I'm baaack! XDD Hehee, at last this chapter is finished. Dang, this chapter is the toughest… surely you don't need to be a genius to realize what made this chapter take so long : ) Don't worry I'm not leaving any of my story behind unfinished. It's just this is an important chapter and I don't want to ruin it just because I rush it. Thanks for those who reviewed and waited for this chapter very patiently: Koga, Mishibara Kari (no yaoi, that I can assure you), YamiKitsuneKami, aznpuffyhair (he'll show up soon and how Ayame will affect the future… hi-mi-tsu, Senpai! -winkwink-). Let's go on with the story, shall we? No need for disclaimer right? You know I don't own Naruto.
Ayame
Calamity
Ayame found herself awake few hours before dawn, she stretched and examined the room in a glance. The bed next to her that was supposed to be Arashi's bed was vacated. Shinji was still deeply asleep, he was snoring slightly. Ayame suppressed a laugh when she saw the state her teammate's was in. It seemed he had kicked the sleeping bag in his sleep, making him lay sprawled on the floor. She thought she heard a suppressed snort and saw that Itachi was also awake. Itachi was sitting on his sleeping bag, his back leaned to the wall.
"Ohayo, Itachi," Ayame smiled. Itachi looked at Ayame and muttered a reply,
"Ohayo"
"That's pretty much of a sight, isn't it?" Ayame walked to Itachi's side, talking in low voice. Itachi approached his unaware teammate and did something unexpected, he poked Shinji's forehead with his thumb and middle finger. The result was instantaneous, Shinji's eyes pried open and quickly sat upright, rubbing a spot on his forehead where Itachi had poked him.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Shinji raised an annoyed eyebrow toward his teammate.
"You made a pretty interesting scene while you were sleeping," Itachi explained monotonously. Shinji's eyes widened and soon afterward a blush could be seen creeping to his face.
"Itachi!" Shinji grabbed a pillow and smacked it to Itachi. Unfortunately for Shinji, he was able to evade it. He could hear a feminine laugh from his side, it was Ayame.
"Oh, come on you two… We're still in a mission. Let's get prepared before we get scolded. You can have your revenge later, Shinji," she added after noticing an annoyed glare Shinji shot to Itachi. An amused chuckle left her lips as she turned her back to prepare everything for today.
I
I
I
Arashi had just awoken an hour earlier than Ayame who was the early riser between the three. She overheard her students' conversation last night and was pleased to see how strong their bond had become. She had gone to search for more information related to the mission but so far she couldn't find anything. She noticed there was more to the mission than just an ordinary scroll. She could have just opened the scroll to see its contents but it was against the shinobi ethical rules and she couldn't afford to take the risk of breaking it.
She had some suspicions but didn't make any assumptions. She knew something was wrong and her senses were tingling with apprehension.
It was never a good sign.
She decided to put aside her thoughts for a while and returned her focus in delivering the scroll toward the intended recipient, probably she could find something from the person. Before she realized it, she already stood in front of their room's door. She opened the door only to find her students were already fully awake and prepared.
"Let's go," as she said so, the children stood up straight, their backpacks on its place and headed toward the door.
Within few minutes they arrived on their destination. The house was simple and not too big. In front of the house there was a stool for selling daily goods. In a glance, there was nothing of an importance or even worth of suspicion. But the fact that their client needed shinobi for delivering a scroll was already strange enough.
Arashi knocked few times on the door, the door was opened by a little girl about Ayame's age, or slightly older. Her innocent eyes blinked in confusion to see four strangers standing in front of her house this early. Not to forget that three of them weren't much older than her. Arashi didn't hesitate a bit,
"Ohayo, little girl. Can we meet your father? We're here for an important matter"
Arashi's face softened as she spoke to the little girl, making her seem a trustworthy guest of her father. Ayame couldn't help but to admire Arashi's ability in convincing people and she could see the girl was already convinced. True enough, the girl nodded briskly and ran inside to call her father. At last they were able to meet the person they were supposed to deliver the scroll to, the three shared the same thought. They could sense someone was walking toward the front door. A man appeared, he was rather young, and Ayame assumed the man was in his early thirties. He looked like an ordinary businessman. From her keen observation, the man was kind, honest and hard worker type. Kind of people who were rather hard to find these days.
"Tadaomi Keisuke?"
"Yes? What can I help you?" he asked politely.
"We're shinobi of Konoha. Can we come in?" Arashi spoke straight to the point. The man's eyes widened in surprise though afterward he could regain his composure quickly.
"Please come in," Tadaomi motioned them inside politely.
"We're here only to deliver a scroll-," Arashi pulled out the scroll when they were safe from unwanted attention, "-from Tetsunori Oda. He wishes for your reply as soon as you can"
"Thank you very much," Tadaomi bowed in gratitude as he accepted the scroll.
"Dewa, we're leaving. Thank you for your time," Arashi bowed slightly in return and headed to the entrance. Her students already stood before the entrance, prepared to leave.
"Y-You're not staying?" The man blurted out. That caught both Arashi and Ayame's interest though both of them didn't show it clearly.
"Our mission is to deliver the scroll to the rightful recipient. We have no reason to stay once the mission is accomplished. Is there a problem?" Ayame never failed to admire her sensei's composure and ability to conceal her emotion. The question was asked monotonously without any hint of inquiry behind it.
"Iie, it's just you bring along children with you and the distance back is quite far," Tadaomi stuttered slightly.
"Even though they're still children, they are capable shinobi. We took less than a day to get here, it isn't a problem for us"
"Ah, forgive me for my rudeness," Tadaomi apologized and this time he didn't stop them from leaving.
Ayame's gaze didn't leave their client after they left his house. Only when they were in pretty far distance she dropped her gaze. She didn't fail to notice the emotion that was displayed on Tadaomi's face, among them were fear and anxiety. Ayame didn't give away much reaction to it, instead she glanced toward the silent sword specialist.
"Children, why don't you take a walk around the city before we return?" Her students knew it wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.
"Okay, how long?" Shinji asked nonchalantly, putting his hands behind his head. They were already used to with Arashi's cryptic conversation.
"Before the sun sets will be the latest," Arashi answered, the corner of her mouth was slightly twitched in amusement. Without any other word, the kunoichi disappeared from their sight, the three young shinobi looked at their sensei previous spot absently then exchanged glances between each other. "So… where to go?"
Arashi could be seen walking towards the forest at the outskirt of the city. She walked further to the forest and stopped when she reached a clearing. Suddenly she spoke to no one,
"What are three ANBU and a hunter nin doing here?"
"Dang, you're hard to be fooled, Arashi," a voice replied from above the trees. Within a blink of an eye, four figures appeared around Arashi. All of them were wearing masks to conceal their face though their attire gave away who they were. Three ANBU of Konoha and a hunter nin.
"It's simply you didn't do well enough," Arashi turned herself toward the one who replied to her who seemed to be the leader, "Back to my previous question, why are you here?"
"Well, I suppose it's no harm in telling you…" the ape masked ANBU scratched his head casually, "We're here for the usual business"
"How many?" Arashi didn't bother to ask what the usual business was.
"An A-class missing nin along with his two B-class missing nins subordinates," this time, the hunter nin was the one who answered.
"What leads you here?"
"They were reported to be seen not far from here, doing some business"
"It seems you're pretty successful," Arashi's gaze flickered to a certain area in the forest, "I'm interested in what you found out"
The ANBUs and hunter nin exchanged sidelong glances, perturbed how the kunoichi saw through their genjutsu effortlessly. After a fleeting silence, the leader made a simple hand seal and soon after the area that Arashi noticed before revealed two unconscious shinobi. The two B-class missing nins.
"What we're about to find out," the ANBU emphasized, "Care to join?"
Meanwhile, the three genins could be seen sitting on a bench. The city wasn't big and there weren't many interesting places. They ended up buying some dango, or to be more precise, Shinji was buying them dango. Trying to get his revenge on Itachi, he made a bet in which he lost badly. He challenged Itachi to sense as many people as he could in the vicinity, and who was the closest to the real number would treat the others. Ayame who had the keenest in sensing chakra became the judge. Shinji used all of his senses to count how many people there were and he missed a man in the pet shop whose scent were concealed by the pets' scent. As a result, Shinji bought them dango and in his annoyance, he ate three packs of them while Itachi and Ayame only had one each, making no difference who really lost.
"Gah, I'm bored!" Shinji cried in frustration, throwing the leftovers to the trash bin without looking. His teammates only stared at him blankly. Ayame looked to the sky as the sun was about to set into the horizon.
"It seems Sensei won't return anytime now. Why don't we take another walk?" Ayame suggested. Itachi noticed the time and realized the same thing with Ayame,
"It seems so"
"Alright then," Shinji stood up from the bench, "Let's go"
They took their time walking around the city. They could see most of the stores were closing down while others opened up such as restaurants, bars and inns. The houses had turned on the lights, illuminating the darkening streets. Inadvertently they returned to the place where they started, their client's house. The house hadn't turned on the lights, making the house dark. Ayame was the first to notice it, the house was eerily silent, too silent. Though she didn't glance at her teammates, she knew they noticed it too. She felt them tense beside her. They knew something was wrong.
Without any sign, the children rushed to the house carefully. They stood still beside the sliding door of the house, trying to sense any movement or chakra. Being the best in stealth, Shinji was the first to slide open the door and got inside the house. Itachi and Ayame remained outside as Shinji checked the situation. When Shinji signaled them it was safe to enter, they moved inside. The house was dark and silent, there was no sign of its inhabitants. As they spread to check the house, they found the house was in a mess as if a fight had taken place inside. Shards of broken vase, pieces of torn paper sliding doors could be seen along the hallway. Their senses were heightened in alert. Ayame could feel everything around her, including her teammates' charka signature and…a faint charka signature. She swiftly ran to the owner of the charka signature, her senses telling her it was an injured person. She stopped in front of a room and slid open the door to find someone lying motionlessly on the floor. She immediately rushed to the person's side that appeared as a middle-aged woman. Her kimono was torn and her wounded shoulder was bleeding profusely.
Ayame didn't hesitate one bit, she tore off the sleeve of the woman's kimono so she had better view of the wound. She made some hand seals and soon green glow enveloped her hands in which she applied to the wound. Even though her attention was on healing the woman, Ayame could sense Itachi and Shinji's presence in the room. As the wound was healed, the woman's eyes were slowly fluttered open. She still seemed unfocused though she managed to outline Ayame's features beside her. With all her strength she grasped Ayame's hand,
"..H-help. A ma-man suddenly appeared and t-threatened us. H-he took away our daughter an-and my husband is trying to get her back…"
"Where did they go?" Ayame asked the shocked wife gently.
"T-to the forest" To this answer, Ayame glanced at her teammates. Both Shinji and Itachi nodded slightly.
"We will try to help," Ayame told her, trying to assure her, "Meanwhile, don't move." The women nodded weakly and rested her head on the floor. In a blink of eye, the three had disappeared.
Ayame, Shinji and Itachi had changed their formation into tracking formation where Shinji was in the lead, Ayame behind him and Itachi was the last. Their faces had turned serious and fully alert. Shinji led them with extreme precaution as they followed what it seemed like their client's and the mysterious man's trails. When they were close enough, Shinji gave them a signal that put them into abrupt halt and spread to all directions. They concealed their chakra signature completely and stealthily they closed the distance to the place where they sensed the person they were looking for.
Ayame jumped to one branch to another carefully. When she was close enough, she looked down to find their client and another figure who had the little girl she had seen before. She examined the mysterious figure and her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed that the man was wearing a hitai ate and it had a scratch mark on it, which meant it was no ordinary shinobi, it was a missing nin. She silently hoped her teammates didn't fail to notice that, they couldn't fight a missing nin. Then she chose to focus on the conversation their client, Tadaomi had with the missing nin.
"What do you want?" Tadaomi demanded in anger.
"You know what I want," the missing nin spoke.
"I don't have anything that shinobi like you wants," Tadaomi was rather calm for someone whose life was in danger.
"Tsk tsk. You're one brave and foolish man," the nin smirked maliciously, baring his sharp teeth, "Give me the scroll in exchange for your daughter's life"
From his rigid posture, Ayame could see Tadaomi knew what he was talking about. She recognized the emotion that flashed through his eyes, surprise, fear, and… hesitation. Once again her instincts was proven right, the scroll was no ordinary scroll. The contents must be very important that a family man like Tadaomi was thinking twice to exchange it for his own daughter's life. Ayame knew they must act quickly, they must save both the child and the scroll. There was a moment of hesitation for Ayame, their mission was to deliver the scroll only, and they had delivered it to the intended recipient. The scroll's safety was no longer their responsibility. Though she knew she couldn't just stand still watching people's life in danger and she knew her friends thought the same.
Ayame had come to a decision, her eyes quickly scanned the area and the three subjects below them. Tadaomi and the missing nin had good distance between them, the little girl had a kunai pointed on her throat dangerously. She pulled out some kunai from her utility pouch, at the same time assuming offensive stance. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, waiting for the right time.
"How do I know you're not going to kill my daughter if I give you the scroll?" Tadaomi dared to ask.
"Well, you won't really know if you don't do anything. Either that or nothing," the strong built shinobi eyes gleamed dangerously.
Tadaomi knew he needed to take his chances. He slipped a hand under his shirt, slowly taking out the scroll that Ayame recognized as the scroll they delivered. He looked at the nin cautiously.
"Throw the scroll," the nin ordered.
"I will throw it as you release my daughter"
"Fine. Have it your way"
As the missing nin agreed, Ayame knew their chance had come. Tadaomi threw the scroll to the missing nin's direction. Then everything seemed to be in slow motion for Ayame. She could see as the scroll was thrown to the air, the grip on the girl was loosened considerably. Without wasting her time, soon she hurled the kunai to its intended target. One of the kunai caught the scroll in midair, embedded itself on nearby tree while the others got the kunai that was pointed to the little girl's throat and distracted the nin from the girl.
Immediately two figures leapt from the trees, one of them moved so quickly that it seemed like a blur. The figure in an instant freed the girl from the missing nin while the other kept guard on the former's rear. Meanwhile, Ayame landed next to the tree where the scroll was and took the scroll. Now the three genins had made their appearance, standing between their client and the missing nin. Itachi was the closest to the missing nin while Shinji appeared beside Tadaomi with his daughter unscathed.
"Naomi!" Tadaomi looked at his daughter in great relief. Ayame returned the scroll to Tadaomi.
"Go. We'll delay him to give you enough time to escape," Ayame told the man firmly while her eyes didn't leave the dangerous shinobi in front of them. Tadaomi was hesitant, he did recognize the children as the ones who were delivering the scroll but he wasn't sure to leave them all by themselves.
"Your safety is more important. When you manage to escape, call for aid. Look for our Sensei," once again it was the girl who was not much older than his own daughter told him what to do. But he wasn't able to answer back for he knew it was the best choice.
"Wakatta. Kiyoskete. Hold on until I come with aid," Tadaomi nodded and hugged her daughter tightly to his chest. Soon he fled to the direction where they came from. The missing nin made a move to follow Tadaomi but Shinji blocked his path.
"You're not going anywhere," Shinji spoke fearlessly. Both Itachi and Ayame took their positions so they were surrounding the missing nin in safe distance.
"Huh, mere genins couldn't beat me," the nin snickered as he noticed their hitai ate. The three knew better than to be intimidated, without lowering their defenses, they assumed offensive stance.
Shinji was the one who started their attack, he confronted the missing nin without fear. The speed that Shinji demonstrated was surprising him, he parried blow after blow Shinji managed to land, not giving him a chance to return his attacks. The shinobi could barely avoid a katon jutsu that was aimed from his blind spot. However, he wasn't about to given time to breathe for incoming missiles coming toward him. His hands went into a flurry set of hand seals only to find he was less quick than the little girl who stood in safe distance to watch her teammates back. His summoned earth wall was soon washed away by the strong current of streaming water. The two boys used the opportunity to attack him together. In a perfect tandem, both of them worked together as one to attack the missing nin. Both of them gave a strong kick toward him that sent him flying backward to the tree. They could hear the sounds of tree cracking and clouds of dust gathering from the impact.
The three kept their ground, knowing their attack wouldn't be enough to knock down the nin. It would be too easy. Slowly the clouds dissipating, revealing the nin's bent figure on the tree. Suddenly they heard a chuckle then slowly it turned into laughter as it went louder. Team 4 felt their body tensed up to hear his laughter, the laughter was no ordinary laughter, there was malice in it and it send the chills throughout their body. The dangerous man took a step forward, despite the strength of the kick, he seemed unaffected the least. Slowly the man raised his head and for the first time the young shinobi were frozen in fear. His eyes held a dangerous -if not insane- glint and he was emanating strong killing intent they had never felt before.
"Interesting… Interesting… You managed to land a blow. I suppose fighting you will be entertaining enough," he spoke in an amused tone. Then without any warning, the missing nin disappeared from sight and before they knew it, he had appeared beside Itachi and gave him a strong punch to the jaw that Itachi a split second too late to evade because of his previous state. Then Ayame could see the man's gaze averted to her and she urged her body to move but to no avail.
"Ayame!" Shinji cried in warning. He knew the man was not to be underestimated and he knew Ayame wouldn't be able to move right on time. The sight of his teammates in danger strengthened him, he managed to stand before Ayame and caught his hand. There was a slight surprise in the madman's eyes when their eyes locked while Shinji held his ground without letting go of his opponent's hand.
Ayame knew it wasn't time to stand idly, she must overcome her fears. She could only think one way to overcome it, the same way to wake up from a genjutsu, she bit her lip as hard as she could until it bled and it proved to be effective. As soon as she regained full control of her body, she launched some shuriken in dead aim that forced him to release from Shinji's grip. Before he could move further however, a chakra empowered blow was landed on his gut, Itachi's handiwork. Itachi appeared by his teammates' side.
"Are you alright?" Itachi wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth, his face was still calm and composed after what had happened. He didn't leave his gaze from the recovering shinobi.
"Not too bad… so far," Shinji's face was totally serious. It would be a rare sight to see Shinji dropped his laid back attitude completely. But he had a reason, a reason that needed no further explanation. This would be no ordinary fight like they had experienced before, it would be a fight that risked their life in the line. All of them realized even though they outnumbered the missing nin, it didn't change the fact that together they were not in the same level, they were far below and they had slim chance of survival unless they managed to survive until their aid came.
"…Run is an option," Ayame spoke softly, as she spoke she had her teammates' attention and she could sense their surprise, "But we all know we're not going to take it, don't we?"
The shinobi charged again this time he made the earth around the area shake and crack open. This time, team 4 was more prepared and determined. In a swift motion, they jumped to avoid the unstable earth into separate ways. There was a silent agreement between them that they wouldn't run even though it meant risking their life. The moment they reached that realization, all of their fear was gone, replaced by determination. This time they didn't hesitate to fight with all of their ability, their speed and agility were increased.
Team 4 and the missing nin exchanged blow after blow, the three managed to land more blows than the nin but it didn't seem to faze him a bit while the blows from the nin managed to give them enough damage. It appeared the missing nin had great endurance and the more blows he got it seemed he was just getting stronger. Ayame was currently hiding on a tree branch, taking some time to compose her breathing. She laid a hand on her side and winced slightly at the contact. She figured that her side was bruised pretty badly, though there was no broken rib fortunately. She looked below her, Itachi was engaged in a fight with the missing nin. He was able to match him so far but the man's strength and endurance was so great that even though he was bleeding from his injuries, he was able to move as if it was nothing while they… they were slowly getting tired and slow. Sooner or later they would be overwhelmed. It was just a matter of time.
Suddenly Ayame jerked in surprise, she felt a strong surge of chakra coming from her Nakayama teammate. She turned her head sharply toward the direction where the chakra came from and she noticed that she was not the only one who realized that. Without any warning, Shinji appeared next to the missing nin so fast that he seemed to appear from nowhere. Ayame noticed that the Nakayama seemed different, the aura around him was dangerous and threatening… or rather beast-like. Ayame's eyes widened in realization.
No! Shinji has yet completed that stage!
Ayame was well acquainted with the Nakayama taijutsu, knowing two of the important family members who didn't mind explaining about their taijutsu style –since she was considered close family friend and it was not really a big secret. The Nakayama style was divided into different stage, Shinji's current stage was still a transition from early to intermediate stage. The intermediate stage was when the Nakayama was able to merge the trait of his/her animal into their style completely whereas the highest stage was the Nakayama was no different with the animal itself. But to move to the next stage, one should fully complete the previous stage or things might happen. It varied from person to person, but one thing for sure, it wasn't a good thing.
Shinji had transformed into his animal of choice, the tiger. Ayame could see the traits on Shinji, the speed, the agility, the grace… everything. She had never seen Nakayama's intermediate stage or even higher, so she couldn't help not to be astonished to see it by her own eyes and she wasn't the only one. Itachi needed few seconds to register that it was indeed his teammate and wisely chose not to hinder Shinji. This time the missing nin didn't bother to conceal his surprise. He was thrown behind with Shinji's renewed strength, it was evident his power was increased.
I
I
I
"What brings you here?" the ape masked ANBU questioned one of their captives in all business tone. Their captive eyes seemed irregular, unfocused, it seemed he was slowly reaching his breaking point under whatever genjutsu they had placed. His breathing was shallow and he was bathed in sweat. The man paused for a moment before answering,
"…We were ordered to obtain information…"
"By who?"
"A daimyo... we don't know who the person is… We've never met him"
All of the interrogators let the information sink in, Arashi finally spoke, "What kind of information you need to obtain?"
"…Information about the daimyo's business"
"Who is the one who have the information?" Arashi put more pressure into her voice, strengthening the genjutsu at the same time. The missing nin seemed to waver under the pressure.
"Another daimyo… and he was aware of our presence. He sent away the information…"
Arashi's eyes widened slightly in realization as the interrogation went, she already had an idea where the conversation would lead.
I
I
I
With his current state, Shinji was able to overpower the missing nin, landing blow after blow that wounded him enough. It seemed Shinji was at advantage. Even though so, through her keen eyes, Ayame saw something else and what she saw made her worried. She thought she had seen a flicker of red followed his movements. She also saw faint dark stain on his clothes.
Could it be…
Ayame quickly moved her gaze toward her Uchiha teammate who stood in a distance where he could interfere when needed. Even though his face didn't show anything, she could see that Itachi didn't fail to notice the side effect of the taijutsu style. Ayame knew they must do something…fast.
"Itachi!" As she called his name, their gazes met and the Uchiha heir nodded in understanding. Itachi was prepared to interfere, his keen eyes watched each of the fighting shinobi movement carefully and so was Ayame on the tree branch. Shinji was getting slower each passing time, he could feel pain all over his body and could barely hold himself not to flinch or to show weakness to his opponent. He knew how good the man was and he knew if the missing nin noticed slight weakness, he would use it to his advantage without mercy. His will power kept his body going.
However, in the end his body could not keep up with him, he felt such a strong strain on his legs that made him flinched and affect his balance. The missing nin didn't miss the slight opening, he gathered chakra on his hand when Shinji was more concentrated on the pain. With precise movement, he was about to land a strong blow on Shinji's abdomen that Shinji wasn't able to evade. Itachi swiftly moved to stop the missing nin, but Ayame was faster because of her position. She positioned herself between the man and Shinji, she crossed her arms in front of her body to lessen the impact. It was proven a brave but also foolish action. The chakra enhanced blow was still too strong for her until she and Shinji behind her were thrown backwards. Shinji, even though in his weakened condition, tried to cushion the youngest member of their team and in result his back crashed into a trunk of a tree. He gritted his teeth in pain and skidded downward. Meanwhile, Ayame was clutching her abdomen and coughed out blood. She winced to the pain in her abdomen and felt weakened with the amount of blood she coughed.
"Brave but foolish. Throwing yourself to protect your comrade, impressive… but you forget the possibility of making your team more vulnerable," the missing nin eyed them maliciously. Itachi looked at his wounded teammate and for the first time, Itachi who rarely lost his composure amidst any fight, seemed to drop completely his calm façade. His eyes narrowed and his jaws were clenched tightly in anger. Recklessly –which was rather unexpected from the always calm Uchiha- Itachi launched himself to attack the missing nin.
Ayame ordered her mind to ignore the pain and slowly she moved toward her immobile teammate. She knelt next to him, in a glance she examined Shinji's condition.
"Shinji…" Ayame spoke gently but loud enough to be heard by him.
"…A-yame?" Shinji answered with difficulty, it seemed he was fighting not to fall unconscious. Ayame pulled the sleeves of his arms and legs to have better view of his arms and legs and couldn't help to be surprised to see the amount of damage of using intermediate level of Nakayama taijutsu to her friend's body. It seemed the taijutsu style had caused a lot of strain to the muscles up to the point most of them were torn and damaged. Ayame gaped in surprise, she felt her eyes watered to the horrible sight but she restrained herself. Ignoring her own condition, she started to work on his injuries, healing the worst ones with the glowing green chakra on her hands.
The rage that was provoked after seeing the condition of his teammates strengthened Itachi. His movements became faster, more accurate and deadly. Strong killing intent could be felt radiating from the Uchiha. The missing nin who seemed alright was in fact was wounded badly by Shinji's strong attack thus making his movement slower and weaker than before, even though so, he was still able to lessen the damage that could be done by the genin.
Itachi had completely let his anger and hatred take him over, his mind was focused in killing the missing nin. The more focused he became, he felt the clearer his sight. It seemed everything was very clear for him and he had no difficulty in evading and attacking his opponent.
Ayame felt her body tensed suddenly, instinctively she glanced to look at her other teammate and surprised to feel the anger and hatred radiating from Itachi, the strong killing intent. She watched in awe of the fight in front of her, Itachi was moving in fluid motion…he evaded and attacked the missing nin with relative ease. Then, what Ayame saw made her awe further as she saw the onyx eyes were replaced by crimson eyes. The Uchiha Sharingan.
Ayame could see that Shinji had done a great deal of damage to the missing nin and this time Itachi managed to land more blows that wounded him enough. The sharingan gave Itachi more advantage to the fight and with his outstanding ability, he managed to put it into use well. Ayame felt a glimmer of hope. She returned her gaze toward the now unconscious Shinji, she checked his pulse, weak but still there. Suddenly she sensed chakra gathering from the direction of the fighters. She situated herself as a shield for vulnerable Shinji, her eyes watched warily as the two went through a list of hand seals. At the same time two giant dragons appeared though both were made from different elements, one was of earth and the other was of fire, and those two almighty beasts collided against each other. Both shinobi's face furrowed in deep concentration, their hands locked in their last seal, trying to maintain their jutsu. Ayame put a hand over her face, she could feel the heat and the power radiating from the clashing of the two jutsu. Through the gathering dust, she managed to see that Itachi seemed to have the upper hand albeit slightly. The missing nin realized it too, Itachi was in better condition than he was and he didn't miss the famed Sharingan. He decided to do something drastic in split second, with a flick of his hand, he changed the course of the earth dragon. The earth dragon now headed toward Ayame and Shinji's direction, even though Itachi had seen it beforehand he couldn't do much, if he were to change the course, it would only endanger his teammates more so instead he kept his fire dragon charged at the missing nin.
"Ayame! Move!" His attention instantly distracted, which was a fatal mistake. The missing nin took the opportunity to strike at the vulnerable Uchiha. The man raised a kunai that was aimed to his heart, Itachi reacted swiftly but the missing nin was faster. The kunai was embedded deeply into his shoulder.
Ayame tensed as she saw the scene unfold, she was torn between both of her teammates. She saw the dragon approached her and Shinji closer. She was low on chakra, not enough to perform jutsu she needed. Ayame gritted her teeth in exasperation, she couldn't move or it would hit her unconscious teammate. She watched the approaching dragon with narrowed eyes. She couldn't give up now. As she felt danger approaching, something awakened in Ayame. Her eyes glowed ethereal blue and her remaining chakra was emanating from her, extending through the air around her. Her chakra gathered the air in front of her and slowly condensing it into solid form. The solid air was formed completely right before the earth dragon crashed into it. Ayame winced in pain as she felt the dragon collide directly with her air barrier, it seemed as if the same time her senses were heightened to her limit. Ignoring the pain she kept her focus on the barrier so it wouldn't lose its form. She used all of her remaining chakra and managed to change the course to the direction of the missing nin instead of destroying it.
Both the missing nin and Itachi were surprised that Ayame managed to do it. Using the fleeting moment, Itachi pulled out the kunai as he ignored the pain and stabbed it into the crook of his neck. An agonizing scream could be heard from the missing nin. Itachi threw himself far enough from the injured shinobi, he could barely stand from his fall. His sharingan was automatically deactivated, through his now unfocused eyes he tried to see his teammates' condition.
Ayame felt weak, very weak. She was losing her consciousness. Her legs was no longer able to support her, she fell to the ground powerlessly. She tried not to faint, she focused her eyes towards the missing nin who seemed to be injured badly and Itachi's prone figure. A part of her telling her to go to the Uchiha's side, but the other part of her knew it was no use. Then, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the missing nin slowly regained his ground, even though he was in much worse condition than before.
"You brats…" The missing nin was totally angered especially to the fact that a bunch of genins was able to injure him this badly. He didn't feel the pain as he took out the kunai and slowly approached Ayame who happened to be closer. Ayame could hear the warning inside her mind, but her body didn't respond so there she was, resigning to her fate. She closed her eyes as the missing nin raised the kunai to end her life.
Clank
When Ayame opened her eyes, she saw another figure standing in front of her. The figure had disarmed the missing nin with a sword. Even though she was weak, she could recognize the chakra signature anywhere. Arashi-sensei. And then everything went dark.
Arashi narrowed her eyes at the missing nin in front of her whom she recognized as the missing nin the ANBU had been looking for. From the corner of her eyes she realized her students' condition and she felt a seething anger as she saw how weak and badly wounded they were. Arashi radiated a killing intent so strong that the missing nin felt fear. Before the missing nin could do anything toward the new figure, Arashi had taken her move. With one swift slash from her sword, she released all the chakra she gathered in the sword. The missing nin didn't have any time to react or even to scream, only in few seconds, the man was no more. Arashi watched impassively as the lifeless body fell to the ground and returned her sword to its sheath.
"Wow, with one slash he's down," a whistle could be heard from nowhere, there was a hint of admiration and respect. Soon the group of ANBU and hunter nin appeared. Arashi didn't move to regard them, instead she moved toward Ayame and Shinji. She checked their condition in a brief glance and glanced to Itachi who was in further distance.
"The hunter nin takes care of the missing nin. I need your help with my students," Arashi picked up Ayame's petite body gently, she continued before they spoke, "This is a request"
The ANBU captain seemed to be silenced with her words. He knew what Arashi was like for she had been in ANBU and she rarely asked for help from anybody or she usually used her authority to make people do as she wanted them to. He was among of them who didn't believe that the same Arashi had taken a team of genin under her wings. But when he saw the flicker of anger when she found her student's condition…
"Alright, we'll help," the captain agreed, to the others' surprise. He nodded to the hunter nin to do his job. While his two subordinates took the injured and unconscious boys. Without wasting her time, Arashi launched herself to her fastest speed. Her mind was on her students and especially the one on her arms.
Hold on Ayame
Author's Note: See? What makes this chapter so hard? LoL, fighting scenes are really not my thing. And I'm still not satisfied with it, it seems Itachi was not much of a prodigy here. But since the others were also prodigies in their own right, and they knew the importance of teamwork, Itachi didn't seem to stand out. I won't explain anything here, if there are things that make you curious. -grins- Not in the mood, school is killing me. So many assignments, so many things to do. Don't forget to review guys! Your review is greatly appreciated for my ordinary fic. Ja ne!