya wasn't going to take that chance, and with a wince, she bent forward, her body almost cutting in half, and pulled the blade out of the tree trunk with her sore shoulder. Just as she removed the blade from the tree, she pulled it in front of her, blocking Naruto's punch that was directed towards her.
The two of them started to fall to the earth and that was when she saw that there was a log on the ground below. She didn't know when he did it, but Deidara had used a substitution. She knew that he wasn't stupid enough to let himself get hit, or hurt in the fall, and that was when Deidara landed a nice right hook on Naruto, pushing him to the side so Amaya could get out of the way. She placed her blade onto her back and at the last second, she forced chakra into her hands. She pushed them down feeling the damp ground of the forest below and used the momentum to flip away from the landing zone. The real Naruto now was wiping his jaw as Kakashi watched his student recover.
Deidara was nowhere to be seen, making Amaya believe that he had used a clone to land the punch on the Konoha teen. Taking a deep breath, and a little bit of luck, Amaya dissociated herself from her surroundings and tried to sense where Deidara was. It was unusual because she could still feel his chakra in his clay creations that were scattered about, but turning her head, she finally came across an area where the blond's chakra was stronger than all the others. She knew that he was trying to mask it, but with her small movement Deidara looked at her, almost in surprise that she was able to find him that quickly. She learned a lot over the course of the two and a half years with the Akatsuki members, but Itachi had always made it a point to make sure that Amaya developed her skills at sensing people.
She always had a knack for sensory type jutsu training, but as Itachi so crudely put, she favored a fist over finesse. So, she trained a lot with trying to hone the skill, and it even trickled into her training. She didn't have the same abilities that the sharingan gave with predicting movement, but she came pretty damn close to it. It had saved her ass plenty of times—especially when Kisame went on a homicidal rampage. However, it seems that Naruto and Kakashi couldn't see their other opponent. Amaya was directly in their line of sight, but Deidara, at least to them, was nowhere to be seen. If Amaya had one misstep, she knew that Deidara would take this as his queue to try and kill one of the Konoha nins that opposed them.
Nevertheless, Amaya didn't have to think about that any longer when the nine-tails chakra started to profusely seep out of Naruto. A tail started to emerge along with a murderous and ruthlessness feeling that started to filter into the air. The kunoichi could almost feel the blood thirst of the nine tails on her tongue and without realizing it, she had placed her hand on the hilt of her blade, ready to defend herself at any time. Looking over at the Konoha blond, Amaya saw what had triggered this response. After everything, Naruto finally was able to pull away some of the clay that had encapsulated Gaara, and now, upon seeing his dead friend, Naruto was overcome with emotions, releasing his sanity over to the hands of the nine tails.
Kakashi looked between Naruto and his blue-haired opponent who seemed almost as shocked as he felt and decided to take his chances. He tried to get close to his student, but Naruto wasn't thinking at the moment and instead, took out his wrath on Kakashi. A second tail emerged almost instantaneously, and Kakashi tried to back away from it. However, with his body trying to overcome the fatigue of his last jutsu, his knee buckled, and he fell. He threw up his hands in a pitiful defensive manuver, hoping that he would block Naruto's enraged attack, and watched as the two tails came down onto him, almost as if it was someone who was trying to use a fly swatter on an annoying pest.
Without thinking, Amaya knew what was about to happen, and as fast as one could complete a blink, she had charged forward, the black cavities and cracks of her mask illuminating with a neon blue that drifted from the mask. She didn't hesitate to draw her sword and, in the time that it took, she kept one hand on the hilt of the blade and turned the metal to the side, using her other as a brace for the weapon. Wedging herself in between the two men, Naruto smacked his tails against Amaya's blade. Power surged around her and as the two fought for control, Amaya could feel her arms shake with the pure strength that was being exerted with just two chakra tails. The kunoichi couldn't, nor did she want to, imagine how strong and brutal more tails would have been.
Forcing a deep breath out, Amaya struggled to keep her blade in place. She knew that Naruto meant no harm to his teacher, but he was so lost in his emotions right now, that she didn't have any other option than to block the attack. She knew that wherever Deidara had scampered off to, he must be thinking that this was a peculiar scene. Amaya, a sworn enemy of Konoha who was also listed in the bingo book, was still trying to protect her fellow brethren. But, she couldn't think about that now. All she thought about was returning Naruto to his normal teenage self and making sure that in the meantime, the nine tails didn't crush Kakashi. Granted, she was sure she didn't have to worry about that now since she made herself on the radar of the nine tails, severely pissing it off.
Though, it seemed as something was holding the orange chakra back, as a third tail tried to sprout, to increase its strength, but something was almost stopping it. That's when an idea spun into Amaya's head. Naruto had a seal placed on him when he was younger, and she was sure that the seal was now weakening with his age. Therefore, there had to be something, another seal or some other way to put the chakra back into Naruto's body. So, that's when Amaya spoke to Kakashi for the first time since she had tried to kill him.
"I hope you got a seal or something to shove the nine tails back into Naruto, or I will have no choice but to beat him down until he passes out" Amaya voiced at Kakashi, never taking her eyes off Naruto.
She didn't want to lose focus on what she was doing, because if she slipped one of those tails, or Naruto himself would not only be hurling towards her, ready to take her life, but also Kakashi's as well.
"How do you—" Kakashi cut off his question, looking up at Amaya and seeing her struggle against her former student.
He pushed the million different questions and voices that had just popped into his head, knowing that he should take this chance before Amaya changed his mind and let Naruto do something he would come to regret. The white-haired nin wanted to know how she knew if there was a seal or something to aid with Naruto, but even if she didn't have intel from the Akatsuki, he knew that she was smart enough to think that they should have something for Naruto since it didn't look like this was the first time the release of the nine tails chakra had happened. Kakashi wanted to take a kunai and plunge it into Amaya's back, but he knew that he couldn't do that right now. Naruto was the bigger problem, and he would never leave one of his comrades behind. That was a promise he made long ago, and he had full faith that he would uphold it.
So, instead of knocking her down or causing her physical harm, he pushed aside everything that was screaming at him to be a proper ninja and he took the opportunity to help Naruto. Kakashi acted quickly, weaving out from behind Amaya, and in an almost anticlimactic manner he was able to place a piece of paper with a symbol drawn on it directly onto Naruto's forehead. He nine tail's chakra started to fizzle out and the little voice inside of Kakashi's head screamed at him for having his back to Amaya. He needed to move to a new position because the last thing he wanted was his former lover to turn them into a pile of blood and bones.
"Is everyone okay down there?" a distinct, feminine voice, coming from no one other than Sakura sounded.
With no answer the pink haired kunoichi sounded again, "Naruto, Kakashi-sensei?" almost as if there was an underlying fear to her voice.
Amaya saw a wave of pink hair in the distance and when the force of the chakra coming from Naruto dissipated, the blue-haired kunoichi made it a point to step away from Kakashi and Naruto. For whatever reason, Kakashi trusted her enough to help him save Naruto, but since that task was over, she was officially enemy number one. It also didn't help that out of the corner of her eye, Amaya saw Gai's team approaching quickly.
Amaya hoped that she could think through something that would help her escape with few casualties on either side, but she knew, in reality, that that wasn't going to be an option. However, at the last possible second, before Gai's team came into view, Amaya heard one of Gai's students, Neji yell at them.
"Everyone! Get down now!" Neji screamed.
No one seemed to move, especially not Kakashi and Naruto, but with those words, Amaya knew that it could only mean one thing. Deidara was an ego maniac that wasn't the spotlight of his own show anymore. She turned her head to the side and saw the sly smirk on Deidara's face as he started chewing on the clay. His body started to expand and that was when the kunoichi knew that the blond was making his own body into a bomb. Turning back, Amaya didn't waste any time, nor did she think about it and instead, she cursed herself and reached out grabbing both Naruto and Kakashi just in the nick of time.
Just as Deidara bit down on his lip, drawing blood, the forest around them turned white with a flash of light, burning everything in the surroundings, making wood turn to ash and everything else into embers. So, Amaya ran. She pulled both Kakashi and Naruto and willed herself to run as fast as she could away from Deidara. Amaya hoped that with Neji's warning, everyone else was able to react and get away from the explosion. However, Amaya wasn't fast enough and got to the outer radius of the explosion. The force knocking Amaya, Naruto, and Kakashi forwards. Gaging, Amaya let go of the two Konoha nins as the force of the explosion pummeled into her back. It almost felt as if someone was crushing her muscles, all the way down to their fibers. Tumbling forward, Amaya's head smashed against a rock. With the sudden hit, Amaya finally stopped moving forward but she knew, just lying there against the rock and looking up at the blue sky, her head had been split open.
Disoriented, she tried to stand up quickly, but that just made her vision turn dark. Therefore, she decided that the best course of action would be to lay there and let her senses return. She tried to ignore the rush of blood that was going to her head, just to ooze out of her head wound. She could feel the blood trickle out of the back of her head, making her hair sticky with the substance, mixing with the dirt and grime already there. Also, the ringing in her ears didn't seem to subside, and in fact, it almost intensified as time progressed. She didn't dare move, the only thing she did was look up at the sky and force herself to breathe. Her ribcage fell up and down. Just with that movement alone, it felt that her whole body was bruised.
Even with her forcing the air in, it almost seemed as if there was nothing in her lungs. Blinking a few times and trying to take a deep breath, instead of panting, her lungs finally caught up with the task she was trying to make them do. She tried to steady her breaths and when she succeeded both her surroundings and her senses started to come back. But when that happened, that was when Amaya was able to feel a kunai pressed harshly against her neck.
For some lucky reason, her mask was still on even with everything that happened. But as she looked through the eye slits she found her eyes meeting with dark, navy blue ones. She didn't know how Kakashi was able to react so quickly, but nevertheless, here the two of them were. For both parties, there was no room for error. So, instead of trying to get away and make things difficult, knowing that she was banged up, Amaya held up her hands in surrender. She wouldn't fight against Kakashi, but he didn't know that. Kakashi shifted, debating whether to think that Amaya was submitting to defeat, or just trying to play him.
He tightened his grip on the kunai and deepened the pressure of the metal. It dug into Amaya's skin, making a clean cut. Blood started to trickle from the wound and down her neck, disappearing into the neckline of her cloak. She knew that if she moved an inch or had done anything else but place her hands up in surrender, Kakashi wouldn't hesitate. It was almost as if he was trying to find a reason to let the kunai he held against her slice cleanly through her neck, cutting her wide open in hopes of watching her life blood seep through the wound he wanted to inflict.