NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Black Kunoichi
"T-That's…" Kurenai backed up a bit, blinking in disbelief.
Asuma was also astounded, his cigarette falling out of his mouth. "Yukari Uchiha…"
The woman standing before them with the five o'clock shadow was most certainly the woman they were thinking of. The familiar hair cut with the short, forward clipped ponytail, Sharingan eyes and, overall, the killer expression she wore. Yukari Uchiha, the long forgotten Uchiha and reputedly, one of the most powerful ninja Konohagakure had ever produced, stood before them with her silhouette to the sunlight.
Her presence definitely struck a chord with the Konoha shinobi and the two Akatsuki members present. However, Kisame didn't give the woman the privilege to see him sweat. He instead smirked as he looked at her.
"So… this is your sensei I've heard so much about, aye Itachi?" the swordsman spoke, his teeth flashing as he grinned cockily. "The famous Black Kunoichi. You never really mentioned her much outside of name and experience. To be frank, I was expecting someone more appealing…"
The blue skinned man was about to strode forward to confront her, only to have Itachi grab his arm and force him back. The former Mist swordsman looked down to see Itachi, and was rather confounded to see the look of fear on his partner's face. Wide eyed and sweating a river, the Uchiha trembled on the spot as he held his comrade back.
"Don't…" Itachi shook his head. "Don't…"
Kisame raised an eyebrow. As a former ANBU and a man hardened by war, Itachi was never the one to freely show emotion or fear. Heck, in all the months the swordsman had known Itachi, there was rarely anything or anyone the boy was truly afraid of, or reacted in any distinct way towards. Heck, even faced down by an army of shinobi, the Uchiha didn't even blink. However, at the very sight of the kunoichi that just happened to drop in out of nowhere, the young Akatsuki member could do no more then choke and stare in terror.
This was saying something…
"Hey, take it easy. You look like you've just seen a ghost," Kisame muttered, glaring down at the teen while yanking his sleeve out of Itachi's grip. "It's two on one here; we can take her…"
"Don't… fight her," Itachi hissed, furrowing his brow and glaring up at his companion. "If you decide to cross blades with that woman, you'll be dead before you even reach her."
Kurenai and Asuma, watching in the background, glanced at each other. Though they were both stunned to see the Forth Hokage's teammate standing before them, they still had a lot to worry about. Itachi and Kisame were still here, so they couldn't just relax.
"What happened to her? I thought she was dead and buried a long time ago?" Kurenai whispered, looking the woman over. "She was barely seen around Konoha after the Kyuubi attack thirteen years ago, and just dropped off the grid after the Uchiha Massacre…"
"Well… apparently Lady Yukari is still alive and well," Asuma replied, stepping a bit closer to his teammate. "She must have been away from Konoha at the time Itachi Uchiha butchered his entire clan. After that, everyone in the village went in search for Yukari, the Third Hokage making it an outstanding S-Ranked order to bring her in. But after months of searching there was no trace of her to be found by the regular forces or the ANBU. Not even Lord Jiraiya or Jin could locate her…"
The pair watched as Kisame and Itachi faced the figure down, who was passively drinking in her opposition, giving herself time to analyze her enemies. It was while the former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was discussing jumping their opponent now, and save the two of them the trouble of the prolonged suspenseful stand off, the Jonin in the background kept on talking, at the same time, getting a better feel for the situation at hand.
"What do we do now?" Kurenai asked. "Their backs are turned… we can attack them…"
"I don't think that that is such a good idea," Asuma whispered. "After all, we couldn't even take down Ryoko, and there were four of us. What chances do we have against the leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and the Uchiha prodigy…?"
"Well, what about reinforcements? We should probably go get back up…"
"I think that's a void decision in its own right. In all honesty, I'm more interested in watching how all of this will go down." The pair saw Itachi step away from Kisame as he took to the plate, assuming a more confrontational stance against the woman. "If Yukari has reappeared for any reason, then it is to confront the man responsible for killing the entire Uchiha Clan. She must have known he would be here today, so what other reason would there be for her to show her face again?"
"So… should we back her up?" Kurenai queried.
"The best thing to do at this point is to stand back and not get caught in the crossfire." The bearded Jonin said this while shuffling on the spot nervously. "You're looking at a woman who killed an entire battalion of Iwagakure Shinobi during the Third Great Shinobi War just by batting an eyelash… literally. I also heard that she was chosen to become the next Hokage after the Fourth's unfortunate death during the Kyuubi's attack on Konohagakure… but she declined…"
"Why do they call her the Black Kunoichi anyway?"
"Don't know… maybe we'll find out…"
Kisame grinned and spun his sword effortlessly in his grip, licking his lips excitedly. "Fine! If you won't bother to fight your former teacher Itachi, then I will! You can handle the small fry!" The man roared as he sprinted headlong towards the woman, Asuma and Kurenai jumping when the man exploded into action. Itachi, however, instead of doing as suggested stepped forward and tried to stop his partner, but he was too far ahead to actually really do anything then warn him.
"KISAME! STOP!"
The man didn't get the message. A second later, he was swinging his Samehada blade straight down at the dark haired woman, who just looked at the incoming strike with disinterest. Just as the gauzed blade was inches from her face, her right hand shot up and she caught it with her bare open palm. The blow caused a shockwave to ring out and the ground at their feet to crack, as the swordsman drove home his attack. However, even with all the power he put behind his swing, the sword didn't even budge as soon as it was caught, and the blue skinned shinobi was stopped dead in his tracks.
Blinking, the former swordsman of the Mist blinked in astonishment that the woman was actually bold enough to catch the sword with her hand. Just as he was about to cut straight through her, Kisame suddenly found he was unable to, when his sword wouldn't shift an inch as it pressed itself against the Uchiha's hand. Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull it free of her grip to reengage her with a new assault, but was unable to. His trembling body indicated how much strength he was putting behind trying to yank his weapon free, but in spite of his best efforts, I was all for naught.
As he struggled, Yukari smirked as tightened her grip.
"Useless…"
A second after she said that, a blue electric current suddenly ran down the length of the blade, before the sword unexpectedly exploded. A ripple of a shock wave blasted Kisame back when his sword was suddenly punctured and blown to pieces by an unknown, invisible force. Staggering back, the man's eyes widened when his sword cried out in agony as a hole was blown into it where it was held by the woman. Yukari smirked at her opponent, before frowning, and vanishing in a blur of movement.
Kisame had but a tenth of a second to react before blood and spit came flying out of his mouth and he was lifted off of his feet by an invisible blow right in his mid-section. The force of the attack sent him flying, cart wheeling through the air right through the middle of the group of Jonin, before he crashed hard across the dirt path, skipping several times before rolling to a stop. That singular blow shocked Kurenai, Asuma and Itachi, who looked back at the swordsman as he attempted to get back to his feet, blood pouring profusely from his mouth.
"What… the… fuck!" Kisame groaned as he sat up, glaring across the fifty meter stretch he flew towards the Uchiha responsible for his take off. "My bones were almost turned into granite! What the hell was that attack?" He then looked down at his sword Samehada, twitching and groaning in his grip. Looking down the blade, he saw the massive hole punched right in the middle of it where the weapon was bleeding, the scales making up its form scattered all around the area, yet it was still able to maintain most of its form. The weapon cried as it traded chakras with its owner in order to heal itself. "Samehada… actually took damage! No one has been able to damage my sword before…"
Kisame glared up towards Yukari with his harshest stare. "What's more is that even on contact I couldn't determine her chakra level or nature. Just who is that woman?"
As Kisame started getting back to his feet, Asuma and Kurenai turned back around to face the Akatsuki's opponent, with Itachi also rounding on his sensei with a more serious glare. Teeth gritted, he clenched his fists as he faced her down.
Yukari Uchiha raised an eyebrow as she watched her first target get back up after receiving a close range Juken hit, before looking down at her right hand she managed to catch Samehada with. She saw she had scales lodged into her palm, with a few light scratches. The woman also felt a slight change in her chakra level, and began weighing it on a set of scales.
"That Samehada weapon Hikita-kun was talking about… it has the ability to effectively drain people's chakra almost instantaneously. Not only that, it can also share it with its user, effectively making both the weapon and the wielder a formidable fighting pair." Clenching her hand, she looked back up, taking her time with her analysis. "I was able to expand my chakra as soon as it entered the blade and shattered it, but it's now exchanging energy with its wielder to repair the damage it sustained. What a hungry weapon; to be able to snag a fifth of my chakra in one go…"
"Yukari is able to control the input and output of her chakra so well; even if it is separate from her body she can manipulate and shape it, just as she did to Kisame's sword. She expanded her chakra at a high velocity and destroyed it from the inside out," Asuma thought. "That's insane, Sannin chakra control…"
"So… Itachi-kun…" Yukari spoke, earning a blink from the young adult standing in front of her with the flames in his eyes. "Since it's been so long since you and I last met, how about we spar just to see how much you've grown over the years…"
The Uchiha furrowed his brow as he glared at her, trying to figure out her angle and what she had planned. However, when she didn't do anything or say anything for a solid minute, it allowed him time to think up a strategy to combat his teacher.
"Fighting against her one on one is suicide, even for my level of skill. She was able to take down Kisame in one hit and didn't even break a sweat from the effort," the Uchiha thought, being sure to watch her mid-section, as he knew looking into her eyes would be costly, even for him. "Genjutsu doesn't work on her… and I certainly don't want to go at her in close range. Her speed and combat prowess in taijutsu is a match for even the Fourth Hokage's. I'll have to hit her hard and fast with medium and long range techniques…"
"Do you think medium range techniques will work on me?" Yukari asked, smiling a bit. "You certainly don't know me at all…"
"What?" Itachi blinked, astounded. "How did she…"
"…know what I was thinking? She can't possibly read my mind, can she?" Yukari spoke in place of Itachi's thoughts, a smile still imprinted on her lips. Asuma and Kurenai were also caught off guard, hearing words echo out from the kunoichi, instead of from Itachi. "You're just too easy to read, Itachi-kun. You get nervous, you shake up, drop your guard, and you can't even secure your own thoughts. That's quite careless when you're dealing with me."
"What was that just now?" Kurenai asked no one in particular.
"She was able to read Itachi's mind from that distance?" Asuma furrowed his brow as he looked the woman over. "That word play wasn't a Yamanaka technique; it was more similar to Kakashi's ability to be able to copy another person's jutsu as well as their words. It's an intimidation-genjutsu combination tactic that only works when the person is already caught up in an illusion. But I don't think we're in one at the moment…" He took a second to stop his chakra flow, "Kai!" "Nothing… this is no genjutsu. What is she doing…?"
Calming himself down, Itachi stepped back into a stance, hands still hidden in his sleeves as he slipped shuriken in between his fingers. At that moment, Kisame suddenly rejoined him, appearing out of thin air right next to him.
"Well… hit her with something?" the swordsman hissed, his sword held limply in his hand as he continued to heal from his wounds. "You're in this close. Do it…"
"Idiot. It's not that simple…" Itachi whispered back. "Taking this woman on will lead to an unfavorable outcome. She can kill us both if she was serious; a definite capability you just experienced first hand as a demonstration. The best we can do at this point is fall back and rethink our strategy. Remember our mission…"
"Naruto is no longer in this village and Danzo was killed a while back," Yukari spoke up, surprising the two Akatsuki and the two Jonin standing behind them. "Warning the old man to stay away from Sasuke by appearing here was a stupid move on your part; coming to Konohagakure without even double checking to see if you were being tailed. Furthermore, Naruto is traveling with the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya. Go after him, and I can accurately state without uncertainty that both of you will regret going toe to toe with him. Master and I are in the same league…"
"How…" Kisame blinked.
"I told you," Itachi whispered back, frowning deeply. "It's never simple, not with her…"
"But I thought you killed all the Uchiha when you went on that spree around your entire neighborhood all those years ago? Why is this one still wandering about?" the swordsman snapped. "Having her around is going to ruin our plans. Let's just kill her already…"
Yukari smirked. "I'll give you another free shot… take it…"
"Fine!" Kisame slammed his sword into the ground, at the same time Itachi's hand shot out from under his sleeve, shuriken drawn. In that instantaneous movement, Asuma and Kurenai were unable to see the hand seals the Uchiha flashed through before pillars of water shot out of the channel beside them and, forming drill bullets, shot straight towards Yukari, who glanced around at the incoming attacks. At the same time, Itachi threw the cluster of ninja stars he held in his hands, the weapons slicing through the air straight towards her while she was distracted.
Just as both attacks were upon her, suddenly, a spark of fire started from her lips and suddenly expanded outwards in a wall of fire. The twisting flames engulfed her and shielded her as the Water Release: Water Fang Bullet drills struck her from her left, and the shuriken flew into her fire from in front, melting in the sheer heat created by the spiraling vortex.
Itachi blinked in shock and disbelief at the fire shield that swiftly surrounded the woman, just as Kisame finished up his hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Kisame roared.
The channel once again contributed to an attack, another pillar of water rocketing up and out of the river and whipping through the air, taking shape and forming into a Chinese Firebolt dragon made of water. With a roar, the jutsu dove straight down at the small vortex of fire that Yukari was standing in and effectively blinded by her own shield. However, just as Asuma, Kurenai and the Akatsuki members watched the technique was about to hit her, a massive wave from the channel down river suddenly charged the attack down from its blind spot and slammed into it, effectively knocking it out of the air when the wall of water (Water Style: Water Colliding Wave) passed right by the group. The clash sprayed the channel's contents everywhere, and showered down upon the astonished attackers as their techniques were effectively wiped out one after the other.
Asuma and Kurenai shielded themselves from the shockwaves and sprays of water, when the techniques collided in the monstrous battle opening up before them.
"Unbelievable!" Asuma shouted, looking over towards Yukari, to see the fire shield dissipate, revealing an unscathed kunoichi standing in its place.
"Itachi may be fast, and works well in conjunction with his partner, but Yukari was still the faster," Kurenai stated, eyes widened. "I didn't see any hand signs or anything. How fast is she?"
"Impossible!" Kisame shouted as the rain of water stopped, gritting his teeth as he glared at the woman in front of him. "She was able to use two jutsu at the same time and without fault! Her hand seal speed and control is insane! How was she able to do that?"
"There were no hand seals," Itachi growled, the swordsman looking over at him with a stunned expression.
"What?"
"Yukari Uchiha was held in high regard by the Fourth Hokage for a reason. Next to the Nine-Tails, she was his second trump card. When she became a Jonin a part of Konoha's Elite Four, she earned great recognition for her ability to use jutsu without hand seals," Itachi stated, glaring the woman down as she stared back, unfazed. Her vacant expression was starting to unnerve them. "She has perfected her abilities as a shinobi to one-hundred and twenty percent, above that of a ninja in my category. Not only can she perform techniques without using hand seals, she can also copy another person's attacks flawlessly. She requires no movement to execute them whatsoever, which makes attacking her with conventional ninjutsu impossible…"
"So she can just stand there while we dance around her aimlessly and throw attacks at us without budging an inch?" Kisame questioned, before narrowing his eyes on the cloaked shinobi again. "That's a troublesome opponent…"
"That's not the only troubling aspect about me," Yukari exclaimed, her smile falling. "Itachi-kun and I are both pure bred, unadulterated Uchiha of the same bloodline. To a certain extent, we are both masters of the Sharingan, but I'm his senior by more than twenty years, and was his teacher when he was a Genin. I've had my hand in our clan's famous jutsu for far longer then he can even dream of…"
Silence fell amongst the group, wind whipping at the cloaks and trailing leaves. Reaching up with her hand, Yukari ran it through her hair, pushing her bangs out of her eyes.
"Let me show you what one born of all the Uchiha's techniques can do, Itachi-kun…"
"Oh no!" Itachi's eyes widened and he stepped back, Kisame mirroring.
However, before either of them could do anything, things suddenly started warping around them, and Itachi, Kisame, Asuma and Kurenai were suddenly caught in a threshold of twisting energy. They all froze up at once as they looked upon the woman glaring at them, the red tomoes of her Sharingan spinning before transforming into Rinnegan like eyes, but maintaining their color patterns, with a sharp pointed shuriken sitting in the center. Winds whipped around them endlessly as a heavy chakra settled in on all of them, and before they knew it, the whole world began to go out of focus.
Spaces around the four of them suddenly began to warp and twist, the buildings crumbling, the sky turning a mixture of blood red, purple and green, and the trees began to melt. The whole world became a crazy abstract picture in a matter of seconds, their own bodies beginning to twist and contort in the strangest ways possible, while Yukari stayed the same shape and form as she stood in front of them.
All of a sudden, the ground at their feet suddenly jutted up and wrapped around them, the liquidated earth entwining their bodies suddenly transforming into snakes. The snakes bit into them, effectively paralyzing the four caught in the technique. In a matter of seconds, the warped world became even more twisted as the trees began to bleed, the horizon began to burn, and the illusions became all too real for them as they formed into a horrifying Tim Burton nightmare.
As they remained paralyzed where they stood, hands suddenly came out of the ground and grabbed their limbs. The situation only worsened when the hands began clawing at both Kisame and Itachi, before ripping their limbs free from their bodies. Because they were paralyzed, they couldn't scream, and only watched as Yukari approached them while the hands tore them to pieces, leaving only their heads and torsos intact and bleeding profusely, all energy leaving them.
"Unlike other Uchiha, who have to kill their siblings in order to gain the powers of the Mangekyo Sharingan, I was born with it…" Yukari spoke, at the same time, strolling forward through the illusion as the world melted around her. Defying the physics of her own illusion, she avoided pillars of fire, pools of dripping acid, crumbling foundries and disgusting, tormented creatures made of the surroundings that reached out to grab her as she walked along. She eventually came to a stop in front of a contorted Itachi, whose eyes were widened in fear, and his fluids were being drained from him by the snake attached to his neck. Without even batting an eye, the woman reached out with her right hand, and literally tore into his chest, ripping out his still beating heart still attached by the tubes. She tossed it up and down in her hand as if it were a tennis ball and tilted her head in fascination. "Because I was born with it, I don't go blind from its prolonged use, and my version of the Tsukuyomi is not bounded by physical limitations. With my illusions alone, I can create a whole new world of my own, and manipulate it as if it were putty in my hands. Even when you're not looking into my eyes I can use this technique…"
She crushed the heart in her hands, before glaring up into the other Uchiha's fear struck eyes. Behind them, Asuma and Kurenai, though not directly affected by the technique, started to melt, their physical beings succumbing to the splash back of the illusion not intentionally cast upon them, but they were still getting a huge rebound. Yukari instead focused on Itachi, whom she then raised her bloodied hand towards, and placed it against the side of his face.
"They called me the Abomination, because the clan feared me for these abilities, given to me by the Sage of Six Paths' older student. They thought I was defective, a tainted Uchiha… a cursed shinobi; one that could not measure up to the clans' ridicules expectations. But, as it so happens, I can use every known ability supplied by the Mangekyo Sharingan, and with it, defy all of creation," she sighed, scratching the man's face, which began to bleed out. "I was cast out, and alone. But in my solace, I still found happiness in friends outside of our proud, arrogant, selfish 'utopia' our clan created. It was after I finally made friends, I realized: the Uchiha are a cancer in this world. A clan born of hatred and malice, and a clan that was undeserving of existence!"
She then smiled and poked him in the nose. "Which is why, Itachi-kun, after I've crushed your eyes in my hands; I'm going to destroy Madara's eyes too, to end the source of evil that will eventually lead to the destruction of the world. That is something, I will not allow…"
Just as she was reaching to rip his eyes right out of his sockets, the Sharingan in the Uchiha's eyes suddenly twisted and transformed into shuriken, a sight that caused Yukari to blink in surprise. All of a sudden, black flames shot out of Itachi's eyes and engulfed Yukari who staggered back with a shout of agony, and she began withering in place, surrounded by burning, black flames.
All at once, the illusion around them collapsed, and the world flashed back to normal. Asuma and Kurenai collapsed to their knees, Kisame grabbed the railings beside him to steady his shaken body, and Itachi dropped to the ground, panting heavily and clutching his right eye, which was bleeding slightly. In front of the group, Yukari continued to burn under the Amaterasu flames, her hands trying to brush off the flames as she staggered backwards.
Asuma heaved up his lunch and looked up, sweating profusely and his body wracked with pain. "See… told you… cross fire…" he panted.
"What… was… that?" Kurenai panted as well, her vision blurry.
"One… of her… illusions… incredible…" the bearded man grabbed the side of his head, which was pounding as if someone was using him as a drum. "We got… caught up… big… mistake…"
Staggering back to his feet, Itachi grabbed Kisame by the scruff of his sleeve, pulling him back. As they staggered past a downed Asuma and Kurenai, the swordsman grabbed Itachi's hand, yanking it off.
"What! Are we gonna run?" the blue skinned ninja shouted, struggling to regain his sense of balance, leaning up against the railings. "You hit her with a full blown Amaterasu! She's finished!"
"No…" Itachi panted, looking up with his right eye shut and sweating a river, just as his partner was. "There was another reason… why they called her the Black Kunoichi…"
"Huh?" Kisame looked up. All round the eyewitnesses, the four Jonin all became shocked when they saw Yukari stagger back into a proper standing position, and as if she were standing casually, she looked up at them with a smile, the black flames of Amaterasu still whipping at her body. Visibly smoking from being continually burnt, she stepped forward, clothes waving in the thick, twisting, raw power of Itachi's attack inflicted upon her body at point blank, now transformed into her own aura.
"Impossible!" Kisame scoffed, blinking in disbelief. "There's just no way!"
"Believe it…" Itachi whispered back, gritting his teeth as he stared. "At first I didn't believe the stories from the war myself, but now I do. The woman who possesses the powers to defy death himself, and walks the earth sheathed in the flames of Amaterasu, and becomes his equal. There's no way only two of us can defeat her…"
Yukari shrugged her shoulders as she stared, giving the pair a good look over. "When you meet up with the other members of Akatsuki, tell them to stay away from Konohagakure," she said, the pair looking up more attentively in response. Whether it was out of fear or of their free will is unknown. "If they come anywhere near this village, I swear, I will burn them to the ground and purify the earth with their ashes."
They watched as the woman engulfed in black flames approached them, and the pair stood back up under their own power, sharing a tired glance.
"Not to sound cowardly, but in the worst case scenarios, those who retreat often survive," Kisame stated.
"We are in agreement then," Itachi spoke back, glaring back at his former sensei. "I wish to live long enough to see the end of this conflict…"
Without another word, the two Akatsuki lackeys vanished into their respective shunshins, leaving not a trace of them behind but the remnants of their battle. However, seeing that it was practically one-sided, it was more like a spirited slaughter then a battle.
Once they were gone and everything was good again, Yukari activated her own Mangekyo, and deactivated the Amaterasu coating her body. She shook it off and sighed in relief, before glancing over at Asuma and Kurenai, who were looking at her wide eyed and slack jawed expressions. Blinking, she smiled and walked towards them. She slowly knelt down in front of them and grinned a very disturbingly Jiraiya like grin.
"Hey… you wouldn't happen to know where the hot springs are Asuma-kun…Kurenai-chan. I'm always getting lost around Konohagakure. I have some… research I need to conduct for my next book…"
Immediately after that, the pair decided to faint, with the woman looked down at them in surprise.
"Hmm… guess not…"
Elsewhere…
Tenten and Kin had the unfortunate duty of carrying Naruto some ways before they had a rest stop at a shrine. Jiraiya sat at the foot of the hill overlooking the area, while having some rice balls he packed for himself, while Naruto's teammates provided emotional and mental support.
Kin, versed in a bit of medical jutsu from Oto, did a quick first aid check of the blonde, and confirmed there was nothing physically wrong with him. All they could do for him for the following recovery period was helping him shake out of his reverie. Even though neither of them really had any experience in this field, they did a pretty good job of giving him all the support he needed. It wasn't until abut fifteen minutes of caressing and gentle words of comfort that managed to shake the young Jonin out of his reverie.
"It was her… it has to be," Naruto whispered, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking up at his partners. "Those Sharingan…"
"Wow, when you fall into a babbling fit, it goes on for quite a while," Tenten, sitting on his right smiled and gently rubbed his back with her arms around her, Kin taking his left arm. "Must have been one hell of a woman to scare you this much…"
"Who exactly is this Yukari to you?" Kin asked.
"I never actually met her face to face. I more like… had a dead-body-being-possessed episode, and I spoke with her through the corpse," Naruto rubbed the back of his head and sighed, looking down at his feet. "Then there was a second time, when a Kumo Squad was hired to help my team on the mission where we found Mia, by a person that fits her description…"
"So… for all those who aren't so intimately involved with your secret life…?" Kin smirked, raising an eyebrow.
"I learned that over a thousand years ago, the Sage of Six Paths… Mia… had two apprentices under her wing: the oldest student, whom she gave her eyes, and the younger brother of that apprentice, whom she gave her will and spirit. You can probably guess from this point the certain eyes I'm talking about," Naruto murmured, glaring up towards the air space in front of him. "The eyes that were said to be wielded by the elder student have reappeared in this incarnation of the older brother, Jiraiya's student, Yukari Uchiha."
"That's kind of a farfetched claim I'm willing to go along with," Kin commented, causing Naruto to look up at her, his expression unchanged. "From the way you reacted, there's no denying what you saw."
"How strong is this person, exactly?" Tenten asked.
"After listening to you three yapping…" Jiraiya spoke up, looking up towards the trio at the top of the hill under the shrine. The youngsters looked down at him in response, seeing the old hermit pick up his bag and rise to his feet with one of his serious looks in play. "Able to forcefully take control of a person's conscience and rip it out of them while they're still kicking is nothing short then S-Ranked capabilities. Yukari's abilities back in the day were several years short of the Yondaime, but at this point, chances are her powers have doubled. She would roughly be in the same league as I am or the Forth Hokage's…"
"That doesn't seem like a tough act to follow," Kin mused.
Jiraiya smirked at the girl. "Believe me when I say this, all of my students on that team became some of the strongest ninja Konoha has ever conceived; ninja that every single country came to know and fear. Don't take her too lightly…"
Naruto, Kin and Tenten, after picking up their own bags and saying a short prayer, headed down the steps and followed the Sannin's lead. The white haired man led them over a small bridge, leading down into an outpost town somewhere on the edge of the Land of Fire. Along the way down the main highway leading through the village, the group continued discussing the possible threat the person posed, as well as comparing the said Uchiha to other possible combatants.
"All three Legendary Sannin are incredibly powerful shinobi," Tenten said, glancing over at Naruto, who also looked back with a curious look in play. "Even the Third Hokage admits that Orochimaru is stronger then him. If the Mizukage, Ryoko or Jiraiya weren't there…I'm sure even our Hokage would have lost."
"On top of being strong, he's a slippery bastard," Naruto replied with a nod of agreement. "He was able to pull off a Forbidden Technique in front of four of the most powerful ninja in the world. Ryoko alone can give the Snake a run for his money, but from what she said to me back in the hospital, he was a fast runner…"
"A strong defense does function as a great offensive weapon," Kin commented. "By running, he conserves more energy. It perhaps explains his incredible success rate in battles when taking on someone far more powerful then himself."
"Where would the Sannin rank when compared with each other, though?" Tenten queried, looking up at their shockingly tall team leader.
"I'm stronger then Orochimaru," Jiraiya stated, glancing over his left shoulder. "Since our first battle in which he wiped the floor with me by just a nano thread, I've been training incredibly hard to surpass him. The day I overstepped him is far behind me now…" He looked ahead of him again as soon as he said that, hands linked with the bands of his backpack as he shifted it around his shoulders. "But my old, slimy friend is a glutton for punishment, and he can certainly take a hit. He survived a direct hit from the Mizukage's Lava Style attack and he's still walking about. A nasty invulnerability is his ace in battle…"
"What about Tsunade?" Kin asked. Jiraiya chuckled at this and looked around at the girl.
"No question, Tsunade is physically the strongest of the three of us." The hermit said this while rubbing his lower jaw, remembering the numerous times his teammate scored a home run with one of her swings, with him as the ball. "She packs a mean right hook, plus she is the best medical specialist in the world. That kunoichi can heal while fighting at the same time, which makes inflicting real damage on her impossible. However…being away from the village has had a rather negative affect on her. She's a bit out of the game…"
"So she's the weakest of the three of you?" Tenten asked, looking a little bit crestfallen at the knowledge. Jiraiya shook his head.
"Actually, after what happened to Orochimaru back in Konohagakure, I'd say she's moved up to the second strongest of the Sannin. I bet after a few weeks in office and some trips to the training field, she'll be back in her prime in no time. That I can guarantee," the old man replied, stopping them in their tracks and turning to the three.
Looking left and right quickly, making sure the area was clear, he then leaned in and whispered to them, the trio leaning up in earnest to make sure they got what he had to say loud and clear. "Now, I'm only going to say this once, so listen up. When we meet her, do not… I repeat do not, under any circumstances in the first three minutes of direct contact, mention anything about her appearance, age, skin texture, or whatever, especially the specifications of our mission. No comments, no criticisms, no nothing. Got it?"
"The usual shit, sure thing," Naruto nodded, folding his arms.
"Why?" Kin asked, looking over at the blonde, then back at Jiraiya.
"Seriously, because if she's going to be in the mood I'm assuming she'll be in when we have a run in with her, she won't hesitate to level anyone who makes any remarks of any degree about her. Including us if we're stupid enough to give anything away," the old hermit stood back up, placing his hands on his hips and looking down at the nervous faces of Kin and Tenten. "Alright then… now that that matter is settled, we just need to make a stop at this outpost before we continue on. I need to dig up some info on the Legendary Sucker…"
Buying out a room for the night, Jiraiya and his team went up to the room for the breather, although the old pervert ditched them when a couple of passing women caught his attention and showed quite a bit of interest in him. Not wanting to knock the old geezer off of cloud nine, Naruto led his teammates up to their room and deposited themselves around the room. The blonde used this opportunity to get some sleep, while Kin and Tenten… well… they hopped into the same bed with him.
The first hour that passed was spent with the three of them resting. The next half an hour to follow after that, saw the young Jonin and the two Genin spending genuine, quality time with each other. The sat in a triangle on the bed cross-legged and just talked. That and they played poker with each other, betting whatever loose change they had with each other.
"You're so lucky, Naruto-kun," Tenten exclaimed, putting two cards down and picking up the number discarded from the deck.
"Huh? Lucky?" the blonde questioned, looking across at the brown haired girl, his straw hat sitting beside him, along with a folded up trench coat.
"Yeah you! You were trained by both Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, two out of the three, Legendary Sannin (giggles excitedly)! That's why you're lucky!" Tenten exclaimed, clapping her hands together and looking at the blonde with stars in her eyes. "It's been my life long dream to grow up to become as strong as Tsunade-sama. All those tales of her literally flattening enemy ninja in her wake and crushing a fortress's walls with her bare hands… it's simply mind-boggling! Also, I've always wanted to meet with her face to face, so that I can learn a thing or two from her, and as her a few questions."
"Oh. Well, when you put it that way, I guess I am a pretty lucky guy," Naruto replied with a smile, putting down three cards and picking up another few to replenish his losses. After which, Kin in turn deposited two cards of her own and picked up another pair. "When I met her for the very first time, I thought she was the most beautiful person on the face of the earth: like an angel had lost its way up to heaven. But then, when she opened her mouth for the first time in front of me, I was deeply mortified at what came out."
"Hmm… she was drunk?" Kin asked, looking over at Naruto with an amused smirk.
"Drunk-blind and… thankfully, had bad coordination at the time," Naruto chuckled, tossing in two coins into the pot. "I was a scrappy young kid that didn't know much about women back then. A few unrestrained yet intended comments from my mouth nearly had me pan-caked to the wall on the other side of the restaurant."
The former Sound Genin looked at the blonde with even more interest, a sly grin plastered on her face as her mind worked around what he was leading up to.
"Who did end up taking the hit?"
"Pervy Sage," Naruto laughed. "The result changed the old hermit's policy on introducing new people to his mood-swinging teammate, which was why he told us back there to watch our mouths in the first three minutes of actually meeting Baa-chan. Since I know her so well, I don't have to worry. I'm sort of outside of the equation of first meetings, since I did technically save her life the last time we were hanging out…"
"You… saved her life?" Tenten repeated, blinking up at the young Jonin, who nodded back. "How?"
"Well, she was sort of in a bad way with a lot of unsavory people," Naruto replied, watching Kin and the other toss in a few coins into the center, before they all gave him their undivided attention. "One thing you have to know about her before meeting her is that she is an incredibly bad gambler, and she gambles a lot, almost as much as she drinks. She's also a very unpleasant drunk. It was something she picked up after fighting in the Second Great Shinobi War, in which she lost her lover Dan and her brother Nawaki… Kami rest their souls…"
"That's… understandable," Kin whispered, looking down at her hand with a fallen look. "I can't imagine what that must feel like… I never had a family to begin with…"
"Well… I can relate on both accounts," Naruto shook his head. "Anyway… her poor and distasteful habits made her a target of a lot of organizations and clubs from whom she borrowed money from. One day, a bunch of rogue ninja caught her out in the middle of the street when she was dead drunk, and demanded that she hand over the money she owed their client, or they would see her lose a limb or two. The fact that I was also with her at the time when they came to collect on her debt, did things sort of… escalate…"
"What happened?" Tenten asked, wanting to hear the next bits.
"Well, she challenged them, but failed miserably, leaving me to defend her. As a Genin level kid at the time, I beat the snot out of most of them, before being knocked down. Seeing an opening, the last rogue went in to kill Tsunade, but I jumped in the way and took the blow right through the chest." Naruto placed his hand over his right pectoral where the blow was struck. "My words and courage I displayed shook her out of both reveries, and she killed the last guy herself, before healing my wounds. Heh… she also got over her fear of blood in that one afternoon. Recollection and recovery can be a real bitch sometimes…"
"Wow…cool story," Kin exclaimed, showing her hand to the pair. "Three card!"
"Straight!" Naruto put his hand down. "Read em' and weep!"
He was about to grab the money from the pot, only to have his hands slapped away and Tenten flash her hand at him.
"Not so fast! Full house!" she stated, grabbing the money for herself. "Nice try buddy…"
Groaning, Naruto lent on his hand and propped his elbow on his leg, looking off in a different direction in disappointment. Kin mirrored his actions, while the member of Team Gai giggled as she claimed her winnings.
"Come to mama!" the brown haired girl exclaimed.
"Alright… whose deal is it?" Kin groaned, looking left and right as she gathered up the cards sprawled out in front of them.
However, before they could start the next game, there was a knock on the door, distracting the three of them from restacking the deck and going for the second round. Blinking, Kin hopped off of the bed and wandered over, leaving Naruto to gather and shuffle the cards.
"Hmm… could it be the manager?" Kin mumbled, arriving at the door and unlocking it, slowly swinging it open.
The former Sound Nin, as well as everybody else inside the room were shocked to see an eighteen year old Sasuke standing behind the door draped in a black cloak with red clouds. However, it only took them a few seconds to determine that it wasn't their old friend, much to the two girls' surprise and Naruto's horror. Grabbing the deck of cards on the bed in front of him and hopping into a crouched position, the boy grabbed a card and threw it like a kunai straight for the door the moment he saw Itachi and his partner Kisame appear from behind it. During which, Tenten threw her nano wire out, hooked it around Kin's body and yanked her back towards them, the card flying straight past the abseiling and shocked girl.
A split second later, the entire second floor of the hotel they were staying at exploded when the card ignited like an exploding tag Naruto rigged up a split second before throwing it. As the entire apartment block erupted into flames, Naruto, Kin and Tenten leapt out of the bellowing hot smoke, and landed on the roof of a building next door, skidding across the tiled surface to a stop, eyes locked onto the now burning structure. People in the street below screamed and ran to get out of the way of the falling debris.
"Who the hell were they?" Tenten asked with her brow furrowed. "I knew I sensed something off coming from the hallway, I just didn't know it was coming from a pair of two weirdoes playing dress up."
"Old acquaintances of mine; Itachi Uchiha, former ANBU of Konohagakure, and Kisame Hoshigaki, former leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist," Naruto informed, eyes flashing as he looked at the black clouds now beginning to blanket the skies above them. "They're both S-Ranked criminals after the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
"Why?" Kin asked, glancing round at him. "Why do they want it for?"
"No idea. But I can say this, this obviously isn't the first time they've come after me," the blonde replied, assuming a stance. "Let's hope they haven't wised up since our last meeting. I'd prefer it if they took it easy on me today…"
"Do you think that stopped them?" Tenten asked, admiring the damage caused by the exploding card.
"Not in the least," the young Jonin chuckled.
Just as he said that, a torrent of water suddenly rocketed out of the huge hole the blew into the side of the building, which formed into a wall of water, which blew away the flames and smoke, before cascading down towards the clouds below as a small drizzle. The moment the smoke cleared, Itachi and Kisame could be seen standing in their apartment complex, relatively unscathed by the point-blank explosion. They glared down at the blonde and his teammates crouched on the roof of the building across, with the blue skinned man sharing a glance with his partner.
"He's improved, I'll give him that," the swordsman hissed.
"Naruto-kun… surprising as always…" Itachi mumbled.
At that moment, the two of them shunshined down to the roof right in front of the small team, who leapt back in response to their opponents' shocking speed. Assuming defensive stances and weapons drawn, the trio prepared for a fight for their lives.
"Whatever you two do, don't look into Itachi's eyes, focus on his feet," Naruto stated, Tenten and Kin immediately averting their gazes. "The guy can knock you out with a single glance, so watch out…"
"That's all well and good, but Gai-sensei hasn't taught our team much on fighting from just judging the feet," Tenten stated, glancing over at Naruto. "Only he can fight like that…"
"I may be good, but I'm not that good, Naruto-kun," Kin replied.
"Well, do your best! This guy won't hesitate to kill you to get to me," Naruto stated, the pair nodding in response.
"Definitely improved," Kisame chuckled, reaching up and grabbing the handle of his sword tightly, his Samehada trembling in his grip. "Shall I kill his friends? They'll be a hassle for us to drag along too…"
"We want to cause as little collateral damage as possible," Itachi replied, furrowing his brow at the two Genin. "However, if they cause you any trouble, feel free to get rid of them."
"With pleasure," Kisame sneered, flashing his shark like grin in the girls' direction. Kin and Tenten shimmied back a bit, while Naruto took up a position at the head of them.
"You guys back me up. I'll hold these two off long enough for Jiraiya to show up. That explosion should have been more then enough to get his attention," Naruto whispered. His teammates agreed, at the same time, Kisame drew his sword and slammed it hard into the roof, splitting it open at the force of his draw.
This movement prompted Naruto to spring into actions. Throwing both his hands forward, he cocked them, flashing his gauntlets, with two barrels sticking up out from the top. He pressed down on the thumb triggers twice and fired off four kunai simultaneously. The knives rocketed out of the barrels like gunshots, and shot through the air towards Itachi and Kisame with paper balls tied and flailing from the ends. Kisame jumped in front of his partner and swung his sword out at the incoming projectiles, knocking them out of the air, but also setting them off. Unexpectedly, the balls at the end exploded into red clouds of unidentifiable gas.
The red clouds enveloped the pair, who stupidly enough, had the gal to breathe it in. Their reactions were instantaneous. Their eyes watered, their nostrils burned, and their skin began to itch up a storm. Kisame wailed out when he felt the salt immediately leave his body, and he clutched his face in agony, dropping to his knees, just as his partner behind him did, covering his mouth and clenching his eyes shut. Both of them had tears streaming from their eyes at this point as they coughed and retched on the red smoke.
"W-What is this?" Kisame cried out.
"I-It's like a boiling hot pot of chili has been thrown into my face!" Itachi coughed, both of them crawling about on their hands and knees.
Tenten and Kin blinked in shock at the two S-Ranked criminals' reactions, and looked over at Naruto who was also looking on with equal surprise.
"Wow… I didn't think it'd be that effective…" Naruto scoffed.
"What the hell is that stuff?" Tenten asked. "That's no ordinary gas."
"It's actually the Red Dragon stew I made with Choji compressed into powdered form. It's a prototype gas pellet I developed a month ago to be used as a supplementary smoke bomb, to throw off any would-be pursuers. However, for the powder to cripple them to this degree…" A wide grin spread across his lips. "I've gotta start mass producing this shit. THE RED DRAGON IS DA BOMB!"
Kisame crawled around, searching blindly for his sword which he dropped, while also scratching his skin vividly in agony. Itachi maintained most of his composure, but was still blinded badly from the gas.
"Samehada… dammit! I'm gonna kill that brat!" the swordsman roared, while sucking on his tongue. "Kami it burns!"
"…" Itachi squinted through red, stinging eyes up towards the three Genin, teeth gritted angrily. However, he was unable to see both Naruto and Kin rushing at the pair from the front, and both Kisame and Itachi, as they were raising their weapons to block in response to the sounds of rushing footsteps, simultaneously received painful kicks across their faces, sending flying back into the apartment building behind them, which they slammed into, be painfully falling the two stories to the ground, and crash landing awkwardly.
The villagers scattered at the sight of the commotion, now taken to the streets.
Growling and staggering to his feet with Samehada in hand, Kisame blinked his eyes open and glared around him, though his vision was severely blurred.
"Damn you rats! I don't care if he is a jinchuriki… I'll kill him… I swear I'll kill him!" the shark faced man growled.
Itachi, retching on whatever gas was in his lungs, also stood back up, staggering from the painful fall. Although both of them were experienced enough as it is to take down and kill a small group of kids, the attack came from the most unpredictable ninja in the world. Naruto may be several leagues behind them, but to be able to outsmart them was definitely a testament to his pranking skills. Kisame and Itachi were definitely caught off guard.
At that moment, Naruto, Tenten and Kin decided to jump down to meet the two Akatsuki members, landing in formation about ten meters out and rising to their feet, glaring at the rogue ninja with harsh stares. In spite of successfully being able to drive them off, they still had a duty and a battle to carry out, now in plain sight of the public.
"Going somewhere?" Naruto asked, watching as Itachi and Kisame squinted in his direction. "My experimental gas was stronger then I thought. You guys rely on your eyes too much… especially you Itachi…"
"Rat!" Kisame growled, stepping forward and bringing his sword to bare. "You'll suffer for this!"
"Bring it, sushi!" Tenten exclaimed, stepping back into a stance and gesturing for the man to bring it on, just as Lee usually did. "With that huge sword, I doubt you'll even be able to hit us."
"Don't… antagonize him too much," Naruto whispered as a small grin spread across his face. "He has the patience of a Mangrove Snapper; he'll take a bite out of you if you're not careful."
"Well, he is kind of a shark," Tenten smirked.
"That blue skin makes him look a little… I don't know… blue," Kin giggled.
"Of course, something about him does seem kind of… fishy," Tenten joked again, the three of them laughing in amusement. Sometimes, every once in a while it was healthy to tease one of the most dangerous villains of all time. "Sorry, it's a very rich area…"
He didn't seem to appreciate it that much though…
"That's it!" Kisame roared, springing into action, rather clumsily at first due to his partial blindness, but eventually picking up the slack. He charged at the three of them, sword held back and ready to strike. The three of them spotted the man exploding into movement, with the young Jonin looking over to his former Sound Nin teammate and nodding to her.
Kin drew a cluster of kunai from her pouch, and with swift, elegant movements, threw them up and around in front of her and her teammates, impaling the walls of the buildings to their left and right, and the floor in front of them. Immediately, wires and bells were made aware to Kisame's eyes and ears, the little ball bearings chiming loudly when they hit their targets, with the user dropping to her knee and forming a series of hand seals, readying for her attack.
"Ninja Art: Sound Barrier!" Kin shouted, her bell chimes ringing in response to her chakra,
Kisame was thrust his sword out, intent of ripping straight through the string of wires and bells. However, the moment he hit it, he bounced off of it as if he was hitting an invisible barrier, a ripple of invisible energy spreading out over the net wall as he was thrown back. The man staggered in shock, gritting his teeth as he felt his ears ringing on top of his still itchy skin, burning eyes and nostrils.
"Damn you! What a pain in the ass!" he shouted, thrusting his sword into the barrier, only to have it bounce off. "Screw this!" Taking his weapon into a two handed grip, he swung it back then around with full force, his Samehada eating through the chakra barrier and ripping the wires apart. Naruto, Kin and Tenten leapt back in time to avoid the swing, and gain some distance from the swordsman as he slashed his way through the barrier.
"Try this!" Tenten shouted, unfurling a scroll and throwing it out in front of her, kunai laced with explosive tags shooting out. Kisame was caught off handed when the knives cut through the air towards him and detonated one after the other, forcing him to leap back. When he did, Itachi sprung into action, forming a series of quick hand signs, before inhaling deeply, making sure to maneuver around his partner and taking aim at his targets.
"Fire Style: Burning Ash Cloud!" Itachi then exhaled a gust of slicing, highly potent wind from his mouth and into the burning clouds formed by the exploding kunai. When it struck the clouds, the sparks and heat from the exploding tags added fuel to his heavy air and ignited it, a giant fire ball rocketing towards the three Konoha ninja in the streets. Tenten was astounded that her attack did a complete runaround and started heading towards her, with Kin preparing to make another shield.
Naruto was already on it, flashing through a series of hand seals, and inhaling a mass of air of his own. "Wind Release: Dragon Versus Tiger!" Wind shot out from his lips and formed into a shield in front of him, cutting away at the burning ash cloud before it charged the attack down, forming into a giant dragon and a tiger wrapping around each other into a single entity. The attack bellowed towards Kisame and Itachi, the swordsman responding by lashing out at the attack with his sword, cutting through the wind beast effortlessly and sucking up the chakra in one swung.
The blonde Jonin felt the rest of the chakra he was feeding into the attack get sucked out of him, causing him to collapse from the effort as he watched his wind technique get siphoned off by the blue skinned swordsman. Kin and Tenten took defensive stances as Naruto knelt on the ground, catching his breath and looking up nervously.
"The guy absorbed my attack with his sword. What incredible suction," Naruto breathed, furrowing his brow at the S-Ranked rogue ninja, now beginning to regain their bearings.
"They're too strong. We can't fight them like this. The best we can do is stall," Tenten whispered over to Naruto, who nodded in agreement. "Where the hell is Jiraiya?"
"Right here!" A voice boomed, causing the three of them, and the two Akatsuki members to look up to see a huge shadow drop down from the top of the half destroyed apartment building. The shadow crash-landed right in front of the pair, hurling dust and debris everywhere. Clad in battle armor, the toad Gama stood at the trios' defense, with Jiraiya on top striking a pose, carrying the two women he had gone off with knocked out and on his shoulders when he realized they were under the influence of a genjutsu.
"BEWARE ENEMIES! YOU HAVE STUMBLED INTO…"
"Oh God, Pervy Sage!" Naruto shouted, interrupting Jiraiya in mid declaration, causing him to stumble and nearly fall of Gama. "Are you kidnapping women now? Man, you've definitely sunk to a new low…"
"SHUT IT GAKI!" Jiraiya spun around and pointed at him, looking quite disgruntled. "I am a man who respects the game too much to pull tricks and kidnap! Who do you think I am?"
"A sad old man who's simply lost his way…" Tenten replied, hands on her hips as she looked up at the man oddly.
"Nonsense! These two were under the unfortunate grasp of one Itachi Uchiha, and I simply broke them out of their dreary hazes!" The hermit laid them on top of Gama and leapt off of his toad, landing at the head of the group and focusing his glare on the two Akatsuki members standing in their way. "You three have handled yourselves well. I'll take it from here…"
"Shit. I thought he was distracted," Kisame grumbled, glancing over at his partner standing to his right. "What should we do now?"
"Retreat." Itachi stated, keeping his cool in light of the situation. "A prolonged battle with the Sannin is not one we can win. I've already been forced to use Tsukuyomi once in an attempt to break out of Yukari's genjutsu, and Amaterasu immediately after. My chakra is too low… and even if I was to fight him fully rejuvenated, it wouldn't make much of a difference…"
"Very well…" the shark swordsman growled and glared at the white haired man in front of him. "Next time…"
Without another word, the two men left in a hurry, leaving a devastated scene in their wake. Once they vacated the area in their respective shunshins, it left Jiraiya, Naruto, Kin, Tenten and a small crowd staring at the empty space where the two wanted criminals once stood. To those who were fighting the fight, they breathed a sigh of relief…
"Thank Kami…" Naruto sighed, smirking up at Jiraiya when he gestured Gama out of his way and approached them. "I was bluffing before. Kisame sucked away over fifty percent of my chakra when he absorbed my Wind Release attack. There's no way I could have kept on fighting…"
"But you three held him off. Nice work," Jiraiya patted the blonde on the head and smiled at the other two, who wiped their brows off. "How was your first taste of action against two dangerous mercenaries?"
"Terrifying," Tenten muttered.
"What she said," Kin exclaimed, shaking her head. "That Sound Barrier had a lot of backlash when that fish guy ripped through it. I thought I had it down…"
"They were powerful, don't beat yourselves up over it," the Toad Sannin stated, before glancing up at the remains of their hotel room. By the looks of it, there wasn't any room left, something they'd surely be kicked out for. "Well… half our stuff is roasted, our apartment is reduced to splinters, and we just drove off two rogue ninja out to kill you three. Now, summing up the main highlights of our day so far, I guess this is a sign saying we should move on…"
Half an hour later…
Outside of the town…
Sitting under the cover of a forest, atop of a boulder beneath an evergreen tree, Itachi sat with his head lowered and eyes tightly shut with his partner seething next to him on the same seat. Both Akatsuki members were busy catching their breath from their full on sprint out of the village, and were slumped over, exhausted and sweating.
Gritting his teeth, the former Swordsman of the Mist growled and ran his hand through his hair, glaring up towards the sky peeking through the canopy.
"This has been, by far, the worse day of my life!" Kisame shouted, his partner's eyes opening slightly, revealing exhausted, charcoal black eyes that had lost some of their life.
"No question…" the Uchiha murmured.
"Kami must hate men like us! Sure he opens a door and lights our way, but the moment you try to step through, he slams it right in your face."
"Things didn't quite go according to plan," Itachi replied calmly yet in clear exasperation, breathing out a shallow breath. "We were simply… unprepared…"
"What are you talking about? We've been planning this day for over a month," Kisame rounded on his comrade, his composure starting to resurface as he took everything that had happened into account. "Ever since we learned of Orochimaru's planned invasion of Konohagakure back in the Land of Grass, we not only predicted every possible outcome, but also plotted out the route in which we would swing in and out without being noticed."
Itachi closed his eyes again, resting his back against the tree trunk of the evergreen behind them. "Naruto-kun was well guarded, and aside from his surprising increase in strength since the last time we encountered, he has made some very powerful allies. The shinobi of Konohagakure protect him, as does your former comrades from the Hidden Mist, and Jiraiya of the Sannin. With these obstacles in our way, I'm afraid we will be unable to acquire him at this point in time…"
"And… what about your former Jonin sensei?" Kisame queried, raising an eyebrow. "How do you propose we deal with her?"
"We got lucky this time around," Itachi stated, nodding his head. "In order to defeat Yukari, I'm afraid we will need to be accompanied by two other comrades, preferably Kakuza, Sasori or Yahiko-sama…"
"Tsk, Yahiko would be having a heyday with her," Kisame scoffed. "If I could have just used the full power of my Samehada from the get-go, things may have turned out differently!"
"We don't want to start a war…" Itachi murmured. "Not yet…"
"So… if we're not going to go after the Kyuubi… what do we do now?" the swordsman asked impatiently.
"After we recover, we go and hunt down Orochimaru, and regroup with our allies…"
"Heh… I still think this is all just a pathetic sham…" Kisame muttered.
TO BE CONTINUED…