Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Eleven
Sunrise109
Deidara hardly ever got nervous.
That is, until now.
The Iwagakure shinobi was sprawled across the infamous expensive couch belonging to his business partner, one leg propped up over the other as he lay there, looking admittedly… bored. Hoshi was far away, attending to important business matters, which was good news, because things could get quite messy in here…
If I get another one of his precious buildings destroyed, I may never end up paying off my debts to him… But oh well, yeah.
Deidara yawned, two azure blue eyes opening to look out the long window in the spacious lounge, on the fourth floor of the building complex.
The sky outside looked like it was threating to rain, as per usual, in these parts of the Hidden Stone village.
They're late. Deidara thought, irritated. And clearly on edge. And they expect me to be cooperative, being this late?
It was already one o'clock. They were an hour late.
It was at that moment that Deidara heard… the sound of an elevator dinging.
Hn.
Deidara gruffly got up, arms crossed defensively, and blonde hair in its usual style—one long bang covering his left eye and the rest in a high ponytail.
He watched the door of the lounge carefully open with a frown.
"Hn. You disabled the C1 explosions that I left for you in the elevator. I was wondering why it didn't blow up the moment you arrived on my floor. Not to mention, the fifty landmines I planted outside."
The footsteps of the three shinobi who filed into the room were as light as snowflakes falling on a tree branch, giving away their high skill-level, although they were expecting to meet each other, as per the note which Deidara received five months ago—so it was clear why they saw no reason to infiltrate his domain with stealth:
If you want to know who we are, meet us here in your business partner's building complex, five months from today's date, at noon.
Do not disappoint us.
The first shinobi was a tall man who… looked like a shark. Deidara already disliked him. He hated fish with a passion. There was nothing artsy about raw fish.
The guy was clearly a member of the Hoshigaki clan. Could it be Kisame, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?
Clearly it is, that Samehada weapon gives him away.
In that case, it was safe to say that he was S-ranked.
Deidara silently turned his lethal gaze onto the next shinobi…
This one was an ordinary-looking guy, with dark black hair and dark eyes. His hair was neatly tied into a low ponytail at the back, and his eyes were unreadable. Something about him, and his ordinariness, was too ordinary for Deidara's liking… the Stone ninja would be keeping a close eye on him, in case he pulled a fast one on him.
The two male shinobi were both wearing purple nail polish and rather un-artistic looking cloaks… with blood-red clouds against a black background.
Hn, I could've designed it much better myself… Deidara thought gruffly. Don't tell me, they're going to try and make me to dress up like that too? I'm not gonna make myself look like a C-L-O-W-N for anyone!
And the final person was… a female shinobi.
Interesting…
… A Hyuuga.
Her unconventional pale eyes gave away her bloodline limit, the Byakugan, and that she hailed from the Hyuuga clan. Her hair was mid-length and the same colour as the second shinobi. She wore simple civilian clothes. Deidara noticed that she was carefully stood far back from the two shinobi in front of her.
I guess she might be their back-up in case anything goes wrong, which I can almost wager it will, humph.
In the meantime, Deidara himself was wearing his own elegant clothing.
Kisame intently squinted at the blonde shinobi in front of him. He was wearing a loose robe. And carried himself with an air of superiority. And anger.
What a brat…
Kisame scoffed indignantly, almost reaching out for his weapon, before quickly controlling himself.
"Is this a joke?" Kisame asked. "You're telling me," He said, pointing at Deidara accusingly, "—this guy was the one who temporarily put me out of action, about five months ago?"
"Why should I dress up properly for you, when I could easily bury you again with my art, uh-hm?" Deidara retorted hotly.
The nineteen-year-old Explosion Release user looked like he was about to reach for something inside one of the two mysterious pouches attached to the front of his waist when Itachi stepped forward suddenly, lifting up a delicate hand as though to stall him.
"Wait," Itachi said stoically, glancing quicky at Kisame as though to caution him. "We're not here to fight you… unless we have no other choice. I am the one who left you that note a couple of months ago. We are the Akatsuki."
Deidara paused after that declaration.
"The "Akatsuki"?" Deidara uttered, and for the first time, dread inched its way into his bones. "I've heard about you guys, you're a notorious criminal organisation, based in the Hidden Rain, right?"
Itachi nodded.
So that's their insignia… I can't believe I only just found out that's the Akatsuki's symbol!
Hinata watched the whole encounter unfolding before her eyes, slightly apprehensive.
This was her trial mission with the Akatsuki and she hoped it would end well. With the clear memory of Itachi's recent training in her mind, which was a massive boost to Hinata's confidence, she hoped to stay out of harm's way, should anything go wrong.
Her gaze finally landed on Itachi, as she distantly listened to his terse exchange with Deidara. The Uchiha had a katana hanging over his back. This was the first time Hinata had seen Itachi with such a weapon.
Unbidden to Hinata, Itachi hardly ever used his infamous katana, since it was the exact same one Danzo had given him all those years ago to complete the dreaded deed. Itachi knew he would need it again for this mission, along with some Lightening Release, which is why he had brought it, and had used it to disable the fifty landmines outside the estate and the numerous bombs in the elevator that Hinata had spotted for them beforehand with her Byakugan.
She wondered what watching Kisame and Itachi fighting in real combat would be like, although she hoped it wouldn't come to that.
"What do you want with me then, Akatsuki?" Deidara finally bit out.
"We want you to join us," Kisame chimed in. "This will benefit you, as you can make a name for yourself with your puny explosion jutsu, or whatever it's called, as we make our brand name more widely known to the world and capture the jinjuriki."
Itachi watched Deidara silently, who simply stood there pensively, taking in what they'd just said.
"And how much will you pay me for joining you guys? I'm generally not a cheap person to hire." He boasted.
"That can be negotiated." Itachi said. "For now, what do you say? Will you join the Akatsuki?"
"No," Deidara replied, without giving it a second thought. "Now get out of my place, or I'll make you leave. I already have my heart set on something else: the only thing I want to do is concentrate on my art. Don't interfere with my art appreciation time."
Itachi activated his Sharingan.
… An Uchiha?
"You wanna fight, huh?" Deidara questioned, already reaching into his both of his pouches for some clay, and the mouths on his hands opening wide to reveal wicked tongues which licked the clay delightfully.
"Yes…. And if we win, you will join the Akatsuki." Itachi stated.
"Sounds like a deal." Deidara smirked arrogantly, knowing he'd already won.
Humph... I am confident I can finish off these guys with only my smaller-sized explosions and without needing to get Hoshi's building destroyed again this time…
Before either Kisame or Hinata could react, Itachi's hands moved in a flicker of motion and shot out several shuriken at the dozen or so clay explosives that had started raining down on them from the ceiling, simultaneously charging his shuriken with Lightening Release and effectively disabling the bombs, as they were pinned harmlessly to the wall.
Undeterred, the Stone shinobi next summoned two clay clones: one to engage the Hoshigaki Swordsman, and the other to deal with the Hyuuga. Then Deidara directed his personal attention to the Sharingan-user…
I refuse to admit to the beauty of your despicable eyes, Uchiha... Deidara thought ominously. I shall show you just how much greater my art is than yours!
Two clay caterpillars winded down Deidara's outstretched arms before shooting out at Itachi at phenomenal speeds. Deidara could launch bigger explosions at him, but this was a relatively small room and bigger explosions would mean the whole building would capsize.
Hinata observed Itachi's scarlet eyes with the three dark tomoe easily tracing the movements of the clay explosives, before moving his katana to strike them both down in one swell motion, as though bating away a fly, despite the blinding speeds that they had been launched at him. Lightening hissed and sizzled along his smooth blade as he charged it with Lightening Release, disabling the bombs so that they couldn't explode when Deidara detonated them.
At that moment, Itachi's features seemed to darken as he looked Deidara closely in the eyes who was stood a couple of meters away from him and was already reaching into his pouch again for more clay in desperation.
Itachi's hands shifted in a blur of hand seals, too fast for even the trained eyes to read, and even her Byakugan wasn't much help in deciphering those undetectably fast hand movements.
Hinata watched Deidara pause mid-way, and his muscles tensed as though he had just been frozen in time, whilst Itachi continued to gaze back at him silently.
He's trapped him in a genjutsu… Hinata thought, watching the disruption in the Stone shinobi's charka flows taking place. Through her kekkei genkai, she also noticed one of the clay clones that Deidara had summoned earlier to engage with her, rapidly advancing in her direction from the left.
Kisame was already engaged in fierce combat with the other clay clone, his Samehada blade almost like an extension to his arm despite its large size—his movements were surprisingly agile, fast and graceful.
It was nerve wracking, being instructed not to join in the main fray of battle. They were assuming formation C, and Hinata suspected that she would be permitted to support to the extent that it was necessary.
Suddenly, Itachi, turning away from his opponent momentarily, gave her a look as if to say, go ahead and fight, but remember everything I've taught you.
Nodding curtly back at him, Hinata turned away and watched with all seriousness as Deidara's clay clone stopped five meters away from her and raised its palms out. A white clay-like substance spilled out of its mouths and formed a life-sized clay golem, which promptly charged at her, it's movements uncoordinated and disorientating.
Hinata flipped several meters into the air, and while she was up there, twisted around so that she was upside down and would have a much better aim, flinging out several kunai at Deidara's clay clone, and pinning its arms and feet to the wall before it could make any hand signs to detonate the golem it had created.
Then Hinata landed on top of the golem's head, and twisted her legs around its neck, before arching backwards and placing her palms on the ground. Jerking her legs violently, Hinata flung the golem in the direction of the window, which smashed upon impact and the golem fell ninety feet down to the ground below outside.
Now I must finish off this dangerous one before he extracts himself from my kunai...
Unexpectedly, and before Hinata could do anything about it, Deidara's clay clone freed one of its arms, plunged it inside its pouch for clay, and spat out a clay butterfly at her rapidly. Hinata's body kicked into gear at the last moment, and she managed to reflexively fling a shuriken at the clay butterfly, as per Itachi's reflex training. When the clay clone simultaneously detonated the explosive butterfly, the blast took place high above her head in the air, rather than straight in her face, and Hinata was able to duck away in time, safely avoiding the brunt of the explosion save for feeling the residual heat of it prickle against her skin.
Now's my chance!
Not wasting a single precious second, Hinata dashed forwards at Deidara's clay clone which was partially-pinned, partially-unpinned from the wall by her kunai, and surprisingly strong for a clay clone—a true testament to the Iwagakure shinobi's astounding chakra reserves. Hinata assumed her Hyuuga Clan Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms stance, and launched a tirade of jabs at the clay clone, effectively blocking all its chakra points...
As far as Hinata was aware, and according to Itachi's earlier briefing on Deidara's abilities, she could touch the clone without any fear of it exploding. The only ones who could detonate this clay clone were the clone itself and Deidara, who was currently entrapped in Itachi's genjutsu.
Since she had blocked its chakra points, it now wouldn't be able to summon any of its own chakra to action any kind if explosion jutsu… Or at least she hoped.
Itachi and Deidara still seemed to be standing with their gazes locked, but suddenly, Deidara started laughing madly, as he broke himself out of the genjutsu unexpectedly.
"I've already trained my eyes to be partially anti-genjutsu, as I didn't know who I'd be dealing with today! I hazarded a guess I may be dealing with a Sharingan-user, and I guess I was right! Now feel my art!"
Itachi gave Kisame, who had somehow already gotten his own clay clone to stop attacking him completely, one glance, seeming to communicate to him something without words. Kisame immediately knew what the Uchiha heir's gaze meant and what to do.
"Water Prism Technique!"
The two clay clones that Hinata and Kisame had been fighting were both instantly swept up into two large spheres of water. Kisame's technique enclosed them in a water prism just in time.
"Kai!" Deidara screamed, hands joined together and two index fingers pressed against each other, one higher than the other, but it was too late for that. His plan wouldn't work.
When the two clay clones that were trapped in the Kirigakure ninja's water prisms detonated, it didn't affect them in the slightest, the explosion couldn't reach them as Kisame had wisely increased the water pressure inside the water bubbles in such a way that it simply swallowed up the entire blast.
After a moment, Kisame released his Water Prism Technique, and the bubbles, along with the debris from the explosion trapped inside its depths, vanished.
"Now then, Deidara," Kisame said, advancing towards Deidara ominously, his Samehada blade already braced in his right hand.
Deidara could not move a finger; while he had surprisingly been able to break out of Itachi's first weaker genjutsu, much to the Uchiha's chagrin, he had trapped Deidara in another genjutsu right after he had detonated the blasts. And now Deidara found himself, much to his dismay, entangled in his own clay caterpillar, his hands raised mid-way in a sign to detonate it on himself.
How did this happen?!
"That's right, you're kinda trapped, kiddo. It's game over now. Unlucky!"
And with that, before either Itachi or Hinata could guess what Kisame planned to do next, he dove his Samehada blade deep into Deidara's torso, the weapon now taking on the monstrous form of a living creature, and extracting an agonising sound from Deidara.
Itachi narrowed his eyes at his partner, Body Flickering to his side and placing a firm hand on his arm to stop him from outright murdering Deidara.
"That one is payback for the time you nearly blew me up. And also, we need to test how skilled our medic here really is. And she better be good… because if you don't survive this night, Pain might just kill me and the Hyuuga for letting you die… or in my case, being the one who murdered you."
Hinata quickly unfroze from her terror, realising that there was no time now to bask in shock at how quickly the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Deidara's life was imminently in danger and she was the only one who could heal him sufficiently.
Furrowing her eyebrows together, Hinata courageously rushed forwards towards the fallen Stone shinobi, whose blood was now splattered everywhere and his face was rapidly paling by the second, the life slowly draining out of him.
Her Byakugan blazing and giving her a thorough assessment of the internal damage done, she summoned chakra to her palms and immediately the room filled with a pale emerald glow as she channelled as much healing chakra as she could into her palms, with precise chakra control. Her hands hovered inches away from the open wound in Deidara's torso. Kisame had purposefully missed penetrating any of his vital organs. Nevertheless, the wound was excessively deep and could easily become fatal.
I must stem the flow of blood first! Hinata thought, her eyes pasted on the desperate wound of a now unconscious Deidara. Slowly, the stem of blood started to ease, but Hinata was not satisfied yet.
Itachi's eyes narrowed at Hinata as he watched her heal Deidara closely.
Him and Kisame both looked on in muted silence, as they had yet to see how far her healing capabilities went, and her primary purpose for joining their organisation depended on this.
Sweat slowly beaded its way down Hinata's forehead as she tried to concentrate, imagining that she was dealing with water instead of blood, and trying to block a hole in the entrance of a stream…
Like balancing a leaf in mid-air, and keeping it steady amidst ranging gusts of wind, perfectly in control…
"Wow, she's good… already got the bleeding to stop. Now let's see about sealing the wound itself, which, if left unhealed, is as good as doing nothing." Kisame commented, grinning.
Itachi remained silent, watching the scene unfolding before him intently through his Sharingan. He expected no less from Hinata, being a fully proficient kunoichi.
The Hyuuga heiress' breathing became slightly more strained as she prepared herself for the most difficult part. Like her chakra was a thin needle and strings, she carefully threaded the wounded flesh back together using healing chakra strings. This was the best way of healing someone's wound, but the technique demanded maximum effort.
At one moment, she missed a string and her heart skipped a beat as the wound reopened slightly.
Oh no…
Hinata hesitated. A pained expression filled Deidara's tortured features as his body reacted to the wound reopening moderately.
What have I done?… She thought, caught up in shock and also rapidly feeling discouraged.
Before Hinata could think another anguished thought, she felt Itachi place his hand over her shoulder, and she looked up at him desperately.
"You can do it," Was all Itachi said, before he shot Kisame with a lethal glare, as though to say, you pulled a dirty move, but she will still prevail.
Those reassuring words of encouragement from Itachi and his calming gaze gave her a much needed and surprisingly effective boost in confidence and strength.
Okay, if Itachi believes I can do it, then I can… Let's finish this!
Hinata started from the beginning and removed all the previous healing charka strings that she had woven, seeing as she had made a mistake that had disrupted the entire stitchwork and would mean the wound wouldn't heal properly or in time.
Quickly stemming the fresh flow of blood that resulted from her removing the healing strings, she started all over again, and began threading, one string after another, this time much slower, as though she had all the time in the world…
Two hours later, the entire wound was completely healed. There was no indication that the Stone shinobi had ever been hurt, except for a slight pinkish bruising on the site of the wound, which would naturally fade away in a couple of days' time.
Deidara remained unconscious but would come back to, sooner or later.
Kisame grinned widely, winking at her. "I'm impressed! I give you an A star!"
Hinata didn't realise it, but she had been holding in her breath for a very long period of time, and it was only then that she heaved a slow sigh of relief.
She smiled.
Mission complete.
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A/N: A special thanks goes to... Yuzuki476, busi . sibeko1, fanofthisfiction, I-Love-Trunks1, christinamoondust and Itachi's Queen! Thank you sooo much for your kind reviews to the past two chapters. I really appreciate it!
I hope you all enjoyed this chappie! :D
I wish you all a lovely day,
Sunrise109