Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 32: The Price of Blood

Although Yuki was saddened by the fact that she had to leave her village, part of her felt fulfilled as she always dreamed of travelling the world. She suddenly gained this freedom she longed for. The freedom, however, was only a facade. She was still chained by Danzo as she couldn't return to the village at her own free will. Only when he would summon her would she be able to return. As she bid farewell to the village under the moonlight, the wind blew through her, now, very long white hair. She did not know where she would go first or where she would end up, but she knew now where home would be. Despite home not being the most welcoming, it was where she felt most at ease. It was a place she couldn't wait to leave, yet she was going to miss a lot. She didn't know how long her journey would be. She hoped to see familiar faces once in a while to remind her that she wasn't alone in this big world, but she also hoped she wouldn't have to face them with a mask on. The wind took her out of the village. Step by step she finally was out. She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and headed into the darkness of the night, away from the lights in the village.

Making it into the forest, she felt safe enough to take her time and walk at a slower pace. She was now out of sight. Although she had this funny feeling that she was still being watched, she didn't care about it much. She wanted to take her time to let everything sink in, especially this new found paradoxical freedom. The air at night was humid, but refreshing. Even though she took her time, by sunrise, she was now far from Konohagakure. The territory was mostly unknown to her. She remembered bits of it from her missions as a child in the ANBU organization. However, that was a few years back now. Things have changed. Things are constantly evolving, growing or disappearing. She was stepping, soon, into the Land of the Rivers, a neighboring land to the Land of Fire. She figured she would take a short rest before venturing into another country. She sat on a tree branch, at the edge of the forest. From there, she could admire the beauty of the Land of Rivers. Its name really suited it. The blues of the river, the red of the rocks and the green from the tree leaves were a true spectacle to the eye. She took out a ration pill and started chewing on it. She closed her eyes for a second to feel the breeze go through her hair and to listen to the morning birds singing.

"Are we heading to the hideout now, then?" A voice asked.

"I want to get another bounty before heading back. The last one didn't bring much money." Another, but much deeper, voice answered.

"You and your lust for that damned money!" The first voice bellowed.

"Hidan, you should be quiet. Someone's attention might have been grabbed."

Yuki was, indeed, looking at them at them as they were now standing in the clearing beside the forest. They were dressed similarly to Itachi and Kisame when she encountered them in Konohagakure. The one named Hidan had grey hair and purple eyes. He had a mischievous face and a fairly lean body. The other one seemed larger. He was fully covered and was masked.

"Is she worth anything?" Hidan asked his partner as he finally took notice of her presence.

"She's a kid, probably not."

"Oi! Kiddo, have you heard of Jashin?" Hidan yelled at her.

Yuki shook her head. She made the assumption that it must have been a cult of some sort as she saw him pointing at a necklace around his neck shaped like a circle with a triangle in it. She assumed that it was a symbol of some sort. He grinned creepily at her reaction. Meanwhile, Yuki thought that this would allow for good intelligence to be sent to Konoha. However, remembering how strong Kisame was and knowing how strong Itachi had always been, there was no doubt in her mind that she would be in trouble if she got into a fight with these people. Hidan grabbed his large red scythe and swung it around a few times:

"I shall teach you about my God then. Kakuzu, don't intervene! I want to have some fun here!"

As he jumped towards her, Yuki flashed herself away from him. She appeared a few feet away from them, where she had thrown, much earlier a kunai out of habit in case she needed a quick escape.

"I would much rather have words to explain who Jashin is rather than a fight." Yuki said softly.

"Don't you say his name so casually, you damned kid!" Hidan yelled as he was running towards her swinging his scythe once again.

Before he could even get close to her, she flashed herself back to the tree where she was resting on.

"Hidan, stop wasting your energy. You can't catch up to her speed." The man named Kakuzu then said as he was rolling up his sleeves. "Keep her recognizable if you are going to sacrifice her, I think she might be worth something after all."

"Don't you f*cking intervene, Kakuzu! She's mine."

"Fine, but keep her face recognizable." Kakuzu replied as he went back to a passive stand.

It was enough for Yuki to understand about this Jashin religion that Hidan was following. If she wasn't wrong, they wanted her as a sacrificial object for this so-called God. However, because she showed an interesting ability, Kakuzu believed there was a potential bounty on her head. Her body wouldn't be harmed to the point of destruction. It also meant that destruction was an aspect of the religion. The scythe held by Hidan was large and heavy. It wasn't made to allow for quick killing, but rather to ensure damage done. Sacrificial rituals often required blood. Thus, Yuki had to avoid spilling blood. Kakuzu didn't seem to want to get involved at this point, therefore she didn't have to worry about him just yet. Yuki didn't really want to fight either. She seemed to be left with no choice. The best option right now was for her to keep her distance. She was too far from the village to flash herself back there. She either had to get back deep into the Land of Fire before disappearing, but she didn't know if she would have the chance to make that distance. Hidan didn't seem to be too fast, nor too calculative. If she manipulated those two factors, there was a chance for her to win this battle without even getting close and risking to be sacrificed to Jashin.

"I can't guarantee anything, Kakuzu. I'm feeling this urge... I can smell the blood already!"

"You really talk too much... and too loudly." said Yuki. "Your best bet would've been to not let me know of anything before trying to kill me."

"Shut the f*ck up! What do you know!?"

"To sum it up, my blood is worth quite a lot, isn't it?"

"You are smart, kid. However, you are nothing, but a kid. Do you really think you can defeat us?" Kakuzu asked, now interested in Yuki's character.

"I never planned on it."

"You should start planning. If I start getting into the fight, you really won't have a chance. I'm actually feeling a little itchy right now."

"Are you calling me weaker than you, Kakuzu!?" Hidan yelled, angered. "I'll prove you wrong!"

Hidan sped up toward Yuki. She flashed herself into the clearing and started running towards the rocky valleys in front of her. If she could make it, she would be able to use those rocks to create more distance between her and Hidan by creating a landslide. As she was running, she used a water ninjutsu creating large waves pushing Hidan back as he got hit. She heard him curse while gargling water. She gave herself quite a lot space between him and her. She, however, did not slow down. She didn't believe that Kakuzu would let her get away that easily. As that thought crossed her mind, something grabbed onto her foot, making her trip onto the grassy ground. With her katana, she tried to cut the weird grey strings attached to her foot. However, she was unsuccessful. She then used her lightning prowess to increase the sharpness of her blade and finally managed to get rid of the attachment.

"Not bad, kid." she heard Kakuzu say.

"I thought I told you not to intervene!" yelled Hidan as he finally got out of the water.

"I wouldn't have had to if you were a little more efficient."

"I thought you said she was just a kid!"

"I told you she was worth something."

"F*ck!"

Yuki picked herself off the ground. While they were arguing, she threw a few of her kunais further towards the valley, allowing her to escape the scene if needed. She was now panting. This was taking a lot more out of her than she thought it would. As much as she consciously knew this wasn't going to be an easy battle, she didn't expect it to be so intense so quickly. She usually had time to analyze the battlefield. She also, usually, had an understanding of her opponents. Hidan seemed to be a straight forward character. She wasn't too concerned about him. Although his weird ritual was to be feared, it seemed to require a lot of effort before it can be accomplished. She, or more like her blood, was also necessary. As long as she knew that, she was safe. Kakuzu was the one that she couldn't read. From her chakra recognition skill, she could tell that he was really strong and that he, like her, had all five nature type within him. Whatever it was that he used to catch her didn't require him to move from his initial position. Therefore, keeping distance between her and him was useless. The thing that caught her was of a tough material, yet it obviously had a lot of flexibility and malleability. As she was staring at them and they kept arguing and threatening each other, she noticed that those grey strings wiggled themselves back to Kakuzu and reattached themselves to him. Kakuzu... What a familiar name. That's when it clicked.

"I read about you. You fought the First Hokage, didn't you?"

"Oh, someone is well aware of history. Knowledge is both a blessing and a condemnation..."

"TO DEATH!" completed Hidan as he charged forward with much greater speed than what he had achieved previously.

Yuki flashed herself to the first kunai she had thrown. There she met with those grey strings that tried to tie themselves around her. Using her lightning nature transformation, she cut her way through with agility. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Hidan was actually being propelled at great speed by Kakuzu's weird ability. He was getting closer. She flashed herself to that second kunai. Again, she was greeted with never ending grey ropes. All the sudden, those grey strings were caught in a black flame. Amaterasu.

"Itachi! What the hell! We were just about to kill that little brat!" yelled Hidan who was no longer being moved thanks to Kakuzu strings.

"Our leader have been asking for you two. I would head to the hideout now." said Itachi calmly, not caring about Hidan's wrath.

"This won't take long!"

"It was long enough to know that this would take a long time."

"What the hell are you talking..." Hidan started.

"We will head over there now." Kakuzu interrupted. "Kid, I'll wait for your blood to be worth a little more before coming after you."

Hidan cursed before following Kakuzu unwillingly towards a different set of valleys. Normally, Yuki would've followed them. This business about a hideout and a group with such skilled defectors had to be worth investigating. However, she wasn't stupid nor irrational. She knew she stood no chance against them. If she wanted to figure out more about them, they couldn't know of her presence. She would have to give it a few days before venturing near them again. By that time, she wasn't sure they would still be around. As the pair of them disappeared into the deep valleys, Yuki finally looked up at Itachi who was standing on a rock a few higher than her.

"You should leave." He then said coldly. "You can't defeat them."

"I figured that much, thank you."

"I mean it. They are known among us, Akatsuki, as the Zombie Combo."

"Why did you come to help?"

"I have my reasons..."

"Did you hear about Sasuke?"

"I heard."

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing you could have done."

"I should have been more assertive."

"What's meant to happen will happen."

"But..."

"Just get going before we attract anybody else to the scene."

As he said those words, he disappeared into the sky as a flock of crows. Yuki couldn't help but to stare at them for a little while longer before moving along on her journey. It hadn't been a full day yet since she left, yet her eyes have witnessed a lot more than she could have imagined. Despite being safe now, she couldn't help but be on her guard for whatever danger that was lurking ahead of her. There was already a lot for her to report back to Danzo as well, most of it being about this unknown group called Akatsuki.

End of Chapter 32

Thank you for reading!

xox

Krystal