Chapter 4: Opening the Cage

Okazaki Komai strode through the forest, her robe swishing around her as she walked. The wind blew her glistening blue hair into her face, and she pushed it away. As she approached a small clearing, she came to a sudden stop. She sensed a chakra signature ahead, one that would normally be powerful but was now weak. She cautiously walked into the clearing, and saw a young man lying slumped against a tree. He wore a loose white robe and had long, dark hair. A Leaf forehead protector lay on the ground beside him. Several deep lacerations cut across his torso, and there were two dead bodies nearby, both Stone nin. It appeared that the Leaf shinobi had been separated from his teammates, defeated these enemies on his own, and then succumbed to his injuries.

Sensing that the boy was unconscious and no threat to her, Komai moved closer. She noted that neither of the Stone ninjas had any visible wounds from weapons or ninjutsu. That suggested that the Leaf soldier used either genjutsu or unarmed taijutsu. She bent over him and felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was weak and slow. If this boy's teammates didn't find him soon, he would die.

Lifting her eyes to the boy's face, Komai drew in a sharp breath. His eyes were closed and his face was peaceful, but his forehead was marred by a green mark that spanned it from one side to the other. The cursed seal took the form of an ancient symbol somewhat like an X, with a curved line on either side. It was a mark that was engraved on the foreheads of certain members of Konoha's Hyuuga clan. Itachi had mentioned it once—it represented a caged bird, one whose destiny was determined at birth. It represented a person who would never be free, but was doomed to spend the rest of his life enslaved to the larger purposes of his clan.

It brought back memories.

"Father, that's not the life I want!"

"What you want? A shinobi doesn't think about what she herself wants. She thinks only of what is best for her clan, and her village."

"But I don't love him! And anyway, he's my cousin!"

"He carries the bloodline of our family more strongly than any other male in the clan. Your children will be even stronger than the two of you are. The bloodline of the Okazaki MUST be preserved. That's all that matters."

"I'm a kunoichi, Father, not some backwoods farmer's daughter who's content to live as just a housewife and mother! What good is preserving the goddamned bloodline if you won't let me go out on missions and USE it!"

Slowly, Komai withdrew a scroll from an inside pocket of her clothing. On this scroll was a jutsu she'd just developed, using research stolen from the Stone Village. She was a genius at developing new jutsus, a talent the Akatsuki valued highly. In her years with the organization, she had created 14 techniques, 10 of which she had shared with her comrades. The remaining four were known to her alone. The intended use for this particular jutsu was to remove the cursed seal that Orochimaru had placed on Itachi's little brother. The last thing the Akatsuki needed was for Orochimaru to obtain the Sharingan. Komai suspected that Itachi also had more personal reasons for wanting to save his brother from Orochimaru, but that was one of those things that no one talked about. Mainly because no one wanted to piss Itachi off and spend the next 72 hours getting stabbed with a katana.

She turned the scroll over in her hands, hesitating. Any Leaf-nin, and especially one with an advanced bloodline, was a potential enemy. There was a common ninja saying: Compassion shown to an enemy is not a virtue. Anyone who had the potential to threaten the Akatsuki's plans should be killed. But there was another saying that she remembered hearing in her village when she was a small child: If a bird escapes his cage, and sees another bird that is still imprisoned, he should pause in his flight and free his brother. She herself had escaped the destiny that her clan had tried to impose on her. This boy was not so lucky.

"Is this what you want? To disgrace our clan? To shame the memory of our ancestors?"

"I don't CARE about the reputation of our clan, or the memory of people who died a hundred years ago! What I care about is having the chance to live my own life for once! I don't want to be trapped here; I want to see the world, to have adventures, to pursue my OWN goals and not just those of the clan."

"Where will you go? The world is a cold place, and it doesn't care about one young girl's dreams. How will you survive without the support of your family?"

"I'm a shinobi—I fear nothing and I don't need anyone's help to survive."

She remembered turning her back on her father and walking to the door, only to feel him grab her wrist. "That's it! I won't allow you to do this. For the gods' sake, show some loyalty to your clan!"

A quick twist of her arm broke his grip; a jump and a spinning kick sent him flying back into the wall. "I am not without loyalty, but I won't have bonds with others forced upon me anymore. From now on, my bonds with others will be those of my own choosing."

On that day, she had slammed the door behind her, and left her village without looking back. She had never looked back on any day since, either. It had been both exhilarating and frightening to realize that, for the first time in her life, she had no ties to any particular person or place. She could go where she liked, do what she liked, associate with whom she liked. She could decide for herself what goals to pursue. She could live by her own way of the ninja, instead of one that her clan had forced upon her. She had wandered aimlessly for a while, simply exploring a world she had never thought she'd get to see. There were plenty of people willing to employ a rogue ninja, especially one with her talents. She had completed a series of difficult missions for a mysterious former Sand shinobi, and eventually he had revealed something to her. The missions he had given her were not ordinary missions, but tests of her abilities. He had told her about the nine bijuu, and about the organization dedicated to capturing them. "From now on, my bonds with others will be those of my own choosing." She toyed with the ring on her finger and smiled slightly.

Komai's smile faded as she unrolled the scroll she held. The Hyuuga boy was slipping away fast—if his teammates didn't find him within ten minutes, he'd be dead. And even if they did find him, there was no guarantee that they would be able to heal his wounds. If you're going to die, die as a free man. Running through the long series of seals described on the scroll, she placed her hands on the boy's forehead. Her chakra seeped into his body, gently disentangling the chakra of the cursed seal from his own chakra system. Her chakra enfolded and isolated the cursed chakra, and she carefully drew it out of his body. She placed her hands on the scroll, and the chakra-focusing symbols written there caused the cursed chakra to dissipate harmlessly. While she watched, the green mark disappeared from the boy's forehead, leaving flawless skin behind.

As she rolled up the scroll and placed it back in its pocket, Komai's keen senses picked up several chakra signatures moving in her direction. They were moving at great speed and not doing much to conceal their presence. Well, kid, it looks like maybe you have a chance after all.

"Who are you?" The voice spoke out of the darkness of the cave, deep and resonant.

"I am Okazaki Komai."

"What are you?"

"A kunoichi."

"No. That is your profession. What are you?"

"I am a missing-nin from the Hidden Village of Cloud."

"No. That is a designation given to you by those you left behind. What are you?"

What else was there? What was she, behind all the definitions imposed by others? What was she, within her own heart?

"I am…a bird that once lived in a cage, but refused to accept that existence. I am a caged bird that has broken free, and will never be enclosed by bars again."

On a warm summer day in the Earth Country, one caged bird and one free bird entered the forest. A few hours later, two free birds left it.

A/N: I've always liked the idea of Neji somehow managing to get rid of his cursed seal. (My personal theory is that Sakura or Tsunade will develop a jutsu to remove cursed seals for use on Sasuke, and then someone will point out that such a technique could also be used to get rid of Neji's seal.) So the general "Neji loses his cursed seal" idea was part of the inspiration for this chapter. I thought about adding a bit to this chapter where Neji wakes up in the Konoha hospital and realizes his seal is gone, but I didn't put it in because my intention was for the stories in this fic to really center on the Akatsuki members.

Anyway, this is the story for the mysterious blue-haired member (who so far has only been seen in that one spread from Chapter 317 that showed all the members together). The next chapter will be about either Hidan or Zetsu.

Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!