A/N: Maybe I had overdone it and let the battles carry a little too far, I do not know, but all things considered, this will be the final part of the battles. Then, people, you will see what one twist can do to an entire storyline. I had hoped that half of you would persevere through the prologue, yet that is where over 2/3 of the viewers have stopped! (sigh…) Whatever – I do not care anymore. Just enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 6: "You Can't Beat Me."
Sasori creaked slowly to upright position…very slowly. Every normal second was a minute gone by for him.
The trunk behind him slowly collapsed into a crumpled bend with his imprint still wedged into the center, the same imprint where he was only a second ago. Dark leaves silently drifted all around Sasori from high in the air, from their now invisible spots where they once sat on the now-deceased tree. It was as if they didn't even reflect in Sasori's eyes; whether he realized that they were there or not, Tayuya couldn't say.
In regards to the big, healthy tree, she could have sworn that she had crippled him along with it, but she knew better. She would have killed him while he was down and taking so slow to get up, but it was all just a play to him. If she came close, she'd surely get lashed a second time for her mistake.
But in her Cursed Seal Second State, she had both muscle and muscle memory. She had warned him from the start, about not fucking around with her, but to no regard did he listen. Now he would just have to die.
But as fate would have it, under no circumstances was Sasori the killable type. Killing type, yeah, but that was a kill-not-be-killed matter to be taken up with absolutely everyone, even his superior, to whom there was only one.
Tayuya rolled her unnaturally-colored eyes, and tilted her head way back to appear facing upward to the sky. She was getting pretty damn impatient with this whole zombie-rise-from-the-dead act that this guy was pulling every time he was pushed to the ground.
"Come on…" She moaned out from her breath. "Get the fuck up, already. I didn't hit you that hard."
Sasori scowled with more hell towards her than ever before, but if she even had a feeling of the look that she was now getting, she had no such means of showing it.
"Hn." He scoffed silently at her, feeling disrespected that he was not being taken seriously. His eyes sank into such a narrow glare, that his pupils were barely visible from the very top of them. In retrospect, this girl was on her knees, begging to let herself killed in the most painful way that man has yet to compromise.
"Cut this crap." She broke back quickly and nonchalantly. "I'm getting really fed up with your bullshit. I hate all this waiting you're putting me through, and-"
"Waiting?" Sasori inquired, wagging his tail behind him so wildly, that it produced enough rapid clicking to wake up the entire village nearest them.
Tayuya shot a taken-back look as she took a half-jump backwards. "Whoa, what the fuck! Did I just turn you on or something?"
"Waiting." He repeated. "Do you know…how much I abhor making people wait? Do you know how much inconvenience it fills me with to see bored people – roll their eyes at me with the look that just happens to say 'I could die at any moment'? I hate getting that look." His eyes dilated wildly, blood-shot veins revealing themselves. "…Makes me MAD!"
He made a great sudden outburst of energy to launch himself a foot forward in less than a second, which rattled Tayuya into a brief defensive stance. She could have sworn that her heart could have shot out of her back towards the other direction from all of this excitement and adrenaline. She hated that constricting feeling. But the exhilaration – oh, she loved that. But this wasn't a lovey feeling moment. This was sheer. Fucking. Panic. This guy is so unpredictable in speech and action, and it was more of an annoying thing than an oh-so-mysterious-and-cool thing, really.
"But you know," he continued calmly, maintaining his form as if he had done absolutely nothing. His speech retained the same tone and pace. "You're just like me. I hate waiting. Those feelings of standing completely stationary like a tree for hours on end; it drives me insane."
Sasori creased his forehead for a moment, knowing full well that if his younger teammate was here, another wood-based pun would come up, and he had quite enough of those for one day.
Tayuya crossed her arms nonchalantly, and raised an eyebrow. "Don't let this face fool you – I really do sympathize." She said in such a harsh way, that put the dumbest person in the whole country there, and they could see that she really hadn't meant anything close to it.
"…Just rambling, I suppose." Sasori replied casually. "But you miss the point." He crouched down on all four limbs, and even though he was doing it to recline, to Tayuya, she thought that the pose meant he was about to throw his whole body out on top of her. Her sudden increase of caution on her face saying it all, Sasori easily noticed this and smiled deviously, but quickly let the moment go and resumed speaking.
"Give the person that you've known longest in your life, and you in turn come to know the traits and characteristics that they probably wouldn't care to let anyone else know about…probably."
He shifted his tail to one side, and coiled it up, the sharp head of it facing the girl, but would move back and forth only slightly. Even though she once again took this as a threatening gesture, really all that he was doing was playfully twirling the chakra strings attached to his fingertips controlling the tail in a circular fashion from the inside. He always had a habit of moving his hands with the strings still attached while he was half out-of-mind, and he never really thought for how threatening he looked to anyone on the outside.
Tayuya tried her best not to break visual contact with her foe; it could cost her a limb or two if she did. It didn't look like he would shut up anytime soon, but at the same time, he was reeling on all fours in a threatening pounce stance with his long-ass tail standing in a pattern that looked like a snake about to strike. She kept on guard, placing one foot directly behind her incase she would have to take a lengthy jump back if he launched it again. But he was making this into more of a casual lecture, like a debate class, rather than a fight to the death. Was he not afraid of her at all? If recalling correctly, she tore him up pretty damn good.
"But I'm not the kind of person who gets all touchy-feely with anyone, even my partner doesn't understand my way of thinking, but I could just as well classify him as a woman – his opinion just doesn't count."
Tayuya spat two words to this sexist statement. "Fuck you."
Sasori turned his head up a little, but let it slide harmlessly and continued. "So I have developed what you might call…a unique observational skill. You see, while I have this tail at my disposal, it's easier to fight than you know. You could say that I have eyes at the back of my head." He realized that he was telling a little more about his fighting style to her, but honestly what did it matter? She was going to die just as soon as he was finished. "So I use just this two-way system to scan over my opponent, and based on physical and verbal communication, I can see exactly what kind of person they are. But then again, you wouldn't necessarily pose as a trivial challenge with anyone, would you? You're an easy book to read. In fact, I worry myself that I've read in a little too much, what with all of your swearing and vulgar vocabulary."
Tayuya sneered at him. He wasn't the first dickhead to chide her about her bad swearing habits. Fat-ass Jiroubou and bookworm Kabuto both get on her for her choice of words. But she had two words to say to them, too.
"But that's not all." He dropped a whole level in tone, if that was even possible. "I see you've been trying to read into my eyes a little bit, too. Like what you see? How do you compare Death to a midsummer's day?" He gave a faint venomous tip to the end of the question.
"It's like being forced to read a boring poetry book." Tayuya replied half-heartedly, recognizing the Shakespeare reference, even if he did twist it a little.
"You had your bets at first, didn't you?" He added sternly. "Back when you made those obesity remarks, and then I threw off my garments. You thought you had me all figured out, didn't you?"
When she didn't answer, he continued. "In all regards, you haven't picked up on anything constructive at all about your current opponent. Don't get me wrong – you're a good strategist, but a true strategist takes the time in any difficult looking situation and analyzes his opponent thoroughly. Well I gave you plenty of chances, and you screwed them all."
Tayuya glared deeply at him, and tried to come up with a comeback, but quickly turned her glare to the side and tried to burn a hole into the rock next to him with it. As much as it sucked to admit, the son of a bitch was right. She had wasted too much time assuming the offensive instead of the innovative. But that didn't mean that she couldn't change the subject around a little on him.
"So your mission was to come all the way out here in the middle of the forest and fight off a fourteen-year-old girl – won't your superior be so happy with you. If you're as hard-ass as you say you are, then how is it you ended up fucking the whole day away against an opponent who's probably, hmm, sixty years younger than you?"
"Nineteen…" Sasori grudgedly corrected her.
-FWOOOOOSH!-
Before she could openly insult him once more, a gigantic wind suddenly burst through the whole area, knocking leaves and debris into the air and Tayuya along with them. The typhoon swept her into the treetops and she grabbed on to the nearest branch to keep from flying into space. As the wind lost velocity, she flew meters towards the ground. Barely saving herself from landing on her back, she instinctively flipped backwards unto her feet once again. She snapped her head back to face Sasori and her face was at a comical state when she dropped her jaw at him.
"Did you just-"
"Wasn't me." Was his quick, simple answer.
As if on cue, both of their heads slowly and simultaneously turned to look to the side at a blond-haired kunoichi holding a gigantic fan with big purple spots outstretched to one side as she withdrew from dealing the huge wind-based attack.
Neither could see her headband from the distance that covered between the three, so her village I.D. was lost to them for a moment. Letting their eyes adjust, they quickly scanned over her outfit for clues. It was hard at first, because the clothes looked modified. There were fishnet bindings stretching to cover various parts of the feminine figure's body. But with a good look, both of them had enough evidence from the texture of the cloth to come up with one simplistic answer. This girl was a ninja of Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand.
Sasori had childhood reasons for recognizing this. And they weren't happy reasons. But why was the Sand meddling here?
Tayuya, on the other hand, knew for a different reason. Orochimaru proposed an 'alliance' with the Sand way back when to get close to the Kazekage and take him out. This was, of course, announced to the entire Sound Village and her included. During the days that the dumbass had actually believed him and let Sound nins strut through his village without warrants, Orochimaru had forced everyone in his village to become more accustomed with Suna by interacting with its shinobi, and it did not please Tayuya, to say the least. She didn't care to make a friend with anyone in any other damn village in the world. Six years ago would have been fine, but alas, six years too late.
Way too late.
When she became a ninja, she learned the extremely hard way that you had to set yourself ready to make cope with the fact that the people closest to you will die. In optimistic view, it was only a matter of time. Orochimaru didn't care, but she wanted to keep those events as minimal as possible. Her devised solution: make as little friends as possible. She could never, of course, simply wipe the people that she already knew from her mind; Kabuto, Kimimaro, Sakon, Kidomaru, Jiroubou, Dosu, Zaki, Kin – even if she could hardly give a shit for what happened to any of them, that never stopped her from worrying that she would find someone more…important. Someone that she couldn't bear to lose. After what had happened……six years ago.
She continued to hold her scowl, her light brown eyes reflected coldly at the other assailing kunoichi, who folded the fan back into its hilt, subsequently placing the now sheathed paper upright next to her and resting her hand on top of it. She kicked one leg back into a relaxed position and cracked a foxy grin.
"Well isn't this special." She said, making it obvious that she was directing all of her smug speech to the scowling girl.
Her grin quickly faded as she turned to figure 2. "Who are you? What are you doing out in the middle of the woods with this girl? Do you even know who she is?" She bombarded Sasori with questions. "Look I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave here right now. I'll handle this girl myself."
Sasori turned his curious glare into a glare-glare at this statement. In a cold tone, he said, "My prey. Go find your own." With this, he proceeded to face Tayuya again, obviously assuming that the other girl would see light in wisdom and disappear from plain view.
Tayuya dropped into comical expression again, her jaw dropped and eyes like dinner plates. Prey? Since when did she become some bimbo's hunting game?
The Sand kunoichi, none other than Gaara and Kankurou's older sister, Temari, wouldn't sit too well with this. And being the proud and equally stubborn girl that she was, she wasn't about to just do what this guy said.
"Excuse me? Sorry, but if you're not prepared to leave, then I guess I'm prepared to make you leave."
Sasori snapped his lean head back to her.
"You're a shinobi from Suna, yes?"
"Yeah, I am. And as of late, the Sand is now an ally of the Leaf Village, so according to the Hokage's part of the treaty, we're authorized to travel on Konoha's forestry grounds. Now please do as you're told and clear out – I don't really feel like asking nicely again."
Sasori stared at her for a few seconds, and then asked a question that Temari never saw coming.
"So how's Chiyo, huh?"
While Tayuya's eyes blinked a few times in response to this, Temari's pupils shrank. "You…know about Elder Chiyo-"
Sasori's tail launched into forward rotation, and even though Temari never saw what was coming, she instinctively re-opened her fan in a split half-second, but failed to completely defend herself, as the head of the tail made a powerful lunge attack which easily chopped it in two, and grazed a cut into Temari's side, as she just barely shifted her torso to avoid sustaining full damage through the chest. Sasori's relentless attack didn't just stop there; he flexed the extended tail around her side and for a last joint effort with his tail and her sudden loss of footing, he knocked her straight off the tree in a clean sweep. Temari let out one incredibly short but loud response to the sudden, yet brutal attack, and she was unconscious before she hit the ground.
All in one, brief second.
"I hate Chiyo." Sasori blatantly informed her, even though she was probably completely out of it now.
Tayuya's brain simply couldn't process what all was happening now. Her anonymous rival had just done in the kunoichi from the Sand in literally the blink of an eye. But that's all that she did, was bat an eyelid, before the girl was incapacitated under half the effort of that long tail.
Her jaw was left hanging with a few more single-digit blinks from her dark, clearly disturbed eyes. The bright golden pupils shook in their bleak spires.
Sasori turned his head back to her yet again, and this time, there was no Sand girl to stop that.
"One female is quite enough to deal with. Where did I leave off…?" He asked wearily, but Tayuya couldn't place it clear whether he was talking to her, or himself. To escape persecution of the question, she tried her best to give him her silent, chivalrous face, even though deep inside, she felt she would explode.
"Ah. I remember." Sasori said, pointing up at the sky with his tail in the same fashion that a person would point up his index finger in realization. "Tell me, did you think that it was skill…or even luck that got you this far – or do you think that you survived up to this point because I let you?"
Her act instantly fell apart, and her face shot into shock with a soft grunt, a bead of sweat shone off of her cheek. 'Is this ugly mole really serious? Or is he just bluffing? It's likely bluffing, but…' She briefly flashed back to where her Doki were attacking him from all sides, while he deflected them with impossible ease. 'He could have assumed the offensive easily, but chose not to. Could he be waiting for me to be caught off guard? Waiting for me to make a slip?' Something else flashed in her memory, causing her glare to soften slightly. 'But then why would he bother to have…?'
"That's right, girl." Sasori concluded for her, pulling her away from her thoughts. "Even if you were to miraculously kill me – right here and now – it wouldn't matter; your mission will have failed utterly anyways. My colleagues are light years above and beyond yours, and without that Uchiha runt ever successfully having been delivered, I'm not sure if your pedophilic master would even keep you alive, let alone welcome you home."
Tayuya crinkled her eyebrows into a furious glare, and even through her dark complexion, a bright red blend flushed her face. Her teeth bit down hard on her jaw, and her hands were clenched so tightly together, that despite her altered dark skin color, her knuckles were paler than her normal color had ever been. And the flute that she was holding in her hand didn't bend – it snapped in two.
Sasori uncaringly noticed this without breaking eye-contact with the positively pissed redheaded female. "I know. He'll keep waiting for the Uchiha to come to his village for such a long time, that he won't even realize when his own body dies out! And with his death will be the collapse of his artificial village. His…and yours."
She in turn didn't bother to look down at the strewn scrap metal. She knew what happened to her instrument, and she didn't care. She didn't know before that this guy knew Orochimaru, but that wasn't the main idea, either. There were times where her teammates might have pissed her off a little, but nothing ever felt like this. He had no fucking right to go out and assume that her village, which she had been raised from since she was eight, would fall because of such a small cause. To her, that was blasphemy! What people considered from her foul mouth was blasphemous to them, but this…this…this was what she looked at as blasphemous. There was just no turning back now. No forgiveness. No mercy. No redemption for this bastard. She was simply not going to let him get away with this. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.
"This whole thing has been a game of Cat and Mouse between you and me. But I suppose…" He let out a half-chuckle as he looked back down at the crumpled hole layering his chest before finishing his sentence. "Even cats let their guard down, sometimes." His tail clicked forward, anxious to lunge out at her to finish her off. "But look to the logic of it all, Sound girl. You know it makes sense. Your colleagues should all be finished by now, just as I'd predicted they'd be in the near-beginning, and without your dear Otokage's vessel, he will fade like a memory, and so will the so-called 'village' that he holds in his stead." Pause. "In a way, it will all be on your head. You've failed. Any final words, perhaps a will or testament that you would like to speak before you become part of my collection?"
They stood facing each other for several minutes, and even though they seemed like hours to Sasori, this time, he didn't care. The waiting would be worth it, and he could hardly 'wait' to see the expression on the normally scowling kunoichi's face when she falls to her knees and tears streaming down her face as she starts crying in severe desperation. As far as he could see, this was the only reason he had kept her life preserved through the long hours of the day, and it was the only reason that he was waiting now.
But he frowned slightly, because he could no longer see her demonic eyes in the midst of all that long, ruffled, red fur that she called hair. With this said, he couldn't see any tears streaming down, which completely destroyed the magic of the moment that he threw away an entire afternoon to see. Well it was dusk now, and the crickets were chiming their nightly nocturnal tunes. She had better give him a good show to beg for her life, or he would take it slowly.
Tayuya stood completely statue still in her spot, the remains of a flute lay at her right foot. It shone brightly for awhile when the sun hit it just right, but faded out now as darkness enveloped the forest ground, along with the two. A long strand of hair covered nearly all of her face, but she made no effort to brush it out of the way. Her arms did not move from her sides, but her hands had not broken from their tight fists, which were trembling in what Sasori took for as fear.
Or mistook.
Then, something barely audible to anything near Tayuya came out from her voice, and since Sasori wasn't actively clicking, he could have sworn that he had heard it.
It sounded almost like…a whimper.
He grinned with ecstasy. He was finally getting to her. Whether it was what he had been saying, how he had been saying it, or a combination of the two, he was getting to her. Was it ever mentioned why he liked messing around with kunoichi before he killed them? It was when it came to moments like this in time. He easily bore into each one's mind; found out what got to them the most. He knew that there was something, some sore subject that brought any girl down. One just has to know where to push. He realized how cold it was… He realized that it hurt… He realized that he could be a bastard. But only he himself would choose when to stop. And now…it was her turn.
Then, something completely unusual happened. Tayuya's Cursed Seal mark began glowing a third time; only this time, it was a blood-lit color prior to the ember coloration from the previous two. A painful throb broke her away from her infuriated thoughts, and caused her to let out a startled grunt, as one of her eyes tightly shut while her face winced in agony. Her teeth clenched together even tighter than before as she fought the urge to make this burning pain noticeable.
Without a second thought, she threw her hand up to the back of her neck where the seal was. It was pulsating at a rapid pace. And it felt hot. Each and every moment, a new rush of pain would swoop in and layer over the old one, giving her body no time to recuperate.
'Ah! What's…happening?!' She struggled to think under the constant hell that her own seal held her under. '…my…seal…' Reverting back to her normal body wasn't anywhere near this painful! It was exhausting to be sure, but she preferred that feeling high above the one she was now experiencing. Anything but this!
Blood-red jagged markings crept out from under the hand that she held to the seal. The pain spread like fire across her backside, causing her face to tighten even more. Now she was doing everything in her power not to scream out.
'I…can hardly take it anymore! What…is…this…fuck??' Veins began to reveal themselves on her temples, and the horns on her head grew longer as they slowly proceeded to jut out forward. It felt like someone was literally ripping her hair out, but in truth, her hair itself was actively growing longer at an unnatural rate. Her body shivered uncontrollably as she attempted to regain composure.
But there was no avail, and her legs gave way from right underneath her. She fell forward, but barely caught herself with her arms to keep from plummeting face-first. Soon after, she both heard and felt her bones and muscles crackle, like they were shifting and reforming. And it felt like her clothes were shrinking. Every movement she made to respond uncontrollably to the pain of her light frame reforming itself caused her clothes to strain with effort. She could hear the slow tearing of the Sound garments along with the constant crackling of her bones. 'I need to find away to STOP this crazy shit!! I need to…!' She cut herself off from her thoughts as her golden eyes shot wide open when she spotted her hand. The demon-colored markings where slowly crawling their way through her light-brown upper arm and onto her lower arm. She felt the unbearably sharp, scorching pain that it carried with it as it advanced.
When the trims of the markings reached her fingertips, that's when everything got really freaky. She could hardly see it without spending all of awareness shutting out the pain, but noticed it, nonetheless. Her fingernails were literally growing out into what looked like…claws?!
"Ngh…!" Tayuya grunted. She could feel the same thing happening to her toes; a similar pain stretched down her legs, and shot through her feet.
Then she felt something else. In her mouth. She actively began running her tongue along her teeth to feel if everything was alright, and when it reached her canine teeth, they felt abnormally…sharp. Almost like fangs growing in.
'What the hell is happening to me?! Orochimaru…Lord Orochimaru…it…it hurts! What's HAPPENING TO ME??'
She couldn't endure the bizarre transformation of her body any longer. Tears went streaming down her cheeks from this twisted feeling. It felt like…like she wanted to kill the first living thing closest to her, just to watch it suffer and die. It was a scary feeling. An evil feeling. Apart from her body's continued shivering, she threw her head up to the heavens, and screamed as loud as she could.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!"
The tortured scream echoed through the forest and passed Sasori as he watched her writhe in pain on the ground.
"You see?" He asked in a perfectly casual tone, as if he was just teaching a child how to ride a bike. "You feel so much better when you just express yourself."
For a moment, Tayuya didn't answer. Her knees touched the ground while she struggled to keep the rest of herself up with her arms, which were trembling wildly with what could be pain, rage, or a delicate combination of the two.
Another silent minute went by, and then she slowly picked herself up, her arms dangled forward loosely as her head was still facing the ground.
"…Y-You…" A voice whispered death from her quivering mouth.
"Me." Sasori responded nonchalantly as he cocked his head. Something was wrong with her voice. Even though it wasn't so gentle in the first place, Sasori knew it to be true. It wasn't the same girl's voice. It was a much lower, harsher – unnatural, demonic. It was almost actually frightening on Sasori's account. He took a closer look, narrowing his eyes to zoom in on her. His deadpan glare deepened at what he saw.
Ominous, violent, dark purple chakra, like something out of a nightmare, crawled out from underneath her now torn garments and slowly slid over her body. It looked like some giant, oozing life form devouring her, but it had a static-building texture generating from the very outer layer of the blackening aura. Parts were breaking away off the edges of the figure, similar traits to what Naruto has on his Demon's Cloak aura.
'A…jinchuuriki?' He questioned silently as he looked on at the dark chakra covered entity now set it sights in front of him.
"You're a jinchuuriki too, huh?"
Tayuya answered him with a low growl, bearing her new set of fangs at him in what was a little more than just her signature unfriendly scowl.
"I knew I left you alive for a reason. Plans have changed. Won't you come to the Akatsuki Extraction Chamber with me?"
Tayuya snarled only got louder while she got on all fours in an aggressive stance, eyeing him wickedly with new slit, bright-golden pupils. Pupils that looked almost like the ones that Orochimaru has – but with a black background, a much brighter glow, and dare it be said, much more malevolent.
Sasori let out a long exasperated sigh. "No… I suppose you wouldn't." He clicked his head up to look back at his new-and-improved opponent. "I don't suppose an apology will cut it. Please excuse my rudeness, but now I must get to work on capturing you."
"Hey, Itachi. Look what I caught." Kakuzu called to his almost mute colleague, who was squaring off just a few yards away; practically they were back-to-back with each other. One was dodging, while the other remained stationary; practically mirroring what the other was doing only a moment ago.
In midst combat, Itachi peered back for a brief moment to look at Shukaku's container and then turned to face back at the paler shinobi. "Congratulations." He said calmly while ducking another bone-blade sweep. "You have the honor-" Dodge. "-and privilege to secure the Bijuu of the Desert." Itachi made another couple dodges and several leaps upward to bide himself time to finish. "Just save the Nine-Tailed Fox for my partner and I – we can trust that he hasn't strayed too far."
Kakuzu never broke away with his silently suggested staring contest with Gaara. "This wouldn't be a bad time to drop these bodies."
"Let's hold off – you know that there's no way that we would be able to continue the pursuit without wasting our chakra reserves. And at the off-chance that we do break away, the others will be disrupted as well. If they're in mid battle, the enemy will elude us."
"Of course."
Rock Lee was too flabbergasted to pay attention to the other two speaking. He gazed up at the solitary form directly in front of him facing away – the same form that had just saved his unconscious friend.
"Gaara of the Desert?! Why are you here?" Rock Lee asked the nearby Sand shinobi.
Gaara didn't budge his stance at all, his arms held crossed as his head ever-slightly turned to the side to acknowledge his Leaf ally. His right, empty eye followed up to him as he took two seconds time to stare at him, and then turned his gaze back as calmly as before to answer his question.
"I owe the Leaf Village…" He spoke to him in a coarse, quiet voice.
His opponent held his glare as well, his pale eyes now shone with a hint of sickly green. The first few minutes went by as a staring contest for the two. A battle of wits. First one to break off dies.
And by all of Kakuzu's accounts, Gaara was the one to break first.
The old ninja instantly disappeared from his spot many meters away, and reappeared directly behind Gaara, who didn't even bat an eye, let alone flinch from his bored stance.
Kakuzu, now where he needed to be, had an unnaturally hardened fist ready, and threw a punch. It made contact.
Gaara cracked a half-grin. Without bothering to turn around, he asked "What do you think you're doing back there…?" In his low, monotone voice.
Kakuzu leered in at where his fist hit.
Tan-colored sand poured out from the big gap that he had made through Gaara's gourd, and now had his hand stuck in. He smirked slightly at the concept of 'hand caught in the cookie jar' related humor, but quickly brushed it off.
"So this is your power – no. Not yours. Shukaku's." Kakuzu corrected himself with his limb still forcibly linked to the jinchuuriki's backside.
Gaara turned his face ninety degrees and his uncaring eye deadpanned on Kakuzu's. "Since when did I care for which one was which…?" He asked rhetorically with a hint of harshness in his voice this time.
"Hm." Kakuzu timed his strength right, and all in the same instant, he tore his hand away, and made a horizontal hook swing with his other arm. Sand speckled with small dots of blood flew to one side, and Gaara retaliated with an attack of his own. A concentrated burst of sand shot forward to seize the older ninja, but he jumped it, and clasping both of his hands together in mid air, Kakuzu brought down a terrible deadweight at him intending on obliterating the sand shield, and the container underneath it.
"Let's find out what four thousand units of excess power will do to the likes of you!"
Gaara tilted his head to look up slightly, and folded a spherical shield overhead like a gigantic mineral umbrella.
Both of his enemy's hands burred into it, and stopped only an inch from Gaara's red hair. He was impressed a little. That shield was built over a foot thick. Not many people were willing to go the distance with that much damage using their bare hands.
"Tough sand." A seemingly distant voice called from outside, but Gaara knew that his foe was speaking from just the other side of his defense.
"You gave it a good effort, but you still disappoint me." Gaara responded from his shaded area, getting down to his knee in jutsu position. "If you had studied about half of my abilities, you would have come better prepared." He did a quick ninjutsu handsign. The sand all around him began to swirl around.
If Kakuzu had a chance to let go, it was only too late.
All sides of the shield immediately and simultaneously jutted outward like spikes, impaling the enemy, as well as doing some nice, internal damage.
Kakuzu fell meters away and landed flat on his back, not moving a second time. Gaara didn't give this time to happen, anyhow. Breaking down the rest of his sand shield, he raised his arm forward and motioned towards the limp body. The sand did as its master told it, and shot forth to cover up the body. Everything but Kakuzu's head was completely covered by the time the body was off the ground and clear in the air.
"Too bad for you. Sabaku Soso (Sand Waterfall Funeral)!" He wrenched his outstretched hand into a fist.
The sand all around of his opponent's body imploded and crushed tight, and Kakuzu was no more.
The sand released all around the body, which was surprisingly flawless. It fell to the grass with a dead, heavy THUD.
The sand returned to Gaara's gourd on his back, and he turned away, crossing his arms once more.
Rock Lee ambled cautiously up to inspect his teammate's work. Each step was a slow one, shuffling with the grounds newly mixed texture of lush grass and grainy sand. He wasn't about to take the chance of a surprise attack from this one, no sir.
Finally he made it up to the body. He carefully dropped to his knees and leaned in for a closer look. Amazing. The sand made no flaws to the exterior frame at all. How can he be so sure that this man is dead? He made a mistake that he soon regretted by examine the eyes – two, ugly eyes which were forever left open, and never to blink again. It was hard to believe that he could actually see through these eyes to begin with; they looked so…unhealthy. A shiver ran down Lee's spine. He really wouldn't like to have been this close to look at them when this man was alive.
Rock Lee found that his hand was approaching his deceased foe's face, obviously intent on removing the white mask which eclipsed the rest of his face.
But at half an inch away, his hand stopped itself and declined. There was no honor in removing a shinobi's mask without their consent – even if they were an enemy. It was all a matter of courtesy and respect, something that Guy-sensei had taught him. It just went without saying.
His unnaturally wide eyes, now wider with the curiosity, searched for signs of the death marks which finished this man off. His thoroughly searching eyes stopped suddenly at the chest area of the man's uniform. The bright color of blood was constantly welling up into a blotch over where the zipper was. In time, it could even almost blend in to look like one of those strange red cloud designs on parts of the rest of his cloak. Did Rock Lee dare? Yes, he dared.
Taking a huge breath to brace for anything that a normal person wouldn't stomach, he reached for the latch to the zipper, and put his thumb and index finger around it. His brows fluttered slightly when he felt the chilling smear of oily fluid. He knew that blood was nasty, but at this point, he was kind of hoping it was blood.
Taking another deep and nervous breath, Rock Lee kept a tight grip on the drenching uniform's latch to keep his hand from slipping, and slightly forced his arm downwards with it.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
The sound of the zipper slowly becoming undone could lightly be heard.
Kimimaro was forced backwards by an unknown force. He planted his feet firmly on the ground in an attempt to stop his backward progress. As soon as his efforts paid, he looked back up forward at the nemesis standing patiently parallel to him.
"Give up." Itachi gripped the handle of his kunai and stretched his arm forward. The knife ticked.
Kimimaro's eyes narrowed slightly indifferently, when a quick, but painful pulsation went through his cursed seal. Kimimaro grunted in surprise and looked down at the burning marking.
'My Cursed Seal of Earth is acting up? That means…' Kimimaro's eyes widened. 'Oh no. Tayuya's seal is interfering with mine! It's happening all over again! I must kill this man and stop her before it's too late!'
"You're a strong one," He stated. "But I have some business to attend to, and I can no longer have you in my way. If I die…everyone dies."
"What do you mean?" Itachi replied, curious, but his voice was regular all the same.
"If I cared to tell you, I wouldn't have the time. If you won't get out of my way, I'll finish it right here."
Without hesitation, the Cursed Seal began to activate, slowly covering over Kimimaro in an aura of thick, fiery light. When it ceased, Kimimaro was in his Cursed Seal Level 2 form. His eyes shined with a familiar golden hue, and a long tail beat the ground hard behind him. On his back, jagged bones stuck out of all areas around his shoulders, giving him the overall appearance of some prehistoric creature.
Then he held his arm back, and drew his hand into a fist, looking as if he would punch Itachi from where he was at.
"Tessenka no Mai: Hana (Dance of the Clematis: Flower)!" In grotesque fashion, his bones seemed to expand over his hand, wrist, and lower arm into a gigantic drill. He made a gigantic lunge forth towards Itachi with it brandished forward, intent on running him through.
Itachi stared on, giving no signs that he would move out of the way, or even attempt to parry the heavy attack.
Success.
Kimimaro ran his bone drill into Itachi's chest, and the sickening sound of bones cracking, tissue tearing, and organs collapsing could be heard as dark blood spurted out of the openings around the collision point.
Then, to add on to the fatality of the technique, Kimimaro jerked the heavy blade upward, opening the wound further and instantly took to the air, with his foe still very forcefully attached to his arm.
But his victory was short lived when he let out a very loud and sudden grunt, this time much more in pain than in surprise. Losing all balance that he had in the air, he fell back to Earth, and landed painfully on his knees. Blood shot out of his chest from the forced impact with the ground.
"What…happened…?" Kimimaro struggled out of his breath, coughing loudly in between words, blood began its descended spill out from between his clenched teeth. "I- (cough) had you…!"
Itachi stood a distance away, and the creepy thing that Kimimaro had picked up was that he was the precise distance away from him as he was before he started the attack. It was as if nothing had happened to close the gap, but now Kimimaro had a mortal wound. A gigantic hole was in the middle of his chest, and turned to the shade, light could shoot out of the other side like a lantern. He wrapped both of his arms around his torso in an attempt to stop the continuous bloodslide going down his abdomen.
"What…did…you…"
"I didn't. You did." Itachi responded darkly before Kimimaro could even if vaguely finish his cryptic question.
"…How…"
"You drilled yourself. These eyes aren't just for show. You are no match for these eyes." Itachi widened his eyes slightly to give Kimimaro the honor of looking at the two red catalysts that slew him.
"And neither was your master. In truth, this battle was decided before it even began." Itachi's eyes suddenly flashed a vermillion fire, but felt contrary to the color, like ice to throw in Itachi's wicked demeanor. "…The moment you looked into these eyes and sealed your own fate…" He finished in almost a whisper.
Kimimaro's face shot to life. He had been played. He was in a genjutsu the entire time, and he just didn't realize.
"It…doesn't matter- (cough) anyways…" Kimimaro's ill voice staggered out again. He slowly hung his head with his enchanting eyes now gradually closing. "I was one…of the only ones…who could detain her…" His voice faded into a raspy creak, as he panted faster and faster, now at the point of hyperventilation. "And you killed me…now…hopefully Lord Orochimaru will…stop her before…"
"…Before what?" Itachi inquired, slightly curious at what the dying words of the last Kaguya clansman would be.
Kimimaro's bleeding mouth cracked into a light grin. "…before…she destroys everything around her…including…the villages…the forest…everything…"
Itachi scowled lightly at him from out of his neckband.
Kimimaro continued in spite of this. "I have faith…that Orochimaru will succeed you…despite all that you have said I know he will find a way. No matter how dim the light is that you see him in, I have never felt more honors alongside any other person. Lord Orochimaru will keep me in his heart forever…"
He opened his eyes once more and slightly tilted his head up to look his killer straight through the eyes one last time, penetrating them as much as possible with his own. He wanted him to remember this:
"But in truth…the one that I hope Tayuya doesn't spare…is you-" He gagged on a few droplets of blood in his final words. The drops planted themselves on blades of grass in front of Kimimaro's knees from their forever fall.
Kimimaro's vision blurred out around a black figure standing completely still in the far distance. Everything else around it was going dark. It felt cold, and he felt tired. His head fell again to look to the ground in front of him, and saw from a different view for the first time how comfortable that the lush, green grass looked. Almost like a pillow to lay his weary head upon. He had never felt this tired in…a very long time.
'Lord Orochimaru. Forgive me. It's time…to say my farewell…'
Kimimaro's eyes softly closed shut again, and let his body fall forward onto the soft patches of red and green grass in front of him. For the first and last time in his life, he would finally find rest. What a strange irony. Not in killing, or bedridden in a dark, lonely room, but for a new reason.
'I love you…Father…'
The last thought echoed out of his head in the last moment of his life. His body was limp now. A ghost white statue to stand out from all of the shades of green around him. Silence.
From no heard sound or seen movement, Itachi was now standing a few feet away, staring down at the back of Kimimaro's head, at his silver, braided hair.
"I don't know if you can hear me now," He softly spoke through his neckband. "But if you can, I want you to listen closely." He turned his head to look up towards the sky. Dark. There was hardly enough light in the atmosphere to identify it as twilight. He closed his eyes.
"It was true that I did not bother to get to know Orochimaru half as well as you did. But whether it matters or not, he still comes from the same place." He kneeled down on one knee and held his hand out to show Kimimaro his ring, even though he knew that he couldn't see it. "This ring was given to me by the leader of the organization known to all as the 'Akatsuki.' Madara Uchiha was the man's name."
After taking a few seconds for emphasis to reflect upon himself, Itachi stood up straight again. "That's correct. The leader of Akatsuki himself derived all the way from the Hidden Leaf Village as well, and from my own family no less. This ring signifies my association with 'Akatsuki.' But the 'acting' leader also gave your master a similar ring. Now what can that tell you about the Otokage?"
Itachi waited in silence for long enough to be sure to be provided a well-rounded answer.
"Orochimaru came from that very same organization as I, and was in at a much earlier time than myself, looking for something, and not finding it." Itachi turned to look away. "Then I came along. It was a few weeks into the business when Orochimaru came to me during a gathering…and asked me to accommodate him on a mission. With the leader's approval, we were off. He had led me into the ruins of an ancient temple claiming that his spies had encountered unique chakra signatures in the area that befitted our objectives, the Tailed Beasts. But in reality, he had a quite ulterior reason for bringing me along."
The faint clash of thunder could be heard in the background.
"The Snake Sannin tried to take my body for his own using his Forbidden Jutsu that he had spent months – perhaps years perfecting before he, himself joined Akatsuki. For reasons I don't feel that I need to explain, I simply couldn't allow this to happen. For his insubordination, I deemed it only fair that I sever his left hand – a slight personal lesson directly from myself about what happens when you try to take what doesn't belong to you."
Itachi flashed a brief eye out at the two genin and the corpse wearing his identical uniform out in the background, and noticed that he was getting a similar leer from the figure further away from the other two, with his arms folded calmly, and a tan-colored gourd on his back.
Itachi turned his head back and with closed his eyes, he cracked an amused grin. 'Oh dear, Kakuzu. He seems to have bested you.' Itachi continued.
"Shortly after the incident, your master left in search of a new body, but truth be told, I think he was a little afraid of me. But do you want to know something very bizarre?" Pause. "…Orochimaru has never parted with that very same ring that the leader had given him to acknowledge him as a member. So there you have it. In a way that none of my other colleagues will accept, I see it perfectly… Orochimaru is still a member of Akatsuki – the same organization that I'm from – the same organization that killed you. Coincidence, huh? Or cruel irony."
Itachi turned his heels and began to walk away. Each step he took was a slow one.
But then he turned his head slightly and shot one last bloody gaze to Kimimaro's battered remains.
"I can't say that I see through your eyes when you look at the pale shinobi, and I probably never will. I'm just telling you how that is. But I can say…you did him proud. If he is truly the man you say that he is, then I know this will be true."
Itachi turned away and continued walking, not stopping as he muttered one last thing while he ambled away with his arms hung down at his sides.
"…If not…then he's just flaunting his good company. He doesn't deserve loyal subjects like you."
'He's…walking away…' Gaara thought nonchalantly.
The other member wasn't even interested in his ally? Was the expression of 'an eye for an eye' changed over the last week? Sasuke Uchiha had not seemed too gracious towards his allies; turning his back on the village that raised him. And now this one holds a similar chivalry. On the other hand, he did seem to have some strong faith that I would be captured at some point, or he wouldn't disappear just like that.
Whatever the reason was, Gaara wasn't about to stand statue still while the only person that he met who understood him was about to be attacked as well.
As he took a light step forward to pursue Itachi, Rock Lee's exclamation was heard from the background.
"Exquisite form! You destroyed all five masks from the inside of his body!!"
Gaara's eyes widened in shock for the first time that day. 'It can't be…' A shadow was cast over him – the source being the familiar figure right in front of him. A green hue of eyes permeated down into his in a malicious stare. Not once had anyone successfully evaded that attack, and he just watched it happen to him firsthand!
Rock Lee's voice echoed again as he came running down the hill, unaware of the second figure.
"Gaara of the Desert! That was ama-!"
A low growl from the other figure quickly caught his attention. Rock Lee froze in disbelief.
"It cannot be! I- we-…he just dispatched you!"
"He dispatched a clone created by my superior that used one fifth of my accumulative chakra."
Rock Lee's jaw dropped. "One fifth!"
Silence was his adversary's answer. The fear-inducing eyes turned back to their objective target.
"If I had known I would see so much action in one day, I would have given it more. But if you don't believe that I am the real deal this time, go over to the corpse of that copy over there and see for yourself."
Rock Lee gave him a stern look with his elevated eyes before backing slowly to where he had left the autopsy. Gaara kept both eyes planted on the rogue ninja to make sure he didn't try anything, and Kakuzu easily countered his cold glare with one of his own. He was just as capable of holding a staring contest as the sand jinchuuriki was, if not better.
Having Gaara's full attention, Kakuzu cleared the boy's conscience with one, brief sentence: "You simply can't beat me. You never even had a chance to begin with."
Gaara's scowl silently deepened in response, although he had to admit the effect of his tone made him a bit uneasy. And to do that to a demon container, namely this one, you have to have practice. 'Practice makes perfect', as his treacherous uncle used to say. By all regards, this guy was something to be taken seriously.
On his way up, Rock Lee was shot full of questions, one particular one stressed himself. 'Could the other strange shinobi this man was traveling with have the same trick…?' He continued his way up to the enormous pool of blood that poured out of the corpse's chest all at the same time (much to Lee's chagrin; parts of his proud, green outfit were still splotched with the stuff) as well as even thicker black oil that he was pretty sure they didn't make medicine for.
This time, Rock Lee made no hesitation to remove the lightly pigmented mask, having had permission from the owner. He pulled the piece of cloth straight off, and whose face he saw underneath it left him completely frozen for several minutes.
A/N: Long chapter? Answer: hell yes. This chapter took me quite a long time to muster, but hey – it is up. Let me know how everything went. The battles are pretty much over now… Fun while they lasted. But hopefully now you know why the Akatsuki members seemed so particularly weak.