Author's Note: After 100,000 words, I'm pretty set in my ways, but at the request of many reviewers, I'm going to try to add the correct punctuation to my dialogue.
Some have commented on Szark's name being similar to 'shark', an association that honestly never crossed my mind.
This chapter is not quite full length, but I'm posting this literally minutes before I'm off to AnimeFest in Dallas, Texas, and I didn't want to have to wait five days to update.
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Itachi examined their current situation grimly, "Brilliant plan you came up with Kisame."
With only seconds having passed, Itachi counted no less than three cuts of varying depth on his own body, and approximately the same had been inflicted on Kisame. It was a position the two were not used to being in.
Szark didn't seem to have a particularly enormous amount of chakra, but his skills and style were on a whole different level than anything the two Nukenin had ever faced.
The old man stood there so innocuously, daring one of them to attack him. The Uchiha was quickly realizing the benefits of wooden swords, the primary being their lack of weight. Despite his skill, Itachi had no doubt that but for his Sharingan, he would have been dead after the first strike.
Szark was at least as fast as him, and far faster than Kisame, but he lacked the ability to block the man's surprisingly deadly wooden sword, which Kisame could by way of Samehada.
So in summary, Itachi concluded, Szark possessed a level of skill approximately equal to that of Kisame and himself combined.
As if suddenly bored by the lack of action, Szark suddenly vanished again, but this time Itachi was prepared. His eye's could just barely keep up with the old man, so he had to dodge again, but he twisted and dove right, so if Szark wanted to close for a second strike, he would have to pincer himself between Itachi and Kisame.
Not appearing overly concerned, the old man did just that.
The Uchiha tried to dodge again, but felt a telltale burn in his leg where the wooden blade cut into his muscle. Shifting his weight to his other foot, Itachi tried to counter attack just as Kisame took advantage of the opening Szark's back left him.
Still wearing that infernal smile, Szark grabbed Itachi's wrist and flung him over Kisame's head while bringing his sword round to parry Samehada, catching the shark man off balance and sending him following Itachi's trajectory with a well placed kick.
"And I had such high expectations for the two of you… Now I'm all disappointed."
Itachi pushed Kisame off him and dragged himself up, "Well, apparently this will require more planning than usual."
Kisame shook his head to clear it, "No shit. I don't suppose you have any brilliant ideas?"
The Uchiha didn't at first, but taking a slow step forward he heard a crunch under his foot, "I might just have a couple… Do you remember what I once called the most useless skill ever?"
(Flashback)
Kisame took his sword and swung it into a tree, barely even scratching the bark, but suddenly all the leaves fell off it and slowly floated to the ground.
Itachi looked at him dully, "So you can create vibrations; who cares? That's the most useless skill I've ever seen."
(End Flashback)
"Yeah…"
"Well, I want you to do it now. That building behind us first and then the street."
"I have no idea what your thinking, but it has to be better than what we've been doing so far."
Taking a couple cautious steps backwards, his eyes still on Szark, Kisame suddenly slammed Samehada into the wall behind him. The shockwave was visible as the whole building shook and the windows shattered in rapid succession starting with those nearest to Kisame.
The cloud of broken glass fell towards the earth and Itachi dashed forward.
Szark watched the Uchiha's movements curiously, but just as he was running to intercept, he felt a small scratch on his face and stopped cold, figuring out the trick, "Clever, Uchiha… Very clever."
Glass continued to fall, and Kisame smashed his sword into the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth this time, the vibrations launching what glass had already hit the ground back into the air. He repeated this every few seconds, keeping the air filled with glass.
Szark let the shards fall over him as he contemplated. The falling glass meant that both he and Itachi would be severely restricted in their motions, because the faster they moved, the more damage they would receive from the glass. Standing still, it was just like having small pebbles and rocks dropped on you, but at high speeds, the tiny chunks of glass would cut as well as any kunai.
Still advancing, Itachi grabbed a couple of the larger pieces and threw them like shuriken, forcing Szark to dodge as fast as he dared. As he felt the sting of another cut on his face, the old man was finally starting to enjoy himself, "Interesting strategy, but all you've done is slow me down. How do you plan on overpowering me?"
Grabbing more of the larger shards, Itachi closed the distance between them.
To an outsider, the exchange of blows that followed would be almost comical, as both combatants moved and attacked exaggeratedly slowly, for fear of crippling themselves.
Hissing as he received a gash on his hand, Szark backpedaled quickly. Both he and Itachi were covered in a great many small cuts, but the sword master figured he was faring slightly better.
About to advance for another skirmish, Szark suddenly looked up for a moment then glanced at Kisame before refocusing on his opponent, "I'm afraid I must cut our game short, fun as it was turning out to be."
Itachi, looking far more haggard than usual, laughed darkly, "And how do you plan on 'cutting it short', you're in almost as bad shape as me, old man"
With a sigh, Szark closed his eyes and simply felt the glass as it fell and the vibrations under his feet as the echoed through the earth, "Your name is Itachi, right? Let me say then, Itachi, that I would most definitely like to fight you again some day."
Opening his eyes once more, Szark threw his sword away to one side of the street. Ignoring the looks of disbelief he was receiving, he smiled disarmingly, "But today you shall learn that talent is no substitute for experience."
He formed a single seal then thrust his right arm into the air, "Leviathan!"
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As his mind slowly emerged from its confusion, the first thing he felt was pain. A rather lot of pain.
Kisame forced his eyes open, "What the hell…"
His sight was blurry, but he managed to focus when a long forgotten face appeared in his field of vision, "Seraphim? Why are you here? You should be in the forest somewhere, chasing Naruto and Temari."
"Well for one, I'm keeping a useless chunk of flesh named Kisame alive."
"Where's Itachi? I remember using vibration transfer, but my memory starts to blur… And why am I all wet?"
Reaching down, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into a sitting position. Kisame blinked a couple of times as he tried to take everything in. He was still in the street, which was now filled with workers and covered in six inches of water and glass. Itachi was laying face down a few feet away, his back covered in bandages.
"How long was I out!"
Seraphim dropped down next to him, "Thirty or so minutes."
"And where then exactly is your father?"
"Not sure, but he left right before I arrived, cause the two of you had just begun to bleed."
"You know, it's strange, because based on how much my side is killing me one would think I should at least remember being injured."
"He used 'it', so your brain probably wasn't able to keep up with what was happening right before you were hit, thus causing mild memory loss"
Kisame laughed, coughing up some blood in the process, "So that was 'it'? This is just perfect… I was witness to one of the greatest legends in mist history and can't remember a damn thing."
"You should just be thankful you're still breathing."
"Yeah, about that, why am I alive? I have a hard time believing you bandaged me and Itachi out of pity…"
"Ha! Fuck no. I would have skewered you, but my father likes strong people, and probably wouldn't like my killing someone he went out of his way to leave alive."
Kisame lay back down slowly and grinned, "Nice to see that you're as charming as always ever, Seraph."
"You think flattery will get you anywhere?"
"Not really; but hey, why not give it a shot?"
"I don't suppose you have any idea where my dad might have gone?"
"Hmm… Nope."
The woman leaned forward and rested her head on her knees, "Since he went out of his way to leave right before I arrived, I can assume he's going to do something that I wouldn't approve of."
"Yeah, but there are so many things that fall into that category…"
"How is it possible that you've managed to become more immature with the passage of time?"
"Pure talent, babe"
A sound was made a few feet away as Itachi shifted and rolled over, wincing as his back hit ground, "What the hell…"
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Naruto and Temari ran across the water, both soaked from falling in a few times each.
"Okay, whose idea was it to run across the ocean?"
Temari smacked him, causing him to fall in again, "It was your idea!"
Naruto dragged himself out of the water, running up one side of a wave and down the other, "We need to get to the mainland tonight. Waiting for a ferry wasn't an option."
"But running on water doesn't allow for any rest, a stressful enough situation not even considering that at any given time we don't know how much longer we'll have to go"
"No other options were open to us. Kisame told us to get to the mainland tonight, and I intend to do that no matter what."
(Flashback)
Kisame took Naruto off to a corner of the Poohbah's office speaking quietly and quickly, "Now listen here, Szark is way out of your league, and way out of my league, but Itachi and I together have a chance. The most you and Temari can do for us is to lead Seraphim as far away as possible, because if she joins her father we stand no chance at all. No matter whether we win or lose this fight, the Mist will be after you in full force, so escape to the mainland tonight and keep a low profile for a little while."
Naruto balked, "But that would be abandoning you!"
"I told you, Szark could crush you without a second thought, and I have another task for you." He pressed a piece of paper into Naruto's hand, "Three months from now, go to this location, it's where my brother is hiding out. If all goes well, Itachi and I will be waiting for you there. If not, I want you to tell Kiran that I went down fighting and wouldn't have had it any other way."
The implication shook Naruto to his bones, "I…"
Kisame ignored him and calmly walked back to where the others were hurriedly discussing strategy, "Don't think about it, Naruto, just do it."
(End Flashback)
A cold wind blew across Naruto's face as he ran across the water, 'I will not fail.'
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On the shore far behind them, Szark sat on a cliff.
He supposed that he could have gone after them across the sea, but he was really in no particular rush. Besides, it had been years since he had indulged in a good chase.
He momentarily considered the position his daughter was now in, but dismissed this concern as well. After all, he mused, the experience would build character.
/-/-/-/-/-/13 Days Later/-/-/-/-/-/
Hidden Sand was not anything resembling a thriving metropolis, yet even on the hottest of days, a few people would always be active.
Gaara was one of those people. Not so much because he enjoyed the heat, as because he enjoyed the fact that no one else enjoyed the heat, allowing him to wander the near empty streets.
But the sand boy was troubled on this particular day, and even more troubled because he wasn't exactly sure what was troubling him.
He knew there was nothing at all logical about this feeling, but he couldn't help it. He continued to wander, finding himself at the east edge of the village, looking out over the desert.
It was the wind, he decided. There was only a warm breeze, but it sent foreboding shivers down his spine. "Something…"
He said quietly, as if afraid he might be heard, "Something is going to happen soon"
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Many miles farther to the east than Gaara's gaze could reach, just outside a small town whose name was not even known by the sand boy, two people lay huddled in a sleeping bag.
They had done nothing but run, eat and sleep since that fateful day in the country of water. Naruto wasn't sure what it was that was driving him to keep such a brutal pace, but he felt the need to run in his bones. He shifted and poked Temari, waking her.
"Time to go."
Temari yawned, "How long did we sleep?"
"Three hours."
"That's not enough…"
"It will have to be, since we need to leave."
They slept mostly clothed, so once awake; it took the two of them only three minutes to be ready to leave. Naruto flexed his leg muscles to loosen them, "Ready?"
"Yeah."
Sleep deprived and with their muscles burning, they set off again, determined to reach the relative safety of hidden sand.
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As twilight fell, Szark ran his hands over the ground on which Kubikiri Houcho had been laid only a few hours earlier, "Ooh… lucky. I might catch up tomorrow."
Lifting his gaze, he watched the almost unheard of sight of dark clouds gathering in the desert sky and he spoke to the air, "Getting impatient are we?"
A flash of lighting lacerated its way to earth, and in the empty desert, the old man's eyes reflected a deep blue light, "I know… and to tell the truth… I'm exited as well."
The last vestiges of sunlight vanished, immersing the world in darkness.
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Sakura navigated her way through piles of bound books, scrolls, and various other knickknacks, "Excuse me, Hanzo-sama. The Hokage sent me to get your report…"
Hanzo emerged from what had moments earlier appeared to be a solid wall of literature. Sakura swore his house must employ some sort of Genjutsu, since he was the only one who could figure out how to get anywhere.
He looked elated, "I may have found it, Sakura-san."
"Found what?"
"I've been refreshing my knowledge of ancient languages, and might have found a clue to the identity of the demon who subdued the village."
He held a scroll out for her to see, which meant absolutely nothing to her, "I'm sorry, but I don't…"
"Oh, wrong scroll, how silly of me to forget," Hanzo said excitedly, "See, this scroll contains information written by a group of people who used to worship demons."
Sakura blanched, "Worship demons?"
"Yes, and its not so crazy when you think about it. They served the demons in return for protection and power, and this symbiotic relationship continued for hundreds of years, until a young chief scorned the demon race and the people were wiped out. Now this is mostly irrelevant, but these people kept the best known records of the different demons, along with information about them."
"Then why didn't you check their records before?"
"Oh, the Demon religion existed long after our assailant disappeared from history, but I hoped to find some clues in their records and I did!"
Digging through the pockets of his robes, Hanzo pulled out a second scroll and unfurled it, and this one Sakura could read. Hanzo continued to go on about his discovery, but Sakura had stopped listening in favor of reading the scroll. "Anubis… Keldorn… Raksha… Oh! Here's 'Kyuubi'…," she suddenly pointed to the scroll, "What's this name here? Leviton?"
"Oh, no. There's some dispute among historians how to pronounce that one. He's a water demon who, every few hundred years, terrorizes ships at sea. Although we can never get all the pronunciations perfect because of the language gap, I like to call him Leviathan."