Chapter 20: Into Ashes
Naomi Yamada and Asuma Sarutobi Jr. stood at the entrance of the Hidden Sand Village, arguing their plans.
"We should immediately head to the Kazekage's location and check on his safety. If he's still safe, we can hide there and wait for the attackers to come," Naomi began, twirling a strand of her sandy blonde hair.
"And if he's already been captured, your plan will solve nothing. I have an idea," Asuma responded as he formed a few hand signs. He cupped his hands around his mouth and blew hard. A thin, dark smoke exited his mouth, quickly engulfing the entire village.
"This is a special jutsu I developed. I can detect a disturbance in the area that the smoke covers. Additionally, it'll give us some cover with our movements. And…" Asuma paused, focusing for a few seconds, "Three masses with high concentrations of chakra are heading this way."
Naomi pondered, "The Akatsuki travel in pairs… They might have already got Gaara! We need to take him back."
-
They dodged between villagers as they ran, the Akatsuki pair, followed by the metal disc that carried Gaara's motionless body. The villagers were beginning to head inside, as it was dark and cloudy, and it was a bad omen to be out on a rainy night.
Momoro smiled to himself as he ran. I can almost feel it… we're almost out of the village… what is with this fog all of the sudden though? No… it's smoke…
Villagers started gasping and screaming in horror. Momoro and Izune came to an abrupt stop, as did the disk. The villagers were staring right at them.
"Izune! Why did you stop blocking…"
"Look…" she whispered, raising her hand and pointing towards the village exit. As the smoke began to clear, two shinobi were visible. The woman wore a short, brown jacket over her fitting, black outfit, her sandy hair blowing lightly in the breeze. The man wore a long black jacket over his flak jacket. The man crouched slightly and the woman took a step back as the Akatsuki pair became visible to them.
-
"Well, what have we here?" Asuma crouched slightly as the three became visible. "It looks like we got ourselves some Akatsuki after all, and they have the Kazekage in tow."
"That man…" Naomi began to step back, stating nervously, "That man is Momoro Matsumoto. He uses a metallic manipulation jutsu… I can't fight him."
Asuma turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow, "First, the pale guy chickens out, and now you're disabled too? Look, just get the Kazekage and go, I'll take care of the shinobi."
They darted forward, Naomi veering towards the disk. Momoro noticed and stepped in between her and Gaara, a small smile coming to his lips, "Well, isn't that pleasant? Naomi Yamada, head of the Yamada clan? The one that performs alchemy?"
Naomi stopped abruptly, swallowing, "Stand aside, Momoro… I'm more capable than you think."
The Akatsuki member snickered, "I know of your ability. You have the power to convert your body's composition into that of a pure elemental substance, and then manipulate your structure. About 90 percent of those elements, however, are metallic. If you try to do anything, I'll be able to rip you to pieces. You realize that, though, right?"
A cloud of ashes engulfed Momoro. He screamed in agony as the hot ashes burned into his skin, spinning rapidly in an attempt to clear the cloud away. As it dispersed and the ashes fell from Momoro's skin, red burns appeared where they had landed. Asuma formed more hand signs and was prepared to blow another cloud of ash outward, but Izune had taken the time Momoro used to taunt Naomi to fly behind Asuma. She delivered a hard kick to the back of his head. He fell to the ground, shocked, but still conscious.
"Damn it!" Momoro seethed, clutching at his burned face. The headbands of Asuma and Naomi began to twitch, but they realized it and quickly discarded them before they exploded, sending shards of metal all over. Naomi swept past Momoro and leapt forward, grabbing onto the disk, but as she did, the disk began to fly high into the air.
Izune smiled sweetly as she landed behind Asuma, who slowly rose back to his feet, but as he did, he continued to rise. "Now, now, you should know better than that. Playing with fire is bad," she cooed, telekinetically lifting Asuma into the air. With a casual wave of her hand, he was cast through the air, colliding with the disk, knocking Naomi and Gaara from it. Izune kicked off into the air, flying up to catch Gaara. The disk hit the ground, motionless.
Momoro had begun to run again, out of the village, but a shriek forced him to stop. Naomi has converted her hand using her alchemic jutsu into a long, iron claw, which wrapped itself around Izune. She lost her hold on Gaara and the Kazekage fell to the sand, motionless as it hit the ground. He watched in slight shock, but soon, another thud and the sound of flares awakened him.
Asuma was on the ground again, blowing a torrential stream of fire that nearly engulfed Momoro, but the craftsman had managed to evade narrowly. He remembered his original plan and used his jutsu to pry the claw that held Izune open. No longer suspended in the air by holding onto her opponent, Naomi fell to the ground. Izune fell as well, until the metal disk swooped under her and caught her. Once she regained her breath, she flew off it, and the disk swooped under Gaara, picking him up. In the same instant, the metal claw that was Naomi's arm swiped down at Asuma.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" called the young Leaf shinobi as he ducked under the mighty swipe.
"I can't control it!" she cried as she grabbed her claw with her free hand. She made a few more involuntary swipes at Asuma until her hand reverted to normal, but by that time, the Akatsuki had left with Gaara.
"We failed, didn't we…?" sighed Asuma in disbelief.
"I'm sorry…" Naomi bit her lip and fell to her knees.
-
Sunamaru Zirone stared into the fire from beneath the veil over his eyes. He could sense the arrival of two strong shinobi, observing and noting to himself, "They left the village… the disturbance is calming down… but the two are not heading this way… they're fleeing… It must be the Akatsuki…"
He examined the fire, calculating out loud, "There's only enough light here for one shot… I'll have to make it count." He formed a few hand signs before extending his arms out, his palms facing the fire. The fire became smaller and smaller until it extinguished itself, but a ball of energy was forming in Sunamaru's open hands, growing as the fire shrank. The ball glowed with the intensity the fire had.
Sunamaru cupped the ball in his hands and watched the darkness until he could see the two. They were wearing red cloaks, sure enough. Sunamaru threw his arms outward, casting the ball of light at the pair.
-
Momoro had taken to riding the disk again, sitting on the unconscious body of Gaara, panting as he applied a cloth to his burns. Izune flew overhead, twirling around in the air.
"We made it… We're home free…" Momoro panted, gingerly dabbing at his wounds.
"Not yet… There should be one more."
"What!?"
"I read the mind of the girl you provoked. She is a part of a team of 3. We only met two."
"So where…"
Both heads turned as the sky turned bright, and the ball of light struck the ground before them, engulfing them and Gaara in blinding light.
Next Chapter: Black Eyes in the Mist