Hitori grinned. She had not been on an assassination in so long; she could feel the adrenalin pumping through her veins. She looked down at Ryuko, staring out into space. She hoped she was ready for this, after what she had just overcome. She jumped down.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Ryuko looked up at her.
"Do we really have a choice?" Hitori sighed. She was right.
"C'mon. We better get going." With that they jumped into the forest.
He ran quickly through the trees, anxious to reach his destination. He had left his team at the last village, for this was something he needed to do alone. This was something that he had dedicated his life to.
He stopped in a clearing, panting. It was a long way, and he needed to be at full power when he got there. He sat down under a tree and pulled out a water bottle. Suddenly a figure jumped out of a tree and landed in front of him. He looked up lazily, and saw a girl, a little younger than him, standing there. He raised an eyebrow.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah. Are you Uchiha Sauske?" He stiffened. She smirked.
"Good. We're here to kill you." He looked at her skeptically. She was thin, 13 or 14 years old, a girl, and looked as if she could hardly kill a rabbit. He rolled his eyes.
"I have better things to do." And jumped up. But he only flew a couple hundred meters before he crashed into something. He bounced back and slid, while trying to find what he hit. He saw a series of ripples in the air, coming from the place he hit. He jumped to the top of the tree, watching the ripples as they grew. They stretched across the clearing, then receded into the ground.
'Damn. A force field.' He gritted his teeth. He didn't have time for this. A face popped in front of his. He jumped, how did he not sense her?
"You're not getting out that easily!" She chimed in a singsong voice. "Leader-sama said you need to die."
Sasuke cracked. He can't stop now, not when he was so close.
"I have been cursed so long by the shadow of my brother, I will not be stopped by a brat like you."He growled, jumping into the clearing. The girl followed suit, landing a few meters away. She smiled, but not a happy smile.
"You think you're cursed?" And she burst into flame.
Deidara blinked. He looked at the screen. It had just looked like they were going to fight, when his student spontaneously combusted. Was this a trick? No, no one knew about the camera on the bird, or even the bird for that matter. New Jutsu? Self-Destruction? No, it didn't make any sense. He turned back to the screen. The ball of flames was charging at Sauske. This was more interesting than he expected.
Sasuke jumped out of the way of the fire. Narrowly dodging a barrage of punches and kicks, not to mention the blazing inferno. He slid backwards a few meters, Sharingan blazing.
She rushed at him again. Instinctively, he jumped back. But he knew something was wrong the moment she smiled. He felt a surge of heat on his back and turning around, he saw a wall of fire rise up from the earth to meet him. Thinking quickly, he drew his sword and lengthened it with his chakra. It stabbed into the ground, jarring him as he stopped. He swung up on it's handle.
No hand signs, no call, just a tiny flicker of the eyes that could mean anything. How was she doing all this?
He scanned the terrain, looking for someway out. As he studied the forest, a flicker of movement caught his eyes. An accomplice? He pulled out a kunai and attached an explosive tag. It hit dead-on, and just a millisecond before it detonated, something jumped into the clearing.
Sasuke groaned; another girl? Hitori, who had not been sitting idol, creating several birds out of fire, smirked.
"I was wondering when he would notice you, Ryuko. He's pretty dense." She called over her shoulder. Ryuko walked to her side, her eyes blazing violet.
"He still hasn't noticed his chakra. Has he, Hitori"
'What?' His forehead creased. He looked down at his sword, which was still perched upon. He seemed closer to the ground than before, but that was impossible. He did an internal check and his eyes widened in shock. His chakra was more than half gone. Ryuko saw this and grinned.
"He's finally getting the picture."
Team 7 and 8 rushed through the forest, hot on Sasukes trail. Kiba sniffed the air.
"We're really close." Naruto clenched his teeth. Kakashi turned to Hinata.
"Can you scout ahead with your Byakugan?" Hinata nodded and activated it, scanning the terrain. After a minute of searching, her eyebrows creased and she shut off her bloodline trait.
"What is it, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, coming up beside her. She blushed a bit.
"A-ano, there was a g-giant wall of ch-chakra, b-but I c-couldn't see through, j-just a c-couple of m-minutes south from h-here." With that, the teams altered their course, heading towards said chakra, wondering what it could mean.
Back in the clearing, Sasuke's luck was steadily declining. The chakra on his blade was almost all gone, and his reserves were getting lower by the minute. He was uncomfortably open on his perch, but it was safer and no fire was going to rise up suddenly.
He formed a hand sign, and blew a giant fireball at them.
"Fire style: Grand fireball technique!" It rushed at them, gaining speed with every meter. They didn't even flinch. Then, right before his eyes, it started shrinking until it totally disappeared, inches from their feet. But the kunai inside it didn't. He had them. Ryuko looked bored. In a blur of motion she grabbed the kunais out of the air, except one which she let whiz past her neck and into the tree behind her. Hitori didn't even move. The kunai plunged into the fire, but slowed to a stop as if it had fallen into oil. Ryuko inspected the kunais in her hand.
"That the best you got?" She smiled. Hitori smirked.
"Our turn." They both started to rapidly form hand signs, too fast for even his Sharingan to see. But, those that he did catch were completely foreign to him. A split second later they slammed their hands on the ground.
"Myth Style: Field of Burning Memories!"
"Myth Style: Flying Earth Dragon!"
Flames burst from the ground, consuming the entire clearing. Flames licked him from all directions. He could feel his skin burn.
With nowhere to run, he jumped as high as possible, the hazy air a refuge from the hell below. In the air, he saw a giant thing rise up from the earth. It was huge. He could see the girl, Ryuko, standing on it's back, as it unfurled it's great wings. It shot up into the sky with great speed despite it's size. Instantly, it was above him, and with a flick of it's tail, he was sent falling back to the earth.
Landing in a crouch position, he winced as hands met the fiery ground. Again and again, he jumped; again and again he was shot down. Tired, and with only a portion of his chakra left, he gave up. He stood up, and with him, the flames grew with him, now towering over his head. The heat was searing.
Then, he caught a flicker in the fire. Then, An image appeared inside the fire. His memories of the massacre of his family played before his eyes, almost as if it was a flickery TV screen. It changed, to the when he and Naruto fought on the roof. Then To their fight in front of the waterfall. These painful memories consumed him, the pain from the inferno forgotten. One after another, it played his worst memories, his nightmares, He couldn't take it.
Then, an image appeared, that wasn't his. A girl, not much older than eleven, lay in the middle of a battlefield, her green hair splatter with blood, and her eyes, glazed and staring. The spell on him was broken. A fast as possible he formed his hand signs and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Summoning technique!" A burst of smoke enveloped the bubble. When it cleared, Sasuke stood upon the head of the giant snake, Manda. His figure was burned and raw, and blood was oozing from the wounds. He was also mentally exhausted. But he could still fight. Ryuko jumped onto the head of the snake, her dragon crumbled as soon as she left it.
"What have you gotten into, Sasuke?" he murmured.
Hitori, was still on the ground, but was not paying any attention to the him or the snake. She was drawing all the fire towards her, and it melted into the flames growing around her. Wings sprouted from the back and the fire was starting to mold it's shape.
But Sasuke had bigger problems. Ryuko drew a giant sword from behind her back. He was confused as to why he didn't see it before. It looked like a giant machete. He drew his own sword, comparing in size, it looked like a tooth pick. But it was all he had. She ran at him, and slashed at his head. He ducked, but his burns slowed him and it only missed by an inch. She was fast, but she wouldn't be able to hit him as long as he had him Sharingan. It was an almost one-sided fight, for all he could manage was some quick dodges and a couple of shaky stabs. Then as she made a slash downward, he saw his chance. He stabbed at he arm, missing most of it, but he managed to cut through the skin. Ryuko immediately clamped on the wound and struck him with the dull side of her blade. He flew across Manda's head and landed a good five meters away.
Meanwhile, Hitori's fire was beginning to take form. You could see the basic shape of a phoenix growing. It was already of comparable size to the snake, and it's size continued to increase. Plumes sprouted from it's head and a beak grew and sharpened. Talons formed, and it's eyes opened. Inside, Hitori's eyes closed, and when she opened them again her pupils were gone, the whites of her eyes were crimson and the irises were orange. Manda chuckled solemnly and opened it's mouth.
"God Sasuke, what have you gotten me into?" The bird let out a blood-curling screech and flew at them.
Team 7 and 8 doubled their speed at the sight of Manda above the trees. But as the Phoenix rose up, did they realize the urgency of the situation. Naruto was at the head of the group jumping farther than anyone else and going to far ahead. When they were just a few seconds away, Naruto slammed into something. He rebounded so far that the other had to catch him as he flew past them.
"What was that, dattebayo?" Kakashi walked forward cautiously with his hand out. It pressed against something solid.
"It's a force-field." He said over his shoulder. Hinata's eyes widened.
"Th-this must b-be the w-wall of ch-chakra that I s-saw." Kakashi nodded grimly. But Naruto wasn't listening. He had shot up into the trees and was climbing to the top. Sighing, the other followed. From the top, they could see the grim spectacle before them.
Manda and the Phoenix were locked in battle, exchanging blows with lightning speed. But even though Manda was bigger and stronger, the firebird was winning.
They all feared for their friend's life, unable to help, and wondered who was his, and their, enemy.
Deidara sat in front of the screen watching the grim spectical before him. He would have to watch this again, just to make sure he wasn't imagining things. His student was in middle of a giant phoenix and taking on the worlds most feared snake; and the other was killing the guy that killed Orochimaru. But it escaped him why Ryuko needed to cover such a small cut. He must ask tham when they get back.
Sasuke knew that it was almost done. He was exhausted, his chakra was almost gone and his enemy was still at full power. He had one more chance, one last trick. Ryuko walked towards him, knowing that he was at the end of his rope. He shut off his Sharingan, needing every drop of chakra he could get. He forced the last sliver of chakra into his hand, the familiar crackle of electricity reached his ears.
Not wasting anytime enjoying the look of surprise on her face, he rushed at her. Ryuko's reaction was fast, but not fast enough. His hand plunged into her shoulder, but it stopped at the bone. Blood splattered out as he withdrew his fist. His limbs were limp, and he breathed in short gasps.
He stepped back and looked at her. Her arm fell from where it was covering the cut. It wasn't bleeding, it didn't have a scab, but the cut was definitely there. Protruding from the cut was a line of iridescent teal scales.
He looked back at the shoulder wound. Scales were shooting out from the flesh and the bone was being covered by black muscle that molded with her own.
"You think you're cursed?"
He didn't even try to block her blows. He had nothing left inside of him; the fight was over. A dull numbness flowed through his body as her fists hammered down on him. She wasn't even using her sword.
He thought about his life, and he realized, that his deepest regret was not that he didn't kill his brother, but that he left his friends. Suddenly he had a need to live. He wanted to, no, he needed to see them, to say that he was sorry. But he was beyond doing anything. His life was going to end.
Then he saw them. Standing on the treetops, watching him die. He saw the look of worry on their faces. The sadness. The love.
He felt one last blow to his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Ryuko stood above him, the bloodlust gone.
He looked at her and muttered his last words.
"Tell them I'm sorry."
His eyes slid closed and he drew one last breath, and was still. A solemn sadness filled her eyes. She picked up his body and jumped of Manda's head, letting Hitori finish him off. As soon as his head hit the ground, the fire dissipated. Her eyes returned to their normal soft brown. She looked at Ryuko who was walking towards the trees where his teammates watched.
"What are you doing?"
"Carrying out a final request."
She jumped into the trees, and climbed up until she was face to face with them. She laid down the body and looked at them. Their faces were filled with sadness and hate. She put her hand up to the field and touched it softly. Naruto punched it.
"You bastard!" She looked at him in the eyes, and watched tears leak out.
"He says he's sorry." And with that she left rejoining her partner. Then walked towards the bird that was waiting to take them back to the base. They stopped just before the barrier. Ryuko released the barrier. Hitori grinned.
"That guy deserved to die." Ryuko looked at her
"But they don't deserve to bury him." They both fell silent, and remained that way as they flew between the clouds.
Wow, I'm sorry I took so long to update. With school and all my other stuff I just didn't have time. But now I have and please review. And now that I have updated, Splitz-Girl it's your turn! Thanks for reading!