Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow

by Tatanka4Life

On the fateful night of the Uchiha Massacre, a girl of Uchiha and Nara blood is spared and left with no memories of her past. Now she must walk on the path left by her family to help her build a new future for herself. Her path will be hard, full of struggles and pain, but as long as she has her friends and family at her side she will keep forging ahead, even if it was a drag.

137. Chapter 136: Fallen Foes of the Past!

Chapter 136

Vengeance and Power: Fallen Foes of the Past!

The ambush, like all well-executed ambushes, caught the squad of Leaf shinobi by complete surprise. It was quick, coordinated and, above all else, vicious.

Overall, the trap was dissimilar to a bear trap; it did not snap around their ankles when pressure was exerted onto a triggering plate, instantly eviscerating flesh and fracturing an ankle with its shark teeth.

The squad was stalked by a collective of ambush predators, gathered and united in cause, who were starving for a fresh meal. Their coloration and spotted patterns concealed them beneath fallen leaves, their stillness led roaming eyes to pass over them while the prey, ignorant to their presence, edged closer.

Closer.

Closer to the drooling mouths and venomous fangs hiding in plain sight.

But the predators were patient. They did not leap into action when the prey initially revealed itself. They did not betray their position. Or their excitement. They observed the Leaf shinobi, the hierarchy of the squad, separating the wheat from the chaff, the major targets from the minor nuisances while their prey searched the forest floor and the trees for a trail.

Then, when the alphas of the pack were identified, the predators lunged from the shadows, assaulting their prey in a vicious, starving, violent flurry.

The ambush was well-executed. No, it was perfect. The planning, the timing, the attack, it was everything an ambush was meant to be.

Quick, coordinated and vicious.

When the trap was sprung, and the carnage unfolded, it was only then that similarities could be drawn to a bear trap. It snapped its jaws around the shinobi of the Leaf, instantly piercing flesh, digging jagged and sharpened teeth into fleshly limbs, and utilizing its built-in brute force to fracture bone.

Blood was spilled. It coated their enemies blades, shimmered in the evening sun, splattered like a light rain over the blades of grass and sprayed uneven arcs over tree trunks, and awoke warped satisfaction within their blackened hearts.

Bones were broken. No, not just broken. They were utterly destroyed, shattered, pulverized into tiny fragments that buried themselves in the surrounding tissues no amount of Medical Ninjutsu could reverse, and no operation would likely ever repair.

In the end, the damage dealt led to severe and forced amputations. Except rather than limbs being amputated because of infections, it was the lives of comrades—friends—that were amputated from the squad. One by one. Cruelly. Viciously. Without sedative. Until all that remained were two.

Shizune could still hear their final, blood-curdling screams haunting her thoughts.

Leaping through the trees, the kunoichi was burdened by the unconscious dead weight of a full-grown man on her left shoulder. Kawaguchi. The last and only member of her squad she was able to save.

It was a near thing. A close shave which brought her nose to nose with death, so close she could feel its cold, bony hands threading through her hair as it forced a Wakizashi blade into her hands and encouraged her to commit what the samurai of the Land of Iron referred to as Seppuku.

Skill and no small amount of luck spared her from ritual disembowelment. Temporarily.

She hadn't escaped yet. Death's hounds were still chasing her. The reaper's cold, bony fingers were tickling the base of her neck, stretching itself to clutch her neck in its inescapable grasp.

As beads of warm blood, like early morning dewdrops glistening on blades of grass, glided down her forehead, along the bridge of her nose and around her eyes, the Jōnin whirled around, hair swishing, and fired a rapid series of three poison needles from her mouth through the leaves and branches. Blood beads and sweat flicked off her face and the ends of her hair.

The needles were slightly smaller than a senbon, thinner, and coated in a potent neurotoxin which caused muscle paralysis, among other side effects. It wouldn't be fatal, but there were worse things than death.

The needles hissed sharply. But they did not find flesh.

The two rogue shinobi evaded the nearly untraceable needles, leaping aside, vanishing briefly behind the maze of tree trunks and branches; they were approaching rapidly, no longer side by side, but seeking to attack from both of her flanks.

And attack they did.

Sharp, whirling whistles colored the quiet forest. The shuriken whipped around the tree trunks. They ripped through leaves with the ease of a scalpel performing a surgical incision, whirling rapidly on an angled axis in their hunt for flesh, targeted at her unconscious comrade and immobilized left side.

It was a basic strategy, but nonetheless effective.

In a cruel twist of fate, a bead of blood abruptly entered Shizune's right eye at that same moment. The sting of pain was surpassed by the flare of frustration and desperation she experienced.

Shizune grit her teeth and squeezed the eyelid shut unconsciously, in effect removing half of her field of view; there was no time to wipe it clean.

She landed upon a tree branch and leapt backwards, twisting her body to face the incoming shuriken. The kunai hidden in her long sleeve slipped faithfully into her right hand.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!

Once more the calm and, in another circumstance, serene forest was disrupted by the sharp collision of metal on metal.

The blades she deflected fell to the forest floor and whizzed noisily into nearby branches, impaling with a dull thunk. Those she missed tore the fabric of her shinobi gear, they whistled by her ears and severed strands of her black hair.

There was slight moment, hardly a second, to recover her sight. Shizune wiped her eye quickly over her sleeve. Then, with the other half of her vision returned, witnessed the second shinobi leaping aggressively at her. He was in arms distance.

The man was almost wholly identical to his partner—twins, she would bet. Their dark eyes were menacing. They depicted the scenes of violence both shinobi had taken part in, and what violence and torture they would unfurl once more onto their victims if they escaped.

Victims which included her.

Kunais met with a sharp and resounding clang which pierced their eardrums.

The prisoner's menacing grin was silhouetted by his wild and bristly dark-brown hair undulating in the breeze, the kunoichi's bloody face was contorted into a tight grimace.

I can't risk unleashing a Poison Fog over this area, Shizune hadn't stopped thinking. The wind is coming straight at me. If there's a sudden gust, or if one of Atsuko's agents or another Leaf shinobi happen upon us, it'll kill us.

There was no antidote to the Poison Fog Jutsu. A single whiff of the chemical she exhaled meant a quick and painful death, regardless of who inhaled it. Too risky on a battlefield like this, in an operation where multiple allied squads and agents were moving in coordination.

If the wind was blowing from a different direction, if she knew ally positions…

Blades and molars grinding together, Shizune hit a quick kick on the shinobi's abdomen and pushed herself away. Or that was her intention.

Water dispersed upon impact, soaking her leg and stealing all the propelling force she sought to use to escape.

"A Water Clone?" she gasped.

Swift movement in her peripherals, directly on her left, caused her wide eyes to flick over to the other twin, identifiable by the straightness and less bristly nature of his wild dark-brown hair when compared to his brother.

His hands were already forming the Rat handseal.

The jet of water roared over the kunoichi's body like a violent waterfall. However, when her body crashed against a nearby tree, it dispersed to reveal a wooden log, much to the displeasure of her attacker.

Substitution Jutsu was another basic but useful strategy.

It bought her a moment to breathe, but little else. The Bristly Brother wasn't fooled by the Substitution Jutsu. He followed her through the trees and met her in another clash of kunai and kunai.

Shizune was quick to push off and leap down to the forest floor. As her heels slid along the grass, legs in a wide stance to maintain balance with the additional weight on her shoulder, she lowered fluidly into a crouch beneath another jet of water.

The Bristly Brother didn't relent. He dropped down to the forest floor and charged her head-on, strides long, kunai gripped tightly in his hand and a menacing grin on his face.

He was still starving for blood. It wasn't enough. He needed more. More. More.

Before Shizune could devise a counter, a sudden rush of heat washed over her skin. She felt her throat tighten, anticipating an explosion or another jutsu to swallow her whole.

Flashes of orange light and orb-shaped shadows passed across the forest floor all around the medic-nin like a massive barrage of tiny asteroids burning up in the atmosphere, the flickering tails leaving her frozen in momentary awe.

The rain of Fire Balls pelted the trees and exploded against the bark, they flew through the canopy and ignited a trail of burning leaves. The orange orbs barreled around Shizune on the hunt for the shinobi charging her.

And left her untouched.

The Bristly Brother evaded left; the Fire Ball flashed past his side. He lunged in at a diagonal right past two more, then sprang with amazing agility over another. When he landed he lunged straight for Shizune, menace and a thirst for blood etched on his harsh features.

A red blur shot between Shizune's wide-stance legs. The blur rose, short pink hair whipping with the abrupt movement.

Clang!

The Bristly Brother's kunai flew from his hand, flying end over end and impaling into a tree trunk. The red blur followed through with a straight kick that caught the Bristly Brother in the forearm, which he had used to block his abdomen.

Despite the effort, he was taken off his feet, sliding back on his heels when he landed.

Somehow his menace intensified. Shizune stared in surprised at the small kunoichi in front of her.

"You're opponent is me now," Sakura declared confidently.

"Sakura?" Shizune could barely believe her eyes.

"I remember you," the Bristly Brother grinned. "You're that useless girl from Kakashi Hatake's squad." Sakura, Shizune noticed, growled at the insult. "Well, well, perhaps that fool Mizuki is right. It seems fate has deigned to favor us."

"You're one of those thugs who attacked us on the road. Back when we were escorting Mr. Tazuna," Sakura finally recognized the man.

"That's right, girl. I am Meizu, one half of the infamous Demon Brothers. I'm impressed you aren't quivering yet. Last time you couldn't do anything except cry out in horror and throw yourself in front of the Bridge Builder. But I saw the look in your eyes. You were afraid. All you could do was watch as death came for you. "

"I'm not the same useless girl I was back then."

"Hehehe!" Meizu chuckled darkly. "Is that right? The real prize is that other teammate of yours. What's her name? Amaririsu Yūhi, right? But killing any of Kakashi Hatake's students will satisfy me. Even you."

So, that's who they are, Shizune realized. I thought I recognized them. Gōzu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers who once worked alongside Zabuza Momochi.

I remember reading the mission report when Lady Tsunade was deciding whether or not to promote Amaririsu, Shikamaru and Mimi. They were detained by Kakashi, if I recall correctly. I think it was mentioned that Amaririsu sensed their ambush and, with Sasuke's aid, worked to counter their attack.

They had a motive to target Amaririsu and, as Meizu pointed out, anyone from Kakashi's squad. A simple motive, but that was all anyone ever needed to seek out revenge.

Vengeance. Vengeance against the squad responsible for their capture and humiliation. It would send a message to Kakashi. And, if they captured Amaririsu, they would acquire the Sharingan and Byakugan in the process.

Mizuki's entire team, all except the two giants responsible for killing my squad, all bear a grudge against Amaririsu. That's how he brought them together!

But how does that formula play a role in this? That's what I still don't understand. What does it do? And where is Mizuki going? He isn't heading towards the Leaf, where he would believe Amaririsu has been secured. He's moving further away.

What was in this direction? What could he be after and how did it relate to the formula? If she could figure that out, then—

The metallic clang of clashing blades disrupted her thoughts.

The rain of red-hot sparks appearing like festival fireworks drew Shizune's gaze skywards to see the second brother and Sasuke falling away from one another; the Uchiha landed beside his kunoichi teammate, the other twin landed beside his brother.

No one moved. The forest went entirely still and silent, all except the light whisper of the breeze hissing through the leaves. A yellow leaf rolled over itself, swayed, and fell gently into Shizune's hair.

"Two of Kakashi's students are here. Seems our lucky day, eh, Meizu?" said Gōzu.

"You're luck has just run out," Sasuke countered calmly.

"Careful you two," Shizune warned. "I lost all but one of my squad to them and their allies."

"We'll be fine. Fall back so you can heal that guy. And yourself," Sasuke replied without taking his eyes off the two.

"We've got you covered," said Sakura. "Leave them to us."

Shizune shifted Kawaguchi on her shoulder. She checked their surroundings, listened for Mizuki and his squad, and eyed the Demon Brothers.

Blood dripped off the tip of her nose, over her lips and settled at her chin. Meizu's dark eyes flicked between the two kunoichis, as though he was deciding between two sweets and wasn't certain which he wanted to taste first. Gōzu kept his eyes on Sasuke.

"All right," Shizune conceded.

There was no other choice but to trust them. Her duty as a medic had to come first. If she dropped her comrade down here to heal him, or to aid the fight, she'd be endangering all of their lives. And if Sakura and Sasuke sustained any injuries, they would need her to take care of them.

The best option, no matter how wrong it felt, was to retreat and trust in these young shinobi to cover her. At least until she finished tending to Kawaguchi and herself.

Turning away reluctantly, she retreated with a leap. The sharp collisions of metal and flesh connecting in powerful physical blows told her the two rogue shinobi tried to attack, yet nothing broke through.

I'll come back for you both. She wiped the blood on her face onto her sleeve. Just hang on until then.

---

The sharp whistle of slashing kunais narrowly missing flesh, the piercing cry and red sparks leaping from their clashing blades, the killing intent which made her hairs stand on end and the pure menace in Meizu's dark eyes as he gazed upon her with every intention of tearing scream after scream from her lips, any one of them would've been enough to make her knees shake in the past.

That "useless girl" as Meizu so aptly remembered her, she would've frozen already. She would've needed to be saved and protected by a teammate.

The mere idea of splitting their team up into two smaller squads—one to rescue fleeing comrades and the other to maintain pursuit of their real targets—would've left a horrifying feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Frankly, that girl would've been stiffer than a piece of rebar. All from fear. For good reason, too, because she didn't have the slightest clue of what a battlefield looked like, or how it felt to stare into the eyes of an enemy shinobi who desired your death, or what the sensations that accompanied battle felt like.

None of her studying or her obsession with attracting one boy would've made an ounce of a difference on the battlefield.

In the end, that girl had frozen stiff in fear. She had been saved and protected time after time by her teammates because of how utterly useless she was.

Book smart but ineffective on a battlefield.

Weak physically, mentally and emotionally.

She was deadweight. In fact, her uselessness was so prominent it imprinted itself into the memories of an enemy who they hadn't "battled" for more than thirty seconds, if it could even be called a battle.

Indeed, Meizu's words were a stark reminder of where she started, how far she had come and how much further she still had left.

Sakura carried herself light on her toes. She evaded beneath Meizu's wide slash, rose quickly and pivoted a half turn, blade raised to meet and deflect the second strike. The unpleasant collision went ignored by both shinobi.

"Gonna scream yet, girl?" he asked with a vile grin. "Who will you call for when my blade carves flesh from bone? Your Sensei? Your parents?"

"You're the one who's going to scream, you creep," she grunted, arm shaking beneath his greater physical strength.

His puff of laughter mocked her without a word being said.

Shoving her arm away, Meizu stepped in, free hand flashing forward at her throat. Sakura dropped and bent back to plant her non-weapon hand against the earth, his snatching hand narrowly passed over her chest, grasping at air.

The kunoichi released a small bit of chakra from the soles of her feet. In a flash she flowed up, over and through a back-handspring, along the way she kicked the rogue shinobi's reaching limb at the forearm, throwing it with force high into the air.

It wasn't her intent; she had aimed for the elbow to break the arm but missed it by the width of a hand.

Feet beneath her and body flinging upright, Sakura eyed her target, measured it within an intangible moment and threw her kunai for the exposed center of mass on the rogue shinobi while retreating with a single hop.

Her enemy had greater reach and physical strength. He was fast, hungry for blood and in possession of several more years of experience.

For those reasons she wasn't surprised when he evaded her kunai, nor was she unprepared for his following attack, already wielding a new kunai to block his five quick and wild strikes.

Then again, he hadn't been her real target.

The thrown blade sang over the small battlefield, flying on a direct path for the exposed back of Meizu's twin. Then, with a quick and well-timed pivot and slash, its song was abruptly cut off by a punctuating clang, deflected by Gōzu.

He, whether he wanted to or not, had no time to gloat. The minor distraction opened him up to a counterstrike by Sasuke, who buckled his opponent's knee with a sharp kick. Gōzu groaned and collapsed to a knee. The Uchiha slashed his kunai for the enemy's throat.

Swiftly, Gōzu blocked the strike. Their blades grated together, quaked against the opposing force. Neither willing to show weakness.

Then Gōzu caught the Uchiha in the stomach with a light punch, pushing him back to gain breathing room, and rising to engage in battle once more. He was noticeably favoring his hurt leg.

Another unpleasant collision of blades sent sparks flying from Sakura's and Meizu's blades. He was pressing the assault, forcing her to commit to retreating steps that brought her closer and closer to a tree.

Her enemy was trying to box her in, she knew. Trying to use the battlefield to maximize his advantage. One miscalculation and she'd find herself trapped between a tree and his blade.

Hastily stepping back, Sakura maintained a calm mind, blocking, deflecting, staying light on her toes as she evaded in search of an opening.

Meizu expected to see terror or frozen hesitation in her eyes or body language. She was going to disappoint him.

I'm not the same as I was back then, thought the kunoichi.

The heavy force behind Meizu's downward slash sent vibrations rolling up her forearm and into her elbow joint. The only sign of discomfort was the slight pinch of her eyebrows. But it was but a micro expression, barely discernible in the heat of battle.

Three more strikes followed in quick succession, leaving her on her back foot, creeping closer and closer to the trunk of a tree.

He wasn't giving her time to breathe or counter. He attacked with malevolent persistence that might've been admirable if it wasn't driven by a lust for blood. But it was. She could see in his dark eyes all the terrible ideas he had for her, for anyone who obstructed his and his twin's goal.

Meizu wouldn't stop unless he was captured or killed. She felt that certainty in her heart. In her bones. His pursuit for violence was as relentless as his attacks were.

That's their speciality, she recalled. That's what Kakashi-sensei said back then. They specialize in relentless attack, no matter how many comrades die or how much blood they shed to achieve their goals.

Prison hadn't reformed them. They weren't on the mist-covered bridge that day. They hadn't witnessed the struggle between Amari and Haku, hadn't seen her risk her life to save a boy meant to be her enemy, or how they shed tears for one another.

Had they been, Sakura wondered if they would've found what was left of their humanity like Zabuza had. Or if they were shinobi like Orochimaru, men who had forsaken all of their humanity and now relished in the darkness of the shinobi world.

Would they have hesitated like Zabuza? Or would they have simply attacked Amari while she was weak and vulnerable?

It didn't matter, she supposed. Not to her. Not in this moment. Not when Meizu's intentions were crystal clear.

These two sought to take Amari's eyes and her life in the name of petty revenge. They would torture and kill not only Amari, but her and Sasuke, too, if granted the chance.

They had to be stopped. Right here. Right now.

Sakura parried away his blade and leapt into a backflip. Her feet, coated in chakra, greeted the trunk of the tree, her hand entered her pouch then whipped out, throwing a set of three shuriken at the rogue shinobi.

Meizu dashed swiftly at the base of the tree, deflected her shuriken, and then raced straight up at the kunoichi like a starving beast.

"There's no where for you to run!"

Undeterred and unafraid, Sakura threw her kunai along a path directly for his center of mass; a strategic attack, one which would force Meizu to either deflect the blade, or evade his body out of its path.

It was a decision he'd need to make in a split-second, for the blade's flight was shortened with every stride he took up the tree trunk. Every step brought him nearer, and the momentum of the throw carried the blade swifter to its target.

Deflect or evade? Those were the only two options.

She watched closely, prepared herself for either potential decision.

Meizu chose to evade.

The tree trunk wasn't thick enough to hop laterally without falling off the tree, so he spun with surprising agility on one foot while moving forward, twisting his whole body out of the kunai's path while drawing his weapon hand back to prepare for his follow-up strike.

He was quite certain of her defenselessness. He hadn't realized yet the difference between the girl he'd seen before his arrest, and the kunoichi standing in front of him.

Meizu evaded the kunai, whirled around in a flash, prepared his follow-up strike. And suddenly felt the hand of his enemy snatch his weapon hand by the wrist, witnessed in the split-second before impact that the kunoichi had propelled herself directly at him.

There was even less time for him to react; the evasion and approach stole what little space he had left.

His guard was broken. His means of attack halted. There was no time to block, to counter. Nothing. All he could was stare with wide eyes at the determined expression on the kunoichi's face.

She hadn't acted how the rogue expected, that much was clear in his dark eyes. Never did he imagine she would press the assault on him. Never would he have believed, even if told by an oracle, she, the useless girl from Kakashi Hatake's squad, would be the one lunging at him like a demon.

"Who said I was running!"

Sakura drove her knee straight into his exposed abdomen. The attack drew a wheezing gasp from the rogue shinobi, the propulsion she generated and the force of her attack dislodged him from the tree.

Suddenly they were falling. Plummeting towards the earth at such a rapid speed there was hardly a moment to process the fall itself.

All the same, she felt Meizu's heavy and warm grip snatch her by the arm, and then yank her away before impact.

He was the first to land, crashing flat on his back without the additional weight of the kunoichi's knee buried in his abdomen.

Sakura, thrown aside, struck the ground with her right shoulder, jamming it. It hurt. She winced and grunted. But the pain didn't stop her from rolling through the tumble back onto her feet into a low crouch, which she was immediately grateful for.

Despite the harsh landing, Meizu was on his feet and within striking range.

Sakura threw herself into a short side roll beneath his slashing blade; her shoulder didn't appreciate it, throbbing intensifying. She ignored it and flowed into a sweeping kick, which Meizu leapt over.

The rogue shinobi landed on his feet, she began to rise immediately.

The sound of a kick connecting against flesh and the gasp of another shinobi caught both their attention. Their eyes glanced to the side to see Gōzu sliding back on his heels, who then, carried by the momentum of the previous attack, crashed into his brother, stumbling the pair.

The kunoichi saw the opportunity and struck.

Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog.

Earth Style: Mud Wall!

Two square-shaped stone columns lurched out of the earth. One caught Gōzu in his exposed side, just above his hip. The other caught Meizu in the abdomen. Both were taken off their feet by the attack, pushed out of immediate striking range.

Gōzu crashed to the earth, jarred by the attack. Meizu landed on his feet and rested his hand over his stomach, breathing heavily to regain the air he lost.

"It's hard to bear, isn't it? Being outgrown by two kids," Sasuke drawled as he came to stand by her side.

"We'll see how arrogant you are when I take your eyes," growled Meizu. "I think I'll leave you between life and death, you little punk. At least for a little while."

His dark eyes fell upon Sakura, and looked straight through her. A sharp chill shot down her spine.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to see what we do to the girl. Either of them. But their screams will tell you all you need to know." Sasuke inhaled sharply, fists clenching. "They'll be the last thing you hear, punk. I wonder if you'll beg us to stop. I wonder," he grinned an ugly grin, one which left invisible insects crawling all over her skin, "what sort of screams we can get out of her."

Sasuke, without hesitation, stepped in front of Sakura.

"You know, before you said all that, I was going to tell you that taking my eyes or Amari's was little more than a pipe-dream for you."

His voice had changed. The arrogance was gone. The coolness slipped away, falling into remorseless cold.

"All I planned to do was break your bodies, as a courtesy."

"Is that right?

"Yeah, it is."

"Smart-mouthed punk. I'm going to enjoy killing your friends."

"Like I'd let you lay your filthy hands on any of them." Sakura couldn't see his face, but she sensed the searing gaze of the Sharingan. "I'll burn you all away."

Sakura remained silent, for a moment.

An old part of her, one she thought she fully relinquished, was amazed and exhilarated to hear Sasuke acknowledge her as a friend, to see him stand as a shield between her and those who held evil intentions for her.

The old her would have swooned and cheered within her mind for "true love winning the day" or some other delusion. Yet…

The whole occasion brought on a wave déjà vu. The Demon Brothers, Sasuke standing in front of her, they'd been here before. It wasn't even that long ago.

The original incident—for it couldn't be called a battle anymore than a child running around playing with a paper sword could be called a warrior—happened around the beginning of the year, and that day, that mission and all the pain her teammates suffered, it was what catalyzed her to change.

Sasuke… Sakura brought her hands together. There was a time I may have been happy to be protected by you. There was a time I would've been happy to stand right behind you, protected and sheltered, all because of the feelings I have.

But would I have been truly happy that way? I don't think I would be. I would've made every excuse in the world to say I was. I would've told myself, as long as you loved me, that I was happy. It would've been a lie. A sweet lie. A pleasant illusion I cast upon myself.

How could I be happy when I was so insecure, so weak, so…unhappy with myself and where I was. How could I ever be happy if I refused to look at myself without the pleasant illusion I tricked myself into living.

I thought what I wanted most was to walk with you on any path you took. I thought just being with you would make me happy.

But when I think about it now, what I really want is…

"Your biggest mistake," Sakura directed to their enemies, "is thinking I need to be protected."

What I really want is to stand beside you, as an equal. Not just you, but beside Amari, Naruto and everyone else, too. I don't want to be the memory these two have of me. I don't want to be useless Sakura, always crying and waiting for you or Naruto or Amari to save my skin.

I want to be Sakura Haruno, a kunoichi of the Leaf. Now…

She pressed her palms into the earth.

Earth Style: Mud Wall!

Two square-shaped columns of stone lurched out the earth at an angle behind the two Mist shinobi.

Despite attacking from their blindside, both enemy shinobi evaded, hopping over and pressing their hands onto the columns, springing off them towards a nearby tree branch.

"Ha, too simple, gir—"

A kunai zipped between the two brothers. Their eyes were drawn to the paper bomb flickering on its end, their ears to how it crinkled on the wind.

A small, orange flame ignited on the paper. Then the battlefield was disturbed by a rupturing blast as bright as the pulsing shockwave rattling her insides was powerful. The flare of light faded almost instantly for dark hanging smoke.

Two logs fell from the cloud, landing dully on the earth.

Emerald eyes snapped over to the new position of their enemy. Directly on their right no shorter than ten long strides. She pulled another paper bomb attached kunai from her pouch.

"Sasuke, duck!"

Her teammate heeded the warning without hesitation. A stream of water bulleted over his head while the paper bomb kunai flew from her hand towards the jutsu user.

At the same time she released the chakra from her feet, vaulting over her teammate and the stream, arcing her back and flipping around to land a powerful kick that broke through the Water Clone of Meizu, who had lunged out from behind a nearby tree.

Water splashed over her leg, then the explosion of the paper bomb ripped through the silence, dispersing a dark veil of smoke around its epicenter.

Gōzu darted out of the dark cloud, weaving swiftly between the trees, his dark eyes locked on the two Leaf shinobi with the same intensity and focus of a stalking mountain lion.

Suddenly he pivoted and launched at Sasuke's back. Meanwhile, diving in from above behind Sakura, two more Water Clone's of Meizu maintained their relentless assault; the real Meizu kept himself hidden but was doubtlessly close by given the suddenness of his new Water Clones appearance.

Good.

The Demon Brothers were devoting their full attention to them. She wouldn't say they lost interest in hunting Shizune, or had forgotten her entirely; it was too dangerous to make fatal assumptions like that, definitely against former subordinates of Zabuza.

However, with their attention drawn away from Shizune, drawn to the objects of their vengeance like a cat swatting at glare of light reflected on the carpet floor, the medic-nin was free to heal her injured comrade and herself without the threat of an attack.

With only a shared look and nothing else, Sakura dashed past her teammate to cut off Gōzu; Sasuke could handle the Water Clones—who's power was only a third of their original—while using the Sharingan to locate the real Meizu.

Gōzu was hers to deal with, for now.

The two shinobi shot past one another, red-orange sparks flying from their blades, before spinning around and lunging at one another again. Another resounding and unpleasant clang cascaded into her ears.

They shifted their feet and retracted their blades almost in unison. Then the forest was disrupted by three more clangs, back to back and unrelenting.

In the midst of their clash, Sakura caught a glimpse of white mist rolling in around her calves. It built and built, thickening, surrounding her entirely like a pit of intangible quicksand. The chill in the air grew, her skin began to crawl.

Meizu was making his move.

She blocked Gōzu's strike and leapt back and away from the enemy, closer to Sasuke, who collapsed the two Water Clones and hopped back, narrowly evading a third as they flashed past him and vanished into the thicker mist.

As she skipped back, Gōzu's physical body seemed to dematerialize amid the mist, transforming into a dark silhouette which leapt through the white haze with ferocity, as though he had taken on the form of the mountain lion he previously resembled.

Sakura, struggling to track the silhouette's movements and its blade, raised her kunai to defend herself.

The block was wrong. She knew it when she heard the distinct noise of metal grating past metal, when she felt the force behind the thrust press against the outside of her kunai, and then when the flesh along her right bicep unzipped.

The kunoichi sucked in a breath; the pain was mild, and not responsible for her reaction.

For a brief instant, one which passed as though the old hands of time cranked to a stop, Gōzu was visible. For a brief instant she saw the reason for their nickname.

Shrouded in a thick curtain of mist and killing intent, he took on the form of a demon with a single horn protruding from his forehead. His wild hair cast a malicious shadow over his features, yet his dark eyes could've been seen and felt so distinctly, so vividly by the blind.

His dark eyes boring down on her, she could see her own grimacing face in their reflection, could see the flecks of blood spraying off her bicep and coating the edges of his kunai.

His lips were split in a vicious grin. He never said a word. Yet she knew the sight of her blood excited him, incensed his bloodlust to a point of no return. His evil visions for her left the demonic man foaming at the mouth.

Time jolted forward when a knee slammed into her stomach. Gasping, the kunoichi shoved his blade arm away and stumbled back.

Gōzu dematerialized again.

She heard Sasuke grunt, then the deflection of a blade. Deep, menacing laughter rumbled in her ears with no tangible source, as though the mist itself was amusing itself at their expense.

A shadow shot past her. Another wound opened, cut along the top length of her left forearm. Shallow. That didn't stop it from pouring with warm blood.

More shadows, like a legion of specters, drifted swiftly through the mist.

Meizu must be the one behind this Hidden Mist Jutsu, she analyzed.

A specter lunged at her from her left. Rather than risk another faulty block, she scrambled low along the grass, stabbing her kunai into the knee of the enemy shinobi when she caught sight of it. Cold water splashed on top of her. A kick caught her in the ribs and sent her sliding on her side.

This is bad, thought the kunoichi, quickly hopping to her feet despite gasping for air. We're surrounded on all sides. He's combining the Water Clone Jutsu with the Hidden Mist Jutsu, circumventing the weakness of the Water Clone's with sheer numbers we can no longer see or predict the movements of.

Zabuza, I remember, used a similar tactic against Kakashi-sensei to negate his Sharingan, except he was a master of the Silent Killing.

The kunoichi strangled a humorless chuckle.

Guess that makes us lucky. If these two were masters of the Silent Killing, we'd probably already be dead. If they didn't want us alive to torture, anyway.

The kunoichi pivoted, ducked and slashed her kunai along the abdomen of a shadow lurching through the mist.

Water instead of blood splattered over her face. A blade sang past her neck and a small cut opened along the nape of her neck. The ends of her pink hair fell amid the blades of grass.

We're at a disadvantage. I can see the shadows… I can hear their footsteps; they aren't bothering to silent their movements. But why would they? There are enough Water Clones running around that we can't distinguish them from their Clone's.

Meanwhile, they're more accustomed to fighting in a thick mist like this. It's another one of their specialities. As former Mist shinobi and as Zabuza's subordinates.

Her overall experience against the Hidden Mist Jutsu was from the point of observation, and fearful observation at that. Unlike the Demon Brothers. They lived it. Breathed it. Trained it until it was second nature.

She'd been so scared against Zabuza all she was able to live and breathe was fear.

They aren't tracking us by sight, she tried to keep her mind focused. Zabuza and Haku couldn't, either. Every movement we make, every flutter of our clothes, every shift of our shinobi gear, even every breath we take is a means for them to track us and pinpoint our location.

Were I to create any regular Clones with the Clone Jutsu, it wouldn't do anything. They have no physical mass, so they cast no shadows and make no sounds. It'd be a waste of the jutsu. I could cast a genjutsu over the area, but that wouldn't dissipate the mist, and they would likely break out of it before we could find them.

Another waste of a jutsu. Earth Style was also out of the question in this situation.

Sakura took a step back and felt her back press against Sasuke's.

They were caught deep in the enemies net. Moments ago she felt they were on even ground. But like the gales of a tempest, the momentum of a shinobi battle could change directions at any given moment. A single jutsu could change the course of a battle. Or end it in an instant.

How did they get out of the net? How did they fight an enemy they couldn't see? How did they fight an enemy which could multiply itself with little cost of chakra, wearing them down in a war of attrition before inevitably moving in for the kill?

Blood dripped down her neck. Trickled down the back of her shirt, mixing together with sweat. It streamed from her forearm and bicep. Dripped off her fingertips.

The specters drifted swiftly through the mist. Laughing. Chuckling. Wading around the mist as they played with their food.

"Tick tock, kids," Meizu taunted. "It's only a matter of time now."

"Can you feel it? The sensation of death approaching?" Gōzu asked menacingly.

There's only one way I can think of to disperse this mist, Sakura ignored them. Knowing Sasuke, he's likely thought of it by now, too. We can't wait any longer. Not only does it put our lives at risk, but they could use this time to target Shizune while we're busy.

They had to protect Shizune. They had to take the Demon Brothers down and regroup with their squad to put a stop to Mizuki and his other cronies. They had to move forward.

And the only way forward was through the Demon Brothers.

"Sasuke, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

The kunoichi brought her hands together, forming the Tiger handseal around the hilt of the kunai.

All I have to do is release my chakra from my chakra points in a controlled surge, just like Amari and Kakashi-sensei did back then. I can do this. Focus. Focus. Focus.

Blue chakra, like fire racing along a trail of oil, ignited around her feet, swirling rapidly around her. Strings of chakra arced up and over her, connecting to the circle; the air was pulsing with concentrated chakra, shifting and whipping around her in a isolated tornado. Her dress ruffled with the pulses, her hair lifted off her neck and undulated gently beneath the wind.

The mist didn't change. It laughed at her attempts. The shadows, drawn to her chakra like bees to honey, converged on her position.

Not yet, she clenched her jaw, feeling beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Not yet. Kakashi-sensei and Amari aren't here to do it for you. You have to do this, Sakura. Now release more. More chakra. As much as you can!

The ring around her feet pulsed. The speed at which the chakra arced over her accelerated without warning.

Faster. Faster. Faster!

Forward was the only way. No more lateral steps, no more standing still waiting for others to take care of her.

The Demon Brothers were the wall in front of Sakura, their memory of her a gross reflection which stared at the kunoichi with the naïve and frightened emerald eyes of the person she used to be.

This time will be different. This time I'm different.

The chakra's pulses intensified, accelerated. Intangible energy whistled and whirled around the two Leaf shinobi, ruffling their clothes, their hair; the wind and energy began to slowly—too slowly—disperse the mist.

Sasuke, caught in the ring of power, felt the sudden swell as intimately as anyone could; it pulsed in his bones, tingled through the smallest of tissues and muscle fibers, sent tremors across his chest.

After witnessing all of her hard work, he expected nothing less from his teammate.

In the epicenter of it, Sakura felt a new sensation, as though she stepped out of her body as time ground to a halt. It was amid the mist that she saw her reflection.

The girl with the long pink hair, grown to such a length all on the rumor that a boy—Sasuke—preferred girls with longer hair. The naïve emerald eyes. So innocent. So naïve.

They were the eyes of a child drowning in the deep end of a pool after jumping in on a dare because she was too afraid to admit she didn't know how to swim.

Looking at herself, Sakura initially felt frustrated. Ashamed, even. God, what a fool she was. So naïve. So weak. She was no different than the Fifth Hokage hiding her age beneath a Transformation Jutsu.

The person she used to be presented an air of courage and superiority to the world. But it was all a lie. She'd been faking courage and superiority out of the hope that no one would notice how afraid and insecure she was.

They were right, the kunoichi thought, staring at her reflection. I was useless. Naïve. Out of my depth.

I lack a kekkei genkai. I don't come from a Clan of warriors like the Uchiha Clan, and before recently I lacked the drive and determination and willpower that Naruto possesses.

I severed my bond with Ino. Or, rather, I twisted it into something so toxic over the stupidest of reasons. All over a boy who may or may not ever feel the same way I do.

Back then, I treated Naruto and Amari terribly. In ignorance, in jealousy, and out plain cruelty. And I was little more than a cheerleader for Sasuke, who saw me as an annoyance.

I had nothing. Nothing except my fake courage and insecurities.

The truth is, I hate the way I used to be, but… I'm also grateful. I'm so grateful because…

Ichiraku's took shape within the mist. At the counter, seated together after a physically taxing afternoon of training, was her old self and Amari. She could smell the aroma of freshly cooked miso ramen, see Amari's gentle face and hear her encouraging words.

"You are strong, Sakura. You are a valued member of Team Seven, a valued friend and I will do everything within my power to help you become stronger."

Sakura clutched a hand in front of her heart.

My weakness brought us together. It shattered my stupid pride and ego and opened my eyes to see the world clearly for the first time. Amari taught me so much. She showed me the path I needed to take to gain strength, to become someone I could be proud of. And through that journey I gained more than physical strength.

The ramen stand was whisked away by the wind. Her reflection returned.

My bond with my teammates, my renewed bond with Ino, my determination, my confidence, my strength, it all budded from my weakness. It was a rich soil for growth.

So I'm grateful to that weak girl, she thought while staring at her reflection. I'm grateful she had the courage to admit her weakness and ask for help. I'm grateful for all of her hard work. I'm grateful she grasped Amari's outstretched hand tightly. I'm grateful she learned to believe in herself. That she kept working harder to walk beside her teammates despite lacking a kekkei genkai or a powerful bloodline.

I'm grateful to Amari, Naruto and Sasuke for teaching me, whether personally or through their actions how to stand beside them. I'm grateful to Kakashi-sensei for teaching us teamwork and the value of our comrades. I'm grateful to that weak girl for listening, for learning, for struggling and fighting to catch up.

And I'm so grateful she never gave up. So, she looked at her reflection with a smile, thank you. It's because of you I'm here today. After all, its your hard work that allowed us to blossom. So thank you.

It's true I was weak. It's true I had nothing. But things are different now. I'll keep pushing forward…

The reflection, like a morning mist, disappeared silently. She felt the pulse of her chakra, the swirl of energy thrumming through her whole body and whipping around her.

And shatter my limitations!

"Haaaahhhhhh!" The wordless cry of strength built in the pit of her stomach, rose up through her chest and throat and roared from her lips.

As if commanded by the shout, a powerful surge of chakra pulsed off the kunoichi.

The thick curtain of mist dispersed abruptly, swept away by the swell of chakra pouring off the kunoichi, the result much like a bathroom mirror obscured by steam suddenly clearing, once more granting them sight of their enemies.

In the moment of clarity Sakura counted a dozen Water Clones of Meizu, each and every one of them was shrouded in wild killing intent, casting a visage of a demon with two horns protruding from their foreheads, matched in viciousness and sharpness by his almost manic grin.

Of the dozen, one was already in striking range, two more were coming in at her sides; she measured they were at least two strides from skewering her.

The rest were close behind. Too close.

Every last one of them was charging her, drawn to the blood like frenzying sharks, amused by the surge of chakra and, in their minds, its meager effect when the battle was already over. They were champing at the bit to finally capture her and Sasuke.

Vengeance was upon them. Vengeance and entertainment.

There was no time for a jutsu. No time to react with anything except drilled instinct.

Sakura, breathing heavily and not ashamed to show it, narrowly caught the closest Meizu's kunai in a sharp block.

He chuckled deeply, darkly, bearing his power against her kunai. Her arms were shaking, trembling. The blood on her left hand made the hilt slick.

"Hahahaha! End of the line, girl! Now die!"

She didn't need to look left or right to see the other two Water Clones already on top of her. Her peripherals were enough.

The kunoichi grit her teeth. Then felt her skin begin to tingle with electricity, and her hairs stand on end.

A cruel smirk tugged at her lips.

"You first."

Amid the silent battlefield, bursting with an electric blue hue, the sharp screech of a thousand birds chirping encompassed the battlefield.

The electric hue, without preamble, without mercy, flashed through the trio of Water Clones.

For Sakura, the destruction of the Clones was imperceptible. There was the blur, and then three different cold puddles of water splashing against her warm body.

The cry of the Chidori did not fade, nor did Sasuke stop.

He sprinted across the battlefield with the speed of Rock Lee, to her eyes taking on the shape of a blue lightning bolt shooting from Water Clone to Water Clone, faster than they could be replenished, faster than Meizu or Gōzu could process the scene which they were seeing.

His fierce Sharingan eyes read their movements, locked onto his targets, his hand covered in lightning was low to the ground, tearing up dirt and sending crackling bolts of Lightning Nature infused chakra rippling across the earth.

He struck a Water Clone down, skidded along the blades of grass, made a half turn, then lunged ahead, jabbing his Lightning covered palm through a first, a second, and then a third in a sort of zig-zag pattern.

The half turn, the lunge through the trio, it was all apart of Sasuke's plan. For he had finally aligned himself with Meizu, who was stunned by the sight of the jutsu.

"The Lightning Blade? From this brat?"

"You're dead!" Sasuke growled.

Meizu blinked and seemed to come to his senses. His legs made to move, to evade the headlong attack before it could strike him down.

Meanwhile, Gōzu weaved handseals for a Water Style Jutsu, hoping to strike Sasuke first and, likely, kill him while his back was turned.

The dispersal of the Hidden Mist Jutsu had surprised them, the sight of the Chidori had shaken their confidence.

It replaced the certainty in their combination attack with bewilderment, and, like moths drawn to a flame, both former Mist shinobis had their gazes devoted solely to electric blue hue of the Chidori.

They'd forgotten Sakura entirely. Overlooked her.

It was to be their ultimate undoing.

Heaving heavy breaths, Sakura channeled chakra throughout her whole body, locking her gaze on Gōzu.

The reason Sasuke can turn his back on you and focus on Meizu…

Gōzu drew his head back.

Is because he's trusting me to handle you!

At that moment, the kunoichi flashed across the battlefield, reappearing beneath his guard with her right fist drawn back. She saw Gōzu's eyes widen at the sight of her, noticed how he began to redirect his attack for her.

Likewise, he felt rather than saw the flare of chakra around her fist.

"You're finished! CHAAAA!"

With a roar, the punch buried itself in his abdomen, impacted with the force of a heavy mallet slamming against a gong. Water mixed with blood expelled from Gōzu's mouth.

Then, like he was attracted by a super magnet, the Mist shinobi shot away. Directly into the trunk of a tree, his body and head making a sickening crack on impact.

He crashed limp against the ground.

Opposite of him, Sakura collapsed to a knee, bloody hand clasped around her wrist and a painful grimace on her face.

Geh! My wrist…

"Gōzu!"

The kunoichi, through a wince, glanced to Meizu. He'd leapt into the air, over Sasuke, and had his furious gaze set on her.

With his back turned to Sasuke, he did not see the Uchiha maintain his momentum, dashing up the trunk of a tree, then halting. He planted his feet, bent his knees as he prepared to launch at the helpless floating enemy.

"You! I'll—"

Meizu seemed to nearly bite his tongue off. His eyes went wide, for he felt Sasuke's presence appear behind him. He felt the electricity tingle across his skin, saw the electric hue color everything in his immediate surroundings blue, and heard thousands of birds chirping.

"Chidori!"

The Lightning covered jab struck, and the pair slammed into the earth.

A small crater exploded into existence.

And the forest returned to silence.

---

A man attired in a prison garb, panting, whimpering, eyes wide and heart racing, was running down one of the many hilly forests in the Land of Fire.

That man was Satoshi Asano, a former Leaf shinobi sentenced for treason during the last war.

By his own admission, Satoshi was neither the strongest or bravest shinobi; in truth, he never ascended past the rank of Genin. He was never bothered by it, nor did he ever hold any ill will against the Leaf Village.

In this world, everyone had a role to play, and he was satisfied in his.

When a fruitful coincidence placed sensitive Intel in his possession, it wasn't out of malice or hatred that he turned it over to the enemy. It was greed and its impulse.

He never thought it would actually hurt his comrades, or end in the deaths of young children who happened to be in the camp that unfortunate day.

But it had. And he did not fight his sentencing or lament it. All he felt was regret. Regret for the young lives his impulse snuffed out, all for a little bit of money.

By his own admission, Satoshi was scum. He accepted that and his punishment.

However, today…

The terrain leveled out. He burst through the trees onto the dirt road. He glanced over his shoulder, saw the wolf dash out of the trees on his trail, and wailed.

"No, no, no, no, no! Oh god, oh god!"

The wolf was on him before he could reach the other side of the road. With a powerful leap and a vicious growl, it pounced Satoshi with surprising strength, crashing the full-grown man chest first into the dirt.

When he tried to scramble up, it hopped off his back, latched its teeth around his arm and started thrashing its head, jerking the limb with such force and harshness he was certain it would pull it clean off.

No matter what Satoshi did, the wolf tugged him back into the dirt while growling and snarling fearsomely.

In the uproar of his screams of mercy and agony, two more wolves bolted out of the hillside.

One took control of his opposite arm, following its leader's actions by biting down and thrashing its head like they were playing a game of tug-of-war, and he was their rope.

The third snatched his leg for the same purpose. In three different directions he was tugged, thrashed and tormented. In his fear he was certain they would pull him apart, as though they could draw and quarter him just by yanking his limbs hard enough.

Today… Today just wasn't his day.

Moments ago, scarcely five minutes, Satoshi was among a group of eight prisoners, but he wasn't free. Not even close.

No, he was dragged out of imprisonment into slavery by the leader of the gang of five. He, and two others, were the first they intended to sell in their new enterprise.

Moments ago, he witnessed the ambush which tore through the gang of prisoners, freeing him from a potential life of enslavement inside of human trafficking rings.

Once again, though, he was dragged against his will by one of the enslaved prisoners.

"Run while we can!" he had said.

Satoshi hadn't wanted to run. He hadn't wanted to be "freed" by Mizuki, either.

Yet primal instinct took control of his body, pushed him to flee when he knew intellectually that the safest and the just conclusion was surrender to the Leaf shinobi.

He ran, chased by the cries and screams of the gang of prisoners, and then similar cries and pleas from the slaves who ran. He should have stopped. He should have surrendered. But he was afraid—yet another impulse that led him astray.

The snarls and barks of the wolves did not drown out his cries or his wails. They matched each other in volume, in intensity, and only served to draw more terrified, more desperate cries from his chapped lips.

The wolves, likewise, intensified their efforts. Perhaps encouraged by his screams. Perhaps misinterpreting his cries. Or perhaps they were just beasts playing with their food.

They yanked his limbs and sank their teeth deeper into his flesh, staining their white teeth crimson.

Satoshi screamed and wailed and writhed in the dirt like a snake with its head chopped off.

"Please stoppppp! Stoppp! I surrender!"

A sharp whistle broke through the cacophony of snarls and barks.

The trio of wolves suddenly released his limbs, but they did not leave his side. They snarled in his ears, barked and pounced the ground when he curled into the fetal position.

Satoshi trembled in place, ducking his head into his chest. His arms and leg throbbed. But he heard the distinct sound of sandals crunching on the dirt as the shinobi to call the wolves off approached. Step by step. Calm and confident.

"Please, I didn't want any part in this," he pleaded to be believed.

"Good work, boys," a woman, to his surprise, commended the three wolves, ignoring him.

He hazarded a frightful peek at the owner of the voice. She was dressed in the standard Leaf Village attire, flak jacket and all, with long, straight brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Red fang-like markings were displayed on her cheeks—a member of the Inuzuka Clan, a young adult with softer, less feral features than her other clansmen.

She was beautiful even with the severe expression on her face.

So, they weren't wolves. They're full grown ninken of the Inuzuka Clan.

Far more frightening than wolves, in his experience.

Her dark eyes fell on him. He couldn't help but squeeze his eyes shut and curl up tighter.

"If you didn't want any part in this, you should have stayed in your cell."

"I wanted to. I tried to! I didn't want to take part in any of this. Some of us tried to stay in our cells. But…"

"Are you refusing to join our feast?"

Mizuki's vile grin appeared to him. Satoshi shivered and opened his eyes.

"Then he threatened us…"

"Who?"

"Mizuki," his voice shook as he spoke the name. "He…He had those two…those two monsters kill three men who didn't want to leave. They… They tore one part like they were pulling bones out of a chicken wing. Another had his head crushed in. The other…"

Satoshi shuddered and grabbed at his temples.

"It was terrible! I can still hear him screaming! And Mizuki's laughter… Oh god…"

"And the five back there?" she asked emotionlessly.

"Three of us gathered near the entrance of the prison. We knew the Leaf would eventually hunt us down, whether it took hours, days, weeks or months, and the chance it would be Anbu after us… We didn't want to risk it. So we tried to hide and wait, but those five… They beat us, captured us, and planned to sell us as slaves. Before you arrived and…"

"Had my boys here turn them into chew toys?"

The trio snarled, but there was an intelligence in it. A sort of vicious, intelligent glee that constricted him in fear.

"I…I didn't want to run. I was ready to surrender. But then one of the others dragged me away, told me to run, and I… My body just reacted. I couldn't think. Your hounds frightened me."

"Good." The kunoichi hummed to herself. "Been a hell of day for you, huh?"

She didn't sound the least bit sympathetic. He couldn't blame her.

He was still scum.

"Please," he pleaded. "I just want to go back to my cell."

"Well, you're in luck. Because that's exactly where you'll be going. You and the other two." Satoshi exhaled a shuddering sigh of relief. "But first I need you to tell me everything you know about Mizuki's plans."

Satoshi didn't hesitate to divulge those secrets to the Inuzuka kunoichi. But this time it wasn't for greed, nor did he fool himself into believing it wouldn't harm anyone.

He did it out of self-preservation, and he hoped like hell it would help end Mizuki's miserable life.

For that rogue was worse than scum.

---

Inside of the Leaf, within the walls of the Intelligence Division's headquarters, the operation to capture or eliminate the escaping prisoners was far calmer.

The greatest battle was coordinating the shinobi beyond the walls in possession of portable Chakra Transmission Communication Devices. These devices were similar to large, backpack carried two-way radios, from which a wire attached to the shinobi's head allowed direct communication back to the nucleus—a stationary device far larger than the portable variation.

The stationary device required two special, large batteries—the size of a food transportation barrel—attached by wires to what appeared from the outside as a concrete block. Another set of wires exiting the block attached to a head-worn device, one which presently covered Inoichi Yamanaka's face from the bridge of his nose up.

This device was the nucleus, granting the Yamanaka the ability to communicate over long-distances more precisely, and with less strain, to those wearing the portable variations.

Unfortunately, the Chakra Transmission Communication Devices required specialized training to use, and unique batteries to power them—both of which were in short supply due to the Invasion.

At present there were three shinobi out in the field, stationed in as convenient of locations as they could manage given the widespread nature of the operation, under the protection of elite squads.

It left lengthy gaps between reports. Gaps which Shikaku Nara utilized to pour over the prisoner rosters for high valued targets, to mark off those eliminated and those recaptured, and figure out what Mizuki's next move was.

Humming, scratching his goatee, Shikaku observed a topographical map of the Land of Fire.

Right now, he eyed the prison's location, Kurenai and Asuma are still likely in the midst of fighting off the prisoners. Soon, though, the Anbu team led by Yūgao Uzuki will arrive. The prison will be reclaimed; we'll finally be able to assess the full extent of damage and the casualties Mizuki's little rebellion has caused. Those who have captured targets can begin transferring the prisoners back to their cells.

However, he glanced across his desk to the list of prisoners, and the many names scratched out of it. It's going to be a lot emptier after this incident.

The threats went beyond 'Risu's safety and protection; it went beyond his personal connection to his niece. If even one prisoner escaped their border, or managed to harm civilians, that single incident could provoke the Stone into attacking the Grass immediately, and then the Land of Fire, when preparations for the war weren't finished.

The casualties and overall damage it would inevitably cause… It was high. Far higher than it would be if they could lay down the necessary preparations over the coming months.

Mizuki didn't know it, but his rebellion was a far greater threat to the Land of Fire than he could have ever imagined. His selfish act could ignite a war.

This was all it took, one single domino tumbling over to send the world spiraling rapidly towards war, and Shikaku knew without a shadow of a doubt that the rogue didn't give a damn.

The only option, to his mind, was to bring a swift end to this incident.

What are you after, Mizuki? Shikaku hummed deep in his throat, frowning. Where are you trying to reach? It's clear you're using all the other prisoners to create chaos; they're just pawns to distract and split up our forces. 'Risu isn't your real target, either. At least not right now.

You're after something else. Something to do with that formula Lady Tsunade and Tonbo are researching.

If he only knew what it did, then maybe he could piece together Mizuki's overall plan, and extrapolate from there where he intended to run off to.

He wasn't coming back for 'Risu. No. Today, and the days and months leading up to this prison break, 'Risu served as a convenient tool to gather his personal pawns under a single banner—a reason for his ragtag team to unite towards a shared objective.

You aren't stupid enough to believe they won't betray you. In fact, you know among your pawns that two will leave to target 'Risu without you. Yes, I already know all of your pawns by name; that wasn't hard to figure out. All I had to do was cross-reference the shinobi recently arrested to 'Risu's missions. The dots connected themselves.

He eyed the names on the list, still left uncrossed. No one had reported sight of the two shinobi, which meant they were still out there somewhere.

Those two, they wouldn't leave the Land of Fire without 'Risu. She was the key to their redemption, the key to returning home as heroes rather than impulsive fools.

He turned his severe gaze to the map, pinpointing the general location Tenzō and 'Risu were presently.

They've likely begun their hunt for 'Risu. We need to find them, and soon. Of all the shinobi who can escape, they're the ones I'm most worried about.

"Shikaku," Inoichi called. "I have a report coming in from Hana Inuzuka. She wants to speak to you directly."

Duty called.

Shikaku maneuvered over to the Chakra Transmission Communication Device and kneeled in front of his friend and comrade, shutting his eyes. Inoichi rested his palm on the Nara's forehead.

The physical connection established a link from the nucleus of the Leaf Village to the Inuzuka kunoichi far outside of its walls.

Hana, what news do you have for me?

"Have we found Mizuki?" Hana cut straight to the point.

Not yet. Why?

"I think I know what he's after."

---

"This is ridiculous."

Tenzō, crouched on an elevated tree branch, hand resting on the trunk as he listened and searched for potential enemies, disagreed with the exasperated complaint.

Plenty of things could be called ridiculous—rain on a wedding day, for instance. Or the childish posturing that led to fist fights between drunken, grown men.

His duty, assigned to him by Shikaku and the Hokage, was far from ridiculous.

"You may not like it," he replied emotionlessly, "but I have my orders."

"I sincerely doubt anyone ordered this."

He didn't need to look at Amaririsu to see her screwing her lips in a childish pout, nor did he need to turn to see her tapping her kunai against the wooden cage he trapped her within. He could sense the former in her voice, and hear the latter with every dull tap-tap-tap-tap the blade and wood together made.

The cage was a little larger than an oven. Its top and bottom were entirely sealed off with his Wood Style, its sides had a series of small wooden beams creating rows and columns that allowed air to flow in and out, but encouraged her to sit and accept the punishment.

"My orders are to protect you. How I do that is up to my discretion," he explained patiently.

"How does turning me into a literal caged bird instead of a metaphorical one protect me?" she questioned, annoyed.

"You were acting recklessly," came his cool response. "When we first set off, I obeyed Shikaku's order to let you take part in the operation, even if only for the capture or elimination of a few of the prisoners planning to siege the Leaf.

"In hindsight, I gave you more leeway than I should have; I did it because Kakashi places the utmost faith in your skills and temperament. Maybe too much."

Abruptly the rhythmic tapping ended with a quick, jagged scrape. Tenzō ignored it to finish his point.

"However, rather than acting as a shinobi trained by Kakashi, you were acting on emotion like a child. And in doing so you were placing yourself in danger that was entirely avoidable. That's why you're in that cage now. You need to calm down and focus.

"Yes, you are their target. I understand how that feels, and I understand that your home was attacked directly. But a shinobi must push aside these personal emotions for the sake of the mission and the squad."

For a moment Amaririsu said nothing. He didn't expect a response, truthfully. His way of teaching doubtlessly seemed unfair to her—draconian, even. But he wasn't Kakashi. They weren't bound by a bond of teacher and student; there was no personal attachment here, so she could pout, glare or hate him all she liked.

His orders were clear: Protect Amaririsu Yūhi from threats greater than these prisoners could muster. If that meant protecting her from her own reckless behavior, then he had no qualms employing draconian measures to fulfill his duty.

"…You can say whatever you want about me and my emotional temperament, and I'll even concede that you aren't wrong about it or my reckless behavior," Amaririsu spoke up, calm and to the point. "I was furious about the attack on my home. I still am. I'm furious because Mizuki has spread my secret to all these people and has endangered the Leaf because of it. I can admit that I was attacking on raw emotion rather than thought.

"But you have no right to insult my Sensei. None."

"I didn't."

"No, you did," she asserted firmly. "It was subtle, almost backhanded. You said he maybe has placed too much trust in me. You meant it to target me and my temperament, but your attack was a thinly veiled insult to Kakashi-sensei's judgement."

"I have the utmost respect for Kakashi."

"Maybe you do. But you also think he goes too easy on me. You think he's too soft. That he gives me too much leeway simply because I'm his student. You may respect him as a shinobi, as a man, for his accomplishments, or all of those reasons and more. But you think his trust in me is mistaken. You don't understand why he has faith in me. Worst, you think it's all based on 'childish emotion' instead of anything rational."

Tenzō switched positions again.

"Well, I can't say you're wrong," it was his turn to concede to her point. "You may not see it, but Kakashi gives you considerable freedom. I've read your mission reports. You've acted on reckless emotion on more than one occasion, and one instance in particular resulted in you nearly dying at Kakashi's own hand. Did you ever consider how that might effect him?"

"I think about it every day," she replied sharply.

"Then there was the Preliminary rounds of the Chūnin Exams; the injury you sustained at the hands of Orochimaru should've taken priority over your continued participation. Yet he allowed you to continue, against wiser counsel.

"In the Invasion he sent you, Mimi Inuzuka and Sasuke Uchiha into battle. Necessity demanded it, as we know. And I won't dismiss your contributions. But how many other rookie Genin do you suspect would be given such freedom to act in any other circumstance?

"In the Akatsuki Incident, before I was initially assigned to guard you, your actions did buy time for reinforcements, I will not deny that. But what would have happened if your mother hadn't placed that space-time technique on you? Or if Itachi and Aimi weren't actively doing everything in their power to spare your life? Your reckless behavior would have cost you your life.

"In the Land of Snow he gave you considerable autonomy—"

"Do not speak to me of the Land of Snow," she cut him off with a growl. "There is nothing you can say, or have the right to say, that I haven't told myself a million times. I will bear the burden of Sandayū and his samurai's deaths until my final breath."

"Fine," he conceded. "You can see my point, though. The freedom Kakashi gives you to act is undeniable, and though he isn't alone in it, he is a major proponent of it. Rules are bent conveniently when you act up, rarely with punishment. Even before you made Chūnin."

"And you would rather have me be a caged bird?"

"I would rather you grow up," he emphasized. "You know what danger you face. You've seen it with your own eyes. You can't remain a child any longer. You're a shinobi now, caught up in the schemes of enemy shinobi of incredible strength and talent. If you fall to darkness, or if your life is claimed by these enemies, it isn't just you who will be effected. You need to remember that."

"I know that," she hissed. "You said you understand how it feels to be a target. Are you telling me you never acted on emotion? That you've never bent the rules to protect people you held precious?"

Unfortunately, for this argument, he had. There was a girl he met, before he'd been…saved, he supposed was the appropriate word, by Kakashi from the Foundation. A girl he acted on emotion for rather than as a shinobi.

Though their circumstances were different, he did empathize with Amaririsu's situation and her emotions. His mission simply took priority.

"Kakashi places the utmost faith and trust in you," he said instead. "He believes wholeheartedly in your abilities to lead your generation. As his student, it is your duty to prove him right."

"And I haven't proven myself to you?"

"Not yet. It isn't that you lack talent or that I distrust your loyalties; I can see why Kakashi believes you will one day lead your generation. However, you haven't reached it yet, and my expectations for a shinobi taught by Kakashi himself are high."

He glanced over his shoulder to the child seated crossed-legged inside the wooden prison. As expected, she was frowning up at him, shifting her jaw to the side.

"You're a special case, though. My expectations are even higher for you."

She furrowed her brow and squinted. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Why don't you take this time to think on it," he replied, returning to his observation.

"I can think about it outside of this cage."

"I'm sure you could. However, as I recall, you haven't been cleared for active duty yet. You've been cleared for supervised training only. From that perspective, the cage is also protecting you from potential injury."

"Ughhh," groaned the kunoichi. "Troublesome adult."

Tenzō felt a smirk pull onto his lips beneath his mask.

It may seem unfair, but I have high expectations for you, the daughter of Miyako Nara.

At that moment, the sound of a bird beating its wings greeted the Anbu agent's ears. He didn't fret or divert his attention from the cautious supervision of the surrounding area, for he knew well who had returned, and had been anticipating it.

There was one last beat, this one close enough for him to feel a mild rush of air. Then the additional weight of Osamu came to rest upon his shoulder.

"How does it look?" he asked.

"Our present position is secure," Osamu informed. "However, there are still bands of prisoners hunting for Lady Amari's trail to our North and West; the roar of our Combined Transformation, as expected, has drawn quite the crowd."

"Mm. Just like Shikaku predicted."

"Indeed. It is highly likely at least one of the prisoners Lady Amari captured witnessed one of her dragon-based jutsus; Shadow Dragons, Demonic Dragon, or perhaps her inner spirit or killing intent at its highest potency.

"Seeing as she is the object of their fascination, it is then even more likely that they spread the good word, as it were, of Lady Amari's own fascination with dragons. Thus the sound of a dragon's roar has attracted these busy bees with irresistibly sweet honey."

"And drawn them straight into Shikaku's trap."

"Indeed. The net around them is already closing. Soon it will shut entirely."

The operation was proceeding smoothly, then. Soon they could all go—

"Hey, let me out of this cage!"

Tenzō sighed. "I already told you—"

"This isn't about that! There are shinobi here!"

Assuming it wasn't a trick, any shinobi to make it this far would be invisible to the naked eye, but not to Amaririsu's sensory abilities. He decided to take her at her word.

"Where?" he demanded.

"They're—"

The sudden roar of moving earth snapped his attention around. The Wooden Prison was flying, propelled by an Earth Style ninjutsu like all the pressure between the earth's plates expelled upwards beneath Amaririsu.

An invisible silhouette caught the box, as a result dispersing the Camouflage Jutsu the shinobi was shrouded in. He was short and stout, bald with a nose the size of an eagle's beak. He didn't bother to hide his self-satisfied grin.

"Thanks for making our job easier, Leaf shinobi!" the shinobi taunted, a mocking laugh in his voice. "She would've put up a decent fight if not for you!"

Without another glance over his shoulder he dashed off through the canopy.

"Amaririsu!" Tenzō jumped after them.

"Lady Amari!"

"Directly in front of you!" Amaririsu called out. "Cloud shinobi!"

In front of him?

Tenzō didn't have much time to scrutinize the branch he was about to land on, nor did he see anything out of the ordinary on it. Again, though, he took Amaririsu at her word.

Hand flashing up, he grabbed the hilt of his katana, securely harnessed on his back. The blade hissed as it leapt from its sheathe. The blade struck nothing, there appeared to be nothing.

Yet he saw the enemy all the same.

The shinobi evaded to his right, down the branch, away from the trunk, all while cloaked by the same Camouflage Jutsu. The quick movement made them all the easier to see.

"Osamu, go after Amaririsu!" ordered Tenzō.

"At once!"

Osamu leapt off his shoulder, darting off after the fleeing Cloud shinobi.

Tenzō spun a half turn and raised his katana in a defensive block. Fortunately he was quick, for the invisible shinobi lunged in and struck with a blade of their own—a kunai, judging on the range it took for him to actually strike.

The Camouflage Jutsu was wearing off, revealing a taller man with brown hair that framed his face. His aquiline nose was smaller than his comrade's, but large all the same. He, too, wore a self-satisfied smile.

Cloud shinobi, huh? They must be the one's who attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyūga.

"You saved us a lot of trouble imprisoning her like that," the Cloud shinobi taunted. "A Byakugan, a Sharingan, and a child of Uchiha blood; the Raikage will reward us personally for bringing him such a prize."

"You won't make it that far."

The Cloud shinobi ducked beneath his strike, countered with a kick that Tenzō evaded by hopping back. His heel tapped against the trunk of the tree; his enemy thought he was trapped and darted in, attacking with a slick feint.

The Anbu agent melded suddenly into the trunk, vanishing and merging into the wood, stunning the Cloud shinobi. There was but a moment between his evasion and next attack.

It came from above. He dropped down out of the tree, sword drawn to strike. His cat-motif mask offered no sign of emotion, no arrogance, no glee, no anger. Nothing except his dark eyes could be seen, and they were emotionless.

Despite the suddenness of it all, the Cloud shinobi managed to block the attack at the last moment in a deafening clang of metal on metal. A terrible grinding followed as the kunai slid down the blade to the guard.

Tenzō twisted his blade and pressed harder against his enemy's kunai. The Cloud shinobi let out a harsh cry as the upper ring of his ear was severed. A second kunai flashed into his hand.

Swiftly, Tenzō leapt aside, off the tree branch, and was immediately chased by two kunai. He made two quick slashes, deflecting the blades, and landed securely on the earth below.

Like a ghost, a twin of the Cloud shinobi appeared behind him.

On instinct, in a fluid motion, he turned down into a kneeling position, slashing his blade through the middle of the Clone.

Halfway through he met unexpected and heavy resistance. His katana halted entirely and the Clone transformed into a light colored mud, solidified not only around his sword, but around his hands and a portion of his forearms.

What the?

With all of his strength, the Anbu agent tried to yank his sword and his arms free. Nothing. They refused to budge. He may as well have sunk his hands in wet cement and waited for it to dry.

The shifting of earth dragged his wide eyes to the new jutsu formed by the Cloud shinobi: a giant, sharpened needle of stone. His enemy was grimacing, holding his hand to his bloody ear.

"Goddamn Leaf shinobi. I was going to cut you a deal and let you live since you captured our target for us. But now you're as good as dead!"

The Earth Style jutsu lunged forward. And struck the Leaf shinobi dead on, piercing through his arm, his torso, shattering bones and rupturing organs, before penetrating into the earth behind him.

A cloud of dust was kicked up on impact. The former prisoner waited; members of the Anbu were the peskiest of shinobi, generally speaking. He didn't want to turn his back and find a blade slitting his throat before he could regroup with his teammate.

The dust cleared. At the end of the Mud Needle was a body.

Made entirely from wood.

"A Substitution?" he gaped.

Suddenly, loudly, thick branches of Wood sprouted from the earth, wrapping around the ankles, the torso, the arms and the neck of the Cloud shinobi in an instant. They lifted him off his Earth Style ninjutsu, tugged his arms and legs spread eagle, and suspended him above the earth.

He couldn't move an inch. He couldn't command his ninjutsu. And he could scarcely breath.

There, in the forest, he was suspended in a coiling set of branches built around his Earth Style ninjutsu.

Tenzō emerged from the trunk of the tree he melded into, sword sheathed.

"Sorry," he apologized without any heart in it. "But no deal."

He half-turned to leave.

"Try not to go anywhere," he added over his shoulder with a hint of cheek in his voice. "I'll be back with your friend soon enough."

---

Inside the wooden cage, bouncing roughly with every leap the enemy took, Amari grit her teeth and kept her eyes shut, bracing her feet against the bottom corners and her hands on the walls to stop herself from crashing up and down.

The Cloud shinobi, she knew, was purposefully bouncing her inside. He only started when she tried to sever the thick sausages he called fingers from his grubby hands, which led to nothing.

An Earth Style defensive shell layered his hands; clearly he suspected she wasn't disarmed inside the cage.

The wood, too, was too thick to cut through. There was no room to swing her tantō, and the potential of setting the entire wooden prison on fire while still stuck inside was too great to risk. She didn't fancy burning alive, though she was certain the Cloud shinobi had worst intentions for her.

Oh sure, I'll be safe and protected in this prison, she growled. Like a canary with its wings clipped. And all the outdoor cats have prepared a feast.

She lifted off the floor of the cage, then slammed butt and back first against it again. Out of frustration, she kicked the wall, but knew it wouldn't do anything.

"When I get free, you're going to wish you stayed in prison," she snarled, red eye glowing.

"Don't get your hopes up," the Cloud shinobi chuckled menacingly. "When you are freed, it'll be at the hands of the Raikage. Then you will wish you were never released from this cage."

The kunoichi said nothing for a moment. Through the vision of the Byakugan she could see Osamu chasing her. Her back and bottom slammed against the floor again.

She grit her teeth, then exhaled a mocking scoff.

"How sad the Cloud Village is. It's a pathetic Village, really."

"I'd watch your mouth, girl. You're not in any position to posture," the Cloud shinobi growled.

"Think about it, though," she continued her mockery. "Your Village is so pathetic that it doesn't build itself on its own strength, but has to go steal it from others. Children, no less. Your Raikage must be the weakest Kage of them all. To have to stoop to stealing power, what a sad existence."

This time she slammed against the ceiling and the floor. The throbbing in her head was bad, but the grin on her face was vicious.

"Shut your mouth! Do not insult Lord Raikage!"

"I'm right, aren't I?" she pressed on, grinning venomously. "Your Village is so weak and pathetic that your Raikage has to rely on power that doesn't belong to him or his shinobi. Ha! That's as pathetic as the Sound shinobi and their gadgets! Poor, poor, Raikage. Being so weak is shameful, really."

Again she flew from floor to ceiling, back to the floor again.

"You don't get it, do you?" the Cloud shinobi snarled. "The only reason I haven't taken your head for insulting Lord Raikage is because your body is more useful intact and alive. For now."

"Oohhhh, very scary," she bit out against the revulsion in her stomach. "That just makes you and your Village more pathetic. That my unborn children wield such overwhelming potential when compared to the rest of you!"

The next slam was harsher than the last. Osamu, however, was closer. And she had a plan beyond merely frustrating her captor.

"You know what's even sadder? The shinobi under the magnanimous and super strong Lord Raikage," she said with every bit of venom she possessed. "Shinobi like you! So weak, so pathetic, that he has to rely on the potential of unborn Uchiha children to bolster his forces! You're even more pathetic than that scum you call a Raikage!"

"Little braatttt! I'll—"

"But, in truth, you all disgust me," her tone shifted, losing venom and becoming icy. "Your Raikage's policies, his obsession with power, that he hunts and takes kekkei genkai and secrets, and shields himself in nobility and morality as he cuts down whoever stands in his way by claiming its 'for the sake of the Village,' like that somehow excuses it, disgusts me.

"That he would steal my unborn children, and that you find glee in that, and would likely volunteer to be the first to use me as a tool, makes my skin crawl."

"That's all your body is good for, you brat."

She kicked the wall. "I am sick and tired of people who see my body as a tool for their goals! It's because of twisted people like you that the world is the way it is now!"

"Be happy, your children will know a good life. They will be strong warriors of the Cloud. As for you, your power must be controlled. Tamed by your betters."

Amari growled.

You think you're safe because I'm inside this cage. You think the Sharingan is the only way I can ensnare you in a genjutsu. But that's not the only way I can cast genjutsu, you sick bastard.

Osamu was close. It was finally time to escape this prison.

And show this Cloud shinobi the power of the Head of the Uchiha Clan.

Amari slammed one last time against the floor. She brought her hands into Rat immediately.

Demonic Illusion: Demon Dragon!

The top of the wooden prison shattered, and from it, like a springing jack-in-the-box, Amari appeared with a wordless roar, her wild hair transformed into dark-blue scaled dragons, which snapped their razor sharp teeth as they undulated and writhed with every attempt to devour the Cloud shinobi.

The whites of her eyes had turned black. The crimson Sharingan and lavender Byakugan became bright orange flames, searing through the darkness and shadows which were spreading across the broken wooden prison and over the arms of the stunned Cloud shinobi.

To his eyes, the shadows seemed to be grabbing him with the cold hands of a grim reaper. Amari's hands, incandescent red, clutched onto his forearms, burning them. When she spoke, her voice roared and rumbled like her demonic dragon.

"My unborn children are not yours to claim! I will drag you, your Raikage and anyone else who seeks to twist them into tools straight to hellllllll!"

The roar made the trees tremble, the branches waver, and the dying leaves fall. The molten fire from her core brushed against the Cloud shinobi's whole body.

It did the trick. In a panic, the shinobi with a large nose dropped the wooden prison like it was on fire. It was only as he watched it fall that he had a crystalizing moment of what had happened. The crystalizing moment was accented by a single cry from within the cage.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

The Cloud shinobi released the genjutsu. The shadows and darkness faded, the burning sensation on his arms vanished, the demonic child poking out of the wooden prison did, too.

However, instead, as reality settled in, he witnessed a murder of crows pouring out of a shattered hole in the top of the wooden prison. The cage crashed against the forest floor, empty.

The flock of Crows were already upon him. But it wasn't their black feathers or their ominous cawing which widened his eyes; it was the blade of flames that ignited within it, creating an orange trail that emitted tangible heat as it passed by, and the crimson eye belonging to the Uchiha child glowing fiercely amidst the black feathers.

Amari landed beside him, fully reformed with Osamu on her shoulder. She spun rapidly and slashed.

The Earth Style defensive shell he shielded his whole body with spared his arm and side from the brunt of the flames and the sharp blade. But her keen dōjutsu witnessed a series of cracks and flakes form.

Therefore, she wasn't at all surprised when the Cloud shinobi attempted to evade away with a leap to the forest floor as he grabbed for kunai with paper bombs attached to them.

The kunoichi flooded her body with chakra and vanished off the tree branch, shooting headlong at the Cloud shinobi, fearless and remorseless.

He threw his kunais. They never had a chance to touch her. Her body dispersed into Crows, drilling past him, pelting his Earth Shell, and circling on the ground directly behind him.

Amari reformed again, flooded her body with chakra, and felt the air pulse with his useless explosives.

Without a word, she slashed her tantō at the air, and a blade of flame leapt from its edge, cutting along the Shell which was afflicted by spiderweb-like cracks.

She was gone before it struck him. Gone before his feet touched the earth. And when he finally did land, Shell burnt and damaged by the flames to leap off her blade, she was in front of him, already slashing her blade from shoulder to hip along his chest.

Gone. Back. Gone. Back.

She flickered around, past, and through the Cloud shinobi in an unrelenting assault of blade and fire until she was joined by an afterimage.

The two kunoichi's flashed and flickered by, attacking, phasing through the man. There was no time to breathe, no time to think, no time to react or gather his senses.

Strike after strike, slash by slash, cut by burning cut, she assaulted his Shell, watching it weaken and crack beneath her dōjutsu.

He couldn't see her. Couldn't tell which was the real Amari and which was the afterimage. Couldn't counter when she was but a blur to his lesser eyes, or a flock of Crows exploding into existence and reforming in his blindspot whenever his strikes came within fractions of her.

Amari slashed her blade along his back. Saw him arch in vivid detail. Saw the flakes of his Shell break off in small chunks. And witnessed the ridge she carved straight through to the flesh below. And she did not stop.

She Body Flickered around him, coming out of the swift movement in a hopping pirouette, tantō drawn over her left shoulder. Her afterimage mirrored her behind the Cloud shinobi.

He stared at her like the demon he'd seen in the genjutsu. Except this time there was no dragons snapping their jaws, no black sclera, no flames or incandescent palms. No shadows.

There was only her hair whipping with her graceful and swift movement. There was only her fierce expression and silent, cold gaze colored crimson in one eye and lavender in the other.

There was only the veins bulging along her temple, the shadows of leaves dancing over her Leaf headband tied securely around her neck, the pendent of the Nara and Uchiha Clan crests hanging at her chest symbolizing a warning he should have heeded.

She did not need to roar like a dragon or manipulate her appearance to frighten him. Not when the flames of her tantō reflected in his dark eyes, and the cold black gaze of Osamu were more than enough.

Silently, without emotion, she cut him across his chest and his back, all within seconds of each other, and saw again in immaculate detail the shattering of his Shell as fire and metal carved through to the flesh below. Chunks of crumbling earth fell off his body like stone sheared off a cliff.

Amari landed on her left foot. She instantly lowered herself, spinning with her gathered momentum beneath his groping hand, whirling around his body behind him and becoming one once more. She slashed her blade along the back of his knees.

Earth shattered. Tendons were severed. And the Cloud shinobi bellowed out a wordless scream of agony.

He collapsed to his knees. Nearly fell to his hands, but Amari was in front of him again, except it was not a blade that struck him this time, but her knee. Slammed beneath his jaw.

The shell protecting his face shattered. As it did, and as he fell back, she extended her leg and kicked him straight in his large nose.

Flecks of blood flew. The Cloud shinobi tumbled over onto his side, groaning, grimacing, bleeding.

Sheathing her blade, the kunoichi sauntered calmly along the length of his curled, trembling body, closer to his head. There, she placed her sandal on the side of his head and attached her Shadow to him to ensure he wouldn't make any sudden miraculous counter.

She learned from her mistakes. Last time, turning her back on the other Cloud shinobi nearly cost Neji his life. She wouldn't take her eyes off him.

When Amari opened her mouth to speak, she finally noticed how out of breath she was. And how much she had to thank Osamu for lending his chakra throughout that attack and at present.

I haven't had enough time to recover since training. Or from all my time recovering.

Something to work on after this all blew over.

The Cloud shinobi glanced frightfully up at her. Her searing gaze and Osamu's glare did not comfort him.

"What…are you?" he gasped.

"The Head of the Uchiha Clan," she replied coldly. "Do you understand yet? My power isn't something you or anyone else can tame. And it certainly isn't anything you can steal."

"Nor will we ever allow it to be stolen," Osamu concurred dangerously. "Indeed, you are fortunate, Cloud shinobi. Had Lady Amari not acted as she did, you wouldn't be generously returned to your cell when this incident is over. You would've experienced the Wrath of the Crows, and welcomed the embrace of death as though it were treasured comrade. While we disemboweled you."

"Do yourself a favor, scumbag, and stay in prison. Because if you come after me or my friends again…" Amari exerted pressure on his skull. "There won't be enough of your ashes to fill a dustpan. Do you understand? Good. Now be a good boy and take a nap."

Amari put him to sleep with a Sharingan genjutsu. Then promptly released her shadow and sat down on the grass.

As she sat there, breathing heavily, she placed a hand over her lower stomach and felt her lips curl in an unpleasant snarl.

"Are you well, Lady Amari?"

"Is that all people are to them? Is that all my body is? A means to an end?"

"To some in this world, that's all others amount to. Means to an end. Tools to be used and thrown away at the earliest sign of damage."

"We're going to change this world, Osamu."

"Indeed."

"And thank you for coming after me."

"We will never abandon you, Lady Amari."

"Thank you."

---

Tenzō found Amaririsu sitting in the grass beside the incapacitated Cloud shinobi. Osamu was perched on her shoulder.

From the look of it, she bore no signs of damage or harm. Still, out of vigilance and care, he knelt beside her and checked her for injuries.

"Amaririsu, are you all right?" he asked gently.

"A few bumps and bruises and a slight headache. Jerk kept slamming me around inside the cage after I tried to cut his fingers off," she replied.

Her onyx and lavender eyes stared at the Cloud shinobi. He detected disgust, but also general unease and pensive thought. Her hand lingered over her lower abdomen.

"I got off easy," she said after a beat. Her fingers curled into her blue long sleeve. "A fate worse than death awaits me in the Cloud Village. And the Stone Village, too. To them, I'm just breeding stock. A bird they can cage and clip the wings of. To them, my body is just a tool they can use and abuse at their own discretion."

"It's true," he agreed gently. "Should the Tsuchikage or Raikage ever learn of your heritage, or simply that a female Uchiha exists, more men like these will be sent to kill or capture you," he said, glancing to the unconscious Cloud shinobi.

"The power you wield is unique. On one hand, you wield a kekkei genkai which many, many shinobi covet. In fact, the Massacre of your Clan has only increased the rarity of the Sharingan, which increases its worth to the whole shinobi world.

"On the other, your bloodline is especially unique. Beyond being an Uchiha. The legacy of your parents, and your direct tie to your ancestor, increases your 'value' to enemy shinobi. A chance at having their very own Madara Uchiha, or acquiring several Sharingan eyes through your children, is an opportunity men like the Tsuchikage and Raikage won't miss."

"Or a chance to replicate Wood Style, in your case."

Tenzō hummed. "You aren't alone in this burden. All those who possess kekkei genkai bear it. You've seen it yourself already, through their previous attempt to kidnap Hinata Hyūga, and through the student of Zabuza Momochi.

"Our special abilities grant us extraordinary power. However, because these powers are bound to our blood, it also makes us targets. We are unique, and so we are valued for that. Either as tools, or as threats."

He looked at the young girl. "In the end, people fear what they cannot understand. Or control. In some ways, the burden we share is similar to those who bear the burden of being jinchūriki."

"Mm. Similar. But not the same."

"Historically speaking," Osamu began, "those who have possessed kekkei genkai or secret Clan techniques have been persecuted across the entire shinobi continent, through all eras. It is an old rift. A status quo which, unfortunately, has not yet reached its end."

"Just one more thing to change, then."

She stated her intentions with admirable determination. He smirked behind his mask.

"Let's take this one step at a time," he said. "First, we'll bring this one back to where I captured his friend. Then, if you're up to it, we can use your Sharingan to gather more information."

"Then back into the miraculous cage of protection?" she deadpanned.

He exhaled a short chuckle. "No. Seeing as that only placed you in greater danger, I'll just have to trust you a little more. Don't make me regret it."

"I'll do my best."

---

The interrogation of the two Cloud shinobi was enlightening. After relaying all of the information to Mr. Anbu, who digested the information calmly and thoughtfully, Amari said,

"We should report this to my Uncle. If Mizuki achieves his goal…"

"It'll endanger our comrades," he nodded. "Come with me. There's a Communication Station near our position. We can use a Chakra Transmission Communication Device to contact Inoichi, and through him Commander Shikaku."

"What about those two?" Amari jabbed her thumb over her shoulder.

Mr. Anbu looked up at the two unconscious Cloud shinobi imprisoned in his Wood Style and guarded by two Crows.

"They can't go anywhere. We'll have a recovery squad return them to the Maximum Security Prison once it's back in our control."

"Right."

They left without delay. Amari couldn't help but frown, thoughts drawn to what she learned.

The Ultimate Body, huh…

How does Aoi fit into your plans, Mizuki? Is he an ally? Or just another means to an end?

---

"Are you sure there aren't any other survivors?" Sakura asked.

Shizune's grim expression would've been answer enough. Still, she nodded.

"I'm certain. The others… The Idiot Brothers and the Demon Brothers killed them. I barely escaped their initial ambush with Kawaguchi, and if it wasn't for you two showing up when you did, I wouldn't have been able to stabilize his condition."

The man, Kawaguchi, lay unconscious beside the kneeling kunoichi. His flak jacket was off, his shirt cut open and his chest wrapped with bandages.

Likewise, Sakura and Sasuke received similar medical aid from the medic-nin. Nothing to the extremity that Kawaguchi required, but they hadn't escaped their battle against the Demon Brothers fully unscathed.

"We'll escort you to an allied camp," Sasuke said. "We can't leave you two out here in the open when the criminals are still free."

"And we need to report these Idiot Brothers to the Commander," Sakura agreed. "We need a strategy to take them on. Or reinforcements."

"Let's move quickly," Sasuke stated. "We need to regroup with Iruka-sensei, Naruto and Pakkun."

Shizune didn't protest. As a unit they moved quickly in search of an allied camp.

All the while Sakura hoped and prayed Naruto, Iruka and Pakkun would be okay.

---

Every moment free reinforced Mizuki's belief that fate was on his side. Not only had things been moving according to plan, but now… Now…

"Iruka-sensei, I found a survivor! Are you all right, Mister?"

Beneath the transformation, as the Nine-Tails brat and Iruka helped him sit up, Mizuki felt a vile and gleeful grin tugging at his lips. He played the part of the dazed survivor who narrowly survived with ease, he captivated his audience, especially the Nine-Tails, with his act and dug his hooks in.

When they all set off together to continue the pursuit of "the criminals," Mizuki took the lead and grinned with all his vileness and glee.

For what could this be if not fate's favor?

His newest trap was set. His goal was in reach.

And very soon one piece of his vengeance would be his to claim!

---

Review Response to NarutoFan: Happy you enjoyed the last chapter and everyone's chance to shine! I'm adding my own twist to the original anime arc, and a bit more seriousness to it than what was in the anime, but from a purely entertainment perspective, I thought Mizuki's return was an interesting callback and the actor's overall performance for Mizuki was, in my opinion, really good during the entire arc. Plus there was more Iruka, and he will always be one of my favorite side characters.

Yep, I do plan to expand on everyone's abilities. It may take a little while to show everyone's growing powers, and will probably be more prominent in Shippuden, but I'm trying to make the learning curve it takes to gain those new abilities mean something for a little more realism. For instance, Kiba has only really started to get his act together after the Sound Four arc. Ino has only begun training with Tsunade for a few weeks now in the story, Hinata with Shizune for around the same time, so there's still some time left before we see them and the others use things like Medical Ninjutsu or poisons or new Natures and such. While Sakura and Naruto have shown off their new Wind Style and Earth Style, and really only the very basics of it, my intention is to keep building them and everyone else up, while also maintaining unique styles and abilities so things like the seal of rebirth and Gate Mode don't lose their specialness.

Thank you for reading! I've still got a few surprises left for this arc, so I can't wait to see how everyone reacts to the finale when we get there.

Anyway, thank you for the review!