I tensed, as my ears picked out the soft whistle of wind; a slew of kunai flew at me from all directions, twelve of them real, seventy of them genjutsu. I knocked the real ones out of the air with clawed hands and heightened speed, then moved just in time to avoid a blow to my shoulder and catch a cut on my wrist. The slit turned red and the sent of blood and poison exploded into the air—I applied healing chakra to it immediately and sucked out the poison. Thank Kami for my Inuzuka blood, if I hadn't used my Feral Wolf jutsu I definitely would have died by now. It had been twelve minutes; a length of time unheard of for a serious engagement. One on one battles were decided within six minutes or less and this one was long overdue.
I didn't bother to stifle a gasp of pain as Itachi's sword made contact just above my waist, the dull flat edge, followed with a hard blow by the hilt. You would have never guessed such small movements could yield so much force.
A rib had cracked, or a rib at least, I was too numb with pain to tell if it was one or two. The bone had splintered and punctured my skin. A red flower blossomed on my side as blood spread and soaked through my clothes. I fed chakra into the wound to reduce the pain and numb it, but knew I couldn't afford to split my concentration to heal it. This sort of medical repair was too advanced to do while distracted, even the Sannin Tsunade took five minutes to restore fully broken bones. I hesitated and immediately hated myself for it; it put me solely on the defensive even though I couldn't afford it, and I was reduced to blocking and dodging, unable to attack.
I followed him closely, searching for an opening while keeping his sword's killing edge away. It was impossible to land a blow, he moved so fast he was everywhere around me at once. Then, remarkably—I connected and struck deep on his triceps, and landed a shallow cut on his leg. He leapt back but moved as if I'd never touched him, graceful as a dragonfly. I was fighting a loosing battle, the only assurance I might live was the hint of foreign blood I smelled scattered in the air mixed with my poison, and that was hardly any assurance at all.
A barrage of flaming spheres flew towards me all of them concealing poison kunai--I raised a wall of earth just in time and braced myself as the burning globes made impact and almost seared through, then summoned a thicker wall in anticipation of another wave of attack. I scanned the forest by smell, and with my Byakugan; Itachi's scent was all around me, and he was moving to fast for me to get a lock on him. There was no way I would be able to land a ninjutsu attack on him. I'd have to spread my target out and aim for larger area.
I scanned the surroundings again; the only other person in the woods for miles was Kisame. My chakra reserves were waning; I had used most of my chakra up minutes before. Regardless, I bit my thumb and drew blood, then smeared it in a streak down my left arm. The chakra seal on my forearm flared to life and I slammed my hand into the ground, sending black runic symbols racing across the ground. If I summoned, Itachi would no doubt manipulate the creature and have it turn on me in minutes, it would be worse than if I'd never summoned at all. Ink continued racing out in all directions, spreading over everything. Trees, rocks, shrubs, the ink seal was all encompassing.
Instead of producing an ordinary summon, I would call its master's power.
The ink finally came to a stop, and I formed a single hand seal—inu. The ink on the ground glowed for a moment; I slammed my hand into the center of the seal and screamed as chakra gates opened against my body's will. Rivers of raw chakra tore through me with rabid intensity, almost searing my chakra network. An impossible amount of power spilled over me and poured into the seal—then, the entire landscape detonated!
Everything for a five mile radius was engulfed in an explosion of heat and flame. Cracks opened up in the earth and spewed out steam, and wind with enough pressure to kill on contact. The force of chakra increased, and so did my pain, sending metal skewers erupting from the ground. It was a jutsu powerful enough to take out Konoha, permanently. A mixture of all the elements only the bijuu master of inu summons could produce.
After what seemed like ages, the blast ended and the air began to clear. Chakra slowly seeped out of me and back to its source. The ink seal soaked into the earth and disappeared. My body felt horribly seared from the inside and weak, I struggled to stay standing, gasping for breath. Enormous flames continued burning and scorching steam escaped the earth from seemingly bottom less vents—holes from which some metal spears still jutted out. The woodland literally looked like hell, the entire forest was charred black, and anything that held life before was dead or dying. Trees were blasted to smoldering stumps and splinters with metal javelins protruding, any smaller plant life had been reduced to burned shadows. The suffocating smoke was lifting slowly.
I collapsed on my knees, fighting for breath and coughing blood; my entire being was racked with exhaustion and pain. I must have kneeled there for ages before I forced myself to get up again. As the smoke began defusing, I saw single figure slowly stand up, and begin limping towards me. My breath became faster and more erratic. No! Impossible, how could he possibly still be standing? I had summoned the power of a bijuu, no one should have been standing.
I had no energy left and only one jutsu I hadn't called on. Six chakra gates had just opened and closed involuntarily. I wasn't stupid enough to think I could open them again so soon and live. I would have to convert life force to chakra.
In the seconds I had before he drew any nearer I forced myself to make the seal that calls the gate of the death god. It opened much too slowly for the direness of my situation. A hand reached forth from the gate. I spoke in a labored whisper. "I sacrifice a day of my life in exchange for chakra." I needed much, much more, but in my life I had made the exchange twice already, and I didn't know how much time I had left. How pointless it would be to live through today only to die tomorrow. The hand reached into my mouth and I convulsed as it drew life out of me. As the gate closed, chakra welled up within me. A fifth of my chakra was restored, but I still had to worry, my body was reaching its limit, it was still weak from the summoning, and opening the gates—not to mention all the damage from Itachi.
I raked my hand across the space in front of me and drew the air into a thin and deadly blade then repeated the process with my other hand. I made an army shadow clones and charged at Itachi. His image dispersed in the wind then surrounded me with his own clones. Clouds of smoke erupted left and right as we slashed through each others bunshin wildly till we found each others true copies. I pushed chakra to my limbs for a burst of speed. My blades were doing their damage, they were intangible to wood and metal but perfectly solid to flesh and bone. I could cut past his guard but I paid for it with weakness in my own defenses.
His Sharingan read the jutsu, but he couldn't copy the technique, it was born exclusively to my mother's line. I pushed all remaining chakra to my limbs for speed and forced my body to keep going and never concede to pain. Slowly, his cloak was cut to ribbons and his porcelain skin became colored with red lines, until finally he slowed enough from blood loss so I could stab him cleanly. He doubled over, and collapsed onto me. His blood spilled on my thighs and the dead weight of his body slumped against me.
I fought it, but my lack of chakra dispelled the jutsu. I pushed Itachi off me. Then turned in the direction of Kisame; I was sure he would step in and kill me now. I had been so worried earlier that he might step in and I would have to fight them both, but even now he seemed perfectly content to standby and look on. My face portrayed my confusion and he smiled in reply. In seconds the body on the ground before me disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Itachi appeared at my side and there was a burst of pain at the back of my neck as I stabbed him with a kunai simultaneously. My hand slid weakly down his side, carving a long shallow cut as I went limp and the world began fading into black.
The last things I saw were those beautiful lethal red eyes. "You've improved 'Konoha no Sayuri.'" Then to Kisame "Tell leader I killed her. I'm going back to the north complex." His words were expressionless, but I didn't sense any killing intent. I wasn't dead yet, and for the second time in my life…I didn't know why.
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Author Note: Sorry it took me so long to this up, I've been all over the place this summer in the most literal sense. I hoped you liked it, plz review if you want more.