Chapter 46
Chasing Sand: A New Face Emerges!
Amari's first move upon stopping the three Sand shinobi was to analyze Gaara's condition. Was he still fading in and out of consciousness? Had his injury healed at all? Could she generate a timetable for his full recovery based on appearance alone? Between the three Sand Genin, Gaara's immense threat to Amari and her team—as well as the whole of the Leaf—casted a massive, frightening shadow over her thoughts.
Kankurō and Temari were established threats to the Leaf as well, the puppet user of the pair likely the greater threat between them, but compared to Gaara they were a mild rut in the road. A tiny scenic diversion that stalled their travel plans by a few minutes, nothing more. Those two, for all their skill, weren't capable of unleashing something akin to the Nine-Tailed Fox like Gaara could.
Of course to get to Gaara meant removing those two from the equation first, so they were not nixed out of Amari's calculations whatsoever. They would be the first pieces to fall in this battle, and then the trio of Leaf shinobi would focus their attention fully on Gaara.
Much to her relief, Gaara's condition hadn't changed since Sasuke connected with his Chidori. Kankurō supported his weight. His head hung limply, eyes shut and body weight slackened by unconsciousness or something close to it. Overall, it was the best they could hope for at this point.
The sight of the three Leaf shinobi put well-placed anxiety within Kankurō's and Temari's eyes. No doubt they hoped their trap injured them or threw them off their trail completely.
Today wasn't their lucky day.
"Oh geez," Kankurō grumbled. "It's them."
"If it isn't Sasuke Uchiha, Amaririsu Yūhi and Mimi Inuzuka." Temari clenched one of her hands into a frustrated fist.
"You three are finished. Your mission ends here," Amari spoke firmly.
"So, what are you going to do?" the puppet user questioned.
He was stalling for time, but it was a poor attempt at it. "What are we going to do?' she parroted his words back at him. "Simple: We're going to pummel you so hard, even your ancestors will feel how absolutely furious you have made us."
Temari suddenly jumped into the air, both hands equipping three kunai each.
"Go Kankurō! Get Gaara away from here!"
Amari suspected her to be the first to make a move. Temari was the smart one here; she knew pointless verbal stalling wasn't going to buy them the time they needed for Gaara to recover.
So she'll be the first to fall.
Sasuke and Mimi dodged their heads to the side as Amari ducked down into a crouch. Their simple dodges caused the six kunai to pierce into the tree trunk behind them, harmless and yet another pointless diversion. They made their first move, now it was her turn to stop them.
The Nara watched as the kunoichi of the siblings swung herself up onto a branch above them. She took the high ground between them and her brothers, a strategically dominant position.
Because of the Exams, Temari had witnessed all three of their abilities in extensive detail. Her awareness of their ninjutsu affinity, their taijutsu, genjutsu and injuries might have placed them at a disadvantage under normal circumstances. However, the preliminary rounds and Temari's fight against Shikamaru provided them with similar Intel on her abilities and her weaknesses.
Amari remained in her crouch, cool onyx eye locked with the teal orbs of her enemy. She'll want to keep us at range, buying Kankurō and Gaara time by using her Wind ninjutsu to keep us at bay while never allowing us in range of our own attacks.
Unlike Shikamaru, who didn't battle in close-ranged combat unless he absolutely had no choice, the three Leaf shinobi could battle at long, mid and short range should the need arise. And Temari had a similar battle style to Shikamaru, preferring to keep a fight at a distance to avoid a close-ranged battle at all costs, likely because she knew it was one of her greatest weaknesses.
I have a weak point to exploit. That should make our fight easier.
"Don't be a fool, Temari. These three are too much for you to handle on your own," her brother argued.
"Don't argue!" Temari gave her brother a scathing glare. "Our mission is to ensure that Gaara is safe. He is our first and only priority." She turned her gaze back to the Leaf ninjas, the corner of her lip tugging up in a smug smirk. "Don't worry about me. I've been waiting for this."
"You're not the only one," Mimi snarled, a dangerous look in her sapphire eyes. "I've been waiting to tear you to shreds."
Amari grabbed the Inuzuka's good shin when she took a step forward. "Wait, Mimi." She couldn't let her friend lead this fight. Part of Mimi still harbored the feral desire to destroy Temari and Gaara for what they did to Lee and Tenten. Given the opportunity, Mimi would waste precious time and chakra they no longer had the luxury to expend against Temari, all in the name of vengeance.
This wasn't the time for it. Two of their three man team had to keep Kankurō and Gaara from escaping while the third member fought this battle intelligently, conserving as much chakra as possible while avoiding injuries so they could all be prepared for the greatest threat here—Gaara.
The Nara opened her mouth to explain these very particular reasons why she would be the third member of who stayed behind, but Temari acted first.
"Go!" she ordered her brother, who nodded and took off through the trees.
"Get back here!" the Inuzuka yelled. Mimi and Sasuke both jumped into action to chase after the two boys, their hope to cut off their escape and fight the full battle here and now, but Temari had been prepared.
Her strategic positioning allowed her to use her Wind Style, amplified by her fan, without concern of striking her brothers. The torrent of wind she unleashed slammed the duo like a racket, throwing them back through the air into nearby trees. Both spun to recover, landing feet first against the trunk of the trees before hopping back onto the branch. The Inuzuka of the pair crouched to heal her ankle or numb the pain, Amari wasn't sure which anymore.
There isn't time to waste in this war explaining full detailed plans when both sides have objectives to complete, Amari thought pensively. We have to act and dish out orders simultaneously. If we don't the other side will have time to complete their objective first.
Every move, every plan of attack had to advance them towards the completion of their mission. If they grew stagnant for even a moment in tactical movements or aggressive attacks, the enemy could gain the upper hand and turn the tides of battle.
"Sasuke, Mimi, I'll handle Temari. You two chase after the other two." She looked up to her friends, never losing sight of the piece she had moving on the battlefield. "Mimi, I know you want to fight her, but you're our team medic and the better tracker between the three of us. Strategically we can't leave you behind, and I know you too well to think you wouldn't draw out the fight to make her suffer.
"I understand your reasons." I saw Tenten's tears, and felt how much it hurt you. She truly did empathize with Mimi, more so now after witnessing those intimate memories through that wonderfully strange moment they shared, but… "But this is a war. We don't have time to waste when there is a very real threat to the Leaf to stop."
Mimi looked ready to argue, but Temari spoke first. "And how do you plan on getting past me, Leaf shinobi?" Her condescending tone was irritating. Yet it also made Amari smirk cockily back at her, the sight of which caused her enemy to scowl. "I'll wipe that smirk off your face."
"No, you won't," Amari stated resolutely. She glanced to her teammates. "You two get going. I'll take care of her."
"Are you sure, Amari?" Sasuke asked.
She gave a nod and finally stood up from her crouch. "Yep. I'll catch up as soon as I'm done here. Besides, I'm the only one who can neutralize her long enough for two of us to go." Temari's eyes bulged when she felt the Shadow Possession snatch her; the shadow had extended through the shadows of the tree branches to her position as the Nara stalled for time.
The look on her face caused the Nara's victorious smirk to grow into a small grin. "It took some time, but my Shadow Possession succeeded. Didn't my lazy Shika teach you to pay attention to your position on a battlefield," Amari jeered.
"…Just keep your promise," Mimi said quietly.
"Make her regret ever touching Tenten."
Amari nodded once, coincidentally making Temari agree to her own beating as well. "I will. Now go. The sooner you're a safe distance away, the sooner I'll catch up."
She had to get them moving quickly. The fact of the matter was her Shadow Possession lacked its usual strength. At this distance, plus the previous uses, she could only hold Temari for another minute at most.
The duo nodded and took off in the direction Kankurō had gone. Within the Shadow Possession Jutsu Amari could feel Temari attempting to break free, and for better or worse it was working. She could move her fingers in tiny motions, from what Amari could see, but she wasn't going to be breaking free just yet.
It was her duty to hold the Sand kunoichi here long enough for her teammates to be out of range of her long distance attacks. She wouldn't fail them.
"You know, if I hadn't taken this fight, Mimi would have beaten you within an inch of your life, if she didn't outright kill you," Amari said. Her onyx eye flicked dangerously to Temari's position. "And if there wasn't a war on, I'd do the same thing. What you and your brother did to her closest friends, the kind of pain it's caused Mimi…" My sister. "Count yourself lucky I have a more important mission to take care of."
"I had almost forgotten how softhearted you were," Temari shot back venomously. "Shinobi don't have bonds for a reason. We're tools. Weapons and soldiers meant to fight and defend our homes, no matter the cost. You let silly things like emotions get in the way of your duty."
Amari glared through her. "You are such a fool. Tools? Weapons? Tch," the Leaf kunoichi hissed out a breath, "you think our emotions make us weak? That bonds are what make us Leaf shinobi inferior to you Sand shinobi? That ignorant belief is why you're forces will fail today."
"We'll see about that," Temari retorted.
Amari released her Shadow Possession and jumped up and back into the air, grabbing a set of shuriken from her pouch and tossing them at the Sand kunoichi. With her body back in control, Temari blasted the ninja tools away with a large gust of Wind from her fan, encompassing most of the area in front of her with the attack.
Landing on a branch, Amari moved behind the trunk of the tree and Body Flickered away, hiding amongst the foliage and shadows of the forest to conceal her presence from Temari momentarily.
I can't waste too much chakra on her, she strategized. Even though I have that food pill in my system, Gaara remains our greatest threat. I need to save my strength for him by taking Temari down quickly and efficiently, expending as little chakra as possible for our battle against Kankurō and restraining Gaara.
Further Shadow Possession uses were off the table then. She had to rest from using that jutsu if it was needed later.
At the same time, Temari will want to either make me waste chakra if she can't beat me, or kill me quickly so she can fight Sasuke and Mimi. She'll be looking for the slightest opening to take advantage of. I can't give her a single opening then.
So they would both be moving to end this in a few moves. Amari reached into her pouch, counting shuriken, kunais and the unfinished Seals.
I need to finish some of these Seals if I'm to end this fight without genjutsu or ninjutsu.
She pulled three papers from her pouch and three kunai, pricking her finger with one to finish off her work with blood. In the meantime she monitored Temari's movements with her Byakugan.
"Let me guess, you're waiting for me to make the first move like that other slacker did, right?" Temari taunted, trying to draw her out of hiding.
Amari ignored her in favor of finishing her tags. Once done she wrapped them around the hilts of her kunais and stuffed them back into her pouch, the hilts poking out for easier access.
"Whether I make the first move or the second doesn't really matter. You lost this battle before it even began," she finally retorted confidently.
She heard the snarl, and as expected her opponent picked out her position among the canopy by using her voice. Immediately she launched her attack.
"Wind Scythe Jutsu!"
The jutsu hit the canopy of tree branches and leaves with blades of wind, chopping it all up like firewood without the slightest issue. The Uchiha child had already changed positions. She lurked among the shadows, hidden from the naked eye. She set her trap up and Body Flickered to a new tree.
Unlike Temari, whose Village was surrounded by sand, cacti and more sand, Amari's home was the Land of Fire. These trees were her domain, her home field advantage to use to outmaneuver her enemy.
"You Sand shinobi are trained to be tools, huh?" her voice echoed from the shadows. "Trained to be emotionless weapons who possess no bonds for anyone. Trained to only follow their orders, regardless of the sacrifice."
Temari launched another Wind Scythe Jutsu, and again she only killed a tree, not the kunoichi who wielded her words as well as she wielded kunai blades.
"We're soldiers," Temari stated firmly. "We follow orders, trusting in our commanders that any sacrifice made will preserve our Villages future."
"Even if it means killing innocent men, women and children? What do you think your soldiers are doing right now inside my home? Killing only shinobi?"
Branches were slaughtered. As the chopped wood fell to the forest floor, large rays of light pierced into the shadow war, the warmth touching neither soul even when it touched their skin.
"Lives are lost in war. It's unavoidable."
Amari Body Flickered to a branch high above Temari, bent low upside down on a tree branch with one of her paper bomb blades in hand and chakra emanating from her feet. She threw the blade down at her opponent, the dull thunk as it pierced into the wood next to Temari's feet, as planned.
The Sand kunoichi bolted from her position, hopping across the gap that once separated them, further away from the direction of her brothers and one move closer to Amari's trap. The explosion followed her, nearly capturing her within its deadly, hot grasps as the shockwave pressed against their hearts and made them skip a beat.
When Temari turned around to counter-attack, Amari appeared behind her, swinging her leg to kick her opponent in the head. Sensing the impending attack, Temari folded up her fan and used it to block the kick. The cold metal of her fan met the back of Amari's leg, but the Sand kunoichi's reaction time wasn't enough when the Uchiha used her fan as a means of support to flash away again and land a solid kick to her gut to send her further up and back away from her brothers into the canopy.
Temari flipped out of it, opening her fan in one fluid motion while still in air to blast a large Wind Style Jutsu directly at Amari's position. She was gone before it hit.
"You disgust me," Amari seethed from the shadows. "Those people, those kids had nothing to do with this! If the Sand had a problem with Leaf shinobi, fine, but that's between shinobi! Not civilians! Not children!"
"This is war, kid. You think the Leaf would be all so innocent if they attacked us?"
"We didn't attack you! We had an alliance! Peace!"
"An alliance that benefited you and your people while ours began to suffer!" Temari shot back. "We had no choice."
Again Amari attacked in close-quarters, her furious assault of punches and kicks putting Temari on the back foot as she retreated from the attacks.
Closer and closer to Amari's real goal.
She moved to sweep her legs out from under her, but Temari backflipped up to a higher tree and threw three kunai down at the blue-haired kunoichi. Amari deflected the blades with a normal kunai then threw it at her opponent. Temari's fan was already wound up for her next attack, but when it launched the Leaf shinobi wasn't there to be hit by it. She reappeared above her upside down on a tree branch and released the chakra from her feet to torpedo after her enemy.
Both feet slammed into her back, sending Temari off the tree branch with a cry of pain.
"There's always a choice!" Amari declared, swiping her arm through the air. "Your Kazekage could have negotiated with Lord Third! There could have been meetings of peace to even out whatever problems there were!"
Temari recovered and looked through the shadows in search of where Amari had gone. "And do what? Beg your Hokage for a better deal? Don't be ridiculous. That would be a sign of weakness."
Amari clenched her hands into fists, heart angry but mind focused on her objective. "Foolish pride like that helps no one. It creates wars. Breeds hatred and resentment out of bloodshed. You and your peoples childish need to prove your dominance is the reason there are orphans in this world full of pain and sorrow. Kids who lost everything because people like you refused to take a stand for what is morally right."
Amari dodged another Wind Jutsu. As she appeared on a safe tree, she created a clone and kept moving, but a few steps from the final move of this fight.
"Stop lecturing me and fight!" Temari demanded.
She was fighting, but she wasn't fighting her opponent's battle or to her strengths. Temari's long-range fighting style couldn't touch her when there were so many obstacles between her attacks and her opponents. These trees were her loyal shields, and her speed her greatest ally. Hit-and-run tactics, while using the advantage of her home terrain to conceal her presence from an enemy unused to it, left her all but untouchable.
As Amari settled into her final move, Atsuko's wise words followed her.
"We can all paint ourselves as gallant knights of our own stories, and how easy it is to paint outsiders as atrocious villains who mean to sabotage you, but it takes greater courage to accept your failings and admit to the wrongs you have committed."
Because the Leaf was her home, and because of how much she owed to the people who took her in when she lost everything, she preferred to see them through a scope of pure innocence…But as her thoughts lingered on it, she remembered Mizuki's betrayal, of how he was so willing to kill her, Naruto and Iruka for power.
Mizuki had been a fellow Leaf shinobi, someone who had been put in a position to teach the next generation. No one, not even Iruka, had seen his betrayal coming. And yet it happened. Someone from her home had been so prepared to betray them and kill comrades to gain more power.
But it wasn't just Mizuki. The wars of the past soaked the lands they battled on with the blood of shinobi, and because of those wars and those deaths, members of the Five Great Nations were possessed by their hatred for the other Nations. Through these wars, how many atrocities had her own fellow shinobi committed?
Amari wanted to believe many of her own people were good-hearted, that they would never target innocent people on purpose, but she couldn't discount the possibility. How could she when so many of her own people had been cruel to Mimi over something so trivial, and to Naruto for something he wasn't in control of. How could she say the Leaf were a moral authority when faced by their hatred filled actions towards two people who didn't deserve it?
No, the Leaf wasn't innocent, but it hadn't started this war. It hadn't maliciously attacked a Village it was in an alliance with and destroyed the businesses, homes and lives of innocent people. The Sand and Sound had. And should this war take them to the Sand and Sound, she would not mimic their actions to make an eye for an eye. She would not paint herself as a gallant knight on a righteous mission of vengeance no matter what happened.
"The difference between you and me, Sand shinobi, is that I'm not just a tool who will do what I'm told," she said from her crouched position behind the trunk of a tree. "I've seen what awaits me in that path. I know the cold darkness I would be embraced by and what it would turn me into. I know the pain that path brings, and I refuse to walk it. I'll follow my own path, my own ninja way.
"You have your mission and I have mine. But to protect what I hold dear, you and all your allies have to be stopped. And we of the Leaf will stop you. No matter how many of us you kill, no matter what destruction you do to our home, we will lift one another up to stand once more, stronger and closer together than ever before. The Will of Fire burns in all of us, and even those who fall will continue to stand with us, putting their strength behind our fists and into our hearts. That's what it means to be a Leaf shinobi."
Temari dashed into sight, fan wound up with an arrogant grin on her face. "Now you die! Wind Scythe Jutsu!"
The jutsu cut right through Amari and the tree.
The clone popped.
A kunai whizzed through the air from the canopy of the trees, a paper bomb wrapped around its hilt. Amari appeared on the tree branch across from Temari, hands in Snake, as the blade pierced into the bark. The kunoichi, recognizing the handseal, landed and jumped up and away from the blade.
The blade did not explode, it couldn't. Amari intentionally left it unfinished.
The corner of Amari's lip quirked up into a smirk. "Checkmate."
Temari's eyes widened, head snapping up to the branch above her where a kunai pierced into a branch with a finished Explosion Seal waited for her.
A flash of orange followed by a thundering explosion rocked the forest. Temari's body plummeted towards the ground, covered in smoke and limp, but not dead. Amari jolted into action, appearing above her to axe kick her back and send her slamming into the hard ground below. Her fan clunked against the ground next to her.
Amari landed on the ground beside her opponent and cast a short look to the still conscious kunoichi. She was struggling to move, body trembling in pain, but no longer a threat.
"We may be soldiers, but we are still people," Amari said. "We're not tools; we're not machines without consciousness. We're human beings. No matter how hard we shinobi try, we cannot escape that simple fact. That's the lesson Zabuza Momochi taught me."
Amari turned her head away and prepared to leave. "Painting yourself as a gallant knight and us as villains is the easy path to take. It justifies your actions, doesn't it? Well, when all is said and done, you have to live with the path you've chosen. You have to shoulder the burden of the innocent lives you steal in this life and the next. But I refuse to walk that path."
"Weak-minded fool. Showing mercy to an enemy is—"
"My choice, not yours." Amari glanced back. "You think because you're older that you know more about what it takes to be a shinobi, that you've learned what it means to be one. But you only know how to be a tool. You exude arrogance and act superior to all those around you, but that's just to hide your insecurities, isn't it?"
Temari grunted and looked away. "You don't know me."
"And you don't know me," Amari countered. "Call me soft-hearted all you want, but you don't know the path I've walked to get here. You don't know the suffering I've endured. You don't know the people I loved and will never be able to have back!"
The Uchiha shut her eye, took a small breath to calm the swell of emotions then blew aggressive air out her nostrils. "Tch, who are you to judge my heart when you've let others mold you into a tool? Who are you to tell me what it means to be a shinobi when you've chosen the path someone else told you to walk?"
She looked away. This war of ideals wouldn't move beyond a stalemate. Temari was set in her beliefs, and Amari was stubbornly set in hers.
"I'm sparing your life this time. Do with that what you will, but don't mistake my mercy as weakness. If you try to kill my friends, I'll kill you."
Temari shuddered as a wave of killing intent hit her, and then Amari was gone, flashing away in a Body Flicker up into the trees.
Hope you guys managed to stop them already, but if not I'll be there shortly to lend a hand.
Scattered plumes of smoke billowed from Konoha like industrial smokestacks. The destruction the Sand and Sound had managed to do, even with the Crows of the Leaf and Leaf shinobi defending their home, was nothing short of disheartening.
But it could easily be worse. Far worse. Mimi consistently reminded herself of that simple fact, especially as she ran from rooftop to rooftop with Amari in a desperate battle to aid allied Leaf shinobi. There could be no Crows to go toe to toe with the serpents and deal real damage. There could be disarray and discoordination on the Leaf's side, leading to more death and destruction. A power like the Nine-Tailed Fox could have been unleashed right in the center of the Village.
Things were bad, absolutely, but they could be worse and get worse if everyone didn't work together towards the defense of the Leaf. Losing hope or faltering from their duty wasn't an option; the evacuation teams needed them to hold off the enemy forces as long as possible, then the counter-attack could begin and these bastards would get a taste of Leaf strength.
Mimi glanced up as a murder of Crows swept by, speeding past the two kunoichi towards the boas. At this point, only the Crows and the veteran shinobi were able to deal visible damage against the serpents. She and Amari tried, but their attacks were bug bites that seemed to irritate them more than hurt the creatures.
It was humbling, to say the least.
The clone teams objectives changed from assaulting the boas to defending those who could harm the serpents from ambushes while healing any injured they encountered. If it weren't for the Amari on both teams, Mimi knew she'd have run out of gas already, but her friend's ability to steal chakra and give it aided her tremendously.
As two kids, the Sand and Sound shinobi saw them as lesser threats most of the time. They passed by under the radar with the help of their enhanced senses, ambushed the ambushers and provided the smallest of openings to their veteran allies to turn the tide of a fight. But even so, more than a handful of times they faced overwhelming odds.
The first time happened when one of the enemy shinobi teams recognized her as a medic, witnessing her heal Leaf shinobi in a previous battle. The enemy shinobi and her team cornered them on a rooftop, surrounded them with experienced shinobi dead set on mercilessly killing them. The only reason they escaped that time had been through the grace—or terror from the enemy perspective—of the Crows.
The second time had been less severe, but no less dangerous. Being clones meant they couldn't risk taking the slightest damage, otherwise they risked popping. One of the battle commanders team—a team they stopped to heal what felt like centuries ago—made short work of the enemy shinobi. He ordered them to one of the more desperate teams and returned to battle, noting that it was imperative they stay alive because of Mimi's medical abilities.
Those skills were invaluable in this war, especially on the frontlines…but Mimi knew she wasn't the best choice. Her skills were great for a kid her age, but compared to more seasoned medics she was…well, she was just a kid at the grownups table. And the kind of damage these enemies were doing to their allies struck at her heart every time she realized she couldn't do anything more than numb the pain a little so they could get the wounded to a more experienced medic—someone who might save their lives.
Mimi counted how many lives she saved versus those she couldn't; so far it was fifteen saved and twenty-nine either beyond her abilities or already dead when they arrived. It angered her while also consuming her with sorrow, but one of the field commanders had shared words she needed to get through this.
"No one medic-nin can save everyone, so turn your grief and anger into action. Make it the fire that saves those who can still be saved."
It was all Mimi could do, all any of them could do. With the boas destroying everything and the enemy shinobi taking advantage of the situation, many Konoha shinobi she hadn't even encountered were getting wounded or dying at the hands of their enemies. She couldn't save everyone, no matter how much she wished she could. But for those lives lost, she would work even harder towards saving more lives and healing as many non-lethal injuries she could.
That was what she could do now.
"There's a team up ahead, four buildings over on the south-western flank that need a hand," Amari stated. "A team of four surrounded by large force of enemy shinobi. Two are injured already."
Her Byakugan was a real life saver—literally.
Mimi nodded. "All right, let's go kick some ass."
They changed directions and hopped to another building, sprinting as fast they could with fatigued bodies back into the fray, back into the fires of war.
"What was our last score?"
Another trick to keep them focused on the task in front of them over the death and destruction surrounding them; a trick she picked up from watching Guy. The pair of kunoichi kept track of the squads they took down through sneak attacks, counting immobilized shinobi in every battle, tallying the numbers to decide the winner.
They needed it. Needed the distraction of a meaningless game to keep from falling into despair over how terrible these battles were, how lives all around them were being lost and there wasn't a damn thing they could do to change it. Sure they knew what loss was like, and Amari had held that boy in her arms as he died, but this was different. This war, the screams of death, the wounds on allied and enemy shinobi they witnessed, it took a toll.
"I won the last one. We're tied four to four."
"Tied? I thought I had five?"
Mimi shook her head. "Nope. That one didn't count because we had to be saved."
The enemy shinobi were beginning to notice their little group more often, which meant doing their best to stay out of sight so they wouldn't have to be saved. Having allied shinobi divert resources to them didn't help anyone except the enemy.
Her partner let out a frustrated groan. "Stupid rules." She sighed. "Time to get back into the action, Mimi. You ready?" She gave a nod and moved onto all-fours, her features already changed into that of Beast Mimicry. "Same plan as last time?"
The Nara received another nod. "Let's take these bastards down!"
They jumped up high into the air towards the next fight, where a mixture of Sand and Sound ninjas squared off with Leaf ninjas. Mimi grabbed Amari by the arm and started spinning rapidly, becoming a small blue tornado with a purple ring around it.
"Now, Mimi!" She released the arm she had been holding onto and launched the purple blur like a cannonball right at one of the Sand shinobi. "Dynamic Fang over Fang!"
The Inuzuka surged forward, moving seamlessly from her launching of Amari to Fang over Fang. It was a technique they had come up with to take the enemy by complete surprise.
Amari's eyes could effectively predict when she needed to be released despite high speeds they were spinning at. Once she was released she would land her kick with such force that it would send her and the person she hit flying across whatever roof they were on, or straight through it.
Then with the sudden entrance distracting the enemy towards the direction of the cannonball, Mimi launched in, pin-balling through the enemies hitting them hard and fast with fierce and sharp attacks. This opened up a window of opportunity for their allies to recover and get the upper hand once more.
Sure enough the purple blur hit her target hard, going straight through the roof of the building. Mimi entered the fight next, sideswiping her first target, pushing off of them to hit a Sound shinobi next, then a Sand before finally drilling directly into another Sand shinobi. She tore through his armor and ripped his skin to shreds before the force of her momentum sent him flying back, off the roof and into the wall of a different building to the street below.
Mimi came out of her spiral, landed on all-fours and turned quickly on the rooftop, spinning herself to slide backwards and face the enemy. "Surprise, chumps," she snarled.
Out of the hole in the roof, Amari popped up, latching herself onto the back of a Sand ninja with her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "Your chakra is mine!" They both fell back into the dense smoke covered hole with the horrified scream of the poor Sand ninja she had grabbed following her declaration.
Mimi charged back in. The Sound shinobi at the lead of the pack moved through familiar handseals before launching a fireball right at the blue eyed kunoichi. Before it collided, she disappeared off the ground in sheer speed, reappearing in the air with her hands already done and set on Rat.
Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu!
Rather than expelling a continuous stream, the Inuzuka fired off rapid sharpened bursts like bullets, cutting both his shoulders and knees with her blade of water. As the enemy shinobi began to crumble, she landed on the roof and jolted forward, smashing her knee into his chin to knock him back up into the air. She followed him up and spun into a ferocious spiral, drilling him into the rooftop and out of commission.
By the time she finished with the shinobi, the allied Konoha shinobi took the opportunity given to them to launch a counterstrike. Kunai pierced into enemy shinobi as others dashed in to engage the more experienced enemies in close quarters duels to keep them from aiding their allies.
Again Amari appeared out of the hole, but this time she landed on the roof with three senbon between the fingers of both hands. Mimi moved back onto all-fours and ran into battle, dodging left and right to avoid ninja tools aimed at her while her teammate and friend embedded her two hands full of senbon into the shoulder, chest and leg of two separate ninjas, disabling them both.
Damn she's already ahead by two. I have to pick up the pace. Using her enhanced speed, she made it behind one of the enemy shinobi and jabbed her fingers right into his neck, knocking him unconscious immediately.
Two pairs of feet running straight at her echoed in the ears of the Inuzuka.
"Mimi, duck!"
She followed the order and swiftly ducked down onto all-fours. Enemy ninja tools whizzed over her head. The two enemies neared Mimi, her blue eyes locked onto the Sound shinobi as her mind plotted her next attack, but their legs tripped up under them and a mysterious force dragged them away.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Dragons!"
Mimi looked up, ignoring the screams of agony from the two enemies as the tibia and fibula of their captured legs were crushed beneath the jaws of dragons. Amari released the jutsu and pulled out two kunai, blocking two separate strikes from new enemies. The Inuzuka dashed in as she barely pushed their blades away, dodging back a step and blocking another two on one assault.
The Nara smirked at her enemies. "Checkmate."
Mimi appeared in air between them. The last thing they saw was her foot slamming into their faces.
When the battle reached its successful conclusion, the Nara rejoined Mimi and began transferring the allotted chakra she had stolen over to her.
"I had six. What about you?" Amari asked her.
"Seven thanks to that last one you gave me," Mimi grinned.
Her partner shook her head and sighed. "What a drag. Now I'm down four to five. I hope the other me is faring better."
Chakra transferred, Mimi moved to heal the wounded and provide treatments to the minor injuries. When she finished up, she turned to Amari to figure out if she had spotted more shinobi in need of aid, and as she did a loud voice echoed over the battlefield.
"Ninja Art: Summoning: Bring Down the House Jutsu!"
A huge tremor rocked the earth beneath them. All snapped to attention in anticipation of further danger, yet they found the opposite. Squatting on top of three of the boas was a giant pale-green toad with two large swords on its back.
"No way," Amari whispered as she stared in the direction of the toad.
There was a person standing on the toad, and by the looks of it the person had long white hair. Much else Mimi couldn't tell from this distance.
"Not that I'm unappreciative of someone killing the snakes with a giant toad, but who the hell is that and where have they been?" Mimi asked.
"It's Master Jiraiya, although I have no idea where he was all this time."
"Master Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Many of the Leaf ninjas echoed the same question.
"Yeah. Come on, Mimi," Amari slapped her shoulder with the back of her hand. "We have to report back to Mr. Ibiki and he's with Master Jiraiya. The other you and me are on the way there as well."
With Master Jiraiya here, he could turn the tide of this battle by taking out those last two boas.
"All right." Mimi looked to the shinobi they helped and nodded to them. "Good luck to the rest of you."
They each gave nods of gratitude and the duo left the rooftop behind to join the Sannin and Head of T&I.
Jiraiya stared at the three flattened boas, a deep frown on his face. So that pain in the neck Orochimaru has finally started. He cast his eyes back to the Village, his home. Buildings destroyed, smoke and fire in many different sectors, allied shinobi doing battle against enemy forces in nearly every direction he looked.
What a mess.
The Sannin sensed Ibiki land behind him and turned his head to look at the veteran shinobi. "Where's the Hokage?"
"The battle arena," the scarred man informed. "Trapped within a Barrier Jutsu in a fight against Orochimaru."
"I see." Jiraiya turned back to face the remaining two boas. So Orochimaru was finally trying to kill their sensei and destroy the village. How far his former friend had fallen into darkness. To think he once believed he could convince Orochimaru to turn back to the light, the naïve fool he was.
Don't die on us, old man.
Four surges of chakra suddenly appeared on his toad, but the Toad Sage had seen who they belonged to long before they appeared. "Well well well, if it isn't Shikaku's niece and Tsume's niece."
He turned to look over his shoulder at one of the pairs. They were full of different minor cuts and bruises but he saw nothing lethal on them.
Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder whose orders they were under, if any at all. Young shinobi like them weren't meant to be on the frontlines of a war; their protocols put them on evacuation duty, in controlled sectors most of the time to keep them safe.
He leveled them with a hard stare. "What in the blazes are you two doing out here on the frontlines?"
"They're just clones, sent by their senseis and Genma to inform me of the situation within the stadium. I've put them to work as a support team to defend and heal our allied forces while another pair went to help the evacuation unit," Ibiki answered.
The Sannin hummed to himself in acknowledgement to the decision. He could see the unfortunate need for them to be out here then, even if he didn't fully agree with it. Even if they wouldn't lose their lives, what they witnessed would be transferred to their originals. For their sake, he hoped the real Mimi and Amaririsu could handle it.
"I see. Tell me, what are the originals doing?" he asked.
"We were sent by Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei to stop the three Sand Genin with my teammate Sasuke. One of them is a key part to their plan to destroy our village," the Amari of the group he was staring at answered.
"A key part? What do you mean?" he questioned.
"We learned he contained a sand spirit within him called the Shukaku. We're hoping to restrain him before he can unleash it," Mimi answered.
"You mean something like the Nine-Tailed Fox?"
They nodded.
This was not good. Summoning Snakes was one thing, but a tailed-beast too? No wonder these invaders seemed so assured in their victory. They planned to unleash a tailed-beast right in the center of the Leaf, and then assault with their main forces.
"Ibiki, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask these four to dispel themselves."
"I understand."
"But why? We can still help," the other Mimi argued. "Our forces need a medic on the battlefield, and right now I'm one of the few they can count on."
Save me from the stubbornness of Genin.
"You four have spared many of these shinobi their lives and have bought our forces enough time. Once I'm done with the boas it'll be about time for a counter-attack, and when that happens our main forces will eliminate these enemies."
He turned to face two of the Genin. "But if that Sand Genin truly possesses a monster like the Nine-Tailed Fox, then your originals will need every ounce of strength they have to keep it from being unleashed. If they fail, more lives could be lost."
Neither looked happy about the decision but after a few seconds of pause they gave in with nods before poofing into smoke. The other two followed, leaving the two older ninja alone.
Let us hope those Genin alone will be enough to stop them.
The Cloud shinobi fell for Neji's decoy act better than anyone anticipated. Mainly because the Hyūga boy hadn't bothered to tell Amari or Kiba his grand scheme to pull them further away from Hinata by transforming into Kiba and pretending to carry Hinata away.
Although his actions did assure the safety of Hinata and Kiba, the latter of which had unintentionally aided Neji's plan by laying down smoke bombs, the troublesome boy's plan left him inevitably in battle against two Cloud shinobi by himself. Both enemy shinobi were at full strength, and one was a proficient user of Earth Style if their trap was anything to go by.
Amari, left alone by the two boys despite her attempts to work as a team, followed after Neji. And he would be grateful she did.
Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!
An epic torrent of fire blasted to life near the border of the Leaf and Land of Rice Paddies. The Cloud shinobi, far too distracted by his overconfident verbal barbs fired at the disabled and conscious Neji, didn't see it coming, not until the heat of her flames licked against his fair skin.
She heard his startled intake of breath even at a distance, but it was too late. The fireball collided against his Earth Style jutsu—a jutsu of solid earth stacked like a wave, capable of transforming its shape—and exploded against their enemy.
Smoke consumed the enemy shinobi, his jutsu collapsing as he fell away from it, but he flipped onto his feet to avoid a hard landing on the earth he could manipulate. His eyes darted to her position in shock, concerned the attack had come from an arriving veteran who could slay him.
Who he found instead was the small form of a furious Amaririsu Yūhi. She stood on the branch of a nearby tree, above the fallen Cloud shinobi Neji immobilized before she arrived. Every chakra point in his body had been shut down, the result of Neji's Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms no doubt.
Shadows of tree leaves danced over the Nara's face, tiny rays of light slipping through the canopy of green life above her as a light breeze brushed over the battlefield.
And from the shadows a red eye of fury burned.
Neji turned his head to look her way, Byakugan activated eyes wide in shock at the sight of her surprise appearance. "Amaririsu…"
His left arm appeared immobilized fully by some thick mud standing his height, and his right leg had been pulled into the earth by another Earth Style jutsu.
This must be the one who set the trap, Amari analyzed, flicking her eye away from her comrade to her enemy. Earth Style is his affinity, and that jutsu he was standing on, I don't think I've ever seen such high leveled Earth Style before. Another new experience gained because of this terrible war. I'll have to stay off the ground, otherwise I'll only end up in the same position Neji is in.
"You've got a lot of nerve, Cloud shinobi," she hissed. "Kidnapping my friend, intending to kill her and steal her eyes like they're some kind of trophy!" The visible anger Amari caged in her heart unshackled itself. The vile darkness coated itself in venomous killing intent that swallowed her enemy whole in a sea of searing rage, revealing the deathly shadow of the black scaled, red eyed demonic dragon lurking behind her in search for blood.
A nervous bead of sweat rolled down the Cloud shinobi's cheek. Perhaps she wasn't a veteran, but this shinobi had enough common sense to notice the threat an angry Sharingan user posed to him.
The red eye slowly shifted back to Neji. "While your plan to pull them away from Hinata with a decoy was a good one, next time let us know so we can help. You don't have to defend her on your own. We care about her too."
"Are you really going to defend him?" the Cloud shinobi jeered. "You're the one that blond kid was defending, right? The one this Side Branch kid called a bottom-feeder parasite? After everything he said about half-breeds, you're going to risk your life for him?"
The red eye flicked dangerously back to the enemy. "Absolutely." Her steadfast response earned her looks of surprise from Neji and her enemy. "I don't expect you Cloud shinobi to understand what the words loyalty and honor mean. From what I've learned about you and your ilk's obsession with stealing power, you don't have the mental capacity to think beyond the shiny objects of the world, like cavemen impressed by the discovery of fire."
That struck a chord within her enemy. His face contorted into anger. "You little brat!"
"Neji and I aren't what anyone could consider friends. He's insulted me and I've threatened him, but despite all that he is still my comrade. My fellow Leaf shinobi. That bond, as simple as it might seem to an ignorant brute like you, is what binds all of us of the Leaf together. Even if he despises my existence, even if he insults me, I'll still rise above it and fight to protect him, because that's what Leaf shinobi do.
"And the girl you kidnapped and planned to kill, Hinata, she is one of my precious friends." She glared into his soul and found it unworthy of mercy. "You will die before you're able to lay another finger on them. I promise you that."
A promise she would keep if it came to it, but the Uchiha's current game plan consisted of stalling for time. Being a clone and fighting this enemy, who she assumed to be on Chūnin or Jōnin level, wouldn't be a game of shogi against a novice. Especially since his affinity was Earth Style. One hard hit, or one misstep on the ground below and Neji's life would be forfeit.
She refused to let that happen.
But she also sensed a powerful ally incoming. If she could just distract this shinobi by acting as another shiny object, he'd meet his end faster than Shikamaru could say "What a drag."
The Cloud shinobi glanced to Neji then to her, lips pulling into an arrogant and nasty smirk. "Is that so? Good luck trying, brat. I don't need any of you alive. I'll kill that Side Branch scum, and take your precious friend's head with me back to the Cloud. But not before I pluck that Sharingan from your eye socket!"
Amari barely heard his threat to her life. All she heard, and imagined, was his threat to Neji's and Hinata's in gruesome detail.
Take…her head…
An icy dagger cut through the synapses in Amari's brain. The light meant to keep the darkness she harbored at bay shut off. The air around her thickened with her killing intent, rogue waves swelling and swallowing the mercy in her heart until no more remained. In the dark, her heartrate rose in tempo, slamming faster and faster against her ribcage.
In fear?
In thrill?
Who could say? When darkness shrouded her vision, Amari wasn't sure what feelings were real and which were foisted upon her by this malicious hatred.
"You want the Sharingan so bad?" the darkness seethed. "Allow me to show you its power then."
The piercing red eye glared into his power hungry orbs, the tomoe within beginning to spin.
Demonic Dragon: Shadow Checkmate!
Her internal darkness flooded the area around them. Neji, the green grass, the dirt and the forest did not exist in this realm. Here it was only this scum and her. The Cloud shinobi's eyes widened in fear, but he had yet to feel true terror.
From the sea of darkness, earth rattling steps of a large beast made the ground tremble around the Cloud shinobi. Hot air brushed heavily against the back of his neck from flared nostrils; guttural growls vibrated in his ears. Before he could move or scream or plea for mercy, sharp black claws clutched around his fragile flesh, digging its large talons until warm blood coated the scales of the dragon he infuriated.
Trembling in fear, the Cloud shinobi turned his head around to see his assailant, and when he did the evil red eyes beamed to life within the darkness, setting his soul aflame until all that remained of it was barely enough ash to fill a dustpan.
A flash of lightning cracked behind the dragon, briefly revealing its malicious scales, its enormous wings and imposing size. It leaned its head in closer to the Cloud shinobi, nostrils flaring with every heavy breath and large teeth mere inches from his face. The dragon's mouth opened, and from the molten pit deep in the mountain of its diaphragm came a deep roar of pure hatred, fury and darkness.
Then and only then did the Cloud shinobi know true terror.
Within the genjutsu he screamed and begged for mercy as the dragon tore him apart, but he found none. Amari watched silently, never once feeling a shred of remorse as she continued to torture and torment him.
Over and over and over again her demonic dragon tore him limb from limb.
Over and over and over again she destroyed the man who dared threaten to chop Hinata's head off.
When it finally ended, the Cloud shinobi fell onto his hands and knees, the contents of his stomach emptying themselves onto the ground in front of him. His entire body was attacked by an unending assault of trembles. The red eye of the demonic dragon remained on him; he could feel it watching him, bearing down on his entire body with invisible talons.
The entire genjutsu passed in a few seconds in reality, leaving Neji to stare wide eyed at their enemy from his immobilized position. The only question on his mind: What did she do to him?
Amari disappeared from the tree and landed behind the enemy shinobi, planting her foot against his back and pressing him face down into the dirt and his armored chest into his puke. His fearful and watery eye gazed up in fear at the demonic dragon staring right at him. "Threaten their lives again," it whispered menacingly close to his ear. "I dare you."
Whether from outright fear or from the horrors he faced in the genjutsu, the Cloud shinobi passed out.
Amari hovered over him for a few moments, fighting between finishing the job and leaving the darkness behind her. Eventually she scoffed and stepped over him.
He wasn't worth killing.
She deactivated her dōjutsu and moved towards Neji, who had been set free from the Earth Style jutsu with the defeat of their enemy.
"You all right?" she asked.
He nodded. "I am." His Byakugan deactivated. "We should restrain these two so our superiors can deal with them later. The Cloud has to answer for their attempted kidnapping of Lady Hinata."
"I agree," the Nara glanced to the shinobi he had taken down. "First the Sand and Sound, then these guys." She sighed. "At least there were only two. Our forces were having enough problems fighting off the summoning snakes and the ground forces. Adding another entire Village onto this war would have only made it worse."
"Let us hope the defeat of the Sand and Sound does not come at a great cost to our forces. We may be fighting another war with the Cloud soon enough. The Hyūga Elders will not stand for this."
"Mm."
She hoped it wouldn't come to that, but she knew Neji was right. When they defeated the Sand and Sound, even if it was resolute victory, they could easily be going to war again with the Cloud. Kidnapping the Head of the Hyūga Clans daughter, again, would fly about as well with the elders of the Clan as finding out an Uchiha possessed their dōjutsu.
"Earth…Style…Mud Needle."
The earth rumbled beneath them, and it was then Amari realized she made a mistake in not finishing the job. She snapped around to face their enemy, hoping to have enough time to correct her mistake, but saw it was too late. A giant needle of Earth, sharper than any samurai sword, shot for them in an effort to stab straight through the pair in one blow. Behind it, the Cloud shinobi laid flat on his stomach, hands in his seal as he barely creaked an eye open at the pair.
We won't have time to move out of the way, Amari realized, features calm as she analyzed the situation. Not without fear of him changing its trajectory to match our new position. He thinks I'm the real thing, which means if one of us stays here…
Amari's foot started to move into action, prepared to kick Neji out of the way to get him out of range of the attack. It was all she could do; at the end of the day, Neji was the real thing. She wasn't. She could sacrifice herself here and buy him time to take the enemy down or retreat out of range of his attacks.
"Rotation!"
Before her foot could connect, a missile of rapidly spinning blue chakra shot in front of the pair, encompassing them within the safety of a blue orb that destroyed the Earth Style ninjutsu until none of it remained. As the orb faded, Hiashi Hyūga appeared standing in front of them, his posture straight and proud.
"Lord Hiashi, sir?" Neji questioned, shocked.
"I'm sorry I'm late," he apologized.
"Better late than never," Amari mumbled, lowering her foot back to the floor.
The Cloud shinobi struggled to get back onto his hands and knees, panting laboriously as he tried to stand again. He moved to run away, to abandon his comrade and spare his own life, but his body collapsed under him, reintroducing his face to the dirt.
"Hmph. Pathetic," the Hyūga Head scoffed.
"Seems I have more work to do," Amari hummed, dissatisfied by the enemy's ability to regain consciousness and nearly kill them. After everything she did to him he had regained consciousness in under a minute. Although his body and mind hadn't been fully recovered, his ability to use even a single jutsu could have been fatal to Neji, or her in a different circumstance.
Either he had great mental fortitude, which she doubted, or the flaws were on her end.
I'll have to work on it.
Hiashi turned to the pair, so she bowed her head in gratitude and respect. "Thank you, Lord Hiashi. I was certain he had been unconscious, but it seems my genjutsu still needs refining."
"Your prowess will only grow in the years to come," he said.
Was that a compliment? It sounded like a compliment.
"Lord Hiashi, why are you here? What about Lady Hinata?" Neji asked, perplexed by his appearance and surprisingly concerned for Hinata's safety.
"I learned all the details of her capture from my father. She is fine. Kō is on his way to retrieve her now; he also has a friend of yours he picked up on the way."
"Hm," Amari smirked. "I knew she'd get through it."
Some stupid mud wolves weren't going to take Mimi down.
"Yes, that's good news. But why did you leave the Village? Why leave that battle to come out here?" Neji asked.
The look in Hiashi's eyes, while still steely, was not unkind. In fact, he showed the most compassion Amari had ever seen in him. Maybe he finally found the place where his heart is meant to be.
"Hinata's my daughter, she's precious to me. And you are as well. You are a priceless reminder of my late brother Hizashi."
Neji was stunned speechless, and only found it in him to bow his head respectfully at the kind words of his uncle. Amari spared the pair a happy smile, slowly beginning to dismiss herself from a moment she had no part in. Before she could, Hiashi turned his lavender gaze onto her, halting her movements completely as if casting a Paralysis Jutsu on her.
Uh-oh…
"Amaririsu, Hinata holds you in the highest esteem, second only to Kurenai. I ask only that you continue to be a positive inspiration to her as you light the way for your generation and follow in your family's footsteps."
"I- uh, I'll do my best, sir."
He knew her parents. He knew who she was. He knew some of her secrets.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.
"Mm. And regarding your use of the Hyūga Clan Rotation…"
Crap!
"We will discuss it at a later date. I must return to the war after I take care of these two."
With that, Hiashi left after fully restraining the two Cloud shinobi to carry them with him to a guarded location. Neji and Amari returned to the group in silence where Mimi, Kiba, Hinata and the Hyūga member Kō waited for them.
Mimi sat on the ground, a little worse for wear but still grinning at the sight of the unharmed pair. Amari checked on her first while Kiba apologized to Neji for how he acted towards him earlier. As soon as she was sure Mimi was fine, Amari rushed over to Hinata, all but crushing the air out of her in a tight embrace.
She was safe. Alive and unharmed.
Amari released the girl, who was blushing and smiling, and shared a smile of her own. "I'm glad you're okay, Hinata."
"Tha- Thank you all for coming after me," Hinata thanked.
"I'd die before I let someone kidnap or kill you, Hinata," Amari stated firmly.
"Amar- Amaririsu! Don't say such things!" her friend scolded.
Amari smirked. "How many times, Hinata?" Her friend blushed even more, making the Nara laugh warmly before hugging her again. "Can't take it back because I meant it," she whispered. "You're a precious friend of mine, Hinata. Losing you would be worse than dying."
Humbled into silence, Hinata just hugged her back, burying the few tears that welled in her eyes into her friend's chest. Amari smiled, content to keep her close after nearly losing her in the middle of a war.
The pair released one another and Amari moved to help Mimi onto her feet. "We should honestly dispel," the Inuzuka said, allowing her comrade to shoulder her weight. "I'm not sure what help I'll be in this condition, and our originals don't need to hold back because of us."
"Yeah. You're right, but let's make sure these guys will be okay before we do."
"Um…Neji. I'm sorry. This was all my fault," Hinata apologized, eyes welled with tears and pinned on the ground.
"Please look at me, Lady Hinata." Hinata raised her eyes to meet his, dragging Mimi's and Amari's to look his way as well. "There's really no need for you to apologize to me. You know, it's funny. I thought I had such a clear understanding of everything. I bore an unwavering grudge against the Main Branch of the family, and never questioned it. I didn't know the truth. I blamed fate, and held onto my grudge until all I could see was my own skewed view on the world.
"But during our battle, Naruto told me that you, all of you," he cast his look to Mimi and Amari, "we're suffering as well. Perhaps even more than I was. He told me I should have understood Mimi's suffering, because she too knew what it was like to lose her parents. He explained how Amari too carried a heavy burden of loss and pain, from her original family, to her time in the orphanage and even now. And he told me that you were trying incredibly hard to change, fighting to prove yourself and earn respect.
"I…I never even considered what the three of you must have went through. Even as I insulted you two, calling you half-breeds, I never stopped to consider that you both were suffering behind the smiles and laughter. He helped me to see how selfish and narrow-minded I was being, consumed by my own pain that I became blinded to others."
"Heh, it took that Goofball punching your lights out to finally open your eyes, huh?" Mimi chuckled. "Why didn't I ever think about that?"
Neji snorted then looked up at the sky. "Naruto Uzumaki. There's something about him…"
"That there is," Amari agreed.
"Hey slowpokes!" Amari landed on the branch of a tree between Sasuke and Mimi, who stood opposite of Kankurō. It hadn't been hard to find them. She followed a trail of ninja tools and broken branches from what could have been a Fang over Fang from Mimi or another taijutsu attack.
Shuriken and kunai marked trees around Kankurō, and she noticed a few open wounds cut through the black outfit he wore. Lying flat next to him was Gaara, his body shifting only from the short breaths he took, but nothing more.
There's still time then.
From the look on Kankurō's face, he feared the worst for his sister.
"Miss me?" the Nara asked her teammates.
"That took longer than I thought it would. You take a vacation on the way here?" Sasuke wisecracked.
"Oh yes, I went all the way to the Land of Waves to visit Inari and the others and made it back in record time," she shot back. Sasuke snorted but said nothing more. She looked back to their enemies. "Looks like I made it just in time. Seems like things are about to heat up."
"I heard explosions and the gusts of wind, but it doesn't look like she landed a blow on you," Mimi noted. "She put up much of a fight?"
"She tried, I'll give her that much, but nothing as entertaining as our fight." Kankurō growled at her but Amari ignored him. She flicked her eye over to Mimi. "I only have one clone left out there, but I'm keeping her active. Are you?"
Mimi nodded. "Yeah. I figure they'll be ordered to dispel when they're done with the evacuation unit."
"My thoughts too." She compartmentalized their experiences to deal with later, but the general fatigue on her body was far harder to ignore. Looking at Mimi, it was clear she was experiencing the same fatigue, maybe even more than she was because of her use of Medical Ninjutsu.
Personally, Amari felt older, like the entire war aged her twenty years in an hour, and despite the food pill in her system she felt drained. But she would keep pushing on, as would Mimi, because this was their duty and their fight to finish.
I'll sleep when this war is over.
"At least Hinata's safe," she said, mostly to re-energize them both with positive aspects of their experiences. "And Master Jiraiya is going to kick some snake butt now. Plus we were able to help save a lot of people."
"Yeah…Wish I could've saved more, though," Mimi muttered, sapphire eyes falling.
"We did everything we could, Mimi," Amari tried to soothe.
She understood her friend's feelings; she too wished there was more she could have done. That they could have spared every ally their lives by somehow preventing this war from breaking out in the first place. But they couldn't. They had to focus on what they could control otherwise they'd only fall into a deep and dark pit of depression.
"Come on, this war isn't over yet. We've got one last fight to finish."
"Yeah," Mimi nodded, "I'm with you."
The Nara bumped Sasuke in the side with her elbow and said, "We'll fill you in later, but if all goes well we may be pushing back the enemy forces out of our village soon."
Sasuke gave a nod of understanding before focusing back on the task at hand. He caught what went unspoken: This fight and their mission was the final victory needed to win the war. As long as they succeeded, the war would end in their favor.
"I so beat you by one though."
Mimi's comment made Amari sigh in defeat. She did in fact beat her by one with both teams scores combined, the troublesome girl.
"You guys ready to finish this?" she asked her teammates.
"Yeah."
"I'm itching to kick some ass."
Kankurō's lips quirked up in a tired smirk. "I'll take you three on, no problem!"
"Wait!"
Rustling in the leaves above Kankurō caught the attention of the group. Amari couldn't hide the surprise she felt when Temari, in all her battered glory, landed on the branch next to her brother, panting heavily, a slight tremble to her body with every breath.
"Huh, Temari!" Kankurō sounded relieved to see his sister. "When she showed up and you didn't, I thought…she must have finished you."
"She could have and why she didn't…I don't know." The kunoichi grunted and winced, grabbing at her shoulder.
"I'm amazed she's walking," Mimi said under her breath. "The damage you did to her clearly came from an explosion at close range. She's in a massive amount of pain despite her tough appearance."
"She's a non-issue," Sasuke said. "Our main obstacle now is Kankurō. Once he's dealt with we finish our mission."
Temari turned her head to face her brother. "Go Kankurō, I've got this! Get Gaara out of here! Go on!" she ordered.
The puppet user jumped to a branch closer to the trio of Leaf shinobi and unstrapped his puppet from his back to stand the wrapped up object next to him. "Temari, go on ahead. You're all worn out, look at yourself." He smirked cockily. "Go on, you'll only get in my way."
"Wait a minu—"
"Get moving!" Temari looked between her two brothers in silent contemplation of what she was going to do. "Hurry up!"
"All right," she conceded, moving over to grab the downed redhead before slinging his arm over her shoulder.
"Okay you three, time you picked on someone your own size!"
The trio of leaf ninjas either smirked or snorted in response to his declaration. "Our size? Please, you really think you can take on all three of us at once?" Sasuke argued. "Haven't you Sand shinobi learned your lesson yet? Don't underestimate Leaf shinobi."
"Sasuke, Mimi, I'll fight him." Temari jumped away, disappearing into the trees. "We can't be delayed. Our village is depending on us to stop these guys. She can't move fast now, but if we all stay here and fight Kankurō she'll get away with Gaara. We can't risk losing them."
"Hold on!" a familiar but new voice entered the forest. Amari's eyes bulged at the sight of the individual and comrade it belonged to. Standing adjacent to them, hands stuffed in the pockets of his shirt, was Shino Aburame. "I've got dibs on him first, Amari."
"What do you want?" Kankurō asked, stunned and irritated by his appearance.
Shino…how fast are you? You managed to catch all the way up with us all the while Naruto, Tenten and Sakura haven't.
"I thought I caught your scent," Mimi said.
"I figured you would. Your nose is too sharp to not notice a comrade."
"Shino? How'd you find us?" Sasuke asked.
Shino pointed at the group with one of his hands. "I planted a beetle on you and Mimi before you left the arena. Two female beetles." Looking up to Sasuke and Mimi at the location the Aburame was pointing at revealed there in fact was a beetle crawling on both of them near their shoulders.
"When you were fighting, Mimi hinted at the possibility of something going wrong. Secretly, of course. We couldn't risk the Sand shinobi sniffing out our suspicion. On the chance something happened, I wanted to be able to track her down. Why? Because: She's a comrade who may have needed my aid. Her ankle was broken, after all. I don't like to leave things to chance, you see, and if she used Fang over Fang I didn't want to risk losing you, so when I saw you three gather together to go on a mission, I planted one on you as well.
"She gives off a very faint scent; nothing even an Inuzuka can detect, but the male of the species can." Amari noticed a few beetles crawl onto his cheek. "He has a very strong sense of smell, and he'd follow her anywhere."
"Heh, good plan, Shino," Mimi congratulated, a light grin on her face.
"You three were ordered to prevent whatever it is they are planning, correct?" They nodded in agreement, even though it was a rhetorical question, "Then every second of delay could lead to the destruction of our home. As a Leaf Shinobi I will not allow that to come to pass, but my mission is to support your mission. So all three of you go. I will handle Kankurō."
"As long as you're sure, Shino," Amari half-stated half-questioned. "If you want, I can stay behind to make it a two on one battle."
"Don't worry about me, Amari. You must fulfill the mission given to you three. Besides, give me ten minutes and I'll come and make sure you three are okay."
The trio chuckled softly to themselves. That was some cold confidence that would be backed up by skill. Of that the Nara was certain.
"Don't waste your time. By then our work will be already done," Sasuke declared. He turned to his teammates. "Let's go you two."
Together the trio took off through the forest. "Oh no you don't!" Kankurō unleashed his puppet and sent it after them, but Shino intercepted the attack by charging after the puppet user, forcing him into a retreat.
"You're fight is with me now," Amari heard him say.
I know you probably don't need it, Shino…but good luck and please be safe.
Everything had spiraled out of control since the attack started. War was chaos, a fact she learned the hard way with Mimi, and its unpredictability made it impossible to know what could happen next. Would Shino be fine? She wanted to go back and help him, but she had to trust in his abilities so they could fulfill their mission. If they failed…could their forces even stop a Nine-Tailed Fox like creature?
At least we have Master Jiraiya back in the Village.
Only now, with Jiraiya back in the Leaf and them almost finally in range of capturing Gaara, did she finally feel they were close to turning this all around. But at any moment that could change. At any moment Gaara could wake up and unleash the sand spirit he contained, causing them to have no choice but to retreat from battle.
Amari took a deep breath and released it in an attempt to calm her mind.
We'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to us and we will stop these ninjas.
"Hey- hey prepare yourselves! Someone is coming up on us fast!" Mimi announced.
"Friend or foe?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't recognize the scent…" Mimi sniffed the air again. "Yeah, I have no idea who they are. Could be an enemy, could be one of our superiors sent by Ibiki or Master Jiraiya for all we know. Amari, try your Byakugan."
"Got it." Byakugan! The dōjutsu wielder turned her head to look over her left shoulder and zoomed her vision in, seeking out the source of whoever was following them. "I see the person, she's…" her words slowly died in her throat.
In her vision she could see the ninja hot on their tail; a girl about their age, a little taller than Amari but shorter than her teammates by small margin. She traveled on a floating rock, the mechanics of which Amari found mind boggling. With her vision in inverted black and white it was hard to figure what the exact colors of her hair and outfit were, but there were two things she could see clearly.
Over the eyes of the person chasing them was a Suna forehead protector, and on her hip was a familiar gourd. You…you were a Sand shinobi?
Amari shook the thought from her mind. They would be speaking, and possibly fighting, soon enough. "She's a Sand ninja, no doubt about it. She'll be on us in a minute or less."
"Great. Any good news?" Sasuke questioned.
Aoko rumbled before Mimi spoke. "Shino wasn't harmed by this new ninja. He's still battling Kankurō. Aoko can also smell Tenten, Naruto, Sakura and that unfamiliar scent. They're still chasing after us and are making some head room."
"At this rate they'll catch up before we actually get Gaara captured."
Amari remained in silent agreement as she followed the Suna ninja chasing them. The first sign of the kunoichi the trio heard was the clicking of her tongue.
"She's moving to get between us and Temari. If it comes down to a fight we'll need to work together on this one," Amari stated.
"Why's that?" Mimi asked as she and Sasuke looked to her.
"Whoever she is, her chakra is very strong."
Something she hadn't even noticed in their first meeting.
It didn't take much longer for her to reveal herself to them. The trio stopped and prepared to face the next calamity in front of them.
Amari hoped it would be the last.
Review Response to ChillinInKonoha: Well, we're almost to the fight against Gaara. Building up to the grand finale of this arc. As for your predictions and theories, I personally cannot confirm or deny any of them, but my personal favorite was Ninja Art: Romance, which gave me a great laugh. I'm not really sure Ino would try to teach her, only because she'd want to win at romance before her. I do agree, however, on how disappointing Konan's death was. It never sat well with me, but then again, most of the female characters in Naruto unfortunately ended up either fading into the background from lack of development or dead. Anyway, thank you for the review!
Review Response to Fogot my pasword/ -just-: Thank you for the review! I'll do my best to keep up the good content. I'm glad you're enjoying Amari's character and the story, and hope you enjoy the new chapter!