Chapter 12
Enter the immortals
"What is immortality? Is it when we do not depart from this world in body? Or is it when our names are remembered for another thousand generations?"- Senju Tobirama, The Second Hokage
The blonde was running for her life. Her breath was heavy. But not just from the exhaustion. But from the air. The sewers weren't exactly a healthy place to be. She could feel the bacteria crawling all over her cloths and skin. Yugito Nii promised herself a full day in a hot bath tub before considering any missions or dates. But for now, she had to think of getting out of here. So she turned into another tunnel. But this one, to her misfortune, lead her into a dead end. The bars were blocking her path. This was bad. How could she mistake the turn? No, there's no time to think about that. She needed to get out.
But it was too late. They already caught up to her. She barely dodge the three-bladed scythe, which ended up cutting off one of her hair. She jumped away to the far side of the chamber. She could hear the footsteps of her pursuers. And her eyes narrowed when she saw them. The two men in black cloaks with red clouds.
One of them was a lean man of average high and short silver hair. He wore his forehead protector around his neck on a medallion. It was a silver circle with a triangle within it. The man was also the wielder of the scythe.
His partner was a tall and muscular man with green pupilless eyes and blood red sclera. It was hard to tell what he looked like due to the mask and cowl. But judging from his forehead protector, this man originated from the Hidden Waterfall Village.
"S**t, I missed." The shorter of the two cursed. "You're very lucky, hussy. My aim is the worst within The Akatsuki."
"We got her in a corner still, Hidan." The taller of the two spoke. "Now we can stop chasing her around."
Yugito smirked. "Oh, so you didn't like playing 'cat & mouse', huh? Too bad." She relaxed a little and started to walk towards them. And as she was making her way, the water around her started to evaporate. "Because you're the mouse!" She declared, as she burst in bluish flames. When the flames died and the steam cleared, the two Akatsuki members found themselves looking at the two-tailed cat made of pure fire. However, when the cat opened its mouth, the teeth were crystal, and the tongue was pure muscle. Yet its eyes were stars in two colors- one green, one yellow. It hissed, showing its razor-sharp claws, which resembled heated metallic rods. Kakuzu and Hidan backed away, prepared for anything.
"Look, Kakuzu. I thought I saw a pussy cat." Hidan mocked.
"You did. You did saw a pussy cat." Kakuzu answered in a way it made his partner wonder. Was it mockery or sarcasm? "Now we gotta to this the hard way. We're sure to be late to collect our bounty."
"Kakuzu. You and your f****ng money are working on my f****ng nerves, you d****ead."
The masked Akatsuki member looked at Hidan with his usual look. "At least I have something to care about in this world. Unlike you, you religious masochist."
"S**** *ou!" Hidan shouted. The two were so absorbed into their fight, they didn't even notice when the Two-tails jumped onto them.
Hidden Leaf Village, training grounds
Sakura was humming under her nose. Kakashi requested her not to come near the training field while he, Yamato and Naruto were training these past two weeks. But now, being requested by Lady Tsunade to deliver some supply for them, she could see how was the knucklehead doing. She heard from Lee about the fight he, Neji and Kiba had with him. Then she managed to eaves drop on Kakashi about Naruto's elemental affinity . While she failed to learn what his type was, she exploded laughing when she heard how he did not notice some things. Now, she could see the blond and ask for the spicy details.
And so, she entered the clearing, expecting to find her teammate panting and sweating. But what she saw was breath taking. Craters. Everywhere she looked were huge craters. Leaves and stones cut in halves or reduced to rubble. When she looked in the middle of the clearing, there was the trio responsible for this mess. She was too far away to hear their talk, so she decided to make her presence known. Therefore, she jumped down the small cliff and walked towards...
"Hello, Sakura." Kakashi whispered into her ear. From behind. The girl shrieked in panic, foaming. But once she collected herself, she was furious.
"Kakashi-sensei! What do you think you're doing! Don't you know you shouldn't be scaring any girls?!" she roared her question.
"Well, you see..." Kakashi lazily scratched the back of his head, looking as if nothing big happened. "I figured that since you're here, then Lady Tsunade must've had a good reason to send you hare. Still, I DID ask for no one to come here while we're training. So I thought I'd at least take over whatever message you bring here. So what is it Lady Hokage asks for?"
Sakura calmed down quickly, realizing there was no way to win with this guy. "Actually, Lady Tsunade wanted me to bring you this medical supply." She handed over a package. "Also, she would like to know of Naruto's training progress." She paused glancing at the blond, thinking for a minute he seemed leaner. Then she whispered to her former sensei. "Truth be told, I wonder about it myself, Kakashi-sensei."
The silver-haired man looked at the pink-head for a few seconds. Then glanced at Naruto, who, in frustration, was now pounding the ground. "Actually, he is doing surprisingly well. I dare even say he's gotten even further than I'd expected."
"So... What's with his current behavior? He failed to do some simple exercise, right?" she asked, expecting that that was the case.
"Actually, Naruto managed to do the exercises to master his elemental affinity. He's getting frustrated with the task that, I admit, would have even me quit by now." Kakashi spoke. And smirk under his mask when he saw Sakura's shocked expression.
"Are you kidding me?" she yelled. "Him? No way he could do that!"
"And why not? He always had more potential for ninjutsu than you and far longer." The jonin reminded the Sakura of their earliest days as ninja. Sure enough, she wasn't really taking things seriously back in the days. But to be reminded of that had her depressed.
"Point taken." She admitted. "I'm going to report to Lady Tsunade." And with that she turned away and disappeared. Kakashi wondered if he didn't overdo it.
Nah.
With that, he disappeared and reappeared next to Naruto, who was now back on his legs. "This is a joke! Where's no way I can do that!" Naruto growled.
"Naruto. Remember. Rasengan is only half-complete." Kakashi started to remind Naruto the point of the whole training. "Originally, Fourth Hokage intended to add elemental chakra into the jutsu, but no matter what he tried he just couldn't succeed. And I believe you can do what he couldn't, since, unlike him, me or Lord Jiraiya, it took you weeks to master the rasengan, not years."
"My elemental affinity is near mastered by now, but I can't complete this jutsu!" Naruto snapped. "This is like looking right and left at the same time."
Kakashi and Yamato looked at the young man. They had no place to argue. Still, Kakashi decided to have some fun with the blond. Therefore, he created one shadow clone. "I'm looking to the right." The Original Kakashi said.
"I'm looking to the left." Shadow Clone Kakashi said. Naruto did not know whether or not the sensei and his clone were smirking under their masks or not, but his eyes widened.
"What is it, Naruto?" Yamato asked with a worried tone. Finally, Kakashi noticed it as well.
"THAT'S IT!" Naruto declared.
Elsewhere
Shikamaru, Asuma, Kotetsu and Izumo were watching the small building. Their target was to appear here anytime now. And once the target gets here, they would advance. So they waited for the man who was to enter the building. It was in reality the bounty collection point. And illegal at that. The Leaf had that spot under watch for months now, but only now did they get a chance to truly shut it. The bounty hunter, who was their target, made a mistake that would help them.
But their luck seemed to change. They saw a pair of people. Asuma narrowed his eyes. None of these men were their targets. They were both male. They... Wait a minute. These clocks. They were Akatsuki. The jonin both praised their luck and cursed. Praised, because they could deal and/or capture at least one of them and learn of the organization's plans. But also cursed, because The Akatsuki were dangerous.
When the two reached the building, one of them entered, while the other stayed behind.
"One of them decided to stay. Good." Asuma commented. "Considering they're Akatsuki, taking just one of them will be far easier than fighting two." He reasoned.
"Let's take him down before his partner comes out." Shikamaru said.
Hidan sit down on the step in front of the building. It irritated him that the bounty collection was hidden in the by-road toilet. But the greed of his partner beaded that. He sighed heavily. Why was he stuck with Kakuzu was beyond his reasoning.
His thoughts were interrupted when his danger sense kicked in. He jumped up just in time to avoid the Shadow Possession Jutsu of Shikamaru's. He smirked seeing how slow the shadow was. But then...
*STAB*
*STAB*
Shock was present on his face. Kotetsu and Izumo have both stabbed the silver-haired man with their blades, which resembled oversized and slightly curved kunai.
"We got him, Izumo." Kotetsu cheered.
"Great job, Kotetsu." His partner followed.
"Good job, you two." Asuma complimented when he jumped down. "Now we can handle the other one. But remember: We want him alive and..."
"Aargh! Damn that really f****ing hurts, you p****es!" Hidan cursed, shocking the Leaf shinobi. Oh yeah. The foul-mouthed Akatsuki was still alive.
"What the...?" Kotetsu freaked. "How can he be...?"
"He shouldn't be. We hit his vital spots." Izumo said, also freaking out.
"Let me go, you heretics!" Hidan shouted. And was able to not only reach his scythe. But also spin it to force the duo to fall back. Hidan snarled at the four before noticing one of the blades still stuck in his side. He groaned in annoyance before pulling it out. A gash of blood followed the blade, before it suddenly stopped. "Now, I shall teach you, d*****ads, the ways of Jashinism!" he roared, dashing towards Izumo. The man was about to react, when he saw sparks flying. To his surprise, Asuma engaged him.
"I am your opponent." The jonin challenged, kicking Hidan a few feet away. Hidan smiled sinisterly, or insanely in Shikamaru's opinion, at stabbed his hand with a kunai. This surprised the Leaf ninja. Even more so when the man drew a triangle within a circle.
"Fine, then. I believe you'll be a satisfying sacrifice for Lord Jashin." He said. Then dashed at Asuma, and the two engaged in a long battle. Sparks flew everywhere. The scythe left a red blur. The knuckle-blades of Asuma's were cutting air in a wisp. The two seemed to exchange the moment of advantage, jumping around on the ground, the trees, the building, rocks. The destruction caused by the two was... terrifying. Finally, Hidan managed to scratch Asuma on the cheek, causing the man to smile evilly before licking the blood off. Shikamaru shivered at the sight.
"The ceremony can now begin." Hidan said, leaping towards the circle.
"Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!" Asuma called, blowing out a black smoke, which covered a large area. Hidan looked at the cloud in fear, as it engulfed him as well. Before he could reach the circle. 'Got you now' Asuma thought, igniting a spark with his teeth. A flash ran throughout the cloud in split second before it exploded.
"He got him!" Kotetsu smiled.
"No way that guy could survive that." Izumo commented. Shikamaru nodded in agreement. He saw that jutsu a few months ago and knew from witnessing it that even if this guy did survive the explosion itself, there was no way he would survive with burns and wounds he likely suffered from that. He turned to Asuma, happy to...
"W-what?!" Shikamaru freaked, losing his usually calm composure. The two with him were confused at the Young Nara's reaction, until they turned their gaze. And they too were shocked by the sight.
Asuma was heavily burned.
"B-but... how...?" Shikamaru questioned, forcing the question out of his mouth. Then the Leaf ninjas turned when they heard snickering. Which soon turned into a laughter.
"Yes. Yes! YES! LORD JASHIN IS MORE THEN PLEASED! YOUR DEATH WILL PLEASE LORD JASHIN!" Hidan declared, as his body turned black, as if revealing his skeleton.
To be continued...
A.N.: Heeeeeere's update. Well, yeah, I'm back. Sorry it took so long, but I really, REALLY needed to take a break. And the latest chapters of Naruto were not so inspiring for me. But, luckily, I am back. But a fair warning. Unless I feel like it, I'll be now updating my Transformers fic. Then I'll be back to this. And so on. Also, if anyone's reading The Last Mission, know that I intend to complete the story eventually, cause I hope to write one more story of Storm God series. And the prequel is essential for that. But for now, enjoy the story and expect the next chapter. Well, see ya!