CHAPTER 17

The Will to Fight and Protect Our Dreams

Slanted, purple eyes widen in horror as the red liquid splattered on the grass, scattered on the stones and rocks, and even on the trees. The body fell limp to the ground, twitching a few times before it had stopped moving all together. The water nin slowed down from his running and skidded across the ground to stop himself from coming in contact with the lightning shield again. His lips parted in disbelief, sweat rolling down the side of his face as he replayed in his mind what had just happened.

Suigetsu's blood ran cold from the possible thought that Miyuki...was dead. He lowered his head from that speculation.

"Such a pity, Miyuki. I thought you would have been stronger than that." Ami said as she looked over at the blonde's body. "It's a shame that your heart didn't become as strong as your skills. If your will was stronger, maybe you would still be alive right now!" Ami chuckled evilly and the others grounded their teeth with anger.

Suigetsu tightened his fists to the point that they were turning white. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as it trickled down his chin. This was cruel. Even beyond his standards of cruelty. 'That bitch! I'll fucking kill her!'

Karin narrowed her eyes at Miyuki's body and then she glanced over at Ami, who had that ruthless look on her face. She continued analyzing the frequency of Ami's chakra and she found something that she had never seen before. Ami's chakra...most of it was tainted with madness and evil while the remaining normal chakra was slowly withering away. That was definitely not a good sign.

"Now then..." Ami started, "...to finish the job." and she slowly made her way over to Miyuki's body.

Karin ran towards Suigetsu and shook his shoulders to snap him out of his daze. "Suigetsu, come on! We have to get Miyuki's body and get out of here! We already tried! We can't win this fight!" Karin knew immediately that they had to run. They didn't stand a chance against this kind of opponent and if they were to stay there, they were going to be killed. She understood how Suigetsu felt about Miyuki as a friend, but now was not the time to be acting stupid. As leader, he had to take responsibilities for what just happened.

Before Karin could get an answer out of him, she saw something flew past her eye and turned her attention back on Ami who was still walking over to dispose of Miyuki's body. Milliseconds later, a light orange blur stopped in front on them and eyes widen when they saw light blonde hair fluttering in the wind, light tanned skin that had dark patches on it, and a raised manicured hand that had blue chakra shaped like a blade running through it.

'M-Miyuki...?' Karin and Jugo thought at the same time as the kunoichi was now crouching down with her feet heavily planted in the ground, ready to strike Ami down with her ultimate attack.

Suigetsu's sorrow frown turned into a satisfied smirk from Miyuki's cleverness and quick thinking. 'Nice diversion, kitten...although you nearly gave me a damn heart attack...'

Putting all her strength into her left hand and right leg to give her a boost and increase her running power, Miyuki charged ahead.

"Over here, sensei!" Ami heard the voice as she slowly turned around. Much to her horror, she saw the real Miyuki, who had a look of fury in her light blue eyes and was closing in on her with devastating speeds. Before Ami had a chance to do anything, Miyuki forcefully drove her chakra-infused hand into her sensei's chest, knocking the wind out of her.

'Miyuki? How did she...?' Ami thought as she looked over at the fake body and head as Miyuki vanished from her sight. It disappeared in a puff of smoke as she quickly realized that she had captured a log with her flower ninjutsu and chopped off a huge chunk of wood instead Miyuki's head. Instead of blood, there were splinters floating carelessly in the air. Luckily, none of them got on her fingers. 'When did she pull off a replacement technique...?'Ami thought as she gasped for air.

"Not yet!" Miyuki yelled with determination. "I'm just getting started!"

Appearing from the left side, the blonde started things off with a front kick and roundhouse kick, alternating with each one to make eight consecutive hits. Then she jumped in the air, rotating her leg that connected with Ami's torso multiple times. Next, Miyuki attacked Ami with backflip kick, launching her in the air. Balancing herself back on her feet, the blonde jumped up as she formed the sign of the tiger, infusing her legs with chakra to increase her attack power.

"Fuuton: Kourasen no Mai!"[風遁:鳳螺旋の舞(Wind Release: Dance of the Spiraling Phoenix)]

Still in the air, Miyuki turned her body upside down and does a split as she started to twirl around in circles. The chakra in her legs expanded to the size of large blades and the kicks connected as Ami screamed in agony from being cut by the chakra. Team Taka watched as the Bakudai member continued to get torn to ribbons from Miyuki's assault. The blonde increased her spinning and a tornado of wind was created from the speed and force of the attack.

Miyuki stopped her spinning long enough to turn her body back on her right side again. Ami slowly descending in front of the blonde head first and without a second thought, Miyuki delivered the final blow with a hard air kick to her neck that sent Ami flying straight down to the ground. Ami's body came crashing down onto the surface of the Earth as the sound thundered and echoed all around the forest.

Karin stared wide eyes as she expected the damage done to Ami. The woman's body had multiple lacerations and incisions all over her body and her clothes were torn and ripped. And her neck...she didn't even want to go into details. Her neck was twisted to point of almost being broken. From that move, Suigetsu suspected that Ami would not be getting up from that last move and he release the air in his lungs that he held during that moment. He made a mental note to never piss her off in the future.

Miyuki slowly spun around as she landed on the ground where her teammates were, panting from being worn out from using that technique. She had forgotten how much chakra that move uses, but it wasn't like it drained her completely.

"Now..." Miyuki said through labored breaths, placing her hands on her knees. "...it's over..."

The loud clanging of swords resonated in the forest as Nariko and Mizuki continued their battle. It had been an hour after this fight began and it was growing tiresome. Both shinobi had been pushing themselves to the limits of trying to take their opponent down, but they haven't had much luck in doing that so far.

Nariko was just attacked in her stomach with a technique called "Dark Release: Birth of Hatred" that Mizuki fired at her and was flung back towards a ring of fire that he had created with his Flame Sword beforehand.

"That technique will devour your chakra whole and it will drive you to the brink of insanity! You will have no choice but to succumb to the darkness! Game over! I win, Sharingan Princess!" He laughed evilly as Nariko was thrown into the wall of fire.

Mizuki was not letting up at all and not showing any weaknesses. Whatever that Dark Release technique was doing, it was eating away at her remaining chakra. Nariko felt it working quickly inside of her body.

'Damn it...! How am I suppose to get rid of this thing inside of me...?Nariko knew that she was were running low on chakra and only had enough strength left to pull off a simple jutsu. One that would be strong enough to take him down. If she didn't do something, she was going to die.

The kunoichi fell on her back and her chakra was slowly draining away. This was it for her. There was nothing more she could do. At least she tried. 'The darkness is going to destroy me...but I...I can't give up! ..Please...someone...anybody...!'

Nariko closed her eyes and let the back of her eyelids envelop her in temporary darkness...

XxX

"I love you, sis. Good luck and take care of yourself..." Miyuki's cheerful voice chimed in from the depths of her mind. She loved her little sister so much. So pure, so innocent...

"Don't worry, Nariko. We'll find your sister and beat the Bakudai as well!" Naruto's voice was always loud, rambunctious and full of energy. Nariko couldn't never forget his voice.

"You idiot child of mine!" Sasuke's voice roared slightly irritated. He had enough of this long, drawn out battle and he wanted nothing more than for Nariko to put Mizuki out of his misery. "I hate repeating myself! Nariko, get up and show that arrogant asshole what you're made of!"

XxX

From hearing Sasuke's voice, Nariko quickly opened her eyes and she realized that the fire was quickly drawing closer to her. With her Sharingan revived once more for a final attack, she took a hold of one of her kodachis. Before she could anything else, the fire swallowed her up completely.

Outside the blazing fire, the only thing that Mizuki heard was the powerful, agonizing scream that came from the kunoichi. He smirked, knowing that the young girl was being burned alive in the immense flames.

"Well, that's it..." Mizuki said as he gazed at the fire that was burning away some of the white cloth from Nariko's outfit. "...It's a shame that a fine woman like her had to die so young in battle. She would have made a great kunoichi someday if she had just stayed out of our way..."

Believe it or not, Mizuki was feeling the scars and bruises he received from that girl. It was going to be a long time before he engaged in another battle. Nariko certainly had showed him that she was truly strong for a woman. He was hesitant to admit it, but he would love to fight an opponent like her once again if the chance ever came across him.

He turned away and started to walk from the the forest. There was no need to stay, since he already knew that the fire would grow bigger and bigger until it completely burn down the forest. Mizuki had enough of fighting some Uchiha brat and just wanted to return to the future and head back to the 'Bakudai' Syndicate. Of course, there was one thing he had to take care of first.

The smirk was now evident on his face. He was going to enjoy this immensely as he could almost taste the victory that he's been savoring all his life. The death of Naruto Uzumaki...That would be a wonderful feeling to feel his blood being splattered across his face. "Now to take care of the Nine-Tails and kill Naruto Uzumaki..."

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

From hearing that voice, Mizuki turned around and Nariko emerged from the flames as her bandana flew off from around her head. Her left arm wast stretched in front of her and her kodachi was infused with flames as she continued to ascend towards him in a rage to finally kill him. The tomoes in her Sharingan were spinning wildly and she pierced through Mizuki' stomach.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

Without Mizuki knowing, Nariko looked over Mizuki's shoulder and she saw something that made her smirk in triumph. She continued to pushed the sword deeper into Mizuki abdominal area until the blade came out from the other side of his body as she flew even faster than she was before. The force from Nariko's sword thrust continued to push them back further and further until his back collided with something hard as he profusely coughed up blood.

With both her hands now on the hilt of her sword, she let out of an malicious chuckle of her own. "I told you..." She said in a labored breath "...that this tree...would be your final resting place..."

From what she said, Mizuki looked at his surrounding and his eyes shrank in horror from where he was pinned to. His body was indeed pinned against the tree that he had damaged earlier and he looked back at the person who had wedged his body there.

Her eyes were glazed over with malice and she spoke to him in a playful yet deadly way, "Game over...You lose..."

She twisted her sword to the left, hearing his organs swish about in his body and Mizuki's painful yet morbid screams could heard throughout the forest...

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:
Dying Flame

Mizuki dies and a warrior stands tall as the tears of joy of fulfilling a long time wish strikes the heart...