Chapter Four:
A few hours before…
Quite a few miles away from Konoha, but still within its borders of the Fire Country was a waterfall. It was rather big, with huge volumes of water crashing down below into a small body of water. On the banks the trees and grass were fertile, and the flowers bloomed gloriously. Sat on the grass, relaxing in this usually deserted spot was a boy. He had spiky brown hair that was cut quite short, and dark brown eyes. He was lightly tanned, a thin brown hue covering most of his body. Around him, the sounds of training went on. He stood up, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. His attire was simple, a light brown Shinobi vest, hardened with leather. His trousers were also of the typical Shinobi, and the colour was black. He wore simple Shinobi black combat boots, but he was not wearing them now, choosing to feel the cool blades of grass against his toes.
He ran a hand through his brown hair, and smiled brightly. He was eager, ready to commence training. Although, it was a rather nice day for sleeping and getting a tan, the boy decided that he would rather practice. His name was Raion, and he was fifteen.
While the sun was baking hot, and he would surely tire quickly, Raion decided it would be best to run laps. He got into his starting position, and sprinted. He loved that feeling. The feeling of adrenaline, the feeling of the wind in your hair, blocking out all other sounds. He loved that sort of thing.
"Slow down Raion, you'll mess up my paintings."
Raion slowly reduced his speed as he came up towards his friend. A boy was sitting in the shade of a tree, biting his tongue in intense concentration. He had grey hair that was pulled neatly into a ponytail. His eyes were also greyish; they didn't necessarily have a colour, obscured by a pair of grey glasses. They were just blank, that was the best way to describe them. Blank.
He wore a black shirt, with a grey flak vest over it, along with grey Shinobi trousers and black Shinobi boots.
"Sorry Gurei," Raion apologized catching his breath. Gurei didn't reply, and continued working on his project. Raion, while not very artistic, had to marvel at his friend's skill with a brush and paint. It was like watching a graceful ballet performance, every stroke of the brush heralded the creation of a masterpiece.
"'Whatcha working on?" The dark skinned boy questioned after a moment. Gurei sighed, carefully putting his brush down and turning to face Raion with a blank expression.
"Raion, with all due respect, could you please go?"
Raion pouted mockingly. "Why!?" he whined. Gurei didn't even flinch at the joke, and Raion released the pout into the expression he normally wore. A cheeky grin.
"Because I am working." He turned back to his painting, picking up the paintbrush and beginning those masterful strokes once more.
"Please tell me what you're working on, please?" Raion asked hopefully. Gurei sighed.
"I am currently working on a piece of art that involves wolves-"
"Wow, I love wolves!"
Gurei gave Raion a cold hard stare, and he put his hands up in surrender. "Okay okay, I'm leaving. See you later!"
Gurei just shook his head.
Raion strolled away from his friend, his daily quota for annoying people almost met. Almost. As he continued to walk across the edge of the forest that bordered the body of water, Raion realised that he had not seen his other male teammate much today. As he walked for a bit longer, he heard the distinctive sound of training.
A girl was training in the sun, dark chakra slowly forming around her frame. She was rather tall, 2 inches taller than Raion. She had dark black hair that flowed to her shoulders, and as she opened her eyes to gaze at Raion, she smirked softly, the chocolate pools of brown filling with mischief.
Raion, wise to this girl's ways, stopped walking. He started to back away slowly.
"Raion, come here." The girl said, gesturing with her finger. As she stopped gathering chakra, her figure was revealed. She had dark skin, like someone who had lived in the desert. She was shapely, very shapely. She was the perfect seductress, an exotic beauty. And yet, she would kill you rather than kiss you. And she has kissed a lot of people. To call her beautiful would be like calling a starving lion sweet. Beautiful was used to describe a woman, Kura was not a woman. In short, she was the most dangerous thing next to death itself. She was too cunning, too mischievous, and, she could get into your pants better than she could breathe. That was her specialty, in any case.
Raion himself was a simple fellow. He wasn't the brightest, but he had street smarts. He was well built for a fifteen year old, with muscles that would make most teenage boys cry in shame. That was Raion's specialty, in any case. 'Heavy lifting' as he liked to call it.
They were both different, one preferred seduction and espionage, the other brute strength and raw energy. Maybe that was why the hated and liked each other all at the same time.
"No. Last time you gave me that look, I was roped into taking beating because you slept with that man's wife!"
Kura snickered. "What could I say? Nobody would want this face to be ruined." She pouted. Raion shook his head, although a smile was tugging at his lips.
"What do you want?"
"Simple, I want you to deliver a message for me."
Raion's eyes widened, but then narrowed into slits. Yeah, like he was going to believe that. "That's it? No strings attached?"
Kura nodded. "Yep, all I want you to do is go into the cave and tell Kataki that Sensei has left for a few hours to take care of some business, and that he's in charge."
Raion growled. "How come he gets to be in charge?" He mumbled to himself. Kura laughed, flipping her dark hair back behind her shoulder.
"Oh Raion," she laughed shaking her head. She strode over to him in a few seconds. "Aww, is my wittle Raion so sad!?" she said grabbing the dark skinned boy's cheek and squeezing it teasingly. Raion scowled at her, and she laughed.
"Anyway, go away. You smell like wet dog."
"Hey!"
"It's the truth, go bathe somewhere far away so I don't need to see you and your scrawny junk."
"I don't need- hey, my junk is not scrawny!"
Kura threw her head back and laughed again. "Yes Raion, it really is. Now go away."
Raion rolled his eyes. Nobody seemed to like him today, although that was nothing new to Kura. And a thought occurred to the brown haired boy as Kura walked into the surrounding forest, clutching her nose.
Raion smiled, before running over to the edge of the body of water. "Hey, Tali!"
A blonde girl, no older than fourteen, stopped her training and turned to see who had shouted at her. She smiled when she saw Raion.
"Hey Raion!" She yelled, happy to see her friend.
Tali was blonde, and quite pale. Not nearly as pale as Gurei, but still pretty pale. And her light blue eyes highlighted her creamy skin and light blonde hair. For a fourteen year old girl, she was quite well endowed, with soft milky skin and a toned body. Currently, she was practicing on the lake, perfecting her special chakra control exercises that involved a mixture of dancing and physical exercise like punches and kicks.
She was wearing a low cut blue top and a pair of shorts that fell just above the top of her thigh.
She strolled over casually, a bright beaming smile permanently etched on his face. "Hello Raion, how are you?" She inquired as she gave her friend a hug. This was another common trait when it came to Tali. Hugs; lots of hugs.
"I'm good, apart from the fact nobody's nice to me."
"Well, you do smell like a manure factory," Tali giggled. Raion rolled his eyes.
"I don't smell, people just have really sensitive noses." It was Tali's turn to roll her eyes.
As Tali was about to say something else, Raion's stomach grumbled loudly. He grinned sheepishly. "Wanna come and have lunch?"
Tali nodded. "Okay, but you need to go and talk to Kataki first. Give him the message."
"You too!?" Raion yelled incredulously. Tali put her hands up in defence.
"Hey, you're the one with the job to do. Go deliver the message, and see if he wants to have lunch."
Raion sighed, but nodded. Tali beamed. "Yay, you see if you follow orders then you don't annoy people, apart from the smell of course."
Another mumbling of 'I don't smell,' escaped Raion's lips, and he grudgingly made his way over the body of water, ready to talk to his… friend.
Behind the waterfall that tumbled down drowning out most of the sound in the immediate vicinity, was a cave. In this cave was a spring. The spring illuminated the cold stone walls with wavy patterns, turning the drab cave into a work of natural wondrous art. On one of the many rocks that littered the medium sized cave, sat a boy. He was sixteen, with dark red hair that was medium length. His eyes were closed, an intense look of concentration etched on his face. The only sound that he could hear was the dripping of water, and the slowly steady drum of the waterfall outside. Sitting topless, wearing only a pair of trousers, stuck on a cold rock in a cold area would have sent most people insane after a while. But not Kataki.
He was perfectly content sat on his rock, meditating for a moment before getting back to his kenjutsu.
And he was content, until he heard the complaints from one of his teammates. Raion scrambled through the waterfall completely soaked from head to toe. He panted heavily. "You-couldn't-pick-easier-area-to-get-to?" he asked through breaths. Kataki didn't respond, just sat deathly still.
"You know, it helps if you take your clothes off before you come through the gushing water. Who knew?"
Raion growled, but inside he was kicking himself. Why hadn't he thought of that?
"Are you here for a personal visit?" Kataki asked standing upright and opening his chocolate brown eyes. Raion snorted.
"You wish. Kura wanted me to deliver you a message-"
"That I'm to be in charge until Sensei gets back. Yeah, I know."
Raion froze. The cave fell silent. "She didn't tell you that Sensei had already visited me, did she?"
Raion shook his head, shaking with rage. Silently, Kataki counted down inside his head.
'5, 4, 3, 2, 1…'
"Kura!"
Tali heard the screams and stifled a giggle. Oh, this would be interesting.
Raion leapt out of the waterfall, landing on the surface of the water. Tali smiled happily.
"Raion," She pretended to be oblivious. "What's wrong?"
"Kura lied!" He snarled. "And now I'm all wet!"
"Oh no!" Tali yelled louder than necessary to hide her snort. "Why, what did she lie about?"
"Kataki said that she already delivered the message." He gave an annoyed huff. "I'm going to rip her head off!"
He stomped as much as he could on the surface of the water, droplets flew up and hit Tali in the face. She giggled. "Sorry Raion."
He grumbled a reply as he walked towards the water's edge. Then he tensed. He whirled around, pointing an accusing finger in Tali's direction. "Hang on a minute. You said that Kura told you about her message, so why didn't you warn me?"
Tali rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as Raion sauntered closer.
"Well, I-I've got to… you know, uh… bye!" She stammered before she fell into the water.
"Oh no you don't!" Raion snarled as he jumped forward, landing headfirst with a splosh.
He looked around the underwater atmosphere, looking for the blonde girl who screwed him over. He twisted around quickly as he felt a hand brush against his back. "Raion," Tali whispered in his ear. He snapped around to try and punch her, but she was gone. "You shouldn't have come into my terrain."
With an almighty whoosh, a stream of water speared Raion in the chest and sent him high into the air. He landed with a thud on the bank, soaked even more than he was. As he panted hard, the pain in his chest rising, a figure obscured his view of the sky.
Kura smiled maliciously. Raion growled. "You liar!" He tried to rise upwards, but found he was trapped in place. He struggled against his invisible binds as Kura laughed.
"Oh Raion," She began as she clutched her chest. "As gullible as always."
Raion didn't reply, only frowned deeply.
"I see you've perfected the Shadow Bind technique."
Kura nodded. "I have, and it's really useful, wouldn't you-"
"Kura, stop."
Kataki stood a few feet away, his arms crossed and a look of annoyance on his face. Kura smiled brightly.
"Kataki! Have you finally given into my seductive techniques?" She said wiggling her eyebrows. Raion snorted and Kataki kept his face perfectly impassive.
"No. Would you stop tormenting Raion verbally?"
Kura nodded, and smiled once again maliciously. "And physically."
The dark haired teen pouted, but relented with a sigh, releasing Raion from his binds. The brown haired boy rubbed his wrists and shot a glare in Kura's direction. She merely beamed, content that she had managed to meet her daily quota of annoying Raion with her antics. Now, time for the hapless flirting with Kataki. She glided over to his side and put her arm round his shoulders. "So, how about we go somewhere private." She purred into his ear. Kataki smirked.
"While I'm sure that would be an experience I would never forget, I will have to pass."
"Aww, are you sure? I could make you feel really, really good."
Kataki shook his head. Kura pouted slightly, before moving like lightning and pecking him on the cheek. "I will get you one day." She sung before skipping off.
Kataki smiled, rubbing the spot where she had kissed him and shaking his head. While it was inappropriate, he did rather enjoy the flirting that he and Kura shared. It was a part of their friendship, just as Raion argued with her constantly. It was natural.
"So, someone mentioned something about lunch." Tali reappeared, rising from the water. She had witnessed the whole interaction between Kataki and Kura, and she frowned unhappily.
Kataki smiled, and went to say something before a loud smack echoed across the body of water.
Tali turned just in time to see a huge wave of water crash into her, Kataki and Raion. The trio skidded backwards, the wave sending them into objects like trees and rocks.
When the water drained away, Raion was standing upwards, rubbing the back of his head. When the fuzziness cleared, he noticed a figure standing on what was left of the body of water.
She had long green hair that fell down to her waist. She wore a cloak with a high collar that obscured the lower part of the girls face. It was patterned with red clouds, which looked menacing against the black backdrop of the cloak. She wore brown sandals on her feet, but her most striking feature was a giant sword that she wielded with only one hand. The length of the blade was at least seven feet long, a plethora of golden designs on the blade and a black handle.
Raion recognised the cloak, and growled. "Akatsuki."
The girl laughed. "Well, it seems you've done your homework." She held the sword at her side, ready to engage.
"What do you want?" Kataki's cold voice came from behind Raion. The girl shrugged.
"I want to play."
"Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!"
A whip of water formed behind where the green haired girl was standing, slamming down hard and causing a colossal splash.
Tali appeared from behind a tree, but that was her mistake. Like a blur, the female Akatsuki member charged forward, appearing in front of Tali in a split second. As the female went to grab Tali's throat, something long and white wrapped around her arm and yanked it backwards.
There was a hiss, as Gurei and a large snake appeared from behind a tree, the snake's tail holding the females arm in a vice grip. She growled as Gurei's hands turned green. He rushed forward, withdrawing his fist back to strike the woman down. However, the girl blocked his strike with her blade. She went to lop off his head, but he ducked and tried for another jab. This time it connected, but the woman turned into a puddle of water.
Gurei cursed. It was a water clone.
"Well well, Chakra scalpels? I guess I found the medic of the team."
The woman was now on the water again, smirking proudly. She had to react quickly as Kataki came forward, dual katana's in hand. The duo exchanged blows and jabs with their respective blades, neither of them getting a decisive hit. Eventually Raion joined the fray, his hands pulsing with orange chakra as he engaged with the woman also. His blows caused water to spray upwards, causing most of the battle to be obscured from Tali and Gurei.
Said ninja noticed that his blonde teammate had a gash on the back of her head. "Here, let me heal that." He said as she tried to run off and join the battle. She nodded grudgingly.
"Hurry up."
He nodded and began to get to work immediately. "This should only take-"
"Wind Style: Razor Blast Jutsu!"
A sharp gust of wind uprooted trees as it sliced into Gurei and Tali. Out of the duo, the blonde girl took the most amount of damage. She cried out in pain as a multitude of deep cuts and bruises littered her arms, legs and face. She flew across the body of water, landing with a sickening splash. Gurei didn't receive nearly as much damage, but did sustain a deep gash on his arm as he was sent backwards.
A man, also with long green hair stepped out of the now uprooted forest, wearing the same attire as the woman, a black cloak with red clouds on it and a pair of brown sandals. He smirked. Luckily he took down the dark haired girl silently; hopefully she was still unconscious.
He surveyed the area, noticing with a smile the battered and presumably unconscious body of Tali, and the body of the medic, lying on the surface of the water with a deep gash running down his arm.
Content that the woman was doing alright with the two brats, he bit down on his thumb until it bled, and thrust it down into the earth. A circle of kanji appeared, and he yelled out "Summoning Jutsu!"
A large brown hawk appeared in a puff of smoke, letting out a caw of surprise. The man leapt on the hawk's back, and it took off. "Eliara, it's time to go!" the man called out.
As the female Akatsuki member heard her partner, she smiled. Ducking under one more of Raion's strikes and delivering a fierce blow to the gut, she made hand signs quickly. "Water Style: Water Shark Jutsu!"
Ten splashes of water later, and ten sharks comprised entirely of water leapt out of the lake and into the air. "Bye boys," she said as she leapt backwards. The sharks growled and sped downwards. "God dammit!" Raion roared as he avoided one of them.
Meanwhile, the male Akatsuki member and his hawk had moved close to the water's surface. If you blinked you would have missed the man scooping up Tali in his arms. The bird gave a caw of victory and turned back. Eliara leapt high into the air, doing a backflip. She landed on the hawk. It once again switched directions, speeding off over the waterfall.
"No!" Kataki howled as he made some hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Justu!"
A stream of fire chased down the bird, but Kataki's jutsu only reached a certain length, and fizzled out quickly as the bird sped off. Raion struck down the last water shark, and it burst into water.
"Tali!" he called out.
Kataki couldn't move. He had failed, failed to protect on of his friends, the person who he thought of as a little sister. He had failed.
"We need to go after them!" Raion snarled as he helped the injured Gurei up.
"I agree." A voice called from a nearby tree.
Kataki turned, a deep look of remorse and despair on his features. "Sensei, I-"
"No." Kataki's Sensei said raising his hand. He had long black hair tied into a low ponytail that ran down his back. His eyes were a coal black, and he held himself with an unnaturally cold atmosphere. He wore a black flak jacket, black trousers and black combat boots. Around his neck was an amulet, one that represented one clan. The Uchiha.