I'm hoping I can get this out to you guys as soon as possible. I'll be going on vacation this Thursday so it'll definitely be out before then. Also a recent reviewer did tell me that the jinchuuriki are noticeably weaker than expected. Looking back at the past chapters I do admit, they are a very weak. I plan to up their strengths a little so you guys are more satisfied. Enjoy!
Yugito's POV
Bee was blindsided by the blue-skinned Akatsuki's (which she had temporarily named Shark Man) quick movement. He seemed to have come out of nowhere, suddenly jumping out of the wet crater behind Bee and swinging his spike, blue sword.
Shark Man slammed the side of his blade into Bee's arm and reeled it back towards him before Bee could fall over, causing the blades sharp edges to cut Bee.
Yugito struggled to get to her feet as Bee quickly withdrew one of his blades with his good right arm electricity coursed through the sharp weapon making it even more deadly. He then threw the short sword with surprising precision towards Shark Man's head.
Shark Man blocked the blade with his sword which left him open for a short span of time. Bee's left hand enlarged and his fingernails disappeared, his fingers now flat at the tips. He curled them into a fist and punched Shark Man, forcing him to release his sword and fly into the rock wall behind him.
"Damn it...he got me." Bee mumbled as his hand returned to its normal size revealing his bleeding wounds. "His sword is weird too, I feel weaker,"
He clutched his arm, turning it over so that he could see the cuts. Yugito got to her feet finally after coughing up some more water and tossing her wet honey-colored hair over her shoulder. She had lost the band that had held it in place and since then it had only become more and more dirty and frizzy.
"You alright?" Yugito said in between breaths.
"Yeah, I'll be-"
A deafening screech filled the air and for a few seconds, Yugito and Bee were frozen in place, shocked by the sudden noise. In that short span of time, the sword Shark Man had once held jumped up out of the crater Bee had made and threw itself at Bee. Yugito was paralyzed in terror. The sword was alive, its sharp teeth now digging into Bee's chest as if it were eating him.
Yugito recovered quickly, and she delivered a forceful kick to the monster, sending it flying across the now empty lake and into the other side of the wall. She briefly enjoyed a moment of awe and victory.
"The little kitty's up to no good, huh?" Shark Man shouted now making his way toward Yugito. She turned around to face the seething monster. His eyes were small and full of murderous intent. His smile was calm yet wild. He tossed his already ripped Akatsuki robe to the side, leaving his chest bare and only a pair of black pants on his legs.
"You don't wear a shirt under that thing? Doesn't it get cold?" Yugito blurted out, although she hadn't meant to.
"You're a funny one. Don't see that a lot in jinchuuriki. But you're different, aren't you? Kumogakure's obedient little kitty. Always following orders and obeying the rules. Loyal to your village no matter what. Where's your village now?" Shark Man said.
Yugito frowned and gritted her teeth. She knew everything Shark Man was saying was true. Kumogakure only used her for her incredible relationship with Matatabi and her control over the feline. She followed every order they gave her because she knew it was right. Her parents had always taught her to be loyal to one's village and to complete each mission to the best of one's ability. Still the shocking realization that not even a trace of Kumogakure's shinobi was looking for her made her angry and resentful. She had given herself to the Raikage and the village. Her entire life revolved around them and they hadn't even bothered to search for her? They're looking. They just haven't found you because you keep running away. She assured herself. Yet she still couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal.
"Just shut up you stupid fish." Yugito countered, extending her nails and bathing herself in blue flames. The Akatsuki were not pushovers and she couldn't underestimate them like she had done in the sewers or in the Land of Iron.
"Maybe you just need some scolding to fix your troublesome behavior!"
Yugito smiled and laughed at his cocky attitude, "Oh yeah? Come and show me how this cat should really behave, because right now she's not really lookin' to be fixed."
Yagura's POV
Yagura was alive. But he knew death was near. He felt it as if it were a cold hand creeping closer to Yagura to tap on his shoulder and embrace him. Free him from his own prison.
He sat in the middle of the ocean on a single stone pillar as the sea around him churned and roared with anger. It swirled around the pillar and didn't even touch Yagura. It desperately tried to escape the clutches of the dark, eerie hands that reached down from the night sky. It grabbed at the sea searching for Isobu who was growing weaker and weaker, trying to swim away from the deadly hands that wanted to take him away from Yagura.
Let them have him. I'm done with this worthless life and I'm done sharing it with this wretched creature. Yagura thought.
"Help me! Help me, please, Yagura!" He heard the turtle-like creature yell. He repeated those words again and again, his voice growing more and more desperate.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Yagura answered back mentally.
"Help me! Help me! Don't let them take me away!" Isobu whined. The sea grew more violent as it fought back the dark hands that extended from the heavens.
Yagura pushed the hook staff beside him into the water as the final act of his surrender.
Yet he felt a pang of guilt. Isobu had kept him alive after Madara had almost left him dead. Although the two had never talked, Yagura knew he owed the Three-Tails big time.
But what was the point of fighting fate itself? It was a battle that Yagura knew he could not win. It was pointless to put up a fight when the end result would be death.
"Help me! Oh god, help me!" Isobu wailed, this time louder. Yagura looked around as the sea slowly began to rise in big whirlpools that grew smaller at the top. Yagura knew that it was almost over. Whatever was trying to take Isobu away was done playing games. Now it was going to take the beast by force.
"HELP ME!" Isobu screamed into Yagura's ears as the sea flew into the sky.
The pillar beneath Yagura cracked and Yagura began to panic. He didn't understand why. He thought he had accepted his fate the minute he knew he and Isobu would be separated and he would die.
But now he got to his feet. He looked around at the rising water and the draining sea. Adrenaline coursed through his body and a single thought pushed its way past the fear and panic to ring in his head.
I don't want to die.
Fu's POV
Fu was still moving. The sun was high in the sky and shining down on her pitiful existence. The young, naive attitude she once had had been replaced with guilt and sadness. She was not the girl she once was and would never be.
She had murdered her mother.
She had murdered Han.
She had destroyed Takigakure and countless lives along with it.
A part of her knew it wasn't her fault. It was the Akatsuki. Even Sejio-Ro for making her a jinchuuriki. But in the end it was her and her alone that had created the destruction of Takigakure and the death of hundreds possibly.
Stop beating yourself up, Fu. Chomei tried to soothe her.
Fu's face twisted in rage and she immediately found herself in Chomei's dimension. He wasn't in his tailed form this time. He was in the fake human form he had been in when Fu thought she would've been taken out by a burning log.
She was in a green, grassy forest with small furry creatures frolicking around. The air was sweet and pleasant, mixed with the pleasant aroma coming from the flowers. Butterflies and other insects fluttered or crawled about filling the forest with life and joy.
Sun shined through the tree leaves, illuminating the forest and the clearing Chomei was sitting in. He sat on an oak log, a brown kettle and two white, floral-patterned tea cups sat on a tree trunk in front of him. He smiled at Fu and pointed to the log on the opposite side of him. Fu glared at him and stomped through the forest and into the clearing. She slammed her fist onto the tree trunk and stared into Chomei's amber eyes.
"You bastard! You inconsiderate piece of shit! You're the reason I have no one left! You're the reason everyone is dead! I hate you!" Fu screamed. "You wouldn't give me power when everyone was dying in that godforsaken village. I saved Han and let that stupid Snake guy kill my mom just so I could lose both of them! We almost made it out but when I needed you…"
Fu sobbed and tried to collect herself but failed. She fell to her knees and began to cry. She wailed and moaned like a child. She cried for her mother and she cried for her father. The one she had never even met. Just someone who would take her away from all of this pain and despair.
It took her a long while before she stopped sobbing enough to form a complete sentence without breaking into tears again.
"I trusted you...I thought that was what being a jinchuuriki was about! You rely on each other for the your survival! So why…?" Fu became quiet.
"Fu, you were throwing your life away recklessly. I understand it was for the sake of another but you have to understand it would've been useless for both of you to die so terribly. And especially if the Akatsuki retrieved our bodies and managed to get a hold of me and Kokuo. At least in any case-"
"Shut up! That's not fair! You're being selfish just by saying that!"
"Well, Fu, you're being extremely immature. You don't understand what I'm trying to convey. Your emotions are clouding your judgment which makes this conversation completely useless." Chomei grimaced at the girl with tears running down her face and stood up.
Fu couldn't even take the time to consider his point which made him completely right.
Fu bit her tongue and held back a frustrated scream. Chomei clenched his fists and let out a sigh, "Maybe we'll talk when you've finally cooled down."
Chomei began to shine brightly until he burst into a shower of sparkles and golden dust. The ground beneath her began to crumble and she fell through the earth into a pit of darkness. She screamed as she fell confused as to what exactly was happening.
In an instant the darkness turned to bright sunlight and the air pushing upwards around her stopped. Her feet were on solid ground. A dirt path with weeds here and there.
She fell to her knees as her feet suddenly stopped walking. Fu remained there in awe. Exhaustion and slowly increasing waves of pain struck her at once. She fell further onto her side, laying there and staring up at the blue skies. Fu could do nothing but lay there and wait until she finally regained the strength that she knew Chomei had been providing all this time.
As for Chomei, Fu had a funny feeling he was very, very angry with her.
Utakata's POV
Utakata lowered his hand to the back of his thigh where a single senbon was lodged. Unlike the others it had not been removed and Utakata hadn't cared much when he was moping in the corner. Wallowing in his own guilt and sadness.
Now it seemed this single senbon would be the one deciding factor in their survival. If it could pick the lock on Utakata's chains then escape would finally be a plausible idea.
"Did you get it?" Han asked from the next cell over. Utakata glanced over at his bulky comrade.
"I didn't even start yet." Utakata said. He held the senbon in his hands trying to position his hands at an angle that would reach the lock on the side of the cuffs. Utakata sighed when he realized his attempts were destined to fail. "It won't work. I can't reach the lock."
"Come over here, I'll pick it for you." Han said. Utakata limped over to where Han sat, staring at Utakata as he kneeled down in front of him behind the rusty metal bars.
Utakata handed him the silver senbon and waited while Han stuck it in the lock and twisted it around.
"You don't know how to pick a lock do you?" Utakata asked, growing more skeptical of Han's abilities as more time passed.
"I...no, not really." Han grumbled.
Utakata smiled despite the circumstances, "Allow me. I used to do missions like this back when Kirigakure still had me on a leash."
"A leash?" Han asked, now interested.
"I'll tell you about it later."
Utakata's smile grew wider as he heard a faint click and witnessed Han's cuffs snap open at the sides. Allowing Han to remove his hands safely and stare at his hands, obviously in awe for reasons Utakata didn't know.
Utakata gently rattled his chains, "We don't have time to dawdle."
Han snapped out of his trance and looked at Utakata's cuffed hands. He grabbed the cold metal bars in front of him and pulled with surprising strength. Utakata looked on as Han ripped a hole in the cell and proceeded to forcefully open Utakata's cuffs.
"What? How?" Utakata asked in a puzzled tone.
"Being the jinchuuriki of the five tails had its perks," Han simply
answered. Utakata nodded and got to his feet, ignoring the dull pain in his legs and arms and following Han as he ripped open the cell door and exited. Utakata looked around at the glowing green light coming from a wall of glass cases with a orb floating around inside each one. Utakata squinted to get a closer look and to his horror realized they were eyeballs.
"My god…this man is insane." Utakata whispered.
"We must hurry. Your friend Yagura must be on the verge of death
by now."
Utakata nodded and the two jinchuuriki made their way into the eerie labyrinth.