Summary of Events: The Akatsuki have split ways. Hannah, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Tobi are staying in Suna. Leader, Kisame, Kate, Hidan, and Konan are going to Konoha. Dessie, Deidara, Suigetsu, Sakura, and Gai arrived in Wargonia. Hannah and the other Suna shinobi are defending the walls surrounding Suna from the attacking Wargonians

Chapter Eighty-One: Fire and Oil

Rule Number Eighty-One: Itachi is sort of like a god when it comes to jutsus

Hannah

This is ridiculous. And I mean ridiculous. The Wargonians are like flies. Beastly little flies that swarm all over the walls of Suna and devour every weak shinobi in their path. I would be dead right now if it weren't for my friends on the other side (by that I mean the Akatsuki).

The war has been going on for a week now – trust me when I say, war is hell. Now, I know that most giant wars last years and years, but this one is different. This is a shinobi versus Wargonian war, and the Wargonians, well, they hate to take too long. Like a swarm they come, they see, and they conquer. The only thing their enemies can do is try not to be conquered too quickly. And that's exactly what these Suna shinobi tried to do.

After one week of fighting, we had only lost the lower-most level of the wall. Wargonians flooded the place while Suna shinobi fired everything they had at the Wargonians below. But, for some god-awful reason, the Wargonians still survived.

"You look upset."

I glanced over to see Kakuzu standing beside me, looking uncharacteristically concerned. My eyes wandered back to the scene of war below and I sighed. "Maybe a little."

We stood on top of the Great Wall and gazed down. The shinobi gave everything they got to be rid of the Wargonians. Lights flashed and screams echoed across the desert sands. Blood stained the walls of Suna.

"Let me guess," said Kakuzu. "You're worried that Dessie and Deidara are dead."

Slowly, I nodded. "Yeah."

Silence stretched between us and, when I could stand it not longer, I added, "And what will become of us if they are dead."

"We'll probably die too," said Kakuzu.

I laughed. "What? No words of kindness? No 'It's okay, we'll still defeat the Wargonians – don't worry, Hannah.' You're awful at this whole comfort thing."

"And you're awful at this whole pitiful damsel in distress thing," said Kakuzu. "I think we should both stick to our day jobs."

"You're right," I said, scuffing my foot against the dusty ground. "We're both failures in life. So, then would your dream girl be a perfect damsel in distress who always needs saving?"

Kakuzu snorted. "Hell no. That's a waste of my time and my time is money."

"Right, I forgot that Ms. Wendy is your true love – and she's no damsel in distress."

At this, Kakuzu let out a wheezing laugh and he turned to regard me with brilliant humor in his eyes. "I don't really love Ms. Wendy. Never have never will. She has money. I love money. That's all there is to it. I will never fall in love with anything or anyone except money. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you heartless wretch," I said. "Same old story every time."

"Dear god," gasped Kakuzu. "I sound like Sasuke!"

I laughed. "Or, as Dessie would call him, Mini-Hottie. I don't think sounding like Mini-Hottie makes you any hotter though, sorry."

"I don't want to be anywhere on Dessie's Hottie list," said Kakuzu grouchily.

The mention of Dessie and her weirdness sent of pang of nervousness through my stomach. I scowled and kicked the ground hard before saying, "I hope they're alright… I hope Dessie and Deidara live and destroy that stupid power source. I mean… What if they're dead? What if the Wargonians have captured them and sawed off their arms and legs and made them dance around on hot coals while prodding them with hot pokers… And then… what if the Wargonians scalp them and fill their brainpans with hot coals and make them carry on dancing until they can move no more and then, finally, burn them alive!"

Kakuzu blinked. "You could possibly be more vicious than Leader."

"High school summer reading for American History," I explained. "They tortured some poor bastard like this…"

"Well, I think it's safe to say that the Wargonians probably won't torture and kill Dessie and Deidara like that… Hopefully…"

"Yeah…I hope they're still alive…"

"They are."

Both Kakuzu and I paused and turned to see Itachi standing behind us. His red eyes glowed in the moonlight and his black hair rustled slightly in the night breeze.

"What?" I asked.

"Dessie and Deidara are fine," repeated Itachi.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Kakuzu. "Unless you're lying to make Hannah happier – but I never figured you the type to do that."

"I'm not," said Itachi. "They'll be fine. Do you really think Hidan would let Dessie die?"

Kakuzu and I exchanged puzzled glances. Slowly, we turned back to Itachi and I said, "But… You heard about the message from Leader and Konan, right? Hidan never made it to Wargonia…"

Itachi stared. "Hn."

I resisted the overwhelming urge to slam my head against the ground in exasperation. When I had managed to calm down enough, I asked Itachi, "What do you mean? Hidan never made it to Wargonia, how could he protect Dessie?"

"Hn."

This time I really did slam my head against something – only this something happened to be Kakuzu's shoulder. He simply pushed me backwards away from him and then proceeded to ask Itachi, "Okay, so Dessie is safe. What about Deidara? I'm pretty sure Hidan isn't going to protect Deidara as carefully as he protects Dessie."

Itachi shrugged. "Do you really think Dessie would let Deidara die?"

"That's true," I said. "He's her Bang-Bang-Hottie." I made a face.

"And since you would murder her if she came back alive and Deidara was dead," added Kakuzu.

My eyes narrowed and I turned to regard Kakuzu suspiciously. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying that you l–"

"THE WARGONIANS HAVE BREACHED THE SECOND LEVEL!"

My heart skipped a beat and I turned to stare, wide-eyed at Kakuzu and Itachi. "Crap. Should we go help them?"

"Well," said Kakuzu thoughtfully. "We could go down to the second level and try to prevent the Wargonians from invading deeper into Suna – or I could continue teasing you about having a romantic interest in Deidara. It's your choice."

"Let's go."

With a laugh, Kakuzu led the way for Itachi and I. We pushed our way through the crowd of rushing shinobi, down towards the lower levels where the Wargonians had begun to clash with the men and women protecting the second level. I think we were somewhere at the third level when we caught sight of Baki and Gaara. Itachi side-stepped the crowd and changed our direction so that we made our way over to join the tactical meeting.

"Shit," Baki was saying, "We can't afford to lose much more of the wall."

"We must hold them then," said Gaara grimly.

"Yes, but how?"

"We could drop fire and oil on them," said Itachi grimly. "In the pathway they have established and then all along the lower levels of the wall if we can. They might be able to avoid most of it, but it will give us the upper hand."

Gaara glanced at Itachi and then said, "We don't have time to gather enough oil for that."

"I can give you the time," said Itachi, his red eyes gazing emotionlessly at Gaara. "We'll just do the areas where they infest the second-level then."

Slowly, Gaara nodded. "I'll help you."

"Be careful," warned Baki. "I don't know how to explain to the Sand that their Kazekage died."

"Send up a signal before you unleash the oil," said Gaara. "So Itachi and I have time to leave. Ask the men at the factory. You can get there fast enough, can't you?"

"Yes."

"Kakuzu, Hannah," said Itachi. "You are in charge of the fire and oil."

"Yeah, yeah," said Kakuzu, turning around. "Already on it. Don't use your eyes too much. Kisame won't be happy."

"Hn." Itachi turned and left with the equally cold Gaara walking beside him. They made their way through the crowds of shinobi towards the second level. I watched the two of them for a moment before turning around and following Baki and Kakuzu in search of enough oil to blow the Wargonians all the way to their god and back.

"It'd be so much easier if Deidara was here," I observed. "He could just drop his bombs on them."

"And you'd like that, wouldn't you," said Kakuzu.

I decided to go for the mature method of not verbally retaliating, so, instead, I hit him on the head with the frying pan.

"Don't try and kill each other yet," snapped Baki. He stopped mid-walk and turned to regard Kakuzu andI."I am going to take ten men and borrow oil from the factory. It'll take us about twenty minutes to half an hour, understand? I want you two to find a suitable spot to drop the oil."

"Have fun," I muttered.

With a glare in my direction, Baki motioned to a group of shinobi and, within two minutes, they had sprinted off in the direction of the factory, leaving Kakuzu and I alone amongst the rabble of shinobi on the third-level.

"Well," said Kakuzu. "We should get to work."

"As long as you don't mention Deidara, I'm fine," I said darkly.

"You're the one who keeps bringing him up."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. The two of us made our way around the level, searching for the infiltration point where Itachi and Gaara were now battling the Wargonians. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done since the Wargonians were everywhere and it was impossible to spot Itachi and Gaara amongst them.

"You would think," I said angrily. "That we could find two pale skinned guys – on with black hair and one with red – amongst all these stupid Wargonians."

Kakuzu snorted. "You would think."

He stopped walking and squinted out at the hoards of Wargonians running around on the level below. There were no shinobi battling the Wargonians now (Gaara probably sent the order for the shinobi to draw back). From what I could tell, the Wargonians now covered about a quarter of the circumference of Suna on the second level (yay! I know geometry! … Note the sarcasm).

"I don't see them," I said frustrated.

"Wait for it…"

I glanced at Kakuzu. "Wait for what?"

"Itachi."

At first, I didn't understand. And then, something huge and black twitched in the distance. I turned my head to see what was going on and, in the levels below, a gigantic black fire had sprouted from nowhere. Like a monster, it feasted upon the Wargonian troops. They screamed and battled the fire, trying to escape its grasp, but the black fire was too overwhelming even for the Wargonians forces.

"What is that?" I whispered.

"Itachi's technique," said Kakuzu. "Amaterasu. It's one hot flame."

"Why doesn't he just burn the entire army with it?" I asked.

"Because it takes a heavy toll on his eyes and physical health," explained Kakuzu. "The longer we take to bring out the oil, the more damaged Itachi will receive."

"Oh…" I considered this for a moment. "I take it we're not going to tell Baki this or he might purposely take a long time to collect the oil."

"Of course."

"Wait!" I cried, my eyes fixating on two figures a little ways along the wall from where Kakuzu and I stood. "There! I see Itachi and Gaara!"

Kakuzu followed my gaze and nodded. "That'll be them. Let's go."

As we raced along the wall, I kept my eyes fixed on the small figures. Gaara had made a sort of wall out of sand to stop the Wargonians from advancing any further (supposedly he made one on the other side as well). The two of them stood on top of the wall and Itachi had used his sharingan to set the black fire ablaze. From what I could see, Itachi was clutching his eye as if in great pain.

Soon, Kakuzu and I reach the spot on the third-level closest to where Gaara and Itachi stood. Neither of them noticed us, which, I suspect, was as if should be.

"Alright," said Kakuzu. "Where to dump the oil…."

He walked along the wall until he was about ten meters away from the wall which Gaara had built. Using his foot, Kakuzu made a deep X on the ground. "Here…" He moved ten meters to the right side, away from Gaara, and drew another X. "And here…" He moved another ten meters and did the same. Kakuzu continued to do the same until he reached the wall that Gaara had created on the other side of the Wargonian forces. Then, Kakuzu turned to me and said, "We need a lot of oil."

"We have a lot."

Surprised, both Kakuzu and I turned to see Baki and his army of followers heading towards us. There were about thirty of them and each one was carrying a gigantic barrel.

"Oil, I hope," said Kakuzu.

"Most of it," said Baki. "Some of it is alcohol."

"As long as it burns," said Kakuzu, shrugging. "I marked to sports where the oil should be spilled. Signal to Itachi and Gaara. Itachi will set the oil and alcohol alight."

"You sure you're not putting a lot of pressure on him?" I asked.

"It's Itachi."

"Good point."

Rule Number Eighty-One: Itachi is sort of like a god when it comes to jutsus.

Baki and his men set up the oil and alcohol in the spots Kakuzu marked, meanwhile, Kakuzu and I moved back to where Itachi and Gaara stood. Kakuzu set off the flare and Gaara reinforced his sands while Itachi brought a halt to Amaterasu. Then, when the black flames subsided, the Suna shinobi let loose the oil and alcohol, dumping the liquids on the Wargonians below. And then, all that was left was fore Itachi to use his jutsu and, with is giant fire ball, set the Wargonians alight.

Amazingly enough, what happened next went according to plan (that never happens, does it?). The majority of Wargonians managed to use their god's powers to avoid the fire, but a good third of them had been taken out by the Amaterasu and the oil and fire trick. When the Wargonians managed to smother the flames, Gaara lowered his sand walls and unleashed the Suna shinobi upon the invading Wargonian forces. The shinobi managed to force the Wargonians back to the lowest level and Gaara rebuilt the reinforcements.

"Well," said Kakuzu, leaning back. "That was a success."

"Hurray…" I muttered.

"Wow! Did you see those flames!" cried one of the shinobi. "Those black ones! Created by the Uchiha…"

"Uchiha Itachi," said another soldier. "He's a member of that criminal organization, the Akatsuki…"

"Yeah… but he's impressive. A true Master of the Night."

They laughed. "The night belongs to Uchiha Itachi!"

In silence, Kakuzu and I watched as the soldiers walked by. When they were gone, Kakuzu and I turned to stare at the spot, a little ways ahead, where a medic ninja was dealing with Itachi's wounded eye.

"Kakuzu…" I said.

"Hannah."

"Do you see an issue with this?"

"Yes, yes I do."

I gritted my teeth and glared at Itachi. "You understand the serious of this, don't you?"

Kakuzu nodded. "Of course."

"No one can steal our roles as Masters of the Night."

"Of course."

"You know what that means?"

Kakuzu stood upright and turned his back to Itachi, walking back up the wall towards camp. "Tomorrow night," he said. "The Uchiha is going down."