Hello everybody, and welcome to chapter thirty five of The Winds of Change! Four Months in the making. For that, I do apologize. I've gone through some hardships, some good times (I'm not sixteen, woot!) among other things that have taken up my time. Now, however, thanks to a pledge between myself and my buddy, DownsofFire (Check out his work), we've agreed to try and write at least an hour a day, give or take. With this I can promise that updates will be coming more fluidly! Hopefully... in any case, you've got a seven thousand word fight scene to tide you over, so I hope you all enjoy.

So, without further ado, I bring you chapter 35, of the Winds of Change.

Chapter 35:

It was all the same! Grey stone and concrete, wooden doors, bunks and training dummies! Kataki growled irritably as he opened another door, seeing nothing inside worthy of interest. "We're meant to be causing a distraction." He grumbled, closing the door with more force than necessary. Across from him Fenris nodded in agreement, peeking his head into another room before shaking his head.

"Ridiculous." The red haired nin sneered, pushing forward. "Check for genjutsu again." He commanded.

Raion scoffed, his brown eyes steeling. "There's no point! We've checked every five minutes! There isn't any illusion!"

Kataki resisted the urge to turn around and smack his dark haired teammate, focusing on the corridor in front of him.

"We have checked loads of times," he agreed, "But we need to check again. Just to be sure."

"You're paranoid."

Kataki didn't respond to Raion's insinuation, instead waiting for Gurei to finish detecting for any illusions. Fenris, however, snorted in amusement, his eyes shining with annoyance.

"Of course he's paranoid. We all are. We've been traveling for hours-"

"We've actually only been traveling for roughly ten minutes." Gurei interrupted. "And there are no genjutsu around us, Kataki."

The dual katana wielder nodded while Fenris continued his point unperturbed, "We've not encountered any enemy resistance. We've been blasting our chakra signatures at full blast since we started, and we have not seen or heard a peep from anyone.."

Raion hummed in thought. "Maybe they're scared of us!" Raion's face morphed into a grin.

Kataki resisted the urge to sigh while Gurei chuckled lightly. Behind Gurei, Utsuro and 'Tali' remained silent as they walked, Utsuro occasionally muttering something to herself under her breath.

"You stupid..." Fenris didn't have words, turning his head away in disgust.

"'You stupid', blah blah blah blah blah."

"Real mature."

Raion smirked. "I'm mature!"

The former slave reached for the hilt of his sword. "We'll see how mature you are without a head!"

"Is that a threat!?"

Fenris blinked owlishly. "Really, you think that cutting off someone's head is not threatening-"

"Quiet!" Kataki hissed as they came across a large door. "Can you sense that?"

Everyone froze, trying to detect what Kataki was talking about. "I can," Utsuro stated, smiling brightly. "There's a chakra signature in there! Muffled, but I can feel it!" She beamed happily, before she began humming to herself.

"Hn," Kataki grumbled. "Looks like we're getting ready for action. Brace yourselves. "

The group did as they were told, Raion charging chakra into his fists, Fenris drawing his sword, Gurei getting into a crouched position, Utsuro pulling out her multitude of senbon, 'Tali' slipping into 'her' Taijutsu stance, and Kataki pulling his katanas out of their sheaths.

"Ready?" He asked. They nodded.

Within the blink of an eye, Kataki had kicked open the door and leapt inside. His heart stopped. Water. And lots of it.

He cursed, almost losing his balance as his furiously pumped chakra into his feet. He landed on the water with a soft thud, almost falling into it a few times before he steadied himself.

Kataki stared into the deep shimmering liquid beneath his feet, scowling.

"Is... everything alright?" Fenris asked, a concerned edge in his voice as he stepped forward onto the body of water below.

"It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine." The blood user tore his gaze away from the water below. "This is... interesting."

Gurei hummed in agreement.

The room was pure water, massive amounts. From the estimation, it stretched down deep. Very, very deep. It was dark and murky, and yet shimmered softly, lighting up the pale blue walls with dazzling movements of light. A lone, stray light bulb hung overheard, flickering softly every once in a while. It smelt like the open sea, fresh and natural. But there was something else mingled in amongst the calming scent. What it was, they could not fathom.

"We should get going." Raion stated, looking at Kataki's almost shaking form with a hint of worry.

"Let's."

The blood user began walking at a very fast pace over the water, refusing to look down. Fenris and Utsuro shared a glance of confusion, but followed after him. Gurei and Raion shared a look of worry.

"Kataki?" Utsuro's calm and childlike voice questioned. "I sense something-"

"I don't care." He snapped, quickening his already fast pace. "Let's just get out of his room."

The ripples the water made were pretty, like every step was shaping the world in some mystical way. It affected the way the shadows danced along the wall.

And it was too quiet.

"Kataki-" Raion tried to voice his concern, but the hard stare the blood user gave him quickly stopped any sound coming from his throat. "Great," he mumbled under his breath so that only Gurei could hear him," He's in one of those moods."

Gurei didn't reply, his face remaining stony and impassive.

The ripple was subtle at first. It was quick, but it definitely happened. Kataki froze in place, his mind going into overdrive. Not here, not here, not here-

There was an explosion of liquid as someone leapt from the large body of water. The blood user blinked in surprise, using his katana out of instinct to block the water that splashed down onto him. It didn't work, of course. What followed afterwards was blocked, as a woman charged forward through the water and swung her large sword. The clang of metal echoed around the room, Kakashi quickly losing his balance and being pushed backwards.

The others sprung into action. Utsuro withdrew an array of senbon, lightly throwing them at their opponent, who deflected them with her large weapon. Fenris had charged in, huge sword heaved high above his head. There was a scraping sound as the woman blocked Fenris' attack, kicking him decidedly in the chest. He was knocked back, skidding across the water before righting himself.

Kataki struggled, half keeping an eye on the woman in front of him, and half making sure he didn't fall into the water. He just couldn't fo-

Moving his body to the side, he only just managed to avoid being bisected. The woman had left her mark, however, as a deep gash formed on his side. Wincing, he narrowly dodged another cleave of the massive blade the ninja possessed. Even this only bought him a second of downtime, as he was forced to leap backwards to avoid losing a limb.

Raion grinned. "What's the matter Kataki, afraid of the little splashes?" Orange chakra formed around his fists, and his grin intensified. "Take this!" He yelled, dashing forward. Cocking his fist back, he slammed it straight into the woman's chest. There was no audible crack of bones as the woman flew backwards, her body morphing into water droplets.

"Damn," Raion gritted, cracking his knuckles. "Come out here you bitch, and prepare to taste my fists!"

Gurei pushed back the smirk that threatened to overcome his face and turned his worried grey eyes onto Kataki. He really wasn't coping well with the environment. "Are you alright?"

The blood user swallowed, turning fearful eyes towards the medical ninja.. "I'm fine." He looked whiter than usual, Gurei noticed, "I'm just a bit... it's nothing, I'm fine."

"I thought you got over your fear of-"

"It's not a fear," Kataki corrected as he scanned the horizon for any sign of the woman. "It's just a mild-dislike."

There was another explosion of water as two large sharks burst forth, droplets of water spraying on the Tali rescue group. One charged towards Fenris and Raion, who both leapt upwards and dispatched it with a combination of a fist and sword. The other shot straight towards Kataki and Gurei.

"Shit," Kataki swore, quickly slitting his wrists and leaping backwards. Gurei followed suit, pulling out one of the scrolls on his back as he did so. Landing safely, he pushed some chakra into the piece of paper as he unravelled it. There was a bright light as three water-coloured wolves appeared, immediately snapping into action with snarls as they leapt towards the shark. To Gurei's horror, the shark split in two. There was an explosion of ink and water as the two creations collided, splattering a mixture of white, black and blue onto the wall and water.

The other shark had veered right, heading straight towards Utsuro and 'Tali'. The former Oto Ninja had been trying to get 'Tali' out of the way, ushering her to the exit with frantic pushes. Realising this was no longer an option, she roughly pushed the mirage figure out the way, taking the full brunt of the explosive shark. Sent careening back, she connected with the concrete wall with a thud, wincing at the pain in her back. He landed on her feet, however, momentarily catching her breath and checking her status.

Meanwhile, Raion and Fenris engaged the woman in an intense Taijutsu and kenjutsu battle that they were not winning. Obviously the superior swordswoman, she easily deflected another of Fenris' attempts at taking off her head, hitting him with the hilt of her blade. As he was knocked back, she took advantage of Raion. Leaning to the side to avoid his strike, she sliced a clean cut down his torso, before twisting around and kicking him with all her might. He skyrocketed backwards, only being stopped by Gurei as he leapt to save him. Fenris didn't fair much better, almost immediately receiving an elbow to the jaw, before the woman weaved some hand signs. "Water Shark Jutsu!"

A shark made of liquid jumped upwards, before crashing down on Fenris. He had just managed to raise his blade to block most of the impact, but still, the force of the shark had sent him down on one ninja was not done, weaving more hand-signs as another shark burst out of the deep, crashing into Fenris' chest. He groaned loudly as he was sent backwards, welts and dark bruises forming on the impacted area. However, he remained steadfast, standing upward to face her head on once more. He directed a slash at her torso. She leapt back slightly, trying to take off the head of her opponent. Fenris blocked that with his own blade, extending his foot out to kick the woman square in the ribs. It connected flush, stumbling the woman back long enough for Fenris to push her blade off to the side and thrust towards her. There was no sound of blade going through flesh, as the woman regained her balance and swung her fist forwards. Unable to stop the thrust, Fenris ducked down in order to avoid being dazed. This didn't end well, as the woman twisted her body around, connecting with a roundhouse kick to the knee. Taken off balance, the snowy haired ninja could do nothing as his nose was smashed by another kick. Sent flying backwards, he sent the water uproaring with an almighty splash. Still clutching his favoured weapon, he clambered upwards until he stood, dripping wet atop the very surface he was under moments ago. He panted heavily, silvery eyes assessing the woman in front of him. She was good, better than he was in terms of kenjutsu. Her cloak looked familiar, though...

"You fit to fight?" Kataki asked, placing a hand on his comrades shoulder. "You took some nasty bumps there."

"And you did not?" Fenris inquired, gesturing to the gash. "But, are you able to fight, master?

"Yes." Kataki growled, the implication of the question apparent. Fenris nodded.

"Of course, I shouldn't have questioned you. Forgive me."

Kataki nodded.

As the momentary lapse of fighting sunk in, Gurei spoke loudly. "Eliara. Former Hunter Nin of Kiri. Apprentice of Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Or, rather, used to be. And now you're in the Akatsuki."

Eliara shrugged her shoulders, her green hair flowing down her back, spiked at the end. With piercing cerulean eyes she assessed the situation. "I'm glad to see they kept a record of me." She said, her voice a higher pitched than they'd expected. Bratty was the right word to describe it.

"If I could ask, why did you leave Kiri?" Gurei continued making conversation.

While doing this, Raion slowly began pouring chakra into his fists. Kataki, very carefully, began to pool blood around his feet.

"I got offered something better."

Utsuro silently closed her eyes, and made some fluid hand-signs.

Gurei quirked one of his grey eyebrows. "Oh? Care to share?"

Eliara hefted her heavy blade onto her shoulder. "No. I believe we have to kill you now."

"Yes," Gurei smirked. "But we'll be the ones doing the killing today."

With reckless speed, three blood shurikens sailed over the medic nins head. Eliara went to dodge, but found her legs bound. She looked down. Chakra binding thread.

Gurei moved the thread around in his fingers. "I think this will be the end now. Goodbye, Eliara of Kiri."

The three shuriken connected with the green haired Akatsuki member, thumping themselves into her rigid form. She disappeared into water droplets.

Leaping from the water behind Gurei, Eliara lifted her heavy blade high above her head. The medic ninja reacted fast, shooting his leg behind him as he spun around. The kick glanced the woman's shin, and she winced. Gurei continued to spin around, charging a chakra scalpel in his hand. He sliced for her heart. She was forced to divert her attack, using the hilt of her blade to block Gurei's chakra scalpel. At a standstill, she was forced to leap backwards. As soon as she did so, she charged back in, intent on ending the life of the person in front of her.

She was stopped by Kataki, as the two briefly engaged in some combat. "You'll regret stealing Tali!" He growled, steel clashing with steel. Eliara did give credit where credit was due, the kid was a decent swordsman. However, she was out of his league.

Blocking another one of his jabs. Eliara swept her foot across the water, sending it into Kataki's face. The blood nin faltered, coughing and spluttering. This proved to be his downfall, as Eliara grasped at the collar of his shirt. Twisting around, she threw him into the oncoming Fenris, sending the both of them reeling.

She turned her attention back to Gurei, charging the medic. He was prepared, withdrawing a kunai and hastily blocking her strike. But power and force were on her side, and using both, she knocked the kunai out of his hands. "Hah!" She grinned, kicking out her leg and connecting solidly with his ribs. The grey haired nin winced in pain, but twisted out of the way of another slash. Doing a backflip, he withdrew two more kunai and threw them. They bounced off Eliara's massive blade, and with a speed he had not accounted for, charged. There was a squelch as her hefty weapon sunk into his shoulder, blood spilling out into the water below. Gurei screamed briefly, before biting his tongue. Eliara merely grinned, and with a sharp tug pulled the blade out of her opponents shoulder, bringing flesh and blood with her. "Never defy the Akatsuki!"

Her victory chant was short lived as Raion's fist smashed into Eliara's jaw, skyrocketing her into the water.

Raion charged after her while Fenris and Utsuro leapt towards Gurei. You alright?" He asked, helping the medic nin to his feet as Utsuro watched on.

"Yeah, well... apart from the chunk of my shoulder missing," he winced. "Give me a few moments to heal it." He placed his other hand onto his shoulder and began to knit together the flesh.

"Here," Fenris placed a tender hand on Gurei's shoulder. His hand glowed a faint blue, and the shoulder knitted together in a matter of seconds.

"How did you-"

"Questions for later!" He hissed, turning his attention back to Eliara.

While this was going on, Raion was wildly swinging for Eliara, who continually dodged his every move. Finally, she grasped at Raion's wrist, twisting it at such an angle to cause immeasurable pain. It did so, and the brawler of Itachi's group cried out.

Eliara's eyes hardened as she continued to place more pressure on the joint, Raion's face contorting into deeper and deeper pain. Raising her hand, she made a hand sign, "Water Style: Liquid Trident!" A large trident made entirely of water, three points gleaming in the light, flew towards her, the prongs heading towards Raion's back.

The brawler, through the haze of pain shooting through his wrist, shot his knee upwards. It glanced Eliara's side, doing enough damage to get her to let go. Leaping sloppily to the side, he narrowly missed being impaled on the blade. He rolled, water clouding his vision for a moment before he righted himself.

Kataki's blades clanged against Eliara's monstrous sword as they dueled briefly. Dark eyes continued shooting downwards towards the water. The Akatsuki ninja took notice of this, and swept Kataki's legs out from under him. Raising her sword high into the air before the blood ninja had even hit the water, she thrust it downward.

Fenris' own blade narrowly blocked the sword, struggling to push it upwards. Kataki floundered about, panic etched on his face.

Eliara sneered, her elbow colliding with the nose of Fenris. There was a crack, and blood soon flowed out of the slave nin's nose as he stumbled backwards. Taking no chances, Eliara once more went to end Kataki's life.

A senbon thumped into her hand, causing her to cry out in pain. Her sword clattered into the water, sinking deep. Utsuro smirked, withdrawing a number of senbon and throwing them at her opponent.

The water ninja growled in grievance, ripping the senbon from her hand and charging forward. Knocking Fenris to the side with her fist, she charged. Ducking the senbon, her rather large fist crashed into the ribs of Utsuro. One audibly snapped, and the white haired nin winced in pain.

Instead of gaining the upper hand because of this, Eliara lost it. Utsuro deflected a punch with her forearm, dipping her upperbody backwards. Bringing her lower body with her, Utsuro's feet smashed against Eliara's jaw, sending her high into the air.

"Raion, now!" Her shrill voice called as she landed on her feet, clutching her injured side. The brown haired ninja growled, nodded, and leapt into the air. Joining both hands together, he raised them high above his head.

"Eat this!" Bringing his rugged fists down onto the sternum of Eliara, the water nin didn't have time to think. Blood flying out of her mouth, she collided with the water below, liquid erupting over the walls and high into the air.

With a momentary breather being allowed, the group took stock of their status. Fenris' nose was a bloody mess, but overall he seemed fine. Kataki was skittish, nervously gazing at every single ripple in the water, the gash on his torso mostly healed. Gurei was alert, his grey eyes darting around the surface of the water, the wound on his shoulder having been fully healed . Utsuro looked very non-plus, doing a victory dance, despite her cracked rib. And Raion? Pumping his fists into the air and hollering loudly, his victory dance was loud and bold.

"Yeah, take that Akatsuki!"

"Raion you idiot-" Kataki paused, stiffening at another ripple in the water, "You think smashing a Water User into the water will kill her? Use your fucking brain!"

Raion growled. "Just because you're scared of wa-"

A torrent of water erupted from under the brown haired nin, sending him high into the sky. With an almighty crash his connected with the concrete ceiling, a crater forming. As the water dispersed, Raion's unconscious figure slowly fell downwards.

"Shit!" Fenris swore, charging forward to catch his rival/friend. Eliara leapt out of the water, blocking his path with a cleave of her sword. Fenris ducked, a bit of his hair being cut off. Gurei followed after him, chakra scalpel pulsating in his hand. Thrusting his palm forward, he aimed for her heart.

"Kataki!" Gurei hissed, stopping short of the thrust to dodge the heavy metal object aimed for his head.

His nervousness forgotten briefly, the blood ninja began to live up to his namesake as he flurried through hand signs. "Blood Tentacles!"

Blood poured out of the cuts in Kataki's wrists, forming long whip like tentacles. They shot towards Eliara, slamming into her stomach, wrapping around her lithe form. With a growl, Kataki raised the tentacle up and slammed her into a nearby wall with a huge smash.

While this was going on, Fenris had caught Raion, and Gurei was assessing the damage. "A broken collarbone and three broken ribs. I can make him better, but I'll need time. Go!"

Fenris didn't need to be told twice, rushing with his sword raised to lop off the head of Eliara.

That was, until he was blown backwards. All of Itachi's group were, in fact, as cutting wind sliced through the calm air making it a torrent of destruction. Gurei gasped as a deep gash appeared on his chest, cutting through the fabric of his shirt as he was sent flying backwards.

He rolled in the air, managing to land on his feet with little difficulty. His hands glowed green and immediately began to heal the cut.

Fenris and Kataki got off lightly with a few scrapes and cuts. Utsuro had a gash that ran down her cheek, but she was fine.

Raion had not been taken by the gust, instead he lay floating as the water rippled wildly.

Gurei grimaced. He was alone out there, and they were so far away. He needed to think.

Eliara, meanwhile, slowly rose to her feet. She gingerly touched her chest, wincing slightly. Wiping her sweat, blood and water dampened hair, she turned her eyes to the side.

"Thanks for stopping by."

As the water stopped chaotically moving, a deep rumbling caw was heard.

The opposite wall began to silently close, as the beats of a hawk's wings sent small ripples along the water's surface. The giant bird in question had a dark brown colouration, feathers ruffling as it's tan eyes scanned the landscape. It's yellow beak opened into another vibrating caw that echoed off the concrete walls.

"Not a problem my dear," the man atop the hawk spoke in a smoky voice. His hair was spiked, a forest green colouring. It shot off in most directions, a spiky part running down his back to his shoulders. With eyes bluer than the sky, he pinpointed his targets. His clothes seemed to be made of tanned leather, put together in such a way that they fit snugly around his rather lanky form. A large leather x crossed over his shoulder and upper body, a large grey gem sitting right in the middle. Fingerless gloves twitched in anticipation.

Eliara's emerald eyes narrowed, although the smallest of smiles played on her lips. "Let's clean these guys up. Speaking of which, where is the girl?"

Kataki's face was impassive as he leaned backwards against the wall, an almost satisfied sigh escaping his lips. His eyes betrayed him, a look of fear filling them.

The man on the hawk noticed this, his lips twitching. "I don't think they know."

A blur of hand signs followed the statement, barely giving team Itachi time to react. Before they could mount any kind of defense, another large gust of slicing wind was sent their way.

The force of nature slammed into the group, impacting the wall with a loud crash. Dust bellowed outwards, blocking all view of Itachi's group.

Eliara smirked. "Well done Itsutori."

Itsutori cracked his knuckles. "Thank you my dear. But, the fight is not over yet."

As the dust settled, only Kataki remained. He breathed heavily, a deep gash running along his chest. Blood seeped out of the wound, and he winced in pain. The blood ninja's mouth twisted into a smile.

Something large and black shot out of the water at full pelt, heading towards the hawk and Itsutori. The green-haired ninja balked slightly, haphazardly dodging to the side. In doing so, his mount did the same, and he was thrown off. The large animal, which was now identifiable as a swordfish, exploded in an inky mess as it missed it's target.

Before he could land on the water's surface, three senbon flew out of the water. Itsutori was not phased. Making a hand-sign, two bracers on his wrists began to shine brightly. Serrated edge a in the shape of a wings appeared from a secret slit. Crossing his arms in an x shape, Itsutori muttered something under his breath before breaking them apart.

Two shuriken made entirely of wind materialized, knocking the senbon away before disapparating. Itsutori landed against the concrete wall, sticking to it using chakra.

"They're underwater!" He called to Eliara.

She was not listening, however, as a giant water dragon leapt from the depths, jaws contorted in a fearsome roar. She briskly made some hand-signs, chanting, "Water Style: Water Shark Jutsu!"

A large, fearsome shark composed entirely of water shot upwards, colliding with the dragon in a shower of water. 'Tali' frowned, her brow creasing.

Eliara raced forward, and before 'Tali' could comprehend anything, the hilt of the Akatsuki member's large sword was rammed into her shoulder. The force knocked 'her' backwards, but she regained her composure and engaged in a brief taijutsu battle. 'Tali' was mentally frowning as she avoided and dodged blows. These Akatsuki were powerful, more so than he realized.

And, as Eliara's palm slammed into 'her' jaw, and her throat was caved in by a powerful kick, 'her' last thoughts were that of worry for 'her' students, and 'her' present mission.

While all this was going on, Gurei worked to heal the wound on Kataki's chest.

Raion was being held by Fenris, the snowy haired nin constantly sending glowers behind himself.

Gurei gave Kataki a disapproving cluck of his tongue. "You should've come underwater with us. Fenris' idea was sound. And, you wouldn't have this injury."

"Focus on healing it," the blood ninja snapped, his dark eyes assessing the battle. His frown deepened as 'Tali' turned to smoke. Utsuro was holding off Itustori with volley after volley of senbon. He was at first thrown off balance, dancing around. But now he had regained his footing, and was deflecting each and every weapon with his bracers, getting closer and closer to his opponent. After blocking another barrage, Itsutori leapt backwards onto the waiting back of the hawk. Grinning, he let rip with another wind shuriken, that Utsuro narrowly dodged.

"Fenris, leave Raion here and go help Utsuro!"

With a nod, the tattooed ninja dropped Raion into the water, and darted off in the direction of the battle.

"You've gotta get over your fear, you know," Gurei chided gently as the gash finally closed, leaving no marks. He moved over to Raion, his hands still glowing green as he looked over the damage.

"I don't have a fear," Kataki growled. "I'm fine. Just you watch."

And he sped off after Fenris.

Gurei shook his head sadly, beginning to pump chakra into Raion's system. With any luck, he would be awake in a couple of minutes, and they could get back to fighting. They needed to be a unit to stand any chance, and they certainly weren't that with two members preoccupied. Thinking back to a few days before, Gurei stopped pumping chakra into Raion for a few moments, instead reaching into his pack and withdrawing a large scroll. Was it time to use this now?

Adjusting his glasses, he nodded to himself. Yes. Yes it was.

Eliara let out a sound of contempt as 'Tali' disappeared. "Are you kidding me!?" She yelled in exasperation. Fenris took advantage of this, leaping through the smoke with his sword held to the side. He swung, slicing through air, hoping to hit flesh. He did not, the Akatsuki member ducking her upper body backwards as the blade sailed over her.

She flung herself forward, headbutting Fenris. The snowy haired nin cringed in pain, his newly healed nose being broken once more with a sickening crack. However, this time, he fought through the pain. Bringing his knee up, he smashed it into Eliara's side. The green-haired kunoichi let out a gasp at the sharp stinging pain in her side. Fenris, blood pouring out of his nose, took advantage, bringing his sword high above his head before it came crashing down. Eliara hastily dodged, narrowly avoiding being sliced in two. Swinging herself around, she delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Fenris' leg. He buckled slightly, Eliara using the hilt of her sword and smashing it into his shoulder. Shouting in pain, Fenris tried to stand back up on both legs.

A vicious kick to the side of the head dazed the snowy-haired nin, sending him skidding across the water's surface. Eliara was right on top of him, a kick to the ribs awaiting Fenris before he had stopped moving. Now with more momentum, he sailed into the air before crashing into the water.

Eliara went to follow him, but she was forced to block an oncoming assault from Kataki. Steel clashed as the two fought wildly, Kataki's speed facing off against Eliara's strength. Slowly, but surely, Kataki was pushed backwards. For every glancing blow he landed, Eliara landed three more. Eventually, after pushing away both katana's with her large sword, Eliara kicked her foot out forcefully. It crashed into Kataki's ribs, the air rushing out of his lungs. Before the Akatsuki member could pull back, however, Kataki grasped hold of Eliara's leg, his katana being thrown into the air. Blood poured out of the cuts on his arms and wrists, pooling around the leg of the green haired nin. With a growl, Kataki swung around, Eliara still in his grasp, and threw her a few feet away. Attached to her leg was a tendril of blood, suspending her in mid air before she could hit the water. Her giant blade swung wildly, Eliara trying to cut the tendril that clutched to her leg. She could not, however, and Kataki took advantage, swinging the tendril towards a nearby wall. With a loud crunch, the Akatsuki member's body connected with the stone surface, the sound ringing off the walls.

There was a tense silence as Kataki waited for Eliara to stand back up. She did not. He took some time to breathe, the sounds of fighting still blaring around him. He turned his head towards the sound.

Utsuro was still fighting off Itsutori, throwing senbon after senbon in a never ending barrage. Despite this, the Akatsuki member continually blocked the projectiles with little effort, every once in awhile sending a large gust of wind to keep Utsuro off balance. And she was getting tired, her movements slowing, her muscles aching. He needed to act.

He took a step forward, and froze. His reflection stared back at him, blood splattered and bruised. The water rippled.

He took a step back. He couldn't move. This- he couldn't.

Her sharp cry of pain snapped his gaze upward. Utsuro's arm was bloody and cut after what he could only assume to be a sharp gust of wind smashed into her shoulder. Her kimono was torn where deep gashes ran up and down her arm. His eyes widening in horror, he went to dash forward to help her. And then, he was pulled under.

Fenris groggily rose to his feet, rubbing at the fresh blood that caked his face. Leaning against the cool wall, he allowed himself the shortest of rests. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, although winced at the pain in his side. His muscles ached as thought thousands of ants were sinking into his flesh. This battle was not going according to plan. His gaze landed on Utsuro, her arm bloody and bruised. There was a loud, anguished scream that came from somewhere else. Fenris' gaze swept over, just in time to see Kataki's red hair delve beneath the water. Standing on the far wall, Eliara nursed a cut on her head, holding one hand to it while her other hand made a hand sign. Fenris cursed, his grey eyes narrowing as he hauled his large blade onto his shoulder.

Utsuro let out another cry of pain, a gust of wind slamming into her once more and sending her crashing into the water. He paused. Damn it...

Who would he go for first? Utsuro was getting destroyed, her arm wrecked. She was certainly struggling. Then again, Kataki seemed to have a fear of water, and now he was out of sight, under the waves. Drowning?

Damn it! He couldn't spend any more time dallying. He needed to make a decision, now!

After another moments waiting, he dived into the water.

Utsuro hummed to herself as she clumsily dodged another gust of wind. She was lucky that was all Itsutori was doing. Anything more powerful would render her a bloody mess. Well, more so than she was now.

Itsutori laughed upon his large hawk, grinning ear to ear as he twirled his double bladed sword high into the air. "Foolish girl, if you surrender now you might live!"

Utsuro, despite the pain in her arm, grinned demonically. "I'm sorry, but I have to meet Tali! From what the others have told me, she sounds like a sweet girl!"

Itsutori was cocked his head to the side. "O-Kay..." He trailed off, his confused eyes turning hard and sharp, "But you shall die before that happens! Wind Style: Feathered Caress!"

Itsutori's Hawk reared upwards, displaying it's underbelly and powerful wings. With a loud caw, the mighty bird flapped, it's feathers shooting towards Utsuro with precision unmatched.

Utsuro merely smiled, before making hand signs of her own. "Mirror Clone."

As she uttered the words, the feathers shot into her. Instead of blood darkening the water, shards of glass caused it to ripple and distort.

Soon after, a mirror, no bigger than the average man formed out of thin air. Utsuro stepped out. She smiled, a cunning edge in her eyes. Her injured arm was encased in glass. "Mirror Clone."

This time she did not even make a hand sign, as two more mirrors appeared out of thin air next to her. Out stepped two more girls, identical to Utsuro in almost every way. Apart from the glossy skin. The glass around her arm fell into the water, leaving a fully healed arm.

There was a brief silence, as Itsuro sized up his prey. "Making more of you won't solve anything!"

"Die." Utsuro's voice had turned many octaves lower, and her two duplicates shot forward. In a blur of hand signs, she called out, "Mirror Style: Thousand Shards!"

The two clones burst into shards and shards of glass, shooting towards Itsutori. He growled, quickly leaping off his mighty mount. The glass embedded themselves within the bird's skin, causing it to cry out in anguish. There was a soft puff of smoke as it disappeared, leaving Itsutori alone.

The glass shards, instead of crashing into the water, merely floated on the surface. Utsuro made a hand sign once more, and they reformed into the Mirror Clones.

"Damn you girl!" He snarled, whipping his sword high above his head. His two bracers glowed once more, and the two large wings formed on his arms. Making an x motion, he quickly broke it with a sharp hiss. Two shuriken made only of wind shot outwards, smashing into the mirror clones and breaking them apart. Utsuro merely grinned, before charging forward.

She did not reach her target, however, as Raion leapt into the fray, revitalized and fresh. Slamming his shoulder into Itsutori's body, he sent the Akatsuki member flying into the nearby wall. "Yay!" Utsuro clapped, her almost demonic persona gone in exchange for the bright bubbly one. "You saved me!"

Raion fixed her with a perplexed stare, but did not say anything. Instead, he rolled his shoulder, and grinned. "Where's Kataki. I can't let him out do-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence.

Kataki felt the air leave his lungs, replaced by water. He couldn't breathe, and frantically grasped for his throat, begging air to return to his body. It did not, the crushing presence of water all around making his body ache. His throat felt the worst, the constant torrent of water leaving no room for thought. "No, no no no no no!" He screamed over and over in his head. He couldn't, wouldn't die like this! Not to some irrational fear! Although, the cynical part of his mind interjected through all the screaming, this wasn't really an irrational fear. The pain felt throughout his whole body was some of the most excruciating he had ever felt, and perhaps he ever would feel.

He forced his eyes open and to look around. While murky, he could still make out the outline of the walls, and he hazarded a look down, still struggling with all his might. A tendril, it's outline very faint, but noticeable, was wrapped around both his legs. His katana could slice them-

"Looking for these?" A voice whispered in his ear, his katana floating ever so close. He reached out, his vision swimming, desperately trying to claim his blades. They vanished.

"This will be your end, trapped in the water you so loathe..."

Eliara chuckled, her large blade across the throat of the red haired nin. "There is nothing you can do now... sleep..."

Kataki did as he was told, his eyelids growing heavy as the pain increased. This would be his last battle, it seemed. And he couldn't even save Tali...

There was a mighty roar, so powerful that even underwater one could hear it with clarity. Fenris appeared out of the murk, swinging his blade hard. Eliara could not react, her head instantly being severed from her shoulders. She disappeared into the water.

Fenris grabbed Kataki, placing the large blade in his mouth as he kicked upwards. No! He growled eternally, he wasn't strong enough! His sword, along with Kataki's weight was weighing him down too much. Fruitlessly, he pumped chakra into his legs. It helped only a little, and he felt the need to breathe growing ever stronger by the moment.

He didn't expect a large, black tentacle to come up under his feet, and lift him out of the water with haste. Kataki spluttered up water, turning over to cough out the remnants of the murky depths. He turned his gaze upwards to see Fenris, not exactly smiling at him, but looking relieved. "Master."

"Fenris..." Kataki said, taking in gulps full of air. "Thank you for... saving me."

"It wasn't him who saved you, asshole!"

Fenris put his comrade on the ground, which was a rather inky black tentacle, now he noticed. He turned his gaze, and was greeted by the grinning, although stiff Raion. "Show some respect to who truly saved you!"

Kataki finally took in the scope of where he was. High in the air, on one of eight limbs belonging to a large, inky black octopus. Gurei smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "I've been working on this one for a while."

The octopus placed Fenris and Kataki atop it's head, where Gurei, Utsuro and Raion stood. Soon after, the large cephalopod handed Kataki his katana.

"Now, you remember that combo attack we talked about?" Gurei inquired, doing the rounds to heal any injuires.

Kataki's eyes glistened. "I do. Can we do it?"

Fenris growled under his breath. "We must hurry, they are mounting a counterattack!"

Raion turned to see what Fenris was on about, and his eyes widened. A gargantuan wave of water loomed close, Utsuro and Itsutori surfing it as if it was nothing more than a small puddle. Itsutori was not idle, however, as he blurred through some hand signs. The monstrous wave was soon smothered in wind, so vivid and wild that the blue melded into the grey.

"We don't have time to think!" Raion hissed. "We do it now!"

Kataki nodded. "Let's go!"

Gurei made a handsign, and the octopus used seven of it's tentacales to form an O shape. It's eighth tentacle was used to support Kataki, who began to use a Fireball Jutsu and fire it into the O shape. Fenris and Raion leapt off the cephalopods head, landing on opposing sides of the seven tendrils. Their bodies began to glow orange and blue, respectively, as Raion channelled chakra into the tentacles while Fenris activated his curse seal, enveloping him in lightning blue, while also doing the same to the tendrils. Their chakra melded, completely engulfing the limbs in a dazzling display of colour. They still left a small opening, however, for Kataki to continue to pump fire chakra into it. Finally, he stopped, and the small opening closed. "Now!" Kataki yelled, the tentacle he was on placing him onto the creatures head.

Raion and Fenris pushed an insane amount of chakra once more into the tendrils, their breath ragged, before finally letting go. "Do it Gurei!" They both yelled simultaneously, leaping back atop the octopuses head.

Gurei made another hand sign. "Combination Attack: Meteor Sphere!"

The octopus lifted it's tentacles high into the air before throwing the ball.

Eliara noticed this, and cursed. Somehow, both of those boys had far more than average amounts of chakra. Using and manipulating it into the form of a sphere, most likely with the help of the boy who created the summon in the first place, they managed to encase a ball of flame within. If that hit them... they'd be dead.

Itsutori seemed to have the same idea, grasping Eliara around the waist and leaping off the wave. Pushing wind chakra to his feet, Eliara and himself crashed into the water just as the ball of chakra and fire connected with the wave.

The results were explosive.

Fire consumed the monstrous wave at first, illuminating the room with a dark orange glow. As this happened, the combination of three elements exploded, sending a massive wave of wind that shook the foundations of the whole facility, blowing the walls away with the sheer force of the blast. Concrete was blown everywhere, the water smashing into anything and everything as it escaped the room and flooded the corridors and other rooms.

The octopus was sent careening backwards, dispersing into ink as it crashed through the wall. All around was destruction, rubble and puddles of water. It was a catastrophe.

There were a few tense moments of silence as steam overcame the area. Somehow the entire compound had not collapsed, although at least a quarter was rendered into unusable stone. Finally, something stirred. Raion pushed a large slab of concrete off his dusty body, clutching his head as shakily stood. Around him, his teammates also began to stir and and rise.

"That's what we get for not testing it beforehand, I suppose," He grinned, dusting himself off.

Kataki merely grunted in reply as he lifted Fenris up. The snowy haired nin nodded in thanks, before adding. "Had we tested it, we'd most likely be dead. It's lucky Utsuro... moved us somehow." He turned his gaze onto the girl, who was quietly singing a song to herself as she sat upon a rock.

Everyone turned to look at the pale girl in the white kimono as she sung her melody, although none could make out the words. Somehow... this small, petite, naive girl had saved them all from death. How, they did not know.

"There's no point dwelling on it now," Kataki said as he sheathed his katana. "Let's just be thankful we used it in an area where-" he paused," hopefully nobody important was located. Now let's go and join the fight. I think this would've caused enough of a distraction."

Gurei chuckled while Raion punched his fist into his open palm. "That's how we do it!"

Fenris smirked. "Come along then Utsuro," he called to the girl as she looked up at him with soft eyes.

"Okay!" She beamed, clutching a shard of glass in her hand. She stood up, still humming to herself as she skipped after Fenris.

A solitary red eye flashed within the shard, but disappeared soon after.

Utsuro merely grinned.

And there we go! A few things to note:

I did not create the idea for Utsuro's Mirror Jutsu myself. This was in fact created by Pandabot3000 (check out his stuff). Now, I have asked his permission to use this jutsu, but he has not replied back. If he does not wish me to use it, then this chapter will taken down, and changed around a bit. The crux should remain the same, however.

For some shameless self plugging, please check out the Pokemon Collaboration I'm doing with my good friend DownsofFire entitled Going Platinum. Reviews would be nice!

And, finally, I apologize that I've been away for so long. I hope to see some reviews for this chapter, so I can begin to interact with you, the readers, once more. And, the added motivation helps me write faster!

So, have a great morning/afternoon/evening/night!